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  3. One of the questions that is coming into focus as we face growing scarcity

One of the questions that is coming into focus as we face growing scarcity

游客2024-10-17  23
问题      One of the questions that is coming into focus as we face growing scarcity of resources of many kinds in the world is how to divide limited resources among countries. In the international development community, the conventional wisdom has been that the 2 billion people living in poor countries could never expect to reach the standard of living that most of us in North America enjoy, simply because the world does not contain enough iron ore, protein, petroleum, and so on. At the same time, we in the United States have continued to pursue super affluence as though there were no limits on how much we could consume. We make up 6 percent of the world’s people; yet we consume one-third of the world’s resources.
     As long as the resources we consumed each year came primarily from within our own boundaries, this was largely an internal matter. But as our resources come more and more from the outside world, "outsiders" are going to have some stay over the rate at which and terms under which we consume. We will no longer be able to think in terms of "our" resources and "their" resources, but only of common resources.
     As Americans consuming such a disproportionate share of the world’s resources, we have to question whether or not we can continue our pursuit of super affluence in a world of scarcity. We are now reaching the point where we must carefully examine the presumed link between our level of well-being and the level of material goods consumed. If you have only one crust of bread, then an additional crust of bread doesn’t make that much different. In the eyes of most of the world today, Americans have their loaf of bread and are asking for still more. People elsewhere are beginning to ask why. This is the question we’re going to have to answer, whether we’re trying to persuade countries to step up their exports of oil to us or trying to convince them that we ought to be permitted to maintain our share of the world fish catch.
     The prospect of a scarcity of, and competition for, the world’s resources require that we reexamine the way in which we relate to the rest of the world. It means we find ways of cutting back on resource consumption that is dependent on the resources and cooperation of other countries. We cannot expect people in these countries to concern themselves with our worsening energy and food shortages unless we demonstrate some concern for the hunger, illiteracy and disease that are diminishing life for them. [br] What is the conclusion of this passage?
选项 A、The United States will be isolated if it does not stop pursuing super affluence.
B、The poor countries will no longer supply the United States with their goods.
C、The United States should care about the well-being of other countries.
D、It is time for the Americans to help the people in poor countries to improve their living standard.
答案 D
解析 结论题。第三段第一句话“…we have to question whether or not we can continue our pursuit of super affluence”，可知A 不是本文的结论；B 和C 在文中未提及，根据最后一段最后一句“…with our worsening energy and food shortage unless…for them”以及全文意思可知，D 为正确答案。
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