A recent study has found that using wood for construction instead of concrete and steel can reduce emissions. But Tim Searchinger at Princeton University says many of these studies are based on the false foundation that harvesting wood is carbon neutral (碳中和). “Only a small percentage of the wood gets into a timber (木料) product, and a part of that gets into a timber product that can replace concrete and steel in a building,” he says. Efficiencies vary in different countries, but large amounts of a harvested tree are left to be divided into parts, used in short-lived products like paper or burned for energy, all of which generate emissions.
In a report for the World Resources Institute, Searchinger and his colleagues have modelled how using more wood for construction would affect emissions between 2010 and 2050, accounting for the emissions from harvesting the wood. They considered various types of forests and parts of wood going towards construction. They also factored in the emissions savings from replacing concrete and steel.
Under some circumstances, the researchers found significant emissions reductions. But each case required what they considered an unrealistically high portion (一部分) of the wood going towards construction, as well as rapid growth only seen in warmer places, like Brazil. In general, they found a large increase in global demand for wood would probably lead to rising emissions for decades. Accounting for emissions in this way, the researchers reported in a related paper that increasing forest s between 2010 and 2050 would add emissions equal to roughly 10 percent of total annual emissions.
Ali Amiri at Aalto University in Finland says the report’s conclusions about emissions from rising demand are probably correct, but the story is different for wood we already harvest. “Boosting the efficiency of current harvests and using more wood for longer-lived purposes than paper would cut emissions,” he says. “We cannot just say we should stop using wood.”
1. What is wrong with previous researches according to Searchinger?| A．They got wrong statistics. | B．They were applied in limited countries. |
| C．They included too many factors. | D．They used an incorrect concept. |
| A．The process of the new research. | B．The background of the new study. |
| C．The challenge of the new research. | D．The achievements of the new study. |
| A．When the rising global demand for wood is completely met. |
| B．When the increasing forest harvests are widely restricted. |
| C．When a high portion of wood is used for global construction. |
| D．When wood is fully efficiently employed for lasting purpose. |
| A．Favorable. | B．Doubtful. | C．Objective. | D．Critical. |
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【推荐1】The proliferation(激增)of fires in the Amazon rainforest drew international attention in August 2019, especially when French President Emmanuel Macron called for urgent action. Since then, the eyes of the world have shifted elsewhere as House Democrats launched an impeachment(弹劾)inquiry against President Donald Trump.
Meanwhile, the Amazon continued to burn. The number of fires decreased by 35% in September 2019, but experts say this is merely a slowdown in a crisis with global repercussions(反响). There were still 19,925 fire outbreaks in September 2019 on the Brazilian part of the rainforest, which accounts for nearly 65% of the Amazon basin. Moreover, through the first nine months of 2019, the number of fires soared by 41% compared to the same period in 2018, Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research (INPE) reported.
Higher rainfall totals than usual since the beginning of September 2019 and measures taken under mounting pressure by Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro—who deployed the military to the Amazon and imposed a twomonth ban on clearing land through fires—contributed to the burning decline.
“The factors that led to such widespread fires in the first place—decreased enforcement of forestlaw, illegal deforestation for agriculture and invasion of native territories—remain in place,” said Nigel Sizer, Chief Program Officer for the advocacy organization Rainforest Alliance. “It is good news that there are fewer fires in the Amazon right now, but this is a short-term pause from the larger problem.”
That problem centers on deforestation through systematically chopping down trees, which are either logged or burned, mostly to convert the land for raising cattle and growing crops. The practice has expanded from a small scale to an industrial production, leading to about 20% of the Brazilian Amazon having been cleared since 1970.
1. Who raised international attention to the proliferation of fires in the Amazon rainforest?| A．Emmanuel Macron. |
| B．Donald Trump. |
| C．Nigel Sizer. |
| D．Jair Bolsonaro. |
| A．There are more fires in Amazon now than ever before. |
| B．There were more fires in Amazon in August 2019 than in September 2019. |
| C．The proliferation of fires covers most of the wide area in Amazon. |
| D．The fires in the Amazon rainforest is still burning with international attention. |
| A．Decreased enforcement of forest law. |
| B．Invasion of native territories. |
| C．Serious deforestation for agriculture. |
| D．The shor-term pause of the proliferation of fires. |
| A．A biology textbook. |
| B．A gardening magazine. |
| C．A newspaper. |
| D．A travel brochure. |
【推荐2】Vast lands of America are dominated by corn, nearly 100macres of it, stretching from Ohio to the Dakotas. What once was forest today produces the corn that feeds people, cattle and, when made into ethanol (乙醇), cars.
