新闻阅读题及答案

Article one：

Read a related article “Climate change action: too little, too late” and finish the exercises within 20 minutes.

?Climate change action: Too little, too late?

By Simon Hooper

Special for CNN

1. LONDON, England (CNN) -- "I want to scare you about climate change," says Fred Pearce, veteran environmental journalist and author. "We are probably the last generation to be able to rely on a stable climate."

2. Addressing a sympathetic audience at the Cheltenham Science Festival (1), Pearce is preaching to the converted about the reality and risks of climate change.

3. But it is his fear -- as the title of his new book, "The Last Generation: How Nature Will Take Her Revenge for Climate Change" (it is called "With Speed and Violence" in the U.S.), suggests -- that we still haven't fully realized the apocalyptic forces we have awoken and the reality of what is at stake if global warming continues untrammeled.

4. This is not just about warmer weather, environmental degradation and a looming refugee crisis, according to Pearce, but "about our survival as a species, as homo sapiens."

5. This year's series of reports by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) (2) have been broadly welcomed for a sober and sensible tone, which, while acknowledging the dangers of global warming, also suggested that our destiny was still in our own hands.

6. Our carbon emissions would have to be slashed with strict targets set and met by 2050 to avert catastrophe but this was essentially a man-made problem with

man-made solutions.

7. But Pearce says the IPCC reports are "not the whole story." Carefully restricted within narrow parameters framed by measurable quantifiable change and imprecise computer modeling, what they don't factor in are the "long shots" which could throw all our existing certainties into disarray.

8. "The truth is, the more we observe about the climate system, the more frightening the scenarios that scientists are starting to develop," Pearce says.

9. "Past climate change has been more violent and extreme than we have been led to believe."

10. In the history of the planet, Pearce argues, the past 10,000 years since the end of the last ice age (3), in which humanity has established itself as the earth's dominant species, have been unusually benign in climatological terms. But that tranquility "looks like the exception rather than the rule."

11. Now he warns, human activity in the space of less than 200 years threatens to

re-awaken extreme climate change of the sort never experienced in the era of recorded history. Already, average sea level rise has doubled in a decade due to the destabilization of the Arctic and Greenland ice shelves.

12. "We could soon be measuring sea level rises in meters, not centimeters," says Pearce. "Old ideas about climate change are just not how the world works. When climate does change it does so suddenly and violently."

13. He highlights one such episode 11,000 years ago when temperatures in some parts of the Arctic warmed several degrees Celsius in the space of a decade: "Nature flicked the switch 10,000 years ago. We could be flipping the switch again."

14. As Pearce says, the "last generation" of his book title refers to the final years in which we will be able to depend on a stable and predictable climate.

15. The challenge for future generations, he predicts, will come in dealing with the sudden destabilization of the planetary ecosystem and the social chaos likely to ensure.

16. "When that certainty fails, how will society respond? One hurricane (Katrina) (4) brought the world's greatest nation to its knees. We believe we can control climate change but I wonder whether that is actually the case."

17. That, however, does not alleviate the need for urgent action, says Pearce, insisting he retains a sense of "apocalyptic optimism" harbored by the sense that politicians, in the IPCC reports, U.S. acknowledgment of the scale of the problem and the beginnings of moves towards a post-Kyoto consensus, are finally treating climate change seriously.

18. "The technology to do things so much better is there. The economics is not hard, they're not going to break the bank. The problem is political, making it happen. I hope we are reaching a political tipping point."

19. He also sees hope in the fact that corporations have spotted lucrative potential in adapting to ever more-stringent environmental regulations more effectively than their rivals.

20. The next step, Pearce believes, is to add an ethical dimension to the struggle by highlighting the fact that those initially affected will be almost entirely located in the developing world where infrastructure and resources are already at their most

over-stretched.

21. "If the economics is what gets the politicians going, it's the ethics that gets the people going," he says.

Notes

1. The Cheltenham science Festival: it takes place every year in the beautiful town of Cheltenham in Gloucestershire, UK. Since the first Festival in 2002, Cheltenham has earned an exciting reputation as one of the best science festivals in the UK.

2. The International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC):政府间气候变化专门委员会

Was established to provide the decision-makers and other interested in climate change with an objective source of information about climate change.

3. the last ice age:

There have been several ice ages in the history of the earth. What is commonly called the ice age is actually the most recent which began about two million years ago, and was characterized by cold and relatively warm phases. The last began about 70,000 years ago, and ended 10,000 years ago.

4. Hurricane Katrina: on august 28th, 2005, Hurricane Katrina hit the southern coast of the US with devastating effected. It was reported more than 1,800 people lost their lives, and more than ￥81 billion dollars in damages occurred.

Exercise one:

Directions: decide whether the following statements are true of false according the text.

