【推荐1】For decades, climate scientists have named hurricanes and ranked them according to the damage. “Naming and categorizing (把……归类) heat waves is also a must,” states a newly formed international union, called the Extreme Heat Resilience Alliance. “Hurricanes get attention because they cause obvious physical damage,” says Jennifer Marlon, a climate scientist at Yale University. Heat waves, however, have less evident effects, since the primary damage is to human health.

Heat waves kill more people in the United States than any other weather-related disaster. Data from the National Weather Service show that from 1986 to 2019, there were 4,257 deaths as a result of heat. By comparison, there were fewer deaths by floods (2,907), tornadoes (2,203) or hurricanes (1,405) over the same period. What’s more, climate change is increasing the possibility of high temperature events worldwide, getting tens of thousands of people dying each year because of heat.

Some populations are particularly easily harmed by high heat, including people over 65 and those with potential medical conditions. Historical racial discrimination also puts minority communities at higher risk. Due to housing policies, they are more likely to live in urban areas, heat islands which lack green spaces that help cool down neighborhoods.

Part of the naming and ranking process will include defining exactly what a heat wave is. No single definition currently exists. Without a universally accepted definition of a heat wave, “We don’t have a common understanding of the danger we face,” says Aaron Bernstein, an expert of the new group. “Defined categories for heat waves could help local officials better prepare to deal with potential health problems in the face of rising temperatures. And naming and categorizing heat waves could increase public awareness of the health risks caused by these silent killers.”

The union is having conversations with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the World Meteorological Organization and other institutions to develop a standard naming and ranking practice.

1. What do we know about the heat wave in America?

A．It causes most serious physical damage.

B．It has got more attention in recent years.

C．It kills more people than other natural disasters.

D．It is the biggest killer among weather-related disasters.

2. Why are minority populations easily harmed by heat waves?

A．They live in poorly-built houses.	B．They lack good medical resources.
C．They have less access to green spaces.	D．They are limited in their movements.

3. What is the author’s attitude towards the expert mentioned in Paragraph 4?

A．Supportive.	B．Negative.
C．Conservative (保守的).	D．Objective.

4. What does the text intend to tell us about heat waves?

A．They also kill lives like hurricanes.	B．They should have names like hurricanes.
C．Climate change is affecting them greatly.	D．Measures should be taken to prevent them.

【推荐2】Wildfires were rapidly spreading through northern and southern California as powerful winds swept through the state, burning homes and forcing more than 200,000 people to leave their homes. Thousands of structures were destroyed in the massive fires. Firefighters and volunteers worked around the clock, risking their lives to save others, although thick clouds of wildfire smoke hung in the air.

But it's not just humans in danger’s path. A video of a horse running away from the rescue team to find his family of horses from CBS Los Angeles went viral. The public was touched by the horse's heroic act and shared their thoughts on the Internet.

Volunteers were rescuing several horses from the wildfire when one of the horses jumped away from the group. They were trying to help the horse, but he refused. They probably had no idea what was wrong with the horse, who just started running away from them. The horse raced back into danger to lead his family to safety, despite rescuers' best efforts to stop him. He knew he couldn't leave them behind. As the tension increased, several human strangers jumped in to help the animals — they went back to the burning barn where some of the horses remained.

You can watch the horse run back into the smoke-filled area, reconnect with the horses inside the fence, and quickly accompany them out of the fenced-off area. Though it's not clear from the video, CBS Los Angeles reported that all but one of the horses involved were saved. Disastrous as the California wildfires have been, the video and countless other rescue stories — humans and animals alike — are shining light on all acts of goodness taking place.

1. What does the author intend to show by telling the wildfires in detail in Para. 1?

A．What caused the big wildfires.	B．How serious the wildfires were.
C．What rescuers did in the wildfires.	D．How rapidly the wildfires spread.

2. What does the underlined phrases ''went viral'' mean?

A．Turned bad.	B．Got attacked.
C．Became interesting.	D．Grew popular.

3. Which words can best describe the horse?

A．Loyal but stubborn.	B．Caring and courageous.
C．Responsible and clever.	D．Flexible but aggressive.

