Babusha, or “eight-step sands”, got its name because the desert was always just eight steps away from the farmers’ doors. Today, the desert’s southward movement has been stopped thanks to a green belt planted in the last 40 years by Guo Wangang and his colleagues. As a result, Guo was named a National Moral Model in 2020.
Guo is only part of the second generation of “soldiers” to fight against the desert. His father was one of the six men who first began planting trees in Babusha. When Guo’s father fell ill in 1983, he hoped that his son would follow in his footsteps.
Guo remembers being reluctant to give up his stable government job. “My father repeatedly stressed that we had to make sure our farms weren’t eaten by the desert,” Guo said, adding that he eventually agreed to work at the farm because he didn’t want to see the trees die.
However, it was the deadly sandstorm in 1993 that turned Guo into a determined “soldier”. The fast moving brown wall of dust reached high into the sky and turned day into night. Guo was working in the desert with his colleagues when it hit. They only managed to get home after trekking for six hours in darkness. Later, he learned that 23 students were found dead in a river as they tried to get home from school during the sandstorm.
Since then, Guo and his colleagues have continued planting trees every spring and fall, pruning (修剪) them in winter and watching out for fire. Their struggle continues. Today more and more young people have joined with scientific and innovative methods. For example, the farm now is subsidized (资助) by Ant Forest, a public welfare project launched by the e-commerce giant, Alibaba. It rewards users with virtual energy in exchange for low-carbon activities, which can then be used to do things, like having trees planted.
“We need more such young people to help us find other advanced and engineering methods for desertification control,” said Guo Wangang.
1. What was Guo Wangang’s first reaction to his father’s request?| A．He advised his father to stop planting trees. |
| B．He was unwilling to give up his stable job. |
| C．He immediately agreed to work at the farm. |
| D．He was determined to fight against the desert. |
| A．Finishing the green belt. |
| B．Winning National Moral Model title. |
| C．Seeing his father’s falling ill. |
| D．Experiencing a deadly sandstorm. |
| A．To show young people’s creative methods. |
| B．To advocate the low-carbon way of living. |
| C．To praise Ant Forest’s unique contribution. |
| D．To indicate Guo and his team’s difficulties. |
| A．Well begun is half done. |
| B．One tree doesn’t make a forest. |
| C．Opportunity favours only the prepared mind. |
| D．Nothing is too difficult if you put your heart into it. |
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【推荐1】Along with the standard pigments（颜料）and paintbrushes，artist Sean Yoro(known as Hula), requires an unconventional piece of equipment for his particular brand of mural（壁画） making: a paddleboard.
The Hawaian muralist, balanced on the top of the floating platform, describes women from various sites across the world, whose homelands are often threatened by the effects of global warming.
For his most recent project, titled "What If You Fly", Hula traveled to Baffin Island, off the coast of Nunavut, Canada, to paint a portrait of local Inuit woman Jesse Mike, who lives there with her daughter.
In a short film telling of the artist's process, Mike explains her frustrating previous experiences working with filmmakers who reported on the terrible circumstances troubling her endangered landscape. "For most people, it's about the polar bears, it's not about the people. "she said. "Well, let's make it about the people. "
Hula and his team spent 14 hours searching for the perfect iceberg canvas（油画布）,knowing all the while that the ice itself, and any image created on the top of it,would soon melt away into nothing.
"It's a little ambitious to do this larger than life ice mural in the Arctic, and somehow, at the same time, make a connection to the human culture, "climber and filmmaker Renan Ozturk said of the project.
When Hula found his proper ice, he painted a portrait of Jesse he took earlier on his camera. Working against the power of time and Mother Nature, the artist aimed to finish as much of Jesse's portrait as he could before the iceberg disappeared.
The massive image, Hula's most remote and technically challenging piece yet, communicates a memorable reality—the consequences of climate change, first and foremost, affect people.
