1 . “What if we treat the ocean as if our lives depend on it? Or, what if we don’t?” World-famous marine biologist Sylvia Earle poses her famous “what if” questions to inspire people to reflect on how they can help save the ocean. In 1998, Time magazine named Earle its first “Hero for the Planet.”
Earle’s move to Florida’s west coast at age 12 is what started a lifelong passion. She says, “That’s where I first fell in love with the ocean.” In 1953, using newly developed equipment, the young scientist became one of the first in her field to scuba dive (水肺潜水). Her first long-term exposure to the ocean depths came in 1970 when she led an all-female research team to study the ocean. They lived under the sea in a submersible (潜水器) for two weeks. When they returned to the surface, world-wide cheer and praise were waiting, especially for Dr. Earle.
Sylvia Earle’s career includes many firsts. In 1979 she became the first woman to walk the ocean floor 381 meters below the surface. In 1990, she became the first female chief scientist of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
Through the years, Earle has spent roughly 7,500 hours underwater. During that time, she has become increasingly alarmed by the significant changes she has observed.
The famous scientist fears that the ocean is dying. Climate change, overfishing, the dumping of trash and chemicals and oil spills are just some of the many causes. In order to tackle the problem, Earle formed Mission Blue in 2009. This organization promotes the legal protection and conservation of the world’s oceans. Her plan is to develop “Hope Spots,” protected areas large enough to reverse (逆转) damage and restore the ocean.
1. Why does Sylvia Earle put forward “what if” questions?| A．To call on people to protect the ocean. |
| B．To stress our dependence on the ocean. |
| C．To criticize people’s damage to the ocean. |
| D．To contribute an article to Time magazine. |
| A．She moved to Florida to learn diving. |
| B．She was the best in scuba diving. |
| C．She did not get much attention in 1970. |
| D．She became a chief scientist of NOAA in 1990. |
| A．Scientists’ fears. | B．Causes of the damage. |
| C．Efforts Earle made. | D．Bright future for the ocean. |
| A．Dr. Sylvia Earle — A Lover of Diving |
| B．Dr. Sylvia Earle — Pioneer of the Deep |
| C．The Ocean — A place in Urgent Need of Our Care |
| D．Scuba Diving — A Fantastic Way to Learn the Ocean |
2 . If you live in one of the 40 million American households with a gas stove, it could be leaking even when it’s turned off.
According to a new study from Stanford scientists, many stoves are constantly giving out gases that can warm the planet and pose serious health risks when breathed in. The research found methane missions from gas stoves across the United States are roughly equal to the carbon dioxide released by half a million gas-powered cars in a year.
To estimate the impact of these emissions, researchers measured three key gases from stoves in 53 homes across seven California counties. The team chose two gases — methane and carbon dioxide — because of their contribution to climate change, and selected nitrogen oxides because of their known risk to human health. The scientists set up plastic dividing walls between the kitchens and other rooms and used instruments that measure wavelengths of light to determine the concentration of certain gases.
The team estimated that stoves release between 0.8 and 1.3 percent of the natural gas they consume as unburned methane. To their surprise, they found that more than three-quarters of the methane emissions happened when both old and new gas stoves were turned off. “Over a 20-year time scale, the global warming potential of methane leaks is 86 times greater than carbon dioxide,” Stanford reports.
The most significant health risks happen when the stove is lit, the authors note, because the process creates nitrogen dioxide as a byproduct. Increasing airflow by using a range hood can help reduce the personal health risk of natural gas-burning appliances, but most individuals report rarely using their ventilation system.
In a small kitchen, it only took a few minutes of unventilated stove use to generate emissions levels above national health standards. According to a meta-analysis from 2013, children living in homes with gas stoves were 42 percent more likely to experience symptoms associated with asthma, and 24 percent more likely to be diagnosed with lifetime asthma.
In addition to health risks, natural gas burning stoves also endanger the planet by releasing methane. The results of the study have furled efforts by scientists and activists to encourage Americans to switch to all-electric stoves and appliances.
