BERLIN (Reuters)—Germany’s postal service has announced plans to explore improved service and help protect the environment by getting “fetch friends”—ordinary people traveling across cities—to deliver parcels on their way.
It is hoped that the move, which will be tested in the coming months, might lessen traffic in inner cities and reduce CO2 emissions(排放). This should help DHL, a division of the German postal service, reach its target of improving the company’s carbon efficiency by 30 percent before 2020.
“As the world’s biggest logistics(物流) provider, we recognize a special responsibility to reduce the impact on the environment as much as possible,” said Frank Appel, Chief Executive Officer of Deutsche Post DHL, in a statement referring to a variety of measures being considered.
The “fetch friends” find out online about parcels that need delivering to people who live or work along the way that they are planning to travel through the city. They then select the ones that they want to take.
Codes(编码) sent to their mobile phones tell the volunteers where to pick the packages up. Parcels can be taken part of the way or passed on to another volunteer but all volunteers need to have the right code on their mobile phone so the track and trace system can be updated.
Logistics companies will be responsible for looking after the operation to make sure that the privacy of post is respected.
It’s hoped that this could be done using mobile phones but DHL says it recognizes that some security issues remain to be worked out.
小题1: According to the passage, the “fetch friend” program ________.
A．has been tested for months
B．aims to reduce the cost of the service
C．employs environmentalists to help with deliveries
D．encourages ordinary people to help cut the carbon footprint小题2: Which of the following statements is TRUE of DHL?
A．It belongs to the Germany’s postal service.
B．It has the most up-to-date tracking system in Germany.
C．It has succeeded in improving its carbon efficiency by 30%.
D．It has designed many measures to improve its service speed.小题3:What may be a problem with the new service according to the article?
A．Volunteers’ not allowing to select parcels.
B．The wrong codes in the mobile phones.
C．The possibility that parcels could be opened on the way.
D．Parcels’ being taken to the destination by a single volunteer.小题4:What might be the best Title for the best passage?
A．New Challenges for the Postal Service
B．A Greener Way to Deliver Parcels
C．Solutions for Global Warming
D．Statements from DHL
