1 . As the carbon countdown clock ticks on, cities must be more imaginative and cooperative, a lively round table hosted in Newham by a non-profit organization Friends of the Earth said.
“Net zero is around the corner,” said Mike Wake, Director of Friends of the Earth. “The UK has cut greenhouse gas emission (排放) by 40% to date mostly through the growth of large renewable generation on the grid (输电网), but further cuts will be needed as London tries to find new ways of using energy.
“While Newham has lower greenhouse gas emission per head than the UK, it has high levels of fuel poverty, poor air quality and leaky homes. Vastly improved energy efficiency, especially on older and leakier homes, along with more efficient forms of heating and an expansion of low carbon heat networks, will help,” said Wake.
“But the future requires a shift to a more communal solution,” the representatives said. District heating, which pipes hot water from a central source to connected homes or businesses, is often a cheaper and lower-carbon method of heating highly populated areas. “It’s the lowest cost and low carbon solution for the future,” Wake added.
“There are new technologies to use wasted heat,” Wake said. “We worked with businesses to decarbonise (使环保) energy supply. Rather than wasting, spare heat generated by manufacturing and other activities can be captured and used to heat nearby properties. Friends of the Earth has already helped save Newham thousands of tonnes of emissions through district heating plans, solar PV and more energy efficient measures in the homes.”
But the challenges are substantial. Newham has London’s second-highest rate of fuel poverty. “Anyway, I’m confident and hopeful about the collective challenge,” said Wake. “But for Newham to be at the forefront of a green economy, to solve fuel poverty and deal with structural equalities, we must spare no effort.”
1. What does Wake think of cutting greenhouse gas emission in the UK?| A．It doesn’t work at all. | B．It ended a short time ago. |
| C．It is very difficult to continue. | D．It still needs to be improved. |
| A．Expensive. | B．Peaceful. | C．Public. | D．Complex. |
| A．By releasing wasted heat. |
| B．By starting up many businesses. |
| C．By making national heating plans. |
| D．By solving the issues about energy. |
| A．Worried. | B．Positive. | C．Uncaring. | D．Critical. |
2 . In the heart of Texas, “Bee Czar” Walter Schumacher is saving the world—one hive (蜂群) at a time. And he does it without wearing a protective bee suit. What is his technique? He “communicates” with the bees to avoid being bitten. Walter and his team at the American Honey Bee Protection Agency rescue hives from places that are unwanted—inside the walls of a house or 30 feet up in a neighborhood tree, and relocate the hives where the bees can grow and pollinate (授粉) in peace.
According to Walter, every third bite of food we eat was pollinated by bees; without them, life would cease existing. But saving bees costs money, so they have got to sell honey to make money.
Walter’s business once was booming with $200,000 in yearly sales. But after losing everything in the past three years, Walter wants to rebuild his honey business so that he can afford to rescue unwanted hives. With his oldest son Will and a small but dedicated team, Walter has a plan to transform their old family farm into their new headquarters, to save more bees and sell more honey.
Saving bees is a big affair. Will runs the business, trying to keep his dad organized; Walter teaches his younger sons Bodhi and Odin the skills of keeping bees, and Will’s wife Meredith is experiencing her first bee rescue. Walter also invites bee technician Jonathan who seeks inner calm by rescuing bees and scaffolding (脚手架) pro Sandy, who can reach angry bees in places ladders can’t and dreams of talking to bees herself. Walter brings audiences into the hive when he trains beekeepers to safely handle millions of bees Will plans to sign big contracts selling honey to businesses like restaurants and supermarkets, meanwhile undertaking dangerous hive rescues.
1. Which of the following can best describe Walter’s work of rescuing bees?| A．Interesting. | B．Tough. | C．Tiring. | D．Simple. |
| A．They are important to us. | B．They are not in danger. |
| C．They can’t grow in peace. | D．They can bite many people. |
| A．To find more hives. | B．To expand his team. |
| C．To rebuild his business. | D．To train more bee raisers. |
| A．Why Walter started the big affair. |
| B．What Walter’s family do to save bees. |
| C．Whether Walter sticks to his business. |
| D．How Walter teaches his sons to keep bees. |
3 . 4 Best Places to Travel in 2023
2023 is the year when travel returns in a big way. To get you started, we’ve rounded up some of the best places to travel in 2023. All you need to do is pick the place that appeals to you.
