1. What is the weather like these days？
| A．Sunny and bright. | B．Rainy. | C．Cloudy and windy. |
| A．The day after tomorrow. | B．Tomorrow morning. | C．Tomorrow afternoon. |
| A．Summer. | B．Autumn. | C．Winter. |
| A．On a farm. | B．In a zoo. | C．In the mountains. |
4 . The number of weather-related disasters has increased by five times over the past 50 years, the latest report by the World Meteorological (气象) Organization (WMO) said on September. However, thanks to improved early warning systems and disaster management, the number of death from these hazards (危险) has been almost three times less.
According to the WMO, from 1970 to 2019, weather, climate and water hazards accounted for 50 percent of all disasters. Among the top 10 hazards that led to the largest loss of human life during this period were droughts, storms, floods and extreme temperatures. However, deaths fell from over 50, 000 in the 1970s to less than 20, 000 in the 2010s.
“Weather, climate and water extremes are increasing and will become more frequent and severe in many parts of the world as a result of climate change,” says WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas.
“That means more heat waves, drought and forest fires such as those we have observed recently in Europe and North America. We have more water vapor in the atmosphere, which is worsening extreme rainfall and deadly flooding. The warming of the oceans has affected the frequency and area of existence of the most intense tropical storms.”
“Economic losses are increasing as exposure increases. But behind the statistics lies a message of hope. Improved multi-hazard early warning systems have led to a significant reduction in deaths. Quite simply, we are better than ever before at saving lives,” Taalas said.
1. What do we know from the first paragraph?| A．Disasters connected with weather have gone up. |
| B．The number of weather-related disasters has decreased. |
| C．The number of deaths from hazards has been increasing. |
| D．Early warning systems have made disasters decline much. |
| A．There will be more extreme weather. |
| B．Extreme rainfall will no longer exist. |
| C．Water vapor in the atmosphere will go down. |
| D．Humans will defeat extreme weather in the end. |
| A．Improved warning systems will save economic losses. |
| B．Economic losses are going down as exposure increases. |
| C．More lives will be saved thanks to early warning systems. |
| D．Improved early warning systems will control extreme weather |
| A．A novel. | B．A brochure. | C．A magazine. | D．A guideline. |
5 . It is not easy to excite New Yorkers or keep them going easy on things around. This is one reason why actors and other famous people move to the city. They can live quieter lives and escape the paparazzi photographers who would follow them in Hollywood.
But New York has a new media star. And this star is not living so quietly. The star is a colorful Mandarin duck. The bird first appeared this month in a small body of water in Manhattan’s Central Park. Large crowds have gathered to see the duck. Reporters have been following its every move. The media attention on the duck has earned the name “quackarazzi” – a word combination of paparazzi and the sound a duck makes!
The duck has chosen to live in a costly part of New York -- just off Fifth Avenue, near the historic Plaza Hotel. There, hundreds of people turn up every day, hoping to see the bird show off its extremely colorful feathers. Many people like the duck because its colors are like “sunsets,” says New Yorker Joe Amato. He comes to the park nearly every day with his camera equipment. Bird lovers have been keeping record of the bird’s daily life through social media postings and videos. People have noted how effortlessly the duck moves through the water.
This week, New York’s newest celebrity seemed to enjoy its fame, showing off its wings while members of the “quackarazzi” pushed each other to get a closer look. Leesa Beckmann traveled over two hours from her home in New Jersey to see the duck. She says her 90-year-old mother has been talking all about the duck since its first appearance.
“I’ve got to see this...duck,” Beckmann told her mother. She plans to take pictures and give them to her mother.
Bird expert Paul Sweet heads a large collection of bird species at the New York-based American Museum of Natural History. He says there is nothing special about a Mandarin duck in Central Park. Central Park Zoo has its own Mandarin duck, he says. These ducks are often imported to the United States from Asia for use on private property.
“A lot of non-birders tend to see (colorful) birds as more beautiful,” Sweet said, “But to me, it’s no more beautiful than, say, a sparrow.”
1. From the passage we can know _______| A．New Yorkers are always excited about new things. |
| B．A super star is giving a performance in Manhattan’s Central Park. |
| C．Bird lovers are interested in recording the life of the new “guest”. |
| D．Everyone agrees Mandarin duck is a new species. |
| A．It’s famous in Hollywood films. |
| B．It has a beautiful color and likes to show its wings. |
| C．They can take lots of pictures and sell for money. |
| D．They are lucky and precious. |
| A．His mother will surely like the pictures of the birds. |
| B．“Quackarazzi” is a good name for the duck. |
| C．New Yorkers need to protect the new species. |
| D．Mandarin duck can be brought into America from other countries for use. |
| A．Colorful Mandarin Duck Excites New Yorkers |
| B．Come and Meet Mandarin duck in Central Park |
| C．Mandarin Duck in Central Park---A Rare Species |
| D．A Most Beautiful Bird |
6 . Across the globe, we've developed a coffee addiction, and we've become addicted to single-use cups: 600 billion disposable cups are produced and sold annually. But there's a growing push to cut this down.
Here's the problem with disposable coffee cups: The thin, waxy, plastic coating inside makes it tricky to recycle or compost them. So, they most go into a landfill （垃圾填埋场）. More than that, it takes a lot of energy and resources to make them. Starbucks and McDonald's are trying to develop a disposable coffee cup that can be both recyclable and compostable. But that's easier said than done. The coffee giants have been dangling a million dollars to anybody who can crack the code.
The Rolling Stones are also thinking about the sustainable cups. If you see the Stones in concert this summer and go to get a drink, there may be no single-use plastic cup for you. The bands approached Michael Martin, who has produced a bunch of big Earth Day concerts, asking for help to eliminate plastic waste. He came up with a simple solution.
"When you come up to get your first beverage（饮料）, you put down a $3 deposit, you get a really high-quality Rolling Stones-branded cup," says Martin. "You use it throughout the night, and at the end of the event you can turn your cup in and get your $3 back or you can keep your cup." If you return the heavier plastic cup at the end of the show, it gets washed and used again. Or recycled.
But this idea — returning and reusing a cup — this is not that complicated. So why is this just being tried now? "That's a really good question," says Martin. "In America, we're a throwaway society, and so we're hoping we'll be able to wake people up and change things." He's starting with rock concerts because artists have a pretty powerful platform. I mean, if Mick Jagger tells his fans to stop abusing the planet, who's going to say no to that?
1. Why is there a growing push to cut single-use cups down?| A．Because too many people are coffee addicts. |
| B．Because disposable cups are hard to recycle and compost. |
| C．Because it takes a lot of energy and resources to recycle them. |
| D．Because Starbucks and McDonald's are dangling a million dollars. |
| A．develop a cup. | B．set up a recycling company. |
| C．find the password. | D．tackle the problem. |
| A．People will wash the cups at the end of the show. |
| B．People hand in the cup and get 3-dollar reward. |
| C．People can own the cup by paying 3 dollars. |
| D．People must pay 3 dollars and return the cup. |
| A．Artists have a great impact. |
| B．Martin is giving a rock concert. |
| C．Mick Jagger' fans are abusing the planet. |
| D．Mick Jagger' fans never disagree with him. |
