【推荐1】Josh Hill, a biology teacher at Mar Vista High School in California, US, often gets sick after swimming in the ocean at Imperial Beach in California.

He and a group of students are raising awareness(意识)about water pollution by taking weekly water samples(样本)of the ocean and publishing their results online.

Every Thursday, Hill and his students collect water from the ocean. Students then take the samples to their school and test them for levels of bacteria. Usually, samples closer to the border have higher levels of bacteria, Hill said.

“Water quality is usually the worst at the southern end and it increasingly gets better,” he said.

Hill collects the samples on Thursdays so that students can publish the results on the Surfrider Foundation’s website in time for the weekend. The Surfrider Foundation has give Mar Vista lab equipment and promote the students’ results on its site.

Most of Hill’s students grew up in Imperial Beach. Many have gotten sick from the water or know someone who has.

Cameron Bell, 17, who is currently applying to college, wants to pursue a STEM career. He appreciates the fact the he can get lab experience at school. “Our research really impacts our community because it’s keeping people safe,” he said.

On a recent Thursday morning, Anthony Gass, 15, collected some samples. Before he got into the water, his classmates helped him put on waterproof(防水的)clothes and tie a rope around his waist to protect him from the onrush of water.

Hill said the protection probably wasn’t necessary, but that it was better to be safe than to be sorry. “We just want to make sure we protect the students,” he said.

1. What did Josh Hill and his students discover after checking the water samples?

A．Water quality at the northern end isn’t polluted.

B．Water nearer to the border is bless polluted.

C．Water pollution is getting worse and worse.

D．Different levels of bacteria are found in the water.

2. What can we learn about Bell?

A．He is now applying for a job in college.	B．He doesn’t want to have a career in STEM.
C．He thinks that their research is meaningful.	D．He isn’t grateful for his research experience.

3. According to the passage, which of the following is TRUE?

A．The results of the students’ research are not published online.

B．Many students in Imperial Beach get sick due to the water pollution.

C．Very few safety measures are adopted in students’ research work.

D．Mar Vista High School is not equipped with modern science labs.

4. What is the passage mainly about?

A．US students’ research on water pollution.	B．Severe ocean water pollution in the US.
C．US students’ tests for water resources.	D．Tips on how to reduce water pollution.

【推荐2】Animals Welfare Workshops and Presentations

STRAW regularly conducts animal welfare workshops and awareness talks under its humane education programs at schools and colleges. The aim of our programs is to sow seeds of empathy （同情）towards people, compassion towards animals and a respect for the environment. Simply put, our programs demonstrate the way children could be empathetic and compassionate towards people and animals that may be in pain and in need of help. Our programs                    encourage them to take that first step forward to lend a helping hand. These programs emphasize:

♦ How children need to be sensitive to the pain that animals on the street feel when they have been hit or run over by a speeding car. They are made aware of how they could step forward with compassion to treat and save such animals.

♦ How children need to appreciate the importance of the principles of green living by caring for the environment. Children have been urged to inculcate （谆谆教诲）the following routines that would hopefully stick with them for the rest of their lives:

Keep their neighborhood parks, lakes and rivers clean.

Avoid using plastic bags.

Appreciate the principle of recycle, reuse and reduce waste.

Not to dump garbage in parking lots or in parks but only at specified places.

Not to throw banana, orange peels and wrappers from a moving car.

To turn off lights in empty rooms to save on energy.

Not to squash insects like ants, grasshoppers etc. as these living creatures loo are part of our world and we human beings are their caretakers.

1. What do the programs of the STRAW advocate?

A．To make the first step forward to take a hand.

B．To be empathetic and protect the environment.

C．To learn to sow seeds and harvest in the fields.

D．To conduct workshops and talks to make fortune.

2. When animals have been harmed or abused, children should.

A．feel painful as animals do.

B．make a rescue with compassion.

C．stand by to avoid trouble.

D．have self-protection awareness.

3. Which of the following is discouraged for the green living environment?

A．To kill insects like ants, grasshoppers etc.

B．To keep their neighborhood parks, lakes and rivers clean.

C．To turn off lights in empty rooms to save on energy.

D．To throw garbage at specified places.

【推荐3】Do you remember all those years when scientists argued that smoking would kill us but the doubters insisted that we didn’t know for sure? That the evidence was inconclusive, the science uncertain? That the anti-smoking lobby(游说) was out to destroy our way of life and the government should stay out of the way? Lots of Americans bought that nonsense, and over three decades, some 10 million smokers went to early graves.

