Eating a juicy steak is worse for the environment than frying up some tofu: that should come as no surprise. Going vegan can greatly cut the carbon footprint of your diet. But what about the fewer calories, and lower levels of protein, found in most plant-based foods when compared with meat?
To make the relative carbon impact of foods easier to understand, The Economist proposes a banana index (指数). It compares popular foodstuffs in three aspects—weight, calories and protein—compared to the humble banana, a fruit of middling nutritional value and impact on weather conditions.
Indexing greenhouse-gas emissions to a single food gives a sense of how different foodstuffs rank. Unfortunately for carnivores (食肉动物), beef is bad for the environment no matter how you slice it. Producing one kilogram of mince (馅) causes as many emissions as 109kg of bananas (call it a “banana score” of 109). As for nutritional value, beef’s banana score falls to 54 (one calorie of beef mince causes 54 times as much carbon emissions as one calorie of banana). By protein, it scores seven.
Poultry (家禽) scores 11 bananas by weight and four by calorie. However, as a source of protein, it is more carbon-friendly than bananas: poultry protein emits just three-fifths of the same amount of banana protein. The same applies to salmon. Unsurprisingly, plant-based alternatives to meat do even better: a meat-free burger, for instance, scores just one-fifth of the emissions of bananas per gram of protein.
Our banana index relies on average emissions for a given food. In the real world some producers are more climate-friendly than others, and some foods travel farther to consumers. Our banana index also does not capture other environmental impacts, such as land and water use (though here too, beef tends to perform poorly).
Voting in Europe suggests that most consumers want to be more climate-friendly—and with food production responsible for perhaps a quarter of global emissions, eating with the climate in mind would make a difference. Three-quarters of the respondents said they want labels that would explain the climate impact of their food. In the meantime, our banana index might help.
1. What’s the most likely reason for bananas to be chosen as an object of reference?| A．Bananas have fewer calories and less protein. |
| B．Bananas are a humble fruit. |
| C．Bananas have the least impact on the environment. |
| D．Bananas are of medium climate effect and nutrition. |
| A．Beef | B．A meat-free burger | C．Poultry | D．A banana |
| A．Its drawbacks | B．Its benefits |
| C．Its practical meanings | D．Its principles |
| A．An approach to assessing nutritional value of food |
| B．A way to measure the climate impact of food |
| C．A great indicator of greenhouse-gas emissions |
| D．A big helper in deciding what to buy |
相似题推荐
【推荐1】Chocolate is popular with people around. Hot chocolate has been used for many years to treat diseases and fight bad moods. It's known as a special healthy drink from the 16th to 19th centuries, and sometimes was taken as a medicine.
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●It contains more antioxidants（抗氧化剂）．
●It improves your mood. Chocolate, including hot chocolate, is a well-known mood adjuster.
●It's good for your heart health. The flavonoids found in hot chocolate are good for your heart health.
| A．It can help you lose weight |
| B．It improves your brain health |
| C．This tasty drink helps fight stress, anxiety and depression |
| D．Hot chocolate contains more antioxidants than green tea and wine |
| E．Flavonoids reduce the risk of heart disease by lowering blood pressure |
| F．Drinking hot chocolate helps prevent the absorption of nutrition from other foods |
| G．Now, people don’t consider hot chocolate as a medicine but drink it even more than ever |
【推荐2】How to develop a healthy lifestyle in high school
High school is a time known for teenagers spreading their wings and developing their minds.
Eat a well-balanced diet. High school students may live on a diet of junk food and drinks.
Exercise regularly.
| A．Get plenty of rest. |
| B．Plan your school life. |
| C．Manage your stress level. |
| D．Physical activity helps build a strong body and mind. |
| E．High school students are busy with all kinds of activities. |
| F．Unfortunately, many often develop an unhealthy lifestyle. |
| G．Drink plenty of water and eat whole grains and vegetables every day. |
【推荐3】Losing weight is tough. For most people, it requires a change in diet, a change in exercise habits, and a change in attitude.
Set healthy goals.
If you're overweight and want to change that, the first step is deciding what your target weight is.
Start small.
Making major behavior modifications isn't something that happens overnight.
Track your diet and exercise.
Now it's time to start working toward that goal. The best way to stick with your diet and exercise rules is to track it.
Every month you should take a look at your goal and see what type of progress you've made toward accomplishing it. If you're not where you want to be, make minor adjustments. Try doing different exercises or cutting back on certain types of foods that you may be eating too much of.
