1 . A forest in Staffordshire (in the UK) transformed into a hi-tech laboratory. Researchers here are investigating how the trees use carbon, and it’s difficult to find out. In an unusual experiment, extra carbon dioxide is piped to the trees, to create the kind of atmospheric conditions expected in the middle of the century. And instruments measure how the forest reacts.       

The scientist in charge says there’s still a lot to learn. And he worries that governments and companies are rushing to plant trees as an easy answer to climate change. “If you try and use trees to tidy up the mess that we’re making through emissions, you are putting those trees into a very rapidly changing climate and they will struggle to adapt,” said Professor Rob MacKenzie, University of Birmingham.

This device tracks the movement of carbon dioxide. In a healthy forest, the gas is not only absorbed by the trees but some is released as well. What scientists here are finding out is the way carbon flows into a forest and out of it is a lot more complicated than you might think. So, if mass tree planting is meant to be a solution to tackling climate change, the trees are going to have to be monitored and cared for, over not just decades, but may be centuries as well.

Of all the challenges, the task of planting is the simplest. Shelby Barber from Canada can do an amazing 4,000 trees in a day. “People talking about planting millions billions of trees around the world. Is it possible do you think, physically?” asked BBC.

“It’s definitely possible with the right amount of people, the right group of people. I’ve personally, in three years, planted just over half a million trees.” said Professor Rob MacKenzie.

Once planted, the trees need to survive, and experts are mixing different types to minimize the risk of disease. “It’s a bit like making sure you don’t put all your eggs in one basket, you’re spreading out your risk. And then if one part of that woodland fails, for whatever reason, it gets a disease or it can’t tolerate future climatic conditions, there are other parts of the forest that are healthy and able to fill in those gaps.” said Eleanor Tew of Forestry England.

Suddenly there’s momentum to plant trees on a scale never seen before. So what matters is doing it in a way that ensures the forests thrive — so they really do help with climate change.

1. Why is extra carbon dioxide piped to the trees in the experiment?

A．To predict the future atmospheric conditions.

B．To imitate the possible air condition in the future.

C．To create an instrument to measure atmospheric conditions.

D．To investigate the quality of air condition in the future.

2. The underlined word “some” in the second paragraph refers to __________.

A．oxygen

B．carbon dioxide

C．mess

D．purified gas

3. What will Eleanor Tew suggest concerning the survival of the forest?

A．Minimizing the area of the woodland.

B．Studying future climatic conditions.

C．Planting different types of trees.

D．Avoiding mixing different species.

4. Which statement concerning mass tree planting will Professor Rob Mackenzie mostly likely agree with?

A．It should be advocated in terms of efficiency and convenience.

B．It is the most effective solution to fighting climate changes.

C．It will do more harm than good to the health of the environment.

D．It needs to be studied further as a measure against climate change.

2 . The Fight against Fast Furniture

Fast furniture is a term that refers to furniture that is produced cheaply and quickly. These items are often bad for the environment because they are made from materials that break easily and need to be replaced often.     1    

To help protect the environment, a movement to move away from fast furniture has begun. Many companies are joining the fight by finding cleaner ways to manufacture furniture. For example, IKEA has agreed to switch to using renewable or recycled materials for their furniture by the year 2030.     2    

There is also a push to encourage shoppers to buy more used furniture for their homes. Small businesses that help transform old chairs and sofas into completely new products have even popped up recently. At the end of the day, consumers will play the most important role in the fight to end fast furniture. Shoppers should try to think more about the long term when preparing to purchase new furniture. They should stay away from furniture that is made from cheap materials like fiberboard or plastic because they will often fall apart after a few years.     3    

A much better alternative is furniture made from real wood because it won’t break as easily. If wood furniture is damaged, it can often be repaired to last longer. High-quality metals are another good material, as they are durable. If the furniture is no longer fit for use, these metals can still be recycled and used to make new products.

    4     So, the next time you buy furniture, think about whether it’s something that will last a long time or it’s just fast furniture that will break soon and go into the trash.

A．It has also designed a special program that lets people return used furniture pieces to its stores so they can be fixed and used again by consumers.

B．This would help to reduce overall waste, as it would extend the life cycle of old furniture items.

