A company in San Francisco, California, has found a way to turn used plastic bottles into women’s shoes.
Every day, millions of Americans drink water and other liquids from plastic bottles. More than 60 million of them are thrown away each day. Many of the plastic bottles end up in landfills or are burned with other waste products.
A San Francisco start-up company called Rothy’s, however, turns this plastic waste into environmentally friendly shoes. Roth Martin is the company’s co-founder. He explains how they turn plastic into soft material for women’s feet. They take the plastic, clean it, and break it down into small pieces. Then they press them through a device that makes soft fibers. Those fibers are then combined together. This is done by a 3D machine. It is designed to reduce waste while making the shoes. The knitted stuff and the inner part of the shoe are then attached to the shoe’s outer part, called the sole (鞋底). This outer sole is also made from environmentally friendly material: responsibly sourced no-carbon rubber.
Rothy’s shoes are sold online. They are flat shoes, with either a rounded or pointed toe. They come in different colors and designs. They cost either $ 125 or $ 145 per pair, depending on the design. After American actress Gwyneth Paltrow discovered them last year, the demand for the shoes grew. Martin says there is no shortage of material to fill that demand. “We’re not going to run out of water bottles any time soon. So we have a limitless supply of material, and I think that is a good sign for our future.” When the environmentally friendly shoes wear out, customers can return them at no cost to a company that uses the recycled materials to make other products.
For now, the shoes are only available to be shipped in the United States. However, the company says it will add international shipping in the near future.
1.How are used plastic bottles usually dealt with?
A.They are buried or burned.
B.They are used to make shoes.
C.They are changed into soft materials.
D.They arc returned to factories for reuse.
2.What does the underlined word knitted in the third paragraph mean?
A.Attached. B.Fixed.
C.Combined. D.Repaired.
3.Which of the following directly helped to increase the sales of Rothy’s shoes?
A.The design and color. B.The reasonable price.
C.The company’s advertisement. D.The star power of Gwyneth Paltrow.
4.What is the purpose of the text?
A.To advertise a new kind of shoes.
B.To describe the process of making shoes.
C.To introduce a new way of recycling plastic waste.
D.To stress the importance of environmental protection.
Skateboarding has become one of several non - traditional activities that PE teachers around America are introducing to inspire kids to exercise regularly. Some PE classes feature in-line (滚轮) skating, yoga, and even rock climbing. Experts have called those types of activities “the new PE”.
Such activities are part of a larger effort to help kids develop lifelong fitness habits and to keep them from becoming overweight. Now, 9 million U.S. children and teens are overweight. Obesity (肥胖) can lead to health problems such as diabetes and heart disease later in life.
“Our children and youth are becoming unhealthy and obese,” says Lindsey Johnson. “Skateboarding is a great activity that keeps kids doing physical movement and gives them new skills and interest.”
Some schools don’t allow skateboarding because they say it is dangerous. Cendali, however, argues that regular practiceeliminatesa great deal of the danger. “We teach students how to do it and how to do it safely,” he says.
Some people say skateboarding teaches life lessons. “Skateboarding teaches kids to believe that if they stick with something they will finally succeed,” says education expert Richard Sagor of Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon.
Skateboarding inspires kids not to give up in learning difficult skills. “It’s natural for kids to want to learn and get better at things,” adds Sagor. “When it comes to skateboarding, they’ll try a trick hundreds of times before they succeed.” That same effort could be made in schoolwork.
Eric Klassen agrees that skateboarding requires kids to stop saying a task is too hard for them. “A baby will attempt to walk 600 to 900 times before he or she is successful,” says Klassen. “We tell students that they shouldn’t say ‘I can’t do it’ unless they’ve tried 600 to 900 times.”
1.Skateboarding is introduced into American schools to ______.
A.encourage students to compete bravely in competition
B.teach students how to deal with risks
C.prevent students suffering from heart disease later in life
D.help students form the habit of doing sports
2.The underlined word “eliminates” in Paragraph 4 probably means “______”.
A.reduces B.increases C.adds D.brings
3.What life lesson do kids learn from skateboarding?
A.To succeed in life you have to learn skateboarding.
B.You will succeed in life if you don’t give up.
C.Only after failing 600 to 900 times can you succeed.
D.There is no hard work after learning skate-boarding well.
4.What would be the best title for the passage?
A.The dangerous PE B.Skills of skateboarding
C.The new PE D.The change of PE
D
There are an extremely large number of ants worldwide. Each individual (个体的) ant hardly weigh anything, but put together they weigh roughly the same as all of mankind. They also live nearly everywhere, except on frozen mountain tops and around the poles.For animals their size, ants have been astonishingly successful, largely due to their wonderful social behavior.
In colonies (群体) that range in size from a few hundred to tens of millions, they organize their lives with a clear division of labor. Even more amazing is how they achieve this level of organization. Where we use sound and sight to communicate, ants depend primarily on pheromone (外激素), chemicals sent out by individuals and smelled or tasted by fellow members of their colony. When an ant finds food, it produces a pheromone that will lead others straight to where the food is. When an individual ant comes under attack or is dying, it sends out an alarm pheromone to warn the colony to prepare for a conflict as a defense unit.
