1 . Directions: After reading the passage below, fill in the blanks to make the passage coherent and grammatically correct. For the blanks with a given word, fill in each blank with the proper form of the given word; for the other blanks, use one word that best fits each blank.

What Lies Beneath

“EARTH” has always been an odd choice of name for the third planet from the Sun. After all, an alien examining it     1     a telescope would note that two thirds of its surface is covered not by earth at all, but by oceans of water.

Marine biologists think the oceans might host more than 2m species of marine animals, of which they     2     (record) perhaps only a tenth so far. A new initiative hopes to change this.     3     (launch) in London on April 27th, Ocean Census aims to discover 100,000 new species of marine animal over the coming decade.

The initiative is happening now for two reasons. One is that, the longer scientists wait, the less there will be to catalogue. Climate change is heating the oceans, as well as making them more acidic. One of Ocean Census’s priorities will be cataloguing species thought to be in     4     (great) danger from climate change. Otherwise, the risk is of the forest burning down and not knowing     5     was there before it was lost.

The second reason is technological. Marine biologists find about 2,000 new species a year, a rate hardly changed since Darwin’s day. Ocean Census is betting that it     6     go faster. “Cyber taxonomy”, for instance, involves     7     (feed) DNA sequences from animals into computers,     8     can quickly decide whether it is a new species. The ability to describe new creatures, as well as simply cataloguing them, has also improved. Fancy cameras on remote-operated vehicles, for instance,     9     (allow) scientists to make laser scans of deep-sea creatures such as jellyfish without removing them from their habitat. Just as the immense pressures of the deep sea are fatal for humans, so taking such a jellyfish to the surface for examination is a dangerous move     10     it may be reduced to gooey slime (粘稠的黏液).

2 . Directions: Complete the following passage by using the words in the box. Each word can only be used once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A. categorise B. creation C. good D. innovative E. maximum F. packed G. pedestrianise H. processing I. shape J. short-lived K. transformation

All Change in Curitiba!

Like many other major world cities, Curitiba in southern Brazil has had to deal with issues such as pollution, poverty, and limited public funding. However, the architect and three-times mayor of the city, Jaime Lerner, has introduced some     1     solutions.

As part of his ‘Master Plan’, Lerner hoped to make the city more environmentally friendly. He initiated a recycling scheme. In return for delivering recyclable rubbish to specified     2     points, residents receive a bag of vegetables or bus tickets. As a result, Curitiba now has one of the highest recycling rates in the world. Lerner also ordered the     3     of 26 urban parks. As well as preventing pollution, these control flooding.

Lerner did not win over all the city’s residents immediately, however. When his plans to     4     part of the centre were passed, local businesses were up in arms, fearing a reduction in profits. Realising he needed to act quickly, Lerner had the     5     of six blocks completed within three days. When a group of motorists attempted to drive through the new pedestrian area, Lerner arranged for local primary schools to hold a painting workshop on the streets. The drivers were forced to turn back. Luckily for Lerner, this rebellion was     6    . The increase in profit rapidly persuaded shop owners to change their minds.

Lerner’s determination helped     7     the Curitiba of today. The average income per capita has risen from a level that was below the Brazilian average in the 1970s to 66% above the average, and surveys indicate high levels of resident satisfaction.

So, is it all just one big success story? In some respects, Curitiba may have been too successful for its own    8    . People and businesses have come to the city, which now has more than 1.8 million residents. This has put the city under enormous stress. Forty years ago, buses transported 54,000 passengers a day. Now the number is 2.3 million. According to some experts, the transport system has reached its     9     efficiency capacity. Following a rise in complaints about the noisy and     10     buses, the service is in decline.

3 . In Mumbai, there’s the ceaseless clamor of car homes as drivers edge through traffic. There’s pounding and buzzing from the construction of office towers and apartment blocks. Drumbeats and trumpet melodies spill out from weddings and countless festivals. And it’s all topped off by bellowing (大声吼叫的) street vendors and garbage trucks blasting Bollywood songs. Living in Mumbai requires a huge ______ for noise.

