“There’s not any more water out there and what water is out there is becoming really expensive. So, let’s look at how we’re using it now,” said John Berggren. He is a water policy expert with Western Resource Advocates, a non-profit group.
Berggren’s organization supports an effort by Colorado’s lawmakers to launch a statewide turf (草皮) replacement program. Turf is land covered with grass. The program aims to pay home and business owners to replace their grass with other plants and landscapes as a way to deal with the state’s dry climate.
The Las Vegas Valley has always been dry. The desert area has only 10.7 centimeters of rainfall a year. The people who live there take 90 percent of their water from the Colorado River. The rest comes from underground water. Berggren said that in Las Vegas one tenth of a square meter of grass can use 276 liters of water every year. Replacing that grass with native plants and landscaping can cut that to 82 liters or less.
Berggren added that the replacement would be completely voluntary. Water officials launched turf replacement program in 1999. The program offered residents (居民) $4 for every square meter of lawn (草坪) that they replaced. Valley residents, apartment managers and business owners took the government’s money and replaced their grasses with rocks and desert plants. Water officials increased the offer to $10 for each square meter in 2003, then $20 in 2007. Now water officials offer $30 for each square meter up to 929 square meters.
It paid off. Home and business owners in the Las Vegas Valley have removed more than 18.5 million square meters of turf, which has saved about 741 billion liters of water since the program started. In Colorado, since launching in 2018, the program has helped save about 145 million liters of water. The turf replacement program in Castle Rock has also saved millions of liters. The city has reduced residential water use by 7 percent since starting its replacement program in 2009.
1. What is the program in Colorado intended to do?| A．Save water. | B．Replace turf. |
| C．Turn the desert into grassland. | D．Make the area more beautiful. |
| A．The difficulty of getting water. | B．The present state of water wasting. |
| C．The dry climate and desert environment. | D．The need and reasons to carry out the program. |
| A．The program has won support from all residents. |
| B．Residents replacing turf are offered more money than before. |
| C．Water officials save more money by launching the program. |
| D．It totally depends on the government to carry out the program. |
| A．Costly. | B．Popular. | C．Fruitless. | D．Effective. |
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【推荐1】For centuries, fishers in Narrangansett have fished in the waters of the northwestern Atlantic for herrings (鲱鱼). But as climate change warms the world’s seas, the herrings are disappearing at the southern end of their range and turning up more often at its northern edges. A study shows that concentrations of marine (海洋的) species populations have been shifting away from the equator (赤道) and toward the poles during the course of the past century. These movements could wreak havoc on food webs and endanger the livelihoods (生计) of fishers.
The tropical (热带的) water at the equator is well-known for having the richest diversity of marine life on Earth. The number of marine species naturally decreases gradually as you head towards the poles. Ecologists have assumed this global pattern has remained stable over recent centuries until now. Our recent study found the ocean around the equator has already become too hot for many species to survive, and that global warming is responsible. And as species flee to cooler water towards the poles, it’s likely to have deep impacts on marine ecosystems.
Losing species in tropical ecosystems means ecological adaptation to environmental changes is reduced, potentially damage ecosystem persistence. In subtropical ecosystems, species richness is increasing. This means there’ll be species invaders, and new competitive relationships. This could result in ecosystem collapse in which species go extinct and ecosystem services (such as food supplies) are permanently changed.
One way is to reduce our emissions aggressively. Other opportunities could also help safeguard biodiversity and hopefully minimize the worst impacts of it shifting away from the equator. Designing climate-smart reserves could further protect biodiversity from future changes. For example, reserves for marine life could be placed where the climate will be stable over the foreseeable future. We should take action without delay.
1. What does the underlined phrase “wreak havoc on” probably mean in Paragraph 1?| A．Clarify | B．Classify. | C．Destroy. | D．Purify. |
| A．Some species move to water in lower temperature. |
| B．More marine species exist at the poles than the equator. |
| C．The subtropical water has the most diverse marine species. |
| D．The global pattern of the ecosystem remains unchanged now. |
| A．The increase of species in subtropical ecosystem. |
| B．The decline of ecological changes in the ocean. |
| C．The temporary changes in ecosystem services. |
| D．The effects of species’ immigration on marine ecosystem. |
| A．To inform readers of the reduction of marine species. |
| B．To appeal to readers to protect marine biodiversity. |
| C．To predict the future of the marine ecosystem. |
| D．To explain the reasons for global warming. |
【推荐2】Homes are usually warmed with radiators (暖气片). Some homes are warmed by floor heating. Now, a new way of heating is being developed by using the “wallpaper” on your walls. This wallpaper is not decorative. It actually goes under and not over the wall-electrically heats a room. And this type of heating technology heats objects, even people, instead of the air and this helps you feel warmer.
