1 . Half a year ago, Lacey Scott was shopping for supplies at a local pet store in Kansas City, Missouri. When she was in that location, a bored face of a little goldfish attracted her attention, and she didn’t stop staring at it the entire time she was there.
Lying at the bottom of a dark fish tank, the sad fish didn’t appear to have much of a wish to survive. Lacey learned from a store clerk that the fish was ten years old and had spent a long time in that depressing tank.
“I couldn’t take my mind off him. I couldn’t bear the thought of a fish who had wasted so much of its life and would end up dying in a pet store,” Lacey said.
Lacey approached the store owner and asked if she could take the small fish home with her.
What no one realized was that the small fish’s best days were still to come: all it needed was a second chance.
Lacey returned home and built a pond out of various materials for the fish she named “Monstro”. She changed his water every day to keep it clean and fresh, and fed him with only the fish food. Monstro, on the other hand, did not appear to be enjoying his new living environment, not even moving to have his meal.
Despite this, Lacey did not give up on him and continued to provide him with specialized care. “I found him swimming for small amounts of time after a month,” Lacey said. “And it was at that point that I realized things began to change.”
Monstro’s body began to change as well. The gray scales (鱼鳞) that made him seem unwell began to change colors. His small body began to shine, showing that his condition had improved greatly.
Lacey put Monstro into a much larger tank once he had fully recovered, where he continues to live in the greatest possible way.
1. Why did the goldfish at the pet store catch Lacey Scott’s attention?| A．He was a rare type of goldfish. |
| B．He looked sad and was tired of life. |
| C．He looked energetic, colorful and lovely. |
| D．He was so old that he could hardly move. |
| A．He tried to jump out of the pond. |
| B．He adapted to his new life very quickly. |
| C．He seemed not to be fond of his new home. |
| D．He appeared to be dead and floated on the surface. |
| A．The fish began to swim in the pond. |
| B．The fish started to eat a lot of food. |
| C．The fish’s scales began to change colors. |
| D．The fish came to the surface to breathe. |
| A．A goldfish bought by a woman recovers from his injury. |
| B．A woman builds a new pond for an active goldfish. |
| C．A kind woman saves a goldfish from being killed. |
| D．A goldfish adopted by a woman starts a new life. |
1.节约水电；
2.垃圾分类处理；
3.骑自行车或乘坐公交车。
注意：1.词数在80左右；
2.不要逐字翻译，可适当发挥。
参考词汇：低碳 low carbon
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3 . The recent floods in Pakistan have sub-merged a third of the country and left more than 1,100 people dead. It is not the only part of the world to have suffered extreme weather this year. Early on, Australia was hit with unheard-of rain and heat. By the summer, east Africa was suffering its fourth year of drought. Meanwhile, temperature records were broken in cities across Europe, and rivers there ran drier than at any point for 500 years. A 70-day heatwave across much of China saw temperatures regularly exceeding 40℃, with the country’s two largest lakes dropping to their lowest recorded heights.
Attributing (把……归因于) any single weather event to climate change is a complicated business. Part of the difficulty reflects the complex mechanisms of Earth’s climate, where continuous warming is the background against which many other patterns play out.
One of the most powerful sources of natural climate variability is the El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), a phenomenon in which the climate all around the tropics moves into one of two extreme states. When the trade winds blow more weakly across the Pacific than usual, the warm water remains in the eastern Pacific, causing more rainfall in that part of the world, an event known as an El Nino. When the winds blow particularly strongly, more warm water gathers in the western Pacific, and more cold water comes up from the depths off the coast of South America, known as La Nina.
What is happening in Pakistan is likely to be a disastrous combination of multiple factors. A hotter planet means there is more moisture (湿气) in the air, leading to more extreme rainfall and greater risks of flooding. This means La Nina-caused rainfall can be unusually deadly. Global warming also has an indirect effect, as high temperatures experienced in the Himalayas earlier this year sped up the melting of glaciers (冰川) and overloaded rivers. It is also possible that air pollution in the area, which complicates air-circulation patterns, may have a role to play as well.
