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1 . A Universal Greeting: Shaking Hands

A handshake seems to be a normal gesture. In fact, in the 9th century BC, an ancient site during the ruling of Shalmaneser III clearly shows two figures holding hands.The Iliad,usually dated to the 8th century BC, mentions that two characters “taking each other's hands and expressing their loyalty," Centuries later, Shakespeare once wrote of two characters who shook hands and swore to be brothers in the bookAs You Like It.Shaking hands seems to be an ancient custom whose roots have disappeared in the sands of time.

Historians who have studied ancient etiquette books note that the modern handshake did not appear until the middle of the 19th century, when it was considered a slightly inappropriate gesture that could only be used between friends. But what if Shakespeare had written about handshaking hundreds of years earlier?

According to author Torbjorn Lundmark in hisTales of Hi and Bye: Greeting and Parting Rituals Around the World,the problem comes in differing definitions of the handshake. The early handshakes mentioned above were part of making deals or peace; King Shalmaneser 111 referred to a rebellion in which he signed a treaty with the King of Babylon. In theIliad,Diomedes and Glaucus shook, hands when they realized they were guest-friends, and Diomedes declared: "Let's not try to kill each other." Shakespeare was similarly referencing settlement of a conflict.

The modern handshake as a form of greeting is harder to trace. As a Dutch sociologist Herman Roodenburg — the chief authority for the history of handshaking — wrote in a chapter of ananthologycalledA Cultural History of Gesture,“More than in any other field, that of the study of gesture is one in which the historian has to make the most of only a few clues”.

One of the earliest clues he cites is a 16th-century German translation of the French writer Rabelais'sGargantua and Pantagruel.When one character meets Gargantua, Rabelais writes, “He was greeted by countless hugs and countless good days." But according to Roodenburg, the 16th-century German translation added references to shaking hands.

A popular saying suggests that Cleland's statements against bowing were actually a wish to go back to a potentially traditional method of greeting in Europe. As the centuries progressed, handshaking was replaced by more hierarchical ways of greeting — like bowing. According to Roodenburg, handshaking survived in a few remote places, like in Dutch towns where some would use the gesture to make peace after disagreements. Around the same time, those who valued equality also made use of handshaking. Then, as the Continent's hierarchy was weakened, handshaking became a common practice among people of the same rank, as it is today.

1. Why does the author mention Shakespeare in the first two paragraphs?
A.To prove that the history of handshaking is hard to find.
B.To illustrate that handshaking is a very old custom.
C.To show readers that handshaking is common in fiction.
D.To explain the value of handshaking in communication.
2. What can we learn about handshaking from the passage?
A.The origin of handshaking as a form of greeting is easy to trace.
B.Citizens usually shake hands to show friendliness in Holland.
C.It was used only between friends and to reach an agreement.
D.It is a common practice between people of different social positions.
3. Which of the following is similar in meaning to "anthology"in Para. 4?
A.the science of mental abilityB.a collection of selected literary passages
C.a daily written record of experiencesD.all the living things of a particular region
4. What can be inferred from the last paragraph of the passage?
A.The handshake has disappeared in some remote parts of the Netherlands.
B.Handshaking has different meanings in different European countries.
C.Most Europeans prefer to shake hands rather than bow.
D.Handshakes are now common between people of different positions.
2021-04-23更新 | 200次组卷 | 4卷引用:必刷卷01-2022年高考英语考前信息必刷卷(上海专用,含听力MP3)

2 . Fur Babies

Kong Qin, a 32-year-old white-collar worker in Beijing, recently noticed that Cheese, her cat, had been acting oddly since she gave birth to her son several weeks ago. The cat started using the bathroom all over the house, and she was never like that before.

Kong did not know what happened to the cat, and she asked for advice from a friend of hers who is also a cat owner. Her friend told her that Cheese may be acting out as she may be feeling neglected since the baby was born. She added that behaving this way was probably a trick to win over her master’s attention.

