首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
The concern throughout the world in 1988 for those three whales that were locked in the Arctic ice was dramatic proof that whale
The concern throughout the world in 1988 for those three whales that were locked in the Arctic ice was dramatic proof that whale
admin
2012-12-01
18
问题
The concern throughout the world in 1988 for those three whales that were locked in the Arctic ice was dramatic proof that whales, several species of which face extinction, have become subjects of considerable sympathy.
These are the recorded voices of whales. These monstrous creatures have been trumpeting their songs, one to another, in the world’s oceans since the dawn of time, while overhead, great empires and civilizations have come and gone. Now, their time of decline has come. It began a long time ago.
Four-thousand-year-old rock carvings show, that the people who lived in what is now Norway were probably the first to seek out and kill whales in the sea. By around 890 AD, 3,000 years later, the practice had spread to the Basque people of France and Spain, who hunted whales from boats in the Bay of Biscay. In the centuries that followed, whaling became an important industry in Denmark, England, Germany, the Netherlands, and, finally, in what would become America.
Whaling went into dramatic decline, beginning around 1900. Today, whales are hunted commercially only by Norway, Iceland and Japan. The world’s fascination with them, however, is at an all-time high, because so few of them are left, given their tragic history.
Richard Ellis writes about whales, takes pictures of whales in the open sea, and sketches whales stranded on the beach. He says it’s a 20-year obsession that began in the mid-1960s, when he designed a model of a great blue for the Museum of Natural History in New York.
"As I began to do the research. I realized that nobody knew anything about whales. And I couldn’t really find any pictures of what they looked like: all I could find was pictures of dead whales. And I became very excited at the prospect of doing what seemed to be original research on something that was so peculiar, which was the largest animal that has ever lived on earth. "
So large, he discovered, that the largest dinosaur weighed only half as much as the female blue whale. As he continued his research he boarded scientific vessels. Dove with whales in the Pacific, and even watched whales die at the hands of modern, explosive-tipped harpoons. His sketches appeared in magazines and encyclopedias and at the center of what was then the beginning of a movement to save the whales.
"I was one of those people who used to stand on street corners and ask for people to sign petitions, which at that time were directed towards the Japanese and the Soviets. Because in that period of time—late 60s, early 70s—the Japanese and the Soviets were killing tens of thousands of sperm particularly in the North Pacific. And we thought that getting the world’s opinion on paper would make them say, ’Oh look, all these people don’t like what we are doing. We will stop. ’ Well, of course, they didn’t stop. "
Not at first, commercial whaling peaked in the mid-1960s, with more than 60,000 whales killed each year. The International Whaling Commission, a group of member nations aimed at regulating the industry, began to make recommendations to end commercial whaling entirely. Why kill whales for soap, or fuel or paints and vernishes, even margarine, if we had substitutes for all those products? The seemingly senseless slaughter focused the world’s attention on the whale and consequently the International Whaling Commission or IWC.
"And since it’s said nowhere in the constitution of the IWC that you had to be whaling nation to join, you have countries like Kenya and the Seychelles. Switzerland is a member of the IWC, a country not known for its whaling history. Countries joined because they felt that this wns something that needed to be done. "
By 1986, the Commission had passed a moratorium on commercial whaling. But since the organization had no enforcement powers, it could and can not impose sanctions on violators. Only a few nations—Japan, Iceland and Norway—continue to hunt whales commercially.
Richard Ellis says there is something magical about this animal caught in the net of life and time and we must continue to fight to preserve it, because in the end we are really protecting a small part of ourselves and our earth.
Which of the following words can best replace the word "obsession" in Paragraph 5?
选项
A、enchantment
B、avocation
C、fascination
D、rapturousness
答案
B
解析
根据原文“He says it’s a 20—year obsession”可推测意为“他的这一爱好已有20年历史”。四个选项中enchantment魅力;fascination着迷;rapturousness狂喜,都是表示状态。avocation表示业余嗜好,最接近obsession。
转载请注明原文地址:https://jikaoti.com/ti/d6UYFFFM
0
专业英语八级
相关试题推荐
Thelevelofsyntacticrepresentationthatexistsbeforemovementtakesplaceiscommonlytermedasthe______.
IftherewasonethingAmericanshadarighttoexpectfromCongress,itwasafederalplantohelptheelderlypayforprescrip
AboutWetlandsintheU.S.A.Peopleenjoyafamoussoup(SHE-CRABSOUP)inNorthCarolinabecausethedaysoftheregionalsoup
AboutWetlandsintheU.S.A.Peopleenjoyafamoussoup(SHE-CRABSOUP)inNorthCarolinabecausethedaysoftheregionalsoup
AboutWetlandsintheU.S.A.Peopleenjoyafamoussoup(SHE-CRABSOUP)inNorthCarolinabecausethedaysoftheregionalsoup
AboutWetlandsintheU.S.A.Peopleenjoyafamoussoup(SHE-CRABSOUP)inNorthCarolinabecausethedaysoftheregionalsoup
WhichofthefollowingisNOTabranchofMacrolinguistics?
Traditionally,thestudyofhistoryhashadfixedboundariesandfocalpoints—periods,countries,dramaticevents,andgreatlea
Traditionally,thestudyofhistoryhashadfixedboundariesandfocalpoints—periods,countries,dramaticevents,andgreatlea
A、Theyarehinderedbyrain,blockedroads,etc.B、TheyaremadebyManila’sGMAtelevision.C、Philippineairforcehasjoinedi
随机试题
在图样上,实心焊丝CO2气体保护焊用()表示。
千分尺读数时应先取下,再锁紧,然后读数。
既是对原有股东的一种优惠,又能征集部分股金实现公司增资计划的发行方式是()
跨度不变的前提下,对应于某荷载的合理拱轴线不只一根,而是一束。()
风湿性心脏病二尖瓣狭窄最严重的并发症是
风湿病中最具诊断意义的病变是
关于资产可收回金额的计量,下列叙述中,正确的有()。
行为科学研究显示,工作中的人际关系通常不那么复杂,也宽松些,可能是由于这种人际关系更有规律,更易于预料,因此也更容易协调。因为人们知道他们每天都要共同努力,相互防作,才能完成一定的工作。这段文字主要是在强调()。
由于狂风暴雨使得李某家门口的电线杆松动,倒在了李某家的房屋上。李某立即向电力局打电话要求排除险情,电力局答应派人过去维修,但李某等到第二天仍无人过来,李某再次打电话催促电力局,电力局始终不对何时派人过去维修进行明确答复,故李某立即向法院起诉电力局不履行法定
sizeof(char)是()。
最新回复
(
0
)