1 . Members of a native community in the arctic (北极的)areas of Sweden say their reindeer (驯鹿)are facing possible hunger from unusual weather related to climate change. The local Sami community takes care of about 8,000 reindeer throughout the year. The animals are moved between traditional feeding areas in high mountains close to Norway in the summer and forests farther east in the winter.
A community member, Inga, is worried about his reindeer. He said climate change has affected the area's weather activity and created food shortages. "If we don't find better areas for them where they can feed themselves and find food, the reindeer will die from hunger,” Inga said. He verified the problem by reaching down into the snow and pulling up a hard piece of ice close to the soil.
The area received unusual snowfall early in the fall, followed by rain that froze. Inga said this traps the plants that reindeer eat under a thick cover of ice. Some of the hungry reindeer have now moved away from their traditional feeding areas in search of food.
Community members say half the reindeer moved towards the east as planned. But the rest headed back to the mountains, where they face the risk of attacks by other animals or being caught in an avalanche (雪崩). Older members of the Sami community say that in the past, they only remember bad winters about once every ten years. But now, Inga says “extreme and strange weather are appearing more and more often,“ happening several times a year.
Snowfall is common for the area. But as temperatures increase, rain can also fall, creating a “rain-on-snow” effect. When this happens, food remains trapped under the ice where the reindeer cannot reach it. This causes the animals to grow weaker and struggle to make it through the winter. Weather changes have hit the Sami community hard.
“We don't want money because we can’t buy better weather with money. We need the EU to take action and they need to do it now,“ said Inga.
1. What problem do reindeer meet with at present?| A．Cold weather. | B．Risk of hunger. |
| C．Long march for food. | D．Polluted environment. |
| A．Proved. | B．Solved. | C．Ignored. | D．Answered. |
| A．Traps under the snow. | B．Hunt from human beings. |
| C．Rocks falling down the mountain. | D．Threat from other animals. |
| A．Flood. | B．Drought. |
| C．Rain-on-snow effect. | D．Snowfall. |
2 . Hello! Wait! Don't run away. Yes, I know I am a roach. So, what's wrong with that?
You are speaking to the most successful species on the planet, you know! We've been around for 350 million years!
So what's the secret of our success? Sure, we've had plenty ofenemies. If you're small and full of protein, everything wants to eat you. So what did we do? We got quick, is what. We learned to hide, is what. We can squeeze so flat that we can fit through gap no bigger than a coin. Really! I dare you, try it.
And we never skip a meal! What do we eat? What have you got? Rotting leaves, garbage glue, paper, leather...and if you like to eat dead things, I tell you, the world is your refrigerator! But just don't offer me a cucumber or plastics!
Once humans came along, we went everywhere humans went. In ships, on planes, in camepacks across the desert Roach road trin! We even followed them to space! That's Uncle Anton. He hid on board the A pollo capsule — he was so mad when they just came right back to earth.
You can't have too many roaches. I say. Now there are 4.000 species of us: Asian, American. German... hope you get to meet them all someday.
Some of the family get pretty strange That's Reginald. He thinks if he pretends to be a firefly, birds won't oat him. That's tough old Ant Elo. She worked for some scientists trying to figure out ways to get rid of us ...ha! Poison, radiation, heat, cold…whatever they throw at us, we just get tougher. Bring it on!
Aw, look. that's me just after my 15 brothers and sisters and I hatched （孵化) out from egg case. Yeah. I look pretty much the same. That's another roach wonder — we skip the larva stage(幼虫期).Our eggs hatch all ready to roll! Still pretty cute, though.
Yep, that's how we got to be the most successful species on the planet!
1. What may contribute to a roach's success?①being flexible ②running like wind
③being full of protein ④raising many babies
| A．①②③ | B．②③④ | C．①③④ | D．①②④ |
| A．A hero. | B．A spaceman. | C．A roach. | D．A traveler. |
| A．They can almost roll when they are brought to the world. |
| B．Their number is coming down thanks to scientists' efforts. |
| C．Their home is usually equipped with a refrigerator full of foods. |
| D．They are getting along quite well with other species on the planet. |
| A．Pitiful. | B．Anxious. | C．Serious. | D．Humorous. |
3 . Which hand do you use to write your name? Which foot do you use to kick a ball? You probably use the same hand or foot. That's called your dominant side.
About 90 percent of humans are right-handed. Scientists want to know whether other animals also have dominant sides. So they give simple challenges to zoo animals and pets.
At first, chimpanzees（大猩猩） appeared to be left-handed. Dr. Hopkins watched chimpanzees as they went “ants fishing", using sticks to pull ants out. Most of the chimps did the job with their left hand. However, when chimpanzees ate butter from a narrow pipe, they tended to use the left hand to do the easy part (hold the pipe) and a finger on the right hand to do the hard part (reach in for the treat).
