1 . Research shows that with 2℃ of global warming we will have more disasters like droughts, floods, wildfires and storms. Unless we act immediately to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, we won’t be able to escape the worst consequences of climate change. This can seem depressing.     1    . Here are some ways you can be part of the climate solution:

●Transform your transport

    2    . So many governments across the world are taking action to reduce carbon emissions in transport. You can get a head start. Leave your car at home and walk or cycle whenever possible. If the distances are too great, choose public transport, preferably electric options. If you must drive, offer to carpool with others so that fewer cars are on the road.

●    3    

To reduce your food’s carbon footprint, buy local and seasonal foods. You’ll be helping small businesses and farms in your area and reducing fossil fuel emissions associated with transport and cold chain storage. Go one step further and try growing your own fruit, vegetables and herbs.     4    .

●Don’t waste food

One-third of all food produced is either lost or wasted. People waste 1 billion tons of food each year, which accounts for around 8-10 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. Avoid waste by only buying what you need. Take advantage of every edible (可食用的) part of the foods you buy. Be creative with leftovers, share extras with your friends and neighbours.     5    . It’s a best option for managing organic waste while also reducing environmental impacts.

A．Grow your own food

B．Shop local and buy sustainable

C．Transport is a typical example of human activities

D．But the good news is that there’s a lot we can still do as individuals

E．Traffic accounts for around a quarter of all greenhouse gas emissions

F．You can plant them in a garden, on a balcony or even on a window sill

G．Make compost (堆肥) out of inedible parts and use it to fertilize (使肥沃) your garden

2 . The thought of a natural disaster can be frightening, but you can prepare yourself and your family with a few simple steps.     1    , getting prepared for several possible situations will help you better deal with an emergency.

Fill out an emergency plan.

Create an emergency plan for your family in case of a natural disaster. Include household information, out-of-town contacts, and school, workplace, and childcare contact information and emergency contingencies (应急预案).     2    .

    3    

Consider the disasters for the events that are most likely to happen in your area. Make sure everyone in your family knows how to react to different disasters, including tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, fires, winter storms, and power failures. Make sure the safest spots in your home for each type of disaster.

For example, the highest level in your home is the safest place during a flood, while the lowest level is safest during a tornado, for instance.

Identify 3 ways to get warnings.

Alarms are generally enough warnings for natural disasters. However, in case of a power failure, you cannot rely only on your television or landline phone for warnings, either.     4    . You should also have a battery-operated AM/FM radio(and extra batteries)on hand as well.

Determine the best evacuation (撤离) routes.

Identify all the entries and exits in your home and plan how you will evacuate your home(by car or by foot, for instance). Determine where you will go if you cannot remain in your home or even in your region. Then, map out several routes for getting out of your city.     5    .

A．Decide what not to do in different situations

B．Discuss how to respond to most likely disasters

C．Add your evacuation routes and shelter plans as well

D．Since you know what you should do when a disaster strikes

E．Though you may not know what kind of disaster will strike or when

F．Be sure to tell all your family members about evacuation routes and exit plans

G．Sign up to receive warnings from your local government by text message or email

3 . Last week at the start of the COP28 climate conference in Dubai,134 countries signed an agreement aiming to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (排放) from processes related to producing and consuming food.

For the first time in nearly three decades of climate conferences, which were established to handle climate change, the importance of food systems has been recognized in this way. Also, for the first time, on 10 December, COP28 will devote a day to discussing ways to reduce emissions from food and agriculture.

Many have welcomed the moves. “It’s great to finally have food on the COP menu,” says Clement Metivier, a climate expert, who is attending COP28.” There is really a growing momentum (势头) around food systems transformation to handle both the biodiversity and climate crisis.” But equally, researchers say not enough is being done to reduce emissions in one of the world’s biggest, largely untackled sources and that will involve some tough political decisions.

