1 . A small car around the size of a Mini Cooper, the Seagull is a fast-charging electric vehicle (车辆) (EV) produced by BYD. It’s hardly a luxury car but it’s well-equipped, with a power driver’s seat and cruise control. The best part? Its base model costs about $10,700 in China. That’s about a third of the cost of the cheapest EV you can buy in the US. In 2018, Trump put, and Biden has since continued, a special 25 percent tax on Chinese-made cars, on top of the ordinary 2.5 percent tax on foreign-made cars, which perfectly shows that however motivated the Biden government might be by climate concerns, it is much more motivated by a desire to help American carmakers.

The basic environmental argument for electric cars is simple: Burning petrol in internal combustion enginest (内燃机) produces CO₂. Electric cars emit (排放) less per mile traveled both because some electricity is generated through clean sources like wind, solar, and because electric motors are far more efficient than petrol engines. EVs are slightly more carbon-intensive (密集) to produce in the first place, but most estimates suggest the lower per-mile emissions of EVs quickly make up for the extra emissions involved in their creation.

But is this still true for Chinese EVs? China still gets more than 60 percent of its electricity from coal, compared to less than 20 percent in the US. So, does this mean that BYD’s cheap EVs are bad for the environment? Hardly. Close to 90 percent of the emissions of a fossil fuel vehicle (化石燃料汽车) are from the combustion of the fuel. Besides, EVs of whatever origin are getting cleaner over time as the electrical grid (电网) gets cleaner. That means EVs will do even more for the environment as the years go on.

The biggest factor for China is that they control all the upstream material supply chain for lithium batteries (锂电池). Even if your EV’s battery is made by a plant of Panasonic in the US, the raw materials for that are processed in China first. “Part of why they’re so successful is they’ve been thinking outside the box on cost reduction for a long time,” an expert says.

1. What can be inferred from the first paragraph?

A．Chinese EVs are a threat to American electric cars.

B．American government has placed a ban on Chinese EVs.

C．The seagull provides luxury experience at a reasonable price.

D．Climate concerns are the only driver of EV development in the US.

2. What does the author think of EVs?

A．They are no better than typical gas vehicles.

B．Their power is generated in green ways.

C．They are eco-friendly in the long run.

D．Their production causes no pollution.

3. What is the advantage of Chinese EV industry?

A．Lower carbon emission.	B．The advanced technology.
C．The low budget marketing.	D．The control of raw materials for batteries.

4. What is the best title of the passage?

A．EVs: opportunity and challenge.	B．Chinese EVs: powering ahead.
C．Green cars: a long way to go.	D．Petrol vehicles: faded glory.

2 . One long gray ship at the Port of Los Angeles is doing its part to combat climate change. On the ship, which belongs to Captura, a Los Angeles-based startup, is a system that takes into seawater and sucks out CO₂, which can be used for various purposes or buried. The decarbonated (不含二氧化碳的) seawater is returned to the ocean, where it absorbs more CO₂ from the atmosphere, in a small strike against the massive rise of the greenhouse gas.

After a yearlong experiment, Captura is planning to open a 1000-ton-per-year facility that will bury the captured CO₂ in rock formations under the North Sea. Equatic, another Los Angeles-based startup, is launching an even larger 3650-ton-per-year ocean CO₂ capture plant this year in Singapore.

Supporters say capturing CO₂ from the ocean should be easier and cheaper than a seemingly more direct approach: extracting it directly from the air. Direct air capture, which relies on fans to sweep air past absorbent chemicals, currently costs between $600 to $1000 per ton of CO₂ removed, largely because atmospheric CO₂ is so thin, making up less than 0.05% of the air. Earth’s oceans, in contrast, hold the gas at a concentration nearly 150 times higher, and absorb roughly 30% of all CO₂ emissions each year. Companies say they should ultimately be able to capture CO₂ at $100 per ton, or less.

Ocean capture advocates are seeking government support. In the US, direct air capture plants earn a $180 tax credit per ton of removed CO₂, but Ocean efforts currently don’t qualify. “A similar tax incentive (激励政策) for water-based CO₂ removal is absolutely needed,” says Ruben Brands, CEO of Equatic.

Even if the technology takes off, it will have to scale up massively to make a meaning contribution in offsetting (抵消) global emissions. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, by 2050 we will need to remove some 5 billion tons of CO₂ every year to limit the global temperature increase to 1.5℃. So far, the ocean capture companies are pulling out only thousands of tons. Matthew Eisaman, a chief scientist at Captura, says, “We have an enormous challenge ahead of us.”

1. How does the system in para. 1 work?

A．It converts seawater into CO2.

B．It releases CO2 into the atmosphere.

