【推荐2】This supermarket sells only wasted food

Food waste is a big deal: According to the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization, 28 percent of the world’s agriculture area is used to produce food that _________ goes to waste each year. But now, a new supermarket _________ only with wasted food is tackling the problem head-on.

The project is an expansion of British non-profit the Real Junk Food Project. The group has long collected wasted food for pay-as-you-can cafes around the world, but its supermarket takes the concept one step _________. The market takes food that’s donated by local restaurants and grocery stores and puts it on _________ to sell to customers who pay what they can.

As is reported, the store is already serving as a _________ for families who are down on their luck. It’s kind of like food pantry(食品分发处), but has no _________ on who gets the food. And the concept is not a new one: as is written in another report this month, the idea has taken _________ in Denmark, too, due to a government effort to reduce the country’s amount of wasted food.

Last year, the USDA launched its first-ever food waste reduction goal, _________ to reduce the amount of wasted food by 50 percent by 2030. The agency estimates that cutting just 15 percent of this waste in the United States would provide enough food for more than 25 million Americans per year. And hunger isn’t the _________ reason to reduce food waste. Wasted food has a carbon dioxide impact ____________ to the output of one in four cars on the road worldwide and ____________ a quarter of the world’s freshwater and 300 million barrels of oil each year.

So why do grocery stores produce all the wasted food? The USDA notes that damaged packaging products that haven’t been stored properly, holiday specialties that are never purchased, overstocked foods and odd-looking foods____________ for the waste.

Food waste supermarkets aren’t the only ____________ in the fight against waste: From activists working to improve the reputation of ____________ fruits and vegetables to craft beers made of wasted products like no longer fresh bread and grapefruit, there are plenty of creative ways to and eat food that would ____________ be thrown out. Maybe it’s time to bring the food waste supermarket concept to the United States-a delicious addition to the variety of ways not to trash perfectly good meals.

【推荐1】Have you had enough(or enuf)trouble spelling English words to make you want to scream(or skreem)? You are not alone. Generations of scholars since the 17th century have protested against the________ in English spelling.

Part of the problem is caused by the_______ origins of English words. German, Latin, French and Greek are al common sources, and each follows a different set of________ for spelling. In fact, even within any one of these languages, it is________ to guarantee consistency(一致性). As these systems were________ over time, the English spelling system we see today came into being.

Some English learners know that memorizing the Latin roots of English words is a great way to________ their vocabulary, but most Latin-rooted words entered English from French after the Norman Conquest(诺曼征服)of the 11th century. The Normans used French as the language of the court, throwing Old English, a Germanic(日耳曼语的)language, out of________ usage for around 300 years.

By the time English was again_______ at the court, it was a French-influenced language(Middle English). There was actually no________ form of spelling. In Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales(《坎特伯雷故事集》), the same word was spelled differently. This was not his fault. He was simply following the spelling of the time.

Standardization did not come until the 15th century. The use of the printing press(印刷机)and, for the first time, the mass distribution(大量流通)of books________ the spelling of words. The spelling system we use today is based on the pronunciation of that time.

Now the story gets a bit________. Between 1450 and 1750, English pronunciation went through what experts call the Great Vowel Shift(主要元音转移). However, _______ the nature of how English words are pronounced has evolved, the spelling system has remained largely unchanged.

Supporters of English spelling reform argue that________ words with more phonetically accurate letter combinations will promote literacy(读写能力). Others don’t think so. They say that the spelling system we use today leaves plenty of________ to unlocking the history of the language, helping readers understand the origins of words. What do you think? Should English try to “________” the spelling of words?

【推荐2】The Long Goodbye to Saturn’s Rings

Of all the planets in our solar system, Saturn might be the prettiest. Those rings gleam in soft pinks, grays, and browns, shimmering in the darkness. But Saturn’s rings aren’t a permanent feature. In fact, they’re ________.

