1 . Marco Springmann and his colleagues, at the Oxford Martin School's Future of Food Programme, built computer models that predicted what would happen if everyone became vegetarian by 2050. The results indicate that if the world went vegan, the greenhouse gas emissions declines would be around 70%.
In the US, for example, an average family of four emits more greenhouse gases because of the meal they eat than from driving two cars——but it is cars, not steaks, that regularly come up in discussions about global warming.
Food, especially livestock, also takes up a lot of room. 68% of agricultural land in the world is used for livestock. When these lands become grasslands and forests, they would capture carbon dioxide and further ease climate change.
However, if the whole world went vegan, there would be negative effects too. First, it is necessary to keep livestock for environmental purposes. "I'm sitting here in Scotland where the Highlands' environment is very man-made and based largely on grazing by sheep," says Peter Alexander, a researcher in socio-ecological systems modeling at the University of Edinburgh. "If we took all the sheep away, the environment would look different and there would be a potential negative impact on biodiversity. "
Plus, meat is an important part of history , tradition and cultural identity. Numerous groups around the world give livestock gifts at weddings, celebratory dinners such as Christmas with turkey or roast beef.
And nowadays, moderation in meal-eating's frequency and portion size is key to solving these conflicts. "Certain changes would encourage us to make healthier and more environmentally friendly dietary decisions," says Springmann, "like putting a higher price lag on meat and making fresh fruits and vegetables cheaper. "
In fact, clear solutions already exist for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the livestock industry. What is lacking is the will to implement those changes.
1. What can we infer from the underlined sentence in the second paragraph?| A．Driving cars is more dangerous than eating steaks in the US. |
| B．Our dietary choices affecting climate change is often underestimated. |
| C．People compare the greenhouse gas emissions of the cars and steaks. |
| D．Cars affect the global warming more seriously than the steaks. |
| A．To show the important impact of livestock on the environment. |
| B．To show his work as a researcher in the socio-ecological systems. |
| C．To encourage people to take all the sheep back for environmental purpose. |
| D．To point out the negative impact of the sheep on the biodiversity. |
| A．It is hard to please all. |
| B．Don't put all your eggs in one basket. |
| C．One cannnot see the wood for the trees. |
| D．Everything is a double-edged sword. |
| A．A biology textbook. | B．A health magazine. |
| C．A scientific journal. | D．An educational review. |
2 . This morning we’re going to head off down into the wetland, a very specific kind of wetland called the Prairie fen.
You can find Nate Fuller counting butterflies. The Sarett Nature Center needs an accurate count of Mitchell’s satyr butterflies to help preserve one of their last known habitats. They’re very particular about the kind of habitat where they can live, which is part of what makes them so rare and amazing indicators for our water quality. Today, Sarett expert Ashley Cole-Wick with Michigan’s Natural Features Inventory helps Fuller count. She says, “When I first started working on the butterfly in 2013,we had 18 populations and in 2019,we had 10.”
The Mitchell’s satyr butterfly went on the endangered species list in 1991.Initially it was thought that loss of wetlands contributed to their decline. Fuller says, “It’s not just habitat availability. The quantity and quality of groundwater coming into these wetlands seem to be a challenge for the butterfly. Nothing has all been sorted out exactly.” While the decline is likely a combination of factors, the fact that water quality might contribute is alarming because the wetlands are the headwaters for the Midwest’s rivers and streams.
A captive breeding program was started four years ago at the Toledo Zoo to help get to the bottom of the mystery. Today Director Ryan Walsh who heads the program says it’s been the only successful captive breeding program. The caterpillars spent the winter in a special weather control room that helped determine the Mitchell’s satyrs don’t do well below 4.4 degrees Celsius. With that knowledge, the program produced 1,300 new eggs, a development that may go a long way toward restoring the population. And if all goes well, may one day the Mitchell’s satyr butterfly earn a ticket off the endangered species list.
1. What are the indicators for the water quality?| A．The habitats. | B．The butterflies. | C．The wetlands. | D．The experts. |
| A．The importance of water quality. |
| B．Actions taken to protect the Mitchell’s satyr butterflies. |
| C．The reasons why the number of Mitchell’s satyr butterflies declines. |
| D．The natural conditions for the Mitchell’s satyr butterflies. |
| A．Preserving. | B．Increasing. | C．Recovering. | D．Controlling. |
| A．It can easily be found. | B．It is not endangered now. |
| C．It will die above 4.4 degrees Celsius. | D．It can be bred by humans |
3 . Music died here last spring，or rather，it was killed by members of the school committee who ignored the importance of music and drama as part of the high school curriculum.
