1 . Many wildlife populations around the world are falling in size. The speed and scale of these losses have scientists worried. In less than 50 years, the number of wild animals has dropped by about two-thirds. That’s the finding of a new report.
To get the size of these populations can be hard. Yet scientists need such numbers to know how the Earth’s species (物种) has been changing and understand how people may be influencing the number of animals.
A group of scientists recently set out to get those numbers. To do that, they worked with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) based in Switzerland, and the Zoological Society of London in England. The team studied more than 38,000 populations of animals. These included more than 5,000 species. The new study looked for changes in the population size of all groups between 1970 and 2018.
The study found that the population has dropped by 69 percent. “It tells us that we need to do something about falling populations around the world,” says Rebecca Shaw, a scientist at the WWF’s office in New York City. The team published (发布) its finding in October. Its numbers were part of WWF’s Living Planet Report.
WWF and the Zoological Society of London work to protect animals and nature. Every two years they publish a Living Planet Report on the influences that people are having on wildlife. Scientists from the two groups collected data on animal populations. They studied how the size of each population changed over time.
“Looking at changes in population size can show us species that are likely to face extinction (灭绝),” explains Brian McGill, an author of the new report. “The species in this study haven’t gone extinct—at least, not yet. So, there is still time for humans to take action and turn things around.”
1. Why did the scientists do the research?| A．To know the changes in the number of wildlife. |
| B．To. offer wild animals better living conditions. |
| C．To tell people to stop raising animals at the zoo. |
| D．To find ways to get over difficulties humans face. |
| A．Introduce an international group. |
| B．Add some background information. |
| C．Come up with new ideas about wildlife. |
| D．Praise the researchers for their courage. |
| A．We can’t get control of wildlife populations. |
| B．We can’t stop the species going extinct. |
| C．It’s not easy to make a big difference. |
| D．It’s not too late to save wildlife. |
| A．A Study Finds Big Drop in Animal Populations |
| B．A Report Shows the Exact Number of Wildlife |
| C．WWF Plays a Key Role in Protecting Animals |
| D．Many Living Species Will Die out Forever |
2 . Gardeners who use pesticides (杀虫剂) are contributing to the decreasing population of British songbirds, a study suggests. Researchers have advocated stopping using poisonous chemicals in gardens in order to reduce the loss of birds and adopt wildlife-friendly practices instead. The results of the University of Sussex study, which researchers call the first of its kind, were published in the journal Science of the Total Environment.
The study, which examined information on pesticide use and garden management from 615 garden owners in Britain, found 32 percent of gardens used pesticides, and the number of house sparrows was 25% lower when glyphosate-based herbicides was used regularly. Slug pellets (鼻涕虫杀虫剂) also seemed to have an impact on bird sightings; in gardens where Slug pellets were used, house sparrow numbers were down by almost 40%.
Prof. Dave Goulson, of the school of life sciences at the University of Sussex, said, “The UK has 22 million gardens, which collectively could be a fantastic shelter for wildlife, but not if they are overly tidy and sprayed with poisons. We just don’t need pesticides in our gardens. Many towns around the world are now pesticide free. We should simply ban the use of these poisons in cities, following the example of France.” The Royal Horticultural Society, the UK’s leading gardening charity, said the use of pesticides and herbicides should be avoided if possible and they should only be used, if ever, in small and targeted applications.
The research also found that those who adopted wildlife-friendly practices such as planting native bushes and flowers, or digging a wildlife pond, saw more birds than those who did not. Cannelle Tassin de Montaigu, a PhD researcher within the school of life sciences and an author of the study, said, “It’s encouraging to find that simple measures, such as planting native bushes and trees and creating a pond, together with avoiding the use of pesticides, really make a measurable difference to the number of birds you will see in your garden.”