C．Although these items may cost less initially, they are more expensive because they will need to be replaced sooner than traditional pieces of furniture.

D．This creates a lot of pollution, as the furniture ends up buried in landfills where it can harm the soil.

E．Homeowners are looking for furniture that is kinder to the environment.

F．By choosing furniture that’s made to last, we can help reduce waste and protect the environment.

3 . 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. replacing     B. tolerate       C. extremes        D. experiencing          E. average F. estimates       G. impact       H. reserved   I. assess       J. cover       K. continued

Urban Trees Are Threatened by Climate Change

By 2050, about three-quarters of the species will be at risk as a result of climate change, a study has found. Cities around the world may need to start planting different types of trees and shrubs that can     1     warmer and drier conditions.

“By ‘at risk’, we mean these species might be     2     stressful climatic conditions,” says Manuel Esperon-Rodriguez at Western Sydney University in Australia. “Those trees are likely to die.”

City trees have many benefits, from making urban spaces look beautiful and providing a refuge for wildlife to keeping places up to 12°C cooler than they would otherwise be in summer. Losing tree     3     would lead to cities becoming even hotter as the planet heats up.

To     4     the threat, Esperon Rodriguez and his colleagues used database called the Global Urban Tree Inventory to work out the conditions required by 3100 tree and shrub species currently grown in 164 cities worldwide. The researchers then looked at how these conditions would be affected by climate change under medium-emissions scenario known as RCP 6.0.

By 2050, 76 per cent of these species will be at risk from rising     5     temperatures and 70 percent from decreasing rainfall, the team concludes.

The study doesn’t take account of       6     urban growth, which could warm cities even faster. Nor does it take account of greater weather     7     caused by climate change, or the effects of pests and diseases. Warmer conditions are allowing more pests, such as bark beetles, to survive winters as well as to reproduce faster in summer, greatly increasing their     8    .

“Our     9     have scientific basis,” says Esperon-Rodriguez. There are some things that can be done to help trees survive. The best strategy is to choose tough species when     10     trees or planting new ones, the team concludes.

4 . Directions: After reading the passage below, fill in the blanks to make the passage coherent and grammatically correct. For the blanks with a given word, fill in each blank with the proper form of the given word; for the other blanks, use one word that best fits each blank.

6 QUESTOINS FOR VANESSA NAKATE

Vanessa Nakate is a climate activist from Uganda, and a goodwill ambassador for UNICEF, the United Nations Children’s Fund.

Q1: What does it mean       1     (be) a UNICEF goodwill ambassador?

I get to meet people on the front lines of the climate crisis. I see my role as     2     (make) their voices louder. I want to shine a light on the issue of climate change and     3     it’s affecting people, especially children.

Q2: You’ve given speeches about the impact     4     climate change. Which has been your most powerful?

One that has been very powerful for me was when I spoke at the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference, in Glasgow, Scotland. I     5     (present) the opportunity to ask government leaders, and also business leaders, to do the right thing to ensure that our planet is protected.

Q3: What’s the hardest part of being an activist?

One of the hardest things is having to see the consequences of climate change. For example, the drought in the Horn of Africa, the flooding in Pakistan, or the recent hurricanes in the United States. It’s very sad to see all those events     6     (happen).

Q4: What keeps you motivated to fight climate change?

You’re interviewing me, and I think that’s so       7     (inspire). It gives me the energy for what I’ll do tomorrow. My motivation comes from young people who are doing       8     for our planet.

Q5: What’s the most recent climate-related project you’ve worked on?

In 2019, I launched a project,     9     we gave solar panels to schools in Uganda. The solar panels have helped bring lighting to the schools, which makes education much easier for the children.

Q6: Climate change can feel frustrating and scary for some kids. What advice do you have for them?

To address this big issue, just find one thing you can do,     10     you are not sure about the outcome. After all, no person is too small to make a difference and no action is too small to transform the world.

5 . 听下面一段独白，回答以下小题。
1. Who does the organization of Law Society represent?

A．Native people.	B．Lawyers in Britain.
C．Non-humans.	D．Children in Wales.

2. In which way are the newly-proposed laws different from the others?

A．They focus on better ways to tackle climate change.

