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
Despite decades of scientific research, no one yet knows how much damage human activity is doing to the environment. Humans are
Despite decades of scientific research, no one yet knows how much damage human activity is doing to the environment. Humans are
admin
2015-04-24
55
问题
Despite decades of scientific research, no one yet knows how much damage human activity is doing to the environment. Humans are thought to be responsible for a whole host of environmental problems, ranging from global warming to ozone depletion. What is not in doubt, however, is the devastating effect humans are having on the animal and plant life of the planet.
Currently, an estimated 50, 000 species become extinct every year. If this carries on, the impact on all living creatures is likely to be profound, says Dr. Nick Middleton, a geographer at Oxford University. " All species depend in some way on each other to survive. And the danger is that, if you remove one species from this very complex web of interrelationships, you have very little idea about the knock-on effects on the ecosystem. So, if you lose a key species, you might cause a whole cascade of other extinctions. "
Complicating matters is the fact that there are no obvious solutions to the problem. Unlike global warming and ozone depletion — which, if the political will was there, could be reduced by cutting gas emissions — preserving biodiversity remains an intractable problem.
The latest idea is " sustainable management" , which is seen as a practical and economical way of protecting species from extinction. This means humans should be able to use any species of animal or plant for their benefit, provided enough individuals of that species are left alive to ensure its continued existence.
For instance, instead of depending on largely ineffective laws against poaching, it gives local people a good economic reason to preserve plants and animals. In Zimbabwe, there is a sustainable management project to protect elephants. Foreign tourists pay large sums of money to kill these animals for sport. This money is then given to the inhabitants of the area where the hunting takes place. In theory, locals will be encouraged to protect elephants, instead of poaching them — or allowing others to poach them — because of the economic benefit involved.
This sounds like a sensible strategy, but it remains to be seen whether it will work. With corruption endemic in many developing countries, some observers are skeptical that the money will actually reach the people it is intended for. Others wonder how effective the locals will be at stopping poachers.
There are also questions about whether sustainable management is practical when it comes to protecting areas of great biodiversity such as the world’s tropical forests. In theory, the principle should be the same as with elephants — allow logging companies to cut down a certain number of trees, but not so many as to completely destroy the forest.
Sustainable management of forests requires controls on the number of trees which are cut down, as well as investment in replacing them. But because almost all tropical forests are located in countries which desperately need revenue from logging, there are few regulations to do this. Moreover, unrestricted logging is so much more profitable that wood prices from managed forests would cost up to five times more — an increase that consumers, no matter how "green" , are unlikely to pay.
For these reasons, sustainable management of tropical forests is unlikely to become widespread in the near future. This is disheartening news. It’s estimated these forests contain anything from 50 to 90 percent of all animal and plant species on Earth. In one study of a five-square-kilometer area of rain forest in Peru, for instance, scientists counted 1, 300 species of butterflies and 600 species of birds. In the entire continental United States, only 400 species of butterflies and 700 species of birds have been recorded.
Scientist professor Norman Myers sees this situation as a gigantic "experiment we’re conducting with our planet". "We don’t know what the outcome will be. If we make a mess of it, we can’t move to another planet ... It’s a case of one planet, one experiment. "
What is an effective way to preserve biodiversity?
选项
A、Reduction of the impact of species extinction on others.
B、Sustainable management of the worlds’ tropical forests.
C、Encouragement of political will to reduce gas emission.
D、None of the above. No effective way has been found yet.
答案
D
解析
细节判断题。根据题干关键词preserve biodiversity定位到原文第三段尾句。尾句中的anintractable problem与选项D对应,还没有找到有效的解决办法来应对物种灭绝。故答案为D。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/ArLO777K
0
考博英语
相关试题推荐
WorkisaveryimportantpartoflifeintheUnitedStates.WhentheearlyProtestant【1】cametothiscountry,theybroughtthe【
Malnutritionduringweaningage—whenbreastmilkisbeingreplacedbysemi-solidfoods—ishighlyprevalentinchildrenofpoorh
Britishcancerresearchershavefoundthatchildhoodleukaemiaiscausedbyaninfection,andclustersofcasesaroundindustria
Priortothe20thcentury,manylanguageswithsmallnumbersofspeakerssurvivedforcenturies.Theincreasinglyinterconnected
Whenitcomestotheslowingeconomy,EllenSperoisn’tbitinghernailsjustyet.Butthe47-year-oldmanicuristisn’tcutting,
Opinionpollsarenowbeginningtoshowanunwillinggeneralagreementthat,whoeveristo【21】andwhateverhappensfromnowon,
Opinionpollsarenowbeginningtoshowanunwillinggeneralagreementthat,whoeveristo【21】andwhateverhappensfromnowon,
Shewalkedroundtothe______ofthecarandstoodsilentlywhileheundidthebootandpickedupherbag.
WhenIgotoutofthecarandwalkedaboutamongthem,______oneoldmanwhoshookhisheaddisapprovingly,theyallbegantoch
随机试题
男性,46岁,饮酒后出现中上腹部持续性疼痛12小时,呕吐两次。体温:37.8℃,上腹部偏左压痛。根据临床表现,应行哪一项最有价值的检查
血栓形成必须具备
下列对70吨发霉变质黄豆和600吨二号黄豆的处置方法中,正确的是()。该批黄豆在报关时适用()。
案例六:王先生年收入为15万元,每年的结余比率为30%。目前有存款20万元,计划5年后买房,假设王先生的投资报酬率为6%。王先生买房时准备贷款20年,计划采用等额本息还款方式,假设房贷利率为6%。根据案例回答下列问题。王先生的存款在其买房时可以增值为
某制造企业2013年财务数据如下;(1)产品销售收入为700万元,出租一台闲置设备取得租金收入80万元;直接向另一居民企业投资。取得股息20万元;(2)产品销售成本300万元;(3)营业税金及附加共计36.5万元;(4)当期发生的管理费用90万元。
把人力资源规划划分为战略性人力资源规划和战术性人力资源规划的依据是()。
农药按其性质可以分为哪几类?
政府为从军火商那里购买的标准武器支付的价格是由一种叫“历史成本法”的定价方法决定的。“历史成本法”允许军火商基于当前的通货膨胀率,在上一年合同价格上增加一个百分比,以此来保护他们的利润。以下哪项如果正确,可以成为批评将“历史成本法”作为军火合同定价办法在经
设随机变量且P{|X|≠|Y|}=1。(Ⅰ)求X与Y的联合分布律,并讨论X与Y的独立性;(Ⅱ)令U=X+Y,V=X—Y,讨论U与Y的独立性。
Thelightintheofficewasn’t_______forhimtoread.
最新回复
(
0
)