Losing weight and keeping it off is a highly personal thing. Find what works for you and stick with it.
| A．Evaluate and adjust. |
| B．Here's how you can accomplish all the three. |
| C．You might as well start with your own attitude. |
| D．There are plenty of Apps that allow you to do this. |
| E．What steps are you going to take to achieve your goal? |
| F．So start with 1—2 things per week and work up from there. |
| G．Write down your goal and set a date by which you want to accomplish that goal. |
【推荐1】Since the Endangered Species Act (ESA) was passed in 1973, it has helped hundreds of species avoid extinction in the United States. The strong conservation policy has been used as a model in other countries. But it’s not as successful as it could be, a new study finds.
Researchers have discovered most species are not being protected until their numbers have become so low that their chance of recovery is slim.
“The ESA is an incredibly powerful, ambitious law for protecting our endangered wildlife. Yet, for decades, the agency primarily responsible for operating the ESA — the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) — has been starved of resources,” lead author Erich Eberhard says.
“As a result, we are very slow to give species the protection that they deserve. We typically wait until species are extremely rare and thus at extreme risk of extinction, and then, when a species is finally listed, the USFWS is straining its resources to try to recover it.”
In 1993, a study found that few species received protection under the ESA until their populations became very small. For the new study, researchers repeated the methods used in the earlier research to see whether protections have become better since the problem was first noted. They also looked at trends in “wait times” — the amount of time between when a species is identified as potentially needing protection and when it actually receives protection under the ESA.
“Our analysis suggests that, in the nearly 30 years since attention was first brought to this problem, we have not become more active in protecting endangered species,” says Eberhard.
The researchers found that the population sizes of species when they first became protected under the ESA are not statistically different from those in the 1993 study. They also discovered that there are long wait times between when a species is identified as likely needing protection and when they actually receive them.
“I can say that our study paints the current state of the ESA as a bit of cautionary (告诫的) tale for the strong conservation policy,” says Eberhard.
1. What problem does the USFWS have protecting endangered species?| A．It takes ineffective measures. | B．It is lacking in resources. |
| C．It can’t get timely information. | D．It is an irresponsible organization. |
| A．To try out new ways to protect endangered species. |
| B．To find out the exact number of endangered species. |
| C．To check the time needed to save endangered species. |
| D．To see if endangered species have been better protected. |
| A．It found out many more endangered species. |
| B．It pointed out the direction for the USFWS to act on. |
| C．It proved the role of the public in conservation. |
| D．It showed some effective ways to protect animals. |
| A．The USFWS Needs Stronger Laws |
| B．The ESA Has Achieved Great Success |
| C．New Conversation Laws Are on the Way |
| D．Endangered Species Act Isn’t Working Well |
【推荐2】Overspending can be defined as spending beyond one’s means, and is not rarely seen nowadays. According to a recent report, more than one-fourth of adults surveyed in 2020 had one or more bills that they were unable to pay in full that month.
While every individual’s spending habits are unique to their circumstances, a few common potential issues tend to be responsible for overspending.
Lifestyle creep, a financial trap, where you spend more money as you make more money, for example, often accounts for unrecognized overspending. Individuals that lack a decision-making process for making purchases can also find it difficult to control their spending.
Media and advertisements can also lead to overspending. Marketing strategies aim to create a feeling of scarcity (稀少) for consumers with phrases like “almost sold out” or “two tickets remaining” when they are making online purchases. Emails from favorite sellers can give consumers the impression that they are saving money by taking advantage of a sale, and roadside billboards can lead individuals to make impulsive (冲动的) purchases.
Social pressures to enjoy dinners out and vacations with family and friends may be a push for younger people, who see others enjoying these activities through social media platforms like Instagram. “People think spending makes you happy,” Elizabeth Dunn, professor at the University of British Columbia and chief science officer at Happy Money, says. “But for many people, it’s these values of being true to yourself that make you happy.”
Dunn notes that, “Failures in self-control in the finance can cause dire consequences. Financial stress, for example, has been linked to physical health struggles, problems in close relationships,and stress in retirement.”
“Dealing with overspending should start in bite - size pieces. Small and manageable changes over time are more likely to stick to in the long run. Instead of relying on willpower, setting specific goals and building a foundation with a budget is an effective way.” adds Dunn.
