1 . Recent research confirms what our farming ancestors have known for centuries about hedges (树篱). They conserve precious soil by acting as windbreaks and absorbing rainwater that would otherwise wash it from the fields. And hedges store carbon, putting them in the front line of our bi d to tackle the climate crisis.
However, hedges have had a tough time in the poor countryside, with farmers encouraged to tear them down in pursuit of maximum production and larger field s to accommodate ever-larger machinery. What’s more, some hedges have been ignored. If left to their own devices, they’ll eventually become a line of trees. Some hedges each year lose their structures and fail to fulfil the primary duty as a barrier. Around a half of the nation’s hedges have disappeared in the past century.
There are signs that “the tide is turning”. The search for net zero has aroused many organizations’ interest in the humble hedge’s role as a carbon sink. The Climate Change Committee is recommending a 40 percent increase in hedges: an additional 200,000 km. Such recommendations are starting to drive policy. Cash-pressed farmers will be encouraged to create new hedges and improve their management of existing ones under the new Environmental Land Management Schemes, which will replace many of the existing agricultural support payments in coming years. Meanwhile, initiatives such as Close the Gap, led by the Tree Council, is providing funding and support to plug the gaps in existing hedges with new planting. There’s even an app to help time-pressed farmers do a quick survey to spot where their hedges need some help.
This is a good time for hedges. Take some of the most pressing challenges facing the countryside, and indeed, the world as a whole — the climate crisis, soil erosion (侵蚀), insect attack and wider biodiversity loss — and hedges are part of the solution.
1. What does recent research show about hedges?| A．They are unique landscapes in the rain. |
| B．They act as dividing lines between fields. |
| C．They have long been helpful to agriculture. |
| D．They are frequently washed away from the fields. |
| A．Their suffering. | B．Their production. |
| C．Their duties. | D．Their structures. |
| A．Puzzled. | B．Concerned. | C．Humble. | D．Indifferent. |
| A．Hedges: Ancient Resources |
| B．Hedges: Official Recommendations |
| C．Restoring Hedges: Bringing Benefits to the Environment |
| D．Researching Hedges: Originating from Farmers’ Request |
2 . The natural world provides humans with essential services. For instance, forests channel water into rivers that irrigate crops while their roots prevent landslides. Over decades, therefore, governments have made promises about preserving the world’s biodiversity.
However, those promises have been broken many times, which has caused the depressing destruction of natural environments. One step towards avoiding yet more disappointment is to emphasize the close link between preserving biodiversity and the widely held goal of reaching net-zero carbon emissions. Unfortunately, less known is the link between them.
Given that biodiversity has an important role in meeting these carbon-reduction goals, you might think it would feature highly in the net- emissions plans. Not so. For example, faced with tighter regulation of emissions, many companies are now channeling more time and cash to their firms’ carbon footprints reduction and energy transition, yet the plans have too little to say about biodiversity.
That needs to change. Sale guarding biodiversity is an efficient way to control carbon emissions. Companies and investment firms should pay more attention to the opportunities from preserving ecosystems. By investing in biodiversity—directing capital to projects that repair an ecosystem—companies can offset (抵消) their emissions. By some estimates, projects to manage carbon-rich wetlands and to reforest cleared and could provide more than one-third of the emissions reductions that are needed to prevent more than 2°C of global warming.
Key to managing more capital is better measurement so that the link between investment in natural projects, biodiversity and carbon is made clear. Today some so-called carbon-offset projects that involve firms paying money to are questionable and not supported by evidence. Better guidelines and practice can help and so can new technology. Drones and satellites can improve the measurement of biodiversity and accounting systems can measure how spending on biodiversity compares with pouring cash into other kinds of carbon management.
1. What do we know about biodiversity?| A．Its importance is undervalued. | B．Its link with carbon emissions is clear. |
| C．It is the source of carbon dioxide. | D．I gets promised benefits from governments. |
| A．To clarify a rule. | B．To make a conclusion. |
| C．To explain a plan. | D．To support an opinion. |
| A．Rebuilding wetlands. | B．Redirecting capital. |
| C．Cutting carbon emissions. | D．Transforming energy. |
| A．The natural world deserves more investment. |
| B．The key to managing capital is new regulations. |
| C．It is hard to achieve net-zero carbon emissions. |
| D．It is worthwhile spending money on clean energy. |
3 . It is 8:30 a.m. at the Chengdu Research Base. Panda keepers are preparing milk for the baby pandas’ breakfast. At 9:00 a.m., they find that most of the babies are already awake and
Scientists say there are now fewer than 2,000 pandas living in the forests.
