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  3. The biosphere is the name biologists give to the sort of skin on the surface of this planet that is inhabitable by living organi

The biosphere is the name biologists give to the sort of skin on the surface of this planet that is inhabitable by living organi

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问题     The biosphere is the name biologists give to the sort of skin on the surface of this planet that is inhabitable by living organisms. Most land creatures occupy only the interface between the atmosphere and the land; birds extend their range for a few hundred feet into the atmosphere; burrowing invertebrates such as earthworms may reach a few yards into the soil but rarely penetrate farther unless it has been recently disturbed by men. Fish cover a wider range, from just beneath the surface of the sea to those depths of greater than a mile inhabited by specialized creatures. Fungi and bacteria are plentiful in the atmosphere to a height of about half a mile, blown there by winds from the lower air. Balloon exploration of the stratosphere as long ago as 1936 indicated that moulds and bacteria could be found at heights of several miles, recently the USA’ s National Aeronautics and Space Administration has detected them, in decreasing numbers, at heights up to eighteen feet, compared with 50 to 100 per cubic foot at two to six miles(the usual altitude of jet aircraft), and they are almost certainly in an inactive state. Marine bacteria have been detected at the bottom of the deep Pacific trench, sometimes as deep as seven miles; they are certainly not inactive. Living microbes have also been obtained on land from cores of rock drilled(while prospecting for oil)at depths of as much as 1,200 feet. Thus we can say, disregarding the exploits of astronauts, that the biosphere has a maximum thickness of about twenty-five miles. Active living processes occur only within a compass of about seven miles, in the sea, on land and in the lower atmosphere, but the majority of living creatures live within a zone of a hundred feet or so. If this planet were scaled down to the size of an orange, the biosphere, at its extreme width, would occupy the thickness of the orange-colored skin, excluding the pith.
    In this tiny zone of our planet takes place the multitude of chemical and biological activities that we call life. The way in which living creatures interact with each other, depend on each other or compete with each other, has fascinated thinkers since the beginning of recorded history. Living things exist in a fine balance which is often taken for granted—for, from a practical point of view, things could not be otherwise. Yet it is a source of continual amazement to scientists because of its intricacy and delicacy. The balance of nature is obvious most often when it is disturbed, yet even here it can seem remarkable how quickly it readjusts itself to a new balance after a disturbance. The science of ecology—the study of the interaction of organisms with their environment—has grown up to deal with the minutiae of the balance of nature.
According to the passage, the "biosphere" is the layer on the earth’ s surface______.
选项 A、where the atmosphere meets the sea
B、in which birds, fish and animals would die
C、in which plant and animal life can exist
D、in which earthworms and other invertebrates can live
答案C
解析 第一段第一句对生物圈进行了释义，指出生物圈是生物学家们对一个表层的命名，这个表层is inhabitable by living organisms“能够被活着的有机体居住”，选项C的“plant和animal life”全面涵盖了living organisms，因此选项C正确。选项D概括过于片面；选项B明显错误；选项A在文中并未叙述。
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