1 . Time is running short to address climate change, but there are possible and effective solutions on the table, according to a new UN climate report released in March.
Only swift, dramatic, and sustained emission (排放) cuts will be enough to meet the world’s climate goals, according to the new report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a body of climate experts that regularly summarize the state of this issue.
“We are walking when we should be running fast,” said Hoesung Lee, IPCC chair, in a press conference announcing the report in March. To limit warming to 1.5℃ above preindustrial levels, the target set by international climate agreements, annual greenhouse-gas emission will need to be cut by nearly half between now and 2030, according to the report. It calculates that the results from actions taken now will be clear in global temperature trends within two decades.
“We already have the technology and the know-how to get the job done,” said Inger Andersen, executive director of UN Environment Programme, during the press conference. “Stopping climate change will still be complicated, and long-term emission cuts may largely rely on technologies, like carbon dioxide removal, that are still unproven at scale. In addition to technological advances, cutting emission in industries that are difficult to transform will involve many factors.”
But in the near term, there’s a clear path forward for the emission cuts needed to put the planet on the right track. There are some of the tasks with the lowest cost and highest potential to address climate change during this decade, such as developing wind and solar power, cutting methane (甲烷) emission from fossil-fuel production and waste, protecting natural ecosystems that trap carbon, and using energy efficiently in vehicles, homes, and industries.
1. What is the author’s attitude towards tackling climate change?| A．Positive. | B．Worried. | C．Skeptical. | D．Uncertain. |
| A．It’s impossible to achieve the climate goal. |
| B．He knows how to cut emission efficiently. |
| C．The pace of global warming is speeding up. |
| D．He is dissatisfied with current emission cuts. |
| A．Policy. | B．Market. | C．Funding. | D．Technology. |
| A．Emission cutting is urgent. |
| B．Climate change is unstoppable. |
| C．Global warming is becoming complicated. |
| D．Meeting climate goals needs cooperation. |
2 . Sitting inside the Shenzhou XVI spacecraft, Gui Haichao, the first Chinese civilian on a spaceflight, together with the other two astronauts,
Born in 1986, Gui’s
Gui then pursued postdoctoral research overseas and published about 20 SCI academic papers in top international journals. After returning to China, he received Beihang’s invitation to teach
In the spring of 2018, Gui was told that China’s manned space authorities had made a decision
3 . Flora was playing with her new dog Stitch, while wearing a favourite second-hand sweater. Stitch jumped up and grabbed her sleeve-and tore several holes in it with her sharp teeth.
Flora wasn’t about to throw the item out. “I can’t bring myself to throw away nice clothing just because of a hole, ”she explains. She decided to tackle a new skill repairing. She began by reading a book called Make Do and Repair, about the innovative ways to avoid waste.
Instead of tying to make the repair as small as possible, she turned to “visible fixing, ”a fashion in repairing clothes that leaves an intentionally obvious fix. She added flowers, or other small designs to damaged clothes. “Every time you do a repair, it’s like getting a new piece of clothing, ”says Flora.
Sadly, we have been in the habit of replacing things instead of repairing them—and the garbage is piling up. Worldwide, we throw out 92 million tonnes of fabric every year.
The good news is that fixing things can help solve the waste problem. It’s part of a larger shift toward a circular economy -the idea that instead of throwing out items once they are broken or out of date, we reuse or repair them, keeping them out of the waste yard for as long as possible.
There was a time when people fixed things themselves or called their local repair shop, But as more items were produced and prices dropped, replacing even a big appliance became more convenient.
That’s changing, in part due to information now available online. The popular how-to site iFixit. com has enabled more than 100 million repairs.
“Companies have been designing products that break easily or become outdated quickly, forcing consumers to buy new ones or purchase upgrades. We’re now seeing some producers show interest in making it possible for users to repair things. Some companies are selling official parts and sharing their repair guides through iFixit. IFixit has grown into a database with over 100, 000 repair manuals. We have this vision of a world where repair is the expectation for all things that are made, ”says Chamberlain, director of iFixit.
