2012中考英语冲刺28.pdf

2012 中考英语冲刺 28 READING 挑战中考阅读 阅读短文，根据其内容回答问题。 One cool April 22 morning, people started the day as usual. Yet it was not a normal day. Whats so special about April 22? The answer is simple. It is Earth Day. People all over the world celebrate this important day. The idea of having a special day to celebrate Earth began in the 1960s. Life was very different then. Few people talked or even thought about the environment. Most people had no idea how dirty our air and water were. On April 22, 1970, twenty million Americans joined the first Earth Day activities. They showed that people really did want to do something about the environment. Since then laws have been passed to protect the air, water, land, and animals. The vehicles such as cars and buses you ride in must pass tests to make sure they dont cause too much pollution. Thanks to this law, cars today release (排放) about half as many bad chemicals as cars did back in 1970. As a result, the air we breathe is cleaner than it once was. Rivers and lakes are also cleaner today than they were in the 1970s. Its a good thing because they needed a lot of help. The Cuyahoga River in Ohio was so polluted that rubbish and oil on the river even caught fire! Today, the river is cleaner. It no longer burns. Its healthy enough for birds, fish, and other animals. Now the celebration has spread to other countries. More than 175 countries take part each year. In 2007, people in China paid much attention to a big problem. People were throwing away 27 million plastic bags a day! People had “Bye-Bye Throwaway Culture Week”. They wanted everyone to see how polluted it was to throw away so many plastic bags. In 2008, China passed new laws against them. Every April 22, millions get together to clean and protect Earth. They also celebrate ho