1. 专刊的意义；
2. 专刊的内容；
3. 寄予的希望。
注意：
1.写作词数应为80左右；
2. 请按如下格式在答题卷的相应位置作答。
Dear Readers,
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Warm regards,
Li Hua
Editor-in-chief
2 . Cruise through many neighborhoods or parks around the world, and you will find no shortage of well-mowed expanses of grass. Lawns (草坪) do look attractive.
Why did lawns become so popular?
What environmental problems are lawns causing?
Lawns are homogenizing the environment, not only in terms of biodiversity but also visually. You compare countries’ and cities’ urban landscapes around the world, and they look exactly the same.
You have to find your own local solution. We can take inspiration from the natural plant communities around us. In suburban and rural areas, that might mean having a meadow or prairie. In other places, it might be a savanna like environment or mountain plants. You can have a “grass-free” lawn; with only low-growing plants that create the same effect as a lawn, and you can walk on it.
How can we persuade people to adopt these alternatives?
When people see them, they appreciate them and like them.
| A．So it is all about education. |
| B．What are these alternatives? |
| C．And it is understandable fondness. |
| D．What are the inspirations of lawns? |
| E．However, they choke out biodiversity. |
| F．Lawns came to be seen as a symbol of civilization and a way of life. |
| G．Lawn upkeep takes resources, fertilizer and pesticide that enter groundwater and runoff water. |
1. What will the weather be like on Christmas day?
| A．Dry. | B．Rainy. | C．Snowy. |
| A．On Christmas Eve. | B．On Christmas Day. | C．On Boxing Day. |
| A．Watch the roads when driving. |
| B．Wear warm clothes when going out. |
| C．Stay indoors and drink hot chocolate. |
| A．The weather condition during Christmas period. |
| B．The plan on celebrating the New Year. |
| C．The arrangement on Boxing Day. |
I remember that every year in lunar December in my hometown, Xinyang, each family begins to prepare bunches of bacon and sausage hanging from yard to yard
Xinyang, located on the boundary between the north and the south, is rich in rice, wheat and fertile land due to its unique
You’ll never become fully conscious of how much you value it until you
5 . I was first going into this final day, the Junior Sled Dog Championship. We’d trained two years and wanted to beat Blake. I knelt down to pat Kenai and my hands
Just before the count down started, Blake shot me a
“Kenai! No!” My voice came out a howl. Kenai
The race vet examining Kenai, I watched Blake accept the trophy. Kenai squirming in my lap, I leaned over upon him. Just at that moment, I felt a warm tongue on my wet cheek. I smiled and realized that I had the
| A．softened | B．shook | C．withdrew | D．extended |
| A．clever | B．thirsty | C．helpful | D．ready |
| A．broad | B．satisfied | C．tight | D．slight |
| A．As | B．Beyond | C．Before | D．After |
| A．pulled | B．charged | C．jumped | D．barked |
| A．cut | B．missed | C．kept | D．rounded |
| A．took off | B．flew away | C．turned around | D．bent forward |
| A．race | B．difference | C．gap | D．goal |
| A．Suddenly | B．Finally | C．Gradually | D．Occasionally |
| A．way | B．hold | C．temper | D．sight |
| A．quitted | B．insisted | C．sighed | D．froze |
| A．struggled | B．decided | C．refused | D．pretended |
| A．forcing | B．begging | C．ordering | D．persuading |
| A．took up | B．put up | C．brought up | D．wrapped up |
| A．achievement | B．companion | C．prize | D．friendship |
6 . When a severe heat wave covered California in July 2006, it killed an estimated 650 people. But it may be tough to recall because heat waves don’t typically have names. They are already the deadliest weather-related danger, yet they remain invisible killers that few people take seriously. What if the most life-threatening heat waves did have names?
This summer, as many experience high temperatures fueled by greenhouse gas pollution and El Niño, there has been new openness to the idea of naming heat waves. People in Southern Europe have dubbed the July heat wave Cerberus. The results of a survey of more than 2,000 people found that people who knew the heat wave was named Cerberus were also more likely to take actions to stay safe, including drinking more water, spending more time indoors and warning others about the risk.
Though more research is needed, this suggests that naming heat waves, combined with stronger messaging, can not only help change people’s perception of the risk, but prompt them to take protective action. It would be more effective to broadcast that Heat Wave Zoe, a dangerous Category 3 event, will start tomorrow and here’s what you can do to protect yourself, your neighbors and co-workers. Names, after all, are easier to remember than numbers or weather forecasts.
But the World Meteorological (气象学的) Organization opposes naming heat waves on the grounds that it would confuse and distract the public. And the National Weather Service has no plans to rank or name heat waves either, saying that heat and its health impacts vary so dramatically across different regions and seasons that even coming up with a standard definition of a heat wave is impossible.
