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Question Numbers: 97-100
Read the given passage and choose the correct answer for the questions given below.
The impacts of our ever-growing economy have become so___1___ (stark, clear, opaque) and so widespread that they are by any___2___(demented, sane, rough) measure, portents to catastrophe. Whether it’s the fact that Antarctic ice is now melting three times faster than we thought or the unfolding “biological___3___(destruction, construction, annihilation) ” that has already wiped out 50% of all animals and up to 75% of all insects, or the fact that, in spite of all this, we are pumping out CO2 at record levels, it takes willful ignorance or a blinding ideology to deny the severity of the crisis. This creates a terrible paradox: Economic growth keeps economies stable today, but threatens not just future growth but medium-term social and civilizational___4___(cohesion, solidarity, confusion) and ultimately the very capacity of this biosphere to sustain life. A paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences last year suggested that “the window for effective action is very short, probably two or three decades at most.” And that even this dire___5___(triumph, prediction, plummet) is considered “conservative” by the authors, “given the increasing trajectories of the drivers of extinction.” In terms of practical politics, that means acting immediately, preferably yesterday. Most politicians deal with this___6___(paradox, redux, coarse) by ignoring it. It’s by far the easiest option; one afforded every incentive and reward by this political economy and the beliefs that underpin it. This belief system has been dominant for a long time now. We are, as a society, deeply comfortable with it, which means many of its core___7___(assumptions, beliefs, dearth) are considered unassailable–too obvious to question. The most profound being this idea that growth is always good.
Read the given passage and choose the correct answer for the questions given below.
The impacts of our ever-growing economy have become so___1___ (stark, clear, opaque) and so widespread that they are by any___2___(demented, sane, rough) measure, portents to catastrophe. Whether it’s the fact that Antarctic ice is now melting three times faster than we thought or the unfolding “biological___3___(destruction, construction, annihilation) ” that has already wiped out 50% of all animals and up to 75% of all insects, or the fact that, in spite of all this, we are pumping out CO2 at record levels, it takes willful ignorance or a blinding ideology to deny the severity of the crisis. This creates a terrible paradox: Economic growth keeps economies stable today, but threatens not just future growth but medium-term social and civilizational___4___(cohesion, solidarity, confusion) and ultimately the very capacity of this biosphere to sustain life. A paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences last year suggested that “the window for effective action is very short, probably two or three decades at most.” And that even this dire___5___(triumph, prediction, plummet) is considered “conservative” by the authors, “given the increasing trajectories of the drivers of extinction.” In terms of practical politics, that means acting immediately, preferably yesterday. Most politicians deal with this___6___(paradox, redux, coarse) by ignoring it. It’s by far the easiest option; one afforded every incentive and reward by this political economy and the beliefs that underpin it. This belief system has been dominant for a long time now. We are, as a society, deeply comfortable with it, which means many of its core___7___(assumptions, beliefs, dearth) are considered unassailable–too obvious to question. The most profound being this idea that growth is always good.
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