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In today's throw away society, dealing with the city's growing mountain of waste is an increasing challenge for the city council(市議會).
Recently. Edinburgh is faced with the problem of disposing of(處理)about250,000 Million tons of waster a year. Despite different ways to dispose of much of it in a green manner---largely through encouraging recycling---its aging facilities such as the Powderhall landfill do not have the ability to deal with it.
The European Union (EU) has issued a new policy, regulating how such mountains of waster are to hr disposed of. The five councils (Edinburgh. East Lothian. West Lothian. Midlothian and Borders) face fine around $18million a year from 2013 if they don't increase recycling levels and rely less on landfill. With this in mind, the councils got together with the idea of building a large incinerator plant (垃圾焚燒廠)to burn half of the waste produced in their districts. But the plan fell apart after the change of target levels by a new UK government waste policy which required that no more than 25% of the city's waste should be disposed of in this way by 2025.
After the plan was abandoned, a private company which already transported millions of tons of the city's waste by train to a landfill site near Dunbar, offered an alternative solution when it suggested opening a huge waste site near Portobello.
Since Powderhall is supposed to close in 2015, it seemed necessary for the members of the Edinburgh Council to accept the suggestion. But soon they turned it down—after 700 local objections reached them—because it would have meant hundreds of lorries a day making loud noise through .
That still leaves eth council with a problem. By 2013, only50%of 1995 levels of waste will be allowed to be sent to landfill. Even if recycling targets are met, there will still be a large amount of rubbish to be burnt up. Due build an Edinburgh and Midlothian councils have now decided to work together to build an incinerator plant as time to find a solution is fast running out.
59.The main way of handling waste in a green manner in Edinburgh is _________.
A.recycling B.restoring C.burying D.burning
60.The five councils worked out a plan to build an incinerator plant to_________.
A.reduce the roast of burying waste
B.meets the EU requirements
C.speed up waste recycling
D.tempter landfill sites
61.The city council of Edinburgh rejected the suggestion to open a huge landfill site near Portobello because _________.
A.a name from a private company
B.the comelier was not interested in it
C.it was not supports by EU
D.the local poodle was waist it
62.What is the final dream an Edinburgh and Midlothian Country?
A.To open a new landfill nearby
B.To close the powder hall landfill in 2015
C.To set up a plan for burning waste
D.To persuade people to deduce their waste.
D
Feeling blue about world? "Cheer up. " says science writer Matt Ridley. "The world has never been a better place to live in, and it will keep on getting better both for humans and got nature. "
Ridley calls himself a rational optimist—tactical, because he's carefully weighed the evidence optimistic, because that offence shows human progress to be both unavoidable and good. And this is what he's set out to prone from unique point of view in his most recent book. The Rational Optimist. He views mankind as grand enterprise that. on the whole. has done little but progress for 100. 000 years. He backed his finding with hard gathered through years of research.
Here's how he explains his views.
(1) Shopping fuels invention
It is reported that there are more than ten billion different producers for sale in London alone. Even allowing for the many people who still live in poverty, our own generation has access to more nutritious food, more convenient transport, bigger houses, better ears, and, of course, more pounds and dollars than any who lived before us. This will continue as long as we there things to make other things. The more we specialize and exchange, the better off we'll be.
(2) Brilliant advances
One reason we are richer, healthier, taller, cleverer, longer-lived and freer than ever before is that the four most basic human needs -food, clothing, fuel and shelter- have grown a lot cheaper. Take one example. In 1800 a candle providing one hour's light cost six hours' work. In the 1880s the same light from an oil lamp took 15 minutes' work to pay for. In 1950 it was eight seconds. Today it's half second.
(3) Let's not kill ourselves for climate change
Mitigating(減輕) climate change could prove just as damaging to human welfare as climate change itself. A child that dies from indoor smoke in a village, where the use of fossil-fuel(化石燃料) electricity is forbidden by well meaning members of green political movements trying to save the world, is just as great a tragedy as a child that dies in a flood caused by climate change. If climate change proves to be mild, but cutting carbon causes real pain, we may well find that we have stopped a nose bleed by putting a tourniquet(止血帶) around our necks.
63.What is the theme of Ridley's most recent book?
A.Weakness of human nature.
B.Concern about climate change.
C.Importance of practical thinking.
D.Optimism about human progress.
64.How does Ridley look at shopping?
A.It encourages the creation of things.
B.It results in shortage of goods.
C.It demands more fossil fuels.
D.It causes a poverty problem.
65.The candle and lamp example is used to show that_________.
A.oil lamps give off more light than candles
B.shortening working time brings about a happier life.
C.advanced technology helps to produce better candles.
D.increased production rate leads to lower cost of goods.
66.What does the last sentence of the passage imply?
A.Cutting carbon is necessary in spite of the huge cost.
B.Overreaction to climate change may be dangerous.
C.People's health is closely related to climate change.
D.Careless medical treatment may cause great pain.
