In the three decades since Darah Lady’s grandmother first arrived in this distant area of northern Brazil, clearing the forest by hand to build a house for her 14 children, the family has pushed deeper and deeper into the Amazon. It has been driven by a saying that good fortune comes when nature gives in to human control.
Yet their growing community there could ruin not only their children’s future but also that of the entire planet. More global pandemics are on the way, scientists say, and the next one is likely to crop up from a community like Darah Lady’s, where people are taking up more and more space of the natural world and erasing the buffer zone between themselves and habitats that existed long. As people cut down forest, they not only speed up the global warming but also greatly increase their risk of exposure to disease.
Scientists also say disease hot zones are expanding from Africa to South America, and that deforestation has already led to a rise in spreading disease. Zoologists have found that a third of all known disease outbreaks around the world were due to rapid land use change.
Darah Lady’s community of Maruaga is filled with risks for the spread of viruses. Their family has already battled zoonotic illnesses— the term used to describe diseases spread between animals and humans.
When 40% of a land area has been destroyed, according to Tom Gillespie, a university researcher, the region hits a sort of tipping point: Wild animals are pushed closer to humans for food, and viruses begin to spread.
Darah Lady seemed to notice the slight difference of deforestation. “I get kind of sad,” Darah Lady said, “Because the forest is something I’ve loved since I was little. And they are deforesting, right? It’s destroying nature.”
1. What do you know about Darah Lady?| A．She built a house for her 14 children. | B．She made a big fortune in Amazon. |
| C．Her family cut down trees for growing crops. | D．Her family lived in Amazon for decades. |
| A．The loss of the buffer zone. | B．The effect of global warming. |
| C．The lack of species variety. | D．The expansion of wildlife habitats. |
| A．A possible treatment for diseases. |
| B．A real example of the prevention of diseases. |
| C．A further ex planation of the spread of diseases. |
| D．A supporting evidence for the danger of diseases. |
| A．Entertainment. | B．Literature. | C．Health. | D．Environment. |
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【推荐1】Some breathtaking blue lakes may not be so blue in the future, thanks to climate change. In the first global record of lake color, researchers estimate that roughly one-third of Earth’s lakes are blue. But, if average summer air temperatures should rise by a few degrees, some of those pure waters could turn green or brown, the team reports in the Geophysical Research Letters.
Lake color depends in part on what’s in the water, but factors such as water depth and surrounding land use also matter. Compared with blue lakes, green or brown lakes are caused by more algae (水藻), sediment and organic matter, says Xiao Yang, a hydrologist at Southern Methodist University. If some lakes do become less blue, people will probably lose some of the resources they have valued.
Yang and his colleagues used satellite photos from 2013 to 2020 to analyze the color of more than 85, 000 lakes that are detectable around the world. The scientists found that lakes in cooler regions, with average summer temperatures below 19℃, tend to have a blue color compared to lakes with warmer water. This warmer environment encourages more algae growth, and thus its tint is changed, giving it a green-brown look, according to Yang. But what is worth mentioning is that the average summer temperatures may increase another 3℃—an amount that scientists think is possible by the end of the century.
Lake color can suggest the stability of a lake’s ecosystem, with shifting shades indicating changing conditions for the creatures living in the water. One benefit of the new study is that it gives scientists a baseline for assessing how climate change is affecting Earth’s freshwater resources. Continued monitoring of lakes could help scientists detect future changes.
1. What contributes to blue lakes?| A．Lower temperature. | B．More sediment. |
| C．Organic matter. | D．More algae. |
| A．Size. | B．Color. | C．Shape. | D．Surface. |
| A．It is stable in any condition. | B．It affects the water properties. |
| C．It shifts with climate changes. | D．It decides creatures in the water. |
| A．Water tends to stay pure above 22℃. |
| B．Satellites can analyze water temperature. |
| C．Warmer water will contain more resources. |
| D．Green-brown lakes will be more 70 years later. |
【推荐2】Coca-Cola announced on Wednesday that it will begin transitioning (转变) from green to clear plastic on Aug. I to increase the material’s likelihood of being remade into new beverage (饮料) bottles. The beverage giant is committed to making 100% of its packaging recyclable by 2025 and using at least 50% recycled material in its packaging by 2030.
