想要在托福阅读考试中获得高分，平时就要多阅读一些英语类的文章，不断提高理解能力，增加背景知识。今天小编为大家带来的是一篇关于“电子垃圾”的托福阅读文章，并对文章进行了详细的分析，大家一起来学习一下吧。
内容提要：
一、背景介绍
二、文章讲解
三、题目分析(文章主旨题/指代题/负面事实信息题)
一、背景介绍
e-waste，俗称电子垃圾，指被废弃不再使用的电器或电子设备，主要包括电冰箱、空调、洗衣机、电视机等家用电器和计算机等通讯电子产品等的淘汰品。
电子垃圾的危害：环境污染;威胁健康
二、文章讲解
1. 词汇
1)dispose 清除，解决，处理
2)oblige 迫使，责成(be obliged to do sth. 有义务，不得不……)
3)the Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) 《有害物质限制使用规定》
4)Greenpeace 绿色和平组织
5)any more than 不超过，至多
no more than 至多
no less than 不少于
would rather/sooner…than…宁愿
hardly/scarcely/no sooner…than…一……就……
rather than…而不是……
6)in this regard 在这方面，关于此事
引申1：regard vt.注视，认为，看作
e.g. She wears strange clothes and is widely regarded as eccentric.
引申2：regarding prep.关于
e.g. Regarding your question, I would like to explain it to you.
7)counterculture 反文化
记忆：counter-对抗，对立;culture-文化
8)heel-dragger 拖后腿的人
记忆：heel-脚后跟;drag-拖
2. 文章分析
How green is your Apple?
Disposing of computers, monitors, printers and mobile phones is a large and growing environmental problem. Some 20m-50m tones of "e-waste" is produced each year, most of which ends up in the developing countries. According to the European Union, e-waste is now the fastest-growing category. Last month new rules came into force in both Europe and California to oblige the industry to take responsibility for it. In Europe the Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) directive limits the use of many toxic materials in new electronic products sold in the European Union. In California mobile-phone retailers must now take back and recycle old phones.
废旧电脑、显示器、打印机和手机的处理是一个日趋严重的环境问题。每年大约有2～5千万吨“电子废品”形成，其中大部分是在发展中国家。欧盟认为“电子废品”是目前增长速度最快的一类“产品”。上个月，欧洲和美国加利福尼亚均出台了新规定，要求电子产业要为此负责。欧洲的《有害物质限制使用规定》对在欧盟范围内销售的新电子产品涉及的众多有毒物质都进行了使用限定。加里福利亚则规定手机零售商现在必须对旧手机进行回收和废物处理。
Many technology firms are already eliminating certain chemicals and offering recycling schemes to help their customers dispose of obsolete equipment. Yet there is a wide variation in just how green different companies are, according to Greenpeace, an environmental protection group that launches a new e-waste campaign on August 25th. It has ranked the top mobile-phone and PC-makers based on their progress in eliminating chemicals and in taking back and recycling products.
许多科技公司都正在去除产品中所含的特定化学物质，并向客户提供废物处理方案，以帮助其处理陈旧设备。不过据绿色和平组织称，不同公司的环保状况存在很大差异。该组织是一个环境问题游说团体，它于 8月25日发起了一项新的“电子废品”运动。它根据手机和个人电脑制造商在去除化学物质以及产品回收和废物再利用方面的进展情况，对一些顶级制造商进行了排名。
The RoHS rules ban products containing any more than trace amounts of lead, mercury, cadmium and other hazardous substances, including some nasty materials called brominated flame-retardants (BFRs). To do well in Greenpeace's rankings, firms must make sure both products and production processes are free of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and some BFRs that are not on the RoHS list. Greenpeace also wants companies to adopt a “precautionary principle” and avoid chemicals if their environmental impact is uncertain.
《有害物质限制使用规定》禁止生产含有超量铅、汞、镉以及包括某些难闻物质即溴化阻燃剂(BFR)在内的其它有害物质的产品。至于要想在绿色和平组织的排名中有出色表现，各公司还必须确认产品及生产过程中未使用聚氯乙烯(PVC)和《有害物质限制使用规定》中未列出的某些BFR。同时，绿色和平组织还希望各公司采取“预防原则”，从而避免使用某些对环境影响作用不确切的化学物质。
Although not everyone will agree with Greenpeace's methodology, its ranking still has some merit. Nokia does well: the world's biggest handset-maker has already got rid of PVC from its products and will eliminate all BFRs from next year. But, Greenpeace grumbles, it is not sufficiently “precautionary” in other areas. Dell, however, scores well in this regard and on recycling, but loses marks for not having phased out PVC and BFRs yet, though it has set a deadline for doing so.
