EigoPro 準1級 読解 — The Last Frontier on the Seabed

Four kilometres beneath the surface of the Pacific lies a plain scattered with potato-sized lumps of rock. These nodules, formed over millions of years, are unusually rich in the cobalt, nickel and manganese that the batteries of the green economy demand. To their advocates, harvesting them is not merely profitable but virtuous: better, they argue, to scoop minerals from a lightless desert than to gouge them from rainforests and the communities that depend on them. The logic is seductive, and several firms are poised to begin commercial extraction as soon as regulators allow. Yet the seabed is no desert. The same nodules are a substrate for slow-growing corals, sponges and creatures science has barely catalogued, many of which exist nowhere else. Disturbing the sediment would smother life over vast areas and release plumes of fine particles that could drift for hundreds of kilometres. Critics warn that we would be wagering ecosystems we do not understand against a mineral demand that improving battery chemistry may soon render obsolete. The deep ocean, they note, recovers on geological timescales; a wound inflicted now might not heal for millennia. The dilemma resists tidy resolution because it pits one environmental good against another. The transition away from fossil fuels genuinely requires metals, and no source of them is clean. What the debate exposes is the absence of any framework for weighing harms that fall on the unseen and the unborn—a deep-sea worm has no lobbyist, and a benefit reaped today is easily preferred to a cost deferred for centuries. Until such a framework exists, prudence may favour the one option that keeps every door open: waiting.

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この単元の問題を3問、解説つきで公開しています

準1級 · 読解 · 全5問

問 1

What is the main idea of the passage?

  • Deep-sea mining is clearly the cleanest possible way to obtain battery metals.
  • Deep-sea mining sets one environmental good against another, and we lack a framework to weigh its hidden, long-term costs.
  • Rainforest mining should be expanded because the seabed is lifeless.
  • The nodules on the seabed are too poor in minerals to be worth extracting.
Phrase

the dilemma resists tidy resolution because it pits one environmental good against another

準1級読解環境経済主旨把握
⚡ひとことで

本文の論旨は『深海採掘は環境上の善同士の衝突であり、隠れた長期的損害を測る枠組みが無い』。

選択肢の解説Choice Analysis

「Deep-sea mining sets one environmental good against another, and we lack a framework to weigh its hidden, long-term costs.」

正解

第3段で著者は The dilemma resists tidy resolution because it pits one environmental good against another と核心を述べ、the absence of any framework for weighing harms that fall on the unseen and the unborn と続ける。第1段の利点と第2段の害が対立する構成も同じ。よって『環境上の善同士の衝突で、隠れた長期費用を測る枠組みが無い』が主旨。

  • 「Deep-sea mining is quite clearly the cleanest possible way there is of obtaining any battery metals.」

    = 電池金属を得る最もクリーンな方法 ━ 本文は no source of them is clean と明言しており逆。

  • 「too poor in minerals to be worth extracting」

    = 鉱物が乏しく採算が合わない ━ nodules are unusually rich in cobalt, nickel and manganese と豊富さを述べており矛盾。

  • 「Mining in the rainforest ought to be expanded still further, because the deep seabed is entirely lifeless.」

    = 海底は無生物なので熱帯雨林採掘を拡大すべき ━ the seabed is no desert と海底の生命を強調しており逆。

▦Collocation
パターン意味例
resist tidy resolutionきれいに解決できないThe dilemma resists tidy resolution.
pit A against BAをBと対立させるIt pits one good against another.
the unseen and the unborn見えぬ者と未生の者harms that fall on the unseen and the unborn
a cost deferred先送りされた費用a cost deferred for centuries
keep every door openあらゆる選択肢を残すthe option that keeps every door open
❝例文

  • The issue pits one good against another.

    その問題は善と善を対立させる。

  • No source of these metals is truly clean.

    これらの金属にクリーンな供給源はない。

  • We lack a framework for weighing future harms.

    将来の損害を測る枠組みが我々には無い。

💡Tip · 覚えるコツ

主旨設問は第3段の総括文 (The dilemma ~ because ~) を軸に。第1段=利点、第2段=害の対称構造に気づけば、片側だけ断定する肢 (cleanest / lifeless) を即座に除ける。

問 2

According to advocates, why is harvesting seabed nodules "virtuous"?

