Europeans got more of their electricity from renewable sources than fossil fuels for the first time last year, according to an annual report from Ember and Agora Energiewende.
The report, which has been tracking European Union’s power sector since 2015, found that renewables delivered 38% of electricity last year, compared to 37% delivered by fossil fuels.
The shift comes as other sources, such as wind and solar power, have risen in the European Union. Both sources have nearly doubled since 2015, and as of last year accounted for one-fifth of electricity generation in EU countries, the report found. It’s also the reason why coal power declined 20% last year, making up only 13% of electricity generated in Europe.
“Rapid growth in wind and solar has forced coal into decline, but this is just the beginning,” said Dave Jones, senior electricity analyst for Ember and lead author on the report, in a statement. “Europe is relying on wind and solar to ensure not only coal is phased out by 2030, but also to phase out gas generation, replace closing nuclear power plants, and to meet rising electricity demand from electric cars and heat pumps.”
Last year’s COVID-19 lockdown measures resulted in less demand for electricity across the globe. European demand decreased by 4% in 2020, according to the report, which said COVID trends had no effect on the growth of renewable energy sources. Since 2015, Europe’s electricity emissions recorded a historic decline, becoming 29% cleaner, the report noted.
The milestone follows commitments from EU leaders last month to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 55% from 1990 levels by 2030. In the United States, their counterparts (同身份的人) successfully developed renewable energy to overtake coal consumption in recent years. Last May, renewable energy sources were consumed more than coal for the first time since 1885.
“Post-pandemic economic recovery must not slow down climate action,” said Patrick Graichen, director of Agora Energiewende, in a statement. “We therefore need strong climate policies — such as in the Green Deal — to ensure steady progress.”
1. What happened in EU countries according to the first three paragraphs?| A．The use of renewables declined by 38% last year. |
| B．20% of electricity was generated by renewables last year. |
| C．Fossil fuels were no longer used to generate electricity. |
| D．Coal power made up just 13% of electricity generation last year. |
| A．Cutting greenhouse gas emissions forced coal into decline. |
| B．Coal consumption is phased out due to rapid growth in wind and solar. |
| C．More nuclear power plants should be built to meet electricity demand. |
| D．Fossil fuels will eventually be abandoned in European countries. |
| A．The demand for renewables decreased across the globe. |
| B．Electricity consumption dropped to a historic record. |
| C．The growth in wind and solar power was hardly influenced. |
| D．The economy was making steady progress. |
| A．To compare renewable sources with fossil fuels. |
| B．To report on electricity generation in Europe. |
| C．To emphasize recovery in post-pandemic era. |
| D．To advocate strong climate policies in Europe. |
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【推荐1】If you were to throw, say, a banana peel out of your car while driving along the motorway, that would be a completely harmless action, due to the fact that it’s part of a fruit — right? Actually, no. A banana peel can take up to two years to be naturally processed, and with a third of motorists admitting to littering while driving, that’s a whole lot of discarded banana peels. An orange peel and a cigarette butt’s biodegrading (生物降解) term is similar to that of a banana peel, but tin cans last up to 100 years and plastic bottles last forever, as do glass bottles.
Despite the fact that longer-lasting materials will serve to damage the environment and its animals for a longer time, we can’t merely measure the severity of a certain type of rubbish by its lifetime. For example, despite having a fairly short length of biodegrading time, more than 120 tons of cigarette-related litter is discarded in the UK every day.
It’s not a cheap habit either: to keep our streets clean annually costs UK taxpayers ￡500 million, and when you include our green spaces, that goes up to ￡1 billion. So, it’s not surprising that if caught fly-tipping (乱倒垃圾) you will face a ￡20,000 fine or even jail time and, if you dispose of something dangerous, the court will give you five years to serve. Regardless of how severe these punishments might seem, however, among the reported cases only 2,000 were found guilty out of 825,000, so we still have some way to go in making sure people obey the rules.