Kong remembered that in a family in Baba Huilaile (Dad is Back), a Chinese reality show that she watched around one year ago, the dog often pushed the kid aside when the kid asked his dad for a hug. When she was watching the show, she only took the pushing as a joke and did not think too much of it, but she is now beginning to wonder if the dog was actually trying to steal the limelight.

Zhang Yu, a veterinarian (兽医) in Beijing, advises that if fur babies start to misbehave after a baby is born, pet owners should not punish them, which may stress the pet out. Pets rarely actively attack kids, but if kids hurt pets out of curiosity, like pulling their tails, pets may bite kids to run away. She also recommends that parents should be with the kids who are younger than two years old when there are pets around to protect pets and kids from being hurt by each other. As children get older, parents can help introduce their kids to the pets to help them become familiar and comfortable around each other. “Pets will eventually get used to having kids around after some time, and pets owners need to wait some time,” she said.

Kong has happily found that Cheese is more like her usual self over the past few days. She is conscious that the cat has gone through the toughest stage. The next thing she is planning to do is to take Cheese to her son’s bed more often so that she will like him more.

1. The underlined expressionlimelightin paragraph 3 is closest in meaning to __________.
A.food.B.glance.C.attention.D.ownership.
2. According to paragraph 4, which of the following is TRUE?
A.Pets won’t start a fight with babies when parents are around.
B.Pets are always safe alone with those younger than 2-year-olds.
C.Owners should be patient before pets get used to having babies around.
D.Owners should stress pets out when they are not behaving themselves.
3. How does Kong feel about Cheese’s reaction to the birth of her son these days?
A.Comfortable.B.Thankful.C.Depressed.D.Hateful.
4. What does the writer mainly want to tell us in this passage?
A.Children need to be smart enough to avoid being hurt by pets.
B.Owners should learn to help fur babies coexist with newborns.
C.Parents’ fur babies can become friends with the newborns easily.
D.Pets, like some parents, will feel delighted when newborns come.
2021-04-12更新 | 173次组卷 | 3卷引用:必刷卷04-2022年高考英语考前信息必刷卷(上海专用,含听力MP3)
阅读理解-阅读单选(约310词) | 适中(0.65) |
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3 . Smith had to drive across the Sahara Desert. It was a journey across hundreds of miles of empty desert.

After he had been driving for a few hours, there was a sandstorm. His car left the road and then broke down.

Smith began walking north across the hot sand under the scorching sun. He hoped he would soon reach the road again. Soon, his tongue was thick with thirst. He needed water, but everywhere he looked there was nothing except sand.

Smith kept walking. Then, about an hour later, a man riding a camel came into sight. Smith waved to him. The man on the camel rode up to him and stopped. “Please,” Smith said, “I am dying of thirst. Let me have some of your water.” The man slowly shook his head. “You can’t have any water,” he said, “but I’ll sell you a necktie.” “I don’t want a necktie,” Smith shouted at him furiously. “I need water.” But the man turned away quickly and rode off.

Smith continued walking. Two hours later, he met another man riding a camel. This time he asked if he could buy some water, but the man refused, saying, “No, but I’II sell you a necktie.” Angrily, Smith turned away from him and continued walking.

Three hours later, by which time he was near death, Smith saw a large luxury hotel in the distance. It stood alone in the middle of the desert, surrounded by palm trees.

Smith managed to reach the main entrance. He was about to enter the hotel when the doorman stopped him. “Hey!” he said. “This is a first-class hotel. You can’t come in here without a necktie.”

1. What happened to Smith at the very beginning of the sandstorm?
A.He became thirsty.B.He saw two men riding a camel.
C.He lost his necktie.D.There was something wrong with his car.
2. What does the word furiously mean in paragraph 4?
A.slowly.B.politely.
C.angrily.D.painfully.
3. Why was Smith not allowed into the hotel?
A.He was thirsty.B.He was not properly dressed.
C.He had no money.D.He was very sick and near death.
4. What can we learn from the passage?
A.We’d better not go to the Sahara Desert.
B.Your car should be maintained before a journey.
C.It’s a good idea to buy neckties during the journey.
D.When looking backwards, you can connect many events.

