1 . Margot doesn’t have a garbage can. It doesn’t need one because Margot simply doesn’t cause anything to get thrown away. The restaurant doesn’t allow any type of single use plastic. Margot, which opened last year, is one of the small but growing restaurants around the world aiming to avoid not only food leftovers, but also any garbage.

“Food waste has been increasing as an issue for restaurants over the last 10 years,” says Calvin Brown. He runs the Sustainable Restaurant Association. Based in the United Kingdom, the organization helps food business become more environmentally responsible. He says that food waste contributes to releasing the greenhouse gas, so there is strong motivation to reduce waste and help the environment.

In the USA, food waste and packing account for nearly half of the material sent to landfills. Restaurants from McDonald’s to Starbucks are addressing this issue with “no straw Mondays” and limits on single-serving plastic, but a handful of restaurateurs are trying to get rid of rubbish entirely. There’s also economic case to be made for waste reduction. One study shows that restaurants save seven dollars for every dollar invested in anti- waste methods.

Avoiding food waste is the first and perhaps most obvious challenge for sustainable restaurants. Doug McMaster, chef at Silo in London, only serves a set menu. This removes the worry that one particular item won’t sell well, and will spoil in the refrigerator. Compost (堆肥) is a necessity as well. Nolla (meaning “zero” in Finnish) in Helsinki, Finland is giving compost to its suppliers as well as its diners. Nolla also has food- tracking software more commonly used among corporate food service companies to keep track of what sells and what rots.

Sometimes restaurants call themselves environmentally friendly, but they might just be using the label. Calvin offers some pointers on what to look for to make sure a restaurant is truly committed to sustainability.

1. What does Margot feature?

A．Its large size.	B．Its opening hours.
C．Its zero-waste goal.	D．Its plastic garbage cans.

2. What is paragraph 3 mainly about?

A．Ways of packaging food.

B．The issue of investing in services.

C．The importance of environmental protection.

D．Efforts of some restaurants to reduce rubbish,

3. Which of the following does Nolla try to do?

A．Only serve a set menu.

B．Hardly use refrigerators.

C．Supply compost to its customers.

D．Keep track of diners’ preferences.

4. What does Calvin think restaurants should do?

A．Expand food business.

B．Use eco-friendly labels.

C．Save money on dealing with kitchen garbage.

D．Contribute to sustainable development of the food industry.

2 . Many people think that leaving a social situation without saying goodbye is rude—and it turns out that apes (类人猿) would agree.

As humans, we typically say we are leaving, shake hands or use other body language to signal when interactions with others are ending. Now Durham University researchers have discovered that apes such as bonobos and chimpanzees have a similar system, using gestures and physical contact to start and finish play or grooming sessions (梳毛时段).

The study observed 1,242 interactions within groups of bonobos and chimpanzees at zoos in the United States, Switzerland and France. In 90 percent of cases, bonobos used an “entry signal” before starting an interaction as well as a form of “exit signal” to end an interaction in 92 percent of cases. Chimpanzees used entry signals in 69 percent of cases and exit signals in 86 percent of cases. The closer the relationship between the animals, the shorter the gestures, researchers found. “When you’re interacting with a good friend, you’re less likely to put in a lot of effort in communicating politely,” researcher Dr Raphaela Heesen said.

The ability to work for common causes was seen as a particularly human characteristic, made easier by our ability to communicate through language, but collaboration could also be seen in apes.

While the researchers were already aware that apes used signals to begin interactions, before the study they did not know if they did anything to mark ending and leaving them. Some earlier studies had compared apes with children who had not learnt to talk. When an adult played with a child and then suddenly stopped, the child would protest and want to keep playing. The apes did not appear to protest and so it was assumed that they did not require a signal to end an interaction. Dr Heesen said, however, that she had seen two bonobos interrupted while grooming each other. They then gestured to signal that they wanted to continue the grooming.

The study suggested the idea of “joint commitment” to shared attempts might have developed from our ape ancestors. The behavior among bonobos, in particular, has “some similarities to what, in humans, is considered ‘social etiquette (社交礼仪)’.”

1. What do Durham University researchers find about apes?

A．They shake hands when reaching an agreement.

B．They signal each other when ending an interaction.

C．They communicate without having physical contact.

D．They develop a similar social system to human beings.