1. What is "What If You Fly"?| A．A film about the muralist. | B．A project conducted by Hula |
| C．A painting based on a local Inuit. | D．A woman called Jesse Mike. |
| A．They only reported on terrible circumstances. |
| B．They didn't focus on human beings. |
| C．They just reported on frustrating experiences. |
| D．They showed no sympathy to the endangered landscape. |
| A．He made an attempt to paint on varieties of materials. |
| B．He was ambitious enough to explore Mother Nature. |
| C．He warned people of the consequences of global warming. |
| D．He wanted to show his unconventional painting. |
| A．A Muralist and an Inuit |
| B．Arctic Ice Painting, Memorable Reality |
| C．Mother Nature, Massive Images |
| D．Standard Tools, Unconventional Paintings |
【推荐2】Plastic waste is choking our planet. People are trying to help fix it by recycling, but their efforts aren’t going far enough. Even when plastic producers are held responsible and attempt to solve the problem, it doesn’t always go smoothly. Such has been the case for the company Torus Pak, which produces novel packaging for frozen meals on a large scale.
Like many other black plastic products, the Torus Pak packages used a carbon-based pigment (颜料). This pigment troubles the sorting technology which is used by many recycling facilities, so black plastic usually ends up being thrown away because the machines can’t identify it. Now the company is midway through the complex process of phasing out that pigment and switching that pigment to one that doesn’t use carbon.
But that doesn’t mean the problem is solved, for the recycling rate at the waste facility itself is not encouraging. Your discarded plastic may end up in a landfill even if you send it to be recycled. Worldwide, only about nine percent of all the plastic waste has been recycled, which amounts to less than 600 million tons out of over 6 billion. While one might assume the proportion of plastic being recycled is on the increase due to improved tech and increased public awareness of environmental protection, it’s actually become even lower in many places in recent years.
“The world wasn’t always flooded with single-use plastic products,” said Lisa Ramsden, senior plastic campaigner for Greenpeace USA. “We know how to live without them. We’ve just got used to a convenience culture that relies so heavily on them.”
The solution is obvious. To get out of this habit, we should stop using so much plastic, starting with many of the items we use just once for a few minutes. Companies need to shift toward using more refillable and reusable containers, and packaging made from materials that are less harmful to the environment. Governments must mandate (强制执行) such changes — a goal we’re now finally inching closer to every day.
1. What is the problem with the Torus Pak packages?| A．They are expensive for customers. |
| B．Their pigment is hardly appealing. |
| C．They are hard to define as “recyclable”. |
| D．Their production process is very complex. |
| A．The reason for recycling plastic waste. |
| B．The outcome of recycling plastic waste. |
| C．The potential of recycling plastic waste. |
| D．The objective of recycling plastic waste. |
| A．Making some stricter laws. |
| B．Reducing the use of plastic products. |
| C．Advancing the technology of recycling. |
| D．Setting some higher environmental goals. |
| A．Recycling fails to solve plastic pollution |
| B．A company contributes a lot to recycling |
| C．Great changes happen in recycling plastic |
| D．Plastic pollution is increasingly worsening |
A team of scientists has come up with a plan they say could help rebuild the Arctic ice cap. The ice cap is a huge area of sea ice that covers most of the Arctic Ocean all year round.
Usually, the sea ice gets thicker and spreads further each winter, but this hasn’t happened for the past few years. Last month, the ice cap had shrunk to its smallest size since scientists began keeping records of it 38 years ago. The weather in the Arctic has been unusually warm this winter. Some days, temperatures have been 20℃ higher than is normal for this time of year. In March, the temperature was above 0℃at least one day.
The Arctic ice cap is needed to be rebuilt because sea ice reflects heat and light from the sun back into space. With less ice, the ocean would absorb more heat. The Arctic would warm up even more quickly, and more ice would melt. Without sea ice, many animals would lose their natural habitats and could become endangered. It could also affect the weather, with more storms and erosion along the coast.
Dr. Steven Desch and a group of scientists from Arizona State University in the United States think they can help to build up Arctic sea ice again. They want to set up wind-powered pumps on the existing sea ice. During the winter, the pumps would spread water from the ocean over the surface of the ice where it would freeze and form a new layer of ice. The scientists say that in 10 years, this could add an extra metre of ice to the ice cap.
The plan would require about 10 million pumps and it would be very expensive -- about $655 billion. Some other scientists are wondering if the pumps would actually work in severe Arctic conditions. They are also concerned about how the project might affect the environment.
