1 . Artists with a Green Message

Chris Jordan

Photographic artist Chris Jordan takes pictures of ordinary objects like bottle caps, light bulbs and aluminum cans and turns them into art by digitally rearranging them to construct one central image. However, it’s the tiny pieces that drive home then environmental message. For example, his 2008 work “Plastic Cups” shows 1 million plastic cups, the number used on airline flights in the U. S. every six hours.

Nele Azevedo

Visual artist Nele Azevedo is best known for her “Melting Men” interventions that she stages in cities across the globe. Azevedo carves thousands of small figures for to watch them melt. Her ice Sculptures are meant to question the role of monuments in cities, but Azevedo says she’s glad her art can also “speak of urgent matters that threaten our existence on this planet.”

Agnes Denes

One of the pioneers of environmental art and conceptual art, Agnes Denes is best known for her land art project, “Wheatfield- A Confrontation.” In May 1982, Denes planted a two-acre wheat field in Manhattan on Battery Park Landfill. The land was cleared of rocks and garbage by hand. Denes harvested more than 1,000 pounds of wheat She says her works are “intended to help the environment and benefit future generations with a meaningful legacy.”

John Fekner

John Fekner is known for his street art and the more than 300 conceptual works. Fekner’s art typically consists of words or symbols spray painted on walls, buildings and other structures that highlight social or environmental issues. His stenciled (用模板印的) message, “Wheels Over Indian Trails, “was painted on the Pulaski Bridge Queens Midtown Tunnel in 1979. It remained there for 11 years until Earth Day 1990，when Fekner painted over it.

1. What kind of art is Chris Jordan known for?

A．Photographic art.	B．Visual art.
C．Conceptual art.	D．Street art.

2. Which works probably reflects the effect of global warmth on our existence?

A．Plastic Cups.	B．Melting Men.
C．Wheatfield-A Confrontation.	D．Wheels Over Indian Trails.

3. Who grew wheat in a landfill?

A．Chris Jordan.	B．Nele Azevedo.
C．Agnes Denes.	D．John Fekner.

2 . Doing your laundry with cold water can help save the planet, and maybe save you some money along the way. That’s the message from Tide in a newly launched campaign to decarbonize laundry. The goal is for consumers in North America to do three out of every four loads of laundry with cold water instead of hot by 2030, up from about half today. That would eliminate the power consumption required to heat cold water.

If this goal is met, it will have the same impact on greenhouse gas emissions as removing about a million cars from the road for a year. “There is no tradeoff. You will save 150 a year in energy costs, your garments will last longer. And by the way, you’re helping to save the planet,” Shailesh Jejurikar, CEO of Procter & Gamble’s fabric and home care division, said in an interview. “It’s a beautiful win-win-win if we get this right.”

“This is going to be the defining decades for where we end up on climate change,” Jejurikar said. “If we don’t get this situation under control in the coming years, we are going to pay the price. There is a need to act now.” Beyond its focus on cold-water washing, Tide set a new goal of cutting greenhouse gas emissions at its factories in half by 2030. That’s in addition to the progress it already has made cutting emissions by three-quarters over the past decade as the brand adopted 100% renewable energy at its manufacturing plants. Tide also plans to reduce its carbon footprint by using 100% recyclable packaging for all products by 2030 and by teaming up with Silicon Valley startup Opus12 to capture carbon from its factories.

Jejurikar said P&G does want to get to zero emissions in its factories, but added that how people use Tide products has 10 times more impact than what happens in its plants. “We are trying to give them chance to take their ordinary daily actions, and make them have an extraordinary impact,” Jejurikar said.

1. What can we learn from the passage?

A．We need to heat cold water before laundry.

B．Tide will remove a million cars from the road.

C．Hot water laundry could save energy and protect the planet.

D．Cold water laundry might increase by a quarter in North America.

2. Which word can be used to replace “tradeoff” in Paragraph 2?

A．advantage.

B．need.

C．hesitation.

D．emission.

3. Which measure has been taken by Tide to cut greenhouse emission so far?

A．Advertising for its new products.

B．Using 100% recyclable packaging for all products.

C．Adopting completely renewable energy in its factories.

D．Cooperating with a new High-Tech company to recycle carbon.

