1 . How to Go Green

The idea of “going green” means that you’ll try to reduce your impact on the environment. It’s a great way to improve the planet.     1    .

Walk or bike to places if you live close enough.

    2    , so they’re not a friend to the environment. Walking or biking instead of using a car is a great way to save natural resources while saving you money. When possible, walk or bike to work, school or shops.

    3    .

Communicate digitally whenever possible, and only print out items when you absolutely must. When you do use paper, recycle it or save it to reuse the other side of it.

Buy second-hand products or borrow items instead of buying something new.

Buying things produces more waste and pollution, so try not to buy things you don’t need. When you do need something, shop at local second-hand market or use online resale shops.    4    .

Skip products that have a lot of packaging.

Products that come with a lot of packaging are bad for the environment because the packaging is waste. Even if you recycle the package, it’s still an unnecessary waste of resources.    5    . This can keep more trash out of landfills and save natural resources.

A．Cars use up a lot of gas

B．Limit your use of paper

C．Use reusable bags while you’re shopping

D．If you’re ready to go green, start from the following good habits

E．Do your best to pick products that have as little packaging as possible

F．In order to save money, cut down on the cost of paper you’re using

G．If you can, borrow items that you don’t use often, like tools, from a friend

2 . Spiders are master builders, expertly turning silk into complex 3D webs that serve as their home and hunting ground. To gain a deeper understanding of their world, scientists have translated the structure of a spider’s web into music.

“The spider lives in an environment of vibrating (振动的) strings,” says Markus Buehler, the project’s principal investigator. “They don’t see very well, so they perceive their surroundings by detecting vibrations, which have different frequencies.” Such vibrations occur, for example, when the spider stretches a strand of silk during construction or when the wind or a trapped fly moves the web.

The researchers scanned a natural spider web to capture 2D cross-sections and reconstructed its 3D network using a mathematical model. They assigned different frequencies of sound to strands of the web, creating musical “notes” that they combined in patterns based on the web’s 3D structure to generate music. Then they made a harp-like (像竖琴的) virtual instrument and played the spider web music in several live performances around the world, creating an inspiring harmony of art and science.

To gain insights into how spiders build webs, the researchers also scanned a web during construction, transforming each stage into music with different sounds. “The spider’s way of ‘printing’ the web is remarkable because no support material is used, as is often needed in current 3D printing methods,” Buehler says. This knowledge could help develop new 3D printers that work like spiders, enabling them to construct complex structures without using additional materials for support.

The team is also interested in learning how to communicate with spiders in their own language. They recorded web vibrations produced when spiders performed different activities, such as building a web, communicating with other spiders or sending signals to admirers. “Now we’re trying to generate signals to basically speak the language of the spider,” Buehler says. “If we expose them to certain patterns of vibrations, can we affect what they do or can we begin to communicate with them? Those are really thrilling ideas, and I believe they could be achieved in the near future.”

1. What do we know about spiders?

A．They have good eyesight.

B．They adapt to surroundings quickly.

C．They spin a web similar to a musical structure.

D．They sense the environment through vibrations.

2. What is paragraph 3 mainly about?

A．Steps to create spider web music.

B．Ways to recreate a web’s 3D network.

C．Challenges of combining music with science.

D．The potential applications of 3D printing methods.

3. What do the underlined words “This knowledge” in paragraph 4 refer to?

A．3D printers can construct complex structures.

B．Spiders’ vibration patterns vary with activities.

C．Spiders build webs without using additional materials.

D．The web-building process can be translated into music.

4. What is Buehler’ attitude towards communicating with spiders?

A．Hopeful.

B．Doubtful.

C．Uncertain.

D．Disapproving.

3 . For many Generation Z students who are thinking about their future careers, the answer is clear: disposing of the climate crisis. Multiple surveys have found that enormous numbers of students and professionals under 25 are pursuing environmental-related degrees and careers.

This shift in career aspirations (抱负) among the world’s youngest workers is a reflection of the heightened sense of climate awareness among Generation Z and even Generation Alpha — the generation of children born between 2011 and 2025. A 2021 Pew Research survey found that among Generation Z individuals, 76 percent of them cited climate change as one of their biggest social concerns, and 32 percent participated in at least one major environmental action last year.