2. What can be learned from paragraph 3?

A．Chimpanzees behave more politely than bonobos.

B．Bonobos are closer to human beings than chimpanzees.

C．Entry signals are more important than exit ones to chimpanzees.

D．Unfamiliar bonobos gesture more than familiar ones to start interacting.

3. What might the underlined word “collaboration” in paragraph 4 mean?

A．Teamwork.

B．Friendship.

C．Comparison.

D．Communication.

4. Why did Dr Heesen mention two bonobos she had seen in paragraph 5?

A．To prove the previous assumption was wrong.	B．To emphasize apes and children are similar.
C．To show the way of preventing interruption.	D．To introduce things apes often do together.

3 . After Hurricane Maria swept through Puerto Rico in 2017 and caused huge damage, researchers found rhesus macaques, a species of monkey living on Cayo Santiago, became more sociable with each other, according to a study published in the journal Current Biology.

“The monkeys live in a highly competitive society and can become aggressively protective over resources like food and water,” said study author Camille Testard, a professor of neuroscience at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine. “That’s why researchers predicted that after the hurricane, the monkeys would stick with their closest friends in order to survive,” Testard said. Instead, the island’s residents became more tolerant of each other and greatly expanded their friend group.

“To measure the monkeys’ socialization and friendship-building, researchers tracked who they groomed (梳毛), which is one of the ways monkeys bond with one another,” Testard said. “It serves a similar function for us to getting coffee or a beer with friends,” she added. After the hurricane, the “grooming networks” became denser, Testard said, meaning there were more connections being formed compared to the monkeys’ behavior before the storm. The scientists found the animals made friends with friends of their friends, which she said is a common “easy” route to making friends that’s mirrored in human social circles.

The researchers didn’t know why the monkeys decided to make more friends, but Testard assumed it could be “a strategy to gain tolerance and support from the greatest number of individuals and thereby access to limited resources like shade.”

The monkeys could be forming additional bonds to “buffer” them from future hardship from the natural disaster, said Brenda MeCowan, a professor of population health and reproduction, who was not involved in the study. She said the findings also provide an insight into how humans might cope with the increasing threat of climate crisis. “Rhesus macaques are close evolutionary relatives to humans and share many features of their biology and behavior with us, ”said McCowan. “Our best friends can give us many things, but sometimes, what we need is a social network where everyone is just friendly enough.”

1. What was the researchers’ prediction about the monkeys alter the hurricane?

A．They would narrow their circle of friends.

B．They would spend more time making friends.

C．They would become less aggressive than before.

D．They would value the accessible resources.

2. Why do the monkeys groom each other according to Testard?

A．To build closer bonds.

B．To get food opportunities.

C．To keep safe physically.

D．To show tolerance and support.

3. What’s the message McCowan conveys in the last paragraph?

A．We must learn to live in harmony with wildlife.

B．We should be more united to face global challenges.

C．Human behavior has a great influence on monkeys.

D．Climate crisis is now the biggest threat to our survival.

4. Which can be a suitable title for the text?

A．Monkeys and humans have similar behavior.

B．Monkeys managed to survive natural disasters.

C．Biological ties do exist between humans and monkeys.

D．Monkeys formed unexpected friendship after the hurricane.

5 . After you finish your fries, eat the package. When you add your noodles to boiling water, throw the bag into the pot, too. If these instructions sound confusing to you, it’s only because you haven’t yet heard of Notpla, a London-based start-up company that is designing a seaweed-based replacement for single-use plastic packaging.

The approach feels especially great as the world is coming to terms with the effects of decades of plastic production. According to the UN, 330 million tons of plastic waste is produced globally each year, and out of the 9 billion tons of plastic produced since the early 1950s, about 60% has been buried or thrown away as rubbish. Microplastics — tiny pieces that are often the result of larger plastics breaking down — pollute the ocean, the air and our bodies.

“It’s getting more and more clear how big the plastic problem is,” Notpla design director Karlijn Sibbel said. “Producers are ‘using materials that last for thousands of years for products that are only in use for a few minutes’. We firstly looked to seaweed as the solution to the world’s plastic problem because there is plenty of it, it crows quickly, it doesn’t compete with land crops, and it absorbs carbon from the air,” added Sibbel.

