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
Despite decades of scientific research, no one yet knows how much damage human activity is doing to the environment. Humans are
Despite decades of scientific research, no one yet knows how much damage human activity is doing to the environment. Humans are
admin
2015-04-24
57
问题
Despite decades of scientific research, no one yet knows how much damage human activity is doing to the environment. Humans are thought to be responsible for a whole host of environmental problems, ranging from global warming to ozone depletion. What is not in doubt, however, is the devastating effect humans are having on the animal and plant life of the planet.
Currently, an estimated 50, 000 species become extinct every year. If this carries on, the impact on all living creatures is likely to be profound, says Dr. Nick Middleton, a geographer at Oxford University. " All species depend in some way on each other to survive. And the danger is that, if you remove one species from this very complex web of interrelationships, you have very little idea about the knock-on effects on the ecosystem. So, if you lose a key species, you might cause a whole cascade of other extinctions. "
Complicating matters is the fact that there are no obvious solutions to the problem. Unlike global warming and ozone depletion — which, if the political will was there, could be reduced by cutting gas emissions — preserving biodiversity remains an intractable problem.
The latest idea is " sustainable management" , which is seen as a practical and economical way of protecting species from extinction. This means humans should be able to use any species of animal or plant for their benefit, provided enough individuals of that species are left alive to ensure its continued existence.
For instance, instead of depending on largely ineffective laws against poaching, it gives local people a good economic reason to preserve plants and animals. In Zimbabwe, there is a sustainable management project to protect elephants. Foreign tourists pay large sums of money to kill these animals for sport. This money is then given to the inhabitants of the area where the hunting takes place. In theory, locals will be encouraged to protect elephants, instead of poaching them — or allowing others to poach them — because of the economic benefit involved.
This sounds like a sensible strategy, but it remains to be seen whether it will work. With corruption endemic in many developing countries, some observers are skeptical that the money will actually reach the people it is intended for. Others wonder how effective the locals will be at stopping poachers.
There are also questions about whether sustainable management is practical when it comes to protecting areas of great biodiversity such as the world’s tropical forests. In theory, the principle should be the same as with elephants — allow logging companies to cut down a certain number of trees, but not so many as to completely destroy the forest.
Sustainable management of forests requires controls on the number of trees which are cut down, as well as investment in replacing them. But because almost all tropical forests are located in countries which desperately need revenue from logging, there are few regulations to do this. Moreover, unrestricted logging is so much more profitable that wood prices from managed forests would cost up to five times more — an increase that consumers, no matter how "green" , are unlikely to pay.
For these reasons, sustainable management of tropical forests is unlikely to become widespread in the near future. This is disheartening news. It’s estimated these forests contain anything from 50 to 90 percent of all animal and plant species on Earth. In one study of a five-square-kilometer area of rain forest in Peru, for instance, scientists counted 1, 300 species of butterflies and 600 species of birds. In the entire continental United States, only 400 species of butterflies and 700 species of birds have been recorded.
Scientist professor Norman Myers sees this situation as a gigantic "experiment we’re conducting with our planet". "We don’t know what the outcome will be. If we make a mess of it, we can’t move to another planet ... It’s a case of one planet, one experiment. "
Why is sustainable management of tropical forests unlikely to be used in the near future?
选项
A、Because tropical forests contain a majority of animal and plant species on Earth.
B、Because we have to wait until the experiment in Peru and the U. S. is finished.
C、Because we have no idea about its effect, and if it fails, our planet will be destroyed.
D、Because besides tropical forests, other areas such as the U. S. also have biodiversity.
答案
C
解析
细节推理题。根据原文尾段中professor Norman Myers的话可知,热带雨林太复杂,我们还预测不到如果采取可持续管理之后会造成什么后果,且不可恢复。故答案为C。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/jrLO777K
0
考博英语
相关试题推荐
Malnutritionduringweaningage—whenbreastmilkisbeingreplacedbysemi-solidfoods—ishighlyprevalentinchildrenofpoorh
Therearethreeseparatesourcesofhazard【C1】______totheuseofnuclearreactiontosupplyuswithenergy.Firstly,theradioa
Therearethreeseparatesourcesofhazard【C1】______totheuseofnuclearreactiontosupplyuswithenergy.Firstly,theradioa
For【C1】______thebloodshedandtragedyofD-Day,thebeachesofNormandywillalwaysevokeacertain【C2】______:ayearning
Muchhasbeenwrittenaboutpovertybutnoneoftheaccountsseemtogetattherootoftheproblem.Itmustbenotedthatthew
Wewereunabletoreachadecisionbecausewefeltthatthespeakerhadbeenandhadavoidedansweringmanyofourquestions.
Moderntechnologymaynothaveimprovedtheworldallthatmuchbutitcertainlyhasmadelifenoisier.Unmuffledmotorcycles,b
Aswehaveseeninearlierchapters,theAmericandefinitionofsuccessislargelyoneofacquiringwealthandahighermaterial
Inaperfectlyfreeandopenmarketeconomy,thetypeofemployer—governmentorprivate--shouldhavelittleornoimpactonthe
Nomatterwhathesaidtoyou,hismannershowedan______thathedidnotactuallyagreewiththeproposal.
随机试题
计算定积分∫04
肿势或软如绵,或硬如馒,形态各异,不红不热。其肿的性质是
A.深部脓肿B.下颌蜂窝织炎C.疖D.小腿丹毒E.唇痈易导致窒息的是()
混凝土标准养生的温度为()。
《中华人民共和国环境保护法》规定:( )对具有代表性的各种类型的自然生态系统区域,珍稀、濒危的野生动物自然分布区域,重要的水源涵养区域,具有重大科学文化价值的地质构造,著名的溶洞和化石分布区,冰川;火山、温泉等自然遗迹,以及人文遗迹、古树名木,应当采取
D企业是汽车密封条生产企业,主要原料为橡胶。为扩大生产,在Q市某工业区租赁三层办公楼l栋、厂房2栋,2015年10月投产。1号厂房为单层新型钢结构厂房,位于三层办公楼东侧,建筑面积5000m2。厂房内有5条胶料挤出生产线,主要工艺为:胶料挤出→微波硫化加
如果学生已经有了“哺乳动物”的概念,然后再学习“鲸”这种动物。这种学习属于()
某计算机存储器按字节编址,虚拟(逻辑)地址空间大小为16MB,主存(物理)地址空间大小为1MB,页面大小为4KB;Cache采用直接映射方式,共8行;主存与Cache之间交换的块大小为32B。系统运行到某一时刻时,页表的部分内容和Cache的部分内容分别如
在吉尔福特的三维结构模型中,智力的三个维度是()。
新民主主义革命理论是指导中国革命取得胜利的指导思想,具有伟大的意义,主要有()
最新回复
(
0
)