1 . For decades, wealthy nations have transported plastic waste, and the environmental problems that go with it, to poorer countries, but researchers have found a potential bright side of this seemingly unequal trade.
In a study, researchers analyzed 11 years of data on the global plastics trade against economic measures for 85 countries. They found that the import of plastic waste was associated with growth in GDP in the low-income countries. They stressed that plastic waste is still a big problem, especially for developing countries, as the majority of it doesn’t get recycled and even plastics that are recycled still finally negatively affect the environment.
For the study, researchers analyzed data from the United Nations and the World Bank looking at several economic variables as well as trade information on common plastic waste. While they found an association between economic benefits and plastic waste imports in the low-income countries, for the high-income countries there was no association between importing waste and economic growth.
While the study didn’t assess exactly how the plastic waste was made use of in the developing countries, the authors note that it’s likely they’re recycling some of the plastic for use in industry. There was also some evidence that the low-income countries were trading the plastic waste among themselves regionally.
The researchers stressed that there is much complexity in global trading of plastic waste. In the future, they plan to investigate the regional trade among countries as well as changes in more recent years. Even with the economic benefits of importing plastic waste, reducing environmental harm from plastics would still likely require changes from both high-income countries and low-income countries.
“Some people might argue that developed countries need to create more ways to better process plastic waste at home, instead of looking for other destinations for plastic waste abroad,” one of the researchers said. “Some communities in the United States may do well in recycling plastic waste, but in others, there is still room for improvement. Producing and using less plastic would be another way to reduce environmental harm.”
1. How does most imported plastic waste end up in developing countries?| A．Being unrecycled. | B．Being repurposed. |
| C．Being sold repeatedly. | D．Being processed scientifically. |
| A．How complex the global trading of plastic waste is. |
| B．How developing countries use the imported plastic waste. |
| C．Whether developing countries trade plastic waste with each other. |
| D．Whether high-income nations benefit financially from importing plastic waste. |
| A．More effective ways have been found to have plastic waste processed. |
| B．Plastic should be completely banned for environmental protection. |
| C．Developed countries should help poorer countries process plastic waste. |
| D．The degree to which plastic waste is recycled varies greatly across America. |
| A．Recycling Plastic Waste Still Has a Long Way to Go |
| B．Plastic Waste Does Play an Important Role in the Global Trade |
| C．Plastic Waste Has Some Economic Benefits for Developing Countries |
| D．Developed Countries Shift Environmental Harm by Exporting Plastic Waste |
2 . How to Love Your Parents
Even if you think that your parents are mean-spirited at times , loving your parents is a normal and fulfilling part of life. You love them for the fact that they created you, raised you, and are in part, a source of who you are.
A gentle “good morning” and “I love you” will warm a coldest heart. Remember that they brought you into this world. Without your parents, we might still wander at an unknown corner in an unknown world.
Respect them more and cherish these moments. You can use these moments to learn from them when you're off on your own. It's OK to get angry but angry actions don't help you or your parents. Act calmly, cool off, write down your feelings, or talk to a friend.
Obey their requests. It will make your attitude better and earn you more respect from them. It may seem like you are going through hell when you don't get what you want or you have to clean. However, you had better remember they keep a roof over your head when it's cold, raining, snowing, or too hot. Understand that parents are human beings and make mistakes.
Keep company with them. Do things with your parents like watching TV, or go somewhere with them.
Some people simply may not be able to love their parents.
| A．Parents will in turn express their love to you. |
| B．Forgiveness is the key. |
| C．Here are some ways to love your parents. |
| D．There can be realistic reasons for this, family violence for example. |
| E．Anyway, spend as much time with them as you can. |
| F．After this, share your feelings with your parents. |
| G．Please remember parents are as important as friends. |
3 . Whether you see yourself pursuing a career in film-making or want to learn the practical skills for yourself, New York Film Academy’s film camps are perfect for everyone with an interest in making films. The film camps are designed for people with little or no experience in making films.
