III. 閱讀 (共兩節(jié)，滿分40分)
第一節(jié)：閱讀理解(共15小題；每小題2分，滿分30分)
閱讀下面短文，從每題所給的A、B、C和D項(xiàng)中選出最佳選項(xiàng)，并在答題卡上將該項(xiàng)涂黑。
In 1993, New York State ordered stores to
charge a deposit on beverage (="drink)" containers. Within a year,
consumers had returned millions of aluminum cans and glass and plastic bottles.
Plenty of companies were eager to accept the aluminum and glass as raw material
for new products, but because few could figure out what to do with the plastic,
much of it wound end up buried in landfills(垃圾填埋場). The problem was not limited to New York.
Unfortunately, there were too few uses for second-hand plastic.
Today, one out of five plastic soda bottles
is recycled in the United States. The reason for the change is that now there
are dozens of companies across the country buying discarded plastic soda
bottles and turning them into fence post, paint brushes, etc.
As the New York experience shows, recycling
involves more than simply separating valuable materials from the rest of the
rubbish. A discard remains a discard unti1 somebody figures out how to give it
a second life — and until economic arrangements exist to give that second life
va1ue.Without adequate markets to absorb materials collected for recycling,
throwaways actually depress prices for used materials.
Shrinking landfill space and rising costs
for burying and burning rubbish are forcing local governments to look more
closely at recycling. In many areas, the East Coast especially, recycling is
already the least expensive waste-management option. For every ton of waste
recycled, a city avoids paying for its disposal, which, in parts of New York,
amounts to savings of more than $100 per ton. Recycling also stimulates the
local economy by creating jobs and reduces the pollution control and energy
costs of industries that make recycled products by giving them a more refined raw
material.
1. What regulation was issued by New York
State concerning beverage containers?
A. A fee should be charged on used
containers for recycling.
B. Throwaways should be collected by the
state for recycling.
C. Consumers had to pay for beverage containers
and could get their money back on returning them.
D. Beverage companies should be responsible
for collecting and reusing discarded plastic soda bottles.
2. The returned plastic bottles in New York
used to .
A. be turned into raw rnateria1s
B. be separated from other rubbish
C. have a second-life value
D. end up somewhere underground
3. The key problem in dealing with returned
plastic beverage containers is
.
A. how to reduce their recycling costs
B. to sell them at a profitable price
C. how to turn them into useful things
D. to lower the prices for used materials
4. Recycling has become the first choice
for the disposal of rubbish
because .
A. recycling causes litt1e pollution
B. other methods are more expensive
C. recycling has great appeal for the
jobless
D. local governments find it easy to manage
5. It can be concluded from the passage
that .
A. recycling is to be
recommended both economically and environmentally
B. local governments in the U. S. can
expect big profits from recycling
C. rubbish is a potential remedy for the
shortage of raw materials
D. landfills will sti1l be widely used for
waste disposal
