The Xi’an City Wall is the most complete city wall that has survived China’s long history. It
We accessed the wall through the South Gate. The wall is 12 meters high and from here you can see streams of people moving inside and outside the City Wall.
After
We
2 . You’ve heard that plastic is polluting the oceans — between 4.8 and 12.7 million tonnes enter ocean ecosystems every year. But does one plastic straw or cup really make a difference? Artist Benjamin Von Wong wants you to know that it does. He builds massive sculptures out of plastic garbage, forcing viewers to re-examine their relationship to single-use plastic products.
At the beginning of the year, the artist built a piece called “Strawpocalypse,” a pair of 10-foot-tall plastic waves, frozen mid-crash. Made of 168,000 plastic straws collected from several volunteer beach cleanups, the sculpture made its first appearance at the Estella Place shopping center in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
Just 9% of global plastic waste is recycled. Plastic straws are by no means the biggest source (来源) of plastic pollution, but they’ve recently come under fire because most people don’t need them to drink with and, because of their small size and weight, they cannot be recycled. Every straw that’s part of Von Wong’s artwork likely came from a drink that someone used for only a few minutes. Once the drink is gone, the straw will take centuries to disappear.
In a piece from 2018, Von Wong wanted to illustrate (说明) a specific statistic: Every 60 seconds, a truckload’s worth of plastic enters the ocean. For this work, titled “Truckload of Plastic,” Von Wong and a group of volunteers collected more than 10,000 pieces of plastic, which were then tied together to look like they’d been dumped (倾倒) from a truck all at once.
Von Wong hopes that his work will also help pressure big companies to reduce their plastic footprint.
1. What are Von Wong’s artworks intended for?A.Beautifying the city he lives in. | B.Introducing eco-friendly products. |
C.Drawing public attention to plastic waste. | D.Reducing garbage on the beach. |
A.To show the difficulty of their recycling. |
B.To explain why they are useful. |
C.To voice his views on modern art. |
D.To find a substitute for them. |
A.Calming. | B.Disturbing. |
C.Refreshing. | D.Challenging. |
A.Artists’ Opinions on Plastic Safety |
B.Media Interest in Contemporary Art |
C.Responsibility Demanded of Big Companies |
D.Ocean Plastics Transformed into Sculptures |
3 . Port Lympne Reserve, which runs a breeding (繁育) programme, has welcomed the arrival of a rare black rhino calf (犀牛幼崽). When the tiny creature arrived on January 31, she became the 40th black rhino to be born at the reserve. And officials at Port Lympne were delighted with the new arrival, especially as black rhinos are known for being difficult to breed in captivity (圈养).
Paul Beer, head of rhino section at Port Lympne, said: “Obviously we’re all absolutely delighted to welcome another calf to our black rhino family. She’s healthy, strong and already eager to play and explore. Her mother, Solio, is a first-time mum and she is doing a fantastic job. It’s still a little too cold for them to go out into the open, but as soon as the weather warms up, I have no doubt that the little one will be out and about exploring and playing every day.”
The adorable female calf is the second black rhino born this year at the reserve, but it is too early to tell if the calves will make good candidates to be returned to protected areas of the wild. The first rhino to be born at Port Lympne arrived on January 5 to first-time mother Kisima and weighed about 32kg. His mother, grandmother and great grandmother were all born at the reserve and still live there.
According to the World Wildlife Fund, the global black rhino population has dropped as low as 5500, giving the rhinos a “critically endangered” status.
1. Which of the following best describes the breeding programme?A.Costly. | B.Controversial. | C.Ambitious. | D.Successful. |
A.She loves staying with her mother. | B.She dislikes outdoor activities. |
C.She is in good condition | D.She is sensitive to heat. |
A.They had their first born in January. | B.They enjoyed exploring new places |
C.They lived with their grandmothers. | D.They were brought to the reserve young |
A.The rhino section will be open to the public. |
B.It aims to control the number of the animals. |
C.It will continue to work with the World Wildlife Fund. |
D.Some of its rhinos may be sent to the protected wild areas. |
Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is a health care system in which patients
According to the World Health Organization, nearly 80 percent of the world's population depends for its primary health care needs
Increasingly, however, modern medicines also contain substances from animals and plants. Given growing populations, increasing wealth, and the spreading
5 . Many of us have heard of Alex Honnold, who made history in 2018 when he became the first man to climb EI Capitan without ropes or safety equipment. But his mother, Dierdre Wolownick, just became the oldest woman to conquer the famous peak: she reached the top on September 23 — the morning of her 70th birthday.
Dierdre, the writer and language teacher, decided to take up climbing as a means to connect more with her son. In 2008, accompanied by her son Alex, she visited a climbing gym and completed 12 routes that first day with his help, but it was months before she worked up the courage to return and practice on her own.