1. What does the underlined word “discarded” in Para. 1 mean?| A．Harmless. | B．Processed. |
| C．Thrown. | D．Long-lasting. |
| A．Tin cans. | B．Glass bottles. |
| C．Cigarette butts. | D．Banana peels. |
| A．Fly-tipping will only cost people some money. |
| B．It’s not so hard to make sure people obey the rules. |
| C．A large number of people were found guilty of illegally littering. |
| D．Every year UK taxpayers spend huge amounts of money to keep the streets from dirt. |
| A．To call for people not to litter illegally. |
| B．To stress the importance of good behavior. |
| C．To encourage people to use fewer plastic bags. |
| D．To inform readers of different biodegrading terms. |
【推荐2】Researchers from Aarhus University and University of Gothenburg have produced new maps of mammals (哺乳动物) to date connecting all living and recently extinct mammal kinds-nearly 6,000 in total.
Earlier similar studies always left out one key group of mammals: species driven to extinction by humans.
Scientists often use these maps to predict how climate change will affect species. And because the new ones show species’ footprints, they help scientists b otter see many species have had their numbers greatly reduced by humans for example, through over hunting and the destroying of their habitats.
“Brown bears may lead us to think of Alaska or Russia today but they used to cover all the way from Mexico to Northern Africa before they were widely hunted by humans.” said Faurby.
We usually think large mammals like elephants and lions line in Africa today, but for most of the last 30 million years, big animals traveled all over the Earth. It was only recently that humans drove many of these large mammals extinct, leaving a world depauperate of large mammals.
“Even some huge species that we think of as prehistoric, lived up to the time the Great Pyramid was being built,” Davis said.
Making a database that included every species of mammal was no easy task. It took the research team at Aarhus University months just to piece together existing datasets and fill in missing holes in the data.
Marking footprints on the map for them was even harder. The scientists used both DNA information and data from some dig sites around the world with a powerful new computer algorithm (算法) to predict where the extinct species fit in with mammals that are alive today.
1. What is special about the new maps of mammals?| A．They are marked with dates on them. |
| B．They map one key group of mammals. |
| C．They are not so complete as earlier ones. |
| D．They include 6000 extinct mammal kinds. |
| A．Positive. | B．Concerned. | C．Unclear. | D．Doubtful. |
| A．Elephants and lions are all over the world now. |
| B．They died out long before the Pyramids were built. |
| C．Brown bears were once limited to Alaska or Russia. |
| D．They have been greatly affected by human activities. |
| A．Short of. | B．Full of. | C．Famous for. | D．Suitable for. |
| A．The computer algorithm is of great use. |
| B．It took ages to find DNA evidence. |
| C．Missing holes are pieced together. |
| D．It took a lot to complete the task. |
【推荐3】Nearly 40 years ago, Peter Harrison, a marine ecologist witnessed the first recorded large-scale coral bleaching（珊瑚白化）event. Diving in the Great Barrier Reef（大堡礁）, he was shocked by the scene before him. "The reef was made up of healthy corals and badly bleached white corals, like the beginnings of a ghost city," he says. Just months before, the same site was filled with colorful tropical life.
"Many of the hundreds of corals that I'd carefully tagged and monitored finally died," he says. "It was shocking and made me aware of just how weak these corals really are.”
Coral exists together with photosynthetic algae（藻类）, which live in its tissues and provide essential nutrition（and coloration）. But high temperatures and other stresses can turn algae poisonous. When this occurs, the algae may die or be removed by the coral, a process known as bleaching because the coral's clear tissue and white calcium carbonate skeleton（碳酸钙骨骼）are exposed. If the coral can't reestablish its link with algae, it will starve or become ill.
The widespread destruction Harrison saw in 1982 was repeated on many other Pacific Ocean reefs that year and the next. In 1997 and 1998 the phenomenon went global, killing some 16 percent of the world's corals. With rising temperatures, pollution, disease, increased ocean acidity, invasive species, and other dangers, Harrison's ghost cities are expanding
Scientists suppose that about four decades ago severe bleaching occurred roughly every 25 years, giving corals time to recover. But bleaching events are coming faster now—about every six years—and in some places soon they could begin to happen annually.