Copenhagen
With its fantastic houses, clean streets and colorful architecture, Copenhagen is regarded as the most livable city on the earth. Named the World Capital of Architecture for 2023, Copenhagen will offer a series of major artistic events and programs sure to delight architects and design lovers.
Bhutan
For travelers with a sense of adventure and a love of discovery, Bhutan has always been a must-go destination. In 2023, travelers can once again explore the Trans Bhutan Trail, which runs 250 miles from east to west, offering visits to the century-old communities along the journey. The trail spans (横跨)18 major bridges and national parks and connects more than 400 historic and cultural sites.
Bordeaux
The coming years will be sporty in the historical wine region of Bordeaux in France. In 2023, the city will host the Rugby World Cup, an intense and stressful game. Beyond sports, Bordeaux is one of the favorite historical cities, with more than 350 structures that are either nationally or regionally listed as historical monuments.
Namibia
Wildlife and adventure lovers looking for a unique path in African Safari trips should head straight to Namibia in 2023 — this country in southern Africa is the perfect place to travel to reconnect with nature and escape the modern stresses of life. On the wildlife front, you may see lions along with giraffes and elephants.
1. What is Copenhagen well-known for?| A．The natural landscape. | B．The adventure travel. |
| C．Eye-catching architecture. | D．Famous art designers. |
| A．Modern communities. | B．Cultural relics. |
| C．Historical wine regions. | D．National monuments. |
| A．Copenhagen. | B．Bhutan. | C．Bordeaux. | D．Namibia. |
4 . Biologists who study evolution (进化) have always been interested in animals that developed on islands. In some situations, animals on islands changed over time and came to look very different from the same species that lived on the mainland.
The experts point to animals such as the dwarf elephant that once lived on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus. The animal is now extinct. When it lived, however, it was only the size of a small horse. Elephants that live today in Africa and Asia are much larger than that. In the West Indies, researchers found a giant rodent (啮齿动物) that looked like a rat. However, it was about the same size as an American black bear. Rats are, of course, many times smaller than bears.
Evolutionary experts came to call this phenomenon “island effect”. They used this term to describe the fact that animals who normally have small bodies “upsize” on an island, while the opposite is true for animals who usually have large bodies.
The “island effect” produces strange-sized animals because large animals require more food than small animals. On an island, there is a limited amount of food. As a result, larger animals become smaller over generations in order to survive with lower food intake. For small animals, there is not as much risk from predators on an island, so they often grow larger.
Recently, researchers released their findings about 1,231 existing animals and 350 extinct ones that represent 23 million years of life. They found that animals on islands were more at risk of extinction compared to their relatives on the mainland. The arrival of human settlers increased the extinction risk for these strange animals.
Roberto Rozzi, a paleoecologist at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg in Germany said that the extinction line has become even sharper in recent decades.
The researchers call the islands “biodiversity hotspots”. Even though they only make up 7 percent of the Earth’s land mass, they account for 20 percent of the land species.
1. Why are the animals introduced in paragraph 2?| A．To compare the two species. | B．To lead in the “island effect”. |
| C．To show two kinds of rare animals. | D．To stress the change of surroundings. |
| A．Animals of normal small bodies “upsize” on an island. |
| B．Animals of normal small bodies “downsize” on an island. |
| C．Animals of normal large size have small bodies on an island. |
| D．Animals of normal large size have larger bodies on an island. |
| A．Some things never change. | B．The gain outweighs the loss. |
| C．Humans live in harmony with nature. | D．The fittest animals survive in natural selection. |
| A．The History of Unique Island Animals | B．The Benefits of Saving Island Animals |
| C．Unique Island Animals at Greater Changes | D．Biological Diversity Threatened by Humans |
5 . Sixty-six years ago, there was one human-built object in Earth’s orbit. It was Sputnik, the world’s first satellite, launched in October 1957. Try to guess how many human-made objects are circling the planet now. Ready?
Your answer is wrong, unless you guessed 100 trillion. That’s a jaw-dropping number. It was provided by an international team of researchers writing in the journal Science. For years, this junk has formed an ever-growing mass near Earth. It’s a danger to spacecraft. The researchers are calling for a global treaty to limit the number of satellites and the amount of rubbish in space.
