问答题The Environment in Perspective:Is Everything Getting Steadily Worse?　　Much of the discussion of environmental problems in the popular press leaves the reader with the impression that matters have been growing steadily worse, and that pollution is large

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The Environment in Perspective:Is Everything Getting Steadily Worse?　　Much of the discussion of environmental problems in the popular press leaves the reader with the impression that matters have been growing steadily worse, and that pollution is largely a product of the profit system and modern industrialization. There are environmental problems today that are both enormous and pressing, but in fact pollution is nothing new. Medieval cities were pestholes—the streets and rivers were littered with garbage and the air stank of rotting wastes. At the beginning of the eighteenth century, a German traveler reported that to get a view of London from the tower of St. Paul’s, one had to get there very early in the morning “before the air was full of coal smoke.”　　Since 1960 there has been progress in solving some pollution problems, much of it the result of concerted efforts to protect the environment. The quality of the air in most Canadian cities has improved. In Toronto, for example, the concentration of suspended particulates, or soot, in the air has fallen dramatically since 1962. To put this figure in perspective, it should be noted that the current health advisory level for the index is 32. At a level of 58, people with chronic respiratory diseases may be affected. At 100, even healthy people may be affected by prolonged conditions, and those with cardiac and respiratory diseases could suffer severe effects　　Recently in Toronto, the index has exceeded 32 on fewer than half a dozen days annually. Similar improvements have occurred elsewhere in Canada and in other industrialized countries. Even the famous, or rather infamous, “fogs” of London are almost a thing of the past. There have been two high readings of particular note in the British capital in 1959 (when the index rose to 275 and there was a 10 percent increase over the normal number of deaths) and in 1962 (when the index rose to 575 and there was a 20 percent increase in mortality). But more recently, London’s, cleaner air has resulted in an astounding 50 percent increase in the number of hours of winter sunshine. In short, pollution problems are not a uniquely modem phenomenon, nor is every part of the environment deteriorating relentlessly.　　Environmental problems do not occur exclusively in capitalist economies. For example, in the People’s Republic of China, coal soot from factory smokestacks in Beijing envelops the city in a thick black haze. Similarly, smoke from brown-coal furnaces pollutes the air almost everywhere in Eastern Europe. It has been estimated that a third of Poland’s citizens live in areas of “ecological disaster”. The citizens of Leipzig, a major industrial city in what was formerly East Germany, have a life expectancy a full six years shorter than the national average.　　However, we do not mean to suggest that all is well with the environment in market-oriented economies or that there is nothing more to do. While there have been some improvements, serious problems remain. Our world is now subject to a number of new pollutants, most of which are far more dangerous than those we have reduced, even though they may be less visible and less malodorous　　While environmental problems are neither new nor confined only to capitalist, industrialized economies, these facts are not legitimate grounds for complacency. The potential damage that we are inflicting on ourselves and on our surroundings is very real and very substantial.

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第1题：

() made matters worse was that he was ill.

A、It

B、What

C、That

D、Which

参考答案：B

第2题：

Text 3

When prehistoric man arrived in new parts of the world, something strange happened to the large animals. They suddenly became extinct. Smaller species survived. The large, slow-growing animals were easy game, and were quickly hunted to extinction. Now something similar could be happening in the oceans.

That the seas are being overfished has been known for years. What researchers such as Ransom Myers and Boris Worm have shown is just how fast things are changing. They have looked at half a century of data from fisheries around the world. Their methods do not attempt to estimate the actual biomass (the amount of living biological matter) of fish species in particular parts of the ocean, but rather changes in that biomass over time. According to their latest paper published in Nature, the biomass of large predators (animals that kill and eat other animals) in a new fishery is reduced on average by 80% within 15 years of the start of exploitation. In some long-fished areas, it has halved again since then.

Dr. Worm acknowledges that the figures are conservative. One reason for this is that fishing technology has improved. Today’s vessels can find their prey using satellites and sonar, which were not available 50 years ago. That means a higher proportion of what is in the sea is being caught, so the real difference between present and past is likely to be worse than the one recorded by changes in catch sizes. In the early days, too, longlines would have been more saturated with fish. Some individuals would therefore not have been caught, since no baited hooks would have been available to trap them, leading to an underestimate of fish stocks in the past. Furthermore, in the early days of longline fishing, a lot of fish were lost to sharks after they had been hooked. That is no longer a problem, because there are fewer sharks around now.

