1 . Unless you’ve been faithfully bringing reusable shopping bags to the store, you probably grab the plastic bags waiting for customers at the checkout. You’re not alone.
About 100 billion plastic bags are used in the U. S. each year. Unfortunately, single-use plastic bags have serious consequences once our trip to the store is over. Less than 10% of plastic bags used in the U. S. are recycled, leaving the rest to end up in landfills (垃圾填埋场), and polluting soil, oceans and other natural habitats.
To fight pollution and other environmental problems, major companies are taking steps to get rid of the use of plastic shopping bags. If you’re a frequent customer at Walmart, don’t be surprised if you notice the plastic bags disappearing over the next few months. Last summer, Walmart announced its goal to be a zero-waste company — meaning no more plastic bags.
But Walmart has announced its Beyond the Bag, an initiative (倡议) working to explore reusable options and “reimagine” the plastic bag. Target and CVS are also on board as founding partners of Beyond the Bag, and so far, the three brands have invested $15 million to come up with a brand-new bag design.
The initiative also started the Beyond the Bag challenge, giving innovators (创新者) a chance to share their ideas. The challenge ran throughout the summer of 2020, and nine winners from over 450 submissions were selected. From a station supplying reusable bag in-store to a new and improved paper bag, the winning designs cover a lot of bases. Each product now has the chance to be tested with funding from the initiative.
While a final replacement for plastic bags at Walmart has yet to be decided, there’s a more sustainable future on the horizon. And if you want to start reducing your use of plastic bags right now, check out our list of reusable bags to bring on your next shopping trip.
1. What does the author mean by saying “You’re not alone” in the first paragraph?| A．Reusable shopping bags are becoming more popular. |
| B．Customers need to wait for long at the checkout. |
| C．Some people are waiting in the line with you. |
| D．Many people use plastic bags when shopping. |
| A．Single-use plastic bags cause severe environmental problems. |
| B．Supermarkets should stop providing single-use plastic bags. |
| C．Single-use plastic bags should be more widely recycled. |
| D．More landfills should be built to deal with plastic bags. |
| A．To attract more customers. | B．To provide more plastic bags. |
| C．To set a good example to Target and CVS. | D．To make shopping more environmentally friendly. |
| A．People pay more attention to environmental protection. |
| B．Walmart is getting rid of single-use plastic bags. |
| C．Reusable paper bags are becoming more popular. |
| D．Free plastic bags have become a thing of the past. |
2 . Great whites, the largest predatory(捕食性的)sharks in the world with the most fatal attacks on humans, are tough to imagine as newborn babies. That is partially because no one has seen one in the wild, it seems, until now.
Wildlife filmmaker Carlos Gauna and UC Riverside biology doctoral student Phillip Sternes were scanning the waters for sharks on July 9, 2023, near Santa Barbara on California’s central coast. That day, something exciting appeared on the viewfinder of Gauna’s drone camera. It was a shark pup(幼崽)unlike any they’d ever seen.
“We enlarged the images, put them in slow motion, and realized the white layer was being shed(脱落)from the body as it was swimming,” Sternes said. “I believe it was a newborn white shark shedding its embryonic layer.”
These observations are documented in a new paper in the Environmental Biology of Fishes journal. What Gauna and Sternes observed could help solve the longstanding mystery of great white birthing habits. This may well be the first evidence we have of a pup in the wild. Great whites, referred to only as white sharks by scientists, are gray on the top and white on the bottom. But this roughly 5-foot-long shark was pure white.
Though the paper authors acknowledge it is possible that the white layer the shark shed could have been a skin condition, the two believe what they saw was in fact a newborn great white. First, great white females give birth to live pups. A second reason is the presence of large, likely pregnant great whites in this location. Finally, this location off the coast of central California has long been proposed as a birthing location for great whites. Many scholars believe great whites are born farther out at sea.
Great whites are listed as an international endangered species. “Further research is needed to confirm these waters are indeed a great white breeding ground. But if it does, we would want lawmakers to step in and protect these waters to help white sharks keep thriving,” Sternes said.
1. What do we know about what appeared on Carlo s Gauna’s camera?| A．It is rare in the world. | B．It is tough to identify. |
| C．It is not open to the public. | D．It is unbelievable to scientists. |
| A．Pure gray. | B．White only on the bottom. |
| C．Gray on the top. | D．Pure white. |
| A．How great white females give birth to pups. |
| B．How the authors prove they saw a baby shark. |
| C．Why the authors believe they saw a newborn shark pup. |
| D．Why the authors think the white layer is a skin condition. |
| A．Helping white sharks to stop breeding. |
| B．Using laws to protect shark pups and their habitats. |
| C．Listing white sharks as endangered species. |
| D．Further study to confirm white sharks breeding waters. |
3 . The morning commute(通勤)is never fun, but if you pass through Stevenage on your way to work, your morning might be a little brighter thanks to Nala the cat.
