1 . A bill to conserve endangered species was passed by the U.S. House in a 231-to-190 vote on Tuesday.
The Recovering America’s Wildlife Act would create an annual fund of more than $1.3 billion, given to states, and territories for wildlife conservation on the ground. While threatened species have been recognized and protected under the Endangered Species Act since 1973, that law does not provide constant funding to actively maintain their numbers.
The effort comes as scientists and international organizations sound the alarm about accelerating species decline.
“Too many people don’t realize that about one-third of our wildlife is at increased risk of extinction,” said lead House sponsor Debbie Ding-ell, echoing (呼应) a recent study about climate change.
In the United States, there are more than 1,600 endangered or threatened species, but state agencies have identified more than 7 times that number in need of conservation assistance in their wildlife action plans.
“The bottom line is, when we save wildlife we save for ourselves,” said Collin O’ Mara, CEO of the National Wildlife Federation, which supports the bill. He said species loss threatens everything from the insects that pollinate (授粉) plants in the food chain, to sea life that helps to reduce damages to coastlines from storm.
The bill would improve a 1937 law, the Pittman-Robertson Act, which was passed in response to decreasing game and waterfowl species. That law allows states to tax hunting supplies to pay for wildlife and habitat restoration, but that money is not enough to do the same for non-game species.
The act would also invest more in conservation than the existing program for threatened non-game species, called the State Wildlife Grant Program, which awarded states a total of $56 million this year.
1. What do we know about the Endangered Species Act?| A．It does not involve continuous funding. |
| B．It was passed by the House this Tuesday. |
| C．It has proved to be a failed Act. |
| D．It ensured the population of all the species. |
| A．Human behavior causes species to decline. |
| B．People’s efforts matter a lot in conservation. |
| C．People lack awareness of animal protection. |
| D．The decline of species is beyond imagination. |
| A．To indicate they are at risk of dying out. |
| B．To illustrate how to protect them properly. |
| C．To show they’re more important than others. |
| D．To tell man and nature are an organic whole. |
| A．Entertainment. | B．News. | C．Technology. | D．Health. |
2 . New Zealand has announced it will outlaw smoking for the next generation, so that those who are aged 14 and under today will never be legally able to buy tobacco.
New legislation (法规) means the legal smoking age will increase every year, to create a smoke-free generation of New Zealanders, associate Health Minister Dr Ayesha Verrall said on Thursday. “This is a historic day for the health of our people,” she said.
The government announced the rising age alongside other measures to make smoking unaffordable and inaccessible, to try to reach its goal of making the country entirely smoke-free within the next four years. Other measures include reducing the legal amount of nicotine in tobacco products to very low levels, cutting down the shops where cigarettes could legally be sold, and increasing funding to addiction services. The new laws will not restrict vape (电子烟) sales.
New Zealand's daily smoking rates have been dropping over time - down to 11.65% in 2018, from 18% a decade earlier. But smoking rates for Maori and Pacifika were far higher - 29% for Maori and 18% for Pasifika. “If nothing changes, it would be decades till Maori smoking rates fall below 5%,” Verrall said. She said to end smoking in the next four years was within reach: “I believe it is. The issue is, though, if we don't change what we’re doing, we won’t make it for Maori - and that’s what the plan is really focused on”.
Smoking has already been widely replaced by vaping among teenage New Zealanders, which is also attracting many young people who would never have taken up smoking - according to surveying of 19,000 high school students this year, nearly 20% were vaping daily or several times a day, the majority with high nicotine doses. That’s compared to 3% of those aged 15-17 who smoked daily in 2018, or 13% who smoked a decade earlier.
Verrall said the legislation would be introduced in 2022, with the age limits coming in in 2023.