4. What message does the author want to convey?

A．Fighting disasters needs joint efforts.	B．Animals are always friends of man.
C．All good deeds deserve to be praised.	D．Animals show goodness to each other.

【推荐3】East Africa is experiencing the worst desert locust outbreak in decades. Climate events have accelerated breeding of the pest across the region, and with a sudden rise in the locust population expected in coming weeks, urgent actions and funds are needed to prevent a human crisis.

Twenty million people in six of the eight East African countries are most affected by an ongoing desert locust outbreak at risk of serious food insecurity. Considered among the most destructive of moving pests, an adult locust can consume 2g of plants per day, affecting crops and grasslands. A group typically holds 20 to 150 million locusts per square kilometer and can move hundreds of kilometers per day, invading areas covering millions of square kilometers. An active group, therefore, can destroy crops and grasslands within a very short period of time.

That global warming could increase the risk of desert locust crisis was proposed over ten years ago, and in February, the UN Secretary-General António Guterres stated that the current outbreak is linked to the effects of climate change: “warmer seas mean more perfect breeding ground for locusts”. The outbreak has its origins in 2018, when a series of windstorms in the Arabian Peninsula (阿拉伯半岛) enabled the warm and wet conditions the desert locust requires to breed and band undetected in remote regions. Though our focus here is migration west, dreadful outbreaks of the desert locust have been experienced to the east.

The situation is going out of control. A rescue operation and financial support admit no delay.

The Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) can take out only US$138 million for rapid response and immediate action — controlling the spread of the desert locust and safeguarding livelihoods. They say the maths is clear: about half the funding (资助) is needed for supervision, ground and sky control, and uniting efforts; the other half is needed for livelihoods and food security of farmers. As for the huge gap, they have called on the international community to act now through funding. However, by the end of February, just US$69 million had been promised.

This most alarming crisis has developed and is worsening in East Africa. The funds needed to control the situation become very difficult to achieve and the gap is a big concern.

1. Why does the crisis happen in East Africa?

A．There is a big population there.

B．There are large deserts and grasslands.

C．Africa lies west of Arabian Peninsula.

D．Good climate for breeding plays a role.

2. Why does the writer list those figures in Para 2?

A．To warn of the terrible damage by locusts.

B．To help us understand how locusts live.

C．To show how many locusts there are now.

D．To draw a picture of the present Africa.

3. What can we infer from the text?

A．The crisis is not noticed until recently.

B．More fund is needed to prevent the crisis.

C．The crisis has been the focus of the world.

D．Locusts are all from the Arabian Peninsula.

4. Which is the best title for the text?

A．Killing locusts before too late

B．Global warming, a world problem

C．Funding Gap for Locust Crisis

D．Africa, a crisis-stricken place

【推荐3】Companies which sell liquids like drinks or shampoo rely on bottles for their packaging. Usually these bottles are made of plastic or glass. But as customers have become more concerned about the environment, many companies have begun working to develop paper bottles.

Paper bottles are easy to recycle. They also weigh less than glass or plastic, meaning they’ll require less energy to produce and to move around. They’re usually made from wood pulp (纸浆), which is pressed into a mold (模具) to create the bottle shape. Since paper is soft and easy to mold, companies can design their bottles to take almost any shape they choose.

A company called Paboco has been working with many large companies to develop paper bottles. They’re creating their own bottle designs, but they’re sharing what they learn to speed up the development of paper bottle technology.

One of the biggest challenges is keeping a paper bottle from leaking. The inside of the bottle needs a special coating to make sure the liquid doesn’t leak through. Many companies are lining their bottles with a thin sheet of plastic. Though bottle makers may say this liner can be removed and recycled, many recycling programs don’t have the right machines to handle these liners. But even without the plastic, paper bottles aren’t flawless. Most paper bottles use wood pulp, meaning trees need to be cut down to make the bottles. Frugalpac, a company from the UK, has created wine bottles made of recycled paper, so no trees need to be cut down. Frugalpac still uses a plastic liner, though.

