1 . Since the first Earth Day in 1970, Americans have gotten a lot “greener” toward the environment. “We didn’t know at that time there even was an environment, let alone that there was a problem with it,” says Bruce Anderson, president of Earth Day USA.
But what began as nothing important in public affairs has grown into a social movement .Business people, political leaders, university professors, and especially millions of grass-roots Americans are taking part in the movement. “The understanding has increased many, many times,” says Gaylord Nelson, the former governor from Wisconsin, who thought up the first. According to US government reports, emissions (排放)from cars and trucks have dropped from 10.3 million tons a year to 5.5 tons .The number of cities producing CO beyond the standard has been reduced from 40 to 9. Although serious problems still remain and need to be dealt with, the world is a safer and healthier place. A kind of “Green thinking” has become part of practices.
Great improvement has been achieved. In 1988 there were only 600 recycling programs; today in 1995 there are about 6,600. Advanced lights, motors, and building designs have helped save a lot of energy and therefore prevented pollution.
Twenty –five years ago, there were hardly any education programs for environment. Today, it’s hard to find a public school, university, or law school that does not have such a kind of program. “Until we do that, nothing else will change!” says Bruce Anderson.
1. According to Anderson, before 1970, Americans had little idea about ___.A.the social movement | B.recycling techniques |
C.environmental problems | D.the importance of Earth Day |
A.The grass –roots level. | B.The business circle. |
C.Government officials. | D.University professors. |
A.They have cut car emissions to the lowest. |
B.They have settled their environmental problems. |
C.They have lowered their CO levels in forty cities. |
D.They have reduced pollution through effective measures. |
A.Education. | B.Planning |
C.Green living | D.CO reduction |
2 . Depleted forests are never out of the headlines, but do you know that several tech-led techniques are being employed to improve reforestation and bring these lungs of nature, a key source of oxygen in the atmosphere, back to life? Nature news website, Mongabay, recently devoted a mini-series to exploring the newest technological solutions that support worldwide reforestation efforts, but not without pointing out that reforestation efforts often have weaknesses.
This Mongabay review speaks frankly about the blemishes of labor-intensive reforestation efforts as poor planning leads to underreported tree planting outcomes. For example, perhaps trees were planted where they didn’t suit the chosen habitats.
According to Mongabay, the challenge is to match rising demand for restoration with ecologically sound, scalable (可扩展的) reforestation methods. “Scale is the biggest challenge to restoration and reforestation projects worldwide,” said Charlotte Mills, chief ecologist at AirSeed Technologies in Australia. The good news is that new tech solutions can help make tree planting at scale easier, faster and more successful.
For instance, solar-powered, seed-planting robots, able to plant up to 600 trees in a morning, are being carried out by conservationists working in the Peruvian Amazon. Drones (无人机) are employed to drop seeds in precise areas, especially at remote and difficult-to-access sites. One company operating them is Mast Reforestation, a Seattle-based one working on North America’s conifer (针叶树) forests destroyed by logging, insects and wildfire.
The Globe and Mail reports on how Canadian start-up, Flash Forest, uses drones that fire seeds at a high speed into the soil. It has a great goal to go beyond changing forestry to slow down climate change and finally conserve ecological diversity.
Sending people out on field monitoring to assess the health of new trees which take years to mature is time-consuming and costly. Here, satellites are stepping up to provide large-scale data sets over time on how huge reforested sites are going. Food giant Nestle announced in April 2023 that it’s working to monitor its reforestation efforts long-term using satellites.
1. What does the underlined word “blemishes” in Paragraph 2 mean?A.Dangers. | B.Disadvantages. | C.Features. | D.Results. |
A.To criticize the underdeveloped technologies. |
B.To tell the rising demand for restoration. |
C.To call on practicable reforestation methods. |
D.To show the trouble with global reforestation. |
A.Preserving biodiversity. | B.Making a change to forestry. |
C.Dropping seeds at remote areas. | D.Driving drones at high speeds. |
A.Trees Are Suffering | B.Forests Are Recovering |
C.Technology for Trees | D.Technique for Challenges |
3 . The world’s animal populations have decreased by more than two-thirds since 1970, according to a recent research from the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).
