1 . I’ve been in an 18-year love-hate relationship with a black walnut tree.
It’s a unique tree. In late September or early October, falling fruits as hard as baseballs threaten the skulls of you, your children, your neighbors and those living near. Patio (露台) umbrellas are a must while dining in the garden beginning in early August, and because of the volume of fruit this season, I wear my bike helmet while working in the garden.
The black walnut also releases a chemical through its roots as a competitive strategy. It’s poisonous to several common plants. There have been many new plant varieties that I brought home with hopes that maybe the black walnut would accept them, but they failed.
What does work are native plants that naturally grow in the area. Native plants are important to have around since they provide beneficial pollinators (传粉者) like birds, bees and butterflies with seeds and contribute to a healthy and biodiverse environment. Native plants for this area are generally easy to grow, so they experience less stress.
Have I thought of getting rid of this giant pain in my tiny backyard? Yes, however, getting rid of this tree is next to impossible. It’s also protected under the law. Trees are important to the urban forest and for all of those that inhabit it. Trees are home to numerous birds and insect species and are essential for keeping our environment balanced.
I can’t imagine a spring without the birds who arrive every year singing their songs before Dawn. Every spring, I wonder what the season holds: What are the chances of being knocked unconscious while barbecuing? Like any good relationship, I’ll never be pleased. I’m stuck with this tree, so I’ll listen to its needs and give it the space it requires. In return, my walnut offers a home to wildlife and a reminder that acceptance, instead of resistance, is the better way to be.
1. Why does the author wear a bike helmet while working in the garden?| A．To protect her injured skull. | B．To protect herself against sunburn. |
| C．To avoid getting stung by bees. | D．To avoid being hit by the walnut fruits. |
| A．To attract beneficial pollinators. |
| B．To release harmful gas through the leaves. |
| C．To produce a chemical that may kill other plants. |
| D．To compete for nutrition with other plants. |
| A．Its long history. | B．Its various benefits. |
| C．Its huge and heavy trunk. | D．Its popularity in the community. |
| A．Loving trees. | B．Fighting nature. |
| C．Protecting plants. | D．Understanding nature. |
2 . A tiny Alaska village has experienced a boom in tourism in recent years as polar bears spend more time on land than on Arctic sea ice.
More than 2,000 people visited the northern Alaska village of Kaktovik in 2018 to see polar bears in the wild. The far north community lies in an area where increasingly higher temperature has sped up the movement of sea ice, the primary habitat(栖息地) of polar bears. As ice has gradually moved to deep water beyond the continental shelf, more bears are remaining on land to look for food.
Polar bears have always been a common sight on sea ice near Kaktovik, but villagers started noticing a change in the mid-1990s. More bears seemed to stay on land, and researchers began taking note of more female bears making homes in the snow on land instead of on the ice to raise their babies. U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologists began hearing reports of the increasing number of polar bears in the area in the early 2000s. As more attention was given to the plight (困境)of polar bears about a decade ago, more tourists started heading to Kaktovik.
The village had fewer than 50 visitors annually before 2011, said Jennifer Reed, of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. "Today we’re talking about hundreds and hundreds of visitors, many from around the world each year," Reed said. Most tourists visit in the fall, when bears are forced toward land because sea ice is farthest away from the shore. Bruce Inglangasak, a local hunter who sometimes offers wildlife-viewing tours, said been offering polar bear tours since 2004. Most of his clients(客户) are from China and Europe, as well as from the lower 48 U. S. states. Many tourists stay several days in the village, which has two small hotels. The villagers have benefited a lot from that. In turn, they provide more effective protection for polar bears with financial support from tourism development.
1. What causes more polar bears to stay on land in Kaktovik?| A．Food shortage. | B．Climate change. |
| C．Habitats, movement to shore. | D．Their preference for land. |
| A．Excited. | B．Puzzled. | C．Concerned. | D．Shocked. |
| A．Hotels in Kaktovik are in demand in autumn. |
| B．Kaktovik has about 50 visitors annually. |
| C．Inglangasak makes a living as a tour guide. |
| D．Tourism affects the balance of nature. |
| A．The fittest can survive. | B．After a storm comes a calm. |
| C．There is always opportunity in crisis. | D．Every coin has two sides. |
3 . In the rich countries of the West, the electric vehicle revolution is well occurring. Climate-conscious consumers drive Teslas or Polestars for reasons of morality (道德) and fashion. Poorer countries are also experiencing a wave of electrified trend. In Bangladesh, electric three-wheeler taxis, known as tuk-tuks, are rapidly replacing gas-powered ones on the streets. Such electric vehicles are climate friendly, cost effective, and help reduce air pollution.
