1 . To be honest. I’ve been missing the online shopping experience in China since I moved to the US four years ago. So when I noticed Shein becoming mainstream in the US over the past few years, I though, Great! I finally have a Taohao replacement! So I went on my first Shein journey in August 2022.

But somewhere along the way, I started questioning why I enjoy this particular kind of shopping, and also what it means for an e-commerce platform to offer endless deals.

To be fair, there are Shein purchases that I’ve really enjoyed, like a $2 nylon watchband that feels better than my original Apple Watch band. I also think people should be able to choose quantity and price over quality, because the idea of demanding that people only buy premium products feels unrealistic.

But as it turns out, I’ve finally started to see through the illusion (错觉) of Shein-like platforms. To get these occasional incredible deals, you are encouraged to shop much more than is necessary or even reasonable. This illusion has worked for a long time and for a lot of people, including me! But it’s become harder and harder to ignore the environmental consequences of my purchases, and the ways in which platforms trick people into buying more and more.

And I don’t think I’m the only one experiencing that awakening. Broadly speaking, I think society is slowly but surely shifting toward recognizing the climate impact of mass-produced cheap goods. While these conversations have yet to happen as widely and furiously in China, companies like Taobao and Shein will inevitably have to answer the question of whether their business model is sustainable for everyone—or only for themselves. So where are they beading from here? There’s certainly a lot of soul-searching for the industry to do.

And I’m doing some soul-searching of my own.

1. Why does the author mention a “$2 nylon watchband”?

A．To compare it with her original band.

B．To persuade readers to buy it.

C．To show her satisfaction with Shein.

D．To show its cheapness.

2. What does the underlined word “premium” mean in the third paragraph?

A．High-quantity.	B．Expensive.
C．High-quality.	D．Original.

3. What do the customers tend to do with the illusion of Shein-like platforms?

A．They get incredible products on sale.

B．They often buy much more than what they need.

C．They ignore the environmental impacts.

D．They are tricked into buying more and more reasonable products.

4. What is a consequence of endless deals in e-commerce platforms?

A．Environmental harm.	B．Price reduction.
C．Energy shortage.	D．Worldwide starvation.

2 . The Arctic is on Fire

Dozens of wildfires have been raging across the Arctic circle for the past few weeks, releasing as much carbon dioxide in just one month as Sweden’s total annual emissions.

Fires in the region aren’t unknown, but the scale of the blazes, predominantly in northern peatlands (泥炭地) across Siberia, is unprecedented.     1    

“It's quite striking. It does really stand out,” says Mark Parrington at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts. The last time the region had such big fires was 15 years ago.

    2     The Arctic was also warmer than average. “It’s hotter and drier. If the temperature is high enough and there’s ignition, fuel burns,” says Parrington.

The size of the burning area isn’t clear. Thomas Smith at the London School of Economics says satellite photos suggest that some fires are bigger than 100,000 hectares, which would classify them as megafires.     3     “Some hotspots are apparent through gaps in clouds, which suggest fires are continuing,” he says.

The fires seem to be mostly on carbon-rich peatland. Parrington calculates that the wildfires in June released about 50 megatonnes of CO2, as much as Sweden’s total emissions in 2017. That CO2 will lead to more warming, in a feedback loop.

    4     “What we might be seeing this year is widespread breach of a critical temperature threshold, leading to such widespread fires,” says Smith. Guillermo Rein of Imperial College London says: “The term ‘Arctic fire’ is a relatively new arrival to science and still causes consternation (惊愕). It is not part of common sense yet.”

What started these fires isn’t known, but given how sparsely inhabited the region is, lightning is thought to be a likely cause.

A．There are signs they are still burning, although detection is blocked by cloud cover.

B．Satellite measurements show that the energy released by the fires in June is more than that produced during the previous nine Junes combined.

C．The blazes also seem to be accelerating climate change by depositing soot and ash on sea ice.

D．Meanwhile, at least 18 people were killed in the Siberian region of Irkutsk after severe flooding caused by heavy rainfall.

E．The Arctic wildfires are in line with predictions made a decade ago, when researchers said they expected the region to see some of the biggest increases in fires.

F．The driver for the fires seems to be the unusually high temperatures in June, the hottest one on record in Europe.

3 . Finding Bigfoot

Cryptozoologists(神秘生物学家)have been trying to discover whether Bigfoot, a gigantic, apelike creature, really exists in North America. Many websites are dedicated to recording and investigating Bigfoot sightings. After following up on countless eyewitness reports, however, they have not yet been able to find solid proof.