The London group provided information on 32,000 wildlife populations which included more than 5,000 species. The researchers found that population sizes had declined by 69 percent on average. They said the loss of forests, human exploitation (开发) of the environment, pollution, and climate change were great causes of the loss. Land-use change is still the biggest threat to wildlife. However, the researchers added, ”if we cannot limit warming to 1.5“C, climate change is likely to become the dominant cause of biodiversity loss in the coming years.”
Wildlife populations in Latin American and the Caribbean Sea area were greatly affected. The research showed a 94 percent drop in those areas in over 50 years. Wildlife populations in river and lake habitats decreased the most. Freshwater populations have declined by an average of 83 percent since 1970. For example, one population of pink river dolphins in the Amazon River area of Brazil fell by 65 percent between 1994 and 2016.
These findings are a red flag that warns of a larger system failure on the horizon. Even one species’ population decline can affect other species, eventually impacting the ecosystem’s ability to function. Humans depend on a stable climate, predictable weather patterns, and productive farmland and fisheries to thrive (蓬勃发展), but the current trends are severe enough to threaten many life-sustaining systems.
Our future depends on reversing(扭转) the loss of nature just as much as it depends on dealing with climate change. And you can’t solve one without solving the other. Everyone has a role in reversing these trends, from individuals to companies to governments. If nothing changes, animal populations will undoubtedly continue to fall, driving wildlife to extinction and threatening the integrity (完整) of the ecosystems on which we all depend.
1. What is the greatest threat to wildlife populations currently?A.Illegal hunting. |
B.Global warming. |
C.Land-use change. |
D.Environmental pollution. |
A.By listing figures. |
B.By analyzing the causes. |
C.By making a comparison. |
D.By referring to a concept. |
A.Climate change threatens many wild animals. |
B.Farmland is the basis of life-sustaining systems |
C.Species diversity is important to maintain a stable ecosystem. |
D.Extreme weather events have become more and more frequent. |
A.To explain the difficulty of restoring ecosystems |
B.To call on people to take action to protect nature. |
C.To present the increasing trend of climate change. |
D.To show people’s efforts in reversing the loss of nature. |
4 . Solar stills (蒸馏器) provide a clever and simple means of purifying dirty or salty water, but they work at a rather slow rate. A new material has been shown to boost their performance, and it’s made from fruit waste which would otherwise be thrown away.
In its most basic form, a conventional solar still consists of a basin of undrinkable water that is set beneath a cover. The water evaporates (蒸发) as it’s heated by the sun, condensing (凝结) on the inside surface of the cover. That condensation—which is pure, clean water-drops down the cover and is collected in a separate container for drinking. In order to warm the dirty/salty water at a faster rate, scientists have developed materials that float on its surface, transforming sunlight into heat. They commonly use carbon obtained from coal.
To seek a less costly and more environmentally-friendly alternative, Prof. Edison and colleagues at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University looked to something that is free for the taking—fruit waste. More specifically, the scientists tried out coconut peels, orange peels and banana peels.
In a simple carbonization process, the fruit waste was heated at 850℃for a few hours, and mixed with a kind of chemical substance. Doing so transformed the fruit waste into a new material which has a very highlight-to-heat transforming efficiency.
When tested in a small solar still, this new material proved to be very effective at transforming sunlight into heat, causing the dirty/salty water to evaporate much more rapidly. And because the material is full of holes, the waters team is able to rise right through it, subsequently condensing on the inside of the still’s cover.
Prof. Edison and his team found material obtained from the coconut peels worked best, as it transformed sunlight to heat with an efficiency rate of 94%. They are now developing the technology further, and are seeking industry partners to help with its commercialization.
1. What is the paragraph 2 mainly about?A.The working principle of solar stills. |
B.The advantages of conventional solar stills. |
C.The new materials of building a solar still. |
D.The different ways of purifying dirty water. |
A.To solve the problem of environmental pollution. |
B.To find out more eco-friendly materials. |
C.To expand the applied range of the solar still. |
D.To make solar stills much easier and less costly. |
A.Get more wastewater from the solar still. |
B.Test chemical substances in the solar still. |
C.Obtain an efficient water-purifying material. |
D.Take measures to improve water quality. |
A.Scientists are transforming sunlight into heat |
B.Simple process turns fruit waste into new material |
C.Solar still s are the best way to get drinking water |
D.New technology helps, solar stills reach the customers |
Earth Day is an annual celebration that honors the achievements of the environmental movement and raises awareness of the need to protect Earth’s
The first Earth Day
In 1990, Hayes organized a global Earth Day,
By the early 21st century, Earth Day’s many activities included raising awareness of a number of growing environmental concerns,
The theme for Earth Day 2023 is “Invest (投资) in Our Planet”. This year’s theme is designed
6 . ICT is short for computers, phones and other information and communications technology. Lancaster University researchers examined previous scientific studies that calculated the ICT industry’s total greenhouse gas emissions (排放), which they say were put as somewhere between 1.8% and 2.8%.
