1 . As climate change becomes severe summer after summer, millions of people are finding themselves covered in wildfire smoke, including those in North America just this past month. It is bad for our health. It is also really disturbing, but we don’t talk about that as much.

We often use the terms “atmosphere” or climate” to refer to the mood of a situation. We use metaphors (比喻) to describe affective states, such as “feeling under the weather” or “on cloud nine”. Such language suggests that we understand that human emotions are intimately related to the atmospheric phenomena. Yet rarely do we pay attention to the ways we feel climate change.

But wildfire smoke shows how affective climate change can be. For example, wildfire smoke is often referred to using emotional phrases such as “air of dread”. Through living with the smoke and the panic it generates, we can think more carefully about the ways we experience climate change, and crucially, why and how we need to respond to it.

We often think of climate change impacts as far away, separate from our bodies, because science typically uses global representations and statistical information. But wildfire smoke spreads and pollutes our bodies, and indeed, crosses many other boundaries; it drifts from rural areas into big cities; and it crosses state and national borders with ease. Of course, some borders are more permeable (渗透的), and some bodies more sensitive to the smoke.

Through its ability to pass through and become part of our very being, wildfire smoke is closer in nature to the air pollution we normally think of as one of the causes of climate change. Wildfire smoke is both an impact and a cause of climate change. It explains the nature of climate change impacts and the self-reinforcing (自我强化) feedback circles that can, and may, lead to the planet warming itself independent of human actions.

1. What can we learn about people’s reaction to climate change?

A．They are curious about it.

B．They take it very seriously.

C．They feel powerless about it.

D．They pay little attention to it.

2. What does the underlined word “intimately” in paragraph 2 mean?

A．Closely.	B．Naturally.
C．Certainly.	D．Unexpectedly.

3. What does the author think of wildfire smoke?

A．It allows people to sense climate change.

B．It does great harm to people’s health.

C．It influences people’s mood.

D．It attracts scientists’ deep concerns worldwide.

4. Which of the following can be the best title for the text?

A．Why Smoke from Wildfires Harms Us

B．How We Can Observe Climate Change

C．What Smoke from Wildfires Can Teach Us

D．What We Can Do to Avoid Smoke from Wildfires

2 . New Zealand’s government recently announced it will help pay for poorer families to replace their old cars with cleaner hybrid or electric vehicles.

The government plans to spend $357 million on the test program. The move is part of a wider plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Greenhouse gases are believed to cause warming temperatures in the Earth’s atmosphere. New Zealand plans to provide aid for businesses to reduce emissions and have buses that run on environmentally safe fuel by 2035. The government also plans to provide food-waste collection for most homes by 2030.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said in a statement, “We’ve all seen the recent reports on sea level rise and its impact right here in New Zealand. We cannot leave the issue of climate change until it’s too late to fix.”

The plan is a step toward New Zealand’s stated goal of reaching net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. Reaching net-zero emissions means not creating more carbon in the atmosphere than oceans and forests can remove. Ardern said that reducing dependence on fossil fuels would help protect families from extreme price increases. The plan also sets a goal of reducing total car travel by 20 percent over the next 13 years. The programs will be paid for from a $ 2.8 billion climate emergency response fund. Officials said that over time, money collected from polluters would pay for the programs rather than taxes from families.

Some critics of the plan say it continued to be less restrictive on New Zealand’s huge agriculture industry. Agriculture creates about half of the nation’s total greenhouse gas emissions. But the industry is also important to the economy as the nation’s biggest export earner.

David Seymour is the leader of New Zealand’s ACT political party. He said that some of the announced programs are proven to be ineffective and have been tried and failed overseas. People should be able to choose how they reduce emissions through the market-based emissions trading plan.

1. What does the author intend to convey in Paragraph 2?

A．The urgency of investment.	B．The measures to be taken.
C．The popular test program.	D．The harm of emissions.

2. What do Jacinda Ardern’s words in Paragraph 3 suggest?

A．It’s urgent to take steps on climate change.

B．Sea level rise has little effect on New Zealand.

