A Swedish power plant is taking reuse and recycle to the next level by burning unusable clothing instead of coal, Bloomberg reports.
Retail giant Hennes & Mauritz, more commonly known as H&M, is helping the utility transition away from coal through its moldy (发霉的) or otherwise unsalable clothing.
The multi-fuel power and heating station in Västerås, central Sweden, is planning to be completely fossil-fuel free by 2020. It’s the largest station of its kind and Sweden claims it’s one of Europe’s cleanest. To kick its coal habit, the station is turning instead to other burnable materials including recycled wood, rubbish and yes, clothes.
“Our goal is to use only renewable and recycled fuels,” Jens Neren, head of fuel supplies at the utility company which owns and operates the Västerås plant, told Bloomberg.
Johanna Dahl, head of communications for H&M in Sweden, told Bloomberg that the company allows only the burning of clothes which are no longer safe to use.
“It is our legal obligation to make sure that clothes that contain mold or do not meet the requirements of our strict restriction on chemicals are destroyed,” she said.
The Västerås plant has burned around 15 tons of old H&M clothes so far this year, compared with about 400,000 tons of rubbish, Neren told Bloomberg.
Sweden has one of the world’s greener energy generating systems, and has invested in bioenergy, solar power and electric buses. In 2015, the Scandinavian country announced an ambitious aim to become one of the first nations in the world to end its dependence on fossil fuels. According to the Swedish government, the country has already heavily reduced its dependence on oil, which accounted for 75% of the energy supply in 1970, and now makes up a 20% share.
1. Which of the following can serve as fuel in the Västerås plant?| A．Fashionable coats in H&M chain store. | B．Old TV sets deserted as rubbish. |
| C．Wooden furniture in second-hand shop. | D．H&M clothes unsuitable for sale. |
| A．eliminating | B．adjusting |
| C．producing | D．circulating |
| A．The Swedish government discourages the development of bioenergy. |
| B．Clothes only take up a small proportion of the burning material. |
| C．Sweden’s fossil-fuel free plan is almost accomplished by now. |
| D．Sweden has an ambition to be the cleanest country in the world. |
| A．A Swedish power plant is burning unusable H&M clothes for fuel. |
| B．The Swedish government aims high and is taking effective action. |
| C．H&M is looking for a new way to strengthen its position in fashion. |
| D．Coal and oil are no longer regarded as the primary fuels in Sweden. |
相似题推荐
【推荐1】Within the environmental movement, the question often arises whether global warming can be mitigated (缓解) by planting more vegetation. The idea is that the plants will consume carbon dioxide (CO2) that is causing the warming, while producing oxygen for us to breathe. This is acceptable on condition that global warming is indeed caused in some way by CO2 in the air.
However, actual scientific debate on the issue has shifted away from CO2 as the probable cause, especially after the findings that the temperatures changed 800 to 1000 years before carbon dioxide changed. In other words, CO2 levels are an indicator of temperature change, not a cause.
While there is nothing we can do to control the global climate, there is still a lot we can do to improve our local climates. Land use is the biggest decisive factor of local temperature and air quality. On clear days, the temperatures in big cities can be 5.6 degrees Centigrade higher than in the countryside around them. This is because the concrete (混凝土) of sidewalks and buildings and the asphalt (沥青) of roads take in sunlight and transform it into heat. Some get so hot, one could cook an egg on them! These vast surfaces of man﹣made stone also store lots of heat, which they radiate (散发) all night long. Just before sunrise, when the earth should be its coolest, roadways are still warm to touch.
If vegetation was blocking the Sun from the sidewalks and roads, the vegetation would absorb the sunlight, fueling the plants’ oxygen-making engines, and the rock would stay at surrounding temperatures. The easiest and most obvious choice is trees, particularly wide-reaching trees like the oak. Another possibility, especially outside the city centre, could be vine-covered trellises (棚架).Covering rooftops with grasses or other short vegetation reduces a building’s cooling cost as sharply as having trees or trellises that provide shade for windows does.
The reason why vegetation does not warm the air like rock does is that plants take water from the ground and evaporate (蒸发) it through their leaves. The Sun’s energy isn’t radiated as heat — it is used to change water into water vapor. The evaporative cooling works so well that the leaves stay 5.6 to 8.33 degrees Centigrade cooler than they would have been without water. While we can’t improve global climate, increased vegetation can help cool local climates.
