We all know(or should know)by now that the carbon dioxide we produce when we burn fossil fuels and cut down forests is the plane

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问题     We all know(or should know)by now that the carbon dioxide we produce when we burn fossil fuels and cut down forests is the planet’s single largest contributor to global warming. It persists in the atmosphere for centuries. Reducing these emissions by as much as half by 2050 is essential to avoid disastrous consequences by the end of this century, and we must begin immediately.
    But this is a herculean undertaking, both technically and politically. There is, however, a short-term strategy. We can slow this warming quickly by cutting emissions of four other climate pollutants: black carbon, a component of soot; methane, the main component of natural gas; lower-level ozone, a main ingredient of urban smog; and hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs, which are used as coolants. They account for as much as 40 percent of current warming.
    We can reduce black carbon emissions significantly in the next few decades by using particulate filters on cars and trucks and switching to low-sulfur diesel. By employing those strategies, California, for instance, has cut the warming effect from diesel emissions by nearly half since the late 1980s. In addition, we can further reduce emissions of black carbon and carbon monoxide(which produces lower-level ozone)in the developing world simply by turning to efficient biomass cook stoves instead of using traditional mud stoves, by replacing kerosene lamps in villages with solar lamps, and by deploying modern brick kilns.
    Methane emissions can be cut by nearly a third by reducing leaks from gas pipes, coal mines and hydraulic fracturing, by capturing methane from waste dumps, water treatment plants and manure, and by cutting emissions from rice paddies.
    These reductions in methane, carbon monoxide and volatile organic compounds would also significantly reduce lower-level ozone, which is another important climate-warming pollutant that is formed by the interaction of sunlight with other short-lived pollutants.
    And HFCs, which are widely used in refrigerators, can be replaced with readily available climate-friendly refrigerants. Nearly 100 ozone-depleting chemicals have been phased out under the Montreal Protocol, an international treaty that took effect in 1989, and more than 100 countries support a shift to the safer HFC alternatives. Phasing down HFCs would provide climate protection many times greater than the current Kyoto climate treaty—the equivalent of about 100 billion tons of carbon dioxide by 2050.
    Unlike carbon dioxide, these pollutants are short-lived in the atmosphere. If we shtop emitting them, they will disappear in a matter of weeks to a few decades. These reductions would also prevent an estimated two to four million deaths from air pollution and avoid billions of dollars of crop loss annually, according to a study commissioned by the United Nations Environment Program and the World Meteorological Organization.
Cutting emissions of which one of the following pollutants dose not belong to the short-term strategy to deal with global warming?

选项 A、black carbon
B、carbon dioxide
C、methane and lower-level ozone
D、HFCs

答案B

解析 本题考查考生对文章主要内容的把握。在文章的前两段,作者在探讨治理气候变暖这一全球难题的时候,别出心裁的指出,减少二氧化碳的排放虽然是最关键的,但是却是一项艰巨的任务,随即提出了一项短期战略——减少其他四种污染物的排放:碳黑、甲醇、低层臭氧,以及氢氟碳化合物,或称为HFC。因此ACD均属于短期战略,而减少二氧化碳正是作者所说长期艰巨的任务,因此B项错误。需要注意的是此类题目考查的是“which one is NOT…”,通常难度都不大,都可以从文中直接找出答案,而看清题目是解决这类问题的关键。
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