2. 外语
  3. 1 The word "environmentalist" has been bandied about so much that a person can’t be sure in a given instance whether the wor

1 The word "environmentalist" has been bandied about so much that a person can’t be sure in a given instance whether the wor

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问题    1     The word "environmentalist" has been bandied about so much that a person can’t be sure in a given instance whether the word is complimentary or pejorative, whether it applies to someone favoring an automobile noise abatement program or someone wishing to close Yellowstone Park and convert it to a pristine wilderness. Once very modish, the word is now almost useless as a conveyor of precise meaning.
   2     Until the 1960s, environmentalists were simply people who were concerned about the environment, about litter, polluted streams, and endangered wildlife. The word environmentalist was not a household word. But in the sixties, the term became identified with the youth protest movement and with causes as diverse as vegetarianism and antiwar demonstrations. Through the late sixties and into the seventies, the meaning of the word came to depend increasingly on the point of view of the user. Thus land developers labeled Environmental Protection Agency officials as progress-blocking environmentalists. Concerned citizens who demanded that air-and water polluting industries "clean up their act" proudly identified themselves as concerned environmentalists.
   3     Probably the most serious consequence of the loose definition of the word has been the blurring of the distinction between preservationist and conservationist. Both are now indiscriminately referred to as environmentalists. A preservationist who advocates closing a wilderness area to all public use is termed an environmentalist, as is the conservationist who urges moderation that will permit public use of an area while preventing depletion of its natural resources. The term is more likely to be interpreted as the radical preservationist, with sometimes serious consequences.
   4     If one can derive a moral from all of this, it might be as follows: There is a need for precision in the definition of words that one uses. Imprecise diction, whether deliberate or not, is potentially as dangerous as outright misrepresentation.
The author is primarily concerned with the ______ of the term.
选项 A、meaning extension
B、meaning degeneration
C、meaning appreciation
D、meaning uncertainty
答案A
解析 本题为细节理解题。据第2段以及第3段第1句可确定。
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