C．It absorbs seawater and extracts CO2.

D．It stores decarbonated seawater on the ship.

2. What makes extracting CO₂ from the ocean easier and cheaper?

A．CO2 in seawater is more absorbent.

B．CO2 is stored in solid form in seawater.

C．CO2 in the ocean is more readily accessible.

D．CO2 is naturally more concentrated in seawater.

3. What is the Ruben Brands’s attitude toward the new form of capturing technology?

A．Doubtful.

B．Objective.

C．Supportive.

D．Indifferent.

4. What would be the best title of the passage?

A．Combining Ocean CO2 Capture with Air Capture

B．Setting a New Example of Climate Change Solution

C．Analyzing Ocean CO2 Capture against Climate Change

D．Exploring Oceanic Solutions for Reducing CO2 Emissions

3 . 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。

The golden pheasant (红腹锦鸡) , known for its bright feathers,     1    (consider) a symbol of good fortune and prosperity. In the Qing Dynasty, senior officials’ robes were decorated     2     golden pheasant images, as a symbol of their power and authority.

Normally, golden pheasants act in small groups in dense forests     3     there are a lot of trees and bushes, and also in less dense areas and open     4    (mountain) regions.

Golden pheasants mainly feed on grain, berries and seeds as well as other kinds of vegetation. They will also eat small     5    (insect) and invertebrates when the opportunity arises, and their diet may change seasonally. During winter, they tend     6    (stay) close to humans and eat wheat leaves and seeds.

They are very timid birds and will hide in dark forests and woodlands, resting in very high trees at night. Despite their flying abilities, golden pheasants often look for food on the ground,     7    (possible) because they are quite clumsy in flight. When     8    (shock), they can suddenly take flight with a distinctive wing sound. Observing these colorful birds in the wild is     9     (challenge). The best chance to spot them is early in     10     morning in open areas.

4 . On March 20, the U. N. International Panel on Climate Change(IPCC) released the final volume in a series of reports outlining experts’ latest understanding of climate science. It warned that even with urgent action we will face a dramatic increase in catastrophic events—from droughts to floods—that have become signs of a rapidly warming world. But the most worrisome things are the “known unknowns”—potential outcomes scientists know could happen even if they don’t know exactly when or how.

It’s striking how little we know about them. Take the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation(AMOC) for example. This system of ocean currents is a key regulator(调节器) of Atlantic Ocean temperatures and, in turn, maintaining land temperatures, particularly in North America. If it collapsed, it would remake weather patterns and disturb “human activities”.

Another known unknown is the scale of sea-level rise. It is estimated that global average sea levels are expected to rise up to 1m (about 3 ft.) by 2100. But because the science of rapidly melting ice sheets remains difficult for scientists to understand, that number could also end up being 2m in the same time frame.

The more the planet warms, the more likely we are to experience unpredictable catastrophic changes. Climate events like these are referred to as tipping points: singular climatic events that can instantly reshape our understanding of climate systems. The new report also points out how the future becomes more difficult to predict as climate change continues. Impacts that scientists could forecast today will become more difficult to predict effectively when they are combined with other climate effects. Food insecurity, for example, could drive changes in agricultural practices, which would in turn affect the climate.

According to three decades of IPCC reports, it’s easy to see how the science has become more certain and more urgent. The IPCC is not expected to publish another report for at least six years. In that time, the science will evolve, as will the human impacts. By then we should know more about these known unknowns, too. We can only hope that the knowledge brings relief, not the alternative.

1. What do we know about the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation?

A．It is the biggest system of all the oceans.

B．It will still be working in the 22nd century.

C．It can adjust temperatures of its coasts.

D．It may raise sea-levels by 3 meters.

2. What can be inferred from paragraph 4?

A．Food security can have an impact on climate change.

B．Scientists know much about climate systems.

C．Combined climate effects can be predicted today.

D．Climate change makes no difference to our planet.

3. What’s the scientists’ attitude to the “known unknowns”?

A．Optimistic.	B．Indifferent.
C．Pessimistic.	D．Concerned.

4. Where is the passage probably taken from?

A．A medical lecture.	B．A science magazine.
C．A technology report.	D．A tour guidebook.

5 . Every tropical (热带的) forest looks different, particularly in the eyes of an ecologist, and Peter Ellis has been lucky enough to visit a fair few. One in particular holds a special place in his heart: the rain forests of Gabon. He first visited as a Peace Corps volunteer. “It completely changed the way I think about conservation and our relationship with nature,” he says.

