Changing to electric vehicles makes sense. Now it can make cents, too. France on Wednesday announced a program to get high gas consumption old cars off the road by offering a grant（补助金）to buy an electric bike.
A French driver can get $2,991 towards a new e-bike. The grant is high enough to buy a quality e-bike. To receive the grant, the driver has to ensure their old car to be taken off the road and scrapped(报废). Replacing the highly inefficient gas-powered vehicles will help France meet its the Paris Agreement goals to keep global warming below 2℃. In 2018, 200countries-including France-agreed to the Paris Rulebook that details the way countries can relieve climate change and this includes limiting greenhouse gas emission(排放). Other benefit to the programme is to get cars off crowded roads. After all, e-bikes take up far less room. And cleaner air due to fewer pollutants is also a big plus.
A similar program was introduced in Norway. The project for the old car was actually spearheaded by the country’s government. Drivers applied to receive a grant for up to $1,200 to buy a bicycle, e-bike, e-motorcycle, or even public transportation credits for turning in their old vehicles. More than 8,500 people applied for the grant. Finland also has a similar grant, which is used to help fund more than 1,000 low emission cars,2,000 e-bikes, and 200public transportation tickets. “For the first time it is recognized that the solution is not to make cars greener, but simply to reduce their number, ” Olivier Schneider of the French Federation of Bicycle Users said.
Since the French grant is more than twice the amount of the Finnish and Norwegian ones, it should be more successful. Getting a large number of high gas consumption off the road will go a long way in helping to reduce emissions, road crowdedness, and less pollution in the air.
1. Why does France give drivers a grant to buy electric bikes?| A．To help repair old cars. | B．To help electric bike sellers. |
| C．To make the economy better. | D．To protect the environment. |
| A．Electric bikes are popular with the French. |
| B．Preventing global warming is difficult to achieve. |
| C．The French programme is not more costly than Norway. |
| D．France has announced the conditions of getting the grant. |
| A．corrected | B．added | C．led | D．discussed |
| A．He is a news reporter. | B．He is a novel writer. |
| C．He is an e-bike buyer. | D．He is a French driver. |
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【推荐1】For the history of life on Earth, organisms have relied on the light of the sun, moon, and stars to find their way and schedule their lives. While the beginning of electric lighting in the late 19th century may have benefited humans, it has caused problems in the natural world. Among the impacts of artificial light at night(ALAN), light pollution lures migrating birds to cities with shocking consequences, contributes to the alarming decline in insect populations, and convinces sea turtle babies to amble(缓行)away from the water instead of towards it.
Now, a new study from the University of Plymouth adds another disappointing finding about how ALAN is affecting the creatures with whom we share the planet: Light pollution from coastal cities can trick corals(珊瑚)into reproducing outside of the optimum times when they would normally reproduce.
Using a combination of light pollution data and spawning(产卵)observations, researchers were able to show for the first time that corals exposed to ALAN are spawning one to three days earlier and closer to the full moon compared to those on unlit corals. “That shift may reduce the survival and fertilization success of gametes(配子)and genetic connectivity between nearby lit and unlit coral systems,” they explain.
“Corals are among the most biodiverse, economically important, and threatened ecosystems on the planet,” write the authors of the study.
“Climate change has led to mass bleaching(褪色)events. Habitat destruction, fisheries, and pollution have reduced corals substantially since the 1950s,” they write, adding, “The complete loss of corals is anticipated over the next 100 years.”
If we want to reduce the harm ALAN is causing, we could perhaps look to delay the switching-on of night-time lighting in coastal regions to ensure the natural dark period between sunset and moonrise when coral reproduction remains undisturbed.
