Greenpeace is not satisfied
“Europe desperately needs to decarbonize transport, but ministers missed a
Greenpeace francized EU national governments for
The Czech Republic, which
European Commission Executive Vice-President Fran’s Timmermans,
South Koreans have enjoyed their first close-up look of new baby giant pandas at a name-revealing ceremony that is also
What to name the twin sisters was widely discussed among netizens after they were born on July 7 in theme park Everland. The names were
The baby pandas,
Everland said it would monitor the twins’ health
3 . A very dangerous situation happened in California last week. More than 12 wildfires broke out in the state. Most of them began on October 8, in Northern California. They grew rapidly. The fires were made bigger by winds of up to 50 miles per hour and dry air in the area.
At least 20 people have been killed, the state government said. About 200 have been injured. At least 3,500 homes and businesses have been destroyed. About 50,000 people have been required to escape. Many left in a hurry, without time to take their personal things. “All the good stuff(东西)—I’m never going to see it again,” Jeff Okrepkie said. He escaped from his Santa Rosa home. It was destroyed soon after he left.
The fires burned through parts of eight counties(郡，县). These include Sonoma and Napa. The areas are important to California’s economy(经济). They are home to many of the state’s vineyards(葡萄园) and wineries(酿酒厂). In 2016, California’s wineries made more than $57 billion.
October is when wildfires usually produce the most ruins in California. But it is unusual for so many fires to start at once. Up to now, the government has not given a cause for any of the fires, many of which were still burning.
1. Why did the fires grow quickly?| A．Most of the fires began in October. | B．12 fires happened at the same time. |
| C．The state government didn’t do anything. | D．High-speed wind and dry air. |
| A．50,000. | B．200. | C．3,500. | D．20. |
| A．Homes have been destroyed. | B．Wineries have been burned. |
| C．People have to leave their homes. | D．Many people have been injured. |
| A．The high-speed wind and dry air. | B．Many fires started at once. |
| C．October produces the most ruins. | D．The cause is not explained. |
4 . Transport is undergoing a massive transformation so it can meet society’s demands for a low- carbon economy. Introducing electric vehicles (EV) and declining gasoline use are helping, but zero-carbon hydrogen can speed up both the transition (转变) and long-term decarbonization of transport.
In the US, transportation produces the largest share of all greenhouse gas emissions (排放) in the economy at 29%, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. More than 90% of transport fuel is petrol based, but if more vehicles used hydrogen, emissions of this kind would plummet.
However, hydrogen is not considered an ideal replacement for gasoline as an engine fuel for cars because it is harder to store safely. And while fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) that turn hydrogen into electricity can compete with EV performance-and even out-compete them on range and refill time, extra energy is needed to produce the hydrogen needed for fuel. Also, finding investment for storage, pipelines and fuel stations is still a challenge for many nations.
Currently, governments worldwide are backing green hydrogen projects to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in heavy industries like freight (货运), steel, and energy storage. But hydrogen transport will need rapid production methods to create the fuel needed for the world’s road fleet.
Thankfully, research is advancing all the time. Nanoscale (纳米级的) thin films are applied to improving the chemical process to rapidly harvest hydrogen from the seawater. The same technology has been successfully used in solar power devices with higher efficiency-to-cost rates. Since hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe and as seawater makes up about 96% of all water on Earth, there is a virtually limitless supply.
Even wastewater and solid waste can create green hydrogen. Researchers at Princeton University are using sunlight to separate hydrogen from industrial wastewater. Chemical plants that currently face high costs for cleaning wastewater could transform it into clean hydrogen supplies.
1. What does the underlined word “plummet” mean in Paragraph 2?| A．Stop. | B．Decrease. | C．Continue. | D．Disappear. |
| A．Ways of storing hydrogen safely. |
| B．Benefits of fuel cell electric vehicles. |
| C．Challenges of using hydrogen as car fuel. |
| D．Differences between gasoline and hydrogen. |
| A．The application of solar power devices. |
| B．The method of identifying water elements. |
| C．The invention. of the water transport system. |
| D．The use of the nanoscale thin-film technology. |
| A．Clean Energy Hydrogen Ready to Take Off |
| B．Traditional Fuels Bound to Reach a Dead End |
| C．How We Can Generate Energy from Hydrogen |
| D．What the Future of Transportation May Be Like |
5 . On September 29, 2021, the US Fish and Wildlife Service declared it would be removing 23 species from its Endangered Species Act, including the ivory-billed woodpecker, various Hawaiian birds and freshwater fish, not because they had been pulled back from the edge of extinction, but because the USFWS believed these species would never recover, and were most likely extinct, therefore not requiring protection.