Sprite, an important brand of Coca-Cola, currently uses plastic bottles containg a green additive called Polyethylene Telephthalate (PET). These bottles are commonly changed into single-use items like clothing and carpeting that can’t be recycled into new PET bottles.
“Taking colors out of bottles improves the quality of the recycled material,” said Julian Ochoa, CEO of R3CYCLE, which is working with Coca-Cola to improve bottle-to-bottle recycling. “When recycled, clear PET Sprite bottles can be remade into bottles, helping drive a circular economy for plastic.”
Sprite, the popular lemon-flavored soft drink, which first hit shelves in 1961, is also getting a new logo and packaging design. Sprite’s packaging will keep the brand’s recognizable green colour and include noticeable “Recycle Me” message. Other drinks that use green bottles, including Fresca, Seagram’s, and Mello Yello, will also transition to clear packaging in the coming months.
Both Coca-Cola and PepsiCo have been criticized for contributing to the world’s plastic pollution. In 2021, both companies ranked as the world’s top plastic polluters for the 4th consecutive (连续的) year by the environmental organization Break Free From Plastic. Global beach cleanups were carried out by more than 11,000 volunteers in 45 countries to identify the most common plastic polluters. Break Free From Plastic found that 20,000 Coca-Cola branded products were picked up, representing more pollution than the next two top polluters combined.
Coca-Cola announced its “World Without Waste” sustainable packaging program in 2018, in which it promised to make all of its packaging recyclable — excluding the caps and labels — as well as have at least 25% of its beverages sold in refillable packaging by 2030.
1. What’s the purpose of the first paragraph?| A．To state the main idea of the text. | B．To introduce Coca-Cola’s new product. |
| C．To give the news’ background information. | D．To draw people’s s attention to Coca-Cola. |
| A．Their material is of low quality. |
| B．They can only be changed into single-use items. |
| C．They contain more pollutants than clear bottles. |
| D．They are more expensive to recycle. |
| A．20,000 Coca-Cola products were produced in 2021. |
| B．Plastic was the most common polluter in 45 countries. |
| C．The top three and four polluters made less pollution than Coca-Cola in 2021. |
| D．Coca-Cola and PepsiCo were responsible for the environmental protection. |
| A．Coca-Cola’s releasing new soft drinks. |
| B．“Recycle Me” message on the clear Sprite bottle. |
| C．Colored bottles decreasing the quality of the recycled material. |
| D．Sprite retiring its signature green plastic bottles after more than 60 years. |
【推荐3】China and India are leaders in improving global(全球的) tree cover, a new study based on NASA research showed.
They took a 31.8% part together of the total global new leaf area between 2000 and 2017. China played a major role, adding 25% to this increase, and India added 6.8%, followed by Canada and Russia. The study in the Nature Sustainability journal shows that more than 5.5 million square kilometers of green leaf area was added globally. Since 2000, there has been a five-percent increase in global green cover, it said.
“The greening over the last twenty years shows an increase in leaf area on plants and trees which is as large as the area of the entire Amazon rainforest," Chi Chen, a Boston University researcher and lead of the study told Nature Sustainability. Large plantation activities to protect forests in China contributed nearly 42% to the country's green cover, and agriculture added another 32%. In India, 82% of the increase in leaf area was because of agriculture.
“China and India take up one-third of the greening, but hold only nine percent of the planet's land area covered in green plants," Chi Chen told NASA Earth Observatory. “That is a surprising finding, considering the land degradation(退化) in countries with large populations.”
Boston University's research team first detected an increase in global green cover in the 1990s but were unsure about what contributed to the increase. Finally, with the help of NASA's Terra and Aqua satellites research, they managed to find out the increase in leaf cover from different areas and places.
