We live in a world of plastic. Shopping bags, drink bottles, your toothbrush and even your clothes are among the everyday items
Humans
A Plastic Ocean is a documentary film directed by the Australian journalist Craig Leeson. It investigates the serious harm plastic has done
Plastic is so widely used because it is durable (耐用的) and cheap. However, this durability is the same quality that makes it so
2 . Businesses are witnessing a difficult time, which has in turn produced influence on consumers, desire to go green. However, shoppers are still laying stress on environmental concerns.
Two thirds of customers say that environmental considerations inform their purchases to the same degree as they did a year ago, while more than a quarter say that they are now even better aware of the environmental effect on what they buy.
This may help to influence how shops store goods on their shelves. And the companies should still make efforts to become more environmentally friendly. Two out of three people think it is important to buy from environmentally responsible companies, with about one in seven saying that they had even decided to take their custom elsewhere if they felt a company’s environmental reputation was not good enough.
Harry Morrison, chief executive (主管) of the Carbon Trust, sympathizes: “I understand this situation where survival is very important now. But from environmental considerations, the clock is ticking — we don’t have much time. In addition, cutting carbon has an immediate effect as costs drop and a medium-term benefit for the brand.”
Larger companies have an extra motivation to look at reducing their carbon footprint, as new rules next year will require businesses to buy carbon allowances to make up for their emissions (排放). Those that have taken early action will have a head start. More than two thirds of consumers are not clear about which companies are environmentally responsible. This suggests that firms that are able to relay clearly their message to the public will be in a pole position to attract shoppers.
The Carbon Trust believes that it can help by informing customers about the good work companies are doing. “When companies are granted (授予) the standard, they can use a logo (标识) in all their marketing which makes it clear that they are working towards cutting emissions,” Mr. Morrison said.
1. What’s the main idea of the passage?A.Businesses are finding ways to send their message to the shoppers. |
B.Companies will soon get information about cutting carbon emissions. |
C.Firms are making efforts to encourage customers to keep goods at home. |
D.Firms are urged to cut carbon emissions by shoppers, environmental awareness. |
A.affect | B.change |
C.disturb | D.reject |
A.will benefit from cutting carbon emissions |
B.should buy carbon allowances for shoppers |
C.are required to make up for their carbon emissions |
D.have encouraged shoppers to take their custom elsewhere |
A.have a strong desire to reduce costs |
B.use the same logo in their marketing |
C.gain advantages by taking early action |
D.attract more shoppers by storing goods |
3 . How can having a childlike view of the world help the environment? Danish eco-artist Thomas Dambo combines a talent for recycling with a fairy-tale imagination to bring people worldwide closer to nature.
For the “Guardians of the Seeds” exhibition, Danish eco-artist Thomas Dambo built five trolls from discarded wood materials, which were appointed by Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens (CMBG) for its splendid riverside woodland.
The exhibition composed of the five trolls aims to give visitors an emotional connection with nature that will encourage them to become keepers of it. For the exhibition, Thomas came up with a story that a family of trolls hid 10 golden seeds to protect the old forest. Using a map that's provided, visitors follow clues to find where the seeds are hidden.
Besides using carefully selected recycling materials to produce his works, to challenge himself creatively, the artist allowed for a degree of production on-site. He gave a skinny troll named Birk a beard made from the roots of fallen trees. The fur of another troll Roskva is made from bark. Also, Gro, sitting with her eyes closed in a yoga pose, has a tongue made out of a nearby deserted planter.
“Thomas wants people to interact with them,” says Gretchen, president of CMBG. “He wants it to be a journey of discovery where you're walking along and all of a sudden this big magical being appears in front of you. These are friendly, happy trolls. They're not scary, mean trolls.”
Thomas hopes that “Guardians of the Seeds” gives viewers the same joy he gets from an occupation that he compares to a hobby. He says too many people lose their playfulness in their adult life. The key quality of his work is just its playfulness. One of his trolls sits on a real car on a hillside, appearing to cheerfully ride it. He wants to reactivate a childlike imagination in adults so they begin to see trash as objects that can be repurposed in practical and even picturesque ways. And he loves to entertain kids, too.
