1 . Going for a picnic is a good experience to be in nature, but it’s terrible to have a picnic that will do harm to the environment. Here are some ways to keep your picnic green.
Use reusable plates and cups. You don’t need to wash disposable (—次性的) plates and cups because they pollute the environment. It’s greener and cheaper to bring metal plates and cups from home. After the picnic, you can take them home and wash them.
Try to buy food from local farmers’ markets. In general, if you bring less food for your picnic, you’ll create less pollution.
Try to have an all-vegetarian picnic. Modern production of meat uses lots of energy and creates lots of pollution.
Instead of driving, ride a bike or walk to the park. If the park you want to visit is too far from your home, you can take public transportation like buses or subways.
After your picnic, remember to pick up all your trash. Try to keep the picnic area clean. If possible, try not to create any trash at all and reuse whatever you can.
1. It’s ________ to have a picnic that will do harm to the environment.| A．good | B．useful | C．bad | D．possible |
| A．Three. | B．Four. | C．Five. | D．Six. |
| A．Because they are very hard. |
| B．Because we can bring them home to reuse them after washing them. |
| C．Because they are cheap. |
| D．Because they look nice. |
| A．buy the food from the big shop in the city |
| B．buy the food from local farmers’ markets |
| C．buy the food from the supermarket near your house |
| D．buy the food from the restaurants in the city |
2 . Insect numbers have plunged (骤降) by half in some parts of the world due to climate change and intensive agriculture, a study has found. The combined pressures of global heating and farming are driving a “substantial decline” of insects across the globe, according to UK researchers. They say we must acknowledge the threats we pose to insects, before some species are lost forever. But preserving habitat for nature could help ensure vital insects thrive.
Lead researcher, Dr Charlie Outhwaite of UCL, said losing insect populations could be harmful not only to the natural environment, but to “human health and food security, particularly with losses of pollinators(传粉昆虫)”. “Our findings highlight the urgency of actions to preserve natural habitats, slow the expansion of high-intensity agriculture, and cut emissions to mitigate climate change,” she added.
Plummeting populations of insects around the world — a so-called “insect apocalypse” — have caused widespread concern. However, scientific data gives a mixed picture, with some types of insects showing sharp declines, while others are staying steady. In the latest study, the researchers pulled together data on the range and number of nearly 20,000 insect species, including bees, ants, butterflies, grasshoppers and dragonflies, at about 6,000 different locations. In areas with high-intensity agriculture and substantial warming, insect numbers have plunged by 49% and the number of different species by 27%, compared with relatively untouched places that have so far avoided the most severe impacts of climate change, according to the research published in Nature.
But the researchers said there was some cause for hope in that setting aside areas of land for nature created a shelter for insects, which need shade to survive in hot weather. “Careful management of agricultural areas, such as preserving natural habitats near farmland, may help to ensure that vital insects can still thrive,” said Dr. Tim Newbold, also of UCL.
Study researcher, Peter MeCann, added: “We need to acknowledge how important insects are for the environment as a whole, and for human health and wellbeing, in order to address the threats we pose to them before many species are lost forever.”
1. What caused the number of insects to decrease quickly?| A．The natural law of survival of the fittest. | B．Improvement of human environment. |
| C．Global heating and farming. | D．Destruction of the food chain of insects. |
| A．release | B．stop | C．relieve | D．prevent |
| A．Not all types of insects show decline in numbers. |
| B．The number of insects in untouched places shows the most severe decline. |
| C．There is no need to set aside areas of land for nature. |
| D．Careful management of agriculture areas can help all the insects thrive. |
| A．To stress the effect of global warming. |
| B．To arouse people’s concern for the decline of insect numbers. |
| C．To show the relationship between insects and human beings. |
| D．To present the process of the research. |
3 . My name is Maggie and I am a big red maple tree in the center of Central Park in New York. Every part of me is
One day, I see a big storm
Hours later, when the storm
| A．calmly | B．perfectly | C．randomly | D．similarly |
| A．debate | B．hesitate | C．stop | D．wait |
| A．comments | B．names | C．noises | D．trees |
| A．choosing | B．exploring | C．heading | D．seeking |
| A．angry | B．anxious | C．doubtful | D．wonderful |
| A．accident | B．danger | C．intention | D．thought |
| A．blows up | B．dies down | C．draws near | D．moves in |
| A．if | B．how | C．why | D．when |
| A．decide | B．move | C．stand | D．refuse |
| A．makes out | B．goes through | C．turns to | D．tears off |
| A．attack | B．disappoint | C．prevent | D．bother |
| A．foolish | B．friendly | C．public | D．voluntary |
| A．feeding | B．observing | C．sheltering | D．recognizing |
| A．appearance | B．decision | C．impression | D．identity |
| A．warning | B．promise | C．reminder | D．wish |
4 . The world’s most famous tire (轮胎) graveyard (坟地) of 42 million tires in the sands of Kuwait is finally being cleaned up and recycled. This news in itself would be a major relief to locals who have to suffer from the clouds of black smoke arising during fires. But the government isn’t stopping there. They are aiming to create a green city of 25,000 homes in line with a post-oil Persian Gulf, with a focus on sustainability and tourism.