1. Which country increased the largest part of the new leaf area?| A．India | B．China |
| C．Canada | D．Russia |
| A．To show how great the achievement was. |
| B．To show the importance of rainforest. |
| C．To explain what difficulties we have now. |
| D．To explain the reason for increasing forests. |
| A．China and India have large populations and land degradation problem |
| B．about 9% of the planet’s greening is in China and India |
| C．China and India are leading in the global green cover increase |
| D．the leaf cover area in China and India is still limited if viewed globally |
【推荐1】Opera is an art form that celebrates the human voice. No other art form creates excitement and moves the heart in the way that opera does, especially when performed by a great singer. Opera is an important part of the Western classical music tradition. It uses music, words, and actions to bring a dramatic story to life. Opera started in Italy at the end of the 16th century and later became popular throughout Europe. Over the years, it has responded to various musicals. In recent decades, much wider audiences have been introduced to opera through modern recording technology. Some singers have become celebrities thanks to performing on radio, on TV, and in the cinema.
However, in recent years, opera has been facing serious challenges. One current challenge to opera is economic. The shortage of money raises the broader question of how much should be paid to support opera singers and other artists. Society seems to accept the large salaries paid to business managers and the multi-million-dollar contracts given to sports athletes. But what about opera singers? Somehow, people have the idea that artists can be creative only if they suffer in poverty, but this is unrealistic. If artists, including opera singers, lack the support they need, valuable talent is wasted.
Not only the shortage of money, but also the way money is managed in the opera world has led to hardships. Principal (主要的)singers are generally paid performance fees once they complete a show. They typically receive nothing during the many weeks of rehearsal (排练) before a show starts.
Another problem faced by opera is how to meet the demands of audiences who are influenced by popular entertainment. Pop singers are often judged as much on the basis of how they look as how they sound. These demands may be unrealistic and possibly harmful. Opera singers simply cannot make a sound big enough to fill a large theater or concert hall without a microphone if their body weight is too low. Emphasizing physical appearance over singing ability may cause audiences to miss out on the human voice at its best.
There are no easy solutions to opera's problems and there are many different opinions about the value of opera. However, every year many young people register for music courses with hopes and dreams of developing their talents in this special art form. The fact that opera has survived many obstacles and continues to attract the rising generation shows that it remains a respected art form full of value.
1. Which of the statements is TRUE according to the passage?| A．Opera singers' life stories are dramatic. |
| B．Opera will soon appear on TV and in films |
| C．Opera fans thank celebrities for performing. |
| D．Opera develops by adapting to new conditions. |
| A．Opera singers are financially insecure. |
| B．Opera singers waste their valuable talent. |
| C．Opera singers get paid before the show. |
| D．Opera singers perform better if they are poor. |
| A．Popular culture has had a positive influence on opera. |
| B．Audiences know best how opera should be performed. |
| C．Microphones should be used to make opera more enjoyable. |
| D．Opera singers' voices should be valued more than their looks. |
| A．The Economic Challenge to Opera | B．Opera Faced with the Difficulties |
| C．Opera as Part of Popular Culture | D．The Historical Context of Opera |
【推荐2】Demographic changes, such as aging populations and declining birth rates, pose challenges as well as offer opportunities for industries and countries. To overcome the challenges and seize the opportunities, especially to achieve long-term economic sustainability, economies need to enhance policies promoting innovations.
Now many countries in East Asia are facing the aging population and declining working-age population problem. Compared with other advanced countries, Japan encountered the population aging problem at a slightly earlier stage, starting in the mid-1990s. As Japan’s percentage of elderly population to the total population increased, it impacted the country’s economy, leading to a contraction in domestic demand and decline in both production and consumption, and restricting the growth of economy.
Some innovative companies have actively increased outward FDI (Foreign Direct Investment), providing cost advantages from inexpensive overseas labor to maintain their cost competitiveness. However, the global economy is facing the challenge of declining trade owing to the protectionism practiced by certain countries. Consequently, the chances of boosting growth through outward FDI may be limited.
Developing artificial intelligence is another solution to the negative impacts of the demographic changes. AI and robotics will play a crucial role in stimulating productivity and innovation by making payment for the decline in the working-age population, and the following increase in productivity will in turn raise the demand for labor by creating new employment opportunities.
