Plastic recycling is a hot topic. But what’s the real face behind it? You diligently sort your rubbish; you dutifully wash your plastic containers; then everything gets thrown in a landfill or in the ocean anyway. According to one analysis, only 9% of all plastic ever made has likely been recycled. Here’s the kicker: the companies making all that plastic have spent millions on advertising campaigns lecturing us about recycling while knowing full well that most plastic will never be recycled.
A new investigation by National Public Radio (NPR) and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) reports that the large oil and gas companies that manufacture plastics have known for decades that recycling plastic was unlikely to ever happen on a broad scale because of the high costs involved. “They were not interested in putting any real money or effort into recycling because they wanted to sell raw material,” Larry Thomas, former president of one of the plastic industry’s most powerful trade groups, told NPR. There is a lot more money to be made in selling new plastic than reusing the old stuff. But, in order to keep selling new plastic, the industry had to clean up its wasteful image. “If the public thinks that recycling is working, then they are not going to be so concerned about the environment,” Thomas noted.
We have been successfully convinced that people start pollution and people can stop it and that if we just recycle more, the planet will be OK. To some degree, that is right: there must be a level of personal responsibility when it comes to the climate emergency. We all have to do our part. But individual action is a tiny drop in a heavily polluted ocean. We need systematic change to make a real difference. And, more than anything, we need to change what we value.
1. According to the text, what does the underlined word “kicker” probably mean?| A．A player who kicks the football. |
| B．An event that is controversial. |
| C．An action that is taken to start a plan quickly. |
| D．A discovery that is unpleasant and unexpected. |
| A．Plastic recycling is necessary and effective. |
| B．Large amounts of money are spent on recycling. |
| C．The companies try to promote the sales of new material. |
| D．The companies prefer to sell recycled material rather than new materials. |
| A．Most people have a sense of responsibility. |
| B．Plenty of rubbish is dropped into the ocean. |
| C．Fighting against pollution calls for joint efforts. |
| D．Systematic change was made to reduce pollution. |
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【推荐1】By now, millions of people around the world have seen a video: a polar bear, weak from starvation, pawing through garbage at an abandoned fishing camp on Baffin Island. The bear seems so exhausted from hunger that it can barely stand. The film-makers believe the bear was just hours from death.
National Geographic published the video last week, bringing renewed attention to climate change and the decline of sea ice where polar bears need to hunt and find food. Steven Amstrup the chief scientist for the conservation group Polar Bears International, said that the images of the bear searching for food on land are heartbreaking for anyone, but particularly for him. Amstrup, 67, has studied polar bears for most of his adult life.
He says polar bears rely on sea ice surface to catch their food, principally two species of seals, and that food found on land is insufficient to feed them “We can think of the sea ice kind of as the polar bear’s giant dinner plate,” he says, “It’s got these seals laying out there like giant fat pills, and that’s what the polar bears have specialized on.” As earth’s temperature warms, less sea ice will be available for polar bears to depend on for their hunting, Amstrup says.
“We can’t say for sure what caused the problem that this bear is experiencing, but we do know that if we don’t stop the warming of the world, more and more bears will be experiencing this fate and ultimately, they’ll all be gone,” he says.
After the video was published, Cristina Mittermeier, one of the film-makers, responded to criticism about why they didn’t take action to help the bear. She says it “would have been madness” to approach a starving predator without a weapon, and that they were too far from a village to ask for help. “In the end, I did the only thing I could: I used my camera to make sure we would be able to share this tragedy with the world,” she said.
1. What does the video mainly show in Paragraph 1?| A．The decline of sea ice is taking place around the world. |
| B．Wildlife’s starvation problem is being addressed worldwide. |
| C．A starving and exhausted polar bear is hunting for food. |
| D．Film-makers are documenting how polar bears survived |
| A．Seals need fat pills to survive in the ocean. |
| B．There is a severe lack of food for polar bears. |
| C．Polar bears will be more dependent on sea ice to hunt. |
| D．Polar bears usually have a giant appetite for dinner. |
| A．The possible controversy of the photographers’ action. |
| B．The potential dangers of filming in the deserted village. |
| C．The regret of the film-maker’s not saving the polar bear. |
| D．The necessity of bearing weapons when photographing in the wild. |
| A．Cameras Are Documenting Endangered Polar Bears |
| B．We Should Take Action to Stop Global Warming |
| C．Polar Bears Are Drawing Attention Around the World |
| D．Video of Starving Polar Bear Highlights Effects of Melting Ice |
【推荐2】The East African country of Kenya has been at the forefront of the global war on plastic since 2017, when officials outlawed plastic bags. In June 2020, the government introduced a ban on single-use plastics in protected areas. Unfortunately, the measures failed to make a dent. Hundreds of tons of industrial and consumer plastic waste continue to end up in landfills daily.
However, if 29-year-old Nzambi Matee has her way, the unsightly plastic waste will soon be transformed into colorful bricks. The materials engineer's search for a solution to tackle plastic pollution began in 2017.She quit her job as a data analyst at a local chemical factory and set up a small lab in her mother's backyard. It took her nine months to produce the first brick and even longer to convince a partner to help her build the machinery to make the bricks. But the determined engineer was confident in her idea and did not give up.