4 .

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1. Who are supposed to be interested in this advertisement?
A.Those who want to buy a new house.B.Those who need to rent an apartment.
C.Those who have extra houses for sale.D.Those who want to have free houses.
2. Which is the probable explanation for the underlined word "relocated"?
A.Borrowing money, from banks.B.Moving to a new place.
C.Promoted.D.Tired.
3. What can be inferred from the advertisement?
A.It usually takes two weeks to sell a house.
B.They can sell all kinds of houses everywhere in the world.
C.They have free consultants to answer your questions.
D.They can buy you a new house within 24 hours.
2021-01-19更新 | 192次组卷 | 2卷引用:上海市高二年级-广告布告类阅读理解名校好题
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5 . The two-hour show on March 25, 2019 put on by Tim Cook may be remembered as a milestone for the company – and the entertainment industry. Mr. Cook did not announce his company’s latest device. Instead, he unveiled a set of products and services, including video streaming, news games and even a credit card.

Apple’s 900 million iPhones worldwide grant it access to a massive potential audience. Analysts speculate that Apple will eventually offer them something similar to Amazon Prime, where customers pay a fixed monthly fee for some combination of news, games, cloud storage, music and video, and which could possibly connect with the company’s iPhone subscriptions.

Apple TV+, which got prioritized by Mr. Cook, will offer original programming in more than 100 countries. The money Apple plans to spend on original shows – perhaps $1 billion to $2 billion thus far – is dwarfed by that of Netflix, which will spend as much as $15 billion this year on original and licensed content, or Disney, whose own video-streaming is expected shortly. But Apple’s high-profile shows are for now meant chiefly to draw customers to its universe of apps and services. That includes subscription services for games, a long list of big American magazines and a few newspapers. You can pay for it all using your new Apple Card, developed with bankers at Goldman Sachs. The credit card puts Apple in direct competition with banks: it has no fees and will give users 2% cash back on purchases made via Apple Pay, the company’s payments system – or 3% on purchases of Apple kit and service.

Although Apple continues to earn most of its money from devices, its business in services is growing quickly, accounting for nearly $40 billion of revenues of $266 billion in 2018. The new subscription offering, which is easier to click and buy than their predecessors, should accelerate that trend. Its new partners hope to be along for the ride. Analysts at Goldman Sachs estimated that Apple may turn 10% of the 85 million monthly users of its free News app into paying subscribers, wining a cut of newspaper and TV subscriptions sold through its services.

Some content providers are cautious. The New York Times and The Washington Post have rejected Apple’s advances on behalf of its news service. Netflix and Disney will not take part in Apple TV+, which they view as more a threat than an opportunity.

1. The underlined word dwarfed in paragraph 3 most probably means ________.
A.made to appear insignificantB.reduced to a great extent
C.limited to a fixed scaleD.grown to its full potential
2. We can infer from the article that ________.
A.Apple invested heavily in its entertainment services along with its latest devices
B.Apple Card may be favoured because it offers discounts on purchases of Apple products
C.The popularity of Apple devices may bring forth huge profit potentials in its new service
D.Apple’s new move is seen as an opportunity as well as a threat by its competitors
3. What is most likely to be further discussed if the article continues?
A.What action Apple might take to attract potential subscribers.
B.Who might gain huge benefits from Apple’s new service.
C.How Goldman Sachs won the support from Mr. Tim Cook.
D.Why some companies are alert to Apple’s strategy changes.
4. What is the best title for this article?
A.Tech Giant Apple Stages New MovesB.A Great Challenge to the Entertainment Industry
C.The Entertainment Industry Calls for CooperationD.A New Bottleneck for Tech Giant Apple
2020-12-25更新 | 165次组卷 | 3卷引用:必刷卷05-2022年高考英语考前信息必刷卷(上海专用,含听力MP3)

6 . New York City is known as America’s economic and cultural capital. It’s a city where young people want to go, whether to take up a high-paying job on Wall Street, study, or struggle to pay rent while working in the arts.

