Fines for dropping rubbish are set to rise to £150 under plans to hit litter louts “in the pocket”.

Ministers are preparing to publish a strategy that will “create a lasting neat and tidy legacy for England”. It comes as campaigners leading a nationwide clean up operation in March ahead of the Queen’s 90th birthday called on the public to challenge people who drop litter.

Penalties set by councils for those who drop litter on the road range from £50 to £80 but the Department for Communities and Local Government will recommend higher fixed penalties of up to £150, according to The Daily Telegraph. The minimum fine is set to double from £50 to £100, it added.

Communities minister Marcus Jones told newspaper, “Dropping litter in the public places is the kind of anti-social behavior that really gets people’s backs up, and rightly so. It’s thoughtless, selfish and ruins shared spaces for everyone. Not only that, litter clearance and removal costs hundreds of millions of pounds for councils every year—money that could be going on more urgently needed services. If litter louts can’t put their rubbish in the bin perhaps we can hit them in the pocket instead.”

Adrian Evans, chief executive of the Clean for the Queen campaign, said some people thought it was their “human right” to drop rubbish and urged the public to challenge them. He told the newspaper,“It can be quite a scary thing because you are pointing a finger of blame, you are casting aspersion on the character of the person who has dropped the litter. But the way I have done it in the past is to treat it as though they have made a mistake and something has carelessly fallen out of their bag or pocket. Sort of, ‘Oh no, did you mean to drop that?’”

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1.What is the background that leads to the rise of fines for dropping rubbish on the road?

A The government wants to leave a neat and tidy property for England.

B A nationwide cleanup for the Queen’s 90th birthday is going underway.

C The ministers think that dropping rubbish is sort of an-social behavior.

D Some people don’t want to put their rubbish in the bin as recommended.

解析：选B。细节理解题。根据文章第二段It comes as campaigners leading a nationwide clean up operation in March ahead of the Queen’s 90th birthday called on the public to challenge people who drop litter可知，为庆祝女王90岁诞辰，举办全国性的街道环境清扫活动，为了有效制止乱丢垃圾的行为，政府部门出台新规定，对乱扔垃圾者的罚款增加到150英镑，故选B。

2.The underlined words in Paragraph Four mean _______.

A give them support

B make them angry

C turn them down

D agree with them

解析：选B。词义猜测题。根据第四段语境中的anti-social, thoughtless, selfish等否定性词汇可知，get one’s back up意为“使某人恼火，使……生气”，故选B。

3.What is implied in what Adrian Evans said in the last paragraph?

A It is a terrible thing to blame those who litter on the road.

B Those who litter on the road should be respected rather than criticized.

C People littering on the road are just careless and shouldn’t be blamed.

D Those littering on the road didn’t mean to do that and shouldn’t be fined.

解析：选D。推理判断题。Adrian Evans的话中用了mistake与carelessly等词，由此判断，他不认同对丢垃圾者的罚款，他认为这些人并非是故意为之，不应当被罚款，故选D。

4.What is the author’s attitude toward the plan to hit litter louts “in the pocket”?

A Enthusiastic.

B Doubtful.

C Negative.

D Surprising.

解析：选A。观点态度题。作者在文中使用了很多否定词汇，如lout, anti-social, thoughtless, selfish, ruin等，表达了对乱丢垃圾者的不满态度，由此判断，作者对于政府出台的对破坏环境卫生乱丢垃圾的行为增加罚款的做法是持赞同态度的，故选A。