1 . Since the 1920s, a little-known policy called parking minimums has shaped many Americans’ life. In major cities, this meant that any type of building needed to reserve a certain number of parking spaces to accommodate anyone who might visit.
But as the country attempts to cut carbon emissions (排放), we should rethink what transportation and public space look like, especially in cities. Earlier this month, the city of Austin, Texas, became the latest community to undo parking minimums.
“If we want half of all trips to be in something other than a car, then we can’t, as a city, in my opinion, demand that every home or business have at least one parking space for each resident or customer,” said Zohaib Qadri, the Austin city council member who introduced the measure. Reducing dependency on cars was a huge push for the initiative in Austin. Qadri hopes the measure also will lead to a more sustainable city.
The undoing of this law could pave the way for cities to build denser (密集的) housing, increase public transit options, and reduce their carbon emissions, according to Donald Shoup, an engineer and professor. “It isn’t just the housing crisis and climate change; it’s a traffic jam; it’s local air pollution; it’s the high price of everything—except parking,” said Shoup.
Climate change and air pollution are particularly costly outcomes, with both estimated to cost the US billions of dollars every year. Parking spots, meanwhile, can run in the tens of thousands of dollars to construct, with one estimate putting that figure at almost $30, 000 per spot.
But undoing parking minimums does not mean that all parking will disappear overnight. It means that any off-street parking built will not need to meet any minimum standard.
“Austin is the same city that it was two weeks ago,” said Shoup. “It’s going to take quite a while for that city to really get the benefits of their parking space reforms. And so it just removes a roadblock and a barrier to other reforms.”
1. Why was parking minimums policy deserted in Austin?| A．To make room for green belts. | B．To help tackle climate problems. |
| C．To respond to residents’ demand. | D．To ease the heavy traffic. |
| A．Parking space provides convenience. |
| B．Cars are used for half of people’s trips. |
| C．Each home needs more than one parking space. |
| D．Reducing parking space can reduce dependency on cars. |
| A．Supportive. | B．Concerned. | C．Doubtful. | D．Disappointed. |
| A．The Harm of Climate Change | B．The Origin of Parking Minimums |
| C．The Reason for Too Many Emissions | D．A Possible Way to Fight Climate Change |
1. What makes potted roses easier to plant?
| A．Lower nutrition requirement. |
| B．Stronger cold resistance. |
| C．Better root development. |
| A．They need less soil. |
| B．They are easier to transport. |
| C．Their planting time is fixed. |
| A．Damp condition. | B．Heavy sunshine. | C．Continuous watering. |
| A．Types of roses. | B．Ways of rose packing. | C．Tips on rose growing. |
3 . New research links outdoor air pollution — even at levels considered safe — to an increased risk of diabetes (糖尿病) globally, according to a study from the VA St. Louis Health Care System. The findings raise the possibility that reducing pollution may lead to a drop in diabetes cases in heavily polluted countries such as India and less polluted ones such as the United States.
Diabetes is one of the fastest growing diseases, affecting more than 500 million people worldwide. The main drivers of diabetes include eating an unhealthy diet, having a sedentary lifestyle and obesity, but the new research indicates the extent to which outdoor air pollution plays a role.
“Our research shows a significant link between air pollution and diabetes globally,” said Ziyad Al-Aly, MD, the study’s senior author and an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Washington. “We found an increased risk, even at low levels of air pollution currently considered safe by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the World Health Organization (WHO). This is important because many industry lobbying (游说) groups argue that current levels are too stringent and should be relaxed. Evidence shows that current levels are still not sufficiently safe and need to be tightened.”
While growing evidence has suggested a link between air pollution and diabetes, researchers have not attempted to quantify that burden until now. “Over the past two decades, there have been bits of research about diabetes and pollution,” said Al-Aly. “We wanted to thread together the pieces for a broader, more solid understanding.”
The researchers also found that the overall risk of pollution-related diabetes tilted (倾斜) more toward lower-income countries such as India that lack the resources for environmental mitigation systems and clean-air policies. For instance, poverty-stricken countries facing a higher diabetes-pollution risk include Afghanistan, Papua New Guinea and Guyana, while richer countries such as France, Finland and Iceland experience a lower risk. The US experiences a medium risk of pollution-related diabetes.
