托福听力official32 The word “despite” in the passage is closest in meaning to 答案解析

despite 尽管,；对应even though 尽管/即使。A fertile, plowed field is rapidly invaded by a large variety of weeds, whereas a neighboring construction site from which the soil has been compacted or removed to expose a coarse, infertile parent material may remain virtually free of vegetation for many months or even years despite receiving the same input of seeds as the plowed field.这句话的主要逻辑是whereas引导的转折，转折前后内容对立，那么despite必定不能是这种对立关系矛盾，所以就可以尝试将4个选项代入，看看哪一个是转折关系成立，且语义连贯。只有C选项最合适，意思是“尽管收到了同样多的种子，干涸不肥沃的土地上可能还是没有植物”和转折前的肥沃土地的状态形成了鲜明的对立关系。