1. 简述城市空气污染的危害；
2. 提出解决该问题的建议：
（1）尽量少开车；
（2）不随地扔垃圾；
（3）关闭一些工厂；
3. 发出号召。
注意： 1. 词数100左右；
2. 可适当增加细节，以使行文连贯；
3. 开头和结尾已给出，不计入总词数。
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
1. 垃圾分类的意义；
2. 在学校如何进行垃圾分类（例如：可回收垃圾收集等）
3. 希望大家积极参与
注意：词数不少于100；可适当加入细节，使内容充实，行文连贯。
参考词汇：垃圾分类 rubbish classification
My fellow students,
I’m Li Jin, chairman of the Students' Union.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
3 . Scientists say they have developed a system that uses machine learning to predict when and where lightning will strike. The research was led by engineers from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, Switzerland.
Lightning is a strong burst of electricity in the atmosphere. It can strike between clouds or between a cloud and the ground. Since lightning carries an extremely powerful electrical charge, it can be destructive and deadly. It is difficult to know exactly how many people die of lightning-related causes. European researchers have estimated that between 6,000 and 24,000 people are killed by lightning worldwide each year. The strikes can also cause power failure, destroy property, damage electrical equipment and start forest fires.
For this reason, climate scientists have long sought to develop methods to predict and control lightning. The system tested in the experiments uses a combination of data from weather stations and machine learning methods. The researchers developed a prediction model that was trained to recognize weather conditions that were likely to cause lightning. The model was created with data collected over a 12-year period from 12 Swiss weather stations in cities and mountain areas. The data related to four main surface conditions: air pressure, air temperature, relative humidity (湿度) and wind speed. The atmospheric data was placed into a machine learning algorithm (计算程序), which compared it to records of lightning strikes. Researchers say the algorithm was then able to learn the conditions under which lightning happens.
“Once trained, the system made predictions that proved correct almost 80 percent of the time,” the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology said in a statement. “It can now be used anywhere.”
Amirhossein Mostajabi, a PhD student at the institute, said current systems for gathering such data are slow and complex and require costly collection equipment like radar or satellites. “Our method uses data that can be obtained from any weather station,” he said. “This will improve data collection in very remote areas not covered by radar and satellite or in places where communication systems have been cut,” he added.
The researchers plan to keep developing the technology in partnership with a European effort that aims to create a lightning protection system. Scientists working on the Paris-based project are experimenting with a laser technology that could someday control lightning activity. The idea is that powerful, ground-based lasers can be positioned in the sky to direct energy from lightning.
1. What does Paragraph 2 mainly focus on?| A．The cause of lightning. | B．The forming process of lighnting. |
| C．The destruction of lightning. | D．The difficulty to count the deaths. |
① develop a prediction model.
② learn to recognize weather conditions.
③ collect related data.
④ input the data onto the computer.
⑤ make predictions.
| A．①→②→③→④→⑤ | B．③→④→①→②→⑤ |
| C．①→②→④→③→⑤ | D．③→①→②→⑤→④ |
| A．Satisfied. | B．Doubtful. |
| C．Negative. | D．Neutral. |
| A．accuracy | B．efficiency |
| C．wide coverage | D．reliability |
| A．Identify lighting. | B．Predict lighting. |
| C．Stop lighting. | D．Control lighting. |
4 . Average age is rising around the world——a demographic （人口统计）change that may pose a significant challenge to efforts to slow down climate change.
Hossein Estiri at Harvard University and Emilio Zagheni of the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Germany, have found that energy use increases as we get older, and not just because we tend to get wealthier. An ageing population could mean a greater proportion of society with higher energy use, their study suggests.
They combined two decades, worth of data from thousands of US households and used this to build a model to reveal how energy use varied across 17 age groups between 1987 and 2009. They found that, on average, children's energy consumption （消耗）climbs as they grow up, before dipping slightly when they leave home. Consumption then rises again when people hit their 30s, before briefly dropping after 55, and then beginning to climb again. The study involved factors such as income, local climate and the age, type and size of a person's home. The increase in energy use at various points in our lifespan （寿命）seems to be the result of life style and how our needs change as we age.
