But is renting fashion actually more environmentally-friendly than buying it? And if so, how much more? Journalist and author Elizabeth Cline researched this question in a feature article for Elle, and she concluded that it's not as sustainable as it seems.
Take shipping for example, which has to go two ways if an item is rented — receiving and returning. Cline writes that consumer transportation has the second largest carbon footprint of our collective fashion habit after manufacturing.
Then there's the burden of washing, which has to happen for every item when it's returned, regardless of whether or not it was worn. For most renting services, this usually means dry-cleaning, which is a polluting process. All the renting services that Cline looked into have replaced perchloroethylene,a carcinogenic (致癌的) air pollutants that's still used by 70 percent of US dry cleaners, with hydrocarbon (碳氢化合物) alternatives, although these aren't great either. They can produce harmful waste and air pollution if not handled correctly.
Lastly, Cline fears that renting services will increase our appetite for fast fashion, simply because it's so easily accessible. There's something called "share-washing" that makes people have more wasteful behaviors because a product or service is shared and thus is considered more eco-friendly. Uber is one example of this: advertised as a way to share rides and reduce car ownership, and yet it has been proven to discourage walking, bicycling and public transportation use.
Renting clothes is still preferable to buying them cheap and throwing them into the bin after wearing them a few times, but we shouldn't let the availability of these services make us self-satisfied. There's an even better step — and that's wearing what we already have.
1. The underline word in Paragraph 3 most probably means______.A.traveling by ship | B.selling or renting a ship |
C.delivering or mailing | D.the cost of sending |
A.Clothing renting became popular ten years ago. |
B.Consumer transportation has the largest carbon footprint. |
C.Renting clothes deserves further consideration. |
D.Uber is a good example of sharing rides. |
①Renting used clothes ②Buying cheap new clothes and dumping them soon
③Wearing the clothes we have instead of getting more to wear
A.①>②>③ | B.②>③>① |
C.③>②>① | D.③>①>② |
A.Renting fashion-a sustainable choice! | B.Clothes renting or clothes buying? |
C.Renting services are catching on | D.Clothes renting-truly greener? |
2 . Fishing cats are a kind of cats that love water and love to fish. They are like tigers and lions, only much smaller, around twice the size of an average pet cats. They live in wetlands of south Asia and mangrove forests (红树林) of south and southeast Asia. Like many other endangered species, fishing cats are in danger of dying out more than twenty years ago, mainly because of the great international need for food fish and people’s cutting of mangroves at an extremely fast speed.
Mangroves of southeast Asia are home to a great many fantastic species like fishing cats, turtles, shorebirds and others. Mangroves can protect soil and they can be the first line of protection between storms, tsunamis and millions of people who live next to them. The fact is that mangroves can store almost five to ten times more Carbon dioxide than other forests. So protecting mangroves may well be like protecting five and ten times more of other forests.
Ten years ago, in south India, many people came together to change the future of their home. In less than ten years, with international support, the state forest departments and the local people work together to restore over 20,000 acres of unproductive fish and shrimp farms back into mangroves. Now experts are working with them in helping study protect the mangroves as well as species living in them. Fish and shrimp farmers are now willing to work with the experts to test the harvest of nature protection like fishes, turtles and other species in mangroves. The local farmers are encouraged to protect the plant mangroves where they have been lost. A win-win-win situation for fishing cats, local people and the global ecosystem is being built.
1. What made the fishing cats endangered?A.Natural enemies and environmental pollution. |
B.Cutting off mangroves and lack of water. |
C.Less fish and overcutting of mangroves. |
D.Being too large and need for good fish. |
A.the shelter. | B.the jungle. |
C.the gathering. | D.the habitat. |
A.Ways of turning farms into forests. | B.Changes of South India in ten years. |
C.Efforts to protect the mangroves. | D.Work in protecting shrimps. |
A.Fishing Cats and Mangroves Protection | B.The importance of mangroves |
C.Approaches to Protecting Fishing Cats | D.Man and Nature |
3 . Imagine a world without insects. It might sound good at first without creepy-crawly bugs and annoying flies in your apartment. However, the consequences would be disastrous.
The number of insects has dropped by more than half in the past decades, according to British biologist Dave Goulson, author of Silent Earth: Averting the Insect Apocalypse. As insects make up most of the known species on this planet, this data is not good news, The Guardian reported on July 25.
Insects are indeed on the path to extinction, according to the first global scientific review of insect population decline, which was published in the journal Biological Conservation in January 2019. The researchers say intensive agriculture has been the main cause of the decline. Pesticides, in particular, destroy insect habitats. Urbanization and climate change are also significant factors.
