Question

    Austin residents and businesses are making efforts to put their leftovers to good use. The city is among a handful of U.S.cities aiming for “zero waste”.

For Austin, there are plenty to go around: it annually wastes more than 190 million pounds of food, worth at least $200 million. Those numbers are big, but they're not out of line with national trends-some 40 percent of food in the nation goes to waste. Put in plain terms, that is enough to fill a 90,000-seat stadium each day.

For many, the answer lies in donation. Austin City Limits, one of the city’s influential festivals, gives all unwanted food to the Central Texas Food Bank. And there are volunteer-driven nonprofits that pick up donated food and deliver it to hungry people.

But the best practice, Austin believes, is to use less, and the city is calling on businesses and households to buy the right amount of food. Full Fridge, a new meal-delivery service, solves this problem. “Full Fridge came about because, basically, we were seeing a lot of people not knowing how to prepare food,” says co-founder Mokshika Sharma. They would buy groceries, but not know what to do with them, and end up throwing away a lot.

Her business hopes to end that problem by offering ready-made meals for only five dollars each. Full Fridge also minimizes waste by stopping sales two days before delivery, so the chef and shopper can plan precisely.

Another satisfactory solution is to compost(将......制成堆肥) it. Austin’s restaurants and grocery stores typically contract with composting companies to deal with much of their food waste, and then sell it as fertilizer. Meanwhile, Compost Pedallers, a company created by Dustin Fedako, is working on bicycle-powered compost collection.

“We play the dot-connecter,” says Fedako, “getting the material from those of us who are making it to the people in the community who use it as a resource to grow more food, and to grow better quality food.”

1.What do the figures in Paragraph 2 indicate?

A.The urgent need for donated food. B.The rapid growth in food donation.

C.The ambitious goal of “zero waste”. D.The serious problem of food waste.

2.Paragraph 3 mainly talks about Austin' s efforts to______.

A.feed the hungry. B.make use of leftovers.

C.build more volunteer-driven nonprofits. D.hold festivals to entertain its residents.

3.Who are Full Fridge's target customers?

A.Those with too little food. B.Those with poor cooking skills.

C.Those with unhealthy eating habits. D.Those with little time to buy groceries.

4.What does Fedako mean by saying “We play the dot-connecter”?

A.They find it rather easy to collect food waste.

B.They hope people will buy better quality food.

C.They link food waste producers to fertilizer users.

D.They are trying to connect with composting companies.

Answer

1.D

2.B

3.B

4.C

【解析】

本文是一篇新闻报道。Austin市的居民和商家都在努力把剩菜好好利用。这座城市是美国为数不多的几个城市之一以“零浪费”为目标的城市。文章主要讲述了Austin市采取多项措施有效地利用吃剩的食物。

1.

推理判断题。根据第二段For Austin, there are plenty to go around: it annually wastes more than 190 million pounds of food, worth at least $200 million. Those numbers are big, but they're not out of line with national trends-some 40 percent of food in the nation goes to waste. Put in plain terms, that is enough to fill a 90,000-seat stadium each day.可知对Austin市来说，有很多事情可以做：它每年浪费超过1.9亿磅的食物，至少价值2亿美元。这些数字很大，但并没有超出美国的趋势——美国大约40%的食物被浪费了。简单地说，这足够每天填满一个90000个座位的体育场。由此可推知，作者在第二段提供这些数字是为了说明食物浪费的严重性。故选D。

2.

主旨大意题。根据第三段中For many, the answer lies in donation. Austin City Limits, one of the city’s influential festivals, gives all unwanted food to the Central Texas Food Bank. And there are volunteer-driven nonprofits that pick up donated food and deliver it to hungry people.对许多人来说，答案在于捐赠。奥斯汀市有影响力的节日之一“奥斯汀市极限”(Austin City Limits)将所有不需要的食物捐赠给德州中央食品银行(Central Texas food Bank)。还有一些由志愿者组织的非营利组织收集捐赠的食物并将其分发给饥饿的人们。由此可知，第三段主要讲述了Austin市对剩菜剩饭的利用。故选B。

3.

推理判断题。根据第四段中“Full Fridge came about because, basically, we were seeing a lot of people not knowing how to prepare food,” says co-founder Mokshika Sharma.可知“Full Fridge的出现，基本上是因为我们看到很多人不知道如何准备食物，”联合创始人Mokshika Sharma说。由此可推知，这家公司的目标顾客是那些不善于做饭的人。故选B。

4.

句意猜测题。根据倒数第二段Another satisfactory solution is to compost(将......制成堆肥) it. Austin’s restaurants and grocery stores typically contract with composting companies to deal with much of their food waste, and then sell it as fertilizer. 另一个令人满意的解决方案是堆肥。奥斯汀的餐馆和杂货店通常与堆肥公司签订合同，处理他们的大部分食物垃圾，然后作为肥料出售。根据后文“getting the material from those of us who are making it to the people in the community who use it as a resource to grow more food, and to grow better quality food.”可知“从我们这些制作材料的人那里得到材料，让社区里的人把它作为一种资源来种植更多的食物，并种植更优质的食物。”由此可推知，Fedako这句话是说，他们把产生残羹剩饭的人和肥料使用者联系起来。故选C。