Although the threat of global warming has been known to the world for decades and all countries and leaders agree that we need to deal with the problem, we also know that the effects of measures, especially harsh measures taken in some countries, would be nullified if other countries do not control their emissions. Whereas the UN team calls on the emissions to be cut globally by 60% to stabilize the content of CO2 in the atmosphere, this path is not feasible for several reasons. Such deep cuts would cause a breakdown of the world economy. Important and populous low- or medium-income countries are not yet willing to undertake legal commitments about their energy uses. In addition, the state of world technology would not yet permit us to make such a big leap.
We must, however, find a solution to the threat of global warming early in the 21st century. Such a commitment would require a degree of shared vision and common responsibilities new to humanity. Success lies in the force of imaginations, in imagining what would happen if we fail to act. Although many living in cold regions would welcome the global warming effect of a warmer summer, few would cheer the arrival of the subsequent tropical diseases, especially where there had been one.
The main purpose of this passage is to______.
A. convince people that global warming is a real threat
B. argue against making deep cuts in emissions
C. analyze the problem of global warming
D. criticize some countries for refusing to cut down harmful emissions
Nowadays, something has gone terribly wrong with our once-proud American way of life. It has happened in the area of【C1】______ . A key ingredient is being 【C2】______ , and I think I know what it is: accountability.
Accountability isn't hard to【C3】______ . It means that every person is responsible 【C4】______ his or her actions and【C5】______ for their consequences. Of the many values that hold civilization 【C6】______ - honesty, kindness, generosity, decency—accountability may be the most important of all. 【C7】______ it, there can be no respect, no trust, no law-and 【C8】______ , no society.
My job 【C9】______ a police officer is to impose accountability 【C10】______ people who refuse, or have never learned. But as every cop knows, external controls on people's 【C11】______ are far less effective than 【C12】______ restrains such as guilt, shame and embarrassment. Yet more and more, especially in our large cities and suburbs, these inner restraints are 【C13】______ .
The main cause of this breakdown is a radical 【C14】______ in attitudes. Thirty years ago, if a crime was 【C15】______ , society was considered the victim. Now, in a stunning reversal, it's the criminal who is considered victimized: by his underprivileged upbringing; by the school that didn't teach him to read, by the church failed to reach him with moral 【C16】______ , by the parents who didn't provide a【C17】______ home.
I don't believe it. Many others in equally disadvantaged circumstances choose not to engage【C18】______ criminal activities. If we exempt the criminal even partly,【C19】______ accountability, we become a society of endless excuses where no one accepts responsibility for anything.
We in America 【C20】______ need more and more people who believe that the person who commits a crime is the one responsible for it.
【C1】
A. criteria
B. quality
C. values
D. standards
It can be inferred from the passage that______.
A. media coverage of events as they occur can have either good or bad results
B. most people who had seen the video of the Rodney King beating agree with the verdict of the jury
C. the t992 Los Angeles riots lasted a whole week
D. Rodney King seemed very angry when he appeared on television on Friday
Electronic media are having a greater impact on the people's lives every day. People gather more and more of their impressions from representations. Television and telephone communications are linking people to a global village, or what one writer calls the Electronic City. Consider the information that television brings into your home every day. Consider also the contact you have with others simply by using telephone. These media extend your consciousness and your contact. For example, the video coverage of the 1989 San Francisco earthquake focused on "Live Action" such as the fires or the rescue efforts. This gave the viewer the impression of total disaster. Television coverage of the Iraqi War also developed an immediacy. CNN reported events as they happened. This coverage was distributed worldwide. Although most people were far away from these events, they developed some perception of these realities.
In 1992, many people watched in horror as riots broke out on a sad Wednesday evening in Los Angeles, seemingly fed by video coverage Rodney King beating. We are now in an age where the public can have access to information that enables it to make its own judgments, and most people, who had seen the video of this beating, could not understand how the jury was able to ac- quit the policemen involved. Media coverage of events as they occur also provides powerful feed- back that influences events. This can have harmful results, as it seemed on that Wednesday night in Los Angeles. By Friday night the public got to that Wednesday night in Los Angeles. By Friday night the public got to see Rodney King on television pleading. "Can we all get along?" By Saturday, television seemed to provide positive feedback as the Los Angeles riot turned out into a rally for peace. The television showed thousands of people marching with banners and cleaning tools. Because of that, many more people turned out to join the peaceful event they saw unfolding on television. The real healing, of course, will take much longer, but electronic media will continue to be a part of that process.
The best title for the passage is______.
A. The 1992 Los Angeles Riots
B. The Impact of Media on Current Events
C. The 1989 San Francisco Earthquake and the 1992 Los Angeles Riots
D. How Media Cover Events