1 . Chaudhary weaves (编织) together lengths of rope and grass collected from the nearby riverbank in her village, skillfully shaping the materials into a gift box while instructing a group of women to follow suit.
The ropes being used were once the lifeline for mountain climbers tackling Nepal’s mountains and were then cast away. Diverse measures to remove such discarded materials have rocketed since 2019, when the government launched Clean Mountain Campaign.Around 140,000 tons of waste were collected on Mt. Everest alone, which were handled accordingly, either securely buried or recycled.
Some waste is now finding fresh life, transformed by skilled hands like Chaudhary’s into items to sell, thanks to an initiative led by Acharya, an owner of a waste processing business and an advocate for sustainable waste management. She has been working with the cleaning campaign, aiming at mountains like Mt. Everest.
“Metal waste goes through the recycling process, but we weren’t capable of recycling these ropes and cooking gas cans,” Acharya says. It didn’t occur to her that the waste which couldn’t be recycled could be reused until she met Rai at an art exhibition and a solution emerged.
Rai, a businessman dealing in craftworks, helped connect Acharya with Chaudhary and her team of craftswomen in hopes of unlocking the economic value of the mountain waste. With flexible hours, the project gives the craftswomen an opportunity to earn money even as they maintain their household responsibilities.
“While this seems insignificant compared to waste in the mountains, it’s a start. We can’t supply sufficient raw material with waste sorting and cleaning processes taking plenty of time and money,” Acharya says, desperate to expand the program to involve more women and treat more waste. But progress has been slow. “We need investment to mechanize the cleaning and processing of waste in the initial phase to provide the crafting team with enough materials to meet their demand,” she adds.
1. What were the ropes mentioned in paragraph 2 initially intended as?| A．Tools for tying up weeds. | B．Villagers’ basic necessities of life. |
| C．Raw materials tor unique artworks. | D．Life-saving devices for mountaineers. |
| A．A journey to the rural area. | B．An encounter with a trader. |
| C．Information from a product launch. | D．Attendance at an academic conference. |
| A．Train more senior technicians. | B．Obtain a better reputation. |
| C．Drop waste washing procedures. | D．Bring in advanced equipment. |
| A．Chaudhary: An Eco-Minded Folk Artist |
| B．Nepali Women Are Turning Garbage into Crafts |
| C．Clean Mountain Campaign Has Already Taken Effect |
| D．A Headache: Mt. Everest Is Heavily Littered with Waste |
2 . You may have visited antique stores and found cutting-edge goods in second-hand furniture stores, but have you ever stooping? On the streets of big cities at night, some young people are “looking for something”. Obsessed with the spiritual core of the old thing recycling, they fell in love with it. But what exactly is stooping?
In fact, this English word originally meant “bending over”, and now refers to a way of life of picking up discarded items and renovating and recycling old things, which originally emerged in New York and other foreign big cities.
Since the beginning of last year, the trend of “stooping” has spread to many big cities in China and many young people look for second-hand items such as discarded furniture on the streets, take home and repurpose them with a new look. In order to make the flow of information better, some “stoopers” have also built communities where group members can share “treasures” on the street with each other.
Mikiko, 27, is reportedly one of the first people in China to get involved in practicing stooping. At first, she posted online things that people no longer use, want to throw away, or exchange at home, and slowly hundreds of messages flooded in and since then, stooping has become more and more popular among young people. Mikiko admitted that she was surprised that the concept has become a hit on social media, as older generations often stigmatize picking up things from the street or using second-hand goods. “People like my mom consider stooping as’rubbish-picking’, and people will be looked down upon by doing this.” She even created an app called “Grecycle” where people can give away or take unwanted items for free, hoping people may realize that stooping can also be about doing good and helping others.
This generation of young people has given “new life” to old things, practiced social responsibility in their own environmentally friendly ways in life, and also contributed to the circular economy and sustainable society.