Does that mean chimpanzees are left-handed for some tasks and right-handed for others? That's not likely. Dr. Hopkins says the chimps may have used the weaker hand to pull out the ants and the dominant hand to hit the insects and put them in mouths.
But how about other animals? Dr. Wells wondered if cats are right- or left-pawed. At the beginning. he gave the cats the simple task of moving across the floor. The cats showed no preference; they used either paw. Dr. Wells also made the cats perform given movements. The researcher dropped a small fish into a can and wrote down which paw each cat used to fish out the treat. All of the female cats except one used the right paw. For males, 19 out of 21 used the left paw. Dr. Wells tested each cat many times to make sure it really preferred to use one paw instead of the other.
1. In Paragraph 1, the word "dominant" can be replaced by “_______”.| A．gentle | B．powerful | C．opposite | D．unique |
| A．Chimpanzees use right hands for tough tasks. |
| B．About 10 percent of humans are left-handed. |
| C．Chimpanzees get the treat with the weaker hands. |
| D．Left hands are more important in getting the butter out. |
| A．moving across the floor was a challenging task for cats |
| B．various foods were necessary to carry out a scientific study |
| C．eats used different paws each time in the repeated tests |
| D．male and female cats had the opposite choice to get the fish |
| A．saw eye to eye with each other |
| B．discovered it was not a simple yes or no |
| C．raised different animals to seek the truth |
| D．worked together to perform experiments |
Door-to-door food delivery (快递) service has become increasingly popular in cities due to the fast development of online shopping and the busy life in China.
As food delivery is extremely common in China, it creates large amounts of waste due to the plastic containers. bags, and chopsticks that come with each order. This in turn has contributed to great environmental concerns for the waste packaging materials. We have therefore measured the amount of food delivery packaging waste in China. The results show that the total amount of packaging waste rose from 0.2 million metric tons in 2015 to 1.5 million metric tons in 2020.Over-packaging is also a concern. The food delivery packaging is not the fancier, the better. Instead, it is the more environment-friendly, the better.
Therefore, it is high time that regulations were adopted to stop restaurants and companies from spending too much on unnecessary packaging and wrapping. Also, smart policy suggestions should be provided to handle the pressing issues, particularly using the Reduce, Reuse and Recycle environment-friendly practices.
As the largest city in China, Shanghai has an important role in creating and seeking an efficient solution to the problem of waste. With over 24 million people living in Shanghai, materials sustainability (可持续性), particularly that of plastics, is a big problem. For example, delivery companies like Saucepan have begun to reduce the plastic usage of the food delivery in Shanghai by using biodegradable（可降解的) packaging in the delivery process. Besides, it encourages customers to recycle their plastic bags and reward them for every 10 used bags that they return to the company.
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5 . For ten years my father had been fighting cancer. Now he was forced into the hospital because of an infection. I sensed he
One night after
A(n)
| A．escaped | B．missed | C．avoided | D．hated |
| A．way | B．aim | C．view | D．reply |
| A．battling | B．failing | C．seeking | D．sweating |
| A．hand | B．foot | C．knee | D．head |
| A．exist | B．spread | C．rise | D．recover |
| A．in search for | B．in response to | C．in honor of | D．in common with |
| A．alarmed | B．satisfied | C．shocked | D．concerned |
| A．reflection | B．impression | C．tension | D．inspiration |
| A．admitted | B．expected | C．doubted | D．decided |
| A．minutes | B．struggles | C．adventure | D．impression |
| A．set off | B．pulled up | C．pushed over | D．shot up |
| A．visit | B．check | C．occasion | D．contact |
| A．Definitely | B．Frankly | C．Surprisingly | D．Immediately |
| A．Although | B．Unless | C．Since | D．Once |
| A．aching | B．moving | C．thin | D．strong |
6 . We all love animals, but animals don’t feel the same way about us. When we enter their wild world, we are “unnatural” invaders into their homes.
There was a video many of you may have seen on the Internet recently of a bear and its cub (幼崽) climbing up a steep, snow-covered hill in Russia. The mama bear makes it to the top without too much trouble, but the baby bear keeps sliding back down. It takes three attempts to reach the top and, no doubt, many cheered at the cub’s never-give-up spirit. But nature scientists who saw the video didn’t cheer.
Instead, the scientists were upset that the two bears had been frightened into making a dangerous, unnecessary climb by the drone (无人机) that was filming them. Sophie Gilbert of the University of Idaho said, “It showed a complete lack of understanding from the drone operator of the effects his actions were having on the bears.” Other scientists have found that when a drone is hovering near, a bear’s heart rate can increase from 41 beats per minute to 162 beats per minute — a high enough rate to cause a heart attack.
