【推荐1】Tree planting used to be regarded as an effective means of controlling climate change. Perhaps it's time for us to rethink this practice. Trees pull carbon dioxide or CO₂ from the air. This effectively removes CO₂ from the atmosphere, making trees an important part of the fight against climate change. But trees only hold onto carbon dioxide as long as they're alive. Once they die, trees decay (腐烂) and release that CO₂ back into the atmosphere.

Recent studies have found that trees around the world are growing faster than ever. Rising atmosphere CO₂ is probably driving that rapid growth, said Roel Brienen. High levels of this gas are boosting temperatures, which in turn speeds tree growth in those areas, he added. The faster tees grow, the faster they store carbon. It seems like good news. However, it is known that fast-growing tree species, in general, live shorter lives than their slow-growing relatives.

In order to see whether this is a universal phenomenon, Brienen and his colleagues analyzed over 210,000 individual tree ring records of 110 tree species from more than 70,000 sites worldwide.“By measuring tree rings' widths one can tell how fast trees grew, while counting rings provides information on tree ages and allows making inferences about trees' maximum lifespan (寿命).” Brienen explained.

The team also created a computer program that modeled a forest. Early on, it showed that “the forest could hold more carbon as the trees grew faster”, Brienen reported. But after 20 years, these trees stared dying and losing this extra carbon again. “We must understand that the only solution to bring down CO₂ levels is to stop emitting (排放) it into the atmosphere,” said Brienen.

1. What is the first paragraph mainly about?

A．Where carbon dioxide or CO2 is.

B．Whether trees will be planted or not.

C．Why the atmosphere can remove carbon dioxide.

D．Why trees against climate change should be rethought.

2. Why are trees growing faster than ever according to recent studies?

A．They give off and store lots of CO2.

B．They belong to fast-growing species.

C．Rising atmospheric CO2 may help them.

D．The surrounding trees may affect them.

3. According to tree rings' widths, we can know a tree's_______.

A．age	B．height
C．growth speed	D．top lifespan

4. What might be talked about in the following paragraph?

A．Why the team founded the computer program.

B．Why the faster trees grow, the longer they live.

C．How to make the old trees live a little longer.

D．How to deal with dying trees emitting their extra carbon.

【推荐2】I’ve been in an 18-year love-hate relationship with a black walnut tree.

It’s a unique tree. In late September or early October, falling fruits as hard as baseballs threaten the skulls (头骨) of you, your children, your neighbors and those that reside next door to them. Umbrellas in the yard are a must while dining in early August, and as for me, I wear my bike helmet while working in the garden.

The black walnut also releases a chemical substance through its roots as a competitive strategy. It’s poisonous to several common plants. There have been many new plant varieties that I brought home with hopes that maybe the black walnut would accept them, but they failed to flourish.

What does work are native plants that naturally grow in the area. Native plants are important to have around since they provide beneficial pollinators (传粉者) like birds, bees and butterflies with seeds and contribute to a healthy and biodiverse environment. Native plants for this area are generally easy to grow, so they experience less stress.

Have I thought of getting rid of this giant pain in my tiny backyard? Yes, however, getting rid of this tree standing at 50 feet with an 87-inch trunk is next to impossible. It’s also protected under the law. Rightfully so. Trees are important to the urban forest and for all of those that inhabit it.

Sometimes I think about my life without the black walnut. I can’t imagine a spring without the birds who arrive every year and loudly sing their songs before dawn. I’d miss falling asleep on lazy weekend afternoons as I look up into its leaves.

Every spring, I wonder what the season holds: What are the chances of being knocked unconscious while barbecuing? Like any good relationship, I’ll never be pleased. I’m stuck with this tree, so I’ll listen to its needs and give it the space it requires. In return, my walnut offers a habitat for wildlife and a reminder.

1. Why does the author wear a bike helmet while working in the garden?

A．To protect the injured skull.

B．To avoid being hit by the nuts.

C．To prevent herself from sunburn.

D．To protect herself from getting caught in the rain.

2. What is the tree’s survival strategy?

A．It accepts new plant varieties.

B．It attracts beneficial pollinators.

C．It lets out a poison to drive away pests.

D．It produces a chemical fatal to some plants.

3. What can we learn from the passage?

A．The fruits may bring inconvenience.

B．The writer finds it challenging to get rid of the tree.

C．The writer is accustomed to living without the tree.

D．The tree is home to numerous birds and other creatures.

