1 . Germany’s top court (法院) has ruled that parts of the country’s 2019 climate action law must be changed because they don’t do a good job of protecting young people. Nine young people aged 15 to 24 took the government to court over the law. They said that the government’s failure to plan carefully was putting their future lives in danger.
The judges (法官) of Germany’s highest court said climate change will influence young people far more than adults. That’s because climate change will become more serious over time. As young people become adults, they’ll be left to deal with any problems that today’s adults don’t deal with.
In 2019, Germany passed a new law, promising that the country would be producing no more CO2 than the forest can take in by 2050. The law made a plan of action until 2030. But the law didn’t have any plans for climate actions that would be taken between 2031 and 2050.
The court has asked the German government to fix the law by the end of 2022. The climate law will now need to have a plan for the actions that will be taken after 2030.
The German government has said that it will quickly begin working to make the needed changes. One important part of high court decisions like this is that they act as guides or examples for future decisions. This means that in the future, Germany’s lawmakers will be more likely to think about the climate future of young people as they create their laws.
1. Why did the judges make such a decision?A.They decided the new law made no sense. |
B.They wanted to give the young more rights. |
C.They focused more on the future of the young. |
D.They thought it’s hard to solve climate change. |
A.It failed to take action before 2030. |
B.It was producing more and more CO2. |
C.It refused to consider the young’s rights. |
D.It didn’t plan the climate actions after 2030. |
A.It will make more decisions on climate change. |
B.It will ask the young to help make climate laws. |
C.It will consider the young when making climate laws. |
D.It will encourage the young to protect the environment. |
A.They were brave and forward-looking enough. |
B.They couldn’t bear the present climate change. |
C.They wanted to take part in law-making. |
D.They planned to work in the government. |
1. What did researchers study in two tests?
A.The way of seagulls’ stealing food. |
B.The effects of staring at seagulls. |
C.The different food thieves. |
A.They flew away immediately. |
B.They stood still and looked at the food. |
C.They made an attempt to steal food. |
A.They snatched food violently. |
B.They stole food secretly. |
C.They attacked people aggressively. |
A.By feeding them first. | B.By setting a big trap. | C.By staring at them. |
位置:伦敦市中心。
旅游价值:著名的旅游景点;是文化,音乐和艺术的中心。
特色:中国传统古建筑;吸引人的中餐馆,菜品丰富多样;招牌上有英文和中文
交通:交通便利,大概步行 15 分钟就可以把整个唐人街游览一遍。
人口:来自于不同的国家。
Welcome to BBC Learning English. I am Sun Chen, the host of today’s programme In this programme, we will take you around London’s Chinatown.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________So until next time, it’s goodbye from both of us at BBC Learning English.
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.
5 . My kitchen may be the best kitchen on the planet. That is because when I look out of its window can see the west side of Grandeur Peak. Grandeur Peak is one of the most attractive mountains in central Wasatch, with its animals, trees, morning clouds, evening sunset, and the mountain’s paragliders (滑翔伞运动员).
The number of paragliders flying above Grandeur Peak has grown over the past 15 years, so much so that they have become part of the mountain. But during the past year they have largely disappeared. Some paragliders told me that the wind became too strong to fly in. The wind is too strong! Is this another character of our changing climate (气候)? Will paragliding be a sport affected by a warming planet? Utah has been much windier in the past few years. For me, a scientist who studies living things, it is easy to believe that our future will be windier. This year it’s getting super-hot, and the planet is warming faster than scientists expected. I can’t help but worry that the future of paragliding in Utah is not bright.
I’m writing to the brave people who fly from Grandeur Peak with beautiful wings. I want you to join Clean The Dam Air, a group that’ s working hard to fight climate change and air pollution — I’m part of it too. We are introducing a measure, which aims to remove the state sales tax (税) on grocery store food and put a carbon tax on fossil fuels (化石燃料) in its place: gas, electricity produced from fossil fuels, and natural gas. The goal isn’t to make taxes higher. The idea is to encourage everyone to reduce their use of fossil fuels. So, paragliders, join us. Now is the time to take care of our planet. If we succeed, then Utah can be an example to others in fighting climate change.
