Aadya Joshi looks out at the eucalyptus trees (桉树). They were planted to take the place of a forest that was cleared for wood. The view doesn’t make Joshi happy. Eucalyptus trees don’t grow naturally here in India. “Native (本土的) trees should have been planted,”she says.
Joshi started The Right Green. The group teaches people how to bring back forests by growing native trees. Once, Earth was home to 6 trillion trees. Now, only about 3 trillion are left. “Planting new trees to replace those that have been lost sounds like a good idea,” she says. “But what people are doing in many places is not restoring (恢复) forests. They’re just replanting. There’s a difference.”
Trees are important to the health of the planet. They help clean the air. They’re also a source of food and medicine. But 46% of the world’s trees have been cut down. Some actions to replant trees have made environmental problems even worse. This happened in Chile, in South America. Big companies cut down forests for wood. Then they replanted trees. But they used the wrong kinds of trees and created tree plantations (人造林).
“They’re not really what we imagine a forest to be,” says Robert Heilmayr, who studies the forest. “These trees are more like crops. At cleaning the air, they are not as good as forests.”
Now, a program called AFR100 is started in Africa. It says restoring native forests is more helpful. It will restore almost 100 million hectares (公项) of African land by 2030.
1. Why were eucalyptus trees planted in Joshi’s hometown?2. How does Joshi like planting new trees to replace native forests?
3. Why do some actions make things worse?
4. Where is AFR100 started?
5. What are we supposed to do according to AFR100?
相似题推荐
Cristina Zenato, a world-famous shark expert and diver (潜水员), was born in Italy and grew up in Africa until the age of 15. In 1994, she went on a vacation to Grand Bahama and fell in love with both diving and the island. So she decided to make Bahama her home and make diving her life.
Cristina learned to feed sharks when she was a child. In 1996, she became a shark feeder trainer. She created a course that educated divers about the beauty of sharks and the need to protect them and their environment. Through the “shark feeder course”, she has created more shark lovers.
Cristina is talented in communicating with sharks. With just a touch on a shark’s head and face, she can lead it into a state of sleep for 15 minutes. Cristina’s special talent has been used to study shark behavior by scientists. It also helps to save sharks. Cristina still remembers clearly the first time she managed to take out a huge hook(钓钩) from a tiger shark’s mouth. Up to now, she has taken out hundreds of hooks and fishing lines from shark mouths and skin without hurting them. Her work has saved many sharks from possible death.
Cristina has received many prizes and honors for her great work in shark research and protection. She also acted in several films including “Saving the Sharks” by the BBC. Until today, she continues to give speeches to let the public know the importance of shark protection.
1. What does Cristina do?2. Why did Cristina decide to make Bahama her home?
3. What can divers learn from Cristina’s “shark feeder course”?
4. What can Cristina’s special talent help to do?(list two ways)
①
②
5. What may Cristina talk about in her speeches?
A swan
A retired postman from Turkey and a beautiful white swan have been always together for nearly forty years, and the story of their friendship has warmed the hearts of millions.
In 1984 Recep Mirzan was in a car with a group of friends, when he saw a swan that appeared to have a broken wing in an empty field.
Mirzan quickly realized that leaving the bird there was the same as signing its death sentence, as meat-eating animals would have most likely eaten it, so he stopped the car and took the bird with him. He kept it in the car until evening, when he took it home and started nursing it back to health.
“Since I love animals, I said to myself that I should take her home instead of leaving her as dinner to foxes,” Mirzan said, “We got used to each other. We never separated.”
Even after the swan’s broken wing healed (痊愈), it didn’t try to fly away. Instead, it acted as a friend to the other animals on Recep’s farm, and decided to stick around. Recep named her Garip and now she has been with him ever since.
“She comes when I call. Since 1984, she has never left me, not even during the river floods,” the retired postman said. “She used to be stronger, but she has grown old now. If she dies, I will make her a nice grave (墓穴) here, but I hope we live more together.”
During the day, she is busy following her human friend around, either during his daily chores, or on his evening walks.
After his wife died a few years ago, Recep Mirzan started spending more time with his animals, and since he has no human children, he regards Garip as his child.
1. Who found a swan with a broken wing?2. Why did the man take the swan home?
3. What did the swan do when her broken wing healed?
4. How long has the swan lived with the man?
5. What do you think of the man?
A villager made his living by selling seeds（种子） in the market. He had ten bags with him, which he would carry to another village to buy seeds. Of the ten bags, one was broken. Although it was in poor condition, the villager would carry it with all the other bags to get the seeds from another village.
One day, the broken bag thought, “I am just a broken bag with many holes, why does my owner take me along to bring seeds?” It then asked the villager, “Why don’t you throw me away? You know I am useless. I drop all the seeds you put in me.”