Nowadays, Mr. Dambo gets a kick out of seeking waste everywhere, hoping to find more stuff he could refashion into something amazing.
1. What does the underlined word “discarded” mean in paragraph 2?A.Given-out. | B.Thrown-away. | C.High-priced. | D.Randomly-chosen. |
A.To set off visitors' curiosity. | B.To get back the 10 golden seeds. |
C.To promote the popularity of CMBG. | D.To boost the bond between visitors and nature. |
A.His environmental awareness. | B.His creativity and artistic gift. |
C.His working efficiency and skill. | D.His sense of social responsibility. |
A.Thomas' Massive Troll Sculptures |
B.Let Us Turn Trashed Wood into Elegant Art |
C.Artist Preserves Imagination and Nature with Huge Trolls |
D.Welcome to the Magic “Guardians of the Seeds” Exhibition |
South Koreans consume 2.4 billion plastic straws (吸管) annually. And like in many other countries, the government is stepping up to reduce the amount of single-use plastics.
The idea of Rice Straws came to Kim Kwang-pil when he first saw
That was the beginning of Kim’s company, Yeonjigonji,
“I met people who wouldn’t believe I could eat the straws. So, when I did, they
So far the company
As they are eatable, the rice straws need to pass food safety laws in each country. But Kim believes that his straws are
5 . Much of the Amazon’s biodiversity (生物多样性) is under fire-literally. In the last two decades, deforestation (滥伐) and forest fire ate into the ranges of thousands of plant and animal species in the Amazon rainforest.
The extent of the damage is closely tied to the practice of laws in Brazil aimed at protecting the forest from widespread logging (伐木). The findings illustrate the key role that forest use laws have in the fortune of the Amazon rainforest.
Threats to the survival of this biodiversity could have long-term effects. Biodiversity promotes a forest’s resistance to drought. If fire-impacted area continues to rise, not only does the Amazon lose forest cover, but also some of its capacity to deal with the changing climate.
“With fires advancing deeper into the rainforest, more species will experience fire for the first time. These species have not evolved (进化) under conditions with regular fires, so the consequences for those species, like increased risk of population declines or extinction, can be severe,” says Xiao Feng, a biogeographer at Florida State University.
“But we don’t know how fires are impacting the biodiversity across the Amazon basin,” says Feng. The Amazon is a huge area. It’s generally impossible to go there and count the number of species before the fire and after it. So Feng and his team instead investigated how Amazonian plant and animal species’ geographic ranges have been affected by recent fires. The team gathered range maps of 11,514 plant and 3,079 animal species and compared these maps with satellite images of Amazon forest cover from 2001 to 2019. Those images let the team track how logging and fires have led to the reduction of rainforest.
Starting in 2009, when a series of rules aimed at reducing deforestation started being performed, the extent of fires generally decreased. Then in 2019, fires rose back up again, co-occurring with a relaxation of rules. Much of the fire-driven forest loss was concentrated along the more intensely logged southern reaches of the rainforest.
The change suggests effective forest protection laws can slow this trend of destruction and are essential for preventing the region from reaching a tipping point.
1. What does Feng mean based on paragraph 4?A.Not all species will survive the fire. |
B.The forest badly needs regular fires. |
C.All species will die out after the fire. |
D.The fire will change survival skills of species. |
A.By taking field trips. | B.By doing experiments. |
C.By referring to geography books. | D.By making comparisons. |
A.Severe drought kept on striking. |
B.The new species had no time to evolve. |
C.Rules of controlling logging weren’t strictly carried out. |
D.The rainforest’s resistance to the changing climate weakened. |
A.A science magazine. | B.A personal diary. |
C.A travel brochure. | D.A research plan. |
6 . Main Types of Water Pollution
When we think of Earth’s water resources, we think of huge oceans, lakes, and rivers.
Surface water and groundwater are the two types of water resources that pollution affects.
Sometimes pollution that enters the environment in one place has an effect hundreds or even thousands of miles away.
