1 . Every year the start of the Atlantic hurricane season is another reminder for Margarite August that she still doesn’t have a roof.
The 70-year-old retired teacher’s home on the small Caribbean island nation of Dominica was mostly wiped out by hurricane Maria six years ago.
Six years after hurricane Maria, Dominicans like Margarite August still haven’t been able to rehabilitate their homes.
August is not alone. Since Maria, the government of Dominica has built 7,000 new homes—about a quarter of its housing stock-with materials to fight another Category 5 hurricane. They’ve also relocated two communities. But an untold number of the island’s 70,000 or so residents are like August, rebuilding their homes in any way they can afford.
Hurricane Maria is often referred to as a once-in-a-lifetime disaster. Scientists put much of the blame on warming ocean temperatures that could make frequent (频繁的) storms like it.
Maria damaged a terrible 95% of Dominica’s housing stock and 226% of the nation’s GDP. Before the storm, the country’s economy had long struggled since its independence from Great Britain in 1978. Unlike its more famous touristy neighbors along the chain of eastern Caribbean islands it lies on, Dominica is more known for its rugged mountains and jungles (丛林) than white sandy beaches.
The jungle mountains that crash down to the coast are beautiful but disasters visit easily. “I don’t think anybody ever got over Maria,” says Christine John of the Dominica Red Cross. “There are a lot of persons today—if it just starts to rain outside, they get anxious.”
1. What does the underlined word “rehabilitate” in paragraph 3 mean?| A．Rebuild. | B．Leave. | C．Decorate. | D．Buy. |
| A．Over-farming. | B．Loss of the land. |
| C．The disappearance of the forests. | D．Climate change. |
| A．Its good economy. | B．Its architecture. |
| C．Its mountains and jungles. | D．Its sandy beaches. |
| A．They have to stay bored at home. | B．Their houses are easy to take in water. |
| C．They don’t know how to make umbrellas. | D．They are afraid of another disaster like Maria. |
Marine (海洋的) creatures have long attracted scientists. Recently, researchers described remains discovered in northeastern Spain,
Leviathanochelys swam in
Scientists found the Leviathanochelys remains near the village of Coll deNargo in Catalonia’s Alt Urgell area.
3 . Yoriko, a sheepshead fish (kobudai in Japanese), first met Arakawa nearly 30 years ago. Arakawa started
“I’d say we
On one dive when Arakawa was visiting, he noticed Yoriko’s
“I’m not sure if it’s the
It sure sounds like this is one human who’s been truly caught in a net of
| A．fishing | B．training | C．diving | D．swimming |
| A．fast-developing | B．longstanding | C．open | D．regular |
| A．understand | B．miss | C．please | D．support |
| A．enjoy | B．do | C．make | D．change |
| A．human-looking | B．good-looking | C．strange-looking | D．natural-looking |
| A．admire | B．fear | C．perceive | D．know |
| A．mouth | B．back | C．tail | D．head |
| A．eager | B．happy | C．unwilling | D．unable |
| A．Initially | B．Thankfully | C．Unexpectedly | D．Basically |
| A．return | B．recovery | C．growth | D．arrival |
| A．preference | B．gift | C．nature | D．habit |
| A．trust | B．security | C．responsibility | D．fun |
| A．cheated | B．caught | C．freed | D．saved |
| A．unashamed | B．grateful | C．proud | D．regretful |
| A．peace | B．hope | C．love | D．joy |
4 . Almost a quarter of the UK’s sea swimmers may not swim in the ocean this year because of sewage (污水) dumping by water companies, according to a poll (民意调查). Sewage was dumped into waters near England’s most celebrated beaches for nearly 8,500 hours last year. And there were 1,504 discharges (排出) in 2022 on beaches supposed to be free from such pollution.
The poll spoke to 2,272 UK adults between 21 and 23 on July. Just over 30% said they typically went sea swimming during the summer, and of these 23% said they would not this year because of sewage dumping by water companies. More than two in five of the regular beachgoers also said they were less likely to visit the British seaside this summer because of sewage discharges.