There’s still lots of testing to be done before paper bottles can replace glass or plastic ones. Companies will need to see how long liquids can be stored in the bottles, and make sure the bottles don’t affect the taste. But with so many companies working towards the same goal, it’s likely that we can expect to see paper bottles on store shelves in the near future.

1. What’s the main purpose of developing paper bottles?

A．To make packaging less heavy.	B．To reduce the use of raw materials.
C．To be more environmentally friendly.	D．To cut down on the costs of packaging.

2. What does paragraph 2 mainly talk about?

A．Advantages of paper bottles.	B．Great availability of paper.
C．Process of making paper bottles.	D．Broad applications of paper bottles.

3. What does the underlined word “flawless” in paragraph 4 most probably mean?

A．Irreplaceable.

B．Perfect.

C．Short-lived.

D．Unsteady.

4. What’s the author’s attitude towards the future of paper bottles ?

A．Carefree.

B．Ambiguous.

C．Worried.

D．Hopeful.

【推荐3】The term “Hudson River school” was applied to the foremost representatives of nineteenth-century North American landscape painting. Apparently unknown during the golden days of the American landscape movement, which began around 1850s and lasted until the late 1860s, the Hudson River school seems to have emerged in the 1870s as a direct result of the struggle between the old and the new generations of artists each to assert its own style as the representative American art. The older painters, most of whom were born before 1835, practiced in a mode often self-taught and monopolized by landscape subject matter and were securely established in and fostered by the reigning American art organization, the National Academy of Design.

The younger painters returning home from training in Europe worked more with figural subject matter and in a bold and impressionistic technique; their prospects for patronage in their own country were uncertain, and they sought to attract it by attaining academic recognition in New York. One of the results of the conflict between the two factions was that what in previous years had been referred to as the American, native, or, occasionally New York school — the most representative school of American art in any genre — had by 1890s become firmly established in the minds of critics and public alike as the Hudson River school.

The sobriquet was first applied around 1879. While it was not intended as flattering, it was hardly inappropriate. The Academicians at whom it was aimed had worked and socialized in New York, the Hudson’s port city, and had painted the river and its shores with varying frequency. Most important, perhaps, was that they had all maintained with a certain fidelity a manner of technique and composition consistent with those of America’s first popular landscape artist, Thomas Cole, who built a career painting the Catskill Mountain scenery bordering the Hudson River.

A possible implication in the term applied to the group of landscapists was that many of them had, like Cole, lived on or near the banks of the Hudson. Further, the river had long served as the principal route to other sketching grounds favored by the Academicians, particularly the Adirondacks and the mountains of Vermont and New Hampshire different ways.

1. According to the passage what was the function of the National Academy of Design for the painters born before 1835?

A．It mediated conflicts between artists.	B．It supervised the incorporation of new artistic techniques.
C．It supported their growth and development.	D．It determined which subjects were appropriate.

2. Where did the younger generation of painters receive the artistic training?

A．In New Hampshire.	B．In the Adirondacks.
C．In Vermon.	D．In Europe.

3. The underlined word “factions” is closest in meaning to “______”.

A．people

B．sides

C．cities

D．images

4. What is the best title for the text?

A．Hudson River School	B．The Nature’s Nation
C．Early Painters and Their Drawings	D．North American Landscape Painting

【推荐1】Across the United Kingdom, as the COVID-19 crisis has bitten deeper, its citizens have started a new practice: Emerging from self-isolation every Thursday night at 8 p.m. to clap, cheer, and bang pots and pans to show support for the country’s front-line doctors and nurses.

But as the death toll today hit a single-day U.K. record of 980-and with the peak death rate still estimated to be two weeks away-the crisis caused by the scale of the pandemic has been worsened here by a new degree of political uncertainty. Prime Minister Boris Johnson was admitted to the hospital on Sunday and has spent his days and nights in intensive care fighting the virus, surrounded by the doctors and nurses of the National Health Service.

