1 . Diving in the ocean, marine biologist Erika Woolsey has seen how coral reefs (珊瑚礁) are being damaged by climate change. It has made her decide to find a way to share her experience —including those who can’t easily explore the ocean.
Through her non-profit, The Hydrous, Woolsey is using virtual reality to bring the ocean to everyone. Scientists, filmmakers and divers are taking people on immersive (沉浸式的) virtual dives, attracting attention to reef damage and expecting action to protect our sea. About 25% of marine species depend on coral reefs. However, climate change, pollution and overfishing have done harm to around half the world’s shallow water coral reefs.
Twenty years of underwater exploration has given Woolsey a detailed understanding of the dangerous situations facing reefs. “I’ve seen this first-hand shift. Healthy colourful coral reefs become what look like the moonscape step by step,” Woolsey says.
It is through this experience that The Hydrous team set out to recreate with their award-winning film Immerse. Intended to watch with a VR headset, viewers join Woolsey for a nine-minute guided virtual div e on the coral reefs, immersed in a 360-degree underwater view.
They swim alongside sea turtles and sharks before witnessing the worsening of the reefs. The experience often brings out strong feelings. “As soon as people take off that headset and look me in the eye, they want to tell me a story about their ocean experience,” Woolsey says. “It’s that human connection to our ocean that will solve our ocean problems.”
Woolsey hopes advances in camera technology will allow her team to take more and more people to places in the ocean that are underexplored and places further away from human civilization. They are developing a virtual experience that will put the people in the role of a marine biologist, carrying out biodiversity surveys underwater, and even transporting the viewers to space to monitor global sea surface temperatures.
1. Why did Erika Woolsey set up The Hydrous?| A．To collect money for ocean protection. |
| B．To let the public know about coral reefs better. |
| C．To help people enjoy the ocean’s beauty. |
| D．To encourage people to protect the ocean. |
| A．change. | B．experience. |
| C．material. | D．scene. |
| A．The story about the ocean. | B．The situation of coral reefs. |
| C．The connection with sea life. | D．The way to protect the ocean. |
| A．To bring more fun during the lockdown. |
| B．To train talents for environment protection. |
| C．To help people learn more about the ocean. |
| D．To discover more places that need protection. |
The Palace Museum is becoming waste-free as the 720,000-square-meter structure has managed to reduce the number of trash bins to 110 sets in areas open to the public. This is
While
According to China News, so far, four types of trash bins
The museum also recycled more than 32,000 plastic bottles
By launching the campaign, the Palace Museum is taking a careful, science-based way to waste. The target is to minimize the production of waste that needs to be buried or burned
Up to now, about 3,000 museum staff members, 40 000 tourist
3 . Coming into the town of Santa Catarina Palopó, in the highlands of Lake Atitlan in Guatemala, the first thing you notice is the bright colors. Most of the buildings along the main street are eye-catching, deep blues and greens, dotted with red and yellow to form diverse patterns and designs.
Santa Catarina Palopó was once a sleepy town of 5, 000 people, most of them dependent on agricultural work. But as agriculture began to dry up here, poverty came. To deal with poverty and promote econ on growth through tourism, a small but creative group of laborers, artisans, domestic workers and stay-at-home moms created the Pintando Santa Catarina Palopó project.
The project aimed to paint all 850 homes and buildings in bright colors to change the hillside town into a work of art. “We wanted to paint the houses with colors and figures that represent the community” says the project’s executive director Stephany Blanco. “Families can choose designs for their house that are representative of the family.”
One of the most representative characteristics of the region is the blue huipil, a traditional blouse which has been worn commonly by local women since the 16th century. That deep sky blue was chosen the primary color-for the Pintando project, with secondary colors found in the sunsets and the nearby lake to make the design more attractive. Inspiration was also found in local culture, symbols such as volcanoes, flowers, and the national bird of Guatemala.
