阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出最佳选项。

     The idea of inventing an international language is not a new one. Over the past 180 years, linguists (语言学家) have created over ten different languages that are based on German, Spanish, and English. One of these was Basic English.

     By 1923 the First World War had been over for five years, but Europe was still recovering from its effects. Charles Kay Ogden, a linguist and writer, was running several bookshops in Cambridge. He published The Meaning of Meaning (1923), a book describing how we use language. The book received high praise, which drove Ogden to design an international language — something that was much simpler than English. In 1930 Ogden's book Basic English: A General Introduction with Rules and Grammar was published.

     Perhaps it takes about seven years for one to become a good English speaker. Ogden believed that Basic English could be learned in seven weeks. There were only 850 words and the grammar was very simple.

     The language attracted the attention of educators all over the world, but its development was stopped by the Second World War. After the war, both the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and the President of the United States Franklin D. Roosevelt looked for ideas that might bring world peace. They both gave speeches that encouraged the use of Ogden's international language. In the past 60 years, the language has had some success. In some parts of East Asia, teachers are still using Ogden's word lists.

     However, in the main, the language has disappeared. Because there are many more non-native than native speakers of English, recently some linguists have asked whether we should give careful consideration to Ogden's ideas again. And the Wikipedia website (www.wikipedia.org) has started a version (版本) written in Basic English for non-native learners of the language. Search for it on the Internet now!  

Zero Waste Awards

    Who should enter?

    Entries(参赛作品) are welcomed from anyone who processes waste. While we expect

    most entries to come from the UK, we welcome international entries, too. Entrants have been split into the following groups: private sector, public sector, community sector and partnerships.

    What are the categories?

    There're five categories which are based on the Waste Hierarchy(层级). We appreciate that companies will have different strengths within those categories as they work towards Zero Waste. The broad categories are: waste prevention, re-use, recycle/recover, energy recovery, general.

    How do I enter?

    Submitting an entry is really easy! Just follow these few simple steps:

    1) Carefully read through the category information;

    ). Write your entry--it should be a maximum of 1,500 words and a word document;

    3) Arrange your supporting material into a single document--maximum six pages long;

    4) Complete the simple online entry form.

    Important dates

    While entries are welcomed all year round, these are key dates—this is to give the judges plenty of time to read through all the entries! These are listed in entry deadlines column below. Don't worry if you have just missed one of the entry deadlines, your submission will be automatically entered into the next session.

    You can submit a maximum of two entries per year—six months apart.

    Awards

    We understand that working towards Zero Waste is an ongoing journey and as such the

    Zero Waste Awards scheme offers organizations a structure to celebrate their progress along the way. The four awards are: Gold (76-100), Silver (51-75), Bronze (26-50), Highly Commended(0-25).

"You can you up, no can no bb." The latest Chinglish buzz phrase, having swept through Chinese cyberspace (网络空间) and society, has now made a landing overseas, entering the US web-based Urban Dictionary.

According to the entry put forward by "gingerdesu", "You can you up" which means "If you can do it, go ahead and do it", is a Chinglish catch phrases referring to people who criticize others' work, especially when the critic is not so much better.

As well as "You can you up", other Chinglish catch phrases, such as "tuhao" and "no zuo no die", have also been recorded on the site.

    Coined with roots in Chinese grammar, and even containing Pinyin, Chinglish words and phrases are even spreading beyond grass roots (草根) websites.

In 2013, "dama" and "tuhao" found their way into The Wall Street Journal and the BBC, and words such as "feng shui", "Chengguan" and "people mountain people sea" have been admitted to the Oxford English Dictionary.

"The frequent use of Chinglish by foreign institutions suggests that people are looking more to the lifestyle and popular culture of China," says Zhang Yiwu, professor of Peking University's Department of Chinese Language and Literature.

"Words like 'dama' and 'tuhao' are so vivid. My friends and I use them a lot —it's so much fun," said Satoshi Nishida, a Japanese student studying at Beijing Language and Culture University.

"Behind these Chinglish words and phrases is the Chinese culture. They are reflections of the changes and trends in the Chinese society and they help people from other countries to understand what's happening in China," according to Xing Hongbing, a professor of Beijing Language and Culture University.

"When the price of gold went down last year, while the super purchasing power of the Chinese bargain-hunting middle-aged women drew worldwide attention, there was no effective way available in other languages to describe them, and 'dama' filled the gap very neatly," says Xing.