1. Why does the author mention his kitchen?A.To share his love of cooking dishes. |
B.To bring back his memories of paragliding. |
C.To introduce Grandeur Peak’s paragliding. |
D.To describe his adventures around Grandeur Peak. |
A.The author saw less paragliding. | B.Few people visited Grandeur Peak. |
C.Air pollution became serious in Utah. | D.Strong winds stopped people going outside. |
A.Uncaring. | B.Supportive. | C.Positive. | D.Worried. |
A.Buy those foods that are taxed less. |
B.Reduce flying with wings in Grandeur Peak. |
C.Join him to support a program about taxing. |
D.Join a group to improve their paragliding skills. |
6 . Species (物种) can actually go extinct (灭绝的) more than once. In a biological sense, species become extinct when the last animal of a species stops breathing. But when the species disappears from our shared memory and cultural knowledge, it becomes extinct in a different way — society (与社会有关的) extinction.
The researchers looked at dozens of previous studies to look into how societal extinction happens, finding out contributing factors such as symbolic or cultural importance, how long ago a species was last alive, and how much of a connection it had to humans.
Societal extinction usually but not always happens after biological extinction. Sometimes, both extinctions can happen at the same time, depending on how well and widely known a particular species is.
Most species — such as those far removed from culture, or those too small to be noticed except through a microscope (显微镜) — never have a societal presence to begin with. Meanwhile, for other species, the societal presence can break with reality after a biological extinction.
“Species can remain widely known after they become extinct, or even become more popular,” says conservation biologist Uri Roll. “However, our awareness and memory of such species gradually becomes transformed, and often becomes incorrect, or disassociated from the actual species.”
Take the Spix’s macaw(金刚鹦鹉) for example, currently extinct in the wild: A 2013 conservation report from Brazil surveyed 242 children from the bird’s former habitat, and almost all of them incorrectly believed the species originated from Rio de Janeiro, because of its appearance in the 2011 cartoon movie Rio.
Finally, the researchers found various links between societal extinction and a lack of support for biodiversity protection. So, ifs important to keep the memories and the records of extinct species in order to realize what’s been lost.
1. When does a species most probably become societal extinct?A.When it has difficulty in breathing. |
B.When it faces some biological changes. |
C.When it disappears unexpectedly in nature. |
D.When it no longer exists in our memory and culture. |
A.Relationship with humans. | B.Average length of life. |
C.Biological importance. | D.Shape of the body. |
A.They are not big enough to be seen. |
B.They are closely linked to a specific culture. |
C.They are in the process of societal extinction. |
D.They are cleared away from scientific studies. |
A.To draw a conclusion. | B.To prove an opinion. |
C.To introduce a topic. | D.To make a prediction. |
7 . The green and red watermelon is a sweet, refreshing summer snack. But it wasn’t always so sugary or brightly colored. So what did watermelons originally taste and look like, and from where did they come?
The fruit isn’t from the Fertile Crescent of ancient Mesopotamia, as so many other domesticated (家养的) crops are, research shows. Susanne Renner, a scientist, and her colleagues carried out comprehensive genetic sequencing (基因测序) of the domesticated watermelons — the kind you might find on supermarket shelves — along with six wild watermelon species.
“We found the modern genomes (基因组) of the domesticated watermelon are more closely related to the Sudanese wild type than any other that we analyzed,” she said. The Sudanese wild watermelon has some obvious differences from the domesticated version. “The flesh is white and not very sweet, and it’s mainly used as animal feed,” Renner said. Nevertheless, the genetic similarity between the two species led the researchers to conclude that the Sudanese fruit is probably a precursor (前身) to the red and sweet domesticated watermelon.
It’s likely that ancient farmers grew non-bitter varieties of the wild watermelon and thus increased its sweetness over many generations through the domestication process. The red color is probably also thanks to artificial selection, in which farmers likely favored and selectively bred red fruit.
We already knew that the ancient Egyptian king Tutankhamun was buried with watermelon seeds 3,300 years ago, yet that isn’t sufficient proof of a domesticated, sweet watermelon. But then, Renner found an image of a watermelon-like fruit on an ancient Egyptian tomb painting, thought to be more than 4,300 years old. In a separate tomb, another image showed the watermelon cut up in a dish alongside other sweet fruits. This realization, coupled with Renner’s genetic findings, suggests that the watermelon was most likely domesticated around that time either in Egypt or within trading distance of the ancient empire.
