1 . Microplastics — tiny pieces of plastic waste less than five millimetres long that have been degraded by waves, wind and ultraviolet rays — have been discovered in the deepest oceanic trenches and within the stomachs of the organisms that live there, but we have little idea about where the great majority of them end up. More than eight million tonnes of plastic enters our oceans every year, comprising between 80 and 85 percent of all marine trash, but with inadequate data, there are concerns that these figures could be underestimates.
Currently, most of the data we have on microplastics are accidentally captured by research ships, which use plankton nets to collect marine-microorganism samples. However, researchers Christopher Ruf and Madeline Evans from the University of Michigan have discovered an innovative way to identify and track concentrations of microplastics in the ocean.
The technique relies on NASA’s Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System (CYGNSS), a constellation of eight micro-satellites used to predict hurricanes that calculate wind speeds above the ocean by measuring the roughness of surface waters. As the satellites are continuously recording, Ruf and Evans realised that they collect a great deal of additional data. It was while analysing these data that they noticed some differences-times where the surface of the ocean appeared to be much smoother than it should, given the prevailing wind (盛行风) conditions.
Knowing that water isn’t roughened as much when it contains a lot of floating material, Ruf and Evans identified a pattern that linked areas of unusual smoothness and predicted microplastic distributions. They found that the difference between their measurements, and how much rougher the surface would be if winds of the same speed were blowing across clear water, was “highly correlated with the presence of microplastics, and the degree of the difference also correlated with the concentration of the plastics.”
The research reveals that there are seasonal variations,where the concentrations of microplastics tend to be higher in the summer and lower in the winter in a very clean, periodic way, which Ruf explains mirrors the way in which the ocean circulation changes throughout the year. It also confirms, as was previously thought, that rivers are the main source of ocean microplastics.
Raising awareness of the issue of ocean microplastics among the public and politicians is just one of the researchers’ future aims; they are also in conversation with Duteh non-profit The Ocean Cleanup and Finnish clean-technology specialist Clewat, which are interested in using the information to more efficiently target their trash-collection campaigns.
So far, only one year’s worth of data have been processed since CYGNSS was launched in 2016. By looking at a longer time period, Ruf and Evans aim to determine whether the seasonal pattern is repeatable, and whether the concentration of micmplastics in the ocean is getting worse.
1. What is Paragraph 1 mainly about?| A．The limited knowledge about ocean microplastics. |
| B．The harm of ocean microplastics to sea creatures. |
| C．The methods of degrading ocean microplasties. |
| D．The previous research on ocean microplasties. |
| A．has offered data about the repeatable seasonal pattern |
| B．guides research ships to gather data about sea animals |
| C．provides unexpected data about the changes of sea surface |
| D．was designed to measure the distribution of ocean microplastics |
| A．Microplastics will end up in the stomachs of the ocean organisms. |
| B．Mlicroplastics play a vital role in the yearly ocean circulation changes. |
| C．The surface of the ocean can get smoother with more microplastics in it. |
| D．The new way of tracking microplastics has helped prevent ocean pollution. |
| A．To introduce the technology of CYGNSS. |
| B．To present a way to study ocean microplastics. |
| C．To test an assumption on ocean microplastics. |
| D．To propose a new means of protecting the ocean. |
2 . Eradajere Oleita thinks she may have a partial solution for two of our country’s persistent problems: garbage and poverty. It’s called the Chip Bag Project. The 26-year-old student and environmentalist from Detroit is asking a favor of local snack lovers:Rather than throw your empty chip bags into the trash，donate them so she can turn them into sleeping bags for the homeless.
Chip eaters drop off their empty bags from Doritos，Lay’s, and other favorites at two locations in Detroit: a print shop and a clothing store, where Oleita and her volunteer helpers collect them.After they sanitize the chip bags in soapy hot water, they slice them open, lay them flat, and iron them together. They use padding and liners from old coats to line the insides.