The Department for Environment says government should allow the Environment Agency to charge unlimited fines on rule-breaking water companies. Fines are currently capped (上限) at £250,000. The Department for Environment has been calling for a sewage tax on annual profits and a ban on bonuses of water company managers. “Coastal communities are at the mercy of water companies who unapologetically discharge raw sewage into popular swimming spots,” Tim Farron, the Department for Environment’s spokesperson said. “The government needs to stop letting water companies off the hook and finally ban these terrible sewage discharges and defend our tourism sector.”
A Water UK spokesperson said standards at beaches had greatly improved since the 1990s but that the industry recognized it had been slow to deal with the harm to our seas caused by sewage overflows. “Over the next seven years, water and sewerage companies plan to spend £10bn—doubling current levels of investment—on sewage treatment,” they said. “As part of this, bathing waters will be among the first to receive funding.”
1. What does the poll show?| A．Water companies dumped the most sewage into waters last year. |
| B．Many swimmers avoid the water over fears of sewage on UK beaches. |
| C．Waters near England’s most celebrated beaches are not seriously polluted. |
| D．Over two fifths of the regular beachgoers in UK are between 21 and 23. |
| A．Reducing bonuses of water company managers. |
| B．Shutting down those rule-breaking water companies. |
| C．Fining rule-breaking water companies at least £250,000. |
| D．Introducing a sewage tax on water companies’ yearly profits. |
| A．Develop slowly. | B．Improve too fast. |
| C．Free of responsibility. | D．Attract public attention. |
| A．Environment. | B．Lifestyle. | C．Fitness. | D．Business. |
5 . Humans have always been working Earth’s land, and they also have always been studying and hoping to work the land of Mars one day.
Planetary scientist Abhilash Ramachandran at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference reported that Martian dirt may have all the necessary nutrients for growing rice, one of humankind’s most important foods. However, he emphasizes that the plant may need a bit of help to survive in perchlorate (高氯酸盐), a chemical that can be harmful to plants and has been detected on the surface of Mars.
Ramachandran says they want to send humans to Mars, but they cannot take everything there, especially food. He thinks it’s going to be expensive, but growing rice there would be ideal.
Ramachandran and his colleagues grew rice plants in a Martian soil simulant (模拟物). They also grew rice in pure potting mix as well as several mixtures of the potting mix and soil simulant. All pots were watered once or twice a day. The team found rice plants did grow in the artistic dirt of Mars. However, the plants developed slighter shoots and thinner roots than the plants that grew from the potting mix and hybrid soils. The researchers also tried growing rice in soil with added perchlorate. They sourced some rice varieties—modified to stand environmental stressors like drought—and grew them in Mars-like dirt with and without perchlorate. No rice plants grew in a concentration of 3 g of perchlorate per kilogram of soil. But when the concentration was just I g per kilogram, one of the rice varieties grew both a shoot and a root, while another managed to grow a root.
The findings are encouraging, suggesting that by changing to improve with one successful modified gene, humans might eventually be able to develop a rice cultivar suitable for Mars.
1. What does Ramachandran stress about growing rice on Mars in paragraph 2?| A．The challenge. | B．The reason. | C．The benefit. | D．The purpose. |
| A．To purify the Martian air. | B．To feed Martian explorers. |
| C．To test the Martian soil simulant. | D．To improve the Martian soil environment. |
| A．Their weight ranged from 1 g to 3 g. |
| B．They stopped growing in Mars-like dirt. |
| C．They never developed roots in soil with perchlorate. |
| D．Their growth was affected by perchlorate’s concentration. |
| A．Suspicious. | B．Critical. | C．Positive. | D．Curious. |
6 . Researchers believe they have accurately estimated Antarctica’s Weddell seal population for the first time—using images from space and the eyes of citizen scientists.
Previous estimates of their population were “more back-of-the-envelope type calculations”, said Dr. Michelle LaRue, a professor of New Zealand’s University of Canterbury. “The previous research was done by traditional surveyors, but you can’t physically get to the entire Antarctic continent all at one time,” she said.
The results were “inaccurate”, so in 2016 LaRue created the first estimate of the seals’ baseline population, using satellite imagery and the keen eyes of 330,000 curious volunteers. “We combined the imagery with a web platform to conduct a citizen science campaign to find out where seals are present, their abundance, and the environmental factors that influence their habitat preferences,” LaRue said.
