A ban on distracted walking

You can’t walk down the street without passing so-called ''smart-phone zombies(僵尸). '' They are too absorbed in their screen     1     (watch) where they are going. Almost four in ten people admit having suffered a technology-related small accident     2     they pay more attention to their electronic device than to the pavement.

Now the city of Honolulu, Hawaii, has decided it’s time to take immediate action and make it illegal to cross the road while using a mobile phone. Those     3     (catch) using phones, tablets or other electronic devices at crossing points could face a fine of up to $ 100.

Honolulu is the first major U. S. city to ban     4     is called ''distracted walking. '' It comes after a study that found there     5     (be) more than 11,000 injuries in the United States resulting from phone-related distraction while walking in the past few years.

To explain the decision, mayor Kirk Caldwell said, ''We hold the unfortunate honor of being a major city     6     more pedestrians are hit in crosswalks than almost any other city in the country. ''

Under the fine systems.     7     breaks this law for the first time will get a fine of $15 to $35. People breaking the law for a second or third time will get a $99 fine.

The law, which is called the Distracted Walking Law, does permit an exception. Pedestrians     8     use such devices in the street to call emergency services and rescue workers, such as firefighters and police officers.

If you still want to text while walking, you could avoid     9     (fine) in Honolulu by using a voice-controlled digital assistant such as Siri or Google Assistant. Or you could just wait     10     you are again, safely, off the street.

Giving kids allowances in the smart-phone

Allowances are a constant. No matter how much technology interferes with the parent-child relationship, kids still want money and parents still want to impart(赋予)a basic work ethic. But putting stickers on chore(日常事务)charts and dropping coins in piggy banks don't cut it with the smart-phone generation.

Parents in search of more     11     ways to teach children the value of money are turning to allowance-tracking apps, where kids can see their     12     rise and fall in real time.

Bonnie Koon, a mother of three in Crawfordville, Fla., used to post a calendar on her refrigerator     13     her kids chores, to the embarrassment of her 16-year-old twins. After seeing a Facebook ad for the app Green-light, she     14     it.

Green-light links to parents' bank accounts so that the payout can be seamless. Parents can encourage saving by paying interest on the money that isn’t spent     15     -- interest out of the parents' own pockets, of course.

It's the first taste of     16     freedom for many kids, and it's set in a relatively safe environment. Parents can determine spending limits and choose the retailers(零售商)where a child can make     17    . If a child attempts to buy something at an unapproved store or to spend more than the limit, the transaction(交易)is     18     and parents get a notification. And if a kid loses the card, parents can immediately cancel it from the app.

One of Ms. Koon's twins. Brenna, works part time at a restaurant. She's putting half of her pay check into a car-insurance savings fund she set up in the app, whit the goal of saving $450 by July. With each     19    , the app gives Brenna a progress update.

Some parents might worry that relying on apps to get kids to do chores only encourages them to be on their phones more. But parents who have chosen this approach argue that they are meeting their kids where they are and that it takes the     20     nagging(唠叨)out of the equation. The real-time look at their accounts makes the concepts of saving and spending more tangible than reviewing a bank statement.

If you like to take a walk in the woods in the United States or you prefer to decorate a tree at Christmas, you should know that climate change is making both of those activities a lot more ___________.

Looking at two ___________ and economically important species - the Douglas fir and the Ponderosa pine -scientists found that fires and drought _____________ by climate change make new growth difficult, especially in low-elevation forests, according to a study published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Some forests in four regions in California, Colorado, the Northern Rockies and the southwestern part of the United States have crossed ''a(n) ___________ climate tipping(转折)point for post-fire tree generation, '' the study says.

Climate conditions over the past 20 years have _____________ changes that would have taken decades or even centuries to ___________ across broad regions of the country. This is leading to the sudden _____________ of trees and making these lands increasingly unsuitable for tree regeneration.

''Climate changes is _____________ our forests now, not just in some distant future. Maybe in areas where there are really _____________ seed sources, there could be some trees, but it is becoming really hard to get these trees back due to climate change, '' said study co-author Kim Davis.

The problem probably won't get any better, as climate change is making intense wildfires much more ______________. Western foresters say there used to be a fire season. But devastating and ____________ fires have become a reality all year long. In 2018, fire cost California more than $9.05 billion, according to the USA insurance commissioner, the deadliest and most destructive wildfires season in the ________________ history.

A higher number of fires and low seed availability means a high probability that these trees in these regions won't come back, Davis said. This study ______________ on the driest and hottest areas of the Western forests, but researchers will next try to focus on how much will be impacted.

____________, there are some things people can do to ease some of this problem. Forest management plans that reduce high-severity burns can help. Increasingly, forest managers are considering allowing some fires to burn under more moderate conditions, Davis said, Forest ______________can also replant trees after fire, at least in the areas where climate conditions will allow.