1. Why are the data mentioned in Paragraph 2?| A．To help gardeners choose the proper pesticides. |
| B．To compare the effects of two kinds of pesticides. |
| C．To reveal the serious influence of pesticides on birds. |
| D．To inform readers of the importance of house sparrows. |
| A．Pesticides should be banned from use all over the UK. |
| B．France has already made city regions pesticide free. |
| C．The ideal places for wildlife in the UK are extremely tidy gardens. |
| D．The gardens in the UK are so tidy that pesticides are not needed. |
| A．Other methods to keep gardens tidy. |
| B．Gardeners’ attitudes towards the experiment. |
| C．Other researchers’ interest in the experiment. |
| D．Additional ways to increase the number of birds. |
| A．Environment. | B．Health. | C．Transport. | D．Economics. |
3 . A Danish company named Too Good To Go has been working to combat food waste in the United States and around the world. In the U. S., more than a third of food produced goes uneaten, contributing to environmental issues. Too Good To Go addresses this problem by partnering with restaurants to sell their end-of-day leftovers at discounts, typically ranging from 60% to 80% off.
The app of the same name, which started in Denmark in 2015, has expanded to 17 countries and multiple U. S. cities, including New York, Phoenix, and Seattle, with Los Angeles proving to be one of its most successful markets. The company is now looking to expand its footprint in the southeast.
While the cost savings for customers and businesses are significant, the primary focus of Too Good To Go is reducing food waste, which is a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. The app allows users to track their environmental impact by displaying the electricity and carbon emissions prevented through their purchases. To date, the app claims to have saved over 250 million meals, making a substantial impact.
Food waste contributes to climate change in several ways, including the emission of methane gas from rotting food in landfills, the resources used to grow the food, and the energy expended in food transportation and preparation. Too Good To Go estimates that its efforts are equal to taking about 135, 000 cars off the road for a year, and it plays a crucial role in addressing the approximately 6% of total greenhouse gas emissions caused by food loss and waste in the U. S.
Alexandria Coari, the vice president of food waste nonprofit ReFED, recognizes the potential of apps like Too Good To Go. She believes that they have the capacity to reduce the carbon emissions equal to 870, 000 cars in a year, positioning them as one of the top 10 solutions to combating food waste and climate change.
While the app has been successful in the restaurant industry, its expansion into grocery stores and manufacturing is still a work in progress.
1. What do we know about the app Too Good To Go?| A．It primarily operates in Los Angeles. |
| B．It has saved over 250 million dollars so far. |
| C．It focuses on fighting against food waste. |
| D．It helps sell fresh groceries at full price. |
| A．To show the environmental impact of the app. |
| B．To highlight the cost savings for customers. |
| C．To emphasize the company’s expansion plans. |
| D．To illustrate the app’s success in reducing resources. |
| A．Skeptical | B．Negative. | C．Neutral. | D．Supportive. |
| A．The history of food waste reduction efforts. |
| B．Challenges Too Good To Go’s expansion faces. |
| C．The impact of climate change on the food industry. |
| D．Strategies for reducing food waste in grocery stores. |
4 . Dryland ecosystems cover about 40% of land on earth and support more than 2 billion people, and, once degraded, they are difficult to restore. One technique for restoring dryland ecosystems with native plants — direct seeding — is promising, but has many disadvantages.
“In degraded drylands only around 10% of directly sown seeds actually establish themselves,” says Frederick Dadzie, PhD candidate at UNSW. “And given that native seeds are expensive and often in low supply, this is full of problems.”
Since one of the potential issues of degraded drylands is an absence of native microorganisms(微生物)in the soil, the research team acquired native microorganisms from undisturbed sites and grew them. They then introduced them to soil that contained the seeds of native plants and planted them in degraded drylands.
They found that microorganisms were very beneficial for getting the plants established. especially at the earlier stages when the seeds were growing to seedlings(树苗). After that, the relationship was less clear.
“That microorganisms improve germination(发芽)in degraded habitats is good news for ecosystem restoration," says Mr. Dadzie. “And what’s better: this is a simple, two-step process that can be applied to restoring dryland ecosystems. First, combining the seeds and soil into pellets(小球), and second, providing those pellets with the microorganisms.”
“Not only are drylands valuable as food bowls for vast numbers of people, but they also provide other services,” says Mr. Dadzie. “Due to the vastness of drylands, they have the highest potential to absorb atmospheric carbon and therefore contribute substantially to climate change.”
While this study was conducted at a field site, the seedlings were provided with both shade and water. In the future, similar experiments should be repeated but under more naturalized conditions with environmentally determined sun and rain.
