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Greenhouse and Airlines British green groups spanked

游客2023-12-11  21
问题                         Greenhouse and Airlines
    British green groups spanked the Prince Charles for deciding to fly to the U. S. to pick up a prestigious environmental award, arguing that the carbon emissions created by his travel canceled out his green credit. His critics may be onto something. Jets are uniquely polluting. On an individual level, a single long-haul flight can emit more carbon per passenger than months of SUV driving. Though air travel is responsible for only 1.6% of total greenhouse gas emissions, according to one estimate, in many countries it’s the fastest-growing single source.
    One of the biggest problems, as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) points out, is that the carbon emitted by air travel currently has "no technology". As messy a source of pollution as electricity generation and ground transportation are, technologies do exist that could drastically cut carbon from power plants and cars. Not so for planes.
    Admittedly, the airline industry has improved efficiency over the past 40 years, with technological upgrades more than doubling efficiency. There are slight adjustments in aircraft operations that could cut carbon emissions even further. Virgin Atlantic airlines tycoon Richard Branson, who last year pledged $ 3 billion in the fight against climate change, advocates having planes towed on the ground rather than taxiing, which he has said could cut a yet unspecified portion of fuel on long flights. Emissions trading for the air industry could help as well, with airlines given carbon caps and then being required to purchase credits from other industries if they exceed their limits. But there’s nothing on the horizon for aircraft with the carbon-cutting potential of hydrogen engines or solar energy.
    Nor is there any replacement for long-haul air travel itself. I can take a train from Boston to Washington, but the only way I’m getting from Tokyo to New York City is in aircraft. On an individual level, you can try to make your flight carbon neutral by donating to, say, a forestry project that will soak up the greenhouse gases you have created. An increasing number of airlines and travel agents do offer such options. The London-based Carbon Neutral Company reports that requests for carbon offsetting from individual travelers have jumped over the past six months. But the still tiny number of neutralized flights can hardly compensate for the rapid increases in global air travel.
    So is grounding ourselves the only answer? That seems to be the conclusion of environmentalists in Britain, who also went after Prime Minister Tony Blair for a recent holiday trip to Miami. Though Blair finally promised to begin offsetting his leisure travel, he insisted that telling people to fly less was simply impractical—and he’s probably right. Our best bet for now may be to limit any business and leisure flights that we can and offset the rest. [br] Which of the following is true of the text?
选项 A、Richard Branson suggested some adjustment to aircraft operation.
B、Richard Branson advocated taking the plane rather than the taxi.
C、the British government requires airlines to join emission trading.
D、Tonny Blair supports reducing flight.
答案 A
解析 本题考查综合细节。第三段第二句指出对飞机操作方式稍作调整可以减少飞行产生的碳。紧接着第三句就举了理查德·布兰森的例子。举例是为了证明前一句的观点。该句指出了理查德·布兰森所提倡的对飞机操作的一种具体调整方法：用地面牵引代替飞机的滑行。因此，[A]项符合文意。考生选[B]是因为对towed on the ground rather thantaxiing理解错误。第三段第四句提到了排污交易，但是并没有提到政府要求航空公司参与这个交易。排除[C]。第五段第三句指出布莱尔虽然最终保证对他的休闲之旅所造成的污染进行补偿，但他坚持认为让人们少乘坐飞机不切实际。因此排除[D]。
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