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Part I Writing (30 minutes)
Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write a
composition on the topic: Precious Water. You should write at least 150 words
following the outline given below:
1. 举例说明水对人类的重要性
2. 举例说明我国所面临的水资源问题
3. 为了生存和发展人们要……
Precious Water
Part II Reading Comprehension (Skimming and Scanning) (15 minutes)
Directions: In this part, you will have 15 minutes to go over the passage
quickly and answer the questions on Answer Sheet 1. For questions 1-7, choose
the best answer from the four choices marked A),B),C) and D). For question 8-10,
complete the sentences with the information given in the passage.
Pollution: A Life and Death Issue
One of the main themes of Planet under Pressure is the way many of the
Earth's environmental crises reinforce one another. Pollution is an obvious
example-we do not have the option of growing food, or finding enough water, on a
squeaky-clean planet, but on one increasingly tarnished and trashed by the way
we have used it so far.
Cutting waste and clearing up pollution cost money. Yet time and again it
is the quest for wealth that generates much of the mess is the first place.
Living in a way that is less damaging to the Earth is not easy, but it is vital,
because pollution is pervasive and often life-threatening.
Air: the World Health Organization (WHO) says three million people are
killed worldwide by outdoor air pollution annually from vehicles and industrial
emissions, and 1.6 million indoors through using solid fuel. Most are in poor
countries.
Water: diseases carried in water are responsible for 80% of illnesses and
deaths in developing countries, killing a child every eight seconds. Each year
2.1 million people die from diarrhoeal (痢疾的) diseases associated with poor
water.
Soil: contaminated land is a problem in industrialized countries, where
former factories and power stations can leave waste like heavy metals in the
soil. It can also occur in developing countries, sometimes used for dumping
pesticides. Agriculture can pollute land with pesticides, nitrate-rich
fertilizers and slurry from livestock. And when the contamination reaches rivers
it damages life there, and can even create dead zones off the coast, as in the
Gulf of Mexico.
Chronic Problem
Chemicals are a frequent pollutant. When we think of chemical contamination
it is often images of events like Bhopal that come to mind. But the problem is
widespread. One study says 7~20% of cancers are attributable to poor air and
pollution in homes and workplaces. The WHO, concerned about chemicals that
persist and build up in the body, especially in the young, says we may "be
conducting a large-scale experiment with children's health".
Some man-made chemicals, endocrine (内分泌) disruptors like phthalates (酞酸盐)
and nonylphenol-a breakdown product of spermicides (杀精子剂), cosmetics and
detergents-are blamed for causing changes in the genitals of some animals.
Affected species include polar bears-so not even the Arctic is immune. And the
chemicals climb the food chain, from fish to mammals, and to us.
About 70,000 chemicals are on the market, with around 1,500 new ones
appearing annually. At least 30,000 are thought never to have been
comprehensively tested for their possible risks to people.
At first glance, the plastic buckets stacked in the corner of the
environmental NGO office look like any others. But the containers are an
unlikely weapon in one poor community's fight against oil companies which they
say are responsible for widespread ill-health caused by years of pollution. The
vessels are used by a network of local volunteers, known as the Bucket Brigade,
to gather air samples in neighborhoods bordering oil refineries, as part of a
campaign to monitor and document air pollution which they believe is coming from
the plants.
In South Africa, as in many developing and newly industrialized countries,
legislation on air pollution has failed to keep pace with mushrooming
industries. So local residents, like many in poor communities around the globe,
have faced the problem of investigating their claim that industries on their
doorsteps are making them sick.
Trade-off
But the snag is that modern society demands many of them, and some are
essential for survival. So while we invoke the precautionary principle, which
always recommends erring on the side of caution, we have to recognize there will
be trade-offs to be made.
The pesticide DDT does great damage to wildlife and can affect the human
nervous system, but can also be effective against malaria (疟疾). Where does the
priority lie?
The industrialized world has not yet cleaned up the mess it created, but it
is reaping the benefits of the pollution it has caused. It can hardly tell the
developing countries that they have no right to follow suit.
