2 . Noise pollution has a long-term effect on tree populations that may persist even after the sources of noise are removed, according to research published Wednesday.

Man-made noise from industry and the building of infrastructure such as roads and pipelines has increased greatly since the middle of last century. While previous research has documented the short-term effect noise has on tree populations as it scares off pollinators (传粉者) such as insects and animals, few studies have covered the long-term effect.

Researchers in the United States looked at tree populations in New Mexico that had been “hearing”a high level of man-made noise for 15 years. They found 75 percent fewer pinyon pine seedlings (矮松苗) in noisy places than quiet ones.

Then they looked at other places in New Mexico, where sources of noise had recently been added and then removed, and examined how populations recovered. The team assumed that populations of the trees — in this case pinyon seedlings — would recover as the pollinators would return to the places once the noise had disappeared. Instead, they found a long-term drop in seedling numbers as the birds refused to revisit the places.

“The effects of human noise pollution are growing into these woodland communities,” said Clinton Francis, lead researcher from California Polytechnic State University. “What we’re seeing is that removal of the noise doesn’t necessarily immediately result in a recovery of ecological function.”

Jennifer Phillips, co-author of the research, said the findings showed how the effect of noise pollution could put pollinators off even after the noise is removed. “Animals like the birds that are sensitive to noise learn to avoid particular areas.” said Phillips. “It may take time for animals to come back to pollinate trees in these previously noisy areas, and we don’t know how long that might take.”

As governments continue to face growing evidence of the damage to nature caused by urbanization (城市化), Phillips held that the influence of noise pollution should also be factored into planning decisions.

1. What does the underlined word “persist” mean in paragraph 1?

A．Recover.

B．Decrease.

C．Last.

D．Disappear.

2. How did Clinton Franci’s team carry out the research?

A．By studying cases in New Mexico.

B．By challenging the previous research.

C．By recording the routines of pollinators.

D．By following the sources of noise pollution.

3. Which of the following would Phillips most probably agree with?

A．Noise pollution kills large numbers of birds.

B．Governments should take measures to remove noise.

C．Ecological recovery contributes to the removal of noise.

D．It’s hard to tell when birds will revisit previously noisy places.

4. What does the text mainly talk about?

A．Removing noise enables plants to grow better.

B．Pollinators play a role in increasing plant population.

C．Noise pollution has long-term effects on plant populations.

D．Man-made noise does great harm to woodland communities.

3 . Earth Day falls on April 22 each year to inform people about environmental problems and inspire them to act. It first came into being in 1970, followed in 1972 by World Environment Day. It has been celebrated ever since, slowly but surely picking up steam. Interestingly, it remained a grassroots affair for 20 years before spreading out to 140 countries in 1990. Now, it is celebrated around the world. Humans still face many challenges, such as climate change and plastic pollution. But we can all make a difference.

When Claire was in the seventh grade, she learned about plans to expand and modernize her middle school. As a follower of Earth Day, she wanted to help. Claire asked the school board to add solar panels to the project because, she explained, clean energy would contribute to a truly modern school, and help her school pursue sustainable development.

The board liked the idea but said it could contribute just $25,000, one-fifth of the cost. So Clarie turned to the community, looking for a solution. Her friends and neighbors shared her enthusiasm. Soon Claire organized a group of kids and adults, who set to work raising the rest. They wrote grant (拨款) requests, put on a talent show and asked for donations, even going door-to-door for them at Halloween. And they appealed to charitable foundations too. One donated more than half the cost!

After two years of hard work, the group paid for the solar panels, which now supply one-fourth of the school’s electricity needs, saving the district thousands of dollars. “My favorite part about this project was that one person could start something small and then the project could grow and have a big impact on the community,” Claire said “There are always going to be barriers and hard parts. When there’s a challenge presented to you, use it as a learning moment and an opportunity to overcome it.”

You can be a hero for the environment, so find out what can be recycled where you live.

1. What can we learn about Earth Day from the first paragraph?

A．It was first celebrated on April 22, 1972.	B．It gained instant popularity worldwide.
C．It aims to raise environmental awareness.	D．It promotes solutions to human challenges.

2. Why did Claire give advice to her school?

A．To sell the solar panels.	B．To make her school greener.
C．To improve academic grades.	D．To beautify the school campus.

3. What is paragraph 3 of the text mainly about?

A．The vital role of charities.	B．Difficulties in raising money.
C．Constant efforts on the project.	D．Financial support from the public.

4. Which of the following can best describe Claire?

A．Responsible and determined.	B．Generous and creative.
C．Energetic and reliable.	D．Curious and adventurous.

4 . “What if we treat the ocean as if our lives depend on it? Or, what if we don’t?” World-famous marine biologist Sylvia Earle poses her famous “what if” questions to inspire people to reflect on how they can help save the ocean. In 1998, Time magazine named Earle its first “Hero for the Planet.”