A pressing concern is the impact the increased flooding and severe droughts will have on a world where resources are already sapped by a rapid running of disasters. “We’re already not coping and it’s only getting worse,” says Maarten, director of the climate centre for the International Red Cross.
Equally fraught are questions of responsibility. Whether or not specific disasters were made more likely to occur by ENSO, climate change is doubtless playing a role in increasing their severity. This implicates richer countries most responsible for historic pollution, which have thus far largely been spared the worst consequences of their emissions.
1. The author lists a range of extreme events at the beginning to _________.| A．predict the ending | B．raise the issue behind |
| C．highlight an opinion | D．illustrate an argument |
| A．Loss of ice due to the greenhouse effect. |
| B．Harmful gases let off into the atmosphere. |
| C．Trade winds blowing more weakly across the Pacific. |
| D．More moisture in the air caused by high temperatures. |
| A．conserved | B．consumed | C．shared | D．destroyed |
| A．Urgent priority should be given to climatic change. |
| B．Specific disasters are undoubtedly linked to La Nina. |
| C．Governments have taken measures to deal with the current situation. |
| D．Richer countries have taken the responsibility for the environment. |
4 . The most beloved bird in history may very well have been a 29-year-old pigeon by the name of Martha. It was the early 1900s, and Martha was at the height of her fame. Perched on her humble roost at the Cincinnati Zoo, she was an object of fascination to the thousands of visitors who lined up just to catch a glimpse. Martha may not have looked the part of an animal celebrity, but she was hardly average—in fact, she was the very definition of one of a kind. After the death of her companion George in 1910, Martha had become the world’s last-living passenger pigeon.
There was a time not long before when her kind accounted for more than a quarter of the birds in North America and may have been the most abundant bird species on the planet. Passenger pigeons used to travel at 60 miles an hour in flocks a mile wide and 300 miles long. Witnesses compared them to a train rumbling through a tunnel.
Ironically, the passenger pigeons’ very abundance may have spelled their doom. An agricultural pest and reliable source of protein, they became easy targets for hunters who killed them in the tens of thousands. In a matter of decades, a bird that once numbered in the billions was reduced to a few, and then, eventually, to one.
Martha, who’d grown up in captivity, had no offspring of her own. At 1 p.m. on September 1, 1914, Martha fell from her perch, never to rise again—one of the rare occasions in which historians could identify the exact moment of a species’ extinction.
Of course, the real tragedy was that the loss of the passenger pigeon was neither surprising nor unique. For as long as the Earth has sustained life, it has also seen the permanent disappearance of life forms, the dinosaurs being a particularly extreme example. But Martha’s high-profile death trained national attention on an alarming new trend. Close to a thousand animal species alone have died off in the last 500 years, and the trend is only getting worse.
1. What caused the extinction of passenger pigeons?| A．The loss of their habitats. | B．The worsening of global warming. |
| C．The burning of fossil fuels. | D．Their nutritional value and threat to farming. |
| A．To illustrate we can do nothing to stop species extinction. |
| B．To show the extinction of a certain species is not a rare case. |
| C．To explain human activities are to blame for species extinction. |
| D．To stress immediate measures should be taken before it is too late. |
| A．Optimistic. | B．Confused. | C．Relieved. | D．Concerned. |
| A．The most beloved bird George died. |
| B．Birds are the best friends of human beings. |
| C．The tragic loss of the last passenger pigeon. |
| D．The most abundant bird species are endangered. |
5 . As founder of the Global Water Policy Project and lead expert for National Geographic’s Freshwater Initiative, Sandra’s goal is to promote the conservation and sustainable use of the Earth’s freshwater resources.
Sandra says she grew up in New York as a Long Island beach kid. She was always a ware of the “comfort, peace, and balance” offered by the natural world, especially the environments of wetlands and rivers. Before starting work on a project, Sandra considers an area’s “geography of water”: the amount of water in the area’s basin, the population, and the agricultural use of water. The geography of water helps Sandra determine an area’s water stress. Water stress is the situation where a community is using more water than nature made available.
