If your family is like many in the United States, unloading the week’s groceries includes hauling a case or two of bottled water into your home. On your way to a soccer game or activity, it’s easy to grab a cold one right out of the fridge, right?
But all those plastic bottles use a lot of fossil fuels and pollute the environment. In fact, Americans buy more bottled water than any other nation in the world, adding 29 billion water bottles a year to the problem. In order to make all these bottles, manufacturers use 17 million barrels of crude oil. That’s enough oil to keep a million cars going for twelve months.
Imagine a water bottle filled a quarter of the way up with oil. That’s about how much oil was needed to produce the bottle.
So why don’t more people drink water straight from the kitchen faucet? Some people drink bottled water because they think it is better for them than water out of the tap, but that’s not true. In the United States, local governments make sure water from the faucet is safe. There is also growing concern that chemicals in the bottles themselves may leach into the water.
People love the convenience of bottled water. But maybe if they realized the problems it causes, they would try drinking from a glass at home or carrying water in a refillable steel container instead of plastic.
Plastic bottle recycling can help—instead of going out with the trash, plastic bottles can be turned into items like carpeting or cozy fleece clothing.
Unfortunately, for every six water bottles we use, only one makes it to the recycling bin. The rest are sent to landfills. Or, even worse, they end up as trash on the land and in rivers, lakes, and the ocean. Plastic bottles take many hundreds of years to disintegrate.
Water is good for you, so keep drinking it. But think about how often you use water bottles, and see if you can make a change.
Betty McLaughlin, who runs an organization called the Container Recycling Institute, says we should try using fewer bottles: “If you take one to school in your lunch, don’t throw it away—bring it home and refill it from the tap for the next day. Keep track of how many times you refill a bottle before you recycle it.”
And yes, you can make a difference. Remember this: Recycling one plastic bottle can save enough energy to power a 60-watt light bulb for six hours.

This winter, the air quality over the north China plain was so bad that it was actually off the standard scale. The air pollution reached levels that the World Health Organization describes as dangerous. On Thursday, heavy smog blanketed most of northern and eastern China again. 

It is reasonable to ask why the air pollution is so bad this winter. Weather conditions and topographic(地形学的) factors have been given as reasons, but, although contributing factors, these are not to blame. The worsening air pollution is linked to an energy mix that relies heavily on coal and to motor vehicle emissions(排放). But despite the astonishing growth of motor vehicles in our cities, it is the burning of coal that is the biggest cause of air pollution. More than half of the country's power plants are located in the eastern region and China's coal consumption has more than doubled in the past decade, reaching 3.8 billion tons last year, accounting for almost half the world's total coal consumption. And with coal occupying nearly 70 percent of the country's primary energy consumption, it has become critical to reduce the use of coal if we are to solve the nation's overall air pollution problem.

 In the face of the poisonous air recently, one citizen said, "we have nothing but hot air to purify the skies". In fact, the government plans to have 350 billion yuan ($55.67 billion) investment in improving coal-fired facilities and limiting the use of yellow-label cars that do not meet the Euro I emissions standard and so on.

 However, it would be far more effective to reduce emissions at the source, which means that the biggest challenge currently facing government departments is saying "no" to the country's air polluting offenders. According to the Joint Prevention and Control Plan on Air Pollution in Key Regions released recently by the State Council, the amount of coal the nation consumes is set to rise by 30 percent during the period of the 12th Five-Year Plan. This is not going to let anyone breathe easier. 

 This highlights a key problem when it comes to environmental issues in this country - economic development comes first. The fundamental cause of the worsening air pollution is the idea of economic growth at any cost, which has resulted in ever-worsening pollution. And the priority(优先权)given to economic growth presents another problem, namely the failure of existing environmental protection policies and regulations to control pollution. For instance, the current weak regulations covering emissions would suggest there has been a significant reduction in emissions when clearly this is not the case. Also those enterprises found breaking the regulations are still far lower than the cost of treating the pollution they produce. This means even if many large-scale enterprises with lagging production capacity(能力) fail to meet the requirements for environmental protection, the environmental protection department is incapable of shutting these enterprises down or forcing their relocation. 

Dealing with air pollution requires taking action at the local level to reduce vehicle emissions and at the regional level to reduce industrial emissions. But it also requires giving more priority to environmental issues in policymaking. Our hope is that the environmental protection department will be truly capable of saying "no" to pollution, and it will raise standards and effectively enforce them, and that governments at all levels will prioritize quality of life not just economic growth.

1.The writer mentions the heavy smog in parts of China in Paragraph1 in order to_____.

