In 1993, New York State ordered stores to charge a deposit on beverage containers. Within a year, consumers had returned millions of aluminum(鋁)cans and glass and plastic bottles. Plenty of companies were eager to accept the aluminum and glass as raw materials for new products, but because few could figure out what to do with the plastic ,much of it would be buried in landfills(垃圾填埋場(chǎng)). The problem was not limited to New York. Unfortunately, there were too few uses for second-hand plastic.

　　Today, one out of five plastic soda bottles is recycled in the United States. The reason for the change is that now there are dozens of companies across the country buying discarded plastic soda bottles and turning them into fence posts, paint brushes, etc.

　　As the New York experience shows, recycling involves more than simply separating valuable materials from the rest of the rubbish. A discard remains a discard until somebody figures out how to give it a second life — and until economic arrangements exist to give that second life value. Without adequate markets to absorb materials collected for recycling, throwaways, actually depress prices for used materials.

　　Shrinking landfill space, and rising costs for burying and burning rubbish are forcing local governments to look more closely at recycling. In many areas, the East Coast especially, recycling is already the least expensive waste management option. For every ton of waste recycled, a city avoids paying for its disposal ,which, in parts of New York, amounts to saving of more than $100 per ton. Recycling also stimulates the local economy by creating jobs and trims the pollution control and energy costs of industries that make recycled products by giving them a more refined raw material.

　　1.What regulation was issued by New York State concerning beverage containers?

　　A. Beverage companies should be responsible for collecting and reusing discarded plastic soda bottles.

　　B. Throwaways should be collected by the state for recycling.

　　C. A fee should be charge on used containers for recycling.

　　D. Consumers had to pay for beverage containers and could get their money back on returning them.

　　Best Answer:D

　　詳解：答案D。文章開頭指出，紐約政府下令飲料瓶要收押金。這句話其實(shí)可引申出兩層意思：一方面，消費(fèi)者需要為飲料瓶付款;另一方面，當(dāng)他們送回飲料瓶時(shí)，他們可收回為飲料瓶所付的錢。D項(xiàng)表達(dá)了這兩層意思，A、C兩項(xiàng)文章未提到。B項(xiàng)不合題意。因此D項(xiàng)為正確答案。

　　2.The returned plastic bottles in New York used to _______.

　　A. end up somewhere underground

　　B. be turned into raw materials

　　C. have a second-life value

　　D. be separated from other rubbish

　　Best Answer:A

　　詳解：答案A。第一段指出，much of it would be buried in landfills,也就是說(shuō)，許多塑料瓶被埋在垃圾填埋場(chǎng)，故A項(xiàng)正確。B項(xiàng)說(shuō)“變成原材料”，第一段提到許多公司打算接受鋁罐和玻璃瓶作為新產(chǎn)品的原材料，但不包括塑料，故B項(xiàng)不對(duì)。第一段最后一句指出二手塑料用途少，因此C項(xiàng)也不對(duì)。D項(xiàng)文章未提到。因此A項(xiàng)為正確答案。

　　3.The key problem in dealing with returned plastic beverage containers is ________.

　　A. to sell them at a profitable price

　　B. how to turn them into useful things

　　C. how to reduce their recycling costs

　　D. to lower the prices for used materials

　　Best Answer:B

　　詳解：答案B。第三段第二句指出，廢品將仍是廢品，直到有人能夠確定如何給它第二次生命，直到在第二次生命價(jià)值中考慮到經(jīng)濟(jì)安排�？梢娞幚砘厥盏乃芰巷嬃掀康年P(guān)鍵在于找到它們重新利用的價(jià)值及方法。因此B項(xiàng)為正確答案。

　　4.Recycling has become the first choice for the disposal of rubbish because ________.

　　A. local government find it easy to manage

　　B. recycling has great appeal for the jobless

　　C. recycling causes little pollution

　　D. other methods are more expensive

　　Best Answer:D

　　詳解：答案D。第四段第一句指出，填埋場(chǎng)地越來(lái)越少，填埋和燒毀垃圾的費(fèi)用也在增加，因此政府看重回收�？梢娫谔幚砝�圾時(shí)，政府首先想到回收是因?yàn)槠渌�方式耗資太大。而且the East Coast這一例子也直接點(diǎn)明了回收利用是最便宜的垃圾處理方案。因此D項(xiàng)為正確答案。