1. What does the underlined word “stringent” in paragraph 3 mean?| A．Strict. | B．Slight. |
| C．Bright. | D．Ordinary. |
| A．To identify the causes of diabetes. |
| B．To make better air pollution control policies. |
| C．To lead the study of diabetes and air pollution. |
| D．To figure out the link between pollution and diabetes. |
| A．India. | B．Finland. |
| C．The US. | D．Guyana. |
| A．Current pollution control levels need to be tightened |
| B．Diabetes is one of the fastest growing diseases globally |
| C．Air pollution contributes significantly to diabetes globally |
| D．Poverty-stricken countries face a higher diabetes-pollution risk |
4 . The fishermen of Senegal have joined forces to protect one of the ocean’s most endangered species — the sea turtle, a classic case of “poacher turned gamekeeper”.
The coastal waters of Senegal in West Africa are home to several species of sea turtles which are all beautiful creatures but are affected by pollution, poaching and even fishing nets.
“Once we were the biggest eaters of turtles, now we have become their biggest protectors,” said Abdou Karim Sall, a fisherman who led the Management Committee for the Marine Protected Are (MPA) of Joal-Fadiouth.
The Joal-Fadiouth MPA, covering about 174 square kilometers, was founded in 2004, and it’s backed by the government, local authorities and several associations. It is an area aimed at protecting marine ecosystem, habitats and species, including endangered species like the sea turtle. Its benefits are obvious: maintaining biodiversity, increasing fish catches on fishing grounds, as well as economic development.
For a long time, Sall has been working to raise local awareness of sea turtle protection. “Even former turtle sellers have been ‘changed’ by receiving three small boats to take tourists to sea,” he said. Instead of strict restrictions, the Joal-Fadiouth MPA has been trying to educate local communities about the economic benefits so that they would join the project. “It’s after they are told: ‘It’s an endangered species’,” Sall said.
Local residents have also set out to protect the nests. During summer and fall, a few dozen turtles may stop to lay eggs on the beaches of Joal-Fadiouth. MPA agents and village volunteers protest their nests with fences. “People come at 6 a. m. so that other animals do not take the young.” said Sall.
Sall added the number of turtles had decreased by about 30% in the past 20 years, and chances of survival of a young turtle were no higher than one in a thousand. But the fisherman-conservator agreed, “Awareness has not worked 100%.”
1. What do the underlined words “poacher turned gamekeeper” in Paragraph 1 probably refer to?| A．A person beginning to hunt animals illegally. |
| B．A person switching from a hunter to a protector. |
| C．A person changing completely from good to bad. |
| D．A person continuing to protect endangered species. |
| A．Building more nests for turtles to lay eggs. |
| B．Publicizing the economic benefits of the project. |
| C．Placing strict restrictions to educate the communities. |
| D．Providing different means of transportation for turtle sellers. |
| A．The measures the MPA will take in the future. |
| B．The argument about the Marine Protected Area. |
| C．The danger sea turtles still face from fishermen. |
| D．The benefits brought by the Marine Protected Area. |
| A．Fishermen of Senegal have joined together to protect sea turtles. |
| B．Sea turtles in Senegal are endangered because of human activities. |
| C．The situation of sea turtles in Senegal has been improves significantly. |
| D．The Marine Protected Area has played an important role in protecting sea turtles. |
1. Where is Newcastle?
| A．On the River Tyne. | B．On the Thames. | C．In the north of England. |
| A．One. | B．Five. | C．Ten. |
| A．Shipbuilding. | B．Coal-mining. | C．Chemical and soap industries. |
| A．Because of the special name. |
| B．Because of the wide and beautiful countryside. |
| C．Because of the wild and nice countryside with hills and streams. |
6 . Earlier in the year we decided to build a garden in the heart of the village. We
While we were
So, I looked around to
Last weekend, before we set out to plant our sunflowers, we received an unexpected
All problems were
We were just about to leave for the day, when my friend came with some daisies (雏菊).What a surprise! These daisies aren’t on our plan, but if the garden says that they’ll go well there, then who am I to argue?
