1 . Are you a tea drinker? If so, you’re not alone. Every day around the world millions of cups of this popular brew are drunk, and it’s been that way for thousands of years. The oldest discovered tea is from the Han Dynasty, dating from 206BC to 220AD. But it’s thought that the tea trend really took off during the Tang Dynasty in the 8th Century, when it became China’s national drink. Now, Turkey, the Republic of Ireland and the UK are believed to be the biggest tea—drinking nations, per capita.
Tea is consumed in many ways-slurped, sipped or glugged. It can be poured from pots, infused or brewed in the cup using tea bags—and it’s this latter process that is causing concern. Research last year found some premium tea bags might be leaving billions of microscopic plastic particles in the cup. Scientists from McGill University in Montreal found that some ‘plastic’ tea bags shed high levels of micro plastics into water. However, The World Health Organization says such particles in drinking water do not appear to pose a risk.
Most tea bags are made from paper, with a small amount of plastic used to seal them shut— made from oil. This has led to debate about whether they can be recycled, but many are still composted. However, gardener Mike Armitage has told the BBC that the plastic contained in the soil could be washed into streams and rivers and ultimately out to sea.
Unilever, the owners of the tea brand PG Tips, said their tea bags are made with a small amount of plastic—used to seal them—and that they are suitable for composting. And the brand Yorkshire Tea said their bags do contain 25% polypropylene, but they were “actively developing plant—based and biodegradable alternatives”.
While tea bag manufacturers might be doing their bit to reduce plastic pollution, it could be a good time to switch your favourite beverage to coffee, or if that isn’t your cup of tea then try using loose-leaf tea, which can have a better flavour.
1. What is the main idea of paragraph 2?| A．Tea can be consumed in many ways. |
| B．The use of tea bags doesn’t appear to pose a risk |
| C．The use of tea bags is causing concern. |
| D．Some tea bags might be leaving microscopic plastic particles in the cup. |
| A．reduce the amount of plastic used to seal tea bags |
| B．wash the plastic in the soil into streams, rivers and sea |
| C．develop plant-based and biodegradable alternatives |
| D．switch to coffee or try to use loose-leaf tea |
| A．Supportive | B．Indifferent | C．Opposed | D．Neutral |
| A．Potential Plastic Pollution |
| B．Chinese tea culture |
| C．What is your favorite drink? |
| D．The Humble tea bag |
2 . More than one billion pounds of pumpkins are grown in the U.S. every year, and after they’ve been used for Halloween, millions of them will end up in a waste yard.
“Driving around after Halloween, you see so many pumpkins on top of their garbage cans. All of them will go to a waste yard and become methane gas(沼气),” says Kay McKeen, director of an environmental education organization based in Illinois.
Methane is a greenhouse gas. Compared to CO2, it warms the atmosphere in a shorter amount of time, which means it’s a most important cause of climate change. And waste yards—where we send as much as 40 percent of the food we produce—take up 14 percent of methane produced in the US every year.
That’s why, in 2014, McKeen began a collection event where local people can bring their waste pumpkins to 69 different locations to send them off to the bins, and—of course—smash them to pieces.
“It puts nutrients(营养) back in our soil, it saves water, it doesn’t make methane gas—it’s just a win-win,” says McKeen.
But not everyone has access to pumpkin smashing events, so we asked our newsletter readers how they reduce their pumpkin waste. The answers are various, ranging from baking sweet treats to bringing a pumpkin treat to farm animals.
1. What happens after Halloween?| A．A lot of pumpkins are thrown away. |
| B．People are busy cleaning up garbage. |
| C．It is the best time for pumpkin harvest. |
| D．People use pumpkins to make methane gas. |
| A．Pumpkins cause the climate change. |
| B．Illinois people waste half of their food. |
| C．Both methane and CO2 are greenhouse gases. |
| D．Methane is the only reason for climate change. |
| A．Burn. | B．Shake. | C．Break. | D．Press. |
| A．A letter. | B．A speech. | C．A news report. | D．A health report. |
1. 垃圾问题的现状；
2. 垃圾分类的意义；
3. 询问对方城市垃圾分类的情况。
注意：1. 词数不少于100；
2. 适当增减细节，使文章连贯；
3. 开头、结尾已给出，不计入总词数。
Dear Chris,
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Yours,
Li Hua
4 . All living things on Earth need water to live. Yet humans are facing serious water problems. According to the United Nations, today over 663 million people live without a safe water supply close to home.
To remind people of the importance of water, the UN first set up World Water Day in 1993. It is on Mar 22 each year. From Mar 22 to 28 is also the China Water Week. The first year’s theme is “Waste water”. It tried to call people to reuse waste water instead of wasting it.
In Australia people make good use of waste water. Most Australians have a grass lawn around their home instead of washing the car in the street. Many of them wash it on the lawn to keep the grass longer so that it covers the ground and reduce evaporation.
