1 . For Cruz, who grew up in Peru’s mountainous region of Cuzco, fog represents a massive opportunity. As a boy, he had to hike for more than an hour every day across hills to collect water from the nearest source. But over time, he realized that during the rainy season, droplets of water would gather in the large leaves of banana trees. So one day he and his father tried to build a canal system with the leaves to collect water and it turned out a success. But afterwards, he moved to Lima at the age of 25.
There, shocked by the water shortages and expensive water supply that some of the city’s poorest residents were faced with, Cruz set up El Movimiento Peruanos sin Agua in 2005. The idea was to deploy the method he learned in his hometown on a larger scale, which would provide free, independently sourced and easily accessible water to those who needed it most. He began installing (安装) a traditional fog catcher model developed in the 1980s.
At the highest point of Los Tres Miradores, there is a curious set of large structures that resemble a fleet of ships in the sky. They are so-called “fog catchers”. Netted devices, made of high density Raschel polyethylene and spanning several meters wide, are lined up at the top of a misty mound and linked by a network of tubes that lead to storage containers. The 40 fog catchers there provide enough water for 180 families, whether to bathe, clean, drink or to irrigate crops on small garden patches.
Supporters believe that fog catchers have the potential to improve water supply for communities around the world among the ever-challenging circumstances. German researcher Lummerich says, “They are cheap, easy to construct.” In a world searching for water supply systems, it is one important puzzle piece that can make an essential difference locally.
However, there are some issues. For one, fog catchers require space, which is not always easy to come by in cities, let alone urban slums. At the same time, fog catchers must be properly cleaned and maintained to stay effective. Most crucially, appropriate climate conditions are required. Fog isn’t everywhere.
1. What does the underlined word “deploy” probably mean in paragraph 2?| A．Employ. | B．Adjust. | C．Design. | D．Study. |
| A．The reason why Cruz installed fog catchers. |
| B．The difficulties of constructing a canal system. |
| C．The installation and benefits of fog catchers. |
| D．The inspiration Cruz gained to build a canal system. |
| A．High costs. | B．Public opposition. |
| C．Space limitation. | D．Climate conditions. |
| A．Urban Areas: A Struggle for Sufficient Water |
| B．Innovative Water Collection Techniques in Peru |
| C．The Global Water Crisis and Possible Solutions |
| D．Fog Catchers: A Local Solution with Global Potential |
2 . David Willard has been checking the grounds of Chicago’s lakefront exhibition center for dead birds for 40 years. One morning this year he found something horrible; Hundreds of dead songbirds, so thick they looked like a carpet. Nearly 1,000 songbirds died during the night after crashing into the center’s windows. According to bird experts, the result was caused by a combination of migration conditions, rain, and the exhibition hall's low lights and walls with windows.
Birds don’t see clear glass and don’t understand it’s a deadly barrier. When they see plants or bushes through windows, they head for them, killing themselves in the process. Birds that migrate at night, like sparrows, rely on the stars to navigate. Bright lights from buildings both attract and confuse them, leading to window strikes or birds flying around the lights until they die from tiredness—a phenomenon known as deadly light attraction.
But even in the best of circumstances, spring and fall are dangerous times for migrating birds. When they migrate over major cities, the risks increase. Hundreds or thousands of dead birds may appear on city streets after a wave of migrants has passed through. In all, about 100 million to 1 billion birds die each year in North America from crashing buildings.
The good news is that people can greatly reduce the danger with some simple methods. Window strikes are easily preventable, said Anna Pidgeon, an expert at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Architects can design windows with markings in the glass that birds can easily recognize, she said. People can paint their windows as well.
1. What caused songbirds to die according to Paragraph 1?| A．Bad migration conditions. | B．Human behaviors. |
| C．Crashing into plants. | D．A combination of external factors. |
| A．Birds dying due to being attracted by strong lights. |
| B．Birds getting attracted to bright lights and then getting lost. |
| C．Birds getting attracted to lights and then attacking each other. |
| D．Birds flying around the dim lights until they die from exhaustion. |
| A．Puzzled and unbiased. | B．Negative and suspicious. |
| C．Approving and supportive. | D．Compromising and critical. |
| A．To promote the use of dim lights in buildings. |
| B．To inform readers about bird migration patterns. |
| C．To explain the dangers birds face during migration. |
| D．To discuss the work of David Willard at the exhibition center. |
1. When did the Kobe earthquake happen?
| A．At dawn on January 17th, 1995 |
| B．At noon on January 17th, 1995 |
| C．At dawn on January 17th, 1996 |
| A．75,000 . | B．Nearly 310,000. | C．More than 6,000. |
| A．Walls should be built to protect towns on the coast from large waves. |
| B．Emergency services should control all. |
| C．Lectures should be encouraged to arouse the public’s attention. |
| A．Engineers do not have the knowledge. |
| B．Protection is too costly (昂贵的) at present. |
| C．No one takes earthquakes seriously. |
4 . A 36-year-old man is attempting to set a new record by rowing 5,000 miles solo from Hawaii to Australia while dedicating his journey to saving the planet.
