1 . Let's take a minute to think about the water we use. The human body is 60% water and we need to drink lots of water to be healthy. When we are thirsty we just go to the kitchen and fill a glass with clean water.
The truth is that we are lucky enough to have clean water whenever we want,but this is not the case for many people around the world.
A.We use water indirectly too. |
B.Every system in our body depends on water to function. |
C.It is to inspire people to learn more about water-related problems |
D.If children walk many hours a day to get water,they can't go to school. |
E.Did you know that around 750 million people do not have clean water to drink? |
F.In 1993 the United Nations decided that March 22nd is the World Day for Water. |
G.In this way,they know how it feels to walk a long distance carrying heavy bottles. |
2 . Open an app at your smart phone and scan the code bar on the garbage can. When you throw garbage into the garbage can, it will show the weight of the garbage and the points you can get from doing so.
In some cities, a variety of multifunctional smart garbage cans are being put into use. In Beijing, for example, a smart garbage can is equipped with an LED screen, which not only shows national policies on garbage classification but also shows the correct steps for garbage sorting. It can also calculate the weight of the garbage and the accumulated points one can get. They can be traded for some articles of daily use.
Garbage disposal is a small issue that involves everybody each day. However, it is also a big issue.
A.Garbage sorting has been a new fashion. |
B.Another kind of garbage can is even smarter. |
C.It is no wonder that residents cheered for their presence. |
D.Such a way of handling garbage has appeared in some cities. |
E.It will affect China’s transformation towards green development. |
F.Over 200 million tons of garbage is produced each year in some cities. |
G.The good habit of garbage classification can improve the living environment. |
3 . A future where insects make up a large part of the world’s diet is on the horizon. Despite the unpleasant nature of such cuisine, insects have been considered a delicacy in some parts of world for centuries. Their being low-fat and high-protein makes them a perfect choice for reducing hunger.
Animal protein from livestock (家畜), such as cows, chicken and pigs, takes up 80 percent of the entire world’s farmland, despite only making up less than one-fifth of calories consumed globally.
Insects such as grasshoppers, meal worms and crickets are packed full of protein with much higher vitamin levels than pork or beef.
It seems that insects are an ideal solution for many issues the world today is faced with.
Times are changing. The European Union last year declared that meal worms were safe for human consumption. Cricket protein powder is also increasing greatly in popularity, with Canada rapidly becoming the largest market for the product.
A.They also have a host of environmental benefits. |
B.Insects reproduce quickly and have high growth rates. |
C.Unlike agriculture, insects produce far fewer greenhouse gases. |
D.They require little space, water and technology to raise compared to livestock. |
E.However, making them a delicious cuisine can be a challenge in several cultures. |
F.By freeing up livestock space, huge expanses of land could be returned to nature. |
G.A future where insects will become invaluable to space exploration is also upcoming. |
Oysters, soft-bodied animals without skeletons, are important for the underwater community they share with plants, fish, and other life. They are food
Because so many animals depend on them, oysters are called a keystone species. If a keystone species
That’s
The oysters were in trouble for
5 . Last year, the bushfires in Australia burned more than 12.35 million acres of land. At least 25 people were killed and 2000 homes destroyed. According to the BBC, that was the most casualties(伤亡) from wildfires in the country since 2009. The University of Sydney estimates that 480 million animals have died in South Wales alone.
Zeke Hausfather, an energy systems analyst and climate researcher at Berkeley Earth, said warmer temperatures and extreme weather made Australia more susceptible to fires and increased the length of the fire season. "The drier conditions combined with record high temperatures in 2019 created main conditions for the disastrous fires. Australia's fires were worsened by the combination of those two. 2019 was the perfect storm for being the warmest year on record for Australia and the driest year on record for Australia," Hausfather added on Friday.
Kevin Trenberth, a senior scientist at the US National Center for Atmospheric Research, said warmer ocean temperatures are also contributed to more variable weather around the world. Trenberth believes that global warming contributed to energy imbalances and hot spots in the oceans, which can create a wave in the atmosphere that locks weather patterns in places, causing longer rain events in Indonesia, for example, and at the same time contributing to drought in Australia. He said that once an area experiences drought conditions for two months or more, it increases the risk of fires catching and spreading. Those changing weather patterns due to global warming make drought events longer.
Climate experts stress that climate change is not the only factor in the severity(严重) of wildfires. How land is managed can also impact the amount of fuel available for fires. Practices like controlled bums and other factors can impact the risk to people and property, such as warning systems and the type of development in a given area. Changing those policies has great potential to limit future damage from wildfires along with changes to how fire management resources are dispatched(派遣).
