Once considered an optional lifestyle choice, recycling has become a commonplace activity in most areas. One type of recycling, called downcycling, involves re-purposing a material into a new product of lesser quality.
Downcycling is also known as downstream recycling. It is most common in terms of industrial materials. These products lose their value as they are recycled, which limits their capacity for new use.
Giving products a new life is considered a good way to reuse materials and avoid waste. Once downcycled to their full capacity, however, these materials are eventually so degraded that they cannot be reused further. Since downcycled products are considered of lower quality than their original form, they cannot be used in remaking their original product.
Items available for downcycling often require additional chemicals, energy, and other treatments in order to transform them into something usable. Durable plastic products in particular require much additional treatment. Trash bins, tables, and chairs are also considered materials with a high energy cost to recycle.
When a product reaches a code seven, it is considered no longer recyclable.
| A．These recycled materials may often be put into new use. |
| B．It can include varying grades of plastic, paper products, and other materials. |
| C．Their recycled form is typically both weaker and cheaper than their original one. |
| D．They may not be used to contain food-grade items again upon being downcycled. |
| E．Products are provided with codes to determine their grades and whether or not they may be recycled. |
| F．A code will determine the type of the recycled materials and give an idea of how many times they can be recycled. |
| G．This usually occurs when a substance is blended with other substances, such as different types of plastic with various recycling codes. |
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【推荐1】The word“diary”comes from the Latin word“diarium”，which means“daily allowance”.It refers to a book for disconnected writings by date and is used for business notes，planning activities，keeping track of scheduled appointments，or documenting what has already happened.
In America，from the 1940s through the 1980s，a diary was thought of mostly as a way to privately express one’s deepest thoughts while keeping marks about the day.In those times，and even continuing on today，writing in a diary was like writing to a special friend.Many times，movies would show a teenage girl beginning to write in her diary while she said aloud，“Dear diary,…”What followed was a brief statement of the day，usually filled with emotion.
Those private reflections may have historical significance long after the author’s death.A diary kept by a young German Jewish girl by the name of Anne Frank provides us with invaluable lessons about history，for she documented her experiences while she hid from the Nazis during their occupation of the Netherlands in the World War II.Her diary became one of the world’s most widely read books and is the basis for many films.
Semuel Pepys，who lived during the 17th Century，is the earliest diary-keeper that is famous today.His diary is also an important documentation of history，for it gives personal insight into London’s Great Plague and the Great Fire.Pepys took diary writing from the realm of business to the individual.His diary is being published on the Internet，and it's interesting to note that there has been a new entry every day since January of 2003.It will continue over the course of several years to come.Reading his diary is fascinating，and it makes his life all the more real to us.
Today’s electronic version of the diary，the web log，or“blog”has once again stretched the diary to be much more than a personal account of the day’s events.There are blogs to document recipes，traveling，movies，independent news，product announcements，photos，and anything else that needs to be recorded over time.Search engines like Technorati.com have been created to keep track of the more than 112 million blogs that are currently public.In its newest replacement，the diary has become more popular than ever.
1. Generally what is a diary used for?| A．Taking business notes. | B．Planning activities. |
| C．Keeping daily happenings. | D．Confirming the appointments. |
| A．Kingdom. | B．Field. | C．Department. | D．Land. |
| A．To let us know the popularity of her diary. |
| B．To show us the invaluable lessons about the history. |
| C．To present her dramatic and interesting experience during the War. |
| D．To emphasis the importance of keeping diaries for historical purposes. |
| A．It has been more widely accepted by the public. |
| B．Technorati is the only search engine created for it. |
| C．The diary remains the same form but still popular. |
| D．Nothing but the individual daily events can be recorded. |
【推荐2】No one knows for sure when advertising first started. It is possible that it grew out of the discovery that some people did certain kinds of work better than others did them. That led to the concept of specialization, which means that people would specialize, or focus, on doing one specific job.
Let's take a man we'll call Mr. Fielder, for example. He did everything connected with farming. He planted seeds, tended the fields, and harvested and sold his crops. At the same time, he did many other jobs on the farm. However, he didn't make the bricks for his house, cut his trees into boards, make the plows, or any of the other hundreds of things a farm needs. Instead, he got them from people who specialized in doing each of those things.
Suppose there was another man we shall call Mr. Plowright. Using what he knew about farming and working with iron, Mr. Plowright invented a plow that made farming easier. Mr. Plowright did not really like farming himself and wanted to specialize in making really good plows. Perhaps, he thought, other farmers will trade what they grow for one of my plows.
