As the 1999 warin Yugoslavia ended, doors to a cave dug deep underneath opened, and nearly adozen unharmed MIG-21 fighters emerged to retreat from the area. The United States had repeatedly tried to destroy this series of tunnels and caves with GBU-28s,5,000-pound precision-guided bombs developed during the Gulf War. The bestthose bombs could do was seal off entryways, but the MIGs, sheltered muchfarther down, were untouched.

The BLU-118 isperfect for attacking confined underground spaces like tunnels and caves. Butlike the GBU-28, the BLU-118 is virtually impotent against solidbarriers. If the weapon hits rock, highly compressed dirt, or a blockade, itpenetrates only about a half-dozen feet. The rock absorbs the blows before theyreach the underground hideout. In Afghanistan, numerous soldiers and theirweapons survived Tora Bora attack unharmed.

The Pentagon’slimited success in taking out underground hideouts even will today mostpowerful bombs has sent a shiver through the military. It is said thatthere are more than 10,000 underground caves in dozens of countries around theworld. Many of them, in places like Iran, North Korea, and Russia, are sheltering aircraft and basic weapons. But about l, 000 of these caves andtunnels are considered highly strategic because they’re suspected of harboringweapons of mass destruction, long-range missiles, or control centers to protectkey leaders during an attack. The Defense Department is certain, for instance,that Iraq is hiding chemical and biological weapons underneath its vast desertsand that North Korea has nuclear materials buried below its mountains. What’smore, because of huge improvements in tunneling capabilities, thousands ofadditional deeply placed, unreachable caves are expected to be built in thenext decade.

Faced with theprospect of warfare against terrorist organizations with weapons of massdestruction tucked in their basements, the Pentagon has begun to consider thepreviously unthinkable: developing specially designed nuclear weapons forattacking buried caves and tunnels. These weapons would ideally do their damagewhile creating only limited nuclear fallout above ground. Such a move wouldrepresent the most significant rewriting of U. S. nuclear strategy in decades,because its intended purpose violates the two cornerstones of current policy:to use nuclear weapons only as a last resort and never to use them againstnon-nuclear nations.

1．From the first paragraph, we can inferthat ______.

A. MIG fighterswere very strong

B. the caves dugdeep underneath were hard to find

C. U. S. bombing failed to achieve its purpose

D. the Gulf Warproduced the GBU-28

2．The underlined word “impotent” in thesecond paragraph is closest in meaning to ______.

A. ineffective

B. soft

C. important

D. essential

3．The phrase “has sent a shiver throughthe military” (in paragraph 3) can be replaced by “______.”

A. has made themilitary cold—hearted

B. hasdisappointed the military

C. has weakenedthe military

D. has greatlyshocked the military

4．Which of the following is NOT mentionedas the use of underground caves?

A. Hiding planesand basic weapons.

B. Protectingrefugees.

C. Harboringweapons of mass destruction.

D. Shelteringkey leaders.

5．With the huge improvements in tunnelingcapabilities, ______.

A. fewer cavesare expected to be built in the next decade

B. caves arebarely accessible in the following ten years

C.better-protected caves will be built in the following ten years

D. caves will bepopular with common people in the next decade

6．Is it reasonable for the U. S. to use nuclear weapons to attack caves and tunnels?

A. Yes, becausenuclear fallout is limited to the nuclear powers.

B. Yes, becausethey can destroy the hideouts of terrorists.

C. No, becausethey will kill a lot of innocent people.

D. No, becauseit is against the basis of current policy.

【答案与解析】

注：Tora Bora是阿富汗一处山区的地名，据说9.1l之后本·拉登就藏在这个地区。

1．C 文章第一段指出，美军的轰炸结果是“seal off entryways, but the MIGs, sheltered much farther down, wereuntouched”，即藏在深处的米格战斗机却完好无损。故轰炸是失败的。

2．A 文章第二段讲到BLU-118型导弹时说“like the GBU-28”，由第一段的失败我们可以推断此处“impotent”的意思应该是“无能为力的”。故答案为A。

3．D 第三段第一句作者说：美国五角大楼用当今威力最强的炸弹来对付隐藏在地下的敌人，也没有多大的收效，这使美国军队感到震惊。

4．B 文章第三段提到地洞的作用有“harboring weapons of mass destruction, long-range missiles”、“control centers to protect keyleaders”，并没有提及选项B“保护难民”。

5．C 第三段最后一句作者说：此外，由于开挖隧道的能力进步很快，在未来的十年里，将有成千个更深的、导弹打不到的深洞建成。

6．D 最后一段第一句后半部作者说：…美国的五角大楼（国防部）正在开始考虑以前不敢想的事情，即研制用于攻击地洞和隧道的特制原子弹。本段最后一句作者又说：这一提议将重写美国几十年来的核政策，因为它的目的违反了现行政策的两个最基本的原则：即核武器只能在最后不得已时才能使用和永远不能对无核国家使用核武器的原则。 9hPu4mXLlA20zPog4kxWSOQi/Vqhi4k2VG/93mNbDnRAV2ImLmVm5ad371U11Xsx