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
(1) One of the obvious problems with predicting the future effects of climate change is that they haven’t happened. This makes c
(1) One of the obvious problems with predicting the future effects of climate change is that they haven’t happened. This makes c
admin
2018-06-29
35
问题
(1) One of the obvious problems with predicting the future effects of climate change is that they haven’t happened. This makes climate studies highly dependent on models, which invariably and unavoidably make simplifying assumptions. This means that using their results to say anything of practical import needs care and caveats, both of which can often be in short supply, or stripped out to make a point.
(2) However, it is now ever more possible for studies of climate change to look at the past, not the future. The 20th century saw a fair amount of warming, and it is sometimes possible to compare what this warming did and didn’t do with what future warming might or might not do. This is what a paper published in Nature this week does in an attempt to re-examine, and perhaps close down, long-running debates about malaria and climate change.
(3) Both the malaria parasite and the mosquitoes which spread it respond to temperature and moisture. Understanding those responses makes it possible to model what changes in climate might mean to the incidence of me disease. Such models have suggested that in a warmer world the area subject to endemic malaria would increase, perhaps quite a lot, though some places would see a reduction due to increased aridity. The caveats here include noting that the climate models can make no great claims to accuracy at the regional level and that such an approach does almost nothing to deal with changes in land use, wealth and public health programs.
(4) One of the main thrusts of the new Nature paper is to see how much of what happened to the spread of malaria in the 20m century can be explained by what happened to me climate. The answer, according to Peter Gething of Oxford University and his colleagues, is not much. They conclude that claims that a warming climate has led to more widespread disease and death due to malaria are largely at odds with the evidence, which shows the areas effected shrinking, and the size of the effect shrinking too. Increases in the spread and severity of the disease burden foreseen over the next 40 years by the biological models are far smaller than the decreases in comparable measures seen over the past century.
(5) The second tack of their argument is to compare the sort of effect seen in biology-based models of where malaria might spread with both models of and data on the effects direct intervention against the disease can have. Again the effects due to climate are small, even negligible, compared with the effects that interventions have achieved already and might achieve in decades to come. The marginal areas where climate might enlarge the area at risk are also, the article argues, the areas where the greatest declines in transmission have recently been seen thanks to increased intervention.
(6) The conclusion is clear. People who are thinking about what to do about malaria should bear in mind that the biological basis of its distribution may change in a warmer world. Those thinking about the overall danger that climate change represents should not spend their time worrying about its impact on malaria.
(7) Is there a wider conclusion to draw about computer models such as those that underlay frightening statements about malaria in a climate-changed world? Perhaps; but like the models themselves, it comes with caveats.
(8) Scientists tend to model what can be modeled, and natural scientists, in particular, tend to prefer models that incorporate at least some aspects of the underlying processes which they are interested in, rather than working purely on empirical correlations. This means that if you search the scientific literature for approaches to the future, you will tend to find answers based on natural processes. If other knowledge suggests that natural processes aren’t the most important aspect of the problem at hand, then it’s a good idea to look at the models with that provision in the forefront of your mind.
(9) The other vital lesson is that the caveats matter. Pretty much every paper presenting a biology-based model of malaria’s dependence on climate contains a warning that changes in economy, technology and society matter too, and aren’t in the model. To transmit the model’s results without important caveats is reckless.
(10) If one is going to be optimistic about the future of malaria, one might also, with caution, be optimistic about the future of assessments of climate change. Things can, over time, get better, especially when the record of what has happened to date gets taken seriously. They will do so quicker if people accept both the usefulness and limits of models of the future, as well as the appeal of models of the past.
The Nature paper suggests______may be an influential factor affecting malaria.
选项
A、warmer climate
B、human involvement
C、drought
D、biology diversity
答案
B
解析
细节题。第五段第二句指出,相对于各种干预措施而言,气候对疟疾的影响微乎其微;接着提到,气候变化确实会增加少部分地区的疟疾扩散,但是由于外来因素的影响,这些地区也是疟疾扩散下降幅度最大的区域,可见,人为干预是影响疟疾传播的重要因素之一,故[B]正确。第四段第三句指出,气候变暖使疟疾的传播区域扩大的说法是没有证据的,故排除[A]和[C];[D]是根据“biology-based models”衍生出来的无关选项,故排除。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/OBEK777K
0
专业英语八级
相关试题推荐
PassageFourWhyistrainingtobecomeabarristerorsolicitoracompetitivejob?
PassageOne
Comparedwiththesystemsinotherindustrializedcountries,theAmericanunemployment-insurance(UI)schemepayslowerbenefits
Americansarestillchucklingaboutthe"pantssuit".Aman—ajudge,noless—suedhisdrycleanersfor$54mforallegedlylosing
DavidCameronhasnoticedthathealthandsafetyregulationsstopschoolstakingchildrenoutonfieldtrips,outdooractivitie
Losingweightiseasierwhenthereismoneyontheline,U.S.researcherssaidonTuesday.Theysaidweight-lossprogramsthat
Losingweightiseasierwhenthereismoneyontheline,U.S.researcherssaidonTuesday.Theysaidweight-lossprogramsthat
Congestedcitiesarefastbecomingtesttubesforscientistsstudyingtheimpactoftrafficfumesonthebrain.Asroadwayscho
Congestedcitiesarefastbecomingtesttubesforscientistsstudyingtheimpactoftrafficfumesonthebrain.Asroadwayscho
ForadevelopingcountrylikeIndiawhoseecologicalandsocio-economicsystemsarealreadyunderpressurefromrapidurbaniza
随机试题
在踝上方、胫骨后面,胫神经被切断的病人可能出现的症状是()
关于乙醇中毒以下说法错误的是
男,40岁。因反复机会性感染入院,检查发现患者伴发卡波西肉瘤,诊断应首先考虑()
(2016年)下列各项关于风险评估的表述中,正确的有()。
有的人即便长时间处于高强度的压力下,也不会感到疲劳,而有的人哪怕干一点活也会觉得累,这除了体质或者习惯不同之外,还可能与基因不同有关,英国格拉斯哥大学的研究小组通过对50名慢性疲劳综合征患者基因组的观察,发现这些患者的某些基因与同年龄、同性别健康人的基因是
中国共产党成立以来,我们党团结带领人民在中国这片古老的土地上,书写了人类发展史上惊天地、泣鬼神的壮丽史诗,集中体现为完成和推进了哪三件大事?()
Drinkingwastewater?Theideamaysounddistasteful,butnewfederallyfundedresearchsaysmoreAmericansaredoingso—whether
微电影的传播特征有哪些?
Acommonresultofbeingfrustratedisanactofaggression,sometimesviolent.Tobealiveistohaveagoalandpursueit—anyt
Innovation,theeffectiverecipeofprogress,hasalwayscostpeopletheirjobs.Overthepast30yearsthedigitalrevolutionh
最新回复
(
0
)