Dr. Desch said his team hoped their proposal would get more people interested in looking for a solution to the problem of melting sea ice. He said the only plan people have right now is to try to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from cars and other man-made sources. He and his team don’t think that will be enough to save the sea ice, so they’re going to work on their plan and hope that it will give everyone a good start on saving the Arctic ice cap.
1. What is the Arctic ice cap?2. What are the shortcomings of Dr. Steven Desch’s solution?
3. Please decide which part is false in the following statement, then underline it and explain why.
Some scientists were worried about the project and Dr. Desch hoped more people could help improve it.
4. Please briefly present your own solution(s) to the greenhouse gas emission problem in your daily life. (about 40 words)
【推荐1】I was born and raised in England in a culture where privacy and “keeping yourself to yourself” were valued traditions. Speaking to strangers was not encouraged. People were most hospitable (好客的) and friendly.
However, I have been lucky enough to spend some time in both Italy and the US , where I found traditions of hospitality and politeness to be very different.
I experienced Italian hospitality first - hand on a crowded railway carriage travelling from Genoa to Florence. Sinking gratefully into an empty seat, I was scolded in rapid Italian by a gentleman who was returning to this seat - it had not been “spare” after all, I apologized in English, and got up to allow him back into the seat. The gentleman obviously had no understanding of the English language, but he, too realized my genuine (真诚的) mistake. He smiled and gestured for me to remain in the seat, and he himself remained standing in the corridor for the rest of the journey. The other passengers smiled and nodded at me and made me feel quite welcome among them, I feel that if this had been in England, a foreigner who made a mistake would not always be so kindly treated.
Transport also showed the differences between English and American culture. I few to New York on a plane with mainly English passengers. We sat together in near silence. Nobody spoke to me nor, as I expected, to anyone else they did not know. They felt it was not polite to interrupt someone else's privacy. However, when I travelled across the
United States, whether by plane or. Greyhound bus, I was never short of conversation. Conversation was going on all around me and whoever sat next to me was happy to introduce themselves and ask me about myself. They obviously felt it would have been rude not to speak to another person, whether they were strangers or not.
1. What do we know about the passengers when the author was travelling in Italy?| A．They were all on the side of the gentleman. |
| B．They all laughed at the author for his mistake. |
| C．They would not bear a mistake like the author's in public. |
| D．They all showed their understanding of the author's mistake. |
| A．shouted. | B．surprised. |
| C．praised. | D．blamed. |
| A．They were too tired to speak to anyone. |
| B．They were all strangers to each other. |
| C．Privacy was a valued tradition in England. |
| D．Everybody was deeply lost in thought. |
| A．Different Ways of Hospitality and Politeness. |
| B．My Unforgettable Travelling Experience Abroad. |
| C．Co - understanding Each Other. |
| D．The Importance of Privacy. |
"Wave to daddy!" she'd shout. Four little hands would shoot into the air．I never knew what Dad did in Plant C, but during 34 years of hard work, he had surgery （手术） on his shoulder and hand．At 48, he had his first heart attack．He retired in 1993, right after the last kid graduated from college．But the damage was done．A few years later, the next heart attack killed him．
I saw my dad in Plant C only once, when I took dinner to him．That night, I looked at my father, covered in sweat and coal, and for the first time I knew why he was so often angry for no reason．
Recently my father' s friend, Toby Workman, walked me there．I knew my father never wanted me to see it．At every station, he described the job and the danger．It was like listening to a foreign language．I walked past many DANGER signs．Toby put his hand on my shoulder．"look," he said, "you need to understand something．Your dad was a maintenance mechanic．He worked the most dangerous job．If something broke, he fixed it．"
A few days later, my daughter graduated from college．I gave her the hard hat Toby handed to me as I left, and this notes: " Whenever you feel something difficult, put this on, look in the mirror, and remember your roots．"
1. How many siblings does the author most probably have? ____．
| A．Three siblings | B．Two siblings | C．One sibling | D．Four siblings |
| A．He didn't suffer a heart attack until he retired． |
| B．He worked in Plant C for 48 years in all． |
| C．He was hardly angry in his daily life． |
| D．He did physical work in Plant C. |
| A．felt familiar with the job | B．didn’t quite understand |
| C．wanted to learn a foreign language | D．decided to do the same work |
| A．remember her grandfather | B．overcome all difficulties by wearing it |
| C．get encouraged by her grandfather | D．follow her grandfather' s work |
【推荐3】Rebecca Munkombwe, an 11-year-old girl from Zimbabwe, is regarded as a hero for saving a 9-year-old friend from the jaws of a crocodile by jumping or、the crocodile and gouging (挖) its eyes out.
