A new coffee culture is forming in and around San Francisco, California. A growing number of coffeehouses there are barring paper cups. Instead, they are using glass containers or creating “bring your own cup” policies. The movement started among neighborhood cafes in an effort to reduce waste. Now it is gaining support from large businesses in the city—and around the country.
Famous cook Dominique Crenn is opening a cafe in San Francisco next year that will not use to-gabags, throw-away coffee cups or any plastic. Diners who plan to buy a to-go drink from boutique Crenn will be asked to bring their own coffee cups, a spokeswoman said.
The Blue Bottle coffeehouse company uses about 15,000 to-go cups each month at its 70 shops across the U.S. The company recently said it wants to “show our guests and the world that we can get rid of disposable (一次性的) cups”.
Blue Bottle plans to stop using paper cups at two of its stores next year. The move is part of a promise to produce “zero waste” by the end of next year.
Larger coffee and fast-food businesses around the U. S. are feeling a sense of urgency (紧急) to be more environmentally friendly, said Bridget Croke. She is with the New York-based investment company Closed Loop Partners. It is working with Starbucks and McDonald’s to develop a substitute (替代品) for the disposable coffee cup.
Today’s to-go cups for hot drinks are not only made from paper, they also have plastic to prevent leaking. This makes them hard to recycle, Croke said. She admitted that it is not likely that large national food and drink companies will stop using disposable cups totally or ask all customers to bring their own.
So, her company is looking for other solutions. In partnership with Closed Loop, Starbucks and McDonald’s paid $10 million to develop the “single-use cup of the future”. The result is expected to be recyclable and to break down naturally.
1.What does the underlined word“barring”in the first paragraph mean?
A.Using. B.Inventing. C.Improving. D.Banning.
2.What do boutique Crenn and Blue Bottle have in common?
A.They will desert throw-away cups.
B.They’ve decided to improve service.
C.They want to attract more customers.
D.They will open some new coffee shops.
3.Why are traditional to-go cups bad for the environment?
A.They are made from wood.
B.They are needed in great quantity.
C.The hard to recycle.
D.They encourage people to drink more coffee.
4.What do Starbucks and McDonald’s aim to do in the future?
A.Refuse to offer cups to consumers.
B.Invent environmentally friendly cups.
C.Run together with another company.
D.Spend a lot on the development of new coffee.
The popularity of Chinese-owned video-sharing service TikTok (抖音) continues to grow among young people in the United States. In 2019, experts say the service more than doubled its American user base to 37 million. TikTok is especially popular with teens and young adults.
The service lets users create and share their short videos that they think interesting and useful, and many of them are under 15 seconds. The TikTok app offers a wide choice of sounds, brief parts of songs and special effects tools to help create a video. Some TikTok-based memes are very popular. Videos often include popular songs from well-known artists and TikTok has even helped launch the careers of new music stars.
TikTok is considered a competitor to the video-sharing app Snapchat, as well as Facebook’s Instagram service. Snapchat and Instagram also mainly interest young users with a wide mix of photos and videos centered largely on fashion, pop culture and humor.
Last year, TikTok was the second-most downloaded app from Apple and Google stores. Only WhatsApp was downloaded more. Research company Sensor Tower guesses people have downloaded the TikTok app 1.65 billion times.
TikTok has been used by many major companies to reach young people who use little or no traditional media. One of those companies is American-based e. l. f. Cosmetics. The makeup company’s chief marketer, Kory Marchisotto, said that TikTok is “where the Gen Z party is”. Gen Z is a name used to call the generation born between the late 1990s and the early 2000s. “That’s where they’re all hanging out,” Marchisotto said.
Companies appearing on TikTok can make money through advertising. Often, the companies create user “challenges” as part of their ad campaigns. In challenges, users are invited to publish their own videos in which they perform similar dance moves. One campaign by e. l. f. Cosmetics, for example, asked people to wink and move their lips while following a song. TikTok users created 3 million videos that received more than 4 billion view.
1.Which word can best describe the videos created on TikTok
A.Traditional. B.Formal. C.Various. D.serious.
2.Which was downloaded most from Apple and Google stores last year?
A.TikTok. B.Snapchat. C.Instagram. D.WhatsApp.
3.What can companies do on TikTok?
A.Challenge their competitors. B.Make advertisements.
C.Hold music concerts. D.Promote users’abilities to make videos.
4.What is the best title for the text?
A.China’s TikTok Keeps Growing Among US Youth
B.TikTok Helps Users Create and Share Short Videos
C.China-based TikTok achieves great Success
D.Companies Benefit Much from TikTok
I was dropping my mom and sister off at the train station after their holiday visit. On the way I saw a man in a wheelchair in an empty car park. It looked like he wasn’t wearing shoes.
