1 . Spending time in nature has been known to positively impact mental health for some time now, but even greenery planted along a sidewalk line can be beneficial.
Mental health experts have long believed the health benefits of spending time in nature and there’re many related studies. A team of German researchers studied the long-term connection between living in an urban area where there are fewer green spaces and levels of depression. To understand the impact of being near a green space—specifically, trees planted along neighborhood sidewalks —they examined data from 10,000 residents of Leipzig, the most populated city in Saxony, Germany. Researchers assessed the number and type of street trees, how close they were planted to homes, and the number of drugs residents take to treat depression.
In addition to their closeness to green spaces, researchers also took into account the age, employment status, gender, and body weight of each of the participants. They found that trees located within 100 meters of the home were associated with a lower risk of being given antidepressants(抗抑郁药)，particularly in poor or unimportant neighborhoods. As these populations are usually at a greater risk of being given antidepressants in Germany, the findings prove just how beneficial green spaces in urban areas can be for improving mental health.
“Our findings suggest that street trees— a publicly accessible form of urban green spaces taking up a small area— can help close the gap in health inequalities between economically different social groups,” says Dr. Melissa Marselle, lead author of the study. “This is good news because street trees are relatively easy to achieve and their number can be increased without much planning effort.”
In addition to the mental health benefits for humans, planting more trees is also good for the environment. “Adding street trees in residential urban areas is a nature-based solution that may not only promote mental health, but also contribute to biodiversity conservation and mitigating climate change, says senior author Professor Aletta Bonn.
1. How did the German team obtain their findings?| A．By conducting experiments. | B．By carrying out an analysis. |
| C．By referring to previous studies. | D．By interviewing 10,000 residents. |
| A．Spending time in nature has health benefits. |
| B．Green spaces have different effects on people. |
| C．People in poor areas suffer depression more easily. |
| D．Trees close to homes may reduce the risk of depression. |
| A．Wiping. | B．Easing. | C．Understanding. | D．Monitoring. |
| A．To give tips on planting trees. | B．To report a discovery in medicine. |
| C．To present the findings of a study. | D．To share a way to fight depression. |
2 . Five years ago, French navy officer Jérôme Chardon was listening to a radio program about the journey of the bar-tailed godwit, a bird that migrates 14,000 kilometers between New Zealand and Alaska. Chardon understood how treacherous the journey would be, as heavy storms frequently hit Pacific island communities. Yet, somehow, bar-tailed godwits routinely pass through the area uninjured. Chardon wondered whether learning how birds traveled could help coastal communities avoid natural disasters.
This past January, a team from France’s National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) began experiments designed to test Chardon’s idea. Researchers with a project led by Frédéric Jiguet from NMNH equipped 56 birds of five species with cutting edge animal tracking technology. The team members were ferried to remote islands in French Polynesia, where they attached tags (标签) using tracking technology. These tags sent the birds’ locations to the International Space Station, which bounced the data back to scientists on Earth who could then follow the birds—waiting to see how the birds responded to natural disasters.
The project is focusing on birds’ ability to hear infrasound, the low-frequency sound humans cannot hear but that the researchers believe is the most likely signal birds would use to sense storms and tsunamis (海啸). In a 2014 study, scientists tracking a kind of golden-winged birds in the central and southeastern America found that the birds flew up to 1,500 kilometers to escape from an outbreak of tornadoes (龙卷风) that killed 35 people. The birds fled at least 24 hours before any extreme weather hit, leaving the scientists to believe that they had heard the storm system from more than 400 kilometers away.
The team plans on tagging hundreds more birds across the Pacific to prepare for a potential tsunami. “I think if there’s one wave that spreads across islands, we can get data from different species at different locations,” says Jiguet. “That will say it s worth continuing to tag and to develop local systems to better analyze this. There are chances that we will develop a bird-based tsunami early warning system.”
1. Which of the following best explains the word “treacherous” underlined in paragraph 1?| A．Strange. | B．Boring. |
| C．Frequent. | D．Dangerous. |
| A．Tracking natural disasters. | B．Distinguishing bird species. |
| C．Guiding researchers to islands. | D．Reporting the birds’ locations. |
| A．To prove an assumption. | B．To clarify a concept. |
| C．To present a new topic. | D．To make comparisons. |
| A．How Can Birds Avoid Natural Disasters? |
| B．Can Birds Warn Us of Natural Disasters? |
| C．How Does a Warning System Function? |
| D．Can Birds Play a Role in Human Research? |
Green Hills, Clear Water, Blue Sky is a project that was set up by the government three years ago. Since it was started, many people
All in all, people and the government should work side by side to take care
4 . The good news is that more people bought electric vehicles （EVs） in 2020. The bad news is that sport utility （多用途的）vehicles （SUVs） continued to grow in popularity, too. “The fall in oil consumption due to the first trend was completely canceled out by the second," said Laura Cozzi, an officer at the International Energy Agency （JEA）,
Between 2010 and 2020, global carbon dioxide emissions （排放）from conventional cars fell by nearly 35 billion Lons, due to reasons such as fuel efficiency improvements as well as the switch to electric cars. Emissions from SUVs rose by more than 50 billion tons. "While the growth in EVs is encouraging, the boom in SUVs is heart-breaking," says Peters at the Cicero Climate Research Centre in Norway.
