【推荐2】Sustainable Fabrics(织物) of the Future

Choosing what to wear can be a difficult problem, especially if you⁵re a fashion victim. Trying to keep up with the latest styles involves regular visits to the shopping malls and sometimes paying for expensive designer clothes. But the fashion often changes.     1    

Many stores now offer cheap “fast fashion”-low-price items that copy the styles of more expensive designer brands. Environmentalists are angered by the amount of energy involved in making these clothes and that many of them are made from non- recyclable materials.     2    

Eleanor Lawrie, a BBC reporter, says that people in the UK are the worst in Europe for getting rid of unwanted clothes every year. And she says, “On top of often poor labour conditions for workers, the fashion industry is also responsible for 20% of the world's waste water, and 10% of carbon emissions(排放).”

This is something the fashion industry is becoming more aware of and has tried to find new crops of biomaterials to replace wasteful fabrics like cotton and leather. Examples include Pinatex, a leather-like material made from pineapple leaves. It's been used in collections by Hugo Boss and H&M.     3     It is being used to create food, packaging and clothes.

    4     The current farming practice requires a massive amount of water and insect killer. Eleanor says, “About 15,000 litres of water are required to make one pair of jeans, while 95% of its material is cotton.” So, buying organic cotton is a better choice. And there is also Tencel, a natural product becoming increasingly popular. It's made by taking cellulose fiber(木质纤维素) from trees and its production is thought to use 95% less water than cotton processing.

Professor Richard Blackbum from Leeds School of Design tells the BBC that creating sustainable fabrics is only part of the battle-buying reasonably, buying second hand and buying fewer clothes are obviously the more environmentally friendly choices for people.     5     If one can do that, he is starting to be sustainable.

A．Cotton is a very resource-demanding crop to grow.

B．And there's Mycelium, the root structure of mushrooms.

C．Every year, a million tonnes of unwanted fabrics just get thrown away.

D．Many of your clothes will then be left in the back of cupboards gathering dust.

E．Recycled cotton can come from secondhand clothing or from fabrics' leftovers.

F．This means the cheap fashionable items will have to be burned or go into landfill.

G．One shouldn't consider buying any item of clothing unless he commits to 30 wears.

【推荐3】If women are mercilessly exploited year after year, they have only themselves to blame. Because they tremble at the thought of being seen in public in clothes that are out of fashion, they are always taken advantage of by the designers and the big stores. Clothes which have been worn only a few times have to be put aside because of the change of fashion. When you come to think of it, only a woman is capable of standing in front of a wardrobe packed full of clothes and announcing sadly that she has nothing to wear.

Changing fashions are nothing more than the intentional creation of waste. Many women spend vast sums of money each year to replace clothes that have hardly been worn. Women who can not afford to throw away clothing in this way waste hours of their time altering the dresses they have. Skirts are lengthened or shortened；necklines are lowered or raised, and so on.

No one can claim that the fashion industry contributes anything really important to society. Fashion designers are rarely concerned with vital things like warmth, comfort and durability. They are only interested in outward appearance and they take advantage of the fact that women will put up with any amount of discomfort, as long as they look right. There can hardly be a man who hasn't at some time in his life smiled at the sight of a woman shaking in a thin dress on a winter day, or delicately picking her way through deep snow in high­heeled shoes.

When comparing men and women in the matter of fashion, the conclusions to be drawn are obvious. Do the constantly changing fashions of women's clothes, one wonder, reflect basic qualities of inconstancy and instability? Men are too clever to let themselves be cheated by fashion designers. Do their unchanging styles of dress reflect basic qualities of stability and reliability? That is for you to decide.

1. Designers and big stores always make money________.

A．by constantly changing the fashions in women's clothing

B．by mercilessly exploiting women workers in the clothing industry

C．because they are able to predict new fashions for the coming season

D．because they attach great importance to the quality of women's clothing

2. To the writer, that women altering their old fashioned dresses is seen as________.

A．a waste of money	B．an expression of taste
C．a waste of time	D．an expression of creativity

3. According to the passage, which of the following statements is true?

A．The fashion industry makes an important contribution to society.