There’s nothing to lose by trying out a pilot program to name the most dangerous heat waves. It’s pretty clear the current approach to these disasters is falling far short of what’s necessary to protect lives. We need other ways to call attention to it and warn the public of the danger. It’s hard to make progress fighting an enemy with no name.
1. Why does the author mention the severe heat wave that covered California in July 2006?| A．To clarify the severity of heat waves. | B．To remind people of the tough heat wave. |
| C．To introduce the topic of naming heat waves. | D．To show people’s ignorance of the heat wave. |
| A．Due to its effectiveness, naming waves is a must. |
| B．There exist benefits of categorizing and naming heat waves. |
| C．Naming heat waves can change people’s perception of the risk. |
| D．Naming heat waves can urge people to take prompt action to protect themselves. |
| A．It will confuse and distract the public. |
| B．It is inappropriate for naming heat waves. |
| C．It is difficult to distinguish and predict heat waves. |
| D．It is unlikely to put forward a standard definition for heat waves. |
| A．Approving. | B．Indifferent. | C．Doubtful. | D．Opposed. |
My story started one autumn morning, at the bend on a path.
I was 13 years old, and was on the way to school. It was the first time I had caught sight of a fox. Fascinated to the point that I forgot all fear, I dared to go up to it. I had never come so close to a wild animal. There was nobody else around, only me and the fox.
“Hey, fox!” I tried to greet it, though my voice was so weak that it felt like I was saying hello to myself. It didn’t hear me. It stayed there and I watched it. My heart was beating flat out. It was so cute. For a moment, I thought I might be able to touch it.
Throughout the day at school, I could only think of the fox at the big beech (山毛榉) tree. At my return to the place where we met, I was sure I’d find it there.
And I did. This time I gathered a little bit more courage and called out to it, “Fox!” Of course it escaped. But that only made me long to meet it again. I decided that if I could find its kennel (洞) and catch it, I would try and tame (驯服) it, making it my friend.
Thus, I spent most of my free time in the forests trying to find the fox during the following months. But I never saw it again before winter came. During the winter, I followed its footprints far across the fields. Suddenly I was alarmed by the howling of wolves near me. I ran away frightened, stumbled and hurt my ankle. It healed very slowly, so that I had to stay at home during the winter, reading a book about animals of the forest and foxes.
When spring arrived, I was free again. I looked for fox kennels and waited for my fox. To my amazement, it had got young ones but kept moving because of my observations; therefore I decided to observe the fox from a longer distance.
注意：1. 续写词数应为150左右；
2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Paragraph 1:
Finally, it would let me get close.
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To my surprise, the day after I took it home, it fled.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________8 . Whenever I order food for delivery, I play a little game to guess how many sets of tableware(餐具)the restaurant will provide with my meal. Sometimes restaurants will throw in two, three or four sets for just one order. But I rarely need any tableware at all, and the waste goes into the trash or collects dust in a kitchen drawer.
Researchers working with Chinese technology group Alibaba tried a simple approach to this problem. Instead of just wastefully doling out tableware, the company required food-delivery customers in some cities in China to pick how many sets of tableware they wanted to receive.The default (默认设置)was set at zero. The result, published today in the journal Science, was a 638% increase in the share of no-tableware orders. If applied across China, researchers found, the approach would save nearly 22 billion sets of plastic tableware. The study doesn’t cover carbon emissions, but it’s safe to say that the impact would be significant. It struck me as a useful reminder of the many low-hanging fruits across the economy that can cut waste, and emissions.
Nudging its customers cost Alibaba nothing more than a few hours of software engineering time and the impact it brought was immense. The concept of nudging comes from the field of behavioral economics known as nudge theory. It suggests that a slight action can encourage good human behavior without the need for policies that limit choice or economic punishment that raises the cost of bad behavior. To nudge customers to eat better, for example, a restaurant might organize its menu by listing healthy options first and bury unhealthy ones at the bottom. More recently, some big companies like Google have also begun to use nudges to advance climate objectives.
Behavioral economics broadly, and nudges more specifically, aren’t without controversy. Some might think it assigns consumers responsibility for addressing environmental challenges. But there is another way to look at it. In the absence of necessary policy—and policy is needed一companies can help encourage a widespread shift of consumer behavior.
And all of that behavioral change can add up. The International Energy Agency found in 2021 that small behavioral changes in energy consumption such as walking instead of driving and adjusting the thermostat could in total shave off 4% of global emissions. The more that companies can do to facilitate such changes, the better.
