Logging is destroying the rainforests Every second, 1 hectare of the world’’s rainforest is destroyed. That equals to two football fields. An area the size of New York City is lost every day. In a year, that adds up to 31 million hectares — more than the land area of Poland. This alarming rate of destruction has serious consequences for the environment; scientists estimate, for example, that 137 species of plant, insect or animal become extinct every day due to logging. In British Columbia, where, since 1990, thirteen rainforest valleys have been clear-cut, 142 species of salmon have already become extinct, and the habitats of grizzly bears, wolves and many other creatures are threatened. Logging, however, provides jobs, profits, taxes for the government and cheap products of all kinds for consumers, so the government is reluctant to restrict or control it. Canadian forests are especially under threat Much of Canada’’s forestry production goes towards making pulp and paper. According to the Canadian Pulp and Paper Association, Canada supplies 34% of the world’’s wood pulp and 49% of its newsprint paper. If these paper products could be produced in some other way, Canadian forests could be preserved. Recently, a possible alternative way of producing paper has been suggested by agriculturalists and environmentalists: a plant called hemp. Hemp has been cultivated throughout history Hemp has been cultivated by many cultures for thousands of years. It produces fiber which can be made into paper, fuel, oils, textiles, food, and rope. For many centuries, it was essential to the economies of many countries because it was used to make the ropes and cables used on sailing ships; colonial expansion and the establishment of a world-wide trading network would Not have been possible without hemp. Nowadays, ships’’ cables are usually made from wire or synthetic fibres, but scientists are now suggesting that the cultivation of hemp should be revived for the production of paper and pulp. According to its supporters, four times as much paper can be produced from land using hemp rather than trees, and many environmentalists believe that the large-scale cultivation of hemp could reduce the pressure on Canada’’s forests. It is illegal to grow hemp However, there is a problem: hemp is illegal in many countries of the world. This plant, so useful for fiber, rope, oil, fuel and textiles, is a species of cannabis, related to the plant from which marijuana (大麻) is produced. In the late 1930s, a movement to ban the drug marijuana began to gather force, resulting in the eventual banning of the cultivation Not only of the plant used to produce the drug, but also of the commercial fiber-producing hemp plant. Although both George Washington and Thomas Jefferson grew hemp in large quantities on their own land, any American growing the plant today would soon find himself in prison—despite the fact that marijuana cannot be produced from the hemp plant, since it contains almost NO THC (the active ingredient in the drug). Recently, many people have been working to legalize hemp In recent years, two major movements for legalization have been gathering strength. One group of activists believes that all cannabis should be legal—both the hemp plant and the marijuana plant — and that the use of the drug marijuana should not be an offense. They argue that marijuana is not dangerous or addictive, and that it is used by large numbers of people who are not criminals but productive members of society. They also point out that marijuana is less harmful than alcohol or tobacco. The other legalization movement is concerned only with the hemp plant used to produce fiber; this group wants to make it legal to cultivate the plant and sell the fiber for paper and pulp production. This second group has had a major triumph recently: in 1997, Canada legalized the farming of hemp for fiber. For the first time since 1938, hundreds of farmers are planting this crop, and soon we can expect to see pulp and paper produced from this new source. A plant hemp will replace trees for making paper in the near futures.
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"Frontier", one of many English words that took on new meanings in North America, has assumed as well a role in explaining the continent’s history during the past five hundred years. In time the word has acquired other connotations, both positive and negative. Among historians, the term "frontier" is most closely associated with Frederick Jackson Turner, whose essay profoundly influenced American historiography for forty years after its publication in 1893. Reacting against historians who considered American history essentially an outgrowth of British and European institutions, Turner argued that Old World customs and attitudes broke down and reformed in America’s radically different physical and social environment. The opportunity of "free land" drew pioneers westward into settings that required them to modify or scrap entirely many of the institutions and values of their previous lives. The result was a "merged nationality", a distinctive culture and people. Although he emphasized the positive, Turner observed that the same conditions that had helped reshape the society had less desirable effects. For instance, as early governments they had to create political forms almost on the fly, they were less likely to innovate than to copy what they knew from the past. The tension between change and tradition was played out in gender relations. Frontier conditions often required women to take on roles usually reserved for men, but the crushing load of work made women’s lives difficult and dangerous and left little room for individual fulfillment outside their labors. By Turner’s death in 1932, more fundamental critiques of his ideas were being heard. Some stressed that many other factors—among them patterns of immigration, American society’s middleclass nature, etc.—influenced the national character at least as much as the frontier. Others argued that class divisions and social and economic hierarchies have been much more a part of American life than the frontier-inspired equality implied in Turner’s work. The effect of these various critiques has been paradoxical. No longer considered the primary formative force on continental history, the frontier has been more broadly defined and its explanatory power has grown. Recent research has explored the interactions among Europeans, Euro-Americans, and Indian peoples. Along the various frontiers there developed what the historian Richard White has called a "middle ground", cultures of overlapping customs and mutual borrowing in which all sides created new terms of understanding and exchange. Consequently, many tribes merged and consolidated to meet the threats and opportunities posed by the newcomers. A frontier in this sense was certainly not a division between "civilization and savagery", but rather a place where peoples, ideas, cultures, and institutions came together and interacted on many levels, sometimes mixing and sometimes conflicting but always in mutual influence. Which of the following belongs to the criticisms of Turner’s thoughts
