1 . In 2022, campaign group Fashion Revolution Chelsea dye a garden for its Chelsea Flower Show presentation. An ancient craft, natural dyeing is a practice whose time has come again, with hand tie-dyed fashion also making a comeback in recent years.
The revival has been encouraged by Covid lockdowns, “which allowed people to explore the craft at home, says natural-dyeing enthusiast and teacher Susan Dye. It’s unlikely, though, that the practice would have caught on in quite the same way if not for a continually growing discomfort about fashion’s heavy footprint. From carbon emissions to animal cruelty, fashion is under considerable inspection. “Put it this way, 97% of dyes used in the industry are petrochemically (石油化学产品) based,” says sustainable fashion consultant Jackie Andrews, who helped advise the UN Ethical Fashion Initiative. We’ve got net zero targets which mean we’re going to have to remove all those petrochemicals from the manufacturing cycle.
Fashion is a huge polluter. According to the UN Environment Program, the industry is responsible for up to one-fifth of all industrial water pollution—due to the fact that most clothes today are produced in poorer countries where regulation is weak and enforcement weaker. Waste water is dumped directly into rivers and streams, poisoning the land as well as the water sources of people and animals who rely on them.
It’s easy to see why someone who cares about people, planet and animals, as well as clothes, might turn to natural plant dyeing. From the beauty of the raw materials—often wild plants-to the property of only bonding with natural fiber like cotton and linen (亚麻布) from the minor footprint of recycling old clothing that has grayed or faded over time to the vibrant and long-lasting dyeing results, plant dyeing feels like a quiet act of rebellion. This is why, while beginners start with simply changing their clothes’ color, new worlds open. Many of today’s natural dyers grow their own dye plants, run local community workshops, and advocate for change in industrialized fashion systems and beyond.
1. What is the main reason for the growing discomfort mentioned in paragraph 2?A.The adoption of petrochemical-based dyes |
B.The disturbing consequences of the fashion industry. |
C.The fashion industry’s focus on luxurious designs. |
D.The challenging net zero targets to be achieved. |
A.By making a comparison. | B.By listing numbers |
C.By giving examples. | D.By introducing a new topic |
A.A protest against turning to natural fiber. |
B.An objection to recycling old clothing |
C.A resistance to vibrant colors in natural dyeing |
D.A struggle for a sustainable fashion industry |
A.The Environmental Impact of Natural Dyeing |
B.The Return of Natural Dyeing with Ethical Appeal |
C.Fashion Revolution’s Dye Garden Presentation |
D.The Petrochemical Dye Industry and Its Challenges |
2 . Running is often tiring and a lot of hard work, but nothing beats the feeling you get after finishing a long workout around the track.
But while it’s long been believed that endorphins (内啡肽) —chemicals in the body that cause happiness—are behind the so-called “runner’s high”, a study suggested that there may be more to this phenomenon than we previously knew.
According to a recent study published by a group of scientists from several German universities, a group of chemicals called endocannabinoids (内源性大麻素) may actually be responsible for this familiar great feeling.
To test this theory, the scientists turned to mice. Both mice and humans release high levels of endorphins and endocannabinoids after exercise. After exercising on running wheels, the mice seemed happy and relaxed and displayed no signs of anxiety. But after being given a drug to block their endorphins, the mice’s behavior didn’t seem to change. However, when their endocannabinoids were blocked with a different drug, their runners’ high symptoms seemed to fade.
“The long-held notion of endorphins being responsible for the runner’s high is false. Endorphins are effective pain relievers, but only when it comes to the pain in your body and muscles you feel after working out,” Patrick Lucas Austin wrote on science blog Lifchacker.
Similar studies are yet to be carried out on humans, but it’s already known that exercise is a highly effective way to get rid of stress or anxiety. The UK’s National Health Service even prescribes (开药 方) exercise to patients who are suffering from depression. “Being depressed can leave you feeling low in energy, which might put you off being more active. Regular exercise can improve your mood if you have depression, and its especially useful for people with mild to moderate (中等的) depression,” it wrote on its website.
It seems like nothing can beat that feeling we get after a good workout, even if we don’t fully understand where it comes from. At least if we’re feeling down, we know that all we have to do is to put on our running shoes.