"The absolute key is dealing with global warming," says marine biologist Terry Hughes. "No matter how much we clean up the water, the reefs will die." In 2016, a record-hot year in a string of them, 91 percent of the reefs that consist of the Great Barrier Reef bleached.
1. Peter Harrison was shocked when diving in the Great Barrier Reef, because___________.| A．the reefs were made up of precious corals | B．the corals were ruined badly and quickly |
| C．he found a ghost city with tropical life | D．he saw the corals he had tagged before |
| A．the causes of coral bleaching | B．the weakness of corals and algae |
| C．the elements that make algae die | D．the process of building a link with algae |
| A．global warming | B．the polluted ocean | C．the white corals | D．invasive species |
| A．With algae living in its tissues, coral's white skeleton is exposed. |
| B．Solving global warming is the real solution to coral bleaching. |
| C．The reefs die because the water hasn't been cleaned thoroughly |
| D．The severest coral bleaching occurred about four decades ago. |
①China successfully launched Mengtian into space, getting a step closer to completing the country’s Tiangong Space Station by the end of this year.
②Mengtian is the second lab module(模块)and the last major component of the country’s space station. The first lab module is Wentian which is already docked (对接)with the Tianhe core module. The three modules will form a T-shaped complex in space.
③Mengtian weighs about 23 tons. It is 17.9 meters long and has a maximum diameter of 4.2 meters. It can be further subdivided into work, resource, payload and cargo airlock cabins.While Wentian is used for biological and space life science projects, such as observing the growth of various kinds of plants, animals and microbesin space, Mengtian will be used for in-orbit experiments dedicated to physics and material sciences and will focus on micro-gravity experiments. Mengtian will also act as a backup(备份)for the core module when it is undergoing maintenance(维修). And with Mengtian in place, the space station will be able to hold more taikonauts.
④Until now, space lectures(天宫课堂), Tiangong Class”, in China’s Tiangong space station have been broadcasting live to the world, attracting much attention in society. The public, especially the youth, are looking forward to the next space lecture. There are three taikonauts on board the space station at the moment. When Shenzhou-15 arrives with a change of crew, scheduled for early December, there will be six Chinese taikonauts living and working on the space station for a time until the return of the Shenzhou-14 mission crew members.
⑤China plans to complete the in-orbit construction of the space station by the end of this year. After that, the country’s space program will enter a new decade-long development and application stage. The original plan is to send two crewed spaceships and two cargo spaceships into space every year. Meanwhile, taikonauts will stay in orbit for extended periods to maintain the station and carry out scientific and technological experiments. And in 2023,China will also develop next-generation carrier rockets and crewed spaceships to significantly enhance(提高)its space program’s overall technological capabilities.
⑥China has expressed on many occasions that it accepts international cooperation and foreign astronauts to conduct research aboard its space station. So, let’s expect to unlock more mysteries of the universe through joint global efforts.
1. Which of the following statements is TRUE about Mengtian lab module?| A．It’s the second major component of China’s space station. |
| B．It plays an important role in the maintenance of the space station. |
| C．It’s enough huge to hold a great lot of people. |
| D．It’s mainly used for research biological science projects. |
| A．Its applications. | B．Its modules. |
| C．Its size and shape. | D．Its livable space. |
| A．Sending two crewed spaceships and two cargo spaceships every year. |
| B．Developing next-generation carrier rockets and crewed spaceships. |
| C．Holding more space lectures to inspire the enthusiasm of young people. |
| D．Developing next-generation carrier rockets and crewed spaceships. |
| A．China is very care about the space industry. |
| B．China’s space industry still has a long way to go. |
| C．China will make a new huge success in space industry. |
| D．China hopes to explore space with other countries together. |
【推荐2】The researchers say they have discovered two huge magma chambers (岩浆库) under Wei Mountain in Heilongjiang. If it is true, it will be a surprising discovery since the volcano last erupted over 500,000 years ago.