Yet a glance under the hood (引擎盖) of these vehicles shows a poisonous secret: each tuk-tuk runs on five massive lead-acid batteries (铅酸电池), containing almost 300 pounds of lead (铅) in total. Every year and a half or so, when those batteries need to be replaced and recycled, about 60 pounds of lead leaks into the environment. Battery recycling, often at small-scale unregulated factories, is a highly profitable (高利润的) but deadly business.
Lead is dangerous, and any exposure to it is harmful to human health. Lead that has entered the environment hurts people on an unexpected scale. The numerous ways lead enters air, water, soil, and homes across the developing world and the enormous damage it does to human health, wealth, and welfare cause one of the biggest environmental problems in the world yet receives little attention.
The World Bank estimates that lead kills 5.5 million people per year, making it a bigger global killer than AIDS, malaria, diabetes, and road traffic deaths combined. On top of the shocking deaths, the social burden of lead poisoning is heavy, as is its contribution to global inequality — our research on the cognitive (认知的) effects of lead poisoning suggests that it may explain about one-fifth of the educational achievement gap between rich and poor countries.
But unlike many challenges faced by developing countries, lead poisoning is a problem that can be resolved through financial investment (财政投入). Better monitoring, research, and rules can help protect children all over the world from the unpleasant effects of lead poisoning and reduce the massive global costs it brings.
1. How does the author describe the lead problem in paragraph 2?| A．By listing some numbers. | B．By analyzing hidden causes. |
| C．By making an interesting comparison. | D．By explaining its working principle. |
| A．Lead enters poor countries in one way. |
| B．Lead leaking has been avoided in all the countries. |
| C．Lead will definitely not harm anymore. |
| D．Lead poisoning may make poor societies poorer. |
| A．Fixing these used batteries. | B．Reducing the cost of recycling lead. |
| C．Ignoring the illegal use of lead. | D．Putting certain effort and money. |
| A．The Impacts of Lead Poisoning on Man. |
| B．The Global Lead Poisoning Problem. |
| C．The Ways to Solve Lead Problem. |
| D．The Benefits of Using Electric Vehicles. |
1. 活动情况；
2. 活动反响。
注意：
1. 词数80左右；
2. 可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
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5 . International airline Emirates says it successfully flew a Boeing 777 on a test flight with one engine running on a mixture of “sustainable” fuel.
The test flight took place Monday and lasted about an hour. “The plane took off from Dubai International Airport and then headed out into the Persian Gulf before returning to the airport. It was powered by two General Electric engines. One ran on the sustainable mixture. The other was powered by traditional airplane fuel to ensure safety. Emirates’ chief operating officer, Adel al-Redha, called the flight “a milestone moment for Emirates and a positive step for our industry”. The flight demonstrated the airline’s desire to deal with one of the industry’s biggest problems, carbon pollution releases related to air travel.
The mixture included fuel provided by Neste, a Finnish company, and US-based fuel maker Virent. Virent says it uses plant-based sugars to make the compounds needed for sustainable jet fuel. Neste’s fuel is made from vegetable oils and animal fats. Those fuels cut the release of heat — trapping carbon dioxide burned off by engines in flight. Airline flights release only one-sixth the amount of carbon dioxide produced by cars and trucks, the Washington-based World Resources Institute reports. However, airplanes are used by far fewer people per day than road vehicles. This means flying has a higher per-capita (人均) release of carbon emissions. But experts have noted that fuels considered sustainable can be three times or more the cost of traditional jet fuel. This added cost is likely to be passed onto flyers if sustainable fuels became more commonly used across the industry.
Airplane and engine manufacturers have been designing more environmentally-friendly versions in recent years. The general goal is to produce less-polluting engines to reduce fuel emissions in an effort to help limit the effects of climate change.