Dierdre became committed to the sport, and began to meet friends and sharpen her skills. She scaled (登上) parts of Half Dome and Cathedral peak at a time when many people at her age are thinking about retirement and slowing down. The writer would go on to publish a book about her climbing experiences with Alex called The Sharp End of Life: A Mother’s Story.
“As a mother, I am impressed by this role exchange process. Parents and children often wind up changing roles in life as they get older,” she writes in her book. “But never, I thought, is that transformation as obvious as when they climb together.”
On September 23, Dierdre and her friends set out in the dark, at 6 am. The route is steep (陡峭的) enough to require all-fours, grabbing rocks and trees and whatever else will hold the weight. Yet despite all difficulties the team made it to the top.“It was really inspiring to watch her and then to have her on top with all of us,” said one of Dierdre’s friends.“There was a special look on everyone’s face. We knew where we were. We knew how amazing the moment truly was.
1. Why did Dierdre start climbing mountains?A.To know her son better. |
B.To celebrate her birthday. |
C.To seek writing inspiration. |
D.To set an example for the old. |
A.Patient. | B.Courageous. | C.Intelligent. | D.Generous. |
A.It was worth the efforts. |
B.It took days to complete. |
C.It was arranged on her own. |
D.It required special equipment. |
A.Mountain climbing benefits health |
B.Mother goes beyond her son’s wish |
C.Climb together, bond closer |
D.Slow down, better your life |
6 . There are few places on Earth that humans haven’t messed up. Now even Antarctica, the only continent with no permanent human inhabitants, is being altered by us. A study found that the increasing human presence in Antarctica is causing more snow melt-bad news for a frozen world already battling the effects of human-caused global warming.
Black carbon, the dark, dusty pollution that comes from burning fossil fuels has settled in locations where tourists and researchers spend a lot of time, scientists found. Even the smallest amount of the dark pollutant can have a significant impact on melting because of its very low reflectiveness: things that are light in color, like snow, reflect the sun's energy and stay cool; things that are dark, like black carbon, absorb the sun's energy and warm up.
“The snow albedo (反射率) effect is one of the largest uncertainties in regional and global climate modeling right now,” Alia Khan, a snow and ice scientist at Western Washington University, told CNN. “That’s one of the motivations for the study, to quantify the impact of black carbon on regional snowmelt, which is important for quantifying the role of black carbon in the global loss of snow and ice.”
“Antarctica is sitting there pretty much silently all year. But, if it weren’t there, in the state that it is meant to be, the balance that we have in the climate system will no longer be,” Marilyn Raphael, a geography professor said. “Antarctica’s sea ice is also important to maintain a balance in atmospheric circulation,” he added. As waters get warmer, some Antarctic creatures are finding their homes more and more unlivable.
“Everything we do has consequences,” Raphael said. “We need to educate ourselves about those consequences, especially in systems that we know relatively little about. We have to be careful that we don’t upset the climate balance.”
1. Why can the smallest amount of black carbon have huge impact on melting?A.It is highly reflective. | B.Its dark colour absorbs heat. |
C.It produces vast energy. | D.It causes much pollution. |
A.To measure the impact of black carbon on melting. |
B.To quantify the cost of battling against climate change. |
C.To remove the uncertainties of global warming effects. |
D.To urge people to pay more attention to melting problem. |
A.The change caused by Antarctic melting. | B.The methods to stop Antarctic ice melting. |
C.The significance of Antarctic being in its state. | D.The sufferings Antarctic creatures are experiencing. |
A.Reduce tourist numbers. | B.Face the consequences. |
C.Acquire professional education. | D.Stop disturbing the climate. |
Preserving more habitats for China’s giant pandas is providing a giant payoff.
The results,
Because of this, Chinese officials began making significant efforts to save the panda from
“
8 . Feeding wild cats in my neighborhood used to be part of my daily routine. I did it out of compassion (同情心) and
But last month, my favorite cat named Ginger entered a new
My mind was filled with questions and anger, but he seemed
I
A.curiosity | B.love | C.gratitude | D.politeness |
A.stage | B.home | C.age | D.object |
A.mask | B.bottle | C.nest | D.gift |
A.warm | B.different | C.normal | D.full |
A.care | B.thought | C.generosity | D.demand |
A.Meanwhile | B.However | C.Instead | D.Therefore |
A.empty | B.remaining | C.cold | D.gone |
A.delight | B.surprise | C.regret | D.doubt |
A.check | B.describe | C.accept | D.notice |
A.setting aside | B.taking up | C.putting back | D.looking for |
A.nice | B.safe | C.big | D.fantastic |
A.careless | B.blank | C.worried | D.prepared |
A.fearful | B.thoughtful | C.independent | D.apparent |
A.willingness | B.pride | C.force | D.dream |
A.pet | B.honor | C.goal | D.interest |
A.busy | B.bright | C.easy | D.rich |
A.witnessed | B.recorded | C.ignored | D.understood |
A.failure | B.blessing | C.crisis | D.joy |
A.relationship | B.movement | C.nature | D.hope |
A.always | B.never | C.seldom | D.even |
9 . Since the age of 5, Laura Lee has had what most would consider an odd habit-she collects toilet rolls. At that time, she didn’t know this habit would eventually become a nationwide recycling campaign.
