【推荐1】阅读下面短文，根据题目要求回答问题．

Fashion's Melt Down

Throwaway culture is trashing the planet-but one young chemical engineer has her own way to turn it over．

Fast fashion has changed the way we dress．We buy more clothes, more often-but we wear them less．Alina Bassi, founder of Kleiderly, wants to give our clothing waste another chance at a useful life．

Bassi has always cared about the threat of climate change, but she actually started her career in the oil industry．After a few years, she landed at bio-bean, a startup that turned waste coffee grounds into products that could be burnt for heat and fuel．After a year, Bassi was keen to branch out-used coffee grounds are not the biggest threat facing the planet．Instead, she poured her efforts into tackling a much bigger global polluter: the fashion industry．

According to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, we produce 100 billion items of clothing per year, and this is set to double by 2050．But they don't last long enough to offset（抵消）the carbon cost of producing the material, creating the clothes, and then shipping them to customers．"It makes no sense that we have such a high carbon footprint for something so short-lived," Bassi says．

Using the principles of a circular economy, Bassi has developed a low-energy, multi-stage process to turn clothing fibres into an alternative to oil-based plastic．This new plastic can then be used by manufacturers in their existing machines, so that your old T-shirts and jeans will become different products instead of clothes, such as clothing hangers, or even furniture．

Fashion companies have some other ways to reduce fashion waste, from creating clothes designed to last, to recycling the fabric to make more clothing．But "a problem this big needs multiple solutions," Bassi says．"We think about the multiple lives of a product and how we can keep reusing it instead of letting it fall into landfills or incinerators（焚化炉）,"she says．

1. Why did Bassi switch her focus to the fashion industry?
2. Please paraphrase the underlined sentence in your own words．
3. Please decide which part is false in the following statement, then underline it and explain why．
Kleiderly can change old jackets and trousers into a new material, which can be used to make more clothing．
4. Please briefly present your own solution（s）to the throwaway problem in daily life．（about 40 words）

【推荐2】The national movement to get rid of plastic bags is gaining steam — with more than 240 cities and counties passing laws that ban or tax them since 2007 in the US. But these bans may be hurting the environment more than helping it.

University of Sydney economist Rebecca Taylor and colleagues compared bag use in cities with bans with those without them. For six months, they spent weekends in grocery stores recording the types of bags people carried out.

Taylor found these bag bans did what they were supposed to: People in the cities with the bans used fewer plastic bags, which led to about 40 million fewer pounds of plastic garbage per year. But people who used to reuse their shopping bags for other purposes, like picking up dog waste, still needed bags. "What I found was that sales of garbage bags actually grew sharply after plastic grocery bags were banned," she says.

Garbage bags are thick and use more plastic than typical shopping bags. "So about 30 percent of the plastic that was reduced by the ban comes back in the form of thicker garbage bags," Taylor says. On top of that, cities that banned plastic bags saw a surge in the use of paper bags, which she estimates（估计）resulted in about 80 million pounds of extra paper garbage per year.

A bunch of studies find that paper bags are actually worse for the environment. They require cutting down and processing trees, which involves lots of water, toxic chemicals and fuel. While paper is biodegradable(可生物降解的) and avoids some of the problems of plastic, Taylor says, the huge increase of paper means banning plastic shopping bags increases greenhouse gas emissions(排放).

The Danish government recently did a study that took into account environmental impacts（影响）beyond simply greenhouse gas emissions, including water use, damage to ecosystems and air pollution. These factors make cloth bags even worse. They estimate you would have to use an organic cotton bag 20,000 times more than a plastic grocery bag to make using it better for the environment.

1. What is main idea of the passage?

A．Banning plastic bags is gaining popularity worldwide.

B．Banning plastic has great influence on people’s life.

C．Banning plastic increases the use of pager and cloth bags.

D．Banning plastic may harm rather than help the environment.

2. What is the result of banning grocery plastic bags?

A．Plastic bags are no longer needed.