Another complication in tackling pollution is that it does not respect
political frontiers. There is a U.N. convention on trans-boundary air pollution,
but that cannot cover every problem that can arise between neighbors, or between
states which do not share a border. Perhaps the best example is climate
change-the countries of the world share one atmosphere, and what one does can
affect everyone.
For One and All.
One of the principles that are supposed to apply here is simple-the
polluter pays. Sometimes it is obvious who is to blame and who must pay the
price, but it is not always straightforward to work out just who is the
polluter, or whether the rest of us would be happy to pay the price of stopping
the pollution.
One way of cleaning up after ourselves would be to throw less away,
designing products to be recycled or even just to last longer.
Previous generations worked on the assumption that discarding our waste was
a proper way to get rid of it, so we used to dump nuclear materials and other
potential hazards at sea, confident they would be dispersed in the depths.
We now think that is too risky because, as one author wrote, "there's no
such place as 'away', and there's no such person as the 'other'."
Irritating Air
Despite recent improvements, however, the health problems are still there.
A 2002 medical study, carried out by Durban's Nelson Mandela School of Medicine
and a U.S. university, found that an abnormally high 52% of students and
teachers at a primary school bordering the Engen plant suffered from asthma
(哮喘). It found that increases in air pollution tended to aggravate asthma
symptoms in children.
The petrol producers do not dispute the findings but argue that researchers
were unable to establish a causal link between air pollution and the high
prevalence of asthma among the school population.
For the community, the next step is to take legal action. But, according to
internationally recognized environmentalist Bobby Peek, targeting the companies
would be difficult as it would be near-impossible to prove that illnesses
suffered were caused by pollution coming from a particular plant.
Mr. Peek, who grew up beneath Engen's stacks, says the activists are now
considering taking action against the authorities. "We are now looking at suing
the government on constitutional grounds, for failing to ensure our right to
protection from a harmful environment as stipulated in the constitution," he
said.
Legislative Change
A new batch (批) of environmental laws, the National Air Quality Management
Act, has just been passed by the South African parliament to replace outdated
1965 legislation with tighter controls and tougher sanctions.
Martinus van Schalkwyk, the minister of environmental affairs and tourism,
visited the south Durban basin earlier this year and said there were measures in
place to improve the situation. "I share the anger and frustration of this
community. It is long overdue," he told the South African Broadcasting
Corporation.
The local authorities have also established a "Multi-Point Plan" for the
area. They say it is a powerful model for tackling pollution and points to a 40%
reduction in sulphur dioxide emissions in recent years.
1. According to World Health Organization, how many people are killed by
outdoor air pollution?
[A] 3 million
[B] 2.1 million
[C] 1.6 million
[D] 3.2 million
2. Land can be polluted by ________ from agriculture.
[A] heavy metals
[B] pesticides and nitrate-poor fertilizers
[C] slurry from livestock
[D] rubbish
3. What kind of animal affected by man-made chemicals is not referred in
the passage?
[A] Polar bears.
[B] Mammals.
[C] People.
[D] Birds.
4. What do local residents claim for?
[A] They are sick because of years of pollution.
[B] They are sick because of industries on their doorsteps.
[C] They are sick because of pesticides from agriculture.
[D] They are sick because of air pollution.
5. The pesticide DDT can be effective against ________.
[A] malaria
[B] wildlife
[C] animals
[D] human nervous system
6. There is a U.N. convention that can cover ________.
[A] problem between neighbors
[B] problem between states which do not share a border
[C] problems on air pollution
[D] trans-boundary air pollution
7. What is not said to be a way of cleaning up after ourselves?
[A] Throw less away.
[B] Design recycled products.
[C] Don't use it again.
[D] Last longer.
8. It found that increases in air pollution tended to
________________________.
9. According to Bobby Peek, targeting the companies would be difficult as
it would be near-impossible to prove that illnesses suffered were caused by
________________________.
10. Martinus van Schalkwyk, the minister of environmental affairs and
tourism, visited the south Durban basin earlier this year and said there were
measures in place to ________________________.Section
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