Earle’s move to Florida’s west coast at age 12 is what started a lifelong passion. She says, “That’s where I first fell in love with the ocean.” In 1953, using newly developed equipment, the young scientist became one of the first in her field to scuba dive (水肺潜水). Her first long-term exposure to the ocean depths came in 1970 when she led an all-female research team to study the ocean. They lived under the sea in a submersible (潜水器) for two weeks. When they returned to the surface, world-wide cheer and praise were waiting, especially for Dr. Earle.

Sylvia Earle’s career includes many firsts. In 1979 she became the first woman to walk the ocean floor 381 meters below the surface. In 1990, she became the first female chief scientist of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Through the years, Earle has spent roughly 7,500 hours underwater. During that time, she has become increasingly alarmed by the significant changes she has observed.

The famous scientist fears that the ocean is dying. Climate change, overfishing, the dumping of trash and chemicals and oil spills are just some of the many causes. In order to tackle the problem, Earle formed Mission Blue in 2009. This organization promotes the legal protection and conservation of the world’s oceans. Her plan is to develop “Hope Spots,” protected areas large enough to reverse (逆转) damage and restore the ocean.

1. Why does Sylvia Earle put forward “what if” questions?

A．To call on people to protect the ocean.

B．To stress our dependence on the ocean.

C．To criticize people’s damage to the ocean.

D．To contribute an article to Time magazine.

2. What can we learn about Sylvia Earle?

A．She moved to Florida to learn diving.

B．She was the best in scuba diving.

C．She did not get much attention in 1970.

D．She became a chief scientist of NOAA in 1990.

3. What is the last paragraph mainly about?

A．Scientists’ fears.	B．Causes of the damage.
C．Efforts Earle made.	D．Bright future for the ocean.

4. Which of the following is a suitable title for the text?

A．Dr. Sylvia Earle — A Lover of Diving

B．Dr. Sylvia Earle — Pioneer of the Deep

C．The Ocean — A place in Urgent Need of Our Care

D．Scuba Diving — A Fantastic Way to Learn the Ocean

5 . 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。

For those consuming Asian food, using chopsticks     1    (be) almost second nature. About 20 to 33 percent of people in the world use chopsticks     2     a daily basis. Not all of those are disposable (一次性的),     3     no doubt many are.

Felix Böck, a student at the University of British Columbia, was eager to find a way to recycle wood from construction projects, and he had a particular interest in bamboo. One day he found a drawer in his friend’s house     4    (fill) with disposable bamboo chopsticks, and an idea hit him.

He decided to give     5     second life to disposable chopsticks by making them into home     6    (decoration) or other accessories (配件). He told the idea to restaurant owners,     7    (convince) them to install recycling bins in their restaurants. He cleaned the chopsticks, pressed them into square pieces and coated them with glue. The square pieces were then     8    (creative) arranged into household and office products. Böck’s company, called Chop Value, has repurposed chopsticks into desktops, cutting boards and even table games.

Since 2016 when the company     9    (found), Chop Value has rescued billions of chopsticks from landfills. Instead of an economy of the typical take-make-dispose model, Chop Value seeks to create one     10     transforms waste into a usable resource.

6 . In the west of the Greek capital Athens, the fish market of Keratsini is busy early in the morning, with trucks waiting nearby to be loaded with fishes. But on his fishing boat, Arapakis sorts out something different—bottles, boots, plastic pipes and fishing nets, all dragged from the bed of the Aegean Sea.

“We are swimming in plastic,” said Arapakis, whose family has fished for five generations. “By 2050, there will be more plastic than fish in the sea,” he said, as recent reports noted.

That morning’s plastic catch weighed “about 100 kilograms,” said the founder of Enaleia, a nonprofit that encourages fishermen to collect marine (海洋的) waste caught in their nets. Since its establishment in 2018, it has worked with more than 1,200 fishermen in Greece to raise concern over the degradation of the marine environment.

Active in 42 ports throughout Greece, Enaleia provides fishermen with large bags for marine waste that they can put in garbage cans once back at port. For every kilogram of plastic they deliver, they receive a small amount of money, which is enough for a drink. Since October, fishing crews have dragged out 20 metric tons of plastic and old fishing equipment each month. Nearly 600 tons have been collected over the last five years. The collected plastic is transported to a recycling plant in the industrial area of Megara near Keratsini, to make new products such as socks, swimwear or furniture.

Arapakis said he went about the cleanup project after a trip to Greece’s Cyclades islands, where he saw fishermen throwing the waste gathered by their nets back into the sea.

Arapakis is convinced there has been a “mentality change” among Greece’s fishermen. “Previously we caught large quantities of plastic, but we only kept the fish. All waste was thrown into the sea,” said Mokharam, team leader on the Arapakis family’s boat. “The project brings practical benefits for fishing boats. In the past, the anchor was often caught by waste, especially nets, and the engine would go out. But now things have changed,” he added.

