Question

    When you work out a carbon footprint(碳足迹)，a lot of factors are taken into consideration. For example, driving to the grocery store bums a certain amount of fuel, and fossil fuels are the primary sources of greenhouse gases. But that grocery store is powered by electricity, and its employees probably drive to work, so the store has its own carbon footprint. In addition, the products that the store sells were all shipped there, so that must also be factored into the total carbon footprint. Beyond that, the fruits. Vegetables, and meats that the store sells were all grown or raised on farms-a process that produces methane(甲烷)，which has a greenhouse effect 25 times greater than CO. All of those elements must be combined to understand the full carbon footprint of a given activity.

Although adding up one's own carbon footprint can be difficult, online calculators can do some of the work for you,giving a rough estimate(估算)of your carbon footprint based on the size of your household, the efficiency of your machines, how much you drive or fly, what you eat, and how much you recycle

This isn't perfect, but it is a good way to measure your activities so you can know roughly how much CO₂ they produce and take steps to reduce your carbon footprint.

Methods of reducing your carbon footprint include driving more efficient vehicles (or making sure that your current vehicles are properly maintained), taking public transportation, using energy efficient machines, building your home with special materials to reduce heating and air conditioning costs. consuming food that doesn't require as much transportation, and eating less meat which has a higher carbon footprint than fruits and vegetables. People and companies can also offset some of their CO₂, emissions(排放)by purchasing carbon credits, the money from which can go into projects such as planting trees or investing in renewable energy.

1.By giving the example of the grocery store, the author wants to tell us that____

A.driving to the store burns a certain amount of fuel

B.the greenhouse effect of methane is greater than that of CO2

C.the fossil fuels are the primary sources of greenhouse gases

D.many factors need to be considered when figuring out a carbon footprint

2.Which of the following best explains the underlined word ''offset'' in the last paragraph?

A.make up for

B.make sense of

C.take control of

D.catch up with

3.The passage is mainly about____

A.whether it is possible to reduce the carbon footprint

B.what we can do to figure out the carbon footprint

C.how to estimate and reduce the carbon footprint

D.why we should reduce the carbon footprint

Answer

1.D

2.A

3.C

【解析】

这是一篇说明文。本文讲述了在计算碳足迹时，要考虑很多因素，还有如何估算自己的碳足迹，以及一些减少碳足迹的方法。

1.

细节理解题。根据第一段的When you work out a carbon footprint a lot of factors are taken into consideration.(当你计算碳足迹时，会考虑很多因素。)可知，作者列举杂货店的例子主要是想说明在计算碳足迹时需要考虑很多因素。D. many factors need to be considered when figuring out a carbon footprint(在计算碳足迹时，有很多因素需要考虑)符合以上说法，故选D项。

2.

词义猜测题。根据最后一段People and companies can also offset some of their CO2, emissions by purchasing carbon credits, the money from which can go into projects such as planting trees or investing in renewable energy.可知，个人和企业也可以通过购买碳信用额来 offset 部分二氧化碳排放，这些钱可以用于植树或投资可再生能源等项目。根据句意，尤其是the money from which can go into projects such as planting trees or investing in renewable energy可推测划线部分的意思是“弥补”。A. make up for(弥补)符合以上说法，故选A项。

3.

主旨大意题。根据文章的主要内容，尤其是第一段的When you work out a carbon footprint a lot of factors are taken into consideration.(当你计算碳足迹时，会考虑很多因素。)和倒数第二段的This isn't perfect, but it is a good way to measure your activities so you can know roughly how much CO2 they produce and take steps to reduce your carbon footprint.(这并不完美，但它是衡量你的活动的一个好方法，这样你就可以大致知道它们产生了多少碳，并采取措施减少你的碳)可知，本文讲述了在计算碳足迹时，要考虑很多因素，还有如何估算自己的碳足迹，以及一些减少碳足迹的方法。C. how to estimate and reduce the carbon footprint(如何计算以及减少碳足迹)符合以上说法，故选C项。