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  3. When Tony Abbott became Australia’s prime minister in 2013, almost his first acts were to abolish the country’s Climate Commissi

When Tony Abbott became Australia’s prime minister in 2013, almost his first acts were to abolish the country’s Climate Commissi

admin2016-03-21  20
问题     When Tony Abbott became Australia’s prime minister in 2013, almost his first acts were to abolish the country’s Climate Commission and to promise the repeal of a carbon tax. Soon after, Japan scrapped plans to cut carbon emissions by 25% by 2020, citing its post-tsunami shutdown of nuclear power plants. Such actions in large countries—Japan is the fifth biggest carbon emitter: Australia the 17 th—give the impression that the world as a whole is stepping away from environmental rules and laws.
    But according to lawmakers themselves, that impression is false. In a review published on February 27th of national climate legislation in 66 countries, accounting for 88% of carbon emissions, they calculated that almost half of their parliaments passed climate-change or energy-efficiency acts in 2013. Only Japan and Australia went the other way.
    The new laws varied hugely. Some were sweeping—take Bolivia’s whimsically named Law on Mother Earth and Integral Development to Live Well. Others were narrowly targeted but could have a big impact: Canada introduced rules on exhaust from heavy lorries. Still others, including an environmental protection law in the poor and violent Democratic Republic of Congo, may have all too little effect. The review considered only the quantity of legislation, not its quality. It says nothing about whether laws are implemented or effective.
    All the same, the patient accumulation of domestic decisions is striking. The survey by GLOBE International, a group of lawmakers, and the Grantham Research Institute of the London School of Economics, shows that the world’s stock of climate laws has risen steeply, from fewer than 50 in 2000 to almost 500 in 2013. The most active period was in 2008 -09, in the run-up to an international climate conference in Copenhagen, at which the signing of a treaty restricting carbon emissions was widely expected. Those hopes were dashed, but have since been rekindled, this time focused on a meeting to be held in Paris in 2015. Countries like to have new climate laws to show off at such gatherings, which may partly explain why the pace of legislation did not slacken much in 2013.
    The nature of the laws, though, is changing. During the busy years countries put broad framework legislation on the books. All but five of the 66 passed laws to promote low-carbon energy, for instance. Now, many laws are fleshing out details of that framework legislation.
    GLOBE started as a talking shop for a few parliamentarians. It has now set up a formal arrangement, helped by the World Bank, to provide policy advice and swap ideas about good practice a-mong lawmakers. They need help. As the review says, there may be a lot of laws. But this does not necessarily make for better policies—let alone a more stable climate.
The author’s attitude towards most countries’ new environmental laws seems to be______.
选项 A、positive
B、biased
C、doubtful
D、impartial
答案C
解析 根据new environmental laws定位到第三段中的the new laws。该段第一行的whimsi—cally“异想天开地”，第四、五行的may have all too little effect“可能没多大效果”，第五行的considered only the quantity of legislation，not its quality“只考虑法律的数量，不考虑质量”和最后一句It says nothing about whether laws are implemented or effective“它并未提及这些法规是否得以实行或是否有效”都体现出作者对这些国家环境法规的疑虑，故[C]为本题答案。
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