A.Besides, we think of bottled water. |
B.This is known as transboundary (跨界的) pollution. |
C.Not all of Earth’s water sits on its surface, however. |
D.Water resources like these are called surface water. |
E.There are also two different ways in which pollution can occur. |
F.Pouring oil from your car down a drain can lead to water pollution. |
G.Another example of point source pollution is an oil spill from a tanker. |
7 . The Tokyo Summer Olympics is going green. The 5,000 medals Japan has made are more special than most.
One novel focus of the Tokyo Olympics is to be“sustainable”—to avoid using too many natural resources, so that the games are easy on the environment. As part of this goal, the organizers decided to make all of the Olympic medals out of metal recycled from old electronics.
Almost all electronics are made with small amounts of "precious metals", like gold and silver. But collecting enough of these metals to make 5,000 medals was a huge challenge. That's because the amount of metal in each device is tiny. It would take about 20,000 cell phones to get just 1 kilogram of gold.
Beginning in April 2017, the organizers placed collection boxes around the country, and asked people to turn in their old electronic devices. Soon people began to respond to the initiative, turning in smartphones, digital cameras, hand-held games, and laptops. At first, collection went slowly, but soon more and more areas began to take part. By the end, 1,621 local governments had helped out with the collection process.
Then came the job of breaking those devices down into smaller pieces. After being taken apart and sorted, the small electronics were smelted (熔炼) to get all the gold, silver, and bronze elements. This is a tricky job, which calls for careful attention and good skill. It's also dangerous, because some of the metals and other things aren't safe for people to touch or breathe.
By the end of March, 2019, the organizers had hit their targets of getting enough metal for the medals. They had collected around3xkilograms of gold, 4,100 kilograms of silver and 2,200 kilograms of bronze. And now all the 5,000 medals are available for the would-be winners.
1. What can we know about the Tokyo Olympics medals?A.They are hugely valuable. |
B.They are of high quality. |
C.They are designed uniquely. |
D.They are made from e-waste. |
A.The difficulty of making the medals. |
B.The process of collecting old electronics. |
C.The initiative to recycle used smartphones. |
D.The classification of the collected devices. |
A.creative | B.well-paid |
C.demanding | D.time-consuming |
A.To advocate sustainable use of resources. |
B.To promote the spirit of Olympic Games. |
C.To introduce a new technique to make medals. |
D.To call people's attention to environmental damage. |
8 . The streets of Seville, Spain, are lined with over 48,000 attractive orange trees, producing over 16,500 tons of fruit every winter. Though that gives Seville the honor of being Europe's top orange-producing city, the fruit is too sour to be consumed fresh. Some of the produce is used to make jam, but most ends up in landfills. However, that may change soon thanks to an inventive idea to use the oranges to produce clean energy.
The pilot program is being launched by the local government and parks department in cooperation with Emasesa, Seville's water supply division. Juice obtained from 38.6 tons of oranges will be left to ferment (发酵)in an existing biogas facility. The gas released from the fermented liquid will be collected and used to drive a generator to produce clean power. The officials estimate the test run will generate about 1,500 kWh of energy — enough to run one of Emasesa's water purification plants. They say, "It's not just about saving money. The oranges are a problem for the city, and we're producing added value from waste.”
If successful, by 2023, the city hopes to recycle all the oranges and add the electricity generated back to its power system. In trial runs, 1000 kilos of oranges produced 50 kWh of clean energy — enough to satisfy the daily electricity needs of five homes.
“Emasesa is now a role model in Spain for sustainability and the fight against climate change," Espadas Cejas, mayor of Seville, said in the press conference announcing the pilot program. "This project will help us reach our targets for reducing emissions (排 放),energy self-sufficiency, and the circular economy"
The latest attempt is among the many initiatives being carried out across Spain to achieve the country's goal of switching its electricity system to renewable sources by 2050 — and if everything goes according to plan, folly decarbonizing its economy shortly after that.
1. How are oranges on Seville's street trees mostly treated?A.Be thrown away as garbage. | B.Be made into jam. |
C.Be brought to market. | D.Be consumed fresh. |
A.Critical. | B.Conservative. |
C.Positive. | D.Concerned. |
A.Seville's orange trees will be replaced. |
B.Emasesa sets an example in saving water. |
C.Emasesa's residents are using clean energy. |
D.Spain is determined to develop alternative energy. |
A.To draw attention to urban waste. |
B.To promote research into orange juice. |
C.To show a trend towards sustainable energy. |
D.To introduce an innovative electricity-making project. |
9 . The band Coldplay has released (发行) a new album called “Everyday Life”. But the group has announced it won’t go on tour until it can figure out how to tour without making the climate worse.