1. What did scientists from German universities recently discover?A.Working out is a highly effective way to treat depression. |
B.The runner’s high could be caused by endocannabinoids. |
C.Endorphins may contribute to one’s high spirits after running. |
D.The level of endorphins and endocannabinoids could affect one’s mood. |
A.To find what reduces the runner’s high symptoms. |
B.To see the specific symptoms of the runner’s high. |
C.To identify what is responsible for the runner’s high. |
D.To test what influences the level of endocannabinoids released. |
A.Effect. | B.Goal. | C.Opinion. | D.Question |
A.They can help ease depression symptoms. |
B.They are the best way to treat depression. |
C.They only work for those with serious depression. |
D.They can help people completely recover from depression. |
3 . Lisa Gautier receives nearly a dozen parcels of human hair every day. With her San-Francisco-based non-profit organization Matter of Trust, Gautier turns donated hair into mats used to soak up oil spills on land, and booms(long tubes)used for spills at sea.
A standard way to clean up oil from land is to use mats made from polypropylene(聚丙烯). But polypropylene is a non-biodegradable plastic, and producing it ultimately means more drilling for oil. Hair, by contrast, is an environmentally friendly resource that can soak up around five times its weight in oil, according to Matter of Trust, and it is abundant.
Oil spills can pollute drinking water, endanger public health, harm plants and wildlife, and damage the economy. According to Gautier, the spills that hit the headlines only make up 5% of global oil pollution.
Megan Murray, an environmental biologist at the University of Technology Sydney, develops sustainable technologies to tackle oil spills. Her research indicates that as well as being biodegradable, human hair is often just as effective as polypropylene, and in some circumstances even better. “The hair mats are very beneficial to land spills,” says Murray but adds that when raw oil is spilled on beach sand, it is very difficult to absorb it using any of the materials she has tested. Another advantage of hair is that it costs less than conventional materials and is “globally available as a recycled material,” she says.
However, Murray cautions that hair mats are not a perfect solution, because they are single-use, and can only be dealt with by burning or by burying into soil which then isn’t suitable for growing food. She is now researching methods to extract the oil from a used hair mat, meaning both can be reused.
As the hair mat designs aren’t under patent, other groups have begun producing their own mats and booms. Gautier is pleased to see the movement growing. “Anyone can make a hair mat,” she says. “It creates green jobs, it cleans water, it reduces waste in landfill, and it’s promoting renewable resources.”
1. What do we know about polypropylene according to the passage?A.It is environmentally friendly. |
B.People need more oil to produce it. |
C.It can soak up around five times its weight in oil. |
D.People seldom use mats made from it to clean up oil from land. |
A.Hair mats do no harm to soil after being burnt. |
B.People spend more to make hair mats than conventional materials. |
C.The effect of hair mats on terrestrial(陆地上的)spills is not very good. |
D.Hair mats are not a perfect solution because they can’t be recycled now. |
A.Most oil-spill events have received widespread media coverage. |
B.Lisa Gautier donated her hair to soak up oil spills on land and at sea. |
C.Megan Murray goes all out to make the hair mats and the oil extracted from them reused. |
D.There are many other materials used to treat oil spills on beach sand besides hair. |
A.Human Hair Is Being Used to Clean Up Oil Spills |
B.A Perfect Recycled Material—Human Hair |
C.Take Action to Make Hair Mats And Booms |
D.How to Tackle Oil Spills |
4 . Hansen and his 10-year-old son Chase search the streets of Salt Lake City every weekend for the homeless to take to lunch. They started Project Empathy(共情)four years ago to
“Just start with a smile, a hello. It really just starts with that. If you do it, you can make a connection. A small gesture can have a
Some of these shared meals have turned into stronger
Father and son’s
“My hope for the future is to
A.buy | B.cook | C.share | D.eat |
A.often | B.further | C.also | D.even |
A.dramatic | B.different | C.minimum | D.decisive |
A.remarked | B.praised | C.joked | D.quoted |
A.desires | B.connections | C.motivations | D.opinions |
A.provided | B.permitted | C.abandoned | D.housed |
A.through | B.for | C.despite | D.to |
A.surprised | B.relaxed | C.awesome | D.calm |
A.dreams | B.influences | C.experiences | D.efforts |
A.assesses | B.compares | C.highlights | D.respects |
A.importance | B.task | C.chance | D.role |
A.argument | B.problem | C.debt | D.conflict |