AI, robotics and other advanced technologies give rise to new tasks within their fields and across other sectors. Therefore, it is necessary to employ cooperation policies to support corporations that promote innovations by increasing investment in research and development, facilitating the growth of new companies, and building a perfect system to protect intellectual properties. Since AI and robotics may replace certain jobs, it is essential to address the potential challenges they may create in the labor market and work out strategies to ensure a balanced and comprehensive transition.
1. What do we know about demographic changes from the first two paragraphs?| A．There is no need to worry since the changes offer opportunities. |
| B．The changes won’t affect the long-term economic sustainability. |
| C．Japan is the only advanced country facing the changes at present. |
| D．Things should be done to overcome the challenges posed by the changes. |
| A．Push. | B．Decrease. | C．Pause. | D．Change. |
| A．Favorable. | B．Intolerant. | C．Objective. | D．Indifferent. |
| A．Withdrawing investment in research and development. |
| B．Adopting policies that encourage innovation of corporations. |
| C．Establishing new companies to protect intellectual properties. |
| D．Creating potential labor market for more possible employments. |
【推荐3】Better grades might be found on the playground. A new study of elementary-age children shows that those who were not part of an after-school exercise program tended to pack on a particular type of body fat that can have deleterious impacts on brain health and thinking. But prevention and treatment could be as simple as playing more games of tag (捉迷藏，捉人游戏).
Most children do not meet the federal health guidelines for exercise, which call for at least an hour of it a day for anyone under the age of 18. Physical inactivity can result in weight gain especially around the midsection-including visceral (内脏的) fat, a type of tissue deep inside the abdomen (腹部) that is known to increase inflammation (炎症) throughout the body. It is also linked to heightened risks for diabetes and cardiovascular complications (并发症) even in children, and may contribute to declining brain function. Obese adults often perform worse than people of normal weight on tests of thinking skills.
But little has been known about visceral fat and brain health in children. For a soon-to-be-published study, researchers from Northeastern University in Boston and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaion tracked hundreds of 8-to-10-year-old children in a nine-month after-school exercise program in Urbana. Every day, one group of children played tag and other active games for about 70 minutes. The subjects in a control group continued with their normal lives, with the promise that they could join the program the following year. All the children completed tests of fitness, body composition and cognitive skills at the start and end of the program. The researchers did not ask the children to change their diets.
After the trial the exercising children who were obese at the study’s onset had less visceral fat relative to their starting weight, even if they remained overweight. They also showed significant improvements in their scores on a computerized test that measures how well children pay attention, process information and avoid being impulsive. Notably a similar effect was observed in children whose weight was normal at the start. Across the board the more visceral fat a child shed during the nine months of play, the better he or she performed on the test.
The children in the control group, in contrast had generally added to their visceral fat; this was particularly true among those who were already obese. They gained on average, four times as much visceral fat as the normal-weight children in the control group, and also did not perform as well on the subsequent test. Lauren Raine, a postdoctoral researcher at Northeastern University who conducted the study with Charles Hillman and others, says that the trial was designed to study aerobic fitness and children’s ability to think not the relation of abdominal flab to inflammation. But a reduction in overall inflammation very likely plays a role because it is thought to be unhealthy for the brain. More broadly, Raine says the study suggests that getting children to run around won’t just enhance their bodies-it might also improve their report cards.
1. What does the word “deleterious” in Paragraph One probably mean?| A．inevitable | B．vigilant | C．harmful | D．beneficial |
| A．games may help reduce visceral fat in children and thus improve their brain power |
| B．obesity contributes to declining brain function in children |
| C．children have fewer weight-related health and medical problems than adults |
| D．obese children have trouble staying focused and paying attention |
| A．to find the relationships between physical activity and health in children |
| B．to discover the relationships between obesity and health problems in children |
| C．to understand and assess the risks of obesity in young children in school |
| D．to understand how games affect children in terms of academic performances |
| A．Visceral Fat And Sugar-Heavy Diet Harms Your Brain |
| B．Losing Fat, Gaining Brain Power, on the Playground |
| C．This Is What Weight Loss Does To Your Brain |
| D．Why children Shouldn’t Sit Still Under the Age of Eighteen |
