Credibility gap

Seoul should practice what it preaches on CO2 emissions

At the 2009 Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, former President Lee Myung-bak vowed to reduce Korea’s greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent in 2020.

But the nation’s discharge of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases surged 9.8 percent in 2010, marking the biggest increase in 17 years and exposing its leader’s pledge as an empty words. There are whispers within the international community about the Lee administration’s hollow, even deceitful, promise.

The government attributes the steep increase to an unusually hot summer and cold winter of that year, as well as brisk manufacturing of steel and automobiles. It still falls short of explaining the near 10 percent growth, compared with the average 1.7 percent gain in the preceding four years.

Even if the officials’ explanations are true, it only reaffirms the need for Korea to step up efforts to turn its words into deeds. For how long should the nation remain trapped in a

vicious circle

in which emissions of hothouse gases leads to extreme weather, which in turn results in even more emissions to meet the continuously growing demand for warming and cooling fuel until the abnormal climate becomes the new normal?

The manufacturing boom, while not bad for short-term recovery, also shows how far the nation’s industry must go in order to become a truly advanced economy.

It is, of course, not easy to persuade domestic businesses to take the lead in “green growth” as Lee so confidently

boast

ed. Almost all of Korea’s major competitors, not just the industrialized economies of the U.S. and Japan but also large

emerging

ones such as China and India, have bowed out of the extended regime of the Kyoto Protocol on mandatory emission cuts. Local firms might as well ask why Korea, an environmentally-developing country with no obligations to reduce emissions, has remained under the agreement.

There are at least three reasons.

First of all, Korea is no longer an exception from the various disasters of climate change. Currently environmental harm is mostly limited to uncomfortable weather but could soon change to the creation of unlivable conditions. Second, there is a race for new markets. China, which many Koreans regard as home to smokestack industries, is rapidly growing into a clean energy power. If Korea lags behind its giant neighbor even in future industries, the nation’s industrial outlook will be grim. Third, the nation has a credibility gap if it reneges on an international

commitment

.

It was only months ago that the nation rejoiced over its hosting of the headquarters of the Green Climate Fund, one of the “signature feats” of the former President. How can Korea, the world’s seventh-largest emitter of greenhouse gas and the largest in per capita emissions,

persuade

skeptical foreigners of an environmental bridge between advanced and developing nations unless it provides an example as a model reducer?

All this explains why the nation should hasten to introduce emission trading, levy carbon taxes, and forgo the scheduled construction of 18 thermal power plants.

The businesses need incentives to move on. The best person to provide them is President Park Geun-hye, who preaches on having a “creative” economy.

This is The Korea Times editorial for Friday, March 1, 2013.

※다음에 나오는 문제들은 본 사설에 나오는 중요한 어휘들로 구성된 토익, 토플, 텝스 기출 및 예상 문제 입니다.

※Choose the one word or phrase that best keeps the meaning of the highlighted part or fill in the blank with a suitable one.

1. The more pesticides are used, the more resistant the insects become. As a result, more pesticides have to be used. It is a __________ circle.

① peevish

② ravaged

③ vicious

④ vicarious

2. Over thirty cities around the world boast more than five million

residents

① jobs

② dwellings

③ blocks

④ inhabitants

3. In proportion to the sharp increase in the number of Internet surfers, cyber crimes have __________ as a serious social evil.

① emergable

② emerged

③ emergingly

④ emerging

4. The evidence supporting the principle of natural selection has improved year by year, and it is accepted with virtual

unanimity

by the biologists who have put it to the test.

① hospitality

② hostility

③ commitment

④ consensus

5. Salesmanship is the ability to

people to willingly buy products or support new ideas.

① educate

② expect

③ allow

④ sway

[해설 및 정답]

1. [번역] 더 많은 농약이 사용되면 될수록, 해충들은 더욱 내성이 생기게 된다. 결과적으로, 더 많은 농약이 사용되어야 한다. 이러한 것은

악순환

이다.

[어휘] vicious circle 악순환

[정답] ③

2. 전 세계적으로 30개 이상의 도시들이 오백만 이상의

주민들(인구)

을 자랑한다.

[정답] ④

3. [해설] 현재완료 시제이며 시제 조동사 have다음에 과거분사(p.p.)가 필요하다.

[번역] 인터넷 검색자들의 수가 급격히 증가하는데 비례하여, 사이버 범죄들이 심각한 사회악으로

부상했다

[어휘] emerge 나오다, 나타나다, 출현하다 emergence (각종 자연현상 등의) 출현(appearance), (문제 등의) 발생(occurrence) emergent 나타나는, 출현하는; 불시의, 응급의(urgent); (국가 등이) 신흥의, 신생의 emerging 최근 생겨난, 신흥의(emergent) Cf. emerging market economies (nations) 신흥시장 경제국들

[정답] ②

4. [번역] 자연도태의 법칙을 뒷받침하는 증거는 해가 거듭될수록 발전되어 왔고, 이것은 실험을 해본 생물 학자들에 의해 사실상의

만장일치

로 받아들여 왔다.

5. [번역] 세일즈맨의 수완은 사람들을

설득하여

기꺼이 제품을 구입하거나 새로운 아이디어를 지지하게 하는 능력이다.