Royal Dutch Shell is launching a $ 300 million and forestry program, at a time when an increasing number of oil companies are putting money in carbon offset (碳补偿)plans to meet climate goals. The company will spend the money over the next three years on projects to store carbon, including large forests in the Netherlands and Spain, and will start offering motorists the option of purchasing carbon offsets when they buy petrol at the pump.
The executives of the company explained that these carbon offset projects were a new business opportunity for Shell, as well as a way to meet its climate targets. “We believe that over time we will be building a business, because these carbon credits will become more valuable as carbon becomes more limited," they said. Shell recently decided to cut its net carbon footprint (碳排放)by 2-3 percent in five years, which includes emissions (排放)from the products it sells. The company plans to produce carbon credits from the forestry projects, then sell these credits on to customers buying its oil and gas products, or apply the credits to its own operations to lower its carbon footprint.
Plants absorb carbon dioxide as they grow and restoring forests and other natural areas is considered one of the simplest ways to store carbon. However, the voluntary market for carbon credits based on forestry projects has its critics, as projects in developing countries can be hard to monitor. Shell's move has also been criticized by some environmentalists. They worried that there was a risk of " greenwash when companies invested in forestry projects. "There is an entire debate about whether forestry projects truly reduce emissions or not," they said, pointing out that planting in one area could cause deforestation (滥伐森林)to another.
Shell said it would rely on the third party to ensure its forest program to meet the Voluntary Carbon Standard and strict biodiversity requirements. Mark Lewis, head of climate change investment research at BNP Paribas, said, " Planting trees to offset emissions, as far as it goes, is a step in the right direction."
1.What is popular among oil companies these days?
A.Studying climate changes.
B.Launching forestry programs.
C.Working out carbon offset plans.
D.Attracting motorists to buy their petrol.
2.How will Shell Company make profits from its carbon offset projects?
A.By quitting the emissions of its products.
B.By reducing its carbon footprint by a quarter.
C.By limiting the oil used by its own operations.
D.By putting carbon credits it produces on the market.
3.What concerns some environmentalists about forestry project?
A.The projects can't really stop carbon emissions.
B.The projects are hard to monitor in poor countries.
C.The projects may lead to deforestation in other forests.
D.The projects haven't met strict biodiversity requirements.
4.What does the underlined word "greenwash" in paragraph 3 mean?
A.Discount. B.Cheat.
C.Decline. D.Change.
Yellow is usually the color of happy, joyful emotions (情感).But according to a new study, not all people associate the sunshiny shade with good feelings.
To find out what factors might play a role, researchers tested a new hypothesis (假设): What if people's physical surroundings affect their feelings about certain colors? For example, if someone lived in cold and rainy Finland, would they feel differently about the color yellow from someone who lived near the Sahara Desert?
The researchers looked at color-emotion data from an ongoing international survey (调查) of 6,625 people in 55 countries. The survey asked participants to rate 12 colors on how closely they were associated with feelings including joy, pride, fear, and shame.
The researchers paid particular attention to the data for yellow, and analyzed how different factors — including hours of sunshine, hours of daylight, and the amount of rainfall -lined up with the emotions people reported for the color. The two best predictors of how people felt about yellow were the annual amount of rainfall, and how far they lived from the equator (赤道).
Overall, people were more likely to associate yellow with joy when they lived in rainier countries that lay farther from the equator, researchers reported in the Journal of Environmental
Psychology. In Egypt, the likelihood of yellow being associated with joy was just 5.7% ,whereas in chilly Finland it was 87.7%. In the United States, with its mild climate and amber waves of grain, peopled yellow-joy association levels were between 60% and 70% .
The researchers also checked whether associations changed with the season — whether, for example, people in a certain country liked yellow more in the winter than they did in the summer. They found that opinions about color remained fairly constant year-round -even when the weather changed, the data on yellow-joy associations were as good as gold.
1.What did the researchers do before the survey?
A.They went to Finland. B.They made an assumption.
C.They studied certain colors. D.They analyzed some data.
2.Which of the following affects people's feelings about yellow?
A.The changeable seasons. B.The length of daytime.
C.The geographic position. D.The amount of snowfall.
3.How did the researchers carry out the survey?
A.By interviewing participants.
B.By studying the data collected.
C.By travelling around the world.
D.By looking at color combinations.
4.What can be the best title of the text?
A.Finland : A Country Admiring Yellow.
B.Yellow: Associated with Joy Conditionally.
C.Color: An Important Role in Good Feelings.
D.Color-emotion Data: Collected Internationally.
Teenage life is quite dramatic but that doesn't mean you cannot enjoy your life in these years. Even with your daily troubles, your life is not very hard if you know how to deal with them.
