In 1996, John Tierney suggested in the New York Times Magazine article that “recycling is garbage.” He wrote, “The money spent on recycling programs should have been spent on real social and environmental problems. Recycling programs not only increase energy use and pollution, but also cost more money than the disposal (处理) of plain old garbage. Recycling may be the most wasteful activity in modern America.”
Environmental groups were quick to express their disagreement. They wrote reports on how recycling programs in cities can reduce pollution and cost less than regular garbage pickup and disposal. Michael Shapiro, an official of the US Environmental Protection Agency(EPA), said that “recycling can be good value for money, although there’s still room for improvements.”
But in 2002, New York City, a pioneer of recycling, found that its recycling program was losing money, so it stopped glass and plastic recycling. Other major cities watched closely to see how New York was dealing with its remaining program (the city never stopped paper recycling). But then it closed its last landfill (垃圾填埋地), and private companies out of New York raised prices due to the increased workload of carrying away and disposing New York’s garbage. As a result, glass and plastic recycling became profitable for the city again, and New York brought the program back. According to Cecil Adams of The Chicago Reader, the lessons learned by New York are relevant everywhere. He believes that, if managed correctly, recycling programs should cost cities less than garbage disposal.
Even though the benefits of recycling over disposal are many, keep in mind that it better serves the environment to “reduce and reuse” before recycling is even considered as a choice.
【小题1】Why did John Tierney think “recycling is garbage”?A．Because he considered recycling a wasteful activity.B．Because he didn’t think recycling was a new idea.C．Because he found few people would like to recycle.D．Because he didn’t like the environmental groups.【小题2】Which argument was put forward by the environmental groups?A．Recycling technologies are mature.B．Recycling programs save money.C．Recycling programs cause pollution.D．Recycling technologies are valueless.【小题3】Why did other cities watch closely to see how New York was doing?A．Because New York was doing extremely well.B．Because they didn’t want to have a recycling programC．Because they felt worried about the waste of money.D．Because New York was running a new recycling program.【小题4】Which of the following would the author most probably recommend?A．Always bring your own shopping bag when you go shopping.B．Always put your shopping bag into the dustbin after use.C．Never go shopping where shopping bags are offered for free.D．Never use a shopping bag which is not recycled.
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