1. Why did Flora read a book?| A．For innovation. | B．For repairing skills. |
| C．For a better life. | D．For dog-raising information. |
| A．People’s habit. | B．Repairing quality. |
| C．Fabric production. | D．Worldwide garbage. |
| A．To remove landfills. | B．To increase production. |
| C．To help exchange goods. | D．To realize resource cycle. |
| A．He expects more wiser users. |
| B．He supports purchase upgrades. |
| C．He creates the repairing database of iFixit. |
| D．He has a desire for companies and consumers. |
4 . UK summers are likely to regularly see temperatures above 40℃ even if humanity manages to limit global warming to 1.5℃, meteorologists (气象学家) have warned.
The UK is already seeing increasingly extreme weather, with 2022 the third warmest, fifth wettest and eighth sunniest year on record-the first to fall into the top 10 for all three variables. Data published in State of the UK Climate 2022 report revealed the average winter temperature for last year was 5.3℃, which is 1.6℃ higher than the 1981 to 2010 average.
That makes December 2021 to February 2022 the fifth warmest winter on record, while the average temperature last summer was 14.8℃, 0.4℃ above the 1981 to 2010 average.
Early August 2022 saw maximum temperatures hit 34℃ on six continuous days, with five “tropical nights” above 20℃, making it one of the most significant heatwaves to affect southern England in the past 60 years, the report’s authors said.
Comparing data from the Central England Temperature series, which goes back to 1772, the research found the early 21st century in this region has been 0.5℃ to 1℃ warmer than 1901 to 2000 and 0.5℃ to 1.5℃ warmer than 1801 to 1900.
Liz Bentley, chief executive of the Royal Meteorological Society, which publishes the report, said the world was already seeing extreme heat as a result of warming of 1.1℃ to 1.2℃ above pre-industrial levels.
“If you take that up by another 0.3℃, these (heatwaves) are just going to become much more intense—we’re likely to see 40℃ in the UK although we have never seen those kinds of temperatures (before),” she said.
“As we hit 1.5℃ of global warming, that’s going to not just become something that we see once or twice, it’ll start to become something that we see on a much more regular basis.” Mike Kendon, climate scientist at the Met Office and lead author of the report, said the figures indicated a new normal for the UK.
1. What does paragraph 2 intend to tell us?| A．The weather was not as wet as before. | B．The rise in temperature in winter is mild. |
| C．The weather has changed but not so serious. | D．Figures show signs of extreme weather. |
| A．Extremely hot weather appeared in southern England. |
| B．Early August 2022 had only a few days’ hot weather. |
| C．Six continuous days’ extreme weather brought little harm. |
| D．It became the wettest season in the past 60 years or so. |
| A．Periodic. | B．Normal. | C．Changeable. | D．Rare. |
| A．Extreme Weather Hit the UK | B．What Extreme Weather Looks Like |
| C．Where the Future Weather Will Go | D．What We Can Do with Extreme Weather |
The Forbidden City, also known as the Palace Museum, and Gu Gong in Chinese, lies at the city center of Beijing, and once served
The Palace Museum is becoming waste-free as the 720,000-square-meter structure has managed to reduce
While
“By launching the campaign, the Palace Museum is taking a science-based and meticulous approach to waste. The target is to minimize the generation of waste that needs
So far, approximately 3,000 museum staff members, 40,000 tourist guides, and 21 million visitors
6 . Scientists have reported that the sea ice in Antarctica (南极) is at a record low level. Antarctica is a great, icy land, surrounded (围绕) by the huge Southern Ocean. The ice in Antarctica doesn’t just cover the land. There’s also a large area of sea ice on the ocean’s surface.
Every year, the sea ice at the South Pole goes through a cycle. In the summer, the huge sea ice melts (融化) to its smallest point. Over the colder winter months, the sea ice grows and grows until it covers a wide area. Usually, the sea ice covers the greatest area around September 23, as winter ends at the South Pole.
Scientists have been measuring the area of the sea ice in Antarctica since 1979. For most of this time, Antarctica has seemed to be almost unaffected by the changing weather conditions experienced in other parts of the globe. That began to change around 2016. Now, for several years, the area of Antartica’s sea ice has been shrinking.
