公共英语五级
World leaders met recently at United Nations headquarters in New York City to discuss the environmental issues raised at the RioEarth Summit in 1992. The heads of state were supposed to decide what further steps should be taken to halt the decline of Earth's life-support systems.' In fact, ~this meeting had .much the flavour of the original
Earth Summit. To wit: empty promises, hollow rhetoric, Bickering between rich and poor, and irrelevant initiatives. Think U. S. Congress in slow motion.
Almost obscured by this torpor is the fact that there has .been some remarkable progress over the past five years--real changes in the attitude of ordinary people in the Third World toward family size and a dawning realisation that environmental degradation and their own well-being are intimately, and inverSely, linked. Almost none of this, however, has anything tO do with what the bureaucrats accomplished in Rio.
Or it didn't accomplish. One item on the agenda at Rio, for example, was a renewed effort to save tropical for- ests. (A previous UN-sponsored initiative had fallen apart when it became clear that it actually hastened deforesta- tion..) After Rio, a UN working group came up with more than 100 recommendations that have so far gone no- where. One proposed forestry pact would do little more than immunizing wood-exporting nations against trade sanctions.
An effort to draft an agreement on what to do about the climate changes caused by CO2 and other greenhouse gases has fared even worse. Blocked by the Bush Administration from setting mandatory limits, the UN in 1992 called on nations to voluntarily reduce emissions to 1990 levels. Several years later, it's as if Rio had never happened. A new climate treaty is scheduled to be signed this December in Kyoto, Japan, But governments still cannot agree on these limits. Meanwhile, the U. S. produces 2% more CO2 than it did in 1990, and emissions in the de- veloping world have risen even more sharply. No one would confuse the "Rio process" with progress.
While governments have dithered at a pace that could make drifting continents impatient, people have acted. Birth-rates are dropping faster than expected, not because of Rio but because poor people are deciding on their own to reduce family size. Another positive development has been a growing environmental consciousness among the poor. From slum dwelles in Karanhi,, Pakistan , to colonists in Rondonia, Brazil, urban poor and rural peasants a- like seem to realize that they pay the biggest price for pollution and deforestation. There is cause for hope as well in the growing recognition among business people that it is not in their long-term interest to fight environmental re- forms. John Browne, chief executive of British Petroleum, Boldly asserted in a major speech in May that the threat of climate change could no longer be ignored.
The writer's general attitude towards world world leaders meeting at the UN is __
A．supportive
B．impartial
C．critical
D．comedic
虽然最近世界领袖齐聚纽约讨论里约决定的实施，但是除了空洞的承诺、大话和争斗之外，没有任何实质性的进展。过去的5年内，第三世界国家的人们普遍意识到了环境恶化对他们生存的影响，但是这一进展却不是因为里约的努力。里约议程上的热带雨林保护问题，虽然有很多提议，但是没有一项被执行。减少温室气体排放的努力付之东流。虽然政府方面的努力十分缓慢，民间却已经行动起来了。出生率在下降，贫困人口也越加意识到保护环境的重要性。企业界也开始注意环境对他们长期发展的影响。这些都是令人乐观的现象。
答案及解析
c【解析】由文章中作者描述联合国世界领导人会议的口气看，他对待该会议的态度应是critical的。
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A．They are beginning to realize the importance of environmental protection.
B．They believe that many children are necessary for prosperity.
C．They are reluctant to accept advice from the government.
D．They think that earning a living is more important than nature conservation.
A．To sign a new climate treaty at Rio.
B．To draft an agreement among UN nations.
C．To force the United Sates to reduce its emissions.
D．To limit the release of CO2 and other gases.
A．forest damage caused by pollution
B．moving population from forest to cities
C．the threat of climate change
D．cutting large areas of trees
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