According to Zimbabwean media, Rebecca and her friends had just got back from a swim in a stream near their home village when they heard the screams corning from the water. She was shocked to see her 9-year-old friend Latoya Muwani being dragged into the water by a crocodile. While all the other children were running scared, Rebecca ran toward the water, jumped on top of the crocodile and started beating it with her bare fists. However, that didn’t seem to bother the crocodile at all, so she then used her fingers to gouge its eyes out until it loosened its grasp of Latoya. Once she was free, Rebecca swam with her to the bank.
Surprisingly, the 11-year-old heroine managed to save her young friend without suffering any wounds, while Latoya was lucky to escape with just mild wounds that were later treated at a regional hospital. Latoya’s parents praised Rebecca’s courage and thanked her for saving their daughter’s life. “I was at work when I learnt that my daughter had been attacked by a crocodile while swimming. For a moment I thought of the worst before I learnt that she’d survived after being saved by Rebecca,” Latoya’s father, Fortune Muwani, said. “I don’t know how she managed to do that, but I’m grateful to her.”
Local authorities confirmed the crocodile attack, adding that the number of such incidents was increasing. Apparently, the lack of easily accessible water sources (水源) is forcing women and children to use unprotected sources like this crocodile-infested (遍布鳄鱼的) stream.
1. What made Rebecca Munkombwe a hero?| A．Her catching a crocodile hare-handed. |
| B．Her rescuing a drowning friend in time. |
| C．Her helping a friend out of deadly danger. |
| D．Her making friends with a wild crocodile. |
| A．Brave and smart. | B．Calm and careful. |
| C．Honest and considerate. | D．Courageous and patient. |
| A．He knew every detail about the rescuing process. |
| B．Latoya’s conditions were far better than expected. |
| C．Latoya’s being attacked by a crocodile sounded unbelievable. |
| D．He regretted not accompanying Latoya while she was swimming. |
| A．Because people have poor awareness of safety. |
| B．Because people enjoy getting close to animals in the wild. |
| C．Because people have little knowledge of accessible water sources. |
| D．Because people have to share limited water sources with wild animals. |
【推荐1】Socrates was a classical Greek philosopher regarded as one of the founders of Western philosophy, and as being the first moral (道德的) philosopher. He made no writings, and is known mainly through the description of classical writers’ writing after his lifetime, particularly his students Plato and Xenophon. Aristophanes, a writer, is the only source to have written during his lifetime.
Socrates was born in Alopeke. He first worked as a sculptor, and created the statues of the Charites, which stood near the Acropolis until the 2nd century AD. Xenophon reports that because young men were not allowed to enter the Agora, they used to gather in shops surrounding it. Socrates often went to these shops in order to talk with the traders. Most famous among them was Simon, the Shoemaker.
Perhaps Socrates’ most important contribution to Western thought is his dialectic (辩证的) method of questioning, known as the Socratic method. It was first described by Plato in the Socratic Dialogues. To solve a problem, it would be broken down into a series of questions, the answers to which gradually collect the answer a person would look for. The development and practice of this method is a key point in earning his title as the father of moral philosophy in Western philosophy. The Socratic method has often been considered as a part of American education.
Socrates had a strong influence on philosophers in both ancient and modern times. Achievements of Socrates in art, literature and popular culture have made him one of the most widely known figures in the Western philosophical tradition.