1.| A．boosted | B．attained | C．made | D．assumed |
| A．Therefore | B．However | C．Furthermore | D．Instead |
| A．take effect | B．come true | C．go easy | D．make sense |
| A．seed | B．space | C．time | D．money |
| A．turned | B．figured | C．worked | D．broke |
| A．puzzled | B．delighted | C．frightened | D．worried |
| A．compose | B．clarify | C．channel | D．cover |
| A．answer | B．price | C．problem | D．core |
| A．meant | B．said | C．hoped | D．thought |
| A．beaten | B．lifted | C．watered | D．burned |
| A．purchase | B．design | C．borrow | D．hire |
| A．suggested | B．ordered | C．required | D．guaranteed |
| A．fancied | B．managed | C．stopped | D．rejected |
| A．security | B．guidance | C．kindness | D．treatment |
| A．charged | B．donated | C．lent | D．awarded |
| A．potential | B．goal | C．conclusion | D．wallet |
| A．avoid | B．involve | C．help | D．remember |
| A．analyzed | B．resolved | C．discussed | D．released |
| A．relatives | B．commanders | C．couples | D．volunteers |
| A．fond | B．afraid | C．tired | D．ashamed |
Mount Fuji seems to be losing its World Heritage status and becoming the victim of over-tourism. The scenic spot was listed as a world heritage site in 2013.
A local official told reporters that: “Fuji is faced
8 . Having grown up in northern Arizona with the immortal Grand Canyon and the iron red plateaus of Sedona in my backyard, I believed that the southwestern state is home to the most beautiful landscapes on the planet. Towering mountain titans, a cozy valley and an infinite blue sky promised fantastic potential for exploration. For me, no newly discovered sights or foreign landscapes can compare with its beauty.
That is, until I was invited to explore Guizhou province by the China Storyteller Partnerships Tour. Had someone vividly described how beautiful Guizhou can be in poetic detail, they would not have done it exactly. There is no substitute for seeing with one’s own eyes. I will attempt to do so.
During my trip around the city of Xingyi, in Guizhou, I saw the artwork of the Bouyei ethnic group. They use dyes produced from local plants to make clothing of striking blues and greens. Local elders still practice weaving with artful wooden machines and pass that tradition on to their grandchildren.
My father used to drag my brothers and me on yearly fishing trips around Arizona. We would compete to catch the largest fish, and in the mornings, Dad would cook us a basic breakfast of bacon, eggs, and toast. I sat in a small boat in the middle of the lake, with fishing pole moving slowly in my impatient hands, and held my bored tongue while my father attempted to share with me the whispers of the wind, a fish dancing on the surface of the lake or the majesty of a hawk hunting for prey overhead. On my trip to Guizhou I had the opportunity to paddle on Wanfeng lake. At one point I rested, floating at the center of the lake, listening to the spaces between silence and taking in the surrounding karst (喀斯特) mountains. I thought about my childhood, and wished I had listened more closely to my father while fishing.
I’ve lived away from Arizona for 10 long years, carving my own destiny in China. I’ve managed to build myself a family, a career, a livelihood, and various projects. I feel as though I have everything that I need. For a moment, in Guizhou, I felt home.
1. What do we know about the author’s hometown?| A．Situated in the north of US, it is home to Grand Canyon. |
| B．It has varied landscapes, ranging from plateau to valley. |
| C．Apparently, there’s no comparison in terms of beauty. |
| D．The author spent his childhood and adulthood in his hometown. |
| A．Experience. | B．Replacement. |
| C．Objection. | D．Agreement. |
| A．To express his regret not listening to his father attentively. |
| B．To recall the most unforgettable experience with his family. |
| C．To compare the trip on Wangfeng lake with his former fishing trips. |
| D．To suggest that his trip in Guizhou takes him back to his childhood. |
| A．Inevitable. | B．Favorable. |
| C．Demanding. | D．Astonishing. |
9 . Plants do not suffer in silence when thirsty or stressed, according to a new study published today in Cell.
Plants that need water or have recently had their branches cut produce up to roughly 35 sounds per hour, the authors found. But well-watered and uncut plants are much quieter, making only about one sound per hour.
