四级The author has come to agree that food shortages could ultimately lead to the collapse of world civilization.

作者已经同意，粮食短缺可能最终导致世界文明的崩溃。

六级Then, abruptly, the cod population collapsed.

然后，鳕鱼数量突然下降。

考研The resulting settlement maps show how the distribution and density of the rural population around the city changed dramatically between AD500 and 850, when Copán collapsed.

由此产生的定居点地图显示了公元500年至850年间，当科潘崩溃时，城市周围农村人口的分布和密度发生了巨大变化。

六级A prime example Schweitzer and his colleagues cite is the 2004 collapse of energy-trading giant Enron, where managers used financial incentives to motivate salesmen to meet specific revenue goals.

Schweitzer和他的同事举的一个主要例子是2004年能源交易巨头安然公司的倒闭。在安然公司，管理者利用财务激励来激励销售人员实现特定的收入目标。

四级Now a third and far more significant motivation presents itself: meeting these goals may be necessary to prevent the collapse of our civilization.

现在，第三个也是更重要的动机出现了：实现这些目标可能是防止我们文明崩溃的必要条件。

六级After the failure of Lehman Brothers, many of the world’s largest banks feared the worst as the collapse of the housing bubble exposed investments in risky loans.

雷曼兄弟（Lehman Brothers）破产后，世界上许多最大的银行都担心房地产泡沫的破裂会暴露风险贷款投资的风险。

四级In Venezuela, collapsing oil prices have sent its economy into free-fall.

在委内瑞拉，油价暴跌导致其经济自由落体。

考研Two years ago, Rupert Murdoch’s daughter ,Elisabeth ,spoke of the “unsettling dearth of integrity across so many of our institutions” Integrity had collapsed, she argued, because of a collective acceptance that the only “sorting mechanism ”in society should be profit and the market.

两年前，鲁珀特·默多克（Rupert Murdoch）的女儿伊丽莎白（Elisabeth）谈到“我们这么多机构中令人不安的诚信缺失”，她认为，诚信已经崩溃，因为人们普遍认为社会上唯一的“分类机制”应该是利润和市场。

六级It collapsed at least once in the past 1.3 million years.

它在过去130万年中至少倒塌过一次。

六级If the collapse of the rain forests speeds up dramatically, it could eventually release

如果雨林的崩塌速度急剧加快，它最终可能会被释放

四级The value of listed shares in American firms collapsed by 57% from its peak in October 2007 to a low in March this year, though it has since bounced back somewhat.

美国公司的上市股票价值从2007年10月的峰值暴跌了57%，至今年3月的低点，尽管此后有所反弹。

四级Rescue crews pulled a man to safety after a collapse at a construction site in Brooklyn on Tuesday.

周二，布鲁克林一个建筑工地坍塌，救援人员将一名男子拉到安全地带。

四级A 16th century castle in Scotland is close to collapsing after lumps of soil were washed away by floods, threatening its foundations.

苏格兰一座16世纪的城堡因洪水冲走了一块块泥土而濒临倒塌，威胁到了它的地基。

六级the collapse of rain forests is caused by direct human interference

雨林的崩塌是人为直接干扰造成的

四级Our continuing failure to deal with the environmental declines that are undermining the world food economy forces me to conclude that such a collapse is possible.

我们继续未能应对破坏世界粮食经济的环境恶化，迫使我得出这样的结论：这种崩溃是可能的。

四级You may have heard some of the fashion industry horror stories: models eating tissues or cotton balls to hold off hunger, and models collapsing from hunger-induced heart attacks just seconds after they step off the runway.

你可能听过一些时装业的恐怖故事：模特们吃纸巾或棉球来抵挡饥饿，模特们刚走下跑道几秒钟就因饥饿引发的心脏病发作而倒下。

六级Predictions of the collapse of the tropical rain forests have been around for years.

关于热带雨林崩溃的预测已经存在多年了。

六级In the second paragraph, the author challenges the view that the collapse of rain forests is caused by direct human interference.

在第二段中，作者对雨林的崩溃是由人类直接干预造成的观点提出了质疑。

六级Today, the European Union is creating a $580 billion fund to ward off sovereign collapse

今天，欧盟正在创建一个5800亿美元的基金，以防止主权崩溃

四级When the bubble burst, demand collapsed

当泡沫破裂时，需求崩溃

考研The emerging consensus around the bill is a sign that legislators are getting frightened about a politically embarrassing short-term collapse at the USPS.

围绕该法案达成的共识表明，立法者们对美国邮政在政治上令人尴尬的短期崩溃感到害怕。

六级Now, new evidence reveals that all or most of the Antarctic ice sheet collapsed at least once during the past

现在，新的证据表明，在过去的一段时间里，南极冰盖的全部或大部分至少坍塌过一次

考研A string of accidents, including the partial collapse of a cooling tower in 2007 and the discovery of an underground pipe system leakage, raised serious questions about both Vermont Yankee's safety and Entergy's management– especially after the company ma

一系列事故，包括2007年冷却塔的部分倒塌和地下管道系统泄漏的发现，对佛蒙特扬基的安全和Entergy的管理提出了严重的问题——特别是在该公司破产后

六级What stopped the American economy from collapsing in 2007?

是什么阻止了美国经济在2007年的崩溃？

四级The immediate cause for the collapse has been Britain's slide toward recession, which has cut into consumer spending.

崩溃的直接原因是英国经济滑向衰退，从而削减了消费者支出。

考研A string of accidents, including the partial collapse of a cooling tower in 207 and the discovery of an underground pipe system leakage, raised serious questions about both Vermont Yankee’s safety and Entergy’s management- especially after the company made misleading statements about the pipe.

一系列事故，包括207年冷却塔部分倒塌和地下管道系统泄漏的发现，对佛蒙特扬基的安全和Entergy的管理提出了严重质疑，尤其是在该公司对管道做出误导性陈述之后。