1 . Scot Case, Vice President of the environmental marketing firm Terra Choice, was not happy. Case last year sent his researchers into a big-box retail store to evaluate the green advertising claims of some of the products on its shelves. The results were shocking, of the 1,018 products Terra Choice surveyed, all but one failed to live up fully to their green boasts.
He couldn’t believe the result, and had his team redo the survey, but the results came back the same. “It just shows we’re awash in greenwash.” He said.
Many consumers may not have heard the term green washing, but they’ve surely experienced it — misleading marketing about the environmental benefits of a product. Greenwashing isn’t new — ever since the environment was an issue in the early 1970s. As going green has become big business, environmental advocates worry that truly green companies could get lost in the situation.
“We have such a challenge ahead of us on climate change, says Kevin Tuerff, a co-founder of the marketing consultancy EnviroMedia. “Greenwashing harms the effort we need to be making.”
The first step to cleaning up greenwashing is to identify it, and Tuerff and his partners have hit on an innovative way to spotlight particularly abnormal examples. They’ve launched the Greenwashing Index a website that allows consumers to post ads that might be examples of greenwashing and rate them on a scale of 1 to 5 — 1 is a little green lie; S is a big green lie.
It’s a simple device, but it shows the power of the Interne to uncover misleading ads with a simple Web search, any consumer can find out the index they want to know. Googling isn’t the only way to take out the greenwashing, however. The Terra Choice website offers a list of what it calls the “six sins of greenwashing” — six simple signs that should remind consumers of a company that is more interested in selling the earth than saving it.
“We have better green products but a lot of exaggerated (夸张的) claims,” says Case. “That could be enough to destroy the whole green movement” — and that’s not a little green lie.
1. Which of the following statements is TRUE about greenwashing?| A．It is harmful for the environment. |
| B．It is a special way to wash so as to save water. |
| C．It is environment-friendly so it should be advocated. |
| D．It is beneficial for both the consumers and the companies. |
| A．Holding hearings to tell genuine environmental claims from false ones. |
| B．Launching the Greenwashing Index a website to expose greenwashing. |
| C．Offering a list of “six sins of greenwashing” for companies’ reference. |
| D．Updating Green Guide for consumers which hasn’t changed since 1998. |
| A．Organic products but without any certificates. |
| B．Energy-efficient products made of harmful material. |
| C．Food which is low in nutrition but high in calorie. |
| D．Pesticides which are said to be environment-friendly. |
| A．The effort on environmental protection. |
| B．The advocation of green advertisements. |
| C．The distinction between green products and common ones. |
| D．The distinction between real environmental claims and false ones. |
2 . King Canute couldn’t stop the ocean’s tide from rolling in — can Africa hold back the desert?That’s certainly what the continent is tying to do with its proposed “Great Green Wall”, 800km (almost 500 miles) worth of trees that officials hope will stop the advancement of the Sahara Desert, which has been rapidly expanding southward.
The idea was introduced in the 1970s when the once-rich region turned barren (贫瘠的) due to climate change and intensive land use. But it’s not a new idea; China has its own desert vegetation project to hold back the Gobi Desert! Thanks to the Chinese plan, the African project aims to plant 100 million hectares of trees by 2030 across the entire Africa. The initiative is a decade in, and around 15% completed, and there have already been benefits for many communities and wildlife. It’s bringing life back to the continent’s degraded landscapes at an unprecedented scale, providing not only food security and jobs but a reason to stay for the millions who live along its path.
The creators of the wall hope it will bring an urgently needed solution to the threats facing the African continent, creating 10 million jobs in rural areas, as well as preventing 250 million tons of carbon. The initiative is Africa-driven, which for those on the continent, is vital, and may hold the key to success. “The Great Green Wall…is about ownership, and that has been the failure of development aid because people were never identified with it,” said Elvis Paul Tangam, African Union Commissioner for the Sahara and Sahel Great Green Wall Initiative.“But this time they identify. This is the very thing of us!”
The wall may seem like a moonshot, but all the best ideas usually are. As Thomas Sankara, former president of Burkina Faso said in 1985, “You can not carry out fundamental change without a certain degree of madness. The courage to turn your back on the old formulas, the courage to invent the future.”
