【题目】In 1971, UN scholar Paolo Lugari started an eco-social experiment in Gaviotas, Colombia. Located in one of the most extreme climates, Gaviotas was described as a sustainable, self-sufficient village in an area that Lugari called ‘just a big, wet desert’.
‘They always put social experiments in the easiest places,’ Lugari said.’We wanted the hardest place. We figured if we could do it here, we could do it anywhere.’
‘Lugari just thought that someday the world would become so crowded that humans would have to learn to live in the planet's least desirable areas,’ wrote Alan Weisman, author of Gaviotas: A Village to Reinvent the World.
Today, Gaviotas is an eco-village with about 200 people. They farm organically. They use wind and solar power. Since 2004, Gaviotas has been 100% fossil fuel independent. The residents also enjoy free housing, schooling, and community meals. Shockingly, there are no weapons, no police, no jail and no mayor. But though these elements would make any social experiment a success, perhaps the most remarkable accomplishment is the planting of 1.5 million pine trees and palm trees. The various results of this new tree growth have been incredible. The shade of the trees has inspired the return of many rainforest species that were once native to the region. Additionally, the residents of Gaviotas enjoy a sustainable source of income from the resin(松香) harvested from the trees.
The United Nations named Gaviotas a model of sustainable development. The Colombia novelist and Noble Prize winner Grabriel Marquez called Lugari the ‘inventor of the world’.
A new study by a team of researchers has found that ‘nature's capacity to store carbon is steadily falling as the world's farmers expand croplands at the cost of the native ecosystem such as forests’.
Considering this disturbing fact—and as the world population increases towards an estimated 9 billion by the year 2050 and global warming continues to increase the planet's surface temperature—Gaviotas stands as one shining example of how things could be different.
【1】Before the year 1971,________.
A. there was never any rain in Gaviotas
B. Gaviotas was one of the hardest places to live on the planet
C. scientists did many social experiments in Gaviotas
D. Lugari often visited Gaviotas
【2】Gaviotas has developed into a sustainable, self-sufficient village thanks to________.
A. the government's great support
B. people's organic farming
C. Lugari's great contribution
D. the United Nations' research
【3】The fourth paragraph is intended to tell us ________.
A. the income of people in Gaviotas
B. the public security situation of Gaviotas
C. the rainforest species in Gaviotas
D. the living conditions of people in Gaviotas
【4】What is the passage mainly about?
A. A village that reinvented the world.
B. A person who planted many trees.
C. How a small village turned into a business center.
D. The importance of protecting the environment.