How did Mr. Plowright let people know what he was doing? Why, he advertised, of course. First he opened a shop and then he put up a sign outside the shop to attract customers. That sign may have been no more than a plow carved into a piece of wood and a simple arrow pointing to the shop door. It was probably all the information people needed to find Mr. Plowright and his really good plows.
Many historians believe that the first outdoor signs were used about five thousand years ago. Even before most people could read, they understood such signs. Shopkeepers would carve into stone, clay, or wood symbols for the products they had for sale.
A medium, in advertising talk, is the way you communicate your message. You might say that the first medium used in advertising was signs with symbols. The second medium was audio, or sound, although that term is not used exactly in the way we use it today. Originally, just the human voice and maybe some kind of simple instrument, such as a bell, were used to get people's attention.
A crier, in the historical sense, is not someone who weeps easily. It is someone, probably a man, with a voice loud enough to be heard over the other noises of a city. In ancient Egypt, shopkeepers might hire such a person to spread the news about their products. Often this earliest form of advertising involved a newly arrived ship loaded with goods. Perhaps the crier described the goods, explained where they came from, and praised their quality. His job was, in other words, not too different from a TV or radio commercial in today's world.
1. What probably led to the start of advertising?| A．The discovery of iron. | B．The specialization of labor. |
| C．The appearance of new jobs. | D．The development of farming techniques. |
| A．explain the origin of advertising | B．predict the future of advertising |
| C．expose problems in advertising | D．provide suggestions for advertising |
| A．owned a ship | B．had the loudest voice |
| C．ran a shop selling goods to farmers | D．functioned like today's TV or radio commercial |
【推荐3】“Inspector Sands to the control room, please.” If you ever hear that at a British train station, don’t panic. But you might appreciate knowing that this is a codeword meant to inform staff that there is an emergency somewhere in the building. The idea is to avoid causing alarm among commuters(通勤者), but still get the message out to those trained to deal with the problem.
The subject of secret codewords like this was raised this week on Reddit, and the discussion has attracted thousands of examples. But what codewords and signs are really out there in the wild?
A good place to start is hospital emergency codes. These are often colour-coded, and one health centre in Canada has published its list online. “Code red” announces a fire, “code white” indicates a violent person while “code black” means a bomb threat is active. It’s been reported that hospital staff sometimes refer to the morgue as “Rose Cottage”, in order to avoid upsetting relatives of a patient who has recently died.
“I can see very good reasons for having these codes,” says Paul Baker, a linguist at the University of Lancaster. “It may be that people are unsure when they’re giving the code so there’s no point upsetting members of the public.”
Not all codes are alphanumeric(字母数字混合的). Some are visual, intended to be hidden in plain sight. As BBC Future discovered earlier this year, many banknotes feature a specific pattern of dots placed there to prevent people from photocopying money. Many copiers and scanners are programmed to spot it.
And finally, the spray-painted squiggles(扭曲的线条) you see on pavements in towns and cities all over the world are codes understood by construction workers and engineers. For example, in UK, different colours are related to different types of cable or pipe. Blue meant a water system while yellow indicated gas lines and green labelled CCTV or data wiring.
All of these codes have a purpose — to avoid causing panic, to transmit subtle signals in social groups, or to provide technical information quickly and easily. “People don’t like secrets, do they?” says Baker. “There is a drive to have as much information as possible — we do live in the information age,” he adds.
1. The following are purposes of the secret codes except ________.| A．to avoid causing alarm and panic among the public |
| B．to send sensitive signals in social groups |
| C．to provide technical information quickly and easily |
| D．to make people believe you are wiser |
| A．where patients are treated |
| B．where dead bodies are kept |
| C．where a patient has an operation |
| D．where a surgeon cuts open the patient in case of emergency |
| A．2. | B．3. | C．4. | D．5. |
| A．The Secret Codes You Probably don’t know |
| B．Where to Find the Codes |
| C．The Origin of Different Codes |
| D．Secrets in the Modern Society |
【推荐1】In 1620, about half the USA was covered by forests. Today the forests have almost gone. A lot of good land has gone with them, leaving only sand. China doesn’t want to copy the USA’s example. We're planting more and more trees. We’ve built the “Great Green Wall” of trees across northern part of our country. The Great Green Wall is 7,000 kilometers long, and between 400 and 1,700 kilometers wide. It will stop the wind from blowing the earth away. It will stop the sand from moving towards the rich farmland in the south. More “Great Green Walls” are needed. Trees must be grown all over the world. Great Green Walls will make the world better.