There are many reasons for the growing popularity of SUVs. For example, rising economic boom in many countries means more people are able to afford them. Some people see them as status symbols. Also, SUVs are heavily advertised by car-makers, whose profit is higher on these vehicles. Some countries, including France, have introduced plans under which more taxes are paid on heavier cars. But Peters thinks that people who are rich enough to afford SUVs won't be deterred by slightly higher taxes. "There are now some electric SUVs available, but 1 hope one day you will see more electric vehicles brought to the SUV market," says Peters.
Even if it happens, switching to electric SUVs isn't a good solution. Due to their size and bigger batteries, it takes more resources to build electric SUVs, and they consume around 15 percent more electricity. That means higher emissions unless the electricity comes entirely from renewable sources, and higher electricity demand makes it harder to green the electricity supply.
1. What can we infer from Paragraph 2?| A．Scientists should devote themselves to improving fuel efficiency. |
| B．The emission of carbon dioxide of motor vehicles has hit a new low. |
| C．Electric vehicles will certainly take the place of sport utility vehicles. |
| D．The popularity of SUVs destroys some efforts at environmental protection. |
| A．Blocked. | B．Encouraged. | C．Removed. | D．Involved. |
| A．SUVs are discounted heavily. |
| B．SUVs are often advertised by car producers. |
| C．SUVs are taxed at a lower rate in some countries. |
| D．SUVs consume fewer resources than other vehicles. |
| A．The electric SUVs should be made smaller and lighter. |
| B．The electric SUVs are a good guarantee for less pollution. |
| C．More electric SUVs don’t necessarily mean "environment-friendly". |
| D．Future electric SUVs will be powered with completely green energy. |
5 . When the Audet family turns on the lights at Blue Farm, they are using electricity that comes from cows—cow manure (粪肥), to be specific.
Cows produce a lot of wastes. One cow can create 30 gallons of wastes each day. Now imagine the output of over 1,000 cows at Blue Farm. That’s really a big amount.
When farmers clean their barns, they put the wastes in a big heap, and spread some of them on their fields for fertilizer. But now places like Blue Spruce Farm have a new way of using cow wastes. They use them to produce electricity.
Here’s how it works: A big machine moves back and forth cleaning the barn floor. “The cows aren’t bothered,” says Marie Audet. “They are animals of habit; they get used to it, and just lift one foot and then another to let it go by.”
The machine pushes the manure into a big 600-gallon tank like a small swimming pool. The tank is called a digester (化粪池) because what happens there is just like what happens inside a cow: Bacteria get to work and continue to digest the manure.
Methane gas (甲烷、沼气)in the atmosphere is known as a “greenhouse” gas because it keeps heat just like a greenhouse does, causing our planet to warm up. That’s an environmental concern. But the digester has a good result. Its gas is kept and used to power electric generators (发电机).
At Blue Farm, the generators make enough electricity to power 400 homes. The Audet family sells the extra electricity they can’t use themselves.
1. We learn from the text that the Audet family is using cow wastes to ________.| A．make electricity | B．produce fertilizer |
| C．build their farm | D．feed the cows |
| A．Marie Audet does the work. | B．The job is done by machine. |
| C．The cows lift the cow wastes. | D．Bacteria get to work on them. |
| A．The power of moving water. | B．The heat of burning coal. |
| C．The power of sunlight. | D．The heat of the methane gas |
| A．reducing | B．saving |
| C．recycling | D．changing |
| A．To introduce a new way of making electricity |
| B．To explain how a new energy works better |
| C．To show a new rebuilding plan for a big farm |
| D．To explain the reasons for green house effect |
内容要点：(1) 说明“修复我们的地球”的重要性； (2) 对“修复我们的地球”提出行动建议。
注意：(1)词数100左右；
(2)可适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
Restore Our Earth
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7 . It was once a shoreline buried by enough garbage to make it invisible (看不见的), thus, given the unfortunate nickname "toilet bowl" . Now the Philippines' Manila Bay beach is totally different, compared with a few months ago. It happened so suddenly and extremely that it brought tears to the eyes of the local people.
