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  3. A controversial decision by London’s mayor, Sadiq Khan, to allow the demolition of a flagship Marks & Spencer store on London’s

A controversial decision by London’s mayor, Sadiq Khan, to allow the demolition of a flagship Marks & Spencer store on London’s

admin2022-12-09  128
问题     A controversial decision by London’s mayor, Sadiq Khan, to allow the demolition of a flagship Marks & Spencer store on London’s Oxford Street is one of the highest-profile instances so far of what is certain to become a wider debate about embodied carbon. This crucial term, which refers to the carbon emissions of a building over its lifetime, urgently needs to be brought into wider circulation. In the UK, buildings are estimated to be responsible for 23％ of all emissions.
    With its millions of Victorian and Edwardian terraces, the UK has some of the oldest housing stock in the world. So the idea of a "throwaway building culture", as Will Hurst of the Architects ’Journal describes our contemporary attitude to construction, takes some getting used to. But developers, particularly of large-scale projects, routinely look for a blank slate on which to place a new edifice. Demolition is part of what the construction industry does.
    Emissions calculations are more complicated than in other sectors because of the role played by time. Arguments over the Marks & Spencer decision, and other proposed demolitions such as that of the fire-damaged Assembly Rooms in Derby, arise because short-term and long-term impacts have to be weighed along with other considerations. In environmental terms, the question comes down to whether the benefits of a new, energy-efficient building will offset the emissions of a demolition and construction project.
    Recycling and renovation are the way forward, and architects and engineers have come up with some ingenious solutions. One block of flats in Copenhagen reused the brick walls of a brewery by cutting them into panels. But such innovative examples of reuse aside, Lord Deben, chairman of the UK’s Climate Change Committee, was right to say last year that "we have to learn to make do and mend" as an alternative to pulling down buildings as a matter of course.
    Such a shift poses particular challenges in the dysfunctional UK, where property price inflation and rent extraction have, to a damaging extent, taken the place of economically productive activity. While the government has promised a new focus on embodied carbon, any shift in the approach taken by the construction industry will require economic incentives. Vague notions of corporate social responsibility will not solve the problems. Whole-life carbon assessments should form part of every planning process, with decision-makers empowered to reject schemes that do not meet strict standards. Changing the law to remove the tax advantage of new-builds over renovation is one obvious step.
    The size of this undertaking should not be underestimated. But nothing about the struggle against global heating is easy. Like his support for the Silvertown tunnel, Mr Khan’s refusal to prevent the Marks & Spencer scheme sends a worrying signal. The challenge is to make such decisions, and the economic and political conditions that enable them, a thing of the past as quickly as possible.
The author’s attitude towards the demolition is________.
选项 A、cynical
B、critical
C、supportive
D、sympathetic
答案B
解析 态度题。解答态度题应着眼于全文。在第二段，作者认为这种拆除是the idea of a "throwaway building culture" (“一次性建筑文化”的想法)。在第四段最后一句，作者援引德本勋爵的话，认为其观点是正确的，即修修补补和维护旧建筑是正确的。在最后一段最后两句，作者提到，就像他对锡尔弗顿隧道的支持一样，汗先生拒绝阻止玛莎百货旗舰店拆除项目，这发出了一个令人担忧的信号。挑战在于，让这样的决定(拆除的决定)以及促成这些决定的经济和政治条件成为过去。综上可知，作者对拆除的态度是批判的，因此选项B正确。其他三个选项均不能描述作者态度，故排除。故本题答案为B项。
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