A.go away | B.catch on | C.fade out | D.give off |
A.establish | B.miss | C.exchange | D.maintain |
A.before | B.if | C.until | D.so |
5 . COVID-19 entered my life in the form of an e-mail. My friends and I were in a small café as I read that our university had been
It was three days later when the
I turned to my roommate and the
Things changed so fast, I felt like a
Then Italy went into a full lockdown and I was restricted to Venice. Two days later, I joined the few
I am taking
I have learned things that I could have
A.torn | B.shut | C.pulled | D.taken |
A.rudeness | B.sigh | C.sadness | D.reality |
A.money | B.books | C.belongings | D.food |
A.unbelievable | B.parting | C.greeting | D.beneficial |
A.uncertainty | B.surprise | C.impression | D.inspiration |
A.affected | B.trapped | C.screamed | D.starved |
A.considerable | B.puzzled | C.upset | D.calm |
A.leave | B.travel | C.stay | D.hide |
A.fundamental | B.normal | C.messy | D.cheerful |
A.cat | B.fly | C.fish | D.horse |
A.combination | B.arrival | C.announcement | D.update |
A.delivered | B.reminded | C.confirmed | D.achieved |
A.respectable | B.modest | C.different | D.impressive |
A.floating | B.remaining | C.wandering | D.exhausting |
A.apply | B.measure | C.enter | D.stare |
A.consideration | B.charge | C.care | D.advantage |
A.devote | B.spend | C.waste | D.adjust |
A.ever | B.thus | C.yet | D.never |
A.why | B.when | C.what | D.how |
A.block out | B.focus on | C.come across | D.refer to |
6 . “Welcome to the U.S.A.! Major Credit cards accepted!”
By the millions they are coming no longer the tired, the poor, the wretched mass longing for a better living. These are the wealthy. “We don’t have a budget,” says a biologist from Brazil, as she walks with two companions through New York City’s South Street. “We just use our credit cards.”
The U.S. has long been one of the world’s most popular tourist destinations, but this year has been exceptional. First there was the World Cup, which drew thousands from every corner of the globe; then came the weakening of the U.S. dollar against major currencies. Now the U.S. still the world’s superpower, can also claim to be the world’s bargain electronics to fashion clothes to tennis rackets. Nobody undersells America. Bottom retail prices - anywhere from 30% to 70% lower than those in Europe and Asia - have attracted some 47 million visitors, who are expected to leave behind $79 billion in 1994.
That’s up from $74 billion the year before.
True, not everyone comes just for bargains. There remains an undeniable fascination in the rest of the world with all things American, nourished by Hollywood films and U.S. television series. But shopping in the U.S.A. is proving irresistible. Every week thousands arrive with empty suitcases ready to be filled; some even rent an additional hotel room to hold their purchases. The buying binge has become as important as watching Old Faithful Fountains erupt in Yellow Stone Park or sunbathing on a beach in Florida.
The U.S. has come at last to appreciate what other countries learned long ago: the pouring in of foreign tourists may not always be convenient, but it does put money in the bank. And with a trade deficit at about $130 billion and growing for the past 12 months, the U.S. needs all the deposits it can get. Compared with American tourists abroad, visitors to the U.S. stay longer and spend more money at each stop; an average of 12.2 nights and $1624 a traveler versus the Americans’ four nights and $298.
1. From what the Brazilian biologist says, we know that tourists like her ________.A.are not good at planning their expenditure |
B.simply don’t care how much they spend |
C.are reluctant to carry cash with them |
D.often spend more money than they can afford |
A.it witnessed a drop in the number of tourists to the U.S. |
B.it saw an unusually large number of tourists to the U.S. |
C.tourism was hardly affected by the weakening of the U.S. dollar that year |
D.tourists came to the U.S. for sightseeing rather than for bargains that year |
A.no other country underestimates the competitiveness of American products |
B.nobody restrains the selling of American goods |
C.nobody expects the Americans to cut the prices of their commodities |
D.no other country sells at a lower price than America |
A.the weakening if the U.S. dollar can result in trade deficits |
B.tourism can make great contributions to its economy |
C.the lower the retail prices, the greater the profits |
D.visitors to the U.S. are wealthier than U.S. tourists abroad |
7 . Some people can walk into a room and instantly put everyone at ease. Others seem to make teeth clench and eyes roll no matter what they do. A small body of psychology research supports the idea that the way a person tends to make others feel is a consistent and measurable part of his personality. Researchers call it “effective presence.”