Why does demand grow so much in our 30s? “We need more of everything. More space, a bigger TV two fridges," says Estiri. The study found that, in warmer parts of the US, energy use increases in people over the age of 65—probably as a result of increased use of air conditioning, This suggests that there is a feedback effect between climate change and an ageing population that will only make matters worse.
Heat waves have become more common in the US in recent years and are expected to become more frequent due to global warming. More older people using more electrical energy to keep cool as temperatures rise could add to emissions （排放），and thus drive more warming until our energy supply becomes entirely fossil fuel-free.
“This confluence （汇集）of population, ageing and climate change on energy demand is really important to start thin king about," says Estiri. Benjamin Sovacool at the University of Sussex, UK, says the work shows the importance of demographics when it comes to cutting carbon emissions. Most modelling of climate change mitigation （减缓气候变化的模型） assumes people's energy consumption either stays the same or only changes by a small amount over time.
"This study directly challenges that entire body of research by forcing it to fight with the temporality and complexity of the consumption of energy, says Sovacool.
Catherine Mitchell at the University of Exeter, UK, says the research could have an important influence on policy makers. "What the paper says is that there is a lot of work about how buildings use energy, but probably not enough about how the people in them use energy," she says.
1. By saying “not just because we tend to get wealthier" in Paragraph 2, the writer probably means that .| A．poor people can't bring down the high demand for energy |
| B．a comfortable life is not the main cause of in creased energy use |
| C．there are some other reasons leading to the increase in energy consumption |
| D．people being wealthy or not has nothing to do with the rise of energy consumption |
| A．Children consumes more energy when they leave home. |
| B．Energy consumption drops briefly before people hit 55. |
| C．The researchers built a model to study the data from US households. |
| D．Energy consumption varies with the change of lifestyle and demand at different ages. |
| A．Energy will stop increasing when people get older. |
| B．His research could inspire policymakers to change current polices. |
| C．Various factors influencing energy consumption should be considered. |
| D．Old people should use fossil fuel-free rather than electrical energy to keep cool. |
| A．It is expensive and difficult to promote. |
| B．It overestimates the household energy consumption. |
| C．It did not take climate change adaptation into account. |
| D．It regards energy consumption as stable or as only slightly changing. |
| A．More emphasis should be put on people's energy use. |
| B．The government can't do much without the support of the study. |
| C．It is the buildings, not the people in side, that consume the majority of the energy. |
| D．Policymakers have been working on how to cut down people's energy use. |
| A．Health. | B．Environment. |
| C．Human. | D．Technology. |
5 . The Hope Diamond is one of the world’s most famous jewels. It was in the possession of a series of people: kings, bankers, rich women and thieves, before its arrival 60 years ago at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.
As a rare blue diamond, it has a complex social history, to be sure. But, far more so is its geological history, researchers say in a new report. This is the first time anyone has come up with a fact-based study or model for how blue diamonds form.
The group looked at 42 blue diamonds, including one from South Africa that recently sold for $25 million in 2016. Researchers could tell where the stones were formed based on the very small minerals trapped inside.
Diamonds are a hard, clear form of pure carbon called a crystal (结晶). They form under extreme heat and pressure. Blue diamonds crystallize alongside water-bearing minerals that long ago were part of the floor of the sea. But these minerals were pushed deeper underground during the movement of the Earth’s plates.
Scientists already knew these diamonds received their blue color from the element boron (硼). The study says that boron had once been in ocean water but was eventually pushed into the seafloor rock. Over millions of years, the boron continued to move deep underground.
Many diamonds appear colorless. Often, however, they have some yellow color. Still others have a light brown, pink or green color. About 99 percent of all diamonds form somewhere between 150 to 200 kilometers underground, a far shallower birthplace than their blue relations. “These diamonds are among the deepest ever found,” Carnegie Institution for Science geochemist Steven Shirey said of the blue diamonds.
The public can see the Hope Diamond at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington D.C.
