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
(1)One of the Labour Party’s many transformations during Tony Blair’s leadership was its conversion to environmentalism. A party
(1)One of the Labour Party’s many transformations during Tony Blair’s leadership was its conversion to environmentalism. A party
admin
2021-08-05
45
问题
(1)One of the Labour Party’s many transformations during Tony Blair’s leadership was its conversion to environmentalism. A party with its roots in dirty, heavy industry such as coal-mines and blast-furnaces presented itself as an eco-friendly guardian of the planet’s future. The most visible form of this was a commitment, in Labour’s 1997 manifesto, to cut 20% off British greenhouse-gas emissions by 2010 compared with their 1990 levels. That went above and beyond the 12.5% required by the Kyoto treaty.
(2)This pledge has been repeated as recently as the last election, but the promises have not stood up to reality. Since 1999, British greenhouse-gas emissions have been broadly unchanged. Disillusionment among environmentalists has gradually given way to an anger which found an attention-grabbing means of expression this week, when Greenpeace dumped a lorry-load of coal outside Downing Street. Stephen Tindale, its boss and a former government adviser, accused Mr. Blair of empty rhetoric.
(3)So far, Britain has had an easy ride cutting emissions. The rhythm of technological change and relatively painless policy choices have helped put the country on course to meet its Kyoto obligations. In an attempt to rescue the 20% target, ministers have ordered a policy review. The review acknowledged that cutting emissions further will be hard.
(4)Power generation is a good example of why. The government’s "flagship policy" on climate change has been to offer subsidies to renewable energy. But much of the cut in emissions predates these handouts and owed more to economy than ecology. Newly liberalized electricity firms replaced old, dirty coal-fired power plants with new, clean gas-fired ones in the "dash for gas" in the 1990s because they were cheaper, not because they were cleaner—that was just a happy coincidence.
(5)Industry already bears the brunt of Britain’s climate commitments through the Climate Change Levy, a tax on energy use, and the European Emissions Trading Scheme(ETS), which allocates tradable emissions limits for firms. Introducing new restrictions will be politically difficult. Ministers tacitly acknowledged as much last year, when they bowed to industry pressure to seek a rise, in Britain’s European emissions allowances.
(6)So, too, in transport, where emissions have risen by 10% since 1990 and which now accounts for a quarter of Britain’s greenhouse-gas output. Most of the emissions come from road transport, but motorists face only weak incentives to buy carbon-friendly cars(the difference in road tax between the most and least efficient is only £115 a year). Labour has been scared of the road lobby ever since the fuel protests of 2000, which brought the country to a halt and ended the policy of annual fuel-tax rises—the one measure that might curb emissions. Ministers says they want to bring airlines into the ETS, but that would require Europe-wide cooperation.
(7)Many greens pin their hopes on energy efficiency. Many people have already installed insulation and double-glazing, but more is to be done. Higher efficiency standards for new buildings will help, but will take many decades to affect the overall efficiency of Britain’s dwellings and workplaces. Other savings from conservation tend to call for new habits, which William Blyth, an environmental analyst at Chatham House, reckons will make them difficult to realise. Others worry about the "rebound effect"—that, while conservation saves money, the gains are spent on such polluting activities as, say, holidaying abroad, which offset much of the environmental benefit.
(8)Mr Blair’s domestic reputation is not the only thing at stake. He has been using Britain’s presidency of the G8 rich nations’ club to harangue other global leaders on the need for a successor treaty to Kyoto. Preliminary discussions are due to begin later this month at a summit in Montreal. If Mr Blair cannot present a plausible plan to meet his domestic goals, he will be robbed of international credibility.
(9)That would be a blow for the prime minister, who is keen to play a part in the delicate negotiations for a new treaty. Besides, a lack of progress in the talks would make it harder for him to impose the policies he needs to defend his domestic targets. Businesses will object to strict regulations without the prospect of their international competitors in America, China and India knuckling under. And while the public claims to be worried about climate change, its concern runs only so deep. A recent poll from the Stockholm Network, a group of European think-tanks, found that while 94% of Britons thought climate change was important, 62% put economic growth before carbon reduction. In other words, a unilateral carbon-reduction policy is unworkable.
