The majority of the people make tree houses using a pile of wood, a hammer, and some nails. Mitchell Joachim, an architect from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has a（n）_______ vision（设想）. He _______ a day when homes will be created from living trees.

Joachim’s vision is _______ on an idea called pleaching（编织）, where tree branches are grown so that they _______ weave together. Since the growth patterns of trees are _______ by wind and sunlight, it may be _______ to control the way a tree develops.

These Fabricated Tree House Habitats would use trees grown into shapes as housing. One of the _______ of these designs is that trees would not have to be cut down _______.

“A 100 percent tree house would _______ years to create,” Joachim said. __________ the climate, a house could take anywhere from 5 to 30 years to grow. Fortunately, there’s a way to speed up the __________. Joachim __________ including ecological materials such as grasses and living branches in the housing designs. “This material would be able to move __________ the house grows,” Joachim said.

A home would become an actual ecosystem, a community of plants, animals, and bacteria working together. The trees would also give off water vapor（蒸气）that would assist in __________ the homes. Solar panels and wind would help provide __________. The tree homes might even have soil pockets, where plants could __________ in the structure itself.

Work has already __________ on Joachim’s first design — a house made from 50 percent recycled and 50 percent living things. Joachim is confident about the __________ of his work, as he uses __________ products without destroying nature.

“The environment and its study are very important. We need to __________ nature, and don’t take it for granted,” he said.

   Many people would like to change various things in their life in order to be more eco-friendly. 【小题1】 They range from changing their jobs to their vehicles and even their homes. In what follows, I am going to talk about the most energy-efficient（节能的）small green homes. Keep on reading, as this article is very useful if you would like to change your home into a more eco-friendly one.

【小题2】 This happens because a green home will contain green devices（设备）which need alternative sources of energy such as solar power and wind power. They do not pollute the atmosphere as much as the regular sources of energy. 【小题3】 The process of installing them is kind of expensive but in the long term, it will save you a lot of money.

【小题4】 It will be made out of recyclable and renewable materials. For example, the furniture will be made out of bamboo instead of materials which take years to grow. This means that there is not a risk of them to be used up as in the case of certain types of wood or other materials.

A green house will be decorated by using non-toxic（无毒的）materials. 【小题5】 They contain harmful chemicals which can be dangerous, but the most energy-efficient small green homes do not have this problem.

   From Japan to Detroit, automobile manufacturers have been busy creating the green car, a vehicle that, in all its forms, promises to be one of the cleanest technologies on earth. To create the green car of the future, say designers, they will replace dangerous substances with safe ones, recycle car parts from antifreeze to old tires and develop alternative fuels.

To meet high environmental standards, automakers began renovating（翻新）their practices at the heart of the matter: the manufacturing process.

At General Motors（GM）a two-seat electric car named the Impact can travel 110 to 160 kilometers on a single charge, depending on driving habits and conditions. GM will begin the consumer test to the Impact in 12 U. S. cities this year. About a thousand people have been selected to drive the vehicle for two-and four-week periods.

Meanwhile, another alternative to standard gasoline-powered cars is Volkswagen’s Golf Ecomatic, recently introduced in Europe and powered by a diesel（柴油）engine that shuts down automatically whenever the car doesn’t require the force of push — while drivers are waiting at traffic lights, slowing to a standstill in heavy traffic or driving downhill. In city traffic alone, Volkswagen engineers expect 60 percent of the trip is spent either moving without its engine turned on or waiting, and overall the carbon dioxide emissions（排放物）produced by the Golf Ecomatic are 22 percent less than those of a standard diesel-powered automobile.

In the end, the green car will be good not only for the environment but also for business. In the long run environmental success is essential to business success, and many companies have recognized this reality, as a growing number of people want to purchase products from environmentally responsible firms.