1. Why is the first paragraph written?| A．To present the topic of the text. | B．To advocate energy conservation. |
| C．To explain a natural phenomenon. | D．To provide background information. |
| A．Possible. | B．Appropriate. | C．Flexible. | D．Sensitive. |
| A．Extinction. | B．Losing value. |
| C．Terrible diseases. | D．Exposure to moonlight. |
| A．Creatures Rely on Natural Lights to Schedule Their Life |
| B．Night-time Lighting Shortens Natural Dark Period |
| C．Coastal Lights Trick Corals into Early Spawning |
| D．Light Pollution Leads to Serious Consequences |
【推荐2】A recent study finds that the dirt on the ground is likely to worsen climate change. Researchers have shown that warmer temperatures are heating the soil, which is causing microbes (微生物) to become more active and release more of the soil’s carbon into the atmosphere. These soil changes can potentially contribute to even higher temperatures.
Scientists studied device readings, soil measurements, plant growth details and satellite observations from around the world. Their work is the most complete study on the subject.
They found a sharp increase in carbon released into the atmosphere by bacteria and fungi (真菌) in soil from 1990 to 2014. Researchers explain that the carbon comes from the dead plants and leaves the microbes eat. As temperatures rise, the microbes eat more. And the more they eat, the more carbon can be made into carbon dioxide and released into the atmosphere.
This uncontrolled cycle speeds up and intensifies climate change. Overall, soil releases about nine times more carbon than human activities. But that is part of a natural cycle: the amount of carbon released into the air is about equal to the carbon oceans and plants take in.
However, carbon released from fossil fuel causes an imbalance. Burning coal, oil and natural gas puts more carbon into the atmosphere than nature can take in. The additional carbon heats the air and soil. And as the air and soil get hotter, the earth will release more carbon than it has been holding.
If something isn’t done, we are really in trouble. Proper soil conservation can help keep more carbon in soil. Conservation methods include avoiding turning the soil, covering off-season crops and leaving crop deposits on the ground.
1. Which word can best describe the scientists’ research data?| A．Rich. | B．Rare. |
| C．Limited. | D．Difficult. |
| A．Causes. | B．Demands. |
| C．Strengthens. | D．Shows. |
| A．Active bacteria. |
| B．Human activities. |
| C．The overuses of soil. |
| D．The wastes of fossil fuels. |
| A．Warmer soil and more carbon. |
| B．The soil and the environment. |
| C．The microbes and the temperatures. |
| D．Hotter air and warmer environment. |
【推荐3】Below are four environmental activists in the 21st century who have been using the Internet effectively to create awareness about environment related issues and launch various environmental campaigns.
Dick Strawbridge
Birthdate: September 3,1959
Birthplace: Myanmar, Burma
Dick Strawbridge is a British engineer, television personality, and former army officer. In 1993,he was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire for his service in Northern Ireland. After his military career, Strawbridge has established himself as a TV personality, appearing on several TV programs. He is popularly referred to as Colonel Dick in the media.
Jean-Michel Cousteau
Birthdate: May 6,1938
Birthplace: Toulon
He is a French environmentalist, oceanographic explorer, film producer, and educator. He is also a devoted advocate of a world without nuclear weapons. Cousteau is also credited with founding an education organization and marine conservation called Ocean Futures Society. Inspired by his documentary Voyage to Kure, President George W. Bush took measures to safeguard the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument.
Vandana Shiva
Birthdate: November 5, 1952
Birthplace: Dehradun
Indian environmental activist and physicist Vandana Shiva is known for her anti-GMO (反转基因) campaigns. She is the founder of RFSTN, which promotes sustainable agriculture, and is against globalization. She developed an interest in environmentalism after witnessing a forest at her hometown being cleared for a project.
Medha Patkar
Birthdate: December 1,1954
Birthplace: Mumbai
Medha Patkar is an Indian social activist known for her work concerning several agricultural issues raised by farmers in India. She is also known for popularizing the Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) movement which opposes the construction of large dams across the Narmada River. Medha Patkar is the recipient(接收者)of many awards including the Mother Teresa Award.
