1 . Most of the efforts aimed at reducing climate change centering on reducing the use of fossil fuels. But a new study warns that pollution caused by the world’s food production system is also a major driver of rising temperatures on the planet. The study found that if the world food system stays on its current growth path, it will produce nearly 1.4 trillion tons of greenhouse gases over the next 80 years. That pollution is expected to come from chemical fertilizers used in agriculture, mismanaged soil, food waste and methane (甲烷) gas released from cows and other animals.
Researchers from the University of Minnesota and the University of Oxford in Britain led the study, which recently appeared in the publication Science. The researchers predict that even if fossil fuel emissions (排放) were halted now, emissions from the world food system would make it impossible to reach current international climate change targets. They say that emissions from food production alone could push world temperatures past 1.5 degrees Celsius by the middle of this century and above 2 degrees Celsius by the end of the century.
A main goal of the 2015 United Nations Paris Agreement on climate change is to keep rises in the Earth’s temperature during this century to between 1.5 to 2 degrees Celsius. The U. N. has said that in order to stay below the 1.5 Celsius level, emissions must fall at least 7.6 percent each year through 2030.
The new study calls for immediate improvements in farming practices, as well as changes in what we eat and how much food we waste to help reach the Paris Agreement goals.
1. Which is the pollution of food production system?| A．The process of producing food. | B．Mismanaged soil by farmers. |
| C．Harmful gas given off by vehicles. | D．Animals’ wastes used to be fertilizer. |
| A．Improved. | B．Withdrew. |
| C．Monitored. | D．Quitted. |
| A．By making a comparison. | B．By presenting data. |
| C．By giving examples. | D．By taking on arguments. |
| A．The Connection of Agriculture and Pollution |
| B．Say no to the Pollution of World’s Food Production System |
| C．Food Production System, a Major Cause of Global Warming |
| D．Fossil Fuel Emission, the Consequence of Temperature Rising |
2 . The year 2020 is stormy, but rainbows are everywhere. Across the COVID-19 stricken world, bright and happy rainbows have become window colors and choices on store shelves.
The rainbows started appearing all over Italy within a few days of schools closing for the first lockdown, back in March. Crayon drawings were taped to the inside of windows; poster-painted banners hung from balconies.
When the pandemic came to Britain, the rainbows came too, with the Italian message of positivity morphing into thanks to the NHS. Then, during the months of lockdown, the rainbows moved inside our homes, with a craze for arranging books by colour in pursuit of an aesthetically pleasant Zoom background.
In April this year, the largest cabin hospital in the Philippines was completed, divided into six wards of different colors. The colors of the rainbow were not only pleasing to the eye, but also conveying a positive and optimistic spirit to patients.
The rainbow is to 2020 what “keep calm and carry on” was to 1939. And just as “keep calm and carry on” began as a public information campaign but became a tea towel industry, what began as a gesture of hope is now a big business. John Lewis reports that a rainbow baubles nearly festive bestseller. Tracksuit enthusiasts are sitting out the second lockdown in Olivia Rubin’s £150 rainbow stripe tracksuits.
Optimism is the hottest commodity of 2020. But some people are irritated by the way consumer culture commodifies the human experience, packaging our hopes and dreams as if they were just another product in the warehouse. But the fashion editor-turned-designer JJ Martin says, “It’s great to have the colourful dress, but the magic of a rainbow isn’t really about the pot of gold. What actually counts is the flame you turn on inside yourself. ”
1. Where might people see the rainbow?| A．In the Italian message of thanks to the NHS. | B．On the banners of the schools under lockdown. |
| C．In the study with the books sorted by color. | D．On the outside of Britain’s largest cabin hospital. |
| A．Fascinated. | B．Angered. | C．Challenged. | D．Embarrassed. |
| A．They helped people out of the lockdown. | B．They conveyed thanks to the medical staff. |
| C．They came to the same end | D．They displayed a feature of the towel industry. |
| A．The relaxation of mind is equal to wealth. |
| B．The tracksuits of Olivia Rubin are to be mass-produced. |
| C．The commercialization of feelings is somewhat reasonable. |
| D．The significance of the rainbow is to lift people up. |
3 . It is among nature’s greatest spectacles. Each year, thousands of sea turtle mothers clamber ashore, dig into the sand to lay their eggs, and then return to the sea. After being incubated（孵）for around two months, the eggs hatch and the tiny turtles strive to reach the water.
