Forests, which cover nearly one-third of the world’s land area, are a vital and
In the early 1990s,
People have become more interested in
2 . New York-based Ecovative has been creating environmentally friendly packaging made from mushrooms and agricultural waste since 2009. Now, the company wants to bring their amazing material into homes and offices with a new line of compostable (可堆肥的) furnishings that are grown using just three materials: mycelium (the vegetative part of mushrooms), hemp (麻类植物), and salt.
While creating hard material from mushrooms might sound magical, the company’s CEO Eben Bayer says it is a relatively low-tech process and compares it to “making bread”. The company begins by adding a few mycelium cells to damp hemp or other agricultural waste.
The mycelium that grows like little hairs is allowed to twist with the waste until everything is ”glued“ together. The combination is then mixed again and placed into the desired mold (模具) where it continues to grow and harden. The resulting material is then baked in the oven. In addition to making it as strong as wood, the heat also kills the mycelium, thus giving the compostable material a similar shelf life to wood.
Also, though the table tops of the stylish Tafl and King’s tables released at the recently held Biofabricate 2016 conference in New York City resemble marble, they are far from it. The perfectly carved blocks are made of a material grown by a North Carolina-based company named bioMASON using grains of sands and bacteria.
As you have probably guessed, this waste-free furniture does not come cheap. Customers can expect to pay anywhere from $249 USD for the Tafl to $699 USD for the King’s table, both of which are only available in limited quantities. Those that cannot afford those prices can choose cheaper GIY (grow it yourself) ones made of various products ranging from Christmas tree decorations to lamp shades.
1. Why did Eben compare making hard materials to making bread?| A．Their raw materials are the same. | B．Their product appearances are alike. |
| C．Their production processes are simple. | D．Their production costs are relatively low. |
| A．The method of making mushrooms hard. | B．How to make mushroom furniture materials. |
| C．What are needed to make mushroom furniture. | D．The difficulties of making mushroom furniture. |
| A．They are in limited supply. | B．They are offered in GIY forms. |
| C．They consist mainly of marble. | D．They are designed by bioMASON. |
| A．The Invention of New Kinds of Furniture |
| B．The First Sale of Furniture Made of Mushrooms |
| C．Scientists Found New Material to Make Furniture |
| D．Future Furniture May Be Grown from Mushrooms |
3 . As Plastic Chokes the Ocean, Technology Can Help
Some 8 million tons of non-recyclable (不可回收的) plastic end up in the ocean each year. At an alarming rate, the seas may have more plastic than fish by the middle of the century.
Require a global solution to a global problem.
Pay more attention to the new studies on plastic and technologies. Some of researchers are aiming to make replacements for plastic.
Expect more responsibility from manufacturers.
The world doesn’t have enough time in trying to solve the problem. The sooner these efforts start, the better.
| A．Strengthen the connection between countries. |
| B．Others are doing more research on new technologies. |
| C．Nearly 200 countries agreed to ban plastic pollution. |
| D．Establish production limits for non-recyclable plastic. |
| E．They should care about different laws on plastic in the poorer countries. |
| F．They are well aware of how to reduce the harms their products cause. |
| G．Thus it’s necessary to take immediate action to stop that. |
4 . I’ve just asked Julie Gray, a biologist at the University of Sheffield, which species she thinks would be the last ones standing if we don’t take transformative action on climate change. “I don’t think it will be humans. I think we’ll go quite early on,” says Gray. Humans probably won’t be among the survivors, partly because humans produce young extremely slowly and generally just one or two at a time.
It may seem like just a thought experiment. But discussing which species are able to survive climate change is disturbingly concrete. As a report stated recently, one in four species currently faces extinction, which is closely linked to climate change. While the seriousness of climate change is undeniable, we can make some educated guesses about which species will have a better shot at going far.
According to Jen Lau, a biologist at University Bloomington, heat tolerant and drought resistant plants, like those found in deserts, are more likely to survive. So are plants whose seeds can be spread over long distances, for example by wind or ocean currents. Plants that can adjust their flowering times may also be better able to deal with higher temperatures.
We can also look to history as a guide. Cockroaches adapted to an increasingly dry Australia tens of millions of years ago, by starting to dig holes in soil to hide. Cockroaches also tend to not be picky eaters. Having broad diets means that climate change will be less of a threat to them.
Furthermore, species called “mobile generalists” by experts can move and adapt to different environments and are more likely to last long in face of climate change. For example, deer in the US are common in suburban areas and manage to live where forests have been removed or are regularly disturbed.
Certainly, some animals would also survive if they could find a buffer: an area that is relatively protected from climate change’s consequences, such as deep sea canyons, underground caves.