1. What does Africa’s “Great Green Wall” aim for?| A．Offering more jobs for locals. | B．Stopping the expansion of desert. |
| C．Creating a harmonious society. | D．Improving African landscapes. |
| A．From their practices of planting trees. | B．From the process of stopping flooding. |
| C．From China’s success in desert control. | D．From Africans’ wisdom and hard work. |
| A．African Unions. | B．All advocates. | C．Land owners. | D．All Africans. |
| A．Daring. | B．Effortless. | C．Critical. | D．Doubtful. |
3 . At the end of the 1985 film “Back to the Future.” Doc Brown swoops in from the future to pick up his partner in a De-Lorean fueled by trash. In 2022 trash-powered vehicles still sound like science fiction, but a technology revolution may be turning them into a reality.
Hidden among the carefully striated (条纹) layers of waste at the local landfill is a potent energy source: methane gas. When it isn’t transformed into something else, methane is an extremely strong pollutant, 82 times as powerful as carbon dioxide. In a lesson about how the energy transition is likely to play out, landfill operators’ ability to make use of excess gas has exploded in recent years. New facilities are being created to convert (转化) trash into renewable natural gas (RNG).
The potential has spurred (刺激) major sanitation and energy companies to break into this new market. In October the British company BP agreed to acquire Archaea Energy, a company that designs, builds and operates RNG plants in the U. S. to convert waste emissions. Archaea produces 6, 000 oil-equivalent barrels (油桶当量) a day through 13 RNG facilities with plans to construct 88 more to serve rising demand. Our only input is trash.
Archaea sells largely to voluntary buyers who wish to lock in clean gas at fair prices. RNG still comes at a high price compared with other fuel sources, but reducing the cost of producing RNG will mean more of it is available to buyers on attractive terms. We are working to lower the price of RNG by creating standardized and modular (模块化的) production facilities with decreased operating costs, higher processing efficiency, and uptime rates that start above 90%. Small-scale breakthroughs in gas processing enabled us to improve the portion of usable natural gas recovered from landfills to 95%, up from an industry standard of 75%.
Some of the predictions in “Back to the Future” proved too far-fetched. Flying cars seem as distant today as they were in the 1980s. But power from trash? Today trash represents a permanent carbon-negative source of natural gas. Voluntary transactions in RNG and the micro-scale process improvements that have boosted this market suggest a far more circular economy on the horizon.
1. According to the passage, which one of the following is true?| A．There are high concentrations of carbon methane gas in the waste of landfills. |
| B．The burning efficiency of methane is 82 times that of carbon dioxide. |
| C．In recent years, landfill operators have abused excess gas and caused explosions. |
| D．People are building new facilities to convert garbage into renewable energy. |
| A．70% |
| B．75% |
| C．90% |
| D．95% |
| A．the company closed down in October unluckily |
| B．if there are 88 RNG facilities, Archaea will be able to produce more than 6000 barrels of oil per day |
| C．Archaea produces renewable natural gas by importing garbage and some chemical additives |
| D．the company is committed to enabling buyers to get more RNG on attractive terms |
| A．Optimistic. |
| B．Objective. |
| C．Pessimistic. |
| D．Neutral. |
4 . Some people love a great thunderstorm; others are frightened by the first flash of lightning or sound of thunder.
Protect Electronics from Severe Weather
Reduce the Risk of Fire
Lightning rods (避雷针) can protect a building from catching fire.
Understand Lightning
When lightning hits the ground, a tree, a tower or even a building, it may also spreads along the ground, so being near something that’s struck by lightning is almost as dangerous as being hit directly by lightning.
| A．It can even strike the same spot more than once. |
| B．You might want to consider protecting an entire building. |
| C．When this happens, anything in its path could be in danger. |
| D．But the chance of lightning striking your house doesn’t change. |
| E．Each connection must be secure so lightning doesn’t jump to the building. |
| F．Lightning hitting your roof or nearby power lines is terrible but not worst. |
| G．Whether you love or hate them, thunderstorms produce dangerous lightning. |
With about half of the vast country covered in wilderness, China is the world’s third most species-rich country. Therefore, China’s
The vital biodiversity,
The national parks cross China’s vast ecosystems, from the Hainan Tropical Rainforest National Park in the south
The national parks are open to all. Visitors can make reservations online in advance
6 . Laundry day isn’t exactly fun for most people, but it can be quite unpleasant for the Earth. Washing clothes can release microplastics that are accumulating in the world’s waterways at alarming rates.