Tez Steinberg, of Boulder, Colorado, plans to leave Hawaii on December 20 on his solo trip across the Pacific Ocean. Actually, it’s the second leg of an adventure that began in 2020 when he rowed solo for 71 days from Monterey, California, to Oahu, Hawaii.
Steinberg began to experience depression while he was in college. At the time, he found a solution by participating in endurance sports. “It helped me feel better,” he said. “But as I went farther and farther, pushing myself through marathons and triathlons, I discovered this belief in myself that I’m so much stronger than I thought I was.”
However, in 2016, his life took a big turn after the sudden death of his dad. The blow caused him to challenge himself even more by solo rowing across an ocean. After successfully completing the task without any prior professional experience, Steinberg realized he could use his story to inspire other people to believe in themselves and their potential to change and grow.
Recalling the first journey at sea, he said, “I was so surprised by how beautiful the ocean was, and also how much plastic I saw. So it was that realization at sea that led me to want to go back out again.” Inspired by his first expedition, Steinberg’s new mission is to focus on ocean conservation, and specifically ocean plastics. “All the plastic I saw at sea was just heartbreaking,” he said.
The upcoming voyage will be part of an attempt to break a Guinness World Record. Nevertheless, breaking records isn’t his priority. “Personally, although a world record is exciting, that’s not why I’m in it. The world record is fun for media attention, but through it we can get more donations, support and action for ocean plastics,” Steinberg said.
1. What can we learn about Steinberg from paragraphs 3 and 4?| A．He suffered academically. |
| B．He was expert in extreme sports. |
| C．He gained confidence from motivating others. |
| D．He turned to challenging tasks in face of difficulties. |
| A．To recover from the state of depression. |
| B．To relieve the pain of his father’s passing. |
| C．To inspire other people to fulfil their dreams. |
| D．To challenge himself to achieve the impossible. |
| A．To break a world record. | B．To establish a good reputation. |
| C．To contribute to ocean protection. | D．To urge governments to take action. |
| A．Stubborn and ambitious. | B．Self-centered and sympathetic. |
| C．Determined and knowledgeable. | D．Responsible and courageous. |
1. How much snow can people see this morning?
| A．A little, | B．A lot. | C．None. |
| A．Two degrees, | B．Five degrees. | C．Zero degree. |
| A．Tomorrow. | B．This weekend. | C．Next Monday. |
| A．A sports report | B．Another weather report | C．A speech by the president. |
6 . In Japan, the new year began with disaster as a 7.5 magnitude earthquake struck the Noto Peninsula (能登半岛) on the country’s western edge on Monday. More than 2,000 active fault lines (断层线) lie beneath Japan, making it one of the most earthquake-prone countries in the world.
Many scientists have long considered earthquake forecasting to be impossible. But given recent improvements in artificial intelligence, some researchers have been studying whether that could change.
Last fall, researchers at the University of Texas at Austin increased such hopes for earthquake prediction with a seven-month trial in China. In all, the algorithm (演算法) successfully forecast 14 earthquakes, each within about 200 miles of its actual epicenter (震中). Meanwhile, it missed one quake and predicted eight that never happened. The trial was part of an international A.I.-design competition, one of a few such events held in recent years to advance earthquake prediction technologies.
Sergey Fomel, a geoscientist at UT Austin and a member of the research team, says in a statement. “We’re not yet close to making predictions for anywhere in the world, but what we achieved tells us that what we thought was an impossible problem is solvable in principle.”
Additionally, machine learning could help detect hidden patterns in data or collect more data to better inform earthquake forecasting, Hutchison writes for MIT Technology Review. For example, some researchers are showing how A. I. might use recordings from a specific seismic site to anticipate an earthquake’s magnitude. One team has built and trained neural networks to predict where aftershocks may occur after an initial strike. And others are using machine learning to identify and extract seismic waves—the vibrations that spread through the earth during tectonic activity (构造活动)—from other noises in the ground.
