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  3. About 3 billion people live within 100 miles of the sea, a number that could double in the next decade as humans flock to coasta

About 3 billion people live within 100 miles of the sea, a number that could double in the next decade as humans flock to coasta

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问题     About 3 billion people live within 100 miles of the sea, a number that could double in the next decade as humans flock to coastal cities like gulls. The oceans produce $3 trillion of goods and services each year and untold value for the Earth’s ecology. Life could not exist without these vast water reserves—and, if anything, they are becoming even more important to humans than before.
    Mining is about to begin under the seabed in the high seas—the regions outside the exclusive economic zones administered by coastal and island nations, which stretch 200 nautical miles offshore. Nineteen exploratory licences have been issued. New summer shipping lanes are opening across the Arctic Ocean. The genetic resources of marine life promise a pharmaceutical bonanza: the number of patents has been rising at 12% a year. One study found that genetic material from the seas is a hundred times more likely to have anti-cancer properties than that from terrestrial life.
    But these developments are minor compared with vaster forces reshaping the Earth, both on land and at sea. It has long been clear that people are damaging the oceans—witness the melting of the Arctic ice in summer, the spread of oxygen starved dead zones and the death of coral reefs. Now, the consequences of that damage are starting to be felt onshore.
    Thailand provides a vivid example. In the 1990s it cleared coastal mangrove swamps to set up shrimp farms. Ocean storm surges in 2011, no longer cushioned by the mangroves, rushed in to flood the country’s industrial heartland, causing billions of dollars of damage.
    More serious is the global mismanagement of fish stocks. About 3 billion people get a fifth of their protein from fish, making it a more important protein source than beef. But a vicious cycle has developed as fish stocks decline and fishermen race to grab what they can of the remainder. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), a third of fish stocks in the oceans are over-exploited; some estimates say the proportion is more than half. One study suggested that stocks of big predatory species—such as tuna, swordfish and marlin—may have fallen by as much as 90% since the 1950s. People could be eating much better, were fishing stocks properly managed.
The oceans are about to be explored because ______.
选项 A、marine life has more medical value than land life
B、human beings have the right to explore the nature
C、they are unknown and mysterious to human being
D、the exploration will bring great economic benefits
答案A
解析 根据题干中的“oceans”，“about to be explored”等信息定位到第二段第一句：Mining is about to begin under the seabed in the high seas…其中“mining…under the seabed”对应“oceans…to be explored”。而人们探索海洋的原因出现在该段最后两句：The genetic resources of marine life promise a pharmaceutical bonanza. One study found that genetic material from the seas is a hundred times more likely to have anti-cancer properties than that from terrestrial life. 即便看不懂The genetic resources of marine life promise a pharmaceutical bonanza这一句，我们至少能知道原因是因为marine life，而四个选项中唯有选项A出现了这个词，从而可以推断该项为答案。该句的pharmaceutical表示“制药的”，bonanza表示“富矿，财源”，总体上来说“pharmaceutical bonanza”相当于“medical value"，故选项A为答案。
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