The U.K. is not alone in showing new found public affection for key workers, nor in facing an unprecedented public health emergency that has, in Europe, especially affected Italy, Spain, and France. A recent U.K. government appeal for 250,000 volunteers to help the NHS (National Health Service) yielded an army of 750,000 would-be helpers.

But the pandemic finds the U.K. at a politically uncertain moment, as a nation finally emerging from three and a half years of political issue over its chaotic departure from the European Union. A December election that gave a decisive victory to Mr. Johnson and the ruling Conservative Party added clarity to a Brexit mandate and was seen by many as a potential first step in healing deep divisions in Britain’s political and social structure.

Acknowledging the impact of the coronavirus on daily lives, Queen Elizabeth II, in a rare address   on Sunday, praised the “national spirit” and thanked NHS and care workers, whose “every hour” of hard work “brings us closer to a return to a more normal time.” Calling on citizens to “remain united and resolute” to overcome the pandemic, she sought to provide comfort. “While we may have still more to endure, better days will return We will meet again,” she said.

1. What contributed to worsening the current crisis in the U.K?

A．The pandemic of COVID-19.	B．Political instability.
C．The vote for Brexit.	D．The December election.

2. The British showed widespread support to the fight against coronavirus EXCEPT by .

A．clapping, cheering, and banging pots and pans every Thursday night

B．advocating volunteers to help the NHS

C．organizing 750,000 helpers to join the army

D．praising the “national spirit” in Queen’s speech

3. It can be inferred from the passage that .

A．The death toll set a new single-day record and the peak death had arrived

B．Prime Minister Boris Johnson was receiving good medical treatment

C．the COVID-19 has been found in European history

D．Conservative Party has healed the deep political and social divisions

4. Where might the passage come from?

A．A noticeboard.	B．A private e-mail.
C．A research paper.	D．A newspaper.

【推荐3】Once March 29 was impressed firmly in the minds of British people, as this was the date when the UK was supposed to leave the European Union (EU).

The UK public voted to leave the EU almost three years ago. Since then, the UK Parliament has voted many times to determine the terms of the UK’s exit from the EU. But British lawmakers haven’t reached an agreement on any particular path. So the UK and EU member states agreed to push the Brexit (脱欧) deadline to April 12, hoping this would allow UK lawmakers to get a Brexit deal through the UK Parliament.

On March 29, British lawmakers rejected UK Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit deal once again. According to USA Today, the failure to reach an agreement was largely because hard-line (强硬的) lawmakers from Conservative Party didn’t feel the deal done with the EU adequately separates the UK from the EU. Meanwhile, many Labor Party lawmakers were in favor of closer ties with the EU. As result, the UK has to announce a new plan before April 12, or leave the EU without a deal, and the latter one will bring the UK and the EU countries many influences. For example, the UK would have to face the fact that the price of imported goods for British people could go up as a result. Meanwhile, there could be long delays at borders between the UK and the EU countries if passport checks are strengthened.

In the event of a no-deal Brexit, the German government would give British citizens living in Germany an initial period of three months during which their rights to live and work there would not change. However, they would have to apply for the permits of living in Germany during that period. The French Parliament has passed a law to give the government the power to introduce new measures to deal with a no-deal Brexit. The law covers, among other things, the rights of UK national a living and working in France.

More efforts to prevent a disorderly Brexit are still needed, but time is limited!

1. Why did the UK and EU member states push the Brexit deadline to April 12?

A．To wait for a new Brexit deal.	B．To make a no-deal Brexit plan.
C．To meet Theresa May’s request.	D．To have a better ties with the EU.

2. What does the underlined part “the latter one” in Paragraph 3 refer to?

A．Conservative Party.	B．Labor Party.
C．Theresa May’s Brexit deal.	D．The no-deal Brexit.

3. What will Germany ask British citizens to do for the possible no -deal Brexit?

A．Leave Germany within three months.

B．Continue to live and work in Germany.

C．Obtain living permits in the specific time.

D．Hand in the their passports as soon as possible.

4. What’s the author’s attitude towards the present situation of the Brexit?

A．Concerned.	B．Doubtful.
C．Ambiguous.	D．Surprised.