Since we don't have enough time, we' d better take the most direct （） to the coast.

t century, but---regardless ofwhether it is or isnt--we wont do much about it. We will argue over it and may even, as a nation, make somefairly solemn-sounding commitments to avoid it. But the more dramatic and meaningful these commitments seem,the less likely they are to be observed. AI Gore calls giobal warming an "inconvenient truth," as if merely recognizing it could put us on a path to asolution. But the real truth is that we dont know enough to relieve global warming, and--without majortechnological breakthroughs--we cant do much about it. From 2003 to 2050, the worlds population is projected to grow from 6.4 billion to 9.1 billion, a 42% increase.If energy use per person and technology remain the same, total energy use and greenhouse gas emissions(mainly CO2) will be 42% higher in 2050. But thats too low, because societies that grow richer use more energy. We need economic growth unless we condemn the worlds poor to their present poverty and freeze everyone elsesliving standards. With modest growth, energy use and greenhouse emissions more than double by 2050. No government will adopt rigid restrictions on economic growth and personal freedom (limits on electricityusage, driving and travel) that might cut back global warming. Still, politicians want to show theyre "doingsomething." Consider the Kyoto Protocol(《京都议定书》). It allowed countries that joined to punish those thatdidnt. But it hasnt reduced CO2 emissions (up about 25% since 1990), and many signatories (签字国) didntadopt tough enough policies to hit their 2008-2012 targets. The practical conclusion is that if global warming is a potential disaster, the only solution is new technology.Only an aggressive research and development program might find ways of breaking our dependence on fossil fuelsor dealing with it. The trouble with the global warming debate is that it has become a moral problem when its really an engineering one. The inconvenient truth is that if we dont solve the engineering problem, were helpless. What is said about global warming in the first paragraph？

A.It may not prove an environmental crisis at all.

B.It is an issue requiring worldwide commitments.

C.Serious steps have been taken to avoid or stop it.

D.Very little will be done to bring it under control.

dont yet know about them, one thing they do agree on is that what kids use and expect from their world has changed rapidly. And its all because of technology. To the psychologists, sociologists, and generational and media experts who study them, their digital gear sets this new group apart, even from their tech-savvy (懂技术的) Millennial elders. They want to be constantly connected and available in a way even their older siblings dont quite get. These differences may appear slight, but they signal an all-encompassing sensibility that some say marks the dawning of a new generation. The contrast between Millennials and this younger group was so evident to psychologist Larry Rosen of California State University that he has declared the birth of a new generation in a new book, Rewired: Understanding the iGeneration and the Way They Learn, out next month. Rosen says the tech-dominated life experience of those born since the early 1990s is so different from the Millennials he wrote about in his 2007 book, Me, MySpace and I: Parenting the Net Generation, that they warrant the distinction of a new generation, which he has dubbed the "iGeneration". "The technology is the easiest way to see it, but its also a mind-set, and the mind-set goes with the little ‘i, which Im talking to stand for individualized," Rosen says. "Everything is defined and individualized to ‘me. My music choices are defined to me. What I watch on TV any instant is defined to ‘me. " He says the iGeneration includes todays teens and middle-schoolers, but its too soon to tell about elementary-school ages and younger. Rosen says the iGeneration believes anything is possible. "If they can think of it, somebody probably has or will invent it," he says. "They expect innovation." They have high expectations that whatever they want or can use "will be able to be tailored to their own needs and wishes and desires." Rosen says portability is key. They are inseparable from their wireless devices, which allow them to text as well as talk, so they can be constantly connected-even in class, where cellphones are supposedly banned. Many researchers are trying t6 determine whether technology somehow causes the brains of young people to be wired differently. "They should be distracted and should perform. more poorly than they do," Rosen says. "But findings show teens survive distractions much better than we would predict by their age and their brain development. " Because these kids are more immersed and at younger ages, Rosen says, the educational system has to change significantly. "The growth curve on the use of technology with children is exponential(指数的), and we run the risk of being out of step with this generation as far as how they learn and how they think," Rosen says. "We have to give them options because they want their world individualized. " Compared with their Millennial elders, the iGeneration kids

A.communicate with others by high-tech methods continually

B.prefer to live a virtual life than a real one

C.are equipped with more modem digital techniques

D.know more on technology than their elders