4. The author most probably got a reminder from the tree that

A．It’s better to be sure than sorry.

B．Constant dropping wears the stone.

C．Trees and plants have their own ways to flourish.

D．Acceptance instead of resistance is the better way to be.

【推荐3】On a clear night in 1994,an earthquake hit Los Angeles and caused a city-wide power cut just before dawn. Awake in surprise, some residents who had escaped outside called various emergency centers to report a mysterious cloud overhead.

That unusual object turned out to be the band of the Milky Way, which had long been unclear

from view by the city's lights.

Arguably, the light bulb (电灯泡} is the most transformative invention humans have introduced to this planet. By pressing a switch or pushing a button, we can lift the veil (面纱)that would naturally cover our lives each, night. Now, we work long after the sun sinks below the horizon. We play games outside far into the night. We more safely wander around city streets after dark.

But if light bulbs have a dark side, it's that they have stolen the night. The extra light brightening our environments is endangering ecosystems by harming animals whose life cycles depend on the dark. We're endangering ourselves by changing the biochemical rhythms (节律)   that normally go out and flow with natural light levels. And in a basic sense, we're lost our connection to nighttime skies, on the basis of which our ancestors made up their star-related stories, timed the planting and harvesting of crops, and inferred the physical laws governing the universe.

“The disappearance of the night sky is tied up with our ever more fast-paced world, says Amanda Gormley of the Tucson-based International Dark-Sky Association.“ We lose something vital; we lose a part of ourselves when we lose access to the night sky. We lose that sense of stillness that should be right over our heads every night.

Now, as the consequences of light pollution arise out of the shadows and into the spotlight, cities, regulatory agencies, and conservation groups are seeking solutions. And in some areas, lots of improvements are already in place, powered by a new wave of cheaper, more energy-seving light.

1. Why is the earthquake hitting Los Angeles mentioned?

A．To witness its serious damage.

B．To lead in the topic of the text.

C．To state its influence on the city.

D．To tell backgrounds of the text.

2. What is the fourth paragraph mainly about?

A．Dark nights.	B．Endangered ecosystems.
C．Light pollution.	D．Brightened environments.

3. How does the author sound in the last paragraph?

A．Hopeful.	B．Concerned.
C．Doubtful.	D．Academic.

【推荐1】The connection between people and plants has long been the subject of scientific research. Recent studies have found positive effects. A study conducted in Youngstown, Ohio, for example, discovered that greener areas of the city experienced less crime. In another, employees were shown to be 15% more productive when their workplaces were decorated with houseplants.

The engineers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology(MIT) have taken it a step further changing the actual composition of plants in order to get them to perform diverse, even unusual functions. These include plants that have sensors printed onto their leaves to show when they’re short of water and a plant that can detect harmful chemicals in groundwater. “We’re thinking about how we can engineer plants to replace functions of the things that we use every day,” explained Michael Strano, a professor of chemical engineering at MIT.

One of his latest projects has been to make plants glow in experiments using some common vegetables. Strano’s team found that they could create a faint light for three-and-a-half hours. The light, about one-thousandth of the amount needed to read by, is just a start. The technology, Strano said, could one day be used to light the rooms or even to turn tree into self-powered street lamps.

In the future, the team hopes to develop a version of the technology that can be sprayed onto plant leaves in a one-off treatment that would last the plant’s lifetime. The engineers are also trying to develop an on and off “switch” where the glow would fade when exposed to daylight Lighting accounts for about 7% of the total electricity consumed in the US. Since lighting is often far removed from the power source—such as the distance from a power plant to street lamps on a remote highway-a lot of energy is lost during transmission.

Glowing plants could reduce this distance and therefore help save energy.

1. What does the study in the first paragraph mainly find?

A．Different plants beautify the cities	B．Green plants have benefits
C．There is a big fall in crime rates.	D．Employees like green plants.

2. What is the function of the sensors printed on plant leaves by MIT engineer?

A．To make the life of plants longer.	B．To change composition of plants
C．To test chemicals in plants.	D．To detect plants’ lack of water

3. What can we expect of the glowing plants in the future?

A．They will speed up energy production.	B．They may send electricity to the home.
C．They might help reduce energy consumption.	D．They could take the place of power plants.

4. What may be the best title for the passage?

A．Could glowing plants replace lamps?	B．Can we grow more glowing plants?
C．How do we live with glowing plants?	D．How arc glowing plants made pollution-free?

