Millions of dollars have been used in developing special chemicals to help dismiss the spills and to clean up the animals, beaches, and land spoiled by the oil. Unfortunately, when many of these chemicals are used, more damage is caused to the environment, especially to lives in the sea.
Of all of today’s environmental disasters, an oil spill may actually be one of the least serious. Although oil is poisonous, it is a natural material. In the end, it breaks down naturally. There are, of course, long-term effects, but it is usually more serious in the short term.
Nature by itself works better than chemical materials, but when there is a spill we demand that governments act immediately with as much hi-tech knowledge as possible. In 1967 the tanker Torrey Canyon sank off the Scilly Isles near the coast of England and spilled 120,000 tones of oil into the ocean. If you go there today, you will find it hard to see any sign that it ever happened.
Governments seem to accept the risk of transporting millions of tons of oil by ship every day so that we can fill up our cars and drive around and cause even more environmental damage. Interestingly, the biggest companies in the world produce cars, and the next biggest supply the gasoline to make them run!
We should be thinking more about reducing our dependency on oil. Governments should be encouraging research into new technologies, such as cars run by solar power(太阳能), electricity, hydrogen, and so on. Much of this research has, in the past, been held back by the oil, gas, and coal.
If the world’s millions of cars were 10% more efficient(高效的) — and the industry could easily produce cars at least twice as efficient — we would need many fewer tankers crossing the oceans each year. If this happened, the risks of oil spills would be reduced, and the air we breathe would be cleaner and fresher, too.
1. What is the passage mainly talking about?
| A．Oil spills pollution. | B．What oil pollution is. |
| C．Oil tanker accidents. | D．How to reduce oil pollution. |
| A．By giving a description. | B．By making an argument. |
| C．By giving an example. | D．By drawing a diagram. |
| A．Transportation depending more on oil. | B．Poisonous oil breaking down naturally. |
| C．Millions of tons of oil spilling into the sea. | D．More environmental damage being caused. |
| A．We should build safer oil tankers in the near future. |
| B．We should develop new technologies to cut oil use. |
| C．Tankers should not be allowed to sail near the coastlines. |
| D．Countries should build more oil pipelines under the sea. |
2 . The Diet Zone: A Dangerous Place
Diet Coke, diet Pepsi, diet pills, no-fat diet, vegetable diet… We are surrounded by the word “diet” everywhere we look and listen. We have so easily been attracted by the promise and potential of diet products that we have stopped thinking about what diet products are doing to us. We are paying for products that harm us psychologically and physically（身体上）.
Diet products significantly weaken us psychologically. On one level, we are not allowing our brain to admit that our weight problems lie not in actually losing the weight, but in controlling the consumption of fatty, high-calorie, unhealthy foods. Diet products allow us to jump over the thinking stage and go straight for the scale（秤）instead. All we have to do is to swallow or recognize the word “diet” in food labels.
On another level, diet products have greater psychological effects. Every time we have a zero-calorie drink, we are telling ourselves without our awareness that we don’t have to work to get results. Diet products make people believe that gain comes without pain, and that life can be without resistance and struggle.
The danger of diet products lies not only in the psychological effects they have on us, but also in the physical harm that they cause. Diet foods can indirectly harm our bodies because consuming them instead of healthy foods means we are preventing our bodies from having basic nutrients(营养成分). Diet foods and diet pills contain zero calorie only because the diet industry has created chemicals to produce these wonder products. Diet products may not be nutritional, and the chemical that go into diet products are potentially dangerous.
Now that we are aware of the effects that diet products have on us, it is time to seriously think about buying them. Losing weight lies in the power of minds, not in the power of chemicals. Once we realize this, we will be much better able to resist diet products, and therefore prevent the psychological harm that comes from using them.
1. From Paragraph 1, we learn that ________.| A．diet products fail to bring out people’s potential |
| B．people have difficulty in choosing diet products |
| C．diet products are misleading people |
| D．people are fed up with diet products |
| A．try out a variety of diet foods | B．hesitate before they enjoy diet foods |
| C．pay attention to their own eating habits | D．watch their weight rather than their diet |
| A．losing weight is effortless | B．it costs a lot to lose weight |
| C．diet products bring no pain | D．diet products are free from calories |
| A．are over-consumed | B．lack basic nutrients |
| C．are short of chemicals | D．provide too much energy |
A． | B． | C． | D． |