1. Which gas leaking from stoves warms the earth most?| A．Methane. | B．Carbon dioxide. | C．Nitrogen oxide. | D．Nitrogen dioxide. |
| A．The measuring instruments. | B．The American families. |
| C．The team members. | D．The gas stoves. |
| A．When it is old. | B．When it is new. |
| C．When it is turned on. | D．When it is turned off. |
| A．Equip kitchens. | B．Switch to clean fuels. |
| C．Use sustainable energy. | D．Purchase electric stoves. |
3 . Across vast areas of the tropics (热带地区) from Southeast Asia to Africa, forests have been cut down in recent decades, but at least in some areas reforestation efforts have been made to take in carbon (碳).
It remains to be seen, however, whether these newly planted forests will manage to survive in the face of changing climate, which will bring more intense heat, lengthened droughts, and occasional wildfires.
To find out, scientists from the University of Hong Kong decided to run hundreds of computer models to explore various results under different conditions. The key aim of the study was to see if carbon stored in these regrown forests would remain locked up, and they have found this will likely be the case even under the most severe climate conditions.
“Our computer models show in many parts of the tropics reforestation is worth it, because these new forests should be able to survive until the end of the century and continue to store extra carbon from the atmosphere in the process,” explains Jed Kaplan, a professor at the university.
However, the role of newly planted forests as a carbon collector in the tropics will have only a limited effect on climate change, especially because many existing forests in the tropics will struggle in the face of rising temperatures and are already losing their ability to store carbon, “Massive tree planting won’t be enough to avoid climate disaster, but it can play a role. And if done with biodiversity and the people who call these forests home, reforestation can have many benefits,” says Alexander Koch, the other author of the study.
“So far we have only been able to look at carbon, but other aspects such as biodiversity in restored forests are also impacted by climate change. Assessing those impacts will be the next step,” he adds.
1. What is the discovery of the study?| A．Changing climate will bring about many natural disasters. |
| B．Reforestation is of great benefit to biodiversity in the tropics. |
| C．Regrown forests will store carbon even in the face of climate change. |
| D．The chance of newly planted forests surviving tough conditions is slim. |
| A．Worried. | B．Doubtful. | C．Disappointed. | D．Favourable. |
| A．Reforestation is useless in stopping climate change. |
| B．More measures should be taken as well as reforestation. |
| C．The carbon in the atmosphere will increase in the future. |
| D．Existing forests can no longer take in carbon from the air. |
| A．It takes all the factors into account. | B．It still needs to be further improved. |
| C．It fails to achieve the expected result. | D．It provides a way to avoid climate change. |
When I came back home, my mother was having a conversation with my seven-year-old daughter Jane. They were talking about how to fight against climate change in the holidays. I interrupted, saying we could do it by eating leftovers (剩菜) this holiday season. Mom and I both smiled.
I said, “You know Americans throw away 25 percent more trash between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day, including things like plastic from old tech and gift wrap. Food waste, which accounts for 30 to 40 percent of year-round waste entering landfills (垃圾填埋场), also rises sharply during the holidays. During Thanksgiving week alone, Americans throw out roughly 200 million pounds of turkey meat, along with 30 million pounds of gravy (肉汁) and 14 million pounds of dinner rolls.”
Jane was puzzled at the figures of food waste but she was interested in the consequences. I told her, “When thrown-away food makes its way to landfills and rots, it produces methane, a kind of greenhouse gas. That’s not friendly. It can destroy the ecosystem, threatening the survival of animals, plants and humans on the planet.”
Jane was nervous and asked what we could do to help the earth. “One of the most powerful tools we have is just to directly decrease our own waste in our home,” my mom said. “It’s also really challenging because most of our waste is happening in different ways. But individual action can also play a huge role in dealing with food waste, particularly in the US.”
I remember that in my family, there are two traditions when it comes to holiday meals: there must be more food on the table than everyone can eat, and everyone must take home a plate of food at the end of the meal to make sure all the hard work that went into its preparation wasn’t wasted.
