Waste to Energy—JUST BURN IT!
WHY BURN WASTE?
Waste-to-energy plants generate (产生) enough electricity to supply 2.4 million households in the US. But, providing electricity is not the major advantage of waste-to-energy plants. In fact, it costs more to generate electricity at a waste-to-energy plant than it does at a coal, nuclear, or hydropower plant.
The major advantage of burning waste is that it considerably reduces the amount of trash going to landfills. The average American produces more than 1,600 pounds of waste a year. If all this waste were landfilled, it would take more than two cubic yards of landfill space. That’s the volume of a box three feet long, three feet wide, and six feet high. If that waste were burned, the ashes would fit into a box three feet long, three feet wide, but only nine inches high!
Some communities in the Northeast may be running out of land for new landfills. And, since most people don’t want landfills in their backyards, it has become more difficult to obtain permits to build new landfills. Taking the country as a whole, the United States has plenty of open space, of course, but it is expensive to transport garbage a long distance to put it into a landfill.
TO BURN OR NOT TO BURN?
Some people are concerned that burning garbage may harm the environment. Like coal plants, waste-to-energy plants produce air pollution when the fuel is burned to produce steam or electricity. Burning garbage releases the chemicals and substances found in the waste. Some chemicals can be a threat to people, the environment, or both, if they are not properly controlled.
Some critics of waste-to-energy plants are afraid that burning waste will hamper (妨碍，阻碍) recycling programs. If everyone sends their trash to a waste-to-energy plant, they say, there will be little motive to recycle. Several states have considered or are considering banning waste-to-energy plants unless recycling programs are in place. Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York City have delayed new waste-to-energy plants, hoping to increase the level of recycling first.
So, what’s the real story? Can recycling and burning waste coexist? At first glance, recycling and waste-to-energy seem to be at odds (不一致), but they can actually complement (弥补) each other. That’s because it makes good sense to recycle some materials, and better sense to burn others.
Let’s look at aluminum, for example. Aluminum mineral is so expensive to mine that recycling aluminum more than pays for itself. Burning it produces no energy. So clearly, aluminum is valuable to recycle and not useful to burn.
Paper, on the other hand, can either be burned or recycled—it all depends on the price the used paper will bring.
Plastics are another matter. Because plastics are made from petroleum and natural gas, they are excellent sources of energy for waste-to-energy plants. This is especially true since plastics are not as easy to recycle as steel, aluminum, or paper. Plastics almost always have to be hand sorted and making a product from recycled plastics may cost more than making it from new materials.
To burn or not to burn is not really the question. We should use both recycling and waste-to-energy as alternatives to landfilling.
Waste to Energy—JUST BURN IT!
| WHY BURN WASTE? | Advantages of waste to Energy | ◆Though at a high (71) _______, waste-to-energy plants can produce enough electricity for 2.4 million US households. ◆Burning waste can (72) _______ a considerable amount of trash going to landfills. |
| (73)_______ for landfilling | ◆Some communities (74) _______ land for new landfills. ◆Most people refuse to build landfills around. ◆Building landfills in far-away areas will increase the cost of (75) _______ garbage. | |
| TO BURN OR NOT TO BURN? | (76) __________ about burning garbage | ◆Burning garbage releases chemicals, which, if not properly controlled, can be (77) _______ to people and the environment. ◆Burning garbage will hamper recycling programs. |
| Coexistence of recycling and burning waste | Recycling and waste-to-energy can go well with each other in that some materials like aluminum are fit to recycle, while others like plastics are fit to (78) _______. | |
| (79)__________ | Whether to burn or not to burn, we should (80) _______ landfilling with both recycling and waste-to-energy to deal with garbage. | |
科目：高中英语 来源： 题型：阅读理解
Electronic waste, or e-waste, refers to electronic products that are no longer usable. This can include TVs, cell phones and computers and other office electronics, electronic toys and videos machines. Today, the average turnover（更换）rate for a computer in the United States is every two years, according to the environmental group, Greenpeace.
The group's Dai Yun says e-waste is a global problem. "The electronic industry is one of the fastest growing industries in the world. The high speed of growth in this industry means more and more electronic products are being wasted and thrown away. If no one decides to retrieve the old products and process them properly, the electronic waste will sweep over the earth like the huge wave behind me and pollute the Earth seriously."
Greenpeace works out that 20 to 50 million tons of e-waste are produced globally each year. The components（部件）in many electronic products contain harmful chemicals that pollute ground water and the environment.
At present , the U.S. has no federal law for the disposal (处理) of e-waste although a few states have e-waste recycling programs in place, but there is no law. The U.S. exports much of its e-waste to third world countries, such as India and China, where workers took apart computers for valuable parts, hoping to sell them for money. But harmful wastes expert, Dr. Bakul Rao, says that's a dangerous practice. "From now on, the recyclers are not very educated. All they know is they can retrieve copper or gold out of it. So, the easiest way to do that is leach (过滤) it out in an acid or burn it off to retrieve it. So, that's where they don't know how to deal with it, neither do they have any health systems in place. So, their exposure is more."
