阅读理解
Polyester (聚酯 ) is now being used for bottles. ICI, the chemicals and plastics company, believes
that it is now beginning to break the control of glass on the bottle business and thus take advantage of
this huge market.
All the plastics manufacturers have been experiencing hard times as their traditional products have
been doing badly worldwide for the last few years. Between 1982 and 1984 the Plastics Division of
ICI had lost a hundred and twenty million dollars, and they felt that the most hopeful new market was
in packaging, bottles and cans.
Since 1982 it has opened three new factories producing "Melinar", the raw material from which
high quality polyester bottles are made.
The polyester bottle was born in the 1970s, when soft drinks companies like Coca Cola started
selling their drinks in giant two-liter containers. Because of the build-up of the pressure of gas in these
large containers, glass was unsuitable. Nor was PVC, the plastic which had been used for bottles since
the 1960s, suitable for drinks with gas in them. A new plastic had to be made.
Glass is still cheaper for the smaller bottles, and will continue to be so unless oil and plastic become
much cheaper, but plastic does well for the larger sizes.
Polyester bottles are virtually unbreakable. The manufacturers claim they are also lighter, less noisy
when being handled, and can be reused. Shopkeepers and other business people are unlikely to object
to a change from glass to polyester, since these bottles mean few breakages, which are costly and
time-consuming. The public, though, have been more difficult to persuade. ICI's commercial department
is developing different bottles with interesting shapes, to try and make them visually more attractive to
the public.
The next step could be to develop a plastic which could replace tins for food. The problem here is
the high temperatures necessary for cooking the food in the container.
1. Plastics of various kinds have been used for making bottles__________.
A. since 1982
B. since the 1970s but only for large bottles
C. since the 1960s but not for liquids with gas in them
D. since companies like Coca Cola first tried them
2. Why is ICI's Plastics Division interested in polyester for bottles?
A. The other things they make are not selling well.
B. Glass manufacturers cannot make enough new bottles.
C. They have factories which could be adapted to make it.
D. The price of oil keeps changing.
3. Manufacturers think polyester bottles are better than glass bottles because they ______.
A. are cheaper
B. are more suited to small sizes
C. are more exciting to look at
D. do not break easily
4. Plastic containers for holding food in the same way as cans______.
A. have been used for many years
B. are an idea that interests the plastics companies
C. are possible, but only for hot food
D. are the first things being made in the new factories
