雅思阅读实战:Globalwarming1

Reading Passage 1

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13 which are based on Reading Passage 1 below.

Questions 1-5

Reading Passage 1 has six paragraphs A-F.

Choose the most suitable headings for paragraphs B-F from the list of headings below.

Write the appropriate numbers i-viii in boxes 1-5 on your answer sheet.

List of Headings
i The plaintiffs?viewpoints on regulating emission¹
ii ?Federal government being taken to court
iii Possible impact of the case on other lawsuits
iv  Regulating air pollution by twelve States
v Stance of the Bush administration
vi  Viewpoints of Bill Clinton on regulation
vii The call for emission caps and reduction
viii Uncertainty² in ruling by the Supreme³ Court
 
Example  Answer
Paragraph A      ii
1.        Paragraph B _____
2.        Paragraph C _____
3.        Paragraph D_____
4.        Paragraph E _____
5.        Paragraph F _____
 
Green states take the federal government to court

Nov 30th 2006
From The Economist⁴ print edition

A  WHEN the subject is global warming, the villain⁵ is usually America. Although it produces a quarter of the greenhouse gases that are heating up the planet, it refuses to regulate them. When other countries agreed on an international treaty to do so--he Kyoto protocol⁶--America failed to ratify⁷ it. But not all American officialdom is happy with the federal government's stance. In fact, 12 states disagree so fiercely that they are suing to force it to curb⁸ emissions⁹ of carbon dioxide, the most common greenhouse gas. The Supreme Court heard argument in the case on November 29th. The outcome will not be known for months, but the political wind seems to be shifting in favour of firmer action to counter climate change.

B  The Clean Air Act charges the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) with regulating air pollution from vehicles. But the EPA argues that Congress did not intend to include CO2 under that heading, and that to do so would extend the EPA's authority to an unreasonable¹⁰ extent. Furthermore, it contends that regulating emissions would not do good unless all or most other countries did the same. That is in keeping with the policies of President George Bush, who opposes mandatory¹¹ curbs¹² on emissions and believes that any international accord on global warming should apply to all countries--unlike the Kyoto protocol, which exempts¹³ poor ones, including big polluters such as China and India. Ten states, among them gas-guzzling Texas and car-making Michigan, also back the EPA.