虽然绿色和平组织的这套方法没有得到所有人的认同，但它的排名仍旧具有一定的价值。诺基亚表现出色 ——这个全球最大的手机制造商已经从其产品中去掉了PVC，并从明年起将去除所有溴化阻燃剂。(注：诺基亚排名第一)不过，绿色和平组织抱怨说，诺基亚在其它化学物质的“预防”使用上做得还不够。戴尔公司在这方面以及废物再利用上表现得就很好，但是由于尚未去除PVC和BFR而被扣分，尽管它已经为此制定了最后期限。(注：戴尔排名第二)
Perhaps the biggest surprise is the poor rating of Apple. Despite having an image steeped in California's counterculture, it is one of the worst heel-draggers, says Zeina Al-Hajj of Greenpeace. The company insists that it has a strong record in recycling and has eliminated BFRs and PVC from the main plastic parts in its products. It scores badly because it has not eliminated such chemicals altogether, has not set time limits for doing so, does not provide a full list of regulated substances and is insufficiently precautionary for Greenpeace's taste. As for recycling, the 9,500 tonnes of electronics Apple says it has recycled since 1994 is puny given the amount of equipment the firm sells, says Ms Al-Hajj. Apple responds that many of its products (such as the iPod music-player) are small and light. Greenpeace points out that Nokia also makes tiny devices, but is much better at recycling them.
最出人意料的可能是苹果电脑的糟糕名次。绿色和平组织的哈吉说，虽然苹果公司深受加里福利亚反传统文化的熏陶而给人以不拘一格的印象，但它的表现仍然最糟糕(拖了清除电子废品运动的后腿)。该公司坚称有记录表明自己在废物再利用方面做得很好，而且也已经去除了其产品的主要塑料部件中的BFR和 PVC。它之所以得分低，是因为它并未完全消除此类化学物质，也没有为此制定最后期限，没有给出一份完整的校准物质名单，没有按照绿色和平组织的意思完全做到防患于未然。至于废物回收再利用问题，哈吉女士说，苹果公司自称从1994年以来已回收了9500吨电子元件，但相比其产品总销量而言，这是微不足道的。苹果公司回应说，其多数产品体积都比较小，也不重(如iPod音乐播放器)，而绿色和平组织却指出，诺基亚生产的也是小型装置，但在回收再利用方面表现得就比苹果公司好很多。
三、题目分析
1. 文章主旨题(文章总结题)
Which of the following is the best title?
A. How serious the environmental pollution is
B. Greenpeacean- an environmental protective organization
C. Top mobile phone and PC makers are making efforts to take back the old products
D. How green is your computer?
这道题是主旨题，考查考生对文章内容的总结，与托福阅读的最后一题文章总结题类似。这道题问的是下列四个选项哪个是这篇文章最好的题目，下面我们一一来分析一下。
这篇文章主要是围绕电子垃圾来讲的，而不是环境污染的问题，因此A选项和B选项都是不正确的;C选项在文章中只是作为细节出现的，而不是文章的主要内容，因此也是错误的;剩余D选项是正确的。
2. 负面事实信息题(否定事实信息题)
Which of the following is NOT true about Nokia?
A. It is the world's biggest cellphone maker.
B. Its products no longer contain PVC.
C. It has eliminated all BFRs from its products.
D. Greenpeace does not think it does well in every aspect.
根据题目中的关键词“Nokia”，我们定位到原文中的“Greenpeace also wants companies to adopt a “precautionary principle” and avoid chemicals if their environmental impact is uncertain. Although not everyone will agree with Greenpeace's methodology, its ranking still has some merit. Nokia does well: the world's biggest handset-maker has already got rid of PVC from its products and will eliminate all BFRs from next year.”，原文主要讲了三点内容：1)诺基亚是世界最大的手机制造商;2)诺基亚在处理电子垃圾方面做得很好;2)诺基亚已经成功去除PVC，并从明年起将去除所有的BFR。下面看一下选项：A选项对应第一条;B选项对应第三条前半部分;C选项与第三条后半部分信息不符;D选项在文中也有体现，因此这道题应该选择C选项。
3. 指代题
Yet there is a wide variation in just how green different companies are, according to Greenpeace, an environmental protection group that launches a new e-waste campaign on August 25th. It has ranked the top mobile-phone and PC-makers based on their progress in eliminating chemicals and in taking back and recycling products.
“It”refers to
A. A new e-waste campaign
B. mobile- phone
C. an environmental protection group
D. Greenpeace
这是一道指代题，题目问的是“It”指代的是什么。解答指代题，我们先要回到原文看一下前面那句话中的主语是什么。一般情况下，前一句话的主语就是后面“it”所指代的内容。那么来看原文，it前面一句话中的主语是Greenpeace，然后把这个主语带入到It的位置，符合逻辑，因此正确答案是D选项。
以上就是小编为大家带来的英语阅读文章分析，希望能给考生的学习带来帮助。最后，小编祝愿各位考生在托福考试中取得好成绩!
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