Human disturbance has actually been having a far-reaching influence on wildlife. Researchers at the University of Berkeley recently found that many mammals are turning into “night owls” again to avoid contact with humans. Such a shift might not only affect those species themselves, but also have numerous chain effects.
We human beings find ourselves in a strange position in nature. We are part of it but also separate from it, now more than ever, since most of us live in cities. So, when we go off hiking into wild areas to “re-connect” with nature, we should go softly and considerately. It’s OK to get close to our animal friends, just not too close — we wouldn’t want to scare them, would we?
1. What does the video feature?| A．The baby bear’s climbing. | B．The mama bear’s care. |
| C．The dangerous environment. | D．The experiment by scientists. |
| A．They knew the bear’s family well. |
| B．They were against other scientists. |
| C．They knew the cause of the bears’ climbing. |
| D．They lacked understanding of the drone operator. |
| A．Food shortage. | B．Changing habitats. |
| C．Ecological imbalance. | D．Less contact with humans. |
| A．Lose connection with nature. |
| B．Tighten the bond with wild animals. |
| C．Respect the human-animal distance. |
| D．Shoot more videos on animals for study. |
7 . When Simon Cane was in the second grade, he began learning about all the ways humans have an impact on the environment and really took those classroom lessons to heart in a way that set him apart from his schoolmates at his elementary school, P. S. 81, in the Bronx. “He told me we drove too much and made too much pollution,” his dad, Jonathan Cane, told Runner’s World. So Simon convinced his parents to start hanging their clothes to dry, taking the stairs instead of elevators, and other “green” measures.
“For much of kindergarten and first grade I rode my bike to Simon’s school with him on the back,” Jonathan said. “We had a lot of fun being outdoors. We’d stop to give our dog treats and generally enjoyed it.” As Simon got bigger, though, it wasn’t practical for him to ride on his father’s back, but it also didn’t make sense to ride together — both because of safety concerns and because there was no place to put away Simon’s bike. So, most of the time they drove the 1. 5 miles to school.
But in 2019, when Simon was going into third grade, the 8-year-old came up with a new way to help the planet: running the 1. 5 miles to P. S. 81. And Jonathan promised his son he’d join him for as long as he wanted.
“We did a test run one day in August, and decided to give it a go. To be honest, I thought he’d blink (眨眼)after it got really cold or rainy, but he never did,” Jonathan said. He recalled one day when the weather was particularly bad. “It’s really raining out there today,” he told Simon. “And Simon said, ‘Well then we’re going to get wet!’ He took pride in toughing it out, and it became a really fun family routine.”
Since the start, Simon has run with his dad and their black dog, Lola, and has even inspired his mom, Nicole Sin Quee, to join in. They soon became known as “the family that runs to school”.
1. What makes Simon different from his classmates?| A．Washing his clothes by himself. | B．Taking many classes after school. |
| C．Raising strange questions in class. | D．Taking green measures to protect the environment. |
| A．By car. | B．By cycling. | C．By running. | D．By school bus. |
| A．Simon has trouble with his eyesight. | B．Simon is really stubborn and inflexible. |
| C．Simon is much tougher than expected. | D．Simon didn’t get support from his father. |
| A．The Best Way to Go to School |
| B．Father and Son Run for the Environment |
| C．A Teenager Keeps Running to Inspire Father |
| D．Three Inspiring Running Athletes to Protect the Environment |
8 . Scientists say they have found high levels of small plastic particles(颗粒) in Arctic snow. A German-Swiss research team collected snow samples(样本）from the Arctic and other areas. They included northern Germany, the Bavarian and Swiss Alps, and the North Sea island of Heligoland.When the researchers examined the samples in a laboratory, they were surprised to find very high levels of microplastics.
Microplastics are very small pieces of plastic. These plastic particles are generally smaller than 5 millimeters in length. They come from the breakdown of man-made plastic products and industrial waste.
The study found the highest levels of microplastics came from the Bavarian Alps. One snow sample from the area had 154,000 microplastic particles per liter. Samples collected from the Arctic had much lower levels. However, even samples from the Arctic contained up to 14,000 particles per liter.
The study also attempted to explore how some of the material could have been carried in the atmosphere. A limited number of earlier studies did find microplastics in the air of some cities, including Paris, Tehran and Dongguan, China.
Bergmann Melanie co-wrote the report on the new study. She believes the new study clearly shows that “the majority of the microplastic in the snow comes from the air.” The new study suggests that much of the microplastic found in Europe and the Arctic comes from the atmosphere and snow.
While there is growing concern about the effect of microplastics on the environment, scientists are still studying their possible harmful effects on humans and animals. “I hope the new study will lead to more research on this issue. I think microscopic plastic particles should be included in worldwide observations of air pollution levels.We really need to know what effects microplastics have on humans, especially if inhaled with the air that we breathe.” Bergmann said.
