Yours
Li Hua
It has been one of the deadliest climbing seasons on Everest, with at least 10 deaths. And at least some seem to have been
The problem hasn’t beenavalanches(雪崩）, blizzards or high winds. Experienced climbers and industry leaders
Fly-by-night adventure companies are taking up untrained climbers who pose a risk to everyone on the mountain. And the Nepalese government,
Add to that Everest’s unmatched
To reach the peak, climbers
According to the climbers, some of the deaths this year were caused by people getting held up in the long lines on the last 1,000 feet or so of the climb, unable to get up and down fast enough to
Nepal has no
The last time 10 or more people died on Everest was in 2015, during an avalanche. By some measures, the Everest machine has only gotten more out of
Despite all the problems, this year the Nepali government issued a record number of permits, 381, as part of a bigger
| A．recognizable | B．sustainable | C．avoidable | D．feasible |
| A．burden | B．blame | C．border | D．balance |
| A．hungry | B．critical | C．jealousy | D．hesitant |
| A．favor | B．extend | C．grant | D．handle |
| A．appeal | B．adjustment | C．adaption | D．agreement |
| A．catch sight of | B．make use of | C．get rid of | D．take hold of |
| A．remove | B．refill | C．recycle | D．release |
| A．for the first time | B．at long last | C．from time to time | D．in the first place |
| A．strict | B．social | C．scientific | D．creative |
| A．discomfort | B．decay | C．disadvantage | D．disaster |
| A．manage | B．qualify | C．promise | D．schedule |
| A．contact | B．touch | C．control | D．power |
| A．activated | B．exposed | C．introduced | D．dismissed |
| A．inferior | B．minor | C．superior | D．major |
| A．push | B．prospect | C．pattern | D．patent |
Hundreds of scientists, writers and academics sounded a warning to humanity in an open letter published last December: Policymakers and the rest of us must engage openly with the risk of global collapse. Researchers in many areas have projected the widespread collapse as “a credible scenario(情景) this century”.
A survey of scientists found that extreme weather events, food insecurity, and freshwater shortages might create global collapse. Of course, if you are a non-human species, collapse is well underway.
The call for public engagement with the unthinkable is especially germane in this moment of still-uncontrolled pandemic and economic crises in the world's most technologically advanced nations. Not very long ago, it was also unthinkable that a virus would shut down nations and that safety nets would be proven so disastrously lacking in flexibility.
The international scholars’ warning letter doesn't say exactly what collapse will look like or when it might happen. Collapseology, the study of collapse, is more concerned with identifying trends and with them the dangers of everyday civilization. Among the signatories(签署者) of the warning was Bob Johnson, the originator of the “ecological footprint” concept, which measures the total amount of environmental input needed to maintain a given lifestyle. With the current footprint of humanity, “it seems that global collapse is certain to happen in some form, possibly within a decade, certainly within this century,” Johnson said in an email.
“Only if we discuss the consequences of our biophysical limits,” the December warning letter says, “can we have the hope to reduce their speed, severity and harm”. And yet messengers of the coming disturbance are likely to be ignored. We all want to hope things will turn out fine. As a poet wrote,
Man is a victim of dope(麻醉品)
In the incurable form of hope.
The hundreds of scholars who signed the letter are intent(执着) on quieting hope that ignores preparedness. “Let's look directly into the issue of collapse,” they say, “and deal with the terrible possibilities of what we see there to make the best of a troubling future.”
1．What does the underlined word “germane” in Paragraph 3 probably mean?| A．Scientific. | B．Credible. |
| C．Original. | D．Relevant. |
| A．worried | B．puzzled |
| C．surprised | D．scared |
| A．The signatories may change the biophysical limits. |
| B．The author agrees with the message of the poem. |
| C．The issue of collapse is being prioritized. |
| D．The global collapse is well underway. |
The kids are hanging out. I pass small bands of students, on my way to work these mornings. They have become a familiar part of the summer landscape.
These kids are not old enough for jobs. Nor are they rich enough for camp. They are school children without school. The calendar called the school year ran out on them a few weeks ago. Once monitored by teachers and principals, they now appear to be “self care”.