EU members' states have agreed to ban a toxic substance widely found in clothing because it poses an ''acceptable risk'' to the environment. Countries voted in favor of extending existing restrictions on nonylphenol ethoxylates (NPE) to imports to clothing and other textile products.

The measure is intended to protect species in water. Use of NPE in textile manufacture in Europe was banned over 10 years ago but the substance is still released into the water environment through imported textiles being washed.

NPE degrades in the environment into substances including nonylphenol (NP), which accumulates in the bodies of fish and disturbs their hormones, harming fertility, growth and sexual development.

NPE is used in textile manufacture as a cleaning and dyeing agent. The EU decision notes that several studies have found NPE to be present in textile items.

A 2011 study by Greenpeace found NPE in two-thirds of clothes tested, including items sold by big-name brads such as Adidas, H&M, Lacoste, and Ralph Lauren. The NGO (Non-Governmental Organizations) argued that although concentrations of NPE found in the clothes were low, the chemical’s existence in the environment posed a risk.

The new ban on textiles containing NPE in concentrations equal to or greater than 0.01% will enter into force five years after it is adopted by the European Commission, which is likely to happen in September.

In comments submitted to ECHA (European Chemicals Agency), clothing and textile firms have warned that obeying the restriction will be difficult because NPE ubiquitous in the supply chain and has numerous uses.

The new restriction will not apply to second-hand goods or recycled textiles because it is assumed that these will already have been washed several times so they contain negligible(微不足道的)amounts of NPE.

EU countries must eliminate pollution of water bodies by NP as it is a priority substance under the Water Framework Directive. A 2013 study by the UK environment agency warned that emissions from textiles could prevent progress towards this objective. It found 29% of imported cotton underwear contained NPE, which was released during the first two washes by the consumer.

Letters

Comments on the March Issue

What makes us love some things and hate others? We know that sometimes even the tiniest change can result in a huge difference in how we perceive something, so is there any rhyme or reason to our tastes and preferences? Here are three factors which play a role.

1. Conforming to expectation

In London a few years ago, two talented rappers called Silibil N' Brains took to the stage to perform at a music industry show for unsigned bands. They were an instant hit. Their outrageous West Coast - American style, brilliant rap lyrics and couldn't - care - less attitude had the music industry's talent spotters falling over themselves to sign the pair. In a short space of time, Silibil N’ Brains had a deal with a top management company, a contract with a major record label and an advance of $70,000 -- and they hadn’t even made a record. Before long, they were on tour with Eminem and out partying with Madonna. They were living the dream.

But two years ago the same two rappers were laughed off stage by the same talent spotters for singing the same sons. So what was the difference? Amazingly, it was their accent. You see, Silibil N' Brains weren't, in fact, from West Coast U. S. A. at all. They were from Dundee in Scotland. During the first audition they had used their Scottish accents when rapping and it had not gone down well. ''They just laughed at us, '' recalled Brains. ''We were heartbroken. We went back to Scotland with our tail between our legs''. The lesson for them was that to succeed, you have to conform to expectations and at that time everyone expected rappers to be American.

2. The benefit of hindsight

Some people are simply ahead of their time. It's common knowledge that Vincent van Gogh sold only one painting in his lifetime -the other 900 or so were unknown and unloved until after his death. Monet’s paintings. at least in his early career, was considered incomplete and ugly by critics at the time, while Vermeer, the painter of Girl With a Pearl Earring, even had to use his mother-in-law as a guarantor when he borrowed money -- so unable was he to sell any of his work! Now that public taste has caught up with these artists, more or less anything they touched has an astronomical price tag attached to it. Perhaps the reason is that it just takes a while to get used to something - after all, not all beauty is obvious at first sight.

3. A reassuring price tag

In a world where the range of products on offer can be completely bewildering, we often look to price as an indication of quality. We may think we prefer the expensive wine to the cheap one, but we may simply be influenced by the price tag. Even professionals can make the mistake. A researcher from the University of Bordeaux in France took an average bottle of red wine and poured it into two empty bottles, on with an expensive label and the other with a cheap one. Then he invited 57 wine ''experts'' to taste the wine. Forty of them recommended the wine from the expensive bottle, describing it as ''agreeable'', ''complex'', ''balanced'' and ''rounded''. while the same wine from the expensive bottle, describing it as ''agreeable'', ''complex'', ''balanced'' and ''rounded'', while the same wine from the cheap bottle was described as ''weak'' and ''flat'', with only 12 of the experts recommending it. The study made the researcher unpopular with the French wine tasters, but he did prove that price has a significant impact on taste.