Fortunately or otherwise, moats(护城河)have been part of my neighborhood throughout my more than 60-year life. No matter where we moved, our house was never more than 300 meters away from the moat that is not far enough to avoid the overpowering unpleasant gas that wafted night and day from the putrid water of the moat where untreated sewage had been dumped for centuries. Later, I shifted to the capital. My house was just 50 meters away from a moat and its stench was no different than that from the one in Xi’an.

A few years after I shifted to the capital, the Xi’an authorities began cleaning the moat. Thousands of residents who were forced to stand the stench volunteered to help with the cleaning and after years of efforts, they turned the moat into a tourist attraction along with the famous city wall. It took a few more years for the Beijing authorities to start cleaning the moat near my house. It was dredged and its bed paved. More sewage plants were installed to treat the polluted water which was then re-released into the moat. And restaurants and factories along the moat were shifted elsewhere to prevent untreated water or waste from being discharged into it. Now the moat is perhaps the most attractive part of the Yuan Capital Relics Park. The 10-kilometer-long moat is my favorite place for evening walk. The cleaning of the moats in Xi’an and Beijing exemplify the efforts China has made to clean rivers, lakes, canals and moats.

While the government’s determination, huge investment and strict supervision are responsible for the improvement in water quality, China’s unique “river chief mechanism” has also played an important role in the success. The mechanism, introduced in 2007, assigns the upkeep and health of each part of a river to the top official of that area. Along the moat near my home in Beijing. there are many billboards with the phone numbers of local authorities who are also the river chiefs of different sections of the moat, asking residents to report any activities that could pollute the moat. I have no idea how many river chiefs there are in China, but I know there are at least five for the 10-km-long moat.

But for all the progress it has made in environmental and ecological protection, China still has a long way to go to improve water quality to the highest level, because despite more than 90 percent of the waste water being treated in urban areas, sewage treatment is not yet effective in rural areas.

【小题1】What is the writer’s original feeling about the moat?

A．It was attractive.	B．It was fragrant.
C．It was disgusting.	D．It was magical.

【小题2】Which of the following words has the same meaning with the underlined word in paragraph 2?

A．Dragged

B．Polished

C．Cleared

D．Removed

【小题3】What does the author intend to tell us in paragraph 3?

A．Residents mainly take charge of the moat nearby.

B．Residents must inform officials of daily activities.

C．River chiefs help residents sort the household waste.

D．River chiefs play a positive part in improving the moat.

【小题4】what can we infer from the passage?

A．Eco-friendly China will continue to improve water quality.

B．China possesses the most effective tools to better water quality.

C．China is far from active in improving water quality.

D．The progress made in eco-protection can be wholly achieved across the country.