Where are the bees?
Bees are essential to the production of food we eat. Bees make honey, but they also pollinate large areas of crops, such as straw berries, apples and onions. About a third of the food we eat is a result of pollination of the bees. Unfortunately, bees have been disappearing at an alarming rate.
In 2006, bee keepers started reporting about something called Colony Collapse Disaster (CCD).The main sign of CCD is the loss of adult honey bees from a hive. In October of 2006, some beekeepers reported that they had lost between 30 and 90 percent of their hives.
There were many theories for the disappearance of the bees. But the most convincing one has to do with pesticides and lifestyles of bees today. Nowadays, beekeeper get most of their income not from producing honey but from renting bees to pollinate plants. This means that the life of the typical bee now consists of travelling all around the country to pollinate crops as the seasons change. That means a lot of traveling on trucks, which is very stressful to bees. It is not unusual for up to 30% of the hive to die during transport due to stress. In addition, bees that spend most of their time locked up on trucks are not exposed to what they usually live on. Instead, they live on a sweet liquid from corn, usually polluted with pesticides.
The exact reason for the disappearance of bees is not sure, but losing bees is very costly to the economy. The bee pollination services are worth over $8 billion a year. With no bees, pollination will have to be done by hand, which would have effects on the quality of food and increased food priced. We hear a lot about big environmental disasters almost every day. But one of the biggest may just be the less of that tiny flying insect.
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Sports can help you keep fit and get in touch with nature. However, whether you are on the mountains, in the waves, or on the grassland, you should be aware that your sport of choice might have great influence on the environment.
Some sports are resource-hungry. Golf, as you may know, eats up not only large areas of countryside, but also tons of water. Besides, all sorts of chemicals and huge amounts of energy are used to keep its courses in good condition. This causes major environmental effects. For example, in the dry regions of Portugal and Spain, golf is often held responsible for serious water shortage in some local areas.
There are many environment-friendly sports. Power walking is one of them that you could take up today. You don’t need any special equipment except a good pair of shoes; and you don’t have to worry about resources and your purse. Simple and free, power walking can also keep you fit. If you walk regularly, it will be good for your heart and bones. Experts say that 20 minutes of power walking daily can make you feel less anxious, sleep well and have better weight control.
Whatever sport you take up, you can make it greener by using environment-friendly equipment and buying products made from recycled materials. But the final goal should be “green gyms”. They are better replacements for traditional health clubs and modern sports centers. Members of green gyms play sports outdoors, in the countryside or other open spaces. There is no special requirement for you to start your membership. And best of all, it’s free.
The sport you choose may
3 . Plastic pollution has long been a problem, but now it’s gotten to a new height - literally.
Microplastics, referring to plastic fragments and particles less than 5 millimeters in diameter, have been found on Mount Qomolangma as high as 8,440 meters above sea level, just 408.86 meters below the peak of the mountain, according to a recent study published in the journal One Earth.
“These are the highest microplastics (ever) discovered so far; ” lead author Imogen Napper from the University of Plymouth, UK, said in a statement.
Scientists collected snow and water samples from 19 different locations from 4,200 meters above sea level all the way up to the summit of Mount Qomolangma. They found microplastics in all the water samples and part of the snow samples. The most polluted samples was from the Base Camp in Nepal, where most human activity on the mountain is concentrated. It had 79 particles of microplastics per liter of snow.
The harsh fact is that plastic pollution has reached even the most remote places on Earth. Researchers even found a plastic bag at the deepest point in the world’s oceans - in the Mariana Trench, located in the Pacific Ocean. The bag is the same as the ones commonly used in grocery stores.
Even covered in ice, the Arctic is still a victim of plastic pollution. A 2020 report published in Nature suggests that there are 2,000 to 17,000 plastic particles per cubic meter in Aretic ice cores, and between 0 to 18 microplastic particles per cubic meter from the water beneath ice floes. Expats think microplastics may be transported by air and then reach the North Pole in snowfall.
