1 . Marcelo Toledo usually creates works of art out of metal. Now the Argentine artist is working with a new material: waste masks from the COVID-19 pandemic (流行病) to create an exhibition exploring the painful impact of the virus.

Toledo, who has made decorations for the musical “Evita” on Broadway, was among the first in Argentina to be infected by COVID-19, which left him hospitalized for eight days. The experience led to a series of artworks, including a 14-meter mask with the Argentine flag that he placed on the famous Obelisk in Buenos Aires to raise awareness about organ donation during the pandemic.

For his new exhibition, the “Museum of the After,” Toledo is collecting recycled coronavirus waste sent by hospitals, laboratories and random people, including old medical parts and newspapers about the pandemic.

“I am excited to be able to transform pain into beauty and this. exhibition is just recording everything that is happening to us as a society,” Toledo said. The artworks, which will go on show from September in a public space in downtown Buenos Aires, will all be made from waste materials or garbage that people send him. “It is the first time that I have done an exhibition in which I do not have to buy any of the elements,” he said.

In the exhibition there will be a real ship that will symbolically cross a “storm” and recycling islands to raise awareness about the importance of caring for the environment. “The exhibition will tell the story of this ship that went on sailing after the storm, which is a great metaphor (隐喻) for what is happening to us. This pandemic is a great global storm,” Toledo said.

As with the huge mask, which was replicated (复制) in countries such as the United States and Japan, the artist dreams of replicating the new exhibition in other cities around the world.

3 . Over the last two days, much of Spain has been coated with dust (灰尘) , and the skies have turned bright orange. A huge cloud of dust from the Sahara Desert is causing the strange weather. The dust cloud is expected to spread to other parts of Europe.

Across much of Spain on Tuesday morning, a thin layer (层) of red dust coated everything outside. From streets to sidewalks to balconies, everything was covered with a layer of dust. As the sun rose, the dust in the air turned the skies in some cities a strange orange. The cause of the dust and unusual sky colour wasn’t a forest fire, but dust from the Sahara Desert.

Every year, a large cloud of dust rises from the Sahara Desert. It’s called the Saharan Air Layer. Usually, it crosses the Atlantic Ocean as part of a natural cycle that helps develop farmland and beaches in Central and South America.

But sometimes, depending on the weather, the layer of dust gets forced to the north. Large sandstorms in northern Africa lift sand and dust into the air, where it gets blown towards Spain. Though the particles (微粒) in the air come from sand, they’re much more like dust than sand at a beach.

These kinds of storms aren’t unknown in Spain. In fact, it has a special name. It’s called a “calima”. This calima is so large that it can be seen from space. A NASA scientist who studies weather in the atmosphere says it’s like a river of dust in the air. That river of dust has met with a river of wet air driven by strong winds.

Spain’s weather service described the dust storm as being “very intense (强烈) ”. At one point on Tuesday, the air quality in Madrid was the worst in the world. Government health experts warned people not to go outside without a mask, and to keep their windows and doors closed at home.

It’s     1     little hard to believe that Iceland has experienced 18,000 earthquakes in a week. Most of them have been too small to feel. The seismic (地震的) activity suggests that a volcano in the southwest of Iceland,     2     hasn’t been active for over 800 years, may be about     3     (erupt). Iceland is a volcanic island and is used to the occasional earthquake. However, quakes have unsettled     4     (resident) in the capital city Reykjavik. Scientists say despite the large number     5     quakes, there has been very little damage.

Iceland     6     (lie) on top of the meeting of tectonic plates. Tectonic plates are pieces of Earth’s crust (地壳) around 100km thick on which Earth’s landmass sits. The plates below Iceland are     7     (constant) pushing North America and Eurasia away from each other at an extremely slow rate. Living on a tectonic plate means earthquakes can’t     8     (avoid). One Reykjavik resident spoke about his anxiety     9     (cause) by the 18,000 recent quakes. He said, “It is very     10     (usual) to feel the Earth shake 24 hours a day for a whole week. It makes you feel very small and powerless against nature.”

5 . In the spring and summer months, thunderstorms are common.     1     In thunderstorms, lightning can strike people and buildings and is very dangerous.

It was reported that a man was struck by lightning when he was making a phone call under a tree. He died at once. You may not know it, but nearly 1,800 thunderstorms are happening at any moment around the world.     2     So what should you do during a lightning storm? Scientists say that a person’s chances of   being struck by lightning are 1 in 600,000.     3    

If you are indoors during a thunderstorm:

*Stay away from anything that is metal because lightning can come into the house through it.

*Don’t stand near the windows.

*Don’t take a shower or bath. Lightning can travel through water.

* Never use the phone.       4    

If you are caught in a thunderstorm outdoors:

*     5     If there’s no building around, try to find a low place to stay in.

*Do not go under a tree because the lightning could hit the tree and travel through the tree to hit you.

* Never use a cell phone.

Whales have been facing serious danger for a long time.

First, due     1     the greenhouse effect, glaciers are melting, and some living creatures in the Antarctic and the Arctic are in danger of     2     (extinct). Besides, with global warming becoming worse, life in other parts of the ocean has also been     3     (constant) affected, including whales.

Secondly, whaling activity is another killer. Historically, whaling has been popular in some overseas countries, such as England, Japan and Norway.     4     (regard) whales as a money-making machine is the reason why some people’s whaling can’t     5     (stop) easily. A kilogram of whale meat can fetch about $100 in Japan. Besides, advanced technology has increased the efficiency of whaling,     6     greatly reduced the number of whales. What’s more, some countries are still on whaling in     7     name of science.

The fact that whales have become endangered animals is alarming us. Some     8     (organization) have realized the importance of saving them and have begun working hard to do something for them. The international community     9     (make) a strategy against commercial whaling. In my opinion, governments should also make laws     10     (protect) whales.

10 . Commercial airlines alone contribute around 3% of total global carbon emissions. But the industry is actively looking for green solutions in the form of sustainable jet fuel, and in one case, that fuel may have had a previous life as your household food waste. In a study released this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers detail a method of transforming food waste into sustainable jet fuel that can be used in existing engines.

Biomass (生物质), such as manure (粪便) and food waste, can be transformed into bio-fuels, which are renewable liquid fuels made from organic matter. Derek Vardon, a senior research engineer at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), says that their fuel worked as a mixture of 90% conventional petrol jet fuel and 10% alternative jet fuel required by the industry currently. They also show they could push it to a 70/30 mixture, which will be possible in real world with more time and testing.

Major airline companies are eager to get involved in sustainable aviation fuel because some sustainable solutions, such as battery-operated commercial planes, just aren’t possible yet with current battery technology. A battery-powered plane would be too heavy to fly long distances, so fuel that works in the same way as the fuel we have is a simpler way to trade out emission-heavy fossil fuels.

Vardon says that because the wet waste used in the process would normally go to a landfill (垃圾填埋场) and break down to release greenhouse gases, the process of making and using sustainable aviation fuel could actually have a negative carbon footprint when scaled up.

Commercial airlines are on board to find an affordable and sustainable solution to the carbon-intensive process of air travel. Airlines are looking to hit aggressive sustainability goals by 2050, including decreasing net carbon dioxide emissions by 50%.