Seeing the demand for climate action and training among students, universities are matching their interests with initiatives like the university of Southern California’s Sustainability Across the Curriculum programme. The programme aims to teach students from all disciplines how their majors intersect (与……相关联) with sustainability and the environment.

Christopher Schlottmann, the global curriculum coordinator (课程协调员) at New York University’s Environmental Studies programme explains to The Guardian that the long-standing opinion that environmental careers don’t pay well is also changing. “There’s a general belief that if you do good for the world, nobody’s going to pay you to do it. I don’t think that’s that accurate,” he says. “If you understand how climate change works, then a bank should actually really want to talk to you because they want to reduce their risk.”

The United States Bureau of Labour Statistics predicts that job opportunities for environmental scientists and “related specialists” will grow by eight percent over the next decade. This change is expected to be pushed along by the establishment of the proposed Civilian Climate Corps, a programme which would help young people fight the climate crisis and conserve public lands with training and job placement.

Climate change is a tough challenge, but climate awareness and determination grow with each generation and this progress demonstrates that the youngest citizens are staking (拿……当赌注) their future on a healthier planet.

1. Which word has similar meaning with the underlined phrase “disposing of” in Paragraph 1?

A．Delivering.	B．Applying.
C．Handling.	D．Promoting.

2. What does the second paragraph mainly tell us?

A．Generation Alpha is smarter than Generation Z.

B．Generation Alpha is the most concerned about environmental issues.

C．Young generation has grown to choose environmental-related careers.

D．The climate crisis won’t be settled unless people take effective action.

3. What do Schlottmann’s words mean in Paragraph 4?

A．Generation Z won’t change environment at all.

B．Environmental careers will play an increasingly important role.

C．No one can change climate as it is a natural phenomenon.

D．The bank will pay you if you choose environmental-related careers.

4. What’s the author’s attitude towards careers for Generation Z?

A．Critical.	B．Indifferent.
C．Doubtful.	D．Hopeful.

4 . Kay Day, an 87-year-old UK woman, adores elephants. But Day, suffering from dementia (痴呆),rarely left her nursing home room and hadn’t seen a real elephant for a really long time.

Day is so crazy about elephants that her room is decorated with elephant photos. Day dreamed of seeing an elephant up close again and never thought it would happen. However, Day’s dream became a reality after her nursing home, the Blakelands Lodge care home inMarston Moretaine, took her on a special journey to the Whipsnade Zoo.

“Kay doesn’t join in many activities and tends to spend quite a lot of time alone,” said Carla Blakelands, the Lodge activity manager. “We sat and discussed wishes and found out she would love to see an elephant. We discussed different options and we found the Elephant Experience at Whipsnade Zoo, so we contacted them about our resident.”

Day was so excited about going to the zoo that she marked off the days on her elephant-themed calendar. Day’s carers and family came along on the trip to assist and watch her experience the exciting day. Day was able to pet the Asian elephants and she said that the elephants’ trunk is her favorite part of the animal. “It’s such a wonderful feeling to have an elephant take some food out of your hand, put it in his trunk, curl it up and put it in his mouth,” she told BBC.

Day expressed her gratitude to the people who organized the trip and said it was one of the best days of her life. “I could sit here forever with an elephant sitting by my side,” she said.

Elephant keeper My Eriksson said that the zoo was honored to have played a role in making Day’s dream come true and that it was amazing to meet someone who is as crazy about elephants as the zookeepers at Whipsnade Zoo.

1. What can we say about the Blakelands Lodge care home?

A．It funds the Whipsnade Zoo.	B．It has a special love for elephants.
C．It seldom organizes outings.	D．It cares about its residents’ wishes.

2. What can be learned from Blakelands’ words about Day?

A．She has no relatives.	B．She is fairly easy-going.
C．She enjoys being alone.	D．She likes group activities.

3. What did Day do in the zoo?

A．She fed the elephants.	B．She argued with her family.
C．She arranged an interview.	D．She worked as a zookeeper.

4. How did Day feel towards the people organizing the trip?

A．Annoyed.

B．Grateful.

C．Puzzled.

D．Nervous.

