Earth Day is an event
In1962, Rachel Carson’s bestselling book “Silent Spring” created an
In the fall of 1969, Nelson announced it and appealed to the entire country to get involved. Consequently, telegrams, letters and telephone calls
Today, Earth Day is celebrated around the world every April 22. Sometimes numerous communities celebrate Earth Week, an entire week of
2 . My name is Miranda Gibson. I have been at the top of a tree for five months now. Some people might wonder
I have walked through this forest many times. On December 12, 2011,
Life in the tree top can be
Living on the tree has been inspiring. I am willing to
| A．why | B．when | C．how | D．where |
| A．water | B．animals | C．machinery | D．tourists |
| A．bear | B．help | C．keep | D．spare |
| A．sold | B．stolen | C．protected | D．lost |
| A．grew out | B．fell short | C．ran out | D．let go |
| A．refreshing | B．risky | C．challenging | D．rewarding |
| A．get up | B．get away | C．give in | D．give up |
| A．change | B．look | C．search | D．touch |
| A．confused | B．nervous | C．sorry | D．lonely |
| A．Beyond | B．Without | C．Despite | D．Unlike |
| A．height | B．experience | C．background | D．position |
| A．return | B．stop | C．stay | D．hide |
| A．but | B．though | C．because | D．so |
| A．soon | B．long | C．near | D．bad |
| A．moved | B．logged | C．burned | D．missed |
3 . There’s nothing wrong with a tomato that isn’t perfectly rounded or a peach with an extra dimple(凹)or two; they still carry the same benefits and flavors as the versions we’re used to seeing in grocery stores. Farmers throw away these imperfect items, as many grocery chains won’t buy them for fear that they are unsellable. However, a growing group of grocery chains are fighting to make these discarded fruits and vegetables part of consumers’ buying habits.
One such business is Imperfect Produce, a start-up that delivers fresh ugly produce to consumers. Through this service, you can get up to 20 pounds of fruit and veggies for around $20 a week. This is about a 30 percent discount compared to what’s currently sold in stores. Recently, the company had a major breakthrough when Whole Foods accepted their partnership and agreed to sell the misshapen produce.
While this movement might be a new trend here in the US, it’s already gained serious moment um(势头)in Europe. In 2014, the E. U. announced the Year Against Food Waste, with French grocery chain Intermarché launching a very successful campaign called Inglorious Fruits and Vegetables and England’s Waitrose selling “weather blemished” apples. In Portugal, a similar company to Imperfect Produce called Fruta Feia has also taken off.
Buying these unfortunate-looking foods should be appealing to consumers not only because of the affordability, but also because of the support it gives to farmers and the direct impact it has on decreasing food waste and the environmental pollution. It is believed that when the discarded fruits and vegetables decompose they release methane(甲烷), a greenhouse gas that, when released into the atmosphere, is about 86 times as powerful as carbon dioxide over a 20-year period. Waste is, in fact, the ugliest thing of all.
1. What does the underlined word “discarded” in paragraph one mean?| A．Deserted. | B．Harvested. | C．Consumed. | D．Purchased. |
| A．Make better profits. | B．Sell imperfect produce. |
| C．Get discounts from farmers. | D．Compete with Whole Foods. |
| A．It has more successfully-run food chains. |
| B．It produces less misshaped fruits and vegetables. |
| C．It addresses the problem of misshaped produce earlier. |
| D．It faces a more serious problem of unfavorable weather. |
| A．It pollutes the farms. | B．It gives out a bad smell. |
| C．It contributes to global warming. | D．It produces lots of carbon dioxide. |
4 . I'm from a fishing family. My grandfather was a fisherman, working out of Fano, the Italian town where I grew up and still live. I work from 7 p.m. until 11 a. m. with fishermen on the north Adriatic Sea. There are only six or so of us on board. At night, the fish are most active and we can avoid other ships.
The nets reach the sea bed for the catch but sometimes they also catch turtles that often die in the nets or on board. The net is designed to allow turtles to escapes it has a hole at the top they can swim out of. We call it “TED”. The TED aims at reducing the bycatch (误捕) of turtles. Turtles and some larger fish can leave through the TED, but the current (水流) holds most of the catch in the net.
I ensure that the net is working, and that the fishermen we're cooperating with can still catch enough for their livelihoods while protecting turtles. The work is part of research by the Cetacea Foundation, in cooperation with University of Pisa, where I'm a field researcher. It is financed by the LIFE programmer. I love this work. It means I'm not stuck in an office all day and instead can enjoy the ocean and work closely with people who live by the sea.
When my grandfather was fishing in the 1970s, there were more fish and more turtles around. At the foundation, we save 50-60 turtles a year, most of which are harmed because of fishing. If we can protect turtles by popularizing this device to fishermen all across the Adriatic, I'd see this work as a success.
1. Why does the author work at night?| A．He is busy in the day. |
| B．He can catch more fish at night. |
| C．Fish are very active in the day. |
| D．There are more ships at night. |
| A．It doesn't reach the sea bed. |
| B．It is helpful to catch larger fish. |
| C．It is helpful to protect sea turtles. |
| D．It catches large turtles. |
| A．An excellent fisherman in Italy. |
| B．A volunteer of Cetacea Foundation. |
| C．A founder of LIFE programmer. |
| D．A researcher of University of Pisa. |
| A．He can stay in the office. |
| B．He can work with fishermen. |
| C．He can go abroad for sightseeing. |
| D．He can get his father's help. |
5 . If Mars were the popular kid in school, Venus (金星) would be the unwelcome one sitting in the corner, largely ignored. Venus has nearly the same mass and size as Earth, but being closer to the sun, it gets nearly twice as much heat from the sun.