An education program in Chengdu teaches children about pandas and other
| A．angry | B．hungry | C．scary | D．satisfactory |
| A．excitement | B．amazement | C．puzzlement | D．embarrassment |
| A．fall back | B．fall away | C．fall behind | D．fall over |
| A．Finally | B．Nevertheless | C．Actually | D．Therefore |
| A．boring | B．popular | C．pitiful | D．careful |
| A．more | B．part | C．all | D．Another |
| A．many | B．any | C．some | D．few |
| A．die for | B．die away | C．die from | D．die down |
| A．producing | B．wasting | C．growing | D．eating |
| A．cut down | B．cut up | C．cut in | D．cut back |
| A．solve | B．cause | C．find | D．forget |
| A．more | B．fewer | C．no | D．stronger |
| A．injured | B．homeless | C．poor | D．endangered |
| A．killing | B．seizing | C．saving | D．enjoying |
| A．understand | B．break | C．change | D．overlook |
4 . The panda is one of the animals most in danger. There are about 2，000 pandas living in the forests today. Zoos and research centers look after about 300 pandas. Scientists are studying how they live and more baby pandas are born in the zoos.
Pandas live in the forests and mountains of Southwest China. They mainly live on bamboo, and each panda needs to eat a lot of bamboo every day. The area of bamboo is becoming smaller for many different reasons, so pandas have less and less land to live on. Pandas don’t have many babies, and baby pandas often die. The situation is becoming very serious.
Our government is working hard to save pandas. There are more than 30 nature reserves to protect pandas but these are not enough. The government has made a new plan to help pandas. The nature reserves will be bigger and the bamboo will grow better. Then the pandas will have enough food to eat and enough places to live in. Pandas born in the zoos may go back to live in the nature reserves.
Most people love pandas. The panda is one of the bestknown animals in the world. It is the symbol of the World Wide Fund for Nature. The WWF works to protect all animals in danger, so the panda has become the symbol of all animals in danger. There is still a long way to go to save the panda. Think of other animals in danger such as tigers, whales, turtles and elephants—we need to save the panda, and we need to save them, too.
1. Paragraph 2 is mainly about .| A．why pandas are in danger | B．why baby pandas often die |
| C．how to protect all animals | D．how to plant more bamboo |
| A．to build more zoos | B．to send more scientists |
| C．to make bigger nature reserves | D．to ask the WWF to work in China |
| A．The tiger | B．The panda | C．The elephant | D．The whale |
| A．two | B．three | C．four | D．Five |
German-born pandas arrive in Chengdu
Four-year-old panda twins Meng Xiang and Meng Yuan, the first giant pandas born in Germany, arrived in Chengdu, Sichuan province, on December 17, the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding said.
After a farewell ceremony at Zoo Berlin earlier this month
Born on Aug 31, 2019, the panda twins had their fourth birthday this summer. In 2017, the twins' parents Meng Meng and Jiao Qing
The zoo also launched a campaign
1. What does Li Ruxue usually do in his spare time?
| A．Do some research in a forest. |
| B．Volunteer in a zoo with his classmates. |
| C．Conduct experiments in the school lab. |
| A．He’s quite tired. | B．He’s very satisfied. | C．He’s rather regretful. |
| A．Li Ruxue. | B．Her father. | C．Her teachers. |
| A．To introduce environmental organizations. |
| B．To show the importance of protecting animals. |
| C．To encourage people to get involved in animal protection. |
7 . Getting rid of(丢弃) old tyres(轮胎) has long been a problem. Every year many tyres are thrown. Some of the ways might be better than getting rid of them, but they are not especially green.
Energy recovery(回收利用) is one common way. This includes burning tyres to produce electricity, or as a way to provide heat for other industrial processes. But that produces planet-warming pollution. Tyres can be whole or broken in construction projects, such as repairing roads. There are, however, worries about chemicals from the tyres coming out and polluting the ground.
