2. 职称英语
  3. You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13 which are based on Reading P

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13 which are based on Reading P

游客2024-01-07  9
问题 You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13 which are based on Reading Passage 1 below.
Australia’s Growing Disaster
Farming is threatening to destroy the soil and native flora and fauna over vast areas of Australia. What price should be put on conservation?
Australia’s National Greenhouse Gas Inventory Committee estimates that burning wood from cleared forest accounts for about 30 per cent of Australia’s emissions of carbon dioxide, or 156 million tonnes a year. And water tables are rising beneath cleared land. In the Western Australian wheat belt, estimates suggest that water is rising by up to 1 metre a year. The land is becoming waterlogged and unproductive or is being poisoned by salt, which is brought to the surface. The Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) reckons that 33 million hectares have been degraded by salination. The federal government estimates the loss in production from salinity at A$200 million a year. According to Jason Alexandra of the ACF, this list of woes is evidence that Australia is depleting its resources by trading agricultural commodities for manufactured goods. In effect, it sells topsoil for technologies that will be worn out or redundant in a few years. The country needs to get away from the ’colonial mentality’ of exploiting resources and adopt agricultural practices suited to Australian conditions, he says.
Robert Hadler of the National Farmers’ Federation does not deny that there is a problem, but says that it is ’illogical’ to blame farmers. Until the early 1980s, farmers were given tax incentives to clear land because that was what people wanted. If farmers are given tax breaks to manage land sustainably, they will do so. Hadler argues that the two reports on land clearance do not say anything which was not known before. Australia is still better off than many other developed countries, says Den Graetz, an ecologist at the CSIRIO, the national research organisation. ’A lot of the country is still notionally pristine,’ he says ’It is not transformed like Europe where almost nothing that is left is natural.’ Graetz, who analysed the satellite photographs for the second land clearance report, argues that there is now better co-operation between Australian scientists, government officials and farmers than in the past.
But the vulnerable state of the land is now widely understood, and across Australia, schemes have started for promoting environment friendly farming. In 1989 Prime Minister Bob Hawke set up Landcare, a network of more than 2000 regional conservation groups. About 30 per cent of landholders are members. ’It has become a very significant social movement,’ says Helen Alexander from the National Landcare Council. ’We started out worrying about not much more than erosion and the replanting of trees but it has grown much more diverse and sophisticated.’
But the bugbear of all these conservation efforts is money. Landcare’s budget is A$110 million a year, of which only A $6 million goes to farmers. Neil Clark, an agricultural consultant from Bendigo in Victoria, says that farmers are not getting enough. ’Farmers may want to make more efficient use of water and nutrients and embrace more sustainable practices, but it all costs money and they just don’t have the spare funds,’ he says.
Clark also says scientists are taking too large a share of the money for conservation. Many problems posed by agriculture to the environment have been ’researched to death’, he says. ’We need to divert the money for a while into getting the solutions into place’. Australia’s chief scientist, Michael Pitman, disagrees. He says that science is increasingly important. Meteorologists, for example, are becoming confident about predicting events which cause droughts in Australia. ’If this can be done with accuracy then it will have immense impact on stocking levels and how much feed to provide,’ says Pitman. "The end result will be much greater efficiency.’
Steve Morton of the CSIRO Division of Wildlife and Ecology says the real challenge facing conservationists is to convince the 85 per cent of Australians who live in cities that they must foot a large part of the bill. "The land is being used to feed the majority and to produce wealth that circulates through the financial markets of the cities,’ he says. One way would be to offer incentives to extend the idea of stewardship to areas outside the rangelands, so that more land could be protected rather than exploited. Alexander agrees. ’The nation will have to debate to what extent it is willing to support rural communities,’ she says. ’It will have to decide to what extent it wants food prices to reflect the true cost of production. That includes the cost of looking after the environment.’
Questions 1-8
Look at the following statements (Questions 1-8) and the list of people below.
Match each statement with the correct person, A-G.
Write the correct letter, A-G, in boxes 1-8 on your answer sheet.
NB You may use any letter more than once.