Dr. Myers and Dr. Worm argue that their work gives a correct baseline, which future management efforts must take into account. They believe the data support an idea current among marine biologists, that of the “shifting baseline.” The notion is that people have failed to detect the massive changes which have happened in the ocean because they have been looking back only a relatively short time into the past. That matters because theory suggests that the maximum sustainable yield that can be cropped from a fishery comes when the biomass of a target species is about 50% of its original levels. Most fisheries are well below that, which is a bad way to do business.

31. The extinction of large prehistoric animals is noted to suggest that ________.

[A] large animal were vulnerable to the changing environment

[B] small species survived as large animals disappeared

[C] large sea animals may face the same threat today

[D] slow-growing fish outlive fast-growing ones

正确答案：C

第3题：

--How about your trip to Hainan?

--It couldn't have been_____________Sometimes I went swimming in the sea; sometimes I lay on the sand.

A． so well

B． as bad

C． better

D． worse

正确答案：C
根据前后文句意可推知去海南的旅行非常愉快，此处是比较级的否定式表达最高级的含义，意思是“不能再好了”。

第4题：

In the author's opinion, __.

A. developing countries should be responsible for environmental problems

B. overpopulation in the world is created by the developed countries

C. rich countries exercise worse influence on environment than poor countries

D. all countries should bring the population growth under control

正确答案：C

第5题：

The political situation is steadily () in that country. More and more people are getting involved in the dispute.

A、decreasing

B、declining

C、breaking up

D、worsening

参考答案：D

第6题：

The performance of the English team was ________.They played much worse than expected

A.disappoint

B.disappointing

C.disappointed

D.to disappoint

参考答案：C

第7题：

Had the damage been worse, the insurance company ____ more.

A、pay

B、paid

C、had paid

D、would have paid

参考答案：D

第8题：

The number of foreign students attending Chinese universities ________ rising steadily since1990.

A. is B. are C. has been D. have been

正确答案：C

第9题：

第三组：

Ship recycling contributes to sustainable development and is the environmentally friendly way of disposing of ships with virtually every part of the hull, machinery, equipment, fittings and even furniture being re-used. However, while the principle of ship recycling is a sound one, the reported status of working practices and environmental standards in recycling facilities often leaves much to be desired. Such growing concerns about environmental safety, health and welfare matters in the ship recycling industry have resulted in a growing belief that an international instrument to regulate the ship recycling process is urgently needed.

Having become aware of the need to reduce the environmental, occupational health and safety risks related to ship recycling, as well as the need to secure the smooth withdrawal of ships that have reached the end of their operating lives, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) has taken action to develop a realistic and effective solution to the problem of ship recycling, which will take into account the particular characteristics of international maritime transport and the economic realities.

Which statement of the following is true?

A.Ship recycling is sustainable

B.Ship recycling is very friendly to our environment

C.Ship recycling is the best way to dispose the machinery, equipment, fittings and even furniture on board

D.Ship recycling brings many problems concerning environmental safety, health and______occupational safety

正确答案：D

第10题：

Steadily rising prices press most heavily（）the poor and the old people with fixed incomes.
on

答案：

解析：

press on（upon）“使负重担，压迫”。句意：不断上涨的价格使穷人和收入固定的老人不胜负荷。press的其他搭配：press up用力使升高；press for迫切要求，催促；press down压（揿上）。

问答题The Environment in Perspective:Is Everything Getting Steadily Worse?　　Much of the discussion of environmental problems in the popular press leaves the reader with the impression that matters have been growing steadily worse, and that pollution is large

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问答题The Environment in Perspective:Is Everything Getting Steadily Worse? Much of the discussion of environmental problems in the popular press leaves the reader with the impression that matters have been growing steadily worse, and that pollution is large

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问答题The Environment in Perspective:Is Everything Getting Steadily Worse?　　Much of the discussion of environmental problems in the popular press leaves the reader with the impression that matters have been growing steadily worse, and that pollution is large