4. What can be a suitable title for the text?

A．Cold Water Laundry—An Eco-friendly Campaign

B．Advanced Technology Being Applied to Cars

C．The Vital Decades for Climate Change

D．Cutting Emission to Protect Our Planet

3 . My work started in 2003 at my local animal shelter’s Adoption Department. It seems like such a long time ago. In the 13 years that have passed, more than 50,000 animals have passed the doors of the shelter. Most of them, I do not remember. But occasionally there are animals who stand out. Tabby was one such animal.

Tabby was one of the many homeless dogs. What’s more, she was blind and deaf. Tabby’s chances at adoption seemed remote at best. But one day a woman named Loretta came to the shelter. Her son, Gary, who suffered from epilepsy (癫痫) had seen Tabby’s picture on the shelter’s website. They were interested in meeting her! Most boys would want a puppy, a dog who could grow with him and run through grassy fields on summer days. Tabby would never be able to do that. But as they say, "love is blind". After meeting her, they decided to adopt Tabby!

If Tabby’s story had simply ended with her successful adoption, it would still have been something very special indeed but it was what happened after her adoption that some might label as "magical" or perhaps even miraculous. As Gary and Tabby did everything together, they became so "in tune" with one another that Tabby began to telegraph Gary’s seizures (疾病发作) before they occurred, giving his family a warning that one was about to strike. What’s more, Gary seemed to be having fewer and fewer seizures since Tabby’s arrival.

How could it be? There are some things that happen in this world that challenge all logic and understanding. Sometimes, the best that we can do is to accept a miraculous thing, which we didn’t attempt to explain. Because when you try to explain it, you lose the beauty and wonder of it all.

1. Which sentence can be used to describe Tabby?

A．She was so lovely that she could be easily adopted.

B．She suffered a lot from the disease-epilepsy.

C．She was so strong that she could run very fast.

D．She was homeless and couldn’t see or hear.

2. What does the underlined word "miraculous" in Paragraph 3 probably mean?

A．Amazing.

B．Typical.

C．Interesting.

D．Special.

3. What can we learn from the passage?

A．Gary learnt about Tabby from a magazine.

B．Gary was cured in the company of Tabby.

C．Tabby could indicate a seizure before it struck.

D．Most boys would have the same decision as Gary.

4. What can be a suitable title for the text?

A．Love is Blind: a Miraculous Dog	B．Give Me Food: My Dear Master
C．Love is Everywhere: a Poor Dog	D．Take Me Home: My Dear Boy

4 . Across vast areas of the tropics (热带地区) from Southeast Asia to Africa, forests have been cut down in recent decades, but at least in some areas reforestation efforts have been made to take in carbon (碳).

It remains to be seen, however, whether these newly planted forests will manage to survive in the face of changing climate, which will bring more intense heat, lengthened droughts, and occasional wildfires.

To find out, scientists from the University of Hong Kong decided to run hundreds of computer models to explore various results under different conditions. The key aim of the study was to see if carbon stored in these regrown forests would remain locked up, and they have found this will likely be the case even under the most severe climate conditions.

“Our computer models show in many parts of the tropics reforestation is worth it, because these new forests should be able to survive until the end of the century and continue to store extra carbon from the atmosphere in the process,” explains Jed Kaplan, a professor at the university.

However, the role of newly planted forests as a carbon collector in the tropics will have only a limited effect on climate change, especially because many existing forests in the tropics will struggle in the face of rising temperatures and are already losing their ability to store carbon, “Massive tree planting won’t be enough to avoid climate disaster, but it can play a role. And if done with biodiversity and the people who call these forests home, reforestation can have many benefits,” says Alexander Koch, the other author of the study.

“So far we have only been able to look at carbon, but other aspects such as biodiversity in restored forests are also impacted by climate change. Assessing those impacts will be the next step,” he adds.

1. What is the discovery of the study?

A．Changing climate will bring about many natural disasters.

B．Reforestation is of great benefit to biodiversity in the tropics.

C．Regrown forests will store carbon even in the face of climate change.

D．The chance of newly planted forests surviving tough conditions is slim.

2. What’s Jed Kaplan’s attitude towards reforestation?

A．Worried.

B．Doubtful.

C．Disappointed.

D．Favourable.

