阅读理解。
With more and more wineries (酿酒厂) offering organic varieties to lower their eco-footprint
(生态足迹), it's no surprise that they're looking at the environmental impacts of their packaging as
well. The making of conventional glass bottles and the corks (软木塞) uses large quantities of natural
resources and causes a lot of pollution.
Beyond manufacturing, the transport of wine in glass bottles across the country and around the
world also has its environmental effect. Trucking all the heavy glass bottles causes a much larger carbon
footprint than the transportation of much lighter boxed wine. Almost half the weight of an ordinary case
of wine comes from the bottles; about 95 percent of the weight of a case of boxed wine is the wine itself.
"A standard wine bottle holds 750 milliliters of wine and causes about 5.2 pounds of carbon dioxide
when it travels from a farm in California to a store in New York," reports Colman, a researcher. "A
3-liter box causes about half the carbon dioxide per 750 milliliters."
According to the Wine Group, the third largest wine company in the world and a big advocate for
switching away from glass bottles, there are other advantages to boxed wine (which typically includes
a plastic bag within a cardboard box). The vacuum (真空的) packaging of boxed wine allows it to stay
fresh for up to six weeks in the fridge once the seal is broken and the first glass has been poured.
Still, despite the benefits, boxed wine may still be a tough pill to swallow for many wine experts.
"Even those traditionalists who are coming around to the idea that maybe screw caps (螺旋盖) are fine
for some wines, would not like the idea of a cellar (酒窖) full of cardboard boxes," says wine writer Lee
Asbell. "It is difficult to imagine how wine service at fine-dining establishments would handle such a
change." For now, boxed wine is still the field of cheaper brands. But that could all change as more and
more wine makers and drinkers take responsibility for saving the Earth.
1. Compared with glass bottled wine, boxed wine _______.
A. wastes more natural resources
B. is difficult to transport
C. causes less eco-footprint
D. takes up more space
2. What do we know about boxed wine from the passage?
A. Corks are still needed to close it
B. It's not suitable for long-distance transport
C. It must be kept in the fridge during the transport
D. The special packaging makes it stay fresh longer once it's opened
3. From the last paragraph, we can infer that _______.
A. wine drinkers think boxed wine has a different taste
B. a cellar isn't a good place to store cardboard boxed wine
C. boxed wine is more expensive than glass bottled wine
D. many wine experts still find it hard to accept boxed wine
4. The author writes this passage to _______.
A. call on people to drink less wine
B. advise packaging wine with different materials
C. advocate using boxes to store wine
D. introduce how to keep wine fresh after the bottle is opened