1. Why did scientists collect samples from so many places in paragragh 1?| A．To make the research convincing. |
| B．To attract people to explore there. |
| C．To measure the length of microplastics . |
| D．To examine the samples easily in the lab. |
| A．The risks of microplastics. |
| B．The transport of microplastics. |
| C．The breakdown of plastic products. |
| D．The description of microplastics. |
| A．Many people threw them away at the Alps. |
| B．They were delivered to remote areas through air. |
| C．They could be caught sight of in the air. |
| D．They had no great effect on the environment. |
| A．Scientists are worried about the the influence of microplastics. |
| B．We have found a practical solution to the environment problem. |
| C．The effect of microplastics on human must be urgently researched. |
| D．There is no need to change observations of air pollution levels. |
9 . Tiny microbes(微生物)are at the heart of a new agricultural technique to manage harmful greenhouse gas. Scientists have discovered how microbes can be used to turn carbon dioxide into soil-enriching limestone(石灰石), with the help of a type of tree that grows in tropical areas, such as West Africa.
Researchers have found that when the Iroko tree is grown in dry, acidic soil and treated with a combination of natural fungi(霉菌)and other bacteria, not only does the tree grow well, it also produces the mineral limestone in the soil around its root.
The Iroko tree makes a mineral by combining Ca from the earth with CO2 from the atmosphere. The bacteria then create the conditions under which this mineral turns into limestone. The discovery offers a new way to lock carbon into the soil, keeping it out of the atmosphere. In addition to storing carbon in the trees leaves and in the form of limestone. the mineral in the soil makes it more suitable for agriculture.
The discovery could lead to reforestation(重新造林) projects in tropical countries, and help reduce carbon dioxide in the atmosphere in the developing world. It has already been used in West Africa and is being tested in Bolivia, Haiti and India.
The findings were made in a three-year project involving researchers from the Universities of Edinburgh, Granada, Lausanne and Delft University of Technology. The project examined several microbiological methods of locking CO2 as limestone, and the Iroko-bacteria way showed best results. Work was funded by the European Commission under the Future&Emerging Technologies(FET)scheme.
Dr Bryne Ngwenya of the University of Edinburgh’s School of GeoSciences, who led the research, said:“By taking advantage of this natural limestone-producing process, we have a low-tech,safe, readily employed and easily operating way to lock carbon out of the atmosphere, while improving farming conditions in tropical countries.”
1. The passage is mainly introducing______.| A．some useful natural fungi and bacteria |
| B．a new way to deal with greenhouse gas |
| C．a newly-found tree in West Africa |
| D．the soil-enriching limestone created by scientists |
| A．Most tiny microbes like living in dry, acidic soil. |
| B．CO2 can be broken down by natural fungi and bacteria. |
| C．The more greenhouse gas is, the more active tiny microbes become. |
| D．Tiny microbes get along well with the Iroko tree in special soil. |
| A．Soil. | B．Carbon. |
| C．Limestone. | D．Carbon. |
| A．The action of the tiny microbes can increase the oxygen in the earth |
| B．Researchers have done the experiment on trees in Africa for three years |
| C．Researchers tend to use natural power to solve their problem |
| D．West Africa is one of the most polluted areas all over the world |
10 . Studies show that human beings and cats have been living together for about 9 , 500 years .
As cat owners know well , cats do not obey humans in the same way dogs do .
As a result , many people have come to think that maybe cats simply do not understand human language . A report in the scientific journal Nature shows that cats understand human beings well enough to recognize their own names .
The report describes a series of experiments with house cats in Japan . These tests involved having people say four words that were similar to a cat ' s name .
Each word had the same number of syllables as the name and some of the same sounds . The cats seemed to lose interest after the speaker said a few of the words .
The cats moved their ears or turned their head when they heard their names . They also moved their feet or bodies very little – not a surprising result .
The researchers thought this was because visitors may give food to the cat or rub its back when it responds . Another finding was that a cat will react when a person who is not its owner says its name .
“I think many cat owners feel that cats know their names , or the word ‘food’ .
| A．Then the person said the cat 's name . |
| B．In fact, some scientists claim that cats have trained us to take care of them. |
| C．They added that perhaps cats can learn words to warn them of dangerous things or places. |
| D．Dogs have lived with humans longer than cats. |
| E．The study was carried out by four researchers: Atsuko Saito, Yuki Ito, and Toshikazu Hasegawa and Kazutaka Shinozuka of the RIKEN Center for Brain Science in Saitama. |
| F．But until now, there was no scientific evidence to back that up. |
| G．In another part of the experiment, people said the names of the cats staying in a cat café. |