They discovered that, at the time the satellite images were taken in 2021, the global population was actually just 40% of the 800,000 animals previously estimated. The study, published in late 2021, estimated that there were about 202,000 sub-adult and adult female Weddell seals in Antarctica. Male seals were generally not captured in the satellite images because they were typically under the ice, guarding their territories, LaRue added.
The study also found that Weddell seals lived on about 1% of the ice and were picky about where they settled. The project relied heavily on volunteers to search the satellite images for signs of seals. Participants were given images of an area in Antarctica to scour and asked to tick a box saying if they believed they could see a seal or not. The more people to click yes, the more efficient the narrowing down of habitats became.
“The method is now being employed by other scientists to help determine the population of walrus(海象) in the Arctic,” LaRue said, “Looking at broader ecosystems and the relationships between animals and their environment was important in the long run, but to do that, it was helpful to have population guides for single species.” Once scientists have that information, they “can start adding it all together and putting together the puzzle a little bit better”.
1. What is Paragraph 2 mainly about?| A．Limitation of previous studies. | B．Significance of previous estimates. |
| C．Inspiration for LaRue’s research. | D．Difficulty in exploring the Antarctica. |
| A．Record. | B．Appreciate. |
| C．Examine. | D．Post. |
| A．a suggestion for follow-up studies. | B．supporting evidence for the research results. |
| C．an application of the research method. | D．further explanations of the research methods. |
| A．To call for more research on counting seals. |
| B．To introduce a breakthrough in seal research. |
| C．To appeal to people to protect Weddell seals. |
| D．To discuss the involvement of citizen scientists. |
7 . Leo and Max Ordoñez came roaring into the wooded park and soon they’re climbing up towering Douglas firs trees. The twins are joined by Leon Schwarcz, also 6, whose father, Joel, called out encouragement and kept a watchful eye on the young climbers.
Joel Schwarcz had a vision of turning the woods into a home for a treetop adventure park featuring platforms, bridges, and balancing. “My favorite thing is watching people come and look at the trees and go, ‘they maybe feel a little scared, but they’ll try it out and go just a little ways up and then come down and just go a little higher and higher each time, seeing people’s confidence grow as they are here for the hour and climbing.” he said.
Park guests get a safety belt and instructions and soon are to climb up one of four routes: The Brothers, Mount Whitney, Mount Olympus and Mount Rainier. Green bands on the trees mark out 20 feet, reds mark 30 feet and yellows mark 40 feet. Climbers can choose a difficulty level by sticking to certain color holds.
“I live here in Kingston,” he said, “and we’ve got a lot of great outdoor spaces but not a lot of opportunities for people to get out there and try something new without personally having the skill, so I wanted to bring something where people could just come on their own, and we give you the safety belt and instructions and then you’re free to play in the park.”
Schwarcz recommends that kids at a minimum of 5 years old, but the only set limits for the climbing systems are for weight. He notes that he has hosted both a 3-year-old climber and a 77-year-old climber at the park so far. “It’s a great activity for all ages.” he said.
He added, “No matter how high they get, it doesn’t really matter if you don’t make it to the yellow bands, just seeing people grow has been really the most rewarding part of starting this. It’s been super fun.”
1. What does Joel Schwarcz hope to provide with the treetop adventure park?| A．A place for people to try new outdoor activities. |
| B．A challenging climbing experience for children. |
| C．A place for people to learn climbing skills. |
| D．An opportunity for people to explore the woods. |
| A．To mark different climbing routes for climbers. |
| B．To indicate the height of different fir trees. |
| C．To tell the difficulty level of climbing routes. |
| D．To guide climbers to the top of the fir trees. |
| A．Only experienced and cautious climbers. | B．Only the children over the age of five. |
| C．Anyone, regardless of age or skill level. | D．Only those who meet the weight limits. |
| A．Considerable. | B．Indifferent. | C．Ambitious. | D．Demanding. |
8 . Western Australia may soon be home to the world’s tallest wooden building, after authorities plans for a 191.2-meter-tall tower constructed using mass wood. Perth’s Metro Inner-South Joint Development Assessment Panel (JDAP) approved the developer Grange Development’s proposal for the tall building.
