1 . According to the World Food Program, one third of the food of the world is lost or wasted. It’s up to some 1.3 billion tons every year, worth about $1 trillion. Moreover, a report in 2021 Sugests that 8 to10 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions (排放) are associated with wasting food.
“For our parents and the older generations,‘clearing your plate’ is more about saving some food for a rainy day.”Liu Jichen, founder and CEO of Clear Plate, an anti-food wasting program, told us.
The idea for Clear Plate came to Liu after one dinner at a restaurant in late 2017. The customers who finished all the food they’d ordered would be given a card, and then they could exchange their cards for rewards. “Yet it was limited to one restaurant’s actions, so I thought, why not try it on a larger scale (规模)? And how?” Liu wondered. And then he teamed up with some of his friends,founded a startup and developed the Clear Plate applet.
“The Clear Plate team is trying to deal with the issue (问题) of food waste. After a meal, users of WeChat take photos of their clean plates, post these on WeChat, collect points, and then exchange their points for gifts or charity donations,” Liu explained.
Starting in 2018, Clear Plate has now more than 4.3 million users with about 45 million participations in anti-food wasting actions, reducing food waste by 1,700 tons and carbon emissions by 6,600 tons. Liu’s determination represents a small change of the Chinese lifestyle and more people are turning toward a healthier, greener and more low-carbon lifestyle.
1. How much food of the world is wasted every year according to the World Food Program?| A．About 1 billion tons. | B．About 1.3 billion tons. |
| C．About 8 billion tons. | D．About 10 billion tons. |
| A．A plate. | B．A point. | C．A photo. | D．A card. |
| A．In 2016. | B．In 2017. | C．In 2018. | D．In 2021. |
| A．The program Clear Plate. |
| B．The World Food Program. |
| C．The world food wasting. |
| D．An introduction to WeChat. |
2 . Asia,the largest continent on Earth,is home to more than half of the world’s population. With so many different cultures and languages, each country is worth a lifetime to travel around. Here are some top countries for you to have an unforgettable travel experience .
China
China owns one of the world’s oldest civilizations(文明). Wherever you go, you can easily recognize many amazing historical and cultural landmarks. For example, the Great Wall of China, the Terracotta Army in Xi’an and the Forbidden City in Beijing attract many visitors all over the world. However,other people come to enjoy China’s beautiful scenery that includes high mountains and the Gobi Desert. As the most populous(人口多的)nation on Earth, China is also home to many modern cities.
India
Home to one of the world’s richest and oldest civilizations, India has many different cultures, religions, peoples and traditions. With the Himalayas lying in the north, jungle and beaches can be found in the rest of the country. From temples to food and history to wildlife, the beautiful country has something for everyone.
Thailand
Thailand is a very popular tourist attraction. Its golden sands and beaches attract lots of people every year. Many also come to party in its beachside towns, visit some beautiful and peaceful islands such as Ko Tao, or enjoy the attractive scenery at Krabi.
Japan
Although it consists of almost 7,000 islands, most of Japan’s main sights and tourist attractions can be found on the four largest of them. Lying to the east of Asia, the island nation is an attractive place as a mixture of traditional palaces and modern buildings Covered in mountains and forests, the country is home to some delightful nature and scenery.
1. Which one is the most populous country on Earth?| A．China | B．Japan | C．India | D．Thailand |
| A．India and China | B．Japan and China |
| C．China and Thailand | D．India and Thailand |
| A．Sports | B．Music | C．Science | D．Travel |
3 . Each year, Jon Aars, a senior researcher at the Norwegian Polar Institute and his colleagues capture around 70 polar bears in Svalbard and fit them with a tracking collar which continuously records movement. Once a day the collar makes a satellite call, sending the last 24 hours of data back to the Institute. “Data from movement has been very important to understand how they react and how they might respond to climate change,” Aars explains.
