首页
登录
职称英语
The World Faces a Fresh Water Hazard In many places wate
The World Faces a Fresh Water Hazard In many places wate
游客
2023-11-06
40
管理
问题
The World Faces a Fresh Water Hazard
In many places water is becoming scarcer. Treating it as a right makes the scarcity worse. Ideally, efficient water use would be encouraged by charging for it, but attempts to do so have mostly proved politically impossible. A more practicable alternative is a system of tradable water-usage rights.
As our explains, many water problems have global causes: population growth, climate change, urbanization and, especially, changing diets. It takes 2,000 liters of water to grow a kilo of vegetables but 15,000 liters to produce a kilo of beef—and people are eating more meat. The problems also have global implications. Without a new green revolution, farmers will need 60% more water to feed the 2 billion extra people who will be born between now and 2025.
Yet there is, globally, no shortage of water. Unlike other natural resources (such as oil), water cannot be used up. It is recycled end-lessly, as rain, snow or evaporation. On average, people are extracting for their own uses less than a tenth of what falls as rain and snow each year.
The central problem is that so much water is wasted, mainly by farmers. Agriculture uses three-quarters of the world’s water. Because water is usually free, thirsty crops like alfalfa (苜蓿) are grown in arid California. Wheat in India and Brazil uses twice as much water as wheat in America. Dry countries like Pakistan export textiles though a 1 kg bolt of cloth requires 11,000 liters of water.
Any economist knows what to do: price water to reflect its value. But decades of trying to do that for agriculture have run into powerful resistance from farmers. They reject scarcity pricing for the reason that water falls from the skies. No government owns it, so no government should charge for it.
There is a way out. Australian farmers have the right to use a certain amount of water free. They can sell that right to others. But if they want more water themselves, they must buy it from a neighbor. The result of this trading is a market that has done what markets do: allocate resources to more productive use. Australia has endured its worst drought in modern history in the past ten years. Water supplies in some farming areas have fallen by half. Yet farmers have responded to the new market signals by switching to less thirsty crops and kept the value of farm output stable. Water productivity has doubled. Australia’s system overcomes the usual objections because it confirms farmers’ rights to water and lets them have much of it for nothing. [br] According to the passage, what could be an efficient way to use water?
选项
A、Adopting the system of water right owned by the government.
B、Charging for water in places where water is becoming scarcer.
C、Taking political measures to interfere with the water issue.
D、Making it a free market for people to trade water-usage rights.
答案
D
解析
事实细节题。根据题干关键词an efficient way to use water定位到原文第一段第三句:Ideally,efficient water use would be encouraged by charging for it,but attempts to do so have mostly proved politically impossible.A more practicable alternative is a system of tradable water-usage rights.由此可知,在理想的情况下,为有效利用水源我们应该鼓励收费,但此做法已经被证明在政治上不可行。有一个可行替代方案是水交易使用权系统,因此选[D]项。原文提到把水当作一项权利会使水源本已稀缺的情况变得更加糟糕,故[A]项与原文不符;[B]项忽略了ideally一词;[C]项是原文politically impossible的干扰项。
转载请注明原文地址:https://tihaiku.com/zcyy/3164329.html
相关试题推荐
Manysmallculturalgroupsliveinplacesfarawayfrommoderncities.Som
Manysmallculturalgroupsliveinplacesfarawayfrommoderncities.Som
Manysmallculturalgroupsliveinplacesfarawayfrommoderncities.Som
Manysmallculturalgroupsliveinplacesfarawayfrommoderncities.Som
Manysmallculturalgroupsliveinplacesfarawayfrommoderncities.Some
Manysmallculturalgroupsliveinplacesfarawayfrommoderncities.Some
Thesmallsymbolsonthismapdenote______placesandmuseums.A、historicalB、hist
TheWorldFacesaFreshWaterHazardInmanyplaceswate
TheWorldFacesaFreshWaterHazardInmanyplaceswate
TheWorldFacesaFreshWaterHazardInmanyplaceswate
随机试题
Thenormally(i)______Mr.Bellwasuncharacteristically(ii)______indiscussin
[audioFiles]2021m5x/audio_ve01005j_ezflisteningxa_0152_202105[/audioFiles]
Hewasfined$5,000bycityregulatorsforgivingmoneytoaninspector,aninc
Afriendofmineonceaskedmeaquestion:"Whosaidlifewasgoingtobefa
电动车是用来牵引焦罐车,以下选项中不属于焦罐车构造的是()。A.焦罐 B.
一般性政策工具主要包括()。A.抵押补充贷款 B.存款准备金 C.再贴现
外用解毒杀虫,内能清热消痰的药物是A.雄黄 B.白矾 C.铅丹 D.蛇床子
以下关于贷款调查的说法,错误的是()。A:应以实地调查为主、间接调查为辅B:贷
李某是郑州商品交易所的工作人员,则他应当具备的职业操守有()。A.保守期货公
(2018年真题)下列属于国际收支不均衡根据差额性质分类的是()。A.货币
最新回复
(
0
)