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  3. Smog has been a national fixation of China. The government has declared "war

Smog has been a national fixation of China. The government has declared "war

游客2023-11-26  11
问题     Smog has been a national fixation of China. The government has declared "war" on air pollution. However, economic growth means more production and consumption of energy, which means more emission of gases related to the pollution. What measures should be taken to improve the air quality is under heated discussion. The following is a report about the cost of clean air. Read the excerpt carefully and write your response in about 300 words, in which you should:
    1. summarize briefly the news report;
    2. give your comment.
    Marks will be awarded for content relevance, content sufficiency, organization and language quality. Failure to follow the above instructions may result in a loss of marks.
                The Cost of Clean Air
    Measures to combat air pollution are biting hard in industrial areas already hit by an economic slowdown.
    Last year on a typically smoggy day in Beijing, Chinese government declared "war" on air pollution—a problem that has become a national fixation. Smog remains a grave danger in most Chinese cities, but environmental measures are beginning to show teeth. Regulators in the most polluted provinces are ordering mass closures of offending enterprises. In some areas officials are being punished for failing to control pollution. Policymakers are placing less emphasis on GDP growth—long an obsession of officials at all levels of government—and talking up greenness.
    The transformation will be painful. China’s new toughness on polluting quarries, mills and factories coincides with an economic slowdown that will make it harder to create new jobs for those laid off. Slower growth is in line with the government’s efforts to curb wasteful investment, and with it a dangerous buildup of debt. The slowdown also happens to be helpful in curtailing pollution; China’s consumption of coal, a huge contributor to smog as well as to climate-change emissions, fell slightly in 2014 after 14 years of growth.
    The war is especially bloody in Hebei, which is blamed for much of the smog in Beijing. Keeping the air of the capital clean is a political priority. Dutifully, Hebei, which surrounds Beijing, has been trying to clean up. Since the beginning of 2013 it has reported closing down 18,000 polluting factories. In January Hebei Daily, a state-run newspaper, said that in Mancheng county, to which Shijing township belongs, 37 rock quarries and rubble pits had been shut.
    Hebei’s economy has suffered. Until 2014 real GDP growth in the province had outpaced national GDP growth for all but one year since 2000. But as China’s GDP growth slowed from 7.7% in 2013 to 7.4% last year, Hebei’s fell much more sharply, from 8.2% to 6. 5% , according to official figures. The slowdown in Hebei’s industrial sector last year was particularly severe, from 10% growth in 2013 to just 5.1% last year, compared with a much gentler decline nationwide from 9.7% to 8. 3%.
    The closures may be having some effect. The environmental ministry reported that in the region encompassing Beijing, Hebei and the city of Tianjin the average level in the air of PM2. 5 , the smallest measured particles which are most harmful to health, was 93 micrograms per cubic metre last year, down from 106 in 2013. In Beijing itself the level dropped by 4%, to 85. 9 micrograms per cubic metre. A daily level above 35 micrograms per cubic metre is considered unsafe. Beijing’s is sometimes above 500.
    Farther from Beijing, in places where the anxieties of leaders in the capital are felt less keenly, some officials have been trying to shift attention away from the polluting industries that keep people in work. In November a senior planning official said China would have clear skies by 2030, when carbon emissions are also expected to reach their peak. But public resentment will be slow to ebb.
    Write your response on ANSWER SHEET FOUR.
选项
答案                 Should We Sacrifice Economic Growth for Blue Sky?
    Smog, as a by-product of fast developing economy within several decades, has been such a haunting and devastating threat to people’s health. Chinese people, who have just tasted the flavor of well-being, suddenly find themselves shrouded by the apocalyptic smog, which has triggered widespread attention of the media.
    The given report is about the contradiction between the air pollution combat and economic growth. To fight against air pollution, the Chinese government has taken quite a few measures, such as the mass closure of the offending enterprises, the punishment mechanism for local officials, the abandoning of excessive concern on GDP growth, etc. These measures do see the slight fall of greenhouse gas emissions and the drop of PM 2. 5 in the air, but with the price of economic slowdown and mass unemployment, by taking Hebei as an example. Seemingly, it is easier to say than to have clear skies by 2030.
    Weighing the importance between people’s health and GDP figures, I would earnestly appeal to the government to put pollution combat in priority. Firstly, wealth means nothing when health doesn’t exist. This is true for a person, so it is for a country. But what is a rich country for when its soil nourishes no vegetations, its river bears no fish and its people are dying? Furthermore, environmental pollution will finally consume all the revenues that we gain from economic growth. When the majority of the welfare is spent on Medicare, what is the significance of wealth accumulation? Moreover, the contradiction between environmental protection and economic development is not as irreconcilable as we thought. Environmental treatment might hold back economic development for a while, but in the long run, it not only benefits the environment, but also the economy. After all, the concern for the environment actually promotes the process of the structural adjustment of an energy-saving and environmental-friendly economy.
    Hence, I do consent to hold back the rapid speed of economic development in China now. This slowdown may sacrifice the development of economy temporarily, but leaves a good chance for a healthier and greener new boom and a blue sky for sure.
解析 本题讨论的是中国经济发展与空气污染之间的矛盾，命题是社会各界关注的焦点，属于社会生活类话题。题目要求简要概括所给材料中的观点，并发表自己的看法。在具体的写作过程中，考生可以开篇点明社会现象，并提出论点：严重空气污染与经济发展成就之间有冲突；第二段简要概述新闻报道的中心大意；第三段重点阐述自己对这一问题的看法，并说明理由；最后一段总结全文，重申观点。
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