It takes about four hours to sew a sleeping bag, and each takes around 150 to 300 chip bags.depending on whether they’re single-serve or family size. The result is a sleeping bag that is “waterproof, lightweight, and easy to carry around,” Oleita told the Detroit News.
Since its start in 2020, the Chip Bag Project has collected more than 800,000 chip bags and,as of last December, created 110 sleeping bags.
Sure, it would be simpler to raise the money to buy new sleeping bags. But that’s only half the goal for Oleita—whose family moved to the United States from Nigeria a decade ago with the hope of attaining a better life — and her fellow volunteers. “We are dedicated to making an impact not only socially, but environmentally,” she says.
And, of course, there’s the symbolism of recycling bags that would otherwise land in the trash and using them to help the homeless. It’s a powerful reminder that environmental injustice and poverty often go hand in hand. As Oleita told hourdetroit.com: “I think it’s time to show connections between all of these issues.”
1. What does the underlined word “persistent” mean in the first paragraph?| A．Temporary. | B．Tireless. | C．Continuous. | D．Primitive. |
| A．The empty chip bags are collected from two locations. |
| B．The chip bags are sealed with old coats. |
| C．A sleeping bag costs only 200 chip bags. |
| D．A sleeping bag couldn’t be washed out if dirty. |
| A．To get rid of poverty. | B．To make use of garbage. |
| C．To gain a better life. | D．To make our society and environment better. |
| A．Recycling bags will be landed in the trash at last. |
| B．Connections between these issues are hard to set up. |
| C．Environmental injustice and poverty often go separately. |
| D．There’s a symbolic meaning in this way to help the homeless. |
3 . We were at the top of the mountain when the call came through on the radio.
I was in the Altai Mountains with Biosphere Expeditions(生物圈考察队) as a member of the first team to take part in a survey of snow leopards(雪豹) in this part of the world.
Getting to the base camp had been an expedition in itself. It was getting dark as we arrived. After a very welcome night’s sleep we were up early for a couple of days training on how to fill in the datasheets, identify tracks and prints and what to do with useful animal droppings amongst other things.
The next day four of us set off up one of the mountains to do our first surveying with our guide Oleg. We spent most of the morning climbing the endlessly steep mountain with little communication from Oleg who only became active when we stopped to take on water. By early afternoon we reached what appeared to be the top but was another ridge(山脊). My 47-year-old bones were shaking and I was struggling to breathe. We hadn’t seen a thing except for rocky mountains. Our guide was keeping going but we had very little idea about what we were supposed to be doing. Energy was dropping rapidly.
Then everything changed. The radio came to life. Hardly able to speak through excitement, one of the other groups told us that they had just discovered fresh snow leopard tracks!
On arrival, we found the other group silently looking a gulf(溪谷). A set of very clear paw prints ran from top to bottom. I was filled with a feeling of complete exhilaration. One of the rarest big cats in the world had passed through where I was standing! They were here and what we were going to do would help them survive.
All the suffering of the past days fell away. The long walk back to the base camp that night seemed to go by in seconds.
1. Why did the author make his expedition in the Altai Mountains?| A．To become a member of Biosphere Expeditions. |
| B．To enjoy the mountainous scenery. |
| C．To measure the height of the mountains. |
| D．To carry out the research on snow leopards. |
| A．He visited the camp with his partners. | B．He got up late after some extra rest. |
| C．He received some basic training. | D．He organized a welcome party. |
| A．Climbing the endlessly rocky mountains at his age. |
| B．Having good communication with his guide. |
| C．Finding the right way to the mountain top. |
| D．Searching for clean drinking water. |
| A．Freedom. | B．Excitement. | C．Peace. | D．Loss. |
4 . The over 48,000 orange trees in Seville, Spain, not only fill the city’s air with the pleasant smell of orange blossoms in spring, but they also produce over 16,500 tons of fruit every winter. Though that makes the capital of southern Spain’s Andalusia region Europe’s top orange-producing city, the fruit is too sour to be consumed fresh. While some of the produce is used to make orange jam and an alcoholic drink, most of it ends up in Seville’s landfills (填埋场). However, that may change soon thanks to a clever idea to use the oranges to produce clean energy.
