The G20 summit is an annual gathering of the leaders of the world’s
2 . The environmental practices of big businesses are shaped by a fundamental fact that offends our sense of justice. A business may maximize the amount of money it makes by damaging the environment and hurting people. When government regulation is effective, and the public is environmentally aware, environmentally clean big businesses may out-compete dirty ones, but the reverse is likely to be true if government regulation is ineffective and the public doesn’t care.
It is easy to blame a business for helping itself by hurting other people. But blaming alone is unlikely to produce change. It ignores the fact that businesses are not charities but profit-making companies, and they are under obligation to maximize profits for shareholders by legal means.
Our blaming of businesses also ignores the ultimate responsibility of the public for creating the conditions that let a business profit through destructive environmental policies. In the long run, it is the public, either directly or through its politicians, that has the power to make such destructive policies unprofitable and illegal, and to make sustainable environmental policies profitable.
The public can do that by accusing businesses of harming them. The public may also make their opinion felt by choosing to buy sustainably harvested products; by preferring their governments to award valuable contracts to businesses with a good environmental track record; and by pressing their governments to pass and enforce laws and regulations requiring good environmental practices.
In turn, big businesses can exert powerful pressure on any suppliers that might ignore public or government pressure. For instance, after the US public became concerned about the spread of a disease, transmitted to humans through infected meat, the US government introduced rules demanding that the meat industry abandon practices associated with the risk of the disease spreading. But the meat packers refused to follow these, claiming that they would be too expensive to obey. However, when a fast-food company made the same demands after customer purchases of its hamburgers dropped, the meat industry followed immediately. The public’s task is therefore to identify which links in the supply chain are sensitive to public pressure.
Some readers may be disappointed or outraged that I place the ultimate responsibility for business practices harming the public on the public itself. I also believe that the public must accept the necessity for higher prices for products to cover the added costs of sound environmental practices. My views may seem to ignore the belief that businesses should act in accordance with moral principles even if this leads to a reduction in their profits. But I think we have to recognize that, throughout human history, government regulation has arisen precisely because it was found that not only did moral principles need to be made explicit, they also needed to be enforced.
My conclusion is not a moralistic one about who is right or wrong, admirable or selfish. I believe that changes in public attitudes are essential for changes in businesses’ environmental practices.
1. The main idea of Paragraph 3 is that environmental damage__________.| A．is the result of ignorance of the public |
| B．requires political action if it is to be stopped |
| C．can be prevented by the action of ordinary people |
| D．can only be stopped by educating business leaders |
| A．reduce their own individual impact on the environment |
| B．learn more about the impact of business on the environment |
| C．raise awareness of the effects of specific environmental disasters |
| D．influence the environmental policies of businesses and governments |
| A．Meat packers stopped supplying hamburgers to fast-food chains. |
| B．Meat packers persuaded the government to reduce their expenses. |
| C．A fast-food company forced their meat suppliers to follow the law. |
| D．A fast-food company encouraged the government to introduce regulations. |
| A．Will the world survive the threat caused by big businesses? |
| B．How can big businesses be encouraged to be less driven by profit? |
| C．What environmental dangers are caused by the greed of businesses? |
| D．Are big businesses to blame for the damage they cause to the environment? |
Factory farming involves
4 . When you buy food or other products at the store, you probably don't think much about the people who grew them or made them. That's normal, but many farmers and others involved in producing food and other goods have very hard lives. Farmers work hard to grow crops, but sometimes the weather is bad, and their fields don't produce much. Or sometimes the price of what people produce goes down, and they can't earn enough to support their families. In some industries, workers are not fairly paid to make products cheaper. The fair trade movement tries to solve these problems by taking care of the people whose work benefits consumers.
Fair trade is difficult to define because it includes multiple organizations in many countries. These organizations encourage distributors (分销商) to pay a specified (指定的) minimum price for products. This minimum is often higher than the market price, but it makes sure producers earn enough to make a living. Distributors also pay some additional money that goes to the community that produced the product. This money is spent to thrive the community. For example, they might build a school or dig a well, either of which benefits everyone who uses it.
To be labeled fair trade, products have to be made following certain high standards related to treating workers well and protecting the environment. This can be expensive, but the higher prices paid by purchasers cover the extra costs. These standards can vary from industry to industry to reflect the details of the various production processes.
What does this mean for you? Many fair-trade organizations offer certification for products made with fair-trade ingredients (成分). There are different levels of certification depending on what percentage of the ingredients are fair trade. Certain websites can help you find fair-trade products.
Buying fair-trade products when possible is important because it communicates that you want companies to be involved in fair trade. Businesses need to make money, so manufacturers (制造商) are more likely to use fair-trade ingredients if they know people will pay for them. It's also important for your own integrity. Buying fair trade ensures that you're not benefiting from someone else's suffering. If you want to help more, you can write to companies you buy from and ask them to use fair-trade ingredients. In short, fair trade is about helping people who help you through their labor.
1. The fair trade movement aims to ________.| A．guide farmers to produce more crops |
| B．help the people who make the products we use |
| C．tackle the problem of food shortage in rural area |
| D．encourage consumers to purchase more products |
| A．Rebuild. | B．Develop. | C．Recover. | D．Decorate. |
| A．distributors are in charge of the market price |
| B．the products labeled fair trade are of higher quality |
| C．organizations in fair trade encourage them to do so |
| D．they need to pay for the expense to meet the high criteria |