1. Which of the following is True according to the passage?| A．With some effort, we can still affect global climate. |
| B．We can do a lot to improve the climate where we live. |
| C．Temperatures in big cities are usually lower than in the countryside. |
| D．The asphalt of roads throws back sunlight. |
| A．Planting full and wide-reaching trees. |
| B．Using vehicles that get better gas mileage. |
| C．Using energy-saving equipment. |
| D．Constructing dark-colored roofs on new buildings. |
| A．Darker colors absorb more sunlight and transform it into heat. |
| B．More thick materials store heat and give off it at night. |
| C．Human activity is changing global climate. |
| D．Vegetation is neither dark nor thick; thus, it reduces localized heating. |
| A．Encourage the next generation to increase vegetation. |
| B．Promote rooftop gardening. |
| C．Remove vines and trellises from buildings. |
| D．A and B above. |
【推荐2】A starving polar bear seen hunting for food in a major industrial city in northern Siberia has been captured and will be transported to a wildlife park for treatment, according to local reports.
Photos showed the female animal trudging across a busy road with muddy paws, digging through rubble and trash and lying down from apparent exhaustion on the ground.
Experts believe the animal, initially thought to have wandered hundreds of miles from its natural habitat in the Arctic, instead may have been taken as a baby polar and raised in enclosed places by traders, according to the Siberian Times.
The experts explained that it is typically not females but males that migrate long distances, and said this polar bear was too clean to have made such a travel, the newspaper reported. They told the newspaper it's possible that poachers released the animal to avoid being caught and punished. Polar bear poaching has been banned in Russia for more than 60 years. Still, it has been estimated that as many as 200 of them are killed each year in the Far East region.
As the Washington post's Isaac Stanley-Becker reported, polar bears “are classified as a vulnerable species because of the 'ongoing and potential loss of their sea ice habitat resulting from climate change, according to the World Wildlife Fund”.
1. What does the underlined word “enclosed" mean in paragraph 3?| A．Fenced | B．Chained | C．Diverged | D．Guaranteed |
| A．Because this polar bear is too exhausted. | B．Because this polar bear is a male. |
| C．Because this polar bear has no family. | D．Because this polar bear looks clean. |
| A．baby polar bears | B．female polar bears | C．male polar bears | D．strong polar bears |
| A．Because they have white fur. |
| B．Because their sea ice habitat is disappearing. |
| C．Because they are not cut enough. |
| D．Because they are often captured by poachers and pelt traders. |
【推荐3】You can help protect the planet! Try some of the following tips and get green.
Improve the outdoors. Plant a leafy tree that loses its leaves in fall on the south side of your home. Its shade ( 树荫) will cool your house in the summer.
Don’t litter. Rubbish thrown carelessly outside often washes into rivers, lakes and finally into the oceans.
Cut down on waste. If you have a dripping faucet (滴水的水龙头) in the house, ask your parents to replace the washer inside it. If you stop a faucet from leaking one drop each second, you can save 2, 700 gallons of water a year. Don’t pile (堆满) food onto your plate.
| A．Recycle and reuse first. |
| B．Participate in clean-up days at a park. |
| C．Take only what you know you’ll really be able to eat. |
| D．Pollution is a growing problem for all the Earth’s oceans and wildlife. |
| E．Borrow books from the library or a friend instead of buying a new copy. |
| F．After the tree’s leaves fall, sunlight will help warm your house in the winter. |
| G．Most garbage collection services will pick up your recycled bottles and cans. |
【推荐1】Over time, the custom of kissing developed as a way for adults to express their love and affection for one another. The roots of this form of affection can be traced back to primitive times, when mothers fondled their children, much as mothers do today.
Much later, in the sixth century, society apparently accepted the custom of kissing between adults as expression of their affection. Not surprisingly, France first accepted kissing in courtship. There, figure dancing was popular, and each dance was sealed with a kiss.
The custom of kissing swept from France through Europe to Russia, where Russian nobility loved to imitate the French. Eventually, the kiss was contained into marriage ceremonies, and today lip-locks couples into sweet marriage.