When Sumaira Abdulali began campaigning against noise pollution in India’s financial capital two decades ago, friends, acquaintances and even her lawyers insisted it was ______ . “People told me it’s foolish to even try, because Indians love noise,” she says. “We’re a noisy country.”

But in 2003, Abdulali won a lawsuit seeking to ______ environmental rules that had allowed loud music late into the night during a festival. ______ , the victory led to a ban on loudspeakers within 100 meters of schools, hospitals, courts and places of worship. And she has since won more than a dozen other actions both on her own and via the Awaaz Foundation (awaaz means “noise” in Hindi), which she launched in 2006.

The World Health Organization warns that noise is a top threat to human ______ , affecting not only hearing but also sleep, brain development and cardiovascular health. Abdulali claims Mumbai is the world’s ______ city. A study led by Ritesh Vijay, an expert from India’s National Environmental Engineering Research Institute, did find that noise levels in Mumbai and surrounding areas in 2020 dramatically exceed legal limits.

In recent years, the battle against noise has become increasingly ______ , with Abdulali often facing powerful interests who consider it an inevitable byproduct of growth. With increasing ______ , ever more people are exposed to continuous noise. In a rapidly expanding city such as Mumbai, with a population topping 12 million, demand for housing puts noise rules ______ development plans. Although sound barriers are required for construction projects, they’re expensive, so developers ______ installing them.

Traffic is a tougher problem. Noise on the road can reach 110 decibels (分贝) — a level that can lead to permanent hearing damage after just 15 minutes of exposure, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Luckily, ______ can help in the fight, Vijay says. He suggests devices that measure horn use, which would let officials offer ______ drivers rewards like deductions (扣除) on car insurance. Dynamic signaling, where sensors linked to stoplights detect traffic density, would improve vehicle flow and ______   the urge to resort to horns, he says. Local government also ______ . Mumbai decreed (颁布) India’s first “No-Honking” day in 2008, with police handing out booklets to raise awareness about traffic noise and imposing fines up to 1,000 rupees ($12) on offending motorists.

Far more important is the longer-term impact of the day-to-day noise, so that’s where Vijay believes activists should focus their energy. “In India we celebrate festivals with lots of noise,” he says. “But our ______ noise itself is beyond the allowed limit.”

1.

A．talent

B．potential

C．demand

D．tolerance

2.

A．encouraging

B．reasonable

C．ridiculous

D．depressing

3.

A．take advantage of

B．put an end to

C．lay emphasis on

D．throw light on

4.

A．Therefore

B．Similarly

C．Subsequently

D．However

5.

A．well-being

B．intelligence

C．interaction

D．behavior

6.

A．largest

B．busiest

C．loudest

D．richest

7.

A．difficult

B．successful

C．diverse

D．easy

8.

A．availability

B．capitalization

C．urbanization

D．convenience

9.

A．in pace with

B．in contact with

C．in league with

D．in conflict with

10.

A．recommend

B．justify

C．resist

D．advocate

11.

A．government

B．technology

C．finance

D．psychology

12.

A．quiet

B．brave

C．safe

D．alert

13.

A．trigger

B．satisfy

C．reduce

D．maintain

14.

A．steps in

B．takes over

C．cuts in

D．takes off

15.

A．traffic

B．construction

C．ceremony

D．background

4 . Human activities are killing wildlife at unprecedented rates, with causes ranging from environmental pollution to the built environment. For some bird species, night-time collisions (撞击) with power lines are driving substantial population declines.     1     “We need forward-thinking methods to protect not only large birds that are at greater risk from power lines but also millions of smaller migratory birds,” says Anne Lacy of the International Crane Foundation.