“What we don’t yet fully know is the potential problems these tiny pieces of plastic could be having to ecosystems, to organisms and even to our own health as well, ” said Christian Dunn of Bangor University, UK.
Then what can we do? “We need to start focusing on deeper technological solutions that focus on microplastics, like changing fabric (织物) design and incorporating natural fibers instead of plastic when possible, ” Napper said.
1. Why does the writer say plastic pollution has got to a new height?| A．The global plastic pollution problem can never by any worse. |
| B．The consumption of plastic products has peaked at an incredible level. |
| C．A significant breakthrough has been made in the research on plastic pollution. |
| D．Microplastics are found about 400 meters below the peak of the highest mountain. |
| A．documenting the human activities in the Base Camp in Nepal |
| B．interviewing scientists from famous universities all over the world |
| C．testing the snow and water samples collected from different places |
| D．comparing the plastics found in remote areas with those in daily life |
| A．Human activities speed up the spread of plastic pollution. |
| B．The impact of microplastics on ecosystems is quite obvious. |
| C．Microplastics are available in the air, water, snow and earth. |
| D．Using natural materials is one of the ways to reduce plastic pollution. |
| A. natural B. substituting C. stable D. disappear E. piece F. transforming G. returned H. regrowth I. habitats J. flat K. pulled |
Fire That Was Started 92,000 Years Ago
Human are actively changing landscapes across the globe, but shaping ecosystems is not just a modern activity.
An analysis of the northern shores of East Africa's Lake Malawi reveals ancient inhabitants used fire 92,000 years ago to prevent forest
The Yale-led study discovered settlements in the area, along with charcoal deposits in the core of the lake, allowing researchers to
Jessica Thompson, the paper's lead author, said: "This is the earliest evidence I have seen of humans
The work began in 2018. Researchers from Pennsylvania State University examined fossils, pollen（花粉）and minerals
Normally forest along the lake shore
Sarah Ivory from Pennsylvania State University said: "The pollen that we see in this most recent period of
It's not clear why people were burning the landscape. It's possible that they were experimenting with controlled burns to produce
5 . It is one of the greatest mysteries of nature. In case you haven’t noticed, all living things follow very definite, individual rhythms, all as regular as a clock, but what makes them regular?
Though many scientists maintain that these rhythms are the result of some outside force like gravity or radiation or both, the results of most scientific researches agree with other scientists who believe that each living thing has its own built-in biological “time clock.”
Take the mystery of migration for example. Scientists can’t really explain why many species of birds migrate in the autumn even though the temperature is still summery. The birds just seem to snub the comfortable weather that they are having. When a certain time comes, they travel south by the thousand. In spring time, they migrate northwards when though there probably is snow still covering the ground when they finally arrive. Something said “go”, and they did.
Animals that hibernate are obeying individual time clock, too. When their clock indicates the time to take a winter’s nap, they do, and nothing can stop them. At a certain time in the spring, they wake up and come out regardless of the weather outside.
Plants appear to have yearly rhythms, such as the sprouting(发芽)of seeds, and they also have daily rhythms. Notice sometimes that plants raise their leaves in daylight and lower them at night.
If you live along the California coast, you can easily observe a demonstration of this mysterious clock functioning regularly. There, from February to September, the highest tides occur exactly every fourteen and four-fifths days, and during these high tides, but at no other time, small silvery fish called grunions surf-ride a wave to the beach. There the female deposits her eggs in the sand and the male, fertilize them; then both hitch a wave-ride back to the sea. Exactly fourteen and four-fifths days later, never before or after, the tiny eggs hatch, and the high tide carries the new habits out to sea.