1. What can be known about Dick Strawbridge?| A．He once served in the army. | B．He directed many TV programs. |
| C．He established himself as a lawyer. | D．He was the oldest of the four activists. |
| A．Dick Strawbridge’s personality. | B．Medha Patkar’s NBA movement. |
| C．Vandana Shiva’s life experience. | D．Jean-Michel Cousteau’s documentary. |
| A．They object to building large dams across rivers. |
| B．They work to deal with the issues related to agriculture. |
| C．They are social activists known for anti-GMO campaigns. |
| D．They are winners of the Mother Teresa Award. |
【推荐1】Most people are surprised to learn how much money is deducted from their earnings. Gross pay is a person's total wages or salary, and net pay is what remains after deductions. Where does the deducted money go?
In the United States, about 6 percent of each paycheck goes to Social Security, which protects the income of retired or disabled people. Workers who pay into the fund receive benefits, usually when they retire. Employers also withhold part of each check for federal income tax. This tax is the federal government's largest source of revenue.
Taxpayers often wonder what they receive for the money taken from their paychecks. The president must answer that question every year. According to the U.S. Constitution, the president must have approval from Congress to spend money. The president prepares an annual budget that summarizes the government's income and suggests how it should be spent. Some expenses, such as veterans' benefits and interest on savings bonds, are fixed. However, the president suggests how much should be spent on discretionary expenses such as national defense or cancer research.
Americans have a right to know how their tax dollars are spent, so copies of the budget are available in print and online, but these copies contain thousands of pages. Tools such as The Citizen's Guide to the Federal Budget help people find the data they need. Budget explorer, an online tutorial, allows people to compare their guesses about where their money goes to the actual numbers. Users can also try to balance the federal budget. For more details, they can visit the websites of different agencies. These tools are one more means of putting tax dollars to work.
1. The main source of revenue for the federal government is _____.| A．corporate tax | B．individual income tax |
| C．interest on the public debt | D．Social Security fund |
| A．fixed expenses. | B．net pay |
| C．discretionary expenses | D．the government's revenue |
| A．To explain how the federal budget works. |
| B．To argue that less money should go to Social Security. |
| C．To expose wasteful government spending. |
| D．To illustrate the process of filing a federal income tax return. |
【推荐2】On October 24, 1929 — “Black Thursday” — a wave of panic selling of stocks (股票) swept the New York Stock Exchange. The Great Depression began. By 1932, thousands of banks and businesses had failed. Industrial production was cut in half, farm income had fallen by more than half, wages had decreased 60 percent, new investment was down 90 percent and one out of every four workers was unemployed.
The Republican president, Herbert Hoover was unable to take measures to deal with the economic collapse. So in the 1932 election, he was defeated by Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt, who promised “a New Deal for the American people”.
Within the “Hundred Days”, Roosevelt rushed through Congress a number of laws to aid the recovery of the economy. The Civilian Conservation Corps put young men to work in reforestation (重新造林) and flood.
The Federal Emergency Relief Administration aided state and local relief funds. The Agricultural Adjustment Administration paid farmers to reduce production, thus raising crop prices. The Tennessee Valley Authority built a network of dams in the Tennessee River area to generate electricity and control floods. The National Recovery Administration regulated fair competition among businesses and minimum wages for workers.
The Work Progress Administration (WPA) was one of the most effective of the New Deal measures. Financed by taxes collected by the federal government, the WPA created millions of jobs by undertaking the construction of roads, bridges, airports and other public buildings. It kept workers in the job, thus preserving their skills and their self-respect. The New Deal programs did not end the Depression. But the economy improved as a result of this program of government intervention (介入).
1. According to the passage, “Black Thursday” refers to the day when _______.| A．the New York Stock Exchange was shut | B．industrial production decreased |
| C．the New Deal was issued | D．the Great Depression began |
| A．to deal with economic problems |
| B．to help state and local relief funds |
| C．to aid the workers to finish their stock selling |
| D．to make young people plant trees and build dams |
| A．it provided workers jobs of building roads and airports |
| B．it preserved workers’ skill and self-respect |
| C．it provided financial aids to workers |
| D．it ensured workers’ minimum wages |
| A．The Agricultural Adjustment Administration paid farmers to reduce crop prices. |
| B．The Work Progress Administration is the most effective Administration in the US. |
| C．The Depression was not ended just by the New Deal programs. |
| D．President Herbert Hoover failed in carrying out the New Deal for the American people. |
【推荐3】The American city of Detroit was like Paris, some people said. It had a big river, beautiful wide streets and important buildings. Then, in the 20th century, it was called Motor City because of the number of car factories there. Workers in the car factories had good jobs and they earned good money.