I know exactly how you feel. Life as a teenager can be hard. You are not a kid anymore, because you are smart enough to observe and analyze your surroundings. However, you are still not an adult because there are still lots of experiences that you need to have and lessons that you need to learn from these experiences. To top it all, the hormonal (荷尔蒙的)imbalance in you body can really mess you up emotionally. I have been there. I was in it for 6 years exploring what life is about.
As a teenager, I had a major problem completing my chores on time. And at that time, all that I needed to do was to finish my assignments, study for the upcoming test and clean my room. Now, I have much more things to do: cooking, cleaning and working while striking a balance between all my relationships related to work, family and friends. That really is a lot of work. So, I will just give you one golden tip, quoting from Benjamin Franklin," Never leave that till tomorrow which you can do today."
Life becomes much easier now because I finish all my work on time and I have enough time to let my hair down. Half the problems as a teenager are because we hate doing things. We'd rather go and have fun than sit down and take care of our duties and responsibilities. That is why you have so much trouble in your life; your parents won't let you go out with friends because you haven't cleaned your room or your teacher is always criticizing you because you haven't finished your assignments.
1.What does the writer mainly want to tell us in paragraph 1 ?
A.Teenage life is tough. B.Teenagers can't enjoy life.
C.Teenage life is changeable. D.Teenagers should learn more.
2.What plays a key role in making teenage life hard according to the writer?
A.The adolescent changes. B.The lack of life experience.
C.The failure of concentration. D.The unfamiliar surroundings.
3.How did the writer feel about her teenage life?
A.It was difficult. B.It was simple.
C.It was enjoyable. D.It was boring.
4.What does the writer advise teenagers to do?
A.Abandon their friends. B.Go and have fun.
C.Complete their homework. D.Shoulder the burden.
Have you ever experienced any inconvenience caused by language barriers while travelling? Have you ever thought how awesome those language courses would be if they didn't cost so much money and require so much time?
Translaty is created to serve this purpose -without wasting your money and time on language courses, you can instantly become "fluent" in more than 40 languages with this genius device!
What is Translaty?
Translaty is a simple yet life-changing invention that helps you to overcome any obstacles caused by foreign languages, whether you're in a business meeting with an international client or sunbathing somewhere on a Spanish beach. This small but ingenious device is able to instantly recognize and translate over 40 different languages, making intercultural communication completely effortless!
What languages can I actually communicate in?
Translaty has more than 40 languages pre-installed, so you're able to use it the minute you get it! It provides fast and accurate two-way communication and allows you to install some other languages that you might be missing.
What makes Translaty so special?
* Makes travelling easier — forget language barriers and become "fluent" in 40 + languages.
* Helps in business --- strengthening your international business relationships. It's easy when you speak the same language.
* Assists in daily life ——allowing you to overcome language differences with your foreign friends.
* Convenient and easy to use ——lightweight and simple design ensures it's there when you need it the most.
* Offers 100% accurate, two-way translations.
* High sound and recording quality ensure there are no misunderstandings.
To sum up --- get it while you can!
1.Translaty can help users .
A.better understand foreigners B.learn foreign languages well
C.spend less in learning a language D.build relationships with colleagues
2.What is special about Translaty?
A.It's secure. B.It's strong.
C.It's reliable. D.It's affordable.
3.What's the purpose of the text?
A.To report. B.To advertise.
C.To appeal. D.To reply.
假定你是李华，泉州市图书馆将举办中英双语中国茶文化展。你的外教Mr.Smith是中国茶文化的爱好者，请给他写一-封邮件， 邀请他一起参观。 内容包括:
1.参观的时间、地点;
2.展览的主要内容:中国茶历史和文化等的图片;茶叶和茶具。
注意: 1.词数100左右;
2.可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
参考词汇:茶具tea set
Dear Mr. Smith,
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Looking forward to your reply.
Yours,
Li Hua
假定英语课上老师要求同桌之间交换修改作文，请你修改你同桌写的以下作文。文中共有10处语言错误，每句最多有两处。每处错误仅涉及一个单词的增加、删除和修改。
增加:在缺词处加一个漏字符号(∧)， 并在其下面写出该加的词。
删除:把多余的词用斜线(\)划掉。
修改:在错的词下画一横线，并在该词下面写出修改后的词。
注意: 1.每处错误及其修改均仅限一词;
2.只允许修改10处，多者(从第11处起)不计分。
Rope skipping is a sport suitable for people of all age. People skip rope for fun and exercise. Every student can learn to skip. You can skip alone or with my classmates. If you skip alone, you just need short rope about double the length of your high. You can't turn to the rope too fast so that you can skip safe. It might help if you can sing a rhyme while skips. When you skip rope, your heart beats fast than usual and your body is stressed. Therefore, stop for a rest after you injure yourself. So, pick up a rope, finding a silly rhyme and start skipping.
