oceans Claim our Attention
We’ve already pushed the world oceans close to -and in some cases, past-their natural limits, according to a recently released report on the state of our oceans by the World Watch Institute.
The increasing number of citizen groups, business and governments taking an active interest in slowing down the destruction and pollution of the ocean is encouraging, says senior researcher and author Anne platt Mcginn, citing a host of efforts already under way: 1. Unilever, which controls 20 percent of the whitefish market in Europe and US, has agreed to buy only fish caught and produced in an environmentally sustainable manner. 2. Volunteers in the philippines, Thailand, India, and Ecuador are replanting mangrove areas to repair earlier damage from shrimp farming. 3. In northern Sulawesia, citizens have cleared coral reefs of harmful invasive species. 4. The United States and Canada have each banned oil drilling on large portions of their continental shelves.
0n the downside, Safeguarding the Health of oceans says that seven out of ten commercial fish species are fully or overexploited and even worse, many of their spawning grounds have been cleared to make room for shrimp ponds, golf courses and beach resorts. Habitat degradation, resulting from development, agricultural run off, sewage pollution and destructive fishing practices has led to a tripling in the number of poisonous algal species identified by scientists, increasing fish kills, beach closures, and economic losses.
The impact on the economy is significant. people obtain an average of 16 percent of their animal protein from fish, and people in developing countries are extremely dependent on reef fisheries for both food and income. Tourism accounts for a large piece of coastlines and medicines are being found in reef ecosystems every day. Even toothpaste and ice cream depend on the gel-forming properties of brown algae.
The problems facing the oceans are legion: the marine conversation community is fragmented, bans on destructive activities are routinely ignored, too many regulatory organizations have a development-first mindset and enforcement and oversight are ineffective, if not altogether lacking. oceans need to be protected locally, nationally, and internationally, according to McGinn. Right now, the United Nations General Assembly spends just one day a year covering issues that affect more than half of the planet. The report suggests that a tax of one tenth of one percent on industrial and recreational ocean activities would generate $500 million a year, more than five times and the annual budgets the International Maritime organization and the Fisheries Department of the UN Food and Agriculture organization.
However, the most productive areas of the ocean are under national jurisdiction and 80 percent of oceanic pollution originates on land. This means that addressing global marine issues requires strong national and local policies. problems remain far from resolved.
1. The word sustainable in paragraph 2 is closest in meaning to .
A. maintainable
B. reasonable
C. understandable
D. respectable
2. What’s the probable relationship between mangrove growing and shrimp farming in the philippines?
A. The growth of mangroves kept shrimps from reproducing.
B. Large areas of mangroves were damaged because of shrimp farming.
C. Mangroves helped shrimps grow fast.
D. Shrimp farming gave rise to rapid growth of mangroves.
3. Which of the following statements is not the result of destructive fishing practices?
A. Seventy-percent commercial fish species are over exploited.
B. Many of fishes’ spawning grounds have been destroyed.
C. Economic losses are on the increase.
D. Each country has already taken measures to destructive activities.
4. What will happen if an organization takes a development-first attitude in environmental context?
A. It will take strong measures to prevent oceans from being further polluted.
B. It is going to exploit the oceanic resources first regardless of environmental protection.
C. It will not ignore bans on destructive activities.
D. It will not place development above other factors.
5. We can infer form the passage that .
A. problems at the international level continue to be difficult to resolve.
B. all countries are going to impose taxes on fishers and tourists.
C. the UN General Assembly has made strong policies with regard to oceanic protection.
D. the problems facing the oceans have already aroused sufficient attention.
参考答案：
1. A
第二段有这样一段话：---buy only fish caught and produced in an environmentally sustainable manner.即只购买那些环境上 sustainable 的地区捕获和生产的鱼类。据此可以推断，此处的sustainable 指可持续发展的。与之相近的词是maintainable
2. B
第二段告诉我们菲律宾的红树生长与虾养殖的关系。文中说：志愿者重新种植红树，以修复早期虾养殖引起的破坏。可见，虾养殖破坏了红树的生长。
3. D
从第三段我们可以看出：70%的商业鱼种被过分捕捞;许多鱼类的产卵地被清理掉，以给虾池滕出地方;破坏性捕捞还使经济损失进一步增加。所以，A，B，C都是破坏性捕捞行为的结果。通过全文，我们可以看到，只有一些国家采取了措施禁止破坏性捕捞，并不是每个国家都采取了措施。
4. B
文章的第五段指出：那些对环境问题持有发展优先态度的组织忽略了禁止破坏性捕捞这一规定。由此可以推断，他们将无视环境保护问题，把海洋资源的开发放在第一位。
5. A
这篇文章实际上要通过一系列海洋破坏引起的后果给人们敲响环境保护的警钟。 文章在谈到环境保护的问题时称：这一问题还有待解决。由于海洋的多数富饶区都处在各个国家的管辖内，并且80%的海洋污染来源于陆地，所以我们可以由此推断：国际级的环境问题仍然很难解决。B 在捕鱼和观光中征税还是一个建议，文章没有告诉我们是否有国家会采纳这一建议。C 联合国某机构一年只花一天时间讨论这一问题，可见他们对海洋保护不够重视，文章也没有告诉我们联合国是否已经采取了有力的措施来保护海洋。D 从文章展示给我们的世界各国的海洋保护的现状来看，海洋问题并没有引起人们足够的重视。