However, instead of having a climate that is just a warmer version of Earth’s, Venus’s surface and atmosphere are unbearable: clouds of sulphuric acid (硫酸) blanket the planet, while at ground level, it is hot enough to melt lead. Despite this, there is now a sign that Venus may harbour life. Jane Greaves at Cardiff University, UK, and her colleagues recently detected (发现) phosphine (磷化氢) in Venus’s atmosphere, with one potential explanation that it is the by-product of biology. That is because the only way this gas is made on Earth is in laboratories or by microbes (微生物). Though this doesn’t mean it was produced by life on Venus, attempts to find non-biological explanations for its presence have so far failed. Our best way of confirming or rejecting the possibility of life on Venus is to go and have a proper look. While Mars has been the focus of interplanetary (行星间的) exploration efforts lately, the phosphine discovery lets people look at Venus in a new light. As NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine tweeted: “It’s time to prioritize Venus.”
In the months and years to come, computer simulations(模拟) will be used to further study the possible chemistries of the atmosphere on Venus. More laboratory experiments will be conducted to try to identify other ways the phosphine there could be produced. However, there is no guarantee that these efforts will reveal the true nature of this substance on Venus. A newly-proposed strategy is to directly sample the atmosphere and surface of Venus. By doing so, we would be able to take direct measurements of phosphine.
The discovery of phosphine in Venus’s atmosphere is a great accomplishment. The scientific efforts may be just what we need to finally refocus on this neglected world. Possibly, the quiet kid in the corner may get the last laugh
1. Which description about Venus is NOT true?| A．It has the unbearable surface and atmosphere. |
| B．It has nearly the same mass as Earth. |
| C．It is almost as large as Earth. |
| D．It has a warmer Earth-like climate. |
| A．This kind of gas is very common. | B．There might exist signs of life. |
| C．Many products can be made with it. | D．Experiments were once conducted there. |
| A．The necessity to analyse phosphine. |
| B．The power of computer simulations |
| C．The importance of observations. |
| D．The approaches to exploring phosphine |
| A．Casual | B．Doubtful. | C．Supportive. | D．Unclear. |
6 . A gentleman was walking through an elephant camp, and he
The only reason that the elephants weren’t breaking free and escaping from the camp was that over time they adopted the
| A．noticed | B．stared | C．suspected | D．witnessed |
| A．ponds | B．fountains | C．cages | D．ceiling |
| A．chain | B．wire | C．towel | D．rope |
| A．Although | B．As | C．Since | D．Unless |
| A．sad | B．frustrated | C．sensitive | D．confused |
| A．power | B．strength | C．mind | D．energy |
| A．slightly | B．easily | C．lively | D．barely |
| A．Curious | B．Embarrassed | C．Ashamed | D．Delighted |
| A．assistant | B．keeper | C．leader | D．trainer |
| A．tackled | B．inquired | C．replied | D．convinced |
| A．solid | B．same | C．pure | D．regular |
| A．one | B．an | C．that | D．those |
| A．break away | B．break down | C．break in | D．break out |
| A．Nevertheless | B．Besides | C．Thus | D．Yet |
| A．assumption | B．expectation | C．blame | D．belief |
7 . 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 tons, 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 I 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．Electric vehicles will certainly take the place of sport utility vehicles. |
| C．The popularity of SUVs destroys some efforts at environmental protection. |
| D．The emission of carbon dioxide of motor vehicles has hit a new low. |
| A．Encouraged. | B．Blocked. |
| C．Removed. | D．Connected. |
| 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. |
As a young man of both passion and endurance, Perce Blackhorow had long been dreaming of decent adventure. So he didn’t give up when Sir Ernest Shackleton turned down his request to join the expedition. Perce
It turned
For most of us, Hawaii begins to weave her spell with some little glimmer of
10 . Why can’t penguins fly?
Even the very smallest penguin,the fairy penguin,weighs 1 kg,which is about as much as a herring gull (银鸥). But herring gulls have a 1.4-meterwingspan,compared with just 32 centimeters for the fairy penguin. Water is 784 times denser (密度较大的) than air,and around 62 million years ago,penguins began making adaptations for swimming underwater. Their bones are filled with heavy bone marrow (骨髓)rather than air and they have much larger stomachs for making long fishing trips away from the nest.
How do squirrels find buried nuts?
It was once thought that they just used their noses to sniff out buried nuts and that the majority were never actually located. But a study at Princeton University showed that squirrels actually have a good memory and can build a map of the route from one hidden nut to the next.
Why don’t horses have toes?
Early horses such as Hyracotherium, which lived 55 million years ago, did have toes, but they were much smaller animals. For taller animals, extra weight at the end of their legs has a much bigger influence on their speed. A recent study at Harvard University, the USA, found that one broad hoof (蹄) is almost as strong as many smaller toes, but much lighter.
Do animals have blood types?
Yes, they do! As long as the animals in question have blood (not all do)then they will have species-specific “blood groups”. As with humans, these groups are determined by the structure of the blood based on the presence or absence of antibodies along with the make-up of the proteins that sit on the outside of red blood cells.
Humans are usually one of four main blood types. Thirteen types have been identified for dogs, eight for horses and three for cats.
1. Why can’t penguins fly?| A．Because of their physical characteristics. | B．Because of their poor adaptation. |
| C．Because of their habits of swimming. | D．Because of their changing environment. |
| A．3. | B．4. | C．8. | D．13. |
| A．Squirrels find buried nuts by chance. | B．Horses are stronger without hooves. |
| C．All animals have their blood types. | D．An animal is a book with secrets. |
| A．Questions you may be interested in | B．Questions on the animal kingdom |
| C．Secrets to discover in nature | D．Knowledge around you |
