2 . Selecting what to wear can be a difficult problem, especially if you’re a fashion victim.

Trying to follow the latest styles involves regular visits to the shops and sometimes spending much money on expensive designer clothes．But when the fashion changes, these clothes had to stay in the back of cupboards gathering dust, or just get thrown away.

There are many stores that now offer cheap “fast fashion”—low-price items that imitate the styles of more expensive designer brands.

Environmentalists are angered by the amount of energy involved in making these clothes and that many of them are made from non-recyclable materials. This means that items are just burned or go into landfill.

Writing about this for the BBC, Eleanor Lawrie says that people in the UK are the worst in Europe for doing this—with a million tons of unwanted textiles a year being thrown away.

And she says, “on top of often poor labour conditions for garment workers, the fashion industry is responsible for 20％of the world’s waste water, and 10％of carbon emissions.”

This is something the fashion industry is becoming more aware of and has led to a new crop of biomaterials that replace wasteful textiles like cotton and leather.

Examples include Piňatex, a leather-like substance made from pineapple leaves. It’s been used in collections by Hugo Boss and H&M. And there’s mycelium, the root structure of mushrooms, that’s being used to create food, packaging and textiles. Cotton is a very resource-intense crop to grow. Eleanor Lawrie says, “about 15.000 litres of water are required to make one pair of 1eans.

So, buying organic cotton is a better choice. And there is also Tencel(天丝绒), also known as Lyocell(莱赛尔纤维绒), a natural product that’s now growing in popularity. It’s made by obtaining fibre from trees; its manufacture is thought to use 95％less water than cotton processing.

But creating sustainable(可持续的)textiles is only part of the battle-buying ethically(符合道德准则地), buying second hand and buying fewer clothes are the obvious environmentally friendly choices．

Scientists found that air pollution may be responsible     1     a big reduction in     2     (intelligent). Research showed that air pollution led to big falls in test     3     (score) for languages and mathematics. The study called "The influence of air pollution on cognitive (认知的)performance"    4    (conduct) over four years ago. Researchers analyzed speaking and mathematics tests     5     (take) by 20,000 people of all ages. They said, "Polluted air may do harm to cognitive ability as people become older. "

The study is a warning to the rest of the world ,    6    (particular) those in cities. Over 91 percent of the world population live in areas with polluted air,    7     is the fourth biggest cause of global deaths. Researchers discovered that the     8    (long) people were exposed to polluted air, the greater their cognitive ability went down. They said air pollution caused a year' s worth of lost education. For those aged over 60, this could be several years. A researcher warned, "There     9    be) no shortcut to solve this issue. Governments really need to take effective measures     10    (reduce) air pollution. "

4 . The greatest threat to our planet is the belief that someone else will save it. In fact, no single one can. We ourselves must walk the right path and make a difference. We should start by doing what's necessary, then doing what's possible and will certainly achieve what may seem impossible!

Some environmentalists desire the pleasure in the pathless woods and the happiness in the lonely shore. This is a true account of an organization, called Nurture Nature, which offers a lot of opportunities and avenues to enrich not just one's surroundings but the one himself.

To many, it may seem that it brings about just another forum to save the planet, and it does. However, there is something bigger that it brings to you, an opportunity to redefine yourself, and a wish to make sure that you believe that you are indeed part of it. Being identified by the UN Environmental Programme, it lives up to the dreams we have dreamed.

Nurture Nature is an organization not only to educate the citizens of our nation and world-wide but also to spread awareness about the various atrocities (暴行) of humans towards our planet. Staff at Nurture Nature deal with the aim of making each and every person aware of their specific duties and responsibilities towards the planet and doing the needful before it's too late.

By organizing campaigns and spreading our reach through social media, staff at Nurture Nature surely do their best to fulfill the aim. This initiative has received an incredible response from funders worldwide and funds for the campaign and other tasks were collected. The funds which were put to good use were more than sufficient.

