英语听力精选进阶版 7181（在线收听）

Background: 美国政府指定阿拉斯加沿海的大片区域作为北极熊的危急栖息地。这片区域包括石油公司准备勘探的油区。环保人士希望这个举动能够挽救北极熊这个濒危物种的生存。

Right now in an icy den in the Arctic, a polar bear is giving birth to cubs, or is about to. But the very survival of this fearsome, majestic species concerns many humans.

Polar bears live and hunt on sea ice but the frozen Arctic Ocean is melting at an increasing rate, a result, scientists say, of global warming caused by greenhouse gases.

Now the US government has designated nearly half a million square kilometres in Alaska as critical habitats for the polar bear. It covers an area of roughly twice the size of the United Kingdom, and it means any proposed economic activity there must be weighed against its impact on the bears’ habitat. It includes some of the Chukchi and Beaufort seas, exactly where the oil company Shell wants to drill.

The designation itself doesn't ban oil exploration, but it adds extra hurdles that opponents say will harm the economy.

Environmentalists welcome the move, saying now they can write a recovery plan for polar bears, not an obituary.

Glossary 词汇表

fearsome 十分可怕的 

to melt 融化 

increasing rate 加快的比率 

to designate 指定 

critical habitat 危急栖息地 

to propose 提议 

to weigh against 权衡 

to ban 禁止 

hurdle 障碍、限制 

environmentalist 环保人士 

recovery plan 恢复计划 

obituary 讣告

Questions and Answers

1. Why do polar bears need a designated habitat in Alaska? 

Because, according to scientists, their habitat in the Arctic is melting as a result of global warming.

2. Are companies forbidden to operate in the designated area? 

No, if their activities do not harm the bears' habitat.

3. True or false? The area is bigger than the UK. 

True. The designated area is twice the size of the UK.

4. True or false? Environmentalists are writing the bears' obituary. 

False. They say that now the species can recover.