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  3. It is not quite Benidorm yet, but Antarctica has become an increasingly popular destination for the more adventurous tourist. In

It is not quite Benidorm yet, but Antarctica has become an increasingly popular destination for the more adventurous tourist. In

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问题     It is not quite Benidorm yet, but Antarctica has become an increasingly popular destination for the more adventurous tourist. In this year’s southern-hemisphere summer season, running from November to March, as many as 39,000 visitors are expected to make the trip from Tierra del Fuego, the nearest jump-ing-off point to the world’s emptiest continent. That amounts to a fourfold increase in a decade. Officials in both Chile and Argentina are getting increasingly worried about the risk of a fatal accident—"a new Titanic" as due Chilean naval officer puts it.
    Nobody has died so far, but there have been some near-collisions. In 2007 more than 150 people were evacuated when their ship, the Explorer, sank after hitting an iceberg near the South Shetland Islands. They were "very lucky with the weather", says Chile’s deputy minister for the navy, Carolina Echeverria. That was one of only two accidents last season, with a similar number the previous year and one so far this season.
    Help is usually not far away. Although cruise ships plan their route so as to keep out of each other’s sight, there are generally 20 to 30 boats heading to or from the Antarctic Peninsula on any one day. Even so, surviving an accident is something of a lottery. It depends partly on the weather. Not all the ships have the covered lifeboats recommended for polar conditions. Small boats, like the Explorer, have a better chance of being able to transfer their passengers if they get into difficulties. But some cruise ships visiting Antarctica now carry almost 3,000 passengers—more than ten times the limit that offers a reasonable chance of timely rescue, according to Chile’s navy.
    The navy is annoyed about the cost of patrols, rescue operations and cleaning up fuel spills. It wants legally binding rules, backed by penalties, for Antarctic cruise ships. But that is hard to achieve. Under the 1959 Antarctic Treaty no country can exercise sovereignty over any part of the continent and its waters are international. Some rules on tourism have been written under the treaty: cruise ships carrying over 500 passengers cannot make landings, for example. But these are not legally enforceable. Neither will be rules being debated by the United Nations’ International Maritime Organization on safety requirements.
    Some tour operators say they would welcome tighter regulation and higher safety standards. Others insist that safety is already adequate. The world recession may place a temporary brake on the trade. But Chilean officials reckon that the trend to big cruise ships, with their cheaper fares, will resume once recovery comes. If so, a tragedy may be only a matter of time.
The Explorer is mentioned in Paragraph 2 to show that
选项 A、it’s perfectly safe to visit Antarctica.
B、the weather will help people survive.
C、nobody has died from accidents so far.
D、accidents occur occasionally in this area.
答案D
解析 推理判断题。文中举出“探索者号”的事例总结说明了近三年以来事故发生的情况，因此D项为正确答案。
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