【推荐1】Directions: After reading the passage below, fill in each blank with a proper word given in the box. Each word can be used only once. Note that there is one more word than you need.

A. pace     B. registered     C. assess       D. baseline     E. reverse    F. shifting   G. production     H. fundamental   I. pointing       J. invisible    K. acknowledged

Chemical Pollution Has Passed Safe Global Limit

Chemical pollution threatens Earth’s systems by damaging the biological and physical processes that support all life. For example, pesticides (杀虫剂) wipe out many non-target insects, which are     1     to all ecosystems and, therefore, to the supply of clean air, water and food.

“There has been an increase 50 times in the     2     of chemicals since 1950 and this is projected to become three times as much again by 2050,” said Patricia, who was part of the study team. “The     3     that societies are producing and releasing new chemicals into the environment is not in agreement with staying within a safe operating space for humanity.”

Determining whether chemical pollution has crossed a planetary border is complex because there is no pre-human     4    , unlike with the climate crisis and the pre-industrial level of CO₂ in the atmosphere. There are a huge number of chemical compounds     5     for use—about 350,000—and only a tiny proportion of these have been assessed for safety.

So the research used a combination of measurements to     6     the situation. These included the rate of production of chemicals, which is rising rapidly, and their release into the environment, which is happening much faster than the ability of authorities to track the effects.

The well-known negative effects of some chemicals were also part of the assessment. The scientists     7     that the data was limited in many areas, but said the weight of evidence pointed to a break of the planetary boundary. “There’s evidence that things are     8     in the wrong direction every step of the way,” said Prof Bethanie Carney Almroth, who was part of the team. “For example, the total mass of plastics now is greater than the total mass of all living mammals (哺乳动物). That to me is a pretty clear indication that we’ve crossed a border. We’re in trouble, but there are things we can do to     9     some of this.”

Patricia said that     10     to a circular economy was really important and that meant changing materials and products so they can be reused.”

【推荐3】Directions: Complete the following passage by using the words in the box. Each word can only be used once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A. abandoned B. challenge C. colored D. demonstrate E. ensures F. initiatives G. innovation H. pilot I. purchased J. recycled K. tailors

Lego: One Step Closer to Being Sustainable

The Lego Group is one step closer to reaching its goal of making all its products from sustainable materials by 2030.

The Danish toymaker revealed a prototype (雏形) brick made from     1     plastic. In a news release, Lego said the PET plastic from     2     bottles makes up the first brick to meet the company’s “strict quality and safety requirements.” One way the company     3     safety is by sourcing materials from suppliers that use processes approved by the US Food & Drug Administration and European Food Safety Authority.

“The biggest     4     on our sustainability journey is rethinking and innovating new materials that are as long-lasting, strong and high quality as our existing bricks—and fit with LEGO elements made over the past 60 years,” Lego Group Vice President of Environmental Responsibility Tim Brooks said. “With this prototype we’re able to    5     the progress we’re making to the public.”

It will be “some time” before bricks made from used materials can be     6    , Lego said. The company will continue to test and develop the PET formulation (配方) and decide whether to move to the     7     production phase, which is expected to take at least a year. One factor the company is testing is how the material can be     8    .

“Experimentation and failing is an important part of learning and     9    . Just as kids build, unbuild and rebuild with LEGO bricks at home, we’re doing the same in our lab,” Brooks said.

The move follows last year’s announcement that the company was making a $400 million investment over three years into sustainability     10    . It included phasing out the single-use plastic bags from its boxes and instead using recyclable paper for its packaging.

【推荐1】Directions: Complete the following passage by using the words in the box. Each word can only be used once, note that there is one word more than you need.

A. associated     B. relaxation        C. outlook       D. urged     E. harmony     F. motivated G. exaggerating     H. contrary        I. track          J. equivalent     K. convinced

In 1865 The Great Landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted looked out over the Yosemite Valley and saw a place worth saving. He     1     the California legislature to protect it from crazy development. Olmsted had already designed Central Park City; he was     2     that beautiful green spaces should exist for all people to enjoy. “It is a scientific fact,” he wrote, “that the occasional observation of natural scene of an impressive character…is favorable to the health and vigor of men and especially to the health and vigor of their intellect.”

Olmsted was     3     ; his claim was based less on science than on intuition. But it was intuition with a long history. It went back at least to Cyrus the Great, who some 2500 years ago built gardens for     4     in the busy capital of Persia. Paracelsus, the 16^th century German-Swiss physician, gave voice to that same intuition when he wrote, “that art of healing comes from nature, not from the physician.” In 1798, sitting on the banks of the River Wye, William Wordsworth marveled at how “an eye made quiet by the power of     5     ” offered relief from “the fever of the world” . American writers such as Ralph Waldo Emerson and John Muir inherited that     6     along with Olmsted, they built the spiritual and emotional case for creating the world’s first national parks by claiming that nature had healing powers.

