1 . 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
This is very
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
The latest
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
While poor air quality used to be a source of frequent public complaints, the average
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 the last decade, the
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
| A．confused | B．impressed | C．obsessed | D．connected |
| A．available | B．accessible | C．sustainable | D．substantial |
| A．evident | B．attractive | C．invisible | D．unique |
| A．donating | B．contributing | C．manufacturing | D．distributing |
| A．fall behind | B．put forward | C．look up | D．catch up |
| A．pollution | B．environment | C．ecology | D．emission |
| A．probably | B．inevitably | C．incredibly | D．traditionally |
| A．biological | B．advanced | C．far-reaching | D．green |
| A．study | B．figures | C．technologies | D．innovation |
| A．thanks to | B．despite | C．regardless of | D．other than |
| A．height | B．length | C．concentration | D．weight |
| A．obstacle | B．improvement | C．contribution | D．cultivation |
| A．quality | B．flavor | C．deposit | D．proportion |
| A．accounting | B．making | C．looking | D．applying |
| A．took effect | B．took place | C．took to | D．took in |
2 . Eradajere Oleita thinks she may have a partial solution for two of American’s persistent problems: garbage and poverty. It’s called the Chip Bag Project. The 26-year-old student and environmentalist from Detroit is asking a favor of local snack lovers: Rather than toss your empty chip bags into the trash, donate them so she can turn them into sleeping bags for the homeless.
Chip eaters drop off their empty bags from Doritos, Lay’s, and other favorites at two locations in Detroit: a print shop and a clothing store, where Oleita and her volunteer helpers collect them. After they sanitize the chip bags in soapy hot water, they slice them open, lay them flat, and iron them together. They use padding and liners from old coats to line the insides.
It takes about four hours to sew a sleeping bag, and each takes around 150 to 300 chip bags, depending on whether they’re single-serve or family size. The result is a sleeping bag that is “waterproof, lightweight, and easy to carry around,” Oleita told the Detroit News.
Since its start in 2020, the Chip Bag Project has collected more than 800,000 chip bags and, as of last December, created 110 sleeping bags. Sure, it would be simpler to raise the money to buy new sleeping bags. But that’s only half the goal for Oleita — whose family moved to the United States from Nigeria a decade ago with the hope of attaining a better life — and her fellow volunteers. “They are dedicated to making an impact not only socially, but environmentally,” she says.
And, of course, there’s the symbolism of salvaging bags that would otherwise land in the trash and using them to help the homeless. It’s a powerful reminder that environmental injustice and poverty often go hand in hand. As Oleita told the media: “I think it’s time to show connections between all of these issues.”
1. What does the Chip Bag Project call on people to do?| A．To throw empty chip bags into dustbins |
| B．To bring empty chip bags to appointed locations |
| C．To donate them to those homeless |
| D．To sanitize empty chip bags for recycle |
| A．charge | B．protect | C．load | D．fill |
| A．To lead a better life with her immigrated family in U.S.A |
| B．To launch a charity project with other volunteers in school time. |
| C．To make a difference both socially and environmentally. |
| D．To help those homeless by giving them handmade sleeping bags. |
| A．adaptable and extroverted |
| B．creative and warm-hearted |
| C．aggressive and capable |
| D．modest and generous |
A massive fire tore through the main market in the city of Hargeisa in northern Somalia overnight, injuring about two dozen people and
Images
Officials said it started on Friday evening but was largely brought under control by dawn on Saturday, although some small areas were still burning.
“The town has never witnessed such a massive calamity,” Hargeisa’s mayor, Abdikarim Ahmed Mooge, told reporters at the scene. “This place was the economic centre of Hargeisa and
The Somaliland president, Muse Bihi Abdi, said during a visit to Waheen
Hargeisa chamber of commerce chairman Jamal Aideed said the loss of the market was immense
“I have lost everything tonight, this fire was the biggest I have ever seen in my life,” said market trader Bashi Ali. “I had several businesses in the market and all of them burned to ashes.
4 . When Carolyn Kurle first visited Alaska’s Hawadax Island, then known as Rat Island, she immediately noticed the silence. “When you’re on an island that’s never had rats, it’s just like birds everywhere — it’s really loud,” she says. “So when you get to an island that does have rats, you really notice because it’s cacophony versus quiet.”