The custom of kissing today, as well as in ancient times, serves to pay homage to another. For example, early Romans kissed each other on the mouth or on the eyes to greet one another in a manner they thought to be dignified(valued and respected). One Roman emperor even ranked a person's importance by the body part he was allowed to kiss. He allowed important nobles to kiss his lips, less important ones to kiss his hands, and the least important ones to kiss his feet.
In Russia, the highest sign of recognition from the Crown meant kiss from the Tsar himself. Today, natives of many African tribes pay homage to their Chief by kissing the ground over which he has walked.
1. What's mainly talked about in the passage?| A．The way to express love and respect. | B．The expression of affection. |
| C．The custom of kissing. | D．The function of kissing. |
| A．Courtship. | B．Respect. | C．Importance. | D．Appreciation. |
| A．is a widely accepted way to show love and affection |
| B．used to be a proper way to show love on wedding ceremonies |
| C．is a universally accepted way of greeting in the world |
| D．from the Tsar is a sign of being accepted from the Grown |
| A．mother developed the custom of kissing |
| B．kissing means differently on different occasions |
| C．figure dancing was usually sealed with a kiss in Russia |
| D．society found it hard to accept kissing in public in the sixth century |
【推荐2】Wait for it...that sigh of relief you are hearing is wives, girlfriends and partners across London celebrating the end of Movember.
This year’s annual moustache-growing campaign in London will surpass (超过) 2014 fundraising numbers.
Last year London men grew enough facial hair to raise $ 200, 000. As of Thursday 2015 fundraising sat at $250,000 with additional money still expected to roll in.
“Well I think London is a pretty charitable community” said Lincoln McCardle president of the London chapter. “Whether it is a food drive or Movember we always step up and either meet or surpass the goal.”
As a result of last year’s success London was awarded a wrap-up gala (演出) which took place Thursday night at Jim Bob Ray’s on Richmond Street.
“Up until now the galas have been happening in Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver and Calgary” said McCandle. “We wanted to have a gala. I told the guys in head office in Toronto to pick a number - not to tell me - but if we hit it I want a gala in London. And we did. It is a chance to thank the people who registered, hand out a few awards and have some fun.”
This year 60 percent of the money collected in Canada will still go to cancer research with the remaining 40 percent being directed towards men’s mental health.
For men looking for a professional to take off their month-long growth there are a number of “shave-off” events around the city Friday. One will be at David E. White at the corner of Richmond Street and Queens Avenue. For a $20 donation your prized moustache will be professionally removed. Organizers are hoping to set a Guinness World Record for the most number of shaves given in a day.
Started in Australia in 2003 the craze (热潮) found its way to Canadian men by 2007 and in the last couple of years Canada has collected more setting the pace in terms of fundraising. Money raised has traditionally gone toward prostate-cancer research which is the most frequently diagnosed cancer in men according to Health Canada.
1. What can we learn about the people in London?| A．They are wealthy. | B．They are creative. |
| C．They are indifferent. | D．They are warm-hearted. |
| A．To have a wrap-up gala. | B．To raise money for men’s health. |
| C．To set a Guinness World Record. | D．To remove the moustache professionally. |
| A．The length of a moustache a man grows. | B．The amount of money collected in a day. |
| C．The number of moustaches removed in a day. | D．The number of people participating in the campaign. |
| A．Taking the lead. | B．Achieving the goal. |
| C．Falling behind. | D．Reaching the speed. |
【推荐3】Pretty soon not even your dreams may be private anymore. Japanese scientists have learned how to interpret what you’re dreaming about by measuring your brain activity while you sleep. This data can then be connected to an algorithm that reconstructs your dream so that it can be played back for you when you’re awake, according to the journal Science. In other words, scientists have invented a sort of dream-reading machine. Before long, you may never have to worry about forgetting what you dreamed about ever again. You’ll be able to simply play your dreams back after you wake up in the morning.
The remarkable breakthrough makes use of a fairly straightforward idea: that when we visualize certain types of objects in our minds, our brains generate consistent neural patterns that can then be correlated with what is being visualized. For instance, when you imagine a chair, your brain fires in a pattern that occurs whenever a chair is visualized. An algorithm can then be used to tie the data from a brain scan to the appropriate correlated images. In this way your dream can be reconstructed. So far the research is still fairly basic—researchers only claim to get the dream right about 60 percent of the time—but it’s still an extraordinary turn for the science of the mind.
