2024年12月英语四级真题(第2套) · 信息匹配(第0篇)逐行跟打 🔁 整篇模式    ← 返回
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1If we care about plastic waste, why won't we stop drinking bottled water? We have all seen the damage plastic waste is
2doing around the world, but sales o f bottled water have continued to grow. A) For all the innovation and choice that
3define the food and drink industries, if you want to make money, you could do a lot worse than fill a bottle with water
4and sell it. A litre of tap water, the stuff we have cleverly piped into our homes, costs less than half a penny. A
5litre of bottled water can cost well over a pound, especially for something fancy that has been sucked through a
6mountain. B) Yet the bottled water market is livelier than ever. It defies our increasing awareness of the harm plastics
7do to the environment and a broader, growing sense that something has to change. Sales in the UK were worth a record
8£558.4 million this past year, an increase of 7%, according to the latest figures from the market analyst Kantar.
9Separate data from other analysts show that last year the British consumed more than 2.2 billion litres o f bottled
10water, including “take-home" and “on-the-go" products. T hafs an annual rise in volume of 8.5%. C) Environmental
11campaigners are struggling to understand why nations blessed with clean tap water grow only fonder of the bottle. "It's
12very surprising to me,“ says Sam Chetan-Walsh, a political adviser at Greenpeace and campaigner against ocean plastic.
13<cPublic awareness has never been higher, but the message is not quite reaching all the people it needs to." Where it is
14heard, the message is causing concern. Plastic water bottles require oceans of fossil fuels to make and ship.
15Additionally, single-use plastics of all types are polluting our cities and seas. Numerous documentaries have shown how
16plastic is ultimately killing wildlife. D) Moves against various plastics have gathered pace, from shopping bags to
17straws and plastic-lined coffee cups. Chetan-Walsh argues that bottled water is different because the alternatives are
18so obvious. u If a product that is so nakedly unnecessary can exist, then the whole system is fa ilin g ,h e says. E)
19Hope is not entirely out of reach. The rate of growth has begun to ease (sales were up 7% in the year, compared with 8%
20the previous year). F) But even if large numbers of people are quitting bottled water because of care fbr the
21environment, others are taking it up. The introduction of the "sugar tax“ on juices and soda drinks has pushed more
22people to bottled water, while health awareness has boosted its desirability. Tap water consumption is growing at
23roughly the same pace (UK consumers still drink almost three times as much tap water as bottled water). G) So the
24plastic tide only creeps higher. The industry is quick to point out that all its bottles are recyclable. “But collection
25rates are, at the most generous estimates, 56%, so the actual recycling rate will be lower than that,“ Chetan-Walsh
26says. And while bottles may be recyclable, very few are made of recycled plastic. One water bottle company launched
27recycled half-litre "eco" bottles alongside its standard bottles. Another has pledged to use only recycled plastic
28across its range by 2025. Chetan-Walsh believes in a ban on single-use bottles. Bans do exist in some places. Organisers
29of a famous music festival announced that water bottles will not be sold this summer. San Francisco has banned them from
30city property and events. Last year, the UK government set out plans to ban single-use plastic from its estate. H) Water
31bottlers, unsurprisingly, don't support bans. But they raise concerns about health rather than profit margins. Last
32month one chief executive of a water bottling company said that bans would “result in greater consumption of sugary
33drinks, adding to all the health dangers of obesity, diabetes and tooth decay”. Kinvara Carey, general manager of an
34association of the biggest bottled water manufacturers, cites a survey in which people were asked what they would do if
35bottled water were not available. ^Forty-four per cent would buy another drink, which is not great, 14% would go without
36and 4.5% said they would find a fountain,she says. “The choice is important." I) What if fountains were more numerous,
37and tap water more clearly available in cafes, restaurants and elsewhere? Dozens of fountains are being installed in
38London. There are similar initiatives elsewhere. Before plastic and the marketing that made people think they needed
39bottled water in the first place, fountains were an urban fixture. Greenpeace, among others, is also pushing for a
40“deposit return“ scheme. This would mean tax on bottled water would be refunded to customers who returned the plastic
41for recycling. J) Even if bottled water sales are growing slightly more slowly, the industry is racing to adapt to
42changing concerns and tastes. Flavoured water is booming: sales of the sparkling variety shot up by 20%, according to
43the latest analyst data. Meanwhile, international water brands, as well as a range of new companies, are selling
44high-end reusable bottles. And if you must fill them with tap water, why not add flavouring? K) As the owner of multiple
45sugary drink brands and bottled water, PepsiCo is facing challenges on health and environmental fronts. Last year, the
46company bought SodaStream (a drinks company that sells machines for making tap water bubbly and then consumers add
47flavours) for $3.2 billion. It also launched a range of fancy bottles that work with tap water and flavour packets. The
48bottle is reusable. The packets? Not so much, and, yes, they are made of plastic, although the company invites users to
49post them back for recycling. L) As is so often the case, clever marketing can beat reason; awareness is rarely enough.
50u There is always this kind of slip between concern, intent and changed behaviour,says Giles Quick, an analyst of
51bottled water. “The best example is five a day, the recommendation to have at least five portions of fruit and
52vegetables every day. Almost everyone is aware of this, but something like 15% of us achieve it." Unless a farreaching
53bottle ban does come into force, it will be up to consumers to not only demand change- but to act themselves.
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