【推荐2】A few weeks ago, scientists at Ukraine's Vernadsky Research Base in Antarctica found their usually white surrounds were covered in a shocking blood-red. For such a mess, the culprits behind this horrible scene are tiny.

“Our scientists have identified them under a microscope as Chlamydomonasnivalis(雪地衣藻),” said the National Antarctic Scientific Centre of Ukraine in a Facebook post.

These green algae, a type of seaweed, are common in all icy and snowy regions of Earth, from the Arctic to high mountain regions. They lie still during the freezing winter, but once the sunlight warms enough to soften their world, the algae awake, making use of the melt water and sunlight to rapidly bloom.

“The algae need liquid water in order to bloom,” University of Leeds microbiologist Steffi Lutz told Gizmodo in 2016. “The algal blooms contribute to climate change,” the center stated.

A study in 2016 showed that snow algal blooms can decrease the amount of light reflected from the snow by up to 13 percent across one melt season in the Arctic. “This will surely result in higher melt rates,” the researchers wrote.

In 2017 environmental scientists calculated that microbial communities contributed to over a sixth of the snowmelt where they were present in Alaskan ice fields. Their experiments showed that areas with more melt water led to the growth of 50 percent more algae and places with more algae melted further.

This Antarctic summer has certainly seen a lot more melt water than usual. Temperature records keep changing, leading to rapid melting previously only seen in the Northern Hemisphere.

1. What does the underlined word “culprits” in Paragraph 1 mean?

A．Risks.	B．Chances.
C．Effects.	D．Criminals.

2. What can we know about Chlamydomonasnivalis?

A．They can be found anywhere.	B．They are sensitive to temperature.
C．They grow slower than before.	D．They survive only one melt season.

3. What can be inferred from the last two paragraphs?

A．Ice and snow will soon disappear in the Antarctic.

B．Microbial communities bring about extreme weathers.

C．The Southern Hemisphere is warmer than the other parts.

D．Climate change and algae growth interact with each other.

4. Which can be a suitable title for the text?

A．Why Snow Turned Blood-red.	B．How Algae Began in the Arctic.
C．Why Climate Changes Greatly.	D．How the Snow Reflects Sunlight.

【推荐3】Global animal populations are declining, and we’ve got limited time to try to fix it. That’s the outcome of a new report from the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), which analyzed years of data on wildlife populations across the world and found a downward trend in the Earth’s biodiversity.

According to the Living Planet Index, animal populations across the world decreased by 69% between 1970 and 2018. Not all animal populations decreased, though, and some parts of the world saw more dramatic changes than others. But experts say the loss of biodiversity is a worrying sign of what’s to come for the natural world. “The message is clear and the lights are flashing red,” said WWF International Director General Marco Lambertini.

According to the report’s authors, biodiversity loss mainly results from land-use changes driven by human activities, such as infrastructure (基础设施) development, energy production and deforestation. But the report suggests that climate change — which is already causing wide-ranging effects on plant and animal species globally — could become the leading cause of biodiversity loss if rising temperatures can’t be limited to 1.5℃.

Lambertini said the crisis of biodiversity loss and climate change is already responsible for plenty of problems for humans, including less access to food and water and a rise in the spread of diseases. He said world leaders should take major steps to deal with environmental damage. They are locked in old-world thinking, with no sign of the brave action needed to achieve a nature-positive future.

WWF chief scientist Rebecca Shaw told a radio station that humans have the opportunity to change how they do things to benefit nature. “We don’t have to continue the patterns of development we have now. And we have an opportunity to change the way we produce, what we cat and how we consume food and what we waste when we consume our food,” Shaw said. “Little things that we can do every day can change the direction of animal population declines.”

1. What does the new report indicate about the animal populations?

A．The drop in animal populations began in 1970.

B．The degree of the decrease is relatively low.

C．All species on Earth have witnessed a drop in population.

D．Global animal populations are declining at an alarming speed.

2. What could become the main threatening factor of biodiversity?

A．Land-use changes.	B．Deforestation.
C．The climate change.	D．The high temperatures.

3. What is Lambertini’s attitude to world leaders in environmental issues?

A．Critical.

B．Favorable.

C．Tolerant.

D．Neutral.

4. What is the last paragraph mainly about?

A．How to develop economy.	B．How to prevent food waste.
C．How to maintain sustainable diets.	D．How to stop animal population decline.

【推荐1】It is universally acknowledged that renewable energy sources such as solar, wind and hydropower are all much better for the climate than fossil fuels. It is true for wind and solar. However, the picture for hydropower is more complicated than we think.

A new study by the Environmental Defense Fund analyzed the climate impacts of 1,500 hydropower facilities across the globe. That accounts for about half of hydropower generation worldwide. The researchers looked at whether the facilities behave as a greenhouse gas sink or as a source. To figure this out, they looked into all the different components that help determine a hydropower facility's greenhouse gas emissions (排放).

“There are so many contributors to greenhouse gas emissions from hydropower — but essentially, the majority of greenhouse gas emissions arise from the reservoir (水库) itself, as vegetation and soils are submerged underwater in the dam that is used for the hydropower generation.” said lissa Ocko, a senior climate scientist at the Environmental Defense Fund and co-author of the study. As the submerged vegetation breaks down, it releases greenhouse gases such as CO2.

“The larger the surface area of the reservoir, the more greenhouse gases are going to be given out from that reservoir. Also, the temperature plays a role as well how warm the reservoir is will affect how much greenhouse gases are produced and given out from the reservoir.” added Ocko.

Through their analysis, Ocko and her co-author Steven Hamburg, also with the Environmental Defense Fund, discovered that the climate impacts of hydropower cover a complete range. The good news is that some facilities perform just as well as wind and solar. But shockingly, more than 100 facilities are actually worse for the climate than fossil fuels. The study is in the journal Environmental Science and Technology.