注意：1.所续写短文的词数应为150左右；
2.请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Jane asked, “why prepare so much food for a holiday?”
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Jane answered “Sure” and hoped to help Grandmother to prepare for dinners.
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5 . Many people dream of going into space, but until recently only professional astronauts had that privilege. That all changed in 2022, with successful first missions for several space tourism companies.
First off the runway, in early July, was Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic company. Its spaceship, called VSS Unity, took four passengers and two pilots on a trip to the edge of space, where they experienced weightlessness and saw the Earth from above.
Unity has a fully reusable design--it is carried to a height of 9. 5 miles under a larger “mothership” plane called Eve. It is then released before firing its own rockets to reach its maximum height of 53 miles. As it begins to fall, its wings turn around so that it floats down slowly like a shuttlecock (羽毛球), before levelling out and flying back to land like a normal aeroplane. Virgin Galactic hopes to begin regular flights in 2023.
Less than two weeks later, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’s New Shepard rocket made its first flight, launching a space capsule with four passengers to an altitude of 66 miles. Among those on board were Bezos himself and 82-year-old Wally Funk, a pioneering female pilot who trained for NASA’s Mercury programme in the early 1960s but had waited 60 years for her chance to go into space. Funk became the oldest person to fly in space but only held that record until October, when 90-year-old actor William Shatner flew on the second New Shepard launch. Shatner played Captain Kirk in the Star Trek TV series and films.
In September, the Inspiration 4 mission carried four ordinary people into orbit around Earth. The launch was the first private passenger flight for Elon Musk’s SpaceX company, using a Dragon spacecraft that is also used for NASA missions. Designed to raise awareness and funds for St Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, US, the mission was paid for by billionaire Jared Isaacman. He was joined on the three-day flight by medical researcher Hayley Arceneaux, competition winner Dr Sian Proctor and hospital supporter ChrisSembroski.
1. What can we know about VSS Unity?| A．It can be used several times. | B．It has started normal flights. |
| C．It takes off from the ground. | D．It touches down like a shuttlecock. |
| A．Eve. | B．a shuttlecock. | C．an aeroplane. | D．Unity. |
| A．Hayley Arceneaux. | B．William Shatner. | C．Jeff Bezos. | D．Wally Funk. |
| A．New spacecrafts will weigh increasingly light. |
| B．Old people are more suitable to have space travel. |
| C．Ordinary people can go into space in the near future. |
| D．Space travel missions can meet the demand for hospitals. |
6 . Humans sweat to keep cool. But did you know that besides them, only a small percentage of the world’s animals keep cool by sweating? In fact, animals have a variety of ways to beat the cruel heat, some of which you might say are even a little bit strange.
Giraffes
We know that giraffes live in a particularly dry, hot environment, but they don’t sweat. How do they stay cool? The answer lies in their beautiful skin pattern, which is like a large network with a very complex vascular (血管) system under each patch (斑块). A giraffe’s special blood flow can force heat out of its body. Because of their rather large skin surface, this is a more-than-effective way to escape the heat.
Elephants
As the largest land animal on earth, elephants rely on their huge pair of ears. Simply by tapping their ears, elephants can lower their body temperature by 12℃ or more. Moreover, elephants often open their ears when facing the wind to reach this cooling effect.
Dogs
The dog’s way of escaping the heat is probably the most common in our daily lives--sticking their tongues out. By breathing heavily, dogs quickly force the heat from their body and breathe cooler air in, which enters their lungs and cools their entire body.
Koalas
Koalas are well-known for their “laziness”, so it’s natural to see one lying on a branch and think it’s just being its lazy self, but that’s not the case. Researchers say that the koalas select their trees very carefully, looking in hot weather for tree bark that is cooler than the air temperature. By getting into the cool surface of the bark, koalas can stay relatively comfortable during Australia’s powerful heat waves.