The first step is to clear the ground. The Salmiya area, nicknamed “Rubber (橡胶) Mountain”, is formed from hundreds of small mountains of spent tires — a reaction from the one million cars which were added to Kuwait’s roads over the decade.
EPSCO Global General Trading recycling company has opened a recycling plant for the tires, where they’ve been collected, sorted, cut up, and pressed into other materials like rubbery coloured flooring tiles (铺地砖). The plant opened in January of 2021, and can recycle up to 3 million tires a year. The recycled material is then exported out to nearby gulf neighbours and Asia. In the place of the tires will be South Saad Al-Abdullah City, a green city characterizing a new era in the Middle-Eastern country.
Spent tires are a major environmental problem worldwide due to the room they take up and the chemicals they can release.
“We have moved from a difficult stage that was characterized by great environmental risk,” says Oil Minister Mohammed al-Fares. “Today the area is becoming clean and all tires are being removed to begin the launch of the project of Saad Al-Abdullah city.”
Expected to cost €3.3 billion and require 30 years to complete, the city hopes to feature green technology, probably like the kind one can see in other cities on the Persian Gulf, both existing and not. Saudi Arabia is planning to build a zero-emissions, car-less future city that’s centered around access to big data rather than water or crops.
1. Why is the Salmiya area called “Rubber Mountain”?| A．It is rich in rubber. | B．It has too many waste tires. |
| C．It used to be a mountain. | D．It has been a tradition. |
| A．A recycling company. | B．The purpose for removing tires. |
| C．How to build a green city. | D．What is done with the spent tires. |
| A．To make a prediction. | B．To explain an idea. | C．To present a fact. | D．To analyze a cause. |
| A．The Transformation of a Huge Landfill | B．Spent Tires, a Big Threat to the Environment |
| C．The Salmiya Area’s Measures to Kick Pollution | D．Kuwait Tire Mountain to Be into a Green City |
5 . Tropical cyclones(热带气旋), including hurricanes and typhoons, are now moving at a slower speed than they did decades ago, new research shows.
While having a cyclone travel with less speed may seem like a good thing, it’s actually just the opposite. Wind speeds within the storm remain high, but the whole system itself moves slower, allowing punishing rains to stay longer over communities. “Nothing good comes out of a slowing storm,” says James Kossin, author of the paper. “It can increase the amount of time that buildings suffered from strong wind. And it increases rainfall.”
In his paper, Kossin showed that from 1949 to 2016, tropical cyclones across the globe slowed their movement by 10 percent on average. In some regions (地区), the speed of those storms slowed even more as they hit land. In the western North Pacific, the decrease was much more manifest—almost a third. That means a storm that may already hold more moisture (水分)will have time to drop more of it in each spot.
Kossin’s work was based on details of almost 70 years’ worth of storms, but he didn’t try to determine what was causing the slowdown. Still, the change is exactly what he and other cyclone experts said, which would be expected from climate change. With the polar regions warming faster than other parts of the globe, that is changing the pressure and reducing the winds that push these storms.
Christina Patricola, a scientist, called Kossin’s work important and new and said she found it reliable. “I was not surprised by his findings,” she says. “But I was surprised by the speed of the slowdown.”
Kossin hopes that scientists will begin building models that show which places are likely to face the most risk. Given that storms in some regions are moving towards polar regions and already increasing in intensity(强度), cyclones causing unusually powerful rain may threaten places not normally in their paths. Scientists must take action to make those places suffer less from the disasters.
1. Why is the decrease in cyclones’ speed a bad thing?| A．It leads the cyclones to move faster on the ground. |
| B．It causes the cyclones to have higher wind speed outside. |
| C．It makes hard rains and strong wind last longer in one place. |
| D．It results in more typhoons taking place in some communities. |
| A．Obvious. | B．Satisfying. | C．Confusing. | D．Impossible. |
| A．Climate change in the polar regions is under control. |
| B．Scientists find it hard to understand the slower cyclones. |
| C．Scientists should do further experiments in polar regions. |
| D．Climate change may be the cause of the slowdown of the cyclones. |
| A．To find out the normal paths of serious cyclones. |
| B．To prove the speed of the cyclones can be controlled. |
| C．To reduce the damage from cyclones to possible areas. |
| D．To call on scientists to focus on the danger of climate change. |
The Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA) said a large atlas moth (皇蛾)
The department said
Atlas moths are native
“This is an
“We hope residents will help us learn if this was a one-off escapee or whether there might be a population in the area,” the department said.