Rainwater may seem useless to you. But you can also reuse it. People in Germany collect rainwater to wash their toilets. Most houses in the country that are built in the last few years have rainwater collection devices (设备). Rainwater is collected from the root, and then linked to the toilet. But if you don’t have the device just put a bucket (桶) under your roof when it rains.
Water makes up 71 percent of Earth’s surface. But we can only use a very small part of it. Only about 3 percent of the world’s water is fresh water. It’s in lakes, rivers and underground.
Over 80 percent of the w
aste water in the world goes back into the nature. It has not been cleaned and pollutes the rivers and lakes. Unsafe water makes around 842,000 people die each year.
By 2030, about half of the world’s population could be facing water problem. By 2050, as many as seven billion people across the world could not have enough water supplies. The world’s population might be 9.3 billion by then.
1. The China Water Week in 2017 tries to___________.| A．collect rainwater to wash their toilets |
| B．remind people of the importance of water |
| C．put a bucket under your roof when it rains. |
| D．call people to reuse waste water instead of wasting it. |
| A．sit down | B．cut down | C．put down | D．write down |
| A．To share his rich knowledge about water. |
| B．To warn more people to save water. |
| C．To show how water problems change the world. |
| D．To tell people how to discover safe water supply. |
| A．Water in the world has become less and less. |
| B．Unsafe water makes so many people die. |
| C．Our planet will face serious water problems. |
| D．Learning to save water to protect our planet. |
5 . YOUR VOICE
Animals in Danger — Take Action!!
Your voice, the school newspaper that gives you your say, is going to take part in supporting wildlife protection, and you will have the opportunity to be part of that. We hope that you will all join in the activity to save nature and help out as much as possible.
On Monday 22, we are going to visit Big Tree Park to adopt (收养) an animal. You will get the chance to see the animals in their natural environment and then we will all decide which animal to choose. There are lots of other things that you can do, including mountain biking and horse riding for those of you who want a bit of exercise. A word of warning, though, remember that you have to be careful around the animals.
Mr. Abbey, an expert on endangered species (濒危物种), is going to give us a talk on what we can do to make a difference to the environment. It will take place at the café at 2:00 pm — don’t be late! We really need you to support our program.
1. What is Your Voice?| A．A lecture. | B．A warning. |
| C．An activity. | D．A school newspaper. |
| A．To call on students to protect animals. |
| B．To ask students to give talks on nature. |
| C．To get students to buy their newspaper. |
| D．To encourage students to do more exercise. |
| A．A poster | B．A diary | C．A letter | D．A guidebook |
6 . Many of the world’s largest brewers (啤酒商) are using new technologies to replace single-use, plastic six-pack beer rings with more sustainable materials. Though mostly being used in small test trials, full adoption could have a positive environmental impact. Carlsberg, for example, is using glue to adhere cans in a production method that the Danish brewer says would avoid using 1,200 tons of plastic yearly, or the equal of 60 million plastic bags, once fully adopted.
Brewers have zeroed in on plastic six-pack-ring packaging partly because most consumers can recall the miserable image of a seagull, turtle, or some other aquatic (水生的) creature trapped or killed by the plastic rings. The packaging is so deep-rooted in our culture that many children were taught to cut up the rings to lessen the chance that an animal might choke itself to death.
The rings developed by E6PR (Edible Six Pack Ring) programme, which is led by another brewery called Saltwater, are now used by 35 brewers across the globe, including in Africa, Europe, and Australia. These rings are made of waste wheat in beer production. The final goal is to ensure that the rings can be eaten harmlessly by aquatic creatures or break down in nature within a matter of weeks rather than the years it would take for plastic.
Giving up plastic straws and beer rings may help consumers feel better about their carbon footprint, but some experts say we should focus on other efforts. Recycling rates in the U.S.stand at just over 34%. Glass, in which many brewers bottle their beer, can be difficult to recycle and large to transport. If brewers were to focus on using thinner glass, some experts say, the improvement could prove even more beneficial to the environment than giving up plastic rings.
There’s also the risk that if consumers think their E6PR rings are less harmful, they’ll be more likely to litter. “The idea of creating something that’s litter-friendly is an issue in my mind,” says Nina Goodrich, executive director of environmental nonprofit GreenBlue. “What we need in North America is a better system to encourage collection and sorting.”
1. What does the underlined word “adhere” in paragraph 1 mean?| A．Collect. | B．Stick. | C．Open. | D．Reuse. |
| A．To collect the rings for recycling. |
| B．To make the rings break down more easily. |
| C．To prevent the rings harming aquatic animals. |
| D．To increase children’s awareness of loving nature. |
| A．Low recycling rates in the U.S. |
| B．Benefits of giving up plastic beer rings. |
| C．Difficulty in transporting beer glass bottles. |
| D．Another way to protect the environment. |
| A．They will be thrown away more casually. |
| B．They will not be accepted by consumers. |
| C．They will be more difficult to recycle. |
| D．They will be still made of plastic. |