There wasn’t much evidence then—but there is now:     7     by large-scale public health problems such as obesity, depression, and persuasive nearsightedness, all clearly     8     with time spent indoors. Strayer and other scientists are looking with renewed interest at how nature affects our brains and bodies.

In England researchers from the University of Exeter Medical School recently analyzed mental health data from 10000 city dwellers and used high resolution mapping to     9     where the subjects had lived over 18 years. They found that people living near more green space reported less mental distress, even after adjusting for income, education, and employment (all of which are also correlated with health). In 2016 an international team overlaid health questionnaire responses from more than 31000 Toronto residents onto a map of the city, block by block. Those living on blocks with more trees showed a boost in heart and metabolic health     10     to what one would experience from a $20000 gain in income. Lower mortality and fewer stress hormones circulating in the blood have also been connected to living close to green space.

【推荐2】Directions: Fill in each blank with a proper word chosen from the box. Each word can be used only once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A. displaced                    B. feature                 C. grouped          D. headlines        E. house          F. inevitable G. neutral                       H. projected             I. solution            J. sustainable          K. withstand

Floating Cities: The Wave of the Future?

Rainwater pouring into the New York City subway. Towns and roads in Pennsylvania overtaken by floodwater. These dramatic scenes made     1     in September 2021. As many as 40.5 million people have already been     2     by the effects of the climate crisis. Rising sea levels, along with extreme flooding, are putting more and more coastal residents and others at risk. By 2050, more than 1 billion people will live in countries that lack the basic systems and services to     3     sea-level rise, according to the Institute for Economics and Peace. And all these climate refugees will need to seek out new homes on dry land.

One     4     architects and others have been exploring with more urgency in recent years is to build floating cities. In 2019, the United Nations brought together a group of innovators, scientists, and marine engineers to discuss the future of     5     sea-based communities. "As our climate and water ecosystems are changing, the way our cities retake to water needs to change, too." said U.N. Deputy Secretary-General Amina J. Mohammed. "Floating cities are a means of ensuring climate adaption, as buildings can rise along with the sea."

These cities can be designed as climate     6     . They can take advantage of plentiful wind and water power for electricity, and grow food using hydroponics（水耕法）. "From traditional houseboat communities to high-tech experiments, there are many examples to learn from," she added.

Some of these experimental floating cities are already in development. Another planned community that's attracting a lot of attention is Oceanix City, which is     7     to have one-third of its 118 islands below sea level within 60 years.

Plans for Oceanix City     8     groups of hexagon-shaped（六边形）islands powered by solar and water energy. Tied to the seafloor, each human-made island would     9     around 300 people; the islands would be     10     together in communities of about 10,000 residents. Oceanix citizens would drink processed ocean water and extracted humidity from the air, and dine on a ready supply of seafood.

【推荐3】Directions: Fill in each blank with a proper word chosen from the box. Each word can only be used once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A. directly	B. conventional	C. sorted	D. sustainable	E. landfilling	F. supply
G. dating	H. undoubtedly	I. viewed	J. packaging	K. cardboard

Recycling can be defined as the process of converting waste materials into new materials and objects. It can save material and help lower greenhouse gas emissions. The aim of recycling is to avoid     1     waste disposal. It contributes to the prevention of the waste of potentially useful materials and reduces the consumption of fresh raw materials, thereby reducing: energy usage, air pollution, and water pollution from     2    . This practice has been around throughout the history of mankind,     3     from the fourth century BC.

Recyclable materials include many kinds of glass, paper, and     4     metal, plastic, tires, and electronics. The composting(堆肥) or other reuse of biodegradable waste- such as food or garden waste- is also     5     as recycling.

Materials to be recycled are either brought to a collection center or picked up from the roadside, then     6     cleaned, and reprocessed into new materials for manufacturing.

In the strictest sense, recycling of a material would produce a fresh     7     of the same material- -for example, used office paper would be changed into new office paper. However, this is often     8     difficult or too expensive (compared with producing the same product from raw materials or other sources), so “recycling” of many products or materials involves their reuse in producing different materials instead. Another form of recycling is the rescue of certain materials from complex products, either due to their intrinsic（内在的） value or due to their dangerous nature.

Much of the difficulty in recycling comes from the fact that most products are not designed with recycling in mind. The concept of     9     design aims to solve this problem. Now scientists suggest that every product and all     10     they require should have a complete “closed-loop” cycle mapped out for each component- a way in which every component will either return to the natural ecosystem through biodegradation or be recycled indefinitely.