The International Whaling Commission’s (IWC) decision to retain its ban on whaling does not mean that the killings will stop. Quite the (1) .
Save the Whale. It’s a phrase which became annoying with (2) , an unfavorable shorthand for liberal consciences. How appalling, then, that in the year 2010, it should be pressed (3) service again, to fight the whaling nations: Norway and Iceland, who exempted themselves from the 1986 prohibition (4) by the IWC, and Japan, which hunts whales under cover of " (5) research".
I am completely (6) by this week’s events in Morocco, where talks broke down. In my heart, I agree with those who have (7) the news that this year’s negotiations of the IWC have broken up, and (8) the prohibition would not be lifted (as the US proposed in a desperate (9) to break the deadlock). Yet reason (10) something else. If we do not (11) some kind of new control, the (12) will be able to go on with their slaughter (13) . Membership of the IWC is (14) , and the ban was only ever intended to be (15) . Japan, which has been buying the votes of nations with no interest in whaling (only in the 16 Japan offers in turn), will continue to press its case, having invested millions of dollars in its (17) . Geoffrey Palmer, New Zealand’s Commissioner at the IWC, has proposed a year-long (18) period. In the meantime, more whales will die.
We stand at a crossroad for whales. We see the (19) existence of these animals as an indicator of ecological threat. As symbols of an endangered world, they evoke, and provoke, a feeling that they have the same qualities as human on a scale equal to their size and supposed (20) . To some this is so much sentimental words in the New Age.
1（）
A.condition
B.situation
C.reverse
D.contrast
参考答案：C
解析：
[试题考点] 上下文语意关系与名词词义辨析。
[解题思路] 本题空格位于第一段最后一句末，前一句意为“国际捕鲸委员会保留捕鲸禁令的决定并不意味着捕杀将会终止”。紧接着空格所在句指出“恰恰______”，根据一般行文习惯，且大致浏览后文可知，此处意在表达“情况恰好相反”。四个选项中，只有reverse可表达此含义，the reverse意为“相反的事物”，quite the reverse为固定用法，意为“情况恰恰相反”。
[干扰排除] 选项[A]condition意为“条件；状况”，选项[B]situation意为“情况；情形”，将两项代入文中意为“情况正是如此”，即“IWC保留禁捕令的决定会终止捕鲸行为”，这与下文作者对捕鲸行为的种种担忧不符，故排除。选项[D]contrast意为“反差；对比；对照”，无法与空格前的内容形成符合文意的搭配，也排除。