Nowadays Hawadax is once again a noisy place. Roughly a decade after a successful effort to rid the island of its predatory rodents (捕食性啮齿动物), a mass of seabirds has returned. And the benefits have extended across the island’s entire seashore ecosystem, which is again full of diverse life. These findings, published in Scientific Reports, show that certain ecosystems can recover with surprising speed if given the chance.
“This study is an example of something positive that can happen when we humans take action to clean up after ourselves,” says Kurle, who is lead author of the study and a conservation ecologist at the University of California, San Diego. “It also highlights how everything is interlinked, especially in coastal systems.”
The greedy rodents colonized Hawadax after a Japanese shipwreck in the 1780s, and they quickly wiped out seabird communities. Kurle’s first findings, published in 2008, showed that the rats affected not just birds but the entire food chain — all the way down to algae (藻类). Without birds to eat seashore invertebrates (无脊椎动物), populations of snails and other species feeding on plants exploded and consumed much of the marine kelp (巨藻), which provides crucial habitat for other organisms. “Certain invasive species can have impacts beyond those that are most obvious,” Kurle says.
Those early findings inspired the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, in partnership with The Nature Conservancy and Island Conservation, to wipe out the rats by dropping poison on Hawadax. Kurle and her colleagues secured funding to survey the island 5 and 11 years after taking the action. They found that its ecosystem had steadily recovered and now resembles that of other Aleutian Islands that were never invaded by rats, with significantly fewer marine invertebrates and much more kelp cover.
“Very few rat-eradication projects have focused on the impact on marine ecosystems, so the Hawadax Island case is really noteworthy,” says University of Tennessee, Knoxville, ecologist Daniel Simberloff, who was not involved in the study. “This is a very cool, elegant result from an academic ecology standpoint and, of course, is important in terms of conservation.”
1. What does “cacophony” in paragraph 1 most probably mean?| A．Silent night. | B．Messy beach. |
| C．Limited space. | D．Disagreeable sounds. |
| A．Greedy rodents. | B．Marine kelp. |
| C．Seashore invertebrates. | D．Invasive species. |
| A．setting traps and catching rats |
| B．raising money for follow-up study |
| C．joining hands with conservation groups |
| D．comparing Hawadax with other rat-free islands |
| A．Birds and rats cannot co-exist. |
| B．Rats are invasive species that must be rooted out. |
| C．Ecosystem is too delicate to restore itself once disturbed. |
| D．Removing invaders on land can benefit marine populations. |
5 . As consumers, we are very wasteful. Annually, the world generates 1.3 billion ions of solid waste. This is expected to go up to 2.2 billion by 2025. The developed countries are
Traditional wisdom would seem to suggest that companies have no interest in
When choosing what products to buy and which brands to buy from, more and more consumers are looking into sustainability, which is
Some retailers and manufacturers in the clothing, footwear, and electronics industries have launched
Enormous opportunities also
| A．forgivable | B．accountable | C．tolerable | D．remarkable |
| A．altering | B．lengthening | C．obeying | D．upsetting |
| A．Therefore | B．Somehow | C．Yet | D．Otherwise |
| A．partly | B．barely | C．precisely | D．exclusively |
| A．bridged with | B．subjected to | C．opposed to | D．associated with |
| A．minimizing | B．maintaining | C．stimulating | D．deserting |
| A．On the contrary | B．Above all | C．For example | D．In most cases |
| A．modifying | B．wrecking | C．dumping | D．restoring |
| A．sustainable | B．compulsory | C．economic | D．educational |
| A．insuring | B．substituting | C．concealing | D．preserving |
| A．accessibility | B．productivity | C．affordability | D．durability |
| A．profitable | B．emotional | C．predictable | D．reputational |
| A．lie in | B．stand for | C．consist of | D．result in |
| A．respectively | B．dramatically | C．evenly | D．thoroughly |
| A．take-back. | B．give-away | C．clean-up | D．cut-down |
| A. species | B. informed | C. awareness | D. indicate |
| E. additional | F. figures | G. advanced | H. sticking |
| I. state | J. reliance | K. based |
Sensors for Houseplants
Over the past two years Jasmin Moeller, a 38-year-old in Germany, has been buying more houseplants, making her feel more comfortable.
