It doesn’t kill germs better than cooler water, but turning tap temperatures high, the US burns carbon equal to the emissions of Barbados.
People typically wash their hands seven times a day in the United States, but they do it at a far higher temperature than is necessary to kill germs, a new study says. The energy waste is equivalent to the fuel use of a small country.
It’s cold and flu season, when many people are concerned about avoiding germs. But forget what you think you know about hand washing, say researchers at Vanderbilt University. Chances are good that how you clean up is not helping you stay healthy; it is helping to make the planet sick.
Amanda R. Carrico, a research assistant professor at the Vanderbilt Institute for Energy and Environment in Tennessee, told National Geographic that hand washing is often “a case where people act in ways that they think are in their best interest, but they in fact have inaccurate beliefs or outdated perceptions.”
Carrico said, “It’s certainly true that heat kills bacteria, but if you were going to use hot water to kill them it would have to be way too hot for you to tolerate.”
She explained that boiling water, 212°F (99.98°C), is sometimes used to kill germs - for example, to clean drinking water that might be polluted with germs. But “hot” water for hand washing is generally within 104°F to 131°F (40°C to 55°C.) At the high end of that range, heat could kill some germs, but the sustained contact that would be required would scald the skin.
Carrico said that after a review of the scientific literature, her team found “no evidence that using hot water that a person could stand would have any benefit in killing bacteria.” Even water as cold as 40°F (4.4°C) appeared to reduce bacteria as well as hotter water, if hands were scrubbed, rinsed(冲洗) and dried properly.
In fact, she noted that hot water can often have an unfavorable effect on hygiene. “Warmer water can harm the skin and affect the protective layer on the outside, which can cause it to be less resistant to bacteria,” said Carrico.
Using hot water to wash hands is therefore unnecessary, as well as wasteful, Carrico said, particularly when it comes to the environment. According to her research, people use warm or hot water 64 percent of the time when they wash their hands. Using that number, Carrico’s team calculated a significant impact on the planet.
“Although the choice of water temperature during a single hand wash may appear minor, when multiplied by the nearly 800 billion hand washes performed by Americans each year, this practice results in more than 6 million metric tons of CO2 equivalent emissions annually,” she said.
That’s roughly equal to the emissions of two coal-fired power plants, or 1,250, 000 passenger vehicles, over the course of a year. It’s higher than the greenhouse gas emissions of small countries like El Salvador or Armenia, and is about equivalent to the emissions of Barbados. If all US citizens washed their hands in cooler water, it would be like eliminating the energy-related carbon emissions of 299,700 US homes, or the total annual emissions from the US zinc or lead industries.
The researchers found that close to 70 percent of respondents said they believe that using hot water is more effective than warm, room temperature, or cold water, despite a lack of evidence backing that up, said Carrico. Her study noted research that showed a “strong cognitive(认知的) connection” between water temperature and hygiene in both the United States and Western Europe,compared to other countries, like Japan, where hot water is associated more with comfort than with health.
The researchers published their results in the July 2013 issue of International Journal of Consumer Studies. They recommended washing with water that is at a “comfortable” temperature, which they noted may be warmer in cold months and cooler in hot ones.
1.What does the writer mainly focus on when writing this passage?
A.Whether hot water helps kill germs effectively in hand washing.
B.How hot water contributes to the serious worsening of our planet.
C.Why the consumption of hot water is unnecessary and wasteful.
D.What the advantages and disadvantages of using hot water are.
2.The underlined word scald in paragraph six probably means .
A.burn B.improve C.soften D.wrinkle
3.According to the passage, all the following share roughly the same CO2 emissions yearly EXCEPT .
A.two coal-fired power plants B.US zinc or lead industries
C.1,250, 000 passenger vehicles D.El Salvador or Armenia
4.Which of the following is WRONG according to the passage?
A.Boiling water at 212°F (99.98°C) works effectively in killing germs.
B.Warmer water can damage the protective layer of the outside skin.
C.There is much difference between cold water and hot water in reducing bacteria.