·Choose efficient machines
The machines you use have a significant effect on the amount of energy and water you save or waste.
·
Avoid small loads, but don’t crowd a machine, which can make it work harder. And take a look at the amount of detergent(洗涤剂)you’re using. The extra detergent will be harder to clean out, extending washing and drying times.
·Read up on green products
Companies large and small have met consumer demand for products with no harsh chemicals.
| A．Wash clothes by hand |
| B．Rethink your laundry habits |
| C．They use less energy than standard models |
| D．Older appliances can waste many resources |
| E．But not all products are what they claim to be |
| F．Two to three tablespoons for detergents are enough |
| G．Luckily it’s getting easier to clean your clothes while staying green |
7 . During COVID’s first wave, the streets of New York and other major cities became empty. The sound of cars decreased, but urban citizens heard something new: an abundance of birdsong. During walks outside, they breathed cleaner air. Lockdowns had meant fewer cars on the roads, and the effects were unmissable. Levels of nitrogen dioxide-a by-product of fossil fuels burned in cars and in electricity generation—were 30 percent lower along the road from Washington D. C. to Boston in March 2020 compared with previous years. Summer coming, people sat at outdoor extensions of restaurants built in parking zones and moved around on newly added bike lanes. These incidental adaptations to the pandemic allowed citizens to experience the benefits of moving away from the “car is king“ situation in a way that policies for climate-friendly equipment never could, explains Christian Brand, an environmental scientist with the Transport Studies Unit at the University of Oxford. Now, he says, “they know what’s possible.”
Some fought to keep it that way. Paris has been a leader of this conversion. The French capital already had plans to press down car use and encourage cycling before COVID appeared, but in late spring 2020 some 50 kilometers of pop-up bike lanes, called coronapistes, were added almost overnight. They are now a permanent part of Paris’s cycling network, with more in the works.
These measures, Brand says, came in no small part because of political will. Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo made climate change a focus of her reelection campaign. Besides providing subsidies(补贴)for purchasing and repairing bicycles, she emphasized the health benefits of reducing car emissions. In other cities, like New York, changes were more modest or temporary. Shutdowns may have presented the possibility of safer, healthier streets-but it was often a fleeting(飞逝的)vision.
1. What happened during COVID’s first wave?| A．Most people were infected with the virus: |
| B．City environment became better. |
| C．People drove cars instead of walking outside. |
| D．People no longer went to restaurants. |
| A．Condition. | B．Competition. |
| C．Change. | D．Struggle. |
| A．Protecting citizens’ safety. | B．Fighting the pandemic. |
| C．Measuring people’s political will. | D．Dealing with climate issues. |
| A．The Pandemic Led to Greener Cities Unexpectedly |
| B．More and More Bicycles Ended ”Car Is King“ Time |
| C．Political Leaders Took Measures to Reduce Pollution |
| D．Covid-19 Brought Benefits to People’s Health |
8 . As the family of 16 Asian elephants started moving north, no one knew where they were heading, or why. At first, no one thought much about it. Elephants sometimes disappear beyond Xishuangbanna National Nature Reserve in southwestern China’s Yunnan Province, but they always return.
But that would be risky for this group, especially for the three baby elephants. Instead, officials mobilized (动员) an emergency task force to keep everyone, elephants and humans alike, safe. Drones tracked the elephants’ every move. Electric fences, road barriers, and new pathways helped them move toward safer routes. Tons of corn, pineapples, and bananas were used to trick them away from towns.
Some might argue that doing so much to keep a family of elephants safe was wasteful. But conserving our natural and human heritage is about encouraging good in the world.
| A．They have become global celebrities |
| B．They’re our past, present, and future |
| C．We need wildlife and ancient artifacts |
| D．Things, however, are different this time |
| E．Thousands of people volunteered to join the force |
| F．They presented a problem for government officials |
| G．These measures involved lots of manpower and resources |
9 . For the past 60 years, the African Wildlife Foundation (AWF) has protected animals, restored lost habitats and advocated for policy changes that benefit wildlife. Now, the conservation organization is trying a new approach.