Approximately 90 percent of the sea turtle nesting in the United States happens on Florida's beaches , according to the Sea Turtle Conservancy, a Gainesville-based research and conservation organization. During the nesting season, which runs from March through October, the sands are normally crowded with humans. However, this year the coronavirus pandemic severely reduced travel and required some states to close their beaches for weeks. While this sounded disappointing to the visitors, it may have been a boon to the sea turtles.
For turtle mothers, there can be " false crawls" , in which a female encounters a distraction between the water and a potential nesting site. The crowded beaches would interrupt the sea turtles' plan, sending them back to the ocean without laying eggs.
“ In terms of a successful rate of nesting, we actually did find a significant difference during the beach closures and then after," says Justin Perrault, director of the organization, “We have observed approximately 17,000 nests along Juno, Jupiter-Carlin, and Tequesta beaches this year. During the closures, loggerheads, one of the commonly seen turtles on Florida's beach, successfully nested 61 percent. When the beaches reopened, that number dropped to 46 percent. ”
Jimena Gutierrrez, a Sea Turtle Conservancy biologist also expresses her opinion, “ Normally the turtles are conserved because we have a lot of people coming to see them. With fewer tourism dollars supporting local workers, we are worried about the conservationists as well as the turtles. But maybe in the long run, we will see good numbers because there is less boat traffic in the ocean.
1. What does the underlined word “boon” in Paragraph 2 probably mean?| A．Cure. | B．Option. |
| C．Blessing. | D．Challenge. |
| A．Closures should be expanded for turtles, nesting. |
| B．This year has witnessed the highest nest rate in history. |
| C．The nest rate has remained steady over the whole nesting season. |
| D．Less human disturbance has led to more successful nesting. |
| A．Anxious. | B．Ambiguous. | C．Indifferent. | D．Objective. |
| A．www. sealifeconservation. com. | B．www. worldissues. com. |
| C．www. scienceforstudents. com. | D．www. newsflash. com. |
4 . Microplastics, as the name implies, are tiny plastics that result from both commercial product development and the breakdown of larger plastics. Officially, they are defined as plastics less than five millimeters in diameter(直径). .
The problem with microplastics is that — like plastic items of any size — they do not readily break down into harmless molecules (分子). Plastics can take hundreds or thousands of years to decompose, and in the meantime, cause damage to the environment. On beaches, microplastics are visible as tiny colored plastic bits in sand. In the oceans, microplastics pollution is often consumed by sea animals.
Some of this environmental pollution is from littering, but much is the result of storms and winds that carry plastics into our oceans. Single-use plastics, plastic items meant to be used just once and then thrown away, are the primary source of microplastics in the environment.
Microplastics have been detected in sea animals, in commercial seafood, and even in drinking water. Alarmingly, standard water treatment facilities cannot remove all the traces( 痕迹) of microplastics. To further complicate matters, microplastics in the ocean can combine with other harmful chemicals before being swallowed by animals.
Scientists are still unsure whether consumed microplastics do damage to human or animal health - and if so, what specific dangers they may cause. Even so, many countries are taking action to reduce microplastics. A United Nations resolution has discussed the need for rules to reduce microplastics to oceans, wildlife, and human health.
1. What does the underlined word “decompose” mean in Paragraph 2?| A．Break down. | B．Fade away. . |
| C．Dry up. | D．Give out. |
| A．Water treatment facilities fail to remove their traces. |
| B．People might consume them through drinking water. |
| C．They can combine with other chemicals inside animals. |
| D．They have been a blow to commercial seafood industry. |
| A．Many governments turn a blind eye to microplastics. |
| B．It has been confirmed that consumed microplastics are harmful. |
| C．Measures will be taken to reduce microplastics in the environment. |
| D．Scientists have known what specific dangers microplastics may cause. |
| A．inform the public of an environmental issue |
| B．arouse the awareness of protecting seawater |
| C．persuade scientists to look into microplastics |
| D．introduce the microplastics treatment methods |
5 . Mountain gorillas (大猩猩) have been caught on camera as they“sing”during their supper,a behavior that has never before been documented on video. Filmmakers shot the astonishing footage of gorillas with the help from a very special camera: a robotic“spy”designed to look like a young gorilla.
