A
(2020·内江模拟)
One thing you do not expect an oil minister to do is to block the development of his own country’s oil fields. But that is exactly what Alberto Acosta did when he was appointed Ecuador’s Oil Minister.
For a relatively poor country whose main income is from oil exports, this idea seemed like madness. Ecuador is not rich by economic (经济)standards, but in terms of the diversity of plant and animal life, it is one of the richest places on Earth. For this, scientists studied trees in the Yasuni National Park in Ecuador’s undamaged rain forest, and they found over 650 different species (物种)of tree in just one acre—more than the total number in all of the US and Canada combined. Mr Acosta said he would rather the oil companies did not destroy these natural riches. His idea is to leave the oil reserves beneath Yasuni Park untouched, in return for compensation of half their value, which will be done by the international society. The oil is worth more than $7 billion.
Ecuador is not the only country trying to get richer nations to pay for not exploiting (开发)their forests. Both Nigeria and Guatemala are hoping they will be able to make similar deals. A spokesperson for local environmental groups explained, “This is fantastic though the plan has met with problems, both from within Ecuador and from outside. If only people in developed countries appreciated that these forests absorb a lot of the CO2 that their industries produce. I just wish they would take a longer-term view of this problem. Protecting biodiversity and preventing climate change means temporary loss, otherwise, we will all be losers—with consequences I’d rather not even think about. ”
【文章大意】厄瓜多尔为了保护自然, 石油部长Mr Acosta阻止开采这个国家公园下面的石油。这篇文章旨在告诉我们发展中国家不要为了一时的利益而破坏大自然。
1. What does the underlined word “this” in Paragraph 2 refer to?
A. His total number of tree species.
B. Ecuador’s oil storage quantity.
C. Ecuador’s diversity in wildlife.
D. His undamaged rain forest.
【解析】选C。词义猜测题。根据语境可知, this指代前面一句中的in terms of the diversity of plant and animal life, it is one of the richest places on Earth。由此可知, this指的是“厄瓜多尔这个国家的野生动植物种类多”。故选C。
2. What was Mr Acosta’s real aim to prevent some oil fields being developed?
A. Importing more oil.
B. Protecting the environment.
C. Building more natural parks.
D. Compensate the Yasuni Park.
【解析】选B。推理判断题。根据第二段的内容可知, 在厄瓜多尔的Yasuni国家公园里一英亩就有650多种不同的树种, 所以Mr Acosta阻止开采这个国家公园下面的石油的真正目的是保护环境。故选B。
3. What does the spokesperson indicate in the last paragraph?
A. Destroying nature means punishing ourselves.
B. Natural forests can stop climate change totally.
C. Developed countries will become losers.
D. It’s impossible to carry out Acosta’s plan.
【解析】选A。推理判断题。根据最后一段这位发言人的话可知, 他反对砍伐森林, 保护生态多样性虽然意味着有暂时的损失, 否则我们会成为真正的输家。故选A。
【知识拓展】背景链接
厄瓜多尔, 全称厄瓜多尔共和国(The Republic of Ecuador), 南美洲国家联盟的成员国之一, 位于南美洲西北部的国家, 北与哥伦比亚相邻, 南接秘鲁, 西滨太平洋。面积256370平方千米, 赤道横贯国境北部, 厄瓜多尔就是西班牙语“赤道”的意思。矿物以石油为主, 森林面积约占全国面积的68%。
