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北大05年同等学力申硕学位外语水平统考模拟试题(8)
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| 文章出处： 发布时间：2006-03-29 |
Passage Four
The appalling carnage(大屠杀) in Bali means airlines are once again bracing themselves for hard times. Yet if 11 September is a guide, any slump (暴跌) in air travel will be a blip.
Global air traffic has quadrupled since 1970 and is forecast to more than double again by 2015. Result? Air transport is the fastest growing source of greenhouse gas emissions. Though only 3.5 per cent at present, aviation’s share of emissions could exceed 10 percent by 2050. So what are governments and international bodies doing? Precious little.
Taxing jet fuel is banned by an international treaty dating back to 1994. Emissions from international flights have yet to be included in the Kyoto Protocol. Action at the World Summit in Johannesburg was confined to consciousness-raising stunts inviting delegates to cough up voluntarily for the planting of trees to offset planes’emissions. The rest of us, meanwhile, love our cheap air tickets and seem immune to the irony of jetting off an eco-tour on a return long-haul that produces more carbon dioxide per passenger than a few months’ motoring.
True, jet engines are getting more efficient. But this will not offset the fantastic growth in passengers. And planned high-speed planes such as Boeing’s Sonic Cruiser could reverse the efficiency trend. For all these reasons, many governments, especially in Europe, now accept the need to tax jet fuel even if the industry and the powerful bodies it influences consistently block such moves.
Such intransigence (不让步) looks increasingly self-serving. But in one respect the industry is right: curbing fuel consumption alone may not be the answer. In fact, to really minimize their greenhouse contributions, planes may sometimes have to do the opposite—use up more fuel by flying at lower altitude to cut out vapour trails.
The aviation industry will no doubt pour cold water on this. And in truth, the benefits of curbing plane trails are not always easy to balance against the costs. Nevertheless, there are clearly circumstances in which flying lower could be the lesser of two environmental evils. Airlines and their customers should take the idea seriously.
46. The passage chiefly talks about ________ .
A. slumps in air travels
B. how to fly planes at lower altitude
C. how to solve environmental pronlems caused by planes
D. the inefficiency of air travel and methods to deal with it
47. From paragraph 2 of this passage we learn that _________ .
A. air transport will soon slow down due to the increase in air accidents.
B. air transport will give rise to greenhouse gas emission in the future
C. governments and international bodies are active in protecting the environment
D. aviation will grab a bigger share of international transportation
48. Which of the following is not considered as a factor leading to more serious greenhouse gas emission by planes?
A. Emission from international flights has already been banned.
B. World Summit in Johannesburg didn’t produce a more efficient solution.
C. The 1994 international treaty banned taxing jet fuel.
D. Passengers pay little attention to environmental problems caused by long-haul flights.
49. Paragraph four tells us that ________．
A. the efficiency of jet planes will offset the growth in passengrs
B. Boeing’s Sonic Cruiser will be less efficient than planes today
C. many European governments think that it is unwise to tax jet fuel
D. the aviation industry has some influences on some powerful bodies
50. Why is the aviation industry reluctant to curb plane trails?
A. Because it may increase the total costs of air flights.
B. Because they have no other way to dump the waste water.
C. Because flying lower may cause more serious environmental problems.
D. Because customers do not like the idea of flying lower.
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