A warming climate means a vast amount of the region, and rising temperatures are also preventing seasonal ice which melts and recurs annually from forming in places it once did. Several seal species — polar bears’ main prey (猎物) — rely on sea ice, and more often than not, so do polar bears. But these creatures are being forced to move with the times.
“Because conditions change, polar bears will spend more time on land and look for different options,” Aars explains. “They hunt reindeer and they will take more birds and eggs. We have seen that bears are in different areas than they used to be — so much further north.
“According to NASA, summer ice in the Arctic is decreasing by more than each decade, and this year the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) reported the second lowest levels of summer sea ice ever recorded. The 14 lowest levels of sea ice have all occurred in the past 14 years, according to the NSIDC.
“You don’t find polar bears anywhere in the Arctic where you don’t have sea ice at least seasonally,” says Aars! “Changes so significant and so fast: we will reach some stage in the future where it will get much harder to be a polar bear in Svalbard.”
1. What is the function of the collar?| A．It prevents polar bears from being attacked. |
| B．It allows researchers to detect the melting sea ice. |
| C．It makes it easier for polar bears to search for food. |
| D．It helps researchers to monitor polar bears’ activities. |
| A．Seasonal changes. | B．Decreasing sea ice. |
| C．Their need for reproduction. | D．Mass hunting of human. |
| A．Polar bears can adapt to climate change. |
| B．Polar bears are living in tough conditions. |
| C．People can do nothing about the warming climate. |
| D．Summer sea ice in the Arctic would disappear in 14 years. |
| A．Optimistic. | B．Tolerant. |
| C．Uncaring. | D．Concerned. |
4 . It is reported that half the world’s forests have already been destroyed. This widespread destruction is due to deforestation (采伐森林). Deforestation is the removal of a forest or group of trees where the land is later transformed to a non-forest use. Cutting down trees is necessary for man’s survival. However, deforestation has a number of negative effects on the environment and needs to be controlled.
There are two main purposes for cutting down trees and one of them is to use the trees as resources. Essential items like paper, furniture and charcoal are all made from trees. Deforestation is also carried out to clear land for farming and to make room for roads and houses. As the population grows, more of the forest has to be cleared.
Although deforestation is necessary up to a point, it has some negative effects on the environment. Firstly, cutting down forests destroys animal habitats, leaving them with no place to live in. Deforestation also allows erosion to occur, which leaves the land easy to landslides and makes it difficult for plants to grow there. Finally, the removal of trees also worsens air pollution. Trees act as natural air filters that change carbon dioxide into oxygen. When they are removed, carbon dioxide can build up and pollute the atmosphere. Hence, it is obvious that deforestation harms the environment.
Due to the harm deforestation causes, it is necessary to control it. There are a number of ways to do this. One of them is to make better use of farming land. That means we do not need as much land for farming, and hence do not need to cut down so many trees. There must also be laws to limit deforestation and these laws must be enforced strictly. On top of that, reforestation must be carried out systematically. This method involves planting new trees and plants in areas where deforestation has occurred to replace what was destroyed.
To sum up, although deforestation must be carried out, it can harm the environment and must be controlled. Beyond a certain point, this damage to the environment cannot be fixed. Hence, we should do our best to make sure that the damage is never too great to fix.
1. What is the second paragraph mainly about?| A．How people get farmland. |
| B．What trees mean to human beings. |
| C．Why people carry out deforestation. |
| D．What effect deforestation has on environment. |
| A．Homelessness. | B．Extinction. | C．Disease. | D．Wars. |
| A．By replacing new trees. | B．By banning deforestation. |
| C．By passing laws to limit farmland. | D．By making the best of farmland. |
| A．Carbon dioxide will pollute the atmosphere. |
| B．There will not be any forest left in the world. |
| C．The damage to the environment will be beyond repair. |
| D．People will have no trees as resources for essential items. |
5 . Catch your reusable bag and kiss your plastic bags goodbye. Plastic waste is on its way out, thanks to these governmental bans from around the world.
