【推荐3】Steven Stein likes to follow garbage trucks. His strange habit makes sense when you consider that he’s an environmental scientist who studies how to reduce litter, including things that fall off garbage trucks as they drive down the road. What is even more interesting is that one of Stein’s jobs is defending an industry behind the plastic shopping bags.

Americans use more than 100 billion thin film plastic bags every year. So many end up in tree branches or along highways that a growing number of cities do not allow them at checkouts(收银台). The bags are prohibited in some 90 cities in California, including Los Angeles. Eyeing these headwinds, plastic-bag makers are hiring scientists like Stein to make the case that their products are not as bad for the planet as most people assume.

Among the bag makers’ argument: many cities with bans still allow shoppers to purchase paper bags, which are easily recycled but require more energy to produce and transport. And while plastic bags may be ugly to look at, they represent a small percentage of all garbage on the ground today.

The industry has also taken aim at the product that has appeared as its replacement: reusable shopping bags. The stronger a reusable bag is, the longer its life and the more plastic-bag use it cancels out. However, longer-lasting reusable bags often require more energy to make. One study found that a cotton bag must be used at least 131 times to be better for the planet than plastic.

Environmentalists don’t dispute(质疑) these points. They hope paper bags will be banned someday too and want shoppers to use the same reusable bags for years.

What does the word “headwinds” in paragraph 2 refer to?

【推荐2】Sugar cane (甘蔗) contains around 10% sugar. But that means it contains around 90% non-sugar — the material known as bagasse (甘蔗渣) which remains once the sugar-bearing juice is squeezed out. World production of cane sugar was 185 million tonnes in 2017, which results in a lot of bagasse.

At the moment, most of it is burned. But Zhu Hongli, a mechanical engineer at Northeastern University, in Boston, thinks it can be put into better use. As she, and her colleagues describe, in Matter this week, with a bit of improving bagasse makes an excellent and biodegradable (可生 物降解的) replacement for the plastic used for disposable food containers such as coffee cups.

Dr. Zhu is not the first person to have this idea. But previous attempts tended not to survive contact with liquids. She knew from previous research that the main reason why past efforts fell to pieces when wet is that bagasse is composed of short fibres which are unable to hold the finished product. She therefore sought’ to insert a suitably long-fibred substance.       

Bamboo seemed to be the best choice. It grows quickly/degrades readily and has appropriately long fibres. And it worked. When the researchers blended bamboo remaining into bagasse, they found that the result had a   strong crossing of short and long fibres.

To put their new material through its paces, Dr. Zhu and her colleagues first poured hot oil onto it and found that, rather than passing through the material, as it would have with previous, bagasse products, the oil was resisted by their invention.

They also found that when they made a cup out of the stuff and filled it with water heated almost to boiling point, the cup remained unbroken for more than two hours. Though this is not as long as a plastic cup would last, it is long enough for all practical purposes.

【推荐3】Most people think that women are naturally kind, cry too much and think with their hearts, instead of using their heads like men. Meanwhile, men are thought to be born to be rational creatures who naturally know how to lead and do math. However, statistics on personality types report that 75. 5% of women are Feelers and 56. 5% of men are Thinkers. So, right now we see that a huge number of men about 43%- -have Feeling preferences.

According to these numbers, only 25% of women are Thinkers. A majority of women tested are Feelers, but are a majority of women born as Feelers? In many regards, women are still expected to uphold the feminine(女性的) goals of half a century ago- stay pretty, have babies, keep a tidy home, and cook a good nutritious meal every night. Now, in addition to those old standards, most women plan on working and having careers. But even in the workplace, showing a Thinking preference can be problematic. Women who take charge or offer criticism may be seen 88 bossy,

Of courser the question goes to the Thinking men. Boys learn at a young age that being emotional or sensitive can be seen to be less strong. They have been taught not to cry to show that they are brave enough to bear any sufferings. In that case, they are more likely to be less of Feelers.

Maybe Feeler women and Thinker men are not naturally 80.

There is nothing wrong with being a Feeler woman or a Thinker man. Being a Feeler does not mean that you're a rollercoaster of emotions who might knock over a table at any moment, nor does being a Thinker mean that you are an infallible robot designed to make heartless decisions. Regardless of gender. your personality and preferences are completely valid; neither Thinking nor Feeling is right or wrong, good or bad. And of course, people, who prefer a Thinking style still have feelings, and Feelers can be extremely intelligent.