1. What did Alibaba do with tableware waste?| A．It stopped restaurants from handing out tableware. |
| B．It withdrew unused tableware from customers. |
| C．It updated the food -delivery device regularly. |
| D．It allowed picking tableware at customers’ demand. |
| A．Easily accessible things. | B．Fast increasing orders. |
| C．Exceptionally tough choices. | D．Widely accepted strategies. |
| A．It brings about economic loss. |
| B．It results from consumption policies. |
| C．It indicates small action changes behaviour. |
| D．It implies bad behaviour impacts economy. |
| A．Nudge theory affects behaviors. |
| B．Good behaviors boost economy. |
| C．Nudging helps build a greener world. |
| D．Behavioral economics benefits customers. |
9 . The success of many North American crops partly depends on ground beetles, small insects that eat pests and weed seeds that could otherwise damage crops. But a new study by researchers in the US and Canada suggests not all of the nearly 2,000 species of ground beetles found in North America will survive climate change. Some could decline. And that could have a far-reaching impact on agriculture, forestry, and conservation.
By studying the data on 136 different ground beetle species across continental North America, Puerto Rico and Hawaii, the researchers found that a species’ chance of success in a changing climate depends on several important factors, such as its habitat preference, body size, and whether it flies, climbs or runs.
“We found that less mobile, nonflying ground beetles, which are critical pest control agents, are more likely to decline over time in a warmer, dryer climate,” said Tong Qiu, who led the study. “That means you’re going to have more pests that can impact agricultural and forest ecosystems.” But there is reason for hope, Qiu added, because the analysis also showed that habitat conservation can lessen these effects and reverse the trends in some areas.
“We hope conservation biologists will use this information and the online map that we created to better manage habitats for insects in general. Ground beetles are very beneficial to ecosystems, but they’re largely invisible to the average person. In this paper we’re showing the broad impacts they have on whole communities in forested and agricultural ecosystems,” said Qiu.
The researchers used ground beetle count data from the National Science Foundation’s National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) and from 11previously published studies to measure and map the beetles’ distribution across North America. Habitat information, such as the location of gaps in forest canopies and the density of plants on a forest floor, was obtained by using NEON’s imaging instruments to create detailed thrẹe-dimensional images of landscapes.
| A．Pests could des troy many North American crops. |
| B．Some ground beetles will not survive a climate change. |
| C．The survival of ground beetles only depends on its habitat. |
| D．Some ground beetles will destroy crops in a warmer climate. |
| A．There is no way to stop the decline of ground beetles. |
| B．Critical pests are more adaptable in a warmer, drier climate. |
| C．Ground beetles will become less mobile in a warmer climate. |
| D．The importance of ground beetles should be widely recognized. |
| A．By analyzing data. |
| B．By assessing statistics. |
| C．By doing field research. |
| D．By studying documents. |
| A．North American Agriculture Crops at Risk |
| B．Crop-saving Beetles under Climate Threat |
| C．A Catastrophic Climate Change on the Way |
| D．Beetles’ Reaction to simulate Climate Changes |
A Four-legged Guardian Angel
Snow had just melted off the ground that April day at our house in Regina Beach. I had just cleaned up the pool in preparation for selling the house. The year before, I had lost my job, and now our financial situation was depressing. Finally, I had put the home on the market. Even worse, I would have to give up my beloved Great Dane (大丹犬), Brigitte, because I could no longer afford the cost of feeding it. The thought of losing the dog and our beautiful home was almost more than I could bear.
Deep in discouragement, I sat typing up my application letters. Out of the corner of my eye I could see my thirteen-month-old son, Forrest, as he lay on the carpet, playing near our big, gentle Brigitte. It seemed as if Brigitte was always meant to be in this family and she turned out to be a perfect companion.
Brigitte came to our house on Christmas eve when the doorbell rang and I was sure some of my Christmas packages had arrived. I ran to the door but no one was there. I sensed something and looked down, only to find a beautiful Great Dane sitting there, looking up at me with big, intelligent eyes. Perhaps, someone had found the puppy somewhere and left her there, and then rang the doorbell and ran away. They accurately guessed I would welcome an additional family member and take care of her.
Thinking of these, I couldn’t help sighing and went straight back to work. However, I hadn’t typed more than two sentences when Brigitte began barking and running back and forth to the sliding glass door overlooking our pool.
I raced to see what was happening and noticed that the sliding door was slightly open. Suddenly, I realized Forrest was nowhere to be seen. In panic, I opened the door and ran outside.
注意：1. 所续写短文的词数应为150左右；
2. 请按如下格式在答题卡相应位置作答。
There I was surprised to see Brigitte, who was terrified of water, dive into the pool.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Finally, the doctor said Forrest was all right and could be released from hospital.
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