The villager smiled, “I will tell you what good you have done to me and others.” Saying this, the villager took the broken bag outside and said, “Do you see all these trees? These trees are all along the way from this village to the next, from where I buy seeds. These trees have grown from the seeds you have been dropping along the way.”
The villager continued, “These trees give cool shade to tired people on hot sunny days. They also give oxygen（氧气） to humans and animals. Can’t you see you’ve done the world a great service?”
The broken bag was happy to learn all this. It realized that everyone has something good to offer to the world!
1. A villager made his living by2. Of the ten bags, one bag was
3. The broken bag thought he was
4. The villager didn’t throw away the broken bag because it had done something
5. The story tells us that
【推荐1】Why do we need to throw less away? There are two reasons. One is that some resources（资源）are nonrenewable（不可再生的）. That means there is only a certain amount of that resource in the world. One example of these resources is oil. When we use up all the oil in the world, there will be no more.
There is a second reason for throwing less away. All of our trash has to be put somewhere. Often, it is put into garbage dumps（垃圾场）. Much of that trash will be there for hundreds of years. The dumps ill be filled up with all this trash.
There are three ways to cut down on trash.
One way is to recycle. When you recycle something, it means it is made into another shape and used again. Old newspapers may become paper bags. A glassware can be melted（熔化）and made into a bottle.
Another way to cut down on trash is to reuse things. You can wash and use a bottle again that can hold mustard（芥末酱）or something else.
The third way to cut down on trash is to reduce the amount of trash you make, for example, stopping buying things that you don’t need in the first place. That reduces the amount of the earth’s resources.
任务型阅读：根据文章内容填写下面表格。
| Reasons for throwing less away | Some resources are |
| The | |
| To | |
| Ways to cut down on trash | To |
| To |
We sometimes say the lion is “the king of the jungle” because it is stronger and more dangerous than the other animals. Most other animals in the jungle run more slowly than the lion, so it can hunt better. The lion is the top animal in the land food chain.
In the sea, the shark is at the top of the food chain. Most other sea animals swim much more slowly than it. It can also use its big teeth to catch other sea animals and eat them.
What is at the top of the world’s food chain? Humans are! We are not the biggest or fastest, but we are the cleverest! We could not catch up with most animals, so we invented cars and now we can move the fastest. We could not fight better than a lion, so we invented guns. Now we can hunt the best.
People’s inventions help a lot, but they can be dangerous, too. For example, many years ago in Inner Mongolia, people used guns to kill a lot of wild wolves.
The wild wolves usually eat wild rabbits. But in recent years, the number of wild rabbits is becoming bigger and bigger because the number of wild wolves is getting smaller and smaller.
The wild rabbits competed for the grass with the sheep and cows. Much of the grassland became desert because the rabbits destroyed (毁坏) it seriously.
Remember that we are a part of the food chain, we are in danger, too! If we protect animals, we are protecting ourselves. Luckily, people have paid much attention to such problems. We will do more things to keep the balance of ecosystem in the future.
| The food chain of land animals: The lion can run | The word’s food chain: People’s inventions are | |||||||||||
| The food chain of sea animals: | Food Chain | The balance of the food chain: While the number of wild wolves is getting smaller, the number of wild rabbits is | ||||||||||
| What to do: More things will be done to | ||||||||||||
Nowadays, OpenAI company’s ChatGPT, Dall-E and Sora have been a hot topic all around the world. But perhaps most of us have never thought about what it takes to run such intelligent (智能的) products. One thing this technology depends on may get you surprised—plenty of water!
Why does a computer program need so much water? In fact, in order to have the ability to write like a human, an AI system must first study a large amount (数量) of text written by humans. In the process, it not only uses much electricity but also produces much heat. So, on hot days, computer engineers use water to keep the computers cool.
Microsoft has worked with OpenAI for years. In a recent report, Microsoft shared how much water was used from 2021 to 2022. The total amount of water used in cooling machines is enough to fill more than 2,500 Olympic-sized swimming pools. It is believed the training of AI systems leads to the big rise.
Usually, AI super-computing centers lie in places that are cool for most of the year. These centers can just use outside air to cool the computers. But in summer, the temperature goes to 30℃. The computer engineers have to use a large amount of water to cool all the machines.
ChatGPT also “drinks” water while chatting. Scientists have worked out the environmental costs of using AI products. For a conversation of 20 to 50 questions and answers, ChatGPT uses up a bottle of water, about 500ml. The exact amount of water used in chatting changes with the seasons.
Many people are unaware of the problem. If you don’t know how many resources ChatGPT uses, how can you help to save water? The next time you are amazed at how smart ChatGPT is, think about how much water it’s “drinking”. Why not reduce the time of talking to machines—to help save the Earth’s water resources!