So some companies have begun exploring another pleasing idea. Since tyres are mostly made from hydrocarbons(碳氢化合物), it should be possible in principle to turn old tyres into environmentally friendly materials which can be used to run some cars they came from. One of the most thoughtful companies is based in Oslo, Norway. Later this year the company will start building a huge tyre-reused factory in Sunderland in northeastern England. In a couple of years, when the factory is fully operational, it will be able to turn 8 million old tyres into new products.
The process works by dividing a tyre into its three main parts. One is steel, which is used to support the structure of a tyre and which can be easily reused. The second is powder used to improve the continuous use of the tyre. The third is rubber. Some of that will be natural rubber from the rubber trees. The carbon black can be reused to make new tyres. That is of interest to tyre makers because it helps efforts to become carbon neutral(碳中和).
1. What is the disadvantage of energy recovery of tyres mentioned in the text?| A．It is unpractical. | B．It produces pollution. |
| C．It costs a lot. | D．It produces less electricity. |
| A．By giving an example. | B．By making questions. |
| C．By following time order. | D．By comparing differences. |
| A．Costly. | B．Useful. | C．Dangerous. | D．Short-lived. |
| A．Tyres can be divided into three parts |
| B．A company built a tyre-reused factory |
| C．Energy recovery can deal with old tyres |
| D．Old tyres can become environmentally friendly materials |
8 . A team of psychologists led by Dr. Karen McComb at the University of Sussex in the UK have discovered an effective way for humans to communicate with cats through slow blinking (眨眼睛), similar to how cats interact with each other.
Dr. McComb and her team conducted two experiments to study this phenomenon. In the first study, owners were instructed by researchers Tasmin Humphrey and Andrew Wood to slowly blink at their cats from a distance while being recorded. Humphrey and Wood found the cats were more likely to respond with slow blinking of their own compared to when no interaction took place.
To follow up on these findings, McComb, Humphrey, and Wood designed a second experiment without considering the exsisting relationship between humans and cats. Researchers, including McComb, performed the same slow blinking action. Like in the first experiment, the cats in this study also responded more favorably to slow blinking by returning the gesture and more readily approaching an extended hand, according to Humphrey’s analysis.
The slow blink expression involves partially closing the eyes briefly, copying a relaxed, friendly facial expression in humans. McComb notes that for cats, it appears to signal good intentions as constant staring could be seen as threatening. Wood says that cats may have developed this language to acknowledge humans who react positively to the signal. Being able to effectively communicate acceptance in this subtle cat way seems to strengthen the bond between cats and their owners, McComb adds.
McComb, Humphrey and Wood hope their findings can provide insight into cat behavior and thinking. They also aim to apply this knowledge of cross-species communication to evaluate cat health in various places like veterinary (兽医的) clinics and shelters, according to Humphrey. A deeper understanding of how cats interpret and respond to humans can improve our ability to properly care for household and outdoor cat populations, McComb concludes.
1. How was the second experiment different from the first one?| A．It recorded the interactive behavior of cats. |
| B．It required cat owners to blink from a distance. |
| C．It studied how cats communicate with each other. |
| D．It focused on how cats react to strangers’ slow blinking. |
| A．To attract their owners’ attention. |
| B．To show friendliness to other animals. |
| C．To respond to humans’ positive reactions. |
| D．To send out a signal for help to their partners. |
| A．Improving cat behavior and habits. |
| B．Assessing health conditions of cats. |
| C．Developing ways to treat cats’ diseases. |
| D．Helping cat owners train their cats quickly. |
| A．Humans can communicate with cats by blinking slowly. |
| B．Extending hands to cats can strengthen the bond with them. |
| C．Cats respond favorably to humans’ friendly facial expressions. |
| D．Understanding cat signals improves humans’ ability to care for them. |
9 . Dr. Tijana Blanusa, the principal scientist of the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), has a passion for both science and the well-being of children. When she stood at the gate of her children’s school, an idea flashed her mind: What if there are more hedges (树篱) in playgrounds? Therefore, she decided to start a project to find out the best species of hedge to plant in urban areas.