Here’s how the study worked. Subjects were first asked to hook themselves up to an electroencephalography (EEG) machine, then to fall asleep within an fMRI machine. Scientists used the EEG readings to identify when the subjects began to enter a dreaming phase. The subjects were then promptly woken up and asked to recall what they were dreaming about. This process was repeated nearly 200 times for each subject.
Later, the scientists processed this data and discovered that certain common types of objects from the subjects’ dreams could be correlated with brain patterns as recorded by the fMRI scans. They then used an Internet search engine to look for images that roughly matched the objects from the subjects’ dreams, and entered all of this information into a learning algorithm that improved the model even further. That algorithm was then able to use the data from the dreamers, fMRI scans to assemble videos from the Internet images, basically creating a primitive movie for each dream.
Again, the research is still in a basic phase. So far these videos only represent rough approximations of the images from the subjects’ dreams, but researchers claim that the machined predictions were still better than chance. Over time, the technology will improve as the algorithm learns. The research could eventually revolutionize how dreams are interpreted and understood. Scientists may even find out valuable clues about what the mysterious function of dreaming is in the first place.
1. Which of the following statements is true about dream-reading machine?| A．It can make your dream come true. | B．It can rebuild your dream while you sleep. |
| C．It can help you remember your dream. | D．It can record your dream when you are awake. |
| A．How our dream can be rebuilt during sleep. | B．Patterns generated in our brain can be visualized. |
| C．Images can be visualized in our minds. | D．The data from a brain scan can build images. |
| A．Main feature of a talk in the research. | B．People who were tested in an experiment. |
| C．Topics which happened in a conversation. | D．Courses that were studied in the process. |
| A．analyze how our brains generate consistent neural patterns |
| B．discover when the subjects began to enter a dreaming phase |
| C．visualize the common types of objects from the subjects’ dreams |
| D．make the images matching the objects from dreams into videos |
| A．Doubtful. | B．Supportive. | C．Optimistic. | D．Tolerant. |
【推荐1】When I opened my closet door this morning, I saw a sign that says, “Good morning, beautiful business.” It’s a reminder to me of just how beautiful business can be when we put all our creativity, energy, and care into producing one product or service in exchange for another. Economic exchange can be one of the most meaningful and beautiful interactions among human beings.
Over the past years since I started the White Dog Café, my business has not only provided me with a way of making a living and a way of serving others but also been my teacher. In reading Small Is Beautiful I realized that so much of what my business has taught me can be found in the great lessons of E.F. Schumacher: it is of great benefit to keep your business focusing on the needs of workers rather than only on what they produce; you’d better use a management style that balances freedom and order; you should build sustainable local economies and respect the land and nature. The effects of industrialization that worried Schumacher decades ago have gotten even worse: namely, wealth inequality and the growing degradation (退化) of our environment.
Today much of what I care about ---nature, animals, communities, family farms, family businesses, native cultures, the character of our towns and cities, even our children’s future---is being threatened by corporate globalization. To protect all that I care deeply about, I need to step out of my own company, out of the White Dog Café. I started my journey with the simple idea that a sustainable global economy must be compromised of sustainable local economies. Rather than a global economy controlled by large international corporations, our movement advocates a global economy with a network of local economies made up of small independent businesses that create community wealth while working in harmony with natural system.
I opened the White Dog Café in 1983 on the first floor of my house in a neighborhood of Philadelphia. It is the house I have lived in since I was a child. Today much of the food I serve at the White Dog Café comes from the same land where my ancestors once farmed. When I opened the café years ago, it was a simple coffee and cake take-away shop serving students who lived nearby. Over the years we have expanded our menu and grown to occupy five buildings. We now employ more 100 people, can seat more than two hundred customers, and earn over $5 million a year! I owe our success to making decisions not for the purpose of maximizing profits but instead maximizing the relationships with our customers and staff, with our community, with our suppliers and with our natural environment.
