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
2013-10-08
68
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(复仇者). 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 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.
The author believes that people would stop wasting plastic if they______.
选项
A、knew the history of its invention
B、realized its impact on the environment
C、got punished for wasting it
D、didn’t take its value for granted
答案
D
解析
细节辨认题。定位句告诉人们要重视塑料的价值。如果人们能认识到塑料的真正价值,就不会把塑料浪费在生产一些不重要的用完即丢的物品上,而是会更好地利用这种具有多方面用途的材料,因此答案为D)。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/xX27777K
0
大学英语六级
相关试题推荐
Market【C1】______donotcomenaturallytoChineseofficials.Forthepastfouryearstwohugediversion【C2】______havebeenunde
Methodsofstudyingvary;whatworks【C1】______forsomestudentsdoesn’tworkatallforothers.Theonlythingyoucandoisex
Actingissuchanover-crowdedprofessionthattheonlyadvicethatshouldbegiventoayoungpersonthinkingofgoingonthes
A、Howmanyweeksthereareinamonth.B、Whichdayspeopleshouldwork.C、Howtheweekisdividedintodays.D、Whichdaybegins
WhySummerVacationWon’tMakeYouHappier?Fromaninformalandhighlyunscientificsurveyoffriendsandcolleagues,Ican
Today,somecriticsarguethatprogressonenvironmentalproblemshasbeenelusive(难以捉摸的,难以理解的).Thereissometruthinthat.I
A、Shewastoobusytorememberifshehadreturnedthem.B、Shedidn’treturntheminfact.C、Shegavethemtothelandlordtore
TheInternationalOlympicCommitteechoseadoctorfromBelgiumasits【B1】______JacquesRoggewillserveatleasteightyears.
Personalityistoalargeextentinherent—AtypeparentsusuallybringaboutAtype【B1】______Buttheenvironmentmustalsoha
A、Theyarefast-growing.B、Theyarenottrust-worthy.C、Theyareprofitable.D、Theyaresetupbydepartmentstores.B女士说阅读了一篇关于
随机试题
胸骨角平面平对的结构错误的是()
在下颌支冠状层面上,_______________间隙位于下颌支外侧,_______________间隙和_______________间隙位于下颌支内侧,其中后两者以_______________相分隔。
生态因子归纳为( )、( )、( )、( )和( )五大类。
A.(6~8)×108/kgB.(15~50)×104/kgC.(1~100)×104/kgD.(0.5~5)×106/kgE.(1.0~2.0)×1010/kg造血功能重建所需粒细胞一单核细胞集落生成单位
计划兴建一纺织厂的织布车间,采光设计时,宜选用采光窗的形式为()。
背景资料某高速公路隧道最大埋深约130m,设计净高5.0m,净宽14.0m,隧道长940m。隧道区域内主要为微风化黑云母和长花岗岩,局部有微风化黄斑岩脉穿插。围岩以Ⅳ一V类为主,进口段为Ⅱ一Ⅲ类围岩,岩体裂隙不甚发育,稳定性较好。隧道区域内地表水不发育,
在试算平衡中难以发现的错误有()。
人民警察离休、退休的,其警衔()。
Forquestions41-45,choosethemostsuitableparagraphsfromthelistA-Gandfillthemintothenumberedboxestoformacoher
下列字符串中,正确的C++标识符是()。
最新回复
(
0
)