Actually, the fact that people have spent much more time
Yet it is one thing to buy a houseplant and quite another to successfully look after it. Luckily, some
A sensor made by German firm Greensens has approximately 5000 plant
Another app released by German business Fyta tells users how their plants are by analyzing the uploaded pictures of the plants. It also includes
However, Botanist Silver Spence is worried that
Back in Germany, Ms Moeller says she is sure that the sensors are helping her improve gardening skills.
Sneakers (运动鞋) Made from Old Chewing Gum
Dutch fashion and shoe label Explicit Wear is hoping to solve one of life’s sticky situations—the annoyance of stepping in waste chewing gum on the pavement—while helping to keep Amsterdam’s city streets clean. The brand has partnered with local marketing organization Iamsterdam and sustainability firm Gumdrop
Chewing gum causes an incredibly serious ecological problem,
The waste gum will be put to good use to make stylish kicks,
Available for preorder now, the new Gumshoe sneakers—offered in both a bubblegum pink and a black/red colorway—
Nearly 2.2 pounds of gum
To help spread their sustainability message,
8 . As wildfires have intensified in recent years, scientists have begun to catalog the ways the massive events influence weather — but so far, all have looked at either enormous or relatively small scales.
But during 2018’s destructive fire season in California — at the time, the worst on record — Jiwen Fan started to wonder: Could the ever more frequent and intense fires raging in the western United States affect weather not just right next door, but as much as 1500 miles downwind?
Major weather patterns in the U.S. tend to travel from west to east along with the prevailing winds. Fan noticed that just a few days after California’s Carr Fire kicked off in mid-July — shockingly early in the expected fire season — a massive days-long storm struck the High Plains states like Wyoming and Colorado with flooding rains, baseball-sized hail, and 90-mile-an-hour gusts. The storm caused over $100 million in damages. Was it possible the two were connected?
Her team had the exact right tools to investigate the question. First, they dug through 10 years of weather and fire data to find examples of other big conflagrations (大火) occurring right before major storm events. The pairing was actually quite rare. That’s because storm season in the Central U.S. is centered around early summer; in the past, that season was winding down by the time wildfire season increased in August and September. But wildfires have been igniting earlier and earlier, pushed forward by climate change-driven drought and heat. Since 2010, the team found several big central storms that coincided with major Western fires.
They focused on a 2018 storm. Using a weather model that added in the effects of heat and smoke emitted from the burns, they simulated days-long storm event in several different ways. As the real situation had been, with massive fires burning in the West; as if those fires didn’t exist; and another set of experiments that included and excluded the effect of some smaller local fires that had been burning at the time.
The differences were dramatic: The combined impact from the faraway western fires and the local ones boosted the occurrence of heavier rainfall — where more than about 0.8 inches of rain fell in an hour — by 38 percent. The outbursts of big hail, with hailstones larger than two inches — nearly the size of a baseball— happened 34 percent more in the fiery conditions. But the far-off fires had a much larger effect.
“The impact is very significant,” says Fan. “That was a little surprising.”