“Unless we change our ways of producing food, insects as a whole will go down the path of extinction in a few decades,” the researchers wrote in the review. “The repercussions (影响) this will have for the planet’s ecosystems are catastrophic to say the least.”
What would happen to Earth without insects? It’s almost impossible to predict, but the consequences would be far-reaching. We need insects to pollinate (授粉) crops, recycle plant and animal material, keep the soil healthy and much more. Without insects, many animals would have nothing to eat, and the predators of those animals would go hungry as well. The ecosystem would be thrown off balance.
“If insect species losses cannot be halted, this will have catastrophic consequences for both the planet’s ecosystems and for the survival of mankind,” said Francisco Sanchez-Bayo at the University of Sydney, Australia, one of the authors of the review.
The first step to halting this process is “to engender a society that values the natural world, both for what it does for us and for its own sake”, Goulson suggests. “The obvious place to start is with our children, encouraging environmental awareness from an early age.”
1. What does the underlined word “disastrous” in paragraph 1 probably mean?A.Highly helpful. | B.Very interesting. |
C.Extremely terrible. | D.Impossible to predict. |
A.Problems with intensive agriculture. |
B.Causes of the decline in the insect population. |
C.Factors causing insect habitat loss. |
D.Influence of urbanization on insects. |
A.They help slow down climate change. |
B.They reduce the number of predators. |
C.They have a great impact on the ecosystem. |
D.They keep the soil dry and healthy. |
A.Exploring the natural world often. |
B.Providing insects with enough food. |
C.Taking children to watch insects closely. |
D.Raising public awareness of natural protection. |
4 . Plastic pollution is one of the earth’s greatest challenges that humans have faced and often neglected. Anyone who uses plastic has caused problems in one way or another. In order to solve the environmental problems, more and more people are starting to live a simple and environmental-friendly life called zero-waste lifestyle.
When you choose a zero-waste lifestyle, you pay more attention to how your consumption habits influence the environment. You’re more careful about what you buy and how you use it. So how can you live a zero-waste life? Actually when looking at your rubbish, you’ll grasp what it is.
There are two main types of rubbish. The first is food packaging, so we should learn how to shop for things with no big pack or package-free. The second is product packaging, so we should learn how to make our own products in a green way. With our efforts, we will reduce a large amount of rubbish. Shopping for second-hand goods is also important. Instead of buying new clothes and putting new waste into the waste cycle, we should buy things that are second-hand or can be totally recycled.
There are many advantages of living a zero-waste life. Firstly, we can save money by making things ourselves and buying second-hand goods. Second-hand clothes are usually less expensive than new ones. Next, we can eat better to stay healthy. We should buy fresh fruits and vegetables to reduce the waste of resources when processing food.
Although government policies can make a difference, it needs everyone’s efforts to completely solve the problem. From now on, let’s begin to live a green life.
1. What is the first paragraph mainly about?A.The challenge of improving the environment. | B.The importance of improving the environment. |
C.The advantage of living a zero-waste life. | D.The reason for living a zero-waste life. |
A.understand | B.catch | C.improve | D.doubt |
A.Buying food with fine packaging. | B.Using plastic bottles wisely. |
C.Shopping for second-hand products. | D.Throwing away your old clothes. |
A.explain why the environment is polluted | B.call on more people to live a green life |
C.share some useful ways of reducing rubbish | D.talk about environmental problems in the future |
5 . How to Protect Wildlife
Wildlife faces threats from habitat destruction, pollution, and other human actions. Although protecting wildlife may seem too hard at times, even small actions can help protect many different animals.
● Create wildlife friendly areas. When trying to make your garden more beautiful, choose plants that can provide food and shelter to native wildlife. This will also help cut down on pollution.
●
● Buy products that are wildlife-friendly.
● Limit family size. Population growth is one of the major factors in habitat destruction. With the rapidly growing population, more and more habitats for wildlife are occupied by humans.
A.Live a greener life. |
B.Donate money to organizations. |
C.Each family should be limited to one or two children. |
D.Avoid products that are made from endangered animals. |
E.Protecting wildlife from being endangered is every family’s duty. |
F.Here are some tips on how to protect wildlife through small actions. |
G.Build bird houses to your garden or yard to attract and shelter these species. |
6 . New Lives for Old Phones
When a new mobile phone starts to be sold in stores, many people rush out to buy one. We all want the newest, latest thing.
Mike Townsend works at Total Recall, a mobile phone recycling company. “Don’t throw your old phone away.