Here are some classes and subjects in the camps.
Director’s craft
Students will learn the language and practice of film-making so that they can apply this knowledge to their own original films. They will meet each week to discuss scripts and shooting plans for their film projects and screen their work with their instructor throughout the course.
Writing
It’s the script that is the backbone of any film. In the camps, students will become comfortable writing original screenplays. Students learn the process of taking a story from an initial idea to a finished script for their final film.
Digital editing
Editing process gives actual structures. Students will learn to edit their films with digital editing software. Their instructors will cover both the technical aspects of the editing process and theory behind editing choices and styles.
Working with actors
To direct actors, one must learn how to work with actors and receive instruction and experience in how to get effective performances from actors. Students also get the chance to gain some experience as actors.
Each summer film camp for teens at the Film Academy will challenge you to become a well-rounded film-maker with actual experience making films. Click here to apply today.
1. What’s the most important part in making films?| A．Directing. | B．Writing scripts. |
| C．Editing. | D．Working with actors. |
| A．Potential skills can be developed there. | B．They are only intended for teenagers. |
| C．Children can become actors there. | D．Many films are provided in the camps. |
| A．a brochure | B．an instruction |
| C．a news report | D．a website |
4 . College debt is becoming as much of a problem for Americans close to retirement as it is for new graduates. There are now about 8. 7 million Americans aged over 50 who are still paying off college loans. They took out either to pay for an education for their children or themselves. Their debt is growing fast, increasing by about half since 2017 to a total of $ 370 billion — an average of $ 40,900 per borrower. In2019, roughly $4.9 billion was deducted(扣除) right from retirees' Social Security income.
Part of the blame falls on the federally backed PLUS program, said Tara Siegel Bernard in The New York Times. "Parent PLUS loans", which have few application requirements other than a basic credit check, have broadened access to capital for many parents. But the "loans can be unforgiving". William and Kate Schweizer "didn't want their two daughters to begin their adult lives burdened with college debt". So they borrowed $220,000 for their schooling. Increasingly they had trouble paying. Now their debt has ballooned to $500,000. The consequences of defaulting(拖欠 ) are serious: "The government can take their wages and Social Security."
Unfortunately, President Biden's $6 trillion budget doesn't offer much assistance, said Eric Levitz in NYMag. com. During his campaign, "Biden called for forgiving $10, 000 in federal student loan debt for every borrower" among other ways to ease the college debt burden. But the chances of passing such measures through Congress are slim.
Don't bankrupt yourself for your kids, said Beth Akers in USA Today. The safer option to pay for college is "a student loan taken out in your child's name". A federal student loan — not a private one — can protect borrowers through income-driven repayment programs. There is also a better chance that a loan forgiveness program could materialize to help out student borrowers. And remember that "if you overextend yourself financially to make a college dream come true for your child, you are taking away your ability to be your child's financial backstop."
1. How does the author illustrate his point in Paragraph 1?| A．By listing statistics. | B．By giving examples. |
| C．By making comparisons. | D．By using quotes. |
| A．They have demanding requirements. |
| B．They can trap parents in financial crises. |
| C．They are not enough to cover college costs. |
| D．They set limits on how much one can borrow. |
| A．It is flexible. | B．It is tight. | C．It is beneficial. | D．It is impractical. |
| A．Americans Are Burdened by College Debt |
| B．Student Loans: A Stepping Stone to College |
| C．Lessons in Finance Help Repay Student Loans |
| D．Debt: College Costs Swallow Retirement Nest Eggs |
5 . All through school, I had only one close friend. We spent years together, essentially joined at the hip. But then Greg moved away, and it would take more than 50 years to bring us together again.
As children, Greg and I dove into everything with passion. We raced our bikes and illustrated our own comic books. We even became attracted to the same blonde girl from around the corner, a sixth-grader named Joanne who barely knew we existed.
The last time I saw Greg was sometime in 1966. I can’t recall saying goodbye before he moved.