Each week, local artists, community members and tourists pick up paintbrushes to make buildings colorful. “At first, the idea of the project was uncertain, but now you can see a considerable difference in the town,” Melissa Whitbeck said. “The color of the buildings is believed to improve the quality-of life of the people. It uplifts the people’s mood and encourages them to be proud of their hometown.”
1. Why was the Pintando Santa Catarina project started?| A．Because of a workforce shortage. | B．Due to the poor economic conditions. |
| C．Thanks to the increase in population. | D．For the old-fashioned farming ways. |
| A．Building family art galleries in Guatemala. | B．Creating job opportunities for local artists. |
| C．Developing local tourism by selling artworks. | D．Changing the town into a cultural destination. |
| A．The surrounding volcanoes. | B．Mayan-styled butterflies. |
| C．A type of traditional clothing. | D．The national bird of Guatemala. |
| A．Positive. | B．Reserved. | C．Concerned. | D．Negative. |
4 . I was cutting up lettuce in the kitchen when I suddenly remembered watching a video about soaking the lettuce stub (莴苣残余部分) in water to grow a whole new vegetable. So I took out a wide-mouthed cup and placed the stub into it, gave it a little water, and placed it by the window.
On a snowy morning I noticed the first sign. A first small leaf from its heart spread out. A tiny green flag of hope. Beaten, but not defeated. This lettuce was not done living! Within days, it was impossible to see the cuts where I had removed the leaves. The growth was explosive. And when I lifted the blossoming head out of the cup, tiny root threads fell down, seeking for the earth. What is growing here? Lettuce or hope?
If I were a lettuce in a similar condition, I’d want to skeptically assess where I found myself before committing to full growth. Yet for this lettuce, my inadequate offering of water and a place by a window was enough for it to decide to reclaim itself again. It grew in a cup of water, in faith. This is the heart of this lettuce: alive, strong and fearless. It deserved a name. I decided to call it Monty.
Monty wanted to grow, as we all do. I think I gave him a little love and freedom. Those two were all he needed to return to himself. I see joy in this lettuce. The return to self is always an expression of joy, which is life itself. This is the tendency of all living things.
Monty still lives in a cup, but I’m going to transplant him outside. He deserves to become his full self. The only problem I see now is my ability to support Monty. I hope I have enough of a green finger.
I’m surprised to find myself where I am. Maybe Monty is, too. I have the same choice as he does: give in or start again. The prospect of starting again is discouraging. But my lettuce-friend, Monty, leads the way. I can only hope to be as brave.
1. Why did the author soak the stub in water?| A．To decorate the nice cup. | B．To hope that it would grow. |
| C．To make a video in person. | D．To remove kitchen rubbish. |
| A．This lettuce showed no sign of recovery. |
| B．This lettuce was still fighting to survive. |
| C．Tiny root thread climbed out of the cup. |
| D．The cuts can still be seen where there used to be leaves. |
| A．Hesitant. | B．Fearless. | C．Aimless. | D．Annoyed. |
| A．Never being afraid to restart yourself. | B．Believing in yourself when in trouble. |
| C．Enjoying your own life to the fullest. | D．Giving freedom to the heart in a way. |
Hangzhou, located in the north of Zhejiang province, is one of the seven ancient
The West Lake is definitely a place people can never miss when visiting Hangzhou. The lake itself cowers 6 square kilometres, and some of Hangzhou’s most famous scenic places
Hefang Street is where you can experience how Hangzhou
The Xixi wetland is not only China’s first national wetland park, but also a natural haven from the busy city life,
As UNESCO says on its
6 . Usain Bolt burned about 10kcal of energy to win his gold during the 200 metre spring final at the Olympic Games, which could roughly power an old 60W light bulb for 11 minutes. If you could make use of all the power generated by all the athletes during the Games, you would still be nowhere close to reaching the 29.5 billion Watts consumed overall by the athletes, spectators and organizers over the event. We take sport for granted, but do we ever consider its cost to the planet?