C．He laid stress on the importance to tackle pollution.

D．It draws public attention to solve environmental problems.

3. Who will pay for the next programs?

A．Families.

B．Polluters.

C．Car makers.

D．The government.

4. What does David Seymour emphasize?

A．Dynamic emission reduction scheme.	B．The impact of exports on the economy.
C．Specific standards for emission reduction.	D．The nation’s total greenhouse gas emissions.

3 . 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。

While many people stay up to celebrate the Double Eleven shopping festival, Elsa Tang in Beijing avoids online shopping. Whenever she    1     (shop), she brings her own cloth bags for her groceries instead of using the plastic ones at the store.

In fact, Tang is not the only person     2     is interested in a zero- waste lifestyle. In August, a report about the Chinese young generation's attitude toward a zero-waste life showed that 3,201 people    3     (age) from 20 to 34 shared their opinions and stories about the eco-friendly lifestyle.

Yu Yuan, 29, is a zero-waster. Five years ago, Yu     4     (force) to move out of her rental house     5     a hurry. So she had to throw out 80 percent of her belongings    6     keep only the essentials. But afterward, Yu felt “much lighter” with     7     (little) stuff than before. After that, she began her zero-waste life.

The idea of a zero-waste life was first put forward by French author Bea Johnson. Her idea was: Live a life while hardly     8     (create) rubbish; spare no efforts to save the environment, such as avoiding single- used objects; instead of throwing away unwanted things into landfills, people can donate them to others or    9     (organize) like the Red Cross. If we keep reducing the burden on Mother Earth, it will make     10     huge difference.

4 . 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。

Dolphins are social and     1     (intelligence) animals. Like the way humans maintain relationships by hugging or giving a handshake, dolphins breathe together at the same time when they come up from the water for air. This kind of act     2     (be) of great importance for creating social connections. But sharing the same air and area also spreads a contagious (传染性的) and deadly disease among dolphins.

Janet Mann researches dolphins at Georgetown University. She and other     3     (scientist) are trying to understand the virus. They     4     (discover) it in the water off the American states of Virginia and Maryland some years ago. It is now spreading to other Atlantic Coast dolphins. There was an outbreak of the virus from 2013 to 2015 in     5     almost 20,000 dolphins died. The number of dolphins     6     (wash) up on the coast from Florida to New York was about 2, 000. Mann explains that the dolphin virus is in the lungs, much like how the COVID virus spreads in humans. When dolphins breathe together at the surface, they share respiratory droplets (飞沫).

Jacob Negrey who is     7     animal virus researcher from the Wake Forest School of Medicine understands the spread of the dolphin virus by     8     (follow) dolphin social activities. He studies not only the biology of the virus, but also how weakened dolphin populations act together. Since dolphins are very playful animals, they often swim so close that they touch fins, much     9     humans holding hands. They     10     (frequent) swim in large groups.

5 . The origins of this website, tasmanian-tiger. com, go back to 1978 when we, Buck and Joan Emberg, saw two Tasmanian tigers. We called the Department of Parks and Wildlife people and were told not to tell anyone. They said everyone would then be going through the bush tiger-hunting (猎虎). We accepted what they said. Then we found what we thought might be tiger droppings near our house. Excitedly we took them to Hobart, our capital city, and presented our “prize” to an official. He took the droppings and threw it carelessly into a drawer. The result of that action, of course, was the destruction (破坏) of any scientific evidence. This is where we began to feel that something was wrong. Did they really care about saving the animal... If it existed? In short, we and people like us were told to keep it quiet.

Later, we thought we found some tiger prints.The local newspaper published the story and, like most people who admitted they saw a tiger in the wild,we received no respect. That’s why we began to set up the website. Now we can use new technologies and are hopeful in proving the animal’s existence before the animal’s home is threatened.

1. Who set up the tasmanian-tiger. com website?

A．The city of Hobart.	B．The local newspaper.
C．The Department of Parks and Wildlife.	D．Buck and Joan Emberg.