1. Why is a recent report mentioned in paragraph 1?| A．To explain what overspending is. |
| B．To stress the harm of overspending. |
| C．To tell a way to stop overspending. |
| D．To show overspending is common. |
| A．Possible causes of overspending. |
| B．Typical unhealthy spending habits. |
| C．Some unavoidable financial traps |
| D．Issues resulting from overspending. |
| A．Pleasant. | B．Controllable. | C．Terrible. | D．Acceptable. |
| A．Making a reasonable budget. |
| B．Relying on personal willpower. |
| C．Setting grand and general goals. |
| D．Starting changing on the whole. |
【推荐3】Every people uses its own special word to show its ideas and feelings. Some of these expressions are commonly used for many years. Others are popular for just a short time. One such American expression is “Where’s the beef? ”It is used when something is not as good as it is said to be. In the early 1980s“Where’s the beef?” was one of the most popular expressions in the United States. It seemed as if everyone using it at the time.
Beef, of course, is the meat from a cow, and this kind of food is more popular in America than a hamburger made from beef. In the 1960s a businessman named Ray began building small restaurants that sold hamburgers at a low price. Ray called this “McDonald’s”. Ray became one of the richest businessmen at last in America.
Other business people watched his success. Some of them opened their own hamburger restaurants. One company called “Wendy’s” said its hamburgers were bigger than those sold by McDonald’s or anyone else. The Wendy’s Company began to use the expression “Where’s the beef ? ”to make people know that Wendy’s hamburgers were the biggest. The Wendy’s television advertisement showed three old women eating hamburgers. The bread that covered the meat was very big, but inside there was only a bit of meat. One of the women said she would not eat a hamburger with such a little piece of beef. “Where’s the beef? ”she shouted in a funny way. The advertisement for Wendy’s hamburger restaurants was success. As we said, it seemed everyone began using the expression “Where’s the beef? ”.
1. _______started Mc Donald’s restaurant.| A．Ray Kroc | B．McDonald | C．Wendy | D．Three old women |
| A．they could sell hamburgers at a low price | B．hamburgers were easy to make |
| C．beef was very popular in America | D．they could make a lot of money |
| A．with many old women eating hamburgers | B．by a television advertisement |
| C．while selling bread with a bit of meat in it | D．at the McDonald’s restaurant |
【推荐1】Europe’s series record-breaking hot and dry summers have broken an easy link to climate change. Climate models show Europe warms faster than the rest of the planet and the Arctic melting eventually causes massive ocean currents (洋流) and regional hot air circulation patterns.
Arctic melting is adding roughly 6000 cubic kilometers of water or more to the ocean per decade. As that fresh-water pours into the North Atlantic Ocean, it sits on top of heavier ocean salt-water and stops mixing. With less heat being stirred in from below, the surface water gets colder than usual during the fall and winter months, says Marilena Oltmanns, a climate scientist at the U.K. National Oceanography Centre. This phenomenon may explain the so-called “cold blob”, an area of sea in the North Atlantic that NASA nodeling suggests is one of the few spots on Earth getting colder.
To explore how the fresh water from Arctic ice might be affecting weather, Oltmanns and her colleagues developed a way to combine data from satellites, and weather stations. They found when the freshwater-caused cold blobs were more intense, the boundary was sharper, bringing more powerful westerly (向西的) winds. As a result, the stronger westerlies move a warm ocean flow from roughly 45°N to 60°N. That shift can continue into the next summer. And like a barrier, this warm current, curls up and around the British Isles, allowing a mass of hot, dry air to camp out over Europe.
“The study convincingly puts meat on the bones of an expectation I and others have had for a while — that the cold blob south of Greenland would influence North Atlantic weather patterns, as well as those downstream over Europe,” says Jennifer Francis, a climate scientist at Woodwell Climate Research Center.
1. What does the underlined word “cold blob” in paragraph 2 mean?| A．Climate models. | B．Ocean current. |
| C．Cold water zone. | D．Air circulation patterns. |
| A．Introduce the form of cold blob. |
| B．Present a phenomenon of climate changes in Europe. |
| C．Survey some data for the study. |
| D．Analyze the reason of hot and dry summer in Europe. |
| A．Approving. | B．Indifferent. | C．Doubtful. | D．Unclear. |
| A．Human activities change climate models. |
| B．Arctic melting contributes to European heat waves. |
| C．Climate changes have little impact on ocean currents. |
| D．Global warming results in the rise of the temperature. |
【推荐2】On our first morning at the Thwaites Glacier in West Antarctica, the air was still. The captain of our research icebreaker made a brave choice: Our ship would hold close to the ice shelf so that the sonar system would peer beneath it while producing a detailed map of the seafloor. The scientists on board, along with the writers like me, were the first people in the history to visit this part of Thwaites. Our task was to bring back as much information as possible about the place where ocean and ice meet.