There are 9,000 active satellites in orbit, the scientists report. That could grow to more than 60,000 by 2030. The rest of that 100 trillion figure includes everything from used-up booster rockets and stray bolts to metal flecks and paint chips. Don’t think a paint chip is harmless. Travelling at 17,500 miles per hour, it can strike a spacecraft hard. The International Space Station is dotted with dents and holes. Astronauts often take shelter in an attached spacecraft to wait out a passing swarm of space debris (残骸). That way, if the station is severely damaged, they can escape in a hurry.
The mess we’ve made in space is like the mess we’ve made in the oceans. Think of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. It’s a mass of floating junk twice the size of Texas. We’ve had centuries to make the ocean dirty. But it has taken just decades for us to do the same in space. That’s why the Science authors include experts in satellite technology and in ocean plastic pollution. “As a marine biologist, I never imagined writing a paper on space,” writes Heather Koldewey, who works at the Zoological Society of London. Cleaning up space, she says, has a lot in common “with the challenges of tackling environmental issues in the ocean.”
Coauthor Moriba Jah is an aerospace engineering professor at the University of Texas at Austin. “Marine debris and space debris,” he writes, “are both a human-made damage that is unavoidable.”
1. Why is Sputnik mentioned in paragraph 1?| A．To provide background information. |
| B．To introduce the topic. |
| C．To make a comparison. |
| D．To tell a story. |
| A．What caused space debris. |
| B．The number of space debris. |
| C．The seriousness of space pollution. |
| D．What astronauts often do in space. |
| A．Ocean pollution is very serious. |
| B．Ocean is the same as space. |
| C．Space pollution is getting worse. |
| D．She is going to write a paper on space. |
| A．There is the same amount of marine debris and space debris. |
| B．Humans are to blame for the space pollution. |
| C．Marine and space pollution are unavoidable. |
| D．Humans can do nothing to prevent space pollution. |
6 . In 1960, at just 26 years old. Jane Goodall was chosen to go to what is now Tanzania and study the little-known world of chimpanzees. Since then, She has received many awards and honorary degrees and become the model of some young girls.
But before Goodall was a world-renowned conservationist, she was just a kid who liked animals. She was born loving animals so people gave her diverse animal toys. Now, Goodall has received an unusual honor. She is becoming a toy — a Barbie doll with little girly clothes.
Goodall may not have expected to become a Barbie at 88 years old — but it’s not just any doll, it’s made out of recycled plastic. And the Barbie is partnering with the Jane Goodall Foundation and her Roots & Shoots program, which inspires young people to protect others, animals and the environment. The main message is “every day you live, you make an impact on the planet and you get to choose what sort of impact you make.”
Once Goodall had given a talk about protecting the world in Burundi school and a little boy of 7 came up to her and said, “If I pick out a piece of trash every day, it will make a difference, won’t it?” She said, “Yes, it will. And suppose you persuade 10 of your friends to pick up the rubbish every day.” He said, “Oh, that’s it. They could all get 10 of their friends!”
Goodall has been inspiring young people for decades, but now, newer generations will get to know Jane Goodall. “I sincerely hope that the Barbie will help kids to create more interest and fascination (吸引) in the natural world,” she said. “It doesn’t really matter if they have a career in conservation, as long as they live conservation in their daily lives.”
1. What gets young girls interested in Jane Goodall?| A．The Jane Goodall Barbie doll. |
| B．Jane Goodall’s childhood experience. |
| C．Her work with the chimpanzees. |
| D．Her research into environmental pollution. |
| A．Partnering with Jane’s Foundation. |
| B．Supporting young people in trouble. |
| C．Producing toys out of recycled plastic. |
| D．Encouraging kids to protect the planet. |
| A．People should make many friends. |
| B．Every effort can make a difference. |
| C．Everyone has a potential to succeed. |
| D．Rubbish should be dealt with regularly. |
| A．Jane Goodall is strange to new generations. |
| B．Barbie dolls will be popular in the toy market. |
| C．The spirit of Jane Goodall will inspire more people. |
| D．Conservation of nature will be the most popular career. |
7 . There are many kinds of pollution, which can be classified by environment, including air pollution, water pollution, and land pollution. Modern society is also concerned about specific types of pollution, such as noise pollution, light pollution and plastic pollution. Pollution of all kinds may not only have negative effects on the environment and wildlife, but also do harm to human health and well-being.
