原文： Such innovations reduce
production waste but do not alter the number of
products manufactured nor the waste generated
from their use and discard; indeed, most companies
invest in ecoeffi ciency improvements in order to
increase profi ts and growth. Moreover, there is no
guarantee that increased economic growth from
ecoeffi ciency will come in similarly ecoeffi cient ways,
since in today’s global markets, greater profi ts may
be turned into investment capital that could easily be
reinvested in old-style eco-ineffi cient industries. Even
a vastly more ecoeffi cient industrial system could,
were it to grow much larger, generate more total
waste and destroy more habitat and species than
would a smaller, less ecoeffi cient economy.
3. The passage implies that which of the following is a
possible consequence of a company’s adoption of
innovations that increase its ecoeffi ciency?
(A) Company profi ts resulting from such innovations
may be reinvested in that company with no
guarantee that the company will continue to
make further improvements in ecoeffi ciency.
(B) Company growth fostered by cost savings from
such innovations may allow that company to
manufacture a greater number of products that
will be used and discarded, thus worsening
environmental stress.
(C) A company that fails to realize signifi cant cost
savings from such innovations may have little
incentive to continue to minimize the
environmental impact of its production
processes.
(D) A company that comes to depend on such
innovations to increase its profi ts and growth
may be vulnerable in the global market to
competition from old-style eco-ineffi cient
industries.
(E) A company that meets its ecoeffi ciency goals is
unlikely to invest its increased profi ts in the
development of new and innovative ecoeffi ciency
measures