B．They forbid other creatures to use trees for food or shelter.

C．They recognize the legal rights of the whole natural system.

D．They protect things humans find interesting like trees and pets.

3. What is the talk mainly about?

A．Defending native cultures by law.

B．Using laws to protect nature.

C．Fighting the loss of biodiversity.

D．Using technology to protect the environment.

6 . 听下面一段独白，回答以下小题。1.

A．The location.

B．The scenery.

C．The seafood.

D．The culture.

2.

A．Attract whales to the closer shore.	B．Tell people where to see whales.
C．Warn people to stay away from shore.	D．Go around to gather enough visitors.

3.

A．It is held every other year in summer.

B．It helps Whale Crier to show his talents.

C．It guarantees everyone to find something to enjoy.

D．It is one of the best eco-arts festivals in South Africa.

7 . Choose the suitable word or phrase from A--O to fill in the blanks to make the passage grammatically and coherently correct.

A. down       B. across       C. make       D. pull       E. set out F. terrible       G. explorer       H. strategies       I. carried       J. ran out of K. determined       L. expedition       M. achievement       N. disappointed       O. a pair of

The race to the South Pole is a famous story. Captain Scott and a Norwegian     1     called Ronald Amundsen both wanted to get there first. They both prepared for many months, but in the end their    2     for reaching the pole were very different：Amundsen used dogs to    3     his sleds and Scott used motorized sleds and horses. Amundsen had good weather during his     4    , but Scott had bad weather. When Scott’s team     5     from the hut on 1 November 1911, there were     6     snowstorms and the sleds broke     7    . After a few weeks, the horse died and most of his team turned back. In the end, only five men     8    on to the South Pole: Scott, Oates, Evans, Bowers and Wilson.

On 17 January 1912, Scott’s team reached the Pole and came     9     the Norwegian flag——Amundsen’s team were there before them and were already racing back to tell the world. Tired and     10    , Scott’s team made their way back home, but they     11     food and got lost in snowstorms; they did not     12     it.

In Scott’s Hut, there is still    13     old explorer’s boots. Scott wore these boots for years and they are dirty and broken, but they’re very special too. They tell us Scott’s story--that he was hard-working, ambitious and     14    , and that he pushed himself to the limit. Although the attempt was unsuccessful, Scott never gave up, and that’s an amazing     15    .

8 . Directions: Read the following passage. Summarize the main idea and the main point(s) of the passage in no more than 60 words. Use your own words as far as possible.

Should Hand Feeding Dolphins Be Encouraged?

Some tourist centers train Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins to approach beachside public sighting areas or boats by hand-feeding them small amounts of fish every day. Because hand-fed males aggressively attack each other over the food, putting themselves and nearby humans in danger, tourist centers focus their hand feeding only on female dolphins, says Valerie Senigaglia at Murdoch University in Perth, Australia

But recent studies have shown that only 38% of the calves (崽) of hand-fed wild dolphins survive to three years of age, which is much lower than the average 77% survival rate for wild calves in general. To better understand why, Senigaglia and her colleagues evaluated the social behavior of dolphins around the Bunbury coast in Western Australia. In particular, they observed the individual behavior and movement of 35 dolphins, including 13 that had been hand-fed using a small boat. They regularly followed each dolphin for periods lasting from 20 minutes to 3 hours for two years in a row for a total of 180 hours.

They found that hand-fed dolphins swam in relatively large groups, but more readily broke away from them to join different ones. In general, they created weak ties with other group members. “You can feel lonely in a room full of people and it’s the same thing for dolphins,” says Senigaglia. Free-swimming dolphins that are fed by hand become less socially involved with their peers. As a result, their calves may grow up lacking vital social skills-which could explain, at least in part, why they are twice as likely to die before reaching adulthood as wild calves generally.

No wonder animal right activists are calling on the practice of hand-feeding dolphins to be stopped.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

9 . Southern long-finned pilot whales are marine mammals with a lot to say—and they may use vocalizations (发声) to outsmart a deadly enemy.