This concept was first described nearly 10 years ago in a study led by No ah Eisenkraft, a business professor at Washington University. He put business-school students into groups, had them register for all the same classes for a semester, and do every group project together. Then the members of each group rated how much every other member made them feel eight different emotions: stressed, bored, angry, sad, calm, relaxed, happy, and enthusiastic. The researchers found that a significant portion of group members ‘ emotions could be accounted for by the effective presence of their peers.
It seems that “our own way of being has an emotional signature.” says Elfenbein.
It’s been known for some time that emotions are infectious. But effective presence is an effect one has regardless of one’s own feelings—those with positive effective presence make other people feel good even if they personally are anxious or sad, and the opposite is true for those with negative effective presence
Unsurprisingly, people who consistently make others feel good are morn central to their social networks—in Elfenbein’s study, more of their classmate considered them to be friends. Sector Madrid, an organizational-behavior professor, has found that leaders with positive affective presence have teams that are better at sharing information, which leads to creativity. Inferiors are more likely to voice their ideas, too.
However, Elfenbein notes that positive effective presence isn’t naturally good. Psychopaths(精神变态者) are infamously charming and nay well use their positive effective presence for calculating ends. Neither is negative effective presence necessarily always a bad thing in a leader— think of a football coach yelling at the team at half time, motivating them to make a comeback. She suspects that effective presence is closely related to emotional intelligence which one can use to cure cancer or to be a criminal master mind.
1. What does the underlined phrase “make teeth clench” in Paragraph 1 mean?A.Make people upset or angry. | B.Make people glad or refreshed. |
C.Make people comfortable or relaxed. | D.Make people amazed or thrilled. |
A.To suggest leaders are better at sharing information. |
B.To prove leaders also have negative effective presence |
C.To indicate positive effective presence has a greater influence, |
D.To show positive effective presence can promote social interaction. |
A.It is for calculating ends. | B.It is a double-edged sword. |
C.It is affected by one’s own emotion, | D.It is the positive emotional influence on others. |
A.Effective Presence: How You Make People Feel |
B.Emotional Signature: Why Emotions are Infectious |
C.Effective Presence: Negative Part of Your Personalities |
D.Emotional Intelligence: Big Part of effective Presence |
8 . Each year, backed up by a growing anti-consumerist movement, people are using the holiday season to call on us all to shop less.
Driven by concerns about resource exhaustion, over recent years environmentalists have increasingly tamed their sight on our “consumer culture” with Groups such as The Story of Stuff and Bay Nothing New Day growing as a movement that increasingly blames all our ills on our desire to shop.
We clearly have a growing resource problem. The products we make, buy and use are often linked to the destruction of our water ways, biodiversity, climate and the land on which millions of people live, but to blame these issue on Christmas shoppers is misguided, and puts us in the old trap of blaming individuals for what is a systematic problem.
While we complain about environmental destruction over Christmas, environmentalists often forget what the holiday season actually means for many people. In fact, for most, rather than an add-on to an already heavy shopping year, Christmas is likely the only time of year they have the opportunity to spend on friends and family, or even just to buy the necessities needed for modern life.
This is particularly true for Boxing Day, often laughed at by ant i-consumerists the most. While we may look down on the queues in front of the shops, for many, those sales provide the chance to buy things they’ve needed all year. As journalist Neigh Phillips argued, “This is one of the few times of the year that people can even hope to afford such’ luxuries’ the Christmas presents their kids are asking for, or just an appliance that works.”
Indeed, the richest 7 % of people are responsible for 50% of greenhouse gas emissions. This becomes particularly harmful when you take into account of our consumption “problem” anyway. Why are environmentalists attacking these individuals, while ignoring people like Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, who has his own f 1.5 bn yacht with a missile defense system?
Anyway, anti-consumerism has become a movement of wealthy people talking down to the working class about their life choice, while ignoring the real cause of our environmental problem. It is no wonder no one is changing their behavior— or that environmental destruction continued without becoming any less severe.
1. What can be inferred about the environmentalist movement from Paragraphs 2 and 3?A.It has targeted the wrong persons. | B.It has achieved its intended purposed. |
C.it has solved the environmental problems. | D.It has persuaded consumers not to shop any more |
A.A trap for consumers. | B.A tough problem to deal with. |
C.A precious shopping opportunity. | D.A positive contribution to the economy. |
A.sadness about life choice | B.discontent with rich lifestyle |
C.disrespect for holiday shoppers | D.ignorance about the real cause |
A.The environmental problems are very serious. |
B.Less shopping can’t solve the environmental problems. |
C.Resource are becoming fewer and fewer on the earth. |
D.Measures should be taken to protect the environment. |
9 . Eradajere Oleita thinks she may have a partial solution to two of our country’s persistent problems: garbage and poverty. It’s called the Chip Bag Project. The 26-year-old student and environmentalist from Detroit is asking a favor of local snack lovers: Rather than toss your empty chip bags into the trash, donate them so she can turn them into sleeping bags for the homeless.
