With greater climate catastrophe (气候突变) on Earth, it is natural for us to make every effort to stop the potential floods, snowstorms, and alarming reports from scientists. For many of us (myself included), part of that means running out to buy reusable straws, organic cleaners, and packaging-free products.
However, before you are delighted at “green” purchases, take a second to consider the results of a new study from Arizona University. By comparing the shopping habits, mental health and environmental impact of young people, the researchers reconfirmed a principle: Buying less beats buying “green” stuff without effort. And that is true whether you are looking at the impact that your purchases have on the Earth or on your own happiness.
It should not come as a shock that simply consuming less is better for the planet. After all, every new item a factory yields requires some resources to produce. Take plastic bag bans for instance. If your city is getting rid of single-use shopping bags, it can be attractive to pay for a fashionable organic cotton bag hanging in the check-out line of your local supermarket. However, experts insist that growing cotton is actually no better for the Earth than producing the conventional plastic bags. Then what is your best bet for carrying your groceries if you care about sustainability? Any bag you already own.
It is not just the Earth that will be happier if you buy less. You will feel more contented too, according to the new study. “People believe that they might well be self-satisfied about becoming environmentally conscious through ‘green’ buying patterns, but it doesn’t seem to be that way”, said the lead researcher Sabrina Helm. “Reduced consumption has effects on increased happiness, but we don’t see that with ‘green’ consumption.”
“Owning every new ‘green’ product on the market might make you feel contented, but if you relieve yourself of that burden of ownership, most people report feeling a lot better,” said Helm.
1. Why does the writer mention “green” shopping habits?| A．To call on a green lifestyle. | B．To present a half true “green” truth. |
| C．To introduce a social trend. | D．To praise people’s green efforts. |
| A．Growing cotton is far worse for the Earth. |
| B．Reduced consumption is better for the Earth. |
| C．Using any bag you have is the best bet. |
| D．The plastic bag bans are of no effect. |
| A．The sense of achievement. | B．The sense of relief. |
| C．The sense of happiness. | D．The sense of security. |
| A．Less is More | B．The Greener, The Happier |
| C．Happiness Guarantee | D．What Are Green Products? |
相似题推荐
【推荐1】Splash (落水声)! Did you hear that? Can you guess what it is? Can you figure it out? If you guessed the ocean, then you’re correct! I believe that my organization, Reef Check, is the most worthy of receiving the Chocolate Heart money. Do you want to know why? Well, soon you’ll find out.
First of all, Reef Check needs the money to repair and clean coral reefs (珊瑚礁) which are home to millions of sea animals. Reef Check hopes to educate the public about the value of reef ecosystems (生态系统) and the danger that sea animals and plants are facing. Based in Los Angeles, Reef Check has volunteer teams in more than 90 countries, making community volunteers, businesses, universities, and other non-profit organizations work together. It works to create a worldwide network of volunteer teams trained in Reef Check’s scientific methods that survey coral and rocky reefs and report on reef health. Also, Reef Check takes action to protect remaining ancient reefs and repair reefs in danger worldwide.
For example, imagine you are a poor sea animal, whose home just got destroyed or wasn’t clean. What would you do? What could you do? Nothing much, really. But that’s exactly Reef Check’s job! To clean and protect these homes for many sea animals!
Furthermore, in 1997, Reef Check carried out the first-ever survey of coral reef health that provided scientific evidence that our coral reefs were in danger because of overfishing, illegal fishing, and pollution. The results surprised many biologists who had not realized the seriousness of human influence on reefs. In August 2002, Reef Check presented its report, The Global Coral Reef Crisis - Trends and Solutions, at the World Summit in South Africa. The report warned that there was no reef in the world that remained untouched by human influence, such as overfishing, pollution, and climate change.
In short, everyone should have a home including animals from the sea. So don’t leave them out! Be generous and give them a home!