3. What can be inferred from paragraph 5?

A．Reforestation is useless in stopping climate change.

B．More measures should be taken as well as reforestation.

C．The carbon in the atmosphere will increase in the future.

D．Existing forests can no longer take in carbon from the air.

4. What can we learn about the study?

A．It takes all the factors into account.	B．It still needs to be further improved.
C．It fails to achieve the expected result.	D．It provides a way to avoid climate change.

5 . Back in 2017, Chile experienced some rather devastating wildfires that burned more than 1.4 million acres of forest. In the years since it has been a very _________ journey for those trying to bring life back to the _________ earth. But with a little canine(犬科的) help, Francisca and Constanza Torres have been struggling to help rebuild in face of the _________. And their three Border Collies(边境牧羊犬) could not be any cuter as they do their doggie _________ as well.

Two sisters have been using the help of their dogs, Das, Olivia, and Summer, to get seeds _________. They _________ their pups with special backpacks that release the seeds of _________ plants along the ground as the dogs _________ the burned forest. Francisca shared that not only is it benefiting the _________, but the dogs are more than happy for the playtime. __________, they are seeing many __________ flora and fauna(动植物群) making a __________ to the areas that had been burned.

Besides using the dogs to help __________ the forests, Torres also keeps busy __________ assistance dogs in an environmental community that is dog-focused. The Border Collies are actually better for the work than others because they not only have the endurance and __________ to run for miles across forest terrain, but they are focused dogs who don’t get __________ by wildlife. The three dogs are about to cross 18 miles per day—much more compared to the only few miles that humans can __________ a day. __________, dogs are a lot cheaper than drones or robots, and they have a much __________ carbon footprint. Overall it sounds like a(an) __________ for everyone involved!

1.

A．dangerous

B．normal

C．joyful

D．hard

2.

A．dirty

B．lifeless

C．terrible

D．rich

3.

A．waste

B．pain

C．destruction

D．loss

4.

A．thing

B．part

C．nature

D．stuff

5.

A．harvested

B．planted

C．watered

D．grown

6.

A．fitted

B．supplied

C．connected

D．covered

7.

A．multiple

B．strong

C．rare

D．native

8.

A．roll over

B．run about

C．walk past

D．go through

9.

A．environment

B．development

C．wildlife

D．extinction

10.

A．Temporarily

B．Obviously

C．Consequently

D．Initially

11.

A．significant

B．new

C．real

D．weak

12.

A．face

B．living

C．return

D．difference

13.

A．remove

B．replace

C．renew

D．regrow

14.

A．training

B．improving

C．saving

D．treating

15.

A．passion

B．sense

C．direction

D．speed

16.

A．scared

B．driven

C．distracted

D．attracted

17.

A．cover

B．pave

C．wander

D．measure

18.

A．Otherwise

B．Therefore

C．Instead

D．Moreover

19.

A．brighter

B．greater

C．lighter

D．less

20.

A．advantage

B．win

C．prize

D．chance

6 . 阅读下面短文，在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

For five years, the most famous clock tower in Britain was hidden behind an ugly fortress of scaffolding (脚手架) for restoration. This summer, a sound familiar     1     Londoners for more than a century and a half will again ring out across the British capital — Big Ben is back.

The clock tower stands tall over the Palace of Westminster     2     houses the British Parliament (议会). It is officially known as the Elizabeth Tower but commonly called by     3     nickname of the enormous bell in the belfry (钟楼): Big Ben. The bell’s bong is     4     (instant) recognizable to Britons.

The size of Big Ben,     5     (weigh) a little over 15 tons, is impressive, as is the complexity of a clock mechanism based on the most     6     (advance) technology available to its 19-century creators. Nobody had ever attempted     7     (build) a clock that size to the accuracy demanded.

During the restoration, the clock was serviced for the first time since it started ticking in 1859, when crowds lined the streets to greet Big Ben’s    8     (arrive). More than 3500 parts     9     (remove) from the 316-foot tower, including much of its iron roof. Now freshly     10     (paint), the tower stands as a monument to what can be achieved by modern restoration.

7 . I’ve always found that hiking in nature makes me feel happier, and of course decreased stress may be a big part of the reason why. But, Gregory Bratman, of Stanford University, has found evidence that nature may impact our mood (心情) in other ways, too.