If Antarctica collapsed, it could threaten West Antarctic Ice Sheet, causing global sea levels to jump 10 feet or more. In terms of the fate of our coastal communities, this particular glacier is the biggest wild card, the largest known unknown. Will Miami even exist in 100 years? Thwaites will decide.
Reading about the collapse of Antarctica’s glaciers, I feel I am being encouraged to jump to a conclusion: that no matter what we do now, what lies ahead is bound to be worse than what came before. This kind of thinking turns Antarctica into a passive symbol of the coming disaster. But what if we were to see Antarctica as a harbinger of change rather than doom (厄运)? This is why I came to Thwaites in 2019. I wanted to find out: Antarctica has the power to rewrite all our maps.
This week a paper analyzed the data from that exploration. The authors suggested that sometime Thwaites retreated at two to three times the rate we see today. Put another way: At the coldest period of the planet, Thwaites is stepping farther outside the script we imagined for it, likely challenging even our most detailed predictions of what is to come.
It took us nearly a month to arrive at the edge of Thwaites. It is one of the most remote regions on Earth. But despite the distance, what happens there is shaping us just as much as we are shaping it. If we can begin to recognize the agency of this faraway glacier, we will be one step closer to embracing the modesty that climate change demands.
1. Why did the captain decide to approach the glacier?| A．To find out where ocean and ice meet. |
| B．To get scientists to do experiments on it. |
| C．To get information about the seafloor in details. |
| D．To help the author write down the historical moment. |
| A．The biggest decisive factor. |
| B．The most difficult thing to predict. |
| C．The wildest thing to take control of. |
| D．The remotest place to reach. |
| A．Doubtful. | B．Approving. | C．Tolerant. | D．Critical. |
| A．To escape the coastal cities in time. |
| B．To respect the power of Antarctica. |
| C．To prevent the collapse of Antarctica’s glaciers. |
| D．To be modest in predicting climate change. |
【推荐3】Several days of unusual warm weather in northern Greenland have caused rapid melting（融化）. “Temperatures have been running around -12.2 ℃-15.5 ℃. It is warmer than normal for this time of year,” scientists said. The amount of ice that melted in Greenland between July 15 and July 17 alone-6 billion tons of water per day-would be enough to fill 7.2 million Olympic-sized swimming pools, according to the report from the National Snow and Ice Data Center. Put another way, it was enough to cover the whole state of West Virginia with a foot of water.
For the scientists out on the ice sheet（冰盖）, the warmth has been alarming. “It really makes me anxious,” said Kutalmis Saylam, a scientist who is now working in Greenland. “Yesterday, we could hang. about in our T-shirts, which was not really expected. Since Greenland holds enough ice, sea level would rise by 7.5 meters around the world if ice all melted.”
In 2020, scientists found that Greenland’s ice sheet had melted beyond the point of no return. “No efforts to prevent global warming can stop it from finally breaking into small parts,” said researchers.
Aslak Grinsted, a climate scientist, said that they were trying to get flights into the camp so they can ship out the ice cores（冰芯）they had recently collected. But the warmth is destabilizing the landing site. “The weather we are seeing right now is too hot for the ski-equipped planes to land,” Grinsted said. “So we store the ice cores in large caves we have made into the snow to protect it from the heat of the summer.” Scientists made use of the abnormal warmth while they were waiting, playing volleyball in their shorts on an ice sheet at the top of the world.
Grinsted referred to the temperatures as a heat wave, and noted that the possibility of temperatures getting this hot was clearly connected to global warming.
1. How does the author support the topic of paragraph 1?| A．By exploring reasons. | B．By drawing conclusions. |
| C．By making comparisons. | D．By doing some experiments. |
| A．He disliked wearing a T-shirt. |
| B．He worried about the warmth. |
| C．He was deeply impressed by the ice. |
| D．He was thirsty for enjoying the sea view. |
| A．Destroying. |
| B．Improving. |
| C．Impressing. |
| D．Stopping. |
| A．Recommend visiting Greenland. |
| B．Call on people to protect the environment. |
| C．Describe how to ship out the ice core. |
| D．Plan to organize a sports meeting on ice. |