1. What do we know about Reef Check?| A．It is a team of scientists. |
| B．It mainly studies sea animals. |
| C．It is a non-profit organization. |
| D．It is run by the US government. |
| A．To show the role of Reef Check. |
| B．To show the importance of reefs. |
| C．To show how poor sea animals are. |
| D．To show the seriousness of sea pollution. |
| A．Reefs would die out in the near future. |
| B．Humans and reefs depended on each other. |
| C．Overfishing influenced the oceans seriously. |
| D．Reefs were at risk because of human activities. |
| A．To describe what Reef Check is. |
| B．To introduce a dangerous but important job. |
| C．To explain why Reef Check needs support. |
| D．To educate the public to care for the environment. |
【推荐2】T. O. Fuller State Park in Memphis, Tennessee, has been loved for generations and has always been a ground where community has come first. Back in 1938, it was the first park east of the Mississippi river to open for African American visitors. Over 80 years later, the park is continuing its forward-thinking tradition, this time, through a pioneering sustainability project.
A new walking and biking trail has been built through this historic park. Illegally dumped (被丢弃的) tires are not only unpleasant to see, but they’re a dangerous addition to the environment. Rubber, like plastic, is a material that won’t naturally break down. In a place as hot as Tennessee, these dumped tires often begin to melt and release these harmful gasses into the air. Fortunately, the old tires were sent to Patriot Tire Recycling in Bristol, TN, the only facility in the area that can break down tires in an environmentally sound way. There, the collected tires were safely broken down into the crumble(碎屑) rubber that was eventually used to pave the new trail.
TN State Parks explained how the trail’s construction, which has been in development since 2019, was a joint effort. Officials from the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, the Tennessee Department of Transportation, the City of Memphis, Shelby County, and Memphis City Beautiful were all involved in funding this recycling project.
These officials named their initiative the “Tires to Trails” project. Workers from these departments, alongside some 450 volunteers, came together to collect over 24, 000 tires that had been illegally dumped in the area around the park to be recycled.
“This is a perfect example of recycling in full circle, collecting dumped material, then converting it into positive use,” David, a leader of the project, said in a statement.
1. What kind of park is T. O. Fuller State Park?| A．It is a popular park with a good tradition. | B．It is the first park welcoming all visitors. |
| C．It is a park west of the Mississippi river. | D．It is a modern park without biking trails. |
| A．They are ugly to see. | B．They release harmful gasses. |
| C．They are made up of plastic. | D．They could only be used to pave the new trail. |
| A．It is the park’s responsibility to recycle. |
| B．The park is built on dumped materials. |
| C．The park successfully recycled dumped tires. |
| D．It is possible to turn everything into useful things. |
| A．A state park is making pioneering efforts to achieve sustainability. |
| B．A state park is to rebuild a trail in an innovative way. |
| C．Tires have been transformed into a new trail in a state park. |
| D．Officials and people worked together to recycle tires in a state park. |
【推荐3】Tiny microbes(微生物)are at the heart of a new agricultural technique to manage harmful greenhouse gas. Scientists have discovered how microbes can be used to turn carbon dioxide into soil-enriching limestone(石灰石), with the help of a type of tree that grows in tropical areas, such as West Africa.
Researchers have found that when the Iroko tree is grown in dry, acidic soil and treated with a combination of natural fungi(霉菌)and other bacteria, not only does the tree grow well, it also produces the mineral limestone in the soil around its root.
The Iroko tree makes a mineral by combining Ca from the earth with CO2 from the atmosphere. The bacteria then create the conditions under which this mineral turns into limestone. The discovery offers a new way to lock carbon into the soil, keeping it out of the atmosphere. In addition to storing carbon in the trees leaves and in the form of limestone. the mineral in the soil makes it more suitable for agriculture.
The discovery could lead to reforestation(重新造林) projects in tropical countries, and help reduce carbon dioxide in the atmosphere in the developing world. It has already been used in West Africa and is being tested in Bolivia, Haiti and India.
