Unless you bring your own thermos, paper cups are the real option for on-the-go coffee. But as we all know, producing these simple items cuts down forests of trees and contributes to mountains of waste. In fact, Starbucks alone uses 4 billion paper cups a year globally and most of these plastic-lined cups are never recycled.

But a project from Reduce. Reuse. Grow. is handling the coffee industry’s paper cup problem by giving these single-use coffee holders a further purpose: reforestation.

A company in California has developed the world’s first plantable coffee cup, which has seeds in the paper-based material. That means after you’re done with the cup, you can tear it, leave it in water for a few minutes, bury it and let nature take over.

To prevent the spread of invasive plants, the bottom of the cup details the seed variety and also includes instructions on how to plant it either in the northern or central coast of California. For those who don’t want to get their hands dirty, the cup can be put into a Reduce. Reuse. Grow bin where it will eventually be taken to a reforestation location. The cup can biodegrade(生物降解) within 180 days and offer nutrition to plants.

The company is trying to put the cup into commercial production and persuade coffee shops to buy the cups.

21. Starbucks is mentioned in Paragraph 1 _____.

       A. because Starbucks provides recyclable cups

       B. because Starbucks uses pretty plastic-lined cups

       C. to show Starbucks is famous for its on-the-go coffee

       D. to prove the coffee industry causes the paper cup problem

22. The plantable coffee cup _____.

       A. can be used many times

       B. contains seeds in its material

       C. can be used as a flowerpot

       D. is made of waterproof material

23. The seed variety is shown on the cup mainly to _____.

       A. interest cup users

       B. spread knowledge of plants

       C. make sure it is planted properly

       D. help users choose certain cups

24. What is a Reduce. Reuse. Grow. bin used for?

       A. Selling plantable coffee cups.

       B. Making plantable coffee cups.

       C. Collecting plantable coffee cups.

       D. Recycling plantable coffee cups.

       Our education system was invented. There were no public systems of education before the 19^th century. They all came into being to meet the needs of industrialism. So the most useful subjects for work are at the top and you were probably driven away from what you did as a kid at school--things you liked--because you would never get a job doing that. Is that right? Don’t do music. You’re not going to be a musician. Don’t do art. You’re not going to be an artist. In addition, the whole system of public education around the world is a process of university entrance. And the consequence is that many highly talented, brilliant, creative people think they’re not because the thing they were good at wasn’t valued at school.

I think we can’t afford to go on that way. In the next 30 years, more people worldwide will be graduating through education than since the beginning of the history. Suddenly, degrees aren’t worth anything. When I was a student, if you had a degree, you had a job. But now you need a Master’s degree where the previous job required a Bachelor, and now you need a Ph.D. for the other. It’s a process of academic inflation (膨胀), and it indicates the whole structure of education needs changing.

All the great teachers I’ve ever met and worked with are people who can inspire interest and curiosity and light up people’s imaginations with the interests they themselves have for a particular field of work. I mean, teaching is not only a process of giving people direct instructions and information they have to memorize, it is much more than that.

I believe our only hope for the future is to rethink the fundamental principles on which we are educating our children. And our task is to educate their whole being so they can face the future. By the way, we may not see this future, but they will. And our job is to help them make something of it.

25. Things little kids like to do are not taught at school because they _____.

       A. are not useful for making a living

       B. are not challenging enough for students

       C. don't meet the expectation of parents

       D. don't fit in classroom teaching

26. The author develops the second paragraph mainly _____.

       A. by classification        B. by process

       C. by example            D. by comparison

27. In the author’s view, a good teacher should _____.

       A. be imaginative

       B. be knowledgeable

       C. create their own ways of teaching

       D. encourage people to develop their interests

       "Please read this," my three-year-old Claire said one day, pointing to a page with an old children's song: "Do you know how to plant cabbages". In blue ink, someone had crossed out cabbages and written "Watermelons!"

       "Daddy! Did you do that?" Claire asked, looking up with an expression of shock. We had only recently asked her not to write in books, and suddenly here was proof that her parents weren't practicing what they asked. I told her it was written by my grandfather and sat down to tell the story.

       I grew up on Granddad’s farm in Nebraska, America. One afternoon, I decided to plant some watermelons.

       "Hmm, there's a crop I haven't tried!" Granddad smiled. "Let's do it now!"

       With Granddad’s help I planted the seeds.

       The next morning, I found a big watermelon there. I knew it was Granddad that put a watermelon there and I thought he had played a joke on me.

       Later that month, Granddad gave me a book. "For school," he said seriously. I opened it to where he'd written "Watermelons!" and laughed at another of his jokes.

