1 . I work at a grocery store in Montreal's Plateau neighbourhood, which gets a lot of regulars. On March 12, the Quebec government announced to close all public places to stop the spread of the pandemic(流行病)of coronavirus.
The next day the store was the busiest I've ever seen. The six cash registers had to be kept open from 10 a. m. until close. It was nuts. I didn't have time to eat lunch, and whenever one of us on cash had to use the bathroom, we’d have to bring in a coworker off the floor to cover for us.
Since then, the atmosphere in the store has been different. Customers are mostly considerate, but whenever someone coughs or sneezes, everyone turns around to make sure that person sneezed into their elbow. I've even seen customers come in wearing some strange get-ups. One guy even came in with a plastic Walmart bag wrapped around his entire head, with a slit cut out for his eyes.
A lot of my coworkers have left to avoid a public-facing job during the pandemic. Grocery store workers across Canada are putting their health at risk every time they come in to work, but a lot of us are still making close to minimum wage. I realized that I feel more exhausted than normal even though I'm working the same hours.
There still have been some moments of kindness in the midst of the chaos. I've overheard people talking on the phone who sounded as though they were organizing grocery deliveries for those stuck at home. And this past weekend a very nice lady thanked us for continuing to work. I know everyone is worried, but it's uneless having the same scary conversations day after day. Instead, tell us a funny anecdote, or about Homething nice. We'll appreciate the distraction, and you'll make our day just a bit brighter.
1. What does the author intend to show by " It was nuts." in paragraph 2?| A．The goods were in short supply. |
| B．The store was having a big sale. |
| C．The cashiers complained about their work. |
| D．The locals rushed to do shopping like crazy. |
| A．They like to shop here in disguise. |
| B．They are panicky about the disease . |
| C．They are more friendly to each other. |
| D．They have taken proper preventive measures. |
| A．Optimistic. | B．Talented. | C．Ambitious. | D．Efficient. |
| A．It is not work but worry that kills |
| B．Helping others is helping ourselves |
| C．Moments of kindness shine in a time of chaos |
| D．Here is what it's like working in the pandemic |
2 . Clothing rental is a hot new industry and retailers (零售商) are demanding to get on board in hopes of attracting green shopper.
But is renting fashion actually more environmentally-friendly than buying it, and if so, how much more? Journalist and author Elizabeth Cline investigated (调查) this question and 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.
She writes, ''An item ordered online and then returned can send out 20 kilograms of carbon each way, and increases up to 50 kilograms for rush shipping. By comparison, the carbon impact of a pair of jeans purchased from a physical store and washed and worn at home is 33.4 kilograms, according to a 2015 study by Levi's.''
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 rental services, this usually means dry cleaning, a high impact and polluting process. All the rental services that Cline looked into have replaced perchloroethylene (氯乙烯), a carcinogenic (致癌的) air pollutant, still used by 70 percent of US dry cleaners, with alternatives, although these aren't great either.
Lastly, Cline fears that rental services will increase our appetite for fast fashion, simply because it's so easily accessible. There's something called ''share washing'' that makes people waste more precisely because a product or service is shared and thus is regarded as more eco-friendly. Uber is one example of this, advertised as ''a way to share rides and limit ear 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 in the dustbin after a few wears, but we shouldn't let the availability of these services make us too satisfied. There's an even better step — that's wearing what is already in the closet.
1. What is Elizabeth Cline's attitude toward clothing rental?| A．Approving. | B．Unfavorable. |
| C．Objective. | D．Enthusiastic. |
| A．rental services are on the rise |
| B．clothing rental will be as successful as Uber |
| C．renting clothes might waste more than expected |
| D．renting clothes might make people lose interest in fast fashion |
| A．give up renting any clothing |
| B．purchase inexpensive clothes |
| C．rent clothes rather than buy them |
| D．make full use of clothes we've possessed |
| A．Clothing rental is a new fashion. |
| B．Clothing rental is retailers' preference. |
| C．Renting clothes is not that eco-friendly. |
| D．Renting-clothes business is in a dilemma. |