This year, AWF launched the inaugural Benjamin Mkapa African Wildlife Photography Awards. The contest aims to reach a different audience. While photography competitions are nothing new, the AWF hopes that the exhibition of winning entries will encourage African people to take a more active role in conservation. Its CEO Kaddu Sebunya said, “Africans need to take the responsibility for the conservation of their heritage.”
Photographers of all ages and backgrounds, professional and amateur, were invited to submit to the competition. A judging panel (评选委员会), comprised of photographers, conservationists, activists and safari guides, selected photos from 12 categories including “Art in Nature” “Coexistence and Conflict” and “Conservation Heroes”.
The “Conservation Heroes” category had special appeal for Kenyan conservation photographer Anthony Ochieng Onyango. “I realized there was a communication gap because most of what was being communicated was data in scientific publications,” said Onyango, adding that images are a simple way for people to connect to complex issues.
While there were many entries in the AWF competition, there’s only one 19-year-old Cathan Moore from South Africa among the category winners. There’s a lack of opportunity for young aspiring photographers on the continent. AWF is seeking grants and partnerships to enable more African people to participate next year, and to make nature photography competitions more accessible to those unable to pay or buy expensive camara equipment, allowing people to use whatever camera they have and photograph wildlife in urban environments.
Sebunya hopes that the competition can open up a dialogue about conservation — and why it’s so important for Africa’s future. Many people in Africa look at conservation as a thing done by and for foreigners, said Sebunya. While he praised the work of international NGOs, he emphasized that it’s vital that African voices are heard and for local people to lead conservation efforts.
1. What is the main idea of the passage?| A．African people take photographs in order to protect wildlife. |
| B．AWF calls for people’s active involvement in wildlife conservation. |
| C．A communication gap exists between ordinary people and wildlife conservation. |
| D．AWF holds photography competition for the conservation of wildlife. |
| A．The winners’ works will be on display to promote wildlife conservation. |
| B．This year’s winners include quite a number of teenage photographers. |
| C．The judging panel includes both professional and amateur photographers. |
| D．People who are not skilled in photography can’t take part in the competition. |
| A．People’s lack of desire to connect to the issue. |
| B．The lack of scientific publications on the issue. |
| C．The lack of simple and direct ways to present the issue. |
| D．People’s lack of professional camera equipment. |
| A．Cautious. | B．Appreciative. | C．Skeptical. | D．Neutral. |
10 . Scientists in Australia thought they had developed a new tracking device to help them monitor magpies, but these intelligent birds had other ideas.
Initially, researchers planned a pilot study to learn more about the movements and social dynamics of magpie. The study was also designed to test the effectiveness of a new tracking device that would fit on small birds. “Instead, the birds outsmarted us,” explained Dominique Potvin, a zoologist at the University of the Sunshine Coast.
Most trackers are too big to fit on small sized birds, and small trackers tend to be limited when it comes to data storage, battery life, and reusability. The new trackers, which weighed less than one gram, would charge and send data wirelessly without needing to recapture the birds. They were attached to a rigid belt that could only be released with a magnet. The design was meant to be durable, except for a weak point where the magnet needed to function. Once the trackers were on, researchers could attract the previously trained birds back to an outdoor ground “feeding station” where the trackers could charge, and the team could download the data.
The team placed trackers on five magpies using their special belt. However, just ten minutes after setting up the last magpie, they noticed something unusual: an adult female without a tracker was busy trying to remove the device from a younger bird, eventually succeeding. This pattern was repeated in the following hour, and by the third day all trackers had been removed.
Researchers are unsure if the same female magpie removed all the devices or if multiple birds cooperated. However, “what we have observed is the first documented case of rescue behaviour in magpies”, according to the paper — something the researchers hadn’t considered going into the project.
But that’s how science works sometimes. The team didn’t get the data they wanted, but their experiment still produced interesting results.
1. Which is one of the purposes of the research?| A．To test magpie’s intelligence. | B．To design a creative device. |
| C．To compare different magpies. | D．To try out a new tracker. |
| A．It is for single use. | B．It is powered by the sun. |
| C．It is very convenient. | D．It is attached to a magnet. |
| A．By rubbing them on the ground. | B．By getting help from other magpies. |
| C．By waiting for the belt to loosen. | D．By going back to the feeding station. |
| A．Unexpected. | B．Misleading. | C．Unreliable. | D．Misunderstood. |