Chip eaters drop off their empty bags from Doritos, Lay’s, and other favorites at two locations in Detroit: a print shop and a clothing store, where Oleita and her volunteer helpers collect them. After they sanitize the chip bags in soapy hot water, they slice them open, lay them flat, and iron them together. They use padding and liners from old coats to line the insides.
It takes about four hours to sew a sleeping bag, and each takes around 150 to 300 chip bags, depending on whether they’re single-serve or family size. The result is a sleeping bag that is “waterproof, lightweight, and easy to carry around,” Oleita told the Detroit News. Since its start in 2020, the Chip Bag Project has collected more than 800,000 chip bags and, as of last December, created 110 sleeping bags.
Sure, some people believe it would be simpler to help the homeless by raising money to buy new sleeping bags. But that’s only half the goal for Oleita — whose family moved to the United States from Nigeria a decade ago with the hope of attaining a better life — and her fellow volunteers. “We are dedicated to making an impact not only socially, but environmentally,” she says.
And, of course, there’s the symbolism of recycling bags that would otherwise land in the trash and using them to help the homeless. It’s a powerful reminder that environmental injustice and poverty often go hand in hand. As Oleita told hourdetroit.com, “I think it’s time to show connections between all of these issues.”
1. What’s Oleita’s solution to the problem of garbage and poverty?A.Talking people out of eating chips. |
B.Conducting garbage classification. |
C.Buying sleeping bags for the homeless. |
D.Recycling chip bags to make sleeping bags. |
A.Clean. | B.Displace. |
C.Classify. | D.Analyze. |
A.Costly and time-consuming. | B.Complex and fireproof. |
C.Functional and light. | D.Fancy and environmentally friendly. |
A.Environmental protection comes first. |
B.Poverty results in environmental issues. |
C.Garbage and poverty could be dealt with together. |
D.The homeless should help each other hand in hand. |
10 . Children love it when someone reads a book to them. They love funny sounds, rhyming words and silly pictures. They love the sound of their mom or dad’s voice. Sometimes, however, their mom or dad can’t read to them, because that parent is in prison.
Aunt Mary’s Storybook Project, started in 1993, is now a national program that promotes incarcerated(被监禁的)parents reading to their children. Church or service groups donate books and postage. Incarcerated parents pick out books, read them and either volunteers or prison workers mail the books and tapes out to the children. Last May, we distributed 191 books, meaning that 191 children received a book and a tape.
The incarcerated readers record their books, followed by a personal message to the child. Sometimes it is amusing listening to strong, tattooed(纹身)muscle men making animal sounds or funny voices of different characters. Sometimes all I hear is silence, and then sounds that confirm my guess that they are calming themselves after an unexpected wave of feelings.
Seventy percent of children of incarcerated parents eventually end up facing the justice system themselves at some point in their lives. Many of these children end up doing hard time in state institutions.
In reality, though, they are doing hard time now as 12-year-olds, 7-year-olds, and even as babies. They grow up thinking that their parent is “bad” and doesn’t care. They are often teased and feel they have to defend themselves or their parent, sometimes in a violent way.
When they receive in the mail a book and a tape of their parent reading to them, they hear another message, “Daddy/Mommy loves me; he/she has a happy voice; he/she thinks reading is cool.”
Aunt Mary’s Storybook Project is just a small pill for one huge social illness. But when we think we are merely scratching the surface, at least 191 kids are feeling a little bit better!
1. What do incarcerated parents do in Aunt Mary’s Storybook Project?A.They read to their children on a tape. |
B.They record books with their children. |
C.They meet their children and read to them. |
D.They read books that their children choose. |
A.They want to speak with feelings. | B.They have to control their feelings. |
C.They need to consider what to say. | D.They feel guilty about what they did. |
A.They will study law in the future. | B.They have to learn to face reality. |
C.They gain a lot from their parents. | D.They may become lawbreakers in the future. |
A.It is worth doing. | B.It makes little difference. |
C.It has great effect on society. | D.It can change incarcerated parents. |