While there is growing consumer
According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in 2020 over 12 million tons of furniture
With growing calls for sustainability, many brands are announcing to change though it remains
2 . Scientists have reported that the sea ice in Antarctica (南极) is at a record low level. Antarctica is a great, icy land, surrounded (围绕) by the huge Southern Ocean. The ice in Antarctica doesn’t just cover the land. There’s also a large area of sea ice on the ocean’s surface.
Every year, the sea ice at the South Pole goes through a cycle. In the summer, the huge sea ice melts (融化) to its smallest point. Over the colder winter months, the sea ice grows and grows until it covers a wide area. Usually, the sea ice covers the greatest area around September 23, as winter ends at the South Pole.
Scientists have been measuring the area of the sea ice in Antarctica since 1979. For most of this time, Antarctica has seemed to be almost unaffected by the changing weather conditions experienced in other parts of the globe. That began to change around 2016. Now, for several years, the area of Antartica’s sea ice has been shrinking.
This year, the US National Snow and Ice Data Centre (NSIDC) reported that Antartica’s sea ice covered its greatest area on September 10 — almost two weeks earlier than normal. And the sea ice was at a new record low-not just by a little bit, but by a lot.
The last time Antartica’s low sea ice set a record at the end of winter was in 1986. And this year, there’s about 398, 000 square miles less sea ice than in 1986.
Scientists are still trying to understand what is driving the change in Antarctica. One likely direct cause for the change is the rising temperatures of the world’s oceans. Ted Scambos, a research scientist at the University of Colorado, says Antarctica’s ice levels have always changed some, but the sharp loss this year is “pointing towards warmer ocean conditions around the continent.”
The new low record has concerned the scientists. Scientists are working hard to better understand Antarctica. They don’t know yet if this is just a short-term problem, or part of a long-term shift (转变) towards less sea ice in Antarctica.
1. What does the underlined word “shrinking” mean in Paragraph 3?A.Getting smaller. | B.Being flat. | C.Observed. | D.Measured. |
A.To give an example. | B.To make a comparison. |
C.To make a summary. | D.To offer an argument. |
A.The changing weather conditions. | B.Human activities in Antarctica. |
C.Increased volcanic activities in the area. | D.The increasing temperatures of the global oceans. |
A.Worried. | B.Annoyed. | C.Excited. | D.Satisfied. |
3 . Flash floods can strike without warning. They can hit when you’re hiking in a river valley, walking through a canyon, or even simply driving to a remote destination. You can minimize your risk by knowing how to prepare for the worst and how to escape when a flood begins.
Before heading out, check the weather report, look at any flood warnings and take them seriously.
Be careful of any visual signs of danger and your surroundings while walking or hiking in a tight space.
What if, despite your preparations, you find yourself stuck in a dangerous place when flooding begins? Move to higher ground immediately, away from rivers and streams. If the situation is urgent, leave behind your possessions.
A.Avoid walking through moving water. |
B.No bag or equipment is worth your life. |
C.It takes hours for the flood waters to move away. |
D.Hundreds of people die due to drowning inside their vehicles. |
E.Be careful not to let your excitement drive you to take any chances. |
F.Keep these tips in mind the next time you head out for an outdoor adventure. |
G.The sudden arrival of dark clouds during a perfectly sunny day is one obvious sign. |
Air pollution has largely gone under-reported by the media, yet despite
Then how can we measure and end such a problem? The answer is
A new book for children
Last Friday, Juniper went to
6 . In a world-record effort to help save a valuable sea creature, Australian scientists have released hundreds of baby seahorses into the wild. The tiny seahorses are endangered, and the scientists hope the new seahorses will help their numbers grow.
Seahorses get their name because they look a bit like horses. They aren’t great swimmers, even though they’re fish. They often use their tails to hold onto something in the water. They mostly live in warm, shallow waters around the world. They are often found in coral reefs, in beds of seagrass, and areas where rivers empty into the sea. Seahorses form an important part of the ocean’s food chain. They eat tiny sea creatures and are eaten by bigger sea animals.