1. What does the author probably think of the answer given by Gray?| A．Ridiculous. | B．Unreasonable. | C．Upsetting. | D．Exciting. |
| A．Peacefully wait. | B．Quickly die out. |
| C．Greatly change. | D．Possibly survive. |
| A．Trees growing in the rainforest and flowering at fixed time every year. |
| B．Animals good at digging holes and not particular about food. |
| C．Creatures mainly living in trees and spending most time sleeping. |
| D．Fishes that do not enjoy deep diving and like to stay in a bay. |
| A．How Climate Will Change in the Future |
| B．What Species May Survive Climate Change |
| C．Why Some Species Have Broader Diets |
| D．Where Species Can Hide in Climate Change |
5 . Zea Tongeman, a 14-year-old student, who is crazy about the Internet, applied technology to create an application that encourages people to recycle while having fun.
Zea was really inspired when she attended “Little Miss Geek Day”, an event that aims at making technology more accessible and appealing to young women and inspiring them to consider technology careers. Soon after, she entered “Apps for Good”, a competition that encourages students to create positive change through technology. Teaming up with her friend, Jordan Stirbu, she laid the foundations for “Jazzy Recycling”.
The “Jazzy Recycling” application is designed to encourage young people to recycle more, which wins the favor of the youth. It turns waste disposal into a game and helps you find places to recycle. Then you scan what you need to recycle, share it, and get rewards such as shopping vouchers (代金券) and games to be unlocked for what you have recycled.
Tapping into the teen enthusiasm for sharing every little aspect of their daily life on social media like Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, recycling efforts can be shared too as a fun game among friends, which makes more people take part in recycling activities.
Zea explains why she is addicted to the Internet and how technology has changed her ideas about the future, “I used to think technology was just fixing computers and using smartphones; I have become very tired from just using what is available. I have discovered another side to it and that I can make technology of my own.”
In fact, Zea Tongeman has taken the idea of recycling seriously and hopes all her fellow beings would give it a serious thought. This teen girl from the United Kingdom has made use of computer programming to create her own app that would encourage people to go recycling for a better world.
1. What is “Little Miss Geek Day” intended to do?| A．To inspire students to go recycling. | B．To encourage students to create more. |
| C．To introduce some famous young ladies. | D．To get girls interested and involved in technology. |
| A．It combines recycling with fun. | B．It offers money to those who recycle. |
| C．It raises their awareness of waste disposal. | D．It provides varieties of convenient services. |
| A．Considerate. | B．Generous. | C．Creative. | D．Modest. |
| A．Teenagers have a talent for creating apps. |
| B．Technology plays a significant role in education. |
| C．Competitions inspire teenagers to achieve success. |
| D．Youngsters can make a difference in their own ways. |
6 . Microplastics are “one of the greatest man-made disasters of our time”, according to the Natural History Museum. That’s bad news, given they are also everywhere: in tap water, the food you buy, the clothes you wear and the air you breathe.
The largest microplastics can be seen by the naked eye and are anything under half a cen- timetre in size. But many of them are small enough to act like spots of dust which we can unconsciously breathe in or eat in food. The smallest particles are called nanoplastics and they are small enough to get their way deep into the human body.
New findings from the University of Portsmouth show that there is so much synthetic material in our homes that we might be breathing in up to 7, 000 microplastic particles a day. Using special equipment, researchers measured a typical family home and found the highest concentration of it was in the bedroom of the eight-year-old daughter, whose room was decorated with plastic-based bedding, carpet and soft toys.
Although research is in its early stage, the risks of these plastics could be serious—some studies have linked high exposure to cancer risk and disrupting our hormones. In animal studies, the particles have been shown to affect metabolism, gut bacteria and the immune system, among other things.
It is not yet known what a healthy level of microplastics might look like, but Dr Sabine Donnai, CEO of the Viavi clinic, thinks that many people in the West are over the limit. In tests at her clinic, patients often come back with dangerously high levels of plastic in their bodies, she says.
1. What does paragraph 2 talk about?| A．The seriousness of microplastics. | B．The size of microplastics. |
| C．The solution to microplastics. | D．The effect of microplastics. |
| A．With technical instrument. | B．By referring to previous data. |
| C．Through experiments. | D．By observing environment. |
| A．Deciding. | B．Disturbing. | C．Discovering. | D．Defending. |
| A．New study found microplastics | B．Microplastics are found in clothes |
| C．Microplastics are threatening our life | D．We breathe in microplastics every day |
7 . A different kind of food service app is allowing loyal customers to buy restaurant food at a low price before it goes into the waste bin.
Too Good To Go provides buyers with a bag of nearly wasted, but perfectly good food for takeaways as a way to cut back on food waste and help support the restaurant industry. Unlike other apps of a similar type that can allow customers to pick and choose which items they want to save, Too Good To Go offers only bags of whatever food the restaurants have. People will think it has a true enterprise spirit. The app is one of the several winners of Fast Company’s 2021 World Changing Ideas Award, which reports that 40% of the food in America is wasted.