The trial program is being launched by the city’s council and park department in cooperation with Emasesa, Seville’s water supply and sanitation (卫生) division. Juice from 38. 6 tons of oranges will be left to ferment (发酵) in a specialized facility. The methane (甲烷) released from the fermented liquid will be captured and used to drive a generator to produce clean power. The officials estimate the test run will produce about 1,500 kWh of energy—enough to run one of Emasesa’s water purification plants. To ensure there is no waste, the orange skins, peels, and flesh will be used as fertilizer.
“It’s not just about saving money. The oranges are a problem for the city, and we’re producing added value from waste,” said Benigno Lopez, head of Emasesa’s environmental department.
If successful, by 2023, the city hopes to recycle all the oranges and add the electricity produced back into its power transmission network. In trial runs, one ton of oranges produced 50 kWh of clean energy—enough to cover the daily electricity needs of five homes. The project team estimates that if all the fruit is recycled, it will produce enough energy to power as many as 73,000 residences.
“This project will help us to reach our targets for reducing emissions, energy self-sufficiency, and the circular economy,” Juan Espadas Cejas, mayor of Seville, said in the press conference announcing the trial scheme.
1. What do we know about oranges in Seville from the first paragraph？| A．They are usually picked in spring. |
| B．They are mostly used to make jams and juice. |
| C．They are not recommended to be eaten fresh. |
| D．They make Seville the world’s top orange-producing city. |
| A．Different uses of oranges. |
| B．How to produce power from juice. |
| C．An introduction to the trial program. |
| D．Why the trial program was put forward. |
| A．Seville hasn’t carried out the trial program yet. |
| B．The electricity produced will be used to purify water. |
| C．The electricity produced will go to Seville’s power plants. |
| D．Seville may need to recycle 14,600 tons of oranges to power 73,000 homes. |
| A．Seville Is Turning Waste into Wealth |
| B．Seville Is Seeking Market for Oranges |
| C．Seville Is Contributing to Global Warming |
| D．Seville Is Dealing with the Electricity Shortage |
5 . In 2010, Barack Obama was to pay a visit to Mumbai’s Gandhi Museum, where palm(棕榈)trees full of me dotted the grounds. The president knew me well-coconuts (椰子)are a part of life in Indonesia, where he spent his boyhood. Before his visit, Indian authorities, however, removed every last sign of me around the museum. They were afraid the president of the United States would be taken out by one of me falling on his head.
Let’s get this out of the way: My reputation as the “killer fruit” of countless innocents was then and still is a misbelief. A repeatedly misinterpreted 1984 study overstated the number of deaths I caused by hitting people on the head, and the word spread. Today, the only things about me “to die for” are the sometimes too-delicious foods you humans make with me, such as cookies and pies. A decade ago, health experts briefly gave me a halo because some of my fats may raise beneficial cholesterol (胆固醇). But ask a heart doctor today and they’ll tell you that coconut oil will raise your bad cholesterol as much. Death by coconut, indeed!
People have other wrong ideas about me. But allow me to leave you with a sweet presidential tale. A World War II boat commanded by one John F.Kennedy was destroyed in 1943 by a Japanese warship. Kennedy and his surviving crew were stuck on an island. They were suffering from hunger, thirst and injuries when they met two friendly native coast-watchers. Kennedy scratched a message into a coconut shell: “NAURO ISL...COMMANDER...11 ALIVE...NEED SMALL BOAT...KENNEDY.”
The coast-watchers delivered this successfully and all the crew were saved. Years later, the coconut shell was given to the newly elected president. It sat on his office desk throughout his presidency and now is a center-piece of the John F.Kennedy Library in Boston-as the proof that we coconuts don’t take lives, we save them.