After dropping off my family, I went back to the park and he was still there. His chair was on the incline (斜坡) that led to the street and it looked like he was struggling with his bare (赤裸的) feet to keep the wheelchair from sliding (滑) away into the street. I asked if he wanted me to pull him back up. He nodded. I asked him to pick up his feet and pulled him back up into the park. He didn’t react when I asked if this was far enough. Then, I opened the box I had brought with me. It was a shoe box with an old pair of shoes that I had kept in my car in case I found someone in need.
You could imagine the look on his face. First it was shock, then it was pure delight. When he spoke, I couldn’t understand what he said, but I knew he was thanking me.
On the way back to my car, I saw a couple who were in need and gave them a couple of my bags for the homeless. As I drove past the first man, I saw he had already put on one shoe and was working on the second.
Keeping old pairs of shoes in my car for situations like this is so much more important than throwing them out or selling them at a yard sale.
1.What caught the author’s attention while driving?
A.An empty park. B.A holiday visit experience.
C.A train station. D.A man with bare feet.
2.What was the disabled man doing when the author saw him for the second time?
A.He was putting on a shoe. B.He was asking passers-by for help.
C.He was preventing his chair going down. D.He was pulling himself into the street.
3.What made the man feel shocked?
A.The author’s beautiful car. B.The old shoes offered to him.
C.The questions asked by the author. D.The author’s effort to pull him back.
4.What can be inferred from the last two paragraphs?
A.The author is always ready to help others. B.A homeless couple asked the author for help.
C.The author was praised for his kindness. D.The disabled man had difficulty putting on shoes.
Four Healthy Experience Gifts Wellness Fans Will Love
Healthy classes
Deciding to eat healthier is usually a top New Year’s resolution for most people. You can help a loved one by treating them to a healthy cooking class to learn new tips and tricks that make cooking a healthier, more enjoyable experience. When people sign up for a cooking class, they are going to have a better mental attitude and mood. Sur La Table offers gift certificates (证书) to a variety of cooking classes nationwide that will appeal to just about any taste.
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Salt cave spa day
Sure, you could gift someone a day at any spa and they’ll enjoy it. The goal is to breathe in the refined (提炼的) air, which may help improve breathing system problems, from asthma, colds, to allergies, according to the Salt Therapy Association (which also has a list of locations nationwide). While the science on salt caves is limited, consider it another way to reduce stress and find more balance.
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Year-long pass to parks
Research has shown that spending time outside can help improve your memory, and lessen feelings of sadness. And research on people without sadness has shown similarly promising results of nature’s effect on one’s mood. For those who love a good nature walk or hike, consider gifting a year-long pass to parks. This experience gift gives them admission (进入许可) to more than 2,000 sites.
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A night in
Sometimes all we need is permission to do nothing, even if that’s just at home. The Lather Wellness Retreat offers the chance to relax without having to go anywhere. When we give ourselves permission and the gift of wonderful activities that will help us to reduce our stress, we sleep better and our immune systems (免疫系统) are more balanced.
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1.What can we do with the gift “Healthy” classes”?
A.Relax our body by cooking. B.Learn to prepare better meals.
C.visit different cooking schools for free. D.Make New Year’s resolutions for others.
2.Who might prefer the gift of a year-long pass to parks?
A.Those who want to go fishing. B.Those who want to have a cave spa.
C.Those who want to sleep better. D.Those who want to enjoy outdoor activities.
3.Which of the following can let you feel relaxed at home?
A.A night in. B.Healthy classes.
C.Salt cave spa day. D.Year-long pass to parks.
假定你是李华。你校将于下周六举行“我的拿手菜（My Special Recipe）”大赛，并举办健康饮食讲座。你的留学生朋友Jackson对中国饮食很感兴趣，请你用英语写一封email邀请他参加此次活动。内容包括以下要
点：
1.活动时间和地点；
2.活动的内容和意义。
注意：1.词数100左右；
2.可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
Dear Jackson,
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
I’m looking forward to your coming.
Your sincerely
Li Hua
根据下列各句句意及所给的单词的首字母或汉字提示，用单词的恰当形式填空。
1.The two brothers are like each other in appearance, but d_________ widely in their tastes.
2.Surely, an i________ person like you can deal with any difficult situation.
3.He felt d_______ when he was told that he had failed in the exam.
4.I couldn’t sleep because the bed was so u________.
5.It is unfair for them if I r_______ silence on such an important matter.
6.The _______(设备)for the extreme sports, like bungee jumping, is very expensive.
7.His _______(祖先)came to America from Ireland.
8.Against all odds the child_______(幸存) in the world.
9.________(与...相比)with most of the women at the time, she was lucky.
10.We offer a course that________(与...相联系) English Literature to other sudjects.
