Humankind has tried to improve its standard of living since the very beginning of civili­zation. Back then, as well as today, providing food and security was the basic task for a per­son. However, nowadays the range of required goods has expanded significantly. People feel the need for not only some primary things, such as a piece of bread and a roof over their heads, but also for various facilities and luxuries. Providing humanity with these things is connected to the use of natural resources, which requires energy. In turn, the common sources of energy we use today cause pollution, so economic growth is almost unavoidably as­sociated with environmental damage.

Economic growth is the increase in numbers of goods and services produced over time by an economy, and it is calculated in terms of real Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Before growth is calculated, inflation (通货膨胀)is adjusted in order to take into account its mis­leading effect on the price of goods and services. Economic growth can also be explained as the increase in expected output, which results from an increase in actual output, or total de­mand.

There are certain aspects of economic growth which affect the environment. The first of these is the fact that in order to produce more goods and products, at a faster rate, the con­struction of large industrial plants is required. These plants produce a lot of waste, leading to the pollution of water and the atmosphere, which may cause negative long term health effects to nearby populations of animals, or people. They also lead to global warming.

Industrial manufacturing leads to the constantly increasing energy consumption. The traditional energy sources, which are commonly used nowadays, are considered to be the greatest polluters to the environment. There also exist so-called eco-friendly sources of energy. They are sometimes preferred but replacing the traditional sources with them also requires time, during which people have to make some sacrifices to support these undertak­ings.

In order to produce economically practical energy, a sometimes significant transforma­tion of the natural site is often inevitable. This is expensive and, has harmful effects on the environment. Application of wind energy would block airflows’ natural speed which is the reason for their decrease in strength, after crossing the windmill. Consequently, the pres­sure balance that is brought about by this current will be affected, and it is important to re­member that the environment and weather conditions are directly affected by atmospheric pressure.

For these reasons, bringing about economic growth without any resulting environmental damage, whatsoever, is impossible.

小题1:What does the passage mainly talk about?

A． Pollution caused by plant construction.

B． Effects of windmills on the environment.

C． Economic growth and human civilization.

D． Economic growth and environmental damage.小题2:What does the underlined word “They” in the third paragraph refer to?

A．Goods and products

B．The industrial plants

C． Water and atmosphere

D．Negative health effects小题3:According to the passage, the author holds the opinion that ______.

A． economic growth should be calculated in terms of GDP

B． use of natural resources causes no damage to the environment

C． industrial manufacturing may cause damage to the environment

D． a windmill is a perfect way to produce economically practical energy小题4:Which of the following shows the structure of the passage?