Are you sure you know how to protect the environment? Many of us believe that we lead lives that respect nature but our consumption habits give us away.
Eating too much meat and fruit
These foods are essential for our diet, although they are not very healthy for the natural environment. In a 2018 report, Greenpeace warned that 14.5% of all greenhouse gas (GHG ) emissions come from industrial stock farming. The meat industry, for example, negatively affects land use as between 75 and 80% of the world’s agricultural land is used for stock breeding. But if the same land was used for growing vegetables, there could be food for 4 billion people more.
Using paper bags
We think that because they are made of paper they are not as harmful as the plastic bags that we use around the world, according to the UN.
Drinking bottled water
Plastic bottles are a clear example of environmental pollution.
| A．Many little practices that seem to be sustainable are in fact polluting |
| B．According to Greenpeace, they take about 500 years to break down |
| C．What’s more, you can be a responsible fruit consumer by choosing seasonal varieties |
| D．A good replacement for them are long-lasting, washable and reusable cotton ones |
| E．There is only one Earth and everything that we do for it counts, and you can eat less by controlling yourself |
| F．But the reality is very different: they are rarely reused and tend to end up in the organic waste bin |
| G．By reducing bottled water consumption we save more than 600 million euros every year |
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【推荐1】Not many people know the fact but dyeing textiles (染色纺织品) are a huge factor in damaging both human health and the environment. Scientists in Australia may have discovered a way to solve this problem by making changes to the cotton plant’s genes in order for it to naturally produce various coloured cotton.
These scientists have been exploring the concept of trying gene-editing in order to change the colour of natural fibers found in the cotton plant. So far, their experiment has produced coloured cotton in a petri dish (培养皿). Scientists hope that this means they can perfect the process in order to grow the crops in the fields.
Often the agriculture and fuel industries are closely examined for their influences on the environment, but the textile industry is not to be overlooked and certainly has things to feel guilty about. The textile industry contributes 10% of global carbon emissions, largely due to the rise of fast fashion, which sees 80 to 100 billion items of clothes produced annually.
This creates a large amount of physical waste and also contributes to other extremely detrimental effects on the environment. Cotton is quite the thirsty crop, needing 2,700 liters of water to create only one cotton T-shirt. That places extra stress in regions that do not have a steady water supply available. And, textile dyes frequently end up in natural water systems, darkening the water and disturbing the biochemical balance.
Fortunately, people’s desire to protect the environment has been growing over time and more and more people are turning to more sustainable fashion choices. Larger brands have an eye on these trends and are also promising to try to develop more water-free dyeing technologies.
1. How may scientists in Australia solve the problem caused by dyeing textiles?| A．By dyeing the cotton before it is collected. |
| B．By discovering natural plant-based textile fibers. |
| C．By transforming the dyes into eco-friendly ones. |
| D．By changing the cotton’s genes. |
| A．The rise of fast fashion is to blame for the environmental pollution. |
| B．The environmental impact of the textile industry should be taken seriously. |
| C．The clothing industry should be thoroughly examined. |
| D．The carbon emissions from the textile industry are limited. |
| A．Harmful. | B．Short-term. | C．Magical. | D．Decisive. |
| A．Clothing producers’ social responsibility. |
| B．People’s consumption concepts. |
| C．People’s awareness of environmental protection. |
| D．Large brands’ desire to keep pace with fashion. |
【推荐2】The Federal Communications Commission of the US recently issued the first-ever fine for space junk, against the Dish Network. The satellite television company failed to properly deal with one of its satellites, leaving it at a lower orbit than it promised when securing its license.
Some space junk was discarded during missions — maybe an astronaut dropped his lucky penny, or released an instrument’s camera cover after it was no longer needed. Other junk, however, is the result of collisions: Even that lucky penny, traveling at 15 times the speed of a bullet, can cause huge damage — ending a satellite’s mission or, worse, breaking that satellite into pieces.