5 . Fungi (真菌) play an important role in ecosystems, are a source of food, and make key contributions to the world of medicine.     1    

An estimated two million fungal species — more than 90% of all fungi — have yet to be described by science, according to a science reporter.     2     Scientists are trying to find out more about this largely unexplored world, but it is challenging. Dr Martyn Ainsworth, a senior researcher from Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, in London, says, “We can grow a certain number in the lab.     3     This has held back a lot of research.”

    4     “A lot of people are afraid of poisonous mushrooms,” says Dr Jassy Drakulic, a plant pathologist, “but only a very small proportion of the thousands of species of fungi in the world can cause disease.” Most are harmless and often beneficial, called by some “the hidden helpers of our environment”. Some fungi provide food and shelter for wildlife, help plants absorb water and nutrients and recycle waste and dead matter. Other types of fungi grow on the roots of trees and plants, forming a huge underground network that helps nourish trees.     5    

So, next time you add mushrooms to your dinner, take a painkiller for a headache, or go for a walk through the woods, remember to thank the living things that made it all possible — fungi.

A．Are mushrooms a type of fungus?

B．So, why do we know so little about them?

C．Wetlands are important because they provide food and shelter for wildlife.

D．The fact that we know so little about fungi leads us to misunderstand them.

E．“Fungi are really the behind-the-scenes team doing all the work,” adds Dr Ainsworth.

F．But there is a whole host of fungi that we cannot grow in the lab.

G．In the UK, there are around 25,000 species of fungi — five or six times more than plants.

6 . Two and a half months before the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season officially begins, and almost six months before it enters its peak (高峰), weathermen are already predicting (预测) that it could be particularly active.

Officially, hurricane season begins from June 1 and runs through November. One reason is that sea surface temperatures in the tropical (热带的) Atlantic are already at record highs.

Meanwhile, another significant potential factor in this year’s hurricane season is taking shape thousands of miles away in the Pacific. Over periods ranging from three to seven years, the waters of the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean warm and cool in turn as a result of a repeating climate pattern called the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO). El Niño makes Atlantic hurricanes less likely to form but La Niña does.

During the 2023 season, ENSO was in an El Niño period. However, by the time the 2024 season starts, it will have changed into a “neutral(中立)” period, but that by the peak months, it is likely to have changed fully into a La Niña.

“How quickly that change occurs can affect everything as well,” says DaSilva, a lead hurricane weatherman. “There’s a lag time. So, while we expect the change to occur in mid-summer, it may not be until late summer or fall where we really see those effects across the Atlantic basin.” As a result, he says, this year’s hurricane season could remain particularly active deep into November.

Of course, no report can predict when individual storms will come or the paths they will take, but DaSilva warns that those who live in areas likely to suffer hurricanes, especially around the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico, should prepare. “If a tropical storm system comes into this area, it could rapidly strengthen, potentially close to land,” he also warns. “And that’s why people need to be careful and have their hurricane plans ready. Because any system with these kinds of conditions can explode very quickly. That’s what we’re concerned about.”

1. What is the function of Paragraph 1?

A．To give advice.	B．To explain the season.
C．To introduce the topic.	D．To inform a weather report.

2. What is a reason for this year’s hurricane season?

A．The hurricane season has entered its peak.

B．A repeating climate has changed weather in summer.

C．The sea surface temperatures are the highest of all time.

D．El Niño makes Atlantic hurricanes more likely to form.

3. What do the underlined words “a lag time” in Paragraph 5 probably mean?

A．A time delay.	B．A time in a zone.
C．A time waste.	D．A time in advance.

4. What does DaSilva agree with about this year’s hurricane season?

A．It can be exactly predicted ahead of time.

B．People needn’t worry about hurricane season.

C．It may be eventually controlled by weathermen.

D．People can’t be more careful about hurricane season.

7 . 4 Reasons Why Wild Animals Are So Important

As we know, the earth gives us food, medicines and materials, often through wild animals. These wild animals are important to our existence. Sadly, they are becoming extinct at an alarming rate. We need to change this loss of nature and create a future where wildlife and people thrive (蓬勃发展) again.     1     Here are some reasons why wild animals are so important to the world at large.

