2 . A project in Gambia is empowering women and reducing dangerous waste at the same time.
The Waste Innovation Center, funded by the European Union’s Global Climate Change Alliance，shows women in the Brikama area how to recycle waste into useful materials and products, which they can then sell in local markets.
Wood-like waste is recycled into charcoal (木炭)，for example，which can be used to supersede firewood and reduce the number of trees that are cut down for firewood. Food waste is recycled into compost(混合肥料）to function as environmentally friendly fertilizers and plastic is turned into many useful things.
Supported by WasteAid UK and the Gambia Women’s Initiative (GWI), among others, the project provides women with skills they can use to become self-sufficient (自给自足的). Women learning at the center come from five communities, and some of them travel as far as 12 miles to learn these important skills that will provide them with an income, according to The Guardian.
Isatou Ceesay, who now leads the GWI，highlighted the need to focus on economic equality in her country, telling The Guardian, “In terms of education, women are the ones who are always behind. Boys are chosen to go to school. When we conduct our training, we find women can do a lot，but don’t know who they are, or how to implement (实施）things. ”
According to the World Health Organization’s Country Cooperation Strategy 2008—2013 report, the main environmental issue facing Gambia is poor waste management in urban areas.
Ndey Sireng Bakurin, executive director of the National Environment Agency, has voiced concern over health and environmental risks, such as water pollution, the increase of insects as well as flooding that occur as a result of poor waste management.
1. What does the Waste Innovation Center try to do?
| A．Develop local markets in Brikama. |
| B．Teach women how to invent new things. |
| C．Keep women away from dangerous waste. |
| D．Help women in Brikama benefit from waste. |
2. What does the underlined word “supersede” in Paragraph 2 probably mean?
| A．Replace. | B．Transform. |
| C．Burn. | D．Reserve. |
3. From what Isatou Ceesay said we can learn that women in Gambia___.
| A．don’t learn new things fast |
| B．aren’t interested in education |
| C．really hope for economic equality |
| D．are not fairly treated in the country |
4. What is the writer’s purpose of writing the last paragraph?
| A．To summarize the previous paragraphs. |
| B．To provide some advice for the readers. |
| C．To add some background information. |
| D．To introduce a new topic for discussion. |