1. What do we know about the test flight?| A．Both engines ran on sustainable fuel. | B．One engine was powered by electricity. |
| C．One engine ran on traditional fuel. | D．Both engines were powered by electricity. |
| A．The price of “sustainable” fuel plane tickets will be higher. |
| B．Airline flights release more carbon dioxide than cars and trucks. |
| C．Flying has the same release of carbon emissions as cars and trucks. |
| D．Airplanes are used by much fewer people than road vehicles. |
| A．To reduce the cost of flights. | B．To deal with air pollution. |
| C．To help control climate change. | D．To create a milestone. |
| A．Education. | B．Technology. |
| C．Entertainment. | D．Science. |
6 . While bringing global change may take some time, these companies and individuals have already developed various ways to reduce plastic pollution.
Plastic Bank
According to its founder David Katz, “The only way to stop ocean plastic is to show the value to the collectors.” The company does this by rewarding people who collect ocean plastic with cash, goods, or services. The garbage collected is recycled and sold to companies that pay above-market prices to help the cause.
Liter of Light
Since 2011, Liter of Light has been transforming plastic bottles into light sources (光源). There are millions of people who have no access to electricity. The company attaches plastic bottles filled with water and bleach to roofs. They reflect sunlight into the dark, windowless homes during the day. When the sun sets, a micro solar panel (太阳能电池板) helps power an LED bulb (灯泡).
The Ocean Cleanup Foundation
In 2013, 18-year-old Boyan Slat dropped out of college to start The Ocean Cleanup Foundation. The young inventor developed the first operational cleanup system in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. The system is designed to collect the surface garbage as it floats past. The accumulated plastic will be brought to land for recycling. Slat believes his invention will allow us to clean 50 percent of the patch within five years.
You and Me
We don’t have to be part of a major movement to help make a difference. Simply choosing to recycle, reuse, or avoiding plastic altogether can be a great start to reduce the waste. In addition, there are many other ways to reduce our ecological footprint. Consider walking instead of driving, taking shorter showers, ditching plastic straws, or even planting a tree!
1. What does Plastic Bank mainly do to help reduce plastic pollution?| A．They invent various ways. | B．They reward the collectors. |
| C．They found a recycling company. | D．They call on the public to plant trees. |
| A．By reflecting sunlight. | B．By producing electricity. |
| C．By working with a solar panel. | D．By being made into LED bulbs. |
| A．Learned and ambitious. | B．Devoted and dutiful. |
| C．Hard-working and optimistic. | D．Determined and creative. |
7 . Schools in US are huge consumers (消费者) of energy. According to ENERGY STAR, K-12 schools spend more than $ 6 billion every year on energy, far more than the amount spent on other resources, and at least 30 percent of this energy is used inefficiently or needlessly.
Realizing that, some schools are looking for measures to save energy in several ways, from low-cost adjustments, such as turning off lights in unused rooms, to large-scale projects, such as turning to green equipment.
As solar energy (太阳能) is becoming a more financial choice for powering buildings, more schools are making the move toward the renewable energy and using solar panels (电池板) on their rooftops. According to an online solar marketplace Energy Sage, schools have their strong points to use solar energy. They often have the kind of enough space, suitable locations that are perfect for setting up solar panels.
In September 2020, a nonprofit Generation 180 released its third edition of a study on solar use in US schools. The findings showed that more than 7,300, or 55 percent, of K-12 public and private schools used solar energy, the number has increased by 81 percent since 2014.
They also described how solar schools were saving millions in energy bills, and provided several cases to show the increased savings achieved by solar-powered school districts. For example, an Arkansas school used its every year’s energy savings of nearly $ 100,000 to increase its teachers’ salaries.
The Interstate Renewable Energy Council, which tracks the number of K-12 schools with solar equipment and helps schools go solar, says on its website that schools with solar setups have an opportunity to educate students about clean energy, and show them that they are doing something for students’ and the planet’s health and future.
Third-party ownership also makes funding for 79 percent of schools to use solar energy possible, meaning a majority of schools don’t have to spend large amounts of money but can get the rewards of solar energy.