In April, 195 countries are getting together in China for a UN conference to discuss global agreements to protect nature and biodiversity, with the hope of finalizing an agreement to safeguard plants, animals, and ecosystems. However, the new strain (毒株) of Covid-19, Omicron, has potentially thrown the plans into a mess, and negotiators may switch to online talks if travel restrictions to China are put in place again.
“We can't go another four months without any progress” said Georgina Chandler, senior international policy officer at the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. Conservationists are urging the talks to go ahead — online if necessary — as the biodiversity crisis shows no sign of slowing up.
“Nature loss has not gone away and threatens both human lives and the global economy,” said Lin Li, director of global policy at the organization. “With one million species currently in danger of extinction, delaying action is not an option.”
Improving conservation and management of natural areas, such as oceans, forests, and wildernesses is crucial to safeguarding the ecosystems on which humans depend. However, forests are still being devastated, often for farming or commercial use. As trees absorb about a third of planet-warming emissions produced worldwide, stopping deforestation is key. At COP26 in Glasgow last November, world leaders plan to invest $19 billion in public and private funds to protect and restore global forests.
It’s easy to feel disheartened by the disappointing news, but the only way to stop more species suffering the same fate is to pay attention and take actions.
1. Why would the 23 species be removed from the Act?| A．Because they are less endangered. |
| B．Because they have already died out. |
| C．Because more fund is in need to protect them. |
| D．Because nothing can save them from extinction. |
| A．Take immediate actions. |
| B．Put off the conference. |
| C．Have online talks. |
| D．Improve global economy. |
| A．Abandoned. | B．Destroyed. | C．Rearranged. | D．Disturbed. |
| A．To explain why some species have disappeared. |
| B．To recommend ways to protect and restore forests. |
| C．To describe the present situation of global ecosystem. |
| D．To call for attention and action against biodiversity crisis. |
Chengdu has dozens of new millionaires, Asia’s biggest building, and fancy new hotels. But for tourists like me, pandas are its top
So it was a great honour to be invited backstage at the not-for-profit Panda Base, where ticket money helps pay for research. I
On my recent visit, I held a lively three-month-old twin that had been rejected by
7 . A leaked IPCC draft reports, “Widespread use across millions of square kilometers globally of tree-planting and bioenergy crops could have potentially serious consequences for food security and land degradation (退化).” In other words, more massive monocultures (单种栽培) and more bioenergy crops, fueled by more fertilizers, could damage the structure of the environmental soil and its capacity to absorb carbon.
Everyone knows that to help ease the increasing climate crisis, we need to plant new trees. It’s said that the earth could support an additional 9,000,000 square kilometers of forest, potentially hosting 500 billion trees capable of capturing more than 200 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide at maturity. It would be a serious help to the environment.
Bioenergy now holds a 50 percent share of the world’s renewables consumption—as much as hydro, wind, solar and all others combined. It’s good news, but not entirely. If we consider that increasing desertification and rising ocean levels will take away more arable (可耕种的) land, we arrive at a crucial “trilemma”(三难困境). Should we use our spare soil for agriculture, reforestation or bioenergy?
Such a question would make sense in a multilateral, harmonious world, not on a planet where the richest country cancels an environment-saving agreement, thus encouraging the most tropically-forested nation to set about cutting trees.
Last year, 36,000 square kilometers of forest was cut down. Wouldn’t it be better to start by stopping deforestation altogether? Animal farming takes up 77 percent of the world’s arable land and provides us with 18 percent of the calories. Shouldn’t we cut back on global meat consumption? Modern bioenergy is already available. Shouldn’t we get rid of first-generation biofuels, which are produced from food crops?
1. What’s the IPCC’s attitude to the widespread planting?| A．Ambiguous | B．Positive | C．Disapproving | D．Uncaring |
| A．Add some background information. | B．Summarize the previous paragraphs. |
| C．Provide some advice for the readers. | D．Introduce a new topic for discussion. |
| A．There is less sustainable energy for use. |
| B．No more land is available for bioenergy. |
| C．More trees are cut in the richest country. |
| D．Bioenergy can cause more climate problems. |
| A．Developing farmland as much as possible. |
| B．Planting trees to prevent global warming. |
| C．Using bioenergy to reduce environmental pollution. |
| D．Protecting present resources instead of developing new ones. |
There are certain things on the Earth that we must not lose. The great animal migration across the Serengeti Plains or the towering pyramids of Egypt are such examples. Every country is proud of
The incredible splendour of heritage sites is a
It is in heritage sites like this
9 . In the leafy Pine Barrens of southern New Jersey lies a very different kind of farm: the astonishing Funny Farm, a not-for-profit animal shelter open to the public two days a week, created by New Jersey’s own Doctor Doolittle, Laurie Zaleski.