Now I still live above the shop. I still have the old-fashioned way of doing business---the way it was in the old days with the family farm, the family inn, and the corner store. Living and working in the same community has given me a stronger sense of place and a different business outlook. When I make a business decision, it comes naturally for my decision to be made in the common interest of all involved because every day I see the people affected by my decision---my neighbours, my customers, and my employees as well as the natural world. There is a short distance between the business decision-maker and those affected by the decision. I believe that when we are surrounded by those affected by our decisions, we are more likely to make a decision from the heart as opposed to the head.
Business schools teach “grow or die”. But I make a conscious decision to continue to be a small business because I know that when we grow in physical size, we give up something very important ---authentic relationships with the people around us and those we do business with. I have come to realize that we can measure our success by measuring how much we improve our knowledge, deepen our relationships, achieve happiness, and have more fun.
1. What do we know about the sign on the author’s closet door?| A．It has been her family motto for years. | B．It comes from one of her favourite book |
| C．It serves as an inspiration to her.. | D．It helps her forget difficulties in business. |
| A．She fought against the global economy in her community. |
| B．She worked together with other independent businesses. |
| C．She expanded her own business at home and abroad. |
| D．She learned from large international corporations. |
| A．It gets along well with the people involved. | B．It has been run as a family business. |
| C．It makes big profits by developing fast. | D．It always has regular customers. |
| A．She wants to stay close to her family. |
| B．Neighbors can be her customers or employees. |
| C．Food in her café can be served immediately. |
| D．She can learn about others’ opinions easily. |
| A．Business schools teach when to expand or leave the business. |
| B．We tend to measure success in business by constant growth. |
| C．We usually learn how to do business in business school. |
| D．Business schools focus on the basic principles of business. |
【推荐2】Alan Greenspan, Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, has succeeded in beating back shadows of rising inflation（压制通货膨胀）over the years, squeezing the nations' money supply and tugging up short-term interest rates to slow the economy. The Fed policymaker believes that the pain of higher rates is worthwhile if it leads to stable prices, promotes long-term investment and cools volatility （波动）in financial markets.
However, tight money could aggravate （恶化）an already troublesome trade - off （平衡）between foreign investment and the trade deficit （赤字）.The dollar rises and falls on foreign - exchange markets along with short-term U. S. interest rates. Higher interest rates help attract the $ 10 billion per month of foreign investment that the nation has come to rely on to finance its borrowing. Yet, if interest rates push the dollar up too far, imports would become cheaper and U. S. exporters would find it more difficult to sell overseas, reversing the progress made in reducing America's trade deficit.
Even if the Fed's inflation medicine provides a long-term cure for the economy, it will be painful in the short run. Banks have already raised their prime lending rate to 11 percent. Corporations that have taken out large loans will be squeezed. The borrowing costs the U. S. government pays will rise as well, worsening the deficit and making it even more difficult to bring the budget closer to balance.
However, so far, the markets have been impressed by Greenspan's deft moves in inflation busting (打破).Long-term interest rates have hardly risen, suggesting that the markets believe that inflation will be contained over time. Recent survey found that money managers think inflation will average only 2.5 percent annually over the next 10 years. But the Fed is committed to ratcheting inflation even lower. Greenspan wants to squeeze inflation closer to zero over the next several years to a point where families and businesses can safely ignore it when making long-term plans. But Bill Clinton (the former President), even President Barack Obama evidently believed that moderate inflation is a lesser evil than the political fallout from slower economic growth. Greenspan's toughest tasks may be to demonstrate that sound economics and good politics are one and the same.
1. Which of the following would be the best title for the passage?| A．The contradiction between sound economics and good politics. |
| B．The solution to budget deficit and trade deficit. |
| C．A troublesome balance between short-term and long-term economic growth. |
| D．Greenspan VS. inflation |
| A．The US government would pay more interest for the foreign investment. |
| B．Less foreign investment could be relied on to finance the capital needs. |
| C．The Fed is squeezing the corporations that operate on the large loans. |
| D．The shortage of funds would slow down the economic growth. |
| A．fueling | B．eliminating | C．checking | D．stabilizing |
| A．It is impracticable. | B．There is so far no proper assessment. |
| C．It is effective | D．It calls for a feasibility study. |
| A．are the same in their strategies to adjust the economy |
| B．sometimes do not agree with each other on the pace of economic growth |
| C．yield to the will of the populace |
| D．both committed themselves to the balance of the budget |
【推荐3】I had moved to Japan for a long- term client consulting engagement. After a few days in a Tokyo hotel I moved to an apartment. After being moved in by my colleagues, it was time to get dinner. I found a pizza deliver flyer in my mailbox, and decided to simply order a pizza as. I might have the previous week in Manhattan. The phone call to Cali Pizza was easier than anticipated and while waiting for the pizza I set about unpacking.