It’s also the setting of some of America’s most popular TV shows and movies. The best known may be TV series “Sex and the City”. It features four women enjoying the comfortable life of chatting, shopping, clubbing and looking for their Mr. Right.

However, Dunham, 26, said TV shows only touch the surface. “TV shows never get how expensive things are in New York, Manhattan,” she said, adding that she knows a married couple who are in their 30s, have good jobs, and still share a couch because their apartment is so small.

To Dunham, reality in New York means getting a quick lunch at food stands, smelling the piles of rubbish every week on trash day and paying tolls to cross bridges and tunnels—things that TV series rarely show.

Elise Glick, 23, an artist living in Brooklyn, said that while New Yorkers can sometimes be unfriendly, it’s often because of their nature as driven, ambitious individuals. “People here are mostly young and single,” she said, “a lot of people are confident and know what they want.”

25-year-old legal(法律的) assistant Jin Jing agrees. During her three-month experience as a United Nations intern(实习生), Jin found New Yorkers to be friendly and helpful people. But she also learned that the TV show “Friends” were fantasy and unreal. “When I went to America, I realized that ‘Friends’ was not real life,” Jin said. “In New York, people have no time for friends. People have no time to hear you talk.” But she said she didn’t feel like a stranger, thanks to the diversity(多样性) all around her. “Most of the time, I forgot that I didn’t belong there, since there are people of different skin colors,” she said.

While Dunham admits that life in New York can be both good and bad, special moments help her fall in love with the city. She once paused to watch dancers and street musicians performing in a subway tunnel and found herself among many other busy New Yorkers attracted by their show. “People who were clearly in a rush to get home just stopped to watch because these guys were really good,” she said. “From businessmen to mothers—everyone was represented. In that moment we were all together before we went our separate ways.”

1. According to the passage, which of the following views doesn’t the writer agree with?
A.Life there is very busy.
B.New Yorkers sometimes are unfriendly because of their nature.
C.People find it impossible to make friends there.
D.The scenes in “Sex and the City” and “Friends” can hardly be found in New York.
2. In paragraph 4, toll can be replaced by __________.
A.ticketsB.moneyC.finesD.tax
3. We can infer from the passage that __________.
A.People with different nationalities can be found in New York.
B.New York is a place where people can have a comfortable and relaxing life.
C.The living cost in New York is very low.
D.The street dancers and musicians are beggars, only asking money from passengers.
4. What is the best title of the passage?
A.Unfriendly New YorkersB.Busy New Yorkers
C.New Yorkers’ StoriesD.New Yorkers’ True Life
2021-01-06更新 | 116次组卷 | 2卷引用:上海市高一年级-故事类阅读理解名校好题

7 . Modern medicine’s ability to keep us alive makes it tempting to think human evolution may have stopped. But if we look at the rate of our DNA’s evolution, we can see that human evolution hasn’t stopped – it may even be happening faster than before.

Evolution is a gradual change to the DNA of a species over many generations. It can occur by natural selection, when certain traits created by genetic changes help an organism survive or reproduce. Such genes are thus more likely to be passed on to the next generation, so they increase in frequency in a population. Gradually, these changes and their associated traits become more common among the whole group.

By looking at global studies of our DNA, we can see evidence that natural selection has recently made changes and continues to do so. Though modern healthcare disrupts a key driving force of evolution by keeping some people alive longer, in countries without access to good healthcare, populations are continuing to evolve. Survivors of infectious disease outbreaks drive natural selection by giving their genetic resistance to offspring. Our DNA shows evidence for recent selection for resistance of killer diseases like Lassa fever and malaria. Selection in response to malaria remains in regions where the disease remains common.