1. What’s the function of the first paragraph?| A．To explain a concept. | B．To introduce a new topic. |
| C．To supply a summary. | D．To provide an example. |
| A．The recent progress in theories. | B．The use of traditional methods. |
| C．The increasing number of earthquakes. | D．The advancements in artificial intelligence. |
| A．The trial was conducted by Chinese. | B．The algorithm was totally successful. |
| C．A. I. shows promise in earthquake prediction. | D．The A. I. competition only focused on earthquakes. |
| A．Japan’s Vulnerability to Earthquakes | B．Helper in Predicting Earthquakes—A.I. |
| C．The Impossibility of Earthquake Prediction | D．International Efforts to Predict Earthquakes |
7 . In the northernmost edge of Colombia sits the coastal town of Acandí. Access to the town is only by water or air; there is no road that leads there. The residents there are faced with the struggles of balancing livelihoods while protecting biodiversity.
In the past, traditional community fishing methods, passed down by the elders, focused on the reasonable fishing and management of resources. However, the introduction of large-scale trawling vessels(拖网渔船) decades ago gradually depleted the area’s fishing resources, leading to damage to marine(海洋的) life seriously.
Jesús Antonio Julio Cuestas, who serves in the region’s conservation and management of marine resources, stresses the bad impact of these developments and calls for new fishing techniques. “Fishing and conservation co-exist as long as we have good management practices and reasonable use of our fishing resources,” says Cuestas. He and other officials actively monitor fishing activities in Acandí. Each morning, they visit the fish markets to gather data on fishery resources—including prices and sizes—to monitor the state of the local fishing industry.
Along with Cuestas, the fishers work to reduce their impact on the marine ecosystem. By changing fishing methods and adopting new practices, they aim for a more balanced approach to fishing. “This year the local fishermen have not used the trawl net s that were causing the death of the leatherback sea turtles,” explains Cuestas proudly. Changes include the efforts of boats to protect the seagrass that serves as feeding grounds for marine life and an end to fishers throwing net s where turtles lay their eggs.
This marine reserve in Acandí, Cuestas believes, is their greatest treasure. He attaches great importance to working together with local residents to improve the quality of life while preserving the marine ecosystem. By doing so, he imagines a picture where individuals from the fishing community can pursue various careers, such as engineers or lawyers, proudly stating that they are the products of the fishing tradition in Acandí.
1. What does the underlined word “depleted” in paragraph 2 mean?| A．Reused. | B．Restored. |
| C．Explored. | D．Reduced. |
| A．To cut down on the costs of fishing. |
| B．To improve the income of local residents. |
| C．To promote the well-being of marine wildlife. |
| D．To spread traditional community fishing methods. |
| A．The aim of the changes to fishing methods. |
| B．The efforts to preserve marine ecosystem. |
| C．The results the trawl net s have brought about. |
| D．The impact of fishers on the local environment. |
| A．Confident. | B．Uncaring. |
| C．Concerned. | D．Doubtful. |
8 . The spotlight shines brightly on the dancers as they gracefully leap across the stage. But what sets this performance apart from others is not just the skill and grace of the dancers but the unique and meaningful use of recycled materials in their costumes and set design.
The famous Japanese ballet company, K-Ballet, recently showed their new production “Plastic”, which aims to raise awareness about the global plastic pollution crisis. The costumes worn by the dancers are made from used bubble wrap, the stage is surrounded by four massive walls constructed from recycled plastic bottles, and even the 100 umbrellas used in the performance were found abandoned in the streets of Tokyo.
The dancers, including guest star Julian MacKay, look like space-age creatures with hand-cleaned plastic bottles tied to their bodies as they dance on stage. MacKay, from the United States, notes that the issue of plastic waste “really hasn’t gotten that spotlight” in the dance world and believes that the performing arts can inspire people to take action.
The problem of plastic waste is a pressing one. According to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), plastic waste has doubled globally in the past 20 years, and only 9 percent of it is successfully recycled. The United Nations predicts that the volume of plastic entering the oceans will nearly triple (成为三倍) by 2040.
K-Ballet plans to keep its costumes and set design for at least a year with the hope of restaging the show and after that, the bottles will be recycled by Shirai, a waste management company. The chow’s experience and message moved audience members who attended the performance. Ayumi Kisaki, a 30-year-old actor, said, “It’s an issue I don’t usually think about. But these dancers highlighting the issue of plastic call me and all of us to find ways to recycle and reuse the plastic.”
1. How did K-Ballet draw the public’s attention to its “Plastic”?| A．By applying new equipment and set design. | B．By exhibiting new plastic products on the stage. |
| C．By creatively using recycled materials in dance. | D．y inviting American dance star Julian MacKay. |
| A．It is the best art in the dance world. | B．It is a pressing show to the audience. |
| C．It will inspire more people to take up dancing. | D．It integrates art with environmental protection. |
| A．Introduce another topic of the text. | B．Add some background information. |
| C．Provide some advice for the readers. | D．Summarize the previous paragraphs. |
| A．Impressive. | B．Entertaining. | C．Depressing. | D．Logical. |
9 . A team of scientists is studying the sound of the forest in Ecuador to learn how artificial intelligence (AI) could follow animal life in recovering environments.