Now, the nation’s airlines want to power their planes with corn, too. United Airlines signed a deal with a Nebraska ethanol company to buy enough sustainable fuel, to power 50,000 flights a year. The government could decide on its tax incentives (税收激励) for the industry as soon as December. “Mark my words, the next 20 years, corn farmers are going to provide 95% of all the sustainable airline fuel,” President Biden said in July.
The airlines’ ambitious goal would likely require nearly doubling ethanol production, which airlines say, with great expectation, would decrease their greenhouse gas emissions. If they succeed, it could transform America’s Corn Belt, stimulating farmers and ethanol producers, but potentially further damaging one of the nation’s most important resources: groundwater.
Corn requires a lot of water to grow and it can take hundreds of gallons to produce a single gallon of ethanol. But as airlines take the idea of ethanol, the vital groundwater faces serious risks. “We’re on track to massively increase water usage without any real sense of how sensitive our groundwater is,” said Jeffrey Broberg, who is concerned about groundwater in Minnesota, a major corn state.
The Department of Energy said in a statement that “water use is a critical part of the conversation surrounding bio-energy sustainability”. It pointed to a 2022 department study that concluded that the United States could significantly reduce pressure on groundwater by shifting fuel production away from water-intensive crops like corn, instead growing more crops that don’t require irrigation (灌溉), like various types of straw, grasses and trees. Hopefully, a better approach will be soon studied and adopted.
1. What can we learn from the first two paragraphs?| A．Farmers will increase 95% of their ethanol production. |
| B．The sustainable fuel will not be popular in the future. |
| C．Corn will be an influential source in the fuel industry. |
| D．The government stops the new fuel for the groundwater. |
| A．Preventing. | B．Motivating. | C．Destroying. | D．Impressing. |
| A．The shortage of corn production. |
| B．The increase in global warming. |
| C．A rise in clean-energy tax credits. |
| D．Higher stress on the groundwater. |
| A．Expand the corn planting area. |
| B．Use some alternative materials. |
| C．Cut down the daily water usage. |
| D．Turn to the government for help. |
【推荐3】Like the problem of hunger, food waste is a global problem, which resists（抵抗）to quick fixes. But if each of us takes steps to cut food waste in our homes, we will decrease the burden on the environment and help to feed more people. Here are some of the tested tips.
Buy frozen produce.
Make juice or soup. When we happen to have more fresh produce than we can eat, take out the expensive juice-maker that we never use and treat ourselves to some fresh juice.
Use clear containers to store leftovers.
Hopefully, one or two of these ideas can be helpful in fixing the food waste problem.
| A．Shop more frequently |
| B．Plan meals before shopping |
| C．Also be sure to share your tips with us |
| D．And don't undervalue the effect of these small changes |
| E．One glass of juice can use up several pounds of produce |
| F．We can do a better job by putting the leftovers in see-through containers |
| G．Most of our food waste is fresh vegetables that go bad before we eat them |
【推荐1】In a world with limited land, water and other natural resources (资源), the harm from the traditional business model is on the rise. Actually, the past decade has seen more and more forests disappearing and the globe becoming increasingly warm. People now realize that this unhealthy situation must be changed, and that we must be able to develop in sustainable (可持续的) ways. That means growth with low carbon development of sustainable products. In other words, we should keep the earth healthy while using its supply of natural resources.
Today sustainable development is a popular trend in many countries. According to a recent study, the global market for low-carbon energy will become three times bigger over the next decades. China, for example, has set its mind on leading that market, hoping to seize chances in the new round of the global energy revolution. It is now trying hard to make full use of wind and solar energy, and is spending a huge amount of money making electronic cars and high-speed trains. In addition, we are also seeing great growth in the global markets for sustainable products such as palm oil (棕榈油), which is produced without cutting down valuable rainforest. In recent years the markets for sustainable products have grown by more than 50%.
Governments can fully develop the potential of these new markets. First, they can set high targets for reducing carbon emissions (排放) and targets for saving and reusing energy. Besides, stronger arrangement of public resources like forests can also help to speed up the development. Finally, governments can avoid the huge expenses that are taking us in the wrong direction, and redirecting some of those expenses can accelerate the change from traditional model to a sustainable one.
The major challenge of this century is to find ways to meet the needs of growing population within the limits of this single planet. That is no small task, but it offers abundant new chances for sustainable product industries.
