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  3. Three key facts about rising sea levels need to be hammered home to the world’s politicians and planners: sea-level rise is now

Three key facts about rising sea levels need to be hammered home to the world’s politicians and planners: sea-level rise is now

admin2012-01-27  66
问题     Three key facts about rising sea levels need to be hammered home to the world’s politicians and planners: sea-level rise is now inevitable, it will happen faster than most of us thought, and it will go on for a very long time.
    Even if greenhouse gas emissions stopped tomorrow, the oceans will continue to swell as they warm, and as glaciers and ice sheets melt or slide into the sea. The climate scientists estimate that sea-level rise could well be in the region of 1 to 2 metres by 2100, with a small risk of an even greater rise.
    For many islands and low-lying regions, even small rises will spell disasters. Most countries, however, will only lose a tiny percentage of their land, even with a very big rise. The problem is what has been built on that land: New York, Sydney and Tokyo, to mention just a few cities. Unless something can be done, great areas of urban network will vanish beneath the waves. It will take a massive engineering effort to protect these cities — an effort that may be beyond economies that have been brought to their knees by climate change.
    None of this means we should despair, and stop trying to ban emissions; the more we pump into the atmosphere, the higher and faster the seas will rise. But alongside these efforts, we need to start acting now to minimise the impact of future sea-level rise. That means we must stop building in the danger zone.
    Countless billions are being spent on constructing homes, offices, factories and roads in vulnerable coastal areas. For instance, the skyscrapers of Shanghai are being built on land that is a mere 4 metres above sea level on average, and which is sinking under the weight of its buildings and as water is drawn from the rocks beneath them.
    In cities that have been around for hundreds of years, this sort of development may be understandable. But planning for new coastal developments is to fly in the face of reality. If we want to build a lasting heritage for our children, we should do so on the plentiful land that is in no danger from the sea. It is one of the easiest ways to slow down climate change, and we should be acting on it now.
What’s the author’s purpose of mentioning New York, Sydney and Tokyo?
选项 A、To show that world economy will collapse with a big sea-level rise.
B、To indicate that many cities are usually built along the coastline.
C、To illustrate that most countries will suffer when sea levels rise.
D、To suggest that developed countries are free from see-level rise.
答案C
解析 这三个城市仅仅是作者举的受海平面上升影响的几个例子，那就是说除此之外还有很多例子，由此可以推断出许多建在海边的城市都会受影响，故答案为[C]。文中说到对于大多数国家而言，即使海平面大幅度上升，他们也只是损失很小比例的陆地而已，根本谈不上世界经济崩溃，[A]属于过度推断。作者举这三个城市的例子是为说明沿海城市会受到海平面上升的影响，由此并不能推断出很多城市建在海边，故排除[B]。这三个受影响的城市都是发达国家的，故排除[D]。
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