In his 1979 book, The Sinking Ark, biologist Norman Myers estimated that (1)_____ of more than 100 human-caused extinctions occu

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问题     In his 1979 book, The Sinking Ark, biologist Norman Myers estimated that (1)_____ of more than 100 human-caused extinctions occur each clay, and that one million species (2)_____ by the century’s end. Yet there is little evidence of (3)_____ that number of extinctions. For example, only seven species on the (4)_____ species list have become extinct (5)_____ the list was created in 1973.
    Bio-(6)_____ is an important value, according to many scientists. Nevertheless, the supposed mass extinction rates bandied about are (7)_____ by multiplying (8)_____ by improbables to get imponderables.
    Many estimates, for instance, rely a great deal on a "species-area (9)_____", which predicts that twice as many species will be found on 100 square miles (10)_____ on ten square miles. The problem is that species are not distributed (11)_____, so bow much of a forest are destroyed may be as important as (12)_____.
    (13)_____, says Ariel Lugo, director of the International Institute of Tropical Forestry in Puerto Rico, "Biologists who predict high (14)_____ rates (15)_____ the resiliency of nature".
    One of the main muses of extinctions is deforestation. According to the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research, what destroys tropical trees is not commercial logging, (16)_____ "poor farmers who have no other (17)_____ for feeding their families than slashing and burning a (18)_____ of forest".
    In countries that practice modern (19)_____ agriculture, forests are in (20)_____ danger. In 1920, U.S. forests covered 732 million acres. Today they cover 737 million.


选项 A、underplay
B、underrate
C、understate
D、undermine

答案B

解析 underrate低估。underplay使没有充分发挥作用;understate保守地说;undermine破坏。resilience复原能力,弹力。understate是指没有充分表达实情或者有意识地轻描淡写地陈述,而underrate表示对…评价过低(低估,估计过低)。根据上下文,underrate与前文的estimate相呼应。
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