Humans are also adapting to their environment. Gene change allowing humans to live at high altitudes have become more common in populations in Tibet, Ethiopia, and the Andes. The spread of genetic changes in Tibet is possibly the fastest evolutionary change in humans, occurring over the past 3,000 years. This rapid increase in frequency of a mutated gene that increases blood oxygen content gives locals a survival advantage in higher altitudes, resulting in more surviving children.

Diet is another source for adaptations. Studies show that natural selection favoring a change allowing adults to produce lactase – the enzyme (酶) that breaks down milk sugars – is why some groups of people can digest milk. Over 80 per cent of northwest Europeans can, but in parts of East Asia, where milk is much less commonly drunk, an inability to digest lactose is the norm. Like high altitude adaptation, selection to digest milk has evolved more than once in humans and may be the strongest kind of recent selection.

Yet, despite these changes, natural selection only affects about 8 per cent of our genome. But scientists can’t explain why some genes are evolving much faster than others. We measure the speed of gene evolution by comparing human DNA with that of other species. One fast-evolving gene is human accelerated region 1 (HAR1), which is needed during brain development. A random section of human DNA is on average more than 98 per cent identical to the chimp comparator, but HAR1 is so fast evolving that it’s only around 85 per cent similar. Though scientists can see these changes are happening – and how quickly – we still don’t fully understand why fast evolution happens to some genes but not others.

1. Which of the following statements may the author agree with?
A.Evolution occurs among several people overnight.
B.Genes may change and some are beneficial to people’s lives.
C.Evolution is done when the whole population possesses a certain gene.
D.The changed genes leading to higher survival rates are chosen deliberately.
2. The underlined word “disrupts” in paragraph 3 can be best replaced by________.
A.explainsB.causesC.upsetsD.heals
3. The author illustrates humans’ ongoing evolution with the following examples EXCEPT that__________.
A.some people can resist infectious diseases like malaria
B.children in Tibet tolerate living environments with thin air
C.northwestern Europeans digest lactose better than East Asians
D.the human gene HAR1 resembles that of a chimp to a lesser extent
4. Which of the following may serve as the title?
A.What Is Natural Selection?
B.Are Humans Still Evolving?
C.Why Will Certain Genes Evolve?
D.How Do Mutated Genes Function?

8 . One morning, when Gregor Samsa woke from troubled dreams, he found himself transformed in his bed into a horrible insect. He lay on his armor-like back, and if he lifted his head a little he could see his brown belly, slightly domed and divided by arches into stiff sections. The bedding was hardly able to cover it and seemed ready to slide off any moment. His many legs, pitifully thin compared with the size of the rest of him, waved about helplessly as he looked.

"What's happened to me?" he thought. It wasn't a dream. His room, a proper human room although a little too small, lay peacefully between its four familiar walls. A collection of textile samples lay spread out on the table—Samsa was a travelling salesman—and above it there hung a picture that he had recently cut out of an illustrated magazine and housed in a nice, gilded frame. It showed a lady fitted out with a fur hat and fur scarf who sat upright, raising a heavy fur muff (暖手筒) that covered the whole of her lower arm towards the viewer.

Gregor then turned to look out the window at the dull weather. Drops of rain could be heard hitting the window, which made him feel quite sad. "How about if I sleep a little bit longer and forget all this nonsense," he thought, but that was something he was unable to do because he was used to sleeping on his right, and in his present state couldn't get into that position. However hard he threw himself onto his right, he always rolled back to where he was. He must have tried it a hundred times, shut his eyes so that he wouldn't have to look at the floundering legs, and only stopped when he began to feel a mild, dull pain there that he had never felt before.

He thought, "What a heavy career it is that I've chosen! Travelling day in and day out. Doing business like this takes much more effort than doing your own business at home, and on top of that there's the curse of travelling, worries about making train connections, bad and irregular food, contact with different people all the time so that you can never get to know anyone or become friendly with them." He felt a slight itch up on his belly; pushed himself slowly up on his back towards the headboard so that he could lift his head better; found where the itch was, and saw that it was covered with lots of little white spots which he didn't know what to make of; and when he tried to feel the place with one of his legs he drew it quickly back because as soon as he touched it he was overcome by a cold tremble.

