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  3. Environmental movement is stronger than ever but seems to be fighting a losing battle. Despite a record flow of financial resour

Environmental movement is stronger than ever but seems to be fighting a losing battle. Despite a record flow of financial resour

admin2015-04-10  68
问题     Environmental movement is stronger than ever but seems to be fighting a losing battle. Despite a record flow of financial resources, the planet’s most serious challenges—global warming, loss of biodiversity, marine depletion—remain as intractable as ever, making environmentalists vulnerable to charges that green groups have prospered while the earth has not. Of course, the issues are complicated and could require decades and trillions of dollars to resolve. Part of the problem is that it’s easier to protest, to hurl venom at practices you don’t like, than to find new ways to do business and create change. So it’s time to look at the past tactics of many green groups and identify lessons to be learned.
    Environmentalists who have been bashing "evil" corporations for years have found themselves with plenty of allies. But the planet needs profitable, innovative businesses even more than it needs environmentalists. After all it is companies, not advocacy groups, that will create the technologies needed to save the environment. When conservation purity is the only acceptable option, the biggest polluters will have no incentive to clean up their acts. Says Dwight Evans, executive vice president of Southern Co., a major U.S. energy producer, "If tomorrow we announced we were shutting down 25% of our plants to put in new high-tech devices, the headline would be, WHY NOT THE OTHER 75%? We don’t get credit for what we’ve done, or for what we’re going to do. " So how to turn corporations into partners in preservation? For starters, when companies make efforts to turn green, environmentalists shouldn’t jump down their throats the minute they see any backsliding.
    When environmentalists and some industries are involved in a war, a simple truism applies: It is better to negotiate a surrender with industries than to fight to the death for a losing cause. Though environmentalists may be loath to admit it, this is their choice in the battle over genetically modified foods. Despite the best attempts by European activists to seal off the Continent from such foods, the new science of farming is here to stay. What could be better for the environment than a cheap, simple way for farmers to double or triple their output while using fewer pesticides on less land? Of course it’s possible that some genetically modified foods may carry health risks to humans, and it’s unclear whether agricultural companies will be able to control where their altered-gene products end up. But what’s needed now are not crop tramplers and lab burners but powerful lobbyists able to negotiate for more effective safeguards and a greater humanitarian use of the technology.
By saying "environmentalists shouldn’t jump down their throats", the author means that environmentalists
选项 A、shouldn’t be disappointed with the industries.
B、shouldn’t be indifferent to the situation.
C、shouldn’t get angry and criticize the industries.
D、shouldn’t laugh at the industries.
答案C
解析 作者说environmentalists shouldn’t jump down their throats这句话的意思是：环保主义者[A]不应当对工业失望。[B]不应当对现状漠不关心。[C]不应当非常生气并严厉批评这些工业。[D]不应当嘲笑工业。这句话的意思可以从习语jump down sb．’s throats的字面意思和上下文猜出。前一句话指出，我们在环境保护过程中要将企业转换成合作伙伴来对待。那么第一步就是当企业努力朝着绿色环保方向改善时，如果有任何的倒退，环境保护论者都不能采取不友善的态度。习语的字面意思是顺着某人的喉咙往下跳，也是不友善的意思。所以本题的正确答案为[C]“不应当非常生气并严厉批评这些工业”。
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