Although environmental pollution can be caused by natural events such as forest fires and active volcanoes, use of the word “pollution” generally means that the wastes have an anthropocentric source—that is, a source created by human activities. Pollution has accompanied humankind ever since groups of people first congregated and remained for a long time in any one place. Indeed, ancient human settlements are frequently recognized by their wastes, Pollution was not a serious problem as long as there was enough space available for each individual or group. However, with the establishment of permanent settlements by great numbers of people, pollution became a problem, and it has remained one ever since.
By the middle of the 20th century, an awareness of the need to protect air, water, and land environments from pollution had developed among the general public. In particular, the publication in 1962 of Rachel Carson’s book Silent Spring focused attention on environmental damage caused by improper use of pesticides such as DDT. In response, major pieces of environmental law and regulation were passed in many countries to control the environmental pollution.
Great efforts are made to limit the release of harmful substances into the environment. Unfortunately, attempts at pollution control are surpassed by the scale of the problem, especially in less-developed countries. Noxious levels of air pollution are common in large cities. To control the pollution completely, we still have a long way to go.
1. What does paragraph 1 mainly talk about?| A．The history of pollution. | B．The types of pollution. |
| C．The causes of pollution. | D．The effects of pollution. |
| A．Natural disasters. | B．Forest fires. |
| C．Volcanoes. | D．Human activities. |
| A．Gathered. | B．Separated. |
| C．Attended. | D．Lived. |
| A．No measures have been taken by the government to control the problems of pollution. |
| B．The book Silent Spring helped to improve the awareness of protecting the environment. |
| C．Silent Spring concentrated on the improper use of plastic bags. |
| D．The pollution has been controlled in less-developed countries. |
8 . On one October morning in 2021, Mark A. Michaels was observing a tree in a forest when he spotted a bird flying below the branches about 50 yards away. Based on the bird’s size and long neck, Michaels first assumed he was looking at a duck. But then he noticed it occasionally folding its wings during flight, something he says that ducks don’t do — but woodpeckers do. “Ivory-bill!” he recalls shouting, now certain that the bird was an ivory-billed woodpecker (象牙喙啄木鸟), a species that hasn’t been identified in the wild since 1944.
Despite his certainty, not everyone agrees this woodpecker remains in the wild. In September 2021, the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) claimed that the ivory-billed woodpecker, along with 22 other species, is extinct. However, the data supporting the idea are debated. Debatable evidence presented at a meeting in January 2022 convinced USFWS that disagreement among scientists as to the ivory-billed woodpecker’s existence was considerable enough. As a result, on July 6, the agency issued a pause of extinction.
The ongoing case highlights some of the challenges researchers face in determining whether a species has actually gone extinct. According to guidelines issued by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), an organization that tracks species’ protection statuses, a species is extinct when there is no reasonable doubt that the last individual has died. “But researchers typically don’t know when or if that last death has occurred,” says H. Resit Akcakaya, an ecologist at Stony Brook University.
Moreover, there are costs to making the wrong call about a species’ existence in the wild, he adds. Continuing to regard an actually extinct species as endangered can lead to undervalued extinction rates, and confuse the bigger protection picture, as well as misdirect financial resources away from protecting endangered species to searching for ones that no longer exist. On the other hand, declaring something extinct when it really isn’t can lead to further harm on a struggling species.
1. What convinced Mark that the bird was an ivory-billed woodpecker?| A．Its unique way of flight. | B．Its special living conditions. |
| C．Its similar appearance to ducks. | D．Its disappearance from the wild. |
| A．USFWS is heatedly debating with the public. |
| B．The ivory-billed woodpecker has a high status |
| C．Mark is certain about his discovery of the ivory-billed woodpecker. |
| D．Disagreement about the ivory-billed woodpecker’s existence is huge. |
| A．IUCN’s guidelines are practical and reasonable. |
| B．Researchers should track species’ conservation statuses. |
| C．The last death of an ivory-billed woodpecker has occurred. |
| D．It’s difficult to determine whether a species is extinct or not. |
| A．Determining a species’s existence will cost lots of money. |
| B．Numerous pictures of endangered species have been taken |
| C．Determining a species’s existence without mistakes is important. |
| D．Financial resources are removed from protecting endangered species. |
9 . Dr. David Hetherington has spent over a decade looking at the feasibility (可行性) of reintroducing the Eurasian lynx (欧洲猞猁) to Scotland. In his new book, The Lynx and Us, Hetherington takes an in-depth look at the many issues surrounding this topic.
Hetherington begins there introduction discussion by establishing the history and ecology of the lynx, in relation to both human-lynx coexistence and geographical variations in distribution. Habitat and range requirements, prey (猎物) preferences and hunting methods are also detailed.
