世界末日钟往午夜拨快 1 分钟

Doomsday Clock Moves One Minute Closer to Midnight

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (BAS) recently announced that the Doomsday Clock has been moved to five minutes before midnight. The clock last moved back one minute in 2010. The BAS said the failure of multiple nations to control the spread of nuclear weapons was a cause for worry. The group, which created the clock in 1947, said that two years ago, it believed world leaders were trying to address global threat issues, but that trend has not continued or has even been reversed.

Jayantha Dhanapala, a member of the BAS Board of Sponsors and a former UN undersecretary-general for disarmament affairs, said that while Russia-US nuclear relations have been improving, others left a lot to be desired. The failure by the US, China, Iran, India, Pakistan, Egypt, and Israel to act on the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and by North Korea on a treaty to cut off production of nuclear weapons material "continues to leave the world at risk from continued development of nuclear weapons," Dhanapala said.

The potential for nuclear weapons use in regional conflicts in the Middle East, Northeast Asia, and particularly in South Asia was also alarming. Global climate change was also an issue that needed to be addressed, according to Allison Macfarlane, a BAS Science and Security Board member. "The global community may be near a point of no return in efforts to prevent catastrophe from changes in Earth's atmosphere," she said in a statement. The group also said that the disaster at Japan's Fukushima nuclear power plant, caused by the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami, raised significant questions about nuclear reactor design and oversight.

1.  How is the latest BAS announcement different from the last one?

(A) The Doomsday Clock moved in the opposite direction.

(B) There have been a lot of nuclear troubles over the past two years.

(C) The BAS is now linking nuclear power to environmental damage.

(D) The relations between the US and Russia continue to be frosty.

2.  What is the closest meaning to "left a lot to be desired" in the second paragraph?

(A) Granted all the wishes.

(B) Were about the same as before.

(C) Worked it out on their own.

(D) Needed a lot of improvement.

3.  Why is Japan mentioned in the article?

(A) They have one of the strictest environmental policies in the world.

(B) The disaster there has made people think twice about nuclear energy.

(C) The number of people that died there caused the BAS to move the clock one minute ahead.

(D) They have come up with new designs for nuclear power plants.

世界末日钟往午夜拨快 1 分钟

　　《原子科学家公报》最近宣布将世界末日钟往前调到距离午夜只差 5 分钟。而世界末日钟上次在 2010年时则往回调 1 分钟。《原子科学家公报》表示，众多国家无法控制核子武器扩散的情况令人担忧。该组织于 1947 年设立了世界末日钟，他们表示 2年前相信世界领导人正设法解决威胁全球的问题，但这股潮流后来并未持续，甚至有开倒车的现象。

　　联合国负责裁军事务的前副秘书长扬塔 $达纳帕拉是《原子科学家公报》的发起人之一，他说美、俄在核子议题上的关系一直有改善，而其他国家在这方面则还有很大的努力空间。他表示，美国、中国、伊朗、印度、巴基斯坦、埃及和以色列未能遵守《全面禁止核试验条约》，以及北韩不遵守停止核子武器制造条约，这些『一直让全球陷入持续发展核武的危机当中』。

　　中东和东北亚在区域冲突中使用核武的可能性也令人担忧，而南亚的情况格外引发关注。《原子科学家公报》的科学和安全委员会的委员艾莉森 $麦法蓝表示，全球气候变迁同样是需要处理的议题，她在声明中说：『为了预防地球大气层的改变所引发的大灾难，世界各国可能再也无法走回头路。』该机构也提到 2011 年 3 月的地震和海啸引发的日本福岛核灾，激起许多对于核子反应炉的设计和监督上的质疑。

答案：1. (A)2. (D)3. (B)

世界末日钟是个虚构的钟面，由芝加哥大学的《原子科学家公报》

于 1947 年设立，标示出世界受核武威胁的程度。午夜零时象征核战爆发，该公报因应世界局势将分针拨近或拨离子夜，以此提醒各界正视问题。

末日时钟设立之初正值冷战，分针距离子夜仅 7 分钟，其后根据世界局势及爆发核战的可能而变动，幅度由《原子科学家公报》杂志委员会决定。但时钟有时未能及时反映实况，例如 1962 年古巴飞弹危机时濒临爆发核战，当时委员会却没有拨动时钟。

2007年，委员会将气候转变的因素一并考虑，因为他们相信气候转变会助长核能应用。其中一个推测为气候转变导致食水短缺，从而引发战争，由此间接增加使用核武的机会。（数据源：维基百科）