From Indiana to Maine, governments at all levels in the US are forcing bans and improving recycling. People are shopping smarter and companies are doing better to ensure the protection of our environment. Slowly but surely, the world is entering a brighter future as more and more countries follow. But there’s still a lot of work to be done—or undone.
Since the 1950s, researchers say that about more than 8.3 billion tons of plastic has been produced. And 60% of that waste has ended up in the environment. That number has increased quickly over the years. For example, it was recorded that the world’s plastic production doubled from 1976 (50 million tons) to 1989 (100 million tons). It was highest at 368 million in 2019 before decreasing to 367 million in 2020.
A million tons decrease of plastic production is not enough to deal with the rising pressures plastic puts into the environment. We still do not know how long it takes for plastic to breakdown. It means that about 12 million tons of plastic waste that entered the ocean in 2010 is still breaking into micro plastics and filling up the stomachs of birds and sea animals. The plastic going into our environment is not going away. While recent studies of plastic-eating enzymes and bacteria offer some hope for the future of plastic waste management, the best way to deal with our environmental stress is through decrease.
In 2020, New York City began to ban plastic bags. But this wasn’t the first plastic bag ban in a US state. In fact, the US wasn’t even the first country to introduce this idea. Back in 2002, Bangladesh became the first country to implement a plastic bag ban. Since then, other countries have followed, introducing their own ways to fight with the continuing plastic bags.
1. What do we know about plastic waste?| A．We have completely cleaned it up | B．It is hardly increasing all over the world. |
| C．We have done nothing to deal with it. | D．There is a long way to solve the problem of it. |
| A．More than 8.3 billion tons. | B．About 5 billion tons. |
| C．About 100 million tons. | D．Less than 368 million tons. |
| A．It doesn’t take long to breakdown it | B．Sea animals can be eating most of it. |
| C．Some enzymes and bacteria help a lot. | D．Cutting plastic waste down is still the best way. |
| A．Carry out. | B．Keep up. | C．Look at. | D．Take away. |
6 . If you are able to step outside and hear many types of birds, you might have a great feeling. Two studies show that hearing different birdsongs may help increase our happiness.
A study was done by researchers at California Polytechnic State University of the US. They studied the influence of birdsong on people walking through a park. A researcher called Ferraro says that there could be an biological (生物的) reason why we like birdsong. She says that in some areas around the world birdsong can also mean the arrival of spring and nice weather, and different kinds of birds can also mean a healthy environment.
Ferraro and her team played recorded birdsong from a group of different kinds of birds that are native to the area. They did this on hiking track in a park. Over several weeks, the researchers played recorded birdsong at certain times of the day and other times they did not. Then they talked with hikers who passed by. The hikers who heard the recorded different birdsong reported a greater sense of joy than those who heard simply the park’s birds. The researchers suggest that both the bird sounds and different kinds of animals and plants can increase people’s feelings of happiness.
Ferraro explained that she used native birdsong for the study. This way it would sound as natural as possible. They also did the study during the summer. She explains why this is important. “Because the spring is most birds’ breeding (繁殖) season. And if we would have played the birdsong during breeding season, as you know, it might have disturbed them. We didn’t want to disturb the birds too much.”
1. What can we learn from paragraph 2?| A．Birdsong attracts people to walk in the park. |
| B．Birdsong means the arrival of spring everywhere. |
| C．Different birds in some areas mean a good environment. |
| D．People like birdsong mainly because of biological reasons. |
| A．Hikers like natural birdsong in the hike track better. |
| B．Recorded birdsong can also makes hikers feel happy. |
| C．There was not natural birdsong in the park. |
| D．Recorded birdsong must be played all the day in the park |
| A．Because birds could be caught easily in summer. |
| B．Because birds usually breed in summer. |
| C．Because birdsong sounds more beautiful. |
| D．Because they wanted to avoid disturbing birds’ breeding. |
| A．In a history book. | B．In a novel. |
| C．In a science magazine. | D．In a travel guidebook. |
7 . Why does Haiti so tend to have fatal earthquakes? Earthquakes have been causing huge damage in Haiti since at least the 18th century. The capital city has been destroyed twice in 19 years. The 21st century has been no more kind.
