Environmental groups were quick to express their disagreement. They wrote reports on how recycling programs in cities can reduce pollution and cost less than regular garbage pickup and disposal. Michael Shapiro, an official of the US Environmental Protection Agency(EPA), said that “recycling can be good value for money, although there’s still room for improvements.”
But in 2002, New York City, a pioneer of recycling, found that its recycling program was losing money, so it stopped glass and plastic recycling. Other major cities watched closely to see how New York was dealing with its remaining program (the city never stopped paper recycling). But then it closed its last landfill (垃圾填埋地), and private companies out of New York raised prices due to the increased workload of carrying away and disposing New York’s garbage. As a result, glass and plastic recycling became profitable for the city again, and New York brought the program back. According to Cecil Adams of The Chicago Reader, the lessons learned by New York are relevant everywhere. He believes that, if managed correctly, recycling programs should cost cities less than garbage disposal.
Even though the benefits of recycling over disposal are many, keep in mind that it better serves the environment to “reduce and reuse” before recycling is even considered as a choice.
1. Why did John Tierney think “recycling is garbage”?
A.Because he considered recycling a wasteful activity. |
B.Because he didn’t think recycling was a new idea. |
C.Because he found few people would like to recycle. |
D.Because he didn’t like the environmental groups. |
A.Recycling technologies are mature. |
B.Recycling programs save money. |
C.Recycling programs cause pollution. |
D.Recycling technologies are valueless. |
A.Because New York was doing extremely well. |
B.Because they didn’t want to have a recycling program |
C.Because they felt worried about the waste of money. |
D.Because New York was running a new recycling program. |
A.Always bring your own shopping bag when you go shopping. |
B.Always put your shopping bag into the dustbin after use. |
C.Never go shopping where shopping bags are offered for free. |
D.Never use a shopping bag which is not recycled. |
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【推荐1】Reptiles, like snakes, lizards, and crocodiles are egg-laying animals. The species are cold-blooded, which means their bodies have the same temperature as the area around them. A recent report says that more than one-fifth of the world’s reptiles are at risk of going extinct.
The study, written by 52 scientists, is the first worldwide measurement of how threatened different species of reptiles are. For 15 years, between 2004 and 2019, researchers collected information on over 10,000 different kinds of reptiles. They gathered details from over 900 reptile experts around the world.
The report has revealed some unhappy news — 21% of all reptile species are in danger of extinction. That’s over 1,800 species in all. The study reported that at least 31 species of reptiles have already gone extinct. The main reason these reptiles are faced with extinction is that humans are taking over more and more of their natural habitats. More land continues to be cleared to make room for cities and towns. Large areas of land are also being cleared so that they can be used as farmland. Logging is another big threat to reptile habitats.
But even if reptiles aren’t considered lovely, they play a very important part in nature’s food chains. One service performed by reptiles humans should appreciate is that they are natural enemies to certain pests, like insects and rats, and therefore helping control their numbers.
Scientists say the good news is that we know what must be done to protect reptiles. Bruce Young, one of the leaders of the research, says, “We have all the tools we need. Protecting natural areas, especially rainforests, is at the top of the list. Studies show that saving natural areas doesn’t just protect mammals or birds, but all kinds of animals, including reptiles.”
1. What can we know about reptiles from the report?A.There are over 10,000 different kinds of reptiles worldwide. |
B.Reptiles are cold-blooded egg-laying animals. |
C.Over 20% of reptile species are at risk of dying out. |
D.Temperature rising poses the greatest threat to reptiles. |
A.Loss of habitats. | B.Human hunting. |
C.More natural enemies. | D.Environmental pollution. |
A.Attractive. | B.Intelligent. |
C.Beneficial. | D.Dangerous. |
A.Improving breeding methods. | B.Developing new rainforests. |
C.Strengthening cooperation. | D.Saving their natural habitats. |
【推荐2】Whether you’re a citizen, consumer or investor, it is fast becoming a key life skill to make out greenwashing, a word meaning a company claims that its products are environmentally friendly but actually not green at all. Misleading, or not proved claims about benefits to climate can make it harder for people to make informed decisions. They can also weaken real efforts by companies to clean up their act and deal with the climate crisis.
The basic problem is a lack of clarity. Indeed, when it comes to spottıng greenwashing, it can actually be more helpful to focus on the color grey—because it is the many grey areas that have helped make greenwashing appear in particular places. These grey areas might be around measurements, definitions, best practice, standards or regulations. Even the language we use is very imprecıse, leaving lots of room for vagueness, confusion or complete cheating. For instance, what do words such as “green”, “sustainable” and “eco” even mean? You have no standards, measurements or definitions to judge by.
These problems are increasingly important when it comes to the greenwashing of investment products, such as pensions and investment funds. In recent years, there has been a sharp rise in consumer demand for funds that invest according to environmental, social and governance (管理) criteria, often referred to as ESG funds. According to the financial data provider Morningstar, the value of assets (资产) held in UK funds grew from £29bn at the beginning of 2017 to £71bn by the end of 2020.