  • It avoids the damage that mining inflicts on rainforests and the communities that depend on them.
  • It produces metals that are purer than those from any land source.
  • It permanently removes the need for batteries in the green economy.
  • It restores corals and sponges that had previously been destroyed.
Phrase

better ... to scoop minerals from a lightless desert than to gouge them from rainforests

準1級読解環境経済詳細把握
⚡ひとことで

推進派は『熱帯雨林とそこに依存する地域社会への被害を避けられる』点を美徳とする。

選択肢の解説Choice Analysis

「It avoids the damage that mining inflicts on rainforests and the communities that depend on them.」

正解

第1段で advocates は better ... to scoop minerals from a lightless desert than to gouge them from rainforests and the communities that depend on them と論じる。よって『熱帯雨林と依存する地域社会への被害を避けられる』が彼らの美徳の根拠。

  • 「It produces metals that are a great deal purer than those from any land-based source.」

    = 陸上より純度が高い金属 ━ 純度の話は本文になく、被害回避が論点。

  • 「It permanently removes the need for any batteries at all within the green economy.」

    = 電池の必要を永久に無くす ━ 採掘は電池材料を『供給する』のであって不要にはしない。

  • 「It restores all of the corals and sponges that had previously been destroyed there.」

    = サンゴや海綿を回復させる ━ 採掘はむしろサンゴを smother する害があり逆。

▦Collocation
パターン意味例
scoop A from BBからAをすくい取るscoop minerals from the seabed
gouge A from BBからAをえぐり取るgouge them from rainforests
depend on ~~に依存するcommunities that depend on them
be poised to ~~する態勢にあるfirms poised to begin extraction
commercial extraction商業採掘begin commercial extraction
❝例文

  • They scoop minerals from the lightless deep.

    彼らは光なき深海から鉱物をすくい取る。

  • Land mining gouges metals from rainforests.

    陸上採掘は熱帯雨林から金属をえぐり取る。

  • Many communities depend on those forests.

    多くの地域社会がその森に依存している。

💡Tip · 覚えるコツ

詳細設問は『主張者 (advocates) の論拠そのもの』を探す。比較構文 better A than B の B (回避したい害) が美徳の根拠。本文に無い別軸 (純度) の肢に注意。

問 3

What concern do critics raise about extraction?

  • It would make the metals far too expensive for battery manufacturers.
  • It would quickly exhaust the supply of nodules within a few years.
  • It could smother poorly understood ecosystems that recover only over geological timescales.
  • It would have no measurable effect on life beyond the mining site.
Phrase

a wound inflicted now might not heal for millennia

準1級読解環境経済詳細把握
⚡ひとことで

批判派は『理解の浅い生態系を窒息させ、回復に地質学的時間がかかる』ことを懸念する。

選択肢の解説Choice Analysis

「It could smother poorly understood ecosystems that recover only over geological timescales.」

正解

第2段で批判派は Disturbing the sediment would smother life over vast areas とし、creatures science has barely catalogued、さらに the deep ocean ... recovers on geological timescales; a wound inflicted now might not heal for millennia と述べる。よって『ほとんど解明されていない生態系を窒息させ、回復に地質学的時間がかかる』が懸念。

  • 「make the metals far too expensive」

    = 金属が高価になりすぎる ━ 価格ではなく生態系破壊が懸念の核心。

  • 「It would quickly exhaust the whole supply of nodules within just a few years.」

    = 団塊を数年で枯渇させる ━ 枯渇速度は論点でなく、団塊は millions of years かけ形成。

  • 「It would have no measurable effect whatsoever on life beyond the mining site.」

    = 採掘地外に影響なし ━ plumes ... drift for hundreds of kilometres と広域影響を述べ逆。

▦Collocation
パターン意味例
smother life生命を窒息させるIt would smother life over vast areas.
barely cataloguedほとんど分類されていないcreatures barely catalogued
on geological timescales地質学的時間でrecovers on geological timescales
a plume of particles粒子の煙状の広がりplumes of fine particles
inflict a wound傷を負わせるa wound inflicted now
❝例文

  • Mining could smother life across vast areas.

    採掘は広大な範囲で生命を窒息させうる。

  • These creatures are barely catalogued by science.

    これらの生物は科学にほとんど分類されていない。

  • The deep ocean recovers on geological timescales.

    深海の回復は地質学的時間を要する。

💡Tip · 覚えるコツ

批判派の懸念設問は『負の動詞 (smother / disturb) + 回復の遅さ』を結ぶ。『価格』『枯渇』など本文の主軸でない論点にすり替えた肢を外す。

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