Bamboo chopsticks are some of the world's most popular utensils, but create their fair share of waste. A company in Vancouver, Canada, is giving them a new life.
Felix Bock, ChopValue founder says, "Sometimes a good idea starts with frustration"---when you understand how resource inefficient we are in our cities. I want to make sure to set an example of using chopsticks and create a viable business out of it."
ChopValue collects used chopsticks from local restaurants. The sticks are cleaned, infused （灌输，注入）with resin （树脂）and pressed into tiles （片板）."Our limitation was the size of the chopstick at the beginning — so I wanted to keep it very, very modular （组件的）and very micro, and that's how we developed the first hydraulic hot press （液压热压缩机）that presses 8 by 8 inch （20 by 20 centimetre） tile. It's very highly densified" he says. The tiles are used to make new products, including home decor （装饰）,kitchenware and table tops.
The company has recycled more than 25 million chopsticks to date. They hope to expand by taking their business model abroad. “Think of mass manufacturing today like Ikea would do it We're kind of the anti-Ikea and anti-Amazon. We don't want to ship products. We don't want to mass-produce in one location. We want to produce locally wherever you are — but to scale （按比例）,with a global design and a global brand of support in the back."
Some of the chopsticks have even been found a new life as decor in the restaurants where they were sourced from.
1.Why does Felix Bock start the company according to the text?
A.He wants to set an example of making chopsticks.
B.He wants to make a fortune out of used chopsticks.
C.He intends to compete against Ikea and Amazon.
D.He finds city resources fail to be used efficiently.
2.What is paragraph 3 mainly about?
A.Why the first hydraulic hot press was invented.
B.What the chopstick-tiles are probably used for.
C.How used chopsticks are processed and recycled.
D.When densified tiles are made from used chopsticks.
3.Which of the following is probably true about Amazon?
A.It sometimes deliver products from afar.
B.It expects to have global support.
C.It will shrink their business overseas.
D.It hardly mass-produces in a single place.
4.What can we learn about the chopsticks?
A.They can decorate whatever you want.
B.They can be recycled in restaurants.
C.They can take on a brand new life.
D.They are responsible for too much waste.
The morning she left for Camp Kanawa, Maria awoke with an ache in her stomach. She had gone on plenty of parties. She ’ d even spent a whole weekend at Aunt Jolie and Uncle Ed ’ s. So what happened to her?
No breakfast today, she thought, imagining the ache turning into throwing up and a horrible road trip after a full meal. As usual, Maria felt hungry as soon as the room smelled of French toast. On the other hand, maybe a good breakfast was exactly what she needed.
“There’ s my big camper!’’ said her mom. Then, she walked to the stove, placed two pieces of French toast on a plate and powdered sugar snowing down. “Just like you like it. ’’ At the meanwhile, Maria was already in position, armed with knife, fork, napkin and full glass of milk.
‘‘Get started while it ’ s hot. Your father ’ s coming down in a minute. I told him to shave. Don’t want the bear—I mean, the bushy black beard.”
“Okay，okay，” Maria’s dad said with a smile. “Clean as a whistle. Just like you ordered. ”
“ Really?” Maria ’ s mom shrugged (耸肩).
“ I think it ’ s fashionable，” Maria said，dipping a bite in some syrup (糖浆）.
“Well, your old man is fashionable,” her dad said, moving his head the way he did when he wanted to look like a cool surfer man but looked more like an Egyptian robot. “ In fact，I was the most popular kid at my camp.”
“For the record，it was a science camp,” Maria’s mother reminded her, looking her straight in the eyes. “In all seriousness, Maria, popularity is not important and finding the people who like you for you—that ’ s what matters. ”
“Your mom speaks the truth, Sugar,” said Maria’ s dad，wiping his thick beard with a napkin. “Just be yourself. You’ 11 definitely enjoy it.
1.What probably led to Maria’s hesitation to eat breakfast?
A.The lack of adequate nutrition.
B.The concern about feeling sick.
C.The inviting smell of French toast.
D.The worry about getting overweight.
2.What is Maria’s attitude towards her father’s beard?
A.Favorable. B.Disapproving.
C.Concerned. D.Uncaring.
3.Why did Maria' s mother remind her that her father went to a science camp?
A.To advise Maria not to focus on popularity.
B.To share her similar experience with Maria.
C.To emphasize the importance of science to Maria.
D.To persuade Maria not to discuss subjects except science.
4.What is the best title for the text?
A.Father ’ s beard B.A wonderful breakfast
C.Family talk about a camp D.Maria ’ s dream to be a big camper
Want a wonderful travel in London? Don’t miss the following!
