1 . China is showing the world its great resolve in the global climate campaign with concrete and self-motivated efforts as well as serious commitment.
At the opening ceremony of the Paris climate summit, Chinese President Xi Jinping restated China’s plan made in June to cut its carbon emissions per unit of GDP by 60—65 per cent from 2005 levels by 2030, and increase non-fossil fuel sources in primary energy consumption to about 20 per cent.
With a large population, China is facing increasing resource limits, severe environmental pollution and a worsening ecosystem, and its citizens are also becoming increasingly aware of environmental problems. Suffering environmental problems and considering the efforts important in order to transform its economic growth pattern, the country will have much at risk if climate change is left unattended.
Actually, climate change efforts have already been included in China’s medium-and long-term program of economic and social development, and ecological efforts are the clear characteristics in China’s 13th Five-Year Plan(2016—2020).
Although it is and will be a developing country for a long time, China has been actively involved in the global campaign against climate change, now topping the world in terms of energy conservation and the use of new and renewable energy.
However, China’s development rights need to be respected. It is unfair to overstress China’s status as one of the world’s largest greenhouse gas emitters and regard it as the major part of responsibilities in the global fight against climate change.
It is worthy of notice that China’s emissions of greenhouse gases per person are far lower than those of developed countries, especially the United States, although rapid economic expansion and its population base have made it one of the biggest producers of the greenhouse gas.
To show its great resolve, China also announced the establishment of an independent South-South cooperation in September, investing RMB 20 billion to help developing countries affected by global warming.
While China is eagerly accomplishing its policy commitment, developed countries should stop questioning China’s commitment to fighting climate change and pointing fingers, and start shouldering their due responsibilities instead.
1. China is self-motivated to fight against climate change in order to .| A．top the world |
| B．transform its economic growth pattern |
| C．solve its population problem |
| D．respond to pressure from developed countries |
| A．China | B．the United States |
| C．economic expansion | D．the population base |
| A．China will completely use non-fossil fuels by 2030 |
| B．China will carry out its plan by stopping its development |
| C．Chinese emit more greenhouse gases than Americans on average |
| D．some developed countries are not taking on their responsibilities |
| A．Expanding its economy. |
| B．Using non-renewable energy. |
| C．Making the fight against climate change part of China’s 13th Five-Year Plan. |
| D．Donating money to developing countries. |
2 . My name is Miranda Gibson. I have been at the top of a tree for five months now. Some people might wonder
I have walked through this forest many times. On December 12, 2011,
Life in the tree top can be
Living on the tree has been inspiring. I am willing to
| A．why | B．when | C．how | D．where |
| A．water | B．animals | C．machinery | D．tourists |
| A．bear | B．help | C．keep | D．spare |
| A．sold | B．stolen | C．protected | D．lost |
| A．grew out | B．fell short | C．ran out | D．let go |
| A．refreshing | B．risky | C．challenging | D．rewarding |
| A．get up | B．get away | C．give in | D．give up |
| A．change | B．look | C．search | D．touch |
| A．confused | B．nervous | C．sorry | D．lonely |
| A．Beyond | B．Without | C．Despite | D．Unlike |
| A．height | B．experience | C．background | D．position |
| A．return | B．stop | C．stay | D．hide |
| A．but | B．though | C．because | D．so |
| A．soon | B．long | C．near | D．bad |
| A．moved | B．logged | C．burned | D．missed |
3 . Urban Wildlife
Cities are diverse ecosystems. In addition to visitors, a large number of species share our urban areas. As our cities spread, we need to think about what it is like for other species to have human neighbors.
Cities are built for humans.
There are also structures built with the aim of bringing wildlife into the city. The Olympic Forest Park in Beijing is a good example. The park used native plants, and created open and natural spaces for wildlife. The result is a zone in Beijing with over 160 species of birds. In many ways, the park is the opposite of a zoo.
If we learn to share our space, we can become better neighbors of the wildlife around us.
| A．They are built to protect birds. |
| B．Our actions sometimes help other species. |
| C．If we do not, more species will become extinct. |
| D．They do not always provide suitable habitats for wildlife. |
| E．Instead of being kept in cages, wildlife can move more freely. |
| F．At first, people were afraid of the bats and tried to get rid of them. |
| G．They would sit on it and their droppings would fall into the water. |
1. What is the woman doing?
| A．Carrying trees. | B．Planting trees. | C．Picking up waste. |
| A．To play in it. | B．To clean it. | C．To measure the depth of it. |
| A．Strangers. | B．Teammates. | C．Schoolmate |
5 . Using too much water or throwing rubbish into our rivers are clear ways that humans can put our water supply in danger, but we also affect our water supply in less obvious ways. You may wonder how paving(铺砌) a road can lead to less usable fresh water. A major part of the water we use every day is groundwater. Groundwater does not come from lakes or rivers. It comes from underground. The more roads and parking lots we pave, the less water can flow into the ground to become groundwater.
Human activity is not responsible for all water shortages(缺乏). Drier climates are of course more likely to have droughts(干旱) than areas with more rainfall, but in any case, good management can help to make sure there is enough water to meet our basic needs .
Thinking about the way we use water every day can make a big difference, too. In the United States, a family of four can use 1.5 tons of water a day! This shows how much we depend on water to live, but there’s a lot we can do to lower the number.
You can take steps to save water in your home. To start with, use the same glass for your drinking water all day. Wash it only once a day. Run your dishwasher only when it is full. Help your parents fix any leaks(滴水) in your home. You can even help to keep our water supply clean by recycling batteries instead of throwing them away.
