1 . Tips for Green Travel with Kids

Traveling doesn’t mean letting go of all the eco-friendly choices we work so hard to achieve in our daily life. Here are a few tips for green travel with kids:

Booking nonstop flights whenever possible will reduce carbon emissions (碳排放).     1    , check in with other local airports to see if nonstop flights are available. You might have to drive a bit further, but saving on carbon emissions makes it worthwhile.

Whether you’re flying or driving, it’s easy when traveling to pull into fast food restaurants for snacks.     2    . My kids love to help plan snacks. I let them create their own snacks for the trip at home.

Reusable water bottles are easy to bring along whenever you travel. At the airport, keep your reusable bottles empty until you have passed through the security (安检).     3    . Single-use plastic water bottles create unnecessary waste and the plastic can be harmful to your health.

    4    . Open a few windows and turn off the air conditioner. You should also help your children keep their good, green habits from home to place while traveling. Sometimes vacation can mean more than one shower each day — once in the morning and again after getting out of the pool. Pay attention to the number of showers and the length of showers.     5    .

A．Too much carbon emissions seriously pollute the environment

B．But you can pack healthy food before starting off

C．In this way, you can save water and energy

D．Fill them up on the other side of the security checkpoint

E．Security check is a necessary part of each trip

F．Save energy by turning off the hotel room lights when you head out for the day

G．If the closest local airport doesn’t have nonstop flights to a certain place

2 . Now, let’s talk about earthquakes on our planet. Some countries have large numbers of earthquakes. Japan is one of them. Others do not have many. For example, there are few earthquakes in Britain. There is often a great noise during an earthquake. The ground vibrates(震动). Houses fall down. Trains run off the lines. Sometimes, there is a heavy loss of human lives.

Earthquakes often happen near volcanoes, but this is not always true. The centers of some earthquakes are under the sea. The bottom of the sea suddenly moves. The powerful forces inside the earth break the rocks. The coast is shaken and great waves appear. These waves, also known as seismic waves(地震波), or tsunamis(海啸) can travel long distances and rush over the land when they reach it. They are strong enough to break down houses and other buildings. Very often fires follow the most serious earthquakes. In 1906, the numbers of fires were burning in the city. The water pipes were also shaken and broken, so it was not possible to put the fire out. There was no water. The Tokyo Earthquake of 1923 happened just before noon. People were cooking meals on their fires at that time. When the ground shook, the fires shook, too. Hot materials were thrown on the different parts of the houses, some of which were made of wood. Soon 134 fires were burning in the city.

What kind of building stands up best in an earthquake? A building with concrete walls is perhaps the best. A steel frame will make it even stronger. The frame holds the different parts together and the walls so not easily fall. There is less chance of fire because concrete and steel do not burn. Over the years, scientists studied the results of the earthquake in different parts of the world, and they are convinced that this kind of building is the safest.

1. What can we know about earthquake from the first paragraph?

A．Britain has large numbers of earthquake.

B．There is often a great noise during an earthquake.

C．There is a heavy loss of human lives in every earthquake.

D．Trains will not run off the lines during the earthquake.

2. Some of the undersea earthquakes were caused by ______.

A．the breakout of the volcano	B．the seismic waves
C．the tsunami	D．the powerful forces inside the earth

3. This text is probably a ______.

A．book review	B．popular science report
C．newspaper advertisement	D．fairy tale

3 . The endangered pandas in the Qinling Mountains might face a new threat: the loss of their food, bamboo, which makes up 99% of their meals.

Adult pandas spend most part of the day eating bamboo and have to take in at least 40 pounds a day to stay healthy. However, a new study published in Nature Climate Change warned that they may soon find their food gone because most of the bamboo in the Qinling Mountains might disappear by the end of the century as a result of rising temperature worldwide.

A team made up of researchers from Michigan State University and the Chinese Academy of Sciences has studied the effects of climate change on the bamboo in the Qinling Mountains. They have found that bamboo is very sensitive to climate changes. “80% to 100% of the bamboo would be gone if the average temperature rises 3.5 degrees worldwide by the end of the century,” said Liu Jianguo, one of the report’s authors.

