1 . Every year the start of the Atlantic hurricane season is another reminder for Margarite August that she still doesn’t have a roof.
The 70-year-old retired teacher’s home on the small Caribbean island nation of Dominica was mostly wiped out by hurricane Maria six years ago.
Six years after hurricane Maria, Dominicans like Margarite August still haven’t been able to rehabilitate their homes.
August is not alone. Since Maria, the government of Dominica has built 7,000 new homes—about a quarter of its housing stock-with materials to fight another Category 5 hurricane. They’ve also relocated two communities. But an untold number of the island’s 70,000 or so residents are like August, rebuilding their homes in any way they can afford.
Hurricane Maria is often referred to as a once-in-a-lifetime disaster. Scientists put much of the blame on warming ocean temperatures that could make frequent (频繁的) storms like it.
Maria damaged a terrible 95% of Dominica’s housing stock and 226% of the nation’s GDP. Before the storm, the country’s economy had long struggled since its independence from Great Britain in 1978. Unlike its more famous touristy neighbors along the chain of eastern Caribbean islands it lies on, Dominica is more known for its rugged mountains and jungles (丛林) than white sandy beaches.
The jungle mountains that crash down to the coast are beautiful but disasters visit easily. “I don’t think anybody ever got over Maria,” says Christine John of the Dominica Red Cross. “There are a lot of persons today—if it just starts to rain outside, they get anxious.”
1. What does the underlined word “rehabilitate” in paragraph 3 mean?| A．Rebuild. | B．Leave. | C．Decorate. | D．Buy. |
| A．Over-farming. | B．Loss of the land. |
| C．The disappearance of the forests. | D．Climate change. |
| A．Its good economy. | B．Its architecture. |
| C．Its mountains and jungles. | D．Its sandy beaches. |
| A．They have to stay bored at home. | B．Their houses are easy to take in water. |
| C．They don’t know how to make umbrellas. | D．They are afraid of another disaster like Maria. |
2 . Almost a quarter of the UK’s sea swimmers may not swim in the ocean this year because of sewage (污水) dumping by water companies, according to a poll (民意调查). Sewage was dumped into waters near England’s most celebrated beaches for nearly 8,500 hours last year. And there were 1,504 discharges (排出) in 2022 on beaches supposed to be free from such pollution.
The poll spoke to 2,272 UK adults between 21 and 23 on July. Just over 30% said they typically went sea swimming during the summer, and of these 23% said they would not this year because of sewage dumping by water companies. More than two in five of the regular beachgoers also said they were less likely to visit the British seaside this summer because of sewage discharges.
The Department for Environment says government should allow the Environment Agency to charge unlimited fines on rule-breaking water companies. Fines are currently capped (上限) at £250,000. The Department for Environment has been calling for a sewage tax on annual profits and a ban on bonuses of water company managers. “Coastal communities are at the mercy of water companies who unapologetically discharge raw sewage into popular swimming spots,” Tim Farron, the Department for Environment’s spokesperson said. “The government needs to stop letting water companies off the hook and finally ban these terrible sewage discharges and defend our tourism sector.”
A Water UK spokesperson said standards at beaches had greatly improved since the 1990s but that the industry recognized it had been slow to deal with the harm to our seas caused by sewage overflows. “Over the next seven years, water and sewerage companies plan to spend £10bn—doubling current levels of investment—on sewage treatment,” they said. “As part of this, bathing waters will be among the first to receive funding.”
1. What does the poll show?| A．Water companies dumped the most sewage into waters last year. |
| B．Many swimmers avoid the water over fears of sewage on UK beaches. |
| C．Waters near England’s most celebrated beaches are not seriously polluted. |
| D．Over two fifths of the regular beachgoers in UK are between 21 and 23. |
| A．Reducing bonuses of water company managers. |
| B．Shutting down those rule-breaking water companies. |
| C．Fining rule-breaking water companies at least £250,000. |
| D．Introducing a sewage tax on water companies’ yearly profits. |
| A．Develop slowly. | B．Improve too fast. |
| C．Free of responsibility. | D．Attract public attention. |
| A．Environment. | B．Lifestyle. | C．Fitness. | D．Business. |
3 . The Elephant Project is a purpose-driven company which tries to protect and recover the world’s elephant population.
