Geography is the study of the relationship between people and the land. Geographers compare and contrast various places on the earth. But they also (51) beyond the individual places and consider the earth as a whole. The English word geography means "to describe the earth. " (52) geography books focus on a small area like a town or city. Others deal with a state, a region, a nation, or an (53) continent. Many geography books deal with the whole earth. Another (54) to divide the study of geography is to distinguish between physical geography and cultural geography. The former focuses on the natural world; the (55) starts with human beings and studies how human beings and their environment act (56) each other. But when geography is considered as a single subject, (57) branch can neglect the other. A geographer might be described as one who observes, records, and explains the (58) between places. If all places (59) alike, there would be little need for geographers. We know, however, that no two places are exactly the same. Geography, (60) is a point of view, a special way of looking at place.
55().
A.second
B.later
C.next
D.latter
参考答案：D
解析：
上句刚刚讲述了地理学被划分为自然地理学和文化地理学，下面接着对这两个分支学科作进一步的说明。在英语中，为了避免重复，对前面刚提到过的两个名词，后面再提及时，常用the former“前者”和the latter“后者”分别代替，所以此处用the latter代替前面的第二个名词cultural geography。