“The exciting thing is that the new product named Ooho is a film that can replace most of the flexible packaging that you see around,” Sibbel said. The potential contents could include coffee grounds, toilet paper or the nails used for making furniture. For foods, such as noodles, they have even experimented with adding more taste to the packaging, so that dissolving the bag could add seasoning to the pot.

Last year, Notpla tested 30,000 takeaway boxes in partnership with the online food ordering service Just Eat. The two companies handed out the takeaway boxes at different UK restaurants and plans are being made to offer the boxes around Europe in 2022. As they expand, Notpla’s team hopes seaweed could replace single-use plastic in the supply chain more broadly, but with a large quantity of plastics used around the world, she understands how difficult such a task is, Sibbel said.

1. How does the author introduce the topic of the passage?

A．By comparing facts.	B．By giving examples.
C．By raising questions.	D．By analyzing data.

2. How much plastic has become rubbish since the early 1950s?

A．About 198 million tons.	B．About 5.4 billion tons.
C．About 330 million tons.	D．About 9 billion tons.

3. What does paragraph 4 mainly talk about?

A．The potential use of the new product.	B．The new application of plastic bags.
C．The motivation for the new study.	D．The next goal of the new research.

4. What does Sibbel think of their task to replace single-use plastic in the supply chain?

A．It is helpless.	B．It is impractical.
C．It is challenging.	D．It is a short-term project.

6 . A five-year-old dog named Millie is helping to keep the streets of Hereford, England, clean with her 80-year-old owner Alfie Kitson. Kitson only has to point at a bit of rubbish on the floor and say, “Put that in the bin,” and Millie will do what he bids.

Millie was just eight months old when she was found abandoned in a rubbish bag tied to a tree branch in Spain, where Kitson and his family lived for 20 years. After giving her a new home, Kitson later spotted a soldier and his dog doing the trick in a park and set about trying to get Millie to do the same.

He began putting a box, of similar size to a public bin, in their Spanish garden, and bit by bit, he raised its height as she understood to drop things in the box. And luckily, the bins in Hereford were just the right size for Millie to showcase her talent when she moved to Britain with Kitson and his wife.

“Obviously, environmental concerns are a hot topic at the moment, so if we can help clear up rubbish and plastic off the street, then we’re doing our bit to help,” Kitson said. “We rescued her because our house felt empty without an animal. Dogs and cats are a big part of the life of anyone who loves animals. She is the family, and we are glad we can show her off to neighbors as she is really an amazing dog.”

Hereford office worker Samuel Tiler regularly spots Millie working her magic in the city center.

“The first time I saw her do it, I thought I might be going mad. I thought, ‘Is that really a dog tidying up people’s litter?’” he said of the dog. “I just wish people could be more thoughtful as it shouldn’t take a dog to clear up after them,” Tiler added. “If you’ve got a dog taking responsibility for the environment — surely we can do the same.”

1. What does the underlined word “bids” in paragraph 1 probably mean?

A．Commands.

B．Promises.

C．Misses.

D．Witnesses.

2. When did Kitson begin to teach Millie the trick?

A．Before he bought his new home in Spain.	B．When Millie was less than eight months old.
C．After he saw a man training his dog.	D．After he moved to his new home in Britain.

3. Why did Kitson take Millie home?

A．To show off to his neighbors.	B．To guard his house.
C．To accompany him and his wife.	D．To clean up the rubbish in the park.

4. What can we learn from Tiler’s words?

A．Dogs are really friendly to humans.

B．Humans have to pay the price for their mistakes.

C．More dogs should be trained to help keep the environment tidy.

D．Humans should do their part in keeping the environment clean.

9 . Sagarika Sriram was just 10 years old when she started reading newspaper stories about a planet in trouble. One story was about a whale that washed ashore after an oil spill (泄露). Another was about turtles found with plastic in their stomachs. Sagarika knew she needed to do something. So she joined a group that organized cleanup campaigns in Dubai, her home city, in the United Arab Emirates. The experience, she says, “helped me understand what an individual (个人的) can do and how I can really make a difference.”

But individual power is greatest on a larger scale (程度). So in 2016, Sagarika created Kids for a Better World. It’s a digital platform that has brought together nearly 10,000 youths from all over the world. Its goal is to fight climate change.