1. What’s the final goal of the new legislation?| A．To forbid the people aged 14 and under to buy tobacco. |
| B．To make the country entirely smoke-free within years. |
| C．To make buying tobacco hard. |
| D．To increase the legal smoking age. |
| A．Everyone is allowed to purchase tobacco with permit. |
| B．Purchase of smoking becomes easier and less pricy. |
| C．The vape sales will be greatly influenced. |
| D．It benefits the building of a smoke-free generation. |
| A．New Zealand’s daily smoking rate is quite low. |
| B．It has taken a long time to decrease the rate of smoking. |
| C．Smoking rates are not equal among different parts in New Zealand. |
| D．The smoking rate will be higher over the years. |
| A．A Historic Day of Smoking |
| B．Decreasing Smoking Rate of New Zealand |
| C．Vape-replacement of Tobacco |
| D．New Zealand to Ban Smoking for Next Generation |
3 . "What kind of rubbish are you?" This question has brought about complaints over the past months in Shanghai. On July 1st, 2019, the city introduced strict trash-sorting rules. Residents must divide this waste into four separate groups and throw it into specific public bins.
Shanghai is faced with an obvious environmental problem. It produces 9 million tons of rubbish a year, and the number is rising quickly. Like other cities in China, it has relied on trash pickers to pick out whatever can be reused. But as people get wealthier, fewer of them want to do such dirty work. The waste, meanwhile, just keeps piling up.
Many people appear to be bothered by the rules. Rubbish must be divided according to whether it is food, recyclable, dry or hazardous （有害的）, the differences among which can be complex and confusing. Some have complained that they must put food waste straight in the required public bin, forcing them to tear open plastic bags and throw it by hand. Most annoying is the short scheduled time for throwing trash, typically a couple of hours, morning and evening. This means that people all go at the same time and anyone can keep an eye on what is being thrown out; no one wants to look bad.
People who fail obey the rules could be hit with fines of up to 200 yuan. For repetitive violators, the city can add black marks to their credit records, making it harder for them to get bank loans or even buy train tickets. However, citizens support the idea of recycling in general and say a tough campaign is necessary. "Slowly people will get used to it," says Li Chongjin of Fudan University.
1. What is the purpose of the first paragraph?| A．To amuse the readers with a question |
| B．To introduce a hot topic about trash dividing |
| C．To present a social problem in Shanghai |
| D．To offer a way to deal with the complaints |
| A．trash-pickers | B．waste-throwers |
| C．law-makers | D．rule-breakers |
| A．Being forced to keep plastic bags open. |
| B．Being required to tell different kinds of rubbish apart |
| C．Being seriously punished for improper behavior |
| D．Being asked to throw trash at the short scheduled time. |
| A．Hopeful | B．Dissatisfied. |
| C．Doubtful. | D．Uncaring |
4 . Lawmakers in Massachusetts have introduced a law that would ban children in the seventh grade or younger from playing tackle football（冲撞式橄榄球）.The Act for No Organized Head Impacts to Schoolchildren, or the NO HITS Act, was introduced last month in an effort to protect children’s heads from blows while at a particularly fragile age.
The bill, which would still allow flag or touch football to be played, would cause fines of up to $2,000 for each time the law is broken. People who frequently break the law, or those whose actions cause physical harm, would face bigger fines.
“It’s all about kids’ health and we have a number of studies that say that repeated contacts（接触） to the head are very bad for you and the younger that starts, the worse it is," said Rep. Paul A. Schmid III （D）,who introduced the bill with House Minority Leader Bradley Jones （R）.
According to a 2017 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, researchers examining 111 brains belonging to former NFL （National Football League） players found the brain disease Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, or CTE, in 110 of them. The disease is associated with repeated head injuries, not just concussions（脑震荡）,and is generally found in athletes, retired soldiers and others with a history of repetitive brain injuries, according to the Concussion Legacy Foundation, a non—profit organization that works to study, treat and prevent future cases of brain injuries among athletes and other at—risk groups.
