One day, a baby snail（蜗牛） found that he had to carry a big and heavy shell（壳） at any time. He was confused(困惑的), so he went up to his mother and asked, “ Why was I born with a shell that grew so hard and heavy?” His mother said, “Because we don't have bones（骨头） to hold us up. We can only move slowly, so we need a shell to protect us.”

    The baby snail asked again, “The caterpillar(毛毛虫) has no bones, either, and she can't move quickly. Why can she live without a shell?” The mother snail answered, “That's because a caterpillar will become a butterfly. She can fly high into the sky. The sky can protect her.”

    The baby snail had one more question, “But the earthworm(蚯蚓) moves like us. He has no bones and he won't turn into a butterfly. Why doesn't he carry a hard and heavy shell?” His mother said, “He can dig a hole and hide in the ground, and then the earth can protect him.”

    The baby snail then cried, “We are so poor! We have no protection from the sky or from the ground!” His mother smiled at him, “That's why we have a shell. My dear, imagine that if we don't have the shells, what will happen to us? Hot sun will dry out our bodies and we'll have nowhere to sleep. What's worse, we'll die in the heavy rain. How terrible it is! We don't depend on the sky or the ground for protection. We should depend on ourselves.”

阅读理解

    The Women's Institute is urging supermarkets to do more to help consumers reduce their home food waste, after a survey of its own membership showed widespread confusion about “best before” and “use by” labeling(标签) on packaging.

    Its new analysis of products on supermarket shelves found that “once-opened” instructions were often contradictory and often failed to make clear whether they were a guide to food safety or quality. Only 45% of 5,000 WI members surveyed understood that best-before dates were a sign of food quality, while 26% did not understand that the more important use-by dates were a decisive guide to food safety.

    In its report on food waste, the WI said supermarkets were “potentially contributing to home food waste by leading customers to buy more food than they need, and giving conflicting and confusing on-pack information that leaves customers unsure about how long a product remains safe to eat in the home setting”. The 42-page report is part of the WI's ongoing campaign to reduce food waste. To underline the point about conflicting information, it cites(引用) a can of Sainsbury's own-brand sweetcorn advising consumers to eat it within one day of opening, while a similar tin from Waitrose gave consumers two days to finish it. Green Giant sweetcorn, however, has no specified date for eating once opened.

    Marylyn Haines Evans, chair of the Women's Institute's public affairs said: “WI members are some of the more informed members of society about food and cookery, but they are still confused about food labelling and 'once-opened' information. So we would like supermarkets to extend the amount of time that consumers have to use a product in their homes by making all of their once-opened instructions on product packaging consistent, and completely remove once-opened instructions on products where food safety is not an issue.”

阅读下列图文材料,回答问题。

材料一  一个是当今世界国力最强的经济、军事大国,一个是国土面积广大、资源丰富、经济发展迅速的“金砖国家”之一。两个大国在国际事务中屡屡博弈……

材料二  俄罗斯和美国示意图。