(10)A draft document is not the same thing as government policy, but the signs are not encouraging. The review has 58 separate recommendations, making it seem more a set of quick fixes than a coherent policy. These range from the sensible, but difficult(tightening ETS allocations)to gimmicks(stricter enforcement of speed limits on motorways). The draft admits that, even if all of them are adopted, Britain may still miss its target. Mr Blair has been an evangelist on climate change. Now comes the big test of his resolve.
The author thinks that _____.
选项
A、Britain will be faced with another energy crisis
B、Tony Blair will lose his domestic credibility
C、the Labour’s 1997 manifesto will fail
D、the transport industry is key to greenhouse emission cutting
答案
B
解析
文章第8、9段以及全文最后一句都讲到了温室气体排放问题对布莱尔在国内外的声誉的影响.故选B。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/yJIK777K
0
专业英语八级
相关试题推荐
Thequestionofwhetherlanguagesshapethewaywethinkgobackcenturies;Charlemagneproclaimedthat"tohaveasecond【S1】__
Ineveryeconomicsystem,entrepreneursandmanagersbringtogethernaturalresources,labor,andtechnologytoproduceanddi
Ineveryeconomicsystem,entrepreneursandmanagersbringtogethernaturalresources,labor,andtechnologytoproduceanddi
Ineveryeconomicsystem,entrepreneursandmanagersbringtogethernaturalresources,labor,andtechnologytoproduceanddi
IngmaBergman’slatestworkasascreenwriteris"Sunday’sChildren".SetinruralSwedenduringthelate1920s,thestorycen
Secondlanguageteachingshouldfocusonencouragingacquisition,andonprovidinginputthatstimulatestheconscious【S1】______
Secondlanguageteachingshouldfocusonencouragingacquisition,andonprovidinginputthatstimulatestheconscious【S1】______
Secondlanguageteachingshouldfocusonencouragingacquisition,andonprovidinginputthatstimulatestheconscious【S1】______
TheUnitedStatesisconsideredamultilingualcountrybutithasneveremployedanofficiallanguagepolicy.EventhoughEngl
TheUnitedStatesisconsideredamultilingualcountrybutithasneveremployedanofficiallanguagepolicy.EventhoughEngl
随机试题
关于复制与转录的相似点,正确的是()。
求由曲线y=χcos2χ和直线y=0,χ=0及围成的平面图形的面积.
某农村妇女,31岁,在城里打工,因婚后8年不能生育就诊。患者婚前曾有2次人工流产,婚后一直未孕。2年前因不堪忍受家里及周围人的嘲讽进城打工,每次回家都十分紧张、恐惧,尤其是性生活时。此次就诊下列哪项处理不恰当
功能收敛止血的药物有
海关对申请注册登记许可的审查时限:受理海关应自受理之日起______日内;直属海关应自收到受理海关审查意见之日起______日内。
商品保本库存期,简单来说是指不发生亏损的()
我国刑法将犯罪的同类客体分为10大类。()
在除臭剂中.只有白猫牌能提供一次性全天除臭效果和雨林檀香味。如果上述广告是真实的,那么以下哪项不可能是真实的?Ⅰ.红旗牌除臭剂能提供一次性全天除臭效果。Ⅱ.北海牌除臭剂比白猫牌在市场上更受欢迎。Ⅲ.红波浴液能提供雨林
结合材料回答问题:材料1突如其来的新冠肺炎疫情,形成了百年来全球最严重的传染病大流行和新中国成立以来传播速度最快、感染范围最广、防控难度最大的重大突发公共卫生事件。面对疫情,习近平总书记亲自指挥、亲自部署,统揽全局、果断决策,为中国人民抗击疫情
有以下程序段:inta[10]={1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10},*p=&a[3],b;b=p[5];b中的值是()。
最新回复
(
0
)