【推荐2】Being sociable looks like a good way to add years to your life. Relationships with family, friends, neighbors, even pets, will all help, but the biggest longevity (长寿) seems to come from marriage. The effect was first noticed in 1858 by William Farr, who wrote that widows and widowers (鳏夫) were at a much higher risk of dying than the married people. Studies since then suggest that marriage could add as much as seven years to a man’s life and two to a woman’s. The effect can be seen in all causes of death, whether illness, accident or self-harm.

Even if the chances are all against you, marriage can more than compensate you. Linda Waite of the University of Chicago has found that a married older man with heart disease can expect to live nearly four years longer than an unmarried man with a healthy heart. Similarly, a married man who smokes more than a pack a day is likely to live as long as a divorced man who doesn’t smoke. There’s a flip side, however, as partners are more likely to become ill or die in the couple of years following their husband or wife’s death, and caring for your husband or wife with mental disorder can leave you with some of the same severe problems. Even so, the chances favor marriage. In a 30-year study of more than 10,000 people, Nicholas Christakis of Harvard Medical School describes how all kinds of social networks have similar effects.

So how does it work? The effects are complicated, affected by socio-economic factors, health-service provision, emotional support and other more physiological mechanisms(生理机制). For example, social contact can promote development of the brain and immune system, leading to better health and less chance of depression later in life. People in supportive relationships may handle stress better. Then there are the psychological benefits of a supportive partner.

A life partner, children and good friends are all recommended if you aim to live to 100. The overall social network is still being mapped out, but Christakis says: "People are inter-connected, so their health is inter-connected."

1. It can be inferred from the context that the "flip side" (Para. 2) refers to _________.

A．the disadvantages of being married

B．the emotional problems arising from marriage

C．the responsibility of taking care of one's family

D．the consequence of a broken marriage

2. What does the author say about social networks?

A．They have effects similar to those of a marriage.

B．They help develop people's community spirit.

C．They provide timely support for those in need.

D．They help relieve people of their life's burdens.

3. What can be inferred from the last paragraph?

A．It's important that we develop a social network when young.

B．To stay healthy, one should have a proper social network.

C．Getting a divorce means risking a reduced life span.

D．We should share our social networks with each other.

【推荐1】Parties and social gatherings no longer excite us the same way they once did. This is not due to a lack of desire to socialize, but the smartphone.

At parties, people focus more on their smartphones than on their drinks. According to a recent study from International Data Corporation，over half of all Americans have a smartphone and reach it the moment they wake up, keeping it in hand all day. In addition, too many people are using smartphones while driving and as a result, they get into car crashes. 34 percent of teens admit to text while driving，and they confirm that texting messages are the major interruption while driving. People’s attachment (依恋) to their smartphones is unbelievably becoming more important than the lives of themselves and others.

Just as drivers dismiss the importance of focusing while on the road, many people also fail to recognize the significance of human interaction. When with their friends, some people pointlessly (无谓地) check or send messages in the presence of their friends., which means that their friends are less important. In addition, relying on our smartphones to make friends does not give us the same advantages as making new friends in the real world. Face-to-face conversations will give us the chance to improve our communication skills in the long run.

As many people risk their lives and the lives of people around them just to send a text or mindlessly check their messages, smartphones are in many ways more dangerous to people. The technology shows the achievement weaken the value of communication. Not only is the smartphone affecting our desire to interact face to face, but it is also lowering people’s ability to communicate.

1. The purpose of this text is to _______________.

A．express a concern about the overuse of the smartphone.

B．appeal to us to pay attention to communication skills.

C．call for an end to the use of the smartphone while driving.

D．advise us to be cautious about the addiction to the smartphone.

2. The second paragraph is developed by _______________.

A．analyzing the effects.	B．listing figures.
C．giving examples.	D．comparing facts.

3. The author advocates making new friends _______________.

A．under a free circumstance.	B．in different ways.
C．in a face-to-face way.	D．by using smartphones.

4. Too much dependence on the smartphone leads to the fact that _______________.

A．people are more and more narrow-minded.

B．parties and gatherings limit people’s social circle.

C．face-to-face communication becomes less important.

D．people’s communication skills are weakened.

【推荐2】Video conferencing has been around for more than 20 years. Until the Covid-19 pandemic, though, you would find that many people needing to attend a meeting remotely would be calling from a real conference room full of their teammates. Today, we’re routinely holding video conferences that are 100% virtual (虚拟). And this is creating a problem that technology can’t fix.

