Question

Environmentalists said our planet was bound to die. Now one man says they are wrong. “Everyone knows the planet is in bad shape,” thundered a magazine article last year. “Species are being driven to die out at record rates, and the rivers are so poisonous that fish are floating on the surface, dead.”

But there’s growing belief that what everyone takes for granted is wrong: Things are actually getting better. A new book is about to overturn our most basic assumptions about the world’s environment. Rivers, seas, rain and the atmosphere are all getting better.

The total amount of forests in the world is not declining. The Skeptical Environmentalist by Bjorn Lomborg, professor of statistics at the University of Aarhus in Denmark, is an attack on the misleading claims of environmental groups, and the “bad news” culture that makes people believe everything is getting worse.

Now the attacks are increasingly coming from left-wing environmentalists such as Lomborg, a former member of Greenpeace. The accusation is that, although the environment is improving, green groups — with profits of hundreds of millions of pounds a year — are using scare tactics (战术) to gain donations. Lomborg’s book doesn’t deny global warming — probably the biggest environmental threat — but destroys almost every other environmental claim with many official statistics.

The Worldwatch Institute claims that deforestation has been accelerating over the last 30 years. Buy Lomborg says that is simply rubbish. Since the dawn of agriculture the world has lost about 20% of its forest cover, but in recent decades the forest area’s depleting has come to a stop. According to UN figures, the area of forests has remained almost steady, at about 30% of total land area, since 1940s. Forests in countries such as the US, UK and Canada have actually been expanding over the past 40 years. Despite all the warnings the Amazon rainforest has only shrunk by about 15%.

Nor are all our species dying out. Some campaigners claim that 50% of all species will have died out within 50 years. But other studies show only 0.08% of species are dying out each year. Conservation efforts have been successful. Whales are no longer threatened and the bald eagle is off the endangered list.

Environmental groups claim that many of the improvements are the results of their campaigns. Stephen Tindale, director of Greenpeace UK, said, “There are important examples, such as acid rain and ozone, where things weren’t as bad as predicted, and that’s because our behaviour changed.”

1.What is Lomborg’s main argument in The Skeptical Environmentalist?

A. Our planet is in bad shape.

B. The world’s environment is improving.

C. Conservation efforts have been successful.

D. The total amount of forests in the world is not declining.

2.What is Lomborg’s main accusation of environmentalists?

A. They changed their behaviour toward the environment.

B. They only told people bad news about the environment.

C. They scared people into making donations.

D. They overturned our basic assumption about the world’s environment.

3.The underlined word “depleting” is closes in meaning to “_______”.

A. accelerating    B. limiting    C. expanding    D. reducing

4.Which of the following can be the best title for the passage?

A. Are all species dying out?    B. Isn’t conservation powerful?

C. Is Our Planet Bound to Die?    D. Aren’t environmentalists wrong?

Answer

1. B

2. C

3. D

4. C

【解析】

本文是一篇说明文，Bjorn Lomborg在文章里告诉我们世界环境在慢慢地变好，并不像很多环境学家所说的那样在变糟糕。

1.细节理解题。根据第一段以及第三段最后The Skeptical Environmentalist by Bjorn Lomborg, professor of statistics at the University of Aarhus in Denmark, is an attack on the misleading claims of environmental groups, and the "bad news" culture that makes people believe everything is getting worse.可知Lomborg在The Skeptical Environmentalist中的观点是环境状况在改善，故B正确。

2.细节理解题。根据第四段2,3行The accusation is that, although the environment is improving, green groups — with profits of hundreds of mil-lions of pounds a year — are using scare tactics(谋略)to gain donations.可知Lomborg 指责环保主义者们利用恐吓手段让人们捐款，故C正确。

3.细节理解题，根据第五段in recent decades the forest area's depleting has come to a stop.以及the area of forests has remained almost steady可知森林的面积减少已经停止，面积已经趋于稳定，故D正确。

4.主旨大意题。根据文章第一段Environmentalists said our planet was bound to die. Now one man says they are wrong.可知提出了质疑我们的星球会灭亡吗？再根据第二段A new book is about to overturn our most basic assumptions about the world’s environment. Rivers, seas, rain and the atmosphere are all getting better.可知兰伯格的新书提出了相反的观点，批驳环保主义者危言耸听，因此本文主要围绕我们的星球会灭亡吗？这一主题展开，所以C正确。