Armed with this background information, the reader is then taken through the nitty-gritty of lynx reintroduction by addressing the potential issues, many of which are based on human-wildlife conflict, such as safety and the impact of wild lynx, with much of the information backed up by conservation and research findings associated with the reintroductions of lynx in Europe. Hetherington addresses the significant problem of man-made barriers such as roads and rails. There are also considerations regarding prey species that are unused to having natural predators (捕食者) in their midst and the impact on prey populations.
The book looks at the feasibility of lynx reintroduction in the UK. While the reintroduction of lynx to Scotland is shown to be ecologically feasible, how desirable is it? Hetherington addresses each of the issues in-turn, using the significant knowledgebase that now exists regarding lynx ecology and the findings of research into lynx and their reintroductions elsewhere.
For anyone with an interest in lynx re wilding, The Lynx and Us is the “go-to” book.
Peter Cairns, director of there wilding charity SCOTLAND: The Big Picture, the book’s publisher, says, “With a growing national discussion about the advantages of restoring missing native species, it’s important that we all have access to balanced, factual information on which to base our opinions. That’s what this book sets out to provide.”
1. Which background information is absent from The Lynx and Us?| A．What lynx eat. | B．How lynx live. |
| C．How lynx and people coexist. | D．What lynx reintroduction will lead to. |
| A．The most basic causes. | B．The most useful functions. |
| C．The most important details. | D．The most common methods. |
| A．The popularity of The Lynx and Us. |
| B．The importance of The Lynx and Us. |
| C．The different ways of voicing our opinions. |
| D．The advantages of restoring missing native species. |
| A．A book review. | B．A research report. |
| C．A description of lynx. | D．An introduction to a scientist. |
10 . In a paper published recently in the journal Seabird, a RSPB team documented the training, testing and performance of scent dogs(嗅觉犬) .
Scent dogs have regularly been used for conservation for decades. They are particularly effective at detecting birds that breed (繁殖) in holes and are only active aboveground at night.
Many seabirds show these same characteristics and some, including European storm petrels (海燕), are well-known for their strong scent. However, using scent dogs to detect seabirds has not been common practice in the UK.
The storm petrel is the UK’s smallest seabird. They spend most of their time at sea, only coming to land to breed in summer. They come ashore under the cover of darkness and nest underground in holes. Manx shearwaters (大西洋鹱) are similarly ocean-loving, breeding on land in the UK before going to the South American coast for winter.
These two species are threatened in the UK. However, surveying them is difficult due to their behaviours. The RSPB researchers tried to detect them by using their dogs.
Dog A, called Islay, was trained to locate and indicate storm petrel feathers. Dog B, called Dewi, is used to detect Manx shearwater holes. Dewi had learnt to distinguish between occupied and unoccupied holes and lie down to indicate occupied holes.
The study found that, with sufficient training and reward, Islay could find the precise location of the storm petrel and differentiate between storm petrel and shearwaters cents with 100% reliability. However, care was needed to ensure no combination of scents occurred. Similarly, Dewi had a high success rate in finding shearwater nest holes, although he was less successful at locating deep holes, probably because there was less shearwaters cent at the entrance.
Mark Bolton, RSPB principal conservation scientist and lead author of the paper, says, “The recent use of scent dogs to locate the nest holes of storm petrels on the, Isle of May is further evidence of the potential of scent dogs for seabird monitoring and I hope that this study will encourage more conservation practitioners to use scent dogs in their work.”
1. What do we know about the storm petrel?| A．It is the smallest bird in the world. |
| B．It returns to land during the winter. |
| C．It breeds on the South American coast. |
| D．It is active at night and has a strong scent. |
| A．Distinguish the combination of scents. |
| B．Find the precise location of a small seabird. |
| C．Tell storm petrel and shearwaters cents apart. |
| D．Confirm the entrance to a shearwater nest hole. |
| A．It is significant for the Isle of May. |
| B．It aids seabird monitoring and conservation. |
| C．It improves the detection capacities of dogs. |
| D．It delivers ground-breaking insights into seabirds. |
| A．Scent dogs helping detect seabirds in holes |
| B．Scent dogs serving to find nests for seabirds |
| C．Scent dogs first used for guarding endangered animals |
| D．Scent dogs revealing scents of several kinds of seabirds |
