2. 职称英语
  3. We’ve already pushed the world oceans close to--and in some cases, past--thei

We’ve already pushed the world oceans close to--and in some cases, past--thei

游客2025-01-15  25
问题    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, businesses and governments taking an active interest in slowing down the destruction and pollution of the ocean is encouraging, says senior researcher and author Anne Plait 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 faming.
   (3) In northern Sulawesi, 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.
   On 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 runoff, sewage pollution and destructive fishing practices has led to a tripling in the number of poisonous algae 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 coastline economies 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 the annual budgets the International Maritime Organization and the Fisheries Department of the U.N. 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. [br] The word "sustainable" in paragraph 2 is closest in meaning to______.
选项 A、maintainable
B、reasonable
C、understandable
D、respectable
答案 A
解析
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