1 . Every order of takeout comes with a side of single-use plastics and each plastic fork. knife, spoon and straw-whether or not you wanted it or used it-ends up in the trash.
New research found that 139 million metric tons of single-use plastic waste was generated in 2021-six million metric tons more single-use plastics compared to 2019. A hunger for takeout meals during the pandemic contributed to the surge.
An estimated 60% of Americans order takeout or delivery at least once a week and online ordering is growing 300% faster than in-house dining; that means millions of single-use plastic utensils (餐具) are going out with every order.
New laws aim to address the problem. Some of the recent bills are thanks to The National Reuse Network, part of the environmental nonprofit Upstream, which launched a national Skip the Stuff campaign to work out policies that require restaurants to include single-use plastic utensils, straws, and napkins only when customers request them.
The bills also require meal delivery and online apps like Uber Eats, GrubHub and Door Dash to add single-use extras to their menus; customers can choose the items and quantities to have them included in the order. Customers that don’t order the single-use plastics won’t receive them. The goal of the bills is to reduce the 40 billion plastic utensils sent to the landfill (垃圾填埋场) every year.
“Most of the time, people are taking food home or to their offices where there are reusable utensils so these utensils wind up in a drawer or get thrown out,” says Alexis Goldsmith, national organizing director for a nationwide project Beyond Plastics. “Some people do need utensils, but for the most part, they’re not needed.”
To date, Skip the Stuff bills have been passed in several cities, including Denver, Washington, D.C. and Chicago, California and Washington state passed statewide bills that make single-use plastic “accessories” available with takeout orders only upon request.
Organizations like Upstream, Beyond plastics and NRDC have created toolkits to help additional communities launch their own Skip the Stuff campaigns.
1. What does the underlined word “surge” in paragraph 2 probably mean?| A．Great desire. | B．Sharp decline. | C．Rapid increase. | D．Obvious panic. |
| A．Choosing green products. | B．Adding single-use napkins. |
| C．Recycling and reusing utensils. | D．Providing utensils only on request. |
| A．To reduce plastic waste. | B．To stop bad eating habits. |
| C．To encourage people to eat out. | D．To better the dining environment. |
| A．Unimportant. | B．Damaging. | C．Much-needed. | D．Well-known. |
Jiangxi Province has taken many measures to protect finless porpoises (江豚),
The species,
As the water level dropped to less than 12 meters, the lake officially entered this year’s dry season on August 6,
Wang Liang, who works for the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of Jiangxi, said the province has released
3 . The public nowadays has a misunderstanding of forest fires, believing that fires should be kept out of every type of forest. Many of us can recall Smoky the Bear’s famous warning: “Remember, only YOU can prevent forest fires”. However, that’s not always the case. Under the right conditions, and when conducted safely, fire can create many environmental benefits as well as help prevent larger, uncontrollable wildfires.
After a forest fire, many wildlife species will move into recently burned areas to feed on these newly available foods. Some reptiles and amphibians such as the pine snake prefer forests frequently burned by fire. As Herbert Stoddard put it, “One of the most harmful things modern man has done to birds has been his attempt to exclude fire from fire-type pine (松树) forests. Within a few years most forests choke up with bushes, lose their prairie-like vegetation (草原般植被) and can no longer support birds dependent on periodic burning for their food supply and proper cover.”
If you are asked to picture the forest floor, what do you see? Pine needles, cones, leaves, branches might come to mind — all sources of fuel. If these fuel sources build up without any type of removal, the ‘fuel load’ can lead to fires catastrophic to forests and people alike. In contrast, prescribed fire can be used by forest professionals every couple of years to keep forest fuels at an appropriate and manageable level. They can also minimize the spread of pest insects and disease and remove unwanted tree and plant species. Plus, they can create and maintain important wildlife habitats rich in grasses and promote the growth of trees, wildflowers and other various plants.
Many organizations and agencies work to promote fire on the landscape when and where appropriate. Smoky Bear even has an updated warning: “Only You can Prevent Wildfires,” as the Forest Service has over the last few decades developed policies and procedures to include prescribed fire as a management tool, as well as continuing their work to prevent and fight wildfires.
1. What can benefit birds according to Herbert Stoddard?| A．Forest bushes. | B．Fuel sources. | C．Periodic burning. | D．Pine forests. |
| A．preventable | B．planned | C．wild | D．damaging |
| A．To keep the forest in balance. | B．To keep the fuel rich in the forest. |
| C．To put out wildfires. | D．To remove tree and plant species. |
| A．Never Keep The Forest Fire Burning | B．Not All Forest Fires Are Created Equal |
| C．Where There Is Smoke There Is A Fire | D．One Match Can Start A Forest Fire |
4 . The natural world provides humans with essential services. For instance, forests channel water into rivers that irrigate crops while their roots prevent landslides. Over decades, therefore, governments have made promises about preserving the world’s biodiversity.
