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  3. The night is not what it was. Once, the Earth was cast perpetually (永恒地) hal

The night is not what it was. Once, the Earth was cast perpetually (永恒地) hal

游客2023-07-20  8
问题     The night is not what it was. Once, the Earth was cast perpetually (永恒地) half in shadow. Man and beast slept beneath inky skies, dotted with glittering stars. Then came fire, candle, and the light bulb, gradually drawing back the curtain of darkness and giving us unprecedented control over our lives.
    But a brighter world, as is becoming increasingly clear, has its drawbacks. A study released last week finding that breast cancer is nearly twice as common in brightly-lit communities as in dark ones only added to a growing body of evidence that artificial light threatens public health, wildlife, and possibly even safety.
    Those findings are all the more troubling considering that an estimated 30 percent of outdoor lighting — plus even some indoor lighting — is wasted. Ill-conceived, ineffective, inefficient lighting costs U.S. about $10.4 billion a year, according to Bob Gent of the International Dark-Sky Association, a nonprofit that aims to control light pollution, and it generates 38 million tons of carbon dioxide a year.
    Motivated by such trends, more than two dozen cities worldwide will go dim on March 29 in an hour-long demonstration. According to the World Wildlife Fund, which is organizing the event, an estimated 2.2 million Australians switched off their lights or took other action during "Earth Hour" last year in Sydney, briefly reducing that city’s energy use by more than 10 percent.
    A number of groups are trying to measure light pollution and assess its detrimental (有害 的) effects on the environment in the hope that people will reduce their own contribution to the problem. Last week, as part of an annual program called GLOBE at Night, thousands of students and amateur scientists stared up at the constellation Orion (猎户座星群) from locations across the country and reported how many of its stars they could see. No data are yet available, but in dark, rural areas, says Gent, about 2,000 stars are typically visible at night, compared with "maybe five" in a bright city square — and about 5,000 in centuries past.
    People who are working while others are stargazing may face the greatest risks. Nighttime exposure to white light can fuel the growth of tumors (肿瘤), experiments show. Two decades of research indicates that women who work night shifts have usually high rates of breast cancer. [br] Scientists counted the number of stars in order to______.
选项 A、illustrate the impact of light pollution
B、compare air quality in different areas
C、see how the sky has changed with time
D、arouse public interest in space
答案 A
解析 根据题干中的scientists和stars将本题出处定位到倒数第二段。该段首句提到，许多组织正测量光的污染和光污染对环境的危害，希望人们能从自身做起，减少光污染。紧接着第二句便提到，上周GLOBE at Night活动的许多学生和业余科学家在全国不同的地方观星象，报告他们所看到的星星数量。很显然，这些科学家数星星是为了测量光污染和光污染对环境的危害，故答案为[A]。[B]“比较不同地区的空气质量”和[D]“提高公众对太空的兴趣”与本文的主题“光污染”无关。[C]是根据5,000 in centuries past所设的干扰。
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