This year, the US National Snow and Ice Data Centre (NSIDC) reported that Antartica’s sea ice covered its greatest area on September 10 — almost two weeks earlier than normal. And the sea ice was at a new record low-not just by a little bit, but by a lot.
The last time Antartica’s low sea ice set a record at the end of winter was in 1986. And this year, there’s about 398, 000 square miles less sea ice than in 1986.
Scientists are still trying to understand what is driving the change in Antarctica. One likely direct cause for the change is the rising temperatures of the world’s oceans. Ted Scambos, a research scientist at the University of Colorado, says Antarctica’s ice levels have always changed some, but the sharp loss this year is “pointing towards warmer ocean conditions around the continent.”
The new low record has concerned the scientists. Scientists are working hard to better understand Antarctica. They don’t know yet if this is just a short-term problem, or part of a long-term shift (转变) towards less sea ice in Antarctica.
1. What does the underlined word “shrinking” mean in Paragraph 3?| A．Getting smaller. | B．Being flat. | C．Observed. | D．Measured. |
| A．To give an example. | B．To make a comparison. |
| C．To make a summary. | D．To offer an argument. |
| A．The changing weather conditions. | B．Human activities in Antarctica. |
| C．Increased volcanic activities in the area. | D．The increasing temperatures of the global oceans. |
| A．Worried. | B．Annoyed. | C．Excited. | D．Satisfied. |
7 . In the past few weeks, Richard Eckersley has noticed a change in the type of people who come into his shop. In 2017, the former Manchester United footballer set up Earth. Food. Love in Tones, Devon, with his wife, Nicola. It’s the UK’s first “zero waste” store—the food is in big jars and boxes and people bring their own containers. “A lot of new people are coming in-people who have not necessarily been interested in environmental issues before”, he says.
Recently, the government called for supermarkets to introduce plastic-free passageways. But Eckersley says many customers are already way ahead of politicians. He and Nicola have helped people set up similar stores in Wales, Birmingham, and Bristol. Ingrid Caldironi had a similar idea. She set up a plastic-free shop in London last year, which has been so popular that it is soon moving to a bigger site.
Eckersley and Caldironi are members of an anti-plastics movement in the UK that has been growing as a result of the BBC’s Blue Planet series and a general worry about the damage plastic is doing to the environment. But big supermarkets have so far not tried very hard to reduce their plastic waste. Sian Sutherland, founder of the movement “A Plastic Planet”, says, “The most exciting thing is that politicians and industry are no longer saying that recycling will solve the problem. Banning the use of plastic packaging for food and drink products is the only answer.” Walking down the passageways of the supermarket where everything from pizza to fresh fruit and vegetables is covered in plastic. Sutherland says immediate action is needed.
Plastic pollution is causing widespread global damage. More than one million plastic bottles are bought around the world every minute, and most end up in landfill or the sea. The contamination is so wide that tap water around the world also contains plastic.
1. What is special about Earth. Food. Love?| A．It gives away boxes of food. | B．It is a store without plastic bags. |
| C．It has few new customers. | D．It is the UK’s first supermarket. |
| A．Its popularity. | B．Its products. | C．Its profits. | D．Its similarity. |
| A．Pollution. | B．Acceptance. | C．Influence. | D．Application. |
| A．The impact of BBC’s Blue Planet series on anti-plastics movements. |
| B．Rising anti-plastics movement alongside increasing environmental concerns. |
| C．A guide to setting up plastic-free stores to promote recycling in the whole UK. |
| D．Richard Eckersley’s personal journey in waste reduction and pollution prevention. |
8 . The “mark test” (or “mirror test”) is a way to test animal intelligence — whether an animal can recognize itself, especially animals with large brains. A mark is put on an animal, usually in a spot that can only be seen with a mirror. Then the animal is allowed to look in a mirror. If the animal seems to pay attention to the mark, scientists believe the animal has recognized itself.
But some scientists believe the mark test doesn’t work well for all animals. Roosters (公鸡) are a good example. Scientists at the University of Bonn recently ran the mark test on roosters. They put a pinkish triangle on the chest of the roosters. But when the roosters looked in a mirror, they didn’t seem to notice the mark.
