单选题 Disposing (处理) of waste has been a problem since humans started producing it. As more and more people choose to live close together in cities, the waste-disposal problem becomes increasingly difficult.
During the eighteenth century, it was usual for several neighboring towns to get together to select a faraway spot as a dumpsite. Residents or trash haulers (垃圾托运者) would transport household rubbish, rotted wood, and old possessions to the site. Periodically (定期的) some of the trash was burned and the rest was buried. The unpleasant sights and smells caused no problem because nobody lived close by.
Factories, mills, and other industrial sites also had waste to be disposed of. Those located on rivers often just dumped the unwanted remains into the water. Others built huge burners with chimneys to deal with the problem.
Several facts make these choices unacceptable to modem society. The first problem is space. Dumps, which are now called landfills, are most needed in heavily populated areas. Such areas rarely have empty land suitable for this purpose. Property is either too expensive or too close to residential (住宅区的)neighborhoods Long-distance trash hauling has been a common practice, but once farm areas are refusing to accept rubbish from elsewhere, cheap land within trucking distance of major city areas is almost nonexistent.
Awareness of pollution dangers has resulted in more strict rules of waste disposal. Pollution of rivers, ground water, land and air is a price people can no longer pay to get rid of waste. The amount of waste, however, continues to grow.
Recycling efforts have become commonplace in recent years, and many towns require their people to take part. Even the most efficient recycling programs, however, can hope to deal with only about 50 percent of a city's reusable waste.

单选题 The most suitable title for this passage would be______.
A. Places for Disposing Waste B. Waste Pollution Dangers
C. Ways of Getting Rid of Waste D. Waste Disposal Problem
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】[解析] 主旨题。由第一段第一句可知文章主要讨论垃圾处理的问题(A项),至于处理垃圾的地点(B项)、垃圾污染的危害(C项)和处理垃圾的方式(D项)都是垃圾处理问题的一个方面,不能以偏概全。
单选题 During the 18th century, people disposed their waste in many Ways EXCEPT for______.
A. burying it B. recycling it
C. burning it D. throwing it into rivers
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】[解析] 细节题。recycle“循环利用”。根据最后一段第一句对于垃圾的循环利用是最近才开始的一项技术,18世纪的时候是没有的,故答案为B。其他选项文中都被提及。
单选题 Which of the following is NOT a factor that leads to the disposing of waste in modem society a problem?
A. Strict roles of waste disposal.
B. Shortage of cheap land.
C. Farm areas' refusal of accepting waste from city.
D. Recycling efforts.
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】[解析] 逻辑推断题。循环利用垃圾并没有导致城市垃圾处理问题,只是没能解决这个问题。
单选题 What can be inferred from the fourth paragraph?
A. Farm areas accept waste from the city in modern society.
B. There is cheap land to bury waste in modem society.
C. It is difficult to find space to bury waste in modem society.
D. Ways to deal with waste in modem society is similar to that of the past.
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】[解析] 推理判断题。文章第四段提到landfills(垃圾掩埋法)和long-distance trash hauling (垃圾长途拖运),可见现代社会人们所使用的垃圾处理方法还和以前一样。
单选题 The main purpose of writing this article is to______.
A. ware people of the pollution dangers we are facing
B. draw people's attention to waste management
C. tell people a better way to get rid of the waste
D. call on people to take part in recycling programs
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】[解析] 意图推断题。文章主要讨论了垃圾处理问题,为了引起读者的注意,而没有具体指明应该如何更好地处理垃圾,故排除C;由Even the most efficient...a city's reusable waste.可知D错;A项没有涉及垃圾处理的问题,偏离文章的主题,所以答案为B。