Lego is considering a brick rental scheme in an attempt to cut down on plastic waste. The Danish toymaker has promised to make all its bricks from sustainable (可持续的) sources by 2030 and is ploughing significant resources into finding alternatives.

    Tim Brooks, vice-president responsible for sustainability, said the company was "totally open" to the idea of a product rental scheme but acknowledged that lost pieces could cause a significant problem. He said the rental scheme was "possible" but admitted there were some "technical barriers", one of which is the complexity of some Lego kits (配套元件), many of which contain thousands of pieces.

    "What are the chances of giving them to an eight-year-old child and getting them all back again?" Mr Brooks added. "There is a lot of technical thinking that needs to be done.

    We are right at beginning of that." Mr Brooks said Lego was exploring several ideas with a view to producing the highest value from products while consuming the least amount of resources. He said many would "probably never see the light of day" and there was no current plan to try a rental scheme.

    Lego has come under increasing pressure to reduce its carbon footprint amid growing international alarm about the impact of plastic waste on the environment. It manufactures 19 billion pieces per year—36,000 a minute——that are made only of plastic while much of the internal packaging is also plastic.

    So far, the only breakthrough has been the development of a line of bricks made from plant-based plastic sourced from sugarcane. The green trees, plants and flowers were first included in Lego sets late last year but account for only one-two percent of the total amount of plastic elements produced. Henrik Ostergaard Nielson, a production supervisor in Lego's factory in Billund, told the New York Times last year: "We need to learn again how to do this"

    A small group of people around the world have started implanting(移植) microchips to link the body and the computer.

    Mr. Donelson and three friends, who had driven 100 miles from their homes in Loockport, New York, to have the implants put in by Dr. Jesse Villemaire, whom they had persuaded to do the work, are part of a small group, about 30 people around the world, who have independently put in microchips into their bodies, according to Web-based reports.

    At a shop William Donelson was having a four-millimeter-wide needle put into his left hand. “I'm set,”he said with a deep breath. He watched as the needle pierced(刺穿) the fleshy webbing between his thumb and a microchip was set under his skin. At last he would be able to do what he had long imagined: strengthen his body's powers through technology.

    By putting the chip inside—a radio frequency identification device (RFID)—Mr. Donelson would have at his fingertips the same magic that makes safety gates open with a knock of a card, and bridge and tunnel traffic flow smoothly with an E-Zpass. With a wave of his hand he plans to connect with his computer, open doors and unlock his car.

    Implanting the chip was relatively simple task but very meaningful to Mr. Doneselson, a 21-year-old computer networking student so interested in the link between technology and the body that he has data-input jacks(数据输入插空) inside his body. They might lead to an imagined future when people can be connected directly into computers. His new chip is enclosed in a glass container no bigger than a piece of rice and has a small memory where he has stored the words “Technology”.

    Some doctors have done the piercing in people's homes, and others have implanted chips in their offices after patients signed forms showing the fact that long-term studies have not been done on their safety. Piercers treat the implants much like any other medical operation steps, instructing people to keep the site dry, and advising them that swelling and redness should last a week.

根据短文内容，选择最佳答案，并将选定答案的字母标号填在题前括号内。

    A woman in Pulaski, Virginia, says she was stopped by a squirrel, who pulled on her leg repeatedly and led her to help its injured baby.

    Tia Powell was walking in Kiwanis Park when she was "approached by a squirrel", the Pulaski Police Department wrote on Facebook. The squirrel stood in her way on the path. After realizing that the squirrel did not mean any harm and wasn't going to leave her side, Powell turned around and the squirrel led her down the path to a baby squirrel with an injured leg.

    At one point, Powell wasn't sure she could help and she began walking and the squirrel followed her again and actually pulled her trouser leg! So, she fed the squirrels a sandwich she had with her and watched them try to Jump up into a tree. When she realized the baby squirrel was still struggling to get up the tree, she decided to call in backup. Powell called the Pulaski Police Department.

    Powell didn't know how the baby squirrel got injured, but she thought a nearby street cat was the culprit (肇事者). So, the group of rescuers decided to move the squirrels to safer area. "We were able to get the baby and mother to a different area with more trees and it was able to climb all the way up and they looked very happy," Powell said.

    She went back a few days later to show her kids where it all went down. In the trees, Powell spotted two squirrels staring at her, and couldn't help but wonder if they were the same squirrels she rescued.

    Even if trees cannot walk, they are still on the move.

    In parts of the Arctic, entire forests are moving northward. Across the Arctic, temperatures are rising faster than anywhere else in the world. As that happens, the tree line that marks where forests stop and the treeless tundra(冻土地带) starts has been shifting northward. Trees growing along the tree line must protect themselves from the cold wind. To do this, plants tend to grow horizontal(水平的) branches low to the ground. The energy it takes for trees to grow this way means they don't have enough energy to make seeds.

    But as Earth's climate has been warming, trees no longer have to just grow horizontally. Many can instead grow up toward the sky. This takes less energy. And with all the leftover energy. these trees have started producing more seeds. This happens especially in places where the white spruce(白云杉) grows.

    White spruce, which is a North American tree, is quite able to produce a lot of seeds, which can move long distances in the wind. When wind-blown seeds end up on the tundra beyond the tree line, they eventually can sprout(发芽) new trees. This explains how a forest can move. Of course, the process would work only if the tundra were warm enough. But in recent years, the whole planet has been warming.

