Charity workers have worked with a poor village in eastern India to develop what they say is the world’s cheapest bottle of drinking water -- costing less than one US cent. After years of suffering illnesses from drinking polluted ground water, people of Madusudankati are now receiving clean bottled supplies thanks to a new purification factory.

“I saw a little of hope when I heard that a water purifying factory would be built in our village," local farmer Pralay Mallick said. "I thought that our children would be safe.” Bindeshwar Pathak, founder of Indian charity Sulabh International, said the factory started operating several months ago producing 8,000 litres of water per day. "And the water costs 50 paise (less than one cent) per litre, which makes it the cheapest purified, bottled water in the world," Pathak told AFP. "The village has been supplied the water in 20 litre bottles to households, shops and markets in the area," he said, adding that more than 10,000 people were benefiting from the project. The water is also supplied free to schools.

For people of Madusudankati, close to the border with Bangladesh, the factory has proved a saviour after years of suffering from skin and other diseases blamed on arsenic in ground water pumped from wells. "It sounded to us like escape from poisoning," said community leader Haladhar Sarkar whose people are unsure how the poison found their way into the water.

India has a long history of abuse of water supplies, including from pesticides and industrial pollution, to over-exploitation, especially for irrigation. The new factory, which treats water collected in a deep, man-made pond at the village, has been developed by Sulabh and French NGO 1001Fountains.

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1.What caused the villagers’ drinking problem?

A Building the purification factory.

B The water’s being polluted.

C Lacking enough water.

D Getting ill from the water.

解析：选B。B。细节理解题。根据文章第1段第2句After years of suffering illnesses from drinking polluted ground water可以得知的是由于水污染才导致了饮水问题。

2. How did Pralay Mallick think of the purifying factory?

A It helps the students.

B It makes much money.

C It provides less water.

D It wastes much energy.

解析：选A。A。推理判断题。根据文章第2段第2句的I thought that our children would be safe可以得知该水厂是能够帮助孩子的。

3.How much will the students pay for the water?

A Less than one US cent.

B 50 paise per liter.

C Nothing at all.

D 80 paise a bottle.

解析：选C。C。细节理解题。根据文章第2段最后1句The water is also supplied free to schools可以得知水是免费供给学校的，因此学生们不用付费。

4.Why was the factory considered as a saviour?

A Because it provided people with healthy water.

B Because it made people’s skins suffering much

C Because it added some arsenic into the water.

D Because it stopped the arsenic in ground water.

解析：选A。A。推理判断题。根据第3段第2句It sounded to us like escape from poisoning可知该工厂能够让人们远离有毒的水，因此可以推知该工厂能够提供干净的水源。

5.What is the best title of the passage?

A India has difficulty in getting water.

B The way of stopping polluted water.

C A village get cheapest bottled water.

D How people fight against bad water.

解析：选C。C。标题判断题。文章主要讲述了印度一个村庄如何在一个工厂的帮助下得到便宜的饮用水的故事。因此该文章的标题是村庄得到了便宜的瓶装水。