Passage 1
Global warming may or may not be the great environmental crisis of the 21st century, but—regardless of whether it is or isn't—we won't do much about it. We will argue over it and may even, as a nation, make some fairly solemn-sounding commitments to avoid it. But the more dramatic and meaningful these commitments seem, the less likely they are to be observed.
AI Gore calls global warming an “inconvenient truth”, as if merely recognizing it could put us on a path to a solution. But the real truth is that we don't know enough to relieve global warming, and—without major technological breakthroughs—we can't do much about it.
From 2003 to 2050, the world's population is projected to grow from 6.4 billion to 9.1 billion, a 42% increase. If energy use per person and technology remain the same, total energy use and greenhouse gas emissions (mainly, C02) will be 42% higher in 2050. But that's too low, because societies that grow richer use more energy. We need economic growth unless we condemn the world's poor to their present poverty and freeze everyone else's living standards. With modest growth, energy use and greenhouse emissions would be more than double by 2050.
No government will adopt rigid restrictions on economic growth and personal freedom (limits on electricity usage, driving and travel) that might cut back global warming. Still, politicians want to show they're “doing something”. Consider the Kyoto Protocol(京都议定书). It allowed countries that joined to punish those that didn't. But it hasn't reduced C02 emissions (up about 25% since 1990), and many signatories (签字 国)didn't adopt tough enough policies to hit their 2008-2012 targets.
The practical conclusion is that if global warming is a potential disaster, the only solution is new technology. Only an aggressive research and development program might find ways of breaking our dependence on fossil fuels or dealing with it.
The trouble with the global warming debate is that it has become a moral problem when it's really an engineering one. The inconvenient truth is that if we don't solve the engineering problem, we're helpless.
What is said about global warming in the first paragraph?
文章第一段讲到“we won't do much about it”，不管那些承诺书 看上去有多严肃，人们对控制全球变暖做出的实际行动很少。故本题选D。
According to the author's understanding, what is AI Gore's view on global warming?
文章第二段首句便提到了高尔对全球变暖的看法，从随后的一 句“as if merely recognizing it could put us on a path to a solution”可以推 断出高尔的态度，即只要人们承认了全球变暖的事实，就能解决这个问题。故本题选C。
Greenhouse emissions will more than double by 2050 because of ________.
文章第三段指出，到2050年温室气体的排放量翻倍是由两个因 素导致的：人口的增长和社会的发展，其中后者为主要原因。故本题选A。
The author believes that, since the signing of the Kyoto Protocol, ________.
文章倒数第三段最后一句提到“many signatories (签字国) didn't adopt tough enough policies to hit their 2008-2012 targets.”，即许多签字 国都没有履行当初签下的协议。故本题选B。
What is the message the author intends to convey?
文章最后一句“The inconvenient truth is that if we don't solve the engineering problem, we're helpless.”点明了主旨，即全球变暖的问题 实际上就是工程技术的问题。故本题选B。