1 . A method to transform a commonly thrown-away plastic to a resin (树脂) used in 3D printing could allow for making better use of plastic waste. A team of Washington State University researchers developed a simple and efficient way to transform polylactic acid (PLA)(聚乳酸), a bio-based plastic used in products such as filament, plastic silverware and food packaging to a high-quality resin.
“We found a way to immediately turn this into something that’s stronger and better, and we hope that will provide people the inspiration to upcycle this stuff instead of just throw it away,” said Yu-Chung Chang, a postdoctoral researcher in the WSU School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering and a co-corresponding author on the work. “We made stronger materials just straight out of trash. We believe this could be a great opportunity.”
Although it’s bio-based, PLA, which is categorized as a number 7 plastic, doesn’t break down easily. It can float in fresh or salt water for a year without degrading (降解). It is also rarely recycled because like many plastics, when it’s melted down and re-formed, it doesn’t perform as well as the original version and becomes less valuable.
“It’s biodegradable and compostable, but once you look into it, it turns out that it can take up to 100 years for it to rot away in a landfill,” Chang said. “In reality, it still creates a lot of pollution. We want to make sure that when we do start producing PLA on the milliontons scale, we will know how to deal with it.”
While the researchers focused on PLA for the study, they hope to apply the work to poly-ethylene terephthalate (PET) (涤纶树脂), which is more common than PLA and has a similar chemical structure and presents a bigger waste problem. They have filed a temporary patent and are working to further optimize (优化) the process. The researchers are also looking into other applications for the upcycling method.
1. What can the method help do according to paragraph 1?| A．Solve financial crisis. | B．Change waste into wealth. |
| C．Control plastic production. | D．Determine 3D printing skills. |
| A．Promising. | B．Unrealistic. | C．Imaginable. | D．Reliable. |
| A．Invaluable to recycle. | B．Easy to deal with. |
| C．Hard to break down. | D．Difficult to sort out. |
| A．Applications for an upcylcing method. |
| B．A better method to break down plastic. |
| C．3D printing with newly found materials. |
| D．A new way to turn plastic into valuable products. |
2 . Despite more than a month of efforts to rescue Tenora, a young green sea turtle, pollution-related issues made it difficult to save her. Tenora was finally put to death to reduce her suffering.
Tenora was brought in by Rainbow Reef Dive Center staff and customers on October 3, 2020.The rescue team was led by PADI (Professional Association of Diving Instructors)Instructor Josh Phillips who had made it his “personal mission” to help Tenora after seeing her with a softball-sized tumor (肿瘤) out on the reefs (暗礁). He connected with the Turtle Hospital, a nonprofit in the Florida Keys for permission and guidance about how to rescue her.
After over a month of searching and failed attempts, Phillips was finally able to rescue her on a rainy Saturday. Shelby Ferguson of the Turtle Hospital met the boat at the dock to bring Tenora in for evaluation and care. Ferguson explained that green see turtles are the species most easily affected by the virus that causes fibropapilloma (FP) tumors like the one Tenora had. Generally, she said, the more polluted the water, the more turtles present with FP tumors.
In Hawaii, nitrogen ( 氯) runoff from pineapple farms increases the disease incidence in green sea turtles near the islands, explained Bette Zirkelbach, manager at the Turtle Hospital. Scientists there first made the link between poor water quality and increased FP tumors in green sea turtles. The Turtle Hospital is building on this knowledge by leading an in-water scientific study on sea turtle health in the Florida Keys for the next three years, she added.
While external masses can be surgically removed, there is currently no treatment for internal FP tumors in sea turtles, so animals like Tenora are humanely put to death to reduce their suffering, Zirkelbach said.
Phillips reflected on Tenora’s loss, saying, “I think it is terrible to consider that this is mostly caused by humans.” He urged everyone, “Wake up. Do better. We’re all in this together, and if we don’t try to change how we live our lives, things aren’t going to get any better. This is our chance lo do something today for the next generation.”
