Due to the bad weather the plane was ____ for two hours.
A
【句意】由于天气恶劣,飞机晚点两个小时。
【难点】delay意为“使耽搁,延迟”;cancel意为“取消;终止”;dismiss意为“解雇,解散”;postpone意为“延期,拖延,缓办”,尤指因为某种原因事先作出安排,与delay不同。
Physicsisthepresentdayequivalentof____usedtobecallednaturalphilosophy,from____mostofpresentdaysciencearose.
Thefirststepinthestudyofanylanguageisobservingand____preciselywhathappenswhennativespeakersspeakit.
AsGilbertWhite,Darwin,andothersobservedlongago,allspeciesappeartohavetheinnatecapacitytoincreasetheirnumbersfromgenerationtogeneration.Thetaskforecologistsistountangletheenvironmentaandbiologicalfactorsthatholdthisintrinsiccapacityforpopulationgrowthincheckoverthelongrun.Thegreatvarietyofdynamicbehaviorsexhibitedbydifferentpopulationmakesthistaskmoredifficult:sompopulationsremainroughlyconstantfromyeartoyear;othersexhibitregularcyclesofabundanceandscarcity;stillothersvarywildly,withoutbreaksandcrashesthatareinsomecasesplainlycorrelatedwiththeweather,andinothercasesnot.Toimposesomeorderonthiskaleidoscopeofpatterns,oneschoolofthoughtproposesdividingpopulationsintotwogroups.Theseecologistspositthattherelativelysteadypopulationshavedensity-dependentgrowthparameters;thatis,ratesofbirth,death,andmigrationwhichdependstronglyonpopulationdensity.Thehighlyvaryingpopulationshavedensity-independentgrowthparameters,withvitalratesbuffetedbyenvironmentalevents;theseratesfluctuateinawaythatiswhollyindependentofpopulationdensity.Thisdichotomyhasitsuses,butitcancauseproblemsiftakentooliterally.Foronething,nopopulationcanbedrivenentirelybydensity-independentfactorsallthetime.Nomatterhowseverelyorunpredictablybirth,death,andmigrationratesmaybefluctuatingaroundtheirlong-termaverages,iftherewerenodensity-dependenteffects,thepopulationwould,inthelongrun,eitherincreaseordecreasewithoutbound(barringamiraclebywhichgainsandlossescanceledexactly)。Putanotherway,itmaybethatonaverage99percentofalldeathsinapopulationarisefromdensity-independentcauses,andonlyonepercentfromfactorsvaryingwithdensity.Thefactorsmakinguptheonepercentmayseemunimportant,andtheircausemaybecorrespondinglyhardtodetermine.Yet,whetherrecognizedornot,theywillusuallydeterminethelong-termaveragepopulationdensity.Inordertounderstandthenatureoftheecologist’sinvestigation,wemaythinkofthedensity-dependenteffectsongrowthparametersasthesignalecologistsaretryingtoisolateandinterpret,onethattendstomakethepopulationincreasefromrelativelylowvaluesordecreasefromrelativelyhighones,whilethedensity-independenteffectsacttoproducenoiseinthepopulationdynamics.Forpopulationsthatremainrelativelyconstant,orthatoscillatearoundrepeatedcycles,thesignalcanbefairlyeasilycharacterizedanditseffectsdescribed,eventhoughthecausativebiologicalmechanismmayremainunknown.Forirregularlyfluctuatingpopulations,wearelikelytohavetoofewobservationstohaveanyhopeofextractingthesignalfromtheoverwhelmingnoise.Butitnowseemsclearthatallpopulationsareregulatedbyamixtureofdensity-dependentanddensity-independenteffectsinvaryingproportions.
1.Theauthorofthetextisprimarilyconcernedwith
[A]Discussingtwocategoriesoffactorsthatcontrolpopulationgrowthandassessingtheirrelativeimportance.
[B]Describinghowgrowthratesinnaturalpopulationsfluctuateovertimeandexplainingwhythesechangesoccur.
[C]Proposingahypothesisconcerningpopulationsizeandsuggestingwaystotestit.
[D]Posingafundamentalquestionaboutenvironmentalfactorsinpopulationgrowthandpresentingsomecurrentlyacceptedanswer.
2.Itcanbeinferredfromthetextthattheauthorconsidersthedichotomydiscussedtobe
[A]Applicableonlytoerraticallyfluctuatingpopulations.
[B]instrumental,butonlyifitslimitationsarerecognized.
[C]Dangerouslymisleadinginmostcircumstances.
[D]Acompleteandsufficientwaytoaccountforobservedphenomena.
3.tothetext,allofthefollowingbehaviorshavebeenexhibitedbydifferentpopulationsEXCEPT
[A]Roughlyconstantpopulationlevelsfromyeartoyear.
[B]Regularcyclesofincreasesanddecreasesinnumbers.
[C]Erraticincreasesinnumberscorrelatedwiththeweather.
[D]Uncheckedincreasesinnumbersovermanygenerations.
4.Thediscussionconcerningpopulationinthethirdparagraphservesprimarilyto
[A]Demonstratethedifficultiesecologistsfaceinstudyingdensity-dependentfactorslimitingpopulationgrowth.
[B]Advocatemorerigorousstudyofdensity-dependentfactorsinpopulationgrowth.
[C]Provethatthedeathratesofanypopulationareneverentirelydensity-independent.
[D]underlinetheimportanceofevensmalldensity-dependentfactorsinregulatinglong-termpopulationdensities.
5.Inthetext,theauthordoesallofthefollowingEXCEPT
[A]Citetheviewsofotherbiologists.
[B]Defineabasicproblemthatthetextaddresses.
[C]Presentconceptualcategoriesusedbyotherbiologists.
[D]Describetheresultsofaparticularstudy.
Thelocalgovernmentleadersaremakingeveryeffortto__theproblemofpoverty.