新编六级听力练习 第425期

Passage Three
[33]Almost 20,000 whales have been slaughtered since a ban on commercial whaling was introduced in 1986 and the death toll is rising each year. Norway and Japan killed over 1,000 whales in 1999 and they plan to kill even more. The International Whaling Commission (IWC) has failed to stop the killing and a compromise deal may relax the ban allowing coastal whaling-condemning many thousands more whales to a cruel death. In 1994, the IWC created a whale sanctuary in Antarctic waters and many believed the battle to save the whales had been won. But Japan has ignored the sanctuary and along with Norway continues to defy the whaling ban. As the environmental concerns increase, whaling is no longer the issue as it was or deserves to be. With little public awareness of the increasing whale slaughter, there has been no pressure to stop it. Consequently, the political will to confront the whalers and enforce the whaling ban has slipped away. Commercial whaling has devastated whale populations worldwide, pushing the entire species to the brink of extinction. [34]There is still great scientific uncertainty about the size and status of remaining whale populations. Whales are facing increasing threats to their survival including increasing toxic pollution, massive over-fishing, entanglement in fishing nets, boat collisions, habitat loss, ozone depletion and climate change. They need to be protected, not hunted. [35]Commercial whaling is appallingly cruel and unnecessary. It is morally indefensible. It should be condemned to history, to a time when sadly we knew no better!

Questions 33 to 35 are based on the passage you have just heard.
33. What does the speaker say about the death toll of whales after 1986?
正确答案：B
解析：短文开头介绍，在1986年出台了禁止商业捕鲸的政策之后，鲸鱼的死亡数字每年都呈上升趋势，故选B。
34. How does the speaker describe scientific knowledge of whale populations?
正确答案：C
解析：短文谈到，对于现在鲸鱼的数量和情况如何，在科学上还有很多未知之数，也就是说科学家也不知道情况到底如何，故选C。
35. What is the speaker's attitude towards whaling?
正确答案：B
解析：原文说，商业捕鲸是残忍而且不必要的，在道德上也是站不住脚的，故选B。A项为强干扰项，其实只要看到该选项中表示绝对的单词All就可以排除干扰。