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
Drought is a slow emergency. It does not swoop down out of the skies like a tornado or pull the earth apart like an earthquake.
Drought is a slow emergency. It does not swoop down out of the skies like a tornado or pull the earth apart like an earthquake.
admin
2016-01-30
59
问题
Drought is a slow emergency. It does not swoop down out of the skies like a tornado or pull the earth apart like an earthquake. A drought of the kind the Eastern seaboard in the United States is suffering now, the worst of this century in at least four states, is the product not of one summer’s failed rains but of chronic dryness over several seasons—compounded by routine profligacy in our use of water. It is the result of what we have all been taught to call good weather—hot, it is true, but blue skies day after day, mild winters, and little snow. It is also the result of what we have come to call normal water use.
The drought of 1999 has become severe enough to bring about a flurry of administrative actions intended to mitigate its effects on farms, businesses and communities. On Friday, President Clinton ordered to organize timely drought relief. New Jersey’s Governor, Christine Todd Whitman, and the Governors of Maryland, Delaware and West Virginia have all imposed mandatory restrictions on water use. Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman has declared West Virginia and 33 counties in 5 surrounding states a disaster area. Meanwhile, the Senate approved $7.4 billion in aid to farmers, to which a drought disaster relief package will need to be added.
This is all to the good, and it may also reconcentrate for a moment, our attention on this nation’s patterns of water usage. Drought is nothing new, and dealing with it does not require radically new ideas. Many organizations have been set up in recent years in order to monitor drought conditions and respond to them as the long-term events they are. According to the National Drought Mitigation Center nearly every encounter with water scarcity leads to a set of recommendations—essentially the ones invoked in a drought emergency—meant to discourage consumption and encourage recycling. But once the rains begin again and controls are lifted, water use tends to rebound to previous levels. Drought dramatizes an epistemological problem that has real, practical effects. There is something almost intangible about the causes of drought, something as abstract and as forceful as fate. It is hard to tie any single drought unequivocally to the solid evidence of global warming, but that too lurks in many people’s minds as the ultimate cause of this summer’s drought.
Against such a grand array of forces, it can be hard to imagine how taking a shorter shower or watering the lawn less frequently makes a difference. But individual action—conserving water—is the basis for collective action, and collectively, the residents of drought-stricken states can make an enormous difference in their own welfare, both now, when stream levels are at record lows, and in the future, when rain returns.
Farmers, of course, are forced to take the weather as it comes. Farms, like many other forms of industry, require water for economic survival, which is exactly what is at risk again this year. The reserves of water in reservoirs have been steadily diminishing. So have the economic reserves of American farmers, who find themselves bringing their products to market, if they survive this dry season at all, at depressed prices. Neither of these problems, drought or farm income can be solved with a sudden flurry of attention.
They require long-term commitment and the changing of habits that are so persistent we have come to call them normal.
By saying that "Drought is a slow emergency" , the author means that______.
选项
A、drought is not an easy problem to solve
B、drought is chronic dryness over seasons
C、drought is caused by using water without any control
D、drought is the result of mild winters with little snow
答案
B
解析
语义题。根据题于信息定位到原文首段首句。该句是首段的主题句,其他句子围绕首句提出的drought和slow这两点展开说明。通过将首句和第二句对比可知,作者认为drought不像地震和龙卷风那样突如其来,结合第三句中的the product not of…but of…可以推断,首句中的slow与第三句中的chronic相关。故答案为B。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/g1GO777K
0
考博英语
相关试题推荐
ThehistoryofAfrican—Americansduringthepast400yearsistraditionallynarrated【C1】______anongoingstraggleagainst【C
ThehistoryofAfrican—Americansduringthepast400yearsistraditionallynarrated【C1】______anongoingstraggleagainst【C
Citiesdevelopasaresultoffunctionsthattheycanperform,somefunctionsresultdirectlyfromtheingenuityofthecitizenr
Whenconcernedparentsprotesttheexcessivesexorviolenceontelevision,theyoftenseekcontroloftelevisionfromsomeouts
(中国矿业大学2007年试题)TheIndiansrisesoonasitislight,thechildrenrundowntotherivertoswim,thewomangotothecreek
(四川大学2010年试题)Youprobablyknowthatit’sbetterforbothyouandtheenvironmentifyoubuyanorganictomatoinsteadofon
Inthelastfewminutestheconversationhasbecomeseemingly______asifthediscussionwereofsomeminordomesticmatterandn
Thereis______whatwillhappentothem.
IfitisacceptedthatthebasicfunctionofafinancialmarketisAtosupplyindustryandcommerceBwithfinanceinordertoac
Motorcyclistsshouldwearhelmetsto______themfrominjury.
随机试题
下列不是凝集素的应用范围的是,
具有明显的β激动作用的药物是
人本主义疗法的特点之一是精神分析的常用方法是
对于最小发电机容量为100MW机组的电厂,其出线电压有何要求?
工艺技术设计的核心是(),它与设备选型、工艺计算、设备布置等工作有直接的关系。
阅读下列材料,回答问题。教学内容:太平天国运动课堂导入:教师:同学们回想一下,我国历史上第一次大规模的农民起义是哪次?学生:陈胜、吴广领导的大泽乡起义。教师:对。大泽乡起义推翻了秦朝的残暴统治,但
已经十点半了,你现在必须去睡觉。
在编辑Word文档时,按Ctrl+End键可以将插入点快速移动到整篇文档的结束位置。()
阅读短文,完成111—115题。疫病是随着人类进入农耕社会形成规模的聚居而发生的,并往往随着族群迁徙、商贸往来、征战侵略而传播。疫病对人们的社会行为、生活方式、思想与世界观的变革产生了重大的影响,甚至促进了各种社会的转型。在14—17世纪从
Whereisthemangoing?
最新回复
(
0
)