Mobile phones contain some poisonous materials. If your phone goes to a landfill, these poisonous materials can get out and get into the water under the ground. That’s the water we need to drink or water goes into rivers or the ocean.
“At Total Recall, we separate the old phones into pieces. Most of the materials in the mobile phones can be recycled and used again.
“
So before you throw that old mobile phone away, use it the last time: search for a recycler near you and give them a call.
A.Recycling your old phone is easy. |
B.Send it to us and we’ll recycle it. |
C.How much is your old mobile phone worth? |
D.But what should we do with our old mobile phones? |
E.Millions of mobile phones are thrown away every year. |
F.Recycling materials helps keep the environment greener and cleaner. |
G.We take apart the old phones and they are used to make new products. |
7 . I fell in love with Yosemite National Park the first time I saw it, when I was 13. My parents took us there for camping. On the way out, I asked them to wait while I ran up to E1 Capitan,a
About 15 years ago I started seeing a lot of
I tried
As a rock-climbing guide, I knew
Each year volunteers come for the cleanup from everywhere. In 2007 alone, 2,945 people picked up 42,330 pounds of trash and
I often hear people
A.distant | B.huge | C.narrow | D.loose |
A.recently | B.finally | C.gradually | D.immediately |
A.climbing | B.painting | C.describing | D.imagining |
A.garden | B.lab | C.home | D.palace |
A.material | B.waste | C.resources | D.goods |
A.over. | B.against | C.beyond | D.within |
A.less | B.most | C.more | D.least |
A.throwing away | B.picking up | C.breaking down | D.digging out |
A.kill | B.save | C.spend | D.wait |
A.satisfied with | B.delighted in | C.used to | D.tired of |
A.something | B.anything | C.everything | D.nothing |
A.cleanup | B.party | C.picnic | D.concert |
A.dropped out | B.looked around | C.showed up | D.called back |
A.demand | B.accomplish | C.receive | D.overcome |
A.plan | B.visit | C.contact | D.difference |
A.crossed | B.covered | C.measured | D.designed |
A.talk | B.argue | C.complain | D.quarrel |
A.watching | B.thinking | C.questioning | D.doing |
A.example | B.explanation | C.method | D.research |
A.unless | B.if | C.although | D.when |
8 . Will you stop using plastic?
If you take a look around your kitchen or office right now, chances are that you’ll notice you’re surrounded by plastic—water bottles, to-go coffee cups, straws (吸管), plastic grocery bags, food wrappers, take-out containers, single-serve coffee pods and produce bags.
It’s certainly not realistic to remove all plastic from your life, but let’s examine some statistics that may encourage you to reduce your single-use plastic footprint by throwing away straws, switching to reusable water bottles, bringing cloth bags to the grocery store and more.
According to a study published in the journal Science Advances, the popularity of plastic, which began rising in the 1950s, is growing out of control.
“Every piece of plastic that has ever been created will remain in the environment in some form, but once we conveniently throw out our rubbish at home, wind and runoff carry our waste from landfills and streets to the ocean,” says Mystic Aquarium’s chief clinical veterinarian Jennifer Flower, DVM, MS. “Given that we are globally producing over 320 million tons of plastic annually, the marine environment is taking a big hit from our daily disposal of plastic.
A.Our plastic consumption is directly affecting the life in the ocean. |
B.People are concerned about the results of overusing plastic containers. |
C.8.2 trillion kilograms of plastic have been produced around the world. |
D.Using plastic containers in microwaves is also harmful to children’s health. |
E.Let’s stop using plastic for the benefit of the environment and human beings. |
F.These are all examples of single-use plastic products, which is a hot topic nowadays. |
G.The most concerning artificial additive BPA is a chemical used in the production of plastics. |
9 . Why Is Sorting Important When Recycling?
We all agree that we should recycle more at home, in the office or when out and about.
Once recyclable materials are collected from your home, they are further sorted in specialized facilities which ensure the quality of the recycling process.
A.For effective recycling we need effective sorting. |
B.Packaging at work is the first step towards recycling. |
C.This is where different sorting techniques come into play. |
D.So citizens need to be aware of their local collection system. |
E.Collection systems can be very different from country to country. |
F.The rest was landfilled or burned even though they could have been recycled or reused. |
G.But for materials to be recycled, they first need to find their way to the right waste stream. |
(1) 垃圾问题的现状;
(2) 垃圾分类的好处(至少2点);
(3) 呼吁全体同学积极参加垃圾分类。
注意:词数:100 左右;
参考词汇:垃圾分类 rubbish classification 可回收物 recyclable waste
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