题目内容
Global warming may or may not be the great environmental crisis of the 21st century, but-regardless of whether it is or isn't-we won't do much about it.
Al Gore calls global warming an “inconvenient truth", as if merely recognizing it could put us on a path to a solution. But the real truth is that we don't know enough to relieve global warming, and-without major technological breakthroughs-we can't do much about it.
From 2003 to 2050, the world's population is projected to grow from 6.4 billion to 9.1 billion, a 42% increase. If energy use per person and technology remain the same, total energy use and greenhouse gas emissions (mainly, C02) will be 42% higher in 2050. But that's too low, because societies that grow richer use more energy. We need economic growth unless we condemn the world's poor to their present poverty and freeze everyone else's living standards. With modest growth, energy use and greenhouse emissions more than double by 2050.
No government will adopt strict restrictions on economic growth and personal freedom(limits on electricity usage, driving and travel) that might cut back global warming. Still, politicians want to show they're "doing something". Consider the Kyoto Protocol (京都议定书). It allowed countries that joined to punish those that didn't. But it hasn't reduced C02 emissions (up about 25% since 1990), and many signatories (签字国 )didn't adopt tough enough policies to hit their 2008-2012targets.
The practical conclusion is that if global warming is a potential disaster, the only solution is new technology. Only an aggressive research and development program might find ways of breaking our dependence on fossil fuels or dealing with it.
The trouble with the global warming debate is that it has become a moral problem when it's really an engineering one. The inconvenient truth is that if we don’t solve the engineering problem, we’re helpless.
47. According to the author's understanding, what is Al Gore's view on global warming?
A. It is a reality both people and politicians are unaware of.
B. It is a phenomenon that causes us many inconveniences.
C. It is a problem that can be solved once it is recognized.
D. It is an area we actually have little knowledge about.
48. Greenhouse emissions will more than double by 2050 because of___________
A. economic growth
B. wasteful use of energy
C. the widening gap between the rich and poor
D. the rapid advances of science and technology
49. The author believes that, since the signing of the Kyoto Protocol,__________
A. politicians have started to do something to better the situation
B. few nations have adopted real tough measures to limit energy use
C. reductions in energy consumption have greatly cut back global warming
D. international cooperation has contributed to solving environmental problems
50. What is the message the author intends to convey?
A. Global warming is more of a moral issue than a practical one.
B. The final solution to global arming lies in new technology.
C. The debate over global warming will lead to technological breakthroughs.
D. People have to give up certain material comforts to stop global warming.
CABB
特高级教师点拨系列答案When it comes to hard, noisy traveling, we’ve found that sometimes we’d rather read about it than actually go. Here are some bestsellers for armchair travelers.
The Station by Robert Byron. In 1928, the 22-year-old man made a journey to Mount Athos, resulting in one of the best travel books ever written, matched only by Byron’s own, much more famous The Road to Osciana.
In Darkest Africa by Henry Monton Stanley. It’s about his great efforts to save an unlucky German doctor Eduard Schnitzer, who had no desire to be rescued at all.
A Traveler’s Alphabet: Partial Memoirs by Sir Steven Runciman. A to Z and around the world. He provides priceless information of long-gone princesses, priests, and places.
South: A Memoir of the Endurance Voyage by Sir Ernest Shackleton. As the planet started the global war, Shackleton and his brave group of explorers made an unsuccessful but heroic journey to cross Antarctica from 1914 to 1917.
The Michelin Red Guide: France 2005 Reading through this final listing of all the nice hotels and wonderful restaurants in France is better than going there, listening to Chirac talk about the poisonous American culture, and spending the price of this book for a tiny cup of tea and a cookie the size of your thumb.
The Past Is a Foreign Country by David Lowenthal. This great book of an armchair exploration tells us what has happened in the past and shows the relationship between us and the past travelers.
【小题1】This passage is written .
A. to warn readers against traveling
B. as an introduction to famous travelers
C to sell more books about travels
D. to tell people where to travel
【小题2】The underlined phrase “armchair travelers” in the first paragraph refers to those who .
| A．like to read about travels instead of travel themselves |
| B．find fun teaching others how to travel to other places |
| C．like to write about their strange traveling experiences |
| D．can only travel with special equipment for the disabled |
| A．A Traveler’s Alphabet: Partial Memoirs. |
| B．South: A Memoir to the Endurance Voyage. |
| C．The Michelin Red Guide: France 2005. |
| D．The Past Is a Foreign Country. |
| A．Henry Monton Stanley, was saved by a German doctor in Africa. |
| B．In his book, Lowenthal focuses more on history than the present. |
| C．It took Shackleton and his men 3 years to cross Antarctica. |
| D．The Station is no more famous than The Road to Osciana. |