1. A lot of good land has gone with ________| A．sand | B．water | C．wind | D．forests |
| A．The Great Wall | B．Tall buildings |
| C．Great Green Walls | D．Flowers and grass |
【推荐2】Recent research confirms what our farming ancestors have known for centuries about hedges (树篱). They conserve precious soil by acting as windbreaks and absorbing rainwater that would otherwise wash it from the fields. And hedges store carbon, putting them in the front line of our bi d to tackle the climate crisis.
However, hedges have had a tough time in the poor countryside, with farmers encouraged to tear them down in pursuit of maximum production and larger field s to accommodate ever-larger machinery. What’s more, some hedges have been ignored. If left to their own devices, they’ll eventually become a line of trees. Some hedges each year lose their structures and fail to fulfil the primary duty as a barrier. Around a half of the nation’s hedges have disappeared in the past century.
There are signs that “the tide is turning”. The search for net zero has aroused many organizations’ interest in the humble hedge’s role as a carbon sink. The Climate Change Committee is recommending a 40 percent increase in hedges: an additional 200,000 km. Such recommendations are starting to drive policy. Cash-pressed farmers will be encouraged to create new hedges and improve their management of existing ones under the new Environmental Land Management Schemes, which will replace many of the existing agricultural support payments in coming years. Meanwhile, initiatives such as Close the Gap, led by the Tree Council, is providing funding and support to plug the gaps in existing hedges with new planting. There’s even an app to help time-pressed farmers do a quick survey to spot where their hedges need some help.
This is a good time for hedges. Take some of the most pressing challenges facing the countryside, and indeed, the world as a whole — the climate crisis, soil erosion (侵蚀), insect attack and wider biodiversity loss — and hedges are part of the solution.
1. What does recent research show about hedges?| A．They are unique landscapes in the rain. |
| B．They act as dividing lines between fields. |
| C．They have long been helpful to agriculture. |
| D．They are frequently washed away from the fields. |
| A．Their suffering. | B．Their production. |
| C．Their duties. | D．Their structures. |
| A．Puzzled. | B．Concerned. | C．Humble. | D．Indifferent. |
| A．Hedges: Ancient Resources |
| B．Hedges: Official Recommendations |
| C．Restoring Hedges: Bringing Benefits to the Environment |
| D．Researching Hedges: Originating from Farmers’ Request |
【推荐3】If you see the Rolling Stones in concert this summer and go get a drink, there may be no single-use plastic cup for you. The band and its promoter are working with Michael Martin - he's produced a bunch of big Earth Day concerts. The Stones approached Martin and asked for help in eliminating plastic waste. He came up with a simple solution.
"When you come up to get your first drink, you put down a $3 deposit, you get a really high-quality Rolling Stones-branded cup," says Martin. "You use it throughout the night, and at the end of the event you can turn your cup in and get your $3 back or you can keep your cup."
If you return the heavier plastic cup at the end of the show, it gets washed and used again. Or recycled. At some concert venues, there will still be disposable cups available as well. Martin, whose new company is called r. Cup, has been working with other artists, including U2, Bon Jovi, and Radiohead. "The live-event industry goes through more than 4 billion single-use cups a year. At a typical stadium event, you could see 100,000 or 200,000 cups thrown out," says Martin.
But this idea - returning and reusing a cup - this isn't exactly rocket science. So, why is this just being tried now?
"That's a really good question," says Martin. "In America, we're a throwaway society, and what's happening is that people are now seeing the consequences of that. And so, we're hoping we'll be able to wake people up and rearrange things."
Throwaway cups do serve a few purposes: They're cheap and easy, and it's a way for vendors to keep track of sales and make sure their employees aren't giving away free beer. Still, Martin says we can get past that. He'd like to introduce reusable cups at sporting events, zoos, universities, and festivals.
He's starting with rock concerts because artists have a pretty powerful platform. I mean, if Mick Jagger tells his fans to stop abusing the planet, who's going to say no to that?
1. Why did the Stones talk to Martin?| A．Martin could work with artists harmoniously. |
| B．Martin could run a new company successfully. |
| C．Martin could offer assistance to reduce waste. |
| D．Martin could provide recycled cups for audiences. |
| A．It introduces a heavier plastic cup that can be both recycled and reused. |
| B．It is well received among artists and customers in the live-event industry. |
| C．It requires $3 deposit and customers can get a branded cup of good quality. |
| D．It succeeds in preventing 4 billion single-use cups from going to the dump. |
| A．Throwaway cups do serve few practical purposes. |
| B．People are aware of the bad effect from throwaway cups. |
| C．Artists play a significant role in stopping plastic pollution. |
| D．A live concert consumes over 4 billion single-use cups a year. |
| A．Martin Produces Earth Day Concerts | B．Environmental Rules Take Effect |
| C．Single-use Plastic Cups Disappear | D．The Rolling Stones Go Green |
