首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
The Truth about the Environment A)For many environmentalists, the world seems to be getting worse. They have developed a hit-lis
The Truth about the Environment A)For many environmentalists, the world seems to be getting worse. They have developed a hit-lis
admin
2014-12-26
54
问题
The Truth about the Environment
A)For many environmentalists, the world seems to be getting worse. They have developed a hit-list our main fears: that natural resources are running out; that the population is ever growing, leaving less and less to eat; that species are becoming extinct in vast numbers, and that the planet’ s air and water are becoming ever more polluted.
B)But a quick look at the facts shows a different picture. First, energy and other natural resources have become more abundant, not less so, since the book ’ The Limits to Growth’ was published in 1972 by a group of scientists. Second, more food is now produced per head of the world’ s population than at any time in history. Fewer people are starving.
C)Third, although species are indeed becoming extinct, only about 0.7% of them are expected to disappear in the next 50 years, not 25-50%, as has so often been predicted. And finally, most forms of environmental pollution either appear to have been exaggerated, or are transient-associated with the early phase of industrialisation and therefore best cured not by restricting economic growth, but by accelerating it. One form of pollution—the release of greenhouse gases that causes global warming-does appear to be a phenomenon that is going to extend well into our future, but its total impact is unlikely to pose a devastating problem. A bigger problem may well turn out to be an inappropriate response to it.
D)Yet opinion polls suggest that many people nurture the belief that environmental standards are declining and four factors seem to cause this disjunction between perception and reality.
E)One is the lopsidedness built into scientific research. Scientific funding goes mainly to areas with many problems. That may be wise policy, but it will also create an impression that many more potential problems exist than is the case.
F)Secondly, environmental groups need to be noticed by the mass media. They also need to keep the money rolling in. Understandably, perhaps, they sometimes overstate their arguments. In 1997, for example, the World Wide Fund for nature issued a press release entitled: "Two third of the world’ s forest lost forever". The truth turns out to be nearer 20%.
G)Though these groups are run overwhelmingly by selfless folk, they nevertheless share many of the characteristics of scepticism to environmental lobbying as they do to lobby groups in other fields. A trade organisation arguing for, say, weaker pollution controls is instantly seen as self-interested. Yet a green organisation opposing such a weakening is seen as altruistic, even if an impartial view of the controls in question might suggest they are doing more harm than good.
H)A third source of confusion is the attitude of the media. People are clearly more curious about bad news than good. Newspapers and broadcasters are there to provide what the public wants. That, however, can lead to significant distortions of perception. An example was America’s encounter with EI Nino in 1997 and 1998.This climatic phenomenon was accused of working tourism, causing allergies, melting the ski-slopes and causing 22 deaths.
I)However, according to an article in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, the damage it did was estimated at US$4 billion but the benefits amounted to some US$19 billion. These came from higher winter temperatures(which saved an estimated 850 lives, reduced heating costs and diminished spring floods caused by meltwaters).
J)The fourth factor is poor individual perception. People worry that the endless rise in the amount of stuff everyone throws away will cause the world to run out of places to dispose of waste. Yet, even if the America’s trash output continues to rise as it has done in the past, and even if the American population doubles by 2100, all the rubbish America produces through the entire 21st century will still take up only one-12,000th of the area of the entire United States.
K)So what of globe warming? As we know, carbon dioxide emissions are causing the planet to warm. The best estimates are that the temperatures will rise by 2 °C ~3 °C in this century, causing considerable problems, at a total cost of US$5,000 billion.
L)Despite the intuition that something drastic needs to be done about such a costly problem, economic analyses clearly show it will be far more expensive to cut carbon dioxide emissions radically than to pay the costs of adaptation to the increased temperature increase of 1.9 degrees. Or to put it another way, the temperature increase that the planet would have experienced in 2094 would be postponed to 2100.
M)So this does not prevent global warming, but merely buys the world six years. Yet the cost of reducing carbon dioxide emissions, for the United States alone, will be higher than the cost of solving the world’s single, most pressing health problem: providing universal access to clean drinking water and sanitation. Such measures would have experienced in 2094 would be postponed to 2100. So this does not prevent global warming, but merely buys and world six years. Yet the cost of reducing carbon dioxide emissions, for the United States alone, will be higher than the cost of solving the world’ s single, most pressing health problem: providing universal access to clean drinking water and sanitation. Such measures would avoid 2 million deaths every year, and prevent half a billion people from becoming seriously ill.
N)It is crucial that we look at the facts if we want to make the best possible decisions for the future. It may be costly to be overly optimistic—but more costly still to be too pessimistic.
Scientific funding is devoted to those fields involving many problems.
选项
答案
E
解析
根据关键词“scientific funding”定位于E段第二句,“Scientific fundinggoes mainly to areas with many problems.”意为,科学基金主要投入到存在许多问题的领域。与题干大意相符,故选E。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/0Km7777K
0
大学英语六级
相关试题推荐
A、Itrisksthehealthygrowthofchildren.B、Itmakesweddingstooexpensivetoenjoyfornewcouples.C、Itmakespeoplefeelwe
ABritishstudyhasfoundthatBvitaminscanreducebrainshrinkageinolderpeoplewithmildmemoryloss.It【B1】______thatBv
Themobilephoneissettobecomeoneofthecentraltechnologiesofthe21stcentury.Withinafewyears,themobilephonewill
Themobilephoneissettobecomeoneofthecentraltechnologiesofthe21stcentury.Withinafewyears,themobilephonewill
A、Peoplecaremoreaboutthequalityofabrand.B、Peoplearemorefashionawarenowadays.C、Theclothingindustryisgettingsl
A、Industrialdevelopment.B、Theirownhealth.C、Theirchildren’sfuture.D、Soundenvironment.A短文提到,我们把“提高工业化”作为我们首要目标。所以A正确。选项为
Lowlevelsofliteracyandnumeracyhaveadamagingimpactonalmosteveryaspectofadultlife,accordingtoasurveypublished
Lowlevelsofliteracyandnumeracyhaveadamagingimpactonalmosteveryaspectofadultlife,accordingtoasurveypublished
Don’tWasteOurOceans[A]Fortoolong,marinelifehasbeenlargelyopenforthetakingbyanyonepossessingthemeanstoexplo
随机试题
使い捨てのイメージが強い割り箸も、実は間伐材や切れ端で作られていることを知り、改めて環境問題の複雑さを________。
后张法预应力施工工艺有()工序。
商业信用的特点是()。
在现金流贴现模型中,如果NPV>0,意味着所有预期的现金流入的现值之和大于投资成本,股票价格被高估,因此购买这种股票可行。()
导游服务质量考核的ASK原则指的是()。
美国行为主义心理学家华生认为,人的发展完全是由环境决定的。这是一种外铄论观点。()
下列有关我国警察性质的描述正确的有( )。
感性运动是一种生物学现象,不同于向性运动向特定方向生长的特性,而是植物体受到不定向的外界刺激而引起的局部运动。通常有感光、感温、感震和感触等运动。根据上述定义,下列不属于感性运动的是()。
若有定义floatx=1.5;inta=1,b=3,c=2;,则正确的switch语句是
TheMonkeyKing_____oneofthemostpopularbooksforthosewhostudyinhighschools.
最新回复
(
0
)