    New trees will provide shelters for some snow, keeping the sun's rays from making the white surface disappear. Instead, the trees absorb the sun's heat. This warms the surrounding air. The extra warmth encourages even more trees to produce seeds. That further boosts a forest's ability to expand. In addition, more trees will trap more snow, preventing much of it from being blown away. Snow can trap heat in the soil below, which encourages trees to grow. The recent rise of temperature has helped more trees grow. The recent rise of temperatures has helped more trees grow past the tree line. People worry about impacts on the animals that depend on frozen conditions for food and shelter.

How to Know Yourself Better

    Most of us believe that we know ourselves better than anyone in this world. But a lot of people are still strangers to themselves. Why?For a person to have a well-lived life, it is important that he know himself good. If you are one of those who are striving to know yourself better, these steps will guide you.

    Take a moment to write down things that you know "very good" about yourself - your interests, likes, dislikes, preferences, hobbies, strengths, weaknesses, hopes, fears, dreams, etc.By creating a list of your personal attributes that you are familiar with, you are keeping yourself in touch with yourself.

    Take personality and psychological tests. This is another way to know yourself better. The Internet has a rich source of free online personality and psychological assessments and tests.

    Know yourself better by understanding people's perceptions about you.Sometimes, you think you know yourself enough, but other people who see you from their point of view can offer you some insights how you act and get understood by others. Be careful, however, to balance both perceptions to come up with an objective view of yourself.

    It's a lifetime process. Everyday you will be given new insights about yourself. Writing a journal will help you keep track of these new discoveries. Maintaining that hunger to know yourself better will make you more self-aware, opening up new opportunities to enrich your life.

A. Keep on learning who you are.

B. Remember that you are a worthy person.

C. By answering them, you will understand yourself better.

D. The better you know yourself, the easier it will be to love yourself.

E. Reflect on these qualities and find out how they impact your overall life.

F. Pay attention to what your family, friends, coworkers, etc. observe and say about you.

G. Not everyone is courageous enough to travel the path within to achieve a better self-understanding.

Generally speaking, a British is widely regarded as a quiet, shy and conservative person who is1 only among those with whom he is familiar. When a stranger is present, he often seems nervous, 2 embarrassed. You have to take a commuter train any morning or evening to witness the truth of this. Serious-looking businessmen and women sit reading their newspapers or 3 off in a corner; hardly anybody talks, since to do so would be considered quite offensive.

4, there is an unwritten but clearly understood code of behavior, which, once 5, makes the offender immediately the object of criticism.

One of the few things we can say about the British with certainty is that a British 6 the discussion of their weather and that, if given a chance, he will talk about it 7. Some people argue that it is because the British weather 8 follows forecast and thus becomes a source of interest to everyone. This may be so. Certainly a British cannot have much faith in the weathermen, whose predictions, in many cases, 9 to be wrong! The man in the street seems to be as accurate (准确的) — or as inaccurate —as the weathermen in his 10.Foreigners may be surprised at the number of references 11 weather that the British make to each other in the course of a single day. Very often conversational greetings are 12 by comments on the weather. "Nice day, isn't it?" "Beautiful day!" may well be heard instead of "Good morning, how are you?" 13the foreigner may consider this exaggerated (夸大)and comic, it is worthwhile pointing out that it could be used to his advantage. If he wants to start a conversation with a British but is at a loss to know where to begin, he could do well to mention the state of the weather. It is a(n)14 subject to which a response may well be 15of even the most reserved of the British.

    Chopsticks play an important role in Chinese food culture. They (call) "Zhu" in ancient times in China. Chinese people have been using them for more than 3,000 years. Wood or bamboo chopsticks are the most popular ones used in Chinese homes, can be dated to about 1,000 years (early) than ivory (象牙) chopsticks.

    There are a few things (avoid) when using chopsticks. Chinese people usually.

    Don't beat their bowls while (eat), since the behavior used to be practiced by beggars. Also don't put chopsticks in a bowl upright because it is a custom only used in sacrifices (祭祀)

    is common in China for everyone to use their own chopsticks for getting food from the (dish) on the table. If you prefer, serving chopsticks (be) provided. Besides, don't be embarrassed by using chopsticks (poor). What matters is that you enjoy the food. Food is great importance in Chinese culture, and the Chinese is such a practical people that all around you will most likely be fine with whatever method you use to eat.

增加：在缺词处加一个漏词符号(∧)，并在其下面写出该加的词。

删除：把多余的词用斜线(\)划掉。

修改：在错的词下画一横线，并在该词下面写出修改后的词。

注意：

1．每处错误及其修改均仅限一词；

2．只允许修改10处，多者(从第11处起)不计分。

Born in America, Thomas Edison was a great scientist and an inventor. He was once thought to be a boy whom was not worth educating. In fact, he was a man full of imagine.

I admire Edison a lot because his great contributions to the world. He is said to having more than 1,000 inventions. In his lifetime, he was always eager to know what everything worked. He was also very diligent and works day and night. And this explained why he had so much great inventions.

Success can never be easy achieved. Probably I can't be another Edison himself, but I will work hard to be a worthy person.

1）询问有关学校住宿的情况；

2）提供自己的住宿要求；

3）如果条件不能满足，询问学校能够提供什么样的住宿条件。

注意： 1）词数100次左右；2）可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。

Dear Sir/ Madam,

Yours,

Li Hua