From the water required to maintain the golf course during The Masters tournament to the hundreds of flights it takes to bring football fans to a World Cup, major sports events are not helping much in the fight against global heating. What’s more, there is a lack of recognition within sport of its responsibilities and little discussion about possible solutions.
This is strange, given that the effect works both ways: the climate crisis is not just affected by sports, but it is already having a negative impact on many sports. When ice-climber Will Gadd set out to conquer the world’s glaciers, he didn’t realize it would become a race against climate change. “I thought glaciers are there forever.” When he arrived at the summit, Gadd was shocked: “The ice…wasn’t there. The things I planned to climb were gone.”
Global heating is noticeable in other sports. Amy Steel played professional netball until she suffered from heatstroke after playing in 39℃ conditions and unfortunately, the damage was permanent. Not only that, but extreme weather events made more frequent as a result of global heating mean sporting events are more often delayed or canceled. This has cost sport billions in potential earnings.
Yet sport can be a powerful motivator: it can unite whole nations behind its teams. Could sport have a role to play in driving climate awareness? Will Gadd and Amy Steel are among many athletes who think so? One thing is certain. Sport must put climate change at the top of its agenda and decarbonize at a Usain Bolt-like pace to make a difference.
1. What is the main focus of the first paragraph?| A．Why do sports events consume energy? |
| B．How much power do athletes generate? |
| C．What is the energy impact of sports events? |
| D．How did Bolt contribute to the environment? |
| A．They initiated eco-friendly sports practices. |
| B．They sustained permanent injuries in sports. |
| C．They fell victim to climate-related incidents. |
| D．They achieved record-breaking performances. |
| A．Stricter facility restrictions. | B．Substantial financial losses. |
| C．Higher athlete training standards. | D．Prolonged outdoor sports seasons. |
| A．Sports in the Climate Crisis |
| B．Athletes against Global Heating |
| C．The Impact of Climate Change on Sport |
| D．The Environmental Cost of Outdoor Sports |
7 . 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。
Seagrass meadows (海草床) are wonder plants growing beneath the sea. Thanks to the assistance of tiger sharks,
In this study, tiger sharks were selected as research tools due to their
So far, the world’s largest seagrass ecosystem, measuring at least 66,900 square kilometers,
The sharks led us to the seagrass ecosystem in the Bahamas,
8 . An earthquake happens when two plates rub together. The earth plates travel in different directions and at different speeds.
The damage an earthquake causes depends on where it is and when it is happening. If an unpopulated region is struck, there will be low loss of life or property.
The shaking of the earth is sometimes not the greatest disaster.
| A．Actually, there are several million small earthquakes every year. |
| B．It is in the fires and floods that often the greatest damage occurs. |
| C．Throughout history, there are numerous destructive big earthquakes. |
| D．If it hits a large city, there may be many injuries and much destruction. |
| E．So it is of great importance to predict the movements of the earth plates. |
| F．If one plate is slowly forced under the other, pressure builds up until the plates break apart. |
| G．The destructive damage of an earthquake can continue for years after the first shake. |
9 . Each year, the discovery of new shark species underlines how little we know about ocean biodiversity. In a recent report conducted by Sibert and Rubin, they reported an unexpected finding: a large-scale extinction of sharks in the pelagic ocean, the largest ecosystem on Earth, about 19 million years ago. Their discovery suggests that some extinctions in the open sea of the past may have been mysterious.
The study of Sibert and Rubin takes advantage of a system by using tiny, hard bits of shark skin and bony fish teeth that naturally fall from their bodies to the seafloor. These extremely small fossils provide a rich record of ancient oceanic sharks and their abundance for thousands of years. By studying fossils from many regions, the diversity patterns can give major insights into evolution (进化) of the open sea that would be otherwise unknown.
Sibert and Rubin quantified(量化)a past extinction of sharks, reporting a 90% decline in number and >70% drop in diversity. They found that nearer-shore sharks appear to survive, but migratory ones go extinct. The finding of this study is that sharks had undergone a widespread extinction that reorganized their communities from 16 million to 20 million years ago.