Sagarika is now 16. She’s part of a growing body of young climate activists who are working together in the name of a cleaner, healthier future. “We’re the generation that is going to face the consequences if the climate crisis is not dealt with,” Sagarika says. She believes even small individual actions can create a “ripple effect”, promoting development in the right direction. “Change can be created on large levels with even small actions. ” she says.

Kids for a Better World is for people ages 8 to 16. The platform teaches them about what they can do at home and in their community to reverse (反转) climate change. They can grow food or plant trees. They can collect recyclables and avoid using plastic bags. These are lessons Sagarika wants schools to teach. “This is the information which can help change our future.” she says.

Growing up in a large desert city has made Sagarika even more aware of the need for action. Her city faces risks from rising temperatures and shrinking water supplies. She believes youth advocacy (倡议) can bring attention to these environmental challenges.

Even if she’s all about small actions, Sagarika has big plans. She’d like to study at Stanford University, in California. And while she’s there, she’ll continue being an activist and running Kids for a Better World. Sagarika hopes to inspire others to fight for a greener planet, as others have inspired her. “We’re creating our own system of inspirational change-makers.” she says.

1. What helped Sagarika realize her individual power?

A．The disturbing news stories.	B．The lessons in her own school.
C．Her determination to get rid of sea waste.	D．Her experience with environmental activities.

2. What does “ ripple ” in paragraph 3 probably mean?

A．Reducing quickly.	B．Spreading gradually.
C．Shaking violently.	D．Attracting slowly.

3. What does Kids for a Better World do to achieve its goal?

A．It designs lessons for schools.	B．It bans the use of plastic bags.
C．It encourages kids to start small.	D．It asks people to grow trees in deserts.

4. What can we learn about Sagarika from the last paragraph?

A．She’ll run for mayor of her home city.	B．She’ll stop running Kids for a Better World.
C．She’ll inspire more to fight for a greener Earth.	D．She’ll attend the most famous university in her country.

10 . Jellyfish (水母) are badly named. They are neither a fish nor made of jelly. Instead, their bodies are made up of 95% water and 5% solid matter. They have been in existence for at least half a billion years. Therefore, they are older than dinosaurs. Surprisingly, they don’t have a brain, a heart, or lungs. You may wonder how they can possibly survive without these vital organs, but everything is for the best. They don’t have lungs because their skin is so thin that they can absorb oxygen through it. They don’t need a heart to pump blood because they don’t have any. And they have a nerve net — which is sensitive to touch — below their outer skin. They respond to the changes in their environment using signals from the nerve net, so they don’t need a brain to process complex thoughts.

Their variety is nearly endless. Most of them are umbrella-shaped and have tentacles (触角). Some jellyfish have very long tentacles. However, they never get tangled (缠结) up or sting (蜇) themselves. That’s because the tentacles are very slippery and will only sting other animals. Most jellyfish have little or no vision, but they can discover light and ocean currents, which helps them to find their way and move. A few species can also recognize color and have a 360-degree view of their environment.

Jellyfish come in all sizes, from 0.5 millimeters to the giant Nomura’s jellyfish, which can measure up to two meters in diameter and weigh over 200 kilograms. While jellyfish are beautiful, they can also be dangerous. Some jellyfish toxins (毒素) can be deadly to humans, such as those from the box jellyfish and the Australian Irukandji, but deaths are relatively rare given the number of jellyfish-sting victims every year. In any case, it’s better to stay out of the way of any jellyfish you may see! You can go swimming with dolphins, but you definitely want to think twice before swimming with jellyfish.

1. What does “everything is for the best” in paragraph 1 mean?

A．Ocean creatures without vital organs don’t lie long.

B．Jellyfish live just fine with what they naturally have.

C．Jellyfish live in the ocean because everything is suitable.

D．The numerous ocean species make life pretty easy for jellyfish.

2. How long have jellyfish lived on our planet?

A．More than 500,000,000 years.	B．At least 5,000,000,000 years.
C．Roughly 50,000,000 years.	D．Less than 5,000,000 years.

3. Which of the following topics about jellyfish is NOT mentioned in the text?

A．Their size.

B．Their toxicity.

C．Their diets.

D．Their appearance.

4. What is the best title of the text?

A．The Oldest Creature in the World	B．Jellyfish — Beautiful and Dangerous
C．Have Fun Swimming with Jellyfish	D．How Jellyfish Survived Dinosaurs