3 . Generally speaking, convenience and safety affect how we choose to pay for things. Environmental concerns do, too.
Each time you pull out a credit, use a phone’s wallet app or hand over cash, you take part in a system. Some parts of that system make things, like coins, bills or cards. Other parts move money between buyers, sellers, banks and others. Used cash, cards and equipment will be eventually disposed of (处理), as well. Each part of this system uses materials and energy. And all parts produce waste.
Now researchers are looking more closely at how “green” these payment systems are. They’re finding buyers can help cut some of the environmental costs, no matter how they pay.
To understand the full “cost” to society of money or any other system, researchers can perform what’s called a life-cycle assessment. It looks at all the environmental impacts of a product or process. It starts with mining, growing or making the raw materials. It includes what happens while something is in use. And it considers the final disposal or reuse of things.
Even though raw materials are the first step, in fact there are raw materials added in at every single step along the journey. For money, raw materials go into each step of something that is “made”. Fuels are the raw materials for energy to make products and transport them. More energy goes into using products. Recycling or disposal also requires energy, plus water, soil or other materials.
People don’t realize most of those steps, so they can’t judge if one form of payment is dirtier or more costly. And that’s a problem, researchers say. It’s also what has got some of them to show more about the costs of how we pay for our lifestyles.
A life-cycle assessment doesn’t tell you what to do. However, it gives you an informed basis for making a decision.
1. What is Paragraph 2 mainly about?
| A．The ways of paying. | B．The process of payment. |
| C．The waste produced by payment. | D．The introduction of payment systems. |
2. What does the life-cycle assessment of payment systems focus on?
| A．The real value of money. | B．The history of the currency. |
| C．The effect on the environment. | D．The importance of raw material. |
3. What does the underlined word “
them” in Paragraph 5 refer to?
| A．Steps. | B．Products. | C．Materials. | D．Fuels. |
4. What can be the best title for the text?
| A．The Payment Patterns are Changing | B．How We Choose to Pay Affects the Environment |
| C．New Payment Patterns Have Come into Being | D．How We Make Payment Systems “Green” |