1. What do we know about “stooping” in this text?| A．It was developed in England. | B．It equals to rubbish-picking. |
| C．It is an expression to show respect. | D．It is a way to turn trash to treasure. |
| A．To show off their good use of items. |
| B．To argue about the misuse of good treasure. |
| C．To share the information of the discarded items. |
| D．To make some comments on the abandoned items. |
| A．Be skilled at. | B．Be ashamed of. |
| C．Be fed up with. | D．Be accustomed to. |
| A．Second-hand stores are worth visiting. |
| B．Big cities offer more job opportunities. |
| C．Young people spend less than older people. |
| D．The young have a stronger eco-awareness. |
3 . Do you know cultivated meat? Typically, making this sort of meat starts with cells from domestic animals. The cells are grown in bioreactors full of nutrient-rich liquid, and then harvested, and eventually become products such as steak or chicken. In a homely kitchen of Eat Just, a startup, a slice of such meat was fried and then served with peppers. The first mouthful of it was extraordinary because the meat was grown in a lab, rather than on an animal. Meanwhile, it was also dull, because the texture, taste, look and smell of the meat was almost identical to that of chicken.
In June, Eat Just and Upside Foods became the first two companies to win regulatory approval to sell cultivated meat in America. A handful of other firms are trying to bring cultivated meat to market. But the hope is fading owing to continued high costs and troubles with mass production.
The UN reports meat and dairy production already accounts for 12% of humanity’s greenhouse-gas emissions, Demand for meat is skyrocketing among the growing middle classes of Africa and Asia. Lab-grown meat could help meet that demand without the world breaking its carbon budget. By contrast, two-fifths of Americans claim to restrict their meat consumption either for ethical(伦理的) reasons or environmental ones. Lab-grown meat may seem less ethically worrisome than eating animals. And the early success of plant-based meat alternatives gave investors hope. Beyond Meat, one such firm, went public in 2019, and saw its value shoot to $14 billion.
Though lab-grown meat offers an alternative to farm-grown meat, questions have been raised about how climate-friendly it can be. A study published earlier this year found that in some circumstances cultivated meat could be more polluting than the conventional stuff because the bioreactor is in great need of power to control its temperature. Consequently, only if renewable energy is used in the production process will cultivated meat cut the carbon footprint of the meat industry.
Whether this effort can make lab-grown meat attractive and cheap enough to attract consumers remains to be seen.
1. What does the author focus on concerning cultivated meat in paragraph 1?| A．Its characteristics. | B．Its health benefits. |
| C．Its cooking methods. | D．Its similarities to artificial meat. |
| A．Most Americans skip meat. |
| B．Asians prefer lab-grown meat. |
| C．Beyond Meat is facing financial collapse. |
| D．Lab-grown meat may have a vast consumer market. |
| A．Poisonous chemical leaks. | B．Land occupation. |
| C．Grecnhouse-gas emissions. | D．Water consumption. |
| A．Opposed. | B．Favorable. | C．Uncaring. | D．Reserved. |
4 . Tropical cyclones(热带气旋), including hurricanes and typhoons, are now moving at a slower speed than they did decades ago, new research shows.
While having a cyclone travel with less speed may seem like a good thing, it’s actually just the opposite. Wind speeds within the storm remain high, but the whole system itself moves slower, allowing punishing rains to stay longer over communities. “Nothing good comes out of a slowing storm,” says James Kossin, author of the paper. “It can increase the amount of time that buildings suffered from strong wind. And it increases rainfall.”
In his paper, Kossin showed that from 1949 to 2016, tropical cyclones across the globe slowed their movement by 10 percent on average. In some regions (地区), the speed of those storms slowed even more as they hit land. In the western North Pacific, the decrease was much more manifest—almost a third. That means a storm that may already hold more moisture (水分)will have time to drop more of it in each spot.
Kossin’s work was based on details of almost 70 years’ worth of storms, but he didn’t try to determine what was causing the slowdown. Still, the change is exactly what he and other cyclone experts said, which would be expected from climate change. With the polar regions warming faster than other parts of the globe, that is changing the pressure and reducing the winds that push these storms.
Christina Patricola, a scientist, called Kossin’s work important and new and said she found it reliable. “I was not surprised by his findings,” she says. “But I was surprised by the speed of the slowdown.”
Kossin hopes that scientists will begin building models that show which places are likely to face the most risk. Given that storms in some regions are moving towards polar regions and already increasing in intensity(强度), cyclones causing unusually powerful rain may threaten places not normally in their paths. Scientists must take action to make those places suffer less from the disasters.