1. According to the passage, the mysterious rhythms result from ________.| A．the influence of gravity on living species |
| B．the effect of radiation on living species |
| C．the influence of a mysterious outer force on living species |
| D．the internal mechanism inside the living species |
| A．fight | B．ignore |
| C．symbolize | D．criticize |
| A．Hibernating animals are obeying an internal time clock. |
| B．The positioning of the leaves of some plants is due to the daily rhythms. |
| C．The internal clock functioning is demonstrated in the reproducing habits of grunions. |
| D．The yearly hibernation is more because of the weather influence than the biological functioning. |
| A．the rhythms of life | B．the reasons of mysterious hibermation |
| C．strange behaviors of species | D．the timing for different events in the world of species |
6 . Recently, a case of lifeboat ethics occurred. On Aug. 4, Graham and Sheryl Anley, while boating off the coast of South Africa, hit a rock. As the boat threatened to sink, the husband got off, but his wife was trapped in the boat. Instead of freeing his wife and getting her to shore, Graham grabbed Rosie, their pet dog. With Rosie safe and sound, Graham returned for Sheryl. All are doing fine.
It’s great story, but it doesn’t strike me as especially newsworthy. News is supposed to be about something fairly unique, and recent research suggests that, in the right circumstances, lots of people also would have grabbed their Rosie first.
We have strange relationships with our pets. We look after our pets with great love and better health care than billions of people receive. We speak to pets with the same high-pitched voices that we use for babies.As an extreme example of our feelings about pets, the Nazis had strict laws that guaranteed the kind treatment of the pets of Jews being shipped to death camps.
A recent paper by George Regents University demonstrates this human involvement with pets to an astonishing extent. Participants in the study were told a situation in which a bus is out o control, bearing down on a dog and a human. Which do you save? With responses from more than 500 people, the answer was that it depended: What kind of human and what kind of dog?
Everyone would save a brother, grandparent or close friend rather than a strange dog. But when people considered their own dog VS people less connected with them -- a distant cousin or a hometown stranger -- votes a favor of saving the dog came rolling in. And an astonishing 40% of respondents, including 46% of women, voted to save their dog over a foreign tourist.
What does a finding like this mean? First, it is that your odds aren’t so good if you find yourself in another country with a bus bearing down on you and a cute dog. But it also points to something deeper: our unprecedented attitude toward animals, which got its start with the birth of kind - hearted societies in the 19th century.
We prison people who abuse animals, put ourselves in harm’s way in boats between whales an whalers and show sympathy to Bambi and his mother. We can extend sympathy to an animal and feel its pain like no other species. But let’s not be too proud of ourselves. As this study and too much of our history show, we’re pretty selective about how we extend our kindness to other human beings.
1. Which of the following is true according to the article?| A．The story of the Anleys and their dog was too unique to be newsworthy. |
| B．Most people surveyed choose to save their own dog rather than a human. |
| C．It wa in the 19th century that human beings started to love their pets. |
| D．Human beings are more and more concerned with animals nowadays. |
| A．To create a relaxing mood for readers. |
| B．To present the theme of this essay straightly. |
| C．To lead in the main topic of this essay. |
| D．To raise problems that will be solved later. |
| A．to show how cruel the Nazis’ were to the Jews |
| B．as an example to persuade people not to love pets |
| C．to illustrate the strange relationship between human and pets |
| D．as an example to display the kindness of the Nazis |
| A．Pets are of great significance to us human beings. |
| B．We should rethink about out attitude towards animals and mankind. |
| C．It is kind of human beings to extend kindness to animals. |
| D．We should be selective when showing attitude toward other human beings. |
7 . Hunting to Farming Is Not Necessarily Good
A. support B. effectiveness C. expanding D. escape E. reached F. questioning G. switched H. control I. recording J. allowed K. inferring |
Shifting from hunting to farming made life 50 percent more difficult for humans, a study by Cambridge University suggests. Although farming
“For a long time, the shift from hunting to farming was assumed to represent progress, allowing people to
Previous studies suggested the adoption of farming grew up to help cope with
8 . Not All Waste Has to Go to Waste
Most of the world's 2.22 billion tons of annual trash ends up in landfills or open dumps. Veena Sahajwalla, a materials scientist and engineer at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, has created a solution to our massive trash problem: waste microfactories. There little trash processors -- some as small as 500 square feet -- house a series of machines that recycle waste and transform it into new materials with the new technology.