There are upsetting parallels today, as scientists in one wave after another try to awaken us to the growing threat of global warming. The latest was a panel from the National Academy of Sciences, enlisted by the White House, to tell us that the Earth’s atmosphere is definitely warming and that the problem is largely man-made. The clear message is that we should get moving to protect ourselves. The president of the National Academy, Bruce Alberts, added this key point in the preface to the panel’s report: “Science never has all the answers. But science does provide us with the best available guide to the future, and it is critical that our nation and the world base important policies on the best judgments that science can provide concerning the future consequences of present actions.”

Just as on smoking, voices now come from many quarters insisting that the science about global warming is incomplete, that it’s OK to keep pouring fumes into the air until we know for sure. This is a dangerous game: by the time 100 percent of the evidence is in, it may be too late. With the risks obvious and growing, a prudent person would take out an insurance policy now.

Fortunately, the White House is starting to pay attention. But it’s obvious that a majority of the president’s advisers still don’t take global warming seriously. Instead of a plan of action, they continue to press for more research — a classic case of “paralysis by analysis”.

To serve as responsible stewards of the planet, we must press forward on deeper atmospheric and oceanic research. But research alone is inadequate. If the Administration won’t take the legislative initiative, Congress should help to begin fashioning conservation measures. A bill by Democratic Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia, which would offer financial supports for private industry, is a promising start. Many see that the country is getting ready to build lots of new power plants to meet our energy needs. If we are ever going to protect the atmosphere, it is crucial that those new plants be environmentally sound.

1. What was an argument made by supporters of smoking?

A．Anti-smoking people were usually talking nonsense.

B．People had the freedom to choose their own way of life.

C．The number of early deaths of smokers in the past decades was insignificant.

D．There was no scientific evidence of the correlation between smoking and death.

2. What can science serve as according to Bruce Alberts?

A．A protector.

B．A judge.

C．A critic.

D．A guide.

3. What does the word “prudent” in paragraph 3 probably mean?

A．Cautious.

B．Confident.

C．Responsible.

D．Experienced.

4. Why does the author associate the issue of global warming with that of smoking?

A．Both of them have turned from bad to worse.

B．The outcome of the latter worsens the former.

C．A lesson from the latter is applicable to the former.

D．They both suffered from the government’s neglect.

【推荐1】The first solar cell capable of powering everyday electrical equipment was made in the 1950s at Bell Labs in New Jersey. Back then the silicon-based (基于硅的) panels were hugely expensive and turned just 6% of sunlight into electricity. Since then, costs have come down dramatically and today’s silicon solar cells can tur up to 22% of sunlight into power. But they’re nearly maxed out in terms of efficiency. Now, perovskites (钙钛矿) offer the potential for dramatic increases in power output, and they could ultimately replace silicon altogether.

Rescarchers at Oxford PV, a company spun out of the University of Oxford, made a major breakthrough in 2018. By coating silicon with perovskites they achieved 28% efficiency. The company believes it can eventually reach 40%, or higher. “If we want to make all new power generation about solar photovoltaics (光伏), then we need to keep driving the price down,”Henry Snaith, professor of physics at the University of Oxford and co-founder of Oxford PV,said.“One way to do that is to keep pushing the efficiency or power output up, and this is where perovskites really come into play.”

Perovskites were discovered in 1839. Oxford PV uses a synthetic (合成的) version,made from inexpensive materials that are present on the Earth in large quantities, while other companies use variations of the original mineral,collectively called perovskites. As well as improved solar efficiency, they work better than silicon in the shade, on cloudy days or even indoors. Perovskites can be printed using an inkjet (喷墨的) printer and can be as thin as wallpaper. Oxford PV hopes perovskites will eventually replace silicon entirely.

Last month, Saule Technologies’new factory in Warsaw began printing perovskite solar cells using inkjet printers. Early next year, it will start supplying Swedish construction company Skanska Group.“The material is set to be a game changer in the energy field, because it works in every lighting condition,”said Saule Technologies co-founder Olga Malinkiewicz.

1. What is the biggest disadvantage of silicon-based panels?

A．They are incredibly expensive.

B．They are easy to abandon totally.

C．They are relatively low in power output.

D．They have only existed for about 50 years.

2. What attitude does Snaith have towards perovskites?

A．Favorable.