B．The constant changes in women's clothing reflect their strength of characters.

C．Fashion designs should not be encouraged since they are only welcomed by women.

D．New fashions in clothing are created for the commercial exploitation of women.

4. By saying “the conclusions to be drawn are obvious”, the writer means that________.

A．women are better able to put up with discomfort

B．men are more reasonable in the matter of fashion

C．men are also exploited greatly by fashion designers

D．women's inconstancy in their choice of clothing is often laughed at

【推荐1】You go out for a meal and scan a QR code to order the food, but it asks for your phone number. You go back home and are asked to look into a facial recognition camera. Data collection is everywhere.

However, the personal information collected by companies can be leaked for marketing or used for (电信诈骗). According to a survey of 5,458 people by the China Consumers Association, 85.2 percent of people said they had experienced personal information leaks from applications on their smart phones. Most said they got unwanted calls or text messages afterward.

On Nov 1, the Personal Information Protection Law came into effect in China. The law has detailed rules to strengthen the protection of personal information.

The law defines personal information as any kind of information about people who are or can be identified, in electronic or other forms. So a person’s name, date of birth, ID number, address and phone number are all personal information.

There are also some kinds of personal information that are regarded as “sensitive”, such as fingerprints, faces, religious beliefs, medical health, financial accounts and all data relating to minors under 14.

According to the law, activities such as collecting, using, processing and trading of personal information will be strictly regulated. One key rule is that those handling personal information should inform users and get permission. For sensitive information, there are stricter rules on related activities. For example, in the case of a minor, approval from their parents is required.

Protection of personal information of online platform users is especially stressed. According to a report released in June on Internet development in China, the country has over 1 billion Internet users and 60 percent of surveyed applications had collected users’ information illegally. Many apps would collect users’ information even when the app was not in use. They could access the phonebook, photos, turn on the microphone and get the users’ location.

For individuals, it’s important to raise awareness of protecting personal information. Individuals need to fully understand the requests for personal information. If it’s not necessary, don’t agree. If you find that your personal data has been used illegally, you can report to consumer councils or(网络管理机构) with evidence.

1. The author intends to _______ by the first two paragraphs.

A．tell some unwanted experiences	B．inform some personal information leaks
C．draw the readers’ attention to the topic	D．warn the public against using applications

2. Which of the following is not regarded as personal information?

A．A child’s pet name.	B．An application user’s location.
C．Some old family pictures.	D．All data relating to teenagers.

3. Which of the following is true according to the text?

A．The Personal Information Protection Law will become effective in China.

B．Dealing with personal information without users’ agreement is illegal.

C．Collecting and processing personal information should be banned.

D．For sensitive information, approval from a person’s parents is required.

4. In the author’s opinion, how can you avoid personal information leak?

A．Enhance your consciousness of personal information and adopt effective measures.

B．Don’t use the applications too often that are downloaded on your smart phone.

C．Make up false personal information in order to protect your true information.

D．Report to consumer councils or cyberspace administrations with evidence

【推荐2】If you have a chance to go to Finland, you will probably be surprised to find how “foolish” the Finnish people are.
Take the taxi drivers for example. Taxis in Finland are mostly high-class Benz with a fare of two US dollars a kilometer. You can go anywhere in one, tell the driver to drop you at any place, say that you have some business to attend to(料理), and then walk off without paying your fare. The driver would not show the least sign of anxiety.
The dining rooms in all big hotels not only serve their guests, but also serve outside diners. Hotel guests have their meals free, so they naturally go to the free dining rooms to have their meals. The most they would do to show their good faith is to wave their registration card(住宿登记卡) to the waiter. With such a loose check, you can easily use any old registration card to take a couple of friends to dine free of charge.
The Finnish workers are paid by the hour. They are very much on their own as soon as they have agreed with the boss on the rate(价钱). From then on, they just say how many hours they have worked and they will be paid accordingly(相应地).
With so many loopholes(漏洞) in everyday life, surely Finland must be a heaven to those who love to take “petty advantages”. But the strange thing is, all the taxi passengers would always come back to pay their fare after they have attended to their business; not a single outsider has ever been found in the free hotel dining rooms. And workers always give an honest account of the exact hours they put in. As the Finns always act on good faith in everything they do, living in such a society has turned everyone into a real “gentleman”.
In a society of such high moral practice, what need is there for people to be on guard against others?
1. While taking a taxi in Finland, _____.

