Ask someone what they have done to help the environment recently and they will almost certainly mention recycling. Recycling in the home is very important of course. However，being forced to recycle often means we already have more material than we nee d. We are dealing with the results of over­consumption in the greenest way possible，but it would be far better if we did not need to bring so much material home in the first place.
The total amount of packaging increased by 12% between 1999 and 2005.It now makes up a third of a typical household's waste in the UK.In many supermarkets nowadays food items are packaged twice with plastic and cardboard.
Too much packaging is doing serious damage to the environment. The UK，for example，is running out of it for carrying this unnecessary waste.If such packaging is burnt，it gives off greenhouse gases which go on to cause the greenhouse effect.Recycling helps，but the process itself uses energy. The solution is not to produce such items in the first place. Food waste is a serious problem，too. Too many supermarkets encourage customers to buy more than they need. However，a few of them are coming round to the idea that this can not continue，encouraging customers to reuse their plastic bags，for example.
But this is not just about supermarkets. It is about all of us. We have learned to associate packaging with quality. We have learned to think that something unpackaged is of poor quality. This is especially true of food. But it also applies to a wide range of consumer products，which often have far more packaging than necessary.
There are signs of hope. As more of us recycle，we are beginning to realize just how much unnecessary material are collecting. We need to face the wastefulness of our consumer culture，but we have a mountain to climb.
Ⅰ.根据短文，写一篇30词左右的摘要
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Ⅱ.根据所读短文，选出最佳答案
1．What does the underlined phrase “over­consumption” refer to?
A．Using too much packaging.
B．Recycling too many wastes.
C．Making more products than necessary.
D．Having more material than is needed.
2．The author uses figures in Paragraph 2 to show ________.
A．the tendency of cutting household waste
B．the increase of packaging recycling
C．the rapid growth of super markets
D．the fact of packaging overuse
3．According to the text，recycling ________.
A．helps control the greenhouse effect
B．means burning packaging for energy
C．is the solution to gas shortage
D．leads to a waste of land
4．What can be inferred from Paragraph 4?
A．Unpackaged products are of bad quality.
B．Supermarkets care more about packaging.
C．It is improper to judge quality by packaging.
D．Other products are better packaged than food.
5．What can we learn from the last paragraph?
A．Fighting wastefulness is difficult.
B．Needless material is mostly recycled.
C．People like collecting recyclable waste.
D．The author is proud of their consumer culture.
参考答案
Ⅰ
Recycling is one way to help environment，but what's most important is that we don't over­consume or pay too much attention to packaging when we are shopping.(27 words)
Ⅱ
1．解析：从前句的being forced to recycle often means we already have more material than we need知道我们是在 “过度消费”或“过量消费”。
答案：D
2．解析：increased by 12% between 1999 and 2005说明包装盒的消费量增长迅速，由此可知答案。
答案：D
3．解析：从Recycling helps可知答案。
答案：A
4．解析：人们习惯了把包装与产品质量联系起来，意为包装不好的东西就意味着品质不好。
答案：C
5．解析：从最后一句We need to face the wastefulness of our consumer culture，but we have a mountain to climb可知答案。
答案：A