1. Why is the decrease in cyclones’ speed a bad thing?| A．It leads the cyclones to move faster on the ground. |
| B．It causes the cyclones to have higher wind speed outside. |
| C．It makes hard rains and strong wind last longer in one place. |
| D．It results in more typhoons taking place in some communities. |
| A．Obvious. | B．Satisfying. | C．Confusing. | D．Impossible. |
| A．Climate change in the polar regions is under control. |
| B．Scientists find it hard to understand the slower cyclones. |
| C．Scientists should do further experiments in polar regions. |
| D．Climate change may be the cause of the slowdown of the cyclones. |
| A．To find out the normal paths of serious cyclones. |
| B．To prove the speed of the cyclones can be controlled. |
| C．To reduce the damage from cyclones to possible areas. |
| D．To call on scientists to focus on the danger of climate change. |
5 . How to limit your environmental impact while travelling
Travelling unlocks a world of endless possibilities and adventures, allowing us to hike through breathtaking landscapes, encounter kangaroos and deer in their natural habitat, and witness the power of volcanoes.
Try to travel by land instead of air. While air travel can often be quicker, it is typically one of the most polluting forms of transport.
Make the most of safe tap water (自来水). Drinking tap water may come as a shock to many travelers. But when you’re in countries where tap water is safe to consume, avoid bottled options. Not only are they more expensive, but they have a higher level of pollution compared to treated tap water.
Respect the local environment. When visiting different destinations, we should recognize the importance of protecting the natural beauty. We mustn’t throw rubbish everywhere.
| A．Be a responsible hotel guest. |
| B．Explore with green tour companies. |
| C．Instead, carry a bottle and refill it wherever you can |
| D．And we should avoid activities that may harm wildlife. |
| E．However, tourism can also be harmful to the environment. |
| F．Low-cost airlines have made it much more affordable to travel. |
| G．Taking the train or driving in some countries may be better options. |
6 . With pet ownership becoming more popular, being saddened by the loss of a beloved pet is becoming a terrible headache. Li Peng, a woolen felt (织物) craftswoman, has found a unique way to preserve the memory of dead pets by creating realistic woolen images.
Li’s journey into this craft is accidental. During her college years, she majored in e-commerce and worked part time at a pet store. One day, while visiting a website, she came upon a small fox made entirely of wool. Astonished at its delicacy, she set off on a self-taught journey in this art form. In late 2019, Li Peng made the firm decision to start her own business and pursue wool felting as a full-time profession.
While a video showcasing the work may only take a few minutes to watch, the actual process is far more intricate. The three-dimensional creations feature genuine fur, lifelike glass eyes and tiny whiskers (胡须), each one individually secured by hand. To achieve a vivid effect, she repeatedly sticks layers of wool with a needle, winding the loose fibers together to create solid felted shapes. The key is massive patience.
The handcrafted creations satisfy her desire to convey love. The majority of her customers are pet owners who have experienced the loss of their beloved companions. They send Li photographs and even their pets’ hair, hoping to freeze the appearance of their furry friends through her wool felting models. Fascinated by the deep bond between people and their pets, she is committed to grabbing and investing these emotions in her artworks. And it turns out that the career is a success. Orders are often scheduled for one year later, and she has gained substantial attention through social media.
Reflecting on her work, Li expresses her desire to create meaningful pieces using the warm material, offering a heartfelt gift of warmth to the beautiful souls of this world.
1. What inspired Li Peng to take up wool felting as a career?| A．A temporary job at a pet shop. | B．Her self-study art course. |
| C．A discovery of an alternative to fiber. | D．A woolen creation online. |
| A．Confusing. | B．Efficient. | C．Complicated. | D．Effortless. |
| A．Conservationists of animal rights. | B．Individuals fond of furry toys. |
| C．Distributors providing personalized service. | D．People suffering from pet loss. |
| A．Fair product pricing. | B．Human-pet attachment. |
| C．Smart network marketing. | D．Hunger for a fine reputation. |
7 . Johannes Fritz, an Austrian biologist, needed to come up with a plan again if he was going to prevent his rare and beloved birds from going extinct.
