A little more than a year ago, Karen Jenner was at a nearby beach on the Bay of Fundy in Nova Scotia when she started picking up escape hatches from lobster traps.
“It started as a fun thing, collecting one item,” Jenner tells. “In only a few beach visits, I had collected over 500 of the hatches, and they were becoming harder to find. So I started collecting a few other things and gradually got to where I am now, collecting almost anything that I can remove from the beach.”
In just over a year, Jenner has pulled home more than 2.4 tons of mostly plastic trash (垃圾). Jenner posts photos of everything she collects on her Nova Scotia Beach Garbage Awareness Facebook page to draw attention to the trash problem. “I think the most important part of what I do is taking photos and posting them to my Facebook page,” she says. “The visual (视觉的) statements that the photos give cannot be challenged, nor can the numbers. It is real data.”
Jenner typically goes on her trips alone. “I have a son with special needs and this is ‘own’ time for me, a time to relax and just enjoy the quiet of being on the beach,” she says. “Many people have asked to tag along but I do not host beach cleanups. Many people have commented that they have been noticing trash on the beach and have started picking it up. How cool that is!”
“It is often very discouraging because no matter how much you clean up, there will always be more to do. I joke that it is a fool’s job!” she says. “I have often thought that, that’s it, I am finished and that it is nothing more than a waste of my time. Yet a few days later, I am off again! I keep doing it because whatever I remove from the shoreline will not ever be a danger again for marine life (海洋生物). As far as making a difference to the problem of plastic in the ocean, it is not even a drop in the bucket.”
1. Why did Jenner begin to collect trash on the beach?| A．For money. | B．On purpose. |
| C．On duty. | D．For pleasure. |
| A．The serious trash problem. | B．The valuable finds on the beach. |
| C．The really challenging data. | D．The pleasure of visiting the beach. |
| A．To keep away from her hard work. | B．To relax after looking after her disabled son. |
| C．To pick up trash for herself. | D．To prepare beach cleanups in advance. |
| A．It is just a drop in the bucket. | B．It is a waste of her time. |
| C．It is worth keeping on. | D．It is really a fool’s job. |
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【推荐1】As people are becoming more socially conscious about where their food comes from and how it impacts the planet, they are choosing animal-free plant-based options. Cow-free meat has been around for quite some time and the popularity of brands like Beyond Meat and cultivated meat from Aleph Farms and other are soaring. While there are a large number of plant-based milk substitutes, none of have the same taste of cow’ milk. Now, an Israeli food-tech startup Remilk created real dairy products without harming a single cow or the planet.
The company stresses that their product Remilk is not a milk substitute but rather is the real deal. Made from a special process called microbial fermentation, milk is manufactured in a lab instead of in a cow. And the end product is very healthy. “In a very simple way, we take the gene that encodes for the milk protein,” said Aviv Wolf, CEO of Remilk. “The gene function as an instruction book for the production of the protein it encodes. And so, we insert the gene into a microbe that we’ve developed and it instructs our microbe to produce the specific protein in a very efficient way.”
The company says that the lab-produced milk tastes identical to the real thing and they hope to eventually replace cows by creating every dairy product sold. They expect to roll out plant-based cheese and yogurt in addition to milk. “Remilk was founded with the mission to stop using animal to produce our food because, as dairy lovers, we realize that giving up on milk is not an option,” Wolff said. “But today’s milk comes with an unreasonable price tag. The dairy industry is destructive to our planet, our health, and our animals, and is simply not sustainable any more.”
The environmental price tag of dairy farming is way too high. According to the World Wildlife Fund, dairy cows add a huge amount of greenhouse gasses to the atmosphere and contribute to global warming and climate change as well as foul the air around them. Dairy operation consume large amounts of water and run-off of manure and fertilizers from there farms get into local waterways. The production of Remilk uses only 5 percent of the resources and produces only 1 percent of the waste of producing cow’s milk according to company. And they accomplish this by being 100 percent cruelty-free dairy farms.