1. What are the numbers about in paragraph 1?A.The causes of Australian fires. | B.The results of Australian fires. |
C.The damaged areas of Australian fires. | D.The property destruction of Australian fires. |
A.Very quickly to adapt to. |
B.Very seriously to focus on. |
C.Very likely to be influenced by. |
D.Very easily to be protected against. |
A.Longer dry weather contributes to global warming. |
B.Global wanning is also a main cause of the bushfires. |
C.Warmer ocean temperatures leads to the fires directly. |
D.The imbalanced energy leads to the temperature rising. |
A.To stress the effects of Australia fires. |
B.To show the methods for land management. |
C.To predict the seriousness of Australia fires. |
D.To provide some advice about reducing fire damage. |
6 . This past summer I set out on a journey to Canada’s Arctic. When I left I was wrapped in a blanket of uncertainty and
But when I first met the group members, I knew I didn’t have anything to
Approaching the Arctic, I was repeatedly
However, I also learned the pollutants carried by ocean from far away have a negative
During the journey, I talked with some
The Arctic is a land of incredible beauty which
A.relief | B.anxiety | C.pride | D.argument |
A.put up | B.prepare for | C.give up | D.worry about |
A.easy-going | B.well-behaved | C.sensitive | D.flexible |
A.failure | B.performance | C.adventure | D.conflict |
A.embarrassed | B.ashamed | C.amused | D.shocked |
A.watching | B.organizing | C.noticing | D.guessing |
A.painfully | B.patiently | C.unconsciously | D.doubtfully |
A.source | B.reaction | C.effect | D.development |
A.rest | B.ease | C.peace | D.risk |
A.hunt | B.explore | C.help | D.meet |
A.demanding | B.learned | C.modest | D.rigid |
A.classified | B.decorated | C.confused | D.occupied |
A.promises | B.benefits | C.deserves | D.intends |
A.take care of | B.make use of | C.run out of | D.became tired of |
A.deny | B.ensure | C.argue | D.overlook |
7 . Masks that helped save lives are proving a deadly danger for wildlife, with birds and sea creatures trapped in the shocking number of thrown-away facial coverings. Single-use masks have been found around pavements, waterways and beaches worldwide. Worn once, the thin protective materials can take hundreds of years to decompose. “Face masks aren't going away any time soon—but when we throw them away, these items can harm the environment and the animals,” Ashley Fruno of animal rights group PETA said.
In Britain, a gull was rescued by the RSPCA after its legs became tangled in the straps of a mask for up to a week. The animal welfare charity took it to a wildlife hospital for treatment before its release.
The biggest impact may be in the water. More than 1.5 billion masks made their way into the world's oceans last year, accounting for around 6,200 extra tonnes of ocean plastic pollution, according to environmental group Oceans Asia.
Conservationists in Brazil found one mask inside the stomach of a penguin after its body was washed up on a beach, while a dead pufferfish was discovered caught inside another off the coast of Miami. French campaigners found a dead crab trapped in a mask near the Mediterranean. Masks and gloves are “particularly problematic” for sea creatures, says George Leonard, chief scientist from NGO Ocean Conservancy. “When those plastics break down in the environment, they then enter the food chain and impact entire ecosystems.” he added.
There has been a shift towards greater use of reusable cloth masks as the pandemic has worn on, but many are still using the lighter single-use varieties. Campaigners have urged people to bin them properly and cut the straps to reduce the risk of animals becoming trapped. Oceans Asia has also called on governments to increase fines for littering and encourage the use of washable masks.
1. What's Paragraph 1 mainly about?A.The problem of littering masks. | B.The long time to break down masks. |
C.The threat of masks to wildlife. | D.The protective use of masks to people. |
A.They gave first aid to the bird. | B.They released the bird at once. |
C.They kept the bird for about a week. | D.They sent the bird to hospital. |
A.By providing examples. | B.By giving explanations. |
C.By making comparisons. | D.By analyzing causes. |
A.Forbidding the use of single-use masks. | B.Wearing reusable cloth masks. |
C.Cutting the masks up before throwing. | D.Increasing fines for binning masks. |
8 . [1] What do North Carolina’s red wolves, the Eurasian beaver and Przewalski’s horse have in common?
[2] All of them went extinct in the wild — and all of them came back, thanks to reintroduction programs.
