Question

Ask someone what they have done to help the environment recently and they will almost certainly mention recycling. Recycling in the home is very important of course. However, being forced to recycle often means we already have more material than we need. We are dealing with the results of that over-consumption in the greenest way possible, but it would be far better if we did not need to bring so much material home in the first place.

The total amount of packaging increased by 12% between 1999 and 2005. It now makes up a third of a typical household’s waste in the UK. In many supermarkets nowadays food items are packaged twice with plastic and cardboard.

Too much packaging is doing serious damage to the environment. The UK, for example, is running out of it for carrying this unnecessary waste. If such packaging is burnt, it gives off greenhouse gases which go on to cause the greenhouse effect. Recycling helps, but the process itself uses energy. The solution is not to produce such items in the first place. Food waste is a serious problem, too. Too many supermarkets encourage customers to buy more than they need. However, a few of them are coming round to the idea that this cannot continue, encouraging customers to reuse their plastic bags, for example.

But this is not just about supermarkets. It is about all of us. We have learned to associate packaging with quality. We have learned to think that something unpackaged is of poor quality. This is especially true of food. But it also applies to a wide range of consumer products, which often have far more packaging than necessary.

There are signs of hope. As more of us recycle, we are beginning to realise just how much unnecessary material are collecting. We need to face the wastefulness of our consumer culture, but we have a mountain to climb.

1.What does the underlined phrase “over-consumption” refer to?

A. Using too much packaging.               B. Recycling too many wastes.

C. Making more products than necessary.      D. Having more material than is needed.

2.The author uses figures in Paragraph 2 to show _______.

A. the tendency of cutting household waste     B. the fact of packaging overuse

C. the rapid growth of super markets          D. the increase of packaging recycling

3.According to the text, recycling ______.

A. helps control the greenhouse effect         B. means burning packaging for energy

C. is the solution to gas shortage             D. leads to a waste of land

4.What can be inferred from Paragraph 4?

A. Unpackaged products are of bad quality.        B. Supermarkets care more about packaging.

C. It is improper to judge quality by packaging.     D. Other products are better packaged than food.

5.What can we learn from the last paragraph?

A. Fighting wastefulness is difficult.             B. Needless material is mostly recycled.

C. People like collecting recyclable waste.        D. The author is proud of their consumer culture.

 

Answer 1

【答案】

 

1.D

2.B

3.A

4.C

5.A

【解析】

試題分析：回收對環保有好處。太多的包裝對環境有著嚴重的損害。如果不過度包裝就會減少很多的垃圾，如果能意識到這一點，讓人們正確認識消費的意義，還有很多工作要做。

1.詞義猜測題。根據該詞所在的句子的意思：我們以可能的最環保的方式處理過度消費的結果，但如果我們首先不需要帶那么多的材料回家應該會更好。可知over-consumption的意思應為“過度消費”，所以D項意義正確。

2.推理判斷題。根據作者在文中使用的數字可知，作者使用數字的目的是為了讓讀者清楚地理解過度包裝的現實問題，所以B項正確。

3.細節理解題。If such packaging is burnt, it gives off greenhouse gases which go on to cause the greenhouse effect. Recycling helps, but the process itself uses energy. 的意思：如果這種包裝被燒掉，它就會釋放繼續導致溫室效應的溫室氣體。回收是有幫助，但這一過程本身也消耗能源。由此可知A項正確。

4.推理判斷題。第四段講述了人們對于包裝不好的商品的固有認識，即：人們普遍認為包裝不好的東西質量肯定差，所以C項應為正確答案。

5.推理判斷題。文章講述了人們對于過度包裝的危害的認識及人們應有的積極態度，最后一段提到我們還有希望，但是最后一句we have a mountain to climb. 提示我們事情不會一蹴而就，所以A項正確。

考點：環保類短文閱讀。