The total amount of packaging increased by 12% between 1999 and 2005. It now makes up a third of a typical household's waste in the UK. In many supermarkets nowadays food items are packaged twice with plastic and cardboard.

　　Too much packaging is doing serious damage to the environment. The UK, for example, is running out of it for burying this unnecessary waste. If such packaging is burnt, it gives off greenhouse gases which go on to cause the greenhouse effect. Recycling helps, but the process itself uses energy. The solution is not to produce such items in the first place. Food waste is a serious problem, too. Too many supermarkets encourage customers to buy more than they need. However, a few of them are coming round to the idea that this cannot continue, encouraging customers to reuse their plastic bags, for example.

　　But this is not just about supermarkets. It is about all of us. We have learned to associate packaging with quality. We have learned to think that something unpackaged is of poor quality. This is especially true of food. But is also applies to a wide range of consumer products, which often have far more packaging than necessary.

　　There are signs of hope. As more of us recycle, we are beginning to realise just how much unnecessary material are collecting. We need to face the wastefulness of our consumer culture, but we have a mountain to climb.

　　6. What does the underlined phrase“that over-consumption” refer to?

【2017届高考英语二轮专题总复习 阅读能力培养精品系列（二十六）】相关文章：

★ 专家建议高考英语二轮复习一点要培养语感

★ 重庆市2014高考英语阅读理解一轮（精品）训练题（16）附答案

★ 2017年高考英语二轮复习精品资料：专题15 完形填空（押题专练）（原卷版）

★ 【优化方案】2017届高考英语二轮复习全国卷Ⅱ题型重组训练：第11组（含解析）

★ 2014届高考英语一轮复习课时作业(四十三)选修8Module 1《Deep South》（外研版）

★ 2014届高考英语一轮复习课时作业(四十一)选修7Module 5《Ethnic Culture》（外研版）

★ 【课堂新坐标】2017届高考英语（通用版）二轮复习书面表达专题训练：技法6 规避重复适当进行句式升级（含解析）

★ 2017高考四川省广安市英语阅读理解一轮系列训练：16（含解析）

★ 2017届高考英语二轮复习大题冲关秘籍完形填空之记叙文：体验真题（含解析）

★ 2017高考四川省广安市英语阅读理解一轮系列训练：15（含解析）