Creating a realistic robot spy that could fool a gorilla means designing a face that is mobile and expressive, particularly around the eyes. “ Eye communication is very important among gorillas," said“Spy in the Wild" producer Matt Gordon.“You'll see in the film the gorillas came straight over to our spy gorilla and looked right into its eyes. So we made sure that the gorilla had the most amount of detail put into the face.”
Infiltrating communities of animals that live in groups requires a robot to smell like its animal subjects in order to get close to them, Sometimes animal waste is applied to the robot to allow it to be accepted into the group.
One tricky challenge for the gorilla robot is that it has to pass inspection by the chief male.“We wanted to make sure that we were not being threatening,so we avoided the stare of our spy gorilla ,”Gordon said. This display of obedience (顺从) convinced the male that the robot wasn't a danger; he then signaled to the troop that it was safe for them to take a closer look at the "stranger".
The robot was also able to beat its chest to respond to a baby gorilla' s chest- beating, allowing the filmmakers to shoot a rare sight of their playtime. “A young gorilla came over and beat its chest. For a baby gorilla, that means‘I want to play' ,and if our gorilla was lifeless, not moving, the gorilla would have lost interest. But our spy gorilla was able to beat its chest too,” Gordon said.
1. Why was the robotic spy made?| A．To record the songs gorillas sang at supper. | B．To produce a film called Spy in the Wild. |
| C．To test the spy's ability to communicate. | D．To study the environment gorillas live in. |
| A．Fitting in. | B．Focusing on. | C．Playing with, | D．Learning about. |
| A．By avoiding staring at the chief. | B．By beating its chest like a baby. |
| C．By putting some waste on itself. | D．By signaling to other gorillas. |
| A．Unusual daily behavior of mountain gorillas. |
| B．Scientific research on living habits of gorillas. |
| C．The procedures for making a robotic gorilla. |
| D．Ways to make a robotic spy close to gorillas. |
6 . New Character from Sesame Street
As a means of offering comfort to kids from every walk of life, Sesame Street is introducing a new character who lives in a foster（寄养的）home.
Karli, the foster kid, and her "for — now" parents, Dalia and Clem, are all being shown in a series of Sesame Street videos, storybooks, and interactive activities to offer support to children, foster parents, and foster care providers.
Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit educational organization behind the show, says they are starting their movements as part of their Sesame Street in Community program. It provides free, easy-to-use resources for community providers and caregivers on a range of topics, including tough issues like family homelessness and traumatic experiences, to help them support children as they explore the world of foster care, and they provide simple, approachable tools to help children feel safer.
The number of children in foster care in the US has grown for five continuous years. In response to the growing need for resources to serve children in foster care, Sesame Workshop partnered with national experts on foster care. The resources include proven strategies to improve relationships between caring adults and children and reduce the effects of traumatic experiences.
" Fostering a child takes patience, adaptability, and sacrifice, and we know that caring adults hold the power to reduce the effects of traumatic experiences on young children," says Dr. Jeanette Betancourt, Senior Vice President of US Social Impact at Sesame Workshop. " We want foster parents and providers to hear that what they do is vital, as they have difficulty building and rebuilding family structures and children's sense of safety."
1. How does Sesame Street differ with new roles added?| A．It extends the significance of care projects. |
| B．It promotes the entertainment of the program. |
| C．It arouses people's awareness of care for teens. |
| D．It arrests the public's attention to foster kids. |
| A．Carefree. | B．Spiritless. |
| C．Miserable. | D．Irregular. |
| A．Supply care providers with expertise to attend kids. |
| B．Offer free and accessible approaches to aid foster care. |
| C．Present parents easy and adaptable tools to keep safe. |
| D．Release appointed programs to attract audience. |
| A．Foster parents and providers matter to foster kids. |
| B．Sesame Street operates well in foster centers. |
| C．Family structures make little sense to foster homes. |
| D．Foster children are challenged every day. |
7 . Many of the world’s largest brewers (啤酒商) are using new technologies to replace single-use, plastic six-pack beer rings with more sustainable materials. Though mostly being used in small test trials, full adoption could have a positive environmental impact. Carlsberg, for example, is using glue to adhere cans in a production method that the Danish brewer says would avoid using 1,200 tons of plastic yearly, or the equal of 60 million plastic bags, once fully adopted.