The electric heating panels (嵌板) which are hidden in the wall are connected to the main electrical panels of your home. Each room can be heated independently through an app, so you do not have to heat unused rooms. It takes around 20 minutes to heat a room.
With rising prices for home heating, the panels seen like the right way to go. “It makes me happy that I don’t depend on gas,” Kris Bilski, an early user, said. About 23 million homes in the UK are connected to the gas grid (网) but the government wants to phase out gas-fired pots by 2035. Home heating is responsible for 17 percent of greenhouse gas materials, so removing fossil fuel-based heating will help the environment.
The new electric heating systems are easy to get for private homes and the company is currently testing the new technology in public housing in some cities. The types being tested can be fitted while people are still living in the apartment so it makes installation a lot easier.
Heating your home with this type of technology does not heat your water, so an additional heating system is required, but an energy efficient heater can be used.
While the wallpaper is greener, electricity in the UK is very costly so it is not an economic way to heat homes unless there is a renewable energy source like solar panels used. Still, reducing the dependence on fossil fuels will go a long way to green the UK and help the country meet its climate targets.
1. What can we infer about a room with this “wallpaper” heater?| A．Special radiators are needed in in. | B．It’s connected to solar panels. |
| C．The temperature in it varies less. | D．It’s warmer than a normal room. |
| A．Slop using. | B．Improve greatly. |
| C．Restore gradually. | D．Finish developing. |
| A．It looks beautiful. | B．It’s easy to set up. |
| C．It heats up instantly. | D．It fits all buildings. |
| A．Doubting. | B．Optimistic. |
| C．Enthusiastic. | D．Unfavorable. |
【推荐3】Most Beautiful of All
| A．They smelled wonderful and crunched (发出碎裂声) under our feet as we walked along. |
| B．Then, she approached and asked us whether we had any trash. |
| C．I decided to take my sons for a walk the other day. |
| D．As is often the case, we are too busy to find the beauty of nature. |
| E．As we turned a corner along the walking trail, I noticed a woman slowly making her way towards us. |
| F．Of all the things I saw that day, she was the most beautiful. |
| G．Then, quickly and neatly, she placed it in the trash bag. |
【推荐1】Today companies have branches around the world. More than 11% of the US employers and employees work online either full-time or part-time, and that number is continuing growing. It is believed that it is a waste of time and money to fly around the world for face-to-face meetings. An effective solution to this problem is to use Web meetings.
A large group of presentations, training classes and meetings are done online without losing the face-to-face experience. Web meetings are online meetings where an organizer invites attendees to listen to or watch an online presentation by presenters. Besides, Web meetings can be recorded for later use in presentations or training projects or downloaded for on-demand playback. Presenters can take real-time surveys to study how to hold a successful meeting. Some Web meeting software programs can monitor the users' desktop behavior to see if they become distracted from the presentation and begin working on other documents. If so, the program can tell presenters when the listeners lose their attention, and how long the distraction lasts. In this way the presenters will know which parts of their meetings need improving.
Web meetings can work well because they're hosted on a server. Images from the presenter's desktop are taken, uploaded to a server and then downloaded by people who have access to the server Web meetings require a powerful server to deal with several images a second and “serve” them back to thousands of users at the same time.
Companies have two choices when it comes to these servers. They can either buy a special Web meeting server to host their meetings on-site, or they can pay for a Web meeting service every time and let the off-site provider worry about hosting the meetings. The choice depends on frequently the company holds
Web meetings, the average number of people attending the meetings, and the quality of engineering and information technology.
Web meetings are an excellent example of how technology is changing the way we do business. With all the technologies today, the traditional office might soon be a thing of the past.
1. What is the disadvantage of the traditional meeting?| A．It needs more people to organize it. |
| B．It is expensive and time-consuming. |
| C．It results in traffic accidents frequently. |
| D．It fails to meet the demands of big companies. |
| A．By presenting successful documents. |
| B．By recording the frequency of distraction. |
| C．By tracking the listeners' state of attention. |
| D．By taking surveys about a successful meeting. |
| A．Web meetings are likely to be widely used. |
| B．Web meetings help presenters stay focused. |
| C．Web meetings determine the quality of engineering. |
| D．Web meetings work well without the help of a server. |
【推荐2】Family vlogging — the frequent recording and uploading of personal videos of the family, usually on video sharing website — has become big business nowadays, especially among parents of young children. The more viewers such videos can get, the more money the family can make. At first thought, it does seem like an easy way to make money. However, are we doing right by putting their lives up for public attention?
