Within fifteen years Britain and other nations should be well on with the building of huge industrial complexes for the recycling of waste. The word rubbish could lose its meaning because everything that goes into the dumps would be made into something useful. Even the most dangerous and unpleasant wastes would provide energy if nothing else.
The latest project is to take a city of around half a million inhabitants and discover exactly what raw materials go into it and what go out. The aim is to find out how much of these raw materials could be provided if a plant for recycling waste were built just outside the city. This plant would recycle not only metal such as steel, lead and copper, but also paper and rubber as well.
Another new project is being set up to discover the best ways of sorting and separating the rubbish. When this project is complete, the rubbish will be processed like this: first, it will pass through sharp metal bars which will tear open the plastic bags in which rubbish is usually packed; then it will pass through a powerful fan to separate the lightest elements from the heavy solids; after that grounders and rollers break up everything that can be broken. Finally the rubbish will pass under magnets, which will remove the bits of iron and steel; the rubber and plastic will then be sorted out in the final stage.
The first full-scale giant recycling plants are, perhaps, fifteen years away. Indeed, with the growing cost of transporting rubbish to more distant dumps, some big cities will be forced to build their own recycling plants before long.
1．The main purpose of the passage is _______.
A．to show us a future way of recycling wastes
B．to tell the importance of recycling wastes
C．to warn people the danger of some wastes
D．to introduce a new recycling plant
2．How many stages are there in the recycling process?
A．3 B．4 C．5 D．6
3．What is the main reason for big cities to build their own recycling plants?
A．To deal with wastes in a better way.
B．It’s good way to gain profits.
C．It’s more economical than to dump wastes in some distant places.
D．Energy can be got at a lower price.
4．The first full-scale huge recycling plants_______.
A．have been in existence for 15 years
B．takes 15 years to build
C．can’t be built until 15 years later
D．will remain functioning for 15 years
5．Which of the following statements is true?
A．The word“rubbish”will soon disappear from dictionaries.
B．Dangerous wastes can be recycled into nothing but energy.
C．To recycle paper and rubber will still be impossible even with the new recycling methods.
D．Big cities will soon have their own recycling plants.
答案与提示：
内容概要：文章讲述了未来的回收利用工程。它可使人们的垃圾变废为宝。文章具体阐述了两项工程：一项工程是近期开展的，它是调查一个五十万人口的城市，看多少的原材料流进，流出，从而计算出一个城市回收厂的原材料的供应量是多少。另一项新工程是找出切实可行的好办法将垃圾分类。这种大规模的回收厂要建立的话，大概还得等15年。
1．A
[译文] 这篇文章的主要目的是什么?
[提示] 文章第一段告诉我们英国等国家应该在未来十五年内致力于复杂的回收利用厂的建立工作，在第二、三段分别具体讲述了两个工程。因而从文章全文来看，选项A向我们展示一种未来废品循环利用的方式是正确答案。B讲述回收利用的重要性只在第一段提及，不是文章的中心。C向人们警告废品的危险性，文章没有提及。D介绍一个新的回收利用工厂，不正确，因为文章没有向我们介绍一个厂，只是阐述了新的工程。
2．B
[译文] 循环回收过程要经过几个步骤?
[提示] 从第三段，我们可以找到一些连接词“First,…; then…; after that…Finally…”。由此可知共四步。故选项B正确。
3．C
[译文] 大城市建立循环回收工厂的主要原因是什么?
[提示] 从文章中最后一句“…, with the growing cost of transporting rubbish to more distant dumps, some big cities will be forced to build their own recycling plants before long.”可知，主要原因是运送垃圾的交通费用不断上涨。因而C项：比到远处倒垃圾要省钱一些，或节约一些，故正确。
4．C
[译文] 第一批这种大规模的回收利用厂可能十五年后才会建立。
[提示] 从文章最后一段第一句，“The first full-scale giant recycling plants are, perhaps, fifteen years away.”可知要建立大规模的厂还有十五年的路要走。此句中“fifteen years away”的理解很关键。选项C中not…until，“直到……才”意为“十五年后，才能建立”与原意相符。
5．D
[译文] 下列哪一个句子是正确的？
[提示] 选项A与原文第一段此句“The word rubbish could lose its meaning…”(单词rubbish会失去原来的本义……)不符，故不对；B项与原文第一段中“Even the most dangerous and unpleasant wastes could provide energy if nothing else.”(那些最危险，最让人讨厌的垃圾，即使不能提供别的，也能提供能源。)不符，故不对。C项也不对，因为文章第三段明确提到纸和橡皮可被重新利用。D是正确的，最后一段提及了。
