首页
登录
职称英语
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-14, which are based on Reading
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-14, which are based on Reading
游客
2025-02-16
18
管理
问题
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-14, which are based on Reading Passage 1 below.
Green virtues of green sand
Revolution in glass recycling could help keep water clean.
A For the past 100 years special high grade white sand, dug from the ground at Leighton Buzzard in the UK, has been used to filter tap water to remove bacteria and impurities — but this may no longer be necessary. A new factory that turns used wine bottles into green sand could revolutionise the recycling industry and help to filter Britain’s drinking water. Backed by $1.6m from the European Union and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs(Defra), a company based in Scotland is building the factory, which will turn beverage bottles back into the sand from which they were made in the first place. The green sand has already been successfully tested by water companies and is being used in 50 swimming pools in Scotland to keep the water clean.
B The idea is not only to avoid using up an increasingly scarce natural resource, sand, but also to solve a crisis in the recycling industry. Britain uses 5.5m tonnes of glass a year, but recycles only 750,000 tonnes of it. The problem is that half the green bottle glass in Britain is originally from imported wine and beer bottles. Because there is so much of it, and it is used less in domestic production than other types, green glass is worth only $25 a tonne. Clear glass, which is melted down and used for whisky bottles, mainly for export, is worth double that amount.
C Howard Dryden, a scientist and managing director of the company, Dryden Aqua, of Bonnyrigg, near Edinburgh, has spent six years working on the product he calls Active Filtration Media, or AFM. He concedes that he has given what is basically recycled glass a ’fancy name’ to remove the stigma of what most people would regard as an inferior product. He says he needs bottles that have already contained drinkable liquids to be sure that drinking water filtered through the AFM would not be contaminated. Crushed down beverage glass has fewer impurities than real sand and it performed better in trials. ’The fact is that tests show that AFM does the job better than sand, it is easier to clean and reuse and has all sorts of properties that make it ideal for other applications,’ he claimed.
D The factory is designed to produce 100 tonnes of AFM a day, although Mr. Dryden regards this as a large-scale pilot project rather than full production. Current estimates of the UK market for this glass for filtering drinking water, sewage, industrial water, swimming pools and fish farming are between 175,000 to 217,000 tonnes a year, which will use up most of the glass available near the factory. So he intends to build five or six factories in cities where there are large quantities of bottles, in order to cut down on transport costs.
E The current factory will be completed this month and is expected to go into full production on January 14th next year. Once it is providing a ’regular’ product, the government’s drinking water inspectorate will be asked to perform tests and approve it for widespread use by water companies. A Defra spokesman said it was hoped that AFM could meet approval within six months. The only problem that they could foresee was possible contamination if some glass came from sources other than beverage bottles.
F Among those who have tested the glass already is Caroline Fitzpatrick of the civil and environmental engineering department of University College London. ’We have looked at a number of batches and it appears to do the job,’ she said. ’Basically, sand is made of glass and Mr. Dryden is turning bottles back into sand. It seems a straightforward idea and there is no reason we can think of why it would not work. Since glass from wine bottles and other beverages has no impurities and clearly did not leach any substances into the contents of the bottles, there was no reason to believe there would be a problem,’ Dr. Fitzpatrick added.
G Mr. Dryden has set up a network of agents round the world to sell AFM. It is already in use in central America to filter water on banana plantations where the fruit has to be washed before being despatched to European markets. It is also in use in sewage works to filter water before it is returned to rivers, something which is becoming legally necessary across the European Union because of tighter regulations on sewage works. So there are a great number of applications involving cleaning up water. Currently, however, AFM costs $670 a tonne, about four times as much as good quality sand. ’But that is because we haven’t got large-scale production. Obviously, when we get going it will cost a lot less, and be competitive with sand in price as well,’ Mr. Dryden said. ’I believe it performs better and lasts longer than sand, so it is going to be better value too.’
H If AFM takes off as a product it will be a big boost for the government agency which is charged with finding a market for recycled products. Crushed glass is already being used in road surfacing and in making tiles and bricks. Similarly, AFM could prove to have a widespread use and give green glass a cash value.
Questions 1-10
Reading Passage 1 has 8 paragraphs labelled A-H.
Which paragraph contains the following information?
Write the correct letter A-H in boxes 1-10 on your answer sheet.
NB: You may use any letter more than once. [br] identification of current funding for the production of green sand
选项
答案
A
解析
Backed by $1.6m from the European Union and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs...
转载请注明原文地址:https://tihaiku.com/zcyy/3959413.html
相关试题推荐
Lookatthefollowingopinions(Questions20-23)andthelistofpeoplebelow.Mat
Lookatthefollowingopinions(Questions20-23)andthelistofpeoplebelow.Mat
Lookatthefollowingopinions(Questions20-23)andthelistofpeoplebelow.Mat
Youshouldspendabout20minutesonQuestions15-27,whicharebasedonReading
Youshouldspendabout20minutesonQuestions15-27,whicharebasedonReading
Youshouldspendabout20minutesonQuestions1-14,whicharebasedonReading
Youshouldspendabout20minutesonQuestions1-14,whicharebasedonReading
Youshouldspendabout20minutesonQuestions1-14,whicharebasedonReading
Youshouldspendabout20minutesonQuestions1-14,whicharebasedonReading
Youshouldspendabout20minutesonQuestions1-14,whicharebasedonReading
随机试题
HowtoCreateaHomeLibrary"Icannotlivewithout
Forpeoplesufferingfromdepression,theadviceisusuallythesame:seekh
下列属于同业拆借特征的有()。A.手续简便 B.通常无抵押或担保 C.金
患者,女,45岁,消化性溃疡反复发作10年,剧烈腹痛突然发作3小时,全腹压痛、反
2010年,我国预算内财政收入为83080亿元,从中央预算稳定调节基金调入100
对有经验的规划人员,建筑群的范围、建成区和非建成区的界线、郊区农田和市内绿地等等
采用成本领先战略的企业适宜采用的绩效考核方法是()。A.平衡计分卡法 B.
(2016年真题)下列关于绩效管理的说法,错误的是()。A.绩效管理是一个完整
(2018年真题)在填写票据出票日期时,“10月20日”应写成“壹拾月零贰拾日”
骨折治疗原则中的首要步骤是( )。A.功能锻炼 B.内固定 C.复位 D
最新回复
(
0
)