Sandra first became aware of the concept of water stress after reading Swedish hydrologist Malin Falkenmark’s book Water for a Starving World. This groundbreaking work linked water use, food and population. As Sandra began to understand water stress, she realized it affects everything, from a community’s development to its political security. “So many great civilizations developed alongside rivers and lakes,” she says, pointing to the ancient civilizations of Ur (between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers), Egypt (which developed on the Nile), and the Indus River Valley.
Today, Sandra points out, more than 200 rivers are shared between two or more nations. Dams and other river management techniques implemented (实施) by nations upstream have a huge impact on nations downstream. The Tigris and Euphrates rivers have their sources in Turkey, for example, but their basins are in Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Syria. River management from Turkey would impact the freshwater available to these countries for drinking, hygiene (卫生), industry, and transportation.
Water management has become part of many nations’ foreign policy. Sandra points to the Mekong River Commission. The headwaters of the Mekong River are in China, although the basin is nearly 800,000 square kilometers and includes the nations of Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam. Many governments are members of the Mekong River Commission, which promotes sustainable development of the water supply.
1. What did water mean to Sandra as a child?| A．It represented a kind of spirit. |
| B．It caused stress to her life. |
| C．It brought many obstacles to her. |
| D．It offered a way for transportation. |
| A．Water stress was perfectly settled. |
| B．Water contributed much to the world culture. |
| C．Water had no impact on the steadiness of a nation. |
| D．Water crisis was recognized before Malin’s book. |
| A．Upstream countries have priorities. |
| B．Every country has its policy for rivers. |
| C．Rivers across countries are decreasing. |
| D．Source governance of rivers is critical. |
| A．To show its importance to the locals. |
| B．To emphasize its great volume of flow. |
| C．To show the power of cooperation. |
| D．To tell its challenges to related nations. |
We were visiting our daughter when we adopted our Boston terrier, Tad. An adorable puppy, just three months old, he became the family’s center of attention. Each morning, as soon as he heard my daughter Kayla moving around downstairs, he had to be taken down for playtime before she left for work. When she came home from work, we had him waiting for her at the door.
After three weeks we left for home. On the drive, we let Tad talk to Kayla on the phone each night. Once home, every time we called Kayla or she called us, we always put Tad on. He scratched the phone and listened intently and tried to look into the phone to see her.
One Saturday, Kayla called while we were out. She left a message. Tad was standing beside me when I pressed the button to listen to the message. He listened to her talking and cocked his head, grinning at me. I played it again for him.
A few days later, I was taking my shower when I heard the answering machine come on and Kayla leave a message. I thought it was strange when I heard her message repeat and the machine announce, “End of messages.” A few seconds later Kayla’s message began yet again.
Wondering what was going on, I climbed out of the shower, wrapped a towel around myself and headed into the living room. There stood Tad, listening to the answering machine. I stopped and watched. When the message finished, he stood up with his feet against the edge of the low table, reached over with one paw (爪子) and slapped (拍打) the answering machine. The message came on again. He dropped back on the floor and listened happily. I told him “no,” and distracted (使分心) him from the answering machine while I erased (抹去) the message.
注意：
1. 续写词数应为150 词左右；
2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
A few days later, I was in the kitchen when I heard, “You have no messages.”
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Knowing what Tad wanted, I called Kayla that night and asked her to leave him a message.
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7 . Boston Marathon runners in recent years may have seen a smiling furry face around the two-mile mark. It’s Spencer, the therapy (治疗) dog, who became known as an unofficial mascot (吉祥物) for the marathon, He’s shown up on the sidelines every year since 2015—rain or shine.
One particularly rainy marathon catapulted Spencer’s fame, In 2018, his owner, Richard Powers, decided to put a bright yellow rain coat on the dog, making him stand out even more than he usually does. Photos of Spencer, who holds a “Boston Strong” flag in his mouth, went viral, and he became an inspiration to runners and onlookers alike, During the marathon, some runners stop in their tracks to take selfies with the dog-the line sometimes growing to 20 runners long.
But in 2020, Spencer was diagnosed with a tumor (肿瘤). His owner was worried, but Spencer is a fighter. He got the care he needed and survived. In 2021, he was back on the course and it was really kind of a miracle and that really hit home to a lot of people.