It’s impossible to know how much food really will end up in landfills(垃圾处理厂)，but it’s possible to know how many meals Too Good To Go has prevented from going there. Originally sold only in a few selected American cities, 200,000 meals have been sold, and these meals can be thrown into the garbage in a few hours. And over 1, 500 restaurants have signed up in cities like New York, Boston, and Los Angeles. At present, 150,000 orders are going out the door per day in 15 countries, across a user base of around 37 million people, saving incredible food waste.
It is also easier for the restaurants to deal with the leftovers since it’s not likely to guess and predict what will be available at the end of any night. Decomposing food in landfills is a major source of methane, which can cause climate-related damage before completely decomposing after a decade.
“We think we can save more than 2 million meals from the trash in the U.S. in 2021, avoiding thousands of tons of emissions.”said Lucie Basch, co-founder of Too Good To Go.
1. What is special about Too Good To Go?| A．It provides buyers with a bag of leftover food for free. |
| B．It allows customers to select whatever food they want. |
| C．It limits consumers’ choices to the food the restaurants have. |
| D．It is the only app winning 2021 World Changing Ideas Award. |
| A．Find out the categories of the food wasted most. |
| B．Figure out how much food will end up in landfills. |
| C．Predict what food will be available in the restaurants. |
| D．Prevent more meals being thrown into the garbage. |
| A．Cutting down. | B．Breaking down. | C．Turning down. | D．Putting down. |
| A．An app reducing food waste |
| B．An app distributing optional food |
| C．An app causing climate-related damage |
| D．An app promoting a true enterprise spirit |
8 . On a cold November night, Layton was on his way home when he got an urgent call from his mother. “The mountain’s on fire.” she
Layton’s family
He
Over the next two hours, he travelled through the
| A．explained | B．declared | C．cried | D．screamed |
| A．shared | B．owned | C．rented | D．built |
| A．hit | B．stamped | C．stepped | D．pressed |
| A．walked | B．flew | C．headed | D．ran |
| A．gone | B．missing | C．scared | D．awake |
| A．fix | B．save | C．sell | D．leave |
| A．touring | B．renting | C．repairing | D．deserting |
| A．smoky | B．foggy | C．cloudy | D．rainy |
| A．worried | B．hesitant | C．wounded | D．panicked |
| A．highlighted | B．ruined | C．covered | D．lost |
| A．happy | B．safe | C．far | D．contented |
| A．back | B．home | C．away | D．out |
| A．disabled | B．desperate | C．waiting | D．trapped |
| A．across | B．along | C．through | D．over |
| A．led | B．pulled | C．carried | D．pushed |
| A．nearly | B．narrowly | C．accidentally | D．occasionally |
| A．Apart from | B．Due to | C．Except for | D．As for |
| A．claim | B．spare | C．protect | D．drop |
| A．intelligent | B．delighted | C．philosophical | D．critical |
| A．income | B．price | C．value | D．damage |
9 . Lego is considering a brick rental plan in an attempt to cut down on plastic waste. The Danish toymaker has promised to make all its bricks from sustainable sources by 2030 and is investing significant resources into finding alternatives.
Tim Brooks, vice-president responsible for sustainability, said the company was “totally open” to the idea of a product rental plan but admitted that lost pieces could produce a significant problem. He said the rental scheme was "possible" but admitted there were some "technical barriers", one of which is the complexity of some Lego sets, many of which contain thousands of pieces. "What are the chances of giving them to an eight-year-old child and getting them all back again?" Mr Brooks added.
Lego has come under increasing pressure to reduce its carbon footprint among growing international alarm about the impact of plastic waste on the environment. Lego reportedly gives off around a million tons of carbon dioxide each year, with about three-quarters coming from raw materials that go into factories. It produces 19 billion pieces per year—36,000 a minute—that are made of plastic and much of the inner packaging is also plastic.
So far, the only breakthrough has been the development of a line of bricks made from plant-based plastic sourced from sugarcane. The green trees, plants and flowers were first included in Lego sets late last year but account for only one-two percent of the total amount of plastic elements produced.
Henrik Ostergaard Nielson, a production administrator in Lego's factory, told the New York Times last year, “We need to learn again how to do this. The company has invested more than €100, 000,000 and hired 100 people to research non-plastic alternatives. It is aiming to keep all of its packaging reusable by 2025.”
1. What is the aim of Lego’s brick rental plan?| A．To cut down on its costs. | B．To reduce plastic waste. |
| C．To seek alternative resources. | D．To deal with technical barriers. |
| A．Negative. | B．Confident. | C．Ambiguous. | D．Objective. |
| A．Listing figures | B．Making comparisons | C．Giving examples | D．Giving definition |
| A．Lego will not make new products after 2025. | B．Lego has already bought non-plastic alternatives. |
| C．Lego is making efforts for eco-friendly products | D．Lego's green technology is relatively backward. |
Covering 7 million square kilometers of jungle and river over eight countries, the Amazon Rainforest is home to millions of sorts of plants and animals, some of
The Amazon Basin
With the destruction of the Amazon Rainforest, global warming becomes more of a threat. It is up to each individual to fight against the
