1 . Where did the idea of “white bikes” come from? In the 1960s, a group of cycling fans came up with an idea. They believed that it would be better for everybody if cars weren’t allowed in the city centre and only bicycles were. They were hopeful that this would help to save energy, reduce pollution and provide free public transport. The group painted hundreds of bicycles white and placed them in many areas around Amsterdam for people to use. Anyone was allowed to take them and use them for short journeys. People would leave the bike in the place where they finished their journey, so that someone else could then take it and use it from there. Soon after, however, problems came up and the “white bikes” all disappeared — thieves stole them all in a matter of weeks!
Why did the group come up with the idea of “white bikes”?
| A．To ensure traffic safety. | B．To reduce transport costs. |
| C．To encourage physical activity. | D．To promote green transport. |
A. The Wilderness Project has an idea. It suggests that we should plant more trees. If the earth has more trees, greenhouse gases will be reduced, and this will help stop global warming.
B. So what can you do to help? Maybe you can buy a young tree to grow. Or you can join a tree planting project such as the ones mentioned above to help save the earth.
C. Nowadays, global warming has become a well-known environmental problem. Then what's causing it? Is it man-made? Or are temperatures simply changing naturally? Whatever the case is, we can at least try to slow things down. But how?
D. Many countries are calling on people to plant more trees. In Belgium, the Organization for Forests works with farmers to help them plant more trees. In Spain, the Canopy Project plants one tree for every Spanish in order to improve the environment.
E. Not only have the countries taken action, but lots of people all over the world have also realized the importance of planting trees. In fact, if everyone plants one tree, just one, it will do great good to our environment.
Hello, everyone! I have just come back from a wonderful trip to Tibet. It was so beautiful there that I felt I was in a fairyland. The scenery was so impressive and the air was pretty fresh and clean.
A. The giant panda used to have a population of 1, 114 in the 1970s. It now totals 1, 864 thanks to 52 protection areas.
B. China will continue its efforts of the wildlife protection. Key projects will be continually carried out to improve protection, including making the lists of wild animals and plants under State protection, and also fighting against illegal wildlife trade, which includes ivory(象牙).
C. In recent decades, a series of wildlife-protection movements have been carried out by the central government. Several species in danger of extinction have made impressive progress .
D. Another species was once thought to be extinct. In 1981, only seven crested ibises were found in Yangxian county, Shaanxi Province. Since then, breeding programs have helped the population reach 2, 000.
E. China has made great improvements in environmental protection during the past 70 years. Protecting wildlife is, without doubt, an important part.
A. Finally, “green” houses are built largely from used materials. This way, they can reduce the burden on the environment for raw materials.
B. Imagine getting paid by the power company instead of paying the company. Most importantly, solar energy or wind power is clean energy.
C. How do you make your home eco-friendly? The answer might be to build a “green” house. “Green ” houses look similar to the houses we live in today, with a few noticeable differences.
D. Additionally, the appliances used inside our houses must also be “green” to limit the energy they use and the waste heat they send out.
E. First, they have solar panels on the roofs or have some kind of wind power to produce their own electricity. On sunny or windy days when the house is not used, power is produced and stored in batteries for later use at night, while extra power is fed back into the power grid to make money.
A. However, there are some young minds working to clean up and protect the sea for future generations. While diving in Greece, young Boyan Slat noticed there was more plastic waste than fish and decided right then to dedicate his life to solving this problem.
B. The problem gets worse as plastic breaks down into very small pieces, or “micro plastic”, which is eaten by fish and leads to massive species loss. Humans also eat these fish, and micro plastic has even been found in tap water around the world.
C. Boyan thought working with the currents and gyres (漩涡) would help collect the waste, so he started the Ocean Cleanup Project-placing very long floating barriers in the Pacific.
D. Then currents concentrate the waste naturally so the waste can be collected and recycled.
E. Plastic takes hundreds of years to break down, so all the plastic ever produced still exists somewhere, 95% of which are not recycled, and large amounts enter the sea.
