Ever wonder how this season’s celebrations affect the environment? Guest blogger Krista Fairles takes an amusing look at this very topic:

The holidays are a wonderful, cheerful time when most people wait for Santa to bring them presents. But I’m not like most people. I spend my time wondering just what the environmental impacts of Santa Claus and his reindeer are, and more importantly, how I can calculate those impacts.

Lately I’ve been particularly curious as to whether Santa’s old sled is a clean green flying machine, or if he should be replacing his 8 reindeer with an environmentally-friendly car.

I should mention that, surprisingly, I was unable to find statistics specific to Santa’s magical flying reindeer, so these calculations use numbers from various sources and may not represent actual pollution caused by Santa and his animals. In other words, don’t complain to the government about the damage Santa is causing the environment based on this article.

Santa’s yearly trip around the globe is 44,000km long, twice the average of a North American driver. If we assume that the magic provides the altitude for this trip, then reindeer power only needs to push Santa’s sled forward. To complete the trip in 12 hours, I estimate they must travel at a speed of about 3100km/h. To travel at this speed, for this length of time, the reindeer need to eat an incredible 980 million calories each!!

So the next question is: how much food is in 980 million calories? Well, if they’re eating corn, they’d need to eat 16,500 lbs each — or 1.6 acres of food. Growing 12.8 acres of corn has its own implications for the environment that we’ll leave for another calculation.

We now need to consider that during the global trip the reindeer are “letting out” some of that corn in the form of methane (甲烷,沼气). A resting cow produces 110 kg of methane per year, so flying reindeer would each let out about 4.8 tons. With methane causing 20 times the global warming damage of CO2, and the altitude increasing that damage by 1000% that another 20 times, we can put Santa’s round-trip emissions at 15,488 tons. This is much more than the 100 tons an environmentally-friendly car would release on the same trip!

Bad Santa.

1. Which aspect does the writer NOT include in her analyses about reindeer’s influence on environment?

A. Distance covered.                                      B. Calories consumed.

C. Tons of waste let out.                       D. Money spent on food.

2. According to Paragraph 6, how many acres of corn would Santa need to feed 10 reindeer?

A. 1.6.                 B. 16.                           C. 12.8.                        D. 128.

3. Which of the following statements would the writer most probably agree with?

A. Christmas celebrations are really a waste of money.

B. Vegetarians are more likely to survive than meat-eaters.

C. Raising animals has a negative influence on environment.

D. The car industry does less harm to environment than farming.

4. Which of the following words best describes the language style of the passage?

A. Humourous and concerned.                    B. Cheerful and friendly.

C. Academic and formal.                               D. Serious and boring.

5. Which of the following is the best title for this passage?

A. Is Santa driving clean and green?

B. Santa, watch where you’re going!

C. Santa Claus is coming to town!

D. Let’s reduce waste on Christmas celebrations!

 

What if I took that big jump on my bike?What’s the worst thing that could happen if I go out at midnight?Should try smoking?The teen years can play out like a choose-your-own-adventure novel.

Teenagers must act on an endless parade of choices.Some choices.including smoking.Come with serious consequences.As a result, adolescents often find themselves trapped between their impulsive tendencies(-Just try it!)and their newfound ability to make well-informed and logical choices(-Wait, maybe that’s not such a good idea!).

So what makes the teenager’s brain so complex? What drives adolescents-more than any other age group-to sometimes make rash or questionable decisions?

If you have ever thought that the choices teenagers make are all about exploring and pushing limits, you are on to something. Experts Experts believe that this tendency marks a necessary period in teen development.The process helps prepare teenagers to confront the world on their own. It is something all humans have evolved to experience-yes, teens everywhere go through this exploratory period.Nor is it unique to people:Even laboratory mice experience a similar stage during their development.

For example,laboratory experiments show that young mice stay close by their mothers for safety. As mice grow.their behavior does too.“When they reach puberty,they’re like,‘I’m gonna start checking out how this environment looks without my mom,…explains Beatriz Luna,of the University of Pittsburgh.

As a developmental cognitive neuroscientist,Luna studies those changes that occur in the brain as children develop into adults.She and other researchers are showing how the teen experience can lead to powerful advantages later in life.Take mice again:Young mice that explore most tend to live longest——that is,unless a cat eats them,Luna adds.

1.What is the best title for the text?

A.Teenagers make endless choices

B.The teenage brain drives them to be different

C.How the teenage brain develops

D.Researches about the teenagers

2.What does the underlined sentence in paragraph 4 mean?

A.It means “you are wrong”.

B.It means“you lose your way”.

C.It means“you get the point”.

D.It means“you are off the point”.

3.According to the text,the teenager who explores most wiIl

A.make no mistakes in his life.

B.have advantages over others.

C.loSe his confidence even his life.

D.experience no failure and live Iongest.

4.What does the writer want to tell us by taking mice for example?

A.young mice try to look for safety.

B.Young mice like to stay with their mothers.