Half of all avian species can see ultraviolet light. So James Dwyer, a wildlife biologist at utility consulting firm EDM International in Fort Collins, Colo., had the idea of using near-visible UV light to illuminate power lines. EDM’s engineering team and the Dawson Public Power District developed such light systems and installed them on a tower supporting a power line at Rowe Sanctuary.    2    

Richard Loughery, director of environmental activities at the Edison Electric Institute, who was not involved in the project, says the new UV system adds an important tool for use in hotspots where endangered bird species nest and feed.

    3    Insects did not swarm toward the lights, nor did bats or night-hawks do so in pursuit of a meal. And Dwyer says birds are unlikely to confuse such near-ground UV illumination with natural cues such as starlight.

“I don’t want utilities to build lines wherever they want because there’s a new tool,” says biologist Robert Harms of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, who was not involved in the work.     4    

A．Some recommend that utility companies mark their power lines with plastic attachments to increase visibility.

B．But for existing lines, he says, the UV system could be “absolutely amazing”.

C．Over a 38-night period, crane collisions decreased by 98 percent when the lights were on.

D．The researchers did not observe any negative impacts on other species.

E．But now scientists have come up with a clever way to make the cables easier for birds to spot, without causing disturbances to humans.

F．Biologists reported that 300 cranes were killed in one month in 2009 from collisions with marked lines.

5 . Directions: Fill in each blank with a proper word chosen from the box. Each word can be used only once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A. qualities     B. continued     C. bodies     D. essential     E. transformations F. described     G. geological     H. shaped     I. estimated     J. cultivated     K. evolved

For the first time, scientists have mapped the whole surface of Titan, the largest moon around Saturn. The map confirms existing data showing that Titan has many Earth-like     1     that might be able to support life.

The data was collected by Cassini, a spacecraft operated by the U.S. space agency NASA. The spacecraft studied Saturn and its moons from 2004 to 2017. Astronomers used images and radar measurements from Cassini to create the     2     map of Titan.

The map shows Titan as a mixture of flat plains, hills and mountains, windblown sand areas, valleys and lakes. The mapping operation is     3     in a report published in Nature Astronomy.

Rosaly Lopes led the project. She is a planetary scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. Lopes told the publication that the many similarities between Earth and Titan make the Saturn moon a great choice for     4     exploration.

“Titan has an atmosphere like Earth's. It has wind; it has rain; it has mountains,” Lopes said.

Titan is the only planet in our solar system besides Earth to have known     5     of liquid on its surface. But Titan's seas and lakes are filled with liquid methane (甲烷) rather than water.

At cold temperatures, methane goes through similar     6     as rain does on Earth. It falls to the surface across the planet to form rivers and lakes and can then evaporate (挥发) to form clouds again.

The map found that nearly two-thirds of Titan's surface is made up of flat plains, Nature reported. About 17 percent is covered in sandy hills     7     by the wind, mostly around the equator.

Unlike Earth, Titan's sand is made up of carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen and oxygen. Around 14 percent of the surface is considered hilly or mountainous. Seas and lakes filled with liquid methane cover a(n)     8     1.5 percent of Titan. The liquid exists mainly closer to the planet's poles, while the equatorial areas remain drier.

Rosaly Lopes says organic materials --- those containing carbon --- in Titan's atmosphere are     9     for the growth of living organisms. “Organics are very important for the possibility of lifeon Titan, which many of us think likely would have     10     in the liquid water ocean under Titan's icy crust (硬的表面),”she said.

6 . 听下面一段独白，回答以下小题。1.

A．To investigate the mice's reaction to different food.

B．To figure out mice's strongest physical drive.

C．To discover mice's eating and drinking habits.

D．To determine mice's feelings at the sight of food.

2.

A．Social needs.	B．Abnormal smells.
C．Hunger.	D．Thirst.

3.

A．They tend to be in search of food in groups.

B．They are overweight when food is sufficient.

