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With 22 years on the job, Jackie Bracey could be considered a career employee of the Internal Revenue Service. But she defies any stereotype of an over-eager agent running down a reluctant taxpayer. Instead, she spends her time defending people who owe the government money. Ms. Bracey, based in Greensboro N.C. , is a taxpayer advocate, created by Congress in 1998 as part of the kinder, gentler theme adopted by the tax collection agency. Bracey and advocates at 73 other offices nationwide, backed by 2, 100 field workers and staff, go to bat for taxpayers who are in financial straits because of something the agency has done or is about to do. Though it may seem contrary to the IRS, the advocate service not only helps taxpayers, but identifies procedural problems. The main goal, though, is for the ombudsman to step into a dispute a taxpayer is having with the IRS when it appears that something the IRS is doing, or planning, would create an undue hardship on the taxpayer. This can range from speeding up resolution of a dispute that has dragged on too long, to demanding that the IRS halt a collection action that the taxpayer can show he or she "is suffering or is about to suffer a significant hardship. " Taxpayer ombudsmen have been around in one form or another since 1979, says Nina Olson, the national taxpayer advocate. But they were given much more power in 1998 when Congress decided that the workers would no longer report to regional directors but to her office. While this gave them a great deal more authority, outside watchdogs say more can be done. "There is a long way to go to get an agency that feels independent and emboldened to work for taxpayers, " says Joe Seep, a vice president of the Washington-based tax-advocacy group. The taxpayers union also has complained that Congress and the Bush administration don"t seem to be taking the advocates seriously enough. Each year, the IRS group reports to Congress on the top problems that advocates see. Many of these are systemic problems that can gum up the works for both taxpayer and collector, such as a December notice from Ms. Olson that the IRS should have just one definition of a dependent child, rather than the three definitions currently used. While taxpayer advocates can help smooth things out in many cases, they cannot ignore laws. If taxpayers haven"t made legitimate claims for credits, there"s nothing the advocate can do to reverse that course. And Olson says that while taxpayers are free to use her service, they should keep in mind that it does not replace the normal appeals process and should be the last place a citizen calls upon for help, not the first. "We"re really there for when the processes fall down, "she says. Every state has at least one taxpayer-advocate service office. When Olson says "We"re really there for when the processes fall down "(Line 4, Para. 5), she means that
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Fate has not been kind to the western grey whale. Its numbers have dwindled to 130 or so, leaving it "critically endangered" in the eyes of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. Fishing-nets, speeding ships, pollution and coastal development threaten the few that remain. Most recently, drilling for oil and gas in their main summer feeding grounds, near Sakhalin island off Russia"s Pacific coast, has brought fresh risks for the luckless creatures. Yet the rush to develop Sakhalin"s offshore fields may yet be the saviour of the species. When drilling was first discussed in the 1990s, there were muted complaints. When a consortium called Sakhalin Energy, led by Royal Dutch Shell, announced plans to build an oil platform and lay pipelines in the only bay where the whales were known to congregate, these protests proliferated. In response, the consortium established an independent panel to advise it on how best to protect the whales and promised to fund its work. It subsequently agreed to change the route of the pipeline at the panel"s suggestion, although it refused to move the platform, as other critics had demanded. It also agreed either to follow the panel"s recommendations in future or to explain publicly why it was rejecting them. The platforms and pipelines are now complete. Sakhalin Energy exported its first cargo of liquefied natural gas last week. The project, says Shell, is an engineering triumph and a commercial success despite all the controversy. But has it been a success for the whales Sakhalin Energy says their number seems to be growing by 2. 5% a year, although Ian Craig, the firm"s boss, admits that the cause might be greater scrutiny rather than population growth. The scientists on the panel still seem worried. They complain that the firm has not always provided the information they need to assess the threat to the whales. It also has not always followed advice, the scientists" advice about how noisy construction might scare the animals away, for example, or the speed that boats should travel to minimize the risk of hitting the whales. The scientists warn that the loss of just a few fertile females would be enough to tip the population into irrevocable decline. Last summer, there seemed to be far fewer whales around than normal. On the other hand, the panel knows this only because Sakhalin Energy funds lots of research on the whales. As a result, it has discovered that they have a wider range than originally thought, which might explain why so few of them showed up off Sakhalin island last year. Therefore, it is hard to escape the conclusion that, for creatures with a lot as sorry as the western grey whale, a nearby oil project is something of a blessing. An appropriate title for the text is most likely to be