1. According to the Pearce, global warming just implies warmer weather, environmental degradation and a looming refugee crisis. ( )

2. This year’s series of reports by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) suggested that we human beings couldn’t control our fate any more. ( )

3. Pearce sa ys the IPCC reports haven’t taken all the possible factors into consideration. ( )

4. Pearce argues that the extreme climate changed will take place in less than 200 years. ( )

5. Pearce mentions that the climate change occurs naturally and slowly and finally could throw all or existing certainties into chaos. ( )

6. Pearce says the “last generation” of his book title refers to the final years in which we couldn’t predict the climates. ( )

7. Hurricane Katrina has forced the United States to admit defeat in dealing with climate changes. ( )

8. Pearce harbors hopes in the politicians to take serious measures in dealing with climate change. ( )

9. Pearce implies the developing countries could be the first to feel the effect of climate change. ( )

Exercise two: Translate the two paragraphs at the end of the article.

10. He also sees hope in the fact that corporations have spotted lucrative potential in adapting to ever more-stringent environmental regulations more effectively than their rivals.

11. The next step, Pearce believes, is to add an ethical dimension to the struggle by highlighting the fact that those initially affected will be almost entirely located in the developing world where infrastructure and resources are already at their most

over-stretched.

Article Two：

Blacks, Whites and Love

By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF

Published: April 24, 2005

One gauge of the progress we've made in American race relations in recent decades is the growing number of blacks and whites who have integrated their hearts and ended up marrying each other. As of the 2000 census, 6 percent of married black men had a white wife, and 3 percent of married black women had a white husband - and the share is much higher among young couples. Huge majorities of both blacks and whites say they approve of interracial marriages, and the number of interracial marriages is doubling each decade. One survey found that 40 percent of Americans had dated someone of a different race.

But it's hard to argue that America is becoming more colorblind when we're still missing one benchmark: When will Hollywood dare release a major movie in which Denzel Washington and Reese Witherspoon fall passionately in love?

For all the gains in race relations, romance on the big screen between a black man and a white woman remains largely a taboo. Americans themselves may be falling in love with each other without regard to color, but the movie industry is still too craven to imitate life.

Or perhaps the studios are too busy pushing the limits on sex, nudity and violence to portray something really kinky, like colorblind love.

Back in 1967, "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" helped chip away at taboos by showing a black man and white woman scandalizing their parents with their - chaste - love. In 2005 we have a new version of "Guess Who," but it only underscores how little progress we've made.

The latest "Guess Who" is about a white man in love with a black woman, and that's a comfortable old archetype from days when slave owners inflicted themselves on slave women. Hollywood has portrayed romances between white men and (usually light-complexioned) black women, probably calculating that any good ol' boy seeing Billy Bob Thornton embracing Halle Berry in "Monster's Ball" is filled not with disgust but with envy.

Off screen, the change has been dizzying. At least 41 states at one time had laws banning interracial marriage. A 1958 poll found that 96 percent of whites disapproved of marriages between blacks and whites.

That same year, in North Carolina, two black boys, a 7-year-old named Fuzzy Simpson and a 9-year-old named Hanover Thompson, were arrested after a white girl kissed Hanover. The two boys were convicted of attempted rape. As Randall Kennedy notes in his book "Interracial Intimacies," Fuzzy was sentenced to 12 years, and Hanover to 14 years. Pressure from President Dwight Eisenhower eventually secured the boys' release.

Then the mood began to change, and 1967 was the turning point. That was the year that the daughter of Dean Rusk, then secretary of state, married a black man. Secretary Rusk proudly walked his daughter down the aisle (after warning President Lyndon Johnson of the political risks), and Time magazine put the couple on its cover. That was also the year of "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" and of a Supreme Court ruling striking down miscegenation laws.

Yet right from the beginning, the entertainment industry has lagged society in its racial mores. Films and television have always been squeamish about race: in 1957, on Alan Freed's ABC show,

the black singer Frankie Lymon was seen dancing with a white woman. ABC promptly canceled the show.

There have been just a few mainstream movies with black men romancing white women, lower-profile films like "One Night Stand." More typically, you get a film like "Hitch," where the studio pairs a black man with a Latina.

Popular entertainment shapes our culture as well as reflects it, and one breakthrough might come late next year with the possible release of "Emma's War." That's a movie that 20th Century Fox is considering, in which a white woman - Nicole Kidman is being discussed - marries an African. It's great that Hollywood is close to catching up to Shakespeare's "Othello."

Let's hope that Hollywood will finally dare to be as iconoclastic as its audiences. It's been half a century since Brown v. Board of Education led to the integration of American schools, but the breakdown of the barriers of love will be a far more consequential and transformative kind of integration - not least because it's spontaneous and hormonal rather than imposed and legal.

1. Why doesn’t the movie industry in the US depict romance between a black man and a white woman?

[A]Because the movie industry does not dare to do so.

[B]Because the law of many states does not allow it to do so.

[C]Because the audience does not like to see such romance on the screen.

[D]Because the movie industry is not interested in it.

2. What is the purpose of the author by comparing “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” with the 2005 version?

[A]To show that the movie industry in still engaged in presenting the interracial marriage.