The city’s population fell for several reasons. One reason is that people moved to the suburbs (郊区) in the 1950s because new highways were built. Another reason is that in 1967 some violent events happened there and it became dangerous.
| A．It was a new beginning for the city. |
| B．But then something began to change. |
| C．There is now space for new buildings. |
| D．A lot of people were scared of coming to the city. |
| E．In a period of fifty years, more than half the people left Detroit. |
| F．It wasn’t unusual to own a home, a boat and even a holiday home. |
| G．Detroit was famous for the cars General Motors and Chrysler produced. |
【推荐1】Zhong Kaitong, a fourth-grader from Guangzhou, enjoyed a fun vacation this summer. Instead of attending English or math training courses, she played badminton and basketball most of the time.
A new guideline introduced by central authorities on July 24 helped Zhong enjoy some free time during the summer holiday. Aiming to ease(减少)the schoolwork burden(负担)on primary and junior high school students, the guideline calls for reducing homework, improving the quality of education and regulating(规范) after-class activities, Xinhua reported.
According to the guideline, children below the third grade will not have homework anymore. It should take no more than 90 minutes for junior high school students to finish their homework.
Off-campus tutoring institutions(校外培训机构) are not allowed to offer overseas education courses or advanced(超前的) teaching. No subject-based training will be allowed on weekends, national holidays or during winter and summer vacations.
More than 75 percent of children in Chinese cities from grades 1 to 12 are taking private tutoring courses, Global Times reported.
“Parents are worried that if their children start behind, they will stay behind. Some training institutions have taken advantage of parents' anxieties(焦虑) to make money. ” said Chen Xianzhe, a professor at South China Normal University. “The guideline is meant to calm the anxieties of parents and society as a whole. ”
“But this does not mean the tutoring courses will completely disappear, since exams still exist. ” said Chu Zhaohui, a senior researcher at the National Institute of Education Sciences. One-on-one or one-on-two tutoring might see a rise due to this need.
“Therefore, schools should improve their education quality, take the main responsibility for students' education and not push them into tutoring courses.” Chu added.
1. The aim of the new guideline is to ______.| A．make vacations longer for students | B．ease the pressure put on teachers |
| C．ease students' schoolwork burden | D．help students become more competitive |
| A．All tutoring institutions are asked to close. |
| B．Homework is not allowed for primary students. |
| C．Tutoring institutions should offer advanced teaching. |
| D．Junior high schools should reduce their homework. |
| A．sports | B．math |
| C．computer programming | D．public speaking |
| A．He supports the guideline. | B．He thinks the guideline is useless. |
| C．He is against the guideline. | D．We can't tell from the story. |
| A．the guideline will stop off-campus tutoring courses |
| B．schools should be responsible for students' education |
| C．education will become even more unfair |
| D．the guideline will end in failure |
【推荐2】Michelle Obama has started her campaign against childhood obesity in the US, saying that it is a problem that concerns her both as First Lady and as a mother. She said that the campaign was designed to encourage people to live healthier lives, but admitted that she herself was not immune to the temptations of junk food.
“I love burgers and fries. And I love ice cream and cake. And so do most kids，” she said. But she added, “We're not talking about a lifestyle that excludes (排斥) all that. The question is how we help people balance that out so that they're not facing lifethreatening, preventable illnesses, but they're enjoying their food and vegetables, they're playing and still have time to get a good, fun meal every once in a while.”
One in three American children is overweight or obese, putting them at higher risk of developing diabetes (糖尿病), high blood pressure, high cholesterol (胆固醇) and other illnesses. Billions of dollars are spent every year treating obesityrelated conditions. “None of us wants this future for our kids，” Mrs. Obama said.“We have to act, so let's move.”
Her campaign has four parts: helping parents make better food choices, serving healthier food in school cafeterias, making healthy food more available and affordable, and encouraging children to exercise more.