D.Americans have inaccurate beliefs or outdated perceptions in hand washing.
Never before had a Kitchen so much of a History
It tells of Freedom, Success, and of the Architecture of big American cities. Because that is where it started: in the second half of the 19th century!
Welcome to a new Era of Kitchen Interior Design
Back then, a Generation of successful American Entrepreneurs dreamt of a new style of Architecture to express their personal wealth. This dream was realized by young architects such as Daniel Burnham and Stanford White. They all had studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. And they created a new style for Architecture and Interior Design, named after the famous French Art Institute: Beaux-Arts.
SieMatic BeauxArts Breaks and Creates
In fact, it was not a new style at all, but a composition of styles from different periods and cultures. Many world-famous structures such as the Chicago Art Institute and the Statue of Liberty account for it. But what does that have to do with your kitchen? Just as much as you want it to. Because in the same way that the anti-conventional architects back then took the freedom to combine elements from different historical eras, today, you too can break the conventional rules of style and create something new: your own personal composition of your kitchen. For that, SieMatic BeauxArts offers unique opportunities: A broad range of seemingly conflicting features that you combine to a harmonious design of your own. You can choose from menu of various forms, appealing colors, and precious materials, to create an environment that is much more than just a kitchen: a reflection of your personality.
1.Why did the BeauxArts style attract American entrepreneurs?
A.It helped display their money status.
B.It was created by famous architects.
C.It was named after a famous institute.
D.It represented the 19th century urban culture.
2.What is unique of SieMatic BeauxArts?
A.Its designs are anti-conventional.
B.Its designs come from famous structures.
C.Its customers can enjoy their own composition.
D.Its customers can choose from various new styles.
D
Freedom and Responsibility
Freedom’s challenge in the Digital Age is a serious topic. We are facing today a strange new world and we are all wondering what we are going to do with it.
Some 2,500 years ago Greece discovered freedom. Before that there was no freedom. There were great civilizations, splendid empires, but no freedom anywhere. Egypt and Babylon were both tyrannies , one very powerful man ruling over helpless masses.
In Greece, in Athens (雅典), a little city in a little country, there were no helpless masses. And Athenians willingly obeyed the written laws which they themselves passed, and the unwritten, which must be obeyed if free men live together. They must show each other kindness and pity and the many qualities without which life would be very painful unless one chose to live alone in the desert.The Athenians never thought that a man was free if he could do what he wanted. A man was free if he was self-controlled. To make yourself obey what you approved was freedom. They were saved from looking at their lives as their own private affair. Each one felt responsible for the welfare of Athens, not because it was forced on him from the outside, but because the city was his pride and his safety. The essential belief of the first free government in the world was liberty for all men who could control themselves and would take responsibility for the state.
But discovering freedom is not like discovering computers. It cannot be discovered once for all. If people do not prize it, and work for it, it will go. Constant watch is its price. Athens changed. It was a change that took place without being noticed though it was of the extreme importance, a spiritual change which affected the whole state. It had been the Athenian’ s pride and joy to give to their city. That they could get material benefits from her never entered their minds. There had to be a complete change of attitude before they could look at the city as an employer who paid her citizens for doing her work. Now instead of men giving to the state, the state was to give to them. What the people wanted was a government which would provide a comfortable life for them; and with this as the primary object, ideas of freedom and self-reliance and responsibility were neglected to the point of disappearing. Athens was more and more looked on as a cooperative business possessed of great wealth in which all citizens had a right to share.
Athens reached the point when the freedom she really wanted was freedom from responsibility. There could be only one result. If men insisted on being free from the burden of self-dependence and responsibility for the common good, they would cease to be free. Responsibility is the price every man must pay for freedom. It is to be had on no other terms. Athens, the Athens of Ancient Greece, refused responsibility; she reached the end of freedom and was never to have it again. But, “the excellent becomes the permanent”, Aristotle said. Athens lost freedom forever, but freedom was not lost forever for the world. A great American, James Madison, referred to: “The capacity (能力) of mankind for self-government.” No doubt he had not an idea that he was speaking Greek. Athens was not in the farthest background of his mind, but once man has a great and good idea, it is never completely lost. The Digital Age cannot destroy it. Somehow in this or that man’s thought such an idea lives though unconsidered by the world of action. One can never be sure that it is not on the point of breaking out into action only sure that it will do so sometime.
