In our modern world, when something wears out, we throw it away and buy a new one.
The is that countries around the world have growing mountains of because
People are throwing out more rubbish than ever before.
How did we a throwaway society ? First of all, it is now easier to an object than to spend time and money to repair it. modern manufacturing and technology, companies are able to produce products quickly and inexpensively. Products are plentiful and .
Another cause is our of disposable(一次性)products. As people we are always looking for to save time and make our lives easier. Companies thousands of different kinds of disposable products: paper plates, plastic cups, and cameras, to name a few.
Our appetite for new products also to the problem. We are buying new things.
Advertisements persuade us that is better and that we will be happier with the latest products. The result is that we useful possessions to make room for new ones.
All around the world, we can see the of this throwaway lifestyle. Mountains of rubbish just keep getting bigger. To the amount of rubbish and to protect the , more governments are requiring people to recycle materials. , this is not enough to solve(解决) our problem.
Maybe there is another way out. We need to repair our possession throwing them away.
We also need to rethink our attitudes about . Repairing our possessions and changing our spending habits may be the best way to reduce the amount of rubbish and take care of our environment.
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Using a computer or smartphone at night can cause us to pile on the pounds，new research has revealed．
The study found a link between blue light exposure(blue light is produced by smartphones and computers)and increased hunger．It found that exposure to blue light increases hunger levels for several houus and even increases hunger levels after eating a meal．Blue light exposure has also already been shown to cause decreased sleepiness in the evening，increasing the risk of sleeplessness．
The leading researcher，Ivy Cheung，from Northwestern University in Chicago，said，“A single three-hour exposure to blue-enriched light in the evening greatly affected hunger and metabolism(新陈代谢)．These results are important because they suggest that controlling environmental light exposure for humans may represent a novel approach of influencing food intake patterns and metabolism．”
The study group consisted of 10 healthy adults with regular sleep and eating schedules. They completed a four-day trial under dim(昏暗的)light conditions，which involved exposure to less than 20 lux(勒克斯，照明单位)during 16 hours awake and less than 3 lux during eight hours of sleep．On the third day they were exposed to three hours of 260 lux，blue-enriched light starting10.5 hours after waking up, and the effects were compared with dim light exposure.
Ivy Cheung said more research is needed to determine the functions involved in the relationship between light exposure，hunger and metabolism．What is Paragraph 2 mainly about?
| A．How blue light exposure affects hunger． |
| B．Why blue light exposure influences sleepiness． |
| C．What is the link between blue light exposure，hunger and sleepiness． |
| D．Who has found the effects of blue light exposure on hunger and sleepiness． |
The underlined word“novel”in the third paragraph probably means“___________”.
| A．unusual | B．unforgettable |
| C．temporary | D．controversial |
What can we learn from the passage?
| A．Blue light exposure can make us lose weight at night． |
| B．Blue light exposure has no effect on sleeplessness． |
| C．The researchers drew their conclusion by comparison． |
| D．Ivy Cheung has found the relationship between light exposure and hunger． |
Where would you be most likely to find the passage?
| A．On a notice board． | B．In a health magazine． |
| C．On a business website． | D．In a college newspaper． |
The search for beauty spans centuries and continents. Paintings of Egyptians dating back over 4,000 years show both men and women painting their nails and wearing makeup. In 18th-century France, wealthy noblemen wore large wigs (假发）of long, white hair to make themselves attractive. Today, people continue to devote a lot of time and money to their appearance.
There is at least one good reason for the desire to be attractive：beauty is power. Studies suggest that good-looking people make more money, get called on more often in class, and are regarded as friendlier.
But what exactly is beauty? It's difficult to describe it clearly, and yet we know it when we see it. And our awareness of it may start at a very early age. In one set of studies, six-month-old babies were shown a series of photographs. The faces on the pictures had been rated for attractiveness by a group of college students. In the studies, the babies spent more time looking at the attractive faces than the unattractive ones.
The idea that even babies can judge appearance makes perfect sense to many researchers. In studies by psychologists, men consistently showed a preference for women with larger eyes, fuller lips, and a smaller nose and chin while women prefer men with large shoulders and a narrow waist. According to scientists, the mind unconsciously tells men and women that these traits —the full lips, clear skin , strong shoulders —equal health and genetic well-being.
Not everyone thinks the same way, however. “Our hardwiredness can be changed by all sorts of expectations —mostly cultural,” says C. Loring Brace, an anthropologist at the University of Michigan. What is considered attractive in one culture might not be in another. Look at most Western fashion magazines: the women on the pages are thin, but is this "perfect" body type for women worldwide? Scientists' answer is no; what is considered beautiful is subjective and varies around the world. They found native peoples in southeast Peru preferred shapes regarded overweight in Western cultures.