The problem is us, specifically the fact that we haven’t evolved (进化) socially to the point where we can bear much separation. So much of our well-being and work productivity is decided on how close we are physically. The removal of that for any period of time can be severely damaging. One aspect surprisingly affected by social distancing is laughter.

Normally people laugh about 18 times per day. And 97% of that time we’re laughing with others—we are 30 times more likely to laugh with others than to laugh alone. Think about it; how often does it happen—when you and your friends laugh at something, is that something actually funny? Research shows that 80% of what people laugh at is really not that funny.

So why do people laugh? They laugh in order to laugh with others. Just as everyone starts yawning (打哈欠) when just one person yawns, most people can’t help but laugh when those around them do. This is why TV comedy shows often use prerecorded laugh tracks (音轨).

Laughing in response to other people’s laughing is not just a behavioral phenomenon. When we laugh, our body produces two key chemicals: endorphin which helps relieve pain and sets off feelings of pleasure, and dopamine which can improve learning, motivation and attention. In fact, studies show that people can stand 15% more pain simply by laughing for a few minutes beforehand. Laughter is also associated with higher motivation and productivity at work.

In today’s home-alone, virtual-team world, this is exactly what you as a team leader should be doing: for your team members to stay healthy and productive, you need to get them to laugh more and stress less.

1. Why is video conferencing mentioned at the beginning?

A．To show a fact.	B．To entertain readers.
C．To introduce the topic.	D．To summarize the passage.

2. What does the underlined word “This” in Paragraph 4 refer to?

A．Laughing starts with yawning in groups.

B．Laughing comes more easily in groups.

C．Laugh tracks are popular in comedy shows.

D．Laughing is uncontrollable in conferences.

3. What can we learn from Paragraph 5?

A．Laughing with others is out of politeness.

B．Laughing is the only way to reduce pain.

C．Laughing improves physical and mental health.

D．Laughing leads to a higher position in the workplace.

4. What would the author most probably discuss next?

A．Specific steps to produce laughter in a team.

B．Other factors that may influence a team’s health.

C．Ways to tell the real world from the virtual world.

D．The importance of maintaining work productivity.

【推荐3】Humans’ light at night does not spare even the sea from its glare (强光). Researchers published the first global map of ocean light pollution. It shows large parts of the sea are lit up at night. And that risks confusing or disrupting the behaviors of sea life.

Tim Smyth led a team to research the areas of the ocean where light pollution is strongest. Smyth and his colleagues started with a world map of man-made night-sky brightness that had been created in 2016. Then they added data on the ocean and atmosphere. Some data came from shipboard measurements of man-made light in the water. Others came from satellite images that judge how clear the water is. Particles (微粒) in the water, such as tiny floating plants and animals, can affect how far downward light travels. These factors vary from place to place and may change with the seasons. The team also used computers to copy how different wavelengths of light move through water.

Next, they wanted to know how that underwater light might affect animals. Not all species will be easily affected. The team focused on copepods (桡足亚纲甲壳动物). These common creatures are a key part of many ocean food chains. They use light as a signal to move all together to the dark deep, seeking safety from other surface creatures. Normally they use the sun or the winter moon as their signal. Too much man-made light can mess up their usual patterns.

Light pollution is strongest in about three feet of the water. Here, man-made light can be strong enough to confuse the copepods. Nearly 2 million square kilometers of ocean get such strong night light. That’s an area about the size of Mexico. Farther down, the light gets weaker. But even 65 feet deep, it’s still bright enough to bother copepods across 840,000 square kilometers of ocean.

The team published its findings on December 13 in Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene.

1. Which of the following is closest in meaning to the underlined word “disrupting” in Paragraph 1?

A．Upsetting.

B．Observing.

C．Ensuring.

D．Protecting.

2. What do we know about copepods from the passage?

A．They are main eaters of other creatures.

B．They are not affected by underwater light.

C．They can escape attacks with the help of light.

D．They can weaken the effect of man-made light.

3. How does the author show the seriousness of light pollution in Paragraph 4?

A．By stating opinions.	B．By listing numbers.
C．By raising questions.	D．By giving reasons.

4. Which of the following is a suitable title for the text?

A．Light Pollution from Sea Life	B．Living Conditions of Copepods
C．Discoveries of Copepods	D．Light Pollution Even in Sea