1. Why did Indian officials get rid of “me”?| A．To reduce Obama’s fear. | B．To avoid unexpected injuries. |
| C．To show their welcome tradition. | D．To follow the request from the US. |
| A．thought little of me | B．did great damage to me |
| C．made me well-known | D．brought me a good name |
| A．Amusing. | B．Anxious. |
| C．Concerned. | D．Romantic. |
| A．To show a new discovery. | B．To correct people’s misbelief. |
| C．To tell the history of coconuts. | D．To describe a successful rescue. |
6 . Efforts to preserve the Amazon rain forest are growing ever more urgent as the ecosystem’s destruction accelerates. A recent study shows that a new program combining on-the-ground monitoring with satellite data and smartphone technology could help put the brakes on Amazon deforestation (毁林)—and potentially that of forests elsewhere.
The scientists cooperated with 76 local communities, 36 of which participated in using satellite-based “early deforestation alerts”, an early-alert system on a smartphone app, to watch over the forest and to inspect forests and document damage. Over the next two years the participants were paid to work as forest monitors and received monthly alerts via the app when satellite data indicated local forest losses. Monitors investigated alerts and inspected for deforestation in the areas. They reported confirmed losses back to their communities, which decided whether to deal with the affairs on their own or inform state authorities.
The researchers analyzed the same forest-loss satellite data from the given time period in all 76 communities. They found the program reduced forest loss by 8.4 hectares (公顷) in the first year—a 52 percent reduction compared with the average loss in the control communities, says Tara Slough, an economist at New York University. “This reduction in deforestation was concentrated in communities facing the largest threat of forest loss”, she adds.
Results for the program were less striking in its second year, when forest loss was reduced by only 3.3 hectares compared with that in control communities. The researchers explain that a Peruvian government campaign against coca planting that year may have discouraged deforestation in both experimental and control communities, narrowing differences between the two groups in the program.
Experts say this approach to dealing with Amazonian deforestation looks promising. Local groups may continue the work they started in the program. “We want to apply this in other communities. In doing so, we are making a contribution to the world,” wrote Francisco, a community member involved in the research.
1. What can we learn about the new program?| A．It applies to all the forests. | B．It adopts multiple technologies. |
| C．It involves no human participation. | D．It solves the problem beforehand. |
| A．By analyzing the data. | B．By surveying the monitors. |
| C．By observing the area. | D．By investigating the damage. |
| A．Stable. | B．Positive. | C．Unconvincing. | D．Discouraging. |
| A．Amazon Protecting the Rainforest | B．Experts Testing Early-alert System |
| C．Communities Dealing With Deforestation | D．Smartphone Watching Over the Forest |
7 . While living and working in Karlstad University in Sweden, I was entrusted the challenging assignment of catsitting three 10-year olds for two weeks. At first, I was a bit perturbed. From all that I had heard about cats being selfish creatures. I wondered if I would ever be able to deliver the goods.
I had been asked to stay at the cat-owners’ place for the fortnight. The first day, all three, Mercedes, Mio and Casper, seemed to be suspicious of me. I fed them, disposed of their litter and got to work. Soon, however, they began to look forward to my returning, and would mew happiness hearing the key turn in the door-lock.
As our familiarity grew, I began to playfully bid goodnight to the cats, sometimes adding aloud in Swedish that I had to wake up at 7:00 a.m. I forgot to set the alarm on most nights, but faced no problems, because at exactly 7:00 a.m.—no exaggerations here—I would hear the sounds of gentle mewing and scratching outside my bedroom door.
Then, there was one evening, when I felt a bit under the weather. Sitting on the sofa, mentally worn out and physically exhausted, I stared blankly into space, when a gentle tapping landed on my cheek. I found Casper standing on the sofa’s armrest peering into my eyes. He seemed to be asking me to cheer up, switch off for the evening and look forward to a better tomorrow.
On the evenings of the last few days, all three cats began to rush over and sit close to me on the sofa and snooze (打盹) against my feet or on my lap. They knew perhaps that our time together was nearing its end and that they would not see me again. They all came over to the door, when I left the next morning with my things packed. They just stood there and mewed for a while, and as I walked around the street bend, they hopped on to the window watching me go.
