Thematic Reading
＼Text A＼
Revealed—the Truth about Plastic
Ross Clark
［1］It’s not hard to see why everyone’s worried about plastic．The seas are unquestionably heavily polluted with plastic，as are some rivers and streams．Frans Timmermans，vicepresident of the European Commission，recently declared war on“single-use plastics that take five seconds to produce，are used for five minutes，then take 500 years to break down again”．It’s utterly depressing to think that plastic bags，yogurt pots and disposable cups will be the chief archaeological relics of our age．
［2］But when public opinion is so much in agreement on an issue，we should all be on our guard．It’s exactly when everyone agrees on an issue that bad decisions are made，some with awful and far-reaching unintended consequences．
［3］The trouble with the new plastic obsession is the same trouble we had with carbon emissions 20 years ago．Environmental policy becomes so focused on one specific，fashionable problem that no one notices that the proposed solutions are，in other ways，making matters worse．In the case of carbon emissions，the Blair government（along with the European Commission）became so fixated in cutting the amount of CO2 that they encouraged motorists to switch to diesel—inadvertently sanctioning an increase in deadly nitrogen oxide emissions．
［4］This is the risk we now face with the war on plastic．If supermarkets follow through on their recent promises to ban plastic packaging，it’s a struggle to see how they will keep fruit and vegetable fresh for long．The very people we’ve tried so hard to encourage to eat well will revert back to Turkey Twizzlers．It is easy now to forget what shopping was like before supermarkets transformed the British diet in the 1970s，before chiller cabinets and the revolution in food packaging，to which the traditional seasonal shortage of fresh vegetables was eliminated owes a lot．
［5］You’re only really entitled to feel virtuous about eschewing plastic if you look carefully into the effect on the environment of your chosen alternative．Take Gove’s coffee cup．There have already been rumblings about overharvesting of bamboo in China’s Sichuan Province．There is more general concern，too，about the wide-scale use of plant-based alternatives to oil-derived plastics．As long as bioplastic remains a niche product for concerned middle classes，the land issue isn’t important．If bioplastics are adopted across industry，it will be a genuine cause for concern．
［6］According to a report on the environmental impact of bioplastics published by the government in 2010，it takes 1．7 square meters of arable land to grow each kg of PLA，one of the main bioplastics，which can be used as a substitute for many types of food packaging．Europe consumes almost 60 million tonnes of plastic a year．If all this packaging were instead grown in fields，it would take up 40，000 square miles—nearly a tenth of all arable land currently under cultivation in Europe．And what about the carbon emissions from biodegradable plastics？They tend to decompose straight to methane，a greenhouse gas measured to have 20 times the potency of CO2．
［7］What is remarkable about the war against plastics is that hostilities were first started a decade and a half ago，but were stopped in their tracks by some powerful evidence．The plastic bag tax was first tried in Ireland in 2002，when a 15 cent charge per bag was similarly found to cut bag use by 90 percent．If shoppers are going without any kind of bag and trying to balance numerous items in their hands，that can be counted as an environmental gain．But if they have switched to other types of bag then the benefits are harder to discern．When a plastic bag tax was proposed in Scotland，the devolved government launched a two-year assessment comparing the“life-cycle analysis”of single-use plastic bags against paper bags．In 2005，it came to the surprising conclusion that a“paper bag has a more adverse impact than a plastic bag on most of the environmental issues considered”．
［8］Six years later，Defra compared the environmental impact of plastic bags with its rivals．That study came to the remarkable conclusion that a cotton shopping bag would have to be used 173 times before it became responsible for fewer carbon emissions than a plastic bag—cotton being a very intensive crop requiring large amounts of water and fertilizer．
［9］Single-use plastic bags also performed better environmentally than paper bags，biodegradable plastic bags and plastic“bags for life”．And this was assuming that“singleuse”plastic bags are just that—when of course they are often used for other purposes，such as bin liners．When Wales introduced its own 5p plastic bag levy seven years ago，it led to a 25 percent surge in the sales of pedal bin liners—to replace the supermarket bags that people had previously been using．Moreover，the plastic bag levy has done nothing to counter the wasteful packing being used in online sales．
［10］Surely，if we were going to have levies on bags，the evidence suggests that it ought to apply to all kinds of bags and all kinds of packaging．Yet the plastic bag levy went ahead anyway，as if no research had been conducted into the issue．It’s just not in the interest of the government to look into the full environmental impact of a widely popular plastic tax．We consumers care but we’re busy．We just don’t really want to be told that our careful measures are actually counterproductive．
［11］We must do something to stop plastic bags，bottles and beads from clogging up the sea．A better idea might be a waste disposal deposit on all such goods，a surcharge which could then be returned to whoever presented it for recycling．That would give all waste a value，providing an incentive for people to collect it．Would beaches be littered with plastic bags if enterprising children were picking them up in order to claim a deposit，just as in my youth kids used to do with lemonade bottles？
［12］Policy-making does not always follow logic．On the environment in particular it tends to dart between fashionable issues，ignoring complexities．For aesthetic reasons，it’s hard to like plastic．That gives the drive to banish it from modern life its particular momentum．But I suspect it won’t be long before we feel the need to reinvent it．
（1，054 words）
＼Word Tips＼
1．archaeological adj．考古的
2．diesel n．柴油
3．inadvertently adv．无意地
4．sanction v．批准，许可
5．nitrogen oxide 氮氧化物
6．eschew v．避免
7．rumbling n．抱怨，不满的言论
8．bioplastic n．生物塑料
9．niche product 利基产品，小众成品
10．biodegradable adj．可生物降解的
11．decompose vt．分解
12．methane n．甲烷
13．discern vt．看出，察觉出
14．devolved adj．权力下放的(https://www.daowen.com)
15．levy n．征税
16．counterproductive adj．事与愿违的
＼After-reading Exercises＼
I．Directions：The following are five multiple choice questions to test your understanding of the passage．Choose the best answer for each of them．
1．What does the example of the Blair government’s environmental policy illustrate？
A．When everyone agrees on an issue，reasonable decisions are made．
B．The government would attach the same importance to the issue of plastic pollution．
C．When public opinion is so much in agreement on an issue，we should all be on our guard．
D．Environmental policy should focus on the specific，fashionable problems．
2．Why did the author say that if bioplastics are adopted across industry，the land issue will
be a genuine cause for concern？
A．Because Europe consumes too much plastic per year．
B．Because the biodegradable plastics will pollute the soil．
C．As long as bioplastic remains a niche product for concerned middle classes，the land issue isn’t important．
D．Because it takes too much arable land under cultivation to grow the bioplastics．
3．According to the author，what might be a better idea to stop plastic bags，bottles and beads from clogging up the sea？
A．To establish a waste disposal deposit．
B．To encourage children to pick them up．
C．To find out a substitute for many types of plastic food packaging．
D．To charge whoever presented the plastic stuff for recycling．
4．Which of the following is not the truth about the plastic bags？
A．The seas are unquestionably heavily polluted with plastic，as are some rivers and streams．
B．A paper bag has a more adverse impact than a plastic bag on most of the environmental issues considered．
C．A cotton shopping bag would have to be used 173 times before it became responsible for fewer carbon emissions than a plastic bag．
D．The plastic bag levy has countered the wasteful packing being used in online sales．
5．Which of the following statement is true according to the author？
A．Policy-making does always follow logic．
B．On the environment in particular it tends to dart between fashionable issues，ignoring complexities．
C．We banish the plastic from modern life for the economical reasons．
D．We would not feel the need to reinvent the plastic．
Ⅱ．Directions：Translate paragraphs 11 12 into Chinese．