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  3. Protection of the environment is based on a principle that is beginning to be used in the field of jurisprudence. The principle

Protection of the environment is based on a principle that is beginning to be used in the field of jurisprudence. The principle

admin2013-01-12  57
问题     Protection of the environment is based on a principle that is beginning to be used in the field of jurisprudence. The principle has to do with property rights. The idea is that we all have a property right in the air and water around us. If a business firm pollutes that air or water, their act in so doing  constitutes damage to something we own—just as if the firm had dropped a smoke bomb down our chimney. Our legal ease against such a firm is then baaed on the complaint that we deserve compensation  for an infringement of our right to use our private property as we please ( provided we don’ t interfere with the same rights of a neighbor). Assuming we win the case, the offending firm then has to pay us for damaging our property—the air or water we "own".
    And so protection of the environment, specifically the control of pollution, now rests on the idea that we, as members of the public, share a right to clean air and water and to the good health that clean air and water quality can give us. But, as always, costs and benefits are involved in any decision  to improve the environment.
    In an Adam Smithian, self-interested world, entrepreneurs or businessmen are expected to increase  their profits as much as possible. The natural way to do this is to produce at the lowest possible  cost. But at whose cost? It is obviously cheaper for entrepreneurs to dump waste into the nearest stream or into the atmosphere than to truck it to some waste disposal facility or to filter it as it comes out of smokestacks. Therefore, what may be sensible for entrepreneurs may not be desirable for the community.
    Here is a classic trade-off: When the government intervenes to force entrepreneurs to stop polluting,  entrepreneurs have to adopt more expensive means of production or waste disposal. Inevitably,  they will charge higher prices, and, given no change in demand, the quantity demanded will drop and workers will be laid off. The trade-off is therefore cleaner air and water or more unemployment.  This is how economists view this problem.
The word "infringement" in the first paragraph means______.
选项 A、violation of the law enforced
B、interference with freedom of action
C、conservation of air and water
D、principles in upholding justice
答案B
解析 文中第一段在提到infringement一词后，在括号中又提到“假设我们don’t interfere  with the same right of a neighbor”，可以判断，infringement指的是干涉某种自由、权利。选项B正确。
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