A. Frontier played a less significant role than Turner advocated.
B. National character had little to do with frontier.
C. Turner’s thoughts made no sense.
D. Class divisions were the driving forces in the frontier.
Logging is destroying the rainforests Every second, 1 hectare of the world’’s rainforest is destroyed. That equals to two football fields. An area the size of New York City is lost every day. In a year, that adds up to 31 million hectares — more than the land area of Poland. This alarming rate of destruction has serious consequences for the environment; scientists estimate, for example, that 137 species of plant, insect or animal become extinct every day due to logging. In British Columbia, where, since 1990, thirteen rainforest valleys have been clear-cut, 142 species of salmon have already become extinct, and the habitats of grizzly bears, wolves and many other creatures are threatened. Logging, however, provides jobs, profits, taxes for the government and cheap products of all kinds for consumers, so the government is reluctant to restrict or control it. Canadian forests are especially under threat Much of Canada’’s forestry production goes towards making pulp and paper. According to the Canadian Pulp and Paper Association, Canada supplies 34% of the world’’s wood pulp and 49% of its newsprint paper. If these paper products could be produced in some other way, Canadian forests could be preserved. Recently, a possible alternative way of producing paper has been suggested by agriculturalists and environmentalists: a plant called hemp. Hemp has been cultivated throughout history Hemp has been cultivated by many cultures for thousands of years. It produces fiber which can be made into paper, fuel, oils, textiles, food, and rope. For many centuries, it was essential to the economies of many countries because it was used to make the ropes and cables used on sailing ships; colonial expansion and the establishment of a world-wide trading network would Not have been possible without hemp. Nowadays, ships’’ cables are usually made from wire or synthetic fibres, but scientists are now suggesting that the cultivation of hemp should be revived for the production of paper and pulp. According to its supporters, four times as much paper can be produced from land using hemp rather than trees, and many environmentalists believe that the large-scale cultivation of hemp could reduce the pressure on Canada’’s forests. It is illegal to grow hemp However, there is a problem: hemp is illegal in many countries of the world. This plant, so useful for fiber, rope, oil, fuel and textiles, is a species of cannabis, related to the plant from which marijuana (大麻) is produced. In the late 1930s, a movement to ban the drug marijuana began to gather force, resulting in the eventual banning of the cultivation Not only of the plant used to produce the drug, but also of the commercial fiber-producing hemp plant. Although both George Washington and Thomas Jefferson grew hemp in large quantities on their own land, any American growing the plant today would soon find himself in prison—despite the fact that marijuana cannot be produced from the hemp plant, since it contains almost NO THC (the active ingredient in the drug). Recently, many people have been working to legalize hemp In recent years, two major movements for legalization have been gathering strength. One group of activists believes that all cannabis should be legal—both the hemp plant and the marijuana plant — and that the use of the drug marijuana should not be an offense. They argue that marijuana is not dangerous or addictive, and that it is used by large numbers of people who are not criminals but productive members of society. They also point out that marijuana is less harmful than alcohol or tobacco. The other legalization movement is concerned only with the hemp plant used to produce fiber; this group wants to make it legal to cultivate the plant and sell the fiber for paper and pulp production. This second group has had a major triumph recently: in 1997, Canada legalized the farming of hemp for fiber. For the first time since 1938, hundreds of farmers are planting this crop, and soon we can expect to see pulp and paper produced from this new source. Nowadays________ for legalization have been gathering strength.
