奇速英语官网—英语在线学习平台_让学英语更快乐_更快速

“This is the moment when we must come together to save this planet,” Barack Obama once said. Even though saving the planet can sound like a huge and quite unclear concept, there’s always a small step that each of us can take. We’re talking about two entrepreneurs Adrián López Velarde and Marte Cázarez from Mexico, who developed a method of changing cacti(仙人掌) into vegan leather.

Adrián and Marte were working in the fashion and furniture automotive industries when they realized that environmental pollution is a serious problem and got inspired to do something about it. Friends left their jobs and decided to dedicate a few of their upcoming years to coming up with something amazing that would have the potential to change the world. It took them about two whole years until they finally finished creating their marketable cactus leather in July 2019.

Why cactus? The answer is simple. This plant doesn’t need much water to grow. It’s super resilient and strong and it can handle low temperatures without dying. Besides, it’s Mexico so there’s plenty of cacti there. The vegan leather these guys create is called “Desserto” and it’s the world’s first environmentally friendly organic material made out of Nopal cactus. This material is considered to be highly sustainable and without any toxic chemicals. Besides, the company offers a large variety of colors, thicknesses, and textures.

Adrián and Marte grow their cactus on a farm which is located in the state of Zacatecas. First of all, they find and cut mature leaves of the plant, clean it, mash it, then dry it under the sun for three days, after that they continue to process it so the material can later become a part of their vegan leather formula. One of the best things about this vegan material is that it looks and feels exactly like real leather.

1.What is the function of the underlined sentence?

A To make the article more convincing.

B To introduce the topic of the passage.

C To raise readers’ interests and attention.

D To emphasize the urgency of protecting the planet.

解析：选B。推理判断题。根据第一段下文Even though saving the planet can sound like a huge and quite unclear concept, there’s always a small step that each of us can take. We’re talking about two entrepreneurs from Mexico—Adrián López Velarde and Marte Cázarez—who developed a method of changing cacti into vegan leather.可知，作者从拯救星球这一话题说起，接着谈到尽管拯救地球听起来像一个巨大而不明确的概念，但我们每个人总能迈出一小步。于是，作者顺势举例加以阐述，其目的就是要引出文章的主题，故选B。

2.Why did Adrián and Marte make leather out of cacti?

A Because they had no other raw materials to choose.

B Because they were vegetarians hoping to protect animals.

C Because they spared no efforts to do something unusual.

D Because they expected to do something to protect the environment.

解析：选D。细节理解题。根据文章第二段第一句Adrián and Marte were working in the fashion and furniture automotive industries when they realized that environmental pollution is a serious problem and got inspired to do something about it.可知，Adrián和Marte之前的工作涉及时尚和汽车家具领域，这让他们意识到环境污染是一个严重的问题，就这样他们被激励去做一些事情，故选D。

3.What is the advantage of the cactus leather?

A It keeps warm against the coldness.

B It belongs to a kind of high-quality fabric.

C It does no harm to the environment.

D It can completely take the place of the real leather.

解析：选C。推理判断题。根据文章第三段...it’s the world’s first environmentally friendly organic material made out of Nopal cactus. This material is considered to be highly sustainable and without any toxic chemicals. 可知，它是世界上第一种由诺帕尔仙人掌制成的环保有机材料。这种材料被认为是高度可持续的，没有任何有毒化学品，由此说明这种皮革对环境无害，故选C。

4.What is the process of dealing with cacti? ① Find and cut mature cactus leaves. ② Make the cactus dry in the sun. ③ Do some cactus-planting in a place. ④ Mix with other materials.

A ①③②④

B ③④①②

C ③①②④

D ①④②③

解析：选C。细节理解题。根据文章最后一段可知，Adrián和 Marte在一个位于萨卡特卡斯州的农场里种下他们的仙人掌。首先，他们找到并切割仙人掌成熟的叶子，清洗它，捣碎它，然后在阳光下干燥三天，继续加工它，这样材料以后就可以成为他们纯素皮革配方的一部分，也就是说后期还要添加其它材料，故选C。