1. How did Phillip react while seeing Tenora for the first time?| A．He almost ignored her condition. | B．He brought her to the Turtle Hospital. |
| C．He immediately knew she needed help. | D．He decided to start a nonprofit for the species. |
| A．They have already become endangered. | B．They are easily threatened by polluted water. |
| C．It is still unclear how they get FP tumors. | D．It is rare to see they have internal FP tumors. |
| A．To draw attention to green sea turtles. | B．To describe ways of protecting the earth. |
| C．To call for action to help the environment. | D．To educate the next generation in responsibility. |
| A．A Diver Helps Save a Green Sea Turtle |
| B．Pollution Worldwide Is Putting Species in Danger |
| C．Rescue Green Sea Turtle Is Put to Death Due to Tumor |
| D．Researchers Are Looking for Ways to Rescue Green Sea Turtles |
3 . Nine milu deer babies were born in Daqing Mountain National Nature Reserve in April, after 27 deer were relocated in September from two reserves in Nanhaizi, Beijing, and Dafeng, Jiangsu Province.
The milu deer have been brought back from the edge of complete extinction in China since the mid-1980s. The National Forestry and Grassland Administration launched the ambitious conservation program in 2019 to expand the habitat of the species. Experts came to the Daqing nature reserve for inspection, and an area with plenty of food and water was chosen to release (放养) the deer.
For Ma, who works at the Daqing Mountain National Nature Reserve’s management station, it is a new responsibility, but he remains undiscouraged by challenges. He consults experts to understand the species better. According to his observations, the two groups of animals from Nanhaizi and Dafeng are getting along well, and even integrating into one close community. Ma keeps a record of the reserve’s ecological conditions. He has noticed that the plant cover has increased, thanks to the national protection policy and plenty of rainfall in recent years.
“The milu originally lived in the wetlands along the Yellow River and the Yangtze River. This is the first time they have been released in a cold mountainous region, where the winter temperature can drop to -30℃,” says Khorintavan, head of the nature reserve. “The staff had built winter shelters, but the deer never went there. The milu deer have a thick coat, which keeps them warm.” he adds. “The task ahead is to see how well the babies adapt to the new environment.”
The gold and iron mines in the mountains were shut down long ago. Locals are aware of the importance of wildlife conservation, which has enhanced the confidence of experts.
“The birth of babies means that the Daqing Mountain National Nature Reserve is a suitable habitat for the milu deer. It is a reference for us to better develop more potential habitats,” says Guo Qingyun, associate research fellow at the Beijing Milu Ecological Research Center in Nanhaizi.
1. What can be known about the two different deer groups?| A．They may combine to give birth to a baby. |
| B．They struggle between each other for territories. |
| C．They live in separate areas in the nature reserve. |
| D．They were released in the wetlands along rivers. |
| A．The leafy trees. | B．Their thick hair. |
| C．The rich fat. | D．The winter shelters. |
| A．Critical. | B．Objective. | C．Doubtful. | D．Positive. |
| A．Wildlife Conservation | B．New Hope for Milu Dear |
| C．Newly built Nature Reserve | D．Healthy Growth of Baby Deer |
4 . For breeding (繁殖) birds, timing is everything. Most species have just a narrow window to get the food they need to feed chicks. Now, after analyzing data that span from 1975 to 2017, a science team suggests that as the climate warms, birds are not only breeding earlier, but their breeding windows are also narrowed—some by as many as 4 to 5 days.
On average, the beginnings and ends of the breeding periods are occurring earlier in the year. However, the ends are shifting back faster than the beginnings, resulting in an average breeding window that is 1.7 days shorter in 2017 than it was in 1975. During that same period, Finland’s average temperature rose by 0.8℃, suggesting many bird species are actively responding to changing temperatures, Hällfors, who led the team, says.
“It’s good for the species if it’s able to follow the optimum conditions as the climate changes,” she says. However, the shorter breeding windows mean more birds are breeding earlier in the season—a risky time for chicks’ survival, especially if the weather turns suddenly cold. In addition, because many late-season species are shifting their breeding windows up, that could mean more competition for food and nesting sites early on, leaving some chicks to go hungry.
Lucyna Halupka, an ecologist at the University of Wroclaw, calls the study “a very important paper” because it’s one of the few ways to measure the breeding period duration. For 2 decades, she says, many scientists studying birds and climate change have looked only at the earliest, median (中间的), or mean laying dates for specific groups of birds. However, she reminds that because the study is limited to Finland, the findings may not apply universally; future studies should examine how breeding seasons move in other regions where the effect of climate change is different. They should also try to determine how shifting breeding windows affect population sizes, she says.