To survive the European winter, the northern bald ibis needs to migrate south for the winter over the Alps. But shifting climate patterns have delayed when the birds begin to migrate and they are now reaching the mountains too late to make it over the peaks, locking them in an icy death trap. Determined to save them, he decided to teach the birds a new, safer migration route by guiding them himself in a tiny aircraft. He was confident that he could succeed in this daring, unconventional plan.
Some 400 years ago, the Europeans hunted these birds without stopping and devoured the last in the wild, causing the birds to disappear entirely from the wild. When Mr. Fritz was born 56 years ago, the northern bald ibis could be found in Europe only in captivity (圈养).
Mr.Fritz has spent his career reintroducing the birds into the wild. Through years of trial and error, he learned to fly like a bird. He modified (改装) a lightweight aircraft so it would fly at speeds slow enough for the birds to keep up. In 2004, he led the first flock from Austria to Italy, and has since led more migrations. But the route he originally taught the ibises does not work successfully. With climate change warming the area where the birds summer, they now start their migration at the end of October instead of the end of September. The trip is expected to take about six weeks, “Still, we’re optimistic that it’ll work,” said Mr. Fritz.
His family and colleagues witnessed the risks he was taking. “But the unavoidable risks are necessary,” Mr. Fritz said. “It’s not so much a job, but my life’s purpose.”
1. What was Johannes Fritz’s plan?| A．To shorten bald ibises’ migration route. |
| B．To lead bald ibises to migrate on a new route. |
| C．To better the climate patterns for bald ibises. |
| D．To find out a safer destination for bald ibises. |
| A．Destroyed. | B．Abused. | C．Released. | D．Raised. |
| A．Owing to the long time it consumes. |
| B．For the slow speed of his modified aircraft. |
| C．Because of the toughness along the first route. |
| D．Due to higher temperatures in the summer habitat. |
| A．Honest. | B．Innovative. | C．Straightforward. | D．Demanding. |
8 . It is late autumn—millions of gardeners across the northern hemisphere, pulled on their thickest sweaters, spent hours clearing large piles of leaves and packed them into plastic bags at the end of driveways.
In the US alone, nearly 10 million tonnes of garden waste go to landfill every year. That is a large amount of effort, not just from an environmental viewpoint but from that of our aching backs, too. So where does this advice come from? Well, it largely comes from the belief that thick fallen leaves can make plants under them unable to breathe, especially shorter grass. They shut down important photosynthesis (光合作用) and get in the way of the growth of the shorter grass. However, this received wisdom has recently been questioned by researchers at Wisconsin University.
The key finding of their new research was that although clearing fallen leaves is one of the most common gardening practices, it makes very little sense. In natural ecosystems, fallen leaves help return nutrients necessary for healthy plant growth to the soil, which greatly improves soil condition. Removing leaves year after year breaks this ecological (生态的) balance. Letting some leaves stick around to cover your garden is a great way to help your grass and the local ecosystem.
They further explained that if up to 50percent of your grass lawn (草坪) is covered by fallen leaves, you might as well go back indoors and put your feet up. The advantages of this light leaf coverage far outweigh the disadvantages—the leaves will quickly break down and help next year’s lawn grow far better than if you had cleared them. Only at over 50 percent coverage do the Wisconsin researchers recommend clearing.
So why not consider leaving the leaves? Save time, carbon and effort, and in exchange get a healthier lawn from this garden waste—that seems like a pretty good deal. And how many plastic bags could be saved by simply not binning fallen leaves every year? In the US alone, about 700 million.
1. What does the author describe in paragraph 1?| A．An amazing autumn game. | B．A common sight in gardens. |
| C．A hot attraction in the north. | D．An extreme weather event. |
| A．Fallen leaves need not be cleared. |
| B．Fallen leaves protect shorter grass. |
| C．Fallen leaves block photosynthesis. |
| D．Fallen leaves are hard to break down. |
| A．it ruins city image | B．it breaks gardening rules |
| C．it affects local economy | D．it causes ecological damage |
| A．Doubtful. | B．Positive. | C．Unclear. | D．Worried. |
9 . A sleeping animal cannot look for food or flee from danger. But the fact that sleep is widespread among animals shows its restorative powers are essential. Some animals, though, try to have their cake and eat it. Dolphins and ducks sleep with half their brains, leaving the other half on guard. A paper in Science by Dr Le reports another innovative workaround. Chinstrap penguins take their sleep in thousands of naps, tiny micro- sleeps-or at least when they are nesting.