Dragging yourself out of bed in the morning and off to work is hard, especially on dark winter mornings. You might be a little more inclined to head out of the house with a spring in your step if your commute started at Stevenage Station, where you’d be greeted by a ginger cat called Nala.
Usually found sitting on a ticket gate, four-year-old Nala lives close to the station with her owner Natasha Ambler, and often heads to station at rush hour to enjoy attention from commuters. Ambler created a social media page called The Adventures of Nala where hundreds of people have shared photos of the adventurous cat.
Recent photos include Nala waiting in line for her “cat-purr-ccino” at Costa, snoozing(打盹)on newspaper stands and posing with commuters at the station barriers.
Nala wears a GPS tracking device so that her travels can be traced, and is usually found at the railway station or the next door leisure park. As well as the usual collar with her name and owner’s contact information, Nala wears a tag to let people know that she’s not lost.
Ambler reported that she’s not worried about Nala in the slightest: She’s obviously well-loved and she’s very happy doing what she does—I just hope one day she doesn’t actually try to get on a train.
Nala brings a ray of joy to Stevenage commuters with her playful antics. Her presence not only brightens mornings but also fosters a sense of community, as evidenced by the shared photos and interactions on social media. Her owner’s care and Nala’s adventurous spirit ensure that she’s a beloved and safe addition to the station environment.
1. What is morning commute usually like?| A．Anything but fun. | B．A little bit common. |
| C．Kind of pleasant. | D．Somewhat interesting. |
| A．Her owner’s love for her. |
| B．Her desire to entertain commuters. |
| C．The short distance from the station. |
| D．Her preference for the ticket gate. |
| A．By following Nala all the way. |
| B．By using a positioning device. |
| C．By attaching a tag to Nala’s neck. |
| D．By posting her contact information on line. |
| A．Concerned. | B．Contradictory. |
| C．Opposed. | D．Relieved. |
1. How long is the lecture about ants?
| A．30 minutes. | B．45 minutes. | C．60 minutes. |
| A．In Theater A. | B．In Theater B. | C．In Theater C. |
| A．Visit the Insect House. |
| B．Gather in the Exhibition Room. |
| C．See a film. |
| A．David Crocker. | B．Monica Chaddha. | C．The speaker. |
5 . The climate crisis may lead the human race to decrease in size, as mammals (哺乳动物) with smaller bodies appear better able to deal with rising global temperatures, a leading fossil expert said.
Prof Steve Brusatte, a palaeontologist (古生物学家) at the University of Edinburgh, suggested that the way in which other mammals have previously responded to periods of climate change could offer an insight into humans’ future.
He compared the potential situation of people as similar to that of early horses, which became smaller in body size as temperatures rose around 55m years ago, a period called the Paleocene Eocene Thermal Maximum.
Writing in The Rise and Reign of the Mammals, Brusatte notes that animals in warmer parts of the world today are often smaller than those in colder areas, an ecological principle known as Bergmann’s rule. “The reasons are not entirely understood, but it is probably, in part, because smaller animals have a higher surface area compared to their size than bigger animals and can thus better get rid of extra heat” he writes.
Brusatte said that becoming smaller was “a common way that mammals deal with climate change”. He added, “That’s not to say every species of mammal would get smaller, but it seems to be a common survival trick of mammals when temperatures spike pretty quickly, which does raise the question: if temperatures do spike really quickly, might humans dwarf, might humans get smaller? And I think that’s certainly convincing.”
In a recent study, researchers studying human remains over the past million years have also suggested that temperature is a major predictor of body size variation, while scientists studying red deer have said that warmer winters in northern Europe and Scandinavia may lead to the body size of these animals becoming smaller.
However, not all experts agree that rising temperature causes mammals to decease. Prof Adrian Lister, of the Natural History Museum in London, said the relationship shown by the recent human remains study is weak, while the strong relationship between temperature and mammal body size may often result from the availability of food and resources.
Lister doubts whether humans will shrink as the climate heats. “We are not really controlled by natural selection,” he said. “If that was going to happen, you’d need to find large people dying before they could reproduce because of climate warming. That is not happening in today’s world. We wear clothes, we have got heating, we have got air conditioning if it is too hot.”
