1 . Around the world, coral reefs (珊瑚礁) are in danger. Now, let’s check out a few ways conservationists are protecting these habitats.
Seaweed Smackdown
Hot ocean temperatures can supercharge seaweed growth — and that’s not good for a reef. So, in Hawaii, scientists have used an underwater vacuum (真空吸器) to suck up lots of seaweed into the device’s long tube. In Australia, scientists are studying a low-tech solution: pulling seaweed by hand.
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Some polyps (珊瑚虫) are harmed by heat waves and pollution. Scientists cut parts of coral from a healthy reef. Then these polyps are taken to a nursery, which could be in shallow protected areas underwater. After about a year, the healthy coral parts are attached to damaged reefs. The nursery-grown corals can bring new life to a struggling habitat.
Sound Saver
Healthy reefs are noisy. Fish make different sounds, and thousands of shrimp create and pop bubbles with their claws to create a sound. The biologists play sounds of healthy reefs through underwater speakers. They found that six weeks of broadcasting healthy reef sounds doubled the amount of fish in the area.
Bleaching Killer
One of the biggest threats to coral reefs is bleaching. Here’s how it works.
| Thriving coral Most coral species survive by partnering with tiny algae (藻类), which make food for the coral by changing sunlight into sugar. |
| Under stress But when the ocean water gets too hot, the algae produce too much oxygen, which can hurt the coral. |
| Bleaching So corals kick out the algae. As the algae leave, the color disappears and the coral appears to turn white. This process is called bleaching. |
Biologists have discovered that many corals in the Red Sea have a species of algae in their tissue that’s found nowhere else, so they can survive heat waves. Biologists hope their work will inspire governments and environmental groups to protect these corals.
1. Which of the following might be the subtitle of Paragraph 3?| A．Underwater Nurseries. | B．Fishing Guides. |
| C．Seaweed Cleaners. | D．Colour Designers. |
| A．Breathing in more oxygen. | B．Changing the appearance. |
| C．Absorbing more sound. | D．Partnering with algae. |
| A．To present the serious damages to corals. | B．To explain the reasons for coral habitat loss. |
| C．To introduce the methods of coral protection. | D．To compare the effects of different solutions. |
2 . A shopkeeper’s son breaks a window, causing a crowd to gather. They tell the shopkeeper not to be angry: actually, the broken window is a reason to celebrate, since it will create work for the glazier (装玻璃的工人). In the story, written by a 19th-century economist, the crowd envisions the work involved in repairing the window, but not that involved in everything else on which the shopkeeper could have spent his money — unseen possibilities that would have brought him greater happiness.
If that window were to be broken these days, people might have a different reaction, especially if they were NIMBYs (Not In My Back Yard) who oppose any local construction that affects their quality of life. Their concern might be with the “embodied carbon”. The production of a piece of glass would carry a sizeable carbon cost. Similarly, the bricks and concrete in a building are relics of past emissions. They are, the logic goes, embodied carbon.
Conserving what already exists, rather than adding to the building stock, will avoid increasing these embodied emissions — or so NIMBYs often suggest. At its worst, this idea is based on a warped logic. Greenhouse gases released by the construction of an existing building will heat the planet whether the building is repaired or knocked down. The emissions have been taken out of the world’s “carbon budget”, so treating them as anew debit means double counting. The right question to ask is whether it is worth using the remaining carbon budget to repair a building or it is better to knock it down.
Choosing between these possibilities requires thinking about the unseen. It used to be said that construction emitted two types of emissions. Besides the embodied sort, there were operational ones from cooling, heating and providing electricity to residents. Around the world, buildings account for 39% of annual emissions, according to the World Green Building Council, of which 28% come from operational carbon.
These two types of emissions might be enough for the architects designing an individual building. But when it comes to broader questions, economists ought also to consider how the placement of buildings affects the manner in which people work, shop and travel. Density (密度) lowers the per-person cost of public transport, and this reduces car use. Research by Green Alliance, a pressure group, suggests that in Britain a policy of “demolish (拆除) and densify” — replacing semi-detached housing near public transport with blocks of flats — would save substantial emissions. Without such demolition, potential residents would typically have to move to the suburbs instead, saving money on rent but consuming more energy.