    My wife, daughter, and I moved into our home nine years ago and we spent a lot of time and energy in the yard to get it looking like the way it does today. We live on a corner, higher than street level, and the entire side of the yard is surrounded by a professionally built rock wall. The front of the house though is another story because instead of a wall along the sidewalk, the rocks appear to be just thrown up onto the dirt as if someone were in a hurry to finish.

    We did the best we could with what we had to work with and called this area our "rock garden". Whenever we had leftover flowers or plants, Denise or I would stick them out front, just to bring some color to the area. We would do all of the yard work on our own, even the tiring weed-pulling.

    Last summer I had reached the end of the rock garden and found a tiny little plant that I could not immediately identify, I knew I didn't plant it and Denise claimed that she didn't either. We decided to let it continue growing until we could figure out what it was.

    Weeks passed and as I made my way back to the mystery plant, it appeared to be a Sunflower with a tall skinny stalk（茎，杆）and only one head on it. I decided to baby it along and weed around it. As I pulled rocks from the area to get to the weeds, I noticed something unusual. The Sunflower had not started where I saw the stalk begin. It actually had begun under a big rock and grown under and around it to reach the sun.

    That's when I realized that if a tiny little Sunflower didn't let a big rock stand in its way of developing, we too have the ability of doing the same thing. Once our environment begins to see that we believe in ourselves like that little Sunflower, we can attain the same nourishment（营养）and growth as well.

    Stand tall like the Sunflower and be proud of who and what you are and the environment will begin to support you. You will find a way to go under or around your big obstacle in order to reach your desires.

    Polish President Andrzej Duda has signed a bill into law that largely limits trade on Sundays, saying it will benefit family life.

    The legislation（立法）, worked out by the government and the Polish trade union, is expected to draw protests from large western supermarket chains that are the main target of the law. A large part of their profit is earned on weekends.

    As of March 1, shops and markets are closed on two Sundays per month; in 2019 only one Sunday a month will be open for shopping; and starting in 2020, there will be no Sunday shopping with a few exceptions.

    Duda praised the law as giving children a chance to be with parents and giving shop workers some needed time off. He also said big traders will need to adjust their practices to the new system and asked them for "understanding". But critics say some of them make employees work long hours for modest pay.

    "A family should be together on Sundays," Olszewska said after buying some food at a local Biedronka, a large discount supermarket chain. She said that before she retired she served cold cuts in a grocery store, and was grateful she never had to work on Sundays.

    There are some exceptions to the ban. For instance, gas stations, cafes, pharmacies and some other businesses are allowed to keep operating on Sundays.

    Anyone breaking the new rules faces a fine of up to 100,000 zlotys （$ 29,500）, while repeat offenders may face a prison sentence. Polish trade union appealed to people to report any violators to the National Labor Inspectorate, a state body.

According to a new Agriculture Department report, U. S. forests could exacerbate global warming because they are being destroyed by natural disasters and are losing their ability to absorb planet-warming gases as they get older. The report predicts that the ability of forests to absorb carbon will start declining after 2025 and that forests could release up to 100 million metric tons of carbon a year as their emissions (排放) from decaying (腐烂的) trees go beyond their carbon absorption. Forests could become a "substantial carbon source" by 2070, the USDA report says.

The loss of carbon absorption is driven in part by natural disasters such as wildfires, tornadoes and hurricanes, which are increasing in frequency and strength as global temperatures rise. The disasters destroy forestland, destroying their ecosystem and decreasing their ability to absorb carbon, according to Lynn Riley, a senior manager of climate science at the American Forest Foundation. Aging forests also contribute. The report found that older, mature trees absorb less carbon than younger trees of the same species, and U. S. forests are rapidly aging.

This trend is likely to continue, as forests come under increasing threat from climate change and exploitation (开采). The typical tropical (热带的) forest may become a carbon source by the 2060s, according to Simon Lewis, professor in the school of geography at Leeds University. "Humans have been lucky so far, as tropical forests are cleaning up lots of our pollution, but they can't keep doing that indefinitely," he said. "We need to cut down fossil fuel emissions before the global carbon cycle starts working against us."

U. S. forests currently absorb 11 percent of U. S. carbon emissions, or 150 million metric tons of carbon a year, equal to the combined emissions from 40 coal power plants, according to the report. The loss of forests as natural carbon absorbers will require the U. S. to cut emissions more rapidly to reach net zero. "As we work to decarbonize (碳减排), forests are one of the greatest tools at our handling. If we were to lose that, it means we will contribute that much more in emissions." Riley said.