1. What does the underlined word “degraded” in Paragraph I mean?| A．Changed. | B．Improved. | C．Worsened. | D．Simplified. |
| A．It is simple and promising. | B．It is costly but practical. |
| C．It is challenging but effective. | D．It is unproven and questionable. |
| A．Its method is out of date. |
| B．It was conducted in the laboratory. |
| C．Further study in naturalized conditions is necessary. |
| D．One type of native plant was involved in the whole process. |
| A．The solution to climate change lies in drylands |
| B．Microorganisms are the key to ecosystem restoration |
| C．Scientists have improved the direct seeding technique |
| D．Local microorganisms help native seeds take root in drylands |
5 . As vulnerable (易受伤害的) states suffer, US is blamed for not donating its required money for the Green Climate Fund, or GCF.
In Kenya’s countryside, people are facing one of the most serious droughts in memory. Some regions have been without rain for two years, and more than half the crops and most of the farm animals have died. Up to 4 million people may require food aid in the coming months.
Kenya isn’t the only country to suffer the fallout from climate change in recent years. Countries least responsible for the climate crisis are most vulnerable to its effects. In South Asia, Bangladesh already spends $2 billion each year on climate-related damage, according to a report from the International Institute for Environment and Development. A dozen island nations are at risk of disappearing entirely.
The international community has realized the urgency. In 2010, the United Nations created an institution, the Green Climate Fund, or GCF, to support developing countries that aren’t historically responsible for causing the climate crisis to cut their emissions (排放物) and deal with climate impacts.
However, the UN climate fund now has warned that carbon-cutting projects in developing countries would have to be cut without more money coming in.
Campaigners have blamed the United States—one of the GCF’s founders—for the potential cuts. “If the GCF needs to limit its operations in the near future due to lack of funding, it’s hard to find any single country more at fault than the US,” Action Aid’s policy director Brandon Wu told Climate Home News.
In 2014, then-US president Barack Obama promised the GCF $3 billion but gave only $1 billion before the end of his term. His successor, Donald Trump, didn’t give any money to the fund and, so far, neither has President Joe Biden. The US owe s the fund $ 2 billion.
Last year, 46 climate and green groups signed a letter that urged the White House to give the $2 billion to the GCF. The climate and green groups also asked the administration to commit an additional $6 billion to bring the US in step with other donor countries.
In 2019,1 3 countries—mostly in Europe but including South Korea and New Zealand—announced a doubling or more of their contributions to the GCF to help fun d green projects for 2020-23.
1. Why is the situation in Kenya mentioned in the second paragraph?| A．To tell us the impact of climate change. |
| B．To tell us the living conditions in Kenya, |
| C．To tell us how Kenya deals with climate change. |
| D．To tell us how the crops and the farm animals have died. |
| A．Disease. | B．Poverty. | C．Mistake. | D．Consequence. |
| A．$3 billion. | B．$ 6 billion. | C．$8 billion. | D．$9 billion. |
| A．UN creates Green Climate Fund | B．GCF needs to limit its operations |
| C．GCF to help fund green projects | D．UN climate fund starved of cash |
6 . After a magnitude 6.8 earthquake hit Luding county in Southwest China’s Sichuan province on Monday, rescuers from across the province have rushed to the hardest-hit areas to help affected local people.
During the search and rescue operations, the photo of a young rescuer holding a 2-month old baby in his arms has pulled the heartstrings of many people. Zhang Zili and fellow members from the Forest Fire Brigade of Aba Tibetan and Qiang autonomous prefecture (自治区) discovered the baby and her grandmother trapped at their home in a village on Tuesday. The rescuers have carried the baby, who suffered as light head injury, and his grandma to safety. The baby’s father is also a firefighter who was participating in rescue operations after the quake hit the area. His mother and grandfather were seriously injured and sent to hospital.
The photo of Zhang holding the baby moved many people. Zhang was lovingly referred to as “brother Wen chuan” for the characters of “Wenchuan” on his armband, which indicates that he is from the Wenchuan squadron (中队) of the Aba forest fire brigade.
