首页
登录
职称英语
George Bush was widely quoted on international【B1】______ but had rather less
George Bush was widely quoted on international【B1】______ but had rather less
游客
2023-12-22
166
管理
问题
George Bush was widely quoted on international【B1】______ but had rather less to say about the Plan of【B2】______ to tackle the "serious and【B3】______ challenge" of climate change.
Americans are digging deep inside Yucca Mountain in Nevada to bury spent nuclear fuel for【B4】______ years. But it is not【B5】______ because Americans still breathe in what seems deceptively like【B6】______,【B7】______ territory. In America,【B8】______ is not connected with【B9】______. Only on the crowded coasts is the【B10】______ an issue.
Most Americans believe that global warming was【B11】______. When asking "【B12】______ or【B13】______", the checkout person doesn’t even know which one is better for the environment.
Things are changing though. Some Americans argue that 【B14】______ cars are a waste of the bountiful creation of god. Some are worried that importing oil means relying on【B15】______ regimes so they drive cars powered partly by a【B16】______. Some have concern about the 【B17】______ or the new【B18】______ for cars.
So Mr. Bush may respond with tax【B19】______ for cleaner【B20】______ that the US market seems increasingly to want. [br] 【B12】
While the G8 summit was underway, and once the news of Wednesday’s London bombings became known, the American president George Bush was widely quoted on the subject of international terrorism. He spoke of his resolve to bring the perpetrators to justice, and to "spread an ideology of hope and compassion that will overwhelm" what he called "their ideology of hate".
But as the G8 meeting drew to a close, the US President had rather less to say about the Plan of Action, announced by the world leaders, to tackle what they deemed the "serious and long-term challenge" of climate change.
I’ve just driven down from Salt Lake City, through the desert of Utah and Nevada. It is a magnificent sublime wilderness where horizons are wide when they’re not broken by the craggy splendour of an ancient volcanic landscape. As the sun sinks here, the rocks glow red and it’s hard to imagine a threat to the environment where space seems limitless.
And yet, many of these escarpments hide sites where humans dispose of all sorts of waste. Just beyond the beauty is a land being violated. This is where America throws its trash over the back wall.
I’ve just been to Yucca Mountain in Nevada where tunnels are being dug deep inside to bury spent nuclear fuel—engineers told me for ten thousand years.
Around here there are dumps for every toxic waste. Dumps that feature on maps but not in the public consciousness. The city of Salt Lake has a big rubbish dump in Skull Valley.
But none of this is evident. Where people on other continents feel the pressure of the crowd, Americans still breathe in what seems deceptively like limitless, virgin territory.
It’s also a country, a continent, of extreme climates. This land freezes in winter and is scorching now—even with snow on the peaks around—and that too affects the American perception of climate change.
In Europe, insurance premiums rise as homes get built on flood plains in a search for every inch of exploitable space. In America, there is not this connection between wallets and weather. Extremes of climate seem natural.
Only on the crowded coasts is the environment an issue. California and New York have tough regulations. In between, they often can’t see what the fuss is about. It’s a big country they feel. The taxi-driver in Texas who told me that global warming was hokum is not a lone voice, some of the big oil companies that lobby Mr. Bush are also loathe to concede a link between their product and climate change.
Even where there is concern, it can seem unfocussed. I went to a shop in Santa Fe in New Mexico—a trendy shop for concerned people, where there was a lot of hessian, and earthenware products and posters with slogans about the earth.
They also sold wooden pens there—ballpoint pens in wood casing rather than plastic. I asked the woman behind the counter why on earth they sold wooden pens. She replied as though I was a bit stupid—that wood was more natural—"natural", as though that somehow meant it was kinder on the world’s resources.
And at some of the fancier supermarkets now in trendy areas, the checkout person asks what kind of bag you want: "Paper or plastic?" I usually ask which one is better for the environment, to which the reply is invariably: "I don’t know."
The environment sometimes seems like the fashionable issue of the moment, the right badge to wear, the current political designer label.
Things are changing though. Some Christians argue that gas-guzzling cars are a waste of the bountiful creation of their and the President’s god.
Neo-conservatives are worried that importing oil means relying on hostile regimes, which, moreover, might funnel some of the dollars to anti-American causes—what the neo-cons call a "terrorism tax on the American people".
The former head of the CIA, James Woolsey, for example, drives a Honda Prius, powered partly by a battery rather than the notorious internal combustion engine which burns gasoline and emits the smoke that many scientists believe causes global warming.
Mr. Woolsey, no tree-hugging liberal, drives this cleaner car for what he calls "national security reasons".
And further from the chattering elites in Washington, concern about the environment usually translates as concern about the price of fuel. The last time I was in the Six Pack Diner in Detroit, the car-workers guzzling their cholesterol were not opining about the melting polar ice-caps.
They are worried, though, that their employers—Ford and General Motors—have failed to catch a new appetite for cars that consume less. More clean Japanese cars means fewer jobs in Detroit.
So there is pressure on Mr. Bush over the environment but not as a grand cause. It’s a concern rather about importing an expensive fuel from hostile places. And Mr. Bush may respond with tax incentives for cleaner technology that the US market seems increasingly to want.
Not so spectacular of course as grand declarations of global good intent, but maybe effective nonetheless.
选项
答案
paper
解析
转载请注明原文地址:https://tihaiku.com/zcyy/3294758.html
相关试题推荐
Somepeoplebelievethatinternationalsportcreatesgoodwillbetweenthenat
Somepeoplebelievethatinternationalsportcreatesgoodwillbetweenthenat
Intheatmosphere,carbondioxideactsratherlikeaone-waymirror—theglass
Intheatmosphere,carbondioxideactsratherlikeaone-waymirror—theglass
Intheinformationtechnologyindustry,itiswidelyacknowledgedthathoww
Intheinformationtechnologyindustry,itiswidelyacknowledgedthathoww
Thisbookconcentratesratheronproductsoringredients,whichareaddedto
Thisbookconcentratesratheronproductsoringredients,whichareaddedto
Thisbookconcentratesratheronproductsoringredients,whichareaddedto
Thisbookconcentratesratheronproductsoringredients,whichareaddedto
随机试题
Suggestachangetotheagenda提出变动议程I’dliketoaddoneextraitem,ifImay...
卢沟桥位于天安门广场西南15公里处,横跨永定河,是北京现存最古老的多拱石桥。卢沟桥最初建成于1192年,1698年重建,由281根柱子支撑。每根柱子上都
Easternmedicinesarebecomingmorepopularinthewest,butfewpeoplereal
WhereisJoan’sfamilygoingtospendsummer?[br][originaltext]W:Charles,I
A.(a)与(d) B.(b)与(c) C.(a)与(d)及(c)与(b)
春色满园关不住,一枝红杏出墙来之于()相当于欲把西湖比西子,淡妆浓抹总
A.相须B.相使C.相畏D.相恶E.相反用两种以上功效相似的药物配伍使用,以发挥
A.收方B.核对处方C.配方D.发药E.审查处方检查附带药品是否齐全,药品包装是
扩声系统包括()。A.室外扩声系统;B.室内厅堂扩声系统; C.公共广播系统
造成下肢深静脉血栓的相关因素不包括( )。A.静脉损伤 B.长期服用避孕药
最新回复
(
0
)