【問題４ 読解問題】
次の英文を読んで下の問いに答えよ。解答はマーク解答用紙にマークせよ。
The newly opened luxury Cordis hotel looks much like any other
high-end hotel in Shanghai, with its glass-sided swimming pool, vast twin ballrooms and upscale spa. But the first Cordis hotel on mainland China boasts something that is genuinely rare in big Chinese cities: clean indoor air. All the air that enters the Cordis passes through two levels of filtration and is continuously cleaned, while double-glazed windows remain closed to seal the fresh air inside. Pollution monitors are fitted in all ３９６ guest rooms and TV screens display PM２.５ levels. Air quality inside the rooms is typically around １０ times better than that outside. “I think people can sleep easier knowing that the air quality in their room is far superior to any other hotel, and far superior to what it is outside,” says John O'Shea, managing director of the Cordis.
While air pollution has long been on the nation's mind, indoor air is a newer issue that has come to public attention recently. Even in very polluted cities, indoor air quality can be worse than the air outside. As well as PM２.５-heavy air entering homes and offices through open windows or poor insulation, high levels of formaldehyde, carbon dioxide and volatile organic compounds — gases that can be emitted by poor building materials, furniture, paints and adhesives — are an additional concern. “Indoor pollution is a very serious problem and health threat, not just in China but worldwide,” says Sieren Ernst, founder of environmental consultancy Ethics & Environment. “Most people spend ９０% of their time indoors, and the exposures that we are getting from that time remain largely unexamined,” he claims.
The World Health Organization estimates that indoor and outdoor air pollution causes around ６.５ million premature deaths every year, while a comprehensive global ２０１７ study concluded that China and India accounted for about half of all
premature deaths from pollution in ２０１５. Data analysis by the German Institute of Global and Area Studies found that working in an office with high-level filtration systems can, conversely, raise an employee's life expectancy, estimating that staff working in such a clean indoor air environment gain an average of ６.３ days a year on people working in unfiltered workplaces.
There are also subtler but very important benefits to having clean indoor air. A
landmark ２０１７ study from Harvard's Center for Health and the Global Environment found occupants of high-performing green buildings had higher cognitive function, fewer symptoms of sickness and better sleep quality. Good indoor air can also help with staff retention: a recent survey concluded that ５６% of surveyed staff in China use poor workplace health as a primary reason to change jobs. This suggests that in addition to improving the health of workers, clean air indoors also has the potential to bring with it a significant economic impact for companies because employees will not be as quick on the draw to leave as those who work in poor indoor air companies.
Public awareness in China is on the rise. In ２０１３, market research provider Euromonitor says there were ３ million air purifiers in China, in a market worth almost one billion dollars. As part of its １３th Five-Year Plan, Beijing mandated at least half of new urban buildings must be green-certified by ２０２０. As public interest and
regulatory pressure for improving indoor air become stronger, Chinese businesses and institutions are rushing to be ahead of the curve. “We worked with a couple of schools (on indoor air quality] in Shanghai and Beijing in ２０１３ and ２０１４," says Tom Watson, director of engineering at environmental consulting company PureLiving, which now works with around a third of Fortune １００ companies to clean up their office air. He notes “as soon as they made the changes it became their market differentiator" and that before long most of “the other schools had to follow suit."
The rapid expansion of the clean air market also leaves it open to abuse, with unreliable marketing and questionable purifiers promising additional tricks such as the ability to repel mosquitos. According to the Xinhua news outlet, a quarter of consumer air purifiers tested by a government inspection agency failed quality checks, and new state standards are reportedly
in the pipeline.
At Shanghai's Cordis, O'Shea is hopeful the clean air will ultimately boost room prices by around １０%. “I think back to the days when everyone used to charge for the internet,” he says. “Now the internet's like hot water — if you don't have high speed, fast, easy-access internet for free, then it's over,” he says. O'shea is confident that the issue of indoor air quality will soon be the same. In his words, "if you can't guarantee your customers much better air quality than the competitors, it's going to be a
fait accompli. It's already getting that kind of importance."
Helen Roxburgh.
How clean indoor air is becoming China's latest luxury must-have.
１. Which one of the following is closest in meaning to the word
high-end?
a. well-known
b. highly recommended
c. multi-storied
d. luxurious
e. previously owned
２. Which one of the following is closest in meaning to the word
premature?
a. nascent
b. precocious
c. abrupt
d. early
e. unpredictable
３. Which one of the following is closest in meaning to the word
landmark?
a. concrete
b. groundbreaking
c. fixed
d. detailed
e. controversial
４. Which one of the following is closest in meaning to the phrase
regulatory pressure?
a. statistical findings
b. architectural requirements
c. maintaining balance
d. strengthening ties
e. administrative guidelines
５. Which one of the following is closest in meaning to the phrase
in the pipeline?
a. being re-developed
b. urgently necessary
c. within building standards
d. on the way
e. blocked out
６. Which one of the following is closest in meaning to the phrase
fait accompli?
a. foregone conclusion
b. sudden development
c. complex situation
d. full-blown crisis
e. self-evident problem
７. Which one of the following can we infer from this passage?
a. Officials in major Chinese cities, such as Shanghai, are today facing the impossible challenge of providing clean indoor air to their citizens.
b. There are health benefits and psychological benefits to having clean indoor air.
c. People who breathe polluted indoor air will inevitably have serious health issues.
d. Slightly over one-half of workers in Chinese companies are looking to change jobs.
e. The growth of the indoor air filter industry in China reflects the concerns of foreign companies with improving the health of both Chinese citizens and tourists.
８. According to this passage, which THREE of the following are true?
a. Major hotels in China are at the forefront of improving the quality of indoor air.
b. The source of poor-quality indoor air is always poor-quality outdoor air.
c. The Chinese government requires that hotels which filter their indoor air have pollution monitors in each room.
d. In China, outdoor air pollution is not a new issue.
e. Volatile organic compounds from outside are a primary source of poor-quality indoor air.
f. Most companies involved with improving indoor air quality in China are foreign based companies.
g. The issue of clean indoor air is already on the radar screen of the Chinese government.
h. By ２０２０, it is likely that half of all new buildings in China will be green-certified.
i. The excess in regulation of the clean indoor air market in China has caused the spread of unreliable and fraudulent air purifiers.
j. In the not too distant future, having clean indoor air will be crucial for the hotel business in China.
k. Developing countries comprised more than half of all premature deaths from pollution in ２０１５.
質問と回答