hardly sleep. It was as though she had suddenly developed a strange illness.
Experts finally traced the cause of her illness. The leyel of of formaldehyde(甲醛) gas in her kitchen was twice the maximum allowed by federal standards for chemical workers. The source of the gas? Her new kitchen cabinets and wall |to |wall carpeting.
The Ouchidas are victims of indoor air pollution, which is not given sufficient attention partly because of the nation's drive to save energy. The problem itself isn't new. "The indoor environment was dirty long before energy conservation came along," says Moschandreas, a pollution scientist at Geomet Technologies in Maryland. "Energy conservation has tended to accentuate the situation in some cases."
The problem appears to be more troublesome in newly constructed homes rather than old ones. Back in the days when energy was cheap, home builders didn't worry much about unsealed cracks. Because of such leaks, the air in an average home was replaced by fresh outdoor air about once an hour. As a result, the pollutants generated in most households seldom built up to dangerous levels.
31. It can be learned from the passage that the Ouchidas' house_______.
A) is well worth the money spent on its construction
B) is almost faultless from the point of energy conservation
C) failed to meet energy conservation standards
D) was designed and constructed in a scientific way
32. What made the Ouchidas' new house a horrible dream?
A) Lack of fresh air.
B) Poor quality of buildig materials.
C) Gas leakage in the kitchen.
D) The newly painted walls
33. The word "accentuate"(Line 4, Para. 3) most probably means "________".
A) relieve B) accelerate C) worsen D) improve
34. Why were cracks in old houses not a big concern?
A) Because indoor cleanness was not emphasized.
B) Because energy used to be inexpensive.
C) Because environmental protection was given top priority.
D) Because they were technically unavoidable.
35. This passage is most probably taken from an article entitled "________" .
A) Energy Conservation B) House Building Crisis
C) Air Pollution Indoors D) Traps in Building Consruction
Passage Four
Questions 36 to 40 are based on the following passage.
In 1993, New York State ordered stores to charge a deposit on beverage(饮料) containers. Within a year, consumers had returned millions of aluminum cans and glass and plastic bottles. Plenty of companies were eager to accept the aluminum and g
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