The cleanup started on 27 January, when 5, 000 volunteers descended on Manila Bay to remove over 45 tons (公吨) of garbage, marking the beginning of a nation-wide environmental campaign. But some two months before this great movement began, a quiet revolution was already underway.
During the first week of December 2018, Brooklyn- based Bounties Network collected three tons of garbage from Manila Bay every two days through a project that paid a small group of people, mostly fishermen, with a digital currency (数字货币) based on the Ethereum system.
For the mostly non-bank -using Filipino fishermen, this was a first-ever experience with a digital currency. It's one that proves decisive in enabling poor communities around the world to take up arms in the fight against humanity's waste.
There are signs that this recycling-for-digital payment industry may be just about to take off. Earlier in September 2018, Plastic Bank, a Vancouver -based company powered by IBM technology, also started a similar project. They set up a project in Naga, a town in southern Luzon, the country's largest island, building a collection point to let people exchange plastic and recyclable materials for digital payouts through a system.
That both these pioneers have chosen the Philippines as their first location is not surprising considering the country's contribution to ocean waste. A Wall Street Journal study in 2015 revealed that the Philippines make the third-largest amount of plastic waste into global oceans.
1. Why did people call Manila Bay beach“toilet bowl” ?| A．It looked like a huge bowl. | B．There were plenty of toilets. |
| C．It was covered by rubbish. | D．People loved the toilets here. |
| A．Completely depended on. | B．Suddenly arrived at. |
| C．Occasionally decreased to. | D．Gradually disappeared from. |
| A．The benefits to their homeland. | B．The desire to make a difference. |
| C．The chance to escape ocean pollution. | D．The experience with a digital currency. |
| A．Online system helps end ocean pollution. |
| B．Manila Bay beach is suddenly removed. |
| C．Plastic Bank is powerful in recycling waste. |
| D．Philippines make a great amount of waste. |
Whales belong in oceans. However, in September, hundreds of pilot whales
Rescue teams pulled the
It is still not fully understood why the whales became stranded. Scientists have a range of
China's first national park in the Sanjiangyuan area,
The environment had
Unlike nature reserves,
Under the national park management, herdsmen and farmers will be turned
10 . These animal dads have some seriously strange ideas about fatherhood.
Barbary macaque
Unlike human dads boasting of their kids' winning contests or college acceptances, barbary macaques, monkeys that are native to North Africa, show off babies as a way to impress each other and build social networks. These monkeys live in troops of about 30 members, and life centers around the babies born each spring.
During baby season, males carry the infants, even picking up little ones that aren’t their own offspring (后代). However, there are status symbols, used to build male social networks and connections within the group. The infants can serve as a social passport, to approach other males and hang out with them. After all, it’s much simpler to break the ice if you have a cute baby in hand.
Sand grouse
Lots of dads bring home the bacon. But for young sand grouses living in Namibia’s dry deserts, water is the essential resource. Sand grouse fathers are the frequent flyers that travel almost 125 miles each day to fill up for the family at a watering hole.
With no other way to transport water, male sand grouses settle in the pool, rocking back and forth to bathe their belly feathers. Filling up can take 15 minutes, leaving them exposed to killers like falcons (猎鹰). But it all pays off. The dads return home after a long day and are able to provide their babies with few precious tablespoons of liquid.
Pipefish
Pregnant pipefish males-yes, males-give birth to live young from eggs that females deposit in their brood pouches (育儿袋). This mothering act has earned them praise as devoted animal dads.
But it turns out that the pregnant pipefish also has a wandering eye. If he sees a bigger female he often aborts (流产) existing eggs. If he stops exporting nutrients to the developing embryos (胚胎) while reabsorbing nutrients from abortions, he assures enough resources to invest in the more rewarding offspring.
Blue poison dart frog
Females of this species lay only about half a dozen precious eggs. That is maybe why dads are so devoted to them. Frog eggs must stay watery or moist, and these devoted dads accomplish that by regularly urinating on them over the course of 10 days, until they hatch (孵化) as tadpoles.
1. Barbary macaques carry their kids around in order to _____.| A．show how proud they are about being a father. |
| B．show their family strength within monkey groups. |
| C．center around their kids as a tradition. |
| D．build up better relations with other monkeys. |
| A．barbary macaque and sand grouse. |
| B．sand grouse and pipefish. |
| C．pipefish and blue poison dart frog. |
| D．sand grouse and blue poison dart frog. |
| A．Sand grouse carries the water by drinking it first and then spitting it out. |
| B．Pipefish gives up some eggs in order to make himself stronger. |
| C．Male blue poison dart frog protects the eggs by keeping them wet. |
| D．Sand grouse has to compete for water with the falcon. |