Normally when bands have a new album, they go on tour to promote (推销) the album. They may fly from country to country and drive across countries in buses, performing in concert after concert.
Touring is an important way singers and musicians earn money. But tours are very hard on the environment. Flying is one of the biggest sources of greenhouse gases. During their last tour, the band flew to five different continents and played 122 shows. They traveled with 109 supporting workers, 32 trucks, and 9 bus drivers. Think about the pollution from Coldplay’s flights as well as the trucks, buses and huge amounts of electricity required to power the shows!
It’s hard to keep track of the pollution a band creates while touring, but most of the environmental cost comes from the fans. During their last tour, Coldplay entertained 5.4 million fans, all of whom had to travel to the concerts and bought “merchandise” like T-shirts, CDs and posters. Some bought food and drinks at the concerts, creating tons of plastic waste.
Instead of touring to promote the new album, Coldplay recorded two videos of the band playing their new songs live in Jordan and has put the videos of their performances up for free viewing on YouTube.
Coldplay, one of whose dreams is to have a show with no single-use plastic and have it largely sun-powered, says it won’t tour again until its members work out how to make their tours help instead of hurt. The decision will cost the band a lot of money in the short run, but it could pay off big for the planet.
1. Why is Coldplay’s last tour mentioned twice by the author?A.To stress the necessity of the tour. |
B.To describe Coldplay’s great popularity. |
C.To introduce Coldplay’s basic information. |
D.To show huge environmental costs of the tour. |
A.By making a tour in Jordan. |
B.By distributing free CDs to fans. |
C.By posting their performances online. |
D.By performing their new songs live on TV. |
A.Thoughtless. | B.Meaningful. |
C.Temporary. | D.Doubtful. |
10 . Looking fashionable feels good. However, did you know that doing so could be extremely bad for the planet?
Making clothes requires lots of energy. For example, cotton fields have to be watered. Jeans must be dyed (染色) and then dried. According to scientists, making 1 kilogram of clothes produces 23 kilograms of greenhouse gases on average.
However, clothes are spending less time in shops and at homes than ever. Consumers (消费者) today keep almost every article of clothing only half as long as they did 15 years ago. That causes a large amount of waste.
Some clothing companies and designers have realized this problem. H & M, for example, was the world’s largest buyer of “better cotton” last year. The cotton needs less water to grow. It also requires fewer pesticides (农药). The Swedish brand has also stopped using a chemical that pollutes the environment when making waterproof (防水的) clothes. Nike, meanwhile, has invented a new method of making shoes. It reduces waste by 60 percent compared with traditional cutting and sewing.
More long lasting clothes could help, too. Tom Cridland is a British designer. The clothes that he designs all go through a special treatment. Cridland says they can last more than 30 years.
Unfortunately, not all clothing companies and designers, think they should be responsible for the environment. Some companies do not care about their carbon footprint at all.
What can we do? In some western schools, students are encouraged to fix their jackets and trousers. Clothing companies there send vans to campuses to help them do it. Another solution is to think twice the next time we buy new clothes. Some clothes may not look very fashionable, but they could be good for our planet.
1. According to the passage, making 50 kilograms of clothes produces about kilograms of greenhouse gases.A.23. | B.115. |
C.230. | D.1,150. |
A.“Better cotton” can grow without water. |
B.“Better cotton” grows faster than traditional cotton. |
C.“Better cotton” is more environmentally friendly. |
D.“Better cotton” is more productive than traditional cotton. |
① Using new material.
② Helping students mend clothes.
③ Measuring their carbon footprint.
④ Designing clothes that can last longer.
A.①②③ | B.①②④ |
C.①③④ | D.②③④ |
A.To stop buying clothes. |
B.To wear fewer clothes at home. |
C.To ask clothing companies for help when our clothes are torn. |
D.To buy clothes made by companies that care about their carbon footprint. |