Sahajwalls launched the world's first waste microfactory targeting electronic waste, or e-waste, in 2018 in Sydney. A second one began recycling plastics in 2019. Now, her lab group is working with university and industry partners to commercialize their patented microfactory technology.
For example, the microfactory can break down old smartphones and computer monitors and extract silica (from the glass) and carbon (from the plastic casing), and then combine them together. This generates a common material with many industrial uses.
In 2019, just 17.4 percent of e-waste was recycled, so they ability to re-form offers a crucial new development in the challenge recycling complex electronic devices. "[We] can do so much more with materials," says Sahajwalla.
| A．Traditional recycling has not worked for every recycling challenge, especially the recycling of e-waste. |
| B．She says the small scale of the machines will make it easier for them to one day operate on renewable energy, unlike most large manufacturing plants. |
| C．Sahajwalla refers to this process as "the fourth R", adding "re-form" to the common phrase "reduce, reuse, recycle." |
| D．Electronics contains various poisonous chemicals and materials that are released into the environment if they are not dealt with properly. |
| E．The new all-in-one approach could leave our current recycling processes in the dust. |
| F．Traditionally, recycling plants break down materials for reuse in similar products -- like melting down plastic to make more plastic things. |
Building a Greener Future
Year after year, Earth's precious resources are becoming increasingly scarce. Still people need materials to build new houses, office buildings and schools. There's only one solution to this problem: do more with less. That's what sustainable construction is all about. Advocates of sustainable construction believe the entire building process can be done without harming the environment, and by doing so, the earth is kept sustainable for future generations. To make these green buildings possible, however, the process must be implemented from the beginning.
Picture a city government that wants to build a green office building. The first thing these city planners would do is select a site with a small environmental impact. Ideally, they would choose a site that had already been developed, thus keeping the forests and grasslands protected.
Next, city planners would turn their attention toward the construction process. Only green materials could be used to build their office towers. These include wood, steel, and other materials that have been recycled from destroyed buildings. If possible, they have been manufactured, recovered, or resourced locally. The closer that these green materials are to the construction site, the less energy is wasted getting them to where they're needed.
Maintenance costs are the next important factors that need to be considered. City planners would design heating and cooling systems that use as little energy as possible. They would fit solar roof panels that will absorb the heat from the sun to power the building. Toilets and sinks designed to minimize water waste would be fitted throughout the building. These efficiencies don't just help to protect the environment; they can save money over the long run as well.
After all this was finished, the city planners would relax and maybe even throw a party. They have designed a building that was green at every step--the golden rule of sustainable construction.
10 . This summer we said goodbye to unnecessary plastic waste. Starbucks committed to
According to a new research out of the American Chemical Society, 20 percent of people who wear contact lenses throw them away in the toilet or sink. But as medical
The study found that the chemical and mechanical processing at these treatment facilities were unable to
It may seem like a small thing, but with over 45 million contact
So what is the right way to throw away contact lenses?
It turns out that properly dealing with contact lenses is pretty
This doesn’t mean that all eco-conscious contact-wearers must stick to glasses, though. Fortunately, in an effort to
| A．eliminating | B．deleting | C．producing | D．saving |
| A．role | B．function | C．impact | D．efficiency |
| A．terms | B．devices | C．tools | D．equipment |
| A．moreover | B．nevertheless | C．however | D．therefore |
| A．flexibility | B．possibility | C．capability | D．similarity |
| A．restrictedly | B．respectively | C．comparatively | D．fully |
| A．designers | B．manufacturers | C．wearers | D．destroyers |
| A．floating | B．following | C．flashing | D．flooding |
| A．sensitive | B．extensive | C．concrete | D．tricky |
| A．systems | B．resources | C．sources | D．energies |
| A．control | B．handle | C．repair | D．touch |
| A．reversed | B．processed | C．fixed | D．programmed |
| A．analyze | B．realize | C．minimize | D．maximize |
| A．initiatives | B．performances | C．events | D．conferences |
| A．consists | B．results | C．participates | D．specializes |
