Soaring divorce rates around the globe are affecting the environment, American researchers suggested in a study released Monday.

Michigan State University researcher Jianguo “Jack” Liu and his assistant Eunice Yu said the increasing number of divorces leads to more households with fewer people and greater consumption of water and energy. They said housing units require space, construction materials and fuel to heat and cool, regardless of the number of inhabitants.

For example, in the United States in 2005, divorced households consumed an extra 73 billion kilowatt hours of electricity and 627 billion gallons of water. An additional 38 million extra rooms required heating and lighting that same year due to divorced households.

“A married household actually uses resources more efficiently than a divorced household”, Liu said. He said that in cohabitating households, people will watch the same television, share the air conditioning and heat and use the same refrigerator, all things that use energy at a regularly stable rate regardless of the number of users.

Liu said he was not condemning divorce, “Some people really need to get divorces.” He said that cohabitation was simply a more environmentally friendly option. Additionally, the researchers noted that trends other than divorce are also changing family living structures, such as the end of multiple generations of a family sharing a home and people remaining single longer.

“People’s first reaction to this research is surprise, and then it seems simple.” Liu said in a release, “But a lot of things become simple after research is done. Our challenges were to connect the dots and quantify their relationships. People have been talking about how to protect the environment and refuse climate change, but divorce is an overlooked factor that needs to be considered.”

He said the increasing energy demands caused by divorce should be considered by governments when they are creating environmental policies.

This passage is mainly meant to ____.

A. inform the reader of the increasing divorce in America

B. emphasize the importance of protecting the environment

C. tell people the effect divorce has on the environment

D. appeal to married people to keep their households

According to the passage, what’s the attitude of Mr. Liu towards divorce?

A. Supportive       B. Objective.       C. Indifferent.       D. Unclear.

It can be inferred from the passage that ____.

A. divorced households will promote the sales of products

B. married households are more willing to protect the environment

C. divorced households contribute more to the society’s development

D. divorce is not taken into account when people are protecting the environment

From this passage we can find that ____.

A. divorce rates are quickly rising globally these years

B. cohabiting households will increase consumption of water and energy

C. to divorce is a wise option according to the passage

D. the end of multi-generations of a family will save energy

Soaring divorce rates around the globe are taking a toll on the environment, American researchers suggested in a study released on a Monday.

Michigan State University researcher Jianguo “Jack” Liu and his assistant Eunice Yu said the increasing number of divorces leads to more households with fewer people and greater consumption of water and energy. They said housing units require space, construction materials and fuel to heat and cool, regardless of the number of inhabitants.

For example, in the United States in 2005, divorced households consumed an extra 73 billion kilowatt hours of electricity and 627 billion gallons of water. An additional 38 million extra rooms required heating and lighting that same year due to divorced households.

That costs $6.9 billion in extra utility costs per year, Liu said, plus an added $ 3.6 billion for water, in addition to other costs such as land use.

“A married household actually uses resources more efficiently than a divorced household,” Liu said. He said that in cohabitating(同居) household, people will watch the same television, share the air conditioning and heat and use the same refrigerator. All things use energy at a regularly stable rate, regardless of the number of users.

 Liu said he was not condemning divorce, “Some people really need to get divorced.” He said cohabitation—whether by a family or friends—was simply a more environmentally friendly option. Additonally, the researchers noted that trends other than divorce are also changing family living structures, such as the end of multiple generations of a family sharing a home and people remaining single longer.

“People’s first reaction to this research is surprise, and then it seems simple.” Liu said in a press release. “But a lot of things become simple after research is done. Our challenges were to connect the dots and quantify(量化) their relationships. People have been talking about how to protect the environment and fight against climate change, but divorce is a factor that people don’t notice and it needs to be considered”.

He said the increasing energy demands caused by divorce should be considered by governments when they are creating environmental policies.

The research was published in this week’s online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

This passage is mainly meant to _______ .

  A. inform the readers of the increasing rates of divorce in America

  B. emphasize the importance of protecting the environment

  C. appeal to married people to maintain their marriage longer

  D. tell people the impact divorce has on the environment

According to the passage, what’s the attitude of Mr. Liu towards divorce?

  A. Critical   .             B. Indifferent.               C. Objective.                D. Negative.

We are told that ______ .

  A. divorced households will use fewer resources than married households

  B. married households are more willing to protect the environment

  C. divorced households contribute more to rapid economic development

  D. divorce is rarely considered when people think about protecting the environment.

The underlined phrase “taking a toll on” in Paragraph 1 probably means _____ .

  A. taking efforts to improve                         B. having a bad effect on 

  C. preventing the pollution of                        D. benefiting from

How is the passage organized?

  A. Main idea →Comparison → Supporting details

  B. Comparison→Argument→Explanation

  C. Main idea→Supporting details→Conclusion

  D. Example → Explanation → Conclusion

Soaring divorce rates around the globe are taking a toll on the environment, American researchers suggested in a study released on a Monday.

Michigan State University researcher Jianguo “Jack” Liu and his assistant Eunice Yu said the increasing number of divorces leads to more households with fewer people and greater consumption of water and energy. They said housing units require space, construction materials and fuel to heat and cool, regardless of the number of inhabitants.

For example, in the United States in 2005, divorced households consumed an extra 73 billion kilowatt hours of electricity and 627 billion gallons of water. An additional 38 million extra rooms required heating and lighting that same year due to divorced households.