“Historically speaking, that’s a very significant finding,” said Hanno Schaefer, a professor of plant biodiversity. “It’s becoming clearer that we’ve greatly neglected the North African region. We’ve focused too much on the Fertile Crescent and we need to invest more resources into studying the agriculture of North Africa.”
1. What can we learn about the Sudanese wild watermelon?A.It is brightly colored and sugary. |
B.It is consumed mainly by animals. |
C.It has no connection with the domesticated type. |
D.It has more differences than similarities to the domesticated type. |
A.More resources will be devoted to agriculture research in South Africa. |
B.The domesticated watermelon has a history of at least four thousand years. |
C.The domesticated watermelon probably developed from the Sudanese type. |
D.Few domesticated crops are from the Fertile Crescent of ancient Mesopotamia. |
A.The history of the Sudanese wild watermelon. |
B.Where wild watermelons actually come from. |
C.The characteristics of domesticated watermelons. |
D.How domesticated watermelons came into being. |
A.Favorable. | B.Doubtful. | C.Critical. | D.Tolerant. |
8 . 阅读以下短文,在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。
The Travels of Xu Xiake is a travel note
This book is the first work to systematically investigate China’s geomorphology (水文地质学) and geology (地理学). In addition, the beautiful words also make it a masterpiece of literature,
The fresh and beautiful writing style used to describe things in The Travels of Xu Xiake
The historical value of The Travels of Xu Xiake covers a wide range
From these rich
The day of the first chapter of The Travels of Xu Xiake (May 19) is
Brian sat on his front doorstep. He really wanted a new bike. Joe had just gotten one for his birthday, and Tyler’s was only about a year old. Brian had had his for five years. The seat was up as high as it could go, and his legs were still too long for his bike. Brian wanted a bike just like Joe’s and Tyler’s. Their bikes were perfect for popping wheels and cruising over bumps. If only he had 110 dollars. All he could come up with was 33.67 dollars. Where could he get the rest of the money he needed?
Brian thought and thought. His birthday was still five months away, and he was too young to mow lawns. What could he do to get the money? Maybe his dad would advance his allowance for the next few months. He got three dollars every Friday if he did all of his chores. His dad had agreed to do this once before, when Brian needed an extra six dollars. Maybe his sister would loan him the money. She had a lot of money saved up from baby-sitting. Baby-sitting! That was it! Brian could baby-sit. Oops! Wait a minute. No one would hi re Brian to baby-sit. He still was not allowed to stay home by himself yet. What could he do to get the money? Brian sat and thought.
注意:1.续写词数应为150 词左右;
2.请按如下格式答题。
Paragraph 1:
Just then, the phone rang.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Paragraph 2:
After chasing Fifi through three different yards, Brian finally got Mrs. Timmons’ dog.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________10 . “When one door closes,” the saying goes, “another door opens.” For one
A dog named Sheldon took part in a program to
But the very thing that made him a failure as a service dog meant he was likely
In his first
For a dog with a super sense of smell, we guess whether you’re tailing bad guys or hunting for a job, it’s always best to follow your
A.old | B.special | C.lucky | D.sick |
A.help | B.visit | C.teach | D.become |
A.difference | B.mistake | C.grade | D.change |
A.find | B.taste | C.smell | D.hear |
A.hunt down | B.return to | C.learn about | D.depend on |
A.sorry | B.perfect | C.famous | D.responsible |
A.in the front of | B.at the bottom of | C.in the middle of | D.at the top of |
A.Playing with | B.Paired with | C.Agreeing with | D.Faced with |
A.graduation | B.recovery | C.birth | D.death |
A.course | B.race | C.case | D.program |
A.sold | B.built | C.stolen | D.burnt |
A.confusing | B.interesting | C.clear | D.important |
A.sleep | B.work | C.flight | D.risk |
A.fear | B.choice | C.difficulty | D.experience |
A.nose | B.head | C.plan | D.dream |