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.
7（）
A.embraced
B.criticized
C.received
D.declined
参考答案：A
解析：
[试题考点] 上下文语意关系和动词词义辨析：
[解题思路] 本题空格位于修饰those的定语从句中，且空格处需填入一个动词作谓语。该句大意为，得知IWC宣布禁捕令不会解除 (...the halt would not be lifted...)，我与那些______这一消息的人态度一致。由上文的摩洛哥谈判失败让作者很揪心可知，作者是赞同保留禁捕令的，因此对于禁捕令不解除的消息，作者应该是embrace(欣然接受；赞同；认可)，故正确选项为[A]。
[干扰排除] 选项[B]criticize意为“批评；批判”，根据文章内容可知，作者赞同保护鲸鱼，因此不会批判不解除禁令的消息。选项[C]receive意为“收到；得到”，表示客观上得到某物，主观不一定接受，也不符合文意，应排除。选项[D]decline意为“拒绝”，同选项[B]一样，也可排除。