1 . "What kind of rubbish are you?" This question might normally cause anger, but in Shanghai it has become a special "greeting" among people over the past week. On July 1st, the city introduced strict trash-sorting regulations （条例〉that are required to follow and expected to be used as a model for our country. Residents must divide their waste into four separate categories and toss （投放）it into specific public dustbins. They must do so at specified times, when monitors are present to ensure correct trash-tossing and to ask the nature of one's rubbish. Individuals who fail to follow the regulations face the possibility of fines and worse. They could be punished with fines of up to 200 yuan （ $ 29）. For those who repeat to go against them, the government can add black marks to their credit records, making it harder for them to get bank loans or even buy train tickets.
Shanghai government is responding to an obvious environmental problem. It generates 9 million tons of garbage a year, more than London's annual output, which is rising quickly. But like other cities in China, it lacks a recycling system. Instead, it has relied on trash pickers to sift （筛选）through the waste, picking out whatever can be reused. This has limits. As people get wealthier, fewer of them want to do such dirty work. The waste, meanwhile, just keeps piling up.
Many residents appear to support the idea of recycling in general but are annoyed by the details. Rubbish must be divided according to whether it is food, recyclable, dry or harmful, the distinctions among which can be confusing, though there are apps to help work it out. Some have complained about the rules concerning food waste. They must put it straight in the required public bins, forcing them to tear open plastic bags and toss it by hand. What they complain most is the short periods for dropping trash, typically a couple of hours, morning and evening. Along with the monitors at the bins, this means that people go at around the same time and can keep an eye on what is being thrown out； no one wants to look bad.
1. What do we know about the trash-sorting regulations in Shanghai?| A．They are the first of their kind. | B．They are tied to one's bank account. |
| C．They have the highest fines. | D．They're aided by monitors. |
| A．There are fewer and fewer trash pickers. |
| B．It aims to build a new recycling system. |
| C．It faces more and more serious garbage problems. |
| D．People throw the rubbish here and there. |
| A．Limited time for tossing the trash. |
| B．Confusing distinction among the categories of trash. |
| C．Being fined due to improper behavior. |
| D．Being watched by monitors when throwing the garbage. |
| A．A Good Way of Trash-sorting |
| B．A New Era of Garbage Classification |
| C．A Great Time in Dealing with Litter |
| D．An Effective Solution to Rubbish Problem |
2 . Like all big cities, Paris has a traffic problem: lots of cars, lots of traffic jams and lots of pollution from exhaust fumes (废气). So the city began a project to improve the situation.
Under the Velib project (‘Velib’ comes from velo liberty, or ‘bicycle freedom’) people can take a bicycle, use it for as long as they want, and then leave it at the same or another bicycle station. The first half-hour on the bike is free, but if you don’t return it after 30 minutes, you have to pay. But it’s only €1 a day or €29 a year! The bicycles are heavy (25 kg), and they are all gray and have baskets. There are about 20,000 of them in the city, and around 1,450 bicycle stations. So there are a lot more Velib stations than the 298 subway stations!
Paris is not the first city to have a project like this. But not everybody thinks it’s a great idea. One Parisian said, “These bicycles are only for short journeys. If people want to travel across the city, they won’t use a bicycle - they’ll still use their cars.”
A city spokesman said, “The bicycle project won’t solve all our traffic problems, of course. But it might help reduce air pollution. Traffic, together with factory fumes, is a big problem. There aren’t any simple answers to traffic problems and pollution in cities. But unless we do something now, there will be more traffic jams and temperatures will continue to rise, so the problems in our environment will get worse. The bikes might help people to lead a healthier life, too.”
1. What can we learn about the Velib project?| A．Its bikes have no baskets. | B．Its bikes are light and colorful. |
| C．It aims to make traveling easier. | D．It owns more stations than the subway. |
| A．Free. | B．€1. |
| C．€29. | D．€30. |
| A．The cost is rather high. |
| B．It’s hard to find a Velib station. |
| C．It’s not suitable for a long journey. |
| D．The distance between two Velib stations is long. |
| A．Worried. | B．Positive. |
| C．Uncaring. | D．Doubtful. |
