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  3. Can humans prevent climate change from radically impacting on our lives over the coming decades? This is the question asked by J

Can humans prevent climate change from radically impacting on our lives over the coming decades? This is the question asked by J

admin2016-11-09  41
问题     Can humans prevent climate change from radically impacting on our lives over the coming decades? This is the question asked by James Lovelock, the globally respected environmental thinker and independent scientist who developed the Gaia theory, after public opinion on efforts to tackle climate change has been weakened by events such as the climate scientists’ e-mails leaked from the University of East Anglia (UEA) and the failure of the Copenhagen Climate Summit.
    One obstacle to meaningful action is "modern democracy," he said. "Even the best democracies agree that when a major war approaches, democracy must be put on hold for the time being. I have a feeling that climate change may be an issue as severe as a war. It may be necessary to put democracy on hold for a while."
    Lovelock doesn’t believe in human wisdom to stop climate change, insisting that the world’s best hope is to invest in adaptation measures, such as building sea defences around cities most vulnerable to sea-level rises. He thinks only a disastrous event would now persuade humanity to take the threat of climate change seriously enough, such as the collapse of a giant glacier in Antarctica that would immediately push up sea level.
    "That would be the sort of event that would change public opinion," he said. "Another Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report won’t be enough. We’ll just argue over it like now." The IPCC’s 2007 report concluded that there was a 90% chance that greenhouse gas emissions are causing global warming, but the panel has been criticized over a mistaken claim that all Himalayan glaciers could melt by 2030.
    Lovelock says the events of the recent months have seen him warming to the efforts of the "good" climate skeptics: "What I like about skeptics is that in good science you need critics that make you think. If you don’t have that continuously, you really are in trouble. The good skeptics have done a good service, but some of the mad ones have not done anyone any favors."
    Lovelock, who 40 years ago originated the idea that the planet is a giant, self-regulating organism—the so-called Gaia theory—added that he has little sympathy for the climate scientists involved in the UEA e-mail scandal. He said he had not read the original emails, but that their reported content had left him feeling "utterly disgusted." "Cheating the data in any way is quite literally a crime against the holy ghost of science," he said.
Lovelock argues that public opinion________.
选项 A、can easily be changed
B、is mostly groundless
C、probably reflects truth
D、usually dies hard
答案D
解析 文章第四段开头有That would be the sort of event that would change public opinion，这里的sort of event指上段提到的灾难事件，如巨大冰山坍塌导致海平面上升。此句话的含义是“通常情况下很难改变大众的意见”。选项中的die hard是个常用的组合，其意义是“很顽固”。
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