[B]To introduce the new movie

[C]To show that we made little progress during the decades.

[D]To form a contrast between what the movie industry is doing with real life.

3. Why did ABC cancel the show?

[A]Because it lagged behind society.

[B]Because it did not like current racial mores.

[C]Because it didn’t want to show a black singer dancing with a white woman.

[D]Because it was not the mainstream of television.

4. What is the significance of “Emma’s War”?

[A]It shows one breakthrough that Hollywood is going to make in depicting interracial love.

[B]It should be a big hit since Nicole Kidman is going to be the leading lady in the movie.

[C]It is going to catch up with the greatest drama of Shakespeare.

[D]It shapes our culture as well as reflects it.

5. What can we infer from the passage?

[A]The author is quite optimistic about the future of integration.

[B]The author is quite pessimistic about the future of integration.

[C]It is hoped that the breakdown of the barriers of love should be ensured by law.

[D]Hollywood is more conservative in interracial love than its audience.

Directions: Determine the meaning of the bold-faced words in each sentence.

1. One gauge of the progress we've made in American race relations in recent decades is the growing number of blacks and whites who have integrated their hearts and ended up marrying each other.

[A]part

[B]example

[C]cause

[D]measurement

2. Americans themselves may be falling in love with each other without regard to color, but the movie industry is still too craven to imitate life.

[A]cowardly

[B]lazy

[C]busy

[D]brave

3. Back in 1967, "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" helped chip away at taboos by showing a black man and white woman scandalizing their parents with their - chaste - love. In 2005 we have a new version of "Guess Who," but it only underscores how little progress we've made.

[A]develop

[B]get rid of

[C]establish

[D]defend

4. Back in 1967, "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" helped chip away at taboos by showing a black man and white woman scandalizing their parents with their - chaste - love. In 2005 we have a new version of "Guess Who," but it only underscores how little progress we've made.

[A]please

[B]sadden

[C]shock

[D]challenge

5. Back in 1967, "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" helped chip away at taboos by showing a black man and white woman scandalizing their parents with their - chaste - love. In 2005 we have a new version of "Guess Who," but it only underscores how little progress we've made.

[A]emphasize

[B]show

[C]exhibit

[D]baseline

6. The latest "Guess Who" is about a white man in love with a black woman, and that's a comfortable old archetype from days when slave owners inflicted themselves on slave women.

[A]enjoy

[B]dare

[C]beat

[D]harass

7. That was also the year of "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" and of a Supreme Court ruling striking down miscegenation laws.

[A]marriage

[B]illegal marriage

[C]legal marriage

[D]interracial marriage

8. Yet right from the beginning, the entertainment industry has lagged society in its racial mores.

[A]moral values

[B]standards

[C]ideas

[D]views

9. Films and television have always been squeamish about race: in 1957, on Alan Freed's ABC show, the black singer Frankie Lymon was seen dancing with a white woman.

[A]unpleasant

[B]daring

[C]sensitive

[D]careless

10. Let's hope that Hollywood will finally dare to be as iconoclastic as its audiences.

[A]numb

[B]idealistic

[C]optimistic

[D]sharp

答案：

Article one：

1. F para. 4: This is not just about warmer weather, environmental degradation and a looming refugee crisis, ...but "about our survival as a species, as homo sapiens.“

2. F para. 5: This year's series of reports by (IPCC) have been broadly welcomed for a sober冷静的and sensible明智的tone, which, while acknowledging the dangers of global warming, also suggested that our destiny was still in our own hands.

3. T Para. 7. :Pearce says the IPCC reports are "not the whole story." ... they don't factor in are the "long shots" which could throw all our existing certainties into disarray. Long shot: a bet made at great odds. 冒极大风险的赌注

4. T Para. 11: Now he warns, human activity in the space of less than 200 years threatens to reawaken extreme climate change of the sort never experienced in the era of recorded history.

5. F Para. 12: When climate does change it does so suddenly and violently.

6. F Para.14: the "last generation" of his book title refers to the final years in which we will be able to depend on a stable and predictable climate.

7. T Para. 16: One hurricane (Katrina) (4) brought the world's greatest nation to its knees. We believe we can control climate change but I wonder whether that is actually the case."

8. T Para.17:he retains a sense of “apocalyptic optimism” harbored持有by the sense that politicians, ...are finally treating climate change seriously.

9. T Para. 20. : highlighting强调了the fact that those initially首先地affected will be almost entirely located in the developing world where infrastructure基础建设and

resources are already at their most over-stretched.

?translation

10 .他也从这样一个现象中看到了希望，即有些企业在比对手企业更有效地适

应前所未有的严厉环境措施的过程中发现了盈利的可能性。

11. Pearce认为下一步要在与气候变化的对抗中增加一个道德因素，为此他强

调了这样一个事实，即受到气候变化首当其冲的地区几乎都位于经济不发达的第三世界，当地的基础设施和资源都已经过度使用，达到了不堪重负的地步。

Article Two：

1-5 A C C A D

1-10 DABCA DDACD