考研英语阅读真题文章三十篇十八_大学英语阅读

考研英语阅读真题文章三十篇十八

　　In some ways, the airlines are an odd target for greens. They produce only around 3% of the worlds man made carbon emissions. Surface transport, by contrast, produces 22%. Europes merchant ships spew out around a third more carbon than aircraft do, and nobody is going after them. And unlike cars-potent symbols of individualism-airlines are public transport, jamming in as many people as they can into each plane.

　　Whats more, many air travelers cannot easily switch. Car drivers can hop on the train or the bus, but transatlantic travelers cant row from London to New York. Nor can aircraft fuel be swapped for a green alternative. Car drivers can buy electro petrol hybrids but aircraft are, for now, stuck with kerosene, because its energy density makes it the only practical fuel to carry around in the air.

　　Yet in other ways, airlines are a fine target. They pay no tax on fuel for international flights, and therefore escape the polluter pays principle even more niftily than other forms of transport. Their emissions are especially damaging, too-partly because the nitrogen oxides from jet engine exhausts help create ozone, a potent greenhouse gas, and partly because the pretty trails that aircraft leave behind them help make the clouds that can intensify the greenhouse effect.

　　Slowly, businessmen and politicians are coming to agree with scientists. If this generation does not tackle climate change, its descendants will not think much of it. That means raising costs for all sources of pollution. Even those deceptively cheap weekend breaks cannot be exempt.