As we become richer and richer, we are producing more and more rubbish. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) says that our largest cities produce 760,000 tons of solid waste every day. It predicts (预料) that there will be an increase―to 1.8 million tons―by 2025. It seems too much to deal with. “The growing waste is simply trying to cover our cities,” says Michael Lindfield, a specialist of ADB in Manila.

   The proper treatment of rubbish is beyond the financial resources (金融资源) of many countries. The World Bank says some governments are spending as much as half of their budgets (预算) dealing with rubbish. And even so, it is common that half of all the waste goes uncollected.

   Much of the added difficulty is packaging from consumer (消费者) products and the products themselves―all of which need years, even centuries to decompose (化解). Lindfield believes that four of every five products we buy are thrown away after a single use. It all makes the work to deal with solid waste much more expensive.

   The rubbish is more than just an environmental problem―it also influences national economies (经济) by disturbing the world market, discouraging tourism and slowing down industrial development.

   Lots of rubbish also influences the look of our cities. As he walks to work from his home in Bangkok every day, Chatchat Mutita, a 36-year-old advertising specialist, must pass a lot of ugly, smelly rubbish that isn’t collected until late at night. He says things get worse when it rains because some yellow water will stream from the rubbish to the sidewalk.

   The most serious problem is open dumps (垃圾堆), which are more than eyesores. Ground water is being polluted, explosive (易爆的) gas is being created and disease-bearing animals are growing fast.

   Modern technology can make the problems of open dumps less serious. But Chettiyappan Visvanathan, a professor at the Asian Institute of Technology in Pathumthal, Thailand, believes that there are no engineered facilities (设备) in nine of every ten dumps all over the country. Some countries depend on most solid waste to produce energy, but there’s a growing problem of air pollution. Burning is far more dangerous than open dumps. The ADB says the growing rubbish must be dealt with by the “3Rs”―reducing the waste, reusing things that are being thrown away and recycling materials.

51. Which of the following is the best to describe what Dan Boy did?

   A. A good luck.              B. A hard try.                C. A quick run.             D. A heroic act.

C

50. How was Nathaniel after the accident?

   A. Badly hurt.                B. A little hurt.                     C. All right.                  D. Very well.

49. Who is the oldest child in the family?

   A. Antonio.                    B. Ken.                        C. Billie.                      D. Nathaniel.

48. When did the fire break out?

   A. In the morning.          B. In the afternoon.              C. In the evening.          D. In the night.

47. Stories about ______ can be used for My Story.

   A. yourselves                  B. heroes                      C. children                   D. facts

B

   Nine-year-old Antonio “Dan Boy” Fernandez Jr was playing with his younger brothers Ken and Billie in their yard after lunch one day last June when he noticed smoke coming from the roof of their house. Realizing his three-year-old brother, Nathaniel, was sleeping in the house, Antonio protected his head with his hands and rushed inside the wooden house.

   “I was so afraid to see the flames (火焰) on the roof, but when I heard my brother crying, I just closed my eyes and rushed in,” says Dan Boy, who stopped schooling two years ago to look after his younger brothers.

   He found his brother sitting in the corner of the room, shaking and crying. Nathaniel was disoriented (迷惑的) from the smoke, so Dan Boy caught him with his right hand. “Don’t worry, kuya (big brother) is here,” Dan Boy said as he protected Nathaniel from the flames with his own body.

    Just as they reached the front door, Nathaniel stopped. A nail (钉子) had caught his shorts. Flames reached the upper part of the door as Antonio tried to get his brother free. With one last, hard pulling, they ran into the yard as the house was finished.

    For what he had done, Antonio received a special prize from the government and a university in the city offered to help him go back to school. “I would have done the same if Nathaniel were not my brother,” says Dan Boy.

46. How many kinds of writing will be paid?

   A. One.                          B. Two.                        C. Three.                      D. Four.

45. Where can we find the advertisement?

   A. In a newspaper.          B. In a magazine.          C. In a story book.        D. In a text.

43. A. worried                         B. moved                   C. excited                 D. amazed