B．Cautious.

C．Opposed.

D．Ambiguous.

3. Why can perovskites possibly replace silicon entirely?

A．They can be as thin as paper.

B．They are rarely seen on the Earth.

C．They can be printed with 3-D printers.

D．They perform well in poor lighting conditions.

4. What can be a suitable title for the text?

A．The cost of perovskite solar cells.

B．A new way to replace perovskites.

C．The applications of solar photovoltaics.

D．A potential way to increase solar power output.

【推荐2】The world’s animal populations have decreased by more than two-thirds since 1970, according to a recent research from the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).

The London group provided information on 32,000 wildlife populations which included more than 5,000 species. The researchers found that population sizes had reduced by 69 percent on average. They said the loss of forests, human exploitation (开发) of the environment, pollution, and climate change were great causes of the loss. Land-use change is still the biggest threat (威胁) to wildlife. However, the researchers added, “if we cannot limit warming to 1.5℃, climate change is likely to become the primary cause of biodiversity (生物多样性) loss in the coming years.”

Wildlife populations in Latin American and the Caribbean Sea area were greatly affected. The research showed a 94 percent drop in those areas in over 50 years. Wildlife populations in river and lake habitats decreased the most. Freshwater populations have reduced by an average of 83 percent since 1970. For example, one population of pink river dolphins in the Amazon River area of Brazil fell by 65 percent between 1994 and 2016.

These findings are a red flag that warns of a larger system failure on the horizon. Even one species’ population reduction can affect other species, eventually impacting the ecosystem’s (生态系统) ability to function. Humans depend on a stable climate, predictable weather patterns, and productive farmland and fisheries to thrive (蓬勃发展), but the current trends are severe enough to threaten many life-sustaining systems.

Our future depends on reversing (扭转) the loss of nature just as much as it depends on addressing climate change. And you can’t solve one without solving the other. Everyone has a role in reversing these trends, from individuals to companies to governments. If nothing changes, animal populations will undoubtedly continue to fall, driving wildlife to extinction and threatening the wholeness of the ecosystems on which we all depend.

1. Which may be the main cause of the decrease of the wildlife populations in the future?

A．Illegal hunting.	B．Global warming.
C．Land-use change.	D．Environmental pollution.

2. How is paragraph 3 mainly developed?

A．By listing data.	B．By telling a story.
C．By referring to a concept.	D．By analyzing the causes.

3. Why does the author worry about current trends?

A．Because the reduction of species will impact the ecosystem.

B．Because humans will be the biggest threat to the wildlife.

C．Because the increase of species’ population will threaten human beings.

D．Because the humans have been expecting to thrive.

4. Who plays the leading role in reversing the loss?

A．Animals.	B．Animal protection organizations.
C．Research teams.	D．Human beings.

【推荐3】Who is there among us that hasn't dreamed of having his or her own small ( maybe, several years later, even big) business, and having wonderful freedom, both from a boss and from the time clock: the freedom to make up our own rules for our work, and our own plans--arranging our own hours of work? That way work would be both painless and fun. Or, so we imagine.
Well, in fact it isn't quite as simple as that. Yes, it is true that being the boss has its satisfactions and that you can arrange your working hours freely if you own your own small business. But in those early years of starting your own business, you shouldn't think of a free day, not to mention flying off for a month's vacation. It is not unusual for new business owners to work seventy or eighty hours a week, and if there is a day off, that day might need to be devoted to accounting(算账).
But this negative picture doesn't destroy the beautiful hopes. The possibility of getting something wonderful in return--both material and mental--continues to drive that large number of people who start up small businesses each year in the United States.
1. From the first paragraph, we know that everybody hopes_______.

A．to rule others	B．to be his or her own boss
C．to get a time clock	D．to be free from work

2. Most new business owners have to_______.

A．work more than 10 hours a day

B．devote himself to accounting

C．fly to some places in the world

D．have a day off in a week

3. The beautiful hopes will never be destroyed because_______.

A．people love beautiful things by nature

B．people have a strong desire to seek personal gains

C．small businesses make big money each year in the US

D．small businesses have advantages over big companies.

4. Which is the main idea of the passage?

A．Many people have dreamed of having his or her own small business.

B．Being your own boss is painless and fun.

C．Business owners often work seventy or eighty hours a week.

D．Although being your own boss is not easy, many people are starting their own businesses to get something wonderful in return.