The findings were made in a three-year project involving researchers from the Universities of Edinburgh, Granada, Lausanne and Delft University of Technology. The project examined several microbiological methods of locking CO2 as limestone, and the Iroko-bacteria way showed best results. Work was funded by the European Commission under the Future&Emerging Technologies(FET)scheme.
Dr Bryne Ngwenya of the University of Edinburgh’s School of GeoSciences, who led the research, said:“By taking advantage of this natural limestone-producing process, we have a low-tech,safe, readily employed and easily operating way to lock carbon out of the atmosphere, while improving farming conditions in tropical countries.”
1. The passage is mainly introducing______.| A．some useful natural fungi and bacteria |
| B．a new way to deal with greenhouse gas |
| C．a newly-found tree in West Africa |
| D．the soil-enriching limestone created by scientists |
| A．Most tiny microbes like living in dry, acidic soil. |
| B．CO2 can be broken down by natural fungi and bacteria. |
| C．The more greenhouse gas is, the more active tiny microbes become. |
| D．Tiny microbes get along well with the Iroko tree in special soil. |
| A．Soil. | B．Carbon. |
| C．Limestone. | D．Carbon. |
| A．The action of the tiny microbes can increase the oxygen in the earth |
| B．Researchers have done the experiment on trees in Africa for three years |
| C．Researchers tend to use natural power to solve their problem |
| D．West Africa is one of the most polluted areas all over the world |
【推荐1】Children are starting on digital devices at ever younger ages, and opinions on the effects of children’s digital-media habits are deeply polarized (两极分化的).
Jean Twenge, a psychology professor, thinks excessive (过度的) use of the internet and social media makes children lonely and depressed and poses serious risks to their physical and particularly their mental health, sometimes to the point of driving them to suicide.
However, Daniel Kardefelt-Winther of the Innocent research office of Unicef examined various evidence and found less cause for alarm than is often suggested. Most of the studies he examined seem to show that the technology helps children stay in touch with their friends and make new ones.
The relationship between the use of digital technology and children’s mental health, broadly speaking, appears to be u-shaped. Researchers have found that moderate use is beneficial, whereas either no use at all or extreme use could be harmful.
What worries some experts more is that screens are becoming part of the middle-class armory(武器) for perpetuating (巩固) social advantage. Children from well-off homes are enrolled in private classes to learn skills like “How to be a YouTuber”, which poorer parents cannot afford.
1. What is the second paragraph mainly about?| A．The disadvantages of overusing digital media. |
| B．The bad effects of using digital media. |
| C．Several bad impacts of using digital media. |
| D．The advantages of overusing digital media. |
| A．lonely | B．depressed | C．suicide | D．all the above |
| A．Objective. | B．Favorable. | C．Indifferent | D．Uncertain. |
| A．Not all Children from rich homes can attend private classes |
| B．Not all Children from poor homes can learn skills like “how to be a YouTuber”. |
| C．Digital media is the only way of strengthening the middle-class. |
| D．Digital media can widen class gap. |
| A．Should children interact with digital media? |
| B．Should parents allow their children interact with digital media? |
| C．What children do to interact with digital devices? |
| D．How children interact with digital devices. |
【推荐2】People in China consume 10 grams of salt a day on average, twice the amount recommended by the World Health Organization, and over the past four decades adults in China have had among the highest salt consumption in the world.
Salt intake in China is confirmed to be among the highest in the world, with adults over the past four decades consistently consuming on average above 10g of salt a day, which is more than twice the recommended limit, according to new research led by Queen Mary University of London.
The systematic review and meta-analysis(系统评价和荟萃分析), funded by the National Institute for Health Research and published in the Journal of the American Heart Association,also found that Chinese children aged 3-6 are eating the maximum amount of salt recommended by the World Health Organization for adults (5g a day)while older children eat almost 9g/day. Excessive salt intake raises blood pressure,a major cause of strokes and heart disease, which accounts for approximately 40 percent of deaths in the Chinese population.
