Listening exercise: NPR: Environment
Taiwan Aims to be 'Zero Waste' Society by 2020
by Lisa Schlein
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4555277

Vocabulary:

environmental
to eliminate
garbage
litter
society
recyclable
profitable
goods
bone-crushing
to expect
to pick up
major city
waste management
expert
Harvey Hung
serenade
bags
to deposit
directly
truck
unlike
rarely
taught
University of Texas at Houston
to summon
to advise
to control
runaway
dense
population
high-rise buildings
to joke
Environmental Protection Agency

to embark on
ambitious program
to turn things around
to implement
fee-per-package
policy
under this system
standard-sized
to collect
fee
to reduce
to produce
in turn
to bolster
efforts
to separate
to appear to be Ving
quantity
to stimulate
industries
to manufacture
aluminum cans
to crack down on
litter bugs
video cameras
street corners
to monitor
citizens
to be involved in
kitchen
Grand Hyatt Hotel
den
fire-breathing dragon
steward and manager
guide
to labor at
steaming
wok
around the clock
to prepare
Western-style
hotel guests
eventually
to generate
to employ
to sort
bin
trash
freezer
spoilage
outside contractor
farmers
compost
to feed
pigs
freelance
a booming business
Government Information officer
Wei-ming Liu
to imitate
to pedal a bicycle
to complement
melodic tones
to relate to
to be derived from
popular song

Listening comprehension questions:
1. What goal has Taiwan set, in what time frame? How realistic do you think it is?
2. How apparently does the situation in Taipei compare with that in many other cities?
3. How long has Harvey Hung been back in Taiwan?
4. What policy seems to have motivated people to reduce the waste they produce? When did it start?
5. What, in addition to a reduced quantity of garbage, is another benefit of the waste-reduction policy?
6. How is wet garbage managed at the Grand Hyatt and what is it used for?
7. Do you feel there has been an improvement in the level of cleanliness in Taiwan over the past five years or so? Explain.
8. What is your reaction to the English you hear spoken in this program by people from Taiwan?

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