He added, “This is how much the temperature would rise by 2100 even if all countries will keep their promises in the Paris Agreement. But you know what is happening all around the world.”

In recent years, China has been trying its best to protect the endangered pandas by setting up more and bigger natural reserves.

“But it is far from enough and the endangered pandas need cooperation from the rest of the world, because their future is not just in the hands of the Chinese,” said Shirley Martin from the World Wildlife Fund but not a member of the team.

The Qinling Mountains, in the southwest of China, are home to about 260 pandas. That is about 13% of China’s wild panda population. In addition, about 375 are living in research centers and zoos in China.

1. How many wild pandas are there in China?

A．About 260.	B．About 635.
C．About 2,635.	D．About 2,000.

2. What does Liu Jianguo mean in Paragraph 4?

A．China needs more help from the World Wildlife Fund.

B．It is difficult to control the temperature rise within 3.5℃.

C．Bamboo is sensitive to the changes of temperature.

D．China is making great efforts to protect the pandas.

3. What can we learn from the first paragraph?

A．The Qinling Mountains can provide enough bamboo for the pandas.

B．Pandas in the Qinling Mountains are only threatened by the loss of food.

C．Lots of the bamboo in the Qinling Mountains will probably disappear.

D．Pandas have already eaten 99% of the bamboo in the Qinling Mountains.

4. Which can be the best title for the text?

A．The Disappearance of Bamboo

B．Necessity to Change Pandas’ Food

C．A New Threat Faced by the Pandas

D．Efforts Made to Save Pandas

4 . According to the WHO, 90 percent of the world’s population lives in a place where they are exposed to unsafe levels of airborne pollutants, contributing to up to seven million deaths each year. If you live in a city, chances are that you’re part of that 90 percent, even if your city is relatively clean. That’s why cities worldwide have started embracing Internet of Things (IoT) solutions.

One of the best ways to fight pollution is to figure out where it’s worst and where it’s coming from. If you’ve ever made a habit of checking air quality around you, you may notice that there aren’t actually that many monitoring stations, and your closest one may not be that close. For pollution data to really be accurate and helpful, we need a lot more of it.

Luckily, IoT sensors and low-power wide-area networks are making it a lot easier to get and spread ultra-local data. Lampposts are one popular place to put them. For example, the Republic of Korea and Barcelona have already built out a network of pollution sensors in their streetlights.

On the other hand, outfitting (配备) cars, bikes, and even people with pollution sensors provide valuable data on a smaller, more mobile scale.

Since pollutant levels can change dramatically even from one city block to another, having smaller-scale data is important for making a lot of decisions that, over time, might have a major influence on our health and behavior. It can influence where we decide to live, when we exercise, whether we bike to work, and, perhaps most importantly, what we can do about pollution in our area.

All the Internet of Things can help us do on a personal level is use less energy. The data it provides, though, can be used to make big and small changes to the way we behave and build, and that is eventually where we’ll see benefits.

1. What’s the problem mentioned in Paragraph 1?

A．The death rate is high every year.

B．There are too many people in the world.

C．There is little space for people to live in.

D．Air pollution is more serious than expected.

2. What does the underlined word “it” in Paragraph2 refer to?

A．Pollution data.

B．A monitoring station.

C．Internet of Things.

D．A low-power network.

3. Why is it necessary to collect data on a smaller scale?

A．It directly decreases pollutant levels.

B．It uses less energy to clean the air.

C．It covers more areas of air pollution.

D．It betters decisions on our lifestyle.

4. What’s the author’s attitude towards using IoT to solve air pollution?

A．Disapproving.	B．Doubtful.
C．Positive.	D．Uncaring.

8 . Scientists say a huge percentage of bird species are in danger because their habitats, or homelands, are disappearing.

Traditional migration paths take birds through countries that are not protecting the places for birds to stop, rest and feed. The scientists studied the migration or flight paths of almost 1,500 species. They decided that 91 percent of them passed through dangerous areas.

The major danger for migratory birds is development. Buildings and pavements have covered the places where birds stop and feed as they move from one part of the world to another. One of the scientists who worked on the study says “Many of these important places have been lost to land reclamation because of urban, industrial and agricultural land expansion”.