Wild animals keep balance in ecosystems.

    2     If any part is threatened or becomes extinct, this has a knock-on effect on the whole ecosystem. sending shock waves through the environment. For ecosystems to survive and perhaps even thrive, we must protect all of our wildlife.

Diversity (多样性) means healthier ecosystems and healthier wild animals.

When there is a wildlife issue, you’ll often hear the term biodiversity, which refers to the number of species in an ecosystem.     3     Why do we consider this important? A wide variety of animals means greater productivity and better health. If there are fewer animal species, a disease that affects any species spreads faster and more effectively.

    4    

All of the food that we eat comes from an animal or plant. Living without various food sources causes our nutrition (营养) to suffer. Protecting wildlife and its natural habitats strengthens food safety for humans around the world.

Wildlife helps medical research.

Wild animals have helped us find important medicines that help with many diseases.     5     Many medical systems like Chinese traditional medicines still rely on herbs and spices, but even Western medicine have made great progress with wildlife research.

A．All living things are interconnected.

B．Healthy ecosystems mean a lot of diversity.

C．Or we will lose these animals to future generations.

D．People worldwide depend on wildlife for their snack.

E．Wildlife provides important nutrients for the human race.

F．The human race has always turned to nature for medicine.

G．We should notice the influence caused by wildlife on culture.

8 . The African continent has seen its average monthly temperatures rise by 0.5 — 2 degrees Celsius over the past century, with up to another two degrees of warming projected for the next 100 years. The changing climate will break historical rainfall patterns, but which of these, temperature or rainfall, will have the most impact on a species, like rhinos (犀牛) ?

“Generally speaking, most, if not all, species will. in one way or another, be affected by the changing climate,” says lead author Hlelowenkhosi S. Mamba, who completed this research. It is therefore important to catch tendency (趋势) and model futures for some of the world’s weakest species. It can help prepare to reduce climate change’s effects, hence reducing global biodiversity losses.

To understand how our changing climate will affect rhino populations, Mamba and Timothy Randhir, professor of environmental protection, focused their efforts on the five large national parks that are home to most of the rhinos.

Mamba and Randhir then modeled two scenes for each of the parks: the IPCC’s high-emissions (排放) scenes and a more moderate (适度的) emissions scenes. They projected temperature and rainfall for each of the scenes out to 2055 and 2085 to arrive at a possibility that each park would remain suitable for the rhinos.

Nearly every park will become increasingly drier as emissions increase. This is all very bad news for the rhinos, because the team also found that, though the change in rainfall will not be most suitable for the rhinos, the changes in temperature are greater than what the species can bear.

“The temperature conditions in all study parks will become increasingly unsuitable for the species. And under the high-emissions scenes, the possibility of occurrence of the species falls to zero by 2085,” the authors write.

But to be forewarned is to be prepared in advance. “We propose that park managers think now about increasing water supplies, tree cover, watching for stress and planning to allow rhinos to move from one place to another place as the world warms,” says Randhir.

1. Why does the author ask a question in Paragraph 1?

A．To show an evidence.	B．To stress the main idea.
C．To lead in the topic.	D．To offer some background.

2. What does the second paragraph mainly focus on?

A．The means of the research.	B．The content of the research.
C．The process of the research.	D．The significance of the research.

3. What can we know about the research from the text?

A．Changes in rainfall have a greater effect on rhinos.	B．Each park will have no rhinos in 2055.
C．Changes in temperature affect rhinos more.	D．Each park will be warmer by 4. 5℃ in 2085.

4. What does Randhir mean in the last paragraph?

A．Rhinos are better suited to natural growth.	B．Rhinos are in great danger in the five parks.
C．Park managers should plan to protect rhinos.	D．Park managers must pay more attention to nature.

9 . 阅读下面短文，根据题目要求用英文回答问题。请在答题卡指定区域作答。

Balancing Trees and CO₂

Tree planting used to be regarded as an effective means of reducing climate change. Perhaps it’s time for us to rethink this practice. Trees pull CO₂ from the air. This effectively removes CO₂ from the atmosphere. But trees only hold onto CO₂ as long as they’re alive. Once they die, trees decay (腐烂) and release that CO₂ back into the atmosphere.

