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  3. (1)Humans are damaging the planet at an unprecedented rate and raising risks

(1)Humans are damaging the planet at an unprecedented rate and raising risks

游客2023-12-03  28
问题     (1)Humans are damaging the planet at an unprecedented rate and raising risks of abrupt collapses in nature mat could spur disease, deforestation or "dead zones" in me seas, an international report said on Wednesday.
    (2)The study, by 1,360 experts in 95 nations, said a rising human population had polluted or over-exploited two-thirds of the ecological systems on which life depends, ranging from clean air to fresh water, in me past 50 years. "At the heart of this assessment is a stark warning," said the 45-member board of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. "Human activity is putting such strain on the natural functions of Earth that the ability of me planet’s ecosystems to sustain future generations can no longer be taken for granted," it said.
    (3)Ten to 30 percent of mammal, bird and amphibian species were already threatened with extinction, according to the assessment, the biggest review of the planet’s life support systems. "Over the past 50 years, humans have changed ecosystems more rapidly and extensively than in any comparable time in human history, largely to meet rapidly growing demands for food, fresh water, timber, fibre and fuel," the report said. "This has resulted in a substantial and largely irreversible loss in the diversity of life on earth," it added. More land was changed to cropland since 1945, for instance, man in the 18m and 19th centuries combined.
    (4)"The harmful consequences of this degradation could grow significantly worse in me next 50 years," it said. The report was compiled by experts, including from UN agencies and international scientific and development organizations.
    (5)UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said me study "shows how human activities are causing environmental damage on a massive scale throughout the world, and how biodiversity—the very basis for life on earth—is declining at an alarming rate." The report said there was evidence mat strains on nature could trigger abrupt changes like the collapse of cod fisheries off Newfoundland in Canada in 1992 after years of over-fishing.
    (6)Future changes could bring sudden outbreaks of disease. Warming of the Great Lakes in Africa due to an autism expert at the University of Utah, is skeptical. The findings... are most useful to researchers attempting to define the underlying developmental neuropathology of autism, she writes in a commentary on the San Diego study, rather than to physicians trying to identify young children with autism. That’s because rapid head growth can signal other childhood maladies, including tumors and hydrocephalus, and often means nothing at all. Lainhart calculates that if doctors used head circumference as a screening test for autism, they would pick up 60 healthy children for every autistic one. Courchesne concedes the point, but he still believes it’s prudent for pediatricians to monitor head growth. The world’s oldest measurement tool still has the power to amaze, he says. It may not provide a definitive diagnosis, but it is inexpensive, non-invasive and objective and most of the concerns it raises can quickly be resolved. Where autism is concerned, that’s still as good a goal as any. [br] The word "haphazardly" in the fourth paragraph probably means _____.
选项 A、accidentally
B、frequently
C、orderly
D、quickly
答案 D
解析 该段首句提到，很多生态系统如果以一种可持续方式发展会更有价值，紧接着举了两个例子，最后总结出，生态系统及其服务是有经济价值的，破坏它等于经济自杀，故这两个例子是证明保护生态系统的经济价值，选D。
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