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
Passage Four Now elsewhere in the world, Iceland may be spoken of, somewhat breathlessly, as western Europe’s last pristine
Passage Four Now elsewhere in the world, Iceland may be spoken of, somewhat breathlessly, as western Europe’s last pristine
admin
2022-10-07
38
问题
Passage Four
Now elsewhere in the world, Iceland may be spoken of, somewhat breathlessly, as western Europe’s last pristine wilderness. But the environmental awareness that is sweeping the world had bypassed the majority of Icelanders. Certainly they were connected to their land, the way one is complicatedly connected to, or encumbered by, family one can’t do anything about. But the truth is, once you’re off the beaten paths of the low-lying coastal areas where everyone lives, the roads are few, and they’re all bad, so Iceland’s natural wonders have been out of reach and unknown even to its own inhabitants. For them the land has always just been there, something that had to be dealt with and, if possible, exploited—the mind-set being one of land as commodity rather than land as, well, priceless art on the scale of the " Mona Lisa".
When the opportunity arose in 2003 for the national power company to enter into a 40-year contract with the American aluminum company Alcoa to supply hydroelectric power for a new smelter (冶炼厂), those who had been dreaming of something like this for decades jumped at it and never looked back. Iceland may at the moment be one of the world’s richest countries, with a 99 percent literacy rate and long life expectancy. But the project’s advocates, some of them getting on in years, were more emotionally attuned to the country’s century upon century of want, hardship, and colonial servitude to Denmark, which officially ended only in 1944 and whose psychological imprint remained relatively fresh. For the longest time, life here had meant little more than a hut, dark all winter, cold, no hope, children dying left and right, earthquakes, plagues, starvation, volcanoes erupting and destroying all vegetation and livestock, all spirit—a world revolving almost entirely around the welfare of one’s sheep and, later, on how good the cod catch was. In the outlying regions, it still largely does.
Ostensibly, the Alcoa project was intended to save one of these dying regions—the remote and sparsely populated east—where the way of life had steadily declined to a point of desperation and gloom. After fishing quotas were imposed in the early 1980s to protect fish stocks, many individual boat owners sold their allotments or gave them away, fishing rights ended up mostly in the hands of a few companies and small fishermen were virtually wiped out. Technological advances drained away even more jobs previously done by human hands, and the people were seeing everything they had worked for all their lives turn up worthless and their children move away. With the old way of life doomed, aluminum projects like this one had come to be perceived, wisely or not, as a last chance. ’’Smelter or death. "
The contract with Alcoa would infuse the region with foreign capital, an estimated 400 jobs, and spin-off service industries. It also was a way for Iceland to develop expertise that potentially could be sold to the rest of the world; diversify an economy historically dependent on fish; and, in an appealing display of Icelandic can-do verve, perhaps even protect all of Iceland, once and for all, from the unpredictability of life itself.
"We have to live," Halldor Asgrimsson said. Halldor, a former prime minister and longtime member of parliament from the region, was a driving force behind the project. "We have a right to live. "
According to the passage, most Icelanders view land as something of________.
选项
A、environmental value
B、commercial value
C、potential value for tourism
D、great value for livelihood
答案
B
解析
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/hTBK777K
0
专业英语八级
相关试题推荐
WatchingMoviesinEnglishI.OnegreatadvantageofEnglishlearners:Beingabletowatch【T1】______inEnglish【T1】______since
Now,aboutFranceinWorldWarn.Inthisperiodoftime,ominous【T1】______beganinGermanyandItaly.TheGermansreclaimedAl
A、Becausetherearealwaysthingsunexpected.B、Becausepassengersmayencounterdelays.C、Becausetheremaybeatyphooninsum
WhyWeDon’tLikeEnglishClassesI.People’s【T1】______ofhowtolearnEnglish【T1】______A.Preconception:intention—registrat
WhyWeDon’tLikeEnglishClassesI.People’s【T1】______ofhowtolearnEnglish【T1】______A.Preconception:intention—registrat
WritingaResearchPaperI.ResearchPaperandOrdinaryEssayA.Similarityin【T1】______:【T1】______e.g.—choosingatopic—
A、Lesspromotionspace.B、Competitionsintheircurrentsituation.C、Dissatisfactionwiththeirincome.D、Unsatisfactorycolleag
PASSAGEFOURWhatisagooddanceaccordingtoGalili’sunderstandingofdance?
(1)Aswehurtletowardsmenewmillennium,whatisthebettersymboloftherelentlesspassageoftimethanmeancientsundial?
A、Toaskstudentstowriteasimilarletterusingoneofthemodels.B、Togivestudentspracticecomplainingintheclassroom.C
随机试题
A.钱乙B.吴鞠通C.陈飞霞D.朱丹溪E.万全
控制性详细规划图纸比例为()。
( )水泥,由硅酸盐酸水泥熟料、20%~70%的粒化高炉渣和适量石膏组成。
水利工程基本建设项目的竣工决算审计,除有专门要求外,一般由()组织实施。
高土石坝一般要用有限单元法计算坝体坝基及岸坡接头在填土自重及其他荷载作用下的填土应力应变,以判断()。
我国运输企业甲与国外运输企业乙根据我国境内托运方企业丙的要求签订了1份国际货运合同,合同规定由甲负责起运,
如果对通货膨胀预期不加以正确管理、引导和化解的话,就可能被积累放大,最终导致通货膨胀的实现。这说明()。
下图是某人外出旅游过程中使用手持GPS导航的两个界面。读图完成以下题。从图可以看出,GPS的功能是()。
元月13日,长沙市中级人民法院与长沙晚报联合召开会议,______“星城十佳法官”。
考生文件夹下存在2个Python源文件和1个文本文件。其中,2个Python源文件对应2个问题,文本文件data.txt中包含一篇从互联网上下载的关于“德国工业4.0战略规划实施建议摘要”的文章。请分别补充2个Python源文件,完成以下功能。提取主
最新回复
(
0
)