However, those promises have been broken many times, which has caused the depressing destruction of natural environments. One step towards avoiding yet more disappointment is to emphasize the close link between preserving biodiversity and the widely held goal of reaching net-zero carbon emissions. Unfortunately, less known is the link between them.
Given that biodiversity has an important role in meeting these carbon-reduction goals, you might think it would feature highly in the net- emissions plans. Not so. For example, faced with tighter regulation of emissions, many companies are now channeling more time and cash to their firms’ carbon footprints reduction and energy transition, yet the plans have too little to say about biodiversity.
That needs to change. Sale guarding biodiversity is an efficient way to control carbon emissions. Companies and investment firms should pay more attention to the opportunities from preserving ecosystems. By investing in biodiversity—directing capital to projects that repair an ecosystem—companies can offset (抵消) their emissions. By some estimates, projects to manage carbon-rich wetlands and to reforest cleared and could provide more than one-third of the emissions reductions that are needed to prevent more than 2°C of global warming.
Key to managing more capital is better measurement so that the link between investment in natural projects, biodiversity and carbon is made clear. Today some so-called carbon-offset projects that involve firms paying money to are questionable and not supported by evidence. Better guidelines and practice can help and so can new technology. Drones and satellites can improve the measurement of biodiversity and accounting systems can measure how spending on biodiversity compares with pouring cash into other kinds of carbon management.
1. What do we know about biodiversity?| A．Its importance is undervalued. | B．Its link with carbon emissions is clear. |
| C．It is the source of carbon dioxide. | D．I gets promised benefits from governments. |
| A．To clarify a rule. | B．To make a conclusion. |
| C．To explain a plan. | D．To support an opinion. |
| A．Rebuilding wetlands. | B．Redirecting capital. |
| C．Cutting carbon emissions. | D．Transforming energy. |
| A．The natural world deserves more investment. |
| B．The key to managing capital is new regulations. |
| C．It is hard to achieve net-zero carbon emissions. |
| D．It is worthwhile spending money on clean energy. |
1.海洋的重要性；
2.保护海洋的倡议；
注意：1.写作词数应为100词左右；
2.短文题目和首句已为你写好。
Our Oceans, Our Responsibility
June 8th was officially named by the UN in 2009 as World Oceans Day.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Yours,
Li Hua
6 . As children, Anaa Jibicho and Lamah Bility lived in the same St. Paul, Minn., neighborhood and quickly found out they had a similar past. For both of their families, there was much less safe drinking water than needed, and they suffered because of the global water crisis (危机). When Jibicho was 2 years old, he, too, became ill from contaminated (受污染的) drinking water. While Jibicho was struggling in Ethiopia, Bility, now 24, was in Liberia. He walked every day for three hours to gather water. When Jibicho was 7 and Bility was 11, their families moved to the United States.
As they started settling into their new lives, the water crisis in their home countries appeared in their minds. Millions of Africans, as well as countless others around the world, lack access to safe drinking water, mainly because of poor infrastructure (基础设施).
That’s why “it’s important for us to tell our stories,” Jibicho said. “People typically see numbers and they don’t really know what that means. Those numbers are real people.”
In summer 2020, they launched a water bottle company called Didomi, which means “to give” in Greek. The company uses 50 percent of its money from selling its products to fund projects aimed at improving access to clean water in African nations. They say that they have provided nearly 50,000 people with access to safe drinking water for 10 years.
The company’s commitment to fighting against the water crisis recently caught the attention of the George Washington University (GWU), which plans to distribute (分发) Didomi bottles to all students, staffers, and faculty members this year.
Didomi is on track to broaden its reach, particularly through its partnership with GWU. Jibicho and Bility said the partnership will provide nearly 30,000 people with clean water for 10 years. When the university agreed to distribute Didomi water bottles, “we were just in disbelief,” said Jibicho, a student at Pomona College in Claremont, Calif.
1. What did Jibicho and Bility have in common?| A．They were from the same country. |
| B．They suffered from the same disease. |
| C．They dreamed of going to the United States. |
| D．They had trouble using cleaning water in childhood. |
| A．To warn people of the danger. | B．To make people realize the facts. |
| C．To give people some suggestions. | D．To encourage people to take action. |
| A．It has been going for more than ten years. | B．It donates money to some projects. |
| C．It has helped about 5,000 people. | D．It is a global company. |
| A．Worried. | B．Doubtful. | C．Uncaring. | D．Supportive. |
7 . Marks & Spencer (M&S) is planning to remove “best before” labels (标签) from 300 varieties of fruit and vegetables in its stores to cut food waste. The change will rely on customers using their judgment to determine whether goods are still fine to eat.