In one 2015 study, Bratman and his colleagues chose 60 volunteers to take a 50-minute walk in either a natural setting or an urban setting. Before and after the walk, the volunteers were assessed on their emotional state and on cognitive (认知的) measures, such as how well they could perform tasks requiring short-term memory. Results showed that those who walked in nature experienced less anxiety and rumination (focused attention on unsatisfying side of oneself), as well as more positive emotions, in comparison to the urban walkers. They also improved their performance on the memory tasks.

In another study in 2017, he and his colleagues furthered these findings by focusing on how walking in nature affects rumination—which has been associated with the onset of anxiety—while also using fMRI technology to look at brain activity. Volunteers who took a 90-minute walk in either a natural setting or an urban setting had their brains scanned (扫描) before and after their walks and were surveyed on self-reported rumination levels.

Even so, volunteers who walked in a natural setting reported decreased rumination after the walk, and they showed increased activity in the subgenual prefrontal cortex, an area of the brain whose inactivity is related to depression and anxiety—a finding that suggests nature may have important impacts on mood.

Bratman believes results like these need to reach city planners and others whose decisions impact our natural spaces. “Ecosystem services are being included into decision making at all levels of public policy, land use planning, and urban design, and it’s very important to be sure to include findings from psychology into these decisions,” he says.

1. What did the 2015 study find about people walking in nature?

A．Their memory was improved.

B．Their mood remained the same.

C．They had more chance to succeed.

D．They preferred living in a natural setting.

2. What is the third paragraph mainly about?

A．Bratman’s theory.	B．The results of the 2017 study.
C．The process of the 2017 study.	D．The volunteers’ performance.

3. What does Bratman think the study results should be applied to?

A．House designing.	B．City planning.
C．Physical training.	D．Health education.

4. Which of the following is a suitable title for the text?

A．Science Contributes to Better Health

B．Ways to Reduce Stress and Lift Mood

C．Studies Show Various Benefits of Hiking

D．Nature Makes You Happier and Less Anxious

8 . Nowadays, taking no notice of protecting the environment leads to problems including global warming. While discussing with my daughter about going green, I remembered the daily practices in most households in India. What we did was actually helping our environment and also protecting our resources. We did all this naturally, without even realizing its importance.

We preferred reusing pens in the past. We used to have ball pens used again and again by changing the refills and we also used ink pens, which were refreshed now and then by filling ink in them when required. There was no such thing as a use-and-throw pen. We loved the process of cleaning the writing instruments. However, today, plastic pens that do not last long are ruling the stationery（文具）shops.

We recycled and reused newspapers without really thinking twice about it. Newspapers were kept carefully during those days because they were an important material used for packing and storing. Today plastic bags have become important, All these materials pollute our land and water and prevent all conservation(保护)efforts.

Public transport was a common thing in the old days and it was so much fun. Nowadays.no one seems to have the patience to take public transport and many consider it too silly for them. So people take their cars out every day and pollute the environment, thinking it makes the m look cool. Vehicular (车辆的) pollution in cities is the biggest contributor to environmental problems.

I am not against the usage of modern technologies. In fact, it has helped make our life casier. While we can use the same technology to go green instead of polluting the environment, we should also go back to a few old traditions that are ecofriendly.

1. How many daily practices are mentioned in the text?

A．One.

B．Two.

C．Three.

D．Four.

2. Which of the following may the author advise us to do?

A．Use plastic bags.

B．Go to school by bus.

C．Use use-and-throw pens.

D．Throw newspapers away.

3. What does the author want to do in the last paragraph?

A．Summarize the above paragraphs.

B．Add some background information.

C．Introduce a new topic for discussion.

D．Show some reasons to the readers.

4. W hat may be the best title for the text?

A．Follow Old Traditions

B．Go Green Then and Now

C．The Environment Is Worsening

D．Modern Technologies Are Harmful

9 . If all goes well, a balloon will soon rise from Space Center in Sweden. It will float high into the upper atmosphere, where nothing will happen, and then return to Earth. Nevertheless, a collection of environmental groups is trying to stop it.