Similar laws have been considered elsewhere in the country, including California and Illinois last year, though they didn’t secure enough votes to become law. Those against previously proposed（提议的）bans have argued that adequate progress has been achieved to make the sport safer and that the sport offers too many benefits for children to totally avoid it.
Several former NFL players, who have been directly or indirectly affected by CTE, have argued differently, however. “I made the mistake of starting tackle football at 9 years old. Now, CTE has taken my life away.Y outh tackle football is all risk with no reward," Pro Football Hall of Famer Nick Buoniconti told CNN last year.
1. Why was the law introduced by lawmakers in Massachusetts?| A．To make tackle football safer for players. |
| B．To ban children from doing sports too young. |
| C．To encourage the popularity of some safe sports. |
| D．To keep young children from suffering brain injuries. |
| A．The reason why the sport is forbidden. |
| B．The consequences of breaking the new law. |
| C．The causes of the new law in Massachusetts. |
| D．The fines of playing tackle football incorrectly. |
| A．Future cases of brain injuries can be reduced. |
| B．NFL players used to pay much attention to CTE. |
| C．Repeated head blows can result in brain diseases. |
| D．Brain injuries can really be prevented with action. |
| A．Tackle football is less dangerous than people think. |
| B．Young children should avoid playing tackle football. |
| C．Tackle football should be made easier to play than before. |
| D．Young children often make mistakes while playing tackle football. |
5 . Some Facts about Britain
School-leaving age
Children have to stay at school until the age of 16. There is no upper age limit.
Alcohol
You have to be 18 to buy alcohol in a shop, but if you’re 16 and you’re having a meal in a pub, you can drink beer or wine with it.
Motor vehicles
16-year-olds can ride a motorbike of up to 50 cc. At 17 you can ride any bike or drive a car.
Smoking
You can smoke cigarettes at any age, but you can’t go into a shop and buy them until you are 18.
Armed forces
Men can join the army at 16, women at 17. If you’re under 18, you need your parents’ permission.
Marriage
You can get married at 16 with your parents’ permission. Otherwise you have to wait till you’re 18.
Paid employment
You can take a part-time job at 14, and a full-time job at 16 (i.e. when you’ve left school).
Entering Parliament(议会)
The minimum age for becoming a Member of Parliament is 21.
1. What is the passage mainly about?| A．People and employment. | B．Children and smoking. |
| C．Age and the law. | D．Safety and traffic. |
| A．take a part-time job | B．drink beer or wine |
| C．drive a car | D．buy cigarettes |
| A．16 | B．17 | C．18 | D．21 |
| A．people can get married at 18 |
| B．people can buy alcohol in a shop at 16 |
| C．children have to study at school until 18 |
| D．a girl of 17 can join the army without asking her parents |
To sue or not to sue?
The rise and rise of the compensation culture
Perhaps it’s not surprising that Roslyn Darch of Houston, Texas, USA felt annoyed when she tripped (绊倒) over a kid running around furniture store, and broke her ankle.
Some argue that this is just greed --- that the amount of money is far too much for the injury suffered---and it’s not the shop’s fault that a mother can’t control her child anyway.
If you think that going on holiday is a good way to get away from all this trouble, think again ---millions of people complain to the British Tourist Authority every year, and many receive some form of compensation. Staff at British travel company Thomson Holidays are used to dealing with requests for compensation following poor weather, cancelled flights and lost luggage, but one spokesman revealed, “We recently had a claim from someone who said their holiday was ruined because they didn’t get on with their travelling companion.
| A．Not everyone takes it for granted to ask for compensation for physical injuries. |
| B．And it’s not the only claim for physical injuries that are keeping the lawyers busy. |
| C．And we regularly get complaints from holidaymakers travelling abroad who say the locals don’t speak English! |
| D．Others would say that it’s good to see the law taking the side of the individual against the big corporations, for a change. |
| E．It’s difficult for the British Tourist Authority to settle the complaints. |
| F．But a few months later, she was $780,000 richer after successfully suing (起诉) the shop. |