Dr. Blanusa’s inspiration for this research came from a personal realization. As a parent herself, she noticed that her own children had very limited access to nature in their urban state primary school. “We’ve looked at hedges because they’re cheap, people can relate to them, and they can do some good things for relatively little money in the urban environment in terms of improving air quality, and maybe reducing noise.”
About 90 pupils of 10 years old will be involved in the experiment. A mix of hedges were planted bordering the roadside in the school playground at Hoe Valley school, Working. Then a weather station was set up where the pupils can take measurements of the leaf surface’s ability to influence soil moisture (水分) and the temperatures around the hedge. Then they will take more measurements as time goes on.
The children will be involved in learning more about the role of plants in improving air quality and summertime cooling through hands-on science classes in school, led by the science team. They will get an insight into what working as a scientist involves—planning and taking measurements on the hedge and from the soil, and then analyzing collected data. Results will be available in late spring.
Blanusa hopes that the project can be rolled out across the country, and the RHS is figuring out how to do that. “We really want to make it as easy as practically possible for other schools to do it. But because you are working with living things, they need looking after and that needs to be a person on site who knows how to do it.”
1. What is the main aim of the project?| A．To reduce urban noise levels. | B．To increase hedges in schoolyards. |
| C．To identify best hedge species for cities. | D．To boost green spaces in public schools. |
| A．Air Pollution out of school. | B．Kids’ lack of nature access. |
| C．School principal’s request. | D．Hedge education for kids. |
| A．Experience on science team. | B．Hedge planting without soil. |
| C．Country-wide project rollout. | D．Hands-on work as a scientist. |
| A．Extra labor cost. | B．A tight budget. | C．Strict regulations. | D．Limited hedge species. |
10 . The best thing that has happened in Florida, since the beginning of July is that the electricity department has kept functioning. It is reported that daily maximum temperature is above 43℃. It is not just the United States, where 100 million people are under heat-warning notices, that is suffering. There is currently a series of such heat waves around the world. Temperatures exceed 40°C from Madrid to Cairo, where suffering power is unavailable. In Beijing July 18thsaw a 23-year-old record broken by a 27th consecutive day with a maximum temperature above35℃, which means people hadn’t even enjoyed one cool day during that period. By increasing the possibility of a wide range of extreme events, global warming also increases the chances that they will come in waves.
There are things to do as soon as the mercury (水银柱) rises. Get homeless people to cooling stations; encourage people to look in on elderly neighbors, the weak citizens and especially women over 80, who dominate the excess deaths associated with heatwaves; make it possible for those who must work outside to do so early in the morning;put hospitals on an emergency footing.
There are also things to be done in advance. It is crucial to work out where the people at greatest risk live. One thing that can help is deciding where to plant trees, which both provide shade and,as water evaporates through their leaves, cool the air. There are smart choices to be made about the built environment, from the best sort of pavement and courtyards designed for passive cooling to the popularity of white roofs. There are building codes to update so as to make those choices easier, as well as regulations to change so that workers are not endangered by midday heat.
All these measures are easier to take when a city has resources to devote to them. In the developing world, where a lack of air conditioning makes heat all the more deadly, such resources are scarce. What is needed for leaders is to take the issue seriously and for local politicians is to see cooling plans as a way to compete for votes. Unfortunately, such a strategy works best in places where voters have already felt the consequences of failing to act. Some studies re-veal that many places are at increasing risk of vicious heatwaves but have yet to experience one particularly troubling. Florida at least knows what to expect—and what it will have to go on expecting for decades to come.
1. Where is this text probably taken from?| A．A textbook. |
| B．A news report. |
| C．An academic article. |
| D．A geography magazine. |
| A．To introduce the topic. |
| B．To draw people’s attention. |
| C．To give examples of heatwaves. |
| D．To compare the heat of different places. |
| A．Planting trees in proper places. |
| B．Making rules relative to heat controlling. |
| C．Taking care of the old and the fragile. |
| D．Encouraging outdoor staff to work flexibly. |
| A．Dealing with the issue of heat is complicated. |
| B．Politicians struggle to tackle the issue of heat. |
| C．Many places haven’t sustained the severest heatwaves. |
| D．A certain strategy operates best in the developing world. |