Zhang Haijiang and his team visited nearly 100 sites across Wei Mountain. They were looking for magma, and they found an unusual signal from 15km underground, followed by another one at 8km. Their computer modelling suggested there could be two huge magma chambers with a depth of more than 9km. According to their research, 15 percent of the upper chamber is now filled with molten (熔化的) rock. Some studies have suggested that a volcanic eruption could take place when a chamber is filled to 40 percent magma.
They suggested that the volcanic activity in northeast China is likely to be in an active stage, and the active volcanic monitoring is needed to further understand the magma system in this area.
Xu Jiandong, director of the volcanic research, said seismic (地震的) stations had been monitoring this area for many years. "If there are really huge magma chambers in the area, we should have found some related seismic activities—When the lower chamber fills the upper one, there should be some movement," he said. "But so far, after decades of monitoring on the site, we've picked up almost nothing. The whole area has been very, very quiet," he added.
So did the researchers really find huge magma chambers? While the unusual signals found by Zhang's team looked like magma chambers, they could also have been caused by other things.
But what is for sure is that the area is active. It's like porridge boiling in a pot. But since the studies in recent years have suggested a low risk of immediate eruption in the area, the government has not set up seismic stations around. And it is certain that they aren't prepared for a big eruption over there.
1. What do Zhang Haijiang and his team say they've found under Wei Mountain?| A．Lots of frozen rocks. | B．Two magma chambers. |
| C．Nearly 100 volcanic sites. | D．A huge magma system. |
| A．They don't find any seismic activities. |
| B．The active volcanic monitoring is needed. |
| C．Their efforts to monitor volcanoes are useless. |
| D．Volcanic eruptions never happened in this area. |
| A．Volcanic eruptions. | B．Zhang's team members. |
| C．The seismic stations. | D．The unusual signals. |
| A．What Can Cause Volcanoes to Erupt in Northeast China? |
| B．Is Chinese Government Ready for Volcanic Eruptions? |
| C．Are There Magma Chambers Under Wei Mountain? |
| D．Is Active Volcanic Monitoring Needed in China? |
【推荐3】Traci Ruble, a psychotherapist (心理治疗师), felt worried that people today were experiencing loneliness and a shortage of personal connections. She understood that with busy lives and challenging jobs, people were unable to make these connections.
So on a spring day in 2015, Ruble and a small number of volunteers set up chairs on sidewalks in 12 locations around San Francisco, California and invited people passing by to sit for a few minutes and chat. This was the beginning of Sidewalk Talk, an organization whose mission is to create public spaces of connections where the people are.
Today, the organization has more than 4,000 volunteers in 40 cities. Around 25 percent of the volunteers are licensed therapists (持证治疗师). They come from different backgrounds and are a mixed group. Volunteers receive training from the organization.
Listening activities are held several times a month along with other organizations. In San Francisco, Sidewalk Talk partners with Lava Mae, a non-governmental organization (NGO) that brings mobile showers to homeless people.
Sidewalk Talk gives people a chance to speak and be listened to but it is not therapy, according to Ruble. “I’m not interacting as a therapist out there. I’m not there to solve someone’s problems,” she said. “I’m there to practice being human.”
Ruble stressed that therapy is one-sided and that therapists are taught to avoid self-disclosure(自我表露) but by “being human” she could carry out interactions by sharing her own life and showing empathy (同感) with the people she talks with.
According to a report, 31 percent of all Americans experience serious loneliness including 61 percent of young adults. To fix that, rebuilding community relationships is very important. While listening activities will not solve the loneliness problem, these chats could help someone have a brighter day. Knowing that there are empathetic people who are willing to fully listen and share your feelings could make all the difference to a lonely person.