The ambitious campaign, which Mrs. Obama hopes will be seen as her legacy (遗产), is aimed at solving the childhood obesity problem in a generation, so that children born today can reach adulthood at a healthy weight. “This isn't like a disease where we're still waiting for the cure to be discovered. We know the cure for this，” she said.
President Barack Obama praised his wife for dealing with what he called one of “the most urgent health issues facing the country”. “This has enormous promise in improving the health of our children, and in giving support to parents to make the kinds of healthy choices that are often very difficult，” he said.
1. Why did Michelle Obama launch the campaign?| A．She was strongly persuaded by other mothers with obese children. |
| B．She wanted to help the President with his work. |
| C．She has found that her own children are also obese. |
| D．She aimed to call on people to lead healthier lives. |
| A．she hates junk food but can't resist it |
| B．junk food should be rejected by children |
| C．people should balance healthy food and junk food |
| D．people are too cautious about junk food |
| A．must be caused by eating junk food |
| B．leads to a great loss of health and money |
| C．is certain to make people develop illnesses |
| D．results from the rich life in developed nations |
| A．it contributes to the improvement of childhood health in America |
| B．he realizes that the obesity problem is the most urgent global issue |
| C．he thinks his wife is helping by sharing his concerns |
| D．he really understands how tough it will be to carry out the campaign |
【推荐3】About a million years ago a small mutation (突变) might have unlocked a big advantage for ancient humans. A recent study in Science Advances suggests that a variant of a critical stretch of DNA called the growth hormone receptor (激素受体) gene protected against starvation—in part by limiting individuals’ body size during periods of resource scarcity.
Previous research had linked the variant, called GHRd3, to characteristics such as smaller birth size and earlier sexual maturity, as well as other qualities that can benefit organisms when food is scarce, says the study’s lead author Omer Gokcumen from the University at Buffalo. Still, researchers wanted to know more precisely what role the mutation played in human evolution.
To dig deeper, Gokcumen and his colleagues turned to mice. Or rather they turned some mice into analogues (类似物) of early humans. Using the genetic editing tool CRISPR-Cas9, the team deleted a section of mice’s growth hormone receptor gene so it resembled the GHRd3 variant. The modified mice were not especially different from ordinary ones when fed a regular diet. But when fed very little, the male carriers grew up to be smaller than their unmodified counterparts. Gokcumen’s team also found that among a group of 176 modern human children who survived malnutrition, symptoms were less severe in boys and girls with GHRd3.
These findings could help explain why GHRd3 has persisted for so long. Perhaps it paid to be small in times of scarcity, the researchers suppose—but in times of abundance large size won out. Changes in available resources could then have balanced the costs and benefits of different variants within a population. “It’s a trade-off,” Gokcumen says. “I would probably fare better than Arnold Schwarzenegger if we each had 1,000 calories a day.”
The team’s explanation is “plausible”, says Megan Dennis, a geneticist at the University of California, who was not part of the study. She praises the functional experiments in mice but notes that the affected gene is involved in so many fundamental processes that it is difficult to pin down GHRd3’s most adaptive effects. “I was like, ‘Wow, there’s so much that could be happening here,’” Dennis says.
1. What can we learn about GHRd3?| A．It may decline as a result of resource limitations. |
| B．It performs its function when animals’ size is small. |
| C．It can be modified to limit animals’ size to fight starvation. |
| D．It is a shortened version of the growth hormone receptor gene. |
| A．When there is little food, it pays to be small. |
| B．When food is insufficient, GHRd3 won’t work. |
| C．When you go on a diet, GHRd3 can be harmful. |
| D．When humans fight for resources, their size matters. |
| A．Statistically incredible. | B．Relatively conventional. |
| C．Technically adequate. | D．Seemingly reasonable. |
| A．How Ancient Humans Survived Starvation |
| B．Gene Variant Saves Humans from Starvation |
| C．What Role GHRd3 Plays in Human Evolution |
| D．The Influence of Resource Shortage on GHRd3 |
