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
医学
Back in 1896, the Swedish scientist Svante Arrhenius realized that by burning coal we were adding carbon dioxide to the air, and
Back in 1896, the Swedish scientist Svante Arrhenius realized that by burning coal we were adding carbon dioxide to the air, and
admin
2018-02-26
35
问题
Back in 1896, the Swedish scientist Svante Arrhenius realized that by burning coal we were adding carbon dioxide to the air, and that this would warm the Earth. But he mentioned the issue only in passing (顺便地) , for his calculations suggested it would not become a problem for thousands of years. Others thought that the oceans would soak up any extra CO
2
, so there was nothing much to worry about.
That this latter argument has persisted to this day in some quarters highlights our species’ propensity (倾向) to underestimate the scale of our impact on the planet. Even the Earth’s vast oceans cannot suck up CO
2
as quickly as we can produce it, and we now know the stored CO
2
is acidifying the oceans, a problem in itself.
Now a handful of researchers are warning that energy sources we normally think of as innocuous could affect the planet’s climate too. If we start to extract immense amounts of power from the wind, for instance, it will have an impact on how warmth and water move around the planet, and thus on temperatures and rainfall.
Just to be clear, no one is suggesting we should stop building wind farms on the basis of this risk. Aside from the huge uncertainties about the climatic effects of extracting power from the wind, our present and near-term usage is far too tiny to make any difference. For the moment, any negative consequences on the climate are massively outweighed by the effects of pumping out even more CO
2
. That poses by far the greater environmental threat; weaning ourselves off fossil fuels should remain the priority.
Even so, now it is the time to start thinking about the long-term effects of the alternative energy sources we are turning to. Those who have already started to look at these issues report weary, indifferent or even hostile reactions to their work.
That’s understandable, but disappointing. These effects may be inconsequential, in which case all that will have been wasted is some research time that may well yield interesting insights anyway. Or they may turn out to be sharply negative, in which case the more notice we have, the better. It would be unfortunate to put it mildly, to spend countless trillions replacing fossil-fuel energy infrastructure (基础建设) only to discover that its successor (替代物) is also more damaging than it need be.
These climatic effects may even be beneficial. The first, tentative models suggest that extracting large amounts of energy from high-altitude jet streams would cool the planet, counteracting the effects of rising greenhouse gases. It might even be possible to build an energy infrastructure that gives us a degree of control over the weather: turning off wind turbines here, capturing more of the sun’s energy there.
We may also need to rethink our long-term research priorities. The sun is ultimately the only source of energy that doesn’t end up altering the planet’s energy balance. So the best bet might be invest heavily in improving solar technology and energy storage—rather than in efforts to harness, say, nuclear fusion.
For the moment, all of this remains supposition (推测) . But our species has a tendency to myopia. We have nothing to lose, and everything to gain by taking the long view for a change.
It can be concluded from the passage that we need to take the long view on______.
选项
A、human existence on the planet
B、humanity’s energy supplies
C、our environmental threats
D、our tendency to myopia
答案
C
解析
主旨题。全文主旨为人类在能源使用问题上一直以来的短视(myopia)倾向(propensity),因此总是低估环境破坏带来的威胁,因此作者建议我们对take the long view(长远观点)的对象应该是C。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/6xT3777K
本试题收录于:
医学博士外语题库考研分类
0
医学博士外语
考研
相关试题推荐
Justbeforedawnwereceivedacallthatanunresponsiveinfantwasbeingbroughtbyemergencymedicalservicestoourhospital.
ManyCanadiansenjoytheluxuryofalargeamountoflivingspace.Canadaisvast,andthehomesarelargeaccordingtothestan
A、ProfessorsintheUnitedStatesareverybusy.B、ProfessorsintheU.S.havesomeotherdutiesbesidesteaching.C、Professors
Inasocietywhereallaspectsofourlivesaredictatedbyscientificadvancesintechnology,scienceistheessenceofourexi
Inasocietywhereallaspectsofourlivesaredictatedbyscientificadvancesintechnology,scienceistheessenceofourexi
A、Discontinueallthemedications.B、TrynewmedicineandthenhaveaCTscan.C、TakeaCTscanbeforemedication.D、HaveaCTs
Duringthepast30yearsorso,healthcarehasincreasinglybecomeaformofbusiness.Inaddition,theenvironmentsurroundin
Appliedresearch,undertakentosolvespecificpracticalproblems,hasanimmediateattractivenessbecausetheresultscanbese
A、Turnonthetelevision.B、Changethechannelimmediatelyforthewoman.C、Continuewatchingthenatureprogram.D、Checktosee
A、Thedevelopmentofcement.B、Theuseforcement.C、Variousconstructionmaterial.D、Cement-productioncountries.A显然,本篇短文讲的是水泥
随机试题
蓄电池的容量单位为_______,常用的容量有额定容量和储备容量,影响容量的因素有:放电电流、电解液密度和电解液温度。
A.地高辛B.奎尼丁C.二者均可D.二者均不可
肋骨骨折是以
用于预防、治疗、诊断人的疾病,有目的地调节人的生理机能并规定有适应症或者功能主治、用法和用量的物质是药品成份的含量不符合国家药品标准的是
建设管理费以()为基数乘以建设管理费费率计算。
期末结账前,各损益类科目余额如下表所示:要求:编制期末结转损益类和本年利润科目的会计分录;假设企业所得税税率是25%,无纳税调整事项,计算应交所得税额并编制相关会计分录。结转本年利润:借:________贷:________
出口口岸()经营单位()
集萤映雪:凿壁借光
杜鹃:映山红
Howoldwastheshoe?
最新回复
(
0
)