He slid back into his former position. "Getting up early all the time," he thought, "it makes you stupid. You've got to get enough sleep. Other travelling salesmen live a life of luxury. For instance, whenever I go back to the guest house during the morning to copy out the contract, these gentlemen are always still sitting there eating their breakfasts. I ought to just try that with my boss; I'd get kicked out on the spot. But who knows, maybe that would be the best thing for me. If I didn't have my parents to think about I'd have given in my notice a long time ago, I'd have gone up to the boss and told him just what I think, tell him everything I would, let him know just what I feel. He'd fall right off his desk! And it's a funny sort of business to be sitting up there at your desk, talking down at your inferiors from up there, especially when you have to go right up close because the boss is hard of hearing. Well, there's still some hope; once I've got the money together to pay off my parents' debt to him—another five or six years I suppose—that's definitely what I'll do. That's when I'll make the big change. First of all though, I've got to get up, my train leaves at five."

1. According to the passage, Gregor initially believes his transformation is a ?
A.curseB.diseaseC.nightmareD.fraud
2. The word "floundering" in paragraph 3 most nearly means ?
A.strugglingB.painfulC.pitifulD.trembling
3. The author most likely includes a description of Gregor's itch in paragraph 4 to ?
A.remind the reader that Gregor has already turned into an insect
B.stress the disconnection between Gregors' thoughts and his actual situation
C.present important details about what Gregor's new body looks like
D.show that Gregor's thoughts are focused on the changes to his body
4. The main rhetorical (修辞的) effect of the final sentence of the excerpt ("First of all though, I've got to get up, my train leaves at five") is to ?
A.provide a solution to the conflict Gregor faces
B.foretell the conflict between Gregor and his boss
C.illustrate Gregor's flexibility and ability to move on
D.emphasize Gregor's extreme sense of duty
2020-11-09更新 | 981次组卷 | 2卷引用:二轮拔高卷02-【赢在高考·黄金20卷】备战2022年高考英语模拟卷(上海专用)

9 . Pessimism VS. Progress

FASTER, CHEAPER, BETTER—technology is one field many people rely on to offer a vision of a brighter future. As the 2020s dawns, however, optimism is in short supply. The new technologies that have dominated the past decade seem to be making things worse. Social media was supposed to bring people together, but today, it is better known for invading privacy. Parents worry that smartphones have turned their children into screen-addicted zombies.

This depressed mood is centered on smartphones and social media, which took off a decade ago. However, concerns have arisen that particular technologies might be doing more harm than good. The 1920s witness a resistance to cars, which had earlier been seen as a miraculous answer to the problem of horse-drawn vehicles. In the 1970s, the depression was prompted by concerns about environmental damage and the prospect of nuclear accidents.

In each of these historical cases, disappointment arose from a mix of unrealized hopes and unforeseen consequences. Technology produces the forces of creative destruction, which replaces the outdated production units, so it is natural that it leads to anxiety. For any given technology, its drawbacks sometimes seem to outweigh its benefits. When this happens with several technologies at the same time, as it does today, the result is a wider sense of techno-pessimism.

However, this pessimism can be overdone. Too often people focus on the disadvantages of a new technology while taking its benefits for granted. Worries about screen time should be weighed against the instant access to information and entertainment that smartphones make possible. Efforts to avoid the short-term cost associated with a new technology will end up denying access to its long-term benefits. Fears that robots will steal people’s jobs may promote governments to tax them, for example, to discourage their use, but in the long run, countries that wish to maintain their standard of living as their workforce ages and shrinks will need more robots, not fewer.

That points to another lesson: the remedy for technology-related problems very often involves more technology. Airbags and other improvements in safety features, for example, mean that in America, deaths in car accidents per billion miles travelled have fallen from around 240 in the 1920s to around 12 today.

The most important lesson is about technology itself. Any powerful technology can be used for good or ill. Biotechnology, for example, can raise crop yields and cure diseases, but it could equally lead to deadly weapons.