C.Mice also experience a period to explore the world.

D.Mice experience different stages.

5.What may the text discuss in the next part?

A.How call a teenager make right choices

B.Why the parents shouldn’t allow teenagers to smoke

C.What has been discovered in the lab experiment.

D.What really goes on in the teenage brain.

 

There are many stories about people who did not let age stop them in the pursuit of their goals. I’m sure you have heard of recent 70-year-old college graduates, or teenagers who are 1 of many useful things or owners of companies. Actually, it can be done; it just 2 your attitude.

Michael had wanted to run his own business from an early age, but he was 3 a big risk taker. After many years of working for others, he put a business plan together and was about to make the 4 , but his friends told him that at 45 he was too 5 to start his own construction business. They thought it was a young man’s business while Michael needed a steady income to support his family. Michael was discouraged. 6 many of his friends worked in the very field that he was considering starting his business in, he 7 that they knew what was best, so he decided to give up his 8 . But his wife told him that he was foolish to do so. They discussed it and Michael 9 that he’d been using his age as a(n) 10 instead of as an advantage.

Have you put off a goal 11 age or another limiting factor? Does the limiting 12really have as much influence as you think? Age is just a number and each challenge is an opportunity. Your attitude 13 . You’re not too old to try something 14 and never too old to give up on your dreams. They may 15 a bit of adjustment, but if you want something enough, believe in yourself and your desires will have no bounds.

1.                A.owners         B.discoverers      C.inventors D.users

 

2.                A.depends on     B.turns down      C.makes up D.leads to

 

3.                A.never          B.hardly          C.nearly    D.surely

 

4.                A.decision        B.leap           C.conclusion    D.contribution

 

5.                A.early           B.old            C.hard     D.wise

 

6.                A.If              B.Before          C.Even     D.Since

 

7.                A.hoped         B.learnt          C.thought   D.heard

 

8.                A.plan           B.job            C.belief    D.method

 

9.                A.stressed        B.decided        C.realized  D.Dreamed

 

10.               A.response       B.reply          C.answer    D.excuse

 

11.               A.instead of       B.regardless of    C.because of     D.in spite of

 

12.               A.result          B.factor          C.pressure  D.strength

 

13.               A.changes        B.helps          C.begins D.matters

 

14.               A.opposite        B.impossible      C.strange    D.valuable

 

15.               A.make          B.suggest         C.require   D.follow

 

 

If you want to know how crazy people can be about their pets, you might remember that Helmsley left $12 million to her little Maltese dog when she died last year.

The dog's name is Trouble. And apparendy Trouble is still alive. Of course, I would hang on,too, if someone left me $12 million. Look! Top-shelf dog food, soft pillows everywhere, drivers walking me in nice leafy parks. I would live to be 110 in dog years.

The dog's story is still fresh in my mind the other night when I leave a steak house after a superb meal. Then I notice a woman carrying a small bag out of the door behind me.

Once outside, she walks over to where a man is holding a tiny dog hke it's a baby. The dog looks like a Maltese, too, barking and annoying, with a cute haircut,

And now I am treated to an absolute astonishing sight. Because now the woman reaches into the bag and begins pulling out little pieces of meat, which she puts on a plastic spoon and feeds to the dog.

This is no cheap steak house. It's actually, way out of my league --I'm there only because it's a special occasion. I can tell you this: if I walked out of the place with any leftover steak, it sure wouldn't go to a dog. Not at those prices.

So now the woman is Spoon-feeding the dog and the man is just standing there, holding this dog and looking as if this is the most normal thing in the world. And the dog is calmly chewing these pieces of steak as if he's a little king. And this dog is in no hurry. He's having a great time.

A few minutes go by, and now the dog finishes all of his steak. At this point, I hear the woman say to the man "Think he's still hungry?" And she glances behind her at the restaurant, as if she might go back in there to get more steak for the dog.

Watching all this, I'm afraid I'm going to shout, "Are you out of your mind? Feeding all that pricey steak to that little dog? Did you see what our American life is like today? We're all going to be eating dog food if this keeps up!"        

1.Why would the author live to be 110 in dog years?

A.Because he is always in poor health and falls ill.

B.Because a Maltese dog lives longer than a human being.

C.Because his grandparents left him a large sum of money.

D.Because he thinks the dog is treated extremely well.

2.What is the story mainly about?

A.An American family's happy life.

B.A Maltese dog getting $12 million from its owner.

C.A New Yorker spending $ 8 billion for a few banks.

D.A pet dog being fed with expensive food.

3.The underlined sentence "It's actually way out of my league. " (in Para. 6) means __

A.the restaurant is too expensive for the author

B.the author hates the dog being taken there

C.the superb restaurant is about to be out of service

D.the dog doesn't belong to the author's group

4.Seeing the dog.is being treated to expensive steak, the author becomes extremely ____

A.indifferent        B.annoyed          C.concerned        D.envious

 

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