Every animal here is a rescue — abused, abandoned, disabled — and Zaleski has healed and protected more than 600 animals over the last 20 years, from retired racehorses to raucous roosters. “We have 115 roosters,” she said.
In Zaleski’s eyes, Funny Farm is a perfect place, especially for animals. And it is the same with people. When you walk through the gates, you can feel the inner peace and harmony, because they all get along here.
As she writes in her book Funny Farm: My Unexpected Life with 600 Rescue Animals, “there are lessons here for our polarized, at-each-others-throat society, because the creatures on the Funny Farm live in harmony, no matter how different they are. It’s not quite the fairy tale of the lion lying down with the lamb, but as friendships go, this bond between Emily the emu(鹋) and a goose named Airplane (because of her wounded wings) is pretty jaw-dropping.”
Zookeepers often place orphaned babies with mothers of another species who are nursing. And when animals meet when they’re young, anything is possible. Even with an animal that’s blind, another animal may kind of turn into a seeing-eye dog and protect that animal, and show where the food is, and just be the bodyguard, be the helper.
“I think you see this in cage so often, because these animals are taken care of, they’re not competing for food and they’re not stressed. And so, they have this luxury of being able to be social with other animals,” said Zaleski.
1. What do we know about animals on the Funny Farm?| A．They need help. |
| B．They are retired. |
| C．They are funny. |
| D．They enjoy good health. |
| A．Absurd and strange. |
| B．Peaceful and harmonious. |
| C．Confident and proud. |
| D．Stressed and sympathetic. |
| A．She saved a lamb. |
| B．She dropped her jaws. |
| C．She crashed herself. |
| D．She had her wings hurt. |
| A．By fighting with each other. |
| B．By competing for food. |
| C．By socializing with each other. |
| D．By playing tricks on each other. |
10 . It was raining like nothing before when Ehdaa Bujeldain, an English teacher living with her family in the mountains of Derna in eastern Libya , heard a loud noise that sounded like an explosion (爆炸). Later they learned that a dam (大坝) in Derna had broken down under the pressure of running water. For the next four days, they had no power or internet, and it was only recently that they started to fully understand of the damage caused by the floods.
“Half of the city has been destroyed. My mom’s relatives, my friends, my coworkers ——they are all gone. Now we, the survivors, are just ghost s in shells,” says Bujeldain, whose sadness can be easily told from her blank expression.
Five days have passed since the terrible flooding in Derna, Libya’s Red Crescent organization estimated that 11,300 people have died, while the city’s mayor believes the number of deaths could be as high as 20,000.
Derna is a coastal city with a seasonal river called the Wadi Derna. Despite the abnormally heavy rain, people living near the river had little warning before the floodwaters came rushing in on that terrible morning. United Nations aid chief Martin Griffiths described the scale of the flood as “appalling” (令人惊骇的) and blamed the flood partly on sudden climate change.
Now international aid teams are arriving in Derna, but they face challenges due to damaged roads, lack of access to power, water, and fuel. Tarhoni, doctor of the rescue team, warns that the most difficult weeks lie ahead. “One disaster is done and there is another to come,” he says. “The thousands and thousands of people who lost everything these people now need comfort, they need company, they need psychological support.”
1. What do we know about Bujeldain’s family from paragraph 1?| A．The explosion they heard led to the destruction of the dam. |
| B．Bujeldain saved her family from the floods with her bravery. |
| C．Bujeldain immediately recognized the outbreak of the floods. |
| D．For several days, they didn’t fully realize the seriousness of the floods. |
| A．They run out of energy and are very tired. |
| B．They feel lucky as they are safe and sound. |
| C．They are completely saddened and shocked. |
| D．They are sorry for the loss of their homeland. |
| A．The absence of warning. | B．The extraordinary rainfall. |
| C．Unexpected climate change. | D．The damage to environment. |
| A．Addressing mental problems. |
| B．Providing immediate medical care. |
| C．Conducting climate change research. |
| D．Rebuilding roads and access to resources. |