1. By saying the underlined part in Paragraph 2, the researchers mean the blue diamond ________.| A．was formed in extreme weather |
| B．has a very complex forming history |
| C．has a far-reaching influence in society |
| D．used to be very popular among rich people |
| A．By observing their colors. |
| B．By studying their structures. |
| C．By referring to where they were found. |
| D．By examining tiny substances in them. |
| A．The water. | B．Extreme heat and pressure. |
| C．A special matter. | D．The seafloor rock. |
| A．They contain several colors. |
| B．They form in much deeper underground. |
| C．They come into being in a different way. |
| D．They are found near the earth’s surface. |
| A．The social status of the Hope Diamond. |
| B．The discovery of the Hope Diamond. |
| C．The formation of the blue diamond. |
| D．The diversity of diamonds. |
6 . A review from the International Programme on the State of the Ocean (IPSO) warns that the oceans are facing multiple threats. They are being heated by climate change, turning slowly less alkaline (碱性的) by absorbing CO2, and suffering from overfishing and pollution.
The report says, “We have been taking the ocean for granted. It has been shielding us from the worst effects of accelerating climate change by absorbing excess CO2 from the atmosphere.”
Although the temperature increases may be experiencing a pause, the ocean continues to warm regardless. For the most part, however, the public and policy makers are failing to recognize — or choosing to ignore — the severity of the situation. Coral reefs, for instance, are suffering from the higher temperatures.
IPSO, funded by charitable foundations, is publishing a set of five papers based on workshops in 2011 and 2012 in partnership with the International Union for Conservation of Nature. The reports call for governments all over the world to halt (暂停) CO2 increase at 450ppm, and also urge much more focused fisheries management and a priority list for tackling the key groups of chemicals that cause most harmful effects. They want the governments to negotiate a new agreement for the sustainable fishing in the high oceans to be monitored by a new global high seas enforcement agency.
The IUCN's Prof Dan Laffoley said, “What these latest reports make absolutely clear is that delaying action will increase costs in the future and lead to even greater, perhaps permanent losses. “The UN climate report confirmed that the ocean is bearing the pressure of human-induced changes to our planet. These discoveries give us not only more cause for alarm, but also a roadmap for action. We must use it.
1. According to the passage, _______ are NOT the reason why the oceans become slowly less alkaline.| A．various pollutions | B．higher temperatures |
| C．bad fishing practices | D．destroyed coral reefs |
| A．warning | B．protecting |
| C．showing | D．cooling |
| A．To appeal to world governments to halt CO2 increase at 450ppm. |
| B．To tell us that the ocean is bearing the pressure of human-induced changes to our planet. |
| C．To ask the governments to carry out new measures for the sustainable fishing in the high oceans. |
| D．To advise the governments to make a priority list for tackling the key groups of chemicals that cause most harm. |
| A．The reports warn us that we need to take actions right now. |
| B．Coral reefs are weakened by bad fishing practices and pollution. |
| C．The global temperature is increasing and the ocean continues to warm as well. |
| D．It seems that the policymakers are trying to ignore the severity of the ocean situation. |
| A．To tell us that the oceans become less alkaline. |
| B．To advise us to negotiate a new agreement for the sustainable fishing. |
| C．To tell us that global warming has a great effect on the oceans’ temperature. |
| D．To warn us that the oceans are in danger and immediate measures should be taken. |
7 . Climbers at Qomolangma are being asked to clean up after themselves.
Qomolangma has earned the nickname (绰号) the World’s Highest Garbage Dump (垃圾场).
Climbing Qomolangma, the world's highest mountain, just becomes more challenging.
The government of Nepal is telling climbers they cannot leave trash on the trails. Each climber will have to come down the mountain with at the least 18 pounds of garbage. That's the average amount of trash a climber leaves behind on Qomolangma.
Officials say climbers are responsible for their own trash. “We are not asking climbers to pick up trash left by someone else,” said the Nepal Tourism Ministry. “We just want them to bring back what they took up.”
More than 4,000 people have reached the 29,035-foot summit (顶峰) in the past 60 years. Leaving trash along the way helps climbers keep their bags light so they have energy to reach the summit. “The trash problem in Qomolangma is not new.” Burlakoti says. “When the people started to climb the mountain, they started to leave their garbage there.” They have left behind bottles, food boxes and equipment. Last year, climbers carried down a total of four tons of trash.
The new rule came into effect in April, 2014. To make sure it is followed, climbers will have to deposit money (交保证金) before they climb. Once they climb back down the mountain, officials will check climbers at a return camp to make sure they have the required 18 pounds of trash. If they do, their money will be returned to them. If they do not, climbers will not receive their deposit and they will not be given a permit the next time they want to climb Qomolangma.
