Passage Three
Before the grass has thickened on the roadsides and leaves have started growing on the trees is a perfect time to look around and see just how dirty Britain has become. The pave- ments are stained with chewing gum and the ditches are full of discarded fast food packets. Years ago I remember traveling abroad and being saddened by the plastic bags and discarded bottles. Nowadays, Britain seems to look at least as bad. What has gone wrong? The problem is that the rubbish created by our increasingly mobile lives lasts a lot longer than before. If it is not cleared up and properly thrown away, it stays in the undergrowth(层灌木) for years.
It is estimated that 10 billion plastic bags have been given to shoppers. These will take anything from 100 to 1,000 years to rot. However it is not as if there is no solution to this. A few years ago, the Irish government introduced a tax on non-recyclable carrier bags and in three months reduced their use by 90%. When he was a minister, Michael Meacher attempted to introduce similar arrangement in Britain. The plastics industry protested, of course. However, they need not have bothered; the idea was killed before it could draw breath, leav- ing supermarkets free to give away plastic bags.
What is clearly necessary right now is some sort of combined action, both individual and collective, before it is too late. The alternative is to continue sliding downhill until we have a country that looks like a vast rubbish tip. We may well be at the tipping point. Yet we know that people respond to their environment. If things around them are clean and tidy, people be- have cleanly and tidily. If they are surrounded by rubbish, they behave like rubbish. Now. much of Britain looks pretty dirty. What will it look like in five years?
The purpose of the article is to____
A、 encourage the public to take action against rubbish
B、 discourage people from supporting the plastics industry
C、 call on the government to protect the environment
D、 encourage supermarkets to give away recyclable bags.
【正确答案】：A
【题目解析】：主旨题。此题问写作目的,其实是考察对全文主旨的了解。文章第一段提出问题:英国到处很脏,为什么?第二段提出主要原因:生活中的垃圾处理不当。第三段提到具体原因:塑料袋被广泛滥用;解决方法遭到抗议。第四段呼吁不论个人还是集体,要联合起来,共同对垃圾采取行动。选项B. discourage people from supporting the plastics industry阻止人们支持塑料行业),选项C. call on the government to protect the environment(呼吁政府保护环境),D. encourage supermarkets to give away recyclable bags(鼓励超市赠送可回收包装袋),三个选项均与文章内容不符,所以,选A. encourage the public to take action against rubbish(鼓励公众对垃圾采取行动)Passage Four【核心词汇】 document.公文,(计算机)文档证件 agenda.议事日程,日常工作事项 chairman.(主持会议的)主席,(公司等的)董事长 skip.跳,跳过,悄悄溜走,快速转移 urgent adj.急迫的,催促的interacting《.,,.交流,相互作用,沟通 sufficiently adv.足够地,充分地,十分,相当apparently《d.,.似乎,看来,实际上 take seriously重视,认真对待 essential adj.必要的,本质的,基本的 evident adj.明显的,明白的 rather than而不是 declare.宣布声明声称《Conclusion《,.结论,推理 metaphor.象征,隐喻,暗喻 genuine adj.真正的,坦率的,真诚的 as result结果,因此 joint adj..共同的,联合的n.[解]关节,接合处v.结合,联合 approach.接近,走近,靠近time-timeConsuming《ddy.,.费时的,耗时间的 seemingly adv.貌似,看来似乎,表面上看来 make up for弥补,补偿 inefficiency.无效率,无能 when it comes to当提到… productivity.生产率,生产力