Making food systems more sustainable plays an important part in keeping alive the dream of limiting global warming to 1.5℃ above pre-industrial levels, agreed at COP21 in Paris in 2015. Getting food from farm to food-table accounts for around a third of global greenhouse gas emissions, according to a 2021 study in Ispra, Italy. The researchers estimated that in 2015, some 70% of these emissions came just from agriculture and land-use changes-such as cutting down trees to clear land for crops.

There are also obvious approaches to reducing some of these impacts, for example by limiting the use of fossil-fuel-hungry fertilizers (肥料), or by reducing food waste. Roughly half of food systems emissions come from food that is lost in the supply chain-before reaching the consumer-or wasted, according to a study published in March in Nature Food. Therefore, halving food loss and waste could help remove some greenhouse gas emissions from the food system.

1. What was done at the COP28 climate conference?

A．It recognized the role of making food systems more sustainable.

B．It agreed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from food systems.

C．It decided to set the world’s direction in handling climate change.

D．It spent a day finding ways to reduce emissions from food systems.

2. What’s the writer’s attitude towards the moves?

A．Positive

B．Negative

C．Neutral

D．Uninterested

3. What does the underlined word “halving” probably mean?

A．Decreasing

B．Causing

C．Comparing

D．Combining

4. What do the last two paragraphs mainly talk about?

A．The causes leading to global warming

B．The dream of stopping global warming.

C．The food loss and waste from farm to food table.

D．The ways to reduce effects of food systems on global warming

4 . On Christmas Eve morning I awoke with a mission: to find my lost cat, Baby-Girl. As I got ready, I could hear icy rain pelting the windows. Baby-Girl was somewhere in the storm, I could just feel it. Sure, it had been months since she’d disappeared, but I still had faith. This was the season for miracles, after all.

My dad and I spent the last holiday searching for her in the park nearby. Dad was the family’s “realist,” which meant he spent time trying to prepare me for the worst. “She’s either been hit by a car or been taken in by someone,” he said. I rolled my eyes. He could do with a little more faith!

Though I couldn’t explain it, I knew I’d see Baby-Girl again. She could survive all on her own. Even after I lived without her and the weeks stretched into months, deep down I had this feeling that we’d be reunited one day.

Now, again for the holidays, I made up my mind to pick up my search. I grabbed Baby-Girl’s cat carrier and loaded it into the car, then asked my dad to drive me to the shelter.

“Sharon, be realistic!” my dad said as we headed to the garage. “She’s been gone too long. You’re not going to find her.”

“Well, I just have a feeling,” I said. “Don’t you believe in Christmas miracle?”

At the shelter, a staff member took us to see the cats. We walked through rows of cages. My eyes scanned cats of all colors and sizes. None of them was my Baby-Girl. Then I noticed a room farther back. I pushed ahead. “Sweetheart, that’s where they keep the cats that just came in,” Dad said.

I insisted on stepping into the room. Suddenly, there came a familiar meow (猫叫). I followed it and my eyes fell on a little cat with big green eyes. Skinnier than I remembered, it was Baby-Girl! My eyes welled up with tears. I opened the cage door. Baby-Girl practically jumped into my arms.

1. What did the author’s father think about the lost cat?

A．It could be stolen.	B．It wasn’t lovely at all.
C．It could be seen again.	D．It was impossible to be found.

2. Which word can be used to describe the author?

A．Ambitious.

B．Indifferent.

C．Determined.

D．Considerate.

3. Where was the cat found?

A．The shelter.

B．The garage.

C．The park.

D．The car.

4. What did Christmas miracle refer to in the text?

A．The lost cat came home on her own.

B．The father decided to retake the pet.

C．The lost cat and the author reunited.

D．The father got together with the author.

5 . “THEY’RE ALL IN TROUBLE,” says Kenyan ecologist Paula Kahumbu. “All elephants are in major, major trouble.”

