首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
考研
(46)In 1798 Thomas Robert Malthus famously predicted that short-term gains in living standards would inevitably be undermined as
(46)In 1798 Thomas Robert Malthus famously predicted that short-term gains in living standards would inevitably be undermined as
admin
2012-07-06
69
问题
(46)
In 1798 Thomas Robert Malthus famously predicted that short-term gains in living standards would inevitably be undermined as human population growth outstripped food production, and thereby drive living standards back toward subsistence.
We were, he argued, condemned by the tendency of population to grow geometrically while food production would increase only arithmetically.
(47)
For 200 years, economists have contended that Malthus overlooked technological advancement, which would allow human beings to keep ahead of the population curve.
The argument is that food production can indeed grow geometrically because production depends not only on land but also on know-how. With advances in seed breeding, soil nutrient replenishment, irrigation, mechanization and more, the food supply can stay well ahead of the population curve. More generally, advances in technology in all its aspects can keep production rising ahead of population.
(48)
Another factor undermining Malthus’s argument, it would seem, is the demographic transition, according to which societies move from conditions of high fertility rates roughly offset by high mortality rates to conditions of low fertility rates together with low mortality rates.
Malthus did not reckon with the advance of public health, family planning, and modern contraception, which together with urbanization and other trends, would result in a dramatic decline in fertility rates to low levels, even below the "replacement rate" of 2. 1 children per household. Perhaps the human population would avoid the tendency towards geometric growth altogether.
Yet the Malthusian specter is not truly banished—indeed far from it. Our increase in know-how has not only been about getting more outputs for the same inputs, but also about our ability to mine the Earth for more inputs. Humanity has learned to dig deeper for minerals and fossil fuels, fish the oceans with larger nets, divert rivers with greater dams and canals, and cut down forests with more powerful land-clearing equipment. (49)
In countless ways, we have not gotten more for less but rather more for more, as we’ve converted rich stores of natural capital into high flows of current consumption.
Much of what we call "income," in the true sense of adding value from economic activity, is actually depletion instead, or the running down of natural capital. And although family planning and contraception have indeed secured a low fertility rate in most parts of the world, the overall fertility rate remains at 2. 6, far above replacement.
If we indeed run out of inexpensive oil and fall short of food, deplete our fossil groundwater and destroy remaining rainforests, and gut the oceans and fill the atmosphere with greenhouse gases that tip the earth’s climate into a runaway hothouse with rising ocean levels, we might yet confirm the Malthusian curse. Yet none of this is inevitable. (50)
The idea that improved know-how and voluntary fertility reduction can sustain a high, indeed rising, level of incomes for the world remains correct, but only if future technology enables us to economize on natural capital rather than finding ever more clever ways to deplete it more cheaply and rapidly.
[496 words]
选项
答案
由于我们已经将丰富的自然资源储备转化成了当前的高消费,无论如何,我们都是在高投入、高产出,而不是低投入、高产出。
解析
转载请注明原文地址:https://www.kaotiyun.com/show/K0p4777K
0
考研英语一
相关试题推荐
Cultureisthesumtotalofallthetraditions,customs,beliefs,andwaysoflifeofagivengroupofhumanbeings.Inthis(1)
Cultureisthesumtotalofallthetraditions,customs,beliefs,andwaysoflifeofagivengroupofhumanbeings.Inthis(1)
Cultureisthesumtotalofallthetraditions,customs,beliefs,andwaysoflifeofagivengroupofhumanbeings.Inthis(1)
Inthetwodecadesbetween1929and1949,sculptureintheUnitedStatessustainedwhatwasprobablythegreatestexpansionins
ImmediatelyaftertheCivilWar,however,thedietbegantochange.(46)Railtransportationincreasedthesupplyandimproved,t
Theauthorbelievesthat______.ThatAfricaandSouthAmericawereoncejoinedcanbededucedfromthefactthat______.
Sciencehaslonghadanuneasyrelationshipwithotheraspectsofculture.ThinkofGalileo’s17thcenturytrialforhisrebelli
TheprofessortalkedtoAmericanandBrazilianstudentsaboutlatenessinbothaninformalandaformalsituation:lunchwitha
TheCaliforniancoastlinenorthandsouthofSiliconValleyisatrend-settingsortofplace.Increasingly,thehomeinteriorso
TheCaliforniancoastlinenorthandsouthofSiliconValleyisatrend-settingsortofplace.Increasingly,thehomeinteriorso
随机试题
在Windows的任务栏中,时间和日期位于____________。
明代李时珍所著,共收载药物1892种,方剂11096首,被誉为“中药学巨著”的本草典籍是()。
在执行程序中,谢大柱可否主持调解,为什么?吴桂明未完全改造和解协议,马天星是否有权申请恢复执行,E市K区法院受理马天星的申请,并裁定执行和解协议是否正确,为什么?
城市规划中的定量分析方法有()。
《中华人民共和国水污染防治法》于()施行。
()的挑花、刺绣、织锦、蜡染、剪纸、首饰制作等工艺美术瑰丽多彩,驰名中外。
习主席提出的党在新形势下的强军目标是指()。
秋千的吊绳有些磨损,在摆动过程中,吊绳最容易断裂的时候是秋千:
甲、乙、丙共谋抢劫一杂货店,在去踩点的途中,遇到他们的朋友丁,于是邀丁一起干。丁拒绝,甲说不干就算了,现在陪我们一起去看看。在察看该路边店时,丁告诫甲、乙、丙店在路边,进去时行动要快,路边有公用电话,要防止报警,还随手扯断了电话线,尔后四人离去。当晚,甲、
A、Changeherclassschedule.B、Filloutajobapplication.C、Organizetapesontheshelves.D、WorkontheFrenchlessons.B[听力原文
最新回复
(
0
)