The rings are losing material every year. Incoming micrometeorites (微陨石) and the sun’s radiation disturb the small, dusty pieces of ring matter. The particles(微粒), suddenly transformed, start moving along those invisible paths. When the particles get too ________ to the top of Saturn’s atmosphere, gravity pulls them in, and they vaporize in the planet’s clouds.

Astronomers call this “ring rain,” and over time this and other phenomena will destroy the ________ element that, to us, makes Saturn, until nothing is left. Right now? “This is us looking at Saturn’s rings in their heyday (鼎盛时期),” James O’Donoghue, a planetary scientist at JAXA, Japan’s space agency, told me. A magnificent sight that, from our perspective, seems ________, but, on the grand scale of things, is momentary.

Saturn’s rings have impressed observers for centuries, ________ we got truly close to them for the first time in the early 1980s, when NASA’s Voyager spacecraft sped past during a grand tour of the outer planets. At the time, scientists ________ that the rings probably formed alongside Saturn about 4.6 billion years ago, when the solar system was young, noisy and full of life. Back then, with rocky objects flying around everywhere, a new planet could easily have ________ some, hung them around its middle, and let gravity flatten them.

But Voyager’s flyby suggested a ________ story. The observations captured the rings in greater detail than ever before, revealing that the system didn’t have as much ________ as researchers had predicted, which meant that they couldn’t be billions of years old.

Saturn’s ring system had seemed as ________ as the solar system itself; now it seemed that the rings didn’t exist along with dinosaurs. The solar system had ________ by then, so where would Saturn have gotten the raw material? Then in 2017, a NASA spacecraft called Cassini skimmed past Saturn’s rings, sending home as much information as possible, which ________ what the Voyager missions had observed, that the rings weren’t massive enough to be ancient.

The science community hasn’t come to a(n) ________ about the origin story of Saturn’s rings. But, if the rings are indeed cosmically young, scientists say that they probably formed when one of Saturn’s moons, itself quite old, drew too close and was smashed to bits. The moon was likely a small one; our own moon, O’Donoghue said, could be used to ________ thousands of ring systems like Saturn’s.

The story of Saturn’s rings is a reminder that the worlds of our solar system, however still and ________ they might look from here, are dynamic places, with dramatic histories of their own.

【推荐3】For most birds, eyes are essential to life on the fly. _________ when studying how birds might adapt to our quickly changing world, ornithologists (鸟类学家) have largely overlooked eye size in favor of traits such as wing length and beak shape. Now, though, a lost “treasure trove” (宝库) of avian (鸟的) eyeball measurements offers a new view.

In 1982 University of Chicago graduate student Stanley Ritland carefully _________ the eyeballs of nearly 2,800 species. He never published his data, but Ian Ausprey, a graduate student at University of Florida, has just given it a second look. His analysis _________ previous work in Peru showing that smaller-eyed birds adapt better to changing habitats.

“We’re able to show strong correlations between eye size, the type of _________ the birds use, as well as their food-searching behavior,” Ausprey says. Ritland’s measurements indicated an inverse relation between eye and _________ size. Birds with smaller eyes tended to be _________, traveling across many habitats; larger-eyed species had _________ ranges, concentrated around the equator (赤道) and often covered by dense forest shade. The study suggests that smaller-eyed birds can _________ handle varying light levels as they travel, whereas larger-eyed birds struggle with bright light outside of their dim woodlands.

Ausprey had already seen this _________ in Peru’s mountainous cloud forests. In these biodiversity hotspots, he says, “eye size is __________ related to how birds respond to agricultural disturbance.” Larger-eyed birds tend to __________ from brightly-lit agricultural and deforested landscapes; smaller-eyed birds adapt. The new study __________ Ausprey’s Peru observations to a wider variety of birds elsewhere, including parrots and woodpeckers.

Allison Shultz, an ornithologist involved in the research, praises it for highlighting the importance of birds’ light __________. Her own work has found a link between bird coloration and environmental light, and she looks forward to future research exploring how light pollution and deforestation might further shape bird eyes. “I’d be very curious if we’re actually seeing eyes __________ to better match newer light environments,” Shultz adds.