With that much money at risk for high profits, misleading claims can effectively hamper the flow of money and resources into really green new plans and businesses, preventing global efforts from dealing with the climate emergency. “I describe it as the ‘teenage years’ of responsible investing, with a lot of experimentation, and a lot of people trying out new things.” says Ashley Hamilton Claxton.
1. Which of the following can be called greenwashing?A.A product that is claimed to benefit the climate. |
B.A product that is claimed to be green while not the case. |
C.A product that can be washed in a green way. |
D.A product that is absolutely environmentally friendly. |
A.There are no such words as “sustainable”. | B.The language isn’t grammatically right. |
C.The product’s description is not clear. | D.The company doesn’t say it’s “green” and “eco”. |
A.Stop. | B.Clarify. | C.Put. | D.Divide. |
A.Much money enables high profits. |
B.Responsible investing is still at its early stage. |
C.More money is invested in real green businesses. |
D.A lot of people are unwilling to try out new things. |
【推荐3】Avoiding the worst effects of climate change will require action. But it’s hard to take action when you don’t even know there’s a problem. Around the world, only half of adults understand that humans are causing climate change through activities that produce greenhouse gases. But the picture is different for kids. Previous work has shown that children are more engaged and more knowledgeable than adults are about climate change. The question is, can we harness this to make a difference?
“We had come across this idea that kids are capable of influencing their parents. And when we say influence, we really mean just teaching them.” said Daniella Lawson, a social scientist at NC State University. “That’s what we set out to really investigate: can we design things in such a way that kids are able to teach their parents about climate change. A parent is willing and able to listen to their children speaking to them instead of just an adult on the street or a different climate communicator. ”
To test the idea, Lawson set up a wildlife-based climate course for kids. This approach was based on previous courses, but the team added a twist: involving the parents. First, parents were invited to come along to an event that formed a part of the course. And that’s not all. “So we also had students interview their parents. And this interview never mentioned climate change specifically. But it had questions like: how have you seen the weather change over the last five to ten years? Do you believe the sea level is rising? How do you think that could impact our communities?”
The study showed that the course did indeed increase concern about climate change: not just among the kids, but their parents too. And there were some surprising findings in the results. These findings come at a time when more kids are becoming climate activists. And Lawson says that her study shows just how persuasive young people’s voices can be.
1. What does the underlined word “harness” in paragraph one refer to?A.Adopt. | B.Accumulate. |
C.Review. | D.Control. |
A.Effective actions have been taken to deal with climate change. |
B.Most adults have realized the climate damages caused by themselves. |
C.Children better adults in the area of climate change and its effects. |
D.Adults and children will cooperate to deal with climate change. |
A.Kids can be taught by adults. |
B.Adults can learn from the kids. |
C.Climate communicators are more professional. |
D.Parents are more likely to consult street adults. |
A.The course involved is completely new. |
B.Interviews and questionnaires are necessary in the course. |
C.Adults and kids study separately during the course. |
D.The course is relatively effective in climate education. |
【推荐1】If a scientist sees a unicorn (独角兽), she’ll probably want to see more than one before telling the world about her discovery. But sometimes one unicorn is enough.
In 2007 an astronomer named Duncan Lorimer reported finding a new kind of astronomical event. It was a brief stream of energy so powerful that it could reach Earth from a galaxy billions of light-years away. He called it a fast radio burst (FRB). This remarkable find, if real, could make huge contributions to the study about universe. He predicted there would be many more – but that year, he spotted just one.
It’s not unheard of for one event to kick off a whole new field of scientific inquiry. Still it’s rare. When Lorimer’s paper came out in the journal, it was not surprising that many were skeptical. “Sometimes, what seems like a remarkable scientific discovery turns out to be an error in the data,” some commented.
Later, a young graduate student was assigned the task of finding more FRBs. Using the same radio telescope Lorimer once used, she found more bursts that just looked like FRBs. But because of the ways they appeared in the telescope data, she was virtually certain that they were some other kind of radio interference and gave them another name: perytons. As years ticked by and no more FRBs were discovered, some astronomers began to conclude Lorimer had found nothing more than an unusual example of one of these perytons.
Good news: in 2011, there was a report of a second FRB. Four more were found in 2013. Bad news: all of them came from the same Lorimer’s radio telescope. But ultimately, in 2014, there was a report from another radio telescope. More discoveries started showing up from other telescopes on a somewhat regular basis. At last the conversation about FRBs shifted – from whether they were real to where they came from.
Years of research have passed by since then. Now, Victoria Kaspi, a physics professor and principal investigator on the FRB team, predicts that once the more advanced telescopes come online in 2024, the location and distance of most FRBs detected can be found out, which will provide “golden opportunities for astronomers to study the large-scale structure of the universe”.
Finally, this “unicorn” story came to a somehow surprising end. Several years ago, a team reanalyzed the same data from the radio telescope by which Lorimer found the first FRB. There was one more that they had previously missed. Since then, other teams have analyzed even older data and found FRBs in those datasets too.
“They were just sitting there, waiting to be discovered by better techniques,” Lorimer says.