That’s obviously bad news for satellites. The solution isn’t to demand the launch of fewer satellites; these bring real benefits to people on the Earth.
And while traffic management is certainly necessary, pieces of garbage are never going to be able to follow even the most sensible rules of the orbital road. That means two things need to happen: People need to stop littering, and they need to take out some trash.
The professionals, unsurprisingly, have more carefully considered names for these processes — mitigation (减轻) and remediation (补救). Any time a company wants to put a satellite in the sky, it should have a clear plan for the instrument’s end of life. For objects in very high geostationary orbit (地球同步轨道), this usually involves sending the item to the out-of-the-way “graveyard” orbit. For objects lower down, it tends instead to involve moving them lower still, so that they will bum up upon reentering the atmosphere.
Active removal of garbage that has failed to get out of the way is technically tricky, but at least for large objects, remediation is possible.
Encouragingly, some countries are beginning to try. No nation, however, can save space on its own. A global convention (协定) to set a 21st-century code of conduct for space is in order.
1. What does the underlined word “discarded” in paragraph 2 mean?| A．Collected up. | B．Thrown away. |
| C．Produced. | D．Ignored. |
| A．The satellites benefit our life a lot. |
| B．We need new satellites to replace old ones. |
| C．Countries are using satellites to occupy space. |
| D．We must make a deeper exploration into the universe. |
① Sending satellites to the “graveyard” orbit.
② Moving objects lower still.
③ Active removal of debris.
| A．①② | B．②③ | C．①③ | D．①②③ |
| A．To provide solutions to space junk. |
| B．To explain the damage of space junk. |
| C．To call upon countries to fine companies making space junk. |
| D．To appeal to nations for the protection off space environment. |
【推荐3】When storms come rolling in across the ocean, they struck coastlines with tremendous force. Luckily, for thousands of miles of tropical coastlines, nature has provided a remarkable form of protection: coral reefs.
These colorful wonders are best known for their diversity of life, their plentiful seafood, and their draw to scuba-diving tourists. But they are also astonishingly durable and firm structures, built by tiny animals with calcium carbonate skeletons (碳酸钙骨架), which provide an important service to the coastlines standing behind them — they can absorb up to 97% of wave energy.
A new study estimates that reefs offer protection to up to 5.3 million people and $109 billion in gross domestic product (GDP) per decade. The maps in the study scientists generated are at a much finer resolution (分辨率) than previous analyses, which allows users to view coral reefs with more details and see where reefs provide the highest degree of protection for people, GDP and infrastructure (基础设施). “This level of detail means we can use this information in practical ways, like in the marine spacial planning we do to inform conservation strategies around the world,” says Dr. Spalding, the co-author of the study. More accurate data on where reefs protect people and infrastructure from destructive waves can help improve decision-making about which reefs to protect.
We have already lost half of the world’s reefs, and scientists predict we could lose up to 90% if actions are not taken to protect them. Effective management strategies are vital to supporting reef health and recovery.
Coral reefs are often selected for conservation based on their ecological significance, which may mean they are located in remote places, away from the more direct effects of human pressures like development and pollution. “We are failing ourselves as well as nature if we don’t also consider protecting the reefs that are located closer to humans,” says Spalding. “These are the reefs that protect us and provide for us in abundance. Let’s look after them.”
1. Which function of coral reefs is mainly discussed in the text?| A．Nurturing diverse living things. | B．Offering plentiful seafood. |
| C．Attracting scuba-diving tourists. | D．Reducing the forces of waves. |
| A．Eco-tourism. | B．Urban planning. |
| C．Reef recovery. | D．Deep-sea exploration. |
| A．Because they protect and provide for humans. |
| B．Because they are more beautiful than remote reefs. |
| C．Because they are of higher ecological significance. |
| D．Because they provide better habitats for marine life. |
| A．Coral Reefs as Coastal Defenders | B．The Secrets of Coral Reefs |
| C．New Ways of Coral Reef Conservation | D．Coastlines behind Coral Reefs |
