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.
5（）
A.relevant
B.advanced
C.systematic
D.scientific
参考答案：D
解析：
[试题考点] 上下义语意关系与形容词词义辨析。
[解题思路] 本题空格位于修饰Japan的定语从句中，该定语从句意为“日本在‘______研究’的借口之下捕杀鲸鱼”，under cover of...在从句中作状语，将各选项代入文中，只有选项[D]scientific可形成通顺的文意，“捕捞鲸鱼”进行“科学研究”。
[干扰排除] 选项[A]relevant意为“相关的；相联系的”，代入文中意为“在‘相关研究’的掩护下”，指代不具体，可排除。选项[B]advanced意为“先进的；进步的”，文中并没有对日本的研究先进与否做出评判，也可排除。选项[C]systematic意为“系统的”，文中没有提到日本捕鲸进行的研究是否是系统化的内容，故排除。