Brewers have zeroed in on plastic six-pack-ring packaging partly because most consumers can recall the miserable image of a seagull, turtle, or some other aquatic (水生的) creature trapped or killed by the plastic rings. The packaging is so deep-rooted in our culture that many children were taught to cut up the rings to lessen the chance that an animal might choke itself to death.
The rings developed by E6PR (Edible Six Pack Ring) programme, which is led by another brewery called Saltwater, are now used by 35 brewers across the globe, including in Africa, Europe, and Australia. These rings are made of waste wheat in beer production. The final goal is to ensure that the rings can be eaten harmlessly by aquatic creatures or break down in nature within a matter of weeks rather than the years it would take for plastic.
Giving up plastic straws and beer rings may help consumers feel better about their carbon footprint, but some experts say we should focus on other efforts. Recycling rates in the U.S.stand at just over 34%. Glass, in which many brewers bottle their beer, can be difficult to recycle and large to transport. If brewers were to focus on using thinner glass, some experts say, the improvement could prove even more beneficial to the environment than giving up plastic rings.
There’s also the risk that if consumers think their E6PR rings are less harmful, they’ll be more likely to litter. “The idea of creating something that’s litter-friendly is an issue in my mind,” says Nina Goodrich, executive director of environmental nonprofit GreenBlue. “What we need in North America is a better system to encourage collection and sorting.”
1. What does the underlined word “adhere” in paragraph 1 mean?| A．Collect. | B．Stick. | C．Open. | D．Reuse. |
| A．To collect the rings for recycling. |
| B．To make the rings break down more easily. |
| C．To prevent the rings harming aquatic animals. |
| D．To increase children’s awareness of loving nature. |
| A．Low recycling rates in the U.S. |
| B．Benefits of giving up plastic beer rings. |
| C．Difficulty in transporting beer glass bottles. |
| D．Another way to protect the environment. |
| A．They will be thrown away more casually. |
| B．They will not be accepted by consumers. |
| C．They will be more difficult to recycle. |
| D．They will be still made of plastic. |
8 . Covid-19 is not the only catastrophe that 2020 has brought. In parts of Asia and east Africa, swarms（成群）of locusts（蝗虫）have destroyed fields. Locusts are usually inoffensive, spread-out creatures that do not stay far from the place where they were born. But under the right circumstances, that is, a heavy rain and a following boom in plant growth, they can be gregarious. Millions of the insects gather in swarms which can fly more than 100km in a day.
In a paper published in Nature, Xiaojiao Gou and a group of other researchers clarify part of the biochemical system that drives that transformation. Dr Gou and her colleagues collected 35 chemicals acquired from the bodies and wastes of locusts. When tested, locusts were strongly attracted to just a chemical, one called 4-vinylanisole （4VA）. Scientists already know that swarming is a response to overcrowding, and Dr Gou and her colleagues found that 4VA production rose with population enlargement. Further investigation confirmed the odour receptor （气味受体）on the insects' antennae（触角）is sensitive to the chemical.
Humans have tried everything they can to deal with locust swarms, with mixed results. Man-made version of 4VA might be used to bait（诱捕）traps. If 4VA turns out to be a language that all locusts understand, then it may help humans persuade them to abandon their gregarious ways, and return to a peaceable life of being alone.
1. What does the underlined word in Paragraph 1 mean?| A．Flexible. | B．Starved. |
| C．Aggressive. | D．Gathering. |
| A．Locusts can release 35 chemicals from their bodies. |
| B．4VA is one of the chemicals strongly attracting locusts. |
| C．4VA will be produced more when locusts' number increases. |
| D．The transformation of locusts affects the biochemical system. |
| A．Humans have got the methods of killing locusts. |
| B．Man-made version of 4VA will be introduced to market. |
| C．Scientists have had a new breakthrough to transform locusts' habitats. |
| D．It remains to be proved whether 4VA is a language that locusts understand. |
| A．The harm caused by locust swarms. |
| B．The ways to prevent locust swarms. |
| C．The process of locusts' transformation. |
| D．The finding of 4VA attracting locust swarms. |
9 . Many of us like to dine out and treat ourselves to delicious food. Among the top choices are hearty dishes with high-fat meat, despite the fact that they may be unhealthy. Plant-based food, however, gives diners a smarter choice.