Unfortunately, after 45 minutes no pizza. I figured that my “easy” call really wasn’t and that I would need to make alternate plans for dinner. While thinking about what to do next, my phone rang. It was Cali Pizza calling to say that they could not find my apartment based on the address that I had given them. Once it was determined that I had provided an incorrect address, the clerk on the phone asked me to describe what I could see from my window. After some back and forth they seemed satisfied that they knew where I was.
A few minutes later the pizza arrived, This is when my “customer delight” experience took over. First, the delivery person apologized repeatedly for being late, then he showed me the small blue metal plate on my building with the correct address, and finally he refused to accept payment for the pizza because he was late. Net result: one delighted customer (me), and frequent orders from Cali Pizza during my two-year stay in Japan.
Such “customer delight” experiences become stories I have used to illustrate what it means to truly delight a customer.
1. What did the writer do first after he moved in the apartment?| A．Deliver flyers. | B．Place an order. |
| C．Call his colleagues. | D．Set about unpacking. |
| A．The number on the flyer was inaccurate. |
| B．The clerk was unfamiliar with the address. |
| C．The wrier provided an inaccurate address. |
| D．The pizza was sent to a wrong address. |
| A．Disappeared. | B．Dominated. | C．Promoted. | D．Decreased. |
| A．It’s never easy to settle down in a new city. |
| B．A delayed delivery may result in good profit. |
| C．One can’t be too careful when placing an order. |
| D．A short-term loss of benefit may reward a lot. |
【推荐1】Chimps use loud calls and gestures to make their feelings known but until now, the exact meaning for individual movements has remained a mystery. Now researchers believe they have translated the key gestures used in the chimp community and identified their intentions for the first time.
From 4,351 gestures, experts were able to identify 66 that are used for 19 specific message meanings, including showing a foot to tell a child they can climb on their back. The researchers were able to narrow down these 66 gestures to 36 that are used intentionally to achieve 15 purposes. The translations were made by Dr Catherine Hobaiter and her colleagues at St Andrews University in Scotland.
Dr Hobaiter used behavior sampling and filmed all recorded cases of gestural communication. Other gestures include stomping their feet to ask another chimp to stop what they are doing, and slapping objects together to ask another to follow them. Of the 19 meanings,17 encouraged interactions to start, or to develop, such as “move closer,” and “change play”. Some of the gestures were found to have more than one meaning. and only 10 of the 66 gestures were used for only a single meaning.
Researchers collected a total of 471 video clips from two social groups of chimps at a shelter near Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo. As well as identifying what the gesture means, they also discovered the technique needed to increase the chances of success.
“Human children use gestures to communicate before they produce their first words, and their earliest gestures typically appear around 10 months of age,” explained the researchers. “In great apes, there is good evidence that language-trained individuals are capable of acquiring and understanding signals, but this is far less clear in their natural communication. ”
1. Chimps slap the objects to____________.| A．tell others to stop what they are doing | B．ask others chimps to join them |
| C．gather other chimps to move closer | D．encourage interactions to start |
| A．Chimps trained in language are good at understanding signals. |
| B．Two social groups of chimps live at a shelter near Kinshasa. |
| C．Language-trained individuals do well in natural communication. |
| D．Chimps’earliest gestures appear around 10 months of age. |
| A．By analyzing causes. | B．By examining differences. |
| C．By making comparisons. | D．By following time order. |
| A．A New Research on Chimps | B．Human Children and Chimps |
| C．Getting the Chimps Trained for Language | D．Translating the Sign Language of Chimps |
【推荐2】Scientists are working to stop a deadly virus that infects(感染)pigs. The virus is causing huge losses for farmers in China and other Asian countries. Many farmers have tried to contain African swine flu by quarantining(隔离)pigs and destroying infected animals. But the spread of the disease into East Asia has stepped up the search for other ways to deal with the problem.