1. What can we learn about Sidewalk Talk?| A．It is largely made up of licensed therapists. |
| B．It encourages people to share and reconnect. |
| C．It was set up with the help of other organizations. |
| D．It aims to improve people’s language expression ability. |
| A．It leads to a healthier life. |
| B．It helps people solve problems. |
| C．It makes chats go more smoothly. |
| D．It allows people to receive support. |
| A．The power of good community relationships. |
| B．The seriousness of the loneliness problem. |
| C．The results of being an empathetic person. |
| D．The need for Sidewalk Talk’s activities. |
| A．Taking listening to the streets |
| B．Dealing with loneliness by volunteering |
| C．Building powerful connections between people |
| D．Enjoying having deep conversations with strangers |
【推荐1】The climate change is already eating into the output of the world's agricultural systems, with productivity much lower than it would have been if humans hadn't rapidly heated the planet, new research has found.
Advances in technology, fertilizer (化肥)use and global trade have allowed food production to keep pace with an increasing global population since the 1960s. But rising temperatures in this time have acted as a handbrake (手刹) to farming productivity of crops, according to the new research, published in Nature Climate Change. Productivity has actually slumped by 21% since 1961, compared to if the world hadn't been affected by global heating.
With the global population set to rise to more than 9 billion by 205, the UN'S Food and Agriculture Organization has estimated that food production will have to increase by about 70%,with annual crop production increasing by almost 1 billion tons and meat production by more than 200m tons a year by this point. Meanwhile, global temperatures are rising at a rate that scientists warn is extremely dangerous for human civilization.
“The impact already is larger than I thought it would be,” said Ariel Ortiz- Bobea, an economist at Cornell University who led the research. “It was a big surprise to me. The worry I have is that research and development in agriculture takes decades to translate into higher productivity. The projected temperature increase is so fast that I don't know if we are going to keep pace with that.”
Weston Anderson, a researcher of food security (安全) and climate at Columbia University who didn't take part in the study, said the new research provides fresh insight into the importance of the impact upon agriculture.
“The regions that this paper highlights as experiencing the largest reductions in agricultural productivity-Central America and the Sahel - contain some of the least food secure countries in the world, which is a real concern,” he said.
1. What does the underlined word “slumped” in paragraph 2 mean?| A．Fallen. | B．Gathered. | C．Approached. | D．Benefited. |
| A．Fertilizer is used in food production. |
| B．Population will rise to over 9 billion. |
| C．Global temperatures are rising too fast. |
| D．Agricultural research needs many years. |
| A．He puts forward a different solution. |
| B．He proposes carrying on with the research. |
| C．He pays more attention to food insecure regions. |
| D．He supports improving agricultural productivity. |
| A．The Impact of Growth in Farm Productivity |
| B．Productivity in Agriculture is Growing |
| C．Causes and Effects of Global Heating |
| D．Rapid Global Heating is Hurting Farm Productivity |
【推荐2】“Beautiful.” “Attractive.” “Impressive.” “Amazing.” These are just a few of the words that tourists ofter use to describe the beauty of the Greater Yellowstone Area. A new study brings to mind entirely different expressions, however. “Dry!” “Hot” “Threatened.”
Scientists found that the average annual(年度的)temperature in Greater Yellowstone from 1950 to 2018 increased by 2.3 degrees, which is as high as or higher than any other period in the last 20,000 years and likely the warmest in 800,000 years. Also of note is the average annual snowfall, which has decreased by 23 inches since 1950, they observe. The combination of higher temperatures and reduced snowfall means the spring thaw(解冻时期)now begins two weeks earlier than it did in 1950, while steam run-off (径流) reaches the highest level eight days sooner.
Scientists predict by 2100 average annual temperatures in Greater Yellowstone will increase by an additional 5 to l0 degrees, producing 40 to 60 more days per year with temperatures above 90 degrees. From 1986 to 2005, winter snowfall covered 59% of the area. By the end of the century, that number could be as low as 1%. The reduction in snow is due to the increase in temperature over time, which causes more rain instead of snow, explains report co-author Bryan Shuman of the University of Wyoming.