1. Which of the following is most likely to lead to less groundwater?| A．Using river water. | B．Throwing batteries away. |
| C．Throwing rubbish into lakes. | D．Paving parking lots. |
| A．All water shortages are due to human behavior. |
| B．It takes a lot of effort to meet our water needs. |
| C．There is much we can do to reduce family size. |
| D．The average family in America makes proper use of water. |
| A．show us how to fix leaks at home |
| B．tell us how to run a dishwasher |
| C．prove what drinking glass is best for us |
| D．suggest what we do to save water at home |
| A．how human activity affects our water supply |
| B．how much we depend on water to live |
| C．why droughts occur more in dry climates |
| D．why paving roads reduces our water |
1. What do we know about the area?
| A．Lightning strikes mostly in December. |
| B．The people there worry about getting hit. |
| C．The area is near the Andes Mountains. |
| A．The Never-Ending Storm of Catatumbo. |
| B．The Lightning Capital of the World. |
| C．The Light of Venezuela. |
| A．One in three per year. | B．One in 12,000 per year. | C．80% of people who live there. |
| A．He’s scared of storms. |
| B．He’ll never visit Venezuela. |
| C．He’d be careful if he lived in the area. |
| A．Rainy. | B．Sunny. | C．Cloudy. |
8 . “A lot of the time when climate change is discussed in mainstream media, people are asking ‘can humans overcome this?’, or ‘what technology can solve this?’. It’s high time we recognized that animals also have to adapt to various changes. We know some animals change their skin colors to escape from natural enemies or due to environment pollution,” says Ryding. “The climate change that we have created is putting a lot of pressure on them, and some species try to adapt by shapeshifting (变形). ”
Strong shapeshifting has particularly been reported in birds. Several species of Australian parrot have shown, on average, a 4%—10% increase in beak (鸟喙) size since 1871, and this is positively linked with the summer temperature each year. North American dark-eyed juncos, a type of small songbird, had a link between increased beak size and short-term temperature extremes in cold environments. There have also been reported changes in mammalian species. Researchers have reported tail length increases in wood mice and leg size increases in masked shrews (鼩鼱).
“The increases in some body parts size we see so far are quite small—less than 10%—so the changes are unlikely to be immediately noticeable,” says Ryding. “However, some body parts such as ears are predicted to increase.”
Ryding intends to investigate shapeshifting in Australian birds firsthand by 3D scanning museum bird specimens from the past 100 years. It will give her team a better understanding of which birds are changing their body parts and why. “Shapeshifting does not mean that animals are coping with climate change and that all is ‘fine’,” says Ryding. “It just means they are adapting to survive it—but we’re not sure what the other ecological consequences of these changes are, or indeed that all species are capable of changing and surviving. ”
1. What may cause animals’ shapeshifting according to Ryding?| A．Human hunting. | B．Climate change. |
| C．Natural enemies. | D．Polluted surroundings. |
| A．Giving examples. | B．Cause-effect analysis. |
| C．Making comparison. | D．Process analysis. |
| A．Animals can well adapt to changes and survive. |
| B．Influence of animals’ shapeshifting is uncertain. |
| C．Rdying will research into bird museums in Australia. |
| D．All adaptations of animals to climate change are beneficial. |
| A．Technology. | B．Health care. | C．Environment. | D．Education. |
A new study shows that
China alone accounts
China’s outsized
Taken all together, the greening of the planet represents an increase in leaf area of plants and trees equal to the area
Land area
10 . A few years ago, Paul Allen, the co-founder of Microsoft, published the results of something called the Great Elephant Census, which counted all the savanna elephants in Africa. What it found rocked the conservation world: In the seven years between 2007 and 2014, Africa’s savanna elephant population decreased by about a third and was on track to disappear completely from some African countries in as few as 10 years.
To change that trend, researchers landed on a technology that is rewriting the rules for everything from our daily appliances to our cars: artificial intelligence. “AI can process huge amounts of information to tell us where the elephants are, how many there are,” said Cornell University researcher Peter Wrege. “And possibly tell us what they are doing.”
There are two kinds of elephants in Africa: savanna elephants, which were counted by Allen’s census, and forest elephants, which the census couldn’t account for because that elephant lives in thick rainforest. In the forest, Wrege says, losing a forest elephant is easy to do. “Sometimes you see them, let’s say, 15 meters away from you and then they move 5 meters into the forest and you can’t see them,” he said. “Somehow they just disappear.”
Wrege’s use of artificial intelligence in the rainforest has been less remarkable, but no less important. The networks on which his forest elephant count depends are still training, so he doesn’t have a precise forest elephant count yet. He has found that trying to count forest elephants depends on various factors. But the AI has uncovered some unexpected things. For example, it appears that elephants don’t go to some parts of the forest during specific times of the year. That’s important to know because it can inform the way conservation park managers position their forces. “You can say,” Wrege said. “OK, we know that elephants are not using this huge part of this park for these seven months. No poachers are going to find an elephant anyway. So we don’t need to send any anti-poaching teams there.”
1. What does the underlined part “that trend” in paragraph 2 refer to?| A．The use of Al in the forest. | B．The dependence on Microsoft. |
| C．The decrease of elephant population. | D．The progress of the conservation world. |
| A．The thick forest affects the normal use of AI. |
| B．It’s easy for them to disappear into the forest. |
| C．Conservation workers often get lost in the forest. |
| D．They move to different forests in different seasons. |
| A．It is taken advantage of by poachers. | B．It will be used to count other animals. |
| C．It has already made some useful discoveries. | D．It can count the exact number of forest animals. |
| A．They’re safe in all parts of the forest. |
| B．Poachers can be recognized by networks. |
| C．Protecting force can be better positioned in the park. |
| D．Park managers are training them to adapt to new conditions. |