The 20-year-old is a native of Maoxian county, which is close to Wenchuan county, the epicenter(震中) of a 7.8-magnitude earthquake that killed more than 69, 000 people in 2008. 14 years ago, Zhang witnessed the devastating earthquake, which brought down his family’s house. He and his family lived in a temporary, shelter setup at a school playground. “I remembered the tent we lived in was dark, and I was scared,” Zhang said. Here called how emergency supplies were air-dropped from” helicopters and how soldiers of the People’s Liberation Army and rescuers helped locals get over the difficulties. “Then a uncle of the PLA came to me. He taught me songs to sing and played with me. He kept saying, “Don’t be afraid. We are here now.” The words left a deep impression on the boy’s heart.
This year, when he learnt that the local forest fire brigade was recruiting (招聘) firefighters, he did not hesitate to join it. Since then, in less than four months, he has taken part in several forest firefighting missions and rescue operations of the latest earthquake.
1. Who was injured slightly in the family during the earthquake according to the second paragraph?| A．The baby’s father. | B．The baby’s mother. |
| C．The baby’s grandpa. | D．The 2-month-old baby. |
| A．Rather usual. | B．Quite frequent. |
| C．Extremely harmful. | D．Very weak. |
| A．By treating his injuries. | B．By calming and comforting him. |
| C．By taking him to safety. | D．By offering him some food. |
| A．14 years on, rescuer passes on love and kindness |
| B．A magnitude 6.8 earthquake hit Luding county in Sichuan |
| C．Volunteers rush to Luding county to help affected people |
| D．20-year-oldman takes part in rescue operations in Luding |
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。
The example of a foreign teacher
The local government issued
“I was
“It was great to see such an outpouring of help in the extreme heat,” he said,
Looking back, Frank was glad enough to have made a significant
8 . To solve a big environmental problem, chemists have been thinking small. Really small: a new mini robot with the purpose of helping clean up tiny plastic that pollutes water across the world.
The new microrobots, each of which is no bigger than the tip of a pencil, are magnetic(有磁性的)and shaped like four-pointed stars. When the sunlight shines on them, they can swim in a direction; when the sunlight disappears, they stop moving. Finding a piece of plastic, they hold onto it, produce chemical reactions and start to break it down.
The project is led by chemist Martin Pumera, a researcher who also studies ways to build microrobots at the Czech University of Chemistry and Technology in Prague. About ten years ago, he noticed the microplastic was everywhere, from the bottom of the ocean to the ice on the top of mountains. It even turned up in drinking water, both bottled and tap water. Just think about how much plastic you meet every day. It doesn’t easily degrade ( 降 解 ) which is a big problem. Therefore, Pumera chose to focus on the problem of water pollution caused by microplastic.
The researchers tested the microrobots on four types of plastic in the lab. After a week, all four began degrading, losing around 3 percent of their weight, which showed the microrobots were breaking the plastic down. The robots also turned the plastic’s smooth surface into the rough one. Finally, the scientists showed that magnets could attract the microrobots at the end of the test - along with the plastic waste.
In fact, Pumera says they still have a long way to go. These microrobots are unlikely to succeed in degrading all types of plastic. They’ll also need a lot of testing to show that they’re safe in open waterways, such as at sea. But he thinks that these challenges can be overcome. Someday, the microrobots will play a big role in a worldwide cleanup effort.
1. What can be learned about the new microrobot?| A．It is in the shape of a ball. | B．It is as small as a pencil. |
| C．It is driven by sunlight. | D．It uses physical reactions. |
| A．The microplastic pollution. | B．The ice on the mountains. |
| C．The need for drinking water. | D．The development of ocean resources. |
| A．Sorting it into four types. | B．Making its surface smooth. |
| C．Taking in it completely. | D．Breaking it down to some degree. |
| A．Doubtful. | B．Confident. | C．Regretful. | D．Uncertain. |
9 . It's just past 7 a.m.on a February morning in Maya Bay, several weeks after authorities reopened what is one of Thailand's most popular tourist attractions to the world for the first time since June 2018 following a massive restoration program.
In the hours to follow, a slow but steady flow of tourists becomes in great numbers as dozens of tourists make their way to the white﹣sand beach, phones at the ready as they take photos. Swimming is not allowed, though visitors can take a few steps in. It's disappointing, but a huge improvement over what visitors once experienced here.
Maya Bay is located in a Thailand's national park.The destination was made famous by the 2000 film The Beach，starring Leonardo DiCaprio.As the film's popularity grew，so did tourists' desire to visit the location where much of it was shot —Maya Bay.