But then, a few summers ago, I saw a familiar woman. “Excuse me. Would your name happen to be Joanne?”
“Uh, yes …” She didn’t recognize me until I explained who I was. We hadn’t exchanged more than a few dozen words in our entire lifetime. “Have you stayed in touch with Greg?” she asked. I was surprised she even knew of our friendship.
“No. I haven’t,” I admitted. “I wish I had.”
Back at the cabin I checked my messages. I glanced at one email, and then read it from start to finish. The email was from Greg.
Greg had tracked me down through social media. He was now married, had two children and had become a musician and entrepreneur (企业家). We exchanged several emails before connecting by phone. A month later, my wife and I drove to meet Greg and his family.
Standing at his front door, I felt unsure of what to say or do. So much time had passed. But after hugs and introductions, the years dissolved as we exchanged stories about our lives. I had brought along the only picture I could find containing the two of us from my sixth birthday. As he gazed at the photo, Greg handed me a small, old card: Greg’s invitation to my sixth birthday party, signed “From Donnie” in faded blue crayon.
There were a few other keepsakes (纪念品) shared that evening, but none as meaningful as the invitation and the snapshot, companion pieces stored apart and saved for the reunion of two old friends.
1. What does paragraph 2 mainly talk about?| A．What kind of person Greg was. |
| B．How adventurous the author and Greg were. |
| C．Why the author and Greg lost contact. |
| D．How close the author and Greg were in childhood. |
| A．Regretful. | B．Thankful. |
| C．Satisfactory. | D．Unfortunate. |
| A．They were gifts from the author’s sixth birthday. |
| B．They involved a sense of history and mystery. |
| C．They witnessed two old friends’ separation and reunion. |
| D．They were thought to be lost but were finally found. |
| A．A friend in need is a friend indeed. |
| B．A man is known by the friends he keeps. |
| C．Friendship can withstand the test of time. |
| D．Childhood friendship is the truest form of friendship. |
6 . Bears do it. Bats do it. Even European hedgehogs do it. And now it turns out that early human beings may also have been at it. They hibernated - slept through winter, according to fossil experts.
Evidence from the bones found at one of the world's most important fossil sites suggests that our primitive ancestors may have dealt with extreme cold hundreds of thousands of years ago by hibernating.
The conclusion is based on excavations in a cave called Sima de los Hueso—the pit(坑) of bones—at Atapuerca, in northern Spain. The fossils date back more than 400,000 years and were probably from early Neanderthals or their ancestors.
In a paper published in the journal L'Anthropologie, Juan-Luis Arsuaga and Antonis Bartsiokas argue that the fossils found there show seasonal variations that suggest that bone growth was interrupted for several months of each year.
The pattern of lesions(病变) found in the human bones at the Sima cave are consistent with that found in bones of hibernating mammals, including cave bears. "A strategy of hibernation would have been the only solution for them to survive having to spend months in a cave due to the chilly conditions," the authors state.
They examine several opposite arguments. Modern Inuit and Sami people—although living in equally harsh, cold conditions—do not hibernate. So why did the people in the Sima cave do it?
The answer, say Arsuaga and Bartsiokas, is that fatty fish and reindeer fat provide Inuit and Sami people with food during winter and so preclude the need for them to hibernate. In contrast, the area around the Sima site half a million years ago would not have provided anything like enough food.
1. Why are bears and bats taken as an example?| A．To arouse readers' curiosity about the animals' fossils. |
| B．To lead to the similarity between early humans and them. |
| C．To make the conclusion of the fossil experts reasonable. |
| D．To prove our primitive ancestors hibernated. |
| A．Their bone pattern was similar to that of cave bears. |
| B．They lived in a more freezing area than Sami people. |
| C．They might have hibernated to avoid the cold. |
| D．Their life was threatened by other mammals in winter. |
| A．It's unsuitable. | B．It's helpful. |
| C．It's important. | D．It's unnecessary. |
| A．Hibernating to Survive Winter | B．Adapting to Seasonal Change |
| C．Disturbance to Bone Growth in Winter | D．Fish and Fat to Help Live |
7 . Since their beautiful baby daughter Ella came into their lives, James and Ola Jordan's home has undergone a transformation in the past nine months. The designer marble coffee table has lost pride of place to a playpen. "Everything is about Ella, and that is how we always wanted it to be," says adoring mum Ola. "Our home was quite stylish before she came along; now there are toys everywhere. I can't remember the life we had without her. Ella has taken over our home —and our hearts."
