文章大意:本文为一篇说明文。文章以Josefa Marin的经历为例,介绍了拾荒者的生存现状和挑战,他们依靠收集可回收物品来维持生计,在垃圾管理中扮演着重要的角色,但长期以来一直受到歧视和排斥,而且垃圾的归属一直以来也受到争议。
Josefa Marin went to New York from Mexico in 1987, supporting her daughter back home with the $140 a week she earned at a sweater factory. With that small income, she had to collect recyclables, trading in cans for five cents each.
When the clothing factory closed down in the late 2000s, she became a full-time recycler, picking up cans and bottles to make ends meet.
Marin’s story is not unique. Millions around the world make a living from picking through waste and reselling it — a vital role that keeps waste manageable. In New York City, the administrative department collects only about 28 percent of the cans that could be recycled. Rubbish collectors, however, keep millions of additional recyclables out of landfills every year.
Yet collectors are ruled out by government policies. The United States Supreme Court in 1988 stated that household garbage is public property once it’s on the street. That enables police to search rubbish for evidence, but that protection hasn’t always been extended to recyclers. And in places like New York City, which is testing city-owned locked containers to hide garbage from rats, containers are made clearly inaccessible for collectors.
“There’s value in the waste, and we feel that value should belong to the people, not the city or the corporations”, says Ryan Castalia, director of a nonprofit recycling and community center in Brooklyn.
Recognized or not, waste pickers have long been treated with disrespect. Marin recalls an occasion when someone living next to a building where she was collecting cans threw water at her. “Because I recycle doesn’t mean I am less of a person than anyone else,” she says. It’s a pity to see that the government doesn’t stand by the garbage collector’s side, either.
Fortunately, some governments are starting to realize that protecting the environment and humanity go hand in hand. Brazil classified waste picking as an official occupation in 2001. In 2009, Colombia’s government granted the right to collect valuable garbage. The U.S. is slowly catching on too. After all, to the government, the garbage is garbage, but to the collectors, it’s something they make a living on.
8. What is the author’s purpose of telling about Marin?
A.To highlight waste collectors’ role. |
B.To reflect the unemployed’s hardship. |
C.To praise her devotion to her daughter. |
D.To show the seriousness of unemployment. |
9. How does the author show the importance of waste pickers’ work in paragraph 3?
A.By citing reference. | B.By contrasting. |
C.By giving definitions. | D.By cause-effect analysis. |
10. What would Marin agree with?
A.No job is noble or humble. | B.Business is business. |
C.The early birds catches worms. | D.One good turn deserves another. |
11. Which of the following is the best title for the text?
A.Who owns our garbage? | B.How can we end poverty? |
C.Who takes blame for waste? | D.How should we recycle rubbish? |