According to CGTN, two popular chains—KFC and Starbucks—announced in April they were debuting items featuring meat substitutes in China. The plant-based meat substitute has been popular in the US and the UK for years and offers meat-lovers a healthy alternative to an otherwise unhealthy indulgence. Despite the negative impacts on our health, the tempting taste and convenience of fast food have made it a popular option across the world for decades. But with the introduction of the plant-based food, it's likely that fast food won't be considered as “junk food” any more, as the calorie intake for typical fast food items will be reduced. The meat substitute also provides rich protein and different minerals and vitamins while still whetting our taste buds.
Another factor contributing to the product's popularity is a new breed of environmentally-aware consumers. On average producing 1 kilogram of meat emits 36. 4 kilograms of carbon dioxide. With such a high carbon emission, many environmentalists choose to cut down on the intake of meat, making the plant-based diet characterized by environmental protection a popular choice. Unveiled at the end of April, plant-based food seemed to come at a time when increased animal-human interactions are blamed for the coronavirus, which is believed to have been transmitted to humans through an intermediate animal host. Therefore, the debut of meatless dishes means a safer choice for consumers.
Without doubt, the newcomers on the Chinese table represent a change in people's dietary lifestyle that is heading toward "healthy, environmentally-friendly and less animal-human interaction", CGTN noted.
1. Which one is the reason why fast food is a popular option across the world?| A．The negative impacts on health. | B．The inconvenience. |
| C．The tempting taste. | D．The diversity of fast food. |
| A．reducing | B．stimulating | C．cutting down | D．removing |
| A．Because people are tired of meat. |
| B．Because meat is unhealthy for us. |
| C．Because meatless dishes is hard to digest. |
| D．Because the increase animal-human interactions are blamed for coronavirus. |
| A．The trend of plant-based food hits China. |
| B．The disadvantages of fast food. |
| C．The true reason why people will never eat meat soon. |
| D．The connections between food and coronavirus. |
10 . It's long been understood that there is a connection between memory problems and diabetes(糖尿病), a disorder characterized by excessively high blood sugar.Sugar provides the body with fuel for various processes, including memory processing. In fact, glucose(葡萄糖)carried in the blood stream supplies the brain with 90 percent of the energy it requires to function properly.
In order to fuel those processes, glucose has to get from the blood to the tissues, where it can be broken down and put to work. High blood sugar levels, such as in diabetes, are an indicator that a body is experiencing difficulty moving sugar from the blood to the tissues.
However, some non-diabetics have a less severe form of high blood sugar, a condition called impaired glucose tolerance. And it is this condition that seems to be the cause of memory problems in a significant number of non-diabetic elderly people who experience memory difficulties.
Subjects were given glucose intravenously(静脉注射), and then researchers measured how quickly glucose moved from the blood to the tissues. Next, the subjects were tested for overall cognitive functioning and the ability to recall short paragraphs. It turned out that subjects who scored lowest in memory recall tests also showed impaired glucose tolerance.
In addition, brain scans demonstrated that these same subjects each had a significantly smaller hippocampus, a brain area important to learning and memory. The researchers hypothesize that impaired glucose tolerance may over time cause damage and atrophy (萎缩) to the hippocampus.
What can a body do to prevent this? A healthy diet and exercise can help maintain good glucose tolerance, perhaps preventing gradual memory decline.
1. What does a high blood sugar level suggest?| A．A body has already developed diabetes. |
| B．Problems arise when glucose is transported. |
| C．Glucose begins to reproduce itself in the blood stream. |
| D．Fewer fuels are needed for a body to function properly. |
| A．It may gradually cause damage to people's brains. |
| B．It is associated with a minor disorder of blood pressure. |
| C．People with this condition have a high risk of falling down. |
| D．It is an acute disease caused by a shortage of regular workout. |
| A．Explain in detail. | B．Jump to a conclusion. |
| C．Make an assumption. | D．Declare with certainty. |
| A．The causes and symptoms of diabetes. |
| B．An experiment to find a cure for diabetes. |
| C．The connection between memory and sugar. |
| D．A study to differ diabetes from impaired glucose tolerance. |
