申論題

III. Reading Comprehension (40%) Please read the passages and choose the best
answer to the questions.

            When Newsweek ran its first Green Rankings in 2009, climate change was high on the agenda. The U.S. House had passed a cap-and-trade bill to put a price on carbon, and the world’s biggest economies were about to make history with an agreement to cut greenhouse-gas emissions. Since then, green momentum has seriously stalled, at least in the public sector. The U.N. Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen at the end of 2009 ended without an agreement, and climate science in the U.S. has been politicized by Tea Partiers and others. A skeptical Congress,plus the ongoing economic downturn, have made environmental regulations a tough sell. Elsewhere in the world, there is some movement--such as in Australia, where the lower house has just passed a carbon tax--but it’s slow.
            If governments are hesitating, many of the globe’s big companies missed the memo. Top-ranked companies are approaching green projects with increasing tenacity, even in this weak economy. Corporate sustainability, it seems, is here for the long haul--it makes sense not just for the sake of the planet, but for the business.“Big companies have decided that this is a long-term play,” says Thomas Lyon, a professor at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business. The Newsweek Green Rankings are unique in that they allow the environmental performance of all different kinds of companies to be compared on one level playing field. That’s because Newsweek considers not only the actual environmental footprint of each company, but how well it manages that impact through policies, programs, and initiatives. In other words, even firms that are pulled down by a heavy impact can get
a boost in the rankings if they take their environmental management seriously. The companies Newsweek evaluated fall into 19 industry sectors, from Technology Equipment to Food and Beverage.
(Source: Newsweek, October 24, 2011 by Ian Yarett)

2. Based on information in this passage, which of the following would most likely be considered true? (A) The environmental management of different types of companies is evaluated based on different criteria. (B) Sony does not fall into the industry sectors evaluated by Newsweek. (C) Green Rankings include many different types of companies. (D) Since 2009, green projects have been increased in the public sector.