For those enthusiasts who believe in the existence of Bigfoot, they’ve come up with various explanations as to why no Bigfoot bodies have been found. One theory is that in the vast uninhabited forests, nature quickly disposes of dead bodies. Some others believe Bigfoot lives between dimensions, spending only short periods of time in this dimension.     1    

In 1977, a Bigfoot sighting in northern Washington turned out to be a hoax(骗局)planned by three young men using gorilla suits and walkie—talkies.     2     Some websites even report that up to 80 percent of sightings have been confirmed as hoaxes.

    3     According to a recent poll, 1 in 10 American adults believe Bigfoot is a real animal. The creature has even inspired the naming of a medical company, music festival, amusement park ride and more. During the onset of the pandemic, it was even referred to on social media as the “Social Distancing Champion” as a part of promotion campaigns.

Some sociologists believe that society’s fascination stems from human interest in mystery, the supernatural, and loneliness.     4     It has much in common with the Australian yowie(野人)and the Himalayan yeti(雪人): an upright posture, shaggy hair and, of course, large feet. As so—called wild men, they hold a crude mirror up to our own species: What might Homo sapiens(智人)be like if civilization had not removed it from nature?

A．Bigfoot, in a sense, is a modern display of a human—wide cultural concept rather than a zoological(与动物有关的)reality.

B．This incident, coupled with previous hoaxes, caused the whole nation to completely lose interest in Bigfoot.

C．Given Bigfoot’s popularity, many are confident that it will shed light on scientific research on other similar mysterious creatures.

D．However, many scientists believe if it does exist, someone should at least be able to find a skeleton or fossil remains.

E．This makes some people think that other reports on Bigfoot sightings must have been faked as well.

F．Be it real or not, Bigfoot has already made a notable impact on American popular culture.

4 . In just a few decades the United States could eliminate fossil fuels（矿物燃料）and rely 100 percent on clean, renewable energy. That's the vision of, a Stanford engineering professor who has produced a state-by-state road map of how the country could rid itself of coal oil, natural gas, and nuclear power.

By 2050, Jacobson expects the nation's transportation network - cars, ships, airplanes - to run on batteries or hydrogen produced from electricity. He sees the winds blowing across the Great Plains powering vast stretches of the country's middle while the burning sun helps electrify the Southwest. "There's no state that can't do this," Jacobson says.

Today only 13% of U. S. electricity comes from renewables（再生性能源）. Jacobson's goal would be one of the nation's most ambitious undertakings. This transformation would cost roughly $15 trillion, or $47,000 for each American, for building and installing systems that produce and store renewable energy.

What would it take? Seventy-eight million rooftop solar systems, nearly 49,000 commercial solar plants, 156,000 offshore wind turbines（风力涡轮机）, plus wave-energy systems. Land-based wind farms would need 328,000 turbines, each with blades longer than a football field,. These farms would occupy as much land as North Carolina.

For now, he says, prospects are encouraging. Thanks in part to government funding and large-scale production, costs are falling. The amount of power generated nationwide by wind and solar increased 15-fold each between 2003 and 2013. This summer Barack Obama moved to reduce carbon emissions from coal-fired power plants, and Hawaii committed to having all its electricity provided by renewables by 2045.

Still, many experts aren't convinced. “It has zero chance,”Stephen Brick, an energy fellow with the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, says of Jacobson's plan. Political, regulatory, and social barriers are huge, especially in a nation where the energy systems - and much of its political influence - is rooted in the oil, gas, and coal industries. Some critics are concerned about whether the resulting grid（输电网）would be reliable. And neighborhood battles would likely occur over wind farms and solar plants. Even outspoken scientist James Hansen, who warned the government a quarter century ago about climate change, insists that nuclear power is essential to rid the country of fossil fuels.

Yet Jacobson’s work at least offers a starting point. Scientists and policymakers may keep arguing about solutions, but as Obama points out, the nation must continue its march toward a clean-energy future even if it's not yet clear how that will look in 35 years. “If we don't do it,” he said this summer, “nobody will.”

1. Which of the following does Professor Mark Jacobson engage in?

A．Organizing projects to build and install solar energy systems state by state.

B．Persuading the U. S. President to realize his renewable energy goal.

C．Outlining a plan detailing how energy in the U. S. could be carbon free by 2050.

D．Arguing about opportunities and obstacles of his plan.

