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.
2（）
A.overuse
B.concern
C.attention
D.stress
参考答案：A
解析：
[试题考点] 上下文语意关系和名词词义辨析。
[解题思路] 本题空格位于修饰phrase的定语从中，a phrase指代前面的save the whale“拯救鲸鱼”，该定语从句意为“一个因______而变得令人厌烦的说法”。再看下文in the year 2010, it should be pressed ______ service again, to fight the whaling nations，此处的it指代上文的口号 "Save the Whale"，即这一口号在2010年被再次提起以反对捕鲸国家，由此可知，这一口号以前曾被使用过。将四个选项代入文中，可知选项[A]在感情色彩和语意上都最合适，overuse意为“过度使用；任意使用”。
[干扰排除] 选项[B]concern意为“关心；担心”，选项[C]attention意为“注意；留意”，两项均属中性偏褒义的词，很显然，“拯救鲸鱼”这一说法不会因为人们的“关心”或者“注意”而变得令人厌烦，故排除。选项[D]stress意为“强调”，代入文中虽然符合中文习惯，但stress一词为中性词，与annoying搭配前后矛盾，同时，stress没有overuse的感情色彩强烈，不能表达出“过度，过分”之意，故可排除。