1.What does the underlined word “tyrannies” in Paragraph 2 refer to?
A.Countries where their people need help.
B.Powerful states with higher civilization.
C.Splendid empires where people enjoy freedom.
D.Governments ruled with absolute power.
2.People believing in freedom are those who________ .
A.regard their life as their own business
B.seek gains as their primary object
C.behave within the laws and value systems
D.treat others with kindness and pity
3.What change in attitude took place in Athens?
A.The Athenians refused to take their responsibility.
B.The Athenians no longer took pride in the city.
C.The Athenians benefited spiritually from the government.
D.The Athenians looked on the government as a business.
4.What does the sentence “There could be only one result.” in Paragraph 5 mean?
A.Athens would continue to be free.
B.Athens would cease to have freedom.
C.Freedom would come from responsibility.
D.Freedom would stop Athens from self-dependence.
5.Why does the author refer to Aristotle and Madison?
A.The author is hopeful about freedom.
B.The author is cautious about self-government.
C.The author is skeptical of Greek civilization.
D.The author is proud of man’s capacity.
6.What is the author’s understanding of freedom?
A.Freedom can be more popular in the digital age.
B.Freedom may come to an end in the digital age.
C.Freedom should have priority over responsibility.
D.Freedom needs to be guaranteed by responsibility.
I used to believe in the American Dream, which meant a job, a mortgage (按揭), credit cards, success. I wanted it and worked toward it like everyone else, all of us____chasing the same thing.
One year, through a series of unhappy events, it all fell____I found myself homeless and alone. I had my truck and $ 56. I____the countryside for some place I could rent for the____possible amount. I came upon a shabby house four miles up a winding mountain road____the Potomac River in West Virginia. It was____, full of broken glass and rubbish. I found the owner, rented it, and_____________.
The locals knew nothing about me,____slowly, they started teaching me the____of being a neighbor. They dropped off blankets, candles, and tools, and began____around to chat. They started to teach me a belief in a____American Dream—not the one of individual achievement but of____
What I had believed in, all those things I thought were____for a civilized life, were nonexistent in this place.____on the mountain, my most valuable possessions were my____with my neighbors.
Four years later, I moved back into____I saw many people were having a really hard time,____their jobs and homes. I managed to rent a big enough house to_______________________________________________________________________________if we hadn’t banded together.
The American Dream I believe in now is a shared one. It’s not so much about what I can get for myself; it’s about____we can all get by together.
1.A.separately B.equally C.violently D.naturally
2.A.off B.apart C.over D.out
3.A.crossed B.left C.toured D.searched
4.A.fullest B.largest C.fairest D.cheapest
5.A.at B.through C.over D.round
6.A.occupied B.abandoned C.emptied D.robbed
7.A.turned B.approached C.cleared D.cut
8.A.but B.although C.otherwise D.for
9.A.benefit B.lesson C.nature D.art
10.A.sticking B.looking C.swinging D.turning
11.A.wild B.real C.different D.remote
12.A.neighborliness B.happiness C.friendliness D.kindness
13.A.unique B.expensive C.rare D.necessary
14.A.Up B.Down C.Deep D.Along
15.A.cooperation B.relationships C.satisfaction D.appointments
16.A.reality B.society C.town D.life
17.A.creating B.losing C.quitting D.offering
18.A.put in B.turn in C.take in D.get in
19.A.yards B.shelters C.camps D.cottages
20.A.when B.what C.whether D.how
In my opinion, the idea of a family is much narrower than for many of us.
A.that used to be B.it is used to
C.it was used to D.it used to be
—When is he willing to lend somebody some money?
—Only when hard enough.
A.to press B.pressing C.pressed D.presses
