1 . You’ve heard that plastic is polluting the oceans — between 4.8 and 12.7 million tonnes enter ocean ecosystems every year. But does one plastic straw or cup really make a difference? Artist Benjamin Von Wong wants you to know that it does. He builds massive sculptures out of plastic garbage, forcing viewers to re-examine their relationship to single-use plastic products.
At the beginning of the year, the artist built a piece called “Strawpocalypse,” a pair of 10-foot-tall plastic waves, frozen mid-crash. Made of 168,000 plastic straws collected from several volunteer beach cleanups, the sculpture made its first appearance at the Estella Place shopping center in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
Just 9% of global plastic waste is recycled. Plastic straws are by no means the biggest source (来源) of plastic pollution, but they’ve recently come under fire because most people don’t need them to drink with and, because of their small size and weight, they cannot be recycled. Every straw that’s part of Von Wong’s artwork likely came from a drink that someone used for only a few minutes. Once the drink is gone, the straw will take centuries to disappear.
In a piece from 2018, Von Wong wanted to illustrate (说明) a specific statistic: Every 60 seconds, a truckload’s worth of plastic enters the ocean. For this work, titled “Truckload of Plastic,” Von Wong and a group of volunteers collected more than 10,000 pieces of plastic, which were then tied together to look like they’d been dumped (倾倒) from a truck all at once.
Von Wong hopes that his work will also help pressure big companies to reduce their plastic footprint.
1. What are Von Wong’s artworks intended for?A.Beautifying the city he lives in. | B.Introducing eco-friendly products. |
C.Drawing public attention to plastic waste. | D.Reducing garbage on the beach. |
A.To show the difficulty of their recycling. |
B.To explain why they are useful. |
C.To voice his views on modern art. |
D.To find a substitute for them. |
A.Calming. | B.Disturbing. |
C.Refreshing. | D.Challenging. |
A.Artists’ Opinions on Plastic Safety |
B.Media Interest in Contemporary Art |
C.Responsibility Demanded of Big Companies |
D.Ocean Plastics Transformed into Sculptures |
2 . Putting children in daycare helps working parents take their minds off childcare.
How daycare negatively affects children is related to many factors. One study has suggested that some children who spend long hours in daycare centers experience more stress than those who spend more time in a setting with a mother.
Another study has shown that children who are shy have a higher level of the hormone cortisol (皮质醇) which is released when an individual shows signs of stress.
Another negative impact of daycare is that there is less communication between a mother and her child.
Children in daycare centers also feel unprotected compared to children at home. In a daycare center, when one caregiver attends to more than one child at the same time, she may not be able to look deeply into why a child is mixing well or not.
A.But daycare has its disadvantages. |
B.Look for a daycare center that is well-maintained. |
C.However, the advantages of daycare cannot be ignored. |
D.This is because a shy child will not open up freely in public. |
E.Babies become extremely attached to their primary caregivers. |
F.In such cases, a child may become either completely quiet or aggressive. |
G.You can cut the time in daycare centers by making alternative childcare arrangements. |
3 . Financial Education-Awareness Dilemma
When it comes to financial education, the majority of today's youth will regard it as a necessity for certain specific people who want to make their career in the financial world.
Suppose you have $100 in a saving account that pays simple interest at the rate of 2%per year. lf you leave the money in the account, how much will you have accumulated after 5 years: more than $102, exactly $102, or less than $102? The test might look simple, but only half of the people surveyed gave the correct answer.
On the contrary, people who have a lower degree of financial literacy tend to borrow more, accumulate less wealth, and pay more in fees related financial products. They are less likely to invest, more likely to experience difficulty with debt, and less likely to know the terms of their mortgages and other loans. Thus, the cost of this financial ignorance is very high.
What is the solution?
A.Financial education must start early. |
B.However, they miss an important point. |
C.Why does each of us have to face a financial challenge? |
D.Why does financial literacy matter so much in our society'? |
E.Rich people are generally better educated on financial management. |
F.Besides, these people have more than double the wealth of people who don’t. |
G.For example, they frequently make late credit card payments, overspend their credit limit, etc. |
4 . For some parents, hitting a child who misbehaves is a common punishment. In fact, they may think that a physical type of punishment is good for children and will teach them to behave in the future.
However, a leading group of child health specialists suggest that the opposite is true. These experts say that hitting is not only ineffective, but may even cause long-term harm to the child. The American Academy of Pediatrics recently changed its policy on physical punishment for a child. Released in October, the academy warns that hitting a child may have long-term effects. These effects include “aggression, brain changes, substance abuse and suicidal behavior in adulthood”. The report admits that not every child who is spanked will have these problems later in life. It makes this observation: “Although many children who were spanked become happy, healthy adults, current evidence suggests that hitting is not necessary and may result in long-term harm.”
In recent years, many American experts have been advising parents against the use of physical punishment. Many other countries have already banned corporeal punishment. Sweden was the first nation to do so in 1966. Earlier studies have shown that corporal punishment can also affect a child’s ability to think and learn. In 2012, a Canadian study found that hitting children can cause long-term developmental damage and may even lower a child’s intelligence test scores. The American Academy of Pediatrics also warns against using strong verbal abuse or shame to discipline a child. These types of punishment can also cause long-term problems for a child. Instead, they suggest other types of punishment that are appropriate for the age of the child.
For younger children, punishment could be taking away a favorite toy. For older children, a parent can limit the time the child spends watching television or playing with computers or electronic games.
1. What can we know according to the experts?A.Spanking a child is not effective but harmful. |
B.Sweden was the first country to spank a child in 1996. |
C.The study from Canada found that spanking children can lower children’s grades. |
D.Many American experts found spanking a child can cause anti-social behavior. |
A.Protect. | B.Control. | C.Persuade. | D.Punish. |
A.We should take away younger children’s favorite toys as punishment. |
B.As for older children, we need allow them to watch TV or play games. |
C.Different children should be given different ways to punish. |
D.It may be ineffective for younger or older children to have punishment. |
A.A physical type of punishment. |
B.The effects of punishment. |
C.Different countries have different types of punishment. |
D.How to punish the mischievous children. |