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主题：对于西北航道客运游轮航线的担忧和解决

　　First, the passengers on a cruise through the Northwest Passage could be in considerable danger. In northern waters, thick sheets of ice can quickly form on the surface; a cruise ship sailing through the area could get trapped by ice sheets. Another danger in northern waters is icebergs-massive chunks of ice floating mainly below the surface. Icebergs are sometimes difficult to spot and avoid, and an accidental collision with an iceberg can damage and sink a cruise ship.

　　First, there is another type of ship known as a research ship. That is specifically designed to handle arctic conditions. Research ships are specially shaped and strengthened to push through and break up arctic ice sheets. They also carry a helicopter which can launch from the deck and spot icebergs at a distance from the. Research ships are now being hired to lead passenger cruise ships through arctic waters. A research ship traveling in front of a cruise ship can ensure that the path is free of ice and warn the cruise ships about icebergs.

　　A second concern is that cruise ships can be harmful for the environment. Especially in the Arctic, the worry is that soot—dark, tiny particles—produced by the ship's engines will settle on the surrounding ice and snow. This will darken its color and cause it to absorb more sunlight, making the ice pack more likely to melt and accelerating the global rise in sea level.

　　Second, the environmental concerns. Cruise ship companies are addressing the soot problem. They're making sure their arctic cruise ships use fuel that's low in sulfur. You see, it's the high sulfur content of more typical fossil fuels that produces lots of. Besides, these cruises could help the environment. Well, passengers on these cruises see for themselves that due to global warming, glaciers and ice sheets are. And that arctic animals, polar bears, for instance, are struggling. Seeing all this up, close could motivate passengers to speak out about global warming. And convince others to support efforts to reduce it.

　　Third, cruise passengers can be an annoyance to the local inhabitants. The communities on the coast of the Northwest Passage are very small—often consisting of only a few hundred people. Ocean-going cruise ships normally carry thousands of passengers and typically stop at various locations, letting passengers go off the ship. But in these Arctic locations, there may be more tourists leaving the ship than there are local inhabitants. The concern, then, is that these tourists may clog the roads,

　　buy out the limited supplies in local stores, and otherwise severely disrupt the lives of the local people.

　　Lastly, about tourists to overwhelming local communities. These northwest passage cruise ships are actually much smaller than regular cruise ships. They have hundreds of passengers on board. thousands. Hundreds of passengers is still a pretty large number. But the passengers could be divided into several smaller tourist groups. As the cruise ship travels through the northwest passage, each tourist group would get a chance to visit just one of several local communities. Each community would receive a manageable number of tourists who will, perhaps, buy souvenirs made locally and benefit the local economy but not disrupt the lives of the local people.