The Earth’s outer shell is made tip of tectonic plates (构造板块) that move. Haiti sits near the crossing of two tectonic plaits that make up the Earth’s outer shell. Earthquakes can occur when those plates move against each other and create friction (摩擦力).
Haiti is also overpopulated. Plus, many of its buildings are designed to resist hurricanes but not earthquakes. Those buildings can survive strong winds bat are easy to fail down when the ground shrikes. Poor building practices can also play a role.
“I think it’s important to recognize that there’s no such thing as a natural disaster,” said Wendy Bohon, a geologist. “What you have is a natural disaster that comes with a weak architecture system. We do know that earthquakes like this can cause huge damage because of the fault,” said Wendy. “And it’s quite a significant risk in places that don’t have the construction practices to resist the shaking.”
Construction of more earthquake-resistant buildings remains a challenge in Haiti, which is the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere. “While there have been some success stories of Haitians building more earthquake-resistant structures, the country has lacked a centralized effort to do so,” said Mark Schuller, a professor of anthropology and nonprofit and NGO studies at Northern Illinois University. Haiti’s government has become increasingly weak, while non-governmental organizations only focus on their own projects.
“There is technical knowledge in Haiti, There are trained architects. There are city planners. That’s not the problem,” Schuller said. “The problem is a lack of funding for coordination (协调), and lack of political will from donors to organizations providing aid.”
1. Which factor causing the huge damage is highlighted?| A．Its overpopulation. | B．Its weak government. |
| C．Its geographical location. | D．Its weak architecture system. |
| A．Lacking political will to provide aid. |
| B．Lacking hurricane-resistant; buildings. |
| C．Lacking earthquake-resistant buildings. |
| D．Sitting on the crossing of two tectonic plates. |
| A．Supportive. | B．Critical. |
| C．Indifferent. | D．Interested. |
| A．Fund and will. | B．Skilled architects. |
| C．Urban designers. | D．Technology and money. |
8 . As we all know, Antarctica is surrounded by icebergs and it is the coldest, driest and windiest continent on the earth. However, the finger-shaped piece of ice that recently broke loose from the western side of the Ronne Ice Shelf-the most extensive ice platforms-is worthy of a mention. Measuring approximately 105 miles long and 15 miles wide, it covers a surface area of 1,660 square miles and is currently the world’s largest iceberg.
The massive piece of ice floating in the Weddell Sea was first spotted on May 13, 2021, by Dr. Keith Makinson at the British Antarctic Survey and later confirmed by images taken by the European Space Agency’s (ESA’s) Sentinel-IA satellite. Since the iceberg is located in Antarctica’s quadrant A (A象限)-the Bellingshausen/Weddell Sea region-and is the 76th one named by the US National Ice Center scientists, it was called A-76.
Researchers say that periodic (周期性的) calving of icebergs like A-76 is a part of an ice shelf’s normal life span and most likely not related to climate change. They conclude that the massive piece will drift (漂移) through the South Atlantic for several years before breaking into smaller pieces and melting. Since the iceberg has already replaced the water it will add to the ocean as it melts, it will not contribute to rising sea levels.
Though A-76 is undoubtedly larger than the existing record-holder-a 1,540-square-mile iceberg named A-23A that is still floating in the Weddell Sea, it is not the biggest iceberg in recorded history. That honor goes to B-15, which measured 4,200 square miles-about the size of the island of Jamaica-when it broke off Antarctica’s Ross Ice Shelf in 2000.