When scientists want to measure new forest growth, they can study large areas of land with tools like satellites. But understanding how fast and in what number wildlife is returning to an area is more difficult. Sometimes it requires an expert to listen through sound recordings and pick out animal calls.
Jorg Muller, an expert on birds, wondered if there was a different way. So, he turned to bioacoustics (生物声学), which uses sound to learn more about animal life and their living environments. Muller and his team recorded wildlife sounds in Ecuador. They first had experts listen to the recordings and list the sounds of different animals. Then, they examined the sound quality to measure the environment. Finally, they ran two weeks of recordings through an AI computer program trained to understand 75 different bird calls.
The program was able to pick out the calls on which it was trained. However, scientists wondered if the program could correctly identify the number of different kinds of plants and animals in each environment. To see if the program could do that, the team used two different controls. One was from the experts who listened to the recordings, and the second was based on examples from each environment, which can be used to understand biodiversity (生物多样性).
Since the number of sounds that are found to be used to train is limited, the AI program could only identify one-fourth of the bird calls experts could. But it was still able to correctly measure biodiversity levels in each environment, the study said. It also said the results show the AI program is a powerful tool to measure the recovery of animal societies in some forests. The study showed that biodiversity found from recordings can be measured in a cost-effective and complete way and measure environments.
There are still areas for improvement, including the lack of animal sounds on which to train AI models. And the method can only catch animals that use sound to communicate.
1. What does the study focus on?| A．Studying plant growth. | B．Observing birds’ behavior. |
| C．Understanding AI’s effect on wildlife. | D．Measuring wildlife recovery. |
| A．Bioacoustics. | B．Satellite recording. |
| C．Sound recording by AI. | D．Direct observation by experts. |
| A．Identifying plant species. | B．Tracking weather change. |
| C．Measuring biodiversity levels. | D．Identifying all the bird calls. |
| A．Measuring more bird environments. |
| B．Catching animals that use sound to communicate. |
| C．Training the program on a wider variety of sounds. |
| D．Having experts study more and understand bird calls. |
10 . Re-purposing diapers to make building materials would reduce the amount of garbage that goes to a landfill. It could also make homes more affordable. Maybe giving used diapers a new use could help tackle both problems.
Building material—especially those that are used for strengthening structures — are often expensive. They’re often the biggest hurdle to making homes affordable. So researchers have previously investigated unusual materials that could save costs. These materials included many that would otherwise pile up as waste, such as fly ash.
“There is a big need in developing countries such as the Southeast Asian nation, Indonesia. There, demand for low-cost housing outstrips what’s available. The number of people in Indonesia’s cities has climbed by about 4 percent per year in the last 30 years. By 2025, more than two-thirds of Indonesians are expected to live in urban areas. Indonesia’s population boom is intensifying the demand for housing,” says Siswanti Zuraida, an environmental engineer in Indonesia.
“Despite the need for more affordable housing, there are significant problems that stand in the way of adopting diapers,” Zuraida says. Used diapers contain wood pulp, cotton and plastic, which are potentially useful building materials. Diapers plastic components would have to be separated from the organic fibers, a complicated recycling process currently available only in developed nations. And Indonesia’s building regulations restrict together-materials to bricks, wood, steel and concrete (which is used to hold bricks together) — materials that also bear a high cost in terms of carbon emissions.
But reusing diapers might not be that environmentally friendly, especially on a large scale. “It’s tricky to separate dirty diapers from waste and disinfect them. So it would take a lot of energy to recycle diapers. It’s maybe worthwhile to start thinking about ways to replace single-use diapers with something less frequently thrown away,” says Christof Schrofl, a chemist who works at Technische Universität Dresden in Germany.
1. Which statement describes the idea of re-purposing diapers best?| A．No pains, no gains. | B．Waste not, want not. |
| C．Kill two birds with one stone. | D．Great minds think alike. |
| A．Phase | B．Barrier. | C．Goal. | D．Advantage. |
| A．It is illegal to use diapers as building material in Indonesia. |
| B．Making building materials has little effect on climate warming. |
| C．The plastic components in diapers can make buildings stronger. |
| D．Developed countries have difficulty separating organic fibers on diapers. |
| A．Indifferent | B．Supportive. | C．Admiring. | D．Objective. |
