Whether you're a citizen, consumer or investor, it is fast becoming a key life skill to make out greenwashing, a word meaning a company claims that its products are environmentally friendly but actually not green at all. Misleading or not proved claims about benefits to climate can make it harder for people to make informed decisions. They can also weaken real efforts by companies to clean up their act and deal with the climate crisis.
The basic problem is a lack of clarity. Indeed, when it comes to spotting greenwashing, it can actually be more helpful to focus on the color grey—because it is the many grey areas that have helped make greenwashing appear in particular places. These grey areas might be around measurements, definitions, best practice, standards or regulations. Even the language we use is very imprecise, leaving lots of room for vagueness, confusion or complete cheating. For instance, what do words such as “green”, “sustainable” and “eco” even mean? You have no standards, measurements or definitions to judge by.
These problems are increasingly important when it comes to the greenwashing of investment products, such as pensions and investment funds. In recent years, there has been a sharp rise in consumer demand for funds that invest according to environmental, social and governance criteria, often referred to as ESG funds. According to the financial data provider Morningstar, the value of assets(资产) held in UK funds grew from £29bn at the beginning of 2017 to £71bn by the end of 2020.
With that much money at risk for high profits, misleading claims can effectively hamper the flow of money and resources into really green new plans and businesses, preventing global efforts from dealing with the climate emergency. “I describe it as the 'teenage years' of responsible investing, with a lot of experimentation, and a lot of people trying out new things.” says Ashley Hamilton Claxton.
1. Which of the following can be called greenwashing?| A．A product that is claimed to benefit the climate. |
| B．A product that can been washed in a green way. |
| C．A product that is absolutely environmentally friendly. |
| D．A product that is claimed to be green while not the case. |
| A．The product's description is not clear. |
| B．The language isn't grammatically right. |
| C．There are no such words as “sustainable”. |
| D．The company doesn't say it's “green” and “eco”. |
| A．put | B．clarify | C．stop | D．divide |
| A．Much money enables high profits |
| B．Responsible investing is still at its early stage. |
| C．More money is invested in real green businesses. |
| D．A lot of people are unwilling to try out new things. |
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【推荐1】Getting less sleep has become a bad habit for most American kids. According to a new survey(调查) by the National Sleep Foundation, 51% of kids aged 10 to 18 go to bed at 10 pm or later on school nights, even though they have to get up early. Last year the Foundation reported that nearly 60% of 7- to 12-year-olds said they felt tired during the day, and 15% said they had fallen asleep at school.
How much sleep you need depends a lot on your age. Babies need a lot of rest: most of them sleep about 18 hours a day! Adults need about eight hours. For most school-age children, ten hours is ideal(理想的). But the new National Sleep Foundation survey found that 35% of 10- to 12-year-olds get only seven or eight hours. And guess what almost half of the surveyed kids said they do before bedtime? Watch TV.
“More children are going to bed with TVs on, and there are more opportunities(机会) to stay awake, with more homework, the Internet and the phone,” says Dr. Mary Carskadon, a sleep researcher at Brown University Medical School. She says these activities at bedtime can get kids all excited and make it hard for them to calm down and sleep. Other experts say part of the problem is chemical. Changing levels of body chemicals called hormones not only make teenagers’ bodies develop adult characteristics, but also make it hard for teenagers to fall asleep before 11 pm.
Because sleepiness is such a problem for teenagers, some school districts have decided to start high school classes later than they used to. Three years ago, schools in Edina, Minnesota, changed the start time from 7:25 am to 8:30 am. Students, parents and teachers are pleased with the results.
1. What is the new National Sleep Foundation survey on?| A．American kids’ sleeping habits. | B．Teenagers’ sleep-related diseases. |
| C．Activities to prevent sleeplessness. | D．Learning problems and lack of sleep. |
| A．7 hours. | B．8 hours. |
| C．10 hours. | D．18 hours. |
| A．They are affected by certain body chemicals. |
| B．They tend to do things that excite them. |
| C．They follow their parents’ examples. |
| D．They don’t need to go to school early. |
【推荐2】Do you have a suit or dress in the closet that you haven’t worn for years but are reluctant to get rid of? Maybe you say, “I can’t throw that away because I paid good money for it?”. If you recognize this in yourself, then you are suffering from commitment to the sunk cost fallacy (谬论). It occurs when we feel that we have invested too much to quit. This psychological trap causes us to stick with a plan even if it no longer serves us and the costs clearly outweigh the benefits.
Arkes and Blumer conducted a survey showing that people are influenced by sunk cost fallacy in their decisions. Participants imagined spending $100 on a ski trip to Michigan and $50 on Wisconsin, realizing later they were for the same weekend. They were told Wisconsin would be more enjoyable. When asked which trip to take, 54% chose Michigan despite the reasonable choice being Wisconsin, because they had made a greater initial investment.