2. Which of the following is the major obstacle to the transformation from fossil fuels to renewables?

A．The huge investment in solar and wind projects.

B．The unshakeable foundation of traditional energy systems.

C．The job losses in oil and coal industries.

D．The inevitable land-use battles between states.

3. It can be inferred from the passage that ________.

A．one state of the U. S. will be first to become carbon free before 2050

B．developing clean-energy industry will drive the world's market

C．fossil fuels will soon be eliminated in the U. S.

D．there will be no vacant land for wind farms

4. Many experts suspect Jacobson's plan in that the plan ________.

A．has no scientific grounds	B．unreasonably excludes nuclear power
C．will be eventually lacking in funds	D．is not feasible in some aspects

5. What is the best title for the passage?

A．The Coexistence of Fossil Fuels and Renewables

B．A Blueprint for a Carbon Free America

C．One Man's Dream: Determination and Innovation in Energy Future

D．Professor and his Solar and Wind Technology

7 . Man’s Existential Dilemma

We always knew that there was something peculiar about man, something deep down that characterized him and set him apart from the other animals.     1     For ages, when philosophers talked about the the core of man they referred to it as his “essence”, something fixed in his nature, deep down, some special quality or substance. But nothing like it was ever found and man’s peculiarity still remained a dilemma. The reason it was never found, as Erich Fromm (艾瑞克·弗洛姆，精神分析心理学家和人本主义哲学家) put it in an excellent discussion, was that there was no essence, that the essence of man is really his paradoxical(悖论的)nature, the fact that he is half animal and half symbolic.

We might call this existential paradox the condition of individuality within finitude (有限性). Man has a symbolic identity that brings him sharply out of nature. He is a symbolic self, a creature with a name, a life history.     2     He can place himself imaginatively at a point in space and contemplate bemusedly his own planet. This immerse expansion, this competence, this self-consciousness gives to man almost the status a small god in nature.

    3     This is the paradox: he is out of nature and hopelessly in it: he is dual, up in the stars’ and yet housed in a heart-pumping, breath-gasping body that once belonged to a fish and still carries the gill-marks to prove it. His body is a material fleshy casing that is alien to him in many ways - the strangest and most unpleasant way being that is aches and bleeds and will decay and die. Man is literally split in two: he has an awareness of his own splendid uniqueness in that he sticks out of nature with a towering majesty, and yet he goes back into the ground a few feet in order blindly and dumbly to rot and disappear forever.

The lower animals are, of course, spared this painful contradiction, as they lack a symbolic identity and the self-consciousness that goes with it. They merely act and move reflexively as they are driven by their instincts. They live in a world without time, pulsating, as it were, in a state of dumb beings. This is what has made it so simple to shoot down whole herds of buffalo or elephants. The animals don’t know that death is happening and continue gazing while others drop alongside them. The knowledge of death is reflective and conceptual, and animals are spared it. They live and they disappear with the same thoughtlessness: a few minutes of fear, a few seconds of anguish, and it is over.     4    

Quoted from Ernest Becker’s The Denial of Death

A．But to live a life with the fate of death haunting one’s dreams makes a huge difference.

B．He is a creator with a mind that soars out the speculate about atoms and infinity.

C．Man’s body was a curse of fate and culture was built upon repression not because he was a seeker of pleasure, but because he was primarily an avoider of death.

D．Yet at the same time, man is a worm and food for worms.

E．Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains.

F．It was something that had to go right to his core, something that made him suffer his peculiar fate, that made it impossible to escape.

8 . Nobody expects a natural disaster to strike. Neither does anyone know the impact it can have on life. The following measures can save your life in an emergency.

Typhoon

Typhoons occur in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, particularly in exposed regions like the Caroline Islands, the Philippines, and Japan. The best place to hide during a typhoon is a secure basement or a bathroom with no windows. It is also a good idea to get under a solid piece of furniture to save yourself from a collapsing roof. A must-have device is a battery-powered weather radio, through which you will hear evacuation orders or in other cases, instructions on how to survive in your shelter and learn about the weather situation.

Flood

Floods occur more often than any other natural disaster and change the landscape dramatically. They are usually caused by intense rainfalls lasting for days. Don't try to be the bravest person around and stay in your house. Once you hear the evacuation warning, leave for safer higher grounds with your important papers in a waterproof container.