1. What do we know about Socrates?| A．He gets on well with his students. |
| B．He is known by writers’ recording. |
| C．He dislikes reading others’ writings. |
| D．He loves classical writers very much. |
| A．He wanted to look for his students. |
| B．He took an interest in making shoes. |
| C．He aimed at having a chat with sellers. |
| D．He planned to buy some useful things. |
| A．His dialectic method of questioning. |
| B．His practice of western philosophy. |
| C．His good solution to moral philosophy. |
| D．His contribution to American education. |
| A．To require people to respect Socrates. |
| B．To introduce a great Greek philosopher. |
| C．To show his love for a great philosopher. |
| D．To remember a great Greek philosopher. |
【推荐2】One of the most famous expeditions (远征）in the world was Sir Edmund Hillary’s exploration and climbing of Qomolangma. He is known as the first man to reach the summit (山顶，顶点) of the world famous Qomolangma, but he wasn’t always just a mountain climber.
Edmund Hillary, who was born in 1919, studied science and math at the University of Auckland in New Zealand. Soon after finishing his studies, Hillary became a beekeeper, working with his brother Rex.
During the 1940s he made many climbs in New Zealand，particularly in the Southern Alps. He quickly became recognized for his courage, strength, and reliability (可靠). Then, came climbs in Europe which brought the invitation to join Sir John Hunt’s expedition to Qomolangma in 1953.
Out of all the climbers on the expedition, only four would get a chance to make an attempt to reach the summit. Hunt, the team leader, selected two teams of climbers. One was made up of Charles Evans and Tom Bourdillon and the other consisted of Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay. The first team to get close to the summit was Evan’s team, but they only got within 100 meters of it before getting worn out and descending the mountain.
Hillary and Norgay began their trip up the mountain two days later. They reached the summit of Qomolangma at 11:30 am. local time on May 29,1953. Hillary is credited with the first to reach the summit because he planted his foot on it first.
Hillary was later knighted for his accomplishment and Queen Elizabeth awarded Norgay with the George Medal.
1. What did Hillary do for a living after graduation?| A．He taught math. | B．He kept bees. |
| C．He climbed mountains. | D．He guided expeditions. |
| A．He was familiar with it. | B．He could help to do scientific research. |
| C．He was John Hunt’s good friend. | D．He was an experienced mountaineer. |
| A．An outdoor magazine. | B．A book review. |
| C．A tourist guide. | D．A science report. |
【推荐3】45-year-old performer Yang Jinlong drives to schools in Xi'an at 9 am and teaches students about Shaanxi kuaiban until 6 pm. Then, he returns home to prepare classes for the next day. On the weekends, he teaches for six hours each day at art education institutions（机构）. He thinks the art deserves（值得）whatever effort he pays.
Shaanxi kuaiban is a form of Chinese traditional storytelling in the Shaanxi dialect to the rhythm（节奏）of bamboo strips（竹板）. The art form can be traced back to the late Qing Dynasty. Now, more people, amateurs（业余的）and professionals alike, perform Shaanxi kuaiban on different occasions—for example, at parties and art shows.
Yang first learned this particular art of storytelling at the age of 9. Before that, he often went with his father, an amateur performer, to watch kuaiban performances. “As a young boy, I loved the art form because many of the stories are about heroes. The performer tells stories while playing kuaiban, and it's easy for the audience to remember the stories since all the lines rhyme（押韵）,” Yang said.
To promote the art, especially among young people, Yang made some innovations（创新）. He wore a suit while telling modern stories. Yang also integrated（融入）many pop elements like tap dance and the rhythm of popular music. He took on more modern topics, such as the stories of the Chinese Olympic team. He believes that art education is important for students in China.
1. What do we know about Shaanxi kuaiban?| A．It dates back to the Ming Dynasty. | B．People perform it in Shaanxi dialect. |
| C．It was originally used by teachers for teaching | D．It focuses on Chinese ancient literature. |
| A．Because he liked stories about heroes. | B．Because all the lines rhyme. |
| C．Because it was a way to earn money. | D．Because he wanted to be like his father. |
| A．He wore local clothes of Shaanxi. | B．He told stories about superheroes. |
| C．He added pop elements to kuaiban performances. | D．He performed Shaanxi kuaiban in Western countries. |
| A．Talented and modest（谦虚的）. | B．Patient and capable（有能力的）. |
| C．Humorous and responsible. | D．Determined and creative. |