Targeted subsidies (补贴), especially for research and development into construction materials, could speed up the pace at which the built environment decarbonises. What will never work, however, is allowing the loudest voices to decide how to use land and ignoring the carbon emissions of their would-be neighbours once they are out of sight.
1. The first two paragraphs are written to ________.| A．exemplify an outlook on energy conservation |
| B．present a new way of relieving energy crisis |
| C．explain people’s reaction to a broken window |
| D．introduce an argument on carbon emission |
| A．Unsound. | B．Complicated. | C．Distinctive. | D．Underlying. |
| A．Operational carbon accounts for a larger share of carbon emission. |
| B．Repairing old buildings outweighs demolition in energy conservation. |
| C．Higher residential density near public transport may help reduce emission. |
| D．Stopping residents from living in new buildings is sensible to energy saving. |
| A．Interests of NIMBYs are worthy of consideration. |
| B．A comprehensive insight into emission is essential. |
| C．Upgrading construction materials should be prioritized. |
| D．Every resident should do their bit in reducing carbon emission. |
The Port of Shanghai has been the busiest in the world for 14 years running after
4 . The scientists behind a new database of more than 400 extreme weather attribution (归因) studies have performed an essential service. This piece of work, drawing together every study of this type, ought to create a greater sense of urgency around policymaking and campaigning. It shows that intense heatwaves, hurricanes, and floods have all been made far more likely by greenhouse gas emissions. And it spells out the alarming unpredictability as well as the extent of global heating’s consequences.
Until the early 2000s, when the first attribution studies were published, it was harder to link CO2 in the atmosphere with global heating’s sensible effects. Thanks to a growing body of research, now we know. The last summer’s record-breaking “heat dome”(热穹顶) across the globe would have been almost impossible without human-caused climate change.
“Beauty is truth, truth beauty,” wrote the poet John Keats just over 200 years ago. When it comes to climate, truth can feel closer to terror these days. But scientists are right to insist that the reality must be faced. Indeed, this is the only way to avoid the most disastrous outcomes. In a new book, Hothouse Earth, Prof Bill McGuire argues that we have reached a stage when minimising dangers should be regarded as “climate appeasement”.
Like the historical responsibility for carbon emissions, attitudes and experiences in the present crisis are unevenly and unjustly shared out. Billions of people around the world, and above all in the global south, are caught up day-to-day in a struggle for survival. This doesn’t mean they don’t recognise global heating; subsistence (勉强维持生活) farmers and fishers are more directly exposed to environmental damage than anyone else. But western governments, businesses and people who are relatively sheltered from global heating’s worst effects should recognise this as the privilege that it is. With this year’s Climate Change Conference fast approaching, western governments must follow through on their promises of climate finance to enable a green transition in the developing world.
The purpose of attribution science is not simply to warn the world about what is happening, but to aid preparations for what has not happened yet. The most alarming global trend, apart from still-rising emissions that mean we are on course for 2. 5°C of heating, is the unexpected speed with which it is already causing chaos. Given what we now know about the impact of 1°C of warming, it is no exaggeration to say that this trend is disastrous.
But alternatives exist, and insisting on this point has never been more important. The alarming findings of attribution scientists can give rise to desperation-but must not be allowed to end determination and hope.