Sibert and Rubin narrowed the disappearance of sharks to a window of time under 100,000 years around 19 million years ago, but the causes of this event remain unclear. Because this time period does not stand out as a period of major climatic change, the authors do not attribute(归因于) environmental factors as an extinction driver. As for other causes, the loss of shark diversity is directly linked to overfishing.
The loss of sharks from the oceans has profound, complex, and unavoidable ecological consequences because their presence reflects the stability of marine ecosystems. Yet, one-quarter of the global diversity of sharks is currently threatened with extinction. Despite recent improvements in conservation actions, shark communities never recovered from a mysterious extinction event 19 million years ago; the ecological fate of what remains is now in our hands.
1. What did Sibert and Rubin find?| A．The negative impact of the extinction of sharks. |
| B．The mysterious reasons behind the disappearance of sharks. |
| C．The most recent advances in the study of the largest ecosystem. |
| D．The large-scale decline in the number of sharks about 19 million years ago. |
| A．By collecting and analyzing shark fossils worldwide. |
| B．By quantifying the movement of near-shore sharks. |
| C．By using a system to study the naturally fallen bits from sharks. |
| D．By keeping track of ancient oceanic sharks and their activities. |
| A．Overfishing is partly to blame for the loss of shark diversity. |
| B．The number of sharks has recovered to its previous level. |
| C．Scientist have figured out the exact causes of sharks’ extinction. |
| D．Sharks had undergone a widespread extinction due to the climate change. |
| A．Sharks: The Stories behind Them | B．Sharks: The Marine Masters |
| C．Sharks: Killers or Misunderstood? | D．Sharks: The Mysterious Extinction |
10 . In the past few weeks, Richard Eckersley has noticed a change in the type of people who come into his shop. In 2017, the former Manchester United footballer set up Earth. Food. Love in Tones, Devon, with his wife, Nicola. It’s the UK’s first “zero waste” store—the food is in big jars and boxes and people bring their own containers. “A lot of new people are coming in-people who have not necessarily been interested in environmental issues before”, he says.
Recently, the government called for supermarkets to introduce plastic-free passageways. But Eckersley says many customers are already way ahead of politicians. He and Nicola have helped people set up similar stores in Wales, Birmingham, and Bristol. Ingrid Caldironi had a similar idea. She set up a plastic-free shop in London last year, which has been so popular that it is soon moving to a bigger site.
Eckersley and Caldironi are members of an anti-plastics movement in the UK that has been growing as a result of the BBC’s Blue Planet series and a general worry about the damage plastic is doing to the environment. But big supermarkets have so far not tried very hard to reduce their plastic waste. Sian Sutherland, founder of the movement “A Plastic Planet”, says, “The most exciting thing is that politicians and industry are no longer saying that recycling will solve the problem. Banning the use of plastic packaging for food and drink products is the only answer.” Walking down the passageways of the supermarket where everything from pizza to fresh fruit and vegetables is covered in plastic. Sutherland says immediate action is needed.
Plastic pollution is causing widespread global damage. More than one million plastic bottles are bought around the world every minute, and most end up in landfill or the sea. The contamination is so wide that tap water around the world also contains plastic.
1. What is special about Earth. Food. Love?| A．It gives away boxes of food. | B．It is a store without plastic bags. |
| C．It has few new customers. | D．It is the UK’s first supermarket. |
| A．Its popularity. | B．Its products. | C．Its profits. | D．Its similarity. |
| A．Pollution. | B．Acceptance. | C．Influence. | D．Application. |
| A．The impact of BBC’s Blue Planet series on anti-plastics movements. |
| B．Rising anti-plastics movement alongside increasing environmental concerns. |
| C．A guide to setting up plastic-free stores to promote recycling in the whole UK. |
| D．Richard Eckersley’s personal journey in waste reduction and pollution prevention. |