“Greater Yellowstone is valued for its forests, rivers, fish, and wildlife,” says Bryan Shuman. “The tend (趋势) towards a warmer, drier climate described in this study will likely affect ecosystems in the area and the communities that depend on them”
Perhaps the biggest result of climate change in Greater Yellowstone is water scarcity. Currently, cities as far west as Los Angeles depend on snowmelt from Greater Yellowstone for water. Less snowfall means less water- especially in the summer when scientists predict a seasonal lack of water in Greater Yellowstone of up to 79% by the end of the century.
“Although scientists’ predictions are serious, the report still leaves room for optimism: By measuring and carefully watching the influence of climate change now and in the future, they suggest, community leaders can think up climate adaptation strategies (适应策略) that will help them come through the difficult period safely,” says Emerita, biologist
1. What are the possible results of higher temperatures and reduced snowfall in the Greater Yellowstone Area?| A．Wild animals living there will disappear gradually. |
| B．Stream run-off gets the highest level ahead of time. |
| C．Its environment is destroyed badly |
| D．The spring arrives earlier. |
| A．The snow in Greater Yellowstone is decreasing. |
| B．Greater Yellowstone is famous for its valuable forests and wildlife. |
| C．Climate change leads to less rainfall in Greater Yellowstone. |
| D．Climate change in Greater Yellowstone will end by the end of the century. |
| A．Power. | B．Shortage. | C．Quality. | D．Storage. |
| A．Emerita has a positive attitude towards the report. |
| B．Scientists’ predictions on climate change don’t make sense. |
| C．The influence of climate change is growing around the world. |
| D．Bryan Shuman is concerned about Greater Yellowstone. |
【推荐3】Carbon dioxide makes up less than one percent of the Earth’s atmosphere. But the gas is very important to life on Earth. Scientists are finding that processes involving carbon dioxide affect our climate in ways that are difficult to understand. Last month, a committee of the National Academy of Sciences in Washington released a report. It confirmed that increased about six-tenths of a degree Celsius in the last one hundred years. The report also confirmed evidence that the level of carbon dioxide is increasing.
The best information about climate in the past comes from tests of ice many kilometers deep in Antarctica and Greenland. The tests show changes in temperature during the past four-hundred-thousand years. These tests show that levels of carbon dioxide today are the highest ever measured. These findings have led scientists to believe that carbon dioxide is a major cause of climate warming.
Carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere when fuel is burned. Oil, coal and wood are all fuels that release the gas. When biological waste breaks down, it also releases carbon dioxide.
However, plants use carbon dioxide in the process called photosynthesis. This process provides food for almost all life on Earth. Some groups that support burning oil and coal want to increase the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. They oppose international efforts to control carbon dioxide.
Some scientists believe that forests and trees are able to capture large amounts of carbon dioxide from the air. Some groups even suggest carbon dioxide could cause plants to grow faster.
A recent study in North Carolina found that more carbon dioxide in the air could cause trees to grow faster. But the researchers found the effect appears to last for only three years. Another study showed that much of the carbon dioxide that is taken in by trees is released within three years. The study noted that leaves release carbon dioxide when they fall from trees and break down in the soil. Plants also naturally release carbon dioxide through the process of respiration.
The natural balance of gases in the atmosphere is a complex scientific issue. The debate over carbon dioxide is only one part of efforts to understand world climate change.
1. The committee report of National Academy of Sciences in Washington reveal that________.| A．ice from Antarctica and Greenland is appropriate to show the change |
| B．carbon dioxide is released mainly from the fuel |
| C．level of carbon dioxide increases with global temperatures |
| D．carbon dioxide is helpful for tree growth |
| A．they think that carbon is beneficial for plant growth |
| B．they want to use more fuels that can emit carbon dioxide |
| C．they think carbon dioxide is not the main reason for global warming |
| D．they think it will destroy the natural balance of gases in the world |
| A．organ | B．topic |
| C．publication | D．result |
| A．trees’ function for absorbing carbon dioxide is limited |
| B．carbon dioxide is the main cause for global warming |
| C．leaves falling from trees can emit more oxygen |
| D．more carbon dioxide is beneficial for trees’ growth for many decades |