1. What distinguishes Remilk from other milk substitutes?| A．It enjoys broad popularity. | B．It has the highest output. |
| C．It comes in various flavours. | D．It tastes the same as cow’s milk. |
| A．The production of Remilk. | B．The nutritional value of Remilk. |
| C．The role of gene in making protein. | D．The process of microbial fermentation. |
| A．Remilk was set up for animal protection. | B．Dairy industries should be shut down. |
| C．Remilk aims to produce animal-free food. | D．Price of cow’s milk are soaring there days. |
| A．Clean. | B．Heat. | C．Pollute. | D．Consume. |
【推荐2】There are several reasons to use canvas (帆布) grocery bags or reusable grocery bags made from other materials. Some environmental organizations have been pushing for the use of such bags.
From an environmental aspect, canvas grocery bags are better choices than paper or plastic bags.
Plastic grocery bags have a number of environmental disadvantages. When plastic grocery bags end up in the natural environment, they can cause a wide range of problems. Animals may choke on or be caught in such bags.
As anyone who has had a bag broken open in the parking lot knows, it can be very upsetting to lose a lot of groceries to a poorly-constructed grocery bag.
| A．Many grocery stores carry canvas grocery bags. |
| B．Canvas grocery bags have uses beyond the grocery store. |
| C．Instead, you only have to buy a canvas grocery bag once. |
| D．What’s worse, plastic can stay in the ocean for thousands of years. . |
| E．They point out reusable bags can be a small change with a big difference. |
| F．Canvas is more environmentally friendly to produce than paper or plastic. |
| G．However, canvas grocery bags can hold much more weight than regular ones. |
【推荐3】Finding fish is going to get harder as climate change continues to heat the world’s oceans. A new study finds that warming seas over the past 80 years have reduced the sustainable(可持续) catch of 124 species(物种) of fish and shellfish.
Overfishing（过渡捕捞) has made that decline worse, researchers say. In some parts of the world, such as the heavily fished Sea of Japan, the decrease is as high as 35 percent. That’s a loss of more than one in every three fish.
Researchers examined changes in 235 populations of fish and shellfish between 1930 and 2010. On average, that warming has caused the sustainable catch to drop by 4.1 percent, the study found. About 8 percent of the fish and shellfish populations the team studied saw losses as a result of the ocean warming. However, about 4 percent of some populations increased. That’s because certain species have thrived in warmer waters. One example is a kind of black sea fish. It lives along the northeastern U.S. coast. As warming continues, these fish will reproduce faster until they reach their limit.
About 3.2 billion people worldwide rely on seafood as a source of food. That means it’s urgent for commercial fishing fleets and regulators to consider how climate change is affecting the health of all of those fish in the sea.
1. What does the new study discover?| A．Overfishing is to blame for fish health. |
| B．Warming seas cause fewer fish and shellfish. |
| C．Seafood matters to people’s health worldwide. |
| D．The living regions of fish and shellfish are different. |
| A．Survived narrowly. | B．Disappeared soon. |
| C．Decreased sharply. | D．Developed quickly. |
| A．About 8 percent of them suffered from a great loss. |
| B．About 35 percent of them survived in the Sea of Japan. |
| C．About 3.2 billion species have been saved up to now. |
| D．About 80 species have died out because of warming seas. |
| A．A cooking guide. | B．A science magazine. |
| C．A news review. | D．A health brochure. |
【推荐1】My grandfather worked as a carpenter. On a particular day, he was building some cases for the clothes his church was sending to an orphanage (孤儿院) in Brazil. On his way home, he found his glasses were gone. When he mentally replayed his earlier actions, he realized what had happened. The glasses had slipped out of his pocket and fallen into one of the cases. The Great Depression (大萧条时期) was at its height, and Grandpa had six children. He had spent twenty dollars for those glasses that very morning.
Several months later, the director of the orphanage came to visit all the churches that supported him, so he came to my grandfather’s small church in Chicago. He began by thanking the people for their kindness. “But most of all,” he said, “I must thank you for the glasses you sent last year. You see, some people had just come to the orphanage, destroying everything, including my glasses. Along with not being able to see well, I experienced headaches every day. Then your cases arrived. When I removed the covers, I found a pair of glasses lying on top.”
After a pause he continued, “When I tried on the glasses, it was as though they had been made just for me! I want to thank you for being a part of that!” The people listened, happy for the miraculous glasses. Sitting quietly in the back, with tears streaming down his face, my grandfather, an ordinary carpenter realized his glasses had found a good place to go.