In December 2018, as a 16-year-old student of Nanyang Girls’ High School in Singapore, Lee founded ToiletRollSG, a national project that aims to collect 1,000 kilograms of cardboard cylinders — or about 150,000 pieces. As of February of 2021, Lee, who was studying at Hwa Chong Institution, had collected 860 kg of toilet rolls, reported Singapore Today. Slightly later, she was awarded Singapore’s National Environment Agency’s Ecofriend Awards, which recognizes individuals for their contributions to the environment, under the Youth and Students category.
But why did she choose toilet rolls? “They are convenient to collect and also one of the purest forms of waste to recycle because they are made of only one material,” Lee told Singapore Today. “Project must be economically practical too. For example, it’s more difficult to recycle pens because they are made up of too many different materials like rubber casings, metals and plastics which require more resources to separate.”
Lee went into a partnership with the waste management firm Veolia, which gives her five cents for every 1 kg of toilet rolls collected.
She organized “toilet roll challenges” within Nanyang Girls’ High School and worked with cleaners to collect used toilet rolls from school toilets. She also conducted talks about ToiletRollSG. But due to COVID-19, she has been unable to conduct physical talks, so she raises awareness about different social causes through her Instagram Live series called On A Roll.
One of the biggest challenges Lee has faced has been others doubting her due to her young age. “I always have to use my actions as well as the different things I’ve done to prove that I’m passionate and know about this,” she told The Straits Times.
Lee will donate the money collected to a social cause that is focused on community health.
1. Why did Lee found ToiletRollSG?A.To develop some good habits. | B.To be honored by Ecofriend Awards. |
C.To recycle toilet cardboard cylinders. | D.To make contributions to her high school. |
A.show toilet rolls are more important | B.prove it difficult to recycle pens |
C.illustrate the process of recycling pens | D.explain Lee’s opinion on recycling |
A.The failure to conduct talks. | B.The ineffective cooperation. |
C.The small amount of money. | D.The mistrust of others. |
A.Humorous. | B.Responsible. | C.Emotional. | D.Curious. |
10 . Zea Tongeman, a 14-year-old student, who is crazy about the Internet, applied technology to create an application that encourages people to recycle while having fun.
Zea was really inspired when she attended “Little Miss Geek Day”, an event that aims at making technology more accessible and appealing to young women and inspiring them to consider technology careers. Soon after, she entered “Apps for Good”, a competition that encourages students to create positive change through technology. Teaming up with her friend, Jordan Stirbu, she laid the foundations for “Jazzy Recycling”.
The “Jazzy Recycling” application is designed to encourage young people to recycle more, which wins the favor of the youth. It turns waste disposal into a game and helps you find places to recycle. Then you scan what you need to recycle, share it, and get rewards such as shopping vouchers (代金券) and games to be unlocked for what you have recycled.
Tapping into the teen enthusiasm for sharing every little aspect of their daily life on social media like Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, recycling efforts can be shared too as a fun game among friends, which makes more people take part in recycling activities.
Zea explains why she is addicted to the Internet and how technology has changed her ideas about the future, “I used to think technology was just fixing computers and using smartphones; I have become very tired from just using what is available. I have discovered another side to it and that I can make technology of my own.”
In fact, Zea Tongeman has taken the idea of recycling seriously and hopes all her fellow beings would give it a serious thought. This teen girl from the United Kingdom has made use of computer programming to create her own app that would encourage people to go recycling for a better world.
1. What is “Little Miss Geek Day” intended to do?A.To inspire students to go recycling. | B.To encourage students to create more. |
C.To introduce some famous young ladies. | D.To get girls interested and involved in technology. |
A.It combines recycling with fun. | B.It offers money to those who recycle. |
C.It raises their awareness of waste disposal. | D.It provides varieties of convenient services. |
A.Considerate. | B.Generous. | C.Creative. | D.Modest. |
A.Teenagers have a talent for creating apps. |
B.Technology plays a significant role in education. |
C.Competitions inspire teenagers to achieve success. |
D.Youngsters can make a difference in their own ways. |