Ausprey says the study underscores the importance of __________ habitats across the light-availability spectrum (光谱), especially areas of dense rain forests, to protect birds with eyes of all sizes from habitat loss.

【推荐2】Feel Like You’re Falling Behind Your Peers?

It’s never pleasant to lag behind others that we consider similar to ourselves. The conventional wisdom says to “stop competing with others and only compete with yourself”. But that’s easier said than done. With the rise of social media, it’s hard to avoid _______ of your colleagues’ accomplishments if you want to stay connected. But in fact that knowledge can have benefits. A recent study shows that it can become a source of _______ in both one’s work and life.

So how can you take advantage of the positive benefits of competition without suffering from the insecurity it may _______?

Track your triggers.

The stress of feeling behind your peers can emerge in many _______ throughout the day. It might be hearing your boss compliment another colleague, or watching your colleagues leave their 9-5 job to build businesses of their own.

It’s vital to pay attention to the things that tend to cause you to compare yourself with others, because if you are _______ that these are triggers, you can transform them into opportunities for a more productive response.

Shift to purposeful re-framing.

Once you _______ the situations that provoke these negative feelings in you, you may decide to quit any action that could cause you to feel insecure. But that’s rarely a(n) _______ or practical solution.

For instance, you probably can’t avoid hearing what your boss says about you or your colleagues. A better approach is to _______ engage those feelings to your benefit. Instead of saying to yourself, “I wish I did that,” ask yourself, “Why can’t I do that?” Then take some time to listen to what ideas emerge in your mind.

_______ a personal strength to regain validation (认可).

During the period of insecurity, you may start to consider how you can ________ others. Double down on your strengths and express them to the world.

An executive coaching client of mine was heartbroken that his planned promotion this year was postponed due to the pandemic. He worried that his future ________ for promotion to this position would slowly disappear.

To get out of his negative state, he decided to harness (利用) his writing talent. He ________ a thoughtful article for the company blog on how to effectively and positively lead others ________ the current crisis. Countless junior and senior colleagues expressed their gratitude for his honest and optimistic guidance. This feedback, ________, made him confident about his value.

Any efforts in your career and life will ________ bring self-comparison and insecurity. But whenever you feel like you are falling behind others, you can use these strategies to regain your confidence and perform well in the competitions that genuinely matter to you.

【推荐3】In 2023, Musk reached an outstanding landmark: his space company, SpaceX, sent the first group of travelers to Mars. This significant event ________ a new chapter in space travel and sparked the imaginations of people across the globe, encouraging a fresh generation to dream big and explore the ________.

In addition to his groundbreaking work at SpaceX, Musk has also made a lasting impact in the field of ________ energy. Tesla, led by Musk, has been at the forefront of electric vehicle ________, driving the automotive industry towards a more environmentally ________ direction. Musk’s dedication to promoting ________ energy through SolarCity has also been instrumental in reducing our reliance on fossil fuels and addressing climate change.

Musk’s relentless drive to achieve ambitious goals, such as colonizing Mars and revolutionizing transportation with hyperloop technology, showcases the power of forward-thinking. Despite facing obstacles and ________, Musk’s unwavering commitment and resilience have ________ his ventures forward, highlighting the importance of persistence in ________ challenges.

However, Musk’s journey has not been without controversy. His outspoken personality and ________ approach to business have often led to debate and ________. Yet, it is precisely this ________ to challenge the norm that has enabled Musk to push boundaries and achieve remarkable feats.

In summary, Elon Musk’s story serves as a testament to the transformative potential of human ________ and perseverance. His vision for the future extends beyond the limits of Earth, embracing a bold and ambitious ________for humanity’s role in the universe. As we look ahead to the future, let us draw ________ from Musk’s example and dare to dream of a brighter, more innovative world for all.