Technology itself is neutral. It is the choices people make about it that shape the world. Will technology lead to pessimism or progress? The question should be settled by a broad debate, not by a small group of technologists.

1. The word “prompted” in paragraph 2 probably means _______.
A.causedB.preventedC.relievedD.removed
2. According to the author, pessimism over new technologies is often resulted from the fact that _______.
A.technological innovations hardly cause unexpected problems
B.people assume the faults of new technologies to be natural
C.new technologies tend to emerge with uncertainty about future
D.new technologies cause more disadvantages than advantages
3. By writing this article, the author mainly wanted to argue that _______.
A.optimism over new technologies is in short supply as the 2020 comes
B.pessimism over innovations, if not overdone, is helpful and even essential
C.people tend to care more about innovations’ problems than about their benefits
D.people’s wise decision on the use of new technologies really matters
2020-08-25更新 | 120次组卷 | 2卷引用:上海市高二年级-社会类阅读理解名校好题

10 . As consumers, especially young ones, become more eco﹣conscious, services are popping up to reduce wastefulness in the flower industry, extending the life of old bouquets(花束) that were previously thrown away the day after a big event.

Considering that the floral(花的)gifting market is expected to reach ﹩16 billion in revenue by 2023, buying from eco﹣friendly businesses can have a huge impact. According to one estimate, the roughly 100 million roses grown for a typical Valentine's Day in the U. S. produce about 9,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions.

“When you realize what the supply chain looks like and the number of hands that touch these flowers. and then they're only appreciated for a couple of hours, it's kind of disgusting when you think about the amount of resources that go into it,” says Jennifer Grove, founder of New York City﹣based flower service Repeat Roses.

While working as a wedding designer and corporate planner, Grove often oversaw the design of floral arrangements, only to see those creations thrown away within a few hours. In 2014 she founded Repeat Roses to make it easier for luxury clients to donate used bouquets. Like a traditional floral service, the company sells high﹣end floral decorations for weddings or social events, but it then recycles or composts(堆肥) them.

If a customer chooses the unique repurposing(改变用途) service, a Repeat Roses team can remove the arrangements from the event and then restyle the flowers into smaller bouquets to donate to hospitals, nursing homes and family shelters. If there's a charity that holds a special place in a customer's heart, the team will ensure the blooms are sent there. “It's a logistics business, and we're trying to make sure we are strategic in where we play matchmaker,” Grove says. When the charities are finished with the flowers, Repeat Roses also picks them back up and composts them. The altruism isn't free﹣prices start at ﹩1,750 for the removal and repurposing service to account for the transportation and labor costs. If you're not willing to spend that much, the company will still compost the flowers from your event instead of sending them to a landfill.

Through these two methods, Repeat Roses estimates it has diverted more than 98 tons of waste from landfills and delivered almost 53,000 floral arrangements to people in need. Although Repeat Roses is a for﹣profit business, the flower repurposing itself is a tax write﹣off for the client. As the fair market value of a client's donated flowers is what's used for the charitable tax credit and is eligible for deduction, Repeat Roses ensures that the beneficiary sends you an acknowledgement letter including details of your donation.

1. Jennifer Grove founded Repeat Roses in order to do the following except .
A.avoid the waste of flowers
B.reduce the pollution to the environment
C.earn money by selling used flowers
D.help some customers do charity work
2. The underlined word “altruism” in Paragraph 5 refers to .
A.the company’s composting the flowers
B.the customers’ donating flowers to people in need
C.the reception of the donation by the people in need
D.the transportation of the flowers to a landfill
3. What benefit does a customer who has donated flowers get?
A.To get a discount when buying flowers.
B.To feel fulfilled because of donation.
C.To get a tax reduction.
D.To receive a letter of compliment.
4. The passage is mainly intended to introduce .
A.a creative way of making money
B.a green trend of waste utilization
C.a way to cut the emission of carbon dioxide
D.a company devoted to charity
共计 平均难度:一般