1 . Each year, about 250 billion to-go cups serve coffee and tea from places like Starbucks and McDonald’s are produced to satisfy the world’s love for hot drinks on the run. These paper-based cups have the inside surface covered with plastic to prevent water from escaping, and keep water from being absorbed into the material. Despite this, that also removes any opportunity for the cups to be biodegradable (可生物降解的).
The materials that created these cups of goodness and convenience are recyclable but only if separated. In addition, the demand for such resources is low, so they are worth next to nothing.
In response to this great challenge, NextGen Consortium, multi-year partnership led by Starbucks and McDonald’s launched their first big initiative (倡议)—NextGen Cup. The first step in NextGen Cup was an open competition where participants presented ideas for sleeves, cups, lids and other parts of the hot-cold paper-based takeaway coffee cup that would make it reusable, recyclable, or biodegradable; to finally be widely used. 12 winners, announced in 2019, shared a prize of $1 million, as well as personalized growth, and support from members of NextGen Consortium.
Later, they launched two pilot programs at independent coffee shops in California. In one case, customers were given “smart” reusable cups made mostly from recyclable plastic. They then could drop their empties into collection containers at key locations, for washing and reuse. These cups were printed with RFID chips or QR codes, through which coffee shops can know where there is the greatest need for collection containers and how many are not using them.
To reduce coffee cup waste, Cup Club is already replacing millions of takeaway cups in the UK, while Recup in Germany, has performed a deposit system that simply adds a small extra fee to any coffee cup which is returned to the buyer after the cup is deposited in any registered collection point.
1. What can we say about the paper-based cups?| A．They can absorb water easily. | B．They are not popular in life. |
| C．They can’t be easily recycled. | D．They are attractive in low price. |
| A．Separating recyclable materials from the cups. |
| B．Making the cups green and easily available. |
| C．Reducing the unnecessary parts of the cups. |
| D．Gaining the support from their partners. |
| A．Knowing about customers’ preference for coffee shops. |
| B．Collecting the information on which shop is empty. |
| C．Helping choose where customer can drink coffee. |
| D．Making the recycling of cups more efficient. |
| A．A collection point. | B．A deposit system. |
| C．A small extra fee. | D．Any coffee cup. |
2 . SEED Madagascar Volunteer
Whether your passion is sustainable community development or vital conservation work, we can offer you an unforgettable experience. No particular skills are required to volunteer in a short term with us and training is given locally, but if you do have particular experience in areas relevant to your program, all the better! .
Who it's for
High schoolers, university and college students, corporate team building groups are all welcome.
At a glance
●Program length: 2 - 4 weeks
●Start dates: flexible, please discuss with our team
●Group size: 10一30 participants
●Activities: construction/ conservation/ English teaching- combined as required
● Location: Saint Luce, Anosy region, Southeast Madagascar
What's included
●Transport costs for the duration of the program from Day 1 collection at Fort Dauphin airport to drop-off at the program's end
●Use of our beautiful campsites and facilities
● All meals while on program( Optional meals out at Fort Dauphin restaurants are extra. )
●Full training for building and construction tasks and conservation field research techniques
●Malagasy language lessons
Additional costs
| International flights(return from the UK) | ₤ 680—₤ 1,000 |
| Internal flights ( return from Antananarivo to Fort Dauphin) | ₤ 280—₤ 400 |
| Comprehensive travel insurance | ₤ 60—₤ 150 |
| Tourist visa | ₤ 20 |
| Medical preparations | ₤ 30—₤ 80 |
| Personal equipment | ₤ 0—₤ 100 |
Contact us today via our online form: Online enquiry form
1. What should you bear in mind if you want to apply for SEED Madagascar Volunteer?
| A．It lasts for four weeks. | B．It doesn't have fixed start dates. |
| C．It requires relevant experience. | D．It is intended for high school students. |
| A．Comprehensive travel insurance. |
| B．Conservation field research techniques. |
| C．Short-term training for different languages. |
| D．Transport from Antananarivo to Fort Dauphin. |
| A．₤ 560. | B．₤ 680. | C．₤ 1,360. | D．₤ 2,000. |
3 . A group of scientists in labs spread across Europe, the U.S. and Nepal have been working on Qomolangma “remotely”. The project’s goal is to turn the world’s highest mountain into a huge climate laboratory.
