Environmental experts warn that our planet is drowning in plastic.
The world’s cities produce 2 billion tons of trash every year. By the year 2050 that number is expected to rise to 3 billion tons. The World Bank estimates that the largest amount of trash today, about 44 percent, is plastic. But we often have to buy packaged goods. And often that packaging is made of plastic.
Now, that may be changing. A new environmentally-friendly shopping model was recently launched at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. This shopping model, called Loop, aims to replace throwaway containers with reusable ones.
Loop is the idea of Terra Cycle, an American-based recycling company. Its chief, Tom Szaky. told the Associated Press (AP) that “removing plastics from the ocean is not enough.” He said the point is to get away from single-use packages. Szaky said that Loop is the future of shopping. But it comes from an idea of the past.
He compared it to the “milkman model” of the 1950s in the United States. Back then, someone brought milk to your doorstep in glass bottles and then left with empty bottles. These could be cleaned and used again. The result is zero-waste.
Jennifer Morgan from the environmental non-profit organization Greenpeace also joined in the discussion about Loop at Davos. She said that “Greenpeace welcomes the aim of the Loop Alliance to move away from throwaway culture and disposability.” But Morgan questioned whether companies worldwide are ready to change their business models.
Loop is set to launch later this year in three eastern U.S. states, and also in Paris, France and some of the surrounding area. Then Loop plans to expand to the U.S. West Coast, Toronto, Canada and Britain by the end of this year or 2020.
1.What does the author intend to do in Paragraph 2?
A.Provide background information. B.Advocate zero-waste lifestyle.
C.Explain the reason for trash. D.Introduce a new topic.
2.Where does the idea “Loop” come from?
A.The World Economic Forum. B.Demand of some companies.
C.Zero-waste model. D.The milkman model.
3.Which countries is Loop expected to expand to by 2020?
A.United States and Switzerland. B.Switzerland and Britain.
C.Canada and Britain. D.France and Canada.
4.What is the text mainly about?
A.A new shopping model. B.The development of future city.
C.The world’s environmental issue. D.The concerns of future shopping.
A day in the life of 18-year-old David Lanster is full of teenage activities: school, baseball practice, homework. And then he starts cooking. “Some nights I’m up until 1 a.m. making pies, or even later if we’re cooking beef,” said the student at Ransom Everglades High School in Florida, US.
For the past year, Lanster and Kelly Moran, his classmate, have been hosting fancy dinner parties at Lanster’s parents’ home. Their meals have 17 courses and are all made by them. Their guests used to give them gifts to thank them, until the pair decided to do something nice for charity. “We got some really great Miami Heat tickets, a nice watch, and many kitchen machines,” Lanster said. “But we wanted to make this something positive for people rather than us.”
Lanster and Moran focused on Common Threads, a charity(慈善机构) that helps to teach kids in poor neighborhood to cook and make healthy eating choices. The young cooks ask their guests to give however much they want as payment for their meals. It all goes to Common Threads because Lanster’s parents cover their food costs. After their last 12-person event, Lanster and Moran gave $1,600 to the charity. Now, they’re taking their show out of the kitchen and on the road. Lanster and Moran have started to organize private dinner parties in a similar way: the host pays for the ingredients(食材), and the guests make a donation (捐赠) to a charity.
Outside the kitchen, the two are busy preparing their college applications. Neither is sure what they will do in the future, but they’ve promised their parents that they’ll leave cooking alone until they finish high school.
1.Why does Lanster and Moran cook now?
A.To get gifts from guests. B.To raise money for charity.
C.To become cooks. D.To make healthier eating choices.
2.What can we infer about Lanster and Moran?
A.They will give up cooking forever.
B.They are sure about their future jobs.
C.Their parents support cooking as a job.
D.They will stop cooking for college application.
3.How can we best describe Lanster and Moran?
A.Selfish and reliable. B.Creative and helpful.
C.Confident and careful. D.Outgoing and patient.
4.What can be a suitable title for the text?
A.A Great Cook B.Eat as you Wish
C.Helping by Cooking D.Cooking for School Fees
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1.What is this advertisement mainly about?
A. It shows us some ways to spend weekends.
B. It shows us a lot of ways to spend our holidays.
C. It shows the ways of saving our time.
D. It shows us a place to relax ourselves.
2.Which of the following is TRUE according to this passage?
A. People can play tennis day and night.
B. People under 20 can all take gymnastics.
C. Children at any age can play golf in the SPORTS CENTER.
D. Men and women swim in the SPORTS CENTER separately.
3.How many sports events are mentioned in the passage?
A. 8 B. 6. C. 5 D. 11.
高中学习任务繁重，因此同学们对于参加学校活动有着不同的看法，请”Taking Part in School Activities”为题，根据下表提示，并结合自己的见闻，用英语写一篇150 词左右的短文(开头已写好，不计入总词数)。
现象与看法 | 观点与理由 |
70%的同学对参加学校活动很感兴趣 | 1. 从课本上学习并不是唯一的任务，应该抓住每个机会来获得实践知识 2. 长时间学习之后，筋疲力尽，可以通过参加学校活动来 放松自己 |
30%的同学不愿参加学校活动 | 1. 应该充分利用时间来学习 2. 学校活动与他们未来的发展没关系 |
我的看法 | …(最少两点) |
Taking Part in School Activities
The study burden tends to be heavier and heavier for high school students. So they hold different views about whether they should take part in school activities.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
单词拼写
1.It is not how much you have read but what you have understood that c____.
2.Consider your s____and weaknesses when making an important decision.
3.There have been several organized searches for this creature, but no strong evidence for its e____has ever been found.
4.People are e____shoppers in China on November 11th, contributing to more than 35 billion online shopping sales.
5.We are lucky to be among the generation of people who have w_____and experienced the great social changes in our country.
6.For this reason, we suggest that we organize a school basketball____( 锦标赛), since basketball is the most popular sport in our school.
7.Despite heavy traffic, the journalists arrived at Lukou Airport thirty minutes ahead of s______.
8.The top leaders of the two countries are holding talks in a friendly____(氛围).
9.I don’t believe what you said, but if you can prove it, you may be able to____(使信服)me.
10.He enjoyed singing and all the congratulations____(随后).
阅读下面短文，在空白处填入 1 个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式填空。
Now there are 32 million deaf children around the world and they often have1. (difficult) learning to read. Smartphone maker Huawei wants to help them out through its new app called StorySign.
2. (power) by a Huawei Artificial Intelligence engine, the app helps deaf children to read3.turning written text to a display of sign language. Users can also choose a book from the app’s library that is then displayed in sign language4. (use) animated ( 栩栩如生的) characters.
The developers aim to make the app’s main character called Star popular with both boys and girls by making her an elder sister or friend, who will help them read and understand the book. Star wears a hearing aid, 5.facial 6. (express) and hands are able to fully communicate the perfect sign language. This way, not only 7. (be) the deaf children learning to read, but also they are entertained.
“Many deaf children struggle8. (learn) to read, often due to lack of resources that bridge the gap between sign language and written text. The app 9. (perfect) gives them this tool to make it much10. (easy) for them to read.” said Andrew Garrihy, Huawei’s CMO for Western Europe.
The app can be downloaded from app stores in 10 different languages including English, French, German and Italian.
