Litterati is a company that’s trying to make the world a cleaner place.
Jeff Kirschner is the founder and CEO of Litterati. He came up with the idea while walking in a forest with his then-four-year-old daughter.
kirschner describes these data-driven maps as being like a fingerprint. “That fingerprint provides both the source of the problem and the path to the solution.”
| A．She noticed a plastic container in a river. |
| B．That’s where Kirschner thinks an app can help. |
| C．However, these maps turned out to be a failure. |
| D．We haven’t collected enough amount of data for our litter maps. |
| E．Our database now contains over 8 million pieces, growing at about 20,000 per day. |
| F．There are several examples of how Litterati’s data has already provided a path to a solution. |
| G．It has created an app people can use to upload information about the litter they collect outside. |
相似题推荐
【推荐1】Not only doe s the use of plastic water bottles hurt your wallet, it also increases pollution and wastes energy and water. Only 23% of all plastic bottles in America end up in a recycling bin, which means over $1 billion worth of plastic is treated as rubbish a year. Recently, Skipping Rocks Lab has invented a kind of water bottle called Ooho.
It is a convenient, clear water bottle that can be either drunk or eaten. To drink it, you can either peel off the membrane (薄膜) or tear a hole in the membrane with your teeth to pour the water into your mouth. To eat it, you simply put the whole bottle in your mouth. One problem the scientists have run into is how to ship large amounts of Ooho bubbles (水泡) without arriving with a very wet truck. However, they have attempted to package units of individual bubbles together inside a larger and thicker membrane. It is targeting large outdoor events, such as marathons, music festivals, and sporting events, where tons of plastic bottles are used, and frequently left behind as litter. And too much plastic is sure to do harm to the environment, which could account for their purpose of such a new invention.
The team has been working for the past two years to develop the technology and materials needed to produce Ooho; they have recently applied for a patent (专利权) on their new advancements. The price for an individual bubble or a unit of bubbles has not been set yet, but they cost about two cents to create a unit, which is cheaper than a plastic bottle. It has appeared at events in London, San Francisco, Boston, at conferences, festivals, and so on.
Ooho has caught many people’s attention and has raised over $ 1 million and gained 1,000 investors in only three days. It is mostly being sold at events at the moment to keep the consumers’ interest while the production machine is running. It is quickly making a rise, so keep an eye out this year for these bottles of the future.
1. How is most plastic dealt with in America?| A．It’s sold. | B．It’s recycled. | C．It’s processed. | D．It’s wasted. |
| A．To make a profit for a company. | B．To protect the environment. |
| C．To make people eat as they drink. | D．To reduce the cost of plastic bottles. |
| A．It is easy and safe to ship it in large amounts. |
| B．It has become popular since it began to be sold. |
| C．It might be sold at a lower price than plastic bottles. |
| D．It has cost the team a lot of money to develop the technology. |
| A．Ooho is to be a success in the future. |
| B．Ooho is being supported by smart people. |
| C．Ooho is taking the place of plastic bottles now. |
| D．Ooho is being produced to attract more investors. |
【推荐2】Days of circling the parking lot looking for a space may be a thing of the past. A new service, called MyPark, aims to make finding a spot much easier by letting users reserve it beforehand.
When a spot is reserved, MyPark automatically knows you’re there and uses a smartphone-controlled robot to make sure no one takes your place. Several malls and airports around the U. S. have already taken advantage of the technology in their parking lots. Users download the app, create an account and enter their destination. From there, they can select a parking space from a map of the location’s parking lot.
Most of the spaces reserved by MyPark are located near the entrance to your destination, so it not only saves users the time of finding a spot, but also the hassle of a long walk. Users can either reserve a spot immediately before they arrive by using the “Park now” feature, or for sometime in the future, as the app lets users reserve a parking space up to six months in advance. Each reservation costs users a fee of about $1 to $3 for the first two hours and then additional charges for every additional hour after that.
Each MyPark space has a small robot that stands up when a spot has been reserved. A black and yellow flag is situated on top of the robot, letting other drivers know that it’s a MyPark spot. When users arrive at their reserved spot, they tap “Let me in” on the MyPark app and the robot folds down flat, so that the user can drive over it and park their car.
“Convenient parking is often a challenge, so we created an app that makes parking easy,” MyPark’s website explains. “You can book in advance or right when you get to where you are going.”
1. How does MyPark benefit its users?| A．It cuts down their parking fee. | B．It helps locate the nearest parking lot. |
| C．It helps find their cars in a parking area. | D．It keeps a parking space for them in advance. |
| A．The advantages of MyPark. | B．The costs of MyPark service. |
| C．The working theory of MyPark. | D．The process of parking through MyPark. |
| A．Distance. | B．Bother. | C．Challenge. | D．Expense. |
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1. What is the function of the device mentioned in the passage?
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| C．To make users heard again. |
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| A．Direct purchase from the manufacture can be made. |
| B．It can replace a smartphone for daily communication. |
| C．Technology makes sound control easy and convenient. |
| D．Free support from licensed professionals is available. |
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| B．apply to the manufacturer for a telephone setting |
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Are you doing all you can to recycle your rubbish? It only takes a minute to recycle and help reduce waste in your home as well as the costs of waste management. Here are some ideas to get you started.