The campaigners are against the flight because of what comes next. The balloon is a test flight for a research being run by the University of Harvard. The research aims to test an idea called SAI, in which fine dust is added into the upper atmosphere to boost the amount of sunlight reflected back into space. A future flight will release a small amount of calcium carbonate dust into the upper atmosphere, in order to help researchers learn more about solar geoengineering — an excellent but theoretical idea of deliberately adjusting the Earth's systems to prevent the bad effects of climate change.

Opponents worry about two things. The first is the moral issue. If solar geoengineering works, it could reduce pressure to deal with climate change at its source by cutting greenhouse-gas emissions. Furthermore, in order to keep temperatures low, the reflective particles (颗粒) would have to be topped up continuously. A sudden stop could result in very rapid wanning. Raymond Pierrehumbert, a physicist at the University of Oxford, says solar geoengineering is too risky even to research outside of computer simulations (模拟).

Not all environmentalists are opposed. The world is likely to miss the target, set in the Paris agreement, of keeping warming to 1.5℃."We're not well-served by not understanding what these technologies represent," says Steven Hamburg. Mr Hamburg favours small-scale geoengineering research. Other green organisations have also hesitantly approved of exploring the idea.

Exploration is likely to carry on in any case. Once a taboo, geoengineering is being taken increasingly seriously. A recent report on climate change suggested that SAI could help keep warming below 1.5℃ America has developed a research plan for solar geoengineering. Both China and India have launched research programmes of their own. Activists will continue to oppose experiments. But balloons will likely fly anyway.

1. How does solar geoengineering work?

A．Dust is put into the upper atmosphere to trap more heat.

B．Measures are taken intentionally to tackle the climate change.

C．Steps are taken deliberately to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions.

D．Dust is emptied into the atmosphere to reflect sunlight into Earth.

2. Why do environmentalists argue against SAI?

A．It is to be implemented on a large scale.

B．It has led to global warming against the original intention.

C．It is probably to miss the target of keeping warming to 1.5℃.

D．It may cause people to care little about greenhouse-gas emissions.

3. What is the best title of the text?

A．Should balloons, flight be banned?

B．Should solar geoengineering exploration go ahead?

C．How do balloons threaten the earth's climate?

D．How has solar geoengineering changed Earth?

4. What is the author's attitude to solar geoengineering?

A．Critical.

B．Positive.

C．Doubtful.

D．Frightened.

10 . Some people have come up with a creative solution with monster-inspired (以怪物为灵感的) art works to deal with the flood of cicada (蝉) shells that have cropped up across the country.

The species, Brood X, have come to states across the eastern and southern U.S. A lot of cicadas deposited their shells in states including Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Virginia.

Normally, people have no choice but to deal with the shells wherever they go. However, a recently rediscovered art piece from 2018 has encouraged others to copy it.

Alex from Michigan created a big monster-inspired art work out of dozens or even hundreds of cicada shells. The monster took inspiration from old Japanese monster movies and shows, like Godzilla, Ultraman or Super Sentai— the show that Power Rangers is based on.

The interesting art work led to similar works from other artists. Albert, a student of University of Maryland, created a copy of a monster in Xenomorph. He said, “We are taking action! Getting ready for the coming risk of cicada shells with some art inspiration from Alex’s creations and other cicada shell artists will be there.”

The art is so unbelievable that FOX ran a fact-check on the art. The result is “yes”. People are harvesting hundreds of cicada shells to make monster-inspired art works.

Some curious people, such as Alice and Mary, are learning to make a cicada statue (雕像) of the monster Baltan in Ultraman step by step. Some people have taken a normal approach and simply create art inspired by cicadas. In New Jersey, people create life-size painted cicadas on sidewalks.

1. Why did the American people make monster-inspired art works?

A．To solve the problem caused by cicada shells,

B．To create a kind of interesting art work.

C．To help cicadas go to the whole country.

D．To copy the movies and shows of monster.

2. Which can explain the underlined word “deposited” in paragraph 2?

A．Found.

B．Left.

C．Destroyed.

D．Changed.

3. What’s Albert’s attitude to the art form?

A．Unfriendly.

B．Uncertain.

C．Curious.

D．Positive.

4. What does the author want to tell us in the last paragraph?

A．Many cicadas are leaving the cities of America.

B．It’s difficult for people to make the statue of Baltan.

C．The solution has become popular among American people.

D．American people are competing with each other in art works.