The reason why you have probably never heard a thirsty plant make noises is that the sounds are so high-pitched that very few humans could hear them. Some animals, however, probably can. Bats, mice and moths could possibly live in a world filled with the sounds of plants, and previous work by the same team has found that plants respond to sounds made by animals, too.
To overhear plants, Lilach Hadany at Tel-Aviv University in Israel and her colleagues placed tobacco and tomato plants in small boxes provided with microphones. The microphones picked up any noises made by the plants, even if the researchers couldn’t hear them. The noises were particularly obvious for plants that were stressed by a lack of water or recent cutting.
Plants do not have vocal cords (声带) or lungs. Hadany says the current theory for how plants make noises centers on their xylem (木质部) that transport water and nutrients from their roots to their branches and leaves. Water in the xylem is held together by surface tension, just like water moving through a drinking straw. If an air bubble (气泡) forms or breaks in the xylem, it might make a little popping noise; bubble formation is more likely during dry seasons. But the exact system requires further study, Hadany says.
The team produced a machine-learning model to check whether a plant had been cut or was water-stressed from the sounds it made, with about 70% accuracy. This result suggests a possible role for the audio monitoring of plants in farming and gardening.
To test the practicality of this approach, the team tried recording plants in a greenhouse. Pilot studies by the authors suggest that tomato and tobacco plants are not exception. Wheat, corn and wine grapes also make noises when they are thirsty.
1. What is the new research mainly about?| A．Plants can react to animals. | B．Plants can produce sounds. |
| C．Well-watered plants keep silent. | D．Branchless plants need watering. |
| A．They can create more bubbles. | B．They can feel less stressed. |
| C．They require less nutrient supply. | D．The y need lungs to breathe more. |
| A．Fruit growing. | B．Crop selection. |
| C．Water source protection. | D．Noise pollution test. |
| A．How Plants Are Thirsty | B．When Nature Expresses Itself |
| C．How Plants Cry for Their Needs | D．When Creatures Hear Each Other |
10 . It’s sometimes a challenge for scientists to explain clearly just how widely certain ecosystems in some certain areas around the world are being threatened. There’s nothing fuzzy about the term “extinction vortex (旋涡)”, however. That’s what one of the world’s most important forests Brazil’s Atlantic Forest — is now being called. Since colonization (殖民地化) in the 16th century, the forest has been reduced from over 1.1 million square kilometers to 0.143 million square kilometers. Now a new judgement of the variety of creatures in this place has reached some equally shocking results. More than half of the subtropical forest’s local mammal (哺乳动物) species have been wiped out.
“These habitats are now often severely incomplete, limited to not enough large forest remains, and trapped in an open-ended extinction vortex. This has never been recorded in both history and pre-history and can be directly the result of human activity,” said Carlos Peres, a biologist.
The study found that top meat-eating animals, like jaguars and pumas, were the most destructed. But when you’re talking about this great ecological destruction, everything takes a hit.
Researchers compared large and medium-sized mammals in the forest from the past 30 years. Basic records came from those taken when the area was first colonized by Europeans in the 16th century. This was a place that left European naturalists in surprise when it was first discovered, with its greenness and with the amount of creature diversity.
The health of the forest’s mammals is seen as an important sign because mammals are most helpful in helping plants spread their seeds, and also in controlling animal populations.
“The mammal diversity of the once grand Atlantic Forest has been largely reduced to a pale shadow of its former self,” said Peres.
1. What does the underlined word “fuzzy” in the first paragraph mean?| A．Valuable. | B．Unclear. | C．Doubtful. | D．Impossible. |
| A．Because it is ever colonized by Europeans. |
| B．Because it is home to large forest mammals. |
| C．Because it is continually being destroyed. |
| D．Because it is reduced to a small forest in area. |
| A．By measuring the area of the forest. | B．By surveying the plant diversity. |
| C．By counting the creatures in the forest. | D．By judging the recordings of mammals. |
| A．The decrease in Brazilian rainforests. | B．The future of the forest’s mammals. |
| C．The variety of creatures in forests. | D．The ecosystems around the world. |
