Part I
A:
1.Greenpeace / attitudes and behavior / environment / peace
2.World Wildlife Foundation / 1961 / a future / nature
3.Live Earth / climate crisis
4.Green School Project / schools / waste / landfill
5.Climate Change / knowledge / measures
6.Friends of the Earth / network / activist groups / urgent
7.Environmental Bureau / 143 / 31/ sustainable
8.Foundation / oceans, waves and beaches / 50,000
9.Green Building Council / designed, built and operated / responsible, healthy
10. the Alliance to Save Energy / costs / greenhouse gas emissions
11.The Earth Organization / conservation / rehabilitation /plant and animal
12.Trees, Water &People / natural resources / well-being
13. American Forests / restore and enhance / filter / remove / homes
14.The Global Amphibian Assessment / status / 5,918 / 600 / 60
15.Solar Energy Society / technologies
B
1.food / doesn’t / packaging
2.vegetables / don’t / chemicals
3.Save / water
4.won’t / forever / earth or sea
5.bottles / once / bank
6.paper / recycled /
7.Avoid
8.unleaded petrol
9.made from / protected
10.public transportation
11.wood / rainforests
12.aerosols / haven’t
13.Don’t / plastic boxes
14.batteries / little / 50 / energy
15.lights / using
16.conversation / danger
17.25% / rubbish
18.old people / homes / energy
19.Visit / zoos
Part II
蝾螈 / 蚓螈
A:
1.the atmosphere / the climate / irreversible
2.everybody’s life / activities / real simple / accessible / everyday people / do a lot
3.one step / conscious about / energy / fuel efficient / light bulbs / recycling
B:
1.planting single tree
2.deflate Greenhouse Effect / take CO2
3.real simple activities / accessible to people / citizens / do a lot
4.clean up CO2 / improve environment / neighborhoods attractive
5.a variety of personal actions
Campaign California Re-Leaf as in L-E-A-F was kicked off recently with a party in San Francisco’s Washington Square Park thrown by a coalition of seven urban forestry groups. The focus of the party was the planting of a single tree, the first of 20 million to be planted in 40 Californian cities over the next decade. The tree planting campaign is an attempt to deflate what’s been called the Greenhouse Effect. Scientists believe that the earth is getting warmer because of an acumulaiton fo carbon dioxide in the air. Trees take carbon dioxide out of the air.
Martin Rosen is the director of the Trust for Public Land, the organization that is coordinating the state-wide tree planting effort. “Time is not neutral. We are so rapidly depleting the atmosphere, we are so rapidly changing the climate, that unless we start now the situation may well become irreversible.”
Some movie stars were on hand for the tree planting ceremony. Actor Peter Cyote served as the master of ceremonies. “Unless the environmental movement comes into everybody’s life, in real simple activities, it’s not going to work. Planting a tree is real simple. So I wanted to participate in something that was really accessible to the citizen, just to everyday people, to children. So that as citizens we can do a lot”
After Peter Cyote introduced a few speakers and a couple of songs were sung, the ceremony moved over to a corner of the park where a group youngsters planted a Cooper Beech tree.
Isobel Wade is the state coordinator for Campaign California Releaf. Wade says the tree plantings are important because they will help clean up the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, improve the environment and make neighborhoods more attractive, but Isobel Wade cautions it isn’t enough. “It’s one step in a combination of things. The other kinds of things that we can all be doing are being much more conscious about how we use energy in our home, whether we’re buying --- ah ---fuel efficient cars and products, whether we’re using Styrofoam when we don’t have to be, ---ah --- whether we’re turning off light bulbs when we --- ah – leave the room --- um --- and just a variety of personal actions like recycling that we need to start thinking about and doing more.”
Isobel Wade also says she’d love to see everyone in California’s urban areas take the time to plant one tree and take care of the ones that are already growing.
Part III
I headache
Not easily break down
II. PBS
A: contact / microorganisms /enzymes / smaller pieces / into water &CO2
B
1.safer
90% / degraded / in 90 days / shorter / in a dump
2.more heat resistant
a.melt at 60 centigrade(Celsius)
b.shape retained up to 100 centigrade
C: disadvantage
More expensive than ordinary plastic / price 20% higher
III Application
A: already started
B: To be popularized
C: role
Plastic food containers & tableware / road signs / team cheering equipment (e.g. horns / mini flags / trash bags / umbrellas / eyeglass frames)
原文：
When you go to the supermarket, can you resist using plastic bags? For lot of us, probably won’t. what you eat out? Can you guarantee not to use any plastic tableware? And how about if someone asks you: can you recommend a replacement for plastic products? Don’t say paper! Here is a new solution: biodegradable plastic!
As everyone knows, plastic is a big environmental headache although it brings us much convenience. Like plastic bags, plastic food containers, and plastic tableware. But it is perhaps the most harmful of all our garbage because it does not easily break down in nature.
A researcher from the California Academy of Sciences, Ji Junhui, says he and his colleagues have found a better solution.
“When the PBS in the biodegradable plastic comes in contact with microorganisms or enzymes, the plastic structure will degrade into smaller pieces, and finally it turns into water and carbon dioxide. This is how the break-down process works.”
PBS is a chemical component that is the key to this new biodegradable plastic. It can help the plastic degrade into non-polluting elements, so the broken-down plastic fragments can be absorbed by soil and water.
PBS is not an entirely new product, however, this China-made biodegradable plastic is safer and more heat-resistant. According to Ji Junhui, testing has shown that 90% of this new biodegradable plastic can be degraded within 90 days. And it even takes a shorter period of time if it is buried in a dump rather than exposed to the air.
Usually, biodegradable plastic food containers made in other countries will met when the temperature reaches 60 degrees Celsius, while the Chinese product can retain its shape in up to 100 degrees.
However, Ji Junhui says high-tech products often come at a higher price.
“PBS product is a bit more expensive than ordinary plastic. Taking a plastic bowl as an example, the PBS bowl can be 20% more expensive than the current plastic bowl we use.”
Some hotels and restaurants in Shanghai have already started using the new PBS biodegradable plastic food containers, and the product will be popularized in Beijing as well as in other big cities.
It will play a role in the 2008 Olympic Games. Besides in the production of plastic food containers and tableware for the Games, PBS biodegradable plastic will also be used to make road signs, team cheering equipment like horns and mini flags, as well as trash bags, umbrellas and eyeglass frames.
Probably in the near future, we will really be able to say “farewell” to plastic pollution.
Part IV
Characteristics, its structure, the logical order
Inverted pyramid / the news lead / condensed form / further information
Sum up / either inside or outside / comments, remarks, attitudes, analysis
Some breakthroughs / update / vocabulary / hinders our understanding / enhance our ability / frequently appear/ carefully studied/ the experiment reports / subjects / findings or results / the latest developments