1. The traditional business model is harmful because of the following EXCEPT that ________.| A．it makes the world warmer |
| B．it makes growth hard to continue |
| C．it brings severe damage to forests |
| D．it consumes natural resources |
| A．High-speed trains are a low-carbon development |
| B．China is the leader of the low-carbon market |
| C．China lacks wind and solar energy |
| D．Palm oil is made at the cost of valuable forests. |
| A．cut public expenses |
| B．encourage less carbon emissions |
| C．develop public awareness of environment protection |
| D．forbid carbon emissions |
| A．To introduce a new business model. |
| B．To compare two business models. |
| C．To advocate (倡导) sustainable development. |
| D．To predict a change of the global market. |
【推荐2】For many, traveling is a way to escape the worst parts of daily life. But what if a travel destination(目的地) witnessed terrible events, like war, genocide (大屠杀) or nuclear fallout? Would you still want to visit?
There’s a growing phenomenon called “dark tourism” – people visit sites to do with death and human suffering. “It’s living on the edge almost – if you go to a place where people have really died,” Karel Werdler, a senior lecturer in history at InHolland University in the Netherlands, told CNN.
When people go to traditional tourist spots, like Disneyland, or some wonders of the world, they may feel happy to enjoy something interesting or new. Dark tourism, however, not only provides that newness but also can make them feel lucky that their problems are so small in comparison. According to the Guardian, “Dark tourism to some extent depends on the reverse (颠倒) of the old equation (方程式) of more familiar tourism.”
For many people, these sites offer a way to think about the mistakes of the past and the lessons we can learn from history. For example, Chernobyl, in the Ukraine, is one of the most popular dark destinations. When its nuclear reactor (核反应堆) blew up in 1984, it released a radioactive cloud so devastating that the surrounding area will remain uninhabitable (不适宜居住的) for 20,000 years. Despite the destruction and danger of the still present radiation, nearly 72,000 people visited the area last year, reports the BBC. One of these was Li Yimeng, who went on a tour of the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. During the tour she saw the homes of the power plant’s former workers, deserted classrooms, and an abandoned playground.
“I experienced a whole range of emotions as I saw the area where they used to live, which is now a wasteland,” she told China Daily. She also stressed the need to show respect when visiting places like Chernobyl. Though dark tourism is related to death and dying, “it tells us more about life and the living”, The Sun said.
1. What is the main purpose of the article?| A．To compare different types of travel. |
| B．To persuade readers to join in dark tourism. |
| C．To tell readers of a new type of travel. |
| D．To introduce one of the most popular dark destinations. |
| A．dark | B．destructive | C．huge | D．straight |
| A．can be a frightening experience |
| B．makes people think about life |
| C．call on people to take action to avoid disasters |
| D．warns people to be careful about high technology |
【推荐3】Researchers at MIT and in China developed a simple, solar-powered water desalination (脱盐) system. They have made a breakthrough in getting fresh drinking water from sea water by using sunlight.
As the research paper published in Energy & Environmental Science explains, equipment applied in this system includes several layers of flat evaporators (蒸发器) that turn water sources into fresh water through solar energy, as well as condensers (冷凝器) that cool the gas into the liquid. The authors of the paper are MIT students Lenan Zhang and Lin Zhao, Professor Evelyn Wang, and nine other researchers at MIT and at Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China.
How the system uses each of the multiple stages to remove salt from the water is critical to its efficiency. The heat released per stage will be used by the next stage. In this way, the team’s device can convert the energy of sunlight into the energy of water evaporation with an efficiency of 385 percent.
The device can be considered as a multilayer solar still. The heat is absorbed by its flat panels and then transferred to make water evaporate. The vapor then cools down and turns into liquid water on the next panel. As the water is collected, the released heat is transferred to the next layer.
The team’s 10-stage system produces pure water. Its quality is above the city drinking water standards. It also has the highest yield compared to other similar systems, at a rate of nearly six cubic decimeter per hour for every square meter of the solar collecting area. The system is distinguished from some others by the fact that there is no accumulated salt to be got rid of. Most materials of the demonstration unit don’t cost much and are easy to get.
Further experiments will be carried out on the device to optimize (优化) the choices of materials and test its durability (持久性) under realistic conditions. Researchers will also work on the design of the device to make it more consumer-friendly. It is expected that the system could finally help developing regions that are short of electricity supplies but rich in sea water and sunlight handle water crises.
1. What contributes most to the high efficiency of the device?| A．The choice of materials. | B．The simplicity of the structure. |
| C．The use of multilayer equipment. | D．The recycling of released heat. |
| A．What the device is for. | B．How the device works. |
| C．How the heat is collected. | D．What the device consists of. |
| A．do not cost too much money at all | B．produces more water than other systems |
| C．displays better quality than drinking water | D．still contains a certain amount of salt |
| A．Its zero accumulation of salt. | B．The quality of water it produces. |
| C．Its stable and high production level. | D．The low cost of the whole operation. |
| A．To make it environment friendly. | B．To check its performance in labs. |
| C．To reduce its cost in developing area. | D．To make it more suitable for consumers. |
