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
Continue to Protect or Destroy Ecosystem Biosphere II was a spectacular failure. The gleaming glass-and-concrete habitat spr
Continue to Protect or Destroy Ecosystem Biosphere II was a spectacular failure. The gleaming glass-and-concrete habitat spr
admin
2013-05-28
55
问题
Continue to Protect or Destroy Ecosystem
Biosphere II was a spectacular failure. The gleaming glass-and-concrete habitat sprawling across the desert in Oracle, Arizona, was supposed to support eight human "biospherians" for two years. But the seal has to be broken before the experiment ended in 1993. Oxygen had fallen to levels normally seen at an elevation of 17,500 feet. Nitrous oxide had risen to the point where it threatened to cause brain damage. The fresh water supply became contaminated, and vines smothered(厚厚地覆盖)food plants. Insect pollinators(传授花粉的生物)and many other species became extinct. By the end, Biosphere II was overrun with swarms of ants and cockroaches.
Scientists who gathered recently to review the Biosphere II experiment reached a disturbing conclusion: "No one yet knows how to engineer systems that provide humans with the life-supporting services that natural ecosystems produce for free."
The problem is that these ecosystems are undergoing wrenching changes. Water and air quality, while improving in some regions, are deteriorating in many others. Carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere arc climbing. The world’s population could reach 10 billion by 2050. And famed Harvard biologist Edward O. Wilson says the current rate of species losses puts us "in the midst of one of the great extinction spasms(突然迸发)of geological history." All of which makes many ecologists wonder whether humans too will soon become extinct. It’s an incredibly important but incredibly difficult question. If we continue on this course, we’re heading for a world in which we will have to engineer services we’ve always received for free from nature. That’s why the failure of Biosphere II was so disturbing: it proves that we don’t yet know how to do that.
The Biosphere II experience demonstrated that maintaining human life is a tricky proposition-especially if we can no longer rely on the services provided by natural ecosystems. If we are currently living through a mass extinction, as Wilson believes, we should consider the past. In the great Permian extinction 245 million years ago, 96 percent of species perished. Eventually, the Earth was repopulated with a rich collection of new species, but it took 100 million years. "That should give pause to anyone who believes that what Homo sapiens(现代人)destroys, nature will redeem, " Wilson says. "Maybe so, but not within any length of time that has meaning for contemporary humanity."
Edward O. Wilson believes that the mass extinction happened in the past______.
选项
A、is good news for humans
B、is bad news for humans
C、promoted the development of humans
D、blocked the development of humans
答案
B
解析
文中最后一句“That should give pause to anyone who believes that what Homo sapiens destroys,nature will redeem,”“…not within any length of time that has meaning for contemporary humanity”中可以看出大量物种的灭绝将对人类造成极大的危害,所以它对人类是个坏消息。故B选项正确。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/oaQd777K
本试题收录于:
职称英语理工类B级题库职称英语分类
0
职称英语理工类B级
职称英语
相关试题推荐
Ourcompanyemployedaboutonehundredpeople.
ActiveinOldAgeKeepsPeopleMobilePeopleover70whoaren’tactivearemorelikelytodevelopproblemswalkingorclimbin
ElectromagneticEnergy1.Whitelightseemstobeacombinationofallcolors.Theenergythatcomesfromasourceoflight
ElectromagneticEnergy1.Whitelightseemstobeacombinationofallcolors.Theenergythatcomesfromasourceoflight
ElectromagneticEnergy1.Whitelightseemstobeacombinationofallcolors.Theenergythatcomesfromasourceoflight
GlucosecannotbeturnedintoenergyinthebodyTheword"its"inthesecondparagraphrefersto
TheDangersofSecondhandSmokeMostpeopleknowthatcigarettesmokingisharmfultotheirhealth.Scientificresearchshows
Thepassageconfirmsthatusingtanningequipmentisharmfultoone’shealth.ItisimpliedinMr.Levy’sargument(Paragraph5)
Itwasobviousthatshewasnotgoinghome.
Jackisadiligentstudent
随机试题
WhileIwaswaitingtoenterauniversity,Isawinanewspaperateacherjob【C1】______ataschoolabouttenmilesfromwhereI
牙周病的医源性因素,除外
任何单位,必须经公安交通管理部门和()的批准,才能按规定占用和挖掘城市道路。
企业货物入境报检时应填写( ),并提供外贸合同、发票、提运单、装箱单等有关单证。
被称为“海上名山,寰中绝胜”的名山是()。
一位教师走进教室时,刚刚推开虚掩着的教室门,忽然一把扫帚掉了下来,不偏不倚,正好打在教师的讲义夹上,课堂上一片哗然,这分明是学生搞的恶作剧。下列处理方式,最恰当的一项是()。
()是研究从众现象的经典心理学实验。
没有法定依据或者不遵守法定程序的,行政处罚()。
在考生文件夹下有一个数据库文件“samp2.accdb”,其中存在已经设计好的3个关联表对象“tStud”、“tCourse”和“tScore”及一个临时表对象“tTmp”。请按以下要求完成设计。(1)创建一个查询,查找并显示照片信息为空的男同学的“学号
Ironically,theintellectualtoolscurrentlybeingusedbythepoliticalrighttosuchharmfuleffectoriginatedontheacademic
最新回复
(
0
)