Avalanche

An avalanche can hit when you are enjoying Alpine skiing in a dreamlike location. It is very fast and disastrous, burying everything in its way under tons of snow. When an avalanche starts, try to move to the side of the slope as fast as you can. There will be more snow in the centre of the flow. To move faster, drop any heavy equipment you have on you. If you get buried in the snow, dig an air pocket to be able to keep breathing. Wait for the rescue team to find you and don't waste your energy shouting or digging frantically. Call out when you hear the team approaching.

Wildfire

Wildfires spread at an amazing speed and destroy everything in their way. If you are caught in a wild fire, use a wet cloth to cover your nose and mouth to ensure that you can breathe. Try to stay upwind of the fire at all times and get close to a pond or river. If there is no water nearby, move to a place which has already burned out and is less likely to spark again. Stay low and cover yourself with wet clothing, a blanket, or soil until the fire passes.

1. Among the four natural disasters, which one requires people to hide indoors?

A．Typhoon

B．Flood

C．Avalanche

D．Wildfire

2. What should those trapped in typhoons probably do when they hear the evacuation orders?

A．get to a basement or windowless bathroom

B．find something solid to hide under

C．leave the place where they are

D．get a torch in case of a blackout

3. Which one of the following statements is TRUE according to the text?

A．Typhoons occur only in the exposed regions in the northwestern Pacific Ocean.

B．Floods cause the most frequent damage among the disasters mentioned.

C．Those who meet with avalanches are advised to call out the minute they’re trapped.

D．Getting clean air matters most in the case of wildfires, despite the difficulty.

9 . Directions: Fill in each blank with a proper word chosen from the box. Each word can be used only once. Note that there is ONE WORD MORE than you need.

A. voyaged     B. barely     C. renowned     D. abnormality     E. discipline     F. navigable G. unprecedented     H. eyed     I. Fortunately     J. accessible     K. degradation

For voyager and green promoter Zhai Mo, the 504-day non-stop voyage to the Arctic Ocean has stimulated his concern about the climate and awareness of his responsibilities.

Navigating more than 28,000 nautical miles (51,856 kilometers) in harsh conditions, Zhai, a (n)     1     Chinese explorer, returned to Shanghai on his aluminum sailboat on Nov 17, along with two crew members, becoming the first man to successfully circle, both ways, the Arctic Ocean without stop. “This non-stop Arctic Ocean circle route can be said to be     2    . We     3     both the northeast and northwest routes while previous explorers only chose one route. This is a self-challenge and transcendence in the history of human navigation,” the 54-year-old says.

Zhai undertook this task as an ambassador of the Chinese navigation science and marine public welfare, and also the ForNature Campaign of the United Nations Development Program. He set sail on June 30 last year to raise public awareness of global warming, climate change and land     4    . During the trip, he crossed the East China Sea, the Western Pacific, the Bering Strait, the Chukchi Sea, the East Siberian Sea and the Beaufort Sea. He saw dolphins, whales, walruses, sea lions and seals, as well as shoals of cod and wolf fishes.

“When we passed through the Northwest Pacific Ocean on our way back, we encountered three typhoons within a week, which     5     happened in the past,” Zhai recalls.

Zhai didn’t see any floating ice during his one-week voyage in the Kara Sea while the previous meteorological data showed ice there.

“My own experience tells me that climate     6     is obvious now,” Zhai says.

The voyage, to enter the Arctic Ocean from the Bering Strait before making a round trip returning to Shanghai, was planned to take four months, but the return schedule was delayed for more than a year. “As soon as we entered the Bering Strait, we encountered a polar cyclone. A large number of ice floes and icebergs were blown to the coast. However, the Arctic Ocean can only be     7     near land, so we had been carefully crossing between ice floes and icebergs for a long time and the speed was only 1 to 3 knots,” Zhai says. But for Zhai, the most difficult part of the whole voyage was around 75 degrees north. The Arctic Ocean is known as the “dead channel”, Zhai says, adding that the location where the Titanic went down was on his route and dotted with countless icebergs. After entering the iceberg region, Zhai navigated the sailboat while the two crew members went on watch to report on the menacing ice. Despite the precaution, the boat hit an iceberg near Greenland, causing water seepage below the waterline that had to be dealt with. Meanwhile, compasses and electronic goods on the boat failed because of the magnetic field. “I had never encountered this situation in sailing before,” says Zhai.     8    , he took a fiber optic compass specially used for high latitude navigation, and managed to leave this area with visual aids. In addition to ice floes and icebergs, Zhai and his team also faced severe tests such as heavy fog, strong winds and huge waves. When sailing through the Chukchi Sea, the boat navigated around a large area of ice floes and heavy fog resulting in visibility of no more than 10 meters. They spent nearly 11 hours to get just 50 nautical miles. “We tried to leave as soon as possible during our voyage in the Arctic Ocean,” he says, adding that there was a constant danger of being trapped by the ice.