That costs $6.9 billion in extra utility costs per year, Liu said, plus an added $ 3.6 billion for water, in addition to other costs such as land use.

“A married household actually uses resources more efficiently than a divorced household,” Liu said. He said that in cohabitating(同居) household, people will watch the same television, share the air conditioning and heat and use the same refrigerator. All things use energy at a regularly stable rate, regardless of the number of users.

 Liu said he was not condemning divorce, “Some people really need to get divorced.” He said cohabitation—whether by a family or friends—was simply a more environmentally friendly option. Additonally, the researchers noted that trends other than divorce are also changing family living structures, such as the end of multiple generations of a family sharing a home and people remaining single longer.

“People’s first reaction to this research is surprise, and then it seems simple.” Liu said in a press release. “But a lot of things become simple after research is done. Our challenges were to connect the dots and quantify(量化) their relationships. People have been talking about how to protect the environment and fight against climate change, but divorce is a factor that people don’t notice and it needs to be considered”.

He said the increasing energy demands caused by divorce should be considered by governments when they are creating environmental policies.

The research was published in this week’s online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

1.This passage is mainly meant to _______ .

  A. inform the readers of the increasing rates of divorce in America

  B. emphasize the importance of protecting the environment

  C. appeal to married people to maintain their marriage longer

  D. tell people the impact divorce has on the environment

2. According to the passage, what’s the attitude of Mr. Liu towards divorce?

  A. Critical   .             B. Indifferent.               C. Objective.                D. Negative.

3.We are told that ______ .

  A. divorced households will use fewer resources than married households

  B. married households are more willing to protect the environment

  C. divorced households contribute more to rapid economic development

  D. divorce is rarely considered when people think about protecting the environment.

4.The underlined phrase “taking a toll on” in Paragraph 1 probably means _____ .

  A. taking efforts to improve                         B. having a bad effect on 

  C. preventing the pollution of                        D. benefiting from

5. How is the passage organized?

  A. Main idea →Comparison → Supporting details

  B. Comparison→Argument→Explanation

  C. Main idea→Supporting details→Conclusion

  D. Example → Explanation → Conclusion

Everyone gets sick of hearing. “Put on your seat belt!”But it’s good advice. People who wear seat belts are 45 percent less likely to be killed while riding in the front seat of a car.
The US government wants more seat belt laws. It says children aged 4 to 15 are often killed in car accidents. In 2005, there were 1,627 children aged 4 to 15 killed in car accidents. More than 1,000 of those children were not wearing seat belts. If they had been wearing seat belts, 500 of those children could be alive today.
These children are too old to be in car seats, but they often sit in the back seat. Seat belt laws in many states, including Wisconsin, only require people in the front seat to wear seat belts. Children who aren’t wearing seat belts can be thrown from the car. The risk of dying in an accident is three times greater if the person is thrown from the car.
New laws could require children aged 4 to 8 to be in booster seats in the car. Booster seats help seat belts fit children properly. Right now, only 5 percent of children aged 4 to 8 are seated in booster seats.
While parents have the choice of whether wearing seat belts or not, children are too young to make that choice. Even if you decide not to wear a seat belt, make sure you children are in seat belts and car seats. It’s the law and it will save their lives.
【小題1】The underlined sentence “Everyone gets sick of hearing”in the first paragraph means“________”.

Soaring divorce rates around the globe are affecting the environment, American researchers suggested in a study released Monday.
Michigan State University researcher Jianguo “Jack” Liu and his assistant Eunice Yu said the increasing number of divorces leads to more households with fewer people and greater consumption of water and energy. They said housing units require space, construction materials and fuel to heat and cool, regardless of the number of inhabitants.
For example, in the United States in 2005, divorced households consumed an extra 73 billion kilowatt hours of electricity and 627 billion gallons of water. An additional 38 million extra rooms required heating and lighting that same year due to divorced households.
“A married household actually uses resources more efficiently than a divorced household”, Liu said. He said that in cohabitating households, people will watch the same television, share the air conditioning and heat and use the same refrigerator, all things that use energy at a regularly stable rate regardless of the number of users.
Liu said he was not condemning divorce, “Some people really need to get divorces.” He said that cohabitation was simply a more environmentally friendly option. Additionally, the researchers noted that trends other than divorce are also changing family living structures, such as the end of multiple generations of a family sharing a home and people remaining single longer.
“People’s first reaction to this research is surprise, and then it seems simple.” Liu said in a release, “But a lot of things become simple after research is done. Our challenges were to connect the dots and quantify their relationships. People have been talking about how to protect the environment and refuse climate change, but divorce is an overlooked factor that needs to be considered.”
He said the increasing energy demands caused by divorce should be considered by governments when they are creating environmental policies.
This passage is mainly meant to ____.
A. inform the reader of the increasing divorce in America
B. emphasize the importance of protecting the environment
C. tell people the effect divorce has on the environment
D. appeal to married people to keep their households
According to the passage, what’s the attitude of Mr. Liu towards divorce?
A. Supportive       B. Objective.       C. Indifferent.       D. Unclear.
It can be inferred from the passage that ____.
A. divorced households will promote the sales of products
B. married households are more willing to protect the environment
C. divorced households contribute more to the society’s development
D. divorce is not taken into account when people are protecting the environment
From this passage we can find that ____.
A. divorce rates are quickly rising globally these years
B. cohabiting households will increase consumption of water and energy
C. to divorce is a wise option according to the passage
D. the end of multi-generations of a family will save energy