1. What did the scientists find?| A．The weather in Finland becomes warmer. |
| B．It is becoming more difficult for birds to breed. |
| C．The birds in Finland spend fewer days breeding. |
| D．There isn’t enough food for some chicks in Finland. |
| A．Exact. | B．Proper. | C．Changeable. | D．Dangerous. |
| A．It is carried out in a different way. |
| B．It is helpful for people to protect the birds. |
| C．It opens a window for people to learn about these birds. |
| D．It demonstrates the living situation of the birds on earth. |
| A．Scientists Revealed the Secrets of Birds’ Breeding |
| B．Scientists Take Steps to Protect the Birds in the Wild |
| C．Birds Play a Role in Fighting Against Global Warming |
| D．Birds’ Breeding Windows Are Affected by Global Warming |
5 . Researchers have discovered a unique group of polar bears who’ve survived in the absence of sea ice: by hunting from the ice that breaks off glaciers (冰川). The bears live in southeast Greenland and are a genetically(基因地) distinct subpopulation, which suggests they’ve been separated from other polar bears for around 200 years, according to a paper published this week in Science.
“The findings show us how some polar bears might survive under climate change. but I don’t think glacier habitat is going to support huge numbers of polar bears,” said Kristin Laidre, a polar research scientist at the University of Washington. “There’s just not enough of it. We still expect to see large declines in polar bears across the Arctic under climate change.”
When temporary ice sheets form on the ocean during each fall’s freeze, the bears walk across it in search of food, often by sitting next to gaps in the ice and waiting for seals to come up for air. When the ice melts (融化) in spring, polar bears typically survive between 100 and 180 days without food until the ice forms again. As temperatures rise, however, that period is becoming longer, which is harming the bears and pushing them toward starvation. The bears living in southeast Greenland go even longer without sea ice—around 250 days. But they’ve been able to continue bunting during that period by using large pieces of ice that break off from glaciers into the water.
There are roughly 26, 000 polar bears remaining across the globe. Though the southeast Greenland bears have adapted to surviving in their surroundings, rising temperatures may ultimately cause their glacial ice to shrink, too. As Steve Armstrup, a scientist with Polar Bears International says, the study “is not some kind of effective rescue for polar bears”. While the southeast Greenland bears are able to hunt through glacial ice today, he says, “In the future, that will change unless we arrest the rise of global greenhouse gases.”
1. What do we know about the newly- found polar bears?| A．They exist in large numbers. | B．They have genetically changed. |
| C．They do better in hunting seals. | D．They survive longer without food. |
| A．Keeping global warming under control. |
| B．Moving many polar bears south. |
| C．Preventing glacial ice breaking. |
| D．Finding new habitats for polar bears. |
| A．Polar Bears Find New Opportunities |
| B．Polar Bears Suffer From Lack of Ice |
| C．Polar Bears Survive in Iceless Regions |
| D．Polar Bears Decline With Climate Change |
| A．Lifestyle. | B．Health. | C．Travel. | D．Environment. |
6 . Eleven years ago, Ms. Liivand moved to Miami, Florida, where she continued swimming in the ocean. In one training session, she nearly wound up swallowing (吞) some plastic that was floating in the sea.
That experience made her think of all the sea animals facing similar pollution every day. She decided she wanted to work to make people more aware of plastic pollution.
She began swimming with a special single swimming fin attached to both of her feet. This rubbery “monofin” (单鱼鳍) allows her to swim by kicking both of her legs together. “Swimming without using my arms is similar to how dolphins swim,” says Ms. Liivand. She believes that swimming with a monofin “sends a bigger message”.
Ms. Liivand first set the world record for swimming with a monofin in 2019 off the coast of California. In 2020, she broke the record again in Miami, Florida. A year later, she set a new Guinness World Record again in Florida. For the last year, Ms. Livand has been getting up at 4 every day, putting on her monofin, and going swimming. To help improve her strength, she sometimes even pulled other people in the water.