Sadness isn’t manly—this Eric Weaver knew. When depression engulfed this New York police sergeant, it took a different guise: a near-constant state of anger. "One minute I’d be okay and the next minute I’d be screaming at my kids and punching the wall," he recalls. "My kids would ask, ’What’s wrong with Daddy Why’s he so mad all the time’" For years, Weaver didn’t know what was wrong. Weaver’s confusion about what tortured him was not unusual. Roughly a third of the 18 million or more Americans who suffer depression each year are men. Yet all too often, experts say, men fail to recognize the symptoms and get the treatment they need. For years, experts suspected that gender makes a big difference in depression. Studies from New York to New Zealand have repeatedly found the same startling statistic: About twice as many women as men suffer from depression. That finding was considered one of the bedrock facts of modern mental health. Yet it has recently come under attack from critics who are concerned about underreporting of male depression. William Pollack, Director of the Center for Men at McLean Hospital, is leading the charge against the well-entrenched depression gender gap. He argues that men’s rate of depression may be nearly equal to women’s. Just look at suicide rates, he says: Male suicides outnumber females four to one. That ratio "is way too high to say that men’s depression numbers are so low," he notes. Pollack and others contend that male depression goes unrecognized because, unlike the female version, it often doesn’t fit the textbook signs—at least in the early stages. Clinical depression at later stages looks much the same in both sexes. But in the prelude to a breakdown, that deepening despair is often expressed in very different ways. Instead of being weepy, men are more apt to be irritable and angry—moods that aren’t included in the classic diagnostic tests. "Their sadness and helplessness are hidden behind a mask of anger," says Pollack. "Men tend to act out" to avoid dealing with uncomfortable feelings, adds Fredric Rabinowitz, a psychologist who works primarily with men. If they feel bad, they’re apt to get into fights on the job or at home, withdraw from family and friends, become obsessed with work or hobbies. Most significantly, men often turn to drinking or drugs. Men have two to four times the rate of substance abuse problems as women, and Pollack contends that if this was recognized as a sign of depression, the gender gap would substantially narrow. Which of the following is true according to the first two paragraphs
A. Mr. Weaver considered anger was a guise of depression.
B. Depression may result in similar symptoms.
C. Men generally ignore the signs of depression and its treatment.
D. One third of male Americans suffer depression each year.
"Frontier", one of many English words that took on new meanings in North America, has assumed as well a role in explaining the continent’s history during the past five hundred years. In time the word has acquired other connotations, both positive and negative. Among historians, the term "frontier" is most closely associated with Frederick Jackson Turner, whose essay profoundly influenced American historiography for forty years after its publication in 1893. Reacting against historians who considered American history essentially an outgrowth of British and European institutions, Turner argued that Old World customs and attitudes broke down and reformed in America’s radically different physical and social environment. The opportunity of "free land" drew pioneers westward into settings that required them to modify or scrap entirely many of the institutions and values of their previous lives. The result was a "merged nationality", a distinctive culture and people. Although he emphasized the positive, Turner observed that the same conditions that had helped reshape the society had less desirable effects. For instance, as early governments they had to create political forms almost on the fly, they were less likely to innovate than to copy what they knew from the past. The tension between change and tradition was played out in gender relations. Frontier conditions often required women to take on roles usually reserved for men, but the crushing load of work made women’s lives difficult and dangerous and left little room for individual fulfillment outside their labors. By Turner’s death in 1932, more fundamental critiques of his ideas were being heard. Some stressed that many other factors—among them patterns of immigration, American society’s middleclass nature, etc.—influenced the national character at least as much as the frontier. Others argued that class divisions and social and economic hierarchies have been much more a part of American life than the frontier-inspired equality implied in Turner’s work. The effect of these various critiques has been paradoxical. No longer considered the primary formative force on continental history, the frontier has been more broadly defined and its explanatory power has grown. Recent research has explored the interactions among Europeans, Euro-Americans, and Indian peoples. Along the various frontiers there developed what the historian Richard White has called a "middle ground", cultures of overlapping customs and mutual borrowing in which all sides created new terms of understanding and exchange. Consequently, many tribes merged and consolidated to meet the threats and opportunities posed by the newcomers. A frontier in this sense was certainly not a division between "civilization and savagery", but rather a place where peoples, ideas, cultures, and institutions came together and interacted on many levels, sometimes mixing and sometimes conflicting but always in mutual influence. What do we learn from the text about the effects of the frontier conditions
A. Early governments made new political forms.
B. Gender relations were tense because of political forms.
C. Men took fewer roles than women.
D. Women were deprived of their right to develop.