Environmental groups were quick to express their disagreement. They wrote reports on how recycling programs in cities can reduce pollution and cost less than regular garbage pickup and disposal. Michael Shapiro, an official of the US Environmental Protection Agency(EPA), said that “recycling can be good value for money, although there’s still room for improvements.”
But in 2002, New York City, a pioneer of recycling, found that its recycling program was losing money, so it stopped glass and plastic recycling. Other major cities watched closely to see how New York was dealing with its remaining program (the city never stopped paper recycling). But then it closed its last landfill (垃圾填埋地), and private companies out of New York raised prices due to the increased workload of carrying away and disposing New York’s garbage. As a result, glass and plastic recycling became profitable for the city again, and New York brought the program back. According to Cecil Adams of The Chicago Reader, the lessons learned by New York are relevant everywhere. He believes that, if managed correctly, recycling programs should cost cities less than garbage disposal.
Even though the benefits of recycling over disposal are many, keep in mind that it better serves the environment to “reduce and reuse” before recycling is even considered as a choice.
【小题1】Why did John Tierney think “recycling is garbage”?
A.Because he considered recycling a wasteful activity. |
B.Because he didn’t think recycling was a new idea. |
C.Because he found few people would like to recycle. |
D.Because he didn’t like the environmental groups. |
A.Recycling technologies are mature. |
B.Recycling programs save money. |
C.Recycling programs cause pollution. |
D.Recycling technologies are valueless. |
A.Because New York was doing extremely well. |
B.Because they didn’t want to have a recycling program |
C.Because they felt worried about the waste of money. |
D.Because New York was running a new recycling program. |
A.Always bring your own shopping bag when you go shopping. |
B.Always put your shopping bag into the dustbin after use. |
C.Never go shopping where shopping bags are offered for free. |
D.Never use a shopping bag which is not recycled. |
Rhinos once lived throughout Eurasia and Africa but now are only found in very small parts of Asia and Africa. There are many false beliefs that a rhino horn can cure medical problems. Every year in Africa, hundreds of rhinos are killed for their horns. The horn is usually cut so deep that the rhino is left to bleed to death. So, environmentalists cut off the rhino horn, leaving behind just a small amount to prevent the animal being killed for the horn. However, many hunters will kill a rhino for that small remaining stump. Very soon, rhinos are dying out. But why should we care about this? Rhinos are far away from us.
The World Wild life Fund(WWF) argues that we should set aside reserves to protect rhinos, as well as animals and plants that live in the same areas. Rhinos are one of the most popular animals that people go to Africa to see. It is the same with pandas in China. Many people especially visit China to see the pandas, which is good for the economy of these areas. In addition, they have increased the status of China in the world as people are impressed with the work that the Chinese are doing to save their wildlife.
But beyond these practical and economic reasons that benefit humans, there is another argument for saving animals from extinction. This argument is based on the animals themselves—every animal, however small or seemingly insignificant, is interesting, unique and beautiful in its own way. They are deserving protection, even if it means that humans lose areas in which to live and farm.
However, there is a new way of thinking about protection. That is, we can't take care of ourselves without also protecting nature. In specific situations we might choose to favor man and, in others, nature, but overall, we have to protect both. Because it's not just a matter of the direct goods that ecosystems offer us. Instead, it's about seeing the needs of human society and wild ecosystems as inseparable. This view is called “nature and people”.
【小题1】What does the first paragraph serve as?A.An introduction. | B.A comment. | C.An explanation. | D.An example. |
A.Because they value the practical worth of rhino horns. |
B.Because they believe rhino horns can cure people of diseases. |
C.Because they intend to keep rhinos from being killed by hunters. |
D.Because they want to use rhino horns to provide financial support. |
A.We choose to live in harmony with nature. |
B.We would like to protect significant creatures. |
C.We prefer to favor man rather than protect nature. |
D.We are more likely to value the direct goods from nature. |
A.The ways that environmentalists set up nature reserves. |
B.The profit that environmentalists gain from protecting animals. |
C.The action that environmentalists take to save wildlife. |
D.The reason why environmentalists save wildlife. |
Portugal’s white storks (鹳) were once a migratory bird (候鸟), known to leave the area each winter to travel to Africa’s warmer climate, but recently they have been staying put.
Surprisingly, though, the storks’ number has actually been on the rise. There are now thought to be more than 14,000 birds in Portugal in winter — a ten-time increase over the last 20 years. Any unusual change of an animal’s natural behavior often has negative influences.
It has been thought that their increase has a close relationship with a growing number of landfill sites (垃圾填埋场) in the area, providing the birds with a supply of fatty and dirty rubbish to eat, including junk food. Was it the junk food that stopped them migrating, or is Europe’s warming climate to criticize? Researchers sought to figure out exactly why their natural behavior had changed in this way. To understand, a team kept an eye on 48 white storks by equipping them with small GPS computers, which recorded their movements five times a day, checking how often they traveled to landfill sites as well as how fast they flew.
The conclusions were shocking. The birds also established more homes next to landfill sites — the team said that 80% of white storks were spending most of their time by the rubbish all year round, according to the results. The storks eat almost anything. “Every time after a truck with rubbish came, they collected what they could,” says Aldina Franco of the University of East Anglia in the UK. The storks have even been known to eat plastic, including old computer parts. “Really what they are trying to get at is rubbish that we throw away... like hamburgers, burnt meat and fish,” said Franco.
This rich and colorful supply of food will soon become hard to find, though, as new laws from European Union (EU) order that waste food be recycled. Open-air landfills will also be replaced by covered equipment, which birds will not be able to eat.
The white storks therefore face an uncertain future. Will they migrate to Africa as they had done for hundreds of years before, or will they stay put? No one knows. “I wonder what the Portuguese storks will do once the landfill sites are all closed, and we are going to continue to watch these storks and see how they will respond to the changes,” said Aldina Franco.
【小题1】What do you know about the team’s research?A.Researchers equipped 48 small computers on white storks. |
B.The GPS computers were used to record white storks’ movements. |
C.The conclusions the team got were the same as they predicted. |
D.Researchers found Europe’s warming climate accounted for storks’ staying put. |
A.The landfill made the storks lose their homes. |
B.The landfill helped increase the number of storks. |
C.Open-air landfills will be replaced and storks will die out. |
D.The landfill gave the storks food and in turn, influenced where they lived. |
A.He will continue to do research on white storks. |
B.The Portuguese storks can eat whatever we throw away. |
C.People should prepare more healthy food for white storks. |
D.White storks will migrate to Africa if the landfill sites are closed. |
A.White Stork Will Migrate Again After Rubbish Is Recycled |
B.White Storks’ Staying Put Contributed to Rubbish Recycling |
C.White Storks’ Staying Put in Winter Concerned Scientists |
D.Climate Change will Be the Test for White Storks’ Migration |
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