"Around 40 years ago, Maya Bay was already a tourism destination, but mainly for Thai tourists because you didn't have speedboats at that time, " says Thon, a marine biologist and professor who requested authorities to close the bay four years ago. Over the years, the number of tourists rose from less than 1, 000 to as many as 7, 000 or 8, 000 visitors a day at its peak. On average, around 5, 000 people entered the bay each day.
In 2018, the Thai government closed the bay and began to restore the damaged ecosystem.
Since then, Thon and a team of fellow marine experts and volunteers have replanted over 30, 000 pieces of coral, much of it grown off the coast of a nearby island. Meanwhile, the wildlife also returned and has been growing. "Only three months after we closed the bay, the blacktip sharks came back and gave birth…so there are a lot of things happening in Maya Bay."
1. What do the first two paragraphs mainly tell us about Maya Bay?| A．Its business hours. |
| B．Its massive restoration |
| C．Its huge improvement. |
| D．Its reopening. |
| A．Maya Bay. |
| B．The 2000 film The Beach. |
| C．Leonardo DiCaprio. |
| D．A Thailand's national park. |
| A．The benefit from tourism. |
| B．The long history of Maya Bay. |
| C．The rapid growth in tourists. |
| D．The reason for the film's popularity. |
| A．the protection efforts for Maya Bay was a little late. |
| B．the protection efforts for Maya Bay has no support from the government. |
| C．the protection efforts for Maya Bay remains to be seen whether it's useful. |
| D．the protection efforts for Maya Bay has been effective. |
10 . Lisa Gautier receives nearly a dozen parcels of human hair every day. With her San-Francisco-based non-profit organization Matter of Trust, Gautier turns donated hair into mats used to soak up oil spills on land, and booms(long tubes)used for spills at sea.
A standard way to clean up oil from land is to use mats made from polypropylene(聚丙烯). But polypropylene is a non-biodegradable plastic, and producing it ultimately means more drilling for oil. Hair, by contrast, is an environmentally friendly resource that can soak up around five times its weight in oil, according to Matter of Trust, and it is abundant.
Oil spills can pollute drinking water, endanger public health, harm plants and wildlife, and damage the economy. According to Gautier, the spills that hit the headlines only make up 5% of global oil pollution.
Megan Murray, an environmental biologist at the University of Technology Sydney, develops sustainable technologies to tackle oil spills. Her research indicates that as well as being biodegradable, human hair is often just as effective as polypropylene, and in some circumstances even better. “The hair mats are very beneficial to land spills,” says Murray but adds that when raw oil is spilled on beach sand, it is very difficult to absorb it using any of the materials she has tested. Another advantage of hair is that it costs less than conventional materials and is “globally available as a recycled material,” she says.
However, Murray cautions that hair mats are not a perfect solution, because they are single-use, and can only be dealt with by burning or by burying into soil which then isn’t suitable for growing food. She is now researching methods to extract the oil from a used hair mat, meaning both can be reused.
As the hair mat designs aren’t under patent, other groups have begun producing their own mats and booms. Gautier is pleased to see the movement growing. “Anyone can make a hair mat,” she says. “It creates green jobs, it cleans water, it reduces waste in landfill, and it’s promoting renewable resources.”
1. What do we know about polypropylene according to the passage?| A．It is environmentally friendly. |
| B．People need more oil to produce it. |
| C．It can soak up around five times its weight in oil. |
| D．People seldom use mats made from it to clean up oil from land. |
| A．Hair mats do no harm to soil after being burnt. |
| B．People spend more to make hair mats than conventional materials. |
| C．The effect of hair mats on terrestrial(陆地上的)spills is not very good. |
| D．Hair mats are not a perfect solution because they can’t be recycled now. |
| A．Most oil-spill events have received widespread media coverage. |
| B．Lisa Gautier donated her hair to soak up oil spills on land and at sea. |
| C．Megan Murray goes all out to make the hair mats and the oil extracted from them reused. |
| D．There are many other materials used to treat oil spills on beach sand besides hair. |
| A．Human Hair Is Being Used to Clean Up Oil Spills |
| B．A Perfect Recycled Material—Human Hair |
| C．Take Action to Make Hair Mats And Booms |
| D．How to Tackle Oil Spills |