On May 7, Ms. Liivand broke the record once more, this time swimming the length of a full marathon. It took her 11 hours and 54 seconds to swim 26. 2 miles. The water was rough, and she ran into a few problems, but she didn’t stop. “I got hurt by jellyfish,” she said, “And kept telling myself that it was not the time to cry.”
To keep her energy up, a friend followed her in a kayak (皮艇) and gave her food and water from time to time. Along the way, Ms. Liivand picked up all the trash she found and put it in the kayak. By the end of her marathon, the kayak held three bags full of trash.
1. What inspired Ms. Liivand to swim with a monofin?| A．Her own experience. | B．Her love for dolphins. |
| C．The increasing water pollution. | D．The sight of painful sea animals. |
| A．Generous. | B．Determined. | C．Intelligent. | D．Tolerant. |
| A．She intended to be a top swimmer. |
| B．She committed herself to protecting the sea. |
| C．She got world recognition for sea protection. |
| D．She proved to be an absolute perfectionist. |
| A．She got some treatment. | B．She had a break in the kayak. |
| C．She pulled others in the water. | D．She picked up rubbish in the sea. |
7 . Soot (煤) pollution is speeding up climate-driven melting in Antarctica, a new study suggests, raising questions about how to protect the delicate continent from the increasing number of humans who want to visit.
“It really makes us question, is our presence really needed?” says Alia Khan, one of the authors of the new study. “We have quite a large black carbon footprint in Antarctica, which is enhancing snow and ice melt.”
Black carbon is the leftover thing from burning plants or fossil fuels. Soot in Antarctica comes primarily from waste gases of cruise ships (游轮), vehicles and airplanes, although some pollution travels on the wind from other parts of the globe. The dark particles (微粒) coat white snow and absorb heat from the sun the way a black T-shirt does on a warm day. The blanket of dark bits speeds up melting that was already happening more quickly because of global warming.
When snow and ice are uncovered, they reflect an enormous amount of sunlight before it can turn into heat. “These are the mirrors on our planet,” says Sonia Nagorski, a scientist at the University of Alaska Southeast. “When those mirrors are covered in a film of dark bits, they don’t send back that much light and heat. That means more heat is trapped on Earth, speeding up melting and contributing to global warming.”
As a scientist who personally visits Antarctica every year, Khan says she is troubled by her own research results. On the one hand, she goes to Antarctica to collect crucial data about how quickly the snow and ice there are disappearing. “But then when we come to conclusions like this it really does make us think twice about how frequently we need to visit the continent,” she says, “and what kind of regulations should be placed on tourism as well.” That could mean requiring that cruise ships and vehicles be electric, for example, or limiting the number of visitors each year.
1. What is Khan’s attitude towards human actions in Antarctica according to paragraph 2?| A．Angry and abusive. | B．Cold and uninterested. |
| C．Doubtful and anxious. | D．Admiring and delighted. |
| A．The quick melting of ice and snow. | B．The emission from virous transport. |
| C．The remaining parts of burning plants. | D．The floating gases from other continents. |
| A．The covered ice is less reflective. |
| B．The melting speed of ice is slower than before. |
| C．The dark blanket serves as a big mirror. |
| D．The sunlight gets increasingly stronger recently. |
| A．What made our planet so polluted? | B．Who is to blame for air pollution? |
| C．Can electric vehicles save tourism? | D．Are we welcome to the South Pole? |
8 . At least three people were possibly dead after a powerful earthquake. Others were injured from falling structures and homes, rural roads and
Regina Rave,who is a geologist, was meeting with two
About 10,000 people live in and around his town, which is
People were feeling
| A．damaged | B．surrounded | C．hidden | D．buried |
| A．foresee | B．assess | C．recognize | D．assume |
| A．roommates | B．schoolmates | C．colleagues | D．parents |
| A．covered | B．rose | C．ceased | D．struck |
| A．ended up | B．came out | C．carried on | D．resulted from |
| A．squeezed | B．crashed | C．flashed | D．pulled |
| A．turn | B．knock | C．flow | D．blow |
| A．jumping | B．hanging | C．floating | D．shaking |
| A．located | B．listed | C．considered | D．posed |
| A．simple | B．common | C．popular | D．awkward |
| A．puzzled | B．tired | C．frightened | D．inspired |
| A．getting | B．breaking | C．cutting | D．sorting |
| A．descriptions | B．instructions | C．explanations | D．introductions |
| A．changes | B．injuries | C．beats | D．attacks |
| A．handled | B．improved | C．affected | D．removed |
9 . A team led by researchers from the UK examined waterbird data from 1506 protected areas and analyzed more than 27, 000 bird populations across the world. They compared waterbird populations before and after the establishment of protected areas and also compared trends of similar populations within and outside of protected areas.