The bricks are made using various plastic products---ranging from empty shampoo bottles to buckets to flip-flops, which couldn't be recycled and reprocessed. The collected plastic is mixed with sand, heated at very high temperatures, and compressed (压缩) into bricks that vary in color and thickness. The resulting product is stronger, lighter, and about 30 percent cheaper than concrete bricks. More importantly, it helps repurpose the lowest quality of plastic. “There is that waste that couldn't be processed and recycled anymore. That is what we get,” Matee says.
Matee, who was recognized as one of the Young Champions of the Earth 2020---the United Nations' highest environmental honor---is far from done. Her dream is to reduce the mountain of garbage in Dandora to just a hill by increasing production and expanding her offerings. She says,“The more we recycle the plastic, the more we produce affordable housing.”
1. What does the underlined phrase “make a dent” in Paragraph 1 probably mean?| A．Be carried out. | B．Be well recognized. |
| C．Have a strong effect. | D．Cause much trouble. |
| A．By setting up a lab for her. | B．By rebuilding her confidence. |
| C．By working as her data analyst. | D．By assisting her in making equipment. |
| A．They have the same color. | B．They used to be unrecyclable. |
| C．They are mainly plastic bottles. | D．They are stronger than the bricks. |
| A．The Plastic Brick Is Gaining Popularity | B．Plastic Waste May Soon Come to an End |
| C．Kenyan Engineer Wins International Honor | D．An Innovative Solution Is Found to Use Plastic Waste |
【推荐3】At the World Economic Forum last month, President Trump drew claps when he announced the United States would respond to the forum's proposal to plant one trillion(万亿) trees to fight climate change. The trillion-tree idea won wide attention last summer after a study published in the journal Science concluded that planting so many trees was “the most effective climate change solution to date”.
If only it were true. But it isn't. Planting trees would slow down the planet's warming, but the only thing that will save us and future generations from paying a huge price in dollars, lives and damage to nature is rapid and considerable reductions in carbon release from fossil fuels, to net zero by 2050.
Focusing on trees as the big solution to climate change is a dangerous diversion(偏离). Worse still, it takes attention away from those responsible for the carbon release that are pushing us toward disaster. For example, in the Netherlands, you can pay Shell an additional 1 euro cent for each liter of regular gasoline you put in your tank, to plant trees to balance the carbon release from your driving. That's clearly no more than disaster slightly delayed. The only way to stop this planet from overheating is through political, economic, technological and social solutions that end the use of fossil fuels.
There is no way that planting trees, even across a global area the size of the United States, can absorb the huge amounts of fossil carbon released from industrial societies. Trees do take up carbon from the atmosphere as they grow. But this uptake merely replaces carbon lost when forests were cleared in the first place, usually long ago. Regrowing forests where they once grew can undo some damage done in the past, but even a trillion trees can't store enough carbon to head off dramatic climate changes this century.
In a sharp counter argument to last summer's Paper in Science, Justin Gillis wrote in the same journal in October that the study's findings were inconsistent with the dynamics of the global carbon cycle. He warned that “the claim that global tree restoration(复原) is our most effective climate solution is simply scientifically incorrect and dangerously misleading”.
1. What do we know about the trillion-tree idea?| A．It was published in a journal. |
| B．It was proposed last summer. |
| C．It was put forward by Trump. |
| D．It drew lots of public attention. |
| A．A drawback of the tree planting strategy. |
| B．An example of balancing carbon release. |
| C．An anecdote of making a purchase at Shell. |
| D．A responsibility for politicians and economists. |
| A．Indifferent. | B．Opposed. |
| C．Hesitant. | D．Supportive. |
| A．Contradictory Ideas on Tree Planting. |
| B．A Trillion Trees Come to the Rescue. |
| C．Planting Trees Won't Save the World. |
| D．The Best Solution to Climate Change. |
【推荐1】Do you edit text messages carefully before sending them? If so, you may be the kind of person who takes pride in crafting even the simplest message.
A new book Writing For Busy Readers makes the argument for being the careful kind of writer, even in informal messages. It lays out the data for sharp, simple writing.
Todd Rogers and Jessica Lasky-Fink are behavioural scientists, both at Harvard. Their “Writing For Busy Readers” is cleverly titled: all readers are busy nowadays. People are filled constantly with messages, from the mailbox to the inbox to the text-message reminder. What to read, what to skim and what to ignore are decisions that nearly everyone has to make dozens, or even hundreds of times a day.
The authors present well-established principles that have long been prized in guide s to writing including The Economist’s style book: cut unnecessary words, choose words everyone knows and keep sentences simple.
Take “less is more”. Most books on writing well suggest cutting off needless words. However, in Writing for Busy People, the authors have tested the principles. For example, in an email to thousands of school-board members asking them to take a survey, cutting the length from 127 to 49 words almost doubled the response rate (from 2.7% to 4.8%).
