Global emissions（排放）of carbon dioxide from fossil fuel burning jumped by the largest amount on record in 2010. Emissions rose 5.9 percent in 2010, according to an analysis released on Sunday by the Global Carbon Project.
Scientists said the increase was almost certainly the largest absolute jump in any year since the Industrial Revolution. The increase solidified a trend of ever-rising emissions that will make it difficult, if not impossible, to stop severe climate change in coming decades.
The burning of coal represented more than half of the growth in emissions, the analysis found. In the United States, emissions dropped by a remarkable 7 percent in the year of 2009, but rose by over 4 percent in 2010, the new analysis shows.
“Each year, emissions go up, and there’s another year of negotiations, another year of indecision,” said Glen P. Peters, a researcher at the Center for International Climate and Environmental Research. “There’s no evidence that this path we’ve been following in the last 10 years is going to change.”
Scientists say the rapid growth of emissions is warming the Earth and putting human welfare at long-term risk. But their increasingly urgent pleas that society find a way to limit emissions have met sharp political resistance in many countries because doing so would involve higher energy costs.
The new figures show a continuation of a trend in which developing countries have surpassed (超過) the wealthy countries in their overall greenhouse emissions. In 2010, the burning of fossil fuels and the production of cement (水泥) sent more than nine billion tons of carbon into the atmosphere, the new analysis found, with 57 percent of that coming from developing countries.
On the surface, the figures of recent years suggest that wealthy countries have made headway in stabilizing their emissions. But Dr. Peters pointed out that, in a sense, the rich countries have simply exported some of them.
The fast rise in developing countries has been caused to a large extent by the growth of energy-intensive manufacturing industries that make goods that rich countries import. “All that has changed is the location in which the emissions are being produced,” Dr. Peters said.
Many countries, as part of their response to the economic crisis, invested billions in programs designed to make their energy systems greener. While it is possible, the new numbers suggest they have had little effect so far.
小題1:Many governments in the world resist limiting emissions because
.
| A．it is not the best way to solve such problems |
| B．they don’t realize the risks of carbon emissions |
| C．it would probably harm human welfare in the long run |
| D．they are unwilling to accept higher energy costs |
小題2:According to Glen P. Peters, We can learn that
.
| A．the rapid growth of emissions contributes to potential risks for humans |
| B．rich countries actually take more responsibility for the growth of emissions |
| C．human beings will follow the same path of negotiations in the next 10 years |
| D．some countries negotiate together yearly whether to reduce the amounts of emissions |
小題3:Which of the following is TRUE according to the text?
| A．Emissions in the United States dropped by about 7 percent in 2010. |
| B．Developing countries will produce less emissions with economic development. |
| C．There is a long way to go for many countries to limit the fast growth of emissions. |
| D．Over 50 percent of the growth in emissions resulted from the burning of fossil fuels. |
小題4:The text mainly talks about
.
| A．a(chǎn)n analysis released by the Global Carbon Project |
| B．the record jump in carbon dioxide emissions |
| C．the possible climate change in future decades |
| D．the main harm of greenhouse gases |
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