In fact, when it comes to the art of war, ants have no equal. They are completely fearless and will readily take on a creature much larger than themselves, attacking in large groups and overcoming their target. Such is their devotion to the common good of the colony that not only soldier ants but also worker ants will sacrifice their lives to help defeat an enemy.
Behaving in this selfless and devoted manner, these little creatures have survived on Earth, for more than 140 million years, far longer than dinosaurs. Because they think as one, they have a collective (集体的) intelligence greater than you would expect from its individual parts.
1.We can learn from the passage that ants are ____________.
A.not willing to share food
B.not found around the poles
C.more successful than all other animals
D.too many to achieve any level of organization
2.Ants can use pheromones for______.
A.escape B.communication
C.warning enemies D.arranging labor
3.What does the underlined expression "take on" in Paragraph 3 mean?
A.Accept. B.Employ.
C.Play with. D.Fight against.
4.Which of the following contributes most to the survival of ants?
A.Their behavior. B.Their size.
C.Their number. D.Their weight
Four books that will inspire you to travel the world
There's truly nothing like travel when it comes to gaining perspectives and exposing yourself to other cultures. To get you in the adventuring mood, we asked Amazon Senior Editor Chris Schlep to help you come up with a list of books that transport readers to another time and place. Below, see his list of four books that will inspire you to travel the world.
ITALY: Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter
This book by the popular author Jess Walter is a love story that begins on the Italian Coast in the early 60s and eventually concludes in contemporary Hollywood's screen. As the settings shift from Italy to Edinburgh and Los Angeles, you will find yourself longing to go as well. Buy it on Amazon. Price: $28.90
SEATTLE: Where'd You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple
Maria Semple's first novel is not exactly a love story in Seattle, but if you read it, you just might want to come here to see if people are really as selfinvolved as the characters in her book. What really shines through is the strange storytelling and the laughs. Buy it on Amazon. Price: $26.60
ENGLAND: Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
You can't travel to Thomas Cromwell's England without a time machine, but reading Mantel's prizewinning novel is the next best thing. It will make you long to see the ancient buildings and green grass of the English countryside, most of which are still there. Buy it on Amazon. Price: $25.10
NANTUCKET: Here's to Us by Elin Hilderbrand
Elin Hilderbrand has built a writing career out of writing about her hometown island of Nantucket. Her latest book is Here's to Us, which, perhaps not surprisingly, is a great beach book. Buy it on Amazon. Price: $30.80
1.Which book has been produced into a film according to the text?
A. Here's to Us. B. Wolf Hall.
C. Beautiful Ruins. D. Where'd You Go, Bernadette.
2.What is the feature of the Where'd You Go, Bernadette?
A. Its low price. B. Its characters.
C. Its content about love. D. Its storytelling and laughs.
3.Why is Here's to Us suitable for reading on the beach?
A. Because it's about the author’s hometown island.
B. Because it needs a time machine.
C. Because it's about ancient buildings.
D. Because it exposes yourself to other cultures.
语法填空
Charles Babbage was born in 1791 in Britain. He was in poor health in his 1.（young）so he had to be educated at home. Concerned 2.his health, his mother was advised that he should not be taught too much. However, the boy showed 3.early interest in mathematics and worked 4.（hard）at it than anyone else. Later he 5.（admit）into Cambridge University.
In 1827 he became a professor of mathematics. He worked selflessly, 6.（devote）a lot of his wealth and energy to computing machines. In 1834 he 7.（invent）the Analytical Machine which is the prototype（原型）of a computer. This was a great achievement but Charles Babbage never produced a real computer.
Finally in 1871, Charles Babbage, 8. is remembered as the "grandfather of computing", died 9. （peaceful）. However, his principles are still those on 10. modern computers are based.
Although problems are a part of our lives, it certainly doesn’t mean that we let them rule our lives forever. One day or the other, you’ll have to stand up and say—problem, I don’t want you in my life.
1. Problems with friends, parents, girlfriends, husbands, and children—the list goes on. Apart from these, the inner conflicts within ourselves work, too. These keep adding to our problems. Problems come in different shapes and colors and feelings.
But good news is that all problems can be dealt with. Now read on to know how to solve your problems.
Talk, it really helps. What most of us think is that our problem can be understood only by us and that no talking is going to help. 2. Talking helps you move on and let go.
Write your problems.3. When you write down your problems, you are setting free all the tension from your system.You can try throwing away the paper on which you wrote your problems.By doing this, imagine yourself throwing away the problems from your life.
Don’t lose faith and hope. No matter what you lose in life, don’t lose faith and hope.Even if you lose all your money, family...you should still have faith.4.
Your problems aren’t the worst. No matter what problem you get in life, there are another one million people whose problems are huger than yours.5. Your problems might just seem big and worse, but in reality they can be removed.
Go about and solve your problems because every problem, however big or small, always has a way out.
A．But the truth is that when you talk about it，you’re setting free the negative energies that have been gathering within you.
B．When we have a problem，a pressing，critical，urgent，life－threatening problem，how do we try and solve it?
C．Tell yourself：when they can deal with them，why can’t I?
D．Of course，we’ve been fighting problems ever since we were born.
E．We can often overcome the problem and achieve the goal by making a direct attack.
F．Having a personal diary can also be of huge help if you don’t want a real person to talk with.
G．With faith and hope，you can rebuild everything that you lose.
