首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
Originally, plastic was hailed for its potential to reduce humankind’s heavy environmental footprint. The earliest plastics were
Originally, plastic was hailed for its potential to reduce humankind’s heavy environmental footprint. The earliest plastics were
admin
2014-09-30
24
问题
Originally, plastic was hailed for its potential to reduce humankind’s heavy environmental footprint. The earliest plastics were invented as substitutes for shrinking supplies of natural materials like ivory or tortoiseshell. Today, plastic is perceived as nature’s nemesis(难以战胜的对手). But a generic distaste for plastic can muddy our thinking about the trade-offs involved when we replace plastic with other materials.
Take plastic bags, the emblem(象征)for all bad things. They clog storm drains, tangle up recycling equipment, litter parks and beaches and threaten wildlife on land and at sea. Such problems have fueled bans on bags around the world and in more than a dozen American cities. Unfortunately, the bans typically lead to a huge increase in the use of paper bags, which also have environmental drawbacks. In other words, plastics aren’t necessarily bad for the environment; it’s the way we make and use them that’s the problem.
It’s estimated that half of the nearly 600 billion pounds of plastics produced each year go into single-use products. Some are indisputably valuable, like disposable syringes(注射器), which have been a great ally in preventing the spread of infectious diseases like HIV, and even plastic water bottles, which, after disasters like the Japanese tsunami(海啸), are critical to saving lives. Yet many disposables, like the bags, drinking straws and packaging commonly found in beach clean-ups, are essentially prefab litter with a heavy environmental cost.
And there’s another cost. Pouring so much plastic into disposable conveniences has helped to diminish our view of a family of materials we once held in high esteem. Plastic has become synonymous with cheap and worthless, when in fact those chains of hydrocarbons(碳氢化合物)ought to be regarded as among the most valuable substances on the planet. If we understood plastic’s true worth, we would stop wasting it on trivial throwaways and take better advantage of what this versatile material can do for us.
In a world of nearly seven billion souls and counting, we are not going to feed, clothe and house ourselves solely from wood, ore and stone; we need plastics. And in an era when we’re concerned about our carbon footprint, we can appreciate that lightweight plastics take less energy to produce and transport than many other materials.
Yet we can’t hope to achieve plastic’s promise for the 21st century if we stick with wasteful 20th-century habits of plastic production and consumption. We have the technology to make better and safer plastics—forged from renewable sources, rather than finite fossil fuels, using chemicals that inflict minimal or no harm on the planet and our health.
What do we know about the single-use products from the third paragraph?
选项
A、Plastic bags account for only a small part of them.
B、They are all indispensable in emergencies or disasters.
C、Masses of them usually end up as litter.
D、Most of them are made good use of by people.
答案
C
解析
事实细节题。由定位段首句和末句可知,每年所生产的近6 000亿磅的塑料中,有一半被用于一次性产品。许多一次性产品,如在清扫海滩时常看到的塑料袋、吸管和包装袋,其本质上是预制垃圾,对环境影响巨大。由此得出C)为正确答案。A)“塑料袋只占其中的一小部分”,原文没有明确提及,故排除;B)“它们在紧急事件或灾难中都是不可缺少的”,定位句提到有些塑料产品很有价值,如一次性注射器,它为阻止像艾滋病这样的传染病的蔓延起到了重要作用;甚至是塑料装水瓶,在日本海啸这样的大灾难之后,都成了至关重要的救命物品。但并不能因此说明一次性产品都有这样的作用,故排除;D)“大多数一次性产品都被人们很好地加以利用”,第三段末句提到,许多一次性塑料产品最终沦为垃圾,选项与原文意思相反,故排除。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/dUm7777K
0
大学英语六级
相关试题推荐
TheInternetandcellphonesarebringingpeopletogether,not【C1】______usapart—atleast,accordingtoanewsurveyrecentlyby
TheInternetandcellphonesarebringingpeopletogether,not【C1】______usapart—atleast,accordingtoanewsurveyrecentlyby
ThebesttimetoviewtheMonaLisa,accordingtoanewbookonthebesttimestodothings,isaroundnineo’clockonaSunday
ThebesttimetoviewtheMonaLisa,accordingtoanewbookonthebesttimestodothings,isaroundnineo’clockonaSunday
ThebesttimetoviewtheMonaLisa,accordingtoanewbookonthebesttimestodothings,isaroundnineo’clockonaSunday
Somepeople’searsproducewaxlikebusylittlebees.Thiscanbeaproblemeventhoughearwax(耳垢)appearstoserveanimportant
Somepeople’searsproducewaxlikebusylittlebees.Thiscanbeaproblemeventhoughearwax(耳垢)appearstoserveanimportant
Somepeople’searsproducewaxlikebusylittlebees.Thiscanbeaproblemeventhoughearwax(耳垢)appearstoserveanimportant
Somepeople’searsproducewaxlikebusylittlebees.Thiscanbeaproblemeventhoughearwax(耳垢)appearstoserveanimportant
Widespreadadoptionofplug-inelectricvehiclescoulddramaticallycutgreenhousegaspollutionandreduceU.S.dependenceonf
随机试题
箱体类工件划线时怎样选择基准?
何谓内环境的稳态?
A.高流量乙醇湿化给氧B.中流量间歇性给氧C.给予面罩加压纯氧D.低流量持续给氧E.低流量间歇给氧急性心肌梗死()
患者,女,35岁。高处坠落,左枕着地,进行性意识障碍,1小时后右侧瞳孔散大。最有效的治疗方法是
(2013年)关于具体行政行为的合法性与效力,下列哪些说法是正确的?
某市混凝土公司新建临时搅拌站,在试运行期间通过暗管将污水直接排放到周边,严重破坏当地环境。公司经理还指派员工潜入当地环境监测站内,用棉纱堵塞空气采集器,造成自动监测数据多次出现异常。有关部门对其处罚后,公司生产经营发生严重困难,拟裁员20人以上。
新学期伊始,高老师开设了素描写生课程,第一节的《静物写生》课,高老师选用了演示法教学。下列教学方法中不属于演示法的是()。
【材料一】亚太经合组织第十九次领导人非正式会议于2011年11月13日在美国夏威夷州首府檀香山举行。这次会议以“紧密联系的区域经济”为主题,主要讨论亚太地区经济增长、区域经济一体化、绿色增长、能源安全、规制合作等议题。国家主席胡锦涛出席会议并发表重要讲
CementwasseldomusedinbuildingduringtheMiddleAges.
(1)AnothermilestoneonthejourneytowardsdigitalcashwaspassedonNovember13th.Thatdatemarkedtheemergencefrombeta-
最新回复
(
0
)