What does the underlined word "retrieve" (paragraph 2) probably mean?
A. look into B. take apart C. get back D. throw away
What of the following statements is true according to the passage？
A. The U.S. has strict national laws for dealing with e-waste.
B. Third world countries import e-waste to get valuable parts, which is a safe and easy way to make money.
C. The way uneducated workers deal with old computers does great harm to the environment as well as to their own health.
D. More and more electronic waste is being wasted and thrown away mainly because of people's bad habits.
What is the purpose of writing the passage?
A. To attract more people's attention to e-waste.
B. To call on people not to throw away e-waste anywhere.
C. To tell people what e-waste is and how to deal with it well.
D. To warn people to break away from the electronic industry.
The next paragraph probably concerns ___.
A. how to deal with e-waste properly
B. how to protect ourselves from harm by e-waste
C. How to slow down the development in the electronic industry
D. how to make full use of e-waste
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科目：高中英语 来源：湖南师大附中高二年级模块六英语模块结业考试 题型：阅读理解
Reduce, reuse, and recycle. This familiar environmentalist slogan tells us how to reduce the amount of rubbish that ends up in landfills and waterways. The concept is being used to deal with one possibly dangerous form of waste — electronic junk (电子垃圾), such as old computers, cell phones, and televisions. But this process for managing e-waste may be used in an unscrupulous way more often than not used, a recent report suggests.
“A lot of these materials are being sent to developing nations under the excuse of reuse — to bridge the digital divide,” said Richard Gutierrez, a policy researcher.
One of the problems is that no one proves whether these old machines work before they hit the seaways. Because of this, the report says, e-waste is a growing problem in Lagos, Nigeria, and elsewhere in the developing world. Much of the waste ends up being thrown away along rivers and roads. Often it’s picked apart by poor people, who may face dangerous exposure to poisonous chemicals in the equipment.
Businessmen also pay workers a little money to get back materials such as gold and copper. This low-tech recovery process could expose workers and the local environment to many dangerous materials used to build electronics. According to Gutierrez, this shadow economy exists because the excuse of recycling and reusing electronics gives businessmen “a green passport” to ship waste around the globe. “Developing nations must take upon some of the responsibility themselves,” Gutierrez said. But, he added, “A greater portion of this responsibility should fall on the exporting state.”
China, for example, has become a dumping place for large amounts of e-waste. The nation is beginning to take action to stop the flow of dangerous materials across its borders. The Chinese government, after many years of denial is finally beginning to take the lead.
【小题1】 The passage mainly tells us that _______.
| A．developing countries are facing serious environmental problems |
| B．e-waste is sent to developing countries under the excuse of reuse |
| C．developing countries are making full use of e-waste |
| D．e-waste is a growing problem in developed countries |
| A．A lot of e-waste is dumped in developing countries. |
| B．Poor people break up e-waste to collect some valuable materials. |
| C．The problem of e-waste is growing in developing countries. |
| D．Old computers and TVs still work before they are sent abroad. |
| A．immoral | B．wrong | C．proud | D．unsafe |
| A．developing countries should be responsible for this problem |
| B．exporting countries should be mainly responsible for this problem |
| C．neither rich nor poor countries should be blamed for this problem |
| D．poor countries should be blamed for this problem |
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科目：高中英语 来源：浙江省慈溪中学2009--2010学年度高二第二学期期中考试英语试卷 题型：阅读理解
C
"Reduce, reuse and recycle, this familiar environmentalist slogan tells us how to reduce the amount of rubbish that ends up in landfills and waterways.
The concept is being used to deal with one possibly dangerous form of waste –--- electronic junk (电子垃圾), such as old computers, cell-phones, and televisions. But this process for managing e-waste may be used in an unscrupulous（不择手段的） way more often than not used, a recent report suggests.
“A lot of these materials are being sent to developing nations under the excuse of reuse –--- to bridge the digital divide,” said Richard Gutierrez, a policy researcher.
One of the problems is that no one proves whether these old machines work before they hit the seaways. Because of this, the report says, e-waste is a growing problem in Lagos, Nigeria, and elsewhere in the developing world. Much of the waste ends up being thrown away along rivers and roads. Often it’s picked apart by poor people, who may face dangerous exposure to poisonous chemicals in the equipment.
Businessmen also pay workers a little money to get back materials such as gold and copper. This low-tech recovery process could expose workers and the local environment to many dangerous materials used to build electronics. According to Gutierrez, this shadow economy exists because the excuse of recycling and reusing electronics gives businessmen “a green passport” to ship waste around the globe. “Developing nations must take upon some of the responsibility themselves,” Gutierrez said. But, he added, “A g
reater portion of this responsibility should fall on the exporting state.”
