Counting the number of miles traveled done by a product is a strange way of trying to tell the true situation of the environmental damage due to industry. Most food is transported around the world on container ships that are extremely energy efficient. It should be noticed that a ton of butter transported 25 miles in a truck to a farmers' market doesn't necessarily use less fuel on its journey than a similar product transported hundreds of miles by sea. Besides, the idea of “food miles” ignores the amount of fuel used in the production. It is possible to cut down your food miles by buying tomatoes grown in Britain rather than those grown in Ghana. The difference is that the British ones will have been raised in heated greenhouse and the Ghanaian ones in the open sun.

    What is the idea of “food miles” doesprovide, however, is the chance to cut out Third World countries from First World food markets. The number of miles traveled by our food should, as I see it, be regarded as a sign of the success of the global trade system, not a sign of damage to the environment.

    When other nine-year-old kids were playing games, she was working at a petrol station. When other teens were studying or going out, she struggled to find a place to sleep on the street. But she overcame these terrible setbacks to win a highly competitive scholarship and gain entry to Harvard University. And her amazing story has inspired a movie, “ Homeless to Harvard: The Liz Murray Story”, shown in late April.

    Liz Murray，a 22-year-old American girl, has been writing a real-life story of willpower and determination. Liz grew up in the shadow of two drug-addicted parents. There was never enough food or warm clothes in the house. Liz was the only member who had a job. Her mother had AIDS and died when Liz was just 15 years old. The effect of that loss became a turning point in her life. Connecting the environment in which she had grown up with how her mother had died, she decided to do something about it.

    Liz went back to school. She threw herself into her studies, never telling her teachers that she was homeless. At night, she lived on the streets. “ What drove me to live on had something to do with understanding, by understanding that there was a whole other way of being. I had only experienced a small part of the society,” she wrote in her book Breaking Night.

    She admitted that she used envy to drive herself on. She used the benefits that come easily to others such as a safe living environment, to encourage herself  that “next to nothing could hold me down”. She finished high school in just two years and won a full scholarship to study at Harvard University. But Liz decided to leave her top university a couple of months earlier this year in order to take care of her father, who has also developed AIDS. “I love my parents so much. They are drug addicts. But I never forget that they loved me all the time.”

    Liz wants moviegoers to come away with the idea that changing your life is “as simple as making a decision”.

    Living in the wild can be hard. Finding food and staying safe aren't easy. Each day, animals struggle to survive in their habitats. Not all animals get by on their own. Some animals form a close partnership with other kinds of animals. These pairings are called symbiotic (共生的) relationships.

    In a symbiotic relationship, the animals depend on each other. One animal helps the other meet its needs. Sounds good, right? Not always. Some animals are not very kind to their partners. In some cases, one animal meets its needs but hurts its partner. Take ticks, for example. These insects suck blood to live. To get blood, they attach themselves to other kinds of animals. Ticks can pass germs that cause disease instead of helping their hosts.

    In other relationships, animals don't treat their partners so poorly Both animals benefit from living with the other animal.

    Small animals called cleaner shrimps have found a way of helping fish at coral reefs. As their name suggests, the shrimps clean the fish. They hang out at what scientists call a cleaning station. A fish stops by. Then a shrimp climbs onto the fish and even steps into the fish's mouth. The shrimp uses its tiny claws to pick stuff off the fish's body. That can include dead skin, tiny pieces of food, and wee creatures that can hurt the fish. The fish gets a nice cleaning. The shrimp enjoys a tasty meal offish trash.

    Small birds called plovers are also in the cleaning business. They have big customers—crocodiles. Crocs have long snouts（鼻子）filled with sharp teeth, Cleaning them is tricky. When a croc opens its mouth, the plover hops right in. The croc does not snap its snout shut. Instead, it lets the plover eat small, harmful animals attached to its teeth. The plover gets an easy meal while the croc gets clean teeth.

