30篇文章突破考研英语词汇阅读（2）

Last year marked the third year in a row of when Indonesia’s bleak rate of deforestation has slowed in pace. One reason for the turnaround may be the country’s antipoverty program.
In 2007, Indonesia started phasing in a program that gives money to its poorest residents under certain conditions, such as requiring people to keep kids in school or get regular medical care. Called conditional cash transfers or CCTs, these social assistance programs are designed to reduce inequality and break the cycle of poverty. They’re already used in dozens of countries worldwide. In Indonesia, the program has provided enough food and medicine to substantially reduce severe growth problems among children.
But CCT programs don’t generally consider effects on the environment. In fact, poverty alleviation and environmental protection are often viewed as conflicting goals, says Paul Ferraro, an economist at Johns Hopkins University.
That’s because economic growth can be correlated with environmental degradation, while protecting the environment is sometimes correlated with greater poverty. However, those correlations don’t prove cause and effect. The only previous study analyzing causality, based on  an area in Mexico that had instituted CCTs, supported the traditional view. There, as people got more money, some of them may have more cleared land for cattle to raise for meat, Ferraro says.
Such programs do not have to negatively affect the environment, though. Ferraro wanted to see if Indonesia’s poverty-alleviation program was affecting deforestation. Indonesia has the third-largest area of tropical forest in the world and one of the highest deforestation rates.
Ferraro analyzed satellite data showing annual forest loss from 2008 to 2012—including during Indonesia’s phase-in of the antipoverty program—in 7,468 forested villages across 15 provinces and multiple islands. The duo separated the effects of the CCT program on forest loss from other factors, like weather and macroeconomic changes, which were also affecting forest loss. With that, “we see that the program is associated with a 30 percent reduction in deforestation,” Ferraro says.
That’s likely because the rural poor are using the money as makeshift insurance policies against inclement weather, Ferraro says. Typically, if rains are delayed, people may clear land to plant more rice to supplement their harvests. With the CCTs, individuals instead can use the money to supplement their harvests.
Whether this research translates elsewhere is anybody’s guess. Ferraro suggests the importance of growing rice and market access. And regardless of transferability, the study shows that what’s good for people may also be good for the value of the avoided deforestation just for carbon dioxide emissions alone is more than the program costs.”

1.According to the first two paragraphs, CCT programs aim to _________.

A facilitate health care reform

B help poor families get better off

C improve local education systems

D lower deforestation rates

解析：选B。B 细节理解题。根据CCT定位至第二段，第二句指出，被称作“有条件现金转移（CCTs）”的这类社会援助计划旨在减少不平等，打破贫困的恶性循环，故CCT计划旨在帮助贫困家庭改善经济状况。故选B。

2.The study based on an area in Mexico is cited to show that _________.

A cattle rearing has been a major means of livelihood for the poor

B CCT programs have helped preserve traditional lifestyles

C antipoverty efforts require the participation of local farmers

D economic growth tends to cause environmental degradation

解析：选D。D 细节理解题。第四段第三句指出一项基于墨西哥某地的研究证实了传统看法（the traditional view），所以应追溯上文明确“传统看法”的具体所指，而由上文第三段第二句often viewed as和第四段第一句That’s because可知传统看法为“扶贫与环保相矛盾，经济增长与环境恶化成正相关”，故选D。

3.In his study about Indonesia, Ferraro intends to find out _________.

A its acceptance level of CCTs

B its annual rate of poverty alleviation

C the relation of CCTs to its forest loss

D the role of its forests in climate change

解析：选C。C 推理判断题。第五段第二句引出费拉罗的研究：他想了解印度尼西亚的扶贫计划（即上文的CCT计划）是否影响森林砍伐。第六段第一句指出其研究方法（根据卫星数据分析了该国七千多个林村的年度林木减少情况）及研究发现（扶贫计划与森林砍伐的变化有关）。综合可知，此项研究意在探究CCT计划与森林减少的关联，故选C。

4.According to Ferraro, the CCT program in Indonesia is most valuable in that _________.

A it will benefit other Asian countries

B it will reduce regional inequality

C it can protect the environment

D it can boost grain production

解析：选C。C 观点态度题。文末句引述了费拉罗对CCT计划价值的看法：该计划即使没有减贫效果，也有利于减少森林砍伐，而减少森林砍伐有利于应对二氧化碳排放问题，单就这一方面的价值就超越了该扶贫计划的成本。由此可知，费拉罗认为CCT计划有巨大环保价值（即可以通过减少森林砍伐缓解气候变化），故选C。

5.What is the text centered on?

A The effects of a program.

B The debates over a program.

C The process of a study.

D The transferability of a study.

解析：选A。A 主旨大意题。本文首段先点明全文主旨（印尼的一项扶贫计划有助于减少森林砍伐，即有环保作用），随后第二段详述印尼实施的扶贫计划（即CCT计划），第三、四段转而阐述“扶贫可能与环保相矛盾”这一传统看法；第五至末段围绕Ferraro的研究展开论述，指出印尼的扶贫计划实际上有环保作用（呼应开篇主旨）。综合可知，本文意在论述一项扶贫计划（CCT计划）所带来的环保效果，故选A。