49 According to this passage, when are people most likely interested in the study of drought?
(A) In times of war.
(B) After an earthquake.
(C) Right in the midst of water shortage.
(D) At the time when both trees and people grow complacent.

When provided with continuous nourishment營養；養分, trees, like people, grow “complacent自滿的，自鳴得意”—the word tree-ring scientists use to describe trees like those on the floor of the Colorado River Valley, whose roots tap into thick  reservoir水庫；蓄水池 of moist soil泥土，土壤.

complacent自滿的，自鳴得意 trees aren’t much use for learning about climate history, because they pack裝進, （把…）on wide new rings of wood even in dry years.

To find trees that feel the same climatic pulse規律跳動, 脈搏 as the river, trees whose rings widen and narrow from year to year with the river itself, scientists have to climb up the steep不平緩的, （斜坡）陡的  rocky slope斜坡, 山坡 above the valley and look for gnarled（尤指因為年老或壞天氣的侵害而）粗糙的，扭曲的 ugly trees, the kind that logger樵夫 ignore.

For some reason such “sensitive” trees seem to live longer than the complacent自滿的，自鳴得意 ones.

“Maybe you can get too much of a good thing,” says Dave Meko, a tree-ring scientist who has been studying the climate history of the western United States for decades.

Tree-ring fieldwork is hardly expensive, but during the relatively wet 1980s and early ’90s, Meko found it difficult to raise even the modest funds for his work.

“You don’t generate interest to study drought久旱，旱災 unless you’re in a drought,” he says.

When provided with continuous nourishment, trees, like people, grow “complacent”—the word tree-ring scientists use to describe trees like those on the floor of the Colorado River Valley, whose roots tap into thick reservoirs of moist soil. Complacent trees aren’t much use for learning about climate history, because they pack on wide new rings of wood even in dry years. To find trees that feel the same climatic pulses as the river, trees whose rings widen and narrow from year to year with the river itself, scientists have to climb up the steep, rocky slopes above the valley and look for gnarled, ugly trees, the kind that loggers ignore. For some reason such “sensitive” trees seem to live longer than the complacent ones. “Maybe you can get too much of a good thing,” says Dave Meko, a tree-ring scientist who has been studying the climate history of the western United States for decades. Tree-ring fieldwork is hardly expensive, but during the relatively wet 1980s and early ’90s, Meko found it difficult to raise even the modest funds for his work. “You don’t generate interest to study drought unless you’re in a drought,” he says.

當提供連續的滋養時，樹木就像人一樣變得「滿足」——這是樹木年輪科學家用來描述科羅拉多河谷地上的樹木的詞語，這些樹木的根部深入濕潤土壤的厚層。滿足的樹木對於了解氣候歷史沒有太大幫助，因為它們即使在乾旱年份也會形成寬闊的新年輪。為了找到感受到與河流相同氣候脈動的樹木，即那些年輪因河流本身的年份而變寬或變窄的樹木，科學家必須攀登上山谷上方的陡峭崎嶇斜坡，尋找扭曲、醜陋的樹木，這是伐木工人所忽略的那種。由於某種原因，這樣的「敏感」樹木似乎比滿足的樹木更長壽。數十年來一直研究美國西部氣候歷史的樹木年輪科學家戴夫·米科表示：“也許你會得到太多好東西。”樹木年輪的野外工作成本並不高，但在相對潮濕的1980年代和90年代初，米科發現很難籌集到即使是相對少額的資金用於他的工作。他說：“除非你身處乾旱地區，否則你不會引起對研究乾旱的興趣。”

重點單字之中文翻譯：

• complacent: 滿足的
• tree-ring scientists: 樹木年輪科學家
• reservoirs: 水庫
• moist: 濕潤的
• climatic pulses: 氣候脈動
• widen: 變寬
• narrow: 變窄
• gnarled: 扭曲的
• loggers: 伐木工人
• sensitive: 敏感的
• generate: 引起、產生
• drought: 乾旱