M：Have you heard?The British government is planning to tax plastic bags? W：Yes, it was on the news．They want to r 1 the amount of rubbish．I can’t help but feel that it’s a good idea because they can’t be recycled． M：They’ve already done it in Ireland．If you go to the supermarket there, you have to p 2 for each plastic bag． W：So most people use the s3 bags over again, do they? M：Yes．And the supermarket sells thick plastic bags which last l4． W：And there’s a lot less rubbish in the streets, isn’t there? M：Yes．But it’s not just in Europe that plastic bags are Damaging the e5．In many d6 countries it’s even worse． They’re causing a serious problem．In south Africa, for example, they call plastic bags the national flowers because the wind blows them e7．Now the government has stopped them and you can go to prison for 10 years if you use them． W：In Bangladesh too．They say that plastic bags were largely responsible for the terrible floods in 1988 and 1998．They blocked the drains and rainwater couldn’t flow a8． M：It’s scary．They don’t look dangerous but there’re so many that t hey can kill．In India, cows eat them in the streets and then die． W：In some parts of India they are stopped．From what I understand, you can go to prison for 7 years if you use them． M：I can’t help but feel that sending people to prison is very hard． W：That’s because the situation is so s9．And people are not reasonable．They won’t change their h10． | 
