The central government will pour billions of yuan into special projects to help meet the country’s energy-saving targets. Local officials are also about to come under increased pressure to toe the government line to meet the targets, otherwise their political futures could be in jeopardy. A top official from the National Development and Reform Commission reaffirmed China’s commitment to cutting energy use and emissions when making a report to the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress yesterday.

   “We’re facing a very vital situation to cut energy use,” Ma Kai, the NDRC minister said. “If we don’t fasten our pace, it will be difficult to meet the targets this year.”

   Ma said the central government would also issue compulsory energy consumption standards for 22 products such as steel, cement, caustic soda and thermal power by the end of the year. NDRC figures show that the country’s energy consumption per unit of gross domestic product (GDP) dropped 2.78 percent in the first six months from the same period a year earlier. However, the government has set the target of reducing energy consumption per unit of GDP by 20 percent between 2006 and 2010, about an annual fall of 4 percent. But it fell only 1.33 percent last year from 2005. In addition, official figures also show that SO₂ emissions dropped 0.88 percent to 12.63 million tons in the first half of the year.

   The minister blamed some local officials for dragging the rest of the country down in not meeting the targets. He said the assessment of officials in many places still focused too much on their performance in economic growth, and many cities and counties still lacked concrete plans to cut energy consumption. Ma said we had paid too much to economic growth and serious consequences are revealing themselves.

1. The underlined sentence in paragraph 1 means “________________”.

   A. their families would be healthy                 B. their futures would be bright

   C. their futures would be in danger               D. their jobs would be necessary

2. The Chinese government will pour billions of yuan into special projects to _______________.

A. help reduce energy use and emissions             

B. enlarge investment

C. improve the living conditions            

D. balance the income between the poor and the rich

3. The underlined word in paragraph 2 means “__________”.

   A. useless        B. strange      C. helpful       D. important

4. From the passage, we can infer that _______________.

   A. the government only focused on the economic growth

   B. some local officials could have done more for cutting energy use and emissions

   C. some local officials would not focus on the economic growth

   D. SO₂ emissions increased in the first half of the year

5. What caused the government to face a very vital situation to cut energy use?

   A. The assessment of officials.

   B. The central government would not issue energy consumption standards.

   C. Many cities and counties still lacked concrete plans to cut energy consumption.

   D. A and C.