問題詳情

IV. Based on the passage below, devise 5 Reading Comprehension Questions in terms of thefollowing categories:1. The theme 2. Supporting details 3.Inference 4. Vocabulary 5. Global comprehension(25%) 答案略                                      Turning on the Heat at COP15           The 15th United Nations Climate Change Conference took place at the Bella Center inCopenhagen, Denmark, December 7-18, 2009. “COP15” was finally a disappointment to many ofthose who attended, and a sign of hope for at least a few. Of course, when it comes to theseinternational conferences on climate change, such an outcome is nothing new.         At the Kyoto Conference in Japan in 1990, each participating country was asked to reduce itstotal carbon emissions by at least 5.2% of its 1990 level by the year 2012. It was also stipulatedthat those who exceeded this emissions limit would have to pay a kind of tax to the lessdeveloped countries, whose emissions would be way under the limit. Some developed countries(including the USA) habitually exceed the limit and are reluctant to pay the tax. There has thusbeen increasing tension in the past decade, not only between the commercial developers and theenvironmentalists in the most developed countries, but also between richer and poorer countries.The latter complain that their rich neighbors are ruining the earth’s environment for everyone,while also not giving them enough money to help them develop.         Thus COP15 predictably closed with a deal that many participating nations thought too weak;it fell far short of what was needed to really tackle the problem of global warming. Thenon-binding accord, which the US reached with key nations including China and Brazil, asks that global temperature increases be kept to no more than 2℃ in the 21st century. However, it doesnot include commitments to specific emissions reductions on the part of the various participatingcountries, and without such legally-binding commitments it is not at all clear how any goals canbe reached.         Moreover, it is still up to the various national governments to even adopt the COP15 accord.If they do so, participating countries will be obliged to take measures to reduce greenhouse gasemissions and start preparing to help the poor countries both develop and adapt to climate change.The plan is for a full legal agreement to be signed within a year. But again, the “legal” issue isalways the key problem. In spite of the United Nations, there is no real enforceable set ofinternational laws. However, if delegates to COP15 were generally pessimistic at the end of theconference, there was still a certain amount of hope in the air. British prime minister called theagreement "vital first step." US President Obama said, “This progress is not enough. We havecome a long way, but we have much further to go."         Very poor countries in Africa and other tropical regions, which are the most vulnerable toglobal warming, were furious. They had wanted deeper emission cuts, a maximum globaltemperature rise of 1.5 C in this century, and even a worldwide 80% reduction of global CO2emissions by 2050. Lumumba Di-Aiping, president of Sudan in Africa’s Sahara desert, comparedthe final agreement to the Europe’s 1940s Holocaust, during which many Jews were killed andburned in ovens. He said this was like “asking Africa to sign a suicide pact, an incineration pactin order to maintain the economic dependence of a few countries.”

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