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1、2022年考博英语-宁波大学考前模拟强化练习题（附答案详解）1. 填空题In the following text, some sentences have been removed. For Questions 41-45, choose the most suitable one from the list A-F to fit into each of the numbered blanks. There is one extra choice, which does not fit in any of the blanks. Mark your answers on the ANSWE
2、R SHEET. (10 points)Two typical German shepherds kept as pets in Europe consume more in a year than the average person living in Bangladesh, according to research by sustainability experts Brenda and Robert Vale of Victoria University in New Zealand. So are the worlds environmental ills really a res
3、ult of the burgeoning number of humans on the planetpredicted to reach at least nine billion people by 2050? Or is it more due to the fact that although the human population has doubled in the past 50 years, we have increased our use of resources fourfold?After all, the roughly 40,000 attendees of t
4、he recent climate conference in Copenhagen produced more greenhouse gas emissions in just two weeks than 600,000 Ethiopians produce in a year. (41)As simply put by the United Nations Millennium Ecosystem Assessment in 2005: “Human activity is putting such strain on the natural functions of Earth tha
5、t the ability of the planets ecosystems to sustain future generations can no longer be taken for granted.”And consumerism isnt even delivering on its own promise- a better life. “Not only is consumer culture causing unprecedented environmental havoc, it is in many cases not delivering the well-being
6、 for human beings it is supposed to,” argued Christopher Flavin, president of the Worldwatch Institute during a press conference last week to release its new State of the World report, “Transforming Cultures: From Consumerism to Sustainability.” (42)What does he mean by a cultural shift? Well, for e
7、xample, a change from current Western burial methodsinjecting corpses with toxic chemicals, sealing them in expensive, non-degradable boxes that are then planted in cemeteries that maintain eternal greenness with fertilizers and pesticidesto burying loved ones in ways designed to heal families as we
8、ll as the local environment (and ultimately turning these sites into natural reserves). “Two centuries of intentional cultivation of consumerism has led us to see it as perfectly natural to see ourselves primarily by what and how we consume,” argued Erik Assadourian, lead author of the report for Wo
9、rldwatch, whether that be McDonalds hamburgers or Hummer vehicles.(43) “Its not a project out of whole new cloth,” argued report co-author and political scientist Michael Maniates of Allegheny College in Pennsylvania. “There are strong cultural elements that treasure things like frugality or thrift.
10、 We need to re-center conditions in culture that call out that within us that has been suppressed.”(44) “Consumerism is now spreading around the world,” Assadourian added, noting that China, among other things, has surpassed the U.S. as the largest market for new cars as well as the largest emitter
11、of greenhouse gases. “Is this going to keep spreading? Or are countries going to start recognizing that this is not a good path?”At the same time, a cultural shift may already be under way, represented by efforts such as those in Ecuador to enshrine rights for “Mother Barth” in the countrys constitu
12、tion or those at U.S.-based carpet manufacturer Interface to create a product that requires using nothing from the natural world that the natural world cannot replace.(45) But perhaps lust for the latest iteration of Apple merchandise can be replaced with what serial inventor Saul Griffiths calls th
13、e heirloom culture,” products that last for a lifetime or beyond. “In essence, the disposable life will be replaced by a sustainable one,” Assadourian said, “a world where machismo is not connected to the size of a car but the fact that you dont have one at all.”In other words, its our consumer-driv
14、en economy, stupid. Oh, and the advertisers. “We are not stupid, were not ignorant, we dont even necessarily have bad values with respect to the environment,” Maniates added. “Were trying to do our best within cultural systems that elevate unsustainable choices.”Of course, at the same time, Worldwat
15、ch would like you to spend $19.95 for a paperback version of its report, or $9.95 for a PDF or electronic document for your (yet another gadget) Kindle. Switching away from a capitalist ethic of consumerism continues to be easier said than done.A. The kinds of changes in policy discussed at Copenhag
16、en are also critical and, in fact, will go hand in hand with a cultural shift (from consumerism to sustainability.)B. Nor is this cultural ethic of consumerism confined to the developed world; developing countries are adopting it as an economic model.C. Therefore the Climate Conference in Copenhagen is essential for the worlds climate and UNFCCC is putting hard effort in making the meeting a success ending up with a Copenhagen Protocol to preven