The measure, to be rolled out this week, will affect 85% of the supermarket's fresh produce offering. “Best before” labels differ from “use by” dates, with the former often merely a measure of aesthetes (美学), while the latter tending to indicate a safety risk if ignored. “Best before” labels were meant to help consumers, but instead were blamed (for creating mountains of waste from perfectly eatable food).
Tesco. the UK's largest supermarket chain, had already announced the end of best before dates on its own-brand fruit and vegetables as far back as 2018, while the German supermarket LidI also says it does not include best before information to reduce food waste. Now M&S is doing the same, with the aim to halve (减半) food waste from its products by 2030 compared with 2018. Achieving those targets would put it in line with the UK's commitment to meet the United Nations' goal of halving food waste by 2030 compared with 2007.
Reducing food waste is a vital part of dealing with carbon emissions associated with farming and food distribution (分配). WRAP, a food waste charity, estimates that as much 45% of global greenhouse gas emissions can only be dealt with by changing the way we make and consume products and food. It said that removing dates on fresh fruit and vegetables can save the equal of 7 million shopping baskets of food a year.
Catherine David, a director at WRAP, said, “We’re thrilled to see this move from M&S. which will reduce food waste and help solve the climate crisis. We urge more supermarkets to get ahead on food waste by cutting date labels from fresh produce, allowing people to use their own judgment.”
1. What does Marks &Spencer intend to do?| A．Maintain the safety of their products. |
| B．Sell its own-brand fruit and vegetables. |
| C．Ask customers to pick out eatable produce. |
| D．Remove “use by” labels from its fresh produce. |
| A．The problem of climate crisis can ho solved by reducing food waste. |
| B．Marks &Spencer has stopped using the “Best before” labels this week. |
| C．“Best before” labels are responsible for the huge waste of food sold in supermarkets. |
| D．Consumers should decide whether the food is safe to eat by checking “Best before” labels. |
| A．Meet government regulations. | B．Improve food safety standards. |
| C．Increase sales of fresh produce. | D．Get rid of date labels on fresh produce. |
| A．M&S's new move to reduce food waste. |
| B．Tesco follows M&S’s lead on food labels. |
| C．M&S calls for a fight against climate crisis. |
| D．Effective methods to protect the environment. |
1.保护环境的重要性；
2.如何低碳生活；
3.发出倡议。
注意：1.词数100左右；
2.可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
Dear fellow students,
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Student Union
9 . For some people, walking or running outdoors is a great way to work out. However, seeing trash (垃圾) all over the ground is not so pleasant. Well, some people are doing something about it. They are plogging!
“Plogging” began in Sweden. The name combines the Swedish word “plocka,” which means to pick up, and the word Jogging, which means to run slowly. A Swedish man named Erik, started the movement in 2016. On the World Environment Day website, Erik says that he would ride his bike to work every day. Concerned about the amount of trash and litter he saw each day on his way to work, he took matters into his own hands.
In Sweden, many people who exercise outdoors have been doing plogging for years. Take Jeff Horowitz for example. He is a personal trainer in Washington, D.C. He often picks up trash while running outside. “I didn’t know it was a thing really. This is just my personal ethics(道德标准). where 1 go for a run and if I happen to see a piece of garbage lying around and it’s within reach - it is a kind of a little test for me to see if I can grab it and throw it in a near trash can without stopping. And it helps clean up the neighborhood,” he announced.
Today, plogging is an official activity, one that is becoming increasingly popular. Cities around the world now hold plogging events. “I would just hope people would think twice before dropping a garbage on the ground. And, it’s easy to put your garbage in the trash cans. I just think people should think about it a little bit more. I do hope one day there will not be a need for plogging.” said an interviewee.
1. What does the underlined phrase “took matters into his own hands” mean in paragraph 3?| A．called on people to join him. | B．appealed to people to go green. |
| C．began to pick up the trash. | D．had the collected trash recycled. |
| A．Plogging comes naturally to joggers who care about the environment. |
| B．Plogging is an easy way to clean the environment. |
| C．It doesn’t make any sense to joy without picking up trash. |
| D．It is better to clean up ‘the neighborhood by plogging. |
| A．Jogging is truly beneficial. | B．Trash cans should be within reach. |
| C．Throwing trash everywhere is not acceptable. | D．Communities should be kept clean. |
| A．New Exercise Enjoys unbelievable popularity |
| B．New Exercise Trend Also Helps Environment |
| C．Plogging-a Fashionable Way to clear waste |
| D．Plogging-an Exercise Originating in Sweden |
1．海报主题及制作过程；
2．活动感受。
注意：1．写作词数应为80个左右：
2．可适当增加细节以使行文连贯。
Dear fellow students,
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Thank you!