1. According to the passage, the early horses got smaller in body size .| A．to keep cool | B．to save food |
| C．to keep warm | D．to avoid being killed |
| A．Rise | B．Drop | C．Balance | D．Change |
| A．Every species of mammal would get smaller as the temperature goes up. |
| B．Animals in warmer areas are definitely smaller than those in colder areas. |
| C．Smaller animals have a higher surface area and so they can cool down quickly. |
| D．The change of Mammals’ body size is closely related to their food and other resources. |
| A．Climate Change Causes Natural Disasters. | B．Climate Change Leads to Heated Discussions. |
| C．Climate Change Causes Changes in Body Size. | D．Climate Change Leads to Changed Lifestyle. |
1. 讲座的举办时间、地点；
2. 讲座的目的。
注意：
1. 词数80左右；
2. 可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
Dear Dr. Carpenter,
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Yours sincerely,
Li hua
7 . On March 20, the U. N. International Panel on Climate Change(IPCC) released the final volume in a series of reports outlining experts’ latest understanding of climate science. It warned that even with urgent action we will face a dramatic increase in catastrophic events—from droughts to floods—that have become signs of a rapidly warming world. But the most worrisome things are the “known unknowns”—potential outcomes scientists know could happen even if they don’t know exactly when or how.
It’s striking how little we know about them. Take the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation(AMOC) for example. This system of ocean currents is a key regulator(调节器) of Atlantic Ocean temperatures and, in turn, maintaining land temperatures, particularly in North America. If it collapsed, it would remake weather patterns and disturb “human activities”.
Another known unknown is the scale of sea-level rise. It is estimated that global average sea levels are expected to rise up to 1m (about 3 ft.) by 2100. But because the science of rapidly melting ice sheets remains difficult for scientists to understand, that number could also end up being 2m in the same time frame.
The more the planet warms, the more likely we are to experience unpredictable catastrophic changes. Climate events like these are referred to as tipping points: singular climatic events that can instantly reshape our understanding of climate systems. The new report also points out how the future becomes more difficult to predict as climate change continues. Impacts that scientists could forecast today will become more difficult to predict effectively when they are combined with other climate effects. Food insecurity, for example, could drive changes in agricultural practices, which would in turn affect the climate.
According to three decades of IPCC reports, it’s easy to see how the science has become more certain and more urgent. The IPCC is not expected to publish another report for at least six years. In that time, the science will evolve, as will the human impacts. By then we should know more about these known unknowns, too. We can only hope that the knowledge brings relief, not the alternative.
1. What do we know about the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation?| A．It is the biggest system of all the oceans. |
| B．It will still be working in the 22nd century. |
| C．It can adjust temperatures of its coasts. |
| D．It may raise sea-levels by 3 meters. |
| A．Food security can have an impact on climate change. |
| B．Scientists know much about climate systems. |
| C．Combined climate effects can be predicted today. |
| D．Climate change makes no difference to our planet. |
| A．Optimistic. | B．Indifferent. |
| C．Pessimistic. | D．Concerned. |
| A．A medical lecture. | B．A science magazine. |
| C．A technology report. | D．A tour guidebook. |
8 . According to a new study, many birds in the Amazon rainforest have become smaller as temperatures have increased. The difference hasn’t been obvious, but it has been significant enough that some scientists have suggested it’s a universal response to climate change.
But new research finds that the body size reductions aren’t happening across the board with some large-brained birds having much less significant changes.
For the study, researchers studied some data on about 70,000 birds that had died when they crashed into buildings in Chicago from 1978 to 2016. They added data on the brain volume and lifespan for 49 of the 52 species of migratory birds (候鸟) in the original study.
They found that birds with very large brains had reductions in overall body size that were about one-third of the reductions noted in birds with smaller brains. They thought that in birds, the species with big brains are the ones that build tools, manage to survive in tough environments, live longer, invest more time and energy into raising babies, and end up surviving better in the wild.
Researchers aren’t certain exactly how warmer temperatures might lead to decreasing body size in birds, but they are considering two possible explanations, which could even be happening at the same time. First, natural selection might be favoring birds that can dissipate heat better. This is because smaller birds have higher surface area to volume ratios (比例), so being small can help birds stay cool. Second, warmer summers might have less food available for birds at the time when they are feeding their babies. In that case, birds might be getting smaller because of decreased food over the years.
The findings don’t suggest that climate change is having zero impact on bigger-brained birds, but researchers believe these findings can inform us of climate change and help set conservation priorities.