A．a passenger can go anywhere without having to pay the driver

B．a passenger pays two US dollars for a taxi ride

C．a passenger can never be refused by the taxi driver wherever he wants to go

D．a passenger needs to provide good faith demonstration (证明) before leaving without paying

2. We know from the passage that big hotels in Finland ________.

A．are mostly poorly managed

B．provide meals for any diners

C．provide free wine and charge for food

D．provide meal for only those who live in the hotels

3. Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?

A．The workers in Finland are paid by the hour.

B．The workers are always honest with their working hours.

C．The workers and their bosses will make an agreement in advance about the pay.

D．The bosses in Finland are too busy to check the working hours of their employees.

4. The word “those” in the last but one paragraph probably refers to _____.

A．people who are dishonest

B．people who often have meals in big hotels

C．people who often take taxis

D．people who are worthy of trust

【推荐3】High school dropouts earn an average of $ 9,000 less per year than graduates. Now a new study moves away a common belief why they quit. It’s much more than failing in exams at school.

Society tends to think of high school dropouts as kids who just can’t cut it. They are lazy, and perhaps not too bright. So researchers were surprised when they asked more than 450 kids who quit school about why they left.

“The vast majority actually had passing grades and they were confident that they could have graduated from high school, ” John Bridgeland, the executive researcher said. About 1 million teens leave school each year. Only about half of African-American and Hispanic(美籍西班牙) students will receive a diploma, and actually all dropouts come to regret their decision. So, if failing grades don’t explain why these kids quit, what does? Again, John Bridgeland said, “The most dependable finding was that they were bored. They found classes uninteresting; they weren’t inspired or motivated. They didn’t see any direct connection between what they were learning in the classroom to their own lives, or to their possible careers. ”

The study found that most teens who do dropout wait until they turn sixteen, which happens to be the age at which most states allow students to quit. In the US, only one state, New Mexico, has a law requiring teenagers to stay in high school until they graduate. Only four states: California, Tennessee, Texas and Utah, plus the District of Columbia, require school attendance until age 18, no exceptions. Another researcher says raising the compulsory attendance age may be one way to keep more kids in school.

“As these dropouts look back, they realize they’ve made a mistake. And anything that sort of gives these people an extra push to stick it out, is probably a helpful measure.”

New Hampshire may be the next state to raise school attendance age to 18. But critics assay that forcing the students unwilling to continue their studies to stay in school misses the point- the need for reform. It’s been called for to reinvent high school education to make it more challenging and to ensure that kids who do stick it out receive a diploma that acutally means something.

1. Most high school students drop out of school because ________.

A．they often fail in exams.

B．they find school learning boring

C．they are discriminated against

D．they are lazy and not intelligent

2. According to the passage, which state has a law requiring teenagers to stay in high school until they graduate?

A．California	B．New Hampshire
C．New Mexico	D．Utah

3. In the last paragraph, the writer is trying to ________

A．analyze the reason why students quit school

B．suggest raising the compulsory attendance age

C．raise awareness of reforming high school education

D．wish to make laws to guarantee no education

4. What is the purpose of the author writing this article?

A．To analyze the reasons why many students drop out of school

B．To introduce the measure to stop students from dropping out of school

C．To introduce the difference regulations in the USA about students dropping out of school

D．To introduce the education system in the   USA.