1. How do dogs beat the heat?| A．By choosing the suitable tree skin. | B．By putting their tongues out. |
| C．By moving their ears. | D．By flowing blood. |
| A．Giraffe. | B．Elephants. | C．Dogs. | D．Koalas. |
| A．They live lazily. | B．They don’t sweat. |
| C．They don’t stay cool. | D．They live comfortably. |
7 . Banff National Park is home to an amazing wildlife population. But the busy Trans Canada Highway that cuts through the park is a hazard to the lovely animals. To address the problem, Banff first put-up wildlife fencing on either side of the highway to discourage animals from entering the busy road. Then, since 1996, they’ve opened six wildlife overpasses and 38 underpasses to help the animals cross the highway in safety. I was fortunate to visit Banff’s Red Earth Overpass with Trevor Kinley, the project manager with Parks Canada. He told me that so far, they have documented 10, 000 safe animal crossings on this overpass alone. “ Some animals have learned how to use the crossings much more quickly than others. Black bears are the fastest learners, followed by deer. Wolves and lions take the longest to work out how to use them, ” Kinley said, laughing. “ But those animals that are slower to adapt are usually more capable and determined at figuring out the safest way to cross those overpasses and underpasses. ”
There is some criticism (批评) that channeling so much wildlife into a few bridges and tunnels is like making a trap for the animals, offering big animals an easy meal on either side. “ But research has shown that this is not the case, ” Kinley assured me. “ There are no more killings around the crossings than there are anywhere else in the park. ”
Walking over the Trans Canada and then walking underneath through one of the tunnels, I was amazed to see the fresh tracks of black bears, wolves, deer and many kinds of smaller animals. Somehow, all these animal footprints made me so happy, knowing that all this wildlife was passing safely under and over the longest road in Canada.
Hopefully, the success of the wildlife crossings in Banff will continue to inspire similar solutions around the world, where human pressure on wildlife continues to grow.
1. Which of the following best explains “ hazard ” underlined in paragraph 1?| A．Shelter. | B．Message. | C．Answer. | D．Danger. |
| A．They are stupid animals. | B．They are cautious learners. |
| C．They are very dangerous. | D．They are good at adapting. |
| A．There are too many bridges and tunnels. | B．Many animals will not use the crossings. |
| C．More killings might happen at the crossings. | D．Illegal hunting might be encouraged in the park. |
| A．Concerned. | B．Disappointed. | C．Shocked. | D．Delighted. |
Desertification is a serious problem
In 1984, the government issued new policies to encourage individuals to plant trees in contracted sand lands. Despite the
“My fight continues as long as my life continues. I shall not stop planting trees until my last breath,” said Shi Guangyin.
9 . Lake Baikal, the biggest body of fresh water on Earth near Russia’s border with Mongolia, is home to several unusual animals, including the world’s only species of freshwater seal.
Seals exist in large quantities in Baikal, about 100,000 of them, though the lake is poor in nutrition.
Most seals eat fish. And Baikal seals do, indeed, have needle-pointed teeth. But in 1982 researchers noted that they develop a second sort of specialized tooth behind those canines. They have sharp teeth which look like combs.
Seals arrived in Baikal 2 m years ago, from the Arctic Ocean. So too did some much smaller sea creatures, known as amphipods. These have grown into more than 340 species.
Records showed that the seals would dive in with their mouths open and collect amphipod groups that form at night. Dr Watanabe estimates that each seal catch an average of 57 amphipods per dive.
| A．The needlelike canines are necessary |
| B．So how they do so well has been a puzzle |
| C．This has led to their numbers increasing sharply |
| D．At the time, nobody knew what to make of them |
| E．He therefore used waterproof cameras to observe a few seals |
| F．Cameras remained attached to some seals for between two and four days |
| G．Sea mammals the size of seals would normally see amphipods as too small to hunt |
1.题目含义; 2.生态保护的意义; 3.具体措施.
注意︰
1. 词数80左右; 2.可以适当增加细节,以使行文连贯.
Ladies and gentlemen,
I am honored to stand here to deliver a speech.
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