B．People began to reuse their plastic bags.

C．The amount of garbage is even greater.

D．Most of the reduced plastic returns in garbage bags.

3. Why are paper and cloth bags worse for the environment?

A．They are not as biodegradable as plastic bags.

B．It hurts the environment more to make them.

C．They can’t be reused as many times as plastic bags.

D．They are much thicker than plastic bags.

4. What does the underlined word in the fourth paragraph mean?

A．Sharp increase.	B．Fast development.
C．Tight control.	D．Sharp decrease.

【推荐3】Are Your Clothes Causing Pollution? Very small pieces of plastic, called microfibers, are polluting rivers and oceans.     1     Clothes worn for outdoor activities and exercise are often made of artificial material, which is useful in keeping warm. But they contain very small plastic fibers, which may also be harming the environment when you wash them. When people wash these clothes, very small pieces go down the drain with the wash water.

    2    

Pollution caused by plastic is not new, but recent studies have shown the effect of microfibers in the environment. Studies show very small microfibers are ending up in our waters, which may come from waste water treatment factories. A 2015 study found them in fish from California.

Microfibers, effect on food supplies.

Beyond the waterways, the researchers say microfibers may end up in soil and agricultural lands.       3    This means there is much to be learned about microfibers and the environment. Some studies have shown that microfibers end up inside sea animals, like oysters.       4     Researchers say that the fibers tend not to move into the tissue of the fish, but it needs more study.

Steps to save or keep microfibers from the environment.

Until more information becomes known, there are steps to take to reduce the amount of microfibers in the environment. People should use less of the artificial materials. If we already have those in our lives and we're using them, an important step would be washing them less.       5     A bag is being designed in which to wash these clothes. It traps the microfibers in the bag and it may be available for purchase soon.

A．New technology may also help.

B．Studies on microfibers in the environment.

C．They can also move around the atmosphere.

D．Studies on how much of the microfibers is released.

E．The source of these microfibers may surprise you: your clothes.

F．Washing machines keep microfibers from escaping with wash water.

G．So if these microfibers have been found in fish and seafood, are they safe to eat?

【推荐1】For reasons that are deeply rooted in culture and tradition, men significantly outnumber （比... 多）women in mathematics-based careers. As students progress through the mathematics courses, girls and boys show little difference in ability, effort, or interest in mathematics until adolescent years when course and career choices begin influencing school effort. Then, as social pressure increases and career goals are formed, girls' decisions to reduce effort in the study of mathematics progressively cut them off from many professional careers in the future.

Many girls drop mathematics in high school or in the transition to college. Others drop out later. Women perform virtually as well as men in college mathematics courses, but beyond the bachelor’s degree women drop out of mathematics at   twice the rate of men. Women now enter college nearly as well prepared in mathematics as men, and 46 percent of mathematics baccalaureates （学士学位）go to women. Despite this record, only 35 percent of the master's degrees and 17 percent of the Ph. D degrees in the mathematical sciences are earned by women.

Overall, women receive approximately one third of university degrees in science and engineering. The highest percentages of women are found in those sciences with the least mathematical prerequisite： psychology, biology, and sociology. The lowest percentages of women enter fields requiring the most mathematics, namely, physics, engineering, economics, geo- science ,and chemistry. Evidence from many sources suggest that it is differences in course patterns rather than lack of ability that matter most in limiting women's access to careers in mathematically intensive sciences.

Widely reported studies concerning the high percentage of boys among mathematical prodigies （天才）---those who at age 12 perform at the level of average college students-often convey the impression that gender differences in mathematics are biologically determined. But evidence from the vast majority of students shows almost no difference in performance among male and female students who have taken equal advantage of similar opportunities to study mathematics. Inferences from very exceptional students——child prodigies—mean little about the performance of the general population.