The tall building, currently named the C6 building, would stand nearly twice as high as the current record holder. The developers say 42% of the building will be constructed from wood, with the columns and core made of concrete (混凝土). If completed, the high-rise will go beyond the current world’s tallest wooden building, the Ascent tower in Wisconsin, America, which stands at 25 stories or 86 meters. The structure, located in South Perth, Australia, will also be taller than the coming wood Atlassian Headquarters in Sydney, which is expected to claim the record from Ascent but is yet to be completed.
Like Atlassian Headquarters, the C6 building will combine wood beams (横梁) with a steel supporting structure to support the whole structure. According to Grange Development, the 50-story building will contain more than 200 apartments.
It will be Western Australia’s first carbon-negative residential building. Grange Development’s director, James Dibble, said, “Our desire with the building is to shift the focus towards a more climate-conscious approach.” The building will use 7,400 cubic meters of wood harvested from 600 trees. “We can’t grow concrete,” Dibble said, calling the plan “a new open sourced blueprint that uses construction methods to balance out the CO2 within our built environment, which is the single biggest trigger to climate issues”. “This is our opportunity to show that we genuinely care about the climate crisis we are doing very little about as an industry,” he added.
Philip Oldfield, head of the University of New South Wales’ School of Built Environment, said, “Typically we build tall buildings out of steel and concrete, Concrete is responsible for 8% of all CO release. So by replacing concrete and steel with a biological material such as wood, it is going to reduce the environmental impact of the building quite significantly.”
1. Where will the second tallest wooden building appear?| A．In South Perth, Australia. | B．In Sydney, Australia. |
| C．In New South Wales, Australia. | D．In Wisconsin, America. |
| A．Relief. | B．Limit. | C．Improvement. | D．Contributor. |
| A．Low-carbon. | B．High-risk. | C．Material-saving. | D．Energy-wasting. |
| A．The tallest wooden building has been all done in Australia |
| B．The tallest wooden building causes environmental worries |
| C．The tallest wooden building highlights more than its height |
| D．The tallest wooden building fits well the climate in Australia |
9 . Wildlife conservation is the practice of protecting plant and animal species and their habitats. As part of the world’s ecosystems, wildlife provides balance and stability to nature’s processes. Wildlife conservation is aimed to ensure the survival of these species and educate people on living sustainably with other species.
The number of people has grown to more than eight billion today, and it continues to rapidly grow. The economic growth endangers the habitats and existence of various types of wildlife around the world, particularly animals and plants that may be displaced for land development, or used for food or other human purposes. This threat is at top of the list and means natural resources are being consumed faster than ever by the billions of people on the planet. The introduction of invasive species from other parts of the world is another threat to wildlife. Other threats include climate change, pollution, fishing and hunting.
International organizations like the World Wildlife Fund, Conservation International, Wildlife Conservation Society and the United Nations work to support global animal and habitat conservation on many different fronts. They work with the government to establish and protect public lands, like national parks and wildlife protection areas. They help write legislation(法规), such as the Endangered Species Act(ESA)of 1973 in the United States, to protect various species. They work with law enforcement to charge those with wildlife crimes. They also promote biodiversity to support the growing human population while preserving existing species and habitats.
National Geographic Explorers, like conservation biologists Camille Coudrat and Titus Adhola, are working to slow the extinction of global species and protect global biodiversity and habitats. Environmental filmmakers and photographers, like Thomas P. Peschak, are essential to conservation efforts as well, documenting and bringing attention to endangered wildlife all over the world.
1. Which is a goal of wildlife conservation according to the text?| A．To stop introducing invasive species. | B．To encourage harmonious coexistence. |
| C．To control the number of world people. | D．To increase the use of natural resources. |
| A．Hunting. | B．Human activity. | C．Pollution. | D．Climate change. |
| A．The activities of protection areas. |
| B．The importance of biodiversity promotion. |
| C．The relevant efforts of international organizations. |
| D．The great impact of wildlife crimes on ecosystems. |
| A．The necessity of legislation. |
| B．The wildlife conservation’s achievements. |
| C．The individuals’ contributions to the environment. |
| D．The statistics about the wildlife conservation efforts. |
July 2023 was the world’s warmest month on record, with heat waves spreading across North America, Asia and Europe. How to cool the planet
According to Euro news, a European television news network, one idea
However, following the report,