During April and May last year, a team of more than 30 biologists, glaciologists, geologists, meteorologists, and geographers fanned out across Qomolangma’s southern side, conducting fieldwork high on the mountain. “We believe the best way to get a full scientific picture of Qomolangma is not just to do one kind of science,” says Paul Mayewski of the University of Maine, the leader of the effort.
Each individual study promises a unique picture of the mountain’s climate-past, present, and future. Ice cores will allow scientists to go back in time-tens, hundreds and perhaps thousands of years to learn about the environment. Snow and water samples give a look at what’s happening on the mountain, today, including the future of the glaciers. The team also fixed a network of automated weather stations, which will document upcoming weather trends for years to come.
One of the hardest tasks fell to Mayewski’s colleague Mariusz Potoeki, who hoped to drill ice cores at several places on the mountain, including the South Col (25,938 feet) and the top of Qomolangma (29,035 feet). The job required a specially designed drill system powered by batteries, and an excellent team to figure out how to prevent the cores from becoming liquid during their long journey back to the University of Maine’s laboratory for analysis.
Potocki abandoned his summit attempt due to the crowds of normal climbers. To his relief, Potocki succeeded in taking the highest ice core ever recovered, at just above Camp Four-26,312 feet above sea level. “The ice doesn’t lie.” Mayewski says. “The very idea that the highest part of the planet hasn’t been spared from human activity ought to be a real wake-up call for everybody.”
1. Which way does Paul Mayewski suggest to fully study Qomolangma?| A．Working on it remotely in labs. | B．Teaming up with more countries. |
| C．Doing many kinds of science. | D．Turning it into a real lab. |
| A．To document upcoming weather change. | B．To get a unique picture of climate trends. |
| C．To know more about the past environment. | D．To predict the future of the mountain. |
| A．Improving the special drill system. | B．Drilling the oldest ice cores at some places. |
| C．Conducting fieldwork above Camp Four. | D．Delivering frozen ice cores to the lab. |
| A．Potocki got ice cores at 29,035 feet. | B．Human activity has affected Qomolangma. |
| C．Ice cores can serve as a warning for us. | D．Normal climbers helped with Potocki’s work. |
4 . Many wildflowers of spring in eastern North America bloom thanks to ants. The tiny six-legged gardeners have partnered with those plants and about 11, 000 others to spread their seeds. The plants，in turn, “pay” for the service by attaching a calorie-loaded appendage (附属物) to each seed, much like fleshy fruits remunerate birds and mammals that desert seeds or poop (排泄) them out. But there's more to the ant-seed relationship than that exchange, researchers reported last week at the annual meeting of the Ecological Society of America, which was held online.
Many ants eat seeds. Certain plants attach a nutritive globe called an elaiosome to their seed coats, which serves as a favorite lunch for the ants’ young and gives ants a handle on seeds that can be bigger than their heads. Until now, researchers assumed the ants simply carry the seeds to their nests, feed the elaiosome to their young, and deposit the seed either outside or inside at the colony's “garbage dump”, which provides a rich environment for shooting.
In both the field and the lab, Chelsea Miller presented ants with seeds from various trillium (延龄花) species and found the ants were quick to pick up some species’ seeds while leaving others to rot, Miller said. To find out how ants make their choices, Miller and Susan Whitehead at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) used techniques to analyze the chemical makeup of elaiosomes. They found that ants pick seeds based on the specific combination and concentrations of acid and other compounds (化合物) made by the plant, 20 of which are unique to trilliums. The ants’ tastes may affect plant species’ distributions, say Kirsten Prior, an ecologist at Binghamton University: “Widespread trillium species are preferred by seed-dispersing ants compared to rare trillium species.”
Melissa Burt, an ecologist at Virginia Tech, hopes these studies bring ants new respect. “Many people who talk about ants only know them as insects that are taking over their kitchens, but many ants perform important functions in ecosystems,” she says. “Seed dispersal is just one of those.”
1. What does the underlined word “remunerate” probably mean?| A．Attract. | B．Track. | C．Free. | D．Reward. |
| A．It's a tasty treat for young ants. | B．It's no smaller than ants’ heads. |
| C．It is used as young ants’ new nest. | D．It can be used as a weapon to protect ants. |
| A．To analyze the specific combination affecting the plant growth. |
| B．To find out the reason for ants preferring some seeds to others. |
| C．To prove the accuracy of their lab techniques applied in the field. |
| D．To understand the way of ants distributing different plant species’ seeds. |
| A．Annoying. | B．Greedy. | C．Creative. | D．Hardworking. |
5 . Looking at a pile of old photos, I couldn’t help feeling rather regretful.