Chinstraps sleep with either their whole brain or just one half. Data confirmed they sleep in the ocean or on land. Ducks sleep in long periods, while the penguins nod of for several seconds at a time, hundreds of times an hour. The naps average 4 seconds in length; 72% lasted less than 10 seconds. Micro-sleeps aren’t unknown. Exhausted humans, like jet-lagged (倒时差) tourists and parents of newborn babies, can experience them. Totaling the duration, the researchers concluded Chinstraps get around 12 hours of sleep daily.
Two explanations are given for Chinstraps’ sleep pattern. The first is to do with external threats. Penguins hatch eggs alone while their partners are away seeking for food. Colonies (领地) are threatened by big birds that’ll steal unattended eggs. Broken sleep is a clever strategy of getting some shut-eye during long egg-guarding periods.
Penguins with nests near the edge of the colony are at greater risk than those in the centre, but enjoy more extended naps. The second is threats from within, as penguin colonies are noisy, crowded places. They steal nesting materials from careless neighbors, so penguins in the crime-ridden centre find it harder to sleep than those in the safer suburbs.
Choosing between those theories requires more research. Dr Lee said, “Nor can we measure how restorative such naps are. Chinstraps are evidently able to hatch their young under such conditions, which suggests they’re getting something from their constant nodding-off. So, humans nurturing their newborns should take heart.”
1. Why do dolphins and ducks sleep with only one side of their brains?| A．To enjoy their cake. | B．To establish a nice nest. |
| C．To be watchful during naps. | D．To obtain high-quality sleep. |
| A．Engaging in numerous naps a day. | B．Sleeping nowhere beyond the ocean. |
| C．Ranging from 4 seconds to 12 hours. | D．Always sleeping with the entire brain. |
| A．Penguins live safely in natural colonies. | B．Penguins encounter a variety of challenges. |
| C．Penguins hatch their eggs away from colony. | D．Penguins at the core of the colony sleep longer. |
| A．Their duration is hard to detect. | B．They distract the restorative effects. |
| C．Adopting them aids human newborns. | D．Taking this sleep mode favors penguins. |
10 . Last week, Chicago became the first city in the US to join the “Lights Out Plan”. People turned off the lights in the city’s tallest buildings, so that thousands of birds could get to their winter homes. Every year in autumn, some birds fly over Chicago on their way to the south, and come back the next spring.
Lights mean danger to birds. Birds find their way by looking at the stars in the sky. Lights in tall buildings are so bright that birds may mistake them as stars. This means they cannot find the right way to go home.
This month, about 300 types of birds are flying over Chicago to go back to the south to live through the cold winter. Birds fly to warmer places for a few reasons. Many birds cannot live in the cold, so they fly to warmer places. But there are other reasons, too. Birds need to look for food in the south. Another reason is that they want to have baby birds. Many birds like to have their baby birds in the same “house” they lived in last year, so they fly back there.
There are about 9,000 kinds of birds in the world, and about 600 kinds of birds migrate. Some birds can fly a very long way. Sometimes they fly to other countries. We have fewer birds today because there are fewer places for birds.
1. Why did people in Chicago turn off their lights last week?| A．Because people wanted to save money. |
| B．Because people liked the dark night. |
| C．Because people were a afraid that birds would make much noise. |
| D．Because people were a afraid that birds would lose their way. |
| A．move to a new place | B．stay at the same place |
| C．sleep in winter | D．lay eggs |
| A．lots of birds are often ill | B．people kill lots of birds |
| C．there are fewer places for birds | D．other animals eat them |
| A．All birds fly to warmer places every year. |
| B．Some birds have to fly to warmer places in autumn. |
| C．Some birds can fly a long way to other countries. |
| D．About 600 kinds of birds migrate in the world. |
