Feeling blue about world ? “Cheer up. Says science writer Matt Ridley. The world

Feeling blue aboutworld ? “Cheer up.” Says science writer Matt Ridley.”The world has never been abetter place to live in, and it will keep on getting better both for humans andgot nature.”

Ridley calls himselfa tat ional optimist—tactical .because he’s carefully weighed the evidenceoptimistic .because that   offence shows human progress to be bothunavoidable and good .And this is what he’s set out to prone from unique pointof view in his most recent book. The Rant anal Opting  .He views mankindas grand enterprise that .on the whole .has done little but progress for100.000 years. He backed his finding with hard gathered though years of research.

Here’s how heexplains his views.

Shopping fuelsinvention

It is reported thatthere are more than ten billion different producers for sale in London alone. Even allowing for the many people who still live in poverty .our owngeneration has access to more nutritious food .more convenient transport.bigger houses, better ears .and of course, more pounds and dollars than anywho lived before us .This will continue as long as we there things to makeother things, This more we specialize and exchange, the better off we’ll be.

2) Brilliant advances

 Onereason we are richer, healthier, taller, cleverer, longer-lived and freer thanener before is that the four most basie human needs -food, clothing, fuel andshelter- have grown a lot cheaper. Take one example. In 1800 a candle providing one hour’s light cost six hours’ work. In the 1880s the same light from an oil lamp took 15 minutes’ work to pay for. In 1950 it was eight seconds.Today it’s half second.

3)Let’s not kill ourselves for climate change

Mitigating(减轻) climate change could prove just asdamaging to human welface as climate change itself. A child that dies fromindoor smoke in a village, where the use of fassil-fuel(化石燃料) electrieity is forhidden by well meaming members of green polucalmovements trying to save the world, is just as great a tragedy as a child thatmes in a flood caused by climate change. If chmaic change proves to be xxxx,but cutting carbon canses realparn, we may well find that we have stopped anose bleed by putting a tournquet(止血带) around ournecks.

1.What is the themeof Ridley’s most recent book?

A. Weakness of humannature.

B. Concern aboutclimate change.

C. Importance ofpractical thinking.

D. Optimism abouthuman progress.

2.How does Ridleylook at shopping?

   A. Itencourages the creation of things.

   B. Itresults in shortage of goods.

   C. Itdemands more fossil fuels.

   D. Itcauses a poverry problem.

3.The candle andlamp example is used to show that     .

   A. oillamps give off more light than candles

   B. shorteningworking time brings about a happier life.

   C.advanced technology helps to produce better candles.

   D.increased production rate leads to lower cost of goods.

4.What does the lastsentence of the passage imply?

   A.Cutting carbon is necessary in spite of the huge cost.

   B.Overreaction to cliamate change may be dangerous.

   C.People’s health is closely related to climate change.

   D.Careless medical treatment may cause great pain.

试题答案

【答案】

1.D

2.A

3.D

4.B

5.

【解析】