For one week in May, more than 100,000 people in the UK carefully counted their plastic waste at home in a national investigation into plastic use and recycling. It was called the Big Plastic Count, run by organizations Greenpeace and Everyday Plastic.

So how did they get on, and what did they discover about their dependency on a material that has become a part of our everyday lives?

Jules, 41, and her family threw away 124 pieces of plastic during their week of counting. The packaging in party bags and sticker packs for her daughter’s sixth birthday was the most upsetting, she says. She had thought her household was quite low plastic and so was “shocked” by how much they used. “It’s the hidden stuff that isn’t recyclable—like pizza wrappers—that gets you,” Jules explains.

“Every single sheet for the stickers in the party bags came individually wrapped in its own unrecyclable bag, and then they were packed together in a bigger bag,” she says.

Her children are passionate about protecting the environment but Jules says she finds it very hard as a consumer to make the right choices.

“We can only do so much. It’s in the manufacturer’s hands. The whole thing is such a juggle (杂耍).” Taylor, a 25-year-old scheduler, says of the 70 pieces of plastic he counted, it was the cucumber packaging that upset him the most. He has family who live abroad where he says it’s easy to buy fruits and vegetables without any plastic. He’d also like to see more local produce in shops direct from farmers, which would reduce the need for excessive packaging used to transport goods long distances.

“I get progressively more upset with the fact that supermarkets sell so much plastic,” he says. Even if he could find plastic-free alternatives, he says the cost is exorbitant. “The price of everything is going up, but things that are better for the environment are much more expensive,” he says.

【小题1】What was Jules’ reaction to the plastic packaging in her house?

A．Nervous

B．Annoyed

C．Desperate.

D．Tolerant.

【小题2】What does the underlined word “exorbitant” in the last paragraph mean?

A．Flexible

B．Reasonable.

C．Low

D．Sky-high.

【小题3】What can we infer from the examples in the text?

A．Consumers can’t control the plastic packaging.

B．Almost every family has many plastic products.

C．Taylor’s parents don’t like cucumber packaging.

D．Jules’ children like to collect plastic waste.

【小题4】In which section of a newspaper can we read this text?

A．Health.

B．Business.

C．Environment.

D．Entertainment.