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
考研
A commonplace observation of weather fluctuating between a severe heat wave and a fairly cool day may be what dooms us to climat
A commonplace observation of weather fluctuating between a severe heat wave and a fairly cool day may be what dooms us to climat
admin
2013-09-16
77
问题
A commonplace observation of weather fluctuating between a severe heat wave and a fairly cool day may be what dooms us to climate catastrophe, in two ways. On one side, the variability of temperatures from day to day and year to year makes it easy to miss, ignore or obscure the longer-term upward trend. On the other, even a fairly modest rise in average temperatures translates into a much higher frequency of extreme events — like the devastating drought now gripping America’s heartland — that do vast damage.
Then how should we think about the relationship between climate change and day-to-day experience? Almost a quarter of a century ago James Hansen, the NASA scientist who did more than anyone to put climate change on the agenda, suggested the analogy of loaded dice. Imagine, he and his associates suggested, representing the probabilities of a hot, average or cold summer by historical standards as a die with two faces painted red, two white and two blue. By the early 21st century, they predicted, it would be as if four of the faces were red, one white and one blue. Hot summers would become much more frequent, but there would still be cold summers now and then. And so it has proved.
But that’s not all: really extreme high temperatures, the kind of thing that used to happen very rarely in the past, have now become fairly common. Think of it as rolling two sixes, which happens less than 3 percent of the time with fair dice, but more often when the dice are loaded. And this rising incidence of extreme events, reflecting the same variability of weather that can obscure the reality of climate change, means that the costs of climate change aren’t a distant prospect, decades in the future. On the contrary, they’re already here, even though so far global temperatures are only about 1 degree Fahrenheit above their historical norms, a small fraction of their eventual rise if we don’t act.
The great Midwestern drought is a case in point. This drought has already sent corn prices to their highest level ever. If it continues, it could cause a global food crisis, because the U. S. heartland is still the world’s breadbasket. And yes, the drought is linked to climate change: such events have happened before, but they’re much more likely now than they used to be. Now, maybe this drought will break in time to avoid the worst. But there will be more events like this.
Will the current drought finally lead to serious climate action? History isn’t encouraging. The deniers will surely keep on denying, especially because conceding at this point that the science they’ve trashed was right all along would be to admit their own culpability for the looming disaster. And the public is all too likely to lose interest again the next time the dice comes up white or blue.
The author suggests in the last paragraph that deniers are______.
选项
A、stubborn
B、yielding
C、ignorant
D、irresponsible
答案
D
解析
末段第三句明确指出,气候变化否定论者肯定会继续否定气候变化,因为如果此时承认他们曾经捣毁的科学最终是正确的,就等于承认自己要为日前迫在眉睫的灾难埋单。作者言外之意为,时至今日,气候否定论者尽管已经清楚意识到了气候变化,但他们为了不承担其在气候灾难中所应负的责任,拒不承认错误,[D]选项正确。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/tIO4777K
0
考研英语一
相关试题推荐
StephenM.Saland,chairmanoftheStateSenateEducationCommittee,isaconservativeupstateRepublican,andStevenSanders,c
Politicalcontroversyaboutthepublic-landpolicyoftheUnitedStatesbeganwiththeAmericaRevolution.(1)_____,evenbefore
Accordingtothetext,thereasonforcosmeticsurgeryistoThetextismainlyabout
Accordingtothetext,thecareerofJackLindsayasawritercanbedescribedasItcanbeinferredfromthelastparagraphth
ThereisgrowinginterestinEastJapanRailwayCo.,oneofthesixcompanies,createdoutofthe(1)_____nationalrailwaysyst
IntheUnitedStates,olderpeoplerarelylivewiththeiradultchildren.Butinmanyothercultureschildrenareexpectedtoca
IntheUnitedStates,olderpeoplerarelylivewiththeiradultchildren.Butinmanyothercultureschildrenareexpectedtoca
Scholarsandstudentshavealwaysbeengreattravellers.Theofficialcasefor"academicmobility"isnowoftenstatedinimpres
Inthespanof18months,IsaacNewtoninventedcalculus,constructedatheoryofoptics,explainedhowgravityworksanddiscov
Inthespanof18months,IsaacNewtoninventedcalculus,constructedatheoryofoptics,explainedhowgravityworksanddiscov
随机试题
已知无向图G的结点数为n,边数为e,其邻接表表示中的表结点数与表头结点数之和为______。
吴某,男,24岁,发热已五六日,热略减退,突然出现肢体软弱无力,步履艰难,心烦口渴,咳呛不爽,咽喉干燥,小便黄少,大便干燥,舌质红苔黄,脉细数。证属
下列哪一个激素是穿过细胞膜与核受体结合而起作用
男,35岁,消瘦、乏力、怕热、手颤2个月,夜间突然出现双下肢软瘫,急诊查体:神志清,血压140/80mmHg,心率108次/分,律齐,甲状腺轻度增大、无血管杂音。导致病人双下肢软瘫的直接原因可能是
A.以帮助刷牙、洁牙的方式保持口腔卫生B.维持最基本的口腔功能状态,尽可能康复口腔功能C.培养儿童建立口腔卫生习惯,掌握刷牙方法D.预防第一恒磨牙龋坏E.以无龋及完全保持牙龈健康为口腔健康的目标老年人口腔卫生保健的目的是
某人到银行申请一笔30万元,15年还清的住房贷款,那么此人对货币的需求动机可能是()。
基金管理公司旗下基金获得奖项的,在宣传推介材料中应当尽量引用其过往足够长时间的全部奖项,以证明其业绩的稳定性。()
各级一般公共预算年度执行中有超收收入的,只能用于冲减赤字或者补充预算稳定调节基金。()
与2007年度相比2008年度“房地产开发企业施工房屋面积”增长最快的是()。
下列程序段的执行结果为a="ABBACDDCBA"ForI=6To2Step-2x=Mid(a,I,I)y=Leh(a,I)z=Right(a,I)z=x&y&
最新回复
(
0
)