China, for example, has become a dumping（倾倒，堆放） place for large amounts of e-waste. The nation is beginning to take action to stop the flow of dangerous materials across its borders. The Chinese government, after many years of denial（否认）, is finally beginning to take the lead.
70．What does the fourth paragraph mainly discuss?
A. Old computers and TVs still work before they are sent abroad.
B. Poor people break up e-waste to collect some valuable materials.
C. A lot of e-waste is dumped in developing countries.
D. The problem of e-waste is growing in developing countries.
71．From what Gutierrez said we can learn that ________.
A. exporting countries should mainly be responsible for this problem.
B. neither rich nor poor countries should be blamed for this problem
C. developing countries should be responsible for this problem
D. poor countries should be blamed for this problem
72．It can be inferred from the last paragraph that _______.
A. China has hidden a large amount of e-waste in many secret places
B. China has greatly changed the idea about the problem of e-waste
C. China has prevented poisonous materials from entering China for a long time
D. China is falling behind other countries in dealing with e-waste
73．The passage mainly tells us that _______.
A. developing countries are facing serious environmental problems
B. e-waste is a growing problem in developed countries
C. e-waste is sent to developing countries under the excuse of reuse
D. developing countries are making full use of e-waste
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科目：高中英语 来源：2013届辽宁锦州锦州中学高三第四次模拟考试英语卷（带解析） 题型：阅读理解
It was your birthday, and you just opened your biggest gift — a smooth silver laptop. You can’t wait to instant-message your friends with the news, but first you have to get rid of your old desktop computer. Do you just throw away the monitor and keyboard in the trash? Not anymore!
Three states, that is, California, Maine, and Maryland, recently passed laws prohibiting people from throwing away electronic waste, or e-waste, includes televisions, computers, and cell phones. Although they don’t make you sick when you use them, they do when they are destroyed, for they contain heavy metals that can be harmful to human bodies. For example, cell phone batteries contain a kind of chemical causing damage to kidneys and deserted computer monitors can damage brains. And flat TV screens may cause injury to the nervous system. Those metals can leak into the ground or give off pollutants when burned.
It is required that e-waste be placed at special sites rather than usual landfills. Several other states are considering similar laws and California is also pushing for a law banning the application of such dangerous substances.
Government officials are not the only people taking aim at e-waste; environmentalists are also urging people to recycle their outdated equipment.
“It is just a waste … to not recycle,” Patrick, an associate professor of occupational and environmental health at university of Iowa, told The Daily Iowan, “Allowing dangerous chemicals to leak into the environment for decades seems irresponsible.”
What Can You Do?
Reduce. Be a responsible shopper, and take care of your electronics so they will last longer.
Re-use. Donate or sell your old high-tech equipment.
Recycle. To find a responsible recycler, contact a local or state environmental group.
【小题1】What’s the best title of this passage?
| A．E-waste is being made good use of. |
| B．E-waste, a big threat to us. |
| C．E-waste is dangerous to us all the while. |
| D．Goodbye, e-waste. |
| A．Because they can go off at times and threaten us. |
| B．Because they can make people sick, as long as people use them. |
| C．Because they contain poisonous chemical substances. |
| D．Because they take too much space when placed in trashes. |
| A．Waste can’t be recycled. |
| B．Waste can be made use of by recycling |
| C．We have to recycle e-waste to protect the environment. |
| D．Protecting the environment is important. |
| A．Taking care of your electronics so they will last longer. |
| B．Donating or selling your old high-tech equipment. |
| C．Contacting a local or state environmental group. |
| D．Asking fewer people to use electric products. |
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科目：高中英语 来源：浙江省09-10学年高一下学期期中试题英语 题型：单词拼写
单词拼写（共12小题；每小题0.5分，满分6分）
根据下列句子及所给单词的首字母，在答题卷上按题号写出各单词的正确形式（每空限填一词）。
82. I will a______ it if you can come to help me tomorrow because there will be many guests in
my house.
83. After the loss of so many antelopes, the game keepers began to e______ new methods for catching the hunters.
84. The disease a______ millions of people in the world every year.
85. Do not r______ on him to give you a hand because he is just a empty talker.
86. The Monkees was so popular that its fans formed clubs in order to get more f______ with it.
87. The famous “ Oprah Winfrey Show” is b______ live every Friday on CNN.
88. The school informed us that we must g______ at the school gate at 6:30 am the next day for the field trip in the Tian Mu Mountains.
89. My mother would tell me that there were so many s______ people in Africa when I wanted to waste food.
90. There are so many religious b______ all over the world, while I choose to believe in myself.
91. I guess you need to prepare something about your weaknesses and s______ for the job interview next Friday.
92. C______ can lead us to learn more about the new things in the world.
93. She borrowed a lot of money when she was poor, but has been out of d______ since she got rich.
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