The Guards Museum
The Guards Museum was created as an educational tool for the newest intake of the Guards and includes exhibits of uniform for the five Roval regiments (团) dating from the Civil War, with details of the nature and origin of their ceremonial duties right up to their contemporary role. To anyone interested in these world-famous soldiers this London tourist attraction is a must-see.
Telephone: 020 7414 3428
Toy theatre
Toy theatre (or paper theatre) was most popular in the 1800s, and consists of paper theatres, some with an extraordinary level of detail, allowing children to stage their own productions at home, usually with cut-out sheets of figures for the scenery, props (道具) and various characters in the play.
Telephone: 020 7967 1066
Charles Dickens Museum
The Charles Dickens Museum, an author’s house museum at Doughty Street, is a celebration of one of the greatest novelists in British history. The museum exhibits over 100, 000 items from personal items to artworks (艺术品) from some of his books. It is said that Dickens wrote 3 of his most famous stories while living here, Oliver Twist, Nicholas Nickleby and The Pickwick Papers. The building is the writer’s only surviving London house and we can get to know what life in the household would have been like.
Telephone: 020 7405 2127
Foundling Museum
The Foundling Museum was originally one of the first houses in London for abandoned children and housed over 27, 000 children before its closure (关闭). Since then this London attraction has transformed (转化) itself into one special London museum with a large collection of artworks and social history relating to the children taken in and the terrible social problems that led to children being abandoned by their parents.
Telephone: 020 7841 3600
1.Which will you call if you prefer some history of the army?
A.020 7414 3428 B.020 7967 1066
C.020 7405 2127 D.020 7841 3600
2.What can we learn from the Charles Dickens Museum?
A.The house remains famous as before.
B.It is Charles Dickens’ only surviving house.
C.Visitors can have a taste of Dickens’ life there.
D.Charles Dickens wrote most of his novels there.
3.Which used to be a welfare(福利) institute?
A.The Guards Museum B.Toy theatre
C.Charles Dickens Museum D.Foundling Museum
假设你是红星中学高三学生李华。请根据以下四幅图的先后顺序给学校英文报投稿，记述你所居住的小区在你的建议下建立爱心驿站的过程。
注意：1. 词数不少于60;
2. 开头已给出，不计入总词数。
提示词： 物业 the management department
Last week, a rest station was set up at my suggestion in our community. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
假设你是红星中学高三学生李华。你从英国笔友Jim的来信中得知他所在的大学正在招募国际学生参加暑期夏令营活动。你有意参加。请给该大学写封邮件，内容包括：
1. 表示感兴趣；
2. 你打算参加的原因；
3. 询问相关信息。
注意：1．词数不少于50；
2．开头和结尾已给出，不计入总词数。
Dear Sir/Madam,
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Yours Sincerely,
Li Hua
At one point or another, you’ve probably heard someone speak with confidence on a topic that they actually know almost nothing about. This phenomenon is known as the Dunning-Kruger effect, which refers to the finding that people who are relatively unskilled or unknowledgeable in a particular subject sometimes have the tendency to overestimate their knowledge and abilities.
In a set of studies, researchers Justin Kruger and David Dunning asked participants to complete tests of their skills in a particular domain. Then, participants were asked to guess how well they had done on the test. 1. This effect was most pronounced among participants with the lowest scores on the test.
David Dunning explains that “the knowledge and intelligence that are required to be good at a task are often the same qualities needed to recognize that one is not good at that task.” In other words, if someone knows very little about a particular topic, they may not even know enough about the topic to realize that their knowledge is limited. Importantly, someone may be highly skilled in one area, but be influenced by the Dunning-Kruger effect in another domain.2.
If people who know very little about a topic think they’re experts, what do experts think of themselves? Interestingly, Dunning and Kruger found that although experts typically guessed their performance was above average, they didn’t realize quite how well they had done. They often make a different mistake:3.
What can people do to overcome the effect? Dunning and Kruger once had some of the participants take a logic test and then complete a short training session on logical reasoning. After the training, the participants were asked to assess how they’d done on the previous test. 4.
Afterward, the participants who scored in the bottom 25 percent lowered their estimate of how well they thought they had done on the initial test. In other words, one way to overcome the effect may be to learn more about a topic.
The Dunning-Kruger effect suggests that we may not always know as much as we think we do.
5. However, by challenging ourselves to learn more and by reading about opposing views, we can work to overcome the effect.
A.Researchers found that the training made a difference.
B.They assume that everyone else is knowledgeable, too.
C.This happens when people don’t know much about a topic.
D.All of them had a more accurate view of their performance.
E.They found that participants tended to overestimate their abilities.
F.This means that everyone can potentially be affected by the Dunning-Kruger effect.
G.In some domains, we may not know enough about a topic to realize that we are unskilled.