How “thirsty” are AI systems?
| Around the world, intelligent products are | |
| The | When an AI system learns to |
| A recent report by Microsoft | From 2021 to 2022, the amount of the water used in cooling machines kept |
| The analysis (分析) | The amount of used water is ◇ connected with ◇affected by the high ◇not |
| Advice | ◆ Consider it as a ◆ Save Earth’s water resources by having more |
In the long history of about 5,000 years, lots of Chinese festivals were created. Here are some of them.
The Spring Festival
It’s celebrated on the first day of the first month of the lunar calendar. Traditionally, on that day, people set off fireworks and visit their friends and relatives.他们通常和家人在一起包饺子，尤其是北方人。Also, during the Spring Festival people don’t sweep the room or argue with each other.
Tomb-sweeping Day
It’s also called the Qingming Festival or the Pure and Bright Festival. It’s on the 15th day after the Spring Equinox (春分). People worship (祭拜) a person who passed away or their ancestors and clean up tombs. Qingming in Chinese means the weather is pure and bright in spring days, so people go out to celebrate the coming of the new season.
The Duanwu Festival
People celebrate the Duanwu Festival on May 5th in the lunar calendar. The traditional activities on that day are having dragon boat races and eating zongzi. In some areas, people believe that the day is an evil day (凶日), and babies under one year old should be taken to their grandma’s to avoid being hurt. Doing so can bring babies’ safety and good luck.
The Mid-Autumn Festival
It takes place on August 15th in the lunar calendar. It’s a special festival when people go back home, no matter what they’re.People get together to enjoy the fullest and brightest moon of the year and have moon cakes.It’s said that men aren’t allowed to take part in the moon-worship ceremony because the moon is a woman.
1. How many Chinese festivals are mentioned in the passage?2. 将文中汉语句子翻译成英语。
3. 将划线的英语句子翻译成汉语。
4. 找出文中与下列句子意思相同或相近的句子。
So we can protect babies against bad luck.
5. What does “Qingming” mean in Chinese?
【推荐2】New ways to pay: third party online payment
Do you shop online with websites like Taobao? When you make an order on Taobao, the money you pay doesn’t go directly to the seller. Instead, it goes to Alipay first, which keeps your money for a while. After you receive your goods and click the “confirm receipt” button, Alipay then gives the money to the seller.
This process is called “third party online payment.” There is a transfer station, or a third account(中转站或第三方账户), between sellers and buyers to make online shopping safe. Buyers don’t need to worry about paying for goods and then receiving nothing. Sellers also avoid risking receiving no money after sending out goods.
These transfer stations are usually set up by payment companies such as Alipay, Tenpay and Yeepay. Among them, Aliay is the biggest in China. It has more than 270 million active users according to Xinhua.
While most online sellers and shoppers like the third party online payment system, banks are not very happy. That is because companies like Alipay are fighting over money with the banks. Users can invest in financial products (投资金融产品) through Alipay and make money. Thus lots of people choose to put money in Alipay rather than in banks.
But WeChat payment is not the same. WeChat doesn’t have its own account. When paying through WeChat, buyers’ money goes directly to the sellers. That’s why so many people are excited about sending and receiving “red packets”, or gift money to their friends on WeChat.
Both Alipay and WeChat payments are trying to draw more users and make online shopping easier. New payment methods such as quick response codes (二维码) have become popular too. Two companies are also developing and improving payments through fingerprints.
New ways to pay: third party online payment | |
Basic information of third party online payment | * For online pament, the money goes to Alipay first, which doesn’t give it to the online seller * this process is called “third party online payment”. * There are many online payment companies and Alipay is the biggest. * It is super popular among people to receive and * Banks are |
Advantages & development of third party online payment | *Sellers avoid the * Shoppers needn’t worry about paying for goods but receiving nothing. * Online payment companies, * New online payment methods are sure to appear and be accepted. |
【推荐3】The weather is getting hotter. You are thirsty playing basketball or riding home from school. A cold drink may be just the thing. But be careful what you are drinking. Something that looks cool may not be good for your health.
There are plenty of “energy drinks” on the market. Most of them have beautiful colors and cool names. The lists on them tell you they are helpful to your health. Sounds great!
But after a careful check you may find that most energy drinks have lots of caffeine (咖啡因) in them. These drinks are especially aimed at young people, students, bus y people and sports players. Makers sometimes say their drinks make you better at sports and can keep you awake. But be careful not to drink too much.
Caffeine makes your heart beat fast. Because of this, the International Olympic Committee has limited (限制) its use. Caffeine in most energy drinks is at least as strong as that in a cup of coffee or tea. Possible health dangers have something to do with energy drinks. Just one box of energy drink may make you nervous. Scientists say that teenagers should be discouraged from taking drinks with a lot of caffeine in them.
根据短文内容回答问题。
1. What would you like most when you are thirsty playing basketball in the hot weather according to the passage?