Zhai was attracted by sailing when holding an art exhibition abroad in 2000. In 2007, he got a second-hand sailboat with simple supplies, such as instant noodles, pancakes and potatoes, and started his voyage trip around the world.

After that 35,000-nautical-mile voyage, Zhai     9     an Arctic Ocean journey. “Navigation is a comprehensive     10    . You should know not only astronomy but also geography. You also need to be a carpenter, fitter, hammerer and painter, and should be able to survive in a harsh, outdoor environment,” Zhai says.

He adds that he hopes more young people would participate in navigation, to promote and publicize the ocean awareness and navigation spirit. He is preparing for the third voyage trip around the world next year or the year after that. “Antarctica is also a very big challenge. I hope to explore more unknowns, and I also want to launch a transoceanic sailing competition.”

10 . China becomes a world leader in clean technology by fighting environmental pollution, sharing experience.

Erik Solheim, former executive director of the United Nations Environmental Programme, said he is __________ with China’s phenomenal achievements over the past decade in fighting environmental pollution and climate change, and in its march toward __________ development.

This is very __________ to his Twitter followers. Solheim’s latest tweets include one about China ranking first globally in planted forests and forest coverage growth, __________ a quarter of the world’s new forests in the past decade; one about China producing 60 percent of global solar energy last year and 80 percent of solar panels; and another highlighting the fact that 80 percent of the world’s new offshore wind capacity was installed in China last year.

He believes that it’s time for the rest of the world to __________.

For Solheim, who is also the former Norwegian Minister of the Environment and Minister of International Development, China’s achievements on the climate and environmental fronts all started with its fight against__________.

“People wanted to see beautiful skies over their cities,” he told China Daily. “The __________ fast reduction in air pollution in Chinese cities over the last decade shows how fast China can act. This has now spilled over into renewable energy, nature protection, electric mobility, tree planting and a lot more. Today, China is the world leader in all __________ technologies.”

The latest __________ from China’s Ministry of Ecology and Environment prove Solheim’s observations that the country is rapidly switching to a more sustainable path.

Minister of Ecology and Environment Huang Runqiu told a news conference on Sept 15 that the country’s toughest measures and greatest progress on the ecological and environmental front have occurred in the last decade.

He said that __________ painstaking efforts to combat pollution, clear waters and blue skies have become more commonplace.

While poor air quality used to be a source of frequent public complaints, the average __________ of hazardous airborne PM2.5 particles dropped from 46 to 30 micrograms per cubic (立方的) meter between 2015 and last year.

About 87.5 percent of days last year were rated as having good air quality, up 6.3 percentage points from 2015, making China the country with the biggest __________ in air quality in the world.

In the last decade, the __________ of water at or above Grade III in the country’s five-tier water quality system rose 23.3 percentage points to 84.9 percent, close to the levels in developed countries. Carbon intensity, or carbon emissions per unit of GDP, has declined by 34.4 percent, with coal __________ for 56 percent of total energy consumption, compared to 68.5 percent a decade ago.

China has has legislated or revised roughly 30 laws and regulations, some of which focused on water resource protection, including the Water Pollution Prevention and Control Law, which was modified in 2017, and the Yangtze River Protection Law, which __________ last year.

1.

A．confused

B．impressed

C．obsessed

D．connected

2.

A．available

B．accessible

C．sustainable

D．substantial

3.

A．evident

B．attractive

C．invisible

D．unique

4.

A．donating

B．contributing

C．manufacturing

D．distributing

5.

A．fall behind

B．put forward

C．look up

D．catch up

6.

A．pollution

B．environment

C．ecology

D．emission

7.

A．probably

B．inevitably

C．incredibly

D．traditionally

8.

A．biological

B．advanced

C．far-reaching

D．green

9.

A．study

B．figures

C．technologies

D．innovation

10.

A．thanks to

B．despite

C．regardless of

D．other than

11.

A．height

B．length

C．concentration

D．weight

12.

A．obstacle

B．improvement

C．contribution

D．cultivation

13.

A．quality

B．flavor

C．deposit

D．proportion

14.

A．accounting

B．making

C．looking

D．applying

15.

A．took effect

B．took place

C．took to

D．took in