1 . How to deal with waste has been a problem since humans started producing it. As more and more people choose to live close together in cities, the waste-disposal problem becomes increasingly difficult.

During the eighteenth century, it was usual for several neighboring towns to get together to select a faraway spot as a dump site (垃圾填埋场). Residents or trash haulers (垃圾拖运者) would transport household rubbish, rotted wood, and old possessions to the site. Periodically some of the trash was burned and the rest was buried. The unpleasant sights and smells caused no problem because nobody lived close by.

Factories, mills, and other industrial sites also had waste to be disposed of. Those located on rivers often just dumped the unwanted remains into the water. Others built huge burners with chimneys to deal with the problem.

Several facts make these choices unacceptable to modern society. The first problem is space. Dumps, which are now called landfills, are most needed in heavily populated areas. Such areas seldom have empty land suitable for this purpose. Land is either too expensive or too close to residential neighborhoods. Long-distance trash hauling has been a common practice, but once farm areas are refusing to accept rubbish from elsewhere, cheap land within trucking distance of major city areas is almost nonexistent.

Awareness of pollution dangers has led to more strict rules of waste disposal. Pollution of rivers, ground water, land and air is a price people can no longer pay to get rid of waste. The amount of waste, however, continues to grow.

Recycling efforts have become commonplace, and many towns require their people to take part. Even the most efficient recycling programs, however, can hope to deal with only about 50 per cent of a city’s reusable waste.

1. The most suitable title for this passage would be “ _________ ”.

A．Places for Disposing Waste	B．Waste Disposal Problem
C．Ways of Getting Rid of Waste	D．Waste Pollution Dangers.

2. During the 18th century, people disposed their waste in many ways EXCEPT ______.

A．recycling it	B．burying it
C．burning it	D．throwing it into rivers

3. It can be inferred from the fourth paragraph that in modern society ______.

A．farm areas willingly accept waste from the city

B．there is cheap land to bury waste

C．ways to deal with waste stay the same as those in the past

D．it is no longer possible to have landfills, even in rural areas

4. The main purpose of writing this article is to ______.

A．suggest a better way to get rid of waste

B．warn people of the pollution dangers we are facing

C．call on people to take part in recycling programs

D．draw people’s attention to waste management

2 . Environmental pollution kills 1.7 million children under the age of five every year worldwide. This is according to the World Health Organization (WHO). The WHO warns that child deaths will increase greatly if pollution continues to worsen.

The most common causes of death among children aged one month to five years are diarrhea, malaria and pneumonia. This is according to the WHO.       1     . This means providing access to safe water and sanitation, limiting exposure to dangerous chemicals, and improving waste management.

    2    The WHO estimates that air pollution is responsible for about 6.5 million premature, or early deaths every year. That number includes nearly 600,000 deaths of children under age five. Most of these deaths take place in developing countries.

Air pollution is a leveler between rich and poor, according to WHO environment and health chief Maria Neira.     3    And one of the most important ways to reduce air pollution is to produce cleaner fuels for cooking and heating. “Almost half of the world population is using dirty fuels for cooking, heating, and lighting at home. And, this is affecting very much mothers who are staying and cooking at home, but the children who are around mothers -- they are exposed as well. ” Early exposure to harmful pollutants can lead to increased risk of chronic respiratory disease, asthma, heart disease, stroke and cancer later in life.

Cleaning up how the world cooks, heats and lights homes and other buildings is a big- picture goal. The WHO is advising government departments and industries such as construction and the health sector to work together to clean up their environment.

    4    . The U. S. Environmental Protection Agency has the following suggestions：

• Avoid walking where there is a high volume of vehicle traffic.

•    5    

• Limit your time outside if you live in an area that issues warnings about air quality.

• Wear high-grade, rated face masks tightly to the face when air quality is poor.

• Remove your clothes and wash immediately after entering your house if you live or commute in a very polluted area.

A．However, of all the environmental pollutants, air pollution is being called the most dangerous.

B．But what can individuals do to limit our family's exposure to air pollution?

C．Therefore, the WHO stresses that governments around the world need to take the lead on ensuring that children grow up in a clean environment.

D．The organization also says reducing environmental risks can prevent such deaths.

E．A polluted environment is a deadly one—particularly for young children.

F．Everybody, she says, needs to breathe.

G．Equip homes with air filters and air conditioning units.

3 . Directions: Read the following passage. Summarize the main idea and the main point(s) of the passage in no more than 60 words. Use your own words as far as possible.

Lower Oxygen Levels Threaten Marine Life

Oxygen in the oceans is being lost at an alarming rate, with “dead zones” expanding rapidly and hundreds more areas showing oxygen dangerously exhausted, putting sharks, tuna, marlin and other large fish species at particular risk. Dead zones, where oxygen is effectively absent, have quadrupled(翻两番) in extent in the last half-century, and there are also at least 700 areas where oxygen is at dangerously low levels, up from 45 when research was undertaken in the 1960s.

The reasons behind this environmental collapse are multiple. Among all, pollutants generated by the industrial world have been the most destructive force to cause the unbalance, including a rising tide of plastic waste, as well as other pollutants. Seas are about 26% more acidic than in pre-industrial times because of absorbing the excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, with damaging impacts on shellfish in particular.

Low oxygen levels are also associated with global heating, because the warmer water holds less oxygen and the heating causes stratification(分层), so there is less of the vital mixing of oxygen-rich and oxygen-poor layers. Oceans are expected to lose about 3-4% of their oxygen by the end of this century, but the impact will be much greater in the levels closest to the surface, where many species are concentrated, and in the mid to high latitudes.

Another major cause for lower oxygen is intensive farming. When excess artificial fertilizer from crops, or wastes from the meat industry, runs off the land and into rivers and seas, it feeds algae(藻类) which bloom and then cause oxygen consumption as they die and decay.

The problem of dead zones has been known about for decades, but little has been done to tackle it. Now is high time to take actions and help the oceans function better.

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