1. What can we know about the Ronne Ice Shelf?| A．It is like a finger in shape. | B．It’s a very extensive ice platform. |
| C．It’s the largest iceberg in history. | D．Its surface area is over 1,660 square miles. |
| A．Antarctica’s creatures. | B．Dr. Keith Makinson’s discovery. |
| C．Pictures from Sentinel-1A satellite. | D．The US National Ice Center scientists. |
| A．Breaking. | B．Finding. | C．Disappearing. | D．Forming. |
| A．A-76 will become water soon. | B．A-76 is smaller than A-23A. |
| C．A-23A can still be seen now. | D．B-15 can still be seen now. |
9 . The efforts of authorities in Yunnan to safely guide the elephants back home began to show signs of success in early June. After arriving in the area near Kunming in early June, the elephants finally turned around and began to move southward. "Asian elephants need to live in warm areas and the further north they travel, the less friendly the climate will be for them," said Chen Mingyong, a professor of ecology and the environment at Yunnan University. "We need to guide them toward their proper habitat before the temperature begins to go down."
The elephants' return journey has not been much different to their journey north, adding more details to the elephant family drama. On June 6, a bull elephant under 10 years old suddenly broke away from the herd（象群）and made off on its own. Shen Qingzhong, head of the Institute of Ecology of Xishuangbanna, National Nature Reserve, guessed the act may have occurred because the young elephant is in the rebellious（叛逆）puberty time.
Right now, the 14 remaining elephants are lingering in the mountainous area surrounding Shijie Township in the city of Yuxi. They have been there for over eight days, with the young elephant remaining at around 20 km away with no sign of returning soon.
"Maybe the 14 are waiting for the single elephant to rejoin," Shen said. "Or maybe there are more diverse foods in the farmland in this area and they want to enjoy it longer."
Professor Chen explained that the command center's intention is to guide the elephants back to Pu'er or Xishuangbanna. "For that to happen, they must pass through the Honghe River," Chen said. "The water level in the river is currently higher due to the rains and the elephants might have to wait in Yuxi for a long time. If that is the case, it might be winter before the elephants finally return to their original habitat."
1. Why were the elephants guided to move south?| A．Because of the food. | B．Because of the climate. |
| C．Because of the scientists. | D．Because of the safety. |
| A．The young elephant separated itself from the family. |
| B．The elephants' return journey had been so different. |
| C．The Institute added more drama to the journey. |
| D．The National Nature Reserve drove the elephant away. |
| A．lining. | B．moving off. | C．wandering. | D．sleeping over. |
| A．The Journey North. | B．Ecology or Environment? |
| C．The Long Way Home | D．Kunming, Yuxi or Pu'er? |
10 . The origins of this website, tasmanian-tiger. com, go back to 1978 when we, Buck and Joan Emberg, saw two Tasmanian tigers. We called the Department of Parks and Wildlife people and were told not to tell anyone. They said everyone would then be going through the bush tiger-hunting (猎虎). We accepted what they said. Then we found what we thought might be tiger droppings near our house. Excitedly we took them to Hobart, our capital city, and presented our “prize” to an official. He took the droppings and threw it carelessly into a drawer. The result of that action, of course, was the destruction (破坏) of any scientific evidence. This is where we began to feel that something was wrong. Did they really care about saving the animal... If it existed? In short, we and people like us were told to keep it quiet.
Later, we thought we found some tiger prints.The local newspaper published the story and, like most people who admitted they saw a tiger in the wild,we received no respect. That’s why we began to set up the website. Now we can use new technologies and are hopeful in proving the animal’s existence before the animal’s home is threatened.
1. Who set up the tasmanian-tiger. com website?| A．The city of Hobart. | B．The local newspaper. |
| C．The Department of Parks and Wildlife. | D．Buck and Joan Emberg. |
| A．Two living tigers. | B．Tiger footprints. |
| C．Tiger droppings. | D．Tiger hunters. |
| A．Excited. | B．Unhappy. | C．Satisfied. | D．Afraid. |
| A．To persuade the government to drive away tigers. |
| B．To prove the existence of Tasmanian tigers. |
| C．To stop people from hunting Tasmanian tigers. |
| D．To find a new place for Tasmanian tigers. |