The former Strictly Come Dancing professionals, who married in 2002, had longed to be parents and considered themselves blessed when Ella was born during the outbreak of coronavirus after their years of medical treatment and attempts. James tells us: "People say how this time of year becomes special again when you see it through the eyes of a child. I get that. Already she loves the Christmas lights and the tree, although she isn't going to understand what it's all about.”
There is no doubt that Ella is the couple's most precious gift ---and the icing on Christmas cake for James will be the moment she says "Dada". "We all keep saying it to her, she is not having any of it," laughs 43-year-old James. "It's just 'Mama, Mama... '"says Jam: “Ola knew that I would always be a big part of bringing up our little girl. And likewise, I always knew Ola was going to be a great mum, and very hands on."
Having James around so much has been a bonus for Ola, four years younger than James. "It has just been us and our baby so I feel lucky that James has been here. But I have missed not being able to meet up with other new mums and swap advice." "Ella is yet to meet another baby, and we will arrange another room for the new family member," says James. “but at least she is lucky that she has a really funny dad. She is always laughing and is such a happy little girl."
1. Their home was _______before they were blessed with Ella.| A．conservative | B．fashionable |
| C．messy | D．comfortable |
| A．even colder | B．even better |
| C．more surprising | D．more believable |
| A．They are expecting a new baby. |
| B．Ella doesn't want any playmate. |
| C．James doesn't like Ella now. |
| D．He is simply making a joke. |
| A．spare the rod and spoil the child |
| B．a wife 's health is a man's wealth |
| C．parents are over the moon about a baby |
| D．all the glory comes from mothers |
8 . A new study, published in Science Advances, says there is a definite limit to human endurance (耐力), beyond which our bodies begin to break down.
The study indicates that the length of time that highly-trained athletes can sustain themselves might be relevant to the length of the endurance event and how many calories someone can burn.
To find the limit of the time, a US research team tracked extreme marathoners, mountain hikers and professional bicycle racers over a five-month period, measuring competitors’ basal metabolic rates ( BMR,基础新陈代谢率) — the amount of energy they consume when they rest. Then they looked at how many calories these athletes burned per day and finally concluded that the maximum amount of energy a human can consume is 2.5 times of his BMR.
But people can’t keep using this amount of calories all the time. “You can do really intense stuff for a couple of days, but if you want to last longer then you have to dial back,” the leader of the team, Herman Pontzer, an evolutionary anthropologist (人类学家) said.
He explained that the problem is our guts (消化道). “There’s a limit to how many calories our guts can effectively absorb per day,” he said. At that point, the body is burning calories more quickly than it can absorb food and turn it into energy.
These findings could help athletes to best work underneath this ceiling. For example, they could manage their daily exercise time based on their own BMR, to get enough calories and keep going.
However, Pontzer’s team can’t rule out the possibility of someone breaking this limit. “So I guess it’s a challenge to elite (精英) endurance athletes,” said Pontzer. “Science works when you’re proven wrong. Maybe someone will break through that ceiling some day and show us what we’re missing.”