Sunk cost fallacy takes place when we let emotions cloud our decisions. Once we’ve invested in a choice, we feel guilt or regret if we don’t follow through. We fail to realize that past costs won’t be recovered. Instead, we base decisions on past costs, ignoring present and future costs and benefits. This may be due to loss aversion (厌恶), where losses feel worse than gains. We avoid losses, making choices based on avoiding the “loss” of our past investment instead of considering the benefits gained if we don’t continue our commitment.
No one can deny the fact that we benefit a lot from perseverance. So our society loves to emphasize perseverance. Never give up! Don’t waste. But only you know the right path for you. Sometimes walking away is the hardest choice of all. You might realize a path you’re on is no longer the right one or never was. That’s a painful realization.
1. What phenomenon does the author describe at the beginning of the text?| A．People benefit from sticking with a plan. | B．People’s consumption view has changed. |
| C．People refuse to give up the past commitment. | D．People’s clothes are becoming more expensive. |
| A．To save more of the loss. | B．To appear more reasonable. |
| C．To make a greater investment. | D．To enjoy more of themselves. |
| A．When we don’t follow through our choices. |
| B．When we don’t continue our commitment. |
| C．When we stop feeling guilty and regretful. |
| D．When we make decisions based on past costs emotionally. |
| A．Favorable. | B．Objective. | C．Doubtful. | D．Unclear. |
【推荐3】More than half of Australian homes are still choosing to stick with their home phone. Age is naturally a factor(因素)— only 58 percent of Generation Ys still use landlines now and then, compared to 84 percent of Baby Boomers who’ve perhaps had the same home number for 50 years. Age isn’t the only factor; I’d say it’s also to do with the makeup of your household.
Generation Xers with young families, like my wife and I, can still find it convenient to have a home phone rather than providing a mobile phone for every family member. That said, to be honest the only people who ever ring our home phone are our Baby Boomers parents, to the point where we play a game and guess who is calling before we pick up the phone (using Caller ID would take the fun out of it).
How attached are you to your landline? How long until they go the way of gas street lamps and morning milk deliveries?
1. What can we say about Baby Boomers?| A．They like smartphone games. | B．They enjoy guessing callers’ identity. |
| C．They keep using landline phones. | D．They are attached to their family. |
| A．It remains a family necessity. |
| B．It will fall out of use some day. |
| C．It may increase daily expenses. |
| D．It is as important as the gas light. |
【推荐1】Billionaire Sir Christopher Hohn expects the greatest “demand disruption (中断)” for oil since the 1970s shock to cause an increase in renewable energy investment.
He said high oil prices are “a positive thing” for the climate as the energy crisis results in a “dramatic speed-up” in decarbonisation (碳减排). “The whole world should now be focused on seeking alternatives, whether they’re renewables or hydrogen fuels. All of these things are far more economic.”
He pointed to the recent boost of EU (欧盟) for renewable energy funding, as part of a plan to reduce imports of gas. Even as oil and gas companies obtain record profits from the high prices at present, Hohn said climate-focused investors will ultimately benefit from the energy price shock.
“The oil price increase leads to plans for accelerated decarbonisation,” said Hohn. “I personally believe that we’ll have demand disruption as we had in the 70s, and that there will be a dramatic acceleration in decarbonisation. I actually view it as a positive thing.”
Hohn has pressured companies to give shareholders a vote on their climate plans. Spanish airport operator Aena and aircraft manufacturer Airbus improved their emissions (排放) tar-gets as a result. Hohn has also pushed for stricter regulation on corporate climate promises. “Corporate decarbonisation isn’t going to happen through voluntary methods,” Hohn said.
Hohn is also backing a new rating agency that will grade company emissions strategies, through his charity, the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation. The Climate Action-plan Rating Centre (Climate-Arc) will analyse public company data and publish climate plan ratings.
Investors often struggle to analyse corporate climate plans. “Because though some organizations declare their commitment to environmental protection, they actually do the opposite,” Hohn said, “I expect a large proportion of companies will get graded F if they’re not doing enough. Even companies with net zero emissions targets have failed to set out plans about how to reach those goals. The impact is going to be a bit like, ‘the emperor has no clothes’.”
1. Why are high oil prices a positive thing according to Hohn?| A．They will reduce energy demand. |
| B．They will bring economic benefits. |
| C．There will be a shift to clean energy. |
| D．There will be a reduction in energy imports. |
| A．Climate regulation should be stricter. |
| B．Decarbonisation should be voluntary. |
| C．Emissions targets should be debated. |
| D．Climate plans should be informed to the public. |
| A．The method of avoiding being graded F. |
| B．The suggestion about helping investors. |
| C．The method of reaching zero emissions targets. |
| D．The suggestion about reducing carbon emissions. |
| A．Energy crisis—a hard nut |
| B．Energy crisis—a wake up call |
| C．Energy crisis—a cruel circle |
| D．Energy crisis—a cause of economic depression |
【推荐2】The recent reports of a 4-year-old girl on a Shanghai beach have gone viral on social media platforms, provoking debate about whether China should criminalize negligence in child supervision.