Unfortunately, Spencer caught another tumor—this one cancerous—and Spencer began chemotherapy. Powers didn’t think his beloved dog would make it out to the marathon of 2022. “Miraculously, he’s still here with us and an even bigger miracle, he was strong enough to go to the marathon,” he said.
After recovering, Spencer was back to work—not just at the marathon—but as a therapy dog, alongside his companion, Penny, who is also a golden therapy dog. Powers takes his two therapy dogs around to schools, hospitals and senior living centers.
“He’s a gift to us and we’re very lucky to have him. He’s too good so we want to share him with as many people as we possibly can. He does make a difference,” Powers said.
1. Why is Spencer referred to as a mascot for Boston Marathon?| A．He has a smiling furry face. | B．He appears at the event annually. |
| C．He is not recognized officially. | D．He works as a therapy dog for runners. |
| A．Motivation. | B．Satisfaction. | C．Fantasy. | D．Barrier. |
| A．A failure in the marathon. | B．Caring for his owner. | C．Fighting against a disease. | D．Going viral. |
| A．Confident, | B．Supportive. | C．Objective. | D．Negative. |
8 . Plastic pollution is growing rapidly across Earth’s ecosystems and its threat to humanity and wildlife is too. Outcomes for health and the environment will be severe unless we address it, says a United Nations (UN) report. But the discovery of microplastics in human blood means immediate action is needed.
Researchers found tiny plastic particles (微粒), less than one-thousandth of a millimeter in size, in almost 80 percent of 22 people they tested. Such small plastics can travel through the body and could stick in our vital organs. These tiny pieces could damage cells and tissues, causing many diseases like cancer.
“I was shocked but not surprised. We already knew that microplastics have been found in human organs. The body finds it hard to break these particles down, which associate them with chronic (长期的) disease,” said Jo Royle, the CEO of Common Seas—a social enterprise looking to stop plastic pollution. “It’s clear that the best way to battle with microplastics and prevent health problems is to make sure they don’t end up being deserted in our environment in the first place,” added Royle. “This is why we need leaders and businesses to take responsibility for plastic trash along its lifecycle.”
Some oil and gas companies that supply plastic products plan to expand plastic output and double production in the next 20 years. But analysts say that would backfire on people, governments, and industries rejecting plastic to protect the environment. Big brands are reducing plastic packaging and changing to alternatives. Plastic is seen as a threat as large as climate change and a UN treaty against pollution is the result.
Natural products like plant materials and even silk offer plastic alternatives, especially in food and product packaging. But the UN believes we cannot simply recycle our way out of the problem. An immediate reduction and industry transformation are needed. As the blood microplastic study suggests, that transformation must be rapid. Because the rate at which we absorb plastic into our bodies is faster than the rate we remove it. And that needs a planet-wide response.
1. What is the best way to solve microplastics problems according to Royle?| A．Medical treatments for microplastics. |
| B．Restrictions on throwing plastic waste. |
| C．Developing natural alternatives to plastic. |
| D．Raising personal awareness of microplastic. |
| A．Go against. | B．Apply to. | C．Depend on. | D．Respond to. |
| A．Recycling plastics proves to be not effective at all. |
| B．Rapid transformation in plastic industry is needed. |
| C．Most natural materials can be alternatives to plastics. |
| D．The rate of bodies’ absorbing plastics is uncontrollable. |
| A．Plastic Pollution Is Transforming Humans’ Lifestyle |
| B．Increasing Updated Plastics Have Enjoyed Popularity |
| C．Microplastics in Blood Highlight Health Emergency |
| D．Practical Solutions to Plastic Waste Are Approaching |
9 . A powerful earthquake hit Morocco, killing thousands of people and causing huge damage over a large area.
The earthquake struck around 11 pm on Friday night. It was not only one of the most powerful earthquakes ever recorded in Morocco, but also the country’s deadliest earthquake in over 60 years. So far, the earthquake is reported to have killed over 2,900 people. The earthquake was especially precarious as it happened at night, when most people were asleep at home.
The center of the earthquake was in the Atlas Mountains, about 72 kilometers southwest of Marrakesh, a large city popular with tourists in the center of Morocco. Fortunately, many of its modern buildings survived the earthquake. However, the old part of the city, called the Medina, whose buildings are over 1,000 years old, was hit hard, leaving many of those buildings in ruins.
