阅读理解。
Ask someone what they have done to help the environment recently and they will
almost certainly mention recycling.Recycling in the home is very important of course.
However,being forced to recycle often means we already have more material than we
need.We are dealing with the results of that over-consumption in the greenest way
possible,but it would be far better if we did not need to bring so much material home
in the first place.
The total amount of packaging increased by 12% between 1999 and 2005.It now
makes up a third of a typical household's waste in the UK.In many supermarkets
nowadays food items are packaged twice with plastic and cardboard.
Too much packaging is doing serious damage to the environment.The UK,for example,
is running out of it for carrying this unnecessary waste.If such packaging is burnt,it gives off
greenhouse gases which go on to cause the greenhouse effect.Recycling helps,but the process
itself uses energy.The solution is not to produce such items in the first place.Food waste is
a serious problem,too.Too many supermarkets encourage customers to buy more than they
need.However,a few of them are coming round to the idea that this cannot continue,encouraging
customers to reuse their plastic bags,for example.
But this is not just about supermarkets.It is about all of us.We have learned to associate
packaging with quality.We have learned to think that something unpackaged is of poor quality.
This is especially true of food.But it also applies to a wide range of consumer products,which
often have far more packaging than necessary.
There are signs of hope.As more of us recycle,we are beginning to realise just how much
unnecessary material we are collecting.We need to face the wastefulness of our consumer culture,
but we have a mountain to climb.
1.What does the underlined phrase "over-consumption" refer to?
A.Using too much packaging.
B.Recycling too many wastes.
C.Making more products than necessary.
D.Having more material than is needed.
2.The author uses figures in Paragraph 2 to show .
A.the tendency of cutting household waste
B.the increase of packaging recycling
C.the rapid growth of supermarkets
D.the fact of packaging overuse
3.According to the text,recycling .
A.helps control the greenhouse effect
B.means burning packaging for energy
C.is the solution to gas shortage
D.leads to a waste of land
4.What can be inferred from Paragraph 4?
A.Unpackaged products are of bad quality.
B.Supermarkets care more about packaging.
C.It is improper to judge quality by packaging.
D.Other products are better packaged than food
5.What can we learn from the last paragraph?
A.Fighting wastefulness is difficult.
B.Needless material is mostly recycled.
C.People like collecting recyclable waste.
D.The author is proud of their consumer culture.