The team reviewed all data ever published on salt intake in China (which involved about 900 children and 26,000 adults across the country) and found that salt intake has been consistently high over the past four decades, with a North-South divide.
While salt intake in northern China is among the highest in the world (11.2g a day) it has been declining since the 1980s when it was 12.8g a day, and most markedly since the 2000s.
This could be the result of both governmental efforts in salt awareness education and the lessened reliance on pickled (腌制的) food—owing to a greater year-round availability of vegetables.
However, this trend of decrease was not seen in southern China, which has vastly increased from 8.8g a day in the 1980s to 10.2g a day in the 2010s.
This could be due to governmental efforts being mitigated by the growing consumption of processed foods and out-of-home meals.
These latest results contradict (相矛盾) those of previous studies based on the data which reported declines in salt intake across the country.
1. What is the function of Paragraph One?| A．To warn the readers of the danger of salt. |
| B．To carry out the research of salt intake |
| C．To display the dietary habits of Chinese. |
| D．To lead to the topic of the passage. |
| A．Out-of-home meals can reduce the salt consumption of Chinese people. |
| B．Chinese people have a 40-year history of extra salt. |
| C．Adequate vegetable supply throughout the year might help decrease salt intake. |
| D．People of southern and northern China are advised to take in equal amount of salt. |
| A．Research conducted to help Chinese decline salt intake |
| B．Serious situation of salt intake in China |
| C．Salt intake habits varying from place to place in China |
| D．Salt intake causing health problems to Chinese |
【推荐3】Researchers found brushing your teeth three or more times per day is linked with lower risk of heart failure and atrial fibrillation (心室颤动) —a heart condition that causes an irregular and often abnormally fast heart rate.
One possible theory behind the discovery is that frequent tooth brushing reduces bacteria living in the pocket between the teeth and gums, preventing them from entering the bloodstream. Existing studies show poor oral hygiene (口腔卫生) leads to bacteria in the blood, causing inflammation (炎症) in the body. Inflammation increases the risks of irregular heartbeat and heart failure, where the heart’s ability to pump blood or relax and fill with blood is weakened.
In their new research, scientists in South Korea examined the connection between oral hygiene and happening of these two conditions in a series of studies of more than 161, 000 participants aged between 40 and 79.
Participants underwent a routine medical examination between 2015 and 2016 and information was collected on height, weight, laboratory tests, illnesses, lifestyle, oral health, and oral hygiene behaviors. During a follow-up of ten and a half years on average, three percent of participants developed atrial fibrillation and around five percent developed heart failure.
The lead investigator of the new study is Tae-Jin Song, a doctor and professor at Mokdong Hospital at Ewha Woman’s University in Seoul, South Korea. He said, “We studied a large group over a long period, which adds strength to our findings.” But he also noted that the analysis was limited to one country and as an observational study it does not prove causation (因果关系).
An accompanying editorial states: “It is certainly too early to recommend tooth brushing for the prevention of atrial fibrillation and congestive (充血的) heart failure. While the role of inflammation in the happening of heart and blood vessels’ disease is becoming more and more evident, further studies are needed to explain strategies of public health importance.”
1. Which is true about frequent tooth brushing?| A．It promotes the heart beat faster. |
| B．It rids the bloodstream of bacteria. |
| C．It reduces the risk of heart failure. |
| D．It weakens the heart’s ability to pump blood. |
| A．Inflammation and bacteria. |
| B．Heart failure and atrial fibrillation. |
| C．Oral hygiene and occurrence of heart failure. |
| D．The heart’s ability to pump blood or relax. |
| A．It has its limit. | B．It’s discouraging. |
| C．It has its variety. | D．It’s unexpected. |
| A．A diary. | B．A travel brochure. |
| C．A novel. | D．A medical magazine. |