1. What’s the study of Jiwen Fan and her team mainly about?| A．The effect of conflagrations on the weather of other areas. |
| B．The scale of all the conflagrations. |
| C．The number of all the conflagrations that happened in 2018. |
| D．The cause of the California’s Carr Fire. |
| A．Because they were in lack of labor to dig through all the data. |
| B．Because storm season in the Central U.S. isn’t in line with the wildfire season. |
| C．Because wildfires usually take place in the early summer. |
| D．Because wildfires are pushed forward by big storms. |
| A．They invited other experts to do experiments with them. |
| B．They interviewed a lot of local people and analyzed the data they collected. |
| C．They simulated storm event in different ways by using a weather model. |
| D．They observed the real situations and calculated thoroughly. |
| A．The number of the big wildfires was beyond the team’s expectation. |
| B．The size of the hailstones was definitely incredible. |
| C．The occurrence of heavy rainfall shocked Fan’s team. |
| D．The conflagrations did have great effect on the occurrence of storm in other areas. |
9 . If you like to take a walk in the woods in the United States or you prefer to decorate a tree at Christmas, you should know that climate change is making both of those activities a lot more
Looking at two
Some forests in four regions in California, Colorado, the Northern Rockies and the southwestern part of the United States have crossed ''a(n)
Climate conditions over the past 20 years have
''Climate changes is
The problem probably won't get any better, as climate change is making intense wildfires much more
A higher number of fires and low seed availability means a high probability that these trees in these regions won't come back, Davis said. This study
| A．convenient | B．difficult | C．encouraging | D．frustrating |
| A．ecologically | B．apparently | C．physically | D．financially |
| A．destroyed | B．worsened | C．extended | D．established |
| A．necessary | B．enormous | C．critical | D．invisible |
| A．accelerated | B．delayed | C．eliminated | D．strengthened |
| A．transform | B．spread | C．preserve | D．escape |
| A．extinction | B．decline | C．tragedy | D．increase |
| A．sustaining | B．abandoning | C．facilitating | D．endangering |
| A．sufficient | B．limited | C．moderate | D．approximate |
| A．occasional | B．common | C．essential | D．temporary |
| A．astonishing | B．hopeless | C．costly | D．irreversible |
| A．world | B．state | C．human | D．forest |
| A．concentrated | B．depended | C．insisted | D．commented |
| A．As a result | B．For example | C．In fact | D．What’s more |
| A．savers | B．managers | C．researchers | D．advocates |
10 . Dandelions
I remember as a young child bringing a bunch of brilliant yellow flowers to my mother. It didn’t matter that the stems felt sticky or that both my parents cursed the presence of these flowers in the lawn. I thought they were beautiful!
And there were so many of them! We spent hours picking the flowers and then popping the blossoms off with a snap of our fingers. But the supply of dandelions (蒲公英) never ran out. My father or brothers would chop off all the heads with the lawnmower (割草机) at least once a week, but that didn't stop these hardy wonders.
And for those flowers that escaped the honor of being hand-delivered to my mother or the sharp blades of the lawnmower, there was another level of existence. The soft roundness of a dandelion gone to seed caused endless laughter of delight as we unconsciously spread this flower across the yard.
As I worked in my garden last week, pulling unwanted weeds out of the space that would become a haven for tomatoes, corn, peas and sunflowers, I again marveled at the flower that some call a weed.
And I thought, if only I had the staying power of a dandelion. If only I could stretch my roots so deep and straight that something tugging on my stem couldn’t separate me completely from the source that feeds me life. If only I could come back to face the world with a bright, sunshiny face after someone has run me over with a lawnmower or worse, purposely attacked me in an attempt to destroy me. If only I could spread love and encouragement as freely and fully as this flower spreads seeds of itself.
The lawns at my parents' home are now beautiful green blankets. The only patches of color come from well-placed, well-controlled flowerbeds. Chemicals have managed to kill what human interference couldn’t. I hope you and I can be different. I hope that we can stretch our roots deep enough that the strongest poison can't reach our souls. I hope that we can overcome the poisons of anger, fear, hate, criticism and competitiveness.
1. The author’s parents probably viewed the dandelions in the lawn as ________.| A．supplies of seeds | B．beautiful wonders |
| C．unwanted weeds | D．patches of colors |
| A．The flowers were meant as a joyful gift to her mother. |
| B．The flowers evolved into a stronger species because of frequent mowing. |
| C．The flowers were tough enough to spread new lives themselves. |
| D．The flowers that some called a weed were difficult to pull out. |
| A．The author’s family enjoyed the dandelions as much as she did. |
| B．The author purposefully replaced some dandelions with crops. |
| C．The dandelions were never successfully removed from the lawn. |
| D．The author felt sorry but encouraged by the fate of the dandelions. |
| A．share the inspirations she gained from the dandelions |
| B．arouse public awareness to pay close attention to the beauty in life |
| C．show the importance of planting dandelions |
| D．express the shame that only she saw the beauty of the dandelion |
