单选题 I used to look at my closet and see clothes. These days, whenever I cast'my eyes upon the stacks of shoes and hangers of shirts, sweaters and jackets, I see water.
It takes 569 gallons to manufacture a T-shirt, from its start in the cotton fields to its appearance on store shelves. A pair of running shoes? 1,247 gallons.
Until last fall, I'd been oblivious to my "water footprint", which is defined as the total volume of freshwater that is used to produce goods and services, according to the Water Footprint Network. The Dutch nonprofit has been working to raise awareness of freshwater scarcity since 2008, but it was through the "Green Blue Book" by Thomas M. Kostigen that I was able to see how my own actions factored in.
I've installed gray-water systems to reuse the wastewater from my laundry machine and bathtub and reroute it to my landscape-systems that save, on average, 50 gallons of water per day. I've set up rain barrels and infiltration pits to collect thousands of gallons of storm water cascading from my roof. I've even entered the last bastion of greendom-installing a composting toilet.
Suffice to say, I've been feeling pretty satisfied with myself for all the drinking water I've saved with these big-ticket projects.
Now I realize that my daily consumption choices could have an even larger effect-not only on the local water supply but also globally: 1.1 billion people have no access to freshwater, and, in the future, those who do have access will have less of it.
To see how much virtual water 1 was using, I logged on to the "Green Blue Book" website and used its water footprint calculator, entering my daily consumption habits. Tallying up the water footprint of my breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks, as well as my daily dose of over-the-counter uppers and downers- coffee, wine and beer- I'm using 512 gallons of virtual water each day just to feed myself.
In a word: alarming.
Even more alarming was how much hidden water I was using to get dressed. I'm hardly a clotheshorse, but the few new items I buy once again trumped the amount of water flowing from my faucets each day. If I'm serious about saving water, I realized I could make some simple lifestyle shifts. Looking more closely at the areas in my life that use the most virtual water, it was food and clothes, specifically meat, coffee and, oddly, blue jeans and leather jackets.
Being a motorcyclist, I own an unusually large amount of leather-boots and jackets in particular. All of it is enormously water intensive. It takes 7,996 gallons to make a leather jacket, leather being a byproduct of beef. It takes 2,866 gallons of water to make a single pair of blue jeans, because they' re made from water-hogging cotton.
Crunching the numbers for the amount of clothes I buy every year, it looks a lot like my friend's swimming pool. My entire closet is borderline Olympic.
Gulp.
My late resolution is to buy some items used. Underwear and socks are, of course, exempt from this strategy, but I have no problem shopping less and also shopping at Goodwill. In fact, I'd been doing that for the past year to save money My clothes' outrageous water footprint just reinforced it for me.
More conscious living and substitution, rather than sacrifice, are the prevailing ideas with the water footprint. It's one I'm trying, and that's had an unusual upside. I had a hamburger recently; and I enjoyed it a lot more since it is now an occasional treat rather than a weekly habit.
(One gallon =3.8 litres)

单选题 According to the passage, the Water Footprint Network
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】[解析] 推断题。答案出自文章的第三段对“水足迹网络”的解释：The Dutch nonprofit has been working to raise awareness of freshwater scarcity since 2008,说明这是荷兰的一个非营利性组织，致力于提高人们对淡水稀缺的认识。选项A：它是非营利的节水组织，与文章相符。选项B：它与“绿色蓝皮书”合作保护淡水和选项D：它帮助作者了解了“绿色蓝皮书”，在文章中都没有提到。选项C：它使作者意识到淡水的短缺，而作者的节水意识是在意识到自己的消费行为的错误之后产生的，所以不能选。
单选题 Which of the following reasons can best explain the author's feeling of self-satisfaction?
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】[解析] 细节题。题目是：下面哪个原因最能解释作者的自我满足感?这道题的选择是在A和C之间。选项A：因为他的房子安装了先进的节水设施。选项C：他以自己的方式为节约饮用水做了贡献。文章中的这句话说明了这一点：I’ve been feeling pretty satisfied with myself for all the drinking water I’ve saved with these big—ticket projects．作者对自己很满意，不是因为他花了很多钱安装了先进的节水设施(行为)，而是对这样的行为结果——自己为节约用水作出了贡献——感到自豪。选项B：钱花在升级改造家庭设施上是值得的。与上下文没有关系。选项D：他本来可以通过改变生活方式做出更大贡献的。作者此时感到的是满足而不是自责，所以不对题意。
单选题 According to the context, "...how my own actions factored in" means
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】[解析] 推断题。此题可使用排除法。题目是：根据上下文“……我自己的行为怎样算作节水了”的意思是：作者在没接触“水足迹网络”之前从没反思过自己的节水行为，顺着这个思路，可以明白是“绿色蓝皮书”网站使作者意识到自己的错误的行为，而不是自己未来将要为节水做些什么。A、C、D三个选项都是讲作者该怎样为节水作贡献。A：我怎么能为节水作贡献；C：什么样的行为可以算作节水；D：我该做怎样的努力去节水。只有B：我过去的行为怎样造成淡水的短缺，是承接了前面的论述，所以选B。
单选题 According to the passage, the author was more alarmed by the fact that
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】[解析] 细节题。题目是：什么事实令作者感到更震惊?该题的答案可以在“Even more alarming was how much hidden water I was using to get dressed．”这句话中得到。作者在上一段讲到他的饮食习惯令人震惊，even more alarming是过渡短语，承上启下，引出下面作者在服装方面对水的浪费。选项A、B、C都与该题无关。A：他对肉和咖啡的消费更多，与服装无关。选项B：他的生活方式太奢侈了。C：全球的淡水将会更少。只有D是对这句话的解释：他的衣服甚至用掉了更多的水。
单选题 "My entire closet is borderline Olympic" is an example of
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】[解析] 文体题。题目是：“我整个衣橱就是一个奥林匹克”是哪种修辞手法?选项A：对比，类比。选项B：夸张。选项C：轻描淡写。D：委婉。作者把他的整个衣橱与奥林匹克相比，表明他购买的衣物所消耗的水资源之多，使用了类比的修辞方法。故选A。
单选题 What is the tone of the author in the last paragraph?
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】[解析] 态度题。题目是：最后一段作者的语气如何?文章通篇都在用一种诙谐的口吻讲述着作者对自己的生活方式的环保认识。比如第一段就说出，他现在看衣橱看到的都是水。在无知的情况下，还洋洋得意于自己的节水设施。最后一段，在表明了自己的决心后，作者说这么做还有个特别的好处：汉堡吃的不那么频了吃起来就特别的香。选项A：讥讽的，这通常用在对别人的讽刺上。B：挖苦，作者没有说反话来挖苦自己。C：批评的，这一段没有批判自己的意思，只是在稍稍幽默一下，所以选D。