C．They prefer food to the company of other mice.

D．They'll always be driven away by other animals' scent.

7 . Directions: After reading the passage below, fill in the blanks to make the passage coherent and grammatically correct. For the blanks with a given word, fill in each blank with the proper form of the given word; for the other blanks, use one word that best fits each blank.

Japan Releases Nuclear Wastewater into the Pacific. How Worried Should We Be?

Japan has started releasing wastewater into the ocean. But this isn’t the kind of wastewater     1     flows from city streets into stormwater drains. It’s treated nuclear wastewater used to cool damaged reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant,     2     (strike) by an earthquake over a decade ago.

Since the accident, over 1.3 million tons of nuclear wastewater     3     (collect), treated, and stored in a tank farm at the plant. That storage space is about to run out, the Japanese government says, leaving no choice other than     4     (begin) dumping the wastewater into the Pacific.

Japan’s discharge plan involves incrementally (递增地) releasing it over the next three decades, although some experts say it could take longer, given the amount still     5     (produce). Some of Japan’s neighbors are criticizing the plan as unilateral and dangerous. On May 15, South Korea’s opposition leader ridiculed Japanese leaders’ claims that the water is safe enough to drink: “    6     it is safe enough to drink, they should use it as drinking water.”

Now, American scientists are raising concerns that marine life and ocean currents could carry harmful radioactive isotopes (同位素) —also called radionuclides—    7     the entire Pacific Ocean.

“It’s a trans-boundary and trans-generational event,” says Robert Richmond, director of the Kewalo Marine Laboratory at the University of Hawaii. “    8     released into the ocean off of Fukushima is not going to stay in one place.”

The radionuclides could be carried by ocean currents, especially the cross-Pacific Kuroshio current. Marine animals that migrate great distances could spread them too. No     9    (worrying) as carriers, Richmond says, are phytoplankton—free-floating organisms that are the basis of the food chain for all marine life and can capture radionuclides from the Fukushima cooling water. When swallowed, those isotopes may “accumulate in a variety of fish, marine mammals, and humans.”

Richmond and Buesseler say that     10     they’ve been allowed access to much of the same data as the IAEA, they remain suspicious. “The root of this problem is that they are moving already with a plan that has not yet shown that it will work,” Buesseler says. “They’re saying, ‘We can make it work. We’ll treat it as many times as it takes.’ If you want to put a nickname on this plan, it’s ‘trust us; we’ll take care of it.’”

8 . Conservationists go to war over whether humans are the measure of nature’s value. New Conservationists argue such trade-offs are necessary in this human dominated era. And they support “re-wilding”, a concept originally proposed by Soule where people reduce economic growth and withdraw from landscapes, which then return to nature.

New Conservationists believe the withdrawal could happen together with economic growth. The California-based Breakthrough Institute believes in a future where most people live in cities and rely less on natural resources for economic growth.

They would get food from industrial agriculture, including genetically modified foods, desalination intensified meat production and aquaculture (水产养殖), all of which have a smaller land footprint. And they would get their energy from renewables and natural gas.

Driving these profound shifts would be greater efficiency of production, where more products could be manufactured from fewer inputs. And some unsustainable commodities would be replaced in the market by other, greener ones-natural gas for coal, for instance, explained Michael Heisenberg., president of the Breakthrough Institute. Nature would, in essence, be decoupled from the economy.

And then he added a warning: “We are not suggesting decoupling as the pattern to save the world, or that it solves all the problems.”

Cynics (悲观者) may say all this sounds too utopian, but Breakthrough maintains the world is already on this path toward decoupling. Nowhere is this more evident than in the United Sates, according to Iddo Wernick, a research scholar at the Rockefeller University, who has examined the nation’s use of 100 main commodities.

Wernick and his colleagues looked at data carefully from the U.S. Geological Survey National Minerals Information Center, which keeps a record of commodities used from 1900 through the present day. They found that the use of 36 commodities (sand, iron ore, cotton etc.) in the U. S. Economy had peaked.

