Section C

Directions: There are two passages in this section. Each passage is followed by some questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A), B), C) and D). You should decide on the best choice.

Passage One
    After decades of being on the back burner owing to costs far outweighing benefits, deep sea mining is now emerging as a serious threat to the stability of ocean systems and processes that have yet to be understood well enough to punish in good conscience their large-scale destruction.
    Critical to evaluating what is at stake are technologies needed to access the deep sea. The mining company, Nautilus Minerals, has invested heavily in mining machinery. However, resources needed for independent scientific assessment at those depths are essentially non-existent. The role of life in the deep sea relating to the carbon cycle is vaguely understood, and the influence of the microbial(微生物) systems (only recently discovered) and the diverse ecosystems in the water column and sea bed have yet to be thoughtfully analyzed.
    The principle of exploiting minerals in the deep sea is based on their perceived current monetary value. The living systems that will be destroyed are perceived to have no monetary value. Will decisions about use of the natural world continue to be based on the financial advantage for a small number of people despite risks to systems that maintain planetary stability -- systems that support human survival?
    The IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) World Conservation Congress helps set in motion some significant and very timely actions that could help blunt the sharp edge of enthusiasm for dividing up the deep ocean. Whatever it takes, there must be ways to elevate recognition of the critical importance of intact natural systems.
    We need technologies to access the deep sea to independently explore and understand the nature of Earth's largest living system. But most importantly, we need the will to challenge and change the attitudes, traditions and policies about the natural world that have driven us to burn through the assets as if there is no tomorrow. This "as if" can be a reality -- or not -- depending on what we do now. Or what we fail to do. However, there is undeniably cause for hope: there is still time to choose.

Section C

Directions: There are two passages in this section. Each passage is followed by some questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A), B), C) and D). You should decide on the best choice.

Passage Two
    The Mariana Trench(马里亚纳海沟) in the northern Pacific is the deepest part of the world's oceans. You might think a place that remote would be untouched by human activity. At its deepest the water in the trench is near freezing and the pressure would crush a human like a bug. But it is polluted.
    Scientists have only recently explored it. Among them is biologist Alan Jamieson of Newcastle University in England. His team dropped what they call a mechanical "lander" down into the trench. It had cameras and water samplers and some baited traps.
    When the lander surfaced, the traps contained amphipods(片脚类动物) -- shrimp like crustaceans(甲壳动物).The amphipods were contaminated with toxic chemicals used for decades in industry, as well as other industrial pollutants known as persistent organic pollutants. "Every sample we had," Jamieson says, "had contaminants in it at very high or extraordinarily high levels."

    How high? He compared the contamination level in his Mariana amphipods to crabs living in waters fed by one of the most polluted rivers, as well as amphipods from other parts of the world. He says, "And what we were finding in the deepest place in the world were (levels) hugely higher, 50 times in some cases." He thinks the pollutants might get to the trenches by holding on to plastic that's floating in the ocean. Fish and other marine animals absorb pollutants as well. Eventually, the plastic and the dead animals fall to the bottom. Like dirt in your house, a lot of it will collect at the lowest points. It's simply a matter of gravity.
    Marine biologist Katherine Dafforn at the University of New South Wales in Australia says the discovery of such high levels of toxic chemicals in these trenches is "disturbing". She says, "A lot of chemicals will have far-reaching impacts that we don't necessarily know about." And those impacts might be in places that people don't pay much attention. Jamieson says just because pollution is out of sight doesn't mean it's harmless. "We've got to remember, planet Earth is mostly deep sea, and to think that it's OK just to ignore it is a little bit irresponsible.