For one thing, as the children grow up, they increasingly become aware that what they do needs to be admirable enough for the public to enjoy — Being young children, they also would want to do whatever it takes to please others. They then feel the pressure to be perfect, and as that is something not always possible, they become anxious and stressed. Comments from viewers and the expectations of sponsors (赞助者) can also affect the parents’ reactions towards their children.
Another problem is the lack of privacy in the children’s lives. As the children reach adolescence, there is a greaser need for personal space. At 12 or 13, very few children would appreciate being filmed while eating or having a conversation with their friends. Teenhood is a time of significant change in an individual, both physically and emotionally, and is a time when parents need to protect their children and guide them, instead of exposing them to the eyes of the public.
Family vlogging can be irresistible, given how it allows parents to bring greater fun to their family lives. There is also the easy money and the fame to look forward to. Indeed, all would probably go well, but only as long as parents keep in mind that, if not managed well, making their children live their lives in the unforgiving eyes of the public could prove to be a big mistake.
1. How does vlogging about children’s lives influence the family?| A．Children will get used to public attention. |
| B．Children may suffer from too much pressure. |
| C．Parents may show no concern for their children. |
| D．Parents become addicted to exposing their children to the public. |
| A．By providing examples | B．By listing numbers |
| C．By making comparisons | D．By analyzing causes |
| A．To introduce a new big business |
| B．To show how vlogging influence people’s lives. |
| C．To persuade parents to watch out for comments from viewers. |
| D．To convince parents of the danger of vlogging about children’s lives. |
| A．negative | B．positive | C．neutral | D．uninterested |
【推荐3】Just when you thought you were taking care of your health by eating enough fruit and vegetables every day, new research has come out revealing that you might be swallowing microplastic particles(颗粒)along with all those vitamins, minerals, and fiber. A groundbreaking study published in the journal Environmental Research has found that fruits and vegetables absorb microplastic particles from the soil and move them through vegetal tissues, where they remain until eaten by hungry diners, thus getting transferred to human bodies.
The researchers, who are from the University of Catania in Italy, as well as Sousse and Monastir universities in Tunisia, analyzed a variety of common fruits and vegetables---carrots, lettuce, broccoli, potatoes, apples, and pears. These were chosen for the fact that they are frequently consumed, usually one per day, which allowed the researchers to better assess the dietary intakes of MPs (microplastic particles) and NPs (nano-plastics). The samples were purchased from different sources in the city of Catania, including a small fruit vendor and a supermarket.
The researchers found that apples, followed by pears, were the most polluted fruit samples, and carrots were the most polluted vegetable. In the study’s discussion section, the authors wrote, “We can assume that the fruits contain more MPs not only because of the very high vascularization(血管化)of the fruit pulp (果肉) but also due to the greater size and complexity of the root system and age of the tree (several years) compared to the vegetables (60-75 days for the carrot).”
This study is important because it’s the first to detect microplastics in fruits and vegetables. They have been found in other sources before, such as sea salt, beer, water(bottled, in particular), shellfish, sugar, soil, and even air, but never inside fresh produce. It’s an alarming discovery that raises yet another red flag about microplastic pollution in the natural environment.
It’s an area that will likely see a lot more attention in coming years, with the study authors calling for further research into the question of microplastic and whether it harms the health of both plants and humans.
1. What is the study about?| A．The main cause of soil pollution. |
| B．The great changes in people’s diets. |
| C．The benefits of eating fruits and vegetables. |
| D．The microplastic pollution in fruits and vegetables. |
| A．To lower the cost of the study. | B．To gain widespread acceptance. |
| C．To improve the accuracy of the study. | D．To reduce the time for preparing the samples. |
| A．It showed the influences of MPs on plants. |
| B．It proved the source of microplastic pollution. |
| C．It presented the danger of MPs to human’s body. |
| D．It discovered MPs in fresh produce for the first time. |
| A．It needs to be further studied. | B．It wasted them quite a lot of time. |
| C．It has raised people’s awareness of health. | D．It has attracted people’s attention to diets. |
