A.Snowy. | B.Rainy. | C.Sunny. |
2 . Across the globe, we've developed a coffee addiction, and we've become addicted to single-use cups: 600 billion disposable cups are produced and sold annually. But there's a growing push to cut this down.
Here's the problem with disposable coffee cups: The thin, waxy, plastic coating inside makes it tricky to recycle or compost them. So, they most go into a landfill (垃圾填埋场). More than that, it takes a lot of energy and resources to make them. Starbucks and McDonald's are trying to develop a disposable coffee cup that can be both recyclable and compostable. But that's easier said than done. The coffee giants have been dangling a million dollars to anybody who can crack the code.
The Rolling Stones are also thinking about the sustainable cups. If you see the Stones in concert this summer and go to get a drink, there may be no single-use plastic cup for you. The bands approached Michael Martin, who has produced a bunch of big Earth Day concerts, asking for help to eliminate plastic waste. He came up with a simple solution.
"When you come up to get your first beverage(饮料), you put down a $3 deposit, you get a really high-quality Rolling Stones-branded cup," says Martin. "You use it throughout the night, and at the end of the event you can turn your cup in and get your $3 back or you can keep your cup." If you return the heavier plastic cup at the end of the show, it gets washed and used again. Or recycled.
But this idea — returning and reusing a cup — this is not that complicated. So why is this just being tried now? "That's a really good question," says Martin. "In America, we're a throwaway society, and so we're hoping we'll be able to wake people up and change things." He's starting with rock concerts because artists have a pretty powerful platform. I mean, if Mick Jagger tells his fans to stop abusing the planet, who's going to say no to that?
1. Why is there a growing push to cut single-use cups down?A.Because too many people are coffee addicts. |
B.Because disposable cups are hard to recycle and compost. |
C.Because it takes a lot of energy and resources to recycle them. |
D.Because Starbucks and McDonald's are dangling a million dollars. |
A.develop a cup. | B.set up a recycling company. |
C.find the password. | D.tackle the problem. |
A.People will wash the cups at the end of the show. |
B.People hand in the cup and get 3-dollar reward. |
C.People can own the cup by paying 3 dollars. |
D.People must pay 3 dollars and return the cup. |
A.Artists have a great impact. |
B.Martin is giving a rock concert. |
C.Mick Jagger' fans are abusing the planet. |
D.Mick Jagger' fans never disagree with him. |
3 . Darrell Blatchley, a marine biologist and environmentalist based in the Philippine city of Davao, received a call from the Philippines, Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (渔业与水产资源局) early Friday morning reporting a death of a young whale.
When the necropsy (尸检) was performed, Blatchley told NPR, he was not prepared for the amount of plastic they found in the whale’s stomach. “It was full of plastic nothing but nonstop plastic.” he said “It was filled to the point that its stomach was as hard as a baseball.” That means that this animal has been suffering not for days or weeks but for months or even a year or more,” Blatchley added.
Blatchley is the founder and owner of the D’Bone Collector Museum, a natural history museum in Davao. In the coming days, the museum will display all the items found in the whale’s system. Blatchley and his team work with the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources and other organizations to assist in rescue and recovery of marine animals.
“Within the last 10 years, we have recovered 61 whales and dolphins just within the Davao Gulf,” he said. “Of them, 57 have died due to man whether they took plastic or fishing nets or other waste, or gotten caught in pollution — and four were pregnant.”
Blatchley said he hoped that the latest incident would launch the issue of plastic pollution in the Philippines and across the globe. “If we keep going this way, it will be more uncommon to see an animal die of natural causes than it is to see an animal die of plastic,” he said.
1. What can be inferred from the second paragraph?A.The whale was starved to death. |
B.The dead whale must have swallowed a baseball. |
C.Blatchley was very shocked at what he found. |
D.Blatchley didn’t make preparations for the necropsy. |
A.Waste collected from the ocean. |
B.Things found in the whale’s body. |
C.The whole system of the whale. |
D.Many different tools of whaling. |
A.Worrying. | B.Indifferent. |
C.Inspiring. | D.Mild. |
A.A Whale Found Dead of Plastic | B.Stand Up for Protecting Whales |
C.Plastic Threatening Our Existence | D.Natural Death or Merciless Murder |
Our warming planet is expected to face serious water crises(危机)in the coming decades-which means each nation’s natural resources will be more important than ever. | ||
Percent of total land area covered by forests(2018) WORLD AVERAGE 30.88 TOP5 AVERAGE 90.15 | Freshwater resources, cubic kilometers per year(2018) WORLD AVERAGE 24.1 TOP5 AVERAGE 3,642 | Freshwater resources, cubic meters per year(2018) WORLD AVERAGE 6,122 TOP5 AVERAGE 244,973 |
1. SURINAME 94.58 REST OF TOP 5 2. Micronesia 91.66 3. Seychelles 88.48 4. Samoa 88.40 5. Palau 87.61 123. CHINA 22.47 | 1. BRAZIL 5,418 REST OF TOP 5 2. Russian Federation 4,313 3. Canada 2,850 4. United States 2,818 5. CHINA 2,813 | 1. ICELAND 532,891 REST OF TOP 5 2. Guyana 304,723 3. Suriname 166,112 4. Papua New Guinea 114,216 5. Bhutan 106,923 102. CHINA 2,092 |
1. According to the statistics, what is the world average of freshwater resources per person?
A.244,973 cubic meters. | B.241 cubic kilometers. |
C.3,642 cubic kilometers. | D.6,122 cubic meters. |
A.Guyana. | B.Brazil. | C.Iceland. | D.China. |
A.Bhutan. | B.Seychelles. | C.Canada. | D.Suriname. |
5 . When we look at Earth from space, we see a blue, watery world. It is no coincidence that three quarters of the surface is covered by oceans. Water is very common in the universe and is essential for lives. But life needs water in the form of liquid, not ice, and not vapor and that is a little bit less common.
For a planet to have liquid water at its surface, three things are important. First, the planet needs to be large enough that the force of gravity keeps the water molecules (分子)from flying off into space. For example, Mars is smaller than Earth, so it has less gravity, and that is one important reason that Mars has a very thin atmosphere. Second, the planet needs to have an atmosphere. Without an atmosphere, the planet is in a vacuum (真空),and liquid water isn't stable in a vacuum. For example, our moon has no atmosphere, so if you spill some water on the moon, it will either boil away as vapor, or freeze solid to make ice. Third, the planet needs to be at the right distance from its star.
If you were an alien astronomer, you'd think Venus is a pretty good bet for life. It is the right size. It has an atmosphere and it is in the habitable zone of our sun. But Venus is not habitable, at least not at its surface. It is too hot, because Venus' atmosphere is full of carbon dioxide, an important greenhouse gas. In fact, its atmosphere is almost entirely carbon dioxide, and almost 100 times thicker than our own. As a result, the temperature on Venus is hot enough to melt lead, and the planet is dry as a bone.
So finding a suitable planet for humans to live on is only a beginning. Don't expect much.
1. What do we know about water from the text?A.Water has two forms. |
B.Water is a necessity for humans. |
C.It is common to see liquid water on the moon. |
D.Water flies into space easily with the help of gravity. |
A.It is very hot | B.It has no atmosphere |
C.It is far from the Sun | D.It is smaller than Earth |
A.Positive. | B.Passive. |
C.Hopeful. | D.Desperate. |
A.Water changes its forms. |
B.A living problem on Venus. |
C.The research of an alien astronomer. |
D.Conditions for a habitable globe for humans. |