1. What does the underlined word “perturbed” mean in the first paragraph?| A．Excited. | B．Unwilling. | C．Confident. | D．Worried. |
| A．By taking care of them. | B．By taking them out. |
| C．By cheering them up. | D．By talking to them. |
| A．The cat was asking to go out. | B．The cat was playing with him. |
| C．The cat was trying to comfort him. | D．The cat was reminding him of bedtime. |
| A．Temporary. | B．Complex. | C．Casual. | D．Close. |
It's reported that China on Tuesday
Home to various key wildlife species in China, the Wuyishan National Park appeals
9 . When Did the First Stars Shine
Our universe is home to countless galaxies(银河), with each galaxy hosting hundreds of billions of stars. Each one is a ball of energies powered by the nuclear explosion of elements in their hearts.
Billions of years ago, there was a time before stars or before lights, called the Dark Ages. There used to be not enough material of high densities(密度)to cause nuclear explosion. Without nuclear explosion, there were no stars.
Those first stars burned fiercely and died quickly. None of them survived to the present day.
Recently, a team of astronomers used 70 hours of observing time to take pictures of six extremely distant galaxies.
Hopefully, upcoming missions, like NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, will be able to directly observe those galaxies in greater detail. And some star mysteries will be disclosed,
| A．Nevertheless, they left their mark. |
| B．Accordingly, there was no visible light either. |
| C．Each one also poured out light into the empty universe. |
| D．It was much darker than it is today with only a little light. |
| E．For example, when did the Cosmic Dawn exactly take place? |
| F．Based on their observations, they were able to estimate the age of the galaxies. |
| G．They're so far away that we can't capture them even with powerful telescopes. |
10 . Multispectral cameras (多光谱摄像机) keep a watch on the polluted Ganges (恒河), where thousands of people suffer from water-borne diseases by the river.
The 1.500-mile-long Ganges originates in the Himalayan range and snakes across to the coastal state of West Bengal. In Rishikesh, the river is still relatively clear, but when it reaches the city of Kanpur, the Ganges turns a deep grey with raw waste and is faced with serious pollution. 764 industries along the river consume 1,123 million liters of water and flow back about half that volume as wastes.
Large-scale plans ever launched to clean the river prove unsatisfying. due to a lack of a clear understanding of what pollutants are in the water and how they affect it.
Dipro has been working on high tech solutions to the first survey and the analysis of the pollutants. To collect data on the water composition. he sent a plane into the sky, fitted with four multispectral cameras that use sensors to remotely monitor pollutants in the river, which create a long pathway easily studied from the sky. The reflection of lights from the surface of the liquid depends on the amount of various matters in it. At a higher concentration, these changes are visible to naked eyes, but in low concentrations, he uses specialized optical filters (光学过滤) and calculations to separate the wavelengths of light being reflected. Sometimes he creates false color composite images, which add color to the wavelengths to better distinguish different parts of the liquid with concentrations of floating pollutants. People can trace them back to the sources accurately and identify the polluters responsible.
When asked to develop this remote sensing method further to handle polluters better from the sky. Dipro says, "With new and affordable drones (无人机) available in the market, anyone can send one up and help collect relevant data."
1. What's the main idea of paragraph 2?| A．The link between the Himalaya and the river. |
| B．The development of industries along the river. |
| C．The formation of the Ganges |
| D．Severe pollution of the Ganges |
| A．Wavelengths of light. | B．Floating pollutants |
| C．False images. | D．Different parts of the liquid. |
| A．More drones will be adopted to address river pollution. |
| B．It's everyone's duty to engage in the work of drones. |
| C．Drones perform perfectly in river pollution control. |
| D．Drones serve as a must for a better environment |
| A．How to Operate Multispectral Cameras | B．How to Clean Ganges from the Sky |
| C．Dipro's Ambitious Invention | D．Ganges' Serious Pollution |