1. Which of the following has the closest meaning to the underlined word in paragraph 3?A.Optimistic. | B.Curious. | C.Supportive. | D.Doubtful. |
A.To suggest that the new scientific discovery was a myth. |
B.To imply magical creatures may actually exist in the world. |
C.To symbolize the previously unknown and unseen discoveries. |
D.To quote an incident that once happened in the field of science. |
A.Because it might mean the results were not reliable. |
B.Because they were all found by a young graduate student. |
C.Because these were given the name perytons and were not real FRBs. |
D.Because not every astronomer had the same type of telescope as Lorimer. |
A.It’s possible for just one event to start a new field of scientific research. |
B.New scientific discoveries can’t be made without advanced research techniques. |
C.Scientists shouldn’t deny new discoveries even if they lack evidence temporarily. |
D.Scientists should be careful to distinguish new discoveries from errors in the datasets. |
【推荐2】Populations of humpback whales (座头鲸) that live in different places can learn long, complicated (复杂的) songs from one another. Scientists at the University of Queensland, in Australia, focused on two populations of humpback whales, one by Australia’s east coast and the other off New Caledonia—a group of islands in the Pacific Ocean about 900 miles away. These populations may share feeding grounds or come across one another while moving from one place to another.
Only male whales sing. Their songs are known to be made up of a wide variety of different sounds arranged into patterns (模式) and can last for hours. The researchers listened to samples (样本) of male humpback songs from 2009 to 2015. They found out how complicated the songs were based on the number of sounds and how long the patterns lasted.
“The team found that the whales from New Caledonia were able to sing the same songs as the Australian whales without simplifying or leaving anything out,” said lead researcher Jenny Allen. This was true no matter how complicated the songs were. The whales also sang a different song each year. “It means humpback whales can learn a whole song pattern from another population very quickly,” Allen said.
It is not known for sure why male whales sing, but two possible reasons are to attract a mate or to warn other males to stay out of a private area. In addition to humpbacks, only a few other species of whales (blue, fifin, bowhead, and minke whales) sing.
Humpback whale numbers have been badly affected by hunting, which was stopped by law in the 1980s. Today there are thought to be about 40,000 humpbacks swimming in Australia’s waters, although scientists warn that the species still faces a number of threats in the wild. Allen said the study’s findings will aid efforts to save and protect humpback whales.
1. Why did the researchers choose Australian whales and whales from New Caledonia?A.They are quick learners. |
B.They are good at singing. |
C.They have the chance to meet. |
D.They have the same living habit. |
A.They could show where they came from through songs. |
B.They attracted different species of whales through songs. |
C.They increased sound numbers and pattern length every year. |
D.They were able to learn each other’s songs exactly and quickly. |
A.Easy. | B.Warning. | C.Meaningful. | D.Pioneering. |
A.Why male humpback whales can sing |
B.Humpback whales prefer complicated song |
C.How whales communicate with each other |
D.Humpback whales learn songs from one another |
【推荐3】In order to get rid of goldenrod from the city, the government of Wuhan is encouraging residents to report any findings of the plant, which is classified as a harmful alien species.
Goldenrod is one of the most successful and widespread alien plant species. It is often referred to as “the flower of the devil”, as it spreads extremely fast and causes other plants to die.
Besides Hubei province, the plant has also been found expanding in other provinces such as Jiangxi and Zhejiang. Although local authorities have tried to get rid of the plant, it is proving to be a difficult task. Goldenrod represents just one of the alien species that are aggressive towards the country’s native species. Statistics show that by 2020, nearly 800 kinds of alien species had invaded the country, among which 638 species have invaded the country’s agricultural and forestry ecosystems, causing direct economic losses of about 200 billion yuan ($31.36 billion).
At the United Nations Biodiversity Conference held in Kunming, Yunnan province, the invasion of alien species was the subject of discussions, as it was regarded as one of the two most important factors leading to the loss of biodiversity, the other being human-caused ecological damage.
China passed its Biosecurity Law on April 15, 2021, which provides the legal basis for preventing the invasion of alien species and protecting biodiversity in the country. The relevant departments also strictly carry out port inspections and quarantines so as to keep harmful organisms out of the country, and they strengthen early warning and monitoring systems so as to address the invasion as early as possible.
However, while government departments are making every effort to prevent and control the situation, the participation of the people should not be ignored. It is also necessary, as Wuhan is doing, to encourage people to pay attention to invasive species and actively play a role in keeping them at bay. Preventing any invasion by an alien species and protecting biodiversity should not just be the government departments fighting alone, but also a people’s war.
1. What can we learn about goldenrod from the text?A.It originates in Wuhan. |
B.It does harm to people’s health. |
C.It is a great threat to the surrounding plants. |
D.It causes an economic loss of about $31.36 billion. |
A.China’s efforts to stop the invasion of alien species. |
B.Relevant departments’ warning of goldenrod. |
C.The legal basis to protect biodiversity. |
D.The importance of port inspections and quarantines. |
A.Keeping the invasive species out of the country. |
B.Building some barriers for the species. |
C.Preventing the flowers from growing fast. |
D.Keeping the alien species safe at the port. |
A.Business. | B.Culture. | C.Environment. | D.Opinion. |