The committee decide that teaching students how to take a standardized test is more important than a curriculum in which students can explore their interests in the arts.Because the school system is running out of funding，it needs to make sure that students pass the test or even more money will be lost.If students fail the state standardized test，it is not the fault of drama and music classes.They are failing because the“academic”classes are in deficiency in a way.
It is painful to think of how many students will be discouraged from singing，acting，and playing instruments because school programs are no longer offered.Many families cannot afford private music lessons，and many potential musicians and artists may not find their callings if they are not exposed to the arts in school.The fact that the school committee thinks the arts are not worth the investment will certainly make some students believe the arts are not worth their time or support and the cycle will continue.
Teaching for a test does not shape students into well rounded people.It blocks the natural sense to create and express feelings through the arts—there is more to life than the analytical thinking that math and English provide.What happens after a test？Sure，a student might graduate，but they will have limited knowledge—certainly not a good preparation for the real world.
1. Music and drama are removed from the high school curriculum in that________.| A．some students fail the state standardized test |
| B．fewer and fewer students love to attend them |
| C．the school curriculum has been changed |
| D．the school is afraid of losing financial support |
| A．Not enough. | B．Too many. |
| C．Too boring. | D．Not proper. |
| A．motivate students in creativity and expression |
| B．make students roundshaped people in future |
| C．provide students with careful thinking |
| D．prevent students from graduating from high school |
| A．Humorously. | B．Bitterly. |
| C．Excitedly. | D．Mildly. |
4 . Step into Moving to Mars, an exhibition of Mars mission and colony design at London's Design Museum, and immediately you have good reasons not to move there.
Frightening texts on the walls announce that Mars wasn't made for you; that there is no life and precious little water; that, dressed in a spacesuit, you will never touch, taste or smell the planet you now call “home”. As Lisa Grossman wrote for New Scientist a couple of years ago, “What's different about Mars is that there is nothing to do there except try not to die.”
It is an odd beginning for such a celebratory exhibition, but it provides a valuable, dark background against which the rest of the show can sparkle (闪耀)—a show that is, as its chief manager Justin McGuirk remarks, “not about Mars; this is an exhibition about people”.
Moving along, there is a quick yet clear flash through what the science fiction writer Kim Stanley Robinson calls “the history of Mars in the human mind”. A Babylonian clay tablet and a Greek vase speak of early ideas about the planet. A poster for the original Total Recall film reminds us of Mars's psychological threat.
The main part of the show is our current plans for the Red Planet. There are real spacesuits and models of 3Dprinted Martian settlements and suitable clothing and furniture. Mission architecture and engineering sketches line the walls. Real hammers meant for the International Space Station are wallmounted (固定在墙上的) beside a lowgravity table that has yet to leave and may indeed never leave Earth.
This, of course, is the great strength of approaching science through design: reality and assumptions can be given equal visual weight, drawing us into an informed conversation about what it is that we actually want from a future on Mars.
1. What is the text mainly about?| A．How to move to Mars. |
| B．How to survive on Mars. |
| C．What preparations we made for Mars. |
| D．What the exhibition of Mars truly tells us. |
| A．It's impractical to live on Mars. |
| B．It's no good settling on Mars. |
| C．You have nothing to do when living on Mars. |
| D．You can live on Mars in a spacesuit. |
| A．The current plans for Mars. |
| B．The advantages of living on Mars. |
| C．The early ideas about Mars. |
| D．The history of Mars in the human mind. |
| A．A story. | B．An opinion. |
| C．A fantasy. | D．A solution. |
5 . Our wedding was about to begin. My throat was tight and my cheeks got red, but I didn't care. I was ready to marry David Sanchez. We're a “nontraditional” couple: getting married in a bookstore that supports a charity to fight HIV and homelessness.
“Kim! I could walk you down the aisle (走道) if you like！” David's father offered gently.
“I'm OK. But I appreciate that，” I said with a smile. And I was reminded, again, of my dad's absence.