Cetaceans (鲸类动物) such as whales and dolphins communicate through sound to find food and mates, to navigate and to interact socially. Their vocalizations _________ between species and within communities. The animals can mimic (模仿) artificial noise such as sonar, but nobody had previously recorded them _________ other cetaceans’ sounds. A new study, however, found overlap in the cetacean sound book.

Researchers listened to 2,028 vocalizations of long-finned pilot whales off the coast of Australia, the first time sounds from the species in this region have been _________ described. They were surprised to hear 19 instances of vocalizations that resembled those of orcas—the whales’ oceanic _________. “We found some calls that are, to the human ear, _________ to the killer whale calls in the same area,” says Christine Erbe, an expert in Marine Science and Technology.

Pilot whales and orcas, the two largest species of cetaceans, are often seen in the same _________ and are similar sizes, and both live in social groups. Orcas compete for food with long-finned pilot whales and are _________ their predators (猎食者) .

_________ from orca stomachs shows they do occasionally eat pilot whales. But pilot whales can mob and chase orcas away, the only cetaceans seen _________ themselves from their predator in this way.

Mimicry could serve as an __________ defense: “One theory is that if they use similar sounds, they may not be recognized as prey,” Erbe says. Pilot whales hunting or eating orcas’ food remainders might go __________ if they use orca-like calls. “This is all underwater, where light travels really poorly,” she adds. “So these animals __________ sound for detecting their prey and predators and for navigating.” Long-finned pilot whales have shown an ability to __________ between orca calls with different meanings.

Additional work would __________ whether mimicry is actually occurring. Researchers could pair their listening data with direct observations of the animals’ interactions in the wild or perhaps even play orca sounds and watch the whales’ __________.

1.

A．range

B．vary

C．rise

D．drop

2.

A．distracting

B．separating

C．forecasting

D．matching

3.

A．critically

B．considerately

C．conveniently

D．comprehensively

4.

A．partners

B．species

C．enemies

D．mates

5.

A．identical

B．responsive

C．contrary

D．inferior

6.

A．boundaries

B．societies

C．environments

D．facilities

7.

A．initially

B．eventually

C．potentially

D．accidentally

8.

A．Motion

B．Emission

C．Conclusion

D．Evidence

9.

A．splitting

B．defending

C．dismissing

D．preventing

10.

A．accessible

B．additional

C．accurate

D．adequate

11.

A．unnoticed

B．uninterested

C．untouched

D．unarmed

12.

A．apply to

B．turn up

C．rely on

D．put out

13.

A．pursue

B．distinguish

C．demonstrate

D．struggle

14.

A．claim

B．calculate

C．confirm

D．clarify

15.

A．reflections

B．receptions

C．relations

D．reactions

10 . 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. artificial   B. reflect C. remains D. accidentally E. overtaken F. recover G. disappearance   H. functionally     I. scheme   J. adaptations   K. preserved

A Mammoth Project

A US company called Colossal has raised 11 million dollars to bring mammoths (猛犸象) back from extinction. Mammoths died out about 3,700 years ago but their bodies are sometimes     1     in ice. This allows scientists to     2     their DNA, which could hold the key to bringing mammoths back to life.

A team of scientists at Colossal plan to use information from mammoth     3     to edit the DNA of Asian elephants — their closest living relatives. The team will focus on DNA that is linked to bushy hair and other     4     for cold weather. These were what helped mammoths survive on the Arctic steppe — ancient chilly grasslands. By adding this DNA to egg cells from Asian elephants, they hope to create an elephant-mammoth mix, which could develop into a baby either inside a living Indian elephant or in a(n)     5     organ.

Colossal hopes that the first set of calves could be born this way in six years. “We want something that is     6     equivalent to the mammoth, that will enjoy its time at - 40°C and do all the things that elephants and mammoths do, in particular knocking down trees,” said Church, the founder of Colossal. It’s hoped that the destructive habits of the hybrids (杂交种) could help restore areas of Arctic steppe that have been     7     by trees since mammoths became extinct. That can help keep the world cooler.

Arctic grasslands     8     more heat from the Sun than forests and can absorb more of the gases released by human activity. However, not everyone agrees with the     9    . Professor Adrian says the extinction of mammoths had little to do with the     10     of steppe grasslands. He points out that it would take thousands of mammoths to have an effect on the environment.