han 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 CO2 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 debated 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.
1. What is said about global warming in the first paragraph?
A) It may not prove an environment crisis at all.
B) It is an issue requiring worldwide commitments.
C) Serious steps have been taken to avoid or stop it.
D) Very little will be done to bring it under control.
2. According to the author’s understanding, what is Al Gore’s view on global warming?
A) It is a reality both people and politicians are unaware of.
B) It is a phenomenon that causes us many inconveniences.
C) It is a problem that can be solved once it is recognized.
D) It is an area we actually have little knowledge about.
3. Greenhouse emissions will more than double by 2050 because of __________.
A) economic growth B) wasteful use of energy
C) the widening gap between the rich and the poor
D) the rapid advances of science and technology
4. The author believes that, since the signing of the Kyoto Protocol, __________.
A) politicians have started to d