My father died of cancer six weeks ago. For the last two months, we tried to make him feel comfortable and loved as he departed from this world. He always told us that he didn't like a funeral (葬礼) and insisted that our wedding go forward as planned. But how could we honor him since the wedding would be the first time the family would gather after his death and some even didn't know he was sick?
During the ceremony, my dear friend Eva delivered a reading entitled “When Things Go Missing” by Kathryn Schulz. She paused and got everyone on the same page, “When we are experiencing it, loss often feels like confusion in the usual order of things. In fact, the entire plan of the universe consists of losing, and life amounts to a reverse (逆向的) savings account in which we are eventually robbed of everything.”
I felt the energy full of the room. Everyone was listening. By choosing to accept the pain, we knew what a wedding does to join two families and mark the next chapter for a couple. Loss became a compass that kept us away from a fantasy and toward celebrating the difficult realities of life.
After rings were exchanged, fried chicken was served, our friends offered so many funny and touching toasts, and finally David sang “Married” on my father's guitar. I felt joy filling all the holes in my soul. Celebrating my father's life at our wedding made me grateful for all the time I had spent with him.
1. Why did David's father offer to walk the author down the aisle?| A．To relieve her tension. |
| B．To welcome her to his family. |
| C．To play the author's late father's role. |
| D．To contribute something to the charity. |
| A．She got a compass as a wedding gift. |
| B．She enjoyed David's promise for their marriage. |
| C．She received more sympathy from families and friends. |
| D．She recalled the days spent with her father and understood life better. |
| A．Because she could keep away from the pain. |
| B．Because she knew everyone was listening. |
| C．Because she got more courage for the marriage and life. |
| D．Because she could read a piece of Kathryn Schulz's works. |
| A．It was held in a library. |
| B．It was a touching and happy one. |
| C．Kim and David turned it into a funeral. |
| D．There was no other activity except reading. |
6 . I grew up in libraries, or at least it feels that way. I went there several times a week with my mother when I was young. Those visits were fantastic. The library might have been the first place where I was ever given autonomy (自主权). In the library, I could have anything I wanted. And on the ride back home, my mom and I would talk about the order in which we were going to read our books, a solemn conversation in which we planned how to pace ourselves through this charming period until the books were due.
When I left for college, one of the many ways I differentiated myself from my mom was that I was wild about owning books. All I know is that I lost my appreciation of the slow pace of making my way through a library and of having books on borrowed time. If my mother ever mentioned to me that she was on the waiting list for some book at the library, I got annoyed and asked why she didn’t just buy it.
But in 2011,one of my son’s school assignments was to interview someone who worked for the city. He said he wanted to interview a librarian. As my son and I drove to meet the librarian, I was flooded by a sense of absolute familiarity, a recollection of the journey of the parent and child on their way to the library. I had taken this trip so many times before, but at that moment I turned my thought on its head, and I was the parent bringing my child on that special trip.
As I walked into the library, nothing had changed — the sense of gentle, steady busyness, like a pot of water on a rolling boil (沸点), was just the same. In the library, time is dammed up — not just stopped but saved. I knew what hooked me was the shock of familiarity I felt — the way it revealed my childhood, my relationship with my mom, my love of books. However, as I was rediscovering those memories, my mother was losing all of hers.The writer Amadou Hampâté Bâ once said that in Africa,whenever an old man dies, it is like a library has burned. But if you can take something from his or her internal collection and share it, it takes on a life of its own.
1. What can be inferred about the author’s childhood from Paragraph 1?| A．She lived near a library. |
| B．She possessed a library. |
| C．She didn’t borrow books from libraries. |
| D．She enjoyed visits to libraries. |
| A．She lost her enthusiasm for reading. |
| B．She did not return books on time. |
| C．She quit the habit of going to libraries. |
| D．She wanted to buy books for her mom. |
| A．Her love of libraries. |
| B．Her delight in owning books. |
| C．Her lost memory of her mom. |
| D．Her familiarity with her mom. |
| A．The Library — a World of Knowledge |
| B．The Library — a Place of Memory |
| C．The Library — a Busy Place |
| D．The Library — an Old Man |
7 . A tiny Alaska village has experienced a boom in tourism in recent years as polar bears spend more time on land than on Arctic sea ice.
