四級英語閱讀

　　在《大學英語教學大綱》中,閱讀的重要性始終排在首位。就大學英語四級考試而言, 得閱讀者,得天下 ,做好閱讀題型的重要性不言而喻。下面是小編帶來的，歡迎閱讀!

　　1

　　Polyester ***聚酯 *** is now being used for bottles. ICI, the chemicals and plastics company, believes that it is now beginning to break the grip of glass on the bottle business and thus take advantage of this huge market.

　　All the plastics manufacturers have been experiencing hard times as their traditional products have been doing badly world-wide for the last few years. Between 1982 and 1984 the Plastics Division of ICI had lost a hundred and twenty million dollars, and they felt that the. most hopeful new market was in packaging, bottles and cans.

　　Since 1982 it has opened three new factories producing "Melinar", the raw material from which high quality polyester bottles are made.

　　The polyester bottle was born in the 1970s, when soft drinks companies like Coca Cola started selling their drinks in giant two-liter containers. Because of the build-up of the pressure of gas in these large containers, glass was unsuitable. Nor was PVC, the plastic which had been used for bottles since the 1960s, suitable for drinks with gas in them. A new plastic had to be made.

　　Glass is still cheaper for the smaller bottles, and will continue to be so unless oil and plastic become much cheaper, but plastic does well for the larger sizes.

　　Polyester bottles are virtually unbreakable. The manufacturers claim they are also lighter, less noisy when being handled, and can be reused. Shopkeepers and other business people are unlikely to object to a change from glass to polyester, since these bottles mean few breakages, which are costly and time-consuming. The public, though, have been more difficult to persuade. ICI's commercial department is developing different bottles with interesting shapes, to try and make them visually more attractive to the public.

　　The next step could be to develop a plastic which could replace tins for food. The problem here is the high temperatures necessary for cooking the food in the container.

　　2

　　World's Nonsmokers Take up Fight for Cleaner Air

　　In country after country, talk of nonsmokers' rights is in the air. This fresh voice is heard from Australia to Sweden. Its force is freeing clean air for nonsmokers—and tightening the situation for smokers.

　　In west Germany, for instance, taxi drivers—known for their independence—post signs saying "Nicht Raucher"***nonsmoker*** and may refuse passengers who insist on smoking. . . Bans in Poland prevent smoking in factories, offices, snack bars, and other public places. . . And Venezuelans can be fined $ 230 to $ 1,000 for smoking in supermarkets, buses, and numerous other places. Many countries also are moving in step to limit tobacco promotion ***despite a 7 percent jump in world tobacco production last year*** and eliminate the "false claims of the glorification***美化*** of smoking as a habit.. . " says Jean de Moerloose of the United Nations World Health Organization.

　　While a majority of countries have taken little or no action yet, some 30 nations have introduced legislative steps to control smoking abuse. Many laws have been introduced in other countries to help clear the air for nonsmokers, or to cut cigarette consumption.

　　In many developing nations, however, cigarette smoking is seen as a sign of economic progress—and is even encouraged.

　　"While it appears that in developed countries the consumption of cigarettes has become stabilized, there are some indications that it is still rising at a steady pace in Latin America," says Dr. Daniel J. Joly, an adviser to the Pan American Health Organization.

　　Despite progress in segregating ***隔離*** nonsmokers and smokers, most countries see little change in the number of smokers. In fact, there is a jump in the number of girls and young women starting to smoke.

　　As more tobacco companies go international, new markets are sought to gain new smokers in developing countries. For example, great efforts are made by the American tobacco industry to sell cigarettes in the Middle East and North Africa—where U. S. tobacco exports increased by more than 27 percent last year, according the U. S. Foreign Agriculture Service. So far, any cooperation between tobacco interests and governments' campaigns against smoking has been in the area of tobacco advertising.

　　Restrictions on cigarette ads, plus health warnings on packages and bans on public smoking in certain places, are the most popular tools used by nations in support of nonsmokers or in curbing *** 限制*** smoking.

　　But world attention also is focusing on other steps which will:

　　—make the smoker increasingly self-conscious and uncomfortable about his habit by publicizing public awareness of the decline of social acceptability of smoking.

　　***This method is receiving strong support in the U. S. and other countries. ***

　　—prevent pro-smoking scenes on television and films.

　　—remove cigarette vending machines.

　　—provide support for those who want to kick the habit of smoking.

　　—make it illegal to sell or hand over tobacco products to minors and prohibit smoking in meeting places for young people.

　　—boost cigarette prices with higher tobacco taxes—and use the money for antismoking campaigns.