1. Males and females probably have great difference in the learning abilities of in mathematics when they.

A．enter high school	B．acquire   their bachelor’s degree
C．enter college	D．acquire   their master's degree

2. Of the following degrees, the highest percentage of degree earned by women is

A．master’s degree in economics	B．doctor's degree in economics
C．master’s degree in biology	D．doctor's degree in biology

3. We can infer from the high percentage of boys among mathematical prodigies that

A．boys and girls usually lake unequal advantage of opportunities to study mathematics

B．boys are cleverer in mathematics than girls

C．gender differences in mathematics are biologically determined

D．boys work harder than girls

4. Which one doesn't belong to the reasons why men significantly outnumber women in mathematics based careers?

A．Many girls decide to reduce effort in the study of mathematics as social pressure increases.

B．Course pattern is the factor that limits women's access to careers in mathematically intensive sciences.

C．Women's less interest in mathematics limits their access to some careers.

D．More women drop out of mathematics than men beyond the bachelor’s degree.

【推荐2】The sea could be the food bowl of the future. In Jervis Bay, south of Sydney, seaweed, which is rich in fibre and omega 3, is grown and harvested.

Pia Winberg is a marine scientist who runs Australia's first food-grade fanned seaweed company. Her crop is grown alongside mussels (贻贝)and is used as an additive in pasta (意大利面)and other products.

Seaweed is also raised in large tanks, where it absorbs carbon dioxide waste from a wheat processing factory. The business is small, but could help to reduce the ecological footprint of traditional farming.

“We used ten percent of seaweed instead of wheat in breads and pastas, we've eliminated a million hectares of land, we've eliminated all of the carbon dioxide emissions associated with that, and we've also reduced the pressures on very precious fresh water.” said Pia Winberg.

Spiny sea urchins (多刺海胆虫)are another blue economy resource. They can destroy marine habitats, but a recent competition for environmental start-ups in Australia, saw them not as a pest but a delicacy (美味).

Martina Doblin, CEO of Sydney Institute of Marine Science, said, “By 2050 we will have some ten billion people on the planet, and about half the food they eat will come from the ocean. So, we really do need to pay attention to the way that we manage the blue economy-generating wealth from the ocean but in a sustainable (可持续的)way.”

Farming at sea has its challenges. Infrastructure (基础设施)has to be sound, as do supply chains and biosecurity. But get these things right, and the ocean might just be the next great economic frontier.

1. What is the function of the first paragraph?

A．To lead to the main topic.

B．To describe a new kind of seaweed.

C．Tell how important the food safety is.

D．To explain the meaning of blue economy.

2. What can we learn from what Martina Doblin said in paragraph 6?

A．Ocean exploration has made little progress so far.

B．More and more people will die of hunger in the future.

C．More work is needed for a better use of the natural resources.

D．Sea farming will be a good way to solve the coming world food problem.

3. Which word can be used to describe the author's attitude towards sea fanning?

A．Skeptical.

B．Objective.

C．Tolerant.

D．Negative.

4. Which can be a suitable title for the text?

A．How to Protect the Marine Animals

B．Measures to Develop Blue Economy

C．Farming the Sea for the Future of Food

D．Traditional Farming is Gradually Disappearing

【推荐3】Differences inside our bodies

Did you know that people who live in different parts of China have different habits and preferences?

For example, people from southern China prefer to eat vegetables, while people from north China like to eat meat. But what causes these differences?

According to a new study published in the journal Cell in October, gene variations might be responsible for these differences, Xinhua reported.

In the study, researchers from Chinese genome-sequencing (基因组测序) firm BGI collected genetic information from 141,431 Chinese women. The women came from 31 provinces and comprised 36 ethnic minority groups.

The researchers found that there are six gene frequencies that are different among people from both northern and southern China. They found that natural selection has played an important role in the ways that people living in different regions of China have evolved, affecting their food preferences, immunities to illness and physical traits, the New York Times reported.