Recent studies have found that trees around the world are growing faster than ever. The rise of CO₂, mainly due to burning fossil fuels, is probably driving that rapid growth, said Roel Brienen, a forest ecologist at the University of Leeds, UK. High levels of CO₂ are increasing temperatures, which in turn speeds tree growth in those areas, he added.

The faster trees grow, the faster they store carbon. It seems like good news. However, it is known that fast-growing tree species, in general, live shorter lives than their slow-growing relatives.

In order to see whether the growth-lifespan trade-off (生长与寿命之间的权衡) is a universal phenomenon, Brienen and his colleagues analyzed over 210,000 individual tree ring records of 110 tree species from more than 79,000 sites worldwide. They found that, in almost all habitats and all sites, faster-growing tree species died younger than slow-growing species, and even within a species, the trade-off between growth and life span held strong.

The team also created a computer program that modeled a forest and tweaked (微量调整) the growth of the trees in this model. Early on, it showed that “the forest could hold more carbon as the trees grew faster”, Brienen reported. But after 20 years, these trees started dying and losing this extra carbon again. “We must understand that the only solution to bringing down CO₂ levels is to stop emitting (排放) it into the atmosphere,” said Brienen.

1. What does “this practice” in Para.1 refer to?
___________________________________________________________________________________________
2. Why are trees around the world growing faster than ever?
___________________________________________________________________________________________
3. Read the following statement, underline the false part of it and explain the reason. The team has found that the faster trees grow, the faster they store CO₂, and the longer lives they live.
____________________________________________________________________________________________
4. Please briefly present what you can do in daily life to reduce the emission of CO₂.（about 40 words）
____________________________________________________________________________________________

10 . A British man is excited but exhausted after becoming the tenth Briton to reach the summit (顶点) of K2, the world’s second-highest mountain.

Jake Meyer 34, a mountaineer and army reserve officer, reached the 28,251 ft (8.611 m) summit at 8 am local time on Saturday after a five-day climb from base camp. He had to spend two nights at a camp on the way to the summit to allow a snowstorm to pass.

“This has been a journey more than ten years in the making, and my third attempt at this extraordinary mountain,” he told The Times. “While we were lucky with a weather window for our summit day, the conditions were still incredibly challenging at times, I’m happy to be back at base camp and I know my family and friends will be relieved that K2 is in the bag.

Mr Meyer, from Gloucestershire, who reached the summit of Qomolangma at the age of 21. has been chronicling (按时序记载) his climb on social media, sending out a picture from the summit. After a two-day journey to base camp, he said,“I’m just looking forward to getting home to my incredibly supportive wife.”

K2 was first summitted in 1954 by two Italian climbers, Lino Lacedelli and Achille Compagnoni. It is the tallest mountain in the Karakoram range on the border of China and Pakistan. And it is the second most dangerous mountain in the world, killing every one climber out of four. Climbs are generally attempted in the summer due to the mountain’s severe weather.

This was Mr Meyer’s third attempt, after journeys in 2009 and 2016 were abandoned due to bad weather. Poor conditions also forced him to turn back last week in his attempt to reach the summit of Broad Peak, the 12^th highest mountain in the world and another of the “eight thousanders” — the 14 mountains in the world above 8,000 meters. He came within 150 meters of the top, which he was attempting to reach alone in preparation for his K2 climb.

1. What does the underlined phrase “a weather window” in paragraph 3 probably mean?

A．A piece of equipment for forecasting weather.	B．A window through which people look out.
C．A machine to protect against bad weather.	D．A period of suitable weather conditions.

2. What do we know about K2 according to paragraph 5?

A．The first attempt to climb it was made in 1954.

B．Climbing it is dangerous with a high death rate.

C．It is the most difficult to climb due to its poor weather.

D．None of the attempts to climb it were made in winter.

3. What do we know about Jake Meyer?

A．He spent five days climbing K2.	B．He was the third man to reach the top of K2.
C．He failed twice in his attempt to climb K2.	D．He reached the summit of Broad Peak last week.

4. Where is the text probably taken from?

A．A story collection.	B．A newspaper report.
C．A research paper.	D．A personal diary.