Another 53 commodities (nitrogen, timber, beef, etc.) are being used more efficiently per dollar value of gross domestic product than in the pre-1970s era. Their use would peak soon, Wernick said.

Only 11 commodities (industrial diamond, indium, chicken, etc.) are increasing in use (Greenwire, Nov. 6), and most of these are employed by industries in small quantities to improve systems processes. Chicken use is rising because people are eating less beef, a desirable development since poultry cultivation has a smaller environmental footprint.

The numbers show the United States has not intensified resource consumption since the 1970s even while increasing its GDP and population, said Jesse Ausubel of the Rockefeller University.

“It seems like the 20th-century expectation we had, we were always assuming the future involved greater consumption of resources,” Ausubel said. “But what we are seeing in the developed countries is, of course, peaks.”

1. What does the underlined word “trade-offs” refer to in the first paragraph?

A．The difficult situation of economies growth.

B．The profitability of import and export trade.

C．The balance between human development and natural ecology.

D．The consumption of natural resources by industrial development.

2. Which of the following is true of the views of the new environmentalists?

A．They believe that mankind should limit economic growth.

B．They believe that mankind is the master of the whole universe.

C．They believe that mankind should live in forests with rich vegetation.

D．They believe that mankind will need more natural resources in the future.

3. What can we infer from the last paragraph of the passage?

A．Natural resources cannot support economic development.

B．All resource consumption in developed countries has reached a peak.

C．More resource consumption will not occur in a certain period of time.

D．Excessive resource consumption will not affect the ecological environment.

4. What is the passage mainly about?

A．Urbanization and re-wildness.

B．Human existence and industrial development.

C．Commodity trading and raw material development.

D．Socioeconomic development and resource consumption.

9 . Climate experts have warned about the many ways a warming planet can negatively affect human health. ________ global temperatures are predicted to increase by 1.5℃ by the 2030s, that risk is becoming increasingly real.

One long-held prediction that appears to be coming true — according to the results of a study recently published in Nature Scientific Reports — is how climate change might enhance ________ of bacteria that thrive and spread through warm sea waters and cause an infection with a particularly high ________ rate.

Vibrio vulnificus (创伤弧菌) flourishes in salty or brackish waters above 68℉. Infections are currently rare in the U.S., but that’s likely to change. Using 30 years of data on infections, scientists at the University of East Anglia in the U.K. found that Vibrio vulnificusis ________ from its historic Gulf Coast range, with more Northern states reporting infections as waters become warmer.

“We’re seeing the core ________ of infections extending to areas that traditionally have very few and very rare cases,” says Elizabeth Archer, a Ph.D. researcher and ________ author of the study. “But these areas are now coming into the main area of infections.”

Based on the latest data on how much the world’s water and air temperatures will rise, the scientists predict that by 2081, Vibrio vulnificus infections could reach every state along the U.S. East Coast. Currently, only about 80 cases are reported in the U.S. each year; by 2081, that could go up to over three-fold, the authors say.

Such a proliferation could have serious health consequences. Vibrio vulnificus kills approximately 20% of the healthy people it infects, and 50% of those with weakened immune systems. There is little evidence that antibiotics can ________ the infection, but doctors may prescribe them in some cases. People can get infected either by eating raw shellfish like oysters or by exposing small ________ to waters where the bacteria live, which can lead to serious skin infections.

Warming sea temperatures aren’t the only reasons behind the rise of Vibrio vulnificus. Hotter air also draws more people to the coasts and bays, bringing them into closer contact with the bacteria.

“The bacteria are part of the natural marine environment, so I don’t think we can ________ it from the environment,” says Archer. “It’s more about mitigating infections by increasing ________ of the risk.”

To alert people to the growing threat, ________ systems are needed to track when concentrations of bacteria start to rise, similar to currently available pollen and pollution alarm.