This finding doesn't mean we should forget about hydropower. “But we just need to be careful to make sure that we have climate benefits. There are a lot of situations where hydropower can be equal to wind and solar. So it really depends on the specific facility." said Ocko.

1. How do scientists prove hydropower facilities' effect on the climate?

A．By making comparisons.	B．By conducting experiments.
C．By referring to previous studies.	D．By analyzing causes and effects.

2. What are the main sources of greenhouse gases from hydropower?

A．Vegetation and soils.	B．Heat and sunlight.
C．Pollutants in the reservoir.	D．Components of the generators.

3. What have Ocko and her co-author Steven Hamburg found?

A．The surface area of a reservoir decides the climate.

B．Hydropower often influences the climate in all aspects.

C．Some facilities perform much better than wind and solar.

D．Fossil fuels are worse for the climate than over 100 facilities.

4. What is the text mainly about?

A．Scientists urge an end to hydropower.

B．Hydropower is not necessarily green.

C．Hydropower is worse than fossil fuels.

D．Renewable energy is a complicated issue.

【推荐2】The topic of China’s “slash youth” has fueled heated debate on social media recently, drawing attention to the diverse pursuits of the younger generation.

The slash youth, which could also be called slashers or slash-generation — means those who refuse to be defined or bound by just one personal identity. They are keen to present themselves as multiple and sometimes distinct identities, such as a nurse and model, a teacher and stand-up comedian, and an engineer and band player. Rather than material comforts, they pursue meaningful achievement.

A diverse career can enable them to develop new experiences and talents as well as social and professional networks, leading to greater flexibility in life and work, recognition and satisfaction.

A study on “slash youth” published in the China Youth Research magazine analyzes the background of this phenomenon: with part of modern society’s structured organization and stability norms (规范) are broken, flexible labor markets and structural unemployment has emerged, dispelling the sense of job security of the young people in employment. Young people also face the dilemma of self-actualization (自我实现), including the sense of powerlessness, lost sense of value and lack of self- identity in the profession, which forces them to re-find the meaning of work.

“The ‘slash life’ shows that our society is becoming more and more diversified and inclusive (包罗万象的), and it welcomes everyone’s self- fulfillment,” said Shi Yanrong, an associate researcher from Tianjin Academy of Social Sciences. “Young people no longer have to rely on work and money for their sense of self-worth. They tend to create their own identities.” The researcher added that against the background that people have multiple interests and are willing to pay for these interests nowadays, the “slash life” of the youth would drive the growth of a new economy, just as animation culture affected the market.

1. What attracts younger generation to pursue multiple identities?

A．Meaningful self-fulfillment.	B．Public concern.
C．Booming job market.	D．Material comforts.

2. What does the underlined word “dispelling” in Paragraph 4 mean?

A．Highlighting.

B．Stimulating.

C．Removing.

D．Increasing.

3. What does Shi Yanrong think of the slash life?

A．It enables young people to earn high incomes.

B．It inspires young people’s creativity at work.

C．It increases people’s confidence in young generation.

D．It reflects the increasing tolerance of the society.

4. Which of the following can be the best title for the text?

A．Slash Life: A flexible labor market

B．Slash Life: A journey of hunting for jobs

C．Slash Youth: A generation with diverse identities

D．Slash Youth: A generation lacking the sense of job security

【推荐3】Job sharing refers to the situation in which two people divide the responsibility of one full-time job．The two people willingly act as part-time workers, enough hours between them to fulfill the duties of a full-time worker．If they each work half the job, for example, they each receive 50 per cent of the job's wages, its holidays and its other benefits．
Job sharing differs from conventional （常规的） part-time work in that it occurs mainly in the more highly skilled and professional areas, which require higher levels of responsibility and employee commitment．
Job sharing should not be confused with the term work sharing, which refers to increasing the number of jobs by reducing the number of hours of each existing job, thus offering more positions to the growing number of unemployed people．Job sharing, by contrast, is not designed to address unemployment problems; its focus, rather, is to provide well-paid work for skilled workers and professionals who want more free time for other activities．
As would be expected, most job sharers are women．A survey carried out in 1988 by Britain's Equal Opportunities Commission showed that 78 per cent of sharers were female, the majority of whom were between 20 and 40 years of age．Subsequent studies have come up with similar results．Many of these women were re-entering the job market after having had children, but they chose not to seek part-time work because it would have meant lower status．Job sharing also offered an acceptable shift back into full-time work after a long absence．
The necessity of close cooperation when sharing a job with another person makes the actual work quite different from conventional one-position jobs．However, to ensure a greater chance that the partnership will succeed, each person needs to know the strengths, weaknesses and preferences of his or her partner before applying for a position．Moreover, there must be a fair division of both routine tasks and interesting ones．In sum, for a position to be job-shared well, the two individuals must be well matched and must treat each other as equals．
1. In what way is work sharing different from job sharing?

A．Work sharing requires more working hours．

B．Work sharing is aimed at creating more jobs．

C．Work sharing provides a more satisfactory salary．

D．Work sharing depends on the employer's decision．

2. According to Paragraph 4, young mothers preferred job sharing to conventional part-time work mainly because ________．

A．they sought higher social status

B．they were over ideal working ages

C．they had difficulty finding full-time jobs

D．they had to take care of both work and family

3. In job sharing the partners should ________．

A．enjoy equal social status

B．have similar work experience

C．keep in touch with each other

D．know each other very well

4. The main purpose of the passage is to ________．

A．describe job sharing in general

B．discuss how to provide more jobs

C．recommend job sharing to women

D．compare job sharing with work sharing