These days, Ellis is the global director of natural climate solutions science at the US-based conservation organization — The Nature Conservancy, where he’s presently investigating the role that logging (cutting down trees) can play in tropical forests. Logging for forest conservation may sound contradictory, and it often is. But logging in a tropical forest looks different to the practices we might expect to see. “We might imagine it as a wasteland of stumps (树桩) after a clear cut,” says Ellis. Instead, only a few trees are actually removed. A sustainably logged forest is the one that remains a breathing, rich, tropical rain forest full of trees and wildlife, thus helping keep a large part of the biodiversity while ensuring that more damaging industries don’t take its place. It can also provide a means of basic livelihood for the local people.

The two years that Ellis spent in the Gabon rain forests opened his eyes to a different method of land management. “The locals took me out into the forest and taught me the names, usages and spiritual significance of all the trees and other plants in the forest,” he says. “Science is about exact, designed experiments, but it’s also about asking the right questions. And the people who live in those places and protect the ecosystem are more likely to help us learn what the right questions to ask are.”

Tropical forests are essential to our planet’s future as they support high levels of biodiversity and act as crucial carbon sinks (碳储存器). “We need to honour, and protect them so that they can do their job to help save us all” says Ellis.

1. What does Peter Ellis think of his first visit to the rain forests of Gabon?

A．It was poorly arranged.	B．It made little difference to his life.
C．It brought him far-reaching influence.	D．It was physically challenging for him.

2. What does Peter Ellis realize after his investigation in tropical rain forests?

A．Logging balances the rain forests.

B．Logging means a complete clear-out.

C．Logging brings huge profits to the locals.

D．Logging encourages the local damaging industries.

3. What does Ellis suggest scientists do in protecting the rain forests?

A．Conduct many experiments.	B．Consult experienced local people.
C．Get involved in designing procedures.	D．Spread more knowledge about wildlife.

4. What is the purpose of the last paragraph?

A．To stress the importance of biodiversity.

B．To introduce Ellis’s ideas about the future.

C．To provide further information about Ellis.

D．To call on people to preserve tropical rain forests.

6 . Evolution (进化) can perform extraordinary makeovers; today’s airborne songbirds evolved from the wingless, earthbound dinosaurs that wandered millions of years ago. But some organisms seem to be unchanged — in other words, escape natural selection. The coelacanth, a modern-day fish, is nearly identical to its410-million-year-old fossils.

Scientists have long wondered how these species do so. It has been assumed that natural selection keeps some species unchanged by selecting for moderate or average qualities (stabilizing selection) rather than selecting for more extreme qualities that would cause a species to change (directional selection).

But a study published in the National Academy of Sciences USA contradicts this idea, showing that evolution constantly favors different qualities in seemingly unchanging animals to improve short-term survival. In the long term, though, “all that evolution cancels out and leads to no change,” says the study’s lead author, James Stroud.

Stroud and his colleagues studied for lizard (蜥蜴) specios; all relatively unchanged for 20 million years. The researchers caught members of these populations every six months for three years. They measured each lizard’s head size, leg length, mass and height, as well as the size of its sticky toes (脚趾头), noting which individuals survived. Stroud expected to observe stabılızıng selection at work preserving moderate qualities. Instead he saw clearer evidence of directional selection: some lizards with unique characteristics, such as stickier toes, survived better.

“The study offers a good explanation for why we see what we think is stabiliring selection,” says Tadashi Fukami, an ecologist studying evolution at Stanford University. Many new qualities are evolving in the short term, but they don’t provide a crucial advantage over the long term. In other words, species staying unchanged may simply have found the best possible combination of qualities for lasting success in their environment. So what happens when the lizards’ environment changes more dramatically? To help answer this bigger question, Stroud is still making trips to visit the lizards.

1. Why does the author mention the “coelacanth fish” in paragraph 1?

A．To demonstrate the power of evolution.	B．To add evidence to natural selection.
C．To give an example of unchanged species.	D．To prove species' extraordinary makeovers.

2. What's the focus of paragraph 2?

A．Unsolved mysteries.	B．A common belief.
C．A sharp contrast.	D．Unique Characteristics.

3. How did Stroud conduct his research?

A．By analyzing lizard fossils.	B．By tracking research objects.
C．By illustrating stabilizing selection.	D．By categorizing qualities of lizards.

4. What will Stroud probably do in the future?

A．Make trips to visit lizard experts.	B．Summarize average features of lizards.
C．Reveal the best combinations of qualities.	D．Examine lizards under extreme conditions.

7 . 听下面一段独白，回答以下小题。
1. What will the weather be like later today?

A．Rainy.

B．Cloudy.

C．Windy.

2. What will the low temperature be this Saturday?

A．10℃.

B．18℃.

C．28℃.

