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
考研
Commerce has long been at the mercy of the elements. The British East India Company was almost strangled at birth when it lost s
Commerce has long been at the mercy of the elements. The British East India Company was almost strangled at birth when it lost s
admin
2014-06-13
58
问题
Commerce has long been at the mercy of the elements. The British East India Company was almost strangled at birth when it lost several of its ships in a storm. But the toll is rising. The world has been so preoccupied with the man-made catastrophes of subprime mortgages and sovereign debt that it may not have noticed how much economic chaos nature has wreaked. With earthquakes in Japan and New Zealand, floods in Thailand and Australia and tornadoes in America, last year was the costliest on record for natural disasters.
This trend is not, as is often thought, a result of climate change. There is little evidence that big hurricanes come ashore any more often than, say, a century ago. But disasters now extract a far higher price, for the simple reason that the world’s population and output are becoming concentrated in vulnerable cities near earthquake faults, on river deltas or along tropical coasts. Those risks will rise as the wealth of Shanghai and Kolkata comes to rival that of London and New York. Meanwhile, interconnected supply chains guarantee that when one region is knocked out by an earthquake or flood, the reverberations are global.
This may sound grim, but the truth is more encouraging. Richer societies may lose more property to disaster but they are also better able to protect their people. Indeed, although the economic toll from disasters has risen, the death toll has not, despite the world’s growing population.
The right role for government, then, is not to resist urbanization but to minimize the consequences when disaster strikes. This means, first, getting priorities right. At present, too large a slice of disaster budgets goes on rescue and repair after a tragedy, and not enough on consolidating defenses beforehand. Cyclone shelters are useless if they fall into disrepair.
Second, government should be fiercer when private individuals and firms, left to pursue their own self-interest, put all of society at risk. For example, in their quest for growth, developers and local governments have eradicated sand dunes, mangrove swamps, reefs and flood plains that formed natural buffers between people and nature. Preserving or restoring more of this natural capital would make cities more resilient, much as increased financial capital does for the banking system.
Third, governments must eliminate the perverse incentives their own policies produce. Politicians are often under pressure to limit the premiums insurance companies can charge. The result is to underprice the risk of living in dangerous areas—which is one reason that so many expensive homes await the next hurricane on Florida’s coast. When governments rebuild homes repeatedly struck by floods and wildfires, they are subsidizing people to live in hazardous places.
For their part companies need to operate on the assumption that a disaster will strike at some point. This means preparing contingency plans, reinforcing supply chains and even, costly though this might be, having reserve suppliers lined up: there is no point in having a perfectly efficient supply chain if it can be snapped whenever nature takes a turn for the worst. Disasters are inevitable; their consequences need not be.
From the first three paragraphs, we know that nowadays natural disasters______.
选项
A、are striking much more frequently than before
B、are causing much heavier casualties than before
C、are incurring much heavier financial loss than before
D、are inflicting more economic chaos than man-made catastrophes
答案
C
解析
本题是一道综合细节事实题,需要在充分理解前三段所讲内容的基础上才能正确解题。[A]选项是错误的。文章第二段第二句话明确指出“There is little evidence that big hurricanes come ashore any more often than,say,a century ago.”现在灾难发生的频率并不比以往更频繁。[B]选项错误,[C]选项正确。文章第三段明确指出“Richer societies may lose more property to disaster but they are also better able to protect their people.Indeed,although the economic toll from disasters has risen,the death toll has not,despite the world’s growing population.”现代社会可能在灾难中失去了更多的财产,但是死亡的人数并未增加。[D]选项错误,文章第一段出现了man-made catastrophe一词,但是并没有将之与natural disaster造成的损失进行比较。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/NwO4777K
0
考研英语一
相关试题推荐
HomepricesslidinNovember,raisingquestionsaboutwhetherthehousingrecoveryisrobustenoughtomaintainasustainedturn
HomepricesslidinNovember,raisingquestionsaboutwhetherthehousingrecoveryisrobustenoughtomaintainasustainedturn
HomepricesslidinNovember,raisingquestionsaboutwhetherthehousingrecoveryisrobustenoughtomaintainasustainedturn
AttacksonJoseManuelBarroso,thepresidentoftheEuropeanCommission,haveintensifiedbeforetheEuropeanelectionheldbet
Inthefollowingtext,somesentenceshavebeenremoved.ForQuestions(41-45),choosethemostsuitableonefromthelistA-Gt
SenatorBarackObamalikestojokethatthebattlefortheDemocraticpresidentialnominationhasbeengoingonsolong,babies
WhowontheWorldCup1994footballgame?WhathappenedattheUnitedNations?Howdidthecriticslikethenewplay?【1】anevent
随机试题
患者李某,男,60岁。高血压病史10年。平时血压多波动在(140~180)/(90~100)mmHg之间。2小时前,在观看足球赛时,突觉头痛剧烈、烦躁、心悸、气促、视物不清,即由家人送往医院急诊。体检:体温37℃,脉搏110次/分,呼吸26次/分,血压22
蝶下颌韧带附着于
患者小便短赤灼热,尿血鲜红,心烦口渴,舌红,脉数。其证候是
背景:某住宅工程,建筑面积22000m2,地上19层,地下2层,现浇混凝土剪力墙结构。筏板基础,基础埋深8.4m。东侧临边为城市主干道。由某建筑工程公司施工总承包。工程施工过程中项目部根据工程特点制定了洞口、临边防护等专项施工方案。施工
直埋蒸汽管道的工作管,应采用有补偿的敷设方式,钢质外护管宜采用无补偿方式敷设。钢质外护管必须进行外防腐,必须设置()。
()是衡量银行资产质量的最重要指标。
依据救助服务对象的不同、贫困类型的不同以及贫困产生原因的不同,社会救助社会工作所采取的工作模式是不一样的。比如,面对一位因身体残疾而导致贫困的救助对象,可以采取的工作模式是针对个体的微观的工作方法;针对一个因自然灾害而导致贫困的社区,可能要用到小组或者社区
根据《全国人大组织法》的规定,下列属于可以被质询的对象有()。
简述地役权和相邻关系的区别。
中国共产党与各民主党派合作的基本方针包括()
最新回复
(
0
)