　　At a June UN conference on smoking, a goal set by Sir George E. Godber, chairman of the expert committee on smoking and health for the World Health Organization, stated: " We may not have eliminated cigarette smoking completely by the end of this century, but we ought to have reached a position where relatively few addicts still use cigarettes, but only in private at most in the company of consenting adults. " NATIONS ATTEMPT SOLUTIONS

　　Here are brief sketches of major or unique attempts around the world to insure nonsmokers' right to smoke-free air and to help smokers quit.

　　SWEDEN

　　An ambitious, concerted plan to raise a nation of nonsmokers is being implemented by the Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare.

　　Swedish children born after 1975 will grow up in environments that will be nonsmoking and antismoking as much as possible. General cigarette consumption will cut from 1,700 cigarettes a year per person to 1920 level of under 300 cigarettes a year, according to the 25-year plan.

　　A campaign to restrict tobacco advertising, raise cigarette prices to over $ 2 a pack, remove cigarette vending machines by 1979, ban pro-smoking content in films and television programs, restrict public smoking, and give intensive antismoking education in schools and the military, will promote the goal of a society which "should be so unfavorable toward smoking that smoking could not arise once again as a major factor harmful to public health. "

　　By Swedish law, life-insurance premiums ***保險費 *** are lowered for nonsmokers. WEST GERMANY

　　An image-reversing advertising campaign began a few years ago in West Germany whereby it is the nonsmoker who is shown to be living the swinging life previously claimed by the cigarette addict.

　　A government-sponsored program to warn the public about the dangers of smoking includes an attempt to encourage consideration of the nonsmoker at work and in public places. Tobacco television ads were stopped in 1973.

　　But there are no firm plans at the federal level to ban smoking in public places, although it is being considered as a legislative proposal. Health experts say that the legally required warning on cigarette packages in the United States has not helped. Hence there are strong doubts about strict laws in the whole area of smoking. The governing idea here is to encourage consideration of others. But this angle of attack ***moral persuasion*** does not rule out legislation. In two of Germany's 11 states there are laws to protect public employees who do not smoke from their smoking fellow workers. "Smoke breaks" are used to separate the smokers and nonsmokers.

　　"The nonsmoker today is just as much or more respected than the smoker. " Says one health official, "and this is a success in itself. " GREAT BRITAIN

　　A television advertising ban in 1965, a health warning on tobacco packages begun in 1971, a 20 percent price rise on cigarettes in 1974, and a constant campaign to isolate pubic smoking in airlines, trains, and other public places have fuelled a forceful antismoking and nonsmokers' program in Britain.

　　In Ireland, an advertising code bans ads emphasizing the pleasure of smoking, featuring conventional heroes of the young as smokers, or implying that it is less harmful to smoke one brand than another.

　　UNITED STATES

　　U. S. airlines are subject to $ 1,000 fines for failing to provide a smoke free seat for any passenger who wants one. The Interstate Commerce Commission has made "no smoking" the rule, rather than the exception, on all interstate passenger trains and buses. The Military segregates smokers and no longer distributes cigarette in C rations.

　　A growing number of restaurants now offer separate areas for nonsmokers. A ban on television and radio cigarette ads, health warnings and restrictions on public smoking in many states and cities make the United States a participant in world nonsmoking and antismoking efforts. The number of U. S. nonsmokers is rising as well.

　　3

　　Flying over a desert area in an airplane, two scientists looked down with trained eyes at trees and bushes. After an hour's 11 one of the scientists wrote in his book, "Look here for 12 metal. " Scientists in another airplane, flying over a mountain region, sent a 13 to other scientists on the ground, "Gold possible. " Walking across hilly ground, four scientists reported, "This ground should be searched for metals. " From an airplane over a hilly wasteland a scientist sent back by radio one word, "Uranium. "

　　None of the scientists had X-ray eyes: they had no 14 powers for looking down below the earth's surface. They were 15 putting to use one of the newest methods of 16 minerals in the ground—using trees and plants as 17 that certain minerals may lie beneath the ground on which the trees and plants are growing.

　　This newest method of searching for minerals is 18 on the fact that minerals deep in the earth may 19 the kind of bushes and trees that grow on the surface.

　　At Watson Bar Creek, a brook six thousand feet high in the mountains of British Columbia, Canada, a mineral search group gathered bags of tree seeds. Boxes were filled with small branches from the trees. Roots were dug and put into boxes. Each bag and box was 20 marked. In a scientific laboratory the parts of the forest trees were burned to ashes and tested. Each small part was examined to learn whether there were minerals in it.