【高校英語】共通テストの英文解釈 vol.1074≪2012年第4問A≫

□--■--□--■--□--■--□--------------------------------------------◆ 　　【高校英語】共通テストの英文解釈 vol.1074 　　　　　≪2012年第4問A≫　　月・水・土発行　　2021/8/14 配信 ◆----------------------------------------□--■--□--■--□--■--□--■ 目次・・・■　問題　■　全文訳　■　解答・解説　■　語句　■　解答一覧 ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 今回取り上げる問題は、2012年大学入試センター試験英語第４問Ａです。 ■　問題 第４問　次の問い(Ａ・Ｂ)に答えよ。 Ａ　次の文章と図およびグラフを読み、下の問い(問１～３)に対する答えとして [ 35 ]～[ 37 ]に入れるのに最も適当なものを、それぞれ下の{1}～{4}のうちから 一つずつ選べ。 Wood used in the construction of homes must be stable. That is, it must not change size too much. But wood from a tree that has just been cut down will shrink considerable over time. This shrinkage is cause by moisture (water) within the wood escaping into the atmosphere. The drying process of wood is known as "seasoning." There are actually two ways to season wood. One way is to allow the natural drying process to occur. The other is to put it in a special oven called a kiln. Kiln drying is much faster than the natural method. During the seasoning process, water is removed from the wood until the moisture content of the wood is approximately equal to the humidity of the air around it. These changes in size due to shrinkage are not uniform because changes depend on the kinds of trees, the way trees are cut, and the surrounding conditions. It is also important to note that even after seasoning, there will always be some small changes in size due to changes in the humidity of the surrounding air. For example, last year, I used a 230 mm wide piece of eastern white pine wood to make a cabinet door. It changed in width across the grain (Figure 1), shrinking by 2mm from the original in the winter and expanding by 3 mm from the original in the summer. The moisture content of wood changes according to the seasons even when it is kept indoors. Wood is often painted to prevent sharp changes in moisture content, which cause expansion and shrinkage. However, no paint can completely block the passage of moisture. Paint only acts to slow down the transfer of moisture to or from the wood. As illustrated in the graph (Figure 2), the moisture content of unpainted wood inside a house may change according to the seasons from 4% to about 14%, while the moisture content of a painted piece of kiln-dried wood in the same house will only vary around the 8% line. Wood that has been naturally dried to around 13% moisture content and then painted will continue to dry gradually until it reaches about the same percentage of moisture as painted kiln-dried wood. http://www.a-ema.com/img/center2012eng4af1.png http://www.a-ema.com/img/center2012eng4af2.png 問１　Between the winter and summer, what was the difference in width across the grain of the wood used in the cabinet door? [ 35 ] {1} 2mm {2} 3mm {3} 5mm {4} 8mm 問２　Which of the lines in the graph (Figure 2) represent painted wood? [ 36 ] {1} A and B {2} A and C {3} A, B, and C {4} B and C 問３　Which of the following statements is true? [ 37 ] {1} Kiln-dried wood does not later change size due to the humidity in the air. {2} Oven-dried and naturally dried wood are both influenced by the surrounding air. {3} The moisture content of painted wood does not change. {4} Wood can be "seasoned" by painting it. ※マーク部分の□は[ ]で、マル１は{1}で表記しています。