Question

The traditional tent cities at festivals such as Glastonbury may never be the same again. In a victory of green business that is certain to appeal to environmentally-aware music-lovers, a design student is to receive financial support to produce eco-friendly tents made of cardboard that can be recycled after the bands and the crowds have gone home.

Major festivals such as Glastonbury throw away some 10,000 abandoned tents at the end of events each year. For his final year project at the University of the West of England, James Dunlop came up with a material that can be recycled. And to cope with the British summer, the cardboard has been made waterproof.

Taking inspiration from a Japanese architect, who has used cardboard to make big buildings including churches, Mr. Dunlop used cardboard material for his tents, which he called Myhabs.

The design won an award at the annual New Designers Exhibition after Mr. Dunlop graduated from his product design degree and he decided to try to turn it into a business.

To raise money for the idea, he toured the City’s private companies which fund new business and found a supporter in the finance group Mint. He introduced his idea to four of Mint’s directors and won their support. Mint has committed around ??500,000 to MyHab and taken a share of 30 per cent in Mr. Dunlop’s business. The first Myhabs should be tested at festivals this summer, before being marketed fully next year.

Mr. Dunlop said that the design, which accommodates two people, could have other uses, such as for disaster relief and housing for the London Olympics.

For music events, the cardboard houses will be ordered online and put up at the sites by the Myhab team before the festival-goers arrive and removed by the company afterwards. They can be personalized and the company will offer reductions on the expense if people agree to sell exterior (外部的) advertising space.

The biggest festivals attract tens of thousands of participants, with Glastonbury having some 150,000 each year. Altogether there are around 100 annual music festivals where people camp in the UK. The events are becoming increasingly environmentally conscious.

“Eco-friendly tents” in paragraph 1 refer to tents _______.

   A. economically desirable       B. favorable to the environment

   C. for holding music performances D. designed for disaster relief

Mr. Dunlop established his business ______.

   A. independently with an interest-free loan from Mint

   B. with the approval of the City’s administration

   C. in partnership with a finance group

   D. with the help of a Japanese architect

It is implied in the passage that _______.

   A. the weather in the UK is changeable in summer

   B. most performances at British festivals are given in the open air

   C. the cardboard tents produced by Mr. Dunlop can be user-tailored

D. cardboard tents can be easily put up and removed by users.

The passage is mainly concerned with ______.

A. an attempt at developing recyclable tents

B. some efforts at making full use of cardboards

C. an unusual success of a graduation project

   D. the effects of using cardboard tents on music festivals

Answer 1

【小題1】B

【小題2】C

【小題3】C

【小題4】A

解析:

【小題1】 細節理解題。由文章第一段最后一句中的 “…eco-friendly tents made of cardboard that can be recycled.”可推斷出，這種用薄紙片制作的帳篷有利于環保。

【小題2】 細節理解題。由文章第五段第一句中的 “…and found a support in the finance group Mint”可知，Mr. Dunlop與一個金融機構合伙創辦此項業務。

【小題3】 細節理解題。文章倒數第二段開頭提到“…will be ordered online and put up…and removed…”，因此可得知正確答案是C。這種用薄紙片制作的帳篷使用非常方便。

【小題4】 推理判斷題。本篇文章介紹一種用薄紙片制作的帳篷可回收，非常有利于環保。故答案是A。