This all-female organization began when founder Kristian McKean saw the inhumane(不人道的)treatment of elephants in Thailand, and again back in the United States with circus animals. Determined to find a way to support elephant causes, Kristina used her product development background to design adorable, huggable elephant dolls she named Kiki and Tembo.
Children and many adults are drawn to the stuffed animals. These elephants come with fun educational materials to spread the word about the dangerous world elephants live in.
Meanwhile, the company’s mission is clear and supported by its donations to organizations that care for elephants in need. In fact, 100% of the profit from each sail of Kiki and Tembo goes to supplies and aid for abused and injured elephants through The Sheldrick Wildlife Trust in Kenya and The Elephant Nature Park in Thailand. The Elephant Project also contributes to efforts to end illegal elephant hunting.
Of course, even without the notable mission of the company, these little dolls are gift able to children. Kiki, whose name means “new life”, wears a little pink outfit(套装). Meanwhile, Tembo, meaning “elephant” in Swahili, wears a green outfit.
A new release features Baby Chaba, a baby elephant named after a real baby who was rescued alongside her mother by Lek Chailert, the founder of the The Elephant Nature Park, in August 2021.The purchase comes with Baby Chaba and a book that explains her story.
The Elephant Project website shows a list of elephants that have already benefited from the company, with a bit of history about each elephant’s situation and progress. The mission has now also spread to support g the rescue and rehabilitation (修复) of big cats who like elephants and other wildlife, suffer from n humane treatment, competition for resources and loss of habitat.
1. What drove Kristian to found The Elephant Project?| A．Her deep love and empathy for the abused animals. |
| B．Her witness to the abused elephants in Thailand and America. |
| C．Her intention to protect and recover the world’s wild animals. |
| D．Her company’s making profit from the sail of Kiki and Tembo. |
| A．Only children show some adoration on Kiki and Tembo. |
| B．Kiki and Tembo was not easy to hug in when being designed. |
| C．Kiki and Tembo are designed only to make some money. |
| D．Many adults also show some interest in Kiki and Tembo. |
| A．To protect the environment in the developing countries. |
| B．To supply and aid abused elephants in Kenya and Thailand. |
| C．To protect wild animals from being illegally hunted in Kenya. |
| D．Mainly to support the operation of The Elephant Project. |
| A．An Abused Elephant was Rescued by a Company |
| B．Everyone should Try to Protect the Abused Elephant |
| C．A Company Sets out to Save Abused Elephants |
| D．Kiki and Tembo have Found a Way into the Market. |
4 . A flood can develop slowly, over time or rapidly, as in the case of flash floods which can develop in just a few minutes and without signs of rain.
Create an evacuation plan in case you have to evacuate your home. Pay attention to the safe areas you can go to. Prepare food kits for natural disasters that you can easily take with you if you have to leave your house.
If there is a possibility of a flash flood, leave your home and move to higher ground at once. Do not wait for instructions to move. Evacuation may also cause a shortage in the food supply.
While evacuating, avoid walking through moving water. Even six inches of moving water can make you fall. If you have to walk in water, walk where the water is not moving.
Do not drive into flooded areas. If floodwaters rise around your car, abandon (舍弃) the car and move to higher ground, when water is not moving or not more than a few inches deep.
| A．They don’t know where to look for shelter. |
| B．You and the car can be swept away quickly. |
| C．Use a stick to check the ground in front of you. |
| D．Be aware if the area you’re at is at risk of a flood. |
| E．There is no telling when another flood may happen. |
| F．It would help to store food for emergency situations. |
| G．During these conditions, hunger becomes a very real problem. |
注意：1. 词数80左右；
2. 可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
Be Energy Smart
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________6 . As we all know, plastic products like bags, bottles, toys and various other products end up in our oceans daily. They then pollute and kill marine animals, which ultimately affects humans because it causes widespread starvation among sea life which we depend on for food sources. With global levels of plastic waste in the ocean at an all-time high, there has never been a better time to consider making your swimwear from alternative sources.
