After all. the world's population has more than tripled during this century, and world output has risen hugely. so you would expect the earth itself to have been affected. Indeed, if people lived, consumed and produced things in the same way as they did in 1900 (or 1950. or indeed 1980), the world by now would be a pretty disgusting place: smelly, dirty. toxic and dangerous.

　　But they don't. The reasons why they don't. and why the environment has not been ruined. have to do with prices. technological innovation, social change and government regulation in response to popular pressure. That is why today's environmental problems in the poor countries ought. in principle, to be solvable.

　　Raw materials have not run out. and show no sign of doing so. Logically. one day they must: the planet is a finite place. Yet it is also very big. and man is very ingenious. What has happened is chat every time a material seems to be running short, the price has risen and. in response. people have looked for new sources of supply, tried to find ways to use less of the material, or looked for a new substitute. For this reason prices for energy and for minerals have fallen in real terms during the century. The same is true for food. Prices fluctuate, in response to harvests. natural disasters and political instability; and when they rise, it takes some time before new sources of supply become available. But they always do. assisted by new farming and crop technology. The long-term trend has been downwards.

　　It is where prices and markets do not operate properly that this benign (良性的) trend begins to scumble, and the genuine problems arise. Markets cannot always keep the environment healthy. If no one owns the resource concerned. no one has an interest in conserving it or fostering it: fish is the best example of this.

　　測(cè)試題

　　1.According to the author, most students_________________.

　　A) believe the world's environment is in an undesirable condition

　　B) agree that the environment of the world is not as bad as it is thought to be

　　C) get high marks for their good knowledge of the world's environment

　　D) appear somewhat unconcerned about the state of the world's environment

　　2.The huge increase in world production and population________________.

　　A) has made the world a worse place to live in

　　B) has had a positive influence on che environment

　　C) has not significantly affected the environment

　　D) has made the world a dangerous place to live in

　　3.One of the reasons why the long-term trend of prices bas been downwards is that__________.

　　A) technological innovation can promote social stability

　　B) political instability will cause consumption io drop

　　C) new farming and crop technology can lead to overproduction

　　D) new sources are always becoming available

　　4.Fish resources are diminishing because_________________.

　　A) no new substitutes can be found in large quantities

　　B) they are not owned by any particular entity

　　C) improper methods of fishing have ruined che fishing grounds

　　D) water pollution is extremely serious

　　5.The primary solution to environmental problems is_______________.

　　A) to allow market forces to operate properly

　　B) to curb consumption of natural resources

　　C) to limit the growth of the world population

　　D) to avoid fluctuations in prices

　　答案詳解

　　1.作者認(rèn)為，大部分學(xué)生__________________。

　　A)相信全球環(huán)境現(xiàn)在是糟糕的

　　B)同意全球環(huán)境沒有人們想象的那么糟糕

　　C)在關(guān)于全球環(huán)境知識(shí)上掌握得很好，取得了很高的分?jǐn)?shù)

　　D)對(duì)全球環(huán)境表現(xiàn)出不關(guān)心的態(tài)度

　　[A]根據(jù)文章第1段前兩句“如果以《全球環(huán)境狀況非常好》作為考試題，大多數(shù)學(xué)生會(huì)將試卷撕碎，并列出一大堆的抱怨，從煙霧到全球氣候變暖，從砍伐森林到物種滅絕”，由此可推斷，大多數(shù)學(xué)生認(rèn)為全球環(huán)境并不令人滿意。因此,A正確。

　　2.世界生產(chǎn)力和人口的激增，_________________。

　　A)使得這個(gè)世界的居住環(huán)境更加糟糕 B)已經(jīng)對(duì)環(huán)境造成了正面的影響

　　C)并沒有嚴(yán)重地影響環(huán)境 D)使得世界的居住環(huán)境更加危險(xiǎn)

　　[C]根據(jù)文章第2段全段和第3段首句“本世紀(jì)，全球人口增加了三倍多，全球產(chǎn)量也有巨大的增長(zhǎng)，因此你可能會(huì)認(rèn)為地球會(huì)受到影響。的確.如果人們還像1900年或1950年甚至1980年那樣居住，消費(fèi)和生產(chǎn)，那么到現(xiàn)在，地球很可能是一個(gè)令人厭惡的地方但人們沒有這樣做”，注意此處的虛擬語氣，由此可推斷產(chǎn)量和人口的增加并沒有對(duì)全球環(huán)境造成太大的影響，故此，應(yīng)選C。

　　3.從長(zhǎng)期來看，價(jià)格是下降的，其中的一個(gè)原因是_____________。

　　A)技術(shù)創(chuàng)新促進(jìn)了社會(huì)穩(wěn)定型

　　B)政治的不穩(wěn)定性會(huì)導(dǎo)致消費(fèi)下降

　　C)新的農(nóng)耕和作物技術(shù)會(huì)導(dǎo)致過度生產(chǎn)

