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
Near the border between Florida and Georgia, lives a rare tree called a stinking cedar. Once common, Torreya taxi folia seems to
Near the border between Florida and Georgia, lives a rare tree called a stinking cedar. Once common, Torreya taxi folia seems to
admin
2017-12-31
41
问题
Near the border between Florida and Georgia, lives a rare tree called a stinking cedar. Once common, Torreya taxi folia seems to have got stuck in this tiny pocket as the continent warmed after the last ice age. It cannot migrate northward because the surrounding soils are too poor. Attacked by fungi, just a few hundred stinking cedars remain there. Rising temperatures now threaten to kill them off entirely.
Spying a looming extinction, a group of people is engaged in a kind of ecological vigilantism. The self-styled "Torreya Guardians" collect thousands of seeds a year and plant them in likely places across the eastern United States. Stinking cedar turns out to thrive in North Carolina. The Torreya Guardians are now trying to plant it in colder states like Ohio and Michigan as well. By the time the trees are fully grown, they reason, temperatures might be ideal there. Some are dubious. The Torreya Guardians were at first seen as "eco-terrorists spreading an invasive species", remembers Connie Barlow, the group’s chief propagandist. She rejects that charge, pointing out that she is only moving the tree within America. She also thinks that drastic action of this kind will soon be widespread: "We are the radical edge of what is going to become a mainstream action. "
Conservation is nearly always backward-looking. It aims to keep plants and animals not just where they are but where they were before humans meddled. The only real debate is over how far to turn back the clock. Scotland and Wales have been heavily grazed for centuries, giving them a bald beauty. Should they now be reforested, or "rewilded"? Should Wolves be encouraged to reclaim their ancient territory in America’ s Rocky Mountains? In a rapidly warming world, this attitude is becoming outdated. No part of the Earth can be returned to a natural state that prevailed before human interference, because humans are so rapidly changing the climate. Conservation is being overtaken by fast-moving reality. In future the question will no longer be how to preserve species in particular places but how to move them around to ensure their survival.
Global warming has already set off mass migrations. Having crossed the Baltic Sea, purple emperor butterflies are fluttering northward through Scandinavia in search of cooler temperatures. Trees and animals are climbing mountains. The most spectacular migrations have taken place in the oceans, says Elvira Poloczanska of Australia’s national science agency. Many sea creatures can move quickly, which is just as well: in the oceans it is generally necessary to travel farther than on land to find lower temperatures. Phytoplankton populations are moving by up to 400km a decade. Not all plants and animals can make it to new homes, though. Some will be hemmed in by farmland, cities or coasts. Animals that live in one mountain range might be unable to cross a hot plain to reach higher mountains. And many will find that the species they eat move at a different speed from their own: carnivorous mammals can migrate more quickly than rodents, which in turn migrate faster than trees. The creatures that already inhabit the poles and the highest mountains cannot move to cooler climes and might be done for.
It is not clear that climate change has yet driven any species to extinction. Frogs native to Central and South America have been wiped out by a fungus to which they may or may not have become more vulnerable as a result of changing temperatures. Yet the speed at which species’ habitats are shifting suggests they are already under great pressure—which will only increase in the next few decades. Chris Thomas, an evolutionary biologist at the University of York in England, has estimated that by 2050 between 18% and 35% of species could be on the path to extinction.
A few years ago Mr. Thomas helped transport hundreds of butterflies to Durham, at least 50km north of their usual range, and released them into the cooler air. The butterflies fared well. These days he thinks bigger. Why not move creatures farther, he suggests, to places where they have never lived? He suggests several candidates for "assisted colonization" to Britain. The Caucasian wingnut tree, which clings on in a few moist parts of Turkey and Iran, could probably be planted widely. De Prunner’s ringlet, an endangered butterfly native to southern Europe, feeds on grasses that are common in Britain. The Iberian lynx, an endangered cat, would find lots of rabbits to eat. Britain is a highly suitable ark for other countries’ endangered species: thanks to the Gulf Stream, its climate is expected to remain broadly constant over the next few decades.
The notion of deliberately moving species a long way from home is starting to look a little less heretical. The International Union for Conservation of Nature, which shapes biodiversity policy, recently revised its guidelines, apparently giving a slight nod to such relocations. It insists upon great caution. But "if you have too much risk assessment, nothing will happen, and these species will go extinct," says Mr. Thomas.
Which of the following is NOT implied in the statement "Conservation is nearly always backward-looking. "(para. 3)?
选项
A、Conservation is more or less out-dated.
B、Conservation is only out of wild imagination.
C、Conservation has its limitation in saving endangered species.
D、Conservation should be replaced by more drastic action.
答案
B
解析
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/9MSO777K
本试题收录于:
NAETI高级口译笔试题库外语翻译证书(NAETI)分类
0
NAETI高级口译笔试
外语翻译证书(NAETI)
相关试题推荐
Howmuchphysicalactivityshouldteenagersdo,andhowcantheygetenough?Manyteenagersspendalotoftimebeingsedent
Theeraofdividedgovernmentbegins,inauspiciously.Willthepresidentbeabletoseethewoodforthesubpoenas?Isuspectth
InDecember,WaymoLLC,theleadingdriverlesscarcompany,broughtouttheworld’sfirstcommercialrobo-taxiservice.Butfor
AlthoughothernationscontributedtoNorthSeapollution,muchofthecontaminationwastracedbacktoBritain.
Tourismrepresentsakindofpopularandpleasantactivitythatcombinessightseeing,recreationandhealthcare.Tourismhasbe
InterpretthefollowingpassagesfromChineseintoEnglish.Startinterpretingatthesignalandstopatthesignal.Youmaytak
Accordingtothepassage,whathasmadeAmerica’ssystemofhighereducationagreatsuccess?
A、itcreatedalargenumberofjobsforindividualsB、itcouldspeedupthebuildingofnewhousesdramaticallyC、itmeantmore
I’mabouttogetintoaflyingmetalboxinSaoPaulo,andgetoffitinMiami.Thissortofabruptrelocationisstillprettyr
GolaxyisanotherartificialintelligenceGoprogramdevelopedbyGooglewhichwillcompeteagainstKeJieinApril.
随机试题
文化性组织属于()
羟甲戊二酰辅酶A还原酶(HMG-CoA还原酶)抑制剂的基本结构如下图,3,5-二羟基羧酸是产生酶抑制活性的必需结构,含有内酯的化合物须经水解才能起效,可看作前体药物,代表药物是洛伐他汀。卡马西平与洛伐他汀合用,可以影响洛伐他汀的代谢,使洛伐他汀的
()是由金融媒介通过吸收存款、存单等形式积聚社会分散资金,再以贷款等形式提供给资金私有制单位,实现资金融通的过程。
业主向承包人授标前(或签订合同前),可以要求承包人对施工方案进行补充、修改或做出说明,以便符合业主的要求。在授标后(或签订合同后)业主为了加快工期、提高质量等要求变更施工方案,由此所引起的费用增加( )。
以下关于票据的叙述中,正确的包括()。
下列关于期货交易所监督和管理的说法,正确的有()。
下列不属于成长型基金与收入型基金区别的是()。
数理科学和中国山水画比较这两个从表面看来好像丝毫不搭界的人类文化[]领域,是为了更好地把握数学[]的实质。中国山水画主张画家周览四海名川大山以自广。——只有先知天地之壮观,而后方能激发志气;只有罗五岳于胸中,才能收万象
[*]
VideogameshavebecomeincreasinglypopularinbomarcadesandtheaverageAmericanhome.Peopleofallagesandfromallwalks
最新回复
(
0
)