Populations of the three species have declined: savanna (热带草原) elephants forest elephants and the smaller-eared Asian elephants. And we’re to blame. We’ve expanded (扩张) into elephant territory, building homes and roads, cutting down forests and planting crops. Besides, with the rise of poaching (偷猎), the number of elephants has decreased and became dangerously low in the past five decades.

“Poaching doesn’t just destroy animals,” says Kahumbu, “it gradually weakens society.” That’s why her organization monitored poaching cases in Kenyan courts, launched a campaign called Hands Off Our Elephants and educated children on the value of wildlife. Kahumbu’s goal is noble and urgent: to change “the whole national awareness about conservation.”

Now, she’s taking her message to an international stage with Secrets of the Elephants, a four-part series on National Geographic. It explores the hidden lives of elephants in four habitats — Asia, plus African forests, deserts, and savannas — as well as the people who are racing to save the animals.

“We kind of know what they need, but we aren’t always generous enough.” Secrets of the Elephants, she hopes, will familiarize people with the wildlife that lives among them.

While making the series, the difficult situation of some elephants shocked her. “You look at their faces and they look so sad,” she says. She particularly noticed this in Asia, where Asian elephants and people live in increasingly close distance.

“Despite decades of research into African elephants, much research into Asian elephants has fallen behind — which is why our programme in the following pages will focus on this species,” she adds.

1. What does paragraph 2 focus on?

A．The features of three species of elephants.	B．The different situations of the elephants.
C．The causes for the decrease of the elephants.	D．The impact of Human behaviors on elephants.

2. What did Kahumbu do?

A．She monitored poachers hunting elephants.	B．She filmed a feature about elephants.
C．She started a national wildlife protection movement.	D．She changed people’s awareness of wildlife protection.

3. What can be inferred about the Asian elephants?

A．They like to get close to humans.	B．They are almost ignored by experts.
C．They remain mysterious to humans.	D．They are gradually losing their habitat.

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

A．Take action: Stop Poaching	B．Film series: Secrets of the Elephants
C．Kahumbu: A Brave Kenyan Ecologist	D．Endangered: Three Species of Elephants

8 . Since the 1950s, some 9.2 billion tonnes of plastic have been produced globally, of which only about 10% has ever been recycled. Yet environmentally conscious companies and consumers continue to look to recycling as a way to ease the plastic problem. Manufacturing giants claim to be committed to making more of their products and packaging from recycled materials. However, this confidence masks (掩饰) a complex web of issues around plastic recycling. Recycling rates remain extremely low and critics argue that we should look at alternative ways to tackle plastic pollution.

While many plastics have the potential to be recycled, most are not because the process is costly, complicated and the resulting product of a lower quality than the original. Despite rising demand for recycled plastic, few waste companies turn a profit. Part of this is because virgin plastic-linked to oil prices - is often cheaper than recycled plastic, meaning there is little economic incentive to use it. Worse yet, much of our plastic waste is difficult to recycle. Lightweight food packaging, like a mozzarella packet, contains different plastics, dyes and toxic additives (添加剂). This dirty mix means plastic recycled through mechanical methods- the most common form- can only be melted down and moulded (浇铸,塑造) again a couple of times before it becomes too fragile to be reused. And the nature of the process means plastic recycling has a carbon footprint of its own.

Given all of these difficulties, environmental critics say recycling is not the solution-and argue that creating more products from recycled material to attract environmental consciousness merely worsens the problem. “The solution is to use less plastic and to stop misleading the public about the recyclability,” says Enck, president of Beyond Plastics, a US campaign group with a mission to end single-use plastic. “They should stop making false claims about the recyclability of plastics since they know most will either be littered (乱扔) or burned or landfilled (填埋). Using less plastics means shifting to reusable products and relying more on paper, cardboard, glass and metal- -all of which should be made from recycled content.”

1. What is an environmentally conscious customer’s attitude towards recycling plastics?

A．Suspicious.

B．Favorable.