6 . Some of the greatest problems we face today are the destruction (破坏)of our environment.Brown clouds, polluted water, endangered wild animals..., these problems seem so huge.

So my family does what we can. We take cloth bags to stores instead of using plastic bags. We walk where we don’t have to drive.

But does it do any good? When I am the only one in line at the market with cloth bags, am I doing any good? Does my walking to stores make any real difference to the world?

I recently learned something about flamingos(火烈鸟)which like to get together in groups of a thousand or more Every year when the time comes for migration (迁徙), a few of them first take off from the lake. But none of the others seem to notice, so the small group returns. However, the next day they try again. This time a few more fly along with them, but most of them still pay no attention, so they return again. They try for several times. Every time a few more birds join in but ,since the thousands of others still take no notice, the great migration plan is once more stopped.

Then one day something changes. The same small group of birds once again starts flying and a small number more join in just as before, then more. Finally, they all take flight and the migration really begins. What a spectacular sight it must be--thousands of flamingos taking off into the sky at once!

A few can make a difference. Even if you’re the one to take the first step, and continue trying,others will someday take notice and together we will solve even our greatest problems.

7 . Many European countries have been making the shift to electric vehicles and Germany has just stated that they plan to ban the sale of vehicles using gasoline and diesel as fuel by 2030.

The country is also planning to reduce its carbon footprint by 80-95% by 2050, sparking a shift to green energy in the country. Effectively, the ban will include the registration of new cars in the country as they will not allow any gasoline powered vehicle to be registered after 2030. Part of the reason why this ban is being discussed and carried out is that energy officials see that they will not reach their emissions （排放） goals by 2050 if they do not reduce a large portion of vehicle emissions.

The country is still hopeful that it will meet its emissions goals, like reducing emissions by 40% by 2020, but the acceptance of electric cars in the country has not occurred as fast as expected. Other efforts to increase the use of electric vehicles include plans to build over 1 million hybrid （混合的） and electric car battery charging stations across the country. By 2030, Germany plans on having over 6 million charging stations installed.

According to the International Business Times, electric car sales are expected to increase as Volkswagen is still recovering from its emissions scandal. There are currently around 155,000 registered hybrid and electric vehicles on German roads, dwarfed （使相形见绌） by the 45 million gasoline and diesel cars driving there now.

As countries continue setting goals of reducing emissions, greater steps need to be taken to have a noticeable effect on the surrounding environment. While the efforts are certainly not in vain, the results of such bans will likely only start to be seen by generations down the line, bettering the world for the future.

8 . Villavicencio, a shabby city of half a million people, considers itself the city of half a gateway to los llanos, Colombia’s eastern plains. Now and for the next few months few people will be passing through it. Mudslides (泥石流) since May have blocked the main highway, the Vaal Llano, which connects the city to Bogota, Colombia’s capital. More rocks and mud threaten workers trying to unblock the road, along which two-thirds of domestically produced goods are transported. Colombia’s government says this could take up to three months.

Residents of Villavicencio and the surrounding plains are beginning to feel the consequences. Potatoes, garlic and eggs have become scarce in grocery stores. Shoppers hunt through produce bins to find the few tomatoes and carrots that have not rotted. More than 90% of hotel reservations in the plain’s region have been cancelled.

Colombia is a road-builder’s nightmare. The Andes (安第斯山脉) separate into three ranges at the southern border. The mountains can climb to 4,000 metres from sea level in less than 100km. Colombia gets more rain than any other country in the world, which makes it harder to keep the road in good condition. Short of cash, the government has given private firms special rights to build roads. Vaal Llano, among the earliest projects built in this way, are likely to cause accidents.

To relieve los llanos’s isolation (隔离), Satena, a state-owned airline, and EasyFly have announced more flights between Bogota and Villavicencio. The government has currently stopped passenger fees on flights between the cities. Goods can get through on two smaller alternative roads and money paid to use the two roads will be halved. But what the plains need most is a road that can cope with Colombia’s dangerous, rain-soaked topography (地形). That goes for much of the rest of the country.