Glass containers can be placed in the bottle banks at supermarket car parks throughout the city. Look for the big green bins.
Aluminum cans can earn you cash, so don't just throw them away—save them and save money. Ring our council to find out when they collect.
Most plastic bottles and containers can be recycled. Look on the bottom of the container for the identification (识别) code.
| A．Collect your hooks. |
| B．Paper is easily recycled. |
| C．Glass bottles can be stored. |
| D．Never throw away vegetable matter. |
| E．Don’t throw used containers in the rubbish. |
| F．But remember, waxed paper is not accepted. |
| G．Or you can leave your bottles out for collection on Monday morning. |
【推荐2】Passenger ships, trade ships, and fishing boats are a normal part of life on the open sea. However, all their activity creates a great deal of noise underwater. Scientists who have studied the recordings of sound recorded with equipment placed underwater recently reported their observations that the ocean is getting noisier.
Another report on the effect of noise from ships on the behavior of whales shows it is likely that whales must call out more loudly to be heard over this noise. The whales find fish by producing clicking sounds and other noises, loud engine noise could be interfering with (妨碍) their efforts.
Michael Jasny, a policy expert for the Natural Resources Defense Council, says the rise of underwriter noise is influencing the ability of whales to communicate. “Shipping noise falls across the sea frequencies (频率) that these animals use for their important behaviors.”
Mr. Jasny says sound travels very effectively underwater. And it is not just whales that he is worried about. “The entire web of life in the ocean depends on sound. And as more and more research has been done, it’s been very clear that what we have on our hands is really a significant serious and global problem.
The main source of noise pollution is the propeller (螺旋桨). Better shaped propellers and ship designs can help cut down on noise pollution. Michael Bahtiarian, who works for Noise Control Engineering — a company which helped design the boats — said, “The technology to make quieter ships does exist and has been used in the military for some time. NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) has four new ships that have such costly engines, which produce less noise. These NOAA ships show that you can get quiet — I think they’re quiet enough — because they are able to go up quietly and count a fish and not startle the fish so that they can actually count them.”
The shipping industry in the United States wants to be part of the solution to the noise problem, Kathy Metcalf, who works for the Chamber of Shipping of America, says it will be much less costly for the industry if it chooses to build quieter ships instead of being forced to do so.
1. What kind of effect do you think the noise made by ships has according to the passage?| A．It is sure to get stronger in the future. |
| B．It influences the normal life of whales. |
| C．It makes underwater equipment unable to work normally. |
| D．It makes it hard for scientists to track the activities of deep sea creatures. |
| A．Whales’ skill in finding food gets hurt most. |
| B．There is no better way of solving the problem. |
| C．The problem is far more serious than we thought. |
| D．The frequencies of shipping noise should be increased. |
| A．Frighten. | B．Catch. | C．Dive. | D．Feed. |
| A．Quieter ships have been designed to save money. |
| B．The shipping industry should make quieter ships actively. |
| C．The shipping designers are ordered to build quieter ships. |
| D．The four new ships are the most advanced ships in the ocean. |
【推荐3】Ever been hungry enough to eat a house? Now, you actually could.
Food waste is a big problem in Japan and globally. Japan produced around 5.7 million tons of food waste in 2019. The government plans to reduce that by around 2.7 million tons by 2030. Tokyo University researchers Kota Machida and Yuya Sakai have developed a way to transform food waste into cement(水泥) for construction use and more. This is the first-ever process created for making cement entirely from food waste. The researchers say their product is four times as strong as traditional concrete. This particular cement can be used to make things like tea cups or chairs as well. However, there’s one additional feature — it’s also edible(可食的).
Kota and Yuya are the intelligence behind the formation of Fabula Inc., a company with purposes of reducing food waste, and helping fight global warming.
As expected, something this unique took years to develop. It took a few attempts to find just the right process. Kota and Yuya created the unique technology while researching possible environmentally-friendly materials to replace cement-based concrete. Cement production accounts for 8% of the world’s carbon dioxide emissions.
After a few failures, they realized they could get the cement to bind(黏合) by adjusting the temperatures. “The most challenging part was that each type of food waste requires different temperatures,” Yuya said. So the researchers had to observe them and respond in time. In the experiments, Kota and Yuya have successfully made cement using tea leaves, coffee grounds, cabbage and even lunchbox leftovers.
Fabula Inc. is currently working to make tea cups and furniture, but Yuya is thinking a little bit bigger. Their product could provide relief in the form of edible emergency shelters in disaster ones. “For example, if food cannot be delivered to the people, they could eat makeshift beds made out of food cement,” he said. To eat the material, a person needs to break it apart and boil it.
1. Which is one of Kota and Yuya’s purposes in making use of food waste?| A．To handle climate change. | B．To offer Fabula Inc. more cement. |
| C．To warn how serious food waste is. | D．To extend concrete’s service life. |
| A．Its damage to the environment. | B．Its cost of recycling the cement. |
| C．Its difficulties they would face. | D．Its popularity among the public. |
| A．Making sure to make cement tasty. | B．Selecting correct food waste timely. |
| C．Getting cement broken apart easily. | D．Regulating the temperatures constantly. |
| A．Bendable. | B．Strong. | C．Temporary. | D．Commercial. |
