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  3. There is a new service from Expedia, Travelocity and other travel websites: environmental expiation. If you wish, when you buy a

There is a new service from Expedia, Travelocity and other travel websites: environmental expiation. If you wish, when you buy a

admin2015-04-10  78
问题     There is a new service from Expedia, Travelocity and other travel websites: environmental expiation. If you wish, when you buy a plane ticket, they will figure out how much carbon your trip will be adding to the atmosphere and charge you to make up for it. The money goes to nonprofit groups that either plant trees to absorb the carbon or produce an equal amount of energy in an eco-friendly way. You are still increasing the carbon in the air, but someone else, thanks to you, is reducing it by an equal amount. The net effect: no additional carbon in the atmosphere. Of course, this is all strictly voluntary. If you want to destroy the earth for future generations and face your kids, who’ve learned all about global warming in second grade, that’s your privilege.
    Similar deals are available for other eco-embarrassments. Some commentators have uncharitably compared carbon credits to the indulgences sold by the medieval Catholic Church. But indulgences are apparently misunderstood. The Catholic Encyclopedia, in an eye-rolling, "Here we go again" tone, scolds that an indulgence "is not a permission to commit sin, nor a pardon of future sin. " No doubt environmentalists would insist the same about carbon credits: they are not a gift certificate or get-out-of-jail-free card for would-be polluters. But they sure do play one on TV.
    Such is the magic of capitalism. The magic works best in a world of dramatic inequalities. Fortunately, that is just the world we are living in. The greater the gap between rich and poor, both domestically and globally, the more a rich person will pay and the less a poor person will require.
    The usual objections can be made to all of this: Why should rich people be able to buy their way out of environmental guilt when poor people can’t? The usual answer is that the deal doesn’t create the inequality and forbidding the deal doesn’t reduce it. If you tell a rich person this is one thing he or she cannot buy, you are also telling a poor person that this is one thing he or she cannot sell. We can argue all day about where to draw the line and say to rich and poor: You cannot make this deal, even if it benefits both of you. It is too inappropriate. Or here’s a thought: We can create a market in winning the argument. The rich person can purchase the right not to be challenged, and the poor person, for a fee, can agree to shut up. Everybody’s happy.  
The best title for this passage would be
选项 A、The Decline of Environment Contamination.
B、Expiation—A New Method of Protecting Environment.
C、The Revitalization of Capitalism.
D、Inequality Produces Prosperity.
答案B
解析 本文的最佳题目是[A]环境污染的减少。[B]环境补偿——保护环境的新方法。[C]资本主义的复兴。[D]不平等产生了繁荣。从文章内容可以看出，本文主要是对一项新服务“环境补偿”和碳排放额度的分析，消除人们对于这项新事物的误解。[A]“环境污染的减少”在文章中未涉及；[C]“资本主义的复兴”与文章内容不相符；[D]“不平等产生了繁荣”本身就是一个谬论，文中作者只是说不平等有利于这项新服务的开展。故选[B]。
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