List of People
A Jason Alexandra B Robert Hadler
C Dean Graetz D Helen Alexander
E Neil Clark F Michael Pitman
G Steve Morton [br] Current conservation concerns are focused on a broad range of problems.
选项
答案 D
解析 人物与观点的匹配题较特殊，选项A—G人物顺序与文中的出现顺序是一致的，且利用人名来定位较易，故做题时建议按人物顺序来解题，在1—8各题中寻找与人物匹配的观点。A项人物Jason Alexandra出现在第一段，其观点在最后三句中。他的观点主要是批评澳大利亚的贸易方式。滥用土地资源(depleting its resources)，用农作物来交换制造业产物(manufactured goods)，用耕作土(topsoil是提喻的用法，代指土地资源)来换取技术(technologies)，实际此处是讲述进出口，出口的是农作物，进口的是制造业产物和技术，Alexandra的建议是摒弃这种做法(get away from…)，试题中，第4题讲述import／export practices“进出口做法”与Alexandra所述内容一致，而should review也和文中needs to get away from体现的态度一致，表示否定。故第4题与A项匹配。
Robert Hadler出现在第二段。首句指出，他认为对于现在的问题，责怪农民是不合逻辑的(illogical to blame farmers)。试题中第3题出现关键词farmers，且其中的makes no sense“不合理”与文中的illogical意思一致，文中的problem指代前文提及的土地滥用问题，题目中的land misuse与此对应，故第3题应与B项匹配。
Den Graetz出现在第二段最后三句。该部分包括两个方面的内容。倒数第二、三句主要讲述他认为澳大利亚很多土地仍未受损(notionally pristine)，比欧洲的发达国家要好。第6题中的unspoilt是spoil“破坏”的派生词，意为“未受破坏的”，与该部分内容对应。第二段最后一句则讲述，他认为现在澳大利亚的科学家、政府官员和农民之间的合作更好了(better co-operation)，而试题中，第8题的Those involved in conservation“环保涉及的人员”可与文中提到科学家、官员、农民对应上，working together more efficiently则与原文的better co-operation是同义表达。故第6题和第8题都与C项匹配。
Helen Alexander在文中出现了两次，第一次是在第三段末。他认为Landcare成为了重要的社会运动，也提到环保工作起初只关注土壤腐蚀和补植树木，但目前问题正变得日益多样和复杂(diverse and so-phisticated)。各试题中，第1题提到环保问题的忧虑所在，与文中内容相符，其中a broad range of problems“问题范围很广”与文中的diverse and sophisticated对应，故第1题与D项匹配。文章最后两句也出现Alexander的观点。该部分主要讲述国家(nation)的定位，如何看待rural communities以及农产品定价(food prices)，各试题中并没有出现相应的关键词句。
Neil Clark的观点在第四、五段均有出现。第四段提到的是，农民没有得到足够的钱(上一句提到用于农民的经费，故可知代词enough代指enough money)。然后指出要采用更有利于可持续发展的农业生产方式，而那是需要钱的(costs money)，但农民没有多余的资金。第2题所说的，农民保护土地的代价昂贵与此内容相符，故第2题与E项匹配。第五段是Clark对环保资金分(money for conservation)的批评。他认为现在过多资金用于科学家身上(scientists are taking too large a share of．．．)，资金应用在解决问题上(divert the money…into getting the solutions into place)，与此内容相关的是第5题，其中的conservation funds与文中的money for conservation对应，helpful，practical projects“有用的、有实效性的项目”则与solution对应，故第5题亦与E项匹配。
Michael Pitman出现在第五段后半部分。他提到了科学的重要性(science is increasingly important)，并举了meteorologists的例子加以说明。meteorologists一词意为“气象学家”，由文中的droughts“旱灾”一词大致推测该词与气候有关。第7题提到的Weather research“气候研究”与此相关；其中的help solve conservation problems与文中表积极意义的have immense impact和much greater efficiency 对应，故第7题与F项匹配。
Steve Morton出现在最后一段。其观点主要是要让城市居民(Australians who live in cities)分摊环保的费用(foot a large part of the bill)。试题中，第2题的expensive和第5题的conservation fund涉及到费用，但这两题均没有提及城市居民，故G项不能找到匹配的试题。
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