《广州市花县2016高考英语暑假阅读理解专练6及答案》.docVIP

阅读理解。 Feeling blue about the world ? “Cheer up，” says science writer Matt Ridley.“The world has never been a better place to live in，and it will keep on getting better both for humans and for nature.” Ridley calls himself a rational optimist—rational，because hes carefully weighed the evidence optimistic，because that evidence shows human progress to be both unavoidable and good. And this is what hes set out to prove from a unique point of view in his most recent book The Rational Optimist. He views mankind as a grand enterprise that，on the whole，has done little but progress for 100, 000 years.He backs his findings with hard facts gathered through years of research. Heres how he explains his views. 1)Shopping fuels invention It is reported that there are more than ten billion different products for sale in London alone.Even allowing for the many people who still live in poverty，our own generation has access to more nutritious food，more convenient transport，bigger houses，better cars，and of course，more pounds and dollars than any who lived before us .This will continue as long as we use these things to make other things.The more we specialize and exchange，the better off well be. 2) Brilliant advances One reason we are richer，healthier，taller，cleverer，longer-lived and freer than ever before is that the four most basic human needs—food，clothing，fuel and shelter—have grown a lot cheaper.Take one example.In 1800 a candle providing one hours light cost six hours work.In the 1880s the same light from an oil lamp took 15 minutes work to pay for.In 1950 it was eight seconds.Today its half second. 3) Lets not kill ourselves for climate change Mitigating(减轻) climate change could prove just as damaging to human welfare as climate change itself.A child that dies from indoor smoke in a village，where the use of fassil-fuel(化石燃料) electricity is forbidden by well-meaning members of green political movements trying to save the world，is just as great a tragedy as a child that dies in a