More than 2,000 people visited the northern Alaska village of Kaktovik in 2018 to see polar bears in the wild. The far north community lies in an area where increasingly higher temperature has sped up the movement of sea ice, the primary habitat(栖息地) of polar bears. As ice has gradually moved to deep water beyond the continental shelf, more bears are remaining on land to look for food.
Polar bears have always been a common sight on sea ice near Kaktovik, but villagers started noticing a change in the mid-1990s. More bears seemed to stay on land, and researchers began taking note of more female bears making homes in the snow on land instead of on the ice to raise their babies. U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologists began hearing reports of the increasing number of polar bears in the area in the early 2000s. As more attention was given to the plight (困境)of polar bears about a decade ago, more tourists started heading to Kaktovik.
The village had fewer than 50 visitors annually before 2011, said Jennifer Reed, of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. "Today we’re talking about hundreds and hundreds of visitors, many from around the world each year," Reed said. Most tourists visit in the fall, when bears are forced toward land because sea ice is farthest away from the shore. Bruce Inglangasak, a local hunter who sometimes offers wildlife-viewing tours, said been offering polar bear tours since 2004. Most of his clients(客户) are from China and Europe, as well as from the lower 48 U. S. states. Many tourists stay several days in the village, which has two small hotels. The villagers have benefited a lot from that. In turn, they provide more effective protection for polar bears with financial support from tourism development.
1. What causes more polar bears to stay on land in Kaktovik?| A．Food shortage. | B．Climate change. |
| C．Habitats, movement to shore. | D．Their preference for land. |
| A．Excited. | B．Puzzled. | C．Concerned. | D．Shocked. |
| A．Hotels in Kaktovik are in demand in autumn. |
| B．Kaktovik has about 50 visitors annually. |
| C．Inglangasak makes a living as a tour guide. |
| D．Tourism affects the balance of nature. |
| A．The fittest can survive. | B．After a storm comes a calm. |
| C．There is always opportunity in crisis. | D．Every coin has two sides. |
8 . Green skin is common in science fiction, but what if green skin were not just for aliens? It humans had green skin, what if it granted us the ability to perform photosynthesis (光合作用), which plants use to live off of sunlight?
Let's analyze what science says about it and ask award-winning science-fiction author John Scalzi what he thinks.
Plants can live off of photosynthesis because they grow broad, flat leaves to harvest as much light as possible, They also need less energy because they are far less active than animals.
According to Lindsay Turnbull, a plant ecologist at the University of Oxford, if the skin of a woman were photosynthetic like a leaf, the amount of surface area she had would satisfy only 1% of her daily energy requirements to survive. For a photosynthesizing woman to meet her energy demands, she would need a lot more skin-about a tennis courts worth, Turnbull estimated.
In addition, photosynthesis requires carbon dioxide. Plants have pores(毛孔)that they use to supply the gas to their cells. If photosynthetic humans had chloroplasts(叶绿体), they might need porous skin to let in carbon dioxide, but such pores might let other things leak in or out-for instance, moisture(水分)-in ways that might prove harmful to the human body.
One might wonder if photosynthetic people might prefer moving to sunny climates. Although such people might receive a small increase from photosynthesis if they moved to a desert area, they would likely base other resource issues to deal with, such as a lack of water. Scalzi said. “There's always going to be trade-offs(平衡).” he noted.
And would photosynthetic humans prefer hole or no clothing to absorb all those rays? In some photosynthetic societies, clothing might become a symbol of the elite- a sign they get enough energy from food and do not need photosynthesis. You can imagine them saying. "I'm rich, so I can cover up." Scalzi said.
So would Scalzi want photosynthetic skin for himself? "Probably not.” he said. “I don’t see the benefit from it being so great that I would completely change the way I’d look to benefit from it.”
1. Why can't humans live off of photosynthesis according to Lindsay Turnbull?| A．Because we are less active. | B．Because we wear clothes. |
| C．Because we don’t have green skin. | D．Because our skin area is not large enough. |
| A．They would absorb too much CO2. |
| B．They would release some useful substances. |
| C．They would be too small for human beings. |
| D．They would keep gases from entering the human body. |
| A．He was too conservative to accept that. |
| B．He wouldn't like to move to sunny climates. |
| C．He believed there were more risks than benefits. |
| D．He thought clothing was simply a symbol of upper class. |
| A．By providing research results. | B．By describing a process. |
| C．By making classifications. | D．By following the time order. |
9 . Hip hop is a form of musical and artistic expression that started in urban (城市) areas in New York in the 1970s. The expression comes from joining together two words with special meanings. “Hip” means cool or current while “hop” refers to the style of dancing.