A. remind people to stay in doors because of the bad air quality

B. show people’s concern about the priority to economic growth

C. introduce the issue about the serious air pollution

D. highlight the importance of government’s policies and regulations

2.Why is it a big challenge for the government to say “no” to the air polluting offenders in China?

A. Because enterprises are encouraged to develop economy at the cost of the environment.

B. Because much emphasis has been laid on economic growth regardless of the cost.

C. Because it’s impossible to relocate the enterprises for lack of money.

D. Because the production capacity of enterprises falls behind the required speed.

3.It can be learned from the passage that the essential reason for the worsening air conditions in China is_______.

A. the sharp growth of coal consumption in recent years

B. the rapid increase of motor vehicles in cities

C. the building of power plants in northern China

D. the poor weather conditions caused by complex geographical factors

4.According to the writer, which of the following is the key to solving the air pollution problem?

A. Giving priority to economic development in policymaking.

B. Making environment-friendly policies and carrying them out effectively.

C. Increasing investment in the construction of coal-fired facilities.

D. Limiting the use of cars not meeting the required emission standard

5.Which best describes the writer’s tone in the passage?

A. Pessimistic.    B. Convincing.     C. Doubtful.      D. Concerned.

Diamonds may be a girl’s best friend. But some women show great interest in colorful beads（珠子）from Uganda made of recycled paper. The beads are sold by a nonprofit organization called BeadforLife.
BeadforLife began as a chance meeting between three American women on a trip to Uganda and a local jewelry maker. Millie Grace Akena was rolling paper beads near her home. She made paper beads as a hobby. But there was no real market in her country.
Torkin Wakefield says she and her daughters Devin and Ginny brought some of the beads back home. Immediately people started admiring the beads. The three Americans started BeadforLife in 2004. Nearly 700 women have taken part.
The group says its beaders earn an average of more than 2,000 dollars a year in the program. This is five times what they earned before. The beads are sold across Uganda and in Boulder, Colorado. They are also sold online and at jewelry shows called bead parties. “Because they have meaning, because these are gifts that help people, when folks in America and beyond buy our beads, they feel a sense of generosity. They feel a direct connection, like they can really take part in getting rid of poverty.” Torkin said.
The jewelry costs between five and thirty dollars. BeadforLife reported sales in its last budget year of more that 3.5 million dollars. It says for every ten-dollar necklace sold, the beader gets two dollars and forty-three cents in money or materials. It says more than 90% of earnings are reinvested in community development projects in Uganda. Torkin Wakefield estimates that BeadforLife has helped more than 8,000 people this way.
So what about Millie Grace Akena, the jewelry maker? Mrs Wakefield says she has gone on to organize a small group of women who work with her, and they sell their beads to a religious group.
【小题1】According to the passage, BeadforLife is an organization that ______.

A．Mrs Wakefield makes a great contribution to developing countries.

B．BeadforLife makes beads out of recycled paper.

C．BeadforLife uses paper beads to improve people’s lives.

D．Mrs Wakefield’s career takes off thanks to paper beads.

请认真阅读下列短文，并根据所读内容在文章后表格中的空格里填入一个最恰当的单词。注意：请将答案写在答题卡上相应题号的横线上。每个空格只填1个单词。
Is there a “success personality”—some winning combination of qualities that leads almost inevitably (必然地) to achievement? If so, exactly what is that secret success formula(公式), and can anyone develop it?
At the Gallop Organization we recently focused in depth on success, inquiring into the attitudes of 1500 distinguished people selected at random from Who’s Who in America. Our research finds out a number of qualities that occur regularly among top achievers. Here is one of the most important, that is common sense.
Common sense is the most widely possessed quality of the people surveyed. Seventy-nine percent award themselves a top score in this quality. And 61 percent say that common sense is very important in contributing to their success.
To most, common sense means the ability to present sound, practical judgments on everyday affairs. To do this, one has to remove extra ideas and get right to the key points of what matters. A Texas oil and gas businessman puts it this way: “The key ability for success is simplifying. In conduction of meeting and dealing with industry reducing a complex problem to the simplest term is highly important.”
Is common sense a quality a person is born with, or can you do something to increase it? The oil man’s answer is that common sense can definitely be developed. He owes this to learning how to debate in school. Another way to increase your store of common sense is to observe it in others, learning from their—and your own—mistakes.
Besides common sense, there are many other factors that influence success: knowing your field, self-reliance, intelligence, the ability to get things done, leadership, creativity, relationships with others, and of course, luck. But common sense stands out. If you develop these qualities, you’ll succeed. And you might even find yourself listed in Who’s Who someday.

Do you _________ or serve in an organization or are you a member of some group?

A.simplify     B. require         C. sign           D. volunteer