Many kinds of seahorses are often threatened by the human actions. Sometimes they’re caught and sold as pets. They are also caught by accident when people are trying to catch other fish.
To begin the project, scientists collected three pregnant seahorses in January. Those seahorses were brought back to the aquarium (水族馆) in Sydney. After the babies were born, the scientists kept them there for five months, feeding the baby seahorses shrimps (小虾) to help them grow strong. Scientist Mitchell Brennan says, “They don’t have a stomach, so they have to eat constantly.”
About a month before the young seahorses were released, the scientists created eight underwater “hotels” for them. The hotels look like cages, providing a safe place for the seahorses to develop. Putting the hotels into the sea early allowed the cages to be covered with small sea life that can help provide food for the seahorses.
This is the fifth time the scientists have released seahorses into the area, and this time was a record. Around 380 seahorses were released. The researchers put tiny tags (标记) under the skin of many of the seahorses to help track them in the future.
1. What can be learned about seahorses from paragraph 2?A.They look exactly like horses. | B.They have a gift for swimming. |
C.They mostly live in the deep sea. | D.They feed on small sea creatures. |
A.The types of the seahorses. | B.Living conditions the seahorses need. |
C.Areas the seahorses live in. | D.Dangers the seahorses face. |
A.To differ the project from the former ones. |
B.To avoid danger the seahorses may face. |
C.To offer food to the seahorses. |
D.To help track the seahorses in the future. |
A.A New Study on Endangered Seahorses |
B.Underwater “Hotels” for Baby Seahorses |
C.A Record Number of Baby Seahorses Were Released |
D.New Methods of Finding Endangered Seahorses |
1. 活动介绍;
2. 活动意义。
注意:
1. 写作词数应为 80左右;
2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
A Successful Cleanup Activity
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________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 . The area in front of Janet and Jeffrey Crouch’s house in Columbia, Maryland, does not look usual for their neighbourhood. That is because the Crouches do not have a grass lawn(草坪). Instead, they have some small trees and many native plants.
In recent years, support for replacing lawns with native plants has been increasing in the US. It can be costly to keep a lawn looking good and green. But the Crouches had to spend much more money for the right not to have one.
People living in a house next to them complained to their homeowner’s association, or HOA. HOAs can make rules about the plants that homeowners in a neighbourhood are permitted to grow. Many HOAs require grass lawns. The HOA ordered the Crouches to pull out their native plants and put in grass. However, they refused. “We knew we were doing things that were beneficial for the environment, ” said Janet Crouch.
Lawns are called environmental dead zones in part because they provide no food or shelter for wildlife. They also do not support pollinators like birds, bees, and butterflies. Bee populations have been getting smaller in North America and may be getting smaller around the world.
There are other reasons that lawns are bad for the environment. They require a lot of water and chemicals. Large amounts of water can remove nutrients from the soil. After the water removes the nutrients, people buy even more chemicals to put on their lawns. Scientists say some of these chemicals might cause cancer and other health problems. There are over 16million hectares of grass lawns in the US. That means lawns use more water than any other irrigated(灌溉)crop in the country.
The Crouches’ battle against their HOA took three years. They say they spent $60, 000 fighting to keep their natural garden. They won. Because of their efforts, the state of Maryland passed a law that lets people grow native plants instead of grass, no matter what their HOA wants.
1. Which is one of HOA’s responsibilities?A.Developing and interpreting all relevant laws. |
B.Protecting the balance of nature in the community. |
C.Maintaining a unified greenery within the community. |
D.Dealing with all the requirements of residents. |
A.To attract people’s attention. |
B.To improve the neighbourhood relations. |
C.To save on the cost of lawn maintenance. |
D.To better improve the ecological environment. |
A.Lawns are suitable for bee reproduction. |
B.Local plants are environmentally friendly. |
C.Local plants can prevent soil and water pollution. |
D.Lawns are beneficial for soil and water conservation. |
A.Determined. | B.Humorous. | C.Brave. | D.Careful. |
10 . 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. |