2. What did Buck and Joan Emberg believe to have found near their house?

A．Two living tigers.	B．Tiger footprints.
C．Tiger droppings.	D．Tiger hunters.

3. How did Buck and Joan Emberg feel when they took what they had found to a city official?

A．Excited.

B．Unhappy.

C．Satisfied.

D．Afraid.

4. What is the purpose of the tasmanian-tiger. com website?

A．To persuade the government to drive away tigers.

B．To prove the existence of Tasmanian tigers.

C．To stop people from hunting Tasmanian tigers.

D．To find a new place for Tasmanian tigers.

6 . Do you know how blueberries (蓝莓) grow？They grow on bushes. Each blueberry is small and round. Many blueberries can grow on one bush. At first, the blueberries are green. The green berries are not ready to eat yet. They need a lot of sun and rain to help them become fat and sweet. When the berries turn blue, they are ripe and ready to be picked.

Farmers grow blueberries in big fields. The people who live nearby can earn money by helping to pick the blueberries. Each one takes a pail (桶) out to the field and fills it with blueberries. They work fast so that they can fill many pails. They want to earn as much money as they can. When they are done picking, their fingers are blue from the juice of the berries.

After the blueberries are picked, they are put into boxes and sent to stores. People buy the blueberries and take them home to eat. Some people like to wash the berries and eat them one by one. Other people like to cook with blueberries. They make blueberry cakes.

No matter how you eat them, blueberries taste great!

1. What color are the blueberries before they are ripe to be picked?

A．Green.

B．Blue.

C．Red.

D．Black.

2. Where do the blueberry pickers work?

A．In the mountains.	B．In a greenhouse.
C．In the forest.	D．In the field.

3. Where are the blueberries sent immediately after they are picked?

A．To the food shop.	B．To the farm house.
C．To the kitchen.	D．To the kitchen.

4. What would be the best title for this passage?

A．Cooking with Blueberries	B．Things about Blueberries
C．The Taste of Blueberries	D．Growing Blueberries

7 . The dogsled (狗拉雪橇) race was about to begin. Julie’s team of dogs was lined up at the sating gate. Julie stood behind them. The air was so cold that she could see her breath. The other teams were lined up, too, and the dogs were excited. Julie kept her eyes on the clock. At exactly ten o'clock, she and the other racers shouted, “Mush!” The dogs knew that meant “Go!” They jumped forward and the race began!

Julie had trained months for this race, and she hopes she and her dogs would win. Hour after hour, day after day, Julie’s dogs pulled the sled in order to get in shape for the race.

Now, they ran over snowy hills and down into frozen valleys. They stopped only to rest and eat. They wanted to stay ahead of other teams. The racers got them to go a thousand miles across Alaska. The dogs, thick fur coats helped keep them warm in the cold winds and weather. In many places along the way, the snow was deep. Pieces of ice were as sharp as a knife. The ice could cut the dogs’ feet. To keep that from happening, Julie had put special booties (短靴) on their feet.

At first, the dogs seemed to pull the sled very slowly. They were still getting used to the race.

But on the the third day out, they began to pull more quickly. They worked as a team and passed many other racers. Once, one of the sled’s runners slid into a hole and the sled was broken. Julie could have given up then, but she didn’t. She fixed it and they kept going.

When they finally reached the finish line, they found out that they had come in first place! It was a great day for Julie and her dogs.

1. What does the passage tell us about the race?

A．It was a single-day race.	B．It was a race for children.
C．It was a race of a thousand miles.	D．The racers came from different countries.

2. How were Julie’s dogs prepared for the race?

A．They were fed enough food.	B．They wore warm clothes.
C．They were put on special shoes.	D．They were trained to get up early.

3. How did Julie and her dogs perform in the race?

A．They were the first to reach the finish line.	B．They had an accident and gave up.
C．They ran slowly and lost the race.	D．They ran faster at the beginning.

4. What would be the best title for the passage?

A．A Girl and Her Dogs	B．Winter Sports in Alaska
C．Training for a Dogsled Race	D．The Story of a Dogsled Race