The father of the little girl claimed that he left her alone on the beach for about 12 minutes to fetch his phone. However, she was nowhere to be found when he was back. Surveillance (监控) videos show that she waited for about 10 minutes before walking toward the water’s edge alone, and then disappeared into the water. Two weeks later, her body was discovered about 100 kilometers away in neighboring Zhejiang Province.
The core issue in this case is the father’s leaving his young daughter unattended on the beach, causing her tragic death. Should such behavior, when it causes harm to a child, be seen as a criminal act? In an online survey, more than 90 percent of respondents insisted that the father be held legally responsible and face criminal punishments.
Nevertheless, according to Liu Chunquan, a lawyer, it may not satisfy the criteria for criminal negligence, since the primary focus of Chinese criminal law is on extreme cases of parental neglect, such as physical abuse and mental torture. Rarely do legal authorities charge parents; instead, they are just likely to face penalties consisting of warnings and fines.
In 2022, a 2-year-old baby drowned in a cesspool while in the company of his father. The court ruled shared responsibility between the father and the cesspool’s owner, with a 7:3 proportion. The owner was ordered to pay 20,000 yuan to the child’s family. Unluckily, similar cases do exist nationwide. Roughly, 100,000 children lose their lives in accidents annually in China, which is largely due to negligence, such as parents leaving their children unattended, either in locked cars or at home. Besides, drowning is now the main cause of death for children aged 1 to 14 years old.
It is no wonder that an increasing number of netizens request that specific laws and regulations be passed to ensure the safety of children and their well-being. Hopefully, criminalizing child supervision negligence in China can serve as a warning and precaution.
However, downsides of introducing such legislation may also emerge. For instance, it’s difficult to distinguish between a regrettable accident and criminal negligence, so that over-criminalization can be triggered, in which well-meaning parents making honest mistakes are charged with a crime.
Therefore, a more balanced approach to addressing the issue of infant safety should involve a combination of new legislation, education and support services. The ultimate objective is to prevent similar catastrophes in the future. We must recognize that children are not only their parents’ offspring, but also the nation’s future.
1. What can we infer from the tragedy of the 4-year-old girl?| A．Her father’s carelessness and negligence should be to blame. |
| B．The beach in Shanghai should not be open to small children. |
| C．Her father has been sentenced to severe penalties by the police. |
| D．She would have survived if she had not waited in the water for a long time. |
| A．Irresponsible adults contribute to children’s death. | B．People can’t be too concerned about child safety. |
| C．Kids shouldn’t be allowed to swim alone. | D．Parents’ constant monitoring is a must. |
| A．the mild penalties in the existing laws | B．parents’ ignorance of potential dangers |
| C．frequent occurrence of such incidents | D．masses of netizens’ urgent appeals |
| A．Indifferent. | B．Negative. | C．Objective. | D．Supportive. |
【推荐3】In the early days of sea travel, seamen on long voyages lived exclusively on salted meat and biscuits. Many of them died of scurvy (坏血病), a disease of the blood which causes swollen gums (牙龈), livid white spots on the flesh and general exhaustion. On one occasion, in 1535, an English ship arrived in Newfoundland with its crew desperately ill. The men’s lives were saved by Iroquois Indians who gave them vegetable leaves to eat. Gradually it came to be realized that scurvy was caused by some lack in the sailors’ diet and Captain Cook, on his long voyages of discovery to Australia and New Zealand, established the fact that scurvy could be prevented by the supply of fresh fruit for the sailors.
Nowadays it is understood that a diet which contains nothing harmful may yet result in serious disease if certain important elements are missing. These elements are called “vitamins”. Quite a number of such substances are known and they are given letters to identify them, A, B, C, D, and so on. Different diseases are associated with shortages of particular vitamins. Even a slight lack of Vitamin C, for example, the vitamin most plentiful in fresh fruit and vegetables, is thought to increase significantly our susceptibility (敏感度) to colds and influenza.
The vitamins necessary for a healthy body are normally supplied by a good mixed diet, including a variety of fruit and green vegetables. It is only when people try to live on a very restricted diet, say during extended periods of religious fasting (斋戒), or when trying to lose weight, that it is necessary to make special supply to make up for the missing vitamins.
1. Scurvy is a disease that is caused by .| A．salted meat and biscuits | B．exhaustion |
| C．lack of some essential substances | D．need of fresh vegetables and fruits |
| A．not to eat much salted meat |
| B．to supply our diet with various vitamin pills |
| C．to have more fresh fruit and vegetables |
| D．to develop a good dietary habit |
| A．vitamin pills are of no use |
| B．nutritious food might be unhealthy |
| C．vegetable leaves can be a good treatment |
| D．religious fasting may help out a lot |
| A．Shortages of Vitamin C may cause serious diseases. |
| B．Fresh fruit and green vegetables contain enough nutrition that is necessary for a healthy body. |
| C．Vitamins play a vitally important role in people’s health. |
| D．A good mixed diet normally supplies sufficient vitamins for us. |
