Part A: Reading Comprehension

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Arnold Schwarzenegger, Dia Mirza and Adrian Grenier have a message for you: It’s easy to beat plastic. They’re part of a bunch of celebrities starring in a new video for World Environment Day—encouraging you, the consumer, to swap out your single-use plastic staples to combat the plastics crisis.

The key messages that have been put together for World Environment Day do include a call for governments to enact legislation to curb single-use plastics. But the overarching message is directed at individuals.

My concern with leaving it up to the individual, however, is our limited sense of what needs to be achieved. On their own, taking our own bags to the grocery store or quitting plastic straws, for example, will accomplish little and require very little of us. They could even be harmful, satisfying a need to have “done our bit” without ever progressing onto bigger, bolder, more effective actions—a kind of “moral licensing” that eases our concerns and stops us doing more and asking more of those in charge.

While the conversation around our environment and our responsibility toward it remains centered on shopping bags and straws, we’re ignoring the balance of power that implies that as “consumers” we must shop sustainably, rather than as “citizens” hold our governments and industries to account to push for real systemic change.

It’s important to acknowledge that the environment isn’t everyone’s priority—or even most people’s. We shouldn’t expect it to be. In her latest book, Why Good People Do Bad Environmental Things, Wellesley College professor Elizabeth R. DeSombre argues that the best way to collectively change the behavior of large numbers of people is for the change to be structural.

This might mean implementing policy such as a plastic tax that adds a cost to environmentally problematic action, or banning single-use plastics altogether. India has just announced it will “eliminate all single-use plastic in the country by 2022.” There are also incentive-based ways of making better environmental choices easier, such as ensuring recycling is at least as easy as trash disposal.

DeSombre isn’t saying people should stop caring about the environment. It’s just that individual actions are too slow, she says, for that to be the only, or even primary, approach to changing widespread behavior.

None of this is about writing off the individual. It’s just about putting things into perspective. We don’t have time to wait. We need progressive policies that shape collective action, alongside engaged citizens pushing for change.

36. Some celebrities star in a new video to

[A]

demand new laws on the use of plastics. 

[B]

urge consumers to cut the use of plastics. 

[C]

invite public opinion on the plastics crisis. 

[D]

disclose the causes of the plastics crisis. 

37. The author is concerned that “moral licensing” may

[A]

mislead us into doing worthless things. 

[B]

prevent us from making further efforts. 

[C]

weaken our sense of accomplishment. 

[D]

suppress our desire for success. 

38. By pointing out our identity “citizens”, the author indicates that

[A]

our focus should be shifted to community welfare. 

[B]

our relationship with local industries is improving. 

[C]

we have been actively exercising our civil rights. 

[D]

we should press our government to lead the combat. 

39. DeSombre argues that the best way for a collective change should be

[A]

a win-win arrangement. 

[B]

a self-driven mechanism. 

[C]

a cost-effective approach. 

[D]

a top-down process. 

40. The author concludes that individual efforts

[A]

can be too aggressive. 

[B]

can be too inconsistent. 

[C]

are far from sufficient. 

[D]

are far from rational. 

答案解析 (Answers & Explanations)

36. [B] urge consumers to cut the use of plastics.
解析：第一段第二句指出，名人们主演视频是为了“鼓励你，作为消费者，换掉你的一次性塑料必需品，以对抗塑料危机（encouraging you, the consumer, to swap out your single-use plastic staples...）”。“swap out single-use plastic”对应选项B的“敦促消费者削减塑料的使用”。

37. [B] prevent us from making further efforts.
解析：第三段最后解释了“道德许可（moral licensing）”的危害：它“减轻了我们的担忧，并且阻止我们做更多的事以及向负责人要求更多（eases our concerns and stops us doing more and asking more...）”。“stops us doing more”直接对应选项B的“阻碍我们做出进一步的努力（prevent us from making further efforts）”。

38. [D] we should press our government to lead the combat.
解析：第四段指出，我们一直局限在“消费者”的身份里购物，却忽视了权力平衡，即我们本应该作为“公民”去“追究政府和工业界的责任，以推动真正的系统性变革（as “citizens” hold our governments and industries to account to push for real systemic change）”。这意味着我们应该以公民身份施压政府来领导这场对抗，选D。

39. [D] a top-down process.
解析：第五段最后一句，DeSombre 教授认为共同改变大量人群行为的最佳方式是“让这种改变是结构性的（structural）”。第六段接着举例说这可能意味着实施政策，比如征收塑料税或全面禁止一次性塑料。这种由政府出台政策来改变社会的结构性变化，本质上就是一种“自上而下的过程（a top-down process）”，选D。

40. [C] are far from sufficient.
解析：作者在最后一段得出结论：“这并不是要抹杀个人（的努力）……我们只是没有时间等待了。我们需要塑造集体行动的进步政策，并加上积极争取变革的公民”。再结合第七段“个人行动太慢了，不能作为唯一或主要的方法”。因此，作者的结论是个人努力虽然不应该被抹杀，但它们“远远不够（are far from sufficient）”，必须要有政策的加持，选C。

核心长难句精解 (High-Light)

1. 现在分词作结果状语与同位语：
"They could even be harmful, satisfying a need to have “done our bit” without ever progressing onto bigger, bolder, more effective actions—a kind of “moral licensing” that eases our concerns and stops us doing more and asking more of those in charge."
【解析】`satisfying...` 是现在分词短语作伴随/结果状语，解释为什么它们（个人微小的环保举动）可能是有害的。破折号后面是同位语，将这种现象概括为 `moral licensing`（道德许可），随后用 `that` 引导的定语从句解释了它的危害：让人产生“我已经做过贡献了”的错觉，从而停止更深入的行动。

2. while 引导的让步状语与 rather than 对比：
"While the conversation around our environment... remains centered on shopping bags and straws, we’re ignoring the balance of power that implies that as “consumers” we must shop sustainably, rather than as “citizens” hold our governments and industries to account to push for real systemic change."
【解析】`While` 引导让步状语从句。主句的谓语是 `ignoring`。`implies` 后面跟着 `that` 引导的宾语从句。从句中使用了 `rather than`（而不是）构成了鲜明的身份和行为对比：仅仅作为“消费者”去购物 VS 作为“公民”去问责政府。

3. 举例与比较级结构：
"There are also incentive-based ways of making better environmental choices easier, such as ensuring recycling is at least as easy as trash disposal."
【解析】`such as` 后面跟动名词 `ensuring` 作为宾语。在 `ensuring` 的宾语从句中，使用了 `as... as...`（和...一样）的同级比较结构：确保回收利用至少和扔垃圾一样容易。