　　D)總能獲得新的資源

　　[D]根據(jù)文章第4段第4、5句“每次當(dāng)一種資源似乎就要匱乏時(shí)，價(jià)格就會(huì)上升，相應(yīng)地，人們會(huì)尋找新的資源，想方設(shè)法找到節(jié)省資源的方法或者尋找新的替代品。正因?yàn)槿绱耍臼兰o(jì)能源和礦產(chǎn)品的價(jià)格實(shí)質(zhì)上已經(jīng)下降了一，故應(yīng)選D。

　　4.魚類資源在減少，因?yàn)開__________________。

　　A)沒有大量的新替代品 B)魚類資源不屬于任何一個(gè)實(shí)體

　　C)不當(dāng)?shù)牟遏~方法損壞了漁區(qū) D)水質(zhì)污染非常嚴(yán)重

　　[B]根據(jù)文章最后一段第2、3句“市場(chǎng)并不能總是保持環(huán)境的健康發(fā)展。如果相關(guān)的資源不屬于任何人，人們就沒有興趣保護(hù)它、培養(yǎng)它。魚類資源就是一個(gè)最好的例子”，因此，可推斷B正是魚類減少的原因。

　　5.解決環(huán)境問題的主要辦法是_________________。

　　A)讓市場(chǎng)力量恰當(dāng)?shù)剡\(yùn)作 B)減步自然資源的消耗

　　C)限制世界人口增長(zhǎng) D)避免價(jià)格波動(dòng)

　　[A]根據(jù)文章展后一段第1句“在價(jià)格和市場(chǎng)手段不能正常運(yùn)轉(zhuǎn)的地方，這種良性的趨勢(shì)就會(huì)動(dòng)搖，就會(huì)出現(xiàn)環(huán)境能源等問題”，故此，讓市場(chǎng)價(jià)格手段正常地發(fā)揮作用才是解決環(huán)境問題的方法，A與文章的意思相符，故而正確。

　　參考譯文

　　[1]“全球環(huán)境好得驚人。討論。”如果這是一個(gè)考試題目的話，大多數(shù)學(xué)生會(huì)把試題撕碎，列出一長(zhǎng)串的抱怨：從當(dāng)?shù)氐臒熿F污染到全球的氣候變化，從森林的砍伐到物種的滅絕。這一長(zhǎng)串的抱怨大多數(shù)是準(zhǔn)確的，所關(guān)注的也合情合理，然而應(yīng)該得到最高的實(shí)際上是那些同意考題說法的學(xué)生。令人驚異之處在于情況有多好，而不是有多糟。

　　[2]畢竟，世界人口在這個(gè)世紀(jì)已經(jīng)增長(zhǎng)了三倍多，而且世界產(chǎn)量大幅度增加，因此，你會(huì)預(yù)期地球本身會(huì)受到影響。的確，如果人們像1900年(或1950年，甚或1980)那樣居住、消費(fèi)和生產(chǎn)的話，那么現(xiàn)在的世界會(huì)變成一個(gè)相當(dāng)令人厭惡的地方：惡臭、骯臟、有毒、危險(xiǎn)。

　　但是人們沒有這樣做。人們?yōu)槭裁礇]有這樣做?環(huán)境為什么還沒有被毀壞?這與價(jià)格、技術(shù)革新、社會(huì)變化，以及政府回應(yīng)公眾的壓力進(jìn)行立法有關(guān)。這就是為什么當(dāng)今貧窮國(guó)家的環(huán)境問題原則上應(yīng)該能夠得到解決的原因所在。

　　原材料還沒有枯竭，也沒有枯竭的跡象。按邏輯推理，一定會(huì)有這么一天，畢竟地球是一個(gè)有限的地方。然而，地球也很大，人類又聰明。迄今的情況是，[3]每當(dāng)一種原料似乎快要匱乏的時(shí)候，價(jià)格已經(jīng)上漲，相應(yīng)地,人們已經(jīng)開始尋找新的供給來源，努力找到少用這種原料的方法，或者尋找一種新的替代物。因此，本世紀(jì)的能源和礦產(chǎn)的價(jià)格實(shí)質(zhì)上已經(jīng)下降。食品也一樣。價(jià)格會(huì)隨著收成、自然災(zāi)害、政治不穩(wěn)定而波動(dòng);價(jià)格上升時(shí)，需要經(jīng)過一段時(shí)間，才會(huì)得到新的供給來源。但是，在新的農(nóng)作技術(shù)的支持下，新的供給來源總能得到。長(zhǎng)期的趨勢(shì)一直是下降的。

　　[5]在價(jià)格和市場(chǎng)不能正常運(yùn)轉(zhuǎn)的地方，這種良性趨勢(shì)開始動(dòng)搖，真正的問題開始產(chǎn)生。[4]市場(chǎng)不能總是使環(huán)境保持良好。如果某種相關(guān)的資源不屬于任何人，就沒有人有興趣保護(hù)或培育它：魚類就是這樣一個(gè)最好的例子。