Outside of Marrakesh, the earthquake caused even more damage. In the Atlas Mountains, the earthquake’s center, there were many small villages. Many people in the area lived in simple houses made of mud, a traditional way of building in Morocco. But they’ re not strong enough to survive earthquakes and many of these houses simply fell apart, turning into sand. The Moroccan government has laws requiring buildings to be built more safely, yet these rules were often overlooked.
In larger cities, rescue efforts seemed to be going well. But it took a lot longer for help to reach remote (偏远的) areas in the mountains. That meant the local people in those areas had to deal with the situation on their own. They had to dig through the ruins with their hands, searching for survivors who were trapped. Moreover, many people were sleeping outside, unsure if their houses were safe enough.
More help was on the way. Many outside countries offered teams of experts and emergency supplies. But the government said too many different rescue teams could make the situation more confusing.
1. Why did the earthquake lead to the most deaths on record in Morocco?| A．It struck a large and tourist city. | B．It was powerful and happened at night. |
| C．The rescue teams arrived too late. | D．The traditional houses were not strong enough. |
| A．Dangerous. | B．Powerful. | C．Unique. | D．Impressive. |
| A．They had no shelter to stay. | B．They ran out of food supplies. |
| C．They lost contact with the outside world. | D．They couldn’t get necessary rescue in time. |
| A．A science magazine. | B．A travel journal. |
| C．A news report. | D．A cultural website. |
10 . Most glitter(小发光物品), which is made up of tiny pieces of plastic, is a huge danger to the environment. “Everyone talks about the mountain of plastic floating in the ocean. You can grab empty bottles from the water, but with tiny pieces, it’s impossible,” says Victor Alvarez, a chemical engineer who sells an eco-friendly alternative to glitter.
In the early 2,000s, Alvarez worked for Mercedes-Benz in Germany, where he became fond of any technology that protected the environment. A few years after leaving Mercedes-Benz, he founded Blue Sun International in Miami, which makes specialty ingredients for the skin and hair care industries.
Glitter is a popular ingredient in cosmetics, such as eye shadows and lipsticks. So Alvarez began researching an alternative that didn’t contain plastic to make his products safer for the environment. That’s when he came across Ronald Britton Ltd., a company which had developed a plastic-free, biodegradable product called Bioglitter. It is made from regenerative cellulose(纤维素) sourced from hardwoods, primarily eucalyptus(桉树). Alvarez worked with the company to become the first retailer to sell Bioglitter in America. In 2018, he formed Today Glitter in order to sell the biodegradable glitter directly to consumers through its website.
Today Glitter sells two kinds of biodegradable glitter Bioglitter Sparkle and Bioglitter Pure. Both are almost plastic-free and can biodegrade in a short time. Meanwhile, they are as shiny as regular glitter. All these products are third-party tested by TÜV, an international organization that provides testing and certification for compostable (可降解的) and biodegradable products.
Despite its benefits, the hardwoods needed to make biodegradable glitter cause it to cost about twice as much as conventional glitter. A small glass container that contains just 6 grams of Bioglitter costs $10, while the same amount of regular glitter could cost at least half that amount. Alvarez expects the price will come down over time. He also expects the company’s sales to cross $1 million next year. But more importantly, Alvarez says, his main goal is to effect a meaningful change.
1. While at Mercedes Benz, Alvarez .| A．developed a way to grab glitter in the sea | B．became interested in the environment |
| C．attempted to live a plastic-free life | D．created a kind of harmless glitter |
| A．It is a plastic-free ingredient for eye shadows. |
| B．It will soon be on sale in the American market. |
| C．It is very difficult to break down in the wild. |
| D．It was invented by Blue Sun International. |
| A．To show Bioglitter Sparkle and Bioglitter Pure are popular. |
| B．To stress it provides a broad range of testing services. |
| C．To prove Today Glitter’s products are eco-friendly. |
| D．To explain many plastic products are low-quality. |
| A．The complex process of making glitter. | B．How to expand its overseas market. |
| C．How to attract potential investors. | D．The high cost of raw materials. |