Scientists around the world are racing to learn how to rapidly diagnose, treat and stop the spread of a new, deadly disease. SARS — Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome — was【C1】______for the first time in February 2003 in Hanoi, 【C2】______since then has infected more than 1, 600 people in 15 countries, killing 63. At this【C3】______there are more questions than answers surrounding the disease. Symptoms start【C4】______a fever over 100. 4 degrees F, chills, headache or body【C5】______Within a week, the patient has a dry cough, which might【C6】______to shortness of breath. In 10% to 20% of cases, patients require【C7】______ventilation to breathe. About 3.5% die from the disease. Symptoms【C8】______begin in two to seven days, but some reports suggest it【C9】______take as long as 10 days. Scientists are close to【C10】______a lab test to diagnose SARS. In the meantime, it is diagnosed by its symptoms. There is no evidence【C11】______antibiotics or anti-viral medicines help, 【C12】______doctors can offer only supportive care. Patients with SARS are kept in isolation to reduce the risk of【C13】______Scientists aren"t sure yet, but some researchers think it"s a【C14】______discovered corona-virus, the family of viruses that cause some common colds. Most cases appear to have been passed【C15】______droplets expelled when infected patients cough or sneeze. Family members of infected people and medical workers who care for them have been most likely to【C16】______the illness. But recent developments in Hong Kong suggest that the【C17】______might spread through air, or that the virus might【C18】______for two to three hours on doorknobs or other【C19】______Health experts say it is【C20】______, though, that sharing an elevator briefly with an infected person would be enough to pass the virus. 【C5】
Many people consider the wider use of biofuels a promising way of reducing the amount of surplus carbon dioxide (C02) being pumped into the air by the world"s mechanized transport. The theory is that plants such as sugar cane, maize (corn, to Americans), oilseed rape and wheat take up C02 during their growth, so burning fuels made from them should have no net effect on the amount of that gas in the atmosphere. Theory, though, does not always translate into practice, and just as governments have committed themselves to the greater use of biofuels, questions are being raised about how green this form of energy really is. The latest comes from the International Council for Science (ICSU) based in Paris. The ICSU report concludes that, so far, the production of biofuels has aggravated rather than ameliorated global warming. In particular, it supports some controversial findings published in 2007 by Paul Crutzen of the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Germany. Dr. Crutzen concluded that most analyses had underestimated the importance to global warming of a gas called nitrous oxide (N20). The amount of this gas released by farming biofuel crops such as maize and rape probably negates by itself any advantage offered by reduced emissions of C02. Although N20 is not common in the Earth"s atmosphere, it is a more potent greenhouse gas than CO2 and it hangs around longer. The result is that, over the course of a century, its ability to warm the planet is almost 300 times that of an equivalent mass of C02. N2O is made by bacteria that live in soil and water and, these days, their raw material is often the nitrogen-rich fertiliser that modern farming requires. Since the 1960s the amount of fertiliser used by farmers has increased sixfold, and not all of that extra nitrogen ends up in their crops. Maize, in particular, is described by experts in the field as a "nitrogen-leaky" plant because it has shallow roots and takes up nitrogen for only a few months of the year. This would make maize (which is one of the main sources of biofuel) a particularly bad contributor to global N20 emissions. But it is not just biofuels that are to blame. The ICSU report suggests N20 emissions in general are probably more important than had been realised. Previous studies, including those by the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a United Nations-appointed body of experts, may have miscalculated their significance — and according to Adrian Williams of Cranfield University, in Britain, even the IPCC"s approach suggests that the global-warming potential of most of Britain"s annual crops is dominated by N20 emissions. Scientists realize that maize
Scientists around the world are racing to learn how to rapidly diagnose, treat and stop the spread of a new, deadly disease. SARS — Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome — was【C1】______for the first time in February 2003 in Hanoi, 【C2】______since then has infected more than 1, 600 people in 15 countries, killing 63. At this【C3】______there are more questions than answers surrounding the disease. Symptoms start【C4】______a fever over 100. 4 degrees F, chills, headache or body【C5】______Within a week, the patient has a dry cough, which might【C6】______to shortness of breath. In 10% to 20% of cases, patients require【C7】______ventilation to breathe. About 3.5% die from the disease. Symptoms【C8】______begin in two to seven days, but some reports suggest it【C9】______take as long as 10 days. Scientists are close to【C10】______a lab test to diagnose SARS. In the meantime, it is diagnosed by its symptoms. There is no evidence【C11】______antibiotics or anti-viral medicines help, 【C12】______doctors can offer only supportive care. Patients with SARS are kept in isolation to reduce the risk of【C13】______Scientists aren"t sure yet, but some researchers think it"s a【C14】______discovered corona-virus, the family of viruses that cause some common colds. Most cases appear to have been passed【C15】______droplets expelled when infected patients cough or sneeze. Family members of infected people and medical workers who care for them have been most likely to【C16】______the illness. But recent developments in Hong Kong suggest that the【C17】______might spread through air, or that the virus might【C18】______for two to three hours on doorknobs or other【C19】______Health experts say it is【C20】______, though, that sharing an elevator briefly with an infected person would be enough to pass the virus. 【C20】
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