根据短文内容，请将单词填写在题号对应的横线上。

    A few years ago, a company called Space Marketing came up with a plan to send a mile–long advertisement into space. To advertising agencies (机构), it would have been “a dream come true”. However, advertising standards agencies finally decided not to allow Space Marketing to go ahead with their plans and they were forced to give them up.

    Space may indeed be the final place for advertisers, because on Earth we are already surrounded by advertising wherever we are and whatever we are doing. Apart from the obvious adverts that we see every day on TV, and in newspapers and magazines, there is a whole 'other world' of advertising messages for our attention. There are ads that we see on the side of the bus we catch to work, for example. And what about the logos (商标) we see on the clothing of the people we walk past in the streets?

    Most of the time, we are probably not even aware of (意识到的) these less obvious advertising methods, but that doesn't mean that they don't work. Take 'product placement', for example. You are in a cinema, watching the latest Hollywood movie. Look carefully at the make of car your favorite actor is driving. And what about his watch? Can you see what brand it is? Chances are, you can, and the company that owns the brand is likely to have paid thousands for it to appear in the film.

    So, whether Space Marketing finally succeeds in sending ads into space or not is perhaps less important than it might seem. This would not change a thing. Our everyday lives are already strongly influenced by advertising whether we realize it or not.

    If you think American cooking means opening a package and throwing the contents into the microwave oven (微波炉)，think again. On the one hand, it's true that many Americans have cold cereal for breakfast, sandwiches for lunch and instant (方便的) dinners. From busy homemakers to working people, many Americans enjoy the convenience (方便) of fast food that can be ready to serve in 10 minutes or less. On the other hand, many Americans realize the importance of cooking skills. Parents—especially mothers'—see the importance of training their children- especially daughter's. Most Americans think that there's nothing better than a good home-cooked meal. But with cooking, as with any other skill, good results don't happen by accident.

    Probably every cook has his or her own way of cooking. But there are some basic skills that most people follow. For example, baking is a main method (方法) of preparing food in America. For that reason, Americans would find it next to impossible to live without an oven. American cooks pay special attention to the balance of foods, too. In planning a big meal they try to include meat, a few vegetables, some bread and often a dessert. They also like to make sure the meal is colorful. Having several different colors of food on the plate usually makes for a healthy meal.

    For those who need guidance in their cooking, or for those who have just run out of ideas, recipes are a great help. Recipes list all the ingredients for a dish (generally in the order used), the amount of each to use, and a description of how to put them together.

    When he was 22, Rob Stewart traveled the world for four years. He wanted to call attention to the mistreatment of sharks. His 2007 film, Sharkwater, documents the cruel practice of removing sharks' fins (鳍) for money and leaving the animals to die. In his latest documentary, Revolution, Stewart takes on an even bigger challenge: climate change.

    The Canadian filmmaker says that climate change has harmed people and places everywhere: "It is stronger than any government or organization. If we educate people, they will make better decisions about protecting natural resources. "

    According to a recent report on climate change, "The atmosphere and ocean have warmed, the amounts of snow and ice have reduced, and sea levels have risen." These developments are endangering crops, wildlife, fish, and even people.

    Stewart says that the consequences of climate change will be irreversible unless people take action, especially young people."It's up to kids to be the moral compass (道德指南) of society," he believes, "and say, 'Guys, this is not right.'"

    Many kids took action after seeing Sharkwater. Elementary school students in the Northern Mariana Islands, for example, got their local government to ban the sale of shark fins.

    Felix Finkbeiner, 17, of Germany is also part of the "revolution" to save the planet. In 2007, Felix started a youth group called Plant-for-the-Planet, whose motto is "Stop Talking. Start Planting." The group raises money to plant trees. So far, Plant-for-the-Planet has planted nearly 200 trees around the world. "Future generations are the ones who will be suffering the most from inaction (无作 )," Felix says. His goal is to plant millions of additional trees.

    "When we started four years ago," Felix tells Stewart in Revolution, "we thought we had to save the polar bear. We thought we had to save the environment. But soon after, we found out that it's about our future, that we have to save our own future."