C．Indifferent.

D．Disapproving.

2. What does the underlined word “incentive” in Paragraph 2 probably mean?

A．motive.

B．issue.

C．crisis.

D．policy.

3. What is Paragraph 2 mainly about?

A．The recycling process of plastics.	B．Pollutants contained in recycled plastics.
C．Reasons why users dislike recycled plastics.	D．Contributing factors to low plastic recycling rates.

4. What will the environmental critics be happy to see according to the text?

A．Using metal or glass food containers.	B．Littering recycled plastics in a landfill.
C．Processing plastics in a mechanical way.	D．Launching campaigns to promote recyclability.

9 . New York—like Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington—sits underneath the “Atlantic Flyway”, an ancient migration (迁徙) route travelled by millions of birds, every spring and autumn. Up to a quarter of a million of them die crashing into windows in New York every year, according to New York City Audubon, the bird charity that organizes Project Flight Safe. Birds confuse reflections of sky or plants for the real thing and fly straight for them.

In 2021, however, new laws came into force in New York requiring all new buildings and restoration work to be made bird-friendly. It is the strictest such laws in America. The case of the Jacob K. Javits Convention Centre in west Manhattan is a good example. It used to be a top bird-killer, but after swapping its glasses for bird-friendly glass, strikes dropped by 90%. The centre has now fully embraced bird life. Its green roof is home to a breeding seagull group, and as of October 18th, 62 different species have been spotted there.

At night, artificial light draws birds into the city, where they are more likely to crash. Some studies suggest birds can fail to tell direction because artificial light prevents them from sensing the Earth’s magnetic (磁的) field effectively. Last year the city passed a law that requires all city owned and managed buildings to switch their lights off at night during birds’ migration seasons. The law will extend the requirement to privately owned commercial buildings next year. Though exceptions would be allowed for landmarks such as the Empire State and the Chrysler Building, the change would still transform the world’s most famous skyline.

Jessica Wilson of NYC Audubon says that would be a good thing for birds, energy consumption and people. New York is on track to become the most bird-friendly big city in America.

1. What is responsible for bird crashes in New York?

A．Glass reflections.	B．The attraction of sunlight.
C．New York’s unique climate.	D．Birds’ confused sense of balance.

2. What can we know about the Jacob K. Javits Convention Centre?

A．It has reduced birds’ death by 90%.

B．It was painted green to attract birds.

C．It was the first to put new laws into force.

D．It has developed into a bird-friendly place.

3. What is paragraph 3 mainly about?

A．Birds’ talent for telling directions.

B．Distinctive landmarks in New York.

C．Results of applying bird-protection laws.

D．Efforts to protect birds from crashing at night.

4. What does Jessica Wilson think of the law issued last year?

A．Energy-consuming.	B．Promising.
C．Eye-catching.	D．Annoying.

10 . 阅读下面短文，在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

China is affected by natural disasters easily. When a disaster     1     (strike), how a country responds to disasters makes the difference between life and death. Since the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake, from which China suffered     2     (serious), disaster prevention and control have become top priorities for the Chinese government. One important aspect is the establishment of an     3     (effect) earthquake monitoring and early warning system. The China Earthquake Networks Center will confirm the location and magnitude (里氏级)     4    sending out alarm messages to the public.

China’s ability to respond to disasters stands out, as it can quickly deploy (部署) rescue forces and resources. It     5     (establish) 27 professional teams for various types of rescue work so far,     6    ensures a 24 hour on duty emergency response.

China also has an outstanding ability in post disaster     7     (recover) and reconstruction. The reason is that it is able to organize and combine resources from various departments     8     (repair) basic facilities and restore essential services such as power, water supply and communication. This reduces     9     impact of secondary disasters and helps those affected by disasters rebuild their lives.

Disaster relief is a comprehensive effort that requires a whole society working together. China sets an example of how to prevent loss and save lives by     10    (put) people first.