1. The attribution studies imply that ____.| A．policies addressing climate issues are ineffective |
| B．it is hard to link CO2 with the effects of global heating |
| C．the extent of global heating’s consequences is unpredictable |
| D．humans are to blame for the increased occurrence of disasters |
| A．Worried. | B．Doubtful. |
| C．Optimistic. | D．Puzzled. |
| A．The global south is in urgent need of financial support. |
| B．The speeding up of global warming has spelled trouble. |
| C．Global heating affects western countries to a larger extent. |
| D．The effort to reduce greenhouse gas emission has worked. |
| A．To urge the public to follow the science. |
| B．To persuade the scientists to further their study. |
| C．To assess the current policy on the climate crisis. |
| D．To confirm the public’s concern for global heating. |
The turtle dove is the UK’s fastest-declining bird species, according to a recent study. The data,
6 . I had always wanted a dog. My parents told me when I was old enough and
One day I hopped off the bus, not knowing what awaited me inside. I walked through the door, and to my
She was a smart dog. We
Eleven years we were together, best of friends. Unfortunately, arthritis (关节炎) and old age set in on her. My parents knew what had to be done, but they let me find and make the decision myself.
She was
I carried her into the vet’s (兽医诊所) and placed her on the table. She leaned her head forward and gave a lick to my hand as if to say, “I understand. Stay
The vet asked before giving the final shot, “Are you sure?” With a heavy heart and tear-filled eyes, I nodded yes. The final shot was given. My eyes fixed upon her wagging tail. In a matter of seconds, it
I took her home and buried her in the pasture, where she loved playing and chasing rabbits. It was the
Recently I went back to her grave. Growing on her grave was a single wildflower. It was swaying in a circle, just like her. I know now that, that special friend will be
| A．confident | B．brave | C．creative | D．responsible |
| A．relief | B．surprise | C．annoyance | D．confusion |
| A．would | B．should | C．might | D．must |
| A．suffering | B．expecting | C．paying | D．gaining |
| A．even | B．almost | C．still | D．hardly |
| A．insisted | B．realized | C．agreed | D．predicted |
| A．honest | B．popular | C．strong | D．active |
| A．stopped | B．expanded | C．hurt | D．rose |
| A．greatest | B．hardest | C．wisest | D．warmest |
| A．above | B．on | C．with | D．for |
7 . “Flying insects don’t fly directly to lights from far away because they’re attracted to them, but appear to change course toward a light if they happen to be passing by due to a strange inborn biological response,” writes Samuel Fabian, a bioengineer, in a research paper.
Until now, the leading scientific hypothesis has been that insects use the moon’s light to direct the way at night and mistake artificial lights for the moon. But this idea doesn’t explain why insects that only fly during the day also gather around lights.
To find out what really happens, Samuel’s team track the precise movements of insects in the wild around lights using a high-speed camera. This revealed two notable behaviours. First, when insects fly above lights, they often invert (转向) themselves and try to fly upside down, causing them to fall very fast. Just after insects pass under a light, they start doing a ring road. As their climb angle becomes too steep, they suddenly stop and start to fall. Second, when insects approach a light from the side, they may circle or “orbit” the light.
The videos show that the inversions sometimes result in insects falling on lights. It can appear to the naked eye as though they are flying at the lights. “Instead, insects turn their dorsum toward the light, generating flight perpendicular(垂直) to the source,” the team write. It is common to the two behaviours that the insects are keeping their backs to the light, known as the dorsal light response (DLR). This DLR is a shortcut for insects to work out which way is up and keep their bodies upright, as the moon or sun is usually more or less directly above them, and this direction allows them to maintain proper flight attitude and control. They also find that the insects fly at right angles to a light source, leading to orbiting and unstable flights as the light’s location relative to them changes as they move.
Samuel’s team suggest that a possible outcome of the research could help the construction industry to avoid the types of light that most attract insects.
1. What does the research focus on?| A．Why insects gather around lights. |
| B．Where artificial lights lead insects to. |
| C．What biological response insects are born with. |
| D．How to design environment friendly artificial lights. |
| A．They fly directly to lights. | B．They circle close to lights. |
| C．Their flying speed is steady. | D．Their inversions can be controlled. |
| A．balance their flying | B．keep their route straight |
| C．decide their body positon | D．shorten their flight distance |
Parrots usually live in large groups and they like to eat fruit. They
1. 交流的原因;
2. 建议交流的具体内容;
3. 交流时间和其他相关事项。
注意：词数不少于60。
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Several mass extinction events have occurred in the course of our planet’s history. Scientists say that previously the