It’s time to end the plastic waste polluting our oceans, but we’re not going to wait for someone else to do it. Creating swimsuits and other clothing items out of plastic collected from our oceans might seem pretty far-fetched, but Seamore (after Seamus Malone, our founder) is doing just that. We aim to make people more aware of how much plastic they use every day by providing stylish swimsuits made entirely from recycled ocean plastics.
The process is simple. Gather plastic waste from oceans and waterways, clean it, and turn it functional. Manufacturers (生产商) receive recycled plastic pellet (团粒) material and they press those pellets into fiber sheets; and then they die-cut, sew, or print those fibers into whatever products they want. It’s manufacturers who can decide whether their final product will be recyclable or not. Swimwear collections made from recycled materials found in our oceans illustrate how much impact we can have on our world when we set out to do so with pure intentions.
Today, as more and more people are taking part in water-centric activities, there is greater demand for water-friendly clothing options, especially among individuals looking for alternatives that meet their needs for comfort and functionality in and out of water. But the sad truth is that most of us have no idea where our clothing comes from — and if a recent report is accurate, one-third of all clothing purchased isn’t even worn before it ends up in a landfill.
1. Why is the first paragraph mainly written?| A．To show what influence plastic waste has. |
| B．To introduce a new environmental effort. |
| C．To illustrate how sea life survive the crisis. |
| D．To predict the possible effects of pollution. |
| A．By producing alternative energy from ocean. |
| B．By promoting programmes to educate people. |
| C．By offering swimwear made from sea plastics. |
| D．By means of organizing theme-related speeches. |
| A．It’s easy to collect ocean-based waster. | B．Fibre is made from ocean plastic pellets. |
| C．A product’s recyclability is up to its maker. | D．Swimwear can test how we impact marine life. |
| A．Positive. | B．Concerned. | C．Doubtful. | D．Cold. |
7 . Back in 2007, Uruguay had a serious problem with no obvious answer: The economy was growing very fast, but there wasn’t enough energy to power the rapid
Then Ramón Méndez Galain, a physicist, started
Méndez Galain’s plan was built around two simple
To solve the problem of how to pay for all those wind farms, Méndez Galain came up with a variation on a(n)
The strategy worked
| A．decline | B．growth | C．consumption | D．program |
| A．building | B．blocking | C．repairing | D．seeking |
| A．rely on | B．find out | C．refer to | D．give up |
| A．risk | B．power | C．pollution | D．benefit |
| A．facts | B．theories | C．answers | D．principles |
| A．water | B．light | C．wind | D．ice |
| A．tended | B．undeveloped | C．protected | D．limited |
| A．break | B．put | C．send | D．turn |
| A．tool | B．software | C．image | D．approach |
| A．responsible | B．weak | C．private | D．profitable |
| A．public | B．opposite | C．rich | D．powerful |
| A．managing | B．selling | C．abandoning | D．starting |
| A．hardly | B．relatively | C．unexpectedly | D．rarely |
| A．forgotten | B．achieved | C．apologized | D．approved |
| A．income | B．food | C．supply | D．electricity |
8 . Electric car are dirty. In fact, not only are they dirty, they might even be dirtier than their gasoline (汽油) powered cousins.
People in California love to talk about “zero-emissions (无污染的) vehicles,” but people in California seem to be clueless about where electricity comes from. Power plants mostly use fire to make it. Aside from the new folks who have their roofs covered with solar cells, we get our electricity from generators. Generators are fueled by something—usually coal, oil, but also by heat generated in nuclear power plants. There are a few wind farms and geothermal (地热的) plants as well, but by far we get electricity mainly by burning something.