The researchers reported that a variation of the gene FADS2 is more commonly found in northern people than it is in southern people. It helps people metabolize (新陈代谢) fatty acids (脂肪酸), which suggests a diet that is rich in meat. According to Xinhua, this is due to climate differences. Northern China is at a higher latitude, which means it’s cold and dry throughout the whole year. This weather is difficult to grow vegetables in. Therefore, northerners tend to eat more meat.

The study also found differences in the immune systems of both groups. Most people in southern China carry the gene CR1, which protects against malaria. This is because malaria was once quite common in southern China. In order to survive, the genes of people in the south evolved to fight against this disease. However, people in the south are also more vulnerable to certain blood-borne illnesses, as they lack the genes to stop them.

Genes can also cause physical differences between northerners and southerners. Most northerners have the ABCC11 gene, which causes dry earwax (耳屎), less body odor and fewer sweat secretions (分泌), The New York Times reported. These physical differences are also more beneficial to living in cold environments. Southerners are less likely to have this gene, as it did not evolve in their population.

1. What’s this passage mainly about?

A．A study of the genes of Chinese minority groups.

B．Habits of people from different regions of China.

C．Differences in the genes of people from different parts of China.

D．Physical differences between northerners and southerners.

2. A variation of the gene FADS2 can help our body ________.

A．store fat	B．digest meat
C．fight disease	D．control sweat

3. The underlined word “comprised” is closest in meaning to ________.

A．consisted of	B．compared to
C．completed	D．started with

4. According to the passage, most northerners in China ________.
a. tend to have less disease like malaria
b. have less body odor
c. catch blood-borne illnesses easily
d. sweat less frequently

A．ab	B．bc
C．bd	D．cd

【推荐3】To take the apple as a forbidden fruit is the most unlikely story the Christians have ever cooked up. For them, the forbidden fruit from Eden is evil. So when Columbus brought the tomato back from South America, a land mistakenly considered to be Eden, everyone jumped to the obvious conclusion. Wrongly taken as the apple of Eden, the tomato was shut out of the door of Europeans.

What made it particularly terrifying was its similarity to the mandrake, a plant that was thought to have come from Hell. What earned the plant its awful reputation was its roots which looked like a dried-up human body occupied by evil spirits. Though the tomato and the mandrake were quite different except that both had bright red or yellow fruit, the general population considered them one and the same, too terrible to touch.

Cautious Europeans long ignored the tomato, and until the early 1700s most of the Western people continued to drag their feet. In the 1880s, the daughter of a well-known plant expert wrote that the most interesting part of an afternoon tea at here father’s house had been the “introduction of this wonderful new fruit--or is it a vegetable?” As late as the 20th century some writers still classed tomatoes with mandrakes as an “evil fruit”.

But in the end tomatoes carried the day. The hero of the tomato was an American named Robert Johnson, and when he was publicly going to eat the tomato in 1820, people journeyed for hundreds of miles to watch him drop dead. “ What are you afraid of ?” he shouted. “I’ll show you fools that theses things are good to eat!” Then he bit into the tomato. Some people fainted. But he survived and, according to a local story, set up a tomato-canning factory.

1. The tomato was shut out of the door of early Europeans mainly because___________.

A．it made Christians evil	B．it was the apple of Eden
C．it came from a forbidden land	D．it was religiously unacceptable

2. What can we infer from the underlined part in Paragraph 3?

A．The process of ignoring the tomato slowed down.

B．There was little progress in the study of the tomato.

C．The tomato was still refused in most Western countries.

D．Most Western people continued to plant the tomato.

3. What is the main reason for Robert Johnson to eat the tomato publicly?

A．To make himself a hero.

B．To remove people’s fear of the tomato.

C．To speed up the popularity of the tomato.

D．To persuade people to buy products from his factory.

4. What is the main purpose of the passage?

A．To challenge people’s fixed concepts of the tomato.

B．To give an explanation to people’s dislike of the tomato.

C．To present the change of people’s attitudes to the tomato.

D．To show the process of freeing the tomato from religious influence.