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  3. By the year 2100, global temperatures are anticipated to rise by between 0.8 and 3.5 degree Celsius. That may not seem like much

By the year 2100, global temperatures are anticipated to rise by between 0.8 and 3.5 degree Celsius. That may not seem like much

admin2012-12-01  48
问题     By the year 2100, global temperatures are anticipated to rise by between 0.8 and 3.5 degree Celsius. That may not seem like much, but, such an increase in temperature would cause a rise in sea levels large enough to put the lives of up to 100 million people at risk. (This number will rise as the global population increases.) Widespread flooding, as well as droughts in other areas, could cause migrations as areas become uninhabitable. Tropical diseases would almost certainly spread northwards, causing "wide-ranging and mostly adverse impacts on human health, with significant loss of life".
    For the first time in the scientific community, there is total agreement that the activity of humans is at least partly responsible for the problem — especially the emission of greenhouse gasses like Carbon dioxide, which is released by the burning of wood, coal and petroleum products. Reducing harmful emissions is just one area in which the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel is decidedly optimistic. For one thing, in the short term it might not prove that difficult. Efficiency improvements alone could cut energy needs by as much as 30 percent at virtually no extra cost and, in developed countries, emission reduction of up to 60 percent "are technically feasible". In the longer term, harmful emissions will be reduced as the world changes over to cheaper, less environmentally damaging energy resources.
    So, if it is economically and technically feasible to reduce harmful emissions, why is almost nothing being done? There are two main reasons. The first stems from the uncertainty about how hot the planet is going to get. The current estimate is extremely broad — between 0.8 and 3.5 degree Celsius. If the former prediction is accurate, it may be that we can adapt to it without difficulty. If, on the other hand, the latter is closer to reality, a complete rethink of the world’s energy supplies is already long overdue.
    This leads directly to the second problem — the time scale involved. It is hard to get people to act when predictions may take between 50 and 100 years to materialize. For politicians, who face elections every half decade or so, preventative action against a future threat — the magnitude of which is still very uncertain — carries heavy political risks.
    Even if politicians in the developed world were to be forced into action, what of the developing world, which is economically dependent on fossil fuels? Should it reduce emission, and suffer the consequence, because of mistakes made by the developed world?
    One suggestion is that developing countries be given allowances above the current emission standard. This would enable them to meet their industrialized needs and ultimately help them to finance environmentally sound technologies. This would seem the only realistic way of getting agreement from developing countries — a vital requirement because, if preventive action is going to work, "you really have to have everyone on board".
What is people’s attitude towards worldwide temperature rise?
选项 A、They are uncertain and therefore take a wait-and-see attitude.
B、They are very anxious and have begun to reduce harmful emissions.
C、They do not think the earth will be too hot to live on, hence adopting a passive attitude.
D、They are very optimistic and therefore have not done anything about it.
答案A
解析 观点态度题。从前两段可知人们已经意识到全球气候变暖的严重性，第三段首句反问人们为何迟迟不采取行动，接着三四段给出原因：一是由于气候变化的程度还无法确定，二是需要花费的时间无法确定，由这两个不确定因素可以判断人们采取的是观望态度，故答案为[A]。人们已经采取减排措施、人们态度消极、人们对气候很乐观都不符合文章原意，故[B]、[C]、[D]都可排除。
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