In other words, those “zero-emissions” cars are likely coal-burning cars. It’s just because the coal is burned somewhere else that it looks clean. It is not. It is as if the California Green are covering their eyes—“If I can’t see it, it’s not happening”. Gasoline is an unbelievably efficient way to power a vehicle, a gallon of gas has a lot of energy in it. But when you take that gas (or another fuel) and first use it to make electricity, you waste a nice part of that energy, mostly in the form of wasted heat-at the generator, through the transmission (传送) lines, etc.
A gallon of gas may drive your car 25 miles. But the electricity you get from that gallon of gas won’t get you nearly as far-so electric cars burn more fuel than gas-powered ones. If our electricity came mostly from nukes(核能)or geothermal, or gyro, or solar, or wind, then an electric car truly would be clean. But for political, technical, and economic reasons, we don’t use much of those energy sources.
In addition, electric cars’ batteries which are poisonous for a long time will eventually end up in a landfill. And finally, when car are the polluters, the pollution is spread across all the roads. When it is a power plant, though, all the junk is in one place. Nature is very good at cleaning up, but it takes a lot longer when all the garbage is in one spot.
1. What is the main idea of the text?| A．Electric cars are not clean at all |
| B．Electric cars are better than gasoline—powered ones |
| C．People have doubts about electric cars’ batteries |
| D．Gasoline is an effective way to power a vehicle |
| A．know nothing | B．have confidence | C．feel excited | D．be pleased |
| A．not less than 25 miles | B．as far as 50 miles |
| C．as far as 25 miles | D．not more than 25 miles |
| A．are more environmentally friendly |
| B．burn more fuel than gas-powered ones |
| C．are very good at cleaning up |
| D．are poisonous for a long time |
9 . Researchers have found a chemical from a kind of worm (蠕虫) can break down one of the most common forms of plastic. The finding could open up new ways to deal with pollution.
There have been several studies showing that microorganisms can release enzymes (酶) that cause the plastics to start to break down, but that process may take a long time. The recently-discovered enzymes were found in the saliva (唾液) of the waxworm. They appear to act in only a few hours.
Federica Bertocchini is one of the researchers, who is also a beekeeper and always stores honeycombs, which are built by bees to store honey. One year Bertocchini found her honeycombs full of waxworms. She cleaned the honeycombs and put the worms in a plastic bag. When she returned later, she found that the bag was full of holes. She wondered if the worms were eating the plastic, or if there was a chemical reaction that caused the holes. “We checked and found that the plastics had been broken down,” she said.
In her latest research, Bertocchini and her co-workers found two enzymes in the worm’s saliva. The enzymes appeared to break down plastics in only a few hours.
Bertocchini’s team is still trying to understand how the worms break down the plastics. They know much more research is needed before the findings can be used to process plastic waste. However, Bertocchini said the enzymes could be put into a water mixture and then put “over piles of collected plastics” in a waste center. She said that, in the future, the enzymes could be used in homes, where families could deal with their own plastic waste.
1. What can we learn about the microorganisms in para. 2?| A．They are fond of eating small pieces of plastics. |
| B．They are widely used to deal with plastic pollution. |
| C．It takes long for their enzymes to break down plastics. |
| D．They can easily produce a large amount of useful saliva in a short time. |
| A．By accident. | B．By keeping waxworms. |
| C．By doing experiments. | D．By studying bees. |
| A．The bees flew to and bit it. | B．There was a chemical reaction. |
| C．There were some sharp things in it. | D．The worms chewed and swallowed the plastic. |
| A．It’s a theoretical possibility, but it won’t happen. | B．It may replace the usual ways soon. |
| C．It is getting increasingly popular. | D．There is still a long way to go. |
| A．In the kitchen. | B．In the bathroom. | C．In the living room. |