1. How does climate change affect some birds according to the text?| A．Their lifespan shortens. | B．Their body size shrinks. |
| C．Their brain size expands. | D．Their body temperature rises. |
| A．By studying the bird death rate | B．By clarifying the bird species. |
| C．By analyzing historical data. | D．By observing 70,000 birds’ migration. |
| A．Use. | B．Lose. | C．Absorb. | D．Hold. |
| A．Climate Changes Sharply | B．Temperature Rises Globally |
| C．Birds’ Body Sizes Vary | D．Brain Size Matters for Birds |
9 . Monarch butterflies (帝王蝶) are edging dangerously close to extinction despite a decision late last year to remove the orange-and-black insects from the endangered species list, a new study has found.
An annual survey led by the World Wildlife Fund(WWF)of the species wintering in central Mexico found the second-lowest number of monarch butterflies on record, meaning they took up just 2.2 acres of regional forests, 59% less than during the 2022 — 2023 winter season. The findings are troubling to scientists determined to protect the species.
Each year, monarch butterflies migrate (迁徙) thousands of miles from southern Canada and the northern and central US to the mountain forests of central Mexico. They require a large and healthy forest to protect them from winds, rain and low temperatures in the areas where they migrate for winter. Yet because of heat and drought brought on by climate change, scientists say, their natural habitat is quickly depleting. Scientists with the WWF considered this winter season’s findings serious and said they represented the second-smallest area taken up by monarch butterflies in Mexico since 1993.
What’s worse, in recent years, their breeding areas in Canada and the US have seen a reduction in milkweed leaves where female monarch butterflies lay their eggs. “Land-use changes in the United States, combined with the widespread use of chemicals, also contributed to the loss of milkweed and other plants that adult monarch butterflies feed on,” the WWF said.
Monarch butterflies play an important role in maintaining plant ecosystems and are also an important food source for birds, small animals and other insects, according to the National Park Service. It’s necessary that all governments, communities, scientists, and others continue to strengthen our protection efforts to support their unique migration.
1. Why do monarch butterflies fly to central Mexico each year?| A．To spend winter. | B．To lay eggs. |
| C．To search for shelter. | D．To escape from enemies. |
| A．Shifting. | B．Disappearing. | C．Recovering. | D．Increasing. |
| A．The loss of food sources. |
| B．The widespread use of chemicals. |
| C．The land-use changes in the United States. |
| D．The threat of being eaten by other animals. |
| A．To raise people’s awareness about climate change. |
| B．To call for more measures to protect monarch butterflies. |
| C．To inform people of the serious situation of monarch butterflies. |
| D．To prove monarch butterflies should be on the endangered species list. |
10 . In an effort to help out important insects like bees and butterflies, bus stops across the United Kingdom (UK) are getting living roofs. Small gardens on bus shelter roofs are being planted with flowers chosen to help support the struggling insects. The gardens provide much-needed islands of nature in a man-made environment of a city.
Humans count on bees and other “pollinators (授粉者)” like butterflies to help grow plants, such as flowers and trees. But with humans taking over more and more land for cities, roads and farms, more natural areas have disappeared. The Wildlife Trusts, a group which works to protect wildlife in the UK, says that 97% of England’s wildflower fields have been lost since World War II and the insect numbers there have dropped by 50% since 1970. Bee bus stops are a small step toward supporting these important insects.
The advertising company Clear Channel is working with The Wildlife Trusts and city governments to set up bee bus stops in cities across the UK. Bee bus stops are like ordinary bus shelters, but small gardens have been added to the roofs. The gardens are filled with flowers and plants chosen to attract bees and butterflies. The company plans to set up 1,000 bee bus stops in the UK.
Clear Channel already has bee bus stop programs in several countries in Europe. In the Netherlands, the city of Utrecht has 300 bee bus stops. Research shows that these bus stops—along with many other steps taken to support pollinators—may be helping. After decades of dropping numbers, bee populations in the Netherlands seem to have become more stable over the last few years.
The little gardens can also help to slightly lower city temperatures. Even though the bus shelter gardens are small, together they add up to a much larger area. Thirzah McSherry, who works for The Wildlife Trusts, says, “We’re living through a nature and climate crisis and we need to use every tool we’ve got to deal with it.”
1. Why are bee bus stop gardens being built in the UK?| A．To beautify the city. | B．To improve urban farming. |
| C．To solve the environmental pollution. | D．To provide shelters for pollinating insects. |
| A．Losses of forests. | B．Climate changes. |
| C．Human activities. | D．Natural disasters. |
| A．By analyzing the data. | B．By making a comparison. |
| C．By showing similar examples. | D．By presenting its bright future. |
| A．The urban environment is getting worse. |
| B．The United Kingdom is building bee bus stops. |
| C．City should build larger gardens for the insects. |
| D．The bee bus stop is the best way to save the city. |
