問題詳情

New York may be the most recent coastal city to become the victim of a climate-torqued natural disaster, but it is hardly the only metropolis in danger. A 2007 report by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development found that 40 million people—and $3 trillion in assets—live in cities that could be exposed to major 1-in-100-year coastal-flood events, in metropolises like Shanghai, Miami and Mumbai. As these cities boom, so does their vulnerability—the same report estimates that by 2070, 150 million people and $35 trillion in assets could be exposed to major coastal floods. Even if global warming turns out to be less threatening than most climate scientists fear, there will be more people and more expensive property in harm’s way of coastal floods over the years to come. Worse, most of that growth will take place in developing nations that may lack the resources to adapt to climate change.That sets the stage not just for a human disaster but also potentially for an economic one that could be felt well beyond the site of the catastrophe. Severe floods struck the Thai capital of Bangkok in 2011, inundating the factories that churn out as much as a quarter of the world’s disk drives. The floods costThailand nearly $50 billion, but the disaster also disrupted global supply chains, leading to a worldwide shortage. “As global corporations expand into emerging growth markets, their operations and supply chains will become exposed to a complex set of climate risks,” said Helen Hodge, head of maps and indices at the risk-research firm Maplecroft, which recently published an urban climate vulnerability index. The lesson for cities and corporations is clear: prepare for climate change or risk turning a natural disaster into man-made catastrophe.Dutch cities like Amsterdam and Rotterdam aren’t the only examples of urban areas that have taken real—if expensive—steps to shore up against the effects of global warming. Like many old cities, London was built on a floodplain and was victimized by storm surges repeatedly throughout its history—including the 1953 Watersnoodramp. That flood persuaded British officials to begin building the great Thames Barrier, the second largest movable seawall in the world after the Delta Works. Finally completed in 1984 at the cost of more than $2 billion in today’s figures, the Thames Barrier is usually open to allow maritime traffic down one of the world’s busiest rivers. But the gates swing shut to protect London from a rising storm surge—a maneuver that has been required more than 100 times since the barrier was completed. The half-drowned Italian city of Venice—which has to contend with rising sea levels even as it sinks at the rate of nearly 4 cm a century—is building the multibillion-dollar MOSE project, a network of seawalls meant to close off the city from surging tides.In the weeks since Sandy, New York officials have been debating the wisdom of installing similar seawalls to protect Manhattan. (While New York City has more than 800 km of coastline, it has few physical defenses against flooding.) But most of the plans being considered would cost more than $10 billion, take years to complete and leave people and property beyond the seawalls at even greater risk of flooding. As the failure of the levees in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina showed, physical barriers don’t guarantee safety—especially as climate change raises sea levels beyond what cities had prepared for. (The Thames Barrier will likely be outpaced by rising seas as soon as 2050.) “I don’t think there’s a practical way to build barriers in the ocean,” New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said after Sandy hit. “If you spent a fortune, it’s not clear to me that you would get much value for it.”
26.According to the article, “as these cities boom, so does their vulnerability” in the first paragraph implies that _____.
(A) as the cities become larger, they are more capable of adapting to climate change
(B) it gets more difficult for city people to work cooperatively when it grows larger
(C) as the cities grow larger, the climate change will become more fearfully
(D) more people and more assets could be exposed to damaging coastal floods .

參考答案

答案：D
難度：困難0.25
統計：A(1),B(2),C(0),D(1),E(0)

內容推薦

內容推薦