For better or worse, beauty plays a role in our lives. But it is extremely difficult to describe exactly what makes one person attractive to another. Although there do seem to be certain physical traits considered universally appealing, it is also true that beauty does not always keep to a single, uniform standard. Beauty really is, as the saying goes, in the eye of the beholder.People's ideas about beauty __________.
| A．have existed since ancient times |
| B．can be easily described |
| C．have little influence on a person's success |
| D．are based upon strict criteria |
In Paragraph 3, the babies in the study __________.
| A．were rated for their appearance |
| B．were entered in a beauty contest |
| C．were shown photos of a group of college students |
| D．were able to tell attractive faces from unattractive ones |
The underlined word “traits” in Paragraph 4 probably means __________.
| A．qualities | B．measurements |
| C．judgments | D．standards |
We can learn from the passage that __________.
| A．the ideas of beauty vary as people grow up |
| B．the search for beauty is rooted in lack of confidence |
| C．the standards for beauty are based on scientific researches |
| D．the understanding of beauty depends on cultural backgrounds |
What can probably be the best title for this passage?
| A．The History of Beauty |
| B．The Standards for Beauty |
| C．The Mystery of Beauty |
| D．The Attitudes toward Beauty |
Would you like to be an actor, but aren’t the right age or physical type for the part? Don’t give up: there may be a place for you in the world of voice-acting.
Twenty-year-old Rickey Collins brings Tucker Foley to life in the cartoon Danny Phantom. In addition to many appearances on television and in movies, Rickey is a voice-over actor, someone we hear but don’t see. Rickey has acted since he was 6, both on and off camera. After school, his grandmother-- a manager and acting coach--helped him develop his skills by doing voice exercises and reading aloud.
Voice-over actors do many kinds of acting. They are the voices of cartoon characters on television, in movies and video games, and for communicating toys. In films, they replace the foreign language conversation with English version. They create crowd noises, make commercials, act in radio plays, and record telephone instructions and public announcements. They read books on tape and even record museum tours.
Like other actors, voice-over actors need to understand scripts, interpret characters, and breathe correctly. They have to master voice techniques, such as pacing, volume, and range. Sometimes they use their normal voices; other times they change their voices to create different characters or noises. Rickey receives his Danny Phantom scripts only a few days before he tapes each episode(集). He writes helpful notes on the script to guide himself on speaking his part.
Rickey practices, then tapes at the recording studio. He and the other cast members sit in a soundproof booth, acting out their characters as they read their lines into the microphones. “The cartoon gets created after we record the words, so we have to imagine everything in our mind,” says Rickey. Later, the recorded words, music, and sound effects are combined with the cartoon art to create the cartoon we enjoy on TV. Sound interesting? Maybe you can have a “voice” in acting after all!The underlined sentence in paragraph 2 means _______.
| A．Rickey draws the character |
| B．Rickey names Tucker Foley |
| C．Rickey makes the character seem real |
| D．Rickey decides the future of Tucker Foley |
From the passage we can infer that _______.
| A．it’s very complex to become a cartoon film voice-over actor |
| B．Rickey has been involved with acting most of his life |
| C．Rickey’s mother helped him a lot with acting |
| D．many people have nice voices |
Paragraph 4 mainly tells us that _______.
| A．a voice-over actor works very hard |
| B．being a voice-over actor needs talents |
| C．being a voice-over actor requires skills |
| D．voice-over actors have more techniques than other actors |
The information in this article would be most valuable to people _______.
| A．who want to build a career around their voices |
| B．who need to develop their stage-acting skills |
| C．who want to understand scriptwriting |
| D．who need to practice voice exercises |
Which is true about voice-over actors?
| A．They usually create characters according to the films. |
| B．They act as a guide on the museum tours. |
| C．They have to act both on and off camera. |
| D．They must use different voices for different characters and situations. |
Tragedy struck for brothers Rob and Paul Forkan when they lost their parents in the 2004 Asian tsunami. Now, over ten years later, they're using their flip flop business to help other orphans.
The boys had an unusual childhood. They were just 11 and 13 when their parents, Kevin and Sandra, took them out of the UK education system and moved the family to Goa in India. Their parents were of the philosophy that they would receive a healthier and fuller education by traveling the world and helping others. There they did lots of voluntary work and mixed with the local community. It was when the family were on holiday in Sri Lanka that the tsunami hit. Although the children managed to escape, their parents tragically couldn't. But Paul says their upbringing meant they were able to cope with this tough blow. "Our parents gave us this confidence that we could do anything, that nothing was hard to achieve," says Paul.