Vbrio vulnificus is so ________ to temperature changes that concentrations could bloom after even a day of warmer water, so consistent monitoring and alerts are critical, says Iain Lake, professor of environmental epidemiology at University of East Anglia and senior author of the paper.

Lake says the expansion of Vibrio vulnificus is concerning for public health since the bacteria are now invading waters closer to heavily ________ areas, such as New York and Philadelphia. “Everyone can get a Vibrio vulnificus infection,” he says. “But the more ________ there is between warmer waters and people, the more the bacteria can move into populations ________ the elderly and those with other health conditions, who are more vulnerable to infections.”

1.

A．Even if

B．Except when

C．The instant

D．In case

2.

A．numbers

B．ranges

C．coverages

D．concentrations

3.

A．failure

B．fatality

C．survival

D．acid

4.

A．ranging

B．varying

C．expanding

D．shifting

5.

A．distribution

B．launch

C．community

D．sample

6.

A．principle

B．lead

C．principal

D．hit

7.

A．boost

B．accelerate

C．contain

D．remove

8.

A．harms

B．damages

C．injuries

D．wounds

9.

A．relieve

B．dissolve

C．resolve

D．erase

10.

A．conscience

B．awareness

C．panic

D．alert

11.

A．monitoring

B．processing

C．managing

D．delivering

12.

A．sensible

B．vital

C．vulnerable

D．sensitive

13.

A．populated

B．dense

C．paralleled

D．bordered

14.

A．reaction

B．interaction

C．intervention

D．relativity

15.

A．rather than

B．except for

C．such as

D．other than

10 . The part of the environmental movement that draws my firm’s attention is the design of buildings. Today, thousands of people come to ________ building conferences, and the idea that buildings can be good for people and the environment will be increasingly ________ in years to come. Back in 1984 we discovered that most manufactured products for decoration weren’t designed for ________ use. The “energy-efficient” sealed commercial buildings constructed after the 1970s energy crisis ________ indoor air quality problems caused by materials such as paint, wall covering and carpet. So for 20 years, we’ve been looking for ways to make these materials ________   for people and the planet.

Home builders can now use materials, such as green paints, that release significantly ________   amounts of chemical compounds, which people believe don’t ________ the quality of the air.   ________, our basic design strategy is focused not simply on being “less bad” but on creating ________ healthful materials that can be either safely returned to the soil or ________ by industry again and again. For example, the world’s largest carpet manufacturer has already ________ a carpet that is fully and safely recyclable.

Look at it this way: no one ________ to create a building that destroy the planet. But our current industrial systems are basically causing these conditions, whether we like it or not. So   ________ of simply trying to reduce the damage, we are ________ a positive approach. We’re giving people high-quality, healthful products and an opportunity to make choices that have a ________   effect on the world. It is not just the building industry, either. Entire cities are taking these environmentally positive approaches to design, planning and building.

1.

A．commercial

B．green

C．traditional

D．simple

2.

A．efficient

B．changeable

C．influential

D．effective

3.

A．relevant

B．indoor

C．flexible

D．forward

4.

A．revealed

B．displayed

C．exhibited

D．discovered

5.

A．careful

B．comfortable

C．stable

D．safe

6.

A．reduced

B．revised

C．delayed

D．defined

7.

A．destroy

B．deny

C．dissolve

D．depress

8.

A．Anyway

B．Besides

C．Anyhow

D．However

9.

A．exactly

B．completely

C．partially

D．superficially

10.

A．restored

B．regain

C．reused

D．retain

11.

A．developed

B．stretched

C．researched

D．constructed

12.

A．sets off

B．sets about

C．sets out

D．sets up

13.

A．instead

B．because

C．out

D．regardless

14.

A．adjusting

B．adopting

C．adapting

D．admitting

15.

A．functional

B．sensible

C．beneficial

D．precious