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
外语
"Geology Class" What option is proposed as an alternative when all of the mineral resources in easily accessible locations have
"Geology Class" What option is proposed as an alternative when all of the mineral resources in easily accessible locations have
admin
2012-01-14
95
问题
"Geology Class"
What option is proposed as an alternative when all of the mineral resources in easily accessible locations have been depleted?
[Narrator] Listen to part of a discussion in a geology class.
[Professor] The exploitation of minerals involves five steps. First, you have to explore and locate
the mineral deposits, then you set up a mining operation, next, you must refine the raw
minerals and transport the refined minerals to the manufacturer.
[Student 1] Excuse me. Sorry. I only have four steps. Could you... ?
[Professor] Sure. That’s exploration, mining, refining, transportation, and manufacturing.
[Student 1] Thanks.
[Professor] So, each of these activities involves costs, there are costs associated with them, and Q12
the costs can be economic, but not necessarily so. Mineral exploitation also has environmental
costs associated with it. For example, the exploration stage will clearly have
a high economic cost because of... of personnel and technology, but the environmental
cost will probably be quite low. Why would that be, do you think?
[Student 2] Because you aren’t actually disturbing the environment. You’re just looking, I mean,
after you find a mineral deposit, you don’t do anything about it at that stage.
[Professor] Right. So the environmental costs would be low. But what happens when you use up all
the resources that are easy to find? Then What? Q17
[Student 2] Then the costs go up for exploration.
[Professor] Which costs? Q17
[Student 2] Well, probably both of them, but I can see where the economic costs would increase.
[Professor] Okay. Let’s say, for example, that some areas such as national parks or historic
reserves have been... off-limits to exploration. What will happen when we use up the
minerals outside of these areas? Remember now that these are, uh... nonrenewable
resources that we’re looking for.
[Student 1] Then there will be a lot of pressure... you know... to open up these areas to exploration
and exploitation.
[Professor] Probably so. And that means that there could be a high environmental cost. Any other Q17
options?
[Student 1] Find an alternative.
[Professor] Yes. You’re on the right track.
[Student 1] Okay. Find an alternative, I mean a substitute, something that will substitute for the Q15
mineral. Maybe something man-made?
[Professor] Good. That will involve a different kind of exploration, again with economic costs. I’m
talking about basic research here to find synthetics. But, uh, let’s go on to the other
steps, and we’ll see if we can pull this all together. How about mining? Now, we’re looking
at high environmental costs because of the destruction of the landscape and...
and the accumulation... of waste products that have to be dealt with. Air and water
pollution is almost always a problem Any ideas on refining?
[Student 2] Wouldn’t it be the same as mining? I mean, you would have high costs because of
labor and equipment, and there would be problems of waste and pollution, like you
said.
[Professor] True. True. And in refining, well that often involves the separation of a small amount of
a valuable mineral from a large amount of surrounding rock. So that means that...
that, uh, refining also carries the additional cost of cleanup. And don’t forget that it’s
often difficult to get vegetation to grow on piles of waste. In fact, some of it, the waste
piles I mean, they can even be dangerous to living creatures, including people. Not
to mention the appearance of the area. So the environmental costs can be extremely
high. Isn’t it sad and ironic that so much of the mining and refining must take place in Q16
areas of great natural beauty?
[Student 1] So you’re saying that both mining and refining have heavy costs... heavy economic
and environmental costs.
[Professor] Right. And in both mining and refining, you would need transportation to support the
movement of supplies, equipment, and personnel. But, after the minerals are mined
and refined, then transportation becomes even more essential.
[Student 2] And I was just thinking that in addition to the econom c costs of the transportation for Q14
trucks and fuel and labor and everything, there could be, there might be some construction
too, if there aren’t any roads in and out of the area.
[Professor] And that would mean...
[Student 2] That would mean that the landscape and even the ecosystem for the plants and animal Q13
life could be altered, so... so that’s an environmental cost.
[Professor] It is indeed. Good point. That leaves us with manufacturing. After we find it, mine it,
refine it, and transport it, we still have to manufacture it. What are the costs associated
with that? Well, construction again, for factories, then there would be energy costs,
technology, and labor.
[Student 1] So all that’s economic. No environmental costs in manufacturing then.
[Professor] Well, yes there are actually. Pollution is often a costly problem for, uh, manufacturing
plants.
[Student 1] Oh right. I was thinking of the natural landscape, and the manufacturing is often positioned
near cities to take advantage of the labor pool. But, um... cities have the environmental
problems associated with pollution. So, every step has both economic and Q12
environmental costs then.
[Professor] Right.
选项
A、Converting to nonrenewable resources
B、Concentrating on conservation of the resources
C、Developing synthetic resources to replace minerals
D、Using new technology to search the area again
答案
C
解析
Developing synthetic resources [man-made] to replace [natural] minerals
转载请注明原文地址:https://www.kaotiyun.com/show/uRyO777K
0
托福(TOEFL)
相关试题推荐
Completethesentencesbelow.ChooseNOMORETHANTWOWORDSfromthepassageforeachanswer.Writeyouranswersinboxes24-26
Youshouldspendabout20minutesonQuestions1-13,whicharebasedonReadingPassage1below.Whatthe
AncientPeopleinSaharaOnOct.13,2000,PaulSereno,aprofessorfromtheUniversityofChicago,guidedateamofpalaeon
【1】Whendoesthelostpropertyofficeopen?
Theuniversityhasproduceda______toinformstudentsaboutthedifferentaccommodationoptionsavailable.BreconHalls
Onewalkincludesabreakattheoldestpubsothatthewalkerscangetsome______.
Completethenotesbelow.WriteONEWORDONLYforeachanswer.EngineeringforsustainabledevelopmentTheGreenhou
Writethecorrectletter,A-F,nexttoquestions21-26.AVideoResourceCentreBReadingRoomCFoodServiceCentreDPeriodic
Writethecorrectletter,A-F,nexttoquestions21-26.AVideoResourceCentreBReadingRoomCFoodServiceCentreDPeriodic
TemperatureThreescalesoftemperature,eachofwhichpermitsaprecisemeasurement,areinconcurrentuse:theFahrenheit,
随机试题
劳力性心绞痛的典型心电图表现是
患者,女,30岁。半小时前家人发现其神志不清。既往无特殊病史。检查发现呕吐物有大蒜味,双侧瞳孔明显缩小。应首先考虑的是( )。
主惊恐、跌仆损伤的脉象是()
某公司拟在工业园区内新建屠宰加工厂,年屠宰牲畜50万头。工程建设内容主要有检疫检验中心、待宰棚、屠宰车间、加工车间、冷库、配送交易中心、供水及废水收集和排水系统、供电系统、办公设施等,总建筑面积1.3×104m2,以及在园区外城市垃圾处理中心规划用地内配套
下列选项中说法错误的是()。
①我们有必要到公司所属的单位进行一次普遍的______,以确定体制改革的方案。②近一个时期,在西方国家报刊上,经济“非常落后”、“贫穷得连裤子都穿不上”的中国人,突然变成世界“第三经济大国”的大富翁,这样的评论岂不是______吗?
当条件为非负数时,将R1指示的内存中16位数据加载到R0寄存器中,ARM指令为()。
打开考生文件夹下的演示文稿yswg.pptx,按照下列要求完成对此文稿的修饰并保存。使用“凤舞九天”主题修饰全文,放映方式为“观众自行浏览”。
Thestreamoverflowedandtheflood______allofthefarmlandinthearea.
Theword"wrath"inTheGrapesofWrathbytheNobelprizewinnerJohnSteinbeckprobablymeans:
最新回复
(
0
)