What the boys did was to start a business selling ethically-sourced sandals. They're called 'Gandys' after the father of India's independence movement, Mahatma Gandhi. "He was in all our schoolbooks as kids; he's on all the money over in India; he's famous for wearing his flip flops," says Paul. The entire project was inspired by their parents’ philosophy, their globetrotting childhoods and what happened to them in Sri Lanka. Their parents had previously worked in the fashion industry before quitting their jobs and focusing on humanitarian projects. Thus, Gandys is a very fitting tribute to their lives. Gandys sells flip-flops and donates 10 percent of the profits from every pair sold to orphans around the globe. In conjunction with Gandys, the Forkans also founded Orphans for Orphans, a charitable organization dedicated to helping orphans. They say they can make a profit and do good at the same time: they give 10% of their profit to charity, and have set up their own foundation through which they've been able to open a children's home in Sri Lanka.
This year alone, Gandys has sold 250,000 pairs of flip flops, which is only expected to increase. In 2013, the business made around 1.2 million pounds ($1.8 million). With more profits, more orphans will receive assistance. Hence, it’s safe to say that the Forkan brothers are making their parents very proud.The two brothers left the UK for India because _________.
| A．the UK education system is not so good as that of India |
| B．their parents had humanitarian projects in India |
| C．the voluntary work in Goa attracted them |
| D．their parents expected them to grow through travelling |
We can infer from the passage that _______.
| A．the parents had great influence on the two brothers |
| B．the two brothers were left hopeless after the tsunami |
| C．their parents died soon after they settled in India |
| D．the two brothers had a troubled childhood |
Why did the brothers name their sandals after Gandhi?
| A．Because Gandhi wears and sells flip flops. |
| B．Because Gandhi always helps orphans. |
| C．Because Gandhi is influential in India. |
| D．Because Gandhi fits into their lives in India. |
What can best describe the brothers?
| A．Unlucky. | B．Modest. | C．Generous. | D．Ambitious. |
What’s the best title of the passage?
| A．Orphans for Orphans |
| B．Making Parents Proud |
| C．Gandys: Making Money and Doing Good |
| D．Rise Up from Tragedy to Success |
EVERY few hundred years, a sleeping giant in southern Italy awakens with a bang, spewing volcanic ash across the countryside. The volcano, called Mount Vesuvius, formed 25,000 years ago. During its most explosive eruptions, the volcano could blanket nearby cities with hot ash, sometimes also burying them with deadly flows of mud and rocks. One famous eruption occurred nearly 2,000 years ago, in the year AD 79. It lasted 18 hours and destroyed the Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum, killing thousands of people as they tried to escape.
Scientists and city officials had supposed that Naples, one of Italy's most populous cities, was far enough away that it would be safe from the volcano's wrath. New evidence suggests that this might not be the case.
Researchers recently discovered 4000-year-old layers of ash and mud under present-day Naples. Just outside the city, they also uncovered abandoned villages, as well as human and animal skeletons. Most surprising of all, the researchers say, was the discovery of thousands of footprints from the same time period, pressed into layers of wet ash that had rained from the sky. The footprints show that thousands of people were fleeing to the northwest, away from the volcano, as it erupted.
Mount Vesuvius hasn't had a major eruption since 1631, but it's still very active. The discovery of the ancient ash layers, skeletons, and footprints is a warning that modern Naples, a city of 3 million people, isn't safe from the volcano, scientists say. So, when the volcano begins to rumble again, Naples should have an emergency evacuation plan ready - just in case.Which of the following is true with Mount Vesuvius?
| A．It formed 2,500 years ago. |
| B．Its latest eruption occurred 2,000 years ago. |
| C．It is an active, destructive volcano. |
| D．It is where the city Naples is located. |
What does the word underlined possibly mean?
| A．Path. | B．Heat. | C．Fear . | D．Eruption. |
The researchers found the new evidence EXCEPT _________.
| A．ancient layers of ash and mud |
| B．animal footprints |
| C．abandoned villages |
| D．human skeletons |
What can we conclude from the passage?
| A．City Pompeii has been rebuilt now. |
| B．City Naples isn’t suitable for living. |
| C．Mount Vesuvius will not erupt in a hundred years. |
| D．Mount Vesuvius is a potential danger to Naples. |
The author of the passage intends to ________.
| A．introduce Mount Vesuvius |
| B．describe the city Naples |
| C．present new discoveries by researchers |
| D．propose a plan for escape |