The Palace Museum is becoming waste-free as the 720,000-square-meter structure has managed to reduce the number of trash bins to 110 sets in areas open to the public. This is
While
According to China News, so far, four types of trash bins
The museum also recycled more than 32,000 plastic bottles
By launching the campaign, the Palace Museum is taking a careful, science-based way to waste. The target is to minimize the production of waste that needs to be buried or burned
Up to now, about 3,000 museum staff members, 40 000 tourist
8 . 阅读下面短文，在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。
Plant lovers believe that talking to plants helps them grow. Scientists have discovered there could be real
The research
9 . In some places, people collect honey from wild bees. This is common in many parts of the world, especially South Asia. Honey hunting is a local tradition in southern India but it is not an undemanding job. The bees in southern India can grow up to the size of the smallest adult human finger. And these giant honeybees build their hives (蜂窝) on the sides of mountains!
It takes many years for a honey hunter to learn to collect honey from these hives. From a young age the honey hunter learns everything about bees. He practices climbing hundreds of meters above the ground. Before the honey season, the honey hunter prepares for many days.
When the day of the honey hunt season arrives, the honey hunter goes to the edge of the mountain early in the morning. He climbs down with a rope and lights some dry branches on fire. The smoke makes the bees leave the hive. With the bees flying around the honey hunter, he uses a long sharp stick to gently get pieces of the wax (蜜蜡) filled with honey. He then takes them back to the village in a box made of bamboo.
Usually the hunter takes some honey and leaves some of the hive on the mountainside. He does not take the part of the hive with the baby bees in it since he does not want to destroy the home of the bees. When the honey hunter returns, the village celebrates!
“They have been hunting honey in this way for more than 2,000 years. Honey was and still is an important part of their diet, cooking and medicine,” Simone Gie from the organization Slow Food International, said.
1. According to the passage, honey hunting ________.| A．has a short history | B．needs careful preparation |
| C．makes some villages rich | D．is often done by a young man |
| A．Bamboo. | B．Branches. | C．A rope. | D．A stick. |
| A．How to protect baby bees. | B．The importance of honey. |
| C．The new use for honey. | D．How honey is hunted. |
| A．Honey hunters | B．The honey season |
| C．Bees in South India | D．Honey hunting celebrations |
10 . Here are this year’s four scientific discoveries that could lead to new inventions.
Discovery 1—To survive in the ocean, some animals hide themselves from the light, hoping not to be found by a predator (捕食者). However, their eyes reflect (反射) light, creating shine that can give away their location. Some tiny crustaceans (甲壳类动物) have developed a way around this disadvantage. Their eyes are covered with a sheet of special glass that effectively matches their eyeshine to the color of surrounding water. In this way, they become invisible (看不见的). This discovery might help researchers improve relative technologies in remote sensing and communications.
Discovery 2—Brown bears seldom suffer from blood clots (血栓). To find out how they do it, scientists tracked down brown bears in Sweden. They discovered one protein (蛋白质) in brown bears showed a significant seasonal change. The discovery could provide ways for preventive treatment for cancer patients and those likely to develop blood clots.
Discovery 3—Asp caterpillar venom (毛虫毒液) contains an unusual protein. When it reaches the outer surface of a cell (细胞), this protein makes a hole through the cell wall. By researching such nature, engineers could develop medicine delivery ways to get drugs (药物) inside cells where they need to work.
Discovery 4—This year, scientists found two special proteins in bowhead whales. The proteins called CIRBP and RPA2 play a role in DNA repair, making the animals unlikely to develop cancers. As a scientist says, we probably have the solution to cancer medicine out there in nature already.
1. What can we know about the tiny crustaceans?| A．Their eyes reflect light and create shine. | B．They can carefully hide themselves. |
| C．Their eyes do not shine while reflecting light. | D．They are easily found by their predators. |
| A．Discovery 1. | B．Discovery 2. | C．Discovery 3. | D．Discovery 4. |
| A．They provide an inspiration for new ideas or ways of doing things. |
| B．They might bring about a breakthrough in communication. |
| C．They are all good for environmental protection. |
| D．They are all concerned with endangered animals. |