Passing them is like passing through a time zone. For much of our history, after all, Americans arranged the school year around the needs of work and family. In 19th-century cities, schools were open seven or eight hours a day, 11 months a year. In rural America, the year was arranged around the growing season. Now, only 3 percent of families follow the agricultural model, but nearly all schools are scheduled as if our children went home early to milk the cows and took months off to work the crops. Now, three-quarters of the mothers of school-age children work, but the calendar is written as if they were home waiting for the school bus.
The six-hour day, the 180-day school year is regarded as something holy. But when parents work an eight-bour day and a 240-day year, it means something different. It means that many kids go home to empty houses. It means that, in the summer, they hang out.
“We have a huge mismatch between the school calendar and realities of family life,” says Dr. Ernest Boyer, head of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.
Dr. Boyer is one of many who believe that a radical revision of the school calendar is inevitable. “School, whether we like it or not, is educational. It always has been.”
His is not a popular idea. Schools are routinely burdened with the job of solving all our social problems. Can they be asked to meet the needs of our work and family lives?
It may be easier to promote a longer school year on its educational merits and, indeed, the educational case is convincing. Despite the complaints and studies about our kids lack of learning, the United State still has a shorter school year than any industrial nation. In most of Europe, the school year is 220 days. in Japan, it is 240 days long. While classroom time alone doesn’t produce a well-educated child, learning takes time and more learning takes more time. The long summers of forgetting take a toll.
The opposition to a longer school year comes from families that want to and can provide other experiences for their children. It comes from teachers. It comes from tradition. And surely from kids. But the most important part of the conflict has been over the money.
1．The current American school calendar was developed in the 19th century according to ______.| A．the growing season on nation’s farm |
| B．the labor demands of the industrial age |
| C．teachers’ demands for more vacation time |
| D．parents’ demands for other experiences for their kids |
| A．He thinks that school year and family life should be considered separately |
| B．He argues for the role of school in solving social problems. |
| C．He strongly believes in the educational role of school. |
| D．He supports the current school calendar. |
| A．long summer vacation changes the way of learning |
| B．long summer vacation has been abandoned in Europe |
| C．long summers result in less learning time |
| D．long summers are a result of tradition |
| A．is still appropriate | B．is out of date |
| C．is inevitable | D．cannot be revised |
Yours,
Li Hua
Thank you!
I’m glad to receive your letter. You asked me about the kung fu performance in our city.
Hope you can come!
Yours truly,
Li Hua
If you really want to go green, here’s good news: eating green foods is good for you. The very foods with a high carbon dioxide cost — dairy products, processed snacks — also tend to be filled with fat and calories. A green diet would be mostly vegetables and fruits, wholegrains, fish and lean meats like chicken — a diet that’s eco- and waistline-friendly. Eating green foods can be healthier and beneficial to the climate.
It may be hard to believe that a meal at McDonalds produces more carbon dioxide than that your trip to a faraway place produces. More than 37% of the world’s land is used for agriculture, much of which was once forested. Deforestation (砍伐森林) is a major source of carbon dioxide. The fertilizer (肥料) and machinery needed on a modern farm also have a large carbon footprint, as does the network of ships and trucks that brings the food from the farm to your plate.
The most efficient way to reduce the carbon footprint of your menu is to eat less meat, especially beef. Raising cattle takes a lot more energy than growing the equivalent (相等的) amount of grains, fruits or vegetables. What’s more, the majority of cattle in the U.S. are fed on grains and the fertilizer used to grow grains creates separate environmental problems.
Focus on eating food lower on the food chain, with more plants and fruits and less meat and fewer dairy products. It’s simple. We can change today what goes into our bodies for the health of our planet and ourselves.
1．According to the passage, eating green foods will ______.| A．protect the animals from being killed |
| B．promote the development of agriculture |
| C．help us lose weight and keep self-confidence |
| D．be good for our health and make a change of the climate |
| A．Deforestation. | B．Grains. |
| C．Machinery. | D．Fertilizer. |
| A．eat more vegetables than meat |
| B．stop raising cattle |
| C．plant more grains |
| D．use less fertilizer |
| A．The benefits of eating green foods. |
| B．How to reduce carbon dioxide. |
| C．The change of our menu. |
| D．The ways of keeping healthy. |
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