The goal is to make sure no more litter will be left on Qomolangma. “As we offer Qomolangma to all the people of the world they should take responsibility to clean it.” Burlakoti says, “After seeing the results from this, we will also apply this rule to other mountains.”
1. Why does Qomolangma get the nickname the World’s Highest Garbage Dump?| A．The white snow on it looks like white trash. |
| B．The government of Nepal transported trash onto it. |
| C．There is too much trash left on it by climbers. |
| D．The government of Nepal has used up the resources on it. |
| A．Climbers themselves. |
| B．The government of Nepal. |
| C．The Nepal Tourism Ministry. |
| D．Environmental protection organizations. |
| A．provide guidance for other climbers |
| B．help climbers themselves find their way |
| C．get timely medical rescue when in danger |
| D．reach the summit without too much load |
| A．get the climbing license |
| B．have a large bag |
| C．get the permission from the local people |
| D．bring back the required trash in the last climbing |
| A．Protect our beautiful mountains |
| B．Bring back your litter when climbing |
| C．A new rule of protecting the earth |
| D．Qomolangma belonging to the world people |
8 . If you were bringing friends home to visit, you could show them the way. You know the landmarks—a big red house or a bus-stop sign. But what if you were swimming in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean? Could you still find your way home? A loggerhead turtle（海 龟）could.
According to Dr. Ken Lohmann, loggerheads have a magnetic（磁力的）sense based on Earth’s magnetic field. It helps them locate the best spots for finding food and their home beaches.
Scientists already know that several other animals, such as whales and honeybees, can detect（探测到）magnetic fields. The difference between them and loggerheads, however, is the way they learn to use their magnetic sense. Young whales and honeybees can learn from adults. Loggerheads are abandoned as eggs.
As newborn loggerheads have no adults to learn from, what helps them figure out how to use their magnetic sense? Lohmann thinks one of the cues was light on the sea.
Baby loggerheads hatch only at night. However, a small amount of light reflects off the ocean. The light makes that region brighter. Heading toward the light helps them get quickly out to sea, where they can find food. Lohmann tested whether newborn loggerheads use this light source to set their magnetic “compasses”（罗盘）. He and his team put some newborns in a water tank and recorded which way they swam. Around the tank, the scientists created a magnetic field that matched the Earth’s. They set a weak light to the east of the magnetic field. Then they let the newborns go.
At first, the newborns swam toward the light. After the scientists turned off the light, the turtles that had seen the light in the east always swam toward east. When the researchers reversed（颠倒）the magnetic field, these turtles turned around and swam toward the new “east”.
This and the follow-up experiments all showed that loggerheads use light from the outside world to set their magnetic “compasses” and then remember the “correct” direction. If a turtle hatches on a brightly-lit beach, that would damage its magnetic sense forever and make survival hard for the turtle.
Lohmann’s work has led others to protect the habitat of this endangered species. Yet many questions about these creatures remain unanswered, and researchers have a lot to study.
1. Loggerheads and whales differ in the way they______.| A．bring up their young |
| B．recognize landmarks |
| C．detect magnetic fields |
| D．learn to find directions |
| A．Weak light reflected off the ocean. | B．Help from adult loggerheads. |
| C．Bright sunlight from the sky. | D．Food in warmer waters. |
| A．the light |
| B．the magnetic field |
| C．other unknown factors |
| D．the light and the magnetic field |
| A．It enables researchers to keep track of turtles. |
| B．It contributes to the studies of the magnetic field. |
| C．It offers a new solution to environmental pollution. |
| D．It helps protect the loggerheads’ living environment. |
| A．Experiments on Loggerheads |
| B．The Survival of the Sea Turtle |
| C．The Loggerhead’s Built-in “Compass” |
| D．Comparison of Loggerheads and Other Animals |
9 . The Galapagos Islands are in the Pacific Ocean, off the western coast of South America. They are a rocky, lonely spot, but they are also one of the most unusual places in the world. One reason is that they are the home of some of the last giant tortoises left on earth.
Weighing hundreds of pounds, these tortoises go slowly around the rocks and sand of the islands. Strangely, each of these islands has its own particular kinds of tortoises. There are seven different kinds of tortoises on the eight islands, and each kind is slightly different from the other.