The virus had not been considered a major concern for researchers until it appeared in China last year. Chinese farmers raise about half of the world's pigs. Some researchers think the virus might have come from infected animals in Eastern Europe or Russia. Since then, it has spread to China, Vietnam and other Asian countries. Millions of pigs have been destroyed.
Although swine flu does not sicken people, it is very infectious and deadly to pigs. "Today's situation, where you have this global danger, puts a lot more emphasis on this research,” said Doctor Luis Rodriguez. He spoke to The Associated Press. Rodriguez leads the United States government laboratory for foreign animal diseases at Plum Island , New York. As a deadly virus kills pigs across Asia, scientists are accelerating efforts to develop a vaccine (疫苗).
Vaccines often are developed by killing a virus before it is put into an animal. The disabled virus does not make the animal sick, but it activates the body's natural defenses against disease. The immune(免疫的)system is then able to identify the virus and produce antibodies against it.
However, this method is not effective with all viruses including the one that causes African swine flu. For swine flu, scientists have been working on a different kind of vaccine. It is made from a weakened virus, not a dead one. The problem for researchers has been how to change the virus so it can be safely used.
Vietnam's government reported a few weeks ago that it was testing vaccines, but provided few details of its programs. In China, the government said scientists are working on a vaccine that genetically changes the virus. That is similar to a method being used by scientists in the United States.
1. Why did the virus cause the researchers' concern when appearing in China?| A．The virus may infect people. |
| B．The number of pigs raised in China is huge. |
| C．The virus may be completely out of control. |
| D．Chinese science and technology is not advanced. |
| A．Eastern Europe or Russia. | B．Vietnam. |
| C．African countries. | D．America. |
| A．It makes people fall ill. |
| B．It destroys the immune system of animals. |
| C．It helps the body produce antibodies against disease. |
| D．It makes the body's natural defense against disease work. |
| A．The Emphasis of the Virus Research |
| B．Swine Flu Leads to the Deaths of Lots of Pigs |
| C．Scientists Hurry to Develop Vaccine for Swine Flu |
| D．New Results About Government Laboratory for Animal Diseases |
【推荐3】China has recently been faced with serious issues of product safety. In Panama，it is said that medicine made with a poisonous chemical sickened some people.A Chinese company had identified it as diethylamide glycol(乙二醇)，a lowcost substitute commonly used in automobile antifreeze(防冻剂).
Some countries have banned Chinesemade toothpaste containing diethylamide glycol. China has now told companies to discontinue its use，even though it says the toothpaste is safe. Another industrial chemical，melamine，was found in wheat flour used to make pet food in North America.
Thousands of dogs and cats became sick.
The United States has restricted some imports of Chinese seafood because they contained banned substance. And questions have been raised about other products，including children's toys covered with lead paint.
Chinese officials promised to provide the European Union，the biggest trading partner，with detailed reports on enforcement efforts against unsafe goods.
Meglena Kuneva，commissioner(理事) for consumer protection of the European Union said China should have kept its promise.
China recently closed three companies linked to the Panama and the pet food scare. And it dismissed the former head of its food and drug administration. He was found guilty of corruption(腐败)for approving unsafe drugs. This week，a conference of the State Council approved a proposed special measure on the supervision of food safety. The Xinhua News Agency said it calls for stronger controls over producers，greater responsibilities for government and more serious punishment for illegal activities.
But Chinese officials have accused some foreign media of overstating problems with goods made in China. They say food imports from the United States also fail inspection sometimes. Next week，American and Chinese food safety officials are planning to hold 5 days of meetings in Beijing to discuss cooperation.
1. How many cases with safety problems are mentioned in the passage?| A．Six. | B．Five. | C．Four. | D．Three. |
| A．Three companies linked to it were closed down. |
| B．The former head of food and drug administration was removed from his position. |
| C．More serious punishment was conducted for leaders linked to it. |
| D．Both A and B. |
| A．Chinesemade toothpaste is safe |
| B．the safety of “Made in China” is doubted |
| C．there are safety problems with one more Chinese products |
| D．stronger control over Chinese products is in need |
| A．China is facing product safety problems |
| B．more controls are taken of Chinese goods |
| C．overstated problems with Chinese goods |
| D．China is losing its trade partners |
