Here's how he explains his views.

　　1 ) Shopping fuels invention

　　It is reported that there are more than ten billion different products for sale in London alone. Even allowing for the many people who still live in poverty, our own generation has access to more nutritious food, more convenient transport, bigger houses, better cars, and, of course, more pounds and dollars than any who lived before us. This will continue as long as we use these things to make other things. The more we specialize and exchange, the better off we'll be.

　　2) Brilliant advances

　　One reason we are richer, healthier, taller, cleverer, longer-lived and freer than ever before is that the four most basic human needs—food, clothing, fuel and shelter—have grown a lot cheaper. Take one example. In 1800 a candle providing one hour's light cost six hours' work. In the 1880s the same light from an oil lamp took 15 minutes' work to pay for. In 1950 it was eight seconds. Today it's half second.

　　3 ) Let's not kill ourselves for climate change

　　Mitigating (減輕) climate change could prove just as damaging to human welfare as climate change itself. A child that dies from indoor smoke in a village, where the use of fossil-fuel (化石燃料) electricity is forbidden by well-meaning members of green political movements trying to save the world, is just as great a tragedy as a child that dies in a flood caused by climate change. If climate change proves to be mild, but cutting carbon causes real pain, we may well find that we have stopped a nose??bleed by putting a tourniquet (止血帶) around our necks.

　　湖北高考閱讀理解練習題目：

　　1. What is the theme of Ridley's most recent book?

　　A. Weakness of human nature.

　　B. Concern about climate change.

　　C. Importance of practical thinking.

　　D. Optimism about human progress.

　　2. How does Ridley look at shopping?

　　A. It encourages the creation of things.

　　B. It results in shortage of goods.

　　C. It demands more fossil fuels.

　　D. It causes a poverty problem.

　　3. The candle and lamp example is used to show that ________.

　　A. oil lamps give off more light than candles

　　B. shortening working time brings about a happier life

　　C. advanced technology helps to produce better candles

　　D. increased production rate leads to lower cost of goods

　　4. What does the last sentence of the passage imply?

　　A. Cutting carbon is necessary in spite of the huge cost.

　　B. Overreaction to climate change may be dangerous.

　　C. People's health is closely related to climate change.

　　D. Careless medical treatment may cause great pain.

　　湖北高考閱讀理解練習答案解析：

　　1.D　細節理解題。根據第二段第一句“Ridley calls himself a rational optimist—rational, because he's carefully weighed the evidence; optimistic, because that evidence shows human progress...” Ridley 自稱是一個理性的樂觀主義者，所謂理性是因為他仔細權衡證據;所謂樂觀是因為這些證據表明人類進步是不可避免的，而且也是十分美好的。這就是他在近期的一本書當中以全新的視角向人們證明的主題。故此處D項正確。

　　2.A　推理判斷題。根據第一個小標題題目“Shopping fuels invention”以及其內容最后一句“The more we specialize and exchange, the better off we'll be.”可知，購物刺激發明創造，刺激消費，促進生產，這種情況越多，我們將會越富有。故此處A項正確。

　　3.D　細節理解題。從第二個標題內容可知，我們生活遠比以前富裕，健康，長壽，人也長得高了，也比以前聰明了，其中一個原因是我們人類的四種基本需求——衣，食，住，行比以前便宜了很多。因此以油燈和蠟燭為例進一步闡述，故此處D項正確。

　　4.B　推理判斷題。由文章最后一句可知，如果氣候變化證明是輕微的，然而降低二氧化碳會引起麻煩，那么很可能會發現我們用止血帶纏繞脖子以此止住鼻血。此處暗指對氣候變化的過度反應存在危險。故B項正確。