I’ve never got into the habit of sorting out photos. However, it’s almost a habit of mine to have photos taken thoughtlessly. Thus, photos have been piling up in my childhood to womanhood. In spite of that, those black-and-white pictures taken in my early years are rarely kept, except a few survivals regarded as antiques. The bald baby picture of me that I treasured, the only one left, it’s now missing.
Familiar faces flash one by one before my eyes. Though the world is so small and we all live in it, yet we are separated by physical and psychological distances, some smaller, some larger. With the passage of time, one cannot, regretfully relive (重温) it with the same feeling as one had in the picture. What one can get from the old photos is but a bit of the past joy.
One takes pictures with different persons in different time and places. They fill one with nostalgia (怀旧) in various degrees — some more, some less, and others none. That’s why one has conflicting feelings towards the old photos. Still kept with the current ones, they’re even less favored than a daily-used cup, which is always close to the owner.
How these pieces of thought influence me! Photos keep our images rather than our sentiment, which may not remain. The image is always there but not its owner, whom the photo can’t keep, neither can it keep the event.
Of course, there are some of the photos still holding my affection, such as those taken with my family members, with favorite playmates, fellow girl-students and best friends, not only in pictures but also in my life and heart.
Now, since I have learned all this, I will not allow myself to be included casually in a photo taken with others. I’ll make sure that the friendship can last before I take a photo with somebody.
1. Why did the writer have only a few black-and-white pictures?| A．She took fewer of them. | B．She took photos thoughtlessly. |
| C．She didn’t take good care of them. | D．She only liked the bald baby picture. |
| A．All the past events. | B．All the past excitement. |
| C．Some past happiness. | D．The everlasting memory. |
| A．Feeling. | B．Thought. | C．Look. | D．Influence. |
| A．To take the photo happily. | B．To refuse the request politely. |
| C．To ignore the request casually. | D．To think carefully before action. |
6 . The Z Hotel is in the heart of London’s West End and has comfortable accommodation in a contemporary design.
All rooms include handcrafted beds, 48-inch Samsung HD TVs with free Sky Sports and Movie channels, and free Wi-Fi. Each room also has under-bed storage for an overnight bag, and wall-mounted hanging space for clothing. The Z Hotel also offers wheelchair accessible rooms.
Continental breakfast is served in The Z Café every morning, including smoked salmon, fresh bread, fresh fruit salad and bacon rolls. A selection of salads, sandwiches and hot dishes are on offer throughout the day.
The hotel is a 5-minute walk from Prince of Wales Theatre and Chinatown London, Leicester Square, Piccadilly Circus and Trafalgar Square. Heathrow Airport can be reached directly from Piccadilly Circus Underground Station.
This is our guests’ favorite part of London, according to independent reviews. This area is also great for shopping, with popular brands nearby: Apple, H&M, Zara, Burberry and Chanel.
The Z Hotel is rated for the best value in London! Guests are getting more for their money when compared to other hotels in this city. Come and stay with us!
Most popular facilities:
◆luggage storage ◆Heating ◆Free Wi-Fi ◆Air conditioning
◆24-hour front desk ◆Daily maid service ◆Parking ◆Lift
Prices:
| Room type | Prices | Options |
| Double room--non-smoking | ￡179 | ·Non-refundable(不退款) ·Good Breakfast￡9.50 |
| Twin Room--non-smoking | ￡185 | ·Non-refundable ·Good Breakfast￡9.50 |
| Queen Room --disability access | ￡219 | ·Pay at the hotel (no prepayment needed) ·Good Breakfast included |
1. When staying in this hotel, you will enjoy all of the following EXCEPT________.
| A．free Wi-Fi | B．a TV with some free channels |
| C．airport pick-up service | D．under-bed storage space |
| A．￡438 | B．￡404 |
| C．￡358 | D．￡370 |
| A．the hotel is close to Heathrow Airport |
| B．the hotel serves Chinese-style breakfast |
| C．the hotel is good value for guests’ money |
| D．there is a shop with popular brands in the hotel |