1. We learn from the passage that the writer’s grandfather ________.| A．got his glasses back from the director of the orphanage |
| B．found that his glasses were at home at last |
| C．had a heavy burden of supporting his family |
| D．worked as a carpenter in a school in Chicago |
| A．surprised | B．disappointed | C．pitiful | D．moved |
| A．practical | B．magical | C．necessary | D．important |
| A．The Perfect Mistake. |
| B．An Ordinary Carpenter. |
| C．A Careless Old Man. |
| D．The Cases for the Clothes. |
【推荐2】In college, I wrote an essay about Christmas Eve to catch the spirit of this special night for my family. I got an A, and even better was this comment from my professor, “I believe you have found a direction for future job.”
My essay described our traditions: turkey, church, two presents. A lot of it was about my Aunt Bud, the head of my mom’s family. We were lucky we lived closest, so she spent holidays at our house. Sadly, she’s gone now. Like so many wonderful spirits, she died too young, just after she retired with big plans for an easy life. But she’s not really gone. She visits us all often, in the form of a cardinal—her favorite bird.
One June day, I called my mom. “What are you doing?” I asked. “Sitting here looking at the tree,” she said, referring to the tree in the middle of our yard. It was about a foot tall when my dad planted it today it towers over the roof. “There are cardinals all over it,” Mom said. “I’ve never seen so many.” I wasn’t surprised. “Mom, you know what day it is, right?” I said. “It’s Aunt Bud’s birthday.” So of course, she had come to visit—with friends.
In this issue of our Reader’s Digest, we’ve collected inspiring stories about unusual events that happened around the holidays. This year we focus on people who showed a kindness that made a forever difference in someone’s life. “Angels in action,” we call them. I hope your angels visit you this holiday season. Please write to me at letters@rd.com and share your stories with us.
1. According to the text, the writer is probably a（n）________.| A．actress | B．professor | C．scientist | D．editor |
①Christmas presents ②plants and birds
③traditions and relatives ④the spirit of Christmas Eve
| A．①②③ | B．①②④ | C．②③④ | D．①③④ |
| A．cardinals were Aunt Bud’s favorite birds |
| B．unusual events always happened around the holidays |
| C．the tree her father planted was attractive to cardinals |
| D．it was Aunt Bud and her friends that came to visit them |
| A．To share her life experiences. | B．To call on people to share similar stories. |
| C．To value the memory of Aunt Bud. | D．To encourage readers to show kindness. |
【推荐3】At first glance, the business world is no place for young women, as my co-founders and I have been told on many occasions. In spite of this pessimistic view of women’s opportunity in business, we three college-age girl with zero experience in business started off with a highly ambitious goal: to start a seaweed farm in North California, and grow as much seaweed as possible to help reduce carbon emissions (排放) and nutrient pollution from agricultural sources.
In the beginning, our ideas were either ignored or scoffed by the researchers from whom we sought help and advice. But we carried on with our research—if others wouldn’t provide us answers, we weren’t afraid to work them out ourselves. We discovered which species could grow in warmer waters, and we’d identified potential markets into which we planned to sell the products. We’ve spent the last two years setting up the first seaweed farm in NC, applying for a patent (专利) and competing with five final teams in front of the United Nations for $1 million.
Despite all our efforts, many industry experts remained unwilling to take us seriously. But as often happens in business, the same characteristics we were ignored for were, in reality, our biggest competitive advantages. Our age gave us the strength to bounce back from failure and our background as environmental scientists, rather than businesswomen, helped us find new marketing opportunities. For every 10 farmers who claimed nobody would ever want to feed their cows seaweed, we found one who was interested. For every 15 cosmetics (化妆品) producers who refused to answer our cold calls (电话推销) we stuck to the one with an interesting idea for seaweed lotion.
Over the course of our early business development efforts, we have had access to a wealth of resources, programs, and individuals who work constantly to help us succeed. By staying focused on bringing our ideas to light, our team has demonstrated that entrepreneurship (创业) is exactly the right place for the hopeful.
1. What was the major cause for their difficulty in starting business?| A．They are women. | B．They were young. |
| C．They lacked experience. | D．They suffered prejudice (偏见). |
| A．They expanded their seaweed farms. |
| B．They experimented on seaweed species. |
| C．They got their product officially recognized. |
| D．They consulted the United Nations. |
| A．How they benefited from their weaknesses. |
| B．How they got others interested in seaweed. |
| C．How they made themselves more competitive. |
| D．How they approached potential customers. |