3. What are people advised to do while boating on Sunday afternoon?

A．Take an umbrella.

B．Follow the forecast.

C．Put on more clothes.

8 . As the world’s oldest living organisms, trees have been our silent companions. Although they inspire a large quantity of fancy tales, the richness of what they say is beyond description.

The German forester Peter Wohlleben spent decades working and learning their secrets. Feelings are rarely applied to trees, but Wohlleben has done so without hesitation. According to Wohlleben, that humans do not speak the trees’ language does not mean they do not communicate. Trees are badly misunderstood even if they communicate with chemical and electrical signals.

Wohlleben claims that trees are creatures as human beings. In one of 50 cases, Wohlleben’s team sees the special friendships between trees, as they can distinguish between one individual and another. This means that trees do not treat all other trees the same. For instance, Wohlleben saw two old beeches standing next to each other. Compared to the usual case, each one growing its branches turned away from the other rather than toward each other. This kind of partnership is well-known to foresters. They know that such tree pairs are really like a human couple. If they chop one down, they need to chop down both because the other will die anyway.

Trees were also found to keep each other alive in different ways. They pass food to nearby sick trees and send signals to warn others of dangerous insects. In one of his investigations, Wohlleben also discovered a beech tree cut about 400 to 500 years ago. The trunk is still alive and was found with green chlorophyll (叶绿素) under the thick bark. Since it has no leaves to create sugar, the only explanation is that neighbouring trees have supported this tree for more than centuries.

The trees that suffered through drought were found to consume less water in the spring so that they will have more water available in the summer months. This implies that a tree can learn and remember a drought its whole life, acting on that memory by being more cautious about its water consumption.

1. What is the function of the first paragraph?

A．To arouse readers’ interest.	B．To introduce a topic.
C．To present a new discovery.	D．To demonstrate a heated debate.

2. According to Wohlleben’s research, what can we learn about trees?

A．Trees communicate in the same way as humans.

B．Trees can’t tell friends and enemies apart.

C．Trees are loyal to their partners.

D．Trees can keep each other alive within limited periods.

3. Why do some trees consume less water in the spring?

A．Because they have more water available in summer

B．Because they have suffered through drought before.

C．Because they don’t need so much water in the spring.

D．Because they can depend on the support from other trees.

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

A．Mysteries of trees are unfolded	B．Trees are our silent companions
C．Trees can adapt to the environment	D．Trees can form special relationships

9 . 阅读下面材料，根据其内容和所给段落开头语续写两段，使之构成一篇完整的短文。

It all began when my younger brother, Chris, and I went over to Aunt Barbara and Uncle Howard’s for Thanksgiving. My aunt and uncle live on a farm at the opposite end of town, and Chris and I love going there. The farm is situated in a valley surrounded by rolling hills. The fields are lush and green, with crops growing as far as the eye could see. The sound of chickens clucking and cows mooing fills the air. For my brother and me, it is a wonderland where we have a lot of fun.

We got up early and did the morning chores before we left. As kids, we talked happily about the feast along the way. Roasted turkey, cornbread stuffing, sweet potato, and cranberries were awaiting us. We were curious to know how a turkey could grow so big. When we finally got to my aunt and uncle’s, Chris and I went outside to see if Uncle Howard needed help with anything. He and Dad had decided to clean out the turkey coop (笼子) before dinner. Since Chris was only nine, he got the easier job of scrubbing out the watering cans. I was twelve, old enough to help load the wheelbarrow (手推车). Work was tough, but we still found time to ask Uncle Howard a lot of questions about turkeys. He must have been impressed, because when we were finished, he winked at my dad and handed me a turkey egg. “You kids put it under a setting hen,” he said, “and in twenty-five days, you’ll have a fine turkey!” Chris was so excited that he nearly dropped his egg on the way to the house. We both stuffed ourselves at dinner and then couldn’t wait for the grownups to finish talking so we could go home and tend to our egg.

Dad put the egg under an old hen, and every day Chris and I would check to see if it’d hatched yet. Twenty-five days seemed like forever.

Para. 1. Finally, on the twenty-sixth day, Chris and I walked into the coop after school.

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Para. 2. We waited nervously for the coming of the next Thanksgiving Day.

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10 . 听下面一段较长对话，回答以下小题。
1. What is the report about?

A．A movie.

B．A storm.

C．A village.

2. How many houses were damaged altogether?

A．36.

B．14.

C．200.

3. What were the farmer couple probably doing when hearing a loud noise?

A．Looking for their children.

B．Repairing their house.

C．Preparing breakfast.

4. What was the old woman’s first reaction when her house began shaking?

A．Rushing out with her grandchildren.

B．Taking something out.

C．Calling her husband.