“Our study shows that, while many protected areas are working well, many others are failing to have a positive effect, ” lead author Hannah Wauchope says in a statement. “In the majority of places we looked, bird populations were stable or were increasing, but some of them weren’t doing any better than in unprotected areas, “ she adds. “That’s disappointing, but not surprising. There seems to be the disconnection between people talking about how much land is protected and whether those areas are actually doing anything positive. ”
This study comes ahead of a United Nations meeting in China to discuss biodiversity goals for the next decade. Several countries have already committed to protecting 30 percent of the planet by 2030, yet the researchers say this alone does not necessarily guarantee positive out- comes for species.
“An obsession(迷恋)with reaching a certain area-based target-such as 30 percent by 2030-without focus on managing existing protected areas appropriately will achieve little, ” co-author Julia Jones says. “When world leaders gather in China later this year to set targets for the next decade, I really hope to see a change of their focus, rather than simply saying how much surface area they are going to protect. ”
According to Thomas Brooks, chief scientist at the International Union for Conservation of Nature, who was not involved in the study, waterbirds are a good example of a group facing the consequences of human behaviors that cause biodiversity loss. These animals respond quickly to changes in site quality and are broadly distributed, clearly reflecting the impact of protected areas.
1. What can be learned about protected areas from the study?| A．They have a negative effect on wildlife. |
| B．Their bird populations are increasing. |
| C．Their problems went unnoticed at all. |
| D．They don’t always help waterbirds. |
| A．Expanding protected areas. |
| B．Organizing the meeting. |
| C．Talking about biodiversity. |
| D．Making a big promise. |
| A．Try to set targets for the next ten years. |
| B．Focus on the effectiveness of protected areas. |
| C．Face the consequences of human behaviors. |
| D．Have a deep understanding of biodiversity. |
| A．Pioneering. | B．Disappointing. |
| C．Convincing. | D．Unsatisfying. |
10 . These days, there’s a green version of just about everything. There are cars that run on electricity and alternative fuels, houses that are powered by solar energy and wind farms seemingly popping up on every open space from California to coastal Japan. Even drones (无人机) ate getting in on the action. The unmanned air vehicles are also being put to environmental uses around the globe.
The eye in the sky that they provide helps researchers better understand what’s going on with the natural world in which we live. For environmentalists and earth scientists, the flying machines can be sent way up in the air to record sweeping footage of a large area to track the impact of things like climate change, migration and the acts of cutting down and burning forest trees, which can be done without having to buy a helicopter, rent a plane or tape a video camera to a bird.
Sure, there’s plenty of satellite footage already out there, but drones let researchers accurately position the data set that they want to get a quicker, closer look at the area that they’re looking to monitor. In 2013, for example, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) sent a drone into the Turrialba Volcano in Costa Rica to gather data about its emissions. The temperature, ash height and gas concentration information collected during the mission helped earth scientists determine which way the volcanic and potentially poisonous gas erupting from the volcano was moving and take steps to limit its environmental impact.
Similarly, Arctic researchers are using drones to help study temperature change and the melting of glaciers. They use drones equipped with infrared (红外线的) cameras to sweep into places that they may otherwise not be able to reach to monitor and collect data on the melting ice. The same flying machines may also eventually be used to transport other data collection tools into the wild.
1. How does the author lead in the topic of the text?| A．By giving examples. | B．By listing data. |
| C．By drawing a distinction. | D．By making assumptions. |
| A．The high safety. |
| B．The huge space. |
| C．The recovery capability after damage. |
| D．The ability to collect data at a high altitude. |
| A．Their production steps. |
| B．Their practical functions. |
| C．Their potential impacts on the atmosphere. |
| D．Their data set for motoring the environment. |
| A．Drones: Poisonous | B．Drones: Eco-friendly |
| C．Drones: Limited | D．Drones: Adaptable |
