2 . A couple has recently placed their garbage can out for collection for the first time in 14 months, all thanks to their recycling skills. Richard and Louise Arnold have established such an effective routine that they only need to put their garbage can on the side of the street once a year.

Louise explained that making small monthly changes in her life has resulted in her family producing very little waste. She said, “It’s not as difficult as you might think if you start with small steps. We began with soap, switching from bath cream to natural soap without packaging. These bars are large enough that we cut them in half, using one for the sink and the other half for the shower. It’s both cost-effective and environmentally friendly.”

“So it’s actually quite easy. Just go around your house and think of little things you can do gradually, and you’ll start noticing the difference,” Louise added. Currently, the couple takes recyclable waste to the tip, donates clothes to charity shops, and brings soft plastics and batteries to a shop that accepts them.

In 2017, the couple established No Waste Living, which initially started as a weekend stall at the local market and has since developed into a website. Louise regularly writes a newsletter for her hundreds of subscribers. They also started selling eco-friendly products, ranging from non-chemical household cleaning and washing solutions for a “less toxic home” to bamboo washing-up brushes. Louise mentioned, “I started No Waste Living because I wanted to show our achievement s and lead by example.”

Although the family occasionally faces criticism, Louise remains determined. She said, “The main point of contention(争论) for people regarding new waste rules is having to drive their waste to a recycling center, which adds to their already busy lives. However, in the long run, you will create more space in your home, save money, and spend less time dealing with garbage cans.”

4 . Are you sure you know how to protect the environment? Many of us believe that we lead lives that respect nature but our consumption habits give us away.     1     Here are some everyday habits that you thought were harmless, or even ecological, but that cause considerable damage to the environment.

Eating too much meat and fruit

These foods are essential for our diet, although they are not very healthy for the natural environment. In a 2018 report, Greenpeace warned that 14.5% of all greenhouse gas (GHG ) emissions come from industrial stock farming. The meat industry, for example, negatively affects land use as between 75 and 80% of the world’s agricultural land is used for stock breeding. But if the same land was used for growing vegetables, there could be food for 4 billion people more.     2    

Using paper bags

We think that because they are made of paper they are not as harmful as the plastic bags that we use around the world, according to the UN.     3    . In addition, the amount of energy needed to produce a paper bag is four times more than for a plastic bag and its production requires a large amount of water and wood, emits harmful gases into the atmosphere and uses chemicals that pollute water courses and harm ecosystems.     4    

Drinking bottled water

Plastic bottles are a clear example of environmental pollution.     5    . These bottles, 500 billion of which are produced each year worldwide, can affect our health due to the microparticles that they leave in the bottled water. The only environmentally responsible option, therefore, is to drink tap water or use reusable glass bottles.

7 . Good morning to the honorable Principal and teachers. First of all I am very ________ to my teacher, Mrs Chopra, who ________ me and offered me the chance to make a speech here. I have ________ “A Clean India Campaign” as a topic. It is a mass movement ________ by the government on October 2nd, 2014, the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, who always kept Indians’ ________ and India’s cleanliness in mind, and thought physical condition ________ the environment greatly, and continues to this day.

Cleanliness is not ________ to any person or place: it’s the combined responsibility of all citizens. The Prime Minister Narendra Modi, taking ________ of the campaign, said this drive is ________ politics and inspired by patriotism (爱国精神).

To make this movement ________ during the process, Indian Prime Minister ________ suggests nine role models to practice, and then asks them to ________ another nine people again to continue this ________, till the message of A Clean India Campaign ________ everyone in the country. He said the mission has to be ________ by October 2nd, 2019, the 150th birth anniversary of Gandhi.

8 . For Beth Terry, when she read an article about how seabirds are being killed by discarded plastics, she realized that it was time to give up plastics.

First, she focused on her kitchen and got rid of the shopping bags and other plastic products. Then she turned to her bathroom. Toothpaste without plastic packaging was extremely hard to find, so she started making her own with baking soda.

Sometimes her personal war on plastics created awkward moments. During a vacation to Disneyland in California to run a half-marathon, Ms Terry and her husband left their reusable cloth bags in the hotel, soon discovering that the local supermarket only had plastic bags. How should they carry her fruits like apples, oranges, pears and melons?

“We just rolled them up in our T-shirts and carried them that way,” said Ms Terry, 54, recalling how she crab-walked back to the hotel to stay true to her principles. “ If I let myself off the hook this time, it would be easier for me to take plastics next time,” she said.

Treating plastics like a drug habit that needs to be kicked is a lifestyle promise being shared by more and more consumers, horrified by tens of millions of tons of plastics created worldwide each year, much of it in the form of single-use items like straws that end up in landfills(垃圾填埋场）or,worse, the oceans.

If you gathered up all your plastic waste each week, as Mr. Terry once did, you would have a small hill on the floor. How should we begin? “The one thing I want to make people know is to go step by step. Don’t try to do everything at once,” said Ms. Terry, who is the author of Plastic-Free:How I Kicked the Plastic Habit and How You Can Too.

9 . Does your family buy the week’s groceries including many bottled drinks into your home? Because after having sports or hanging out under the sun, it’s so cool to get a cold one right out of the fridge, right?

But all those plastic bottles use a lot of oil and pollute the environment. Americans buy more bottled water than any other nation in the world with 29 billion water bottles a year. In order to make all these bottles, 17 million barrels (桶) of oil will be used up. That is enough oil to keep a million cars going for twelve months.

Most people choose to throw the bottles away after having the bottled drinks. In fact, instead of going out with the trash, plastic bottles can be turned into carpeting or clothing. Remember this: Recycling one plastic bottle can save enough energy to power a 60-watt (瓦特) light bulb for six hours.

Unfortunately, for every six water bottles we use, only one is made recycling. The rest are sent as garbage. Or, even worse, they end up as trash on the land or in rivers, oceans. Plastic bottles take many hundreds of years to disintegrate (分解).

So why don’t more people drink water from the kitchen? Some people drink bottled water because they think it is better for them, but that’s not true. The chemicals in the bottles themselves may get into the water which can do harm to people.

So next time when you have drinks or water, please try to use a glass at home or carry water in a steel bottle. And if you want to do something more, try to collect plastic bottles and send them for recycling.