1. What can we learn about Arapakis from the first 2 paragraphs?

A．He was a successful fish trader.	B．He collected waste from the sea.
C．He liked swimming in the sea.	D．He had a large family to support.

2. What does the underlined word “degradation” in paragraph 3 mean?

A．Impact.

B．Worsening.

C．Improvement.

D．Research.

3. What will most probably happen to the collected waste in the end?

A．It will be sold at a high price.	B．It will be exchanged for food.
C．It will be thrown back into the sea.	D．It will be well dealt with for reuse.

4. What can we infer from Mokharam’s words?

A．Fishing is a tough job for fishermen.	B．The sea in Greece is seriously polluted.
C．He thinks highly of the cleanup project.	D．He still feels ashamed for fishermen’s behavior.

9 . If you’re not at least a bit terrified by the climate and ecological breakdown unfolding before our eyes, you haven’t grasped the scale of the crisis. Eco-anxiety, defined as “a chronic(长期的)fear of environmental doom”, is on the rise. But redirecting this anxiety into anger and collective action might just pull humanity back from the brink.

We don’t yet know how deeply eco-anxiety affects people, but we can learn not to repeat the mistakes of long-gone societies lost to environmental collapse. Jared Diamond’s Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed uncovers the common driver that led to the fall of ancient civilizations such as the Central American Mayan, the remote Pacific Easter Island, and the Mycenae: People accidentally destroyed the environmental resources on which their societies depended.

Today, we are living in a new climate and ecological age. The new normal is one that humans have never before experienced on earth, and that has occurred within a single generation. We can’t claim ignorance. Numerous scientific reports show: unprecedented(空前的)wildfires in the Arctic, heatwaves annually breaking records, the Amazon shrinking and drying, and species extinction rates accelerating. Nature’s dangerous decline is unprecedented.

So, it’s not surprising that eco-anxiety is on the rise. Anxiety is often a private emotional state: We feel alone, stuck inside our own heads, and our emotions stop us from doing the things we want. But anger, directed appropriately, can fuel powerful collective action for change.

We are on a pathway to destroy the global conditions for human survival. Unlike previous civilizations, we have the science and technology to understand our danger and chart a new pathway. This is a moment for all of us to channel our eco-anxiety, fear and anger into energy for change.

1. Which of the following best describes “eco-anxiety”?

A．Uncertainty about the future.	B．Anxiety about modern civilization.
C．Fear of changes in the living standard.	D．Worries about the destruction of nature.

2. Why are some ancient civilizations mentioned in Paragraph 2?

A．To warn people to learn a lesson from the past.

B．To prove the importance of ancient civilizations.

C．To present the collapse of ancient civilizations.

D．To add some background information on eco-anxiety.

3. Why is eco-anxiety on the rise?

A．People lack the knowledge about nature.	B．Nature is in its most dangerous state ever.
C．Climate issues can’t be solved effectively.	D．People have limited access to natural resources.

4. How does the author feel about the global conditions for humans in the future?

A．Frustrated.

B．Doubtful.

C．Hopeful.

D．Concerned.

10 .     1     They create carbon dioxide and shade. They provide shelter to animals and insects. The wood they provide is used for buildings and other products we humans use and need.

Trees are so important that some people have made it their goal to protect them. We can call these people ‌“tree hugger”. It describes people who support the protection of forests. Today, the term ‌“tree hugger” describes a person who is an environmentalist.     2     For example, someone who wants to save a rare butterfly species or cut greenhouse gases could also be described as a tree hugger.

However, calling someone a ‌“tree hugger” is not always seen as a praise.     3     ‌“Tree hugger” described someone who was overly concerned about protecting trees, animals and other parts of the natural world.

Some tree huggers do go to extremes to protect trees. Take, for example, an American woman named Julia Lorraine Hill. For 738 days from December 10, 1997 and December 18, 1999, Hill lived in Luna, a Redwood tree in northern California’s Humboldt County. Luna is huge, measuring nearly 61 meters tall and about 12 meters across, which has stood in Humboldt County for more than 1,000 years.     4     So, Hill did what any extreme tree hugger would—she moved in! As the website explains, Hill’s main goal was ‌“to bring international attention to the importance of protecting and restoring natural resources.” So, we can safely call Hill a tree hugger.     5    

A．Trees give so much to the world.

B．Human beings should all protect trees.

C．In earlier times, in fact, it was used as an insult(辱骂).

D．And I’m sure that she would consider that the highest of praises.

E．They want to protect nature and the environment - but not just the trees.

F．Nowadays, the environmental problems are more serious than in the history.

G．But that did not stop the Pacific Lumber Company from wanting to cut it down.