1 . Gardening is popular in many parts of the world. This outdoor activity gives us beautiful plants, pleasant smelling flowers and fresh fruits and vegetables. And it also does a lot of good to our health.
Gardening connects people. When you are gardening, you are outdoors. So it is a perfect chance to meet and spend time with your neighbors. Most people love to talk about their hobbies, and gardeners are no different. They usually enjoy showing people what they are growing. And most of them enjoy sharing advice and stories about their gardens almost as much as sharing flowers and vegetables from their gardens.
Gardening is a great activity for children. It gets them outdoors and off computers, televisions and cell phones. Gardening is also a great teacher. It can teach a child about where food comes from and healthy eating. It also helps them to understand that the natural resources (资源) are not inexhaustible and the importance of using them carefully.
Then, when you garden, you must move around. All the different movements needed for gardening, like bending and lifting, work small muscles (肌肉) in the body. And you can easily get good exercise when you are digging holes or pulling grass.
In a study, researches looked at more than 2,800 people over the age of 60. They studied their life habits, activities and health over a 16-year period. They found that gardening could lower the risk of future dementia (痴呆) by 36%. Gardening requires people to do many repeated actions, such as picking off dying flowers. These actions have a calming influence on the brain. The brain is still active but not in the same way when we use computers.
You'll feel wonderful when what you grow in a garden looks, smells, feels and tastes good.
1. What can be inferred from Paragraph 2?| A．Gardeners don't feel lonely. | B．Gardeners are fond of sharing. |
| C．Gardeners have many hobbies. | D．Gardeners care about the environment. |
| A．Useless. | B．Special. | C．Endless. | D．Cheap. |
| A．To tell us gardening is popular with the old. |
| B．To tell us gardening is good for health. |
| C．To tell us gardening can be a tiring activity. |
| D．To tell us gardening is better than playing computers. |
| A．To show how to garden. | B．To encourage us to garden. |
| C．To show gardening is popular. | D．To encourage us to do outdoor activities. |
2 . Reducing, reusing, and recycling is a way of life in Sweden. Recycling is required by law and garbage is sorted at home before if goes to a recycling center. Recyclables are sorted into seven categories and recycling stations are within just 300 meters of all residential areas. " Recycling almost everything is a must in Sweden now. It actually feels very uncomfortable when you visit another country and cant find easy ways to recycle, " said Owen Gaffney, an expert at Stockholm Resilience Centre and Future Earth.
But not all of its garbage is recycled. Sweden uses alternatives that include incineratinggarbage to make electricity instead of using fossil fuels（化石燃料）to heat 1.2 million homes. About half of household garbage is sent to one of the 33 waste﹣to﹣heat plants. Sweden is importing garbage from other countries to keep these plants running. Sweden is also a world leader in turning food waste into eco﹣friendly biogas（沼气）. It has made food waste collection compulsory beginning in 2021. There is a food waste biogas plant, which allows biogas to be used to run public buses and to heat apartment buildings.
Sweden now wants to deal with those remaining items that cannot be recycled by using a circular（循环论证的）economy approach. It means that products can be reused and only recycled when absolutely necessary. The Swedish government formed an advisory group to find a way of making this part of its environmental policy.
This will not work effectively unless people are taught to change their behavior. Now the government is reforming its tax code so that people could get cheaper repairs or buy used things. The large Swedish clothing retailer（零售商）H&M operates a recycling program that gives customers discounts when they bring back old clothing.
Sweden is fighting climate change by doing all the right stuff. Waste recycling and the plans to switch to a circular economy will go a long way in reducing its carbon footprint and will help stop global warming.
1. What do we know about Sweden？| A．Sweden imports household garbage for biogas. |
| B．It is convenient to recycle things in Sweden. |
| C．Half of garbage in Sweden is used to produce heat. |
| D．Everything is recycled after being used in Sweden. |
| A．Burning. |
| B．Treating. |
| C．Throwing. |
| D．Reusing. |
| A．Teach people how to save fossil fuels. |
| B．Conduct a survey about the local economy. |
| C．Offer advice on environmental policy. |
| D．Make sure the citizens recycle wisely. |
| A．It provides various recycling programs. |
| B．It cuts down taxes on new products. |
| C．It gives discounts to regular buyers. |
| D．It offers lower prices for repairs. |
3 . Nature has provided us with many kinds of resources. It is like a great magician(魔术师), creating wonders on Earth. One of them is the Amazon rainforest, the world’s largest and home to millions of plants and animals. Nicknamed”the lungs of our planet”, it produces about one-fifth of Earth’s oxygen. However, this wonderful natural wonder is now in danger.
Thousands of fires have broken out in Brazil, endangering much of the rainforest. These flames have lasted several weeks and are believed to be the”most intense”in almost ten years, according to BBC News.
The Amazon has seen a large number of fires in 2019. Between January and August, there were over 74,000 fires – the highest number since 2013, the BBC reported.
Forest fires are common during the dry season, which runs from July to October. They are usually caused by natural events like lightning. However, most of the fires this year are believed to be caused by farmers, who use fire as a traditional part of tropical agriculture(农业) to clean land, reported CNN.
“It’s the best time to burn because the plants are dry. Farmers wait for the dry season and they start burning and clearing the areas so that their cattle can have grass,”wrote CNN meteorologist Haley Brink.
The disaster has raised concern(关注) around the world. The Amazon rainforest is important for preventing climate change, said the BBC, absorbing millions of tons of carbon annually. When trees are cut down or burned, the rainforest’s ability to absorb carbon is reduced.
Brazilian climate expert Carlos Nobre told Reuters he’s worried. If more than 20 percent of the ecosystem is destroyed, the Amazon rainforest could reach a”tipping point (临界点)”, where the thick jungle will turn into a tropical savannah(大草原).
Nobre warned that it is not far off, with between 15 and 17 percent of the rainforest having already been destroyed.
The Brazilian government has sent soldiers to fight the fires. Many people have offered their support and called for recovery efforts. For example, Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, said he wanted to donate money and US Actor Leonardo DiCaprio’s environmental charity, Earth Alliance, created a donation fund to help deal with the disaster.
The public are also encouraged to donate to charities concerned with rainforest protection. “Every little bit helps in a bad situation like this,”commented Gizmodo.
1. The underlined word”intense”probably means ______.| A．natural | B．terrible | C．common | D．unexpected |
| A．Lightning. | B．Hot weather. |
| C．Agricultural activities. | D．Garbage left by tourists. |
| A．Global temperatures will rise. |
| B．The Amazon rainforest is close to disappearing. |
| C．Animals in the Amazon rainforest are under threat. |
| D．It will take tens of years for the Amazon rainforest to recover. |
| A．Efforts made to save the Amazon rainforest. |
| B．The possible future of the Amazon rainforest. |
| C．What the Brazilian government has done to fight fires. |
| D．Celebrities(名人) who care about rainforest protection. |
