第1个回答 2013-04-27
Unit 8 生态环境类
Passage 1
Green peace has identified global climate change as one of the greatest threats to the planet. Governments and scientists alike have agreed that the problem is real and serious.
Last year at the climate summit in Kyoto, industrialized countries agreed, at least on paper, to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases they pump into the atmosphere. But crucial details, upon which the success or failure of the agreement rests, are still under negotiation, and in the meantime little real action is being taken to address the problem.
Greenpeace is therefore campaigning for governments to face up to their responsibilities and urgently address this problem. The longer action is delayed, the more drastic it will need to be in order to avoid dangerous interference with the planet’s climate from the so-called greenhouse gases.
Governments should be leading the way to a fundamentally new energy direction based on clean renewable energy, like wind or solar power. But at present many governments instead use taxpayers’ money to support the agenda of the companies, which continue to spend billions of dollars on development of coal, oil or gas—the climate-damaging fossil fuels.
Scientists estimate that we can only afford to release a limited amount of carbon into the atmosphere, otherwise, we pass the “safe” limits of climate change. It is at this point that climate change happens so last that ecosystems are unable to adapt. Greenpeace believes that a temperature increase of 1℃ is the absolute maximum that should be at-lowed. The amount of carbon that we can release to keep within these limits can be calculated and is in the range of 112.5 to 337.5 billion tons of carbon over the next 100 years.
But industry already has around four times this amount of carbon—over one thousand billion tons—in existing reserves of oil, coal and gas. This means that three quarters of the oil, coal and gas already found cannot be burned if we want to avoid dangerous climate change. If we continue burning fossil fuels at present levels, the “safe” limit of 1℃will be reached in just 40 years. That is why we have to start reducing carbon dioxide emissions immediately and prepare for an orderly phase out of fossil fuels. Greenpeace calls this the “carbon logic”.
The oil companies alone have already found enough oil to cause dangerous climate Change. Yet they continue to look for more. And of course once they have invested in finding the oil, they will not be prepared to give up their right to pump it out and sell it. The effects on the climate could be catastrophic.
1. Which of the following statements is NOT true?
A. Both governments and scientists have realized that global climate change is one of the
greatest threats to the planet.
B. At the climate summit in Kyoto, many countries planned to protect the atmosphere.
C. The atmosphere protection is still in the air.
D. Industrialized countries have reduced the amount of carbon dioxide and other greenhouses they pump into the atmosphere.
2. According to the author, governments should_______.
A. support the companies to continue their development of coal, oil or gas
B. advocate the use of clean renewable energy like wind of solar power
C.not waste taxpayers’ money to develop new energy
D.prohibit the further exploration of the fossil fuels, only allowing the companies to burn the existing reserves already found
3. A suitable title for the passage is________.
A. Green peace’s International Campaign to Save the Climate
B. The Carbon Logic
C. Climate Change
D. Fossil Fuels
4. The author has a（n）________attitude towards our climate.
A. worried B. critical C. negative D. objective
5. What does the word “catastrophic” in Line 4 of the last paragraph mean?
A. far-reaching B. irresponsible
C. disastrous D. irrespective
【答案与解析】
1.D 本文第一段讲到，绿色和平组织认为全球气候变化是对地球的最大威胁之一，政府和科学家都已认识到这一问题非常严重。去年在京都的最高级会议上，发达国家至少在书面上都同意减少二氧化碳和其他引起温室效应的气体在大气中的排放量，可是涉及这一协议成败的关键细节仍在谈判中，同时未见解决这一问题的具体行动。由此可见，A、B、C正确，D不正确。
2.B 第三段第一句话说，政府应该带头使用全新的能源，如风能、太阳能这些清洁、可再利用的能源。故本题选B。
3.A 全文主要讲了绿色和平组织对全球气候变化的担忧，以及呼吁政府承担起自己的责任，立即解决这一问题。因此文章标题应为A。