2011年12月英语四六级仔细阅读训练五：农业、动物世界与生态环保五篇阅读及解析.docVIP

Passage One ----Questions 1 to 5 are based on the following passage. In the United States, the need to protect plant and animal species has become a highly controversial and sharply political issue since the passage of the Endangered Species Act in 1973, The act，designed to protect species living areas, and policies that preserve land and forests compete with economic interests. In the 1990s, for example，the woodcutters in the Western United States were challenged legally in their attempt to cut trees for timber in the Cascade Mountains. The challenge was mounted to protect the endangered spotted owl (猫头鹰），whose remaining population occupies these forests and requires the intact, ancient forest for survival. The problematic situation set the interests of environmentalists against those of corporations and of individuals who stood to lose jobs. After months of debate and legal battles, the fate of the woodcutters一 and the owls — was still undecided in mid 1992. Similar tensionsexist between the developed and the developing nations. Many people in industrialized nations, for example, believe that developing nations in tropical regions should do more to protect their rainforests and other natural areas. But the developing countries may be impoverished (使穷困），with populations growing so rapidly that using the land is a means to temporarily avoid worsening poverty and starvation. Many of the changes to Earth that scientists concern have the potential to rob the planet of its biological richness. The destruction of Earths ozone layer (臭氧层），for example, could contribute to the general process of impoverishment by allowing ultra-violet rays to harm plants and animals. And global warming could wipe out species unable to quickly adapt to changing climates. Clearly, protecting Earths biological diversity is a complex problem. But solutions to humanitys current problems will come only through coordinated international efforts to control human population, stabilize the compositi