1. How does the author lead in the topic of the text in the first paragraph?| A．By giving an example. | B．By raising a problem. |
| C．By offering an evidence. | D．By making a comparison. |
| A．Enough space to fix solar equipment. |
| B．Fund support from solar marketplace. |
| C．Free access to using solar energy. |
| D．Being the largest consumers of the energy. |
| A．Increasing their operating expense. |
| B．Threatening their teachers’ income. |
| C．Raising the students’ environmental awareness. |
| D．Reducing their total amount of energy consuming. |
| A．Supportive. | B．Doubtful. | C．Cautious. | D．Worrying. |
Every Wednesday at 7 pm, a group of running enthusiasts from different countries gather at a bar in Shanghai before setting
Called “plogging”, this new fitness activity originated in Sweden in 2016 and was introduced to Shanghai in 2018. The term is a combination of the words “jogging” and “plocka upp”,
By the summer of 2018, just a few months after Trash Running China was founded,
9 . In 1994, The Brazilian photographer Salgado went back to his homeland in Minas Gerais, Brazil. He was
To his horror, he saw a totally different
Salgado
“The work over the years is quite difficult but well worth the
| A．sorry | B．ready | C．eager | D．willing |
| A．wonderful | B．embarrassing | C．painful | D．complex |
| A．direction | B．atmosphere | C．plan | D．sight |
| A．disturbed | B．destroyed | C．prohibited | D．abandoned |
| A．calmly | B．nervously | C．sadly | D．lightly |
| A．admitted | B．realized | C．agreed | D．proved |
| A．thought up | B．laughed at | C．turned down | D．tried out |
| A．doubts | B．permission | C．suggestions | D．support |
| A．backed off | B．broke up | C．took action | D．got through |
| A．Suddenly | B．Eventually | C．Gradually | D．Generally |
| A．escaped | B．returned | C．approached | D．died |
| A．kind-hearted | B．brave | C．devoted | D．considerate |
| A．forgot | B．stopped | C．delayed | D．missed |
| A．comment | B．promise | C．offer | D．effort |
| A．increases | B．matches | C．improves | D．matters |
10 . Michael Yellowlees set off to complete a 5, 000-mile walk across Canada in the spring of 2021,wearing a kilt(短褶裙）and carrying a few items in a handcart,including a guitar. The 32-year-oldmusician from Dunkeld, Scotland,walked from the shores of the Pacific Ocean to the east coast of Newfoundland on the edge of the North Atlantic with his pet dog, Luna, an Alaskan husky,by his side.
Speaking about the Scottish Highlands, Mr Yellowlees said, "It is a beautiful landscape,but with a strong sense of sadness because of the absence of woodland,wildlife and people. So I decided to walk across the great wildernesses of Canada to raise funds for Trees for Life,a Scottish rewilding charity,and its work to restore(恢复）Scotland's Caledonian Forest. ”
The enthusiastic walker shared some of his experiences, including meeting black bears and hearing wolves cry loudly at night. He also mentioned a moment when he lost Luna after she jumped out of a little boat during a trip in the waterway section of the Trans Canada Trail in Northern Ontario.
Yet Mr Yellowlees was deeply touched by the warmth of the people along the way. In every town and village, people offered him food,shelter and donations. And he was accompanied into towns and cities by marching pipe bands and interviewed by newspapers, the radio and TV.
Steve Micklewright , chief executive officer of Trees for Life,said, “We followed Michael's journey across Canada with respect and admiration. Restoring native habitats and wildlife to the Highlands is a big task that no one can do alone. But Michael's extraordinary journey is proof that an individual can really make a difference. "
Bob Davidson,one of Michael Yellowlees' friends, said, “This is not a slow walk in the park,but a long march with heavy equipment on the rough road at an incredible pace. He's an amazing guy.”
1. Why did Michael start the journey?| A．To spread Scottish culture across the world. |
| B．To support an environmental organization. |
| C．To find some inspiration for his new songs. |
| D．To do some research on endangered animals. |
| A．involved great challenges | B．was full of excitement and fun |
| C．was troubled by his lack of preparation | D．once made him regret his decision |
| A．Many locals wished to join Michael. |
| B．Michael's story was made into a TV series. |
| C．The action of Michael attracted wide attention. |
| D．Michael made donations to poor people along the way. |
| A．Those who aim high can work miracles. |
| B．It is not wise to take a long journey alone. |
| C．The restoration of the Highlands is not as difficult as expected. |
| D．Michael's journey proves the importance of great survival skills. |