The scientists needed a different way to test whether the roosters could recognize themselves. When there’s danger — like a hawk (鹰) flying above — roosters make loud calls to warn nearby chickens. But roosters only make the cries if other chickens can hear them. If they’re alone, they remain quiet so the hawk won’t see them. The scientists realized that they could use the shadow of a hawk to test if roosters could recognize themselves in a mirror.
First, the scientists let the roosters spend time getting used to being in a closed-in space and having a mirror around. Then, they ran several tests by making a hawk shadow appear above the bird and watching how the rooster reacted.
When there was no mirror, the roosters reacted as usual. They called out when they were near another rooster, but remained quiet when they were alone. But when a rooster was in a space where it could see itself in the mirror, it wasn’t fooled into thinking there was another rooster. It remained silent despite the hawk shadow.
It proves the roosters knew they were seeing themselves in the mirror, and not other roosters. That suggests that the mark test may not be a good test of whether an animal can recognize itself.
The scientists hope their results will encourage other scientists to look for better ways of testing self-recognition in animals.
1. What is the purpose of the “mark test”?| A．To test a bird’s ability to fly. |
| B．To measure an animal’s brain size. |
| C．To see if an animal can recognize itself. |
| D．To compare different animals’ intelligence. |
| A．By testing their eyesight with a mirror. |
| B．By putting a mark on the roosters’ chest. |
| C．By placing two roosters before the mirror. |
| D．By observing their reactions to a hawk shadow, |
| A．Roosters are not intelligent animals. |
| B．The mark test is a reliable measure of self-recognition. |
| C．The mark test may not accurately determine self-recognition. |
| D．Roosters can recognize themselves better than other animals. |
| A．Conducting more experiments on roosters. |
| B．Using the mark test on other bird species. |
| C．Studying self-recognition in dolphins and elephants. |
| D．Searching for better ways to test animal intelligence. |
Autumn Equinox (秋分) lies at the midpoint of autumn,
By Autumn Equinox, most of the areas in China
In South China, there is a custom
On that day, people try to make eggs stand
10 . From 2018 to 2021, about 10 billion snow crabs (蟹) disappeared from the eastern Bering Sea off the coast of Alaska. “It’s a fishery disaster in the truest sense of the word,” says Cody Szuwalski, a fishery biologist.
Usually, as winter’s thick sea ice melts (融化), the meltwater settles on the seafloor, creating a cold-water pool with temperatures below 2° Celsius on the eastern Bering Sea shelf, which makes perfect habitat for snow crabs. But a sea heat wave in the area in 2018 and 2019 prevented the usual amount of sea ice from forming.
After a close study, Szuwalski and his colleagues have found the water temperature probably didn’t kill the crabs directly, as snow crabs in laboratories can survive in waters up to 12℃. Instead, the crabs might have died from hunger. According to the study, the food demand of snow crabs in labs almost double as water temperature rises from 0℃ to 3℃. The crab population reached historic highs in 2018 thanks to great ocean conditions for newborn crabs around 2010. As a result, the crowded crabs probably needed more food, but because of the smaller foraging (觅食) area, they had even fewer resources to sink their claws into.
“It’s just something we didn’t expect, but now we have to live with,” says Christopher Harley, an ocean scientist. Such effects of ocean heat waves are likely to go beyond snow crabs. In answer to climate change, ecosystems in northern areas of the earth, such as Alaska’s, are changing more rapidly than anywhere else. Scientists can try to help predict (预测) and prepare for changes in the future with the aid of former research. “But the future increasingly holds events that have never happened on record before, like the drop in the snow crab population,” Harley says.
1. Which of the following is suitable for snow crabs to live according to the text?| A．Quiet warm water. | B．Large water area. | C．Cold deep water. | D．Cold sea surface. |
| A．Polluted seawater. | B．Inability to fight diseases. |
| C．Change in water temperature. | D．Too little food for so many snow crabs. |
| A．To adapt to climate change. | B．To force people to reduce activities. |
| C．To avoid destruction from humans. | D．To remove environmental pollution. |
| A．It is useless. | B．It is challenging. | C．It is economical. | D．It is rewarding. |