The problem, according to scientists, is that many of these small birds die along their migration paths because they don’t have a safe place to feed and rest. There is no place to restore their energy for the next part of their journey. Countries in North Africa, Central Asia and those along the coasts of East Asia are having the most difficult time in protecting land. The scientists say these countries do not have enough areas that are safe for birds. One species that doesn’t exist now is the Eskimo curlew. “Our world gets poorer every time we lose a species,” one of the scientists says.

The researchers say countries need to work together and come up with safe stopping areas for birds that pass through their boundaries. For example, one country might have preserved safe zones for migrating birds. But a neighbor country might not. A bird might die.

One scientist who is not connected with the report tells Los Angeles Times that while some habitats are changing, more work can be done to make urban areas safe for birds.

He says small changes, like planting more native plants or keeping cats out of the areas birds would be likely to use, could make a big difference.

1. What mainly caused the disappearing of birds’ habitats?

A．The decrease of awareness to protect birds.	B．Natural disasters.
C．Overuse of land by human beings.	D．The rising sea level.

2. What may be the main reason for many birds’ death on the way of migration?

A．Tiredness and hunger.	B．Beast attack on the ground.
C．Hunting of humans.	D．The long journey.

3. According to the last two paragraphs, how should we protect the migrating birds?

A．By keeping fewer cats or dogs.

B．By restoring their destroyed habitats.

C．By helping change the birds’ migration paths.

D．By preserving the ecological environments on their migration paths.

4. What is the author’s purpose in writing the passage?

A．To call on people to protect the birds’ habitats.

B．To analyze the reasons for disappearing of birds’ habitats.

C．To offer some solutions to the problem of birds’ habitats.

D．To tell us a huge percentage of bird species are in danger.

10 . A study suggests that the Arctic may be essentially ice-free during summer within 15 years.

The study used statistical models to predict the future amount of the Arctic ice, which suggested that the Arctic could be ice-free in the summer during the decade of the 2030s — most likely in the year 2034.

Sea ice is frozen ocean water that melts each summer, and then refreezes each winter. The amount of summer sea ice in the Arctic has been steadily decreasing over the past few decades because of global warming. It reached its second-smallest level on record in 2019, the United States’ National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said.

Sea ice affects Arctic communities and wildlife such as polar bears and walruses, and it helps regulate (控制) the planet’s temperature by influencing the circulation of the atmosphere and ocean.

“The extent of the Arctic ice is important to Arctic peoples, whose lands are being affected by increased coastal erosion (侵蚀), “NOAA said. Conversely, the disappearance of ice creates economic opportunities, including the opening of oil fields and new shipping routes.” It also affects global weather patterns.

The study was conducted by scientists at NOAA, the University of Washington, and the North Carolina Institute for Climate Studies.

What scientists refer to as the first “ice-free” Arctic summer year will occur when the Arctic has less than 1 million square kilometers of sea ice. (The thick ice sheets surrounding Canada’s Arctic islands are likely to remain for much longer, even in summer.) As the climate changes, the Arctic is warming more than twice as fast as the rest of the planet. Arctic air temperatures were about 1.9 degrees Celsius above average in 2019, and were the second-warmest since records began in 1900. Scientists also said the results of the study indicate that there is room for improvement in sea-ice models and that the ice may disappear even more quickly than current models suggest. “Climate models may be collectively underestimating (低估) the rate of change,” the authors write in the study.

1. What can we learn about the Arctic ice?

A．It reached its smallest level in 2019.

B．Its amount will increase during winter.

C．It is especially important to polar bears in summer.

D．It affects the planet’s temperature to some degree.

2. What will happen if the Arctic ice disappears?

A．Oil fields will become fewer and fewer on lands.

B．More and more ships might visit the Arctic in the future.

C．Coastal erosion won’t influence Arctic peoples’ lands any more.

D．There will be a decline in the land’s economic development.

3. What do scientists say about the climate models?

A．They cannot be improved in a short time.

B．They can show climate changes clearly.

C．They may not indicate the exact rate of change.

D．They cannot measure the thickness of ice sheets.

4. From which is the text probably taken?

A．A geography magazine.	B．A travel guidebook.
C．A physics textbook.	D．A survey report.