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  3. THE CLIMATE OF JAPAN (1) At the most general level, two major climatic forces determine Japan’s weather. Prevailing westerly

THE CLIMATE OF JAPAN (1) At the most general level, two major climatic forces determine Japan’s weather. Prevailing westerly

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问题                                                 THE CLIMATE OF JAPAN
    (1) At the most general level, two major climatic forces determine Japan’s weather. Prevailing westerly winds move across Eurasia, sweep over the Japanese islands, and continue eastward across the Pacific Ocean. In addition, great, cyclonic airflow (masses of rapidly circulating air) that arises over the western equatorial Pacific moves in a wheel-like fashion northeastward across Japan and nearby regions. During winter months heavy masses of cold air from Siberia dominate the weather around Japan. Persistent cold winds skim across the Sea of Japan from the northwest, picking up moisture that then deposits as several feet of snow on the western side of the mountain ranges on Honshu Island. As the cold air drops its moisture, it flows over high ridges and down eastern slopes to bring cold, relatively dry weather to valleys and coastal plains and cities.
    (2) In spring the Siberian air mass warms and loses density, enabling atmospheric currents over the Pacific to steer warmer air into northeast Asia. This warm, moisture-laden air covers most of southern Japan during June and July. The resulting late spring rains then give way to a drier summer that is sufficiently hot and muggy, despite the island chain’s northerly latitude, to allow widespread rice cultivation.
    (3) Summer heat is followed by the highly unpredictable autumn rains that accompany the violent tropical windstorms known as typhoons. These cyclonic storms originate over the western Pacific and travel in great clockwise arcs, initially heading west toward the Philippines and southern China, curving northward later in the season. Cold weather drives these storms eastward across Japan through early autumn, revitalizing the Siberian air mass and ushering in a new annual weather cycle.
    (4) This yearly cycle has played a key role in shaping Japanese civilization. [A] It has assured the islands ample precipitation, ranging irregularly from more than 200 centimeters annually in parts of the southwest to about 100 in the northeast and averaging 180 for the country as a whole. [B] The moisture enables the islands to support uncommonly lush forest cover, but the combination of precipitous slopes and heavy rainfall also give the islands one of the world’s highest rates of natural erosion, intensified by both human activities and the natural shocks of earthquakes and volcanism. [C] These factors have given Japan its wealth of sedimentary basins, but they have also made mountainsides extremely susceptible to erosion and landslides and hence generally unsuitable for agricultural manipulation. [D]
    (5) The island chain’s mountains backbone and great length from north to south produce climatic diversity that has contributed to regional differences. Generally sunny winters along the Pacific seaboard have made habitation there relatively pleasant. Along the Sea of Japan, on the other hand, cold, snowy winters have discouraged settlement. Furthermore, although annual precipitation is high in that region, much of it comes as snow and rushes to the sea as spring runoff, leaving little moisture for farming.
    (6) Summer weather patterns in northern Honshu, and especially along the Sea of Japan, have also discouraged agriculture. The area is subject to the Yamase effect, when cool air from the north sometimes lowers temperatures sharply and damages farm production. The impact of this effect has been especially great on rice cultivation because, if it is to grow well, the rice grown in Japan requires a mean summer temperature of 20 degree centigrade or higher. A drop of 2 to 3 degree centigrade can lead to a 30—50 percent drop in rice yield, and the Yamase effect is capable of exceeding that level. This Yamase effect does not, however, extend very far south, where most precipitation comes in the form of rain and the bulk of it in spring, summer, and fall, when most useful for cultivation. Even the autumn typhoons, which deposit most of their moisture along the southern seaboard, are beneficial because they promote the start of the winter crops that for centuries have been grown in southern Japan.
    (7) In short, for the past two millennia, the climate in general and patterns of precipitation in particular have encouraged the Japanese to cluster their settlements along the southern coast, most densely along the sheltered Inland Sea, moving into the northeast. The limits that topography imposed on production have been tightened by climate, with the result that agricultural output has been more modest and less reliable, making the risk of crop failure and hardship commensurately greater.
Which of the sentences below best expresses the essential information in the highlighted sentence in the passage? Incorrect choices change the meaning in important ways or leave out essential information.
选项 A、Agricultural production has been more successful in northeastern Japan than along the Inland Sea, where topography and climate make life difficult for people.
B、Topography and climate have combined to limit agricultural production in northeastern Japan, resulting in an increased risk of crop failure and hardship.
C、Along the Inland Sea, where topography makes the climate more severe, decreased agricultural output has resulted from crop failure and hardship.
D、The risk of crop failure in northeastern Japan has caused greater hardship than have climate and topography.
答案B
解析 本题属于句子简化题，考查考生对文中高亮句的理解和同义转述。高亮句子意为“气候加剧了地形对生产的限制，导致农产品产量减少、不确定性增加，作物歉收的风险和耕种的难度也相应加大”。B项“地形和气候共同限制了日本东北部的农业生产，导致作物歉收的风险和耕种的难度加大”的主语是Topography和climate，与文中高亮句子谈论的主要对象相同，B项的动词limit对应高亮句子主句的主语The limits，且原文句子和B项说的结果都是导致作物歉收的风险和耕种的难度加大，故B项正确。由第7段第1句可知，濑户内海沿岸的条件要比东北部条件好，故排除A项“日本东北部的农业生产比濑户内海沿岸地区更为成功，因为内海沿岸地区的地形和气候使人们生活困难”和C项“濑户内海沿岸地区的地形使得气候更加恶劣，而农业产量下降是由农作物歉收和耕种困难造成的”。D项“在日本东北部，农作物歉收比气候和地形带来的问题更严重”，原句并未比较作物歉收与气候、地形带来的问题哪个更严重，故不选该项。
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