Hundreds of years ago, thousands of tortoises were around these islands. However, all that changed when people started landing there. When people first arrived in 1535, crews would seize as many tortoises as they could. They would roll the tortoises onto their backs when they were brought onto the ships. The tortoises were completely helpless once on their backs, so they could only lie there until used for soups and stews. Almost 100,000 tortoises were carried off in this way.
The tortoises faced other problems, too. Soon after the first ships, settlers arrived, bringing pigs, goats, donkeys, dogs and cats. All of these animals ruined life for the tortoises. Donkeys and goats ate all the plants that the tortoises usually fed on, while the pigs, dogs and cats ate thousands of baby tortoises each year. Within a few years, it was hard to find any tortoise eggs or even any baby tortoises.
Finally, in the 1950s, scientists decided that something must be done. The first part of their plan was to remove as many cats, dogs and other animals as they could from the islands. Next, they tried to make sure that more baby tortoises would be born; This slow, hard work continues today, and, thanks to it, the number of tortoises is now increasing every year. Perhaps these wonderful animals will not disappear after all.
1. What makes the Galapagos Islands unusual?| A．The biggest islands in the Pacific Ocean. |
| B．Rocky, lonely spot. |
| C．The giant tortoises. |
| D．Many homes for tourists. |
| A．Tortoises weigh a hundred pounds. |
| B．Tortoises move around very fast. |
| C．There are different kinds of tortoises. |
| D．Tortoises are larger than the ones in other places. |
| A．People cooked them as food. |
| B．Scientists took measures to protect them. |
| C．Pigs, dogs and cats ate many baby tortoises. |
| D．Settlers brought other tortoises to the islands. |
| A．Tortoise eggs were kept in safe containers. |
| B．The animals ate the tortoises’ food and eggs. |
| C．The tortoises continued to wander freely. |
| D．The tortoises fought against the other animals. |
| A．The tortoises began to disappear gradually. |
| B．The number of tortoises began to decrease. |
| C．Scientists took away other animals off the islands. |
| D．There are more and more giant tortoises on the islands. |
10 . The chicken-loving dog spent last month guarding the island’s penguin colony, with great success.
A SOUTH-WEST Victorian chicken farmer known as Swampy and his dog Oddball may have found a way to save some of Australia’s endangered wildlife from enemies. After Warrnambool’s once flourishing penguin population was killed in large numbers by foxes and dogs until only 27 remained, Allan Swampy Marsh hatched an effective plan to save the birds. His four sheepdogs had been protecting his chickens against enemies for a decade. He figured they could do the same for the penguins. “The difficulty was trying to convince all the wildlife wallies to think outside the square,” Mr Marsh said. “It’s not an unselfish view of penguins or chicks but the sense of territory (领地) that makes the dogs work, and it is far stronger in these dogs than any other trained breed.”
Oddball’s work as guardian of Middle Island’s colony last month was a success. At the end of the month, 70 pairs of happy feet were counted returning to the island. About 2,000 penguins occupied the island in the 1990s. “Oddy is really protective of the chicks, so to her the penguins were only chicks in dinner suits,” Mr Marsh said. Highly territorial dogs have been bred in Italy to guard livestock for 2,000 years. They manage to keep off trouble makers such as foxes and dogs. The trial’s success has generated interest from overseas. The use of guard animals such as dogs — and even alpacas, which also stop foxes — is now being considered to save other endangered species such as the eastern barred bandicoot.
1. What had happened to most of Middle Island’s penguins?| A．They had been killed by other animals. |
| B．They had been scared away by people. |
| C．They had stopped breeding for no obvious reason. |
| D．They had been taken to another island for protection. |
| A．27. | B．70. |
| C．1990. | D．2000. |
| A．Dogs’ interest. |
| B．Dogs guarding chicks. |
| C．Dogs’ believable strength. |
| D．Dogs’ training in protecting animals. |
| A．They come from Italy. | B．They are very territorial. |
| C．They are an ancient breed. | D．They are large with messy fur. |
| A．people should think globally but act locally |
| B．Allan ‘Swampy’ Marsh is a typical Australian |
| C．it may be possible to use this local idea more widely |
| D．every environmental problem needs a unique solution |