[3] Conservation scientists use translocation and captive breeding (圈养繁殖) to re-establish animal populations that have died out in the wild — either entirely or in certain areas. Reintroducing extinct-in-the-wild animals to their native territories can be a double win: helping to restore damaged ecosystems, as well as increasing population numbers.
[4] But setting a species loose in the wild is a risky balancing act. Reintroductions often take years and involve multiple stages. Before bringing back a species, conservationists have to evaluate the threat level — both to and from the animal — and the role it played in the ecosystem. In places where wild populations have died out more recently, there’s a better chance of success. The less time that has passed, the more likely that environment is the same as when the species went extinct. But scientists still need to address the reason why it went extinct in that environment to begin with.
[5] Reintroduced animals can have a positive impact on the landscape, but how fast this happens depends on the type of animal and how damaged the environment is. Herbivores (食草动物) can make a significant change relatively quickly, while predators tend to be reintroduced slowly and carefully. Although they can be useful for managing pest species, conservationists have to ensure they don’t overhunt or threaten other vulnerable animals.
[6] A 2020 study highlighted species reintroduction as one of the most effective ways to save endangered animals. The study estimates that conservation action between 1993 and 2020 saved up to 48 species of birds and mammals from extinction, and that the rate of extinction would have been three to four times higher, during that period, without those efforts.
1. What are the reintroduction programs aimed at?A.Bringing back a species. | B.Enlarging a species’ native habitats. |
C.Increasing a species’ number. | D.Developing new breeding methods. |
A.The collapse of ecosystem. | B.Evaluating the threat level. |
C.The extinction of a wild population. | D.Setting a species loose in the wild. |
A.The size of animals. | B.The bio-diversity of animals. |
C.The feature of landscapes. | D.The extent of environmental damage. |
A.To call on active measures to save species. | B.To highlight the necessity of bio-diversity. |
C.To introduce an effective conservation action. | D.To stress the importance of a balanced ecosystem. |
9 . When glaciers melt, they leave behind infertile (贫瘠的) landscapes. But a new study found that within just three years, such exposed land was restored by llamas (美洲驼), whose activity enriched the soil and promoted plant growth. By the foot of Peru’s melting Uruashraju glacier, researchers partnered with local farmers to farm llamas on four specific plots. For three days a month from 2019 to 2022, the llamas grazed (吃青草) the plots, fertilizing them with waste and spreading seeds from droppings.
As is the case worldwide, glaciers are disappearing in Peru’s Cordillera Blanca mountains at an alarming rate. And as the ice melts, nearby ecosystems wither: They lose access to summertime supplies of freshwater and sometimes encounter harmful acidic minerals in rocks once covered by the glaciers.
Llamas may help count er some of these effects. Their transformation of the land, as seen in the new study, could reduce rock weathering and help the soil hold onto more dampness, thus limiting the acidic runoff that can poison farmers’ crops. Such pollution is one reason why local farmers partnered with the researchers. The animals’ behavior could one day even generate new grasslands as soil quality improves.
The idea that animal grazing may positively impact a landscape is not new. Nor is rewilding, the push to bring key species back to their native ecosystems, unique to the Cordillera Blanca mountains. In Finland, for example, the Indigenous Sami are working to reintroduce reindeer in deforested land, potentially restoring it. But the size and speed of the changes the llamas helped bring about surprised the researchers. From 2021 to 2022, the average amount of plant cover in the llama plots grew from about 9 percent to nearly 14 percent—faster than it did in four control plots. The research underscores the valuable roles animals play in shaping landscapes, says ecologist Kelsey Reider of James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Va., “The animals themselves are doing a lot.”
1. What did the new study find?A.Llamas could help improve ecology. | B.Llamas needed to be exposed to soil. |
C.Llamas might survive poor situation. | D.Llamas were able to stop ice melting. |
A.Expand. | B.Arise. | C.Integrate. | D.Worsen. |
A.Because they longed to be more learned. |
B.Because they profited from the research. |
C.Because they wanted to keep llamas away. |
D.Because they failed to know llamas’ behavior. |
A.Llamas restore the forest in Finland. | B.Wildlife helps a lot in restoring nature. |
C.The idea of rewilding isn’t common. | D.The research should collect more data. |
World Wetlands Day, celebrated annually on February 2nd, aims to raise global awareness about the important role of wetlands for people and our planet.
World Wetlands Day
This year’s theme is “Time for Wetland Restoration,”
While wetlands cover just 6% of the earth’s surface, they are home
Huge changes are needed to solve the climate and biodiversity crisis, yet there are small things we can all do to keep our wetlands and our wildlife