The researchers found that a longer message makes recipients (收件人) think the task (such as filling out a survey) will take longer, too. Writers must sometimes choose to be informal but effective instead of sympathetic but ignored. From Facebook posts to online-travel reviews, even brief, informal pieces of writing that follow these rules get more likes, shares and so on. From essays to text messages organizing dinner plans, devoting time to the needs of readers has evident benefits. If you are so busy that you write a badly-organized message that readers scan, ignore and delete, then you might as well have not written it at all.
1. What is the purpose of the question in Paragraph 1?| A．To raise people’s interest in simple writing. | B．To correct the old view about text messages. |
| C．To reveal the negative effects of messages. | D．To improve the texting skills of people. |
| A．It emphasizes the importance of timely messages. |
| B．It brings evidence on the well-established principles. |
| C．It was written by a well-known author Todd Rogers. |
| D．It was once published in the magazine The Economist. |
| A．Brief writing gains few popularity. | B．Messages are too short to understand. |
| C．People tend to overlook long messages. | D．Sympathetic messages get many responses. |
| A．How to write effectively. | B．When to text messages. |
| C．The languages used in writing. | D．The methods of sending emails. |
【推荐2】Can clothes make phone calls, play music, dial your friend’s number, keep you warm during cold weather, or operate your computer?
This is not fantasy (幻想). A British company, called Electrotextiles, has created a kind of clothes that have a mind of their own! Scientists have invented a cloth that can be mixed with electronic materials to create intelligent clothing. The result is electronic clothes.
These clothes are wire-free, soft to touch and washable! Like any electronic equipment, these high-tech clothes have to be powered. A small nine-volt(伏特) battery serves the purpose. But the researchers hope that in the near future, the clothes will produce electricity by using body heat.
The Electrotextiles team has also invented the world’s first cloth keyboard. This keyboard can be sewn into your trousers or skirt. To use this equipment, you needn’t buy a computer. All you will do is tap on your lap! The equipment may replace computers in the future!
Another useful cloth is the shirt mobile phone. This invention makes drivers chat comfortably - with both hands on the wheel! Other popular electronic wears include the ordinary jacket and the electronic ski-jacket with a built-in heater. The ski-jacket is also programmed to send signals to a satellite. This technology is known as global positioning(全球定位) and can be used to look for lost skiers.
Having completed the cloth keyboard, scientists have already started to work on a new project - a necktie that can be used as a computer’s mouse.
1. Why does the author ask the question in paragraph 1?| A．To tell us technology is developing fast. | B．To make us have a dream for the future. |
| C．To make us believe in the author’s idea. | D．To get the readers interested in the topic. |
| A．They feel hard. | B．They need wires. |
| C．They can be washed. | D．They don’t need electricity. |
| A．Produce electricity. | B．Replace the computer’s keyboard. |
| C．Help skiers find their way. | D．Work as a computer’s mouse. |
| A．The development of electronic clothes. | B．The function of clothes in the future. |
| C．The best way to produce electricity. | D．Great fun to enjoy chatting when driving. |
【推荐3】Look into the future of what we eat, and you'll start wondering what could happen to our meals. As the world's population surpasses nine billion, our food needs will grow by 50 percent. How do we meet them without clearing more forests or expanding industrial agriculture, one of the most significant contributors to climate change? How do we keep our soil healthy, so that crops can grow well?
These questions are challenging. "But one thing is clear," says food journalist Lin Yee Yuan. "To feed nine billion people," she warns, "we're going to need all hands to the pump."
Many of those hands likely will be trying to find new ways to produce protein as the environmental stress of animal production becomes increasingly great. Animal production represents about one-seventh of all human-made greenhouse gas emissions. Beef produced in concentrated feeding operations typically requires nearly eight times the water and 160 times the land per calorie as vegetables and grain. No wonder United Nations officials have been urging everyone to eat less beef—and new food companies are taking it seriously.
Among them is the producer of the Beyond Burger, a patty with beefy coloring and protein from plants that is already available throughout the United States in about 10,000 grocery stores and many restaurants.
Other solutions take inspiration from nature. By the early 2000s, staff at the Land Institute were selectively breeding a grain to create a variety with better production, seed size, and disease resistance.
Today the result, called Kernza, is growing on 500 acres in the United States. A variety of food producers are readying it for market—including Bien Cuit, a high-end bakery in New York, which has made bread with it, and Hopworks Urban Brewery in Oregon, which sells a Kernza beer. "Whatever our meals may be like in 50 years, climate change will require us to make better use of what we already have," says global food expert Raj Patel. "The 21st century is teaching us that things once thought to be weeds and pests could turn out to be food."
1. What do the questions in the first paragraph focus on?| A．Climate change. | B．Global feeding. | C．Future diet. | D．Increasing population. |
| A．To stress the benefits of meat-free food. | B．To introduce food companies' dilemma. |
| C．To explain the success of plant-based burgers. | D．To show an environment-friendly meat alternative. |
| A．It is losing its market. | B．It has obvious drawbacks. |
| C．It is the solution to saving the world. | D．It has found its way into food products. |
| A．We need to widen our food sources. | B．We will run out of ideas in 50 years. |
| C．Everything will be tough in the 2lst century. | D．Everyone should make an effort to save food. |
