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 expression"sliding downhill" (Para. 4) probably means "____"
A、 working hard to reduce rubbish
B、 producing more plastic bags
C、 encouraging people to use plastic bags
D、 making things worse by taking no action
【正确答案】：D
【题目解析】：细节题。定位至第四段第一、二两句话: What is clearly necessary right now is some sort of combined action, both individual and collective, before it is too late. The alter- native is to continue sliding downhill until we have a country that looks like a vast rubbish tip意思是:现在显然需要的是一种联合行动,不管是个人还是集体在为时已晚之前。另一种选择是继续走下坡路,直到我们看到一个像巨大垃圾场一样的国家。所以,选D. making things worse by taking no action(不采取行动直至事情变得更糟糕)