       Claire listened quietly to the story and asked to plant seeds too, so I took her to buy some seeds. On the walk home, I realized for the first time that Granddad could have met my childish enthusiasm with some disappointing facts such as that watermelons don't grow well in Nebraska or that it was too late to plant them anyway. But instead of doing that, he had stolen back into town that afternoon and bought the biggest melon on the market. That night, after I was asleep, he had awkwardly unloaded it and, with a painful bend, placed it exactly above my seeds. He made sure I experienced the "wow."

       I had always thought the midnight miracle（奇迹）was just one of Granddad’s jokes. Now I realized he had planted hope that day. As Claire planted the seeds happily, I watched my grandfather's joy take fresh root in her life. And that was the biggest miracle of all.

28. Claire was shocked at the mark on the page because_____.

       A. her great-grandfather did something her parents forbad

       B. someone preferred watermelons to cabbages

       C. she thought her parents didn't act as they said

       D. there should be a mistake in the book

29. Why did Granddad put a watermelon where the author planted seeds?

       A. Because he didn't want to waste the watermelon.

       B. Because he didn't want to disappoint the author.

       C. Because he wanted to make fun of the author.

       D. Because he wanted the author to be a farmer.

30. Which of the following best describes Granddad?

       A. Talented and reliable.                  B. Generous and patient.

       C. Determined and happy.        D. Caring and humorous.

31. What's the best title for the text?

       A. Grandfather's great love             B. Set children a good example

       C. The day we planted hope         D. Happy memories of childhood

       Hippos（河马）have always attracted people's interest. Modern hippos in Walt Disney movies can dance lightly. A stone hippo in a 13th-century church in France has wings. And in ancient Egyptian fairy tales, the hippo was a goddess that guided the dead to the afterworld.

       Despite their popular appeal, hippos, as well as other animals, have difficulty when their needs conflict with those of humans. The early Egyptians liked to hunt hippos for their teeth and because they were dangerous animals. Amulets（护身符）to protect babies from demons（恶魔）were made from hippo bones.

       About 4,000 years ago, there were so many hippos in Egypt that they caused serious crop damage. Egyptian farmers killed them routinely, and by the beginning of the 19th century, all the hippos in Africa had been killed.

       People used to see hippos fight in the arenas（角斗场）of ancient Rome. After the fall of the Roman Empire, hippos weren't seen in Europe again until a few zoos began to exhibit them in the mid 1800s.

       All the various uses and abuses of hippos through the centuries have made their population fall greatly. Where they do occur, mostly in national parks, they live in such high density that they make the grasslands bare. This causes other grass-eating animals to go farther for food, and hippos, which can't live far from water, destroy their own feeding grounds.

32. In Africa, hippos became extinct _____.

       A. around the 1850s                        B. in the 13th century

       C. about 4,000 years ago                       D. in the early 19th century

33. Apart from protecting crops, what's the main reason for people to kill hippos?

       A. To save other animals.               

       B. To satisfy personal demands.

       C. To look for guidance after death.

       D. To follow the routine established by the Egyptians.

34. The underlined word in the last paragraph can be replaced by _____?

A. concentration       B. altitude           C. level          D. temperature

35. What problems do hippos lead to?

       A. They eat up the grass in their habitats.

       B. They always destroy other animals' food.

       C. They stop other animals from drinking water.

       D. They grow too quickly for the land to support.

       Award-winning novelist Jamaica Kincaid is talking with Time about her new book See Now Then.

       Your new book, See Now Then, features a Caribbean writer whose husband is a composer and who lives in the Northeast with two kids. Sounds like you. How autobiographical（自传的）is it?

        36  But I wasn't thinking of myself. My own self, my own everyday life, is sort of very untidy and smelly and kind of annoying under close observation.

       What do you mean, untidy and smelly?

       I like to be in my pajamas（睡衣）all day. Sometimes I don't wash for days because I like to read and sit around.  37  I'm not fun to be with.

       There's less in this book about slavery and race than in some of your previous work.  38  

       Race is not particularly interesting to me. Power is. Slavery interests me because it's against humanity and has not stopped. It's necessary to talk about that.

       So it's not interesting to you that the most powerful man in America is black ?

       Not really. As I say, race is not important to me. The first time I saw Barack Obama, he gave a wonderful speech. But what made me really like him is that his wife came out and she was darker than he is.  39  

       You went to the U.S. to be a maid. What do you think today when you see maids from the West Indies?

       That they probably are not as lucky as I was. I've been extremely lucky my entire life. And I've never said no to any kindness.  40  

       A. I like to eat in bed. 

       B. I've always taken it and said thank you.

       C. Are you still interested in those topics?

       D. A lot of events in the book would seem to parallel my own life.

       E. Has your husband read this seemingly autobiographical novel?

       F. When you find someone you hate a lot, you should really look at it.

       G. It's so rare to see a black man married to a woman who is darker than he is.