Kool Herc Campbell is considered very important in starting hip hop culture. He was from Jamaica and used the Jamaican tradition of poetry and speech over music. He started playing music and speaking poetry at outdoor basketball courts to give encouragement to the young dancers. This speech soon came to be known as “rapping”.
Then hip hop as a culture started to develop and spread throughout some areas of New York City. This culture featured graffiti (涂鸦) art as well as its own unique style and music. Artists and rap musicians came to consider hip hop as a new urban culture. As it grew in popularity, newspapers and magazines started reporting about it.
In the early 1980s, bands and musicians started experimenting with electronic instruments to make a new sound. Hip hop was starting to mature (成熟) as the art of making music in new ways spread. Rap artists also started to change their style. Many rappers talked about urban problems, showing their disappointment in drugs, unemployment, and unfair treatment by authorities such as the police.
Recently, hip hop has spread globally. In Europe, it has also become a way for many young people to express their anger at social problems and environmental issues. In many parts of Asia, hip hop has been adopted as a form of music for business, produced only with consumers in mind. Many people believe that this is not “real” hip hop music and argue that many countries have simply borrowed the “look” and “sound” of hip hop without really understanding the culture behind it.
1. Why does the writer introduce Kool Herc Campbell?| A．To inform us that he was the founder of hip hop. |
| B．To tell us how he became a world-famous singer. |
| C．To prove that he combined music with American poetry. |
| D．To explain why he inspired artists to explore urban culture. |
| A．Solving urban problems. |
| B．Developing its unique style. |
| C．Spreading around the world. |
| D．Using advanced musical instruments. |
| A．The culture behind it has changed. |
| B．It can easily cause negative emotions. |
| C．It sounds totally different from its origin. |
| D．Some people use it for improper purposes. |
| A．Hip Hop around the World |
| B．The Rise and Spread of Hip Hop |
| C．Hip Hop: The Most Popular Art Form |
| D．Kool Herc Campbell: The Father of Hip Hop |
10 . We often purchase food that's been mass-produced and that’s travelled many miles before it ends up on our plate. So for some, growing their own food is a better option — and it tastes good too!
From growing vegetables in little pots on your balcony to tending to a small plot of land, called allotments, there are many ways to produce home-grown food. Allotments are a typically British idea, and they give people with a small or no garden, a space to plant and care for fruit and vegetables. It can be backbreaking work digging, weeding and watering the soil, but the result is fresh and organically grown produce.
The recent COVID-19 pandemic lockdown means demand for allotments has seen a renaissance (复兴). Miriam from the University of Sheffield told the BBC that people with allotments have been spending a lot of their time on their plots, growing plenty of fresh fruit and veg — which, at times, have been challenging to source in supermarkets. She says “Coronavirus has... highlighted to people the fragility (脆弱) within our globalized food system. In a time of crisis, interest in self-sufficiency rises.”
But for those with limited space, a solution to grow your own veg lies closer to home-using pots. Once you can lay your hands on some compost (堆肥), you can plant seeds. Sheila Brand lives in a third-floor flat. She has managed to grow tomatoes and aubergines and is already harvesting raspberries. She said excitedly: “Oh it’s got a new leaf!”
As well as the benefits of saving money and enjoying tasty food, gardener Mark says “growing your own from a balcony or window ledge not only improves your wellbeing and immediate environment, you can actually grow a lot of veg.” So, maybe it’s time for us all to get planting and develop our green fingers!
1. What is the characteristic of allotments?| A．Mass-produced. | B．Organically grown. |
| C．Typically American. | D．Only growing vegetables. |
| A．The outbreak of coronavirus. | B．The challenge from supermarkets. |
| C．Globalized food system. | D．The rise of self-confidence. |
| A．attract more readers to read the passage | B．offer a clear idea of the text structure |
| C．call on more people to stay at home | D．serve as an example of problem solving |
| A．It is very economical to buy food from the supermarket. |
| B．There are many advantages of growing your own food. |
| C．Planting can make our green fingers green and tender. |
| D．If you want to have delicious food, you must grow on your own. |