1. What does the underlined phrase “dial back” in Paragraph 4 mean?| A．Call back. | B．Speed up. |
| C．Move on. | D．Slow down. |
| A．Our bodies break down before reaching the limit. |
| B．People can avoid it by eating as much as possible. |
| C．It occurs as we produces less energy than we use. |
| D．It shows its entire dependence on a person’s BMR. |
| A．By struggling to break their limit. |
| B．By lengthening their exercise time. |
| C．By doing the same exercise regularly. |
| D．By designing characteristic exercise time. |
| A．Facts of human physical limits. |
| B．Train to be endurance athletes. |
| C．Ways to break physical limits. |
| D．Secrets of being elite athletes. |
9 . How to carry out children’s epidemic prevention
The National Health Commission has identified that children are vulnerable(易感染) to the novel coronavirus（新型冠状病毒). The main transmission routes spread by droplet(飞沫) transmission, such as a patient’s coughs and sneezing,or by contact transmission, such as contact with the mouth or nose or eyes through contaminated hands.
Mothers should take personal protection — wear a face mask and washhands when breastfeeding. If the mother has a confirmed or suspected coronavirus case, breastfeeding should be stopped and she should be separated from the baby. The babies can eat chicken, duck and fish meat, but make sure it is cooked
If the child has a cough, fever and other symptoms,but doesn’t go outside nor has contact with infected patients, parents can first monitor the child’s temperature and provide home treatment.
If they are going out and can’t readily wash their hands with running water, always carry paper towels and an alcohol-based handsanitizer(洗手液). Generally speaking, little children should not wear masks.
| A．Stay at home is the best protection. |
| B．However, if the body temperature is not falling, the child should be taken to the nearest hospital. |
| C．They can eat some fresh fruits and vegetables. |
| D．Here are some ways to protect children from being infected. |
| E．Wearing masks is very important. |
| F．They are not suitable for babies. |
| G．Adults should not chew food with the mouth and then feed the babies. |
10 . Yellowstone National Park became America’s first national park in 1872.The National Park Service was formed 44 years later. Yellowstone, which is mostly in the state of Wyoming, is considered as a great example of the National Park System. Humans have been present in Yellowstone for more than 11,000 years.
The first organized exploration of the area which lies close to the Continental Divide of North America took place in 1870.Those first organized explorers must have seen right away how special the land was. Yellowstone contains beautiful mountains, deep canyons, lakes and rivers.
The name Yellowstone comes from the river running through the area. At first known as Rock Yellow River, later it became known as the Yellowstone River. Yellowstone is home to many different species of plants. However, the park is most special because of what lies underneath it. It sits on top of an ancient super volcano. And it remains an active volcano. It is believed that the last time the volcano erupted was a half million years ago. The area has had three major eruptions in the last three million years. Experts say it may erupt again in another 1,000 to 10,000 years. But each year, there are thousands of earthquakes at Yellowstone. Most are too small to be felt by people visiting the park.
Yellowstone is filled with the beauty of many hot water springs. Of all the geothermal(地热的)places in the world, half are in Yellowstone. In places of geothermal activity, hot water and gases are trapped under the earth’s crust. In places like Yellowstone, they rush to the surface in the form of hot water and steam to form geysers(喷泉).There are more geysers and hot springs in Yellowstone than anywhere else on Earth. The most famous geyser is Old Faithful. It erupts about every hour or hour and a half. The eruption can last from one and a half minutes up to 5 minutes. The amount of hot water it pours in that time can be as much as 31,000 liters or more.
1. Which shows the correct time order according to the text?a. Explorers organized the first exploration of Yellowstone.
b. The National Park Service was formed.
c. The park became the first national park in America.
d. Humans showed up in Yellowstone.
| A．a,d,c,b | B．d,c,b,a |
| C．d,a,c,b | D．d,a,b,c |
| A．The beautiful mountains and deep canyons. |
| B．The different species of plants. |
| C．The ancient active volcano. |
| D．The lakes and rivers. |
| A．It is the largest geyser in Yellowstone. |
| B．It may erupt over twenty times every 24 hours. |
| C．It can be easily affected by active volcanoes. |
| D．It pours over 31,000 liters of hot water every minute. |
| A．Yellowstone lies in the state of Wyoming. |
| B．Rock Yellow River is near the Yellowstone River. |
| C．Yellowstone has the most famous plants in the world. |
| D．Yellowstone National Park is successful in National Park System. |