But these estimates likely fall short, they warn. In fact, ICT’s true proportion (比例) is between 2.1% and 3. 9%—greater than the global aviation industry’s proportion of 2% —they say.
ICT not only consists of smartphones and computers, but televisions, mobile network equipment and data centres. It also includes the more recent trendy digital technologies such as Blockchain, the Internet of Things (IoT) and artificial intelligence (AI).
The problem with many popular devices (设备) is that they contain liquid crystal display (LCD) panels. Every time these devices are made, greenhouse gases are emitted into the atmosphere. Also, abandoned electronic devices are sometimes burnt, releasing carbon dioxide (CO2) and harmful chemicals into the air.
The new study has been conducted by experts at Lancaster University, who point out that ICT’s share of emissions could stop humanity from achieving net zero by 2050—one of the targets of the UK government.
The researchers recognise that several of the world’s technology giants have made statements on reducing their climate footprint, like Apple and Facebook. However, they argue that many of these promises are not ambitious (宏大的) enough.
In the paper, the experts say it’s often been cited that ICT will lead to greater efficiencies (高效) across many other sectors, leading to decrease in net greenhouse gas emissions. However, the researchers argue that historical evidence proves the opposite. They say that over the years, as ICT has become more efficient, ICT’s footprint has taken up a greater proportion of global emissions. This could be partly due to the fact that increased efficiencies result in increased demand.
1. What do the researchers at Lancaster University find?A.ICT is related to greenhouse gas emissions. |
B.ICT produces more greenhouse gases than estimated. |
C.Greenhouse gas emissions present a threat. |
D.Greenhouse gas emissions have been on the increase. |
A.What electronic devices are made of. |
B.Where electronic devices will go at last. |
C.How popular devices emit greenhouse gases. |
D.Whether popular devices are bad for the environment. |
A.Carefree. | B.Unsatisfied. | C.Supportive. | D.Unclear. |
A.ICT has become more efficient. | B.Higher efficiency results in more demand. |
C.Popular devices lead to less emissions. | D.Global warming is becoming more serious. |
7 . For hundreds of years, America’s wilderness has been reduced due to growing cities, leaving outdoors lovers like hunters with fewer chances. By around 1900, too much hunting drove America’s deer nearly into extinction (灭绝), less than a half-million deer, from 45 million in 1450.
Law-makers began to make rules to protect deer and keep ecological balance (生态平衡). And it did make a big difference. By 2000, the deer population had come up to 38 million. Those days, millions of deer lived side by side with humans and could freely find enough food resources.
Gradually, the number of deer was increasing too rapidly, which was not good for both the animals and people. City hunting plays an important role in keeping ecological balance, particularly in places where the animals sometimes cause major problems.
“City deer hunting is a management practice used in many cities and suburban areas across the United States,” says Jason Andrews, program manager of the Urban Deer Hunt in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. In the early 2000s, a high number of car accidents were caused by deer. And there was also significant vegetation degradation (植被退化) in many cities. Many possible solutions were researched by the city government. Some suggested hunting deer and other wild animals, but others were against that practice.
In the end, researchers determined that the most effective and sustainable (可持续的) population management solution would be hunting with bows. “City deer hunting is popular in cities that have too many wild deer as well as wooded areas,” says Andrews. “In Cedar Rapids, all parts of the city have right habitats to keep deer population, thus hunting is allowed. I must note that hunting is only allowed on private lands. No parks or any other public grounds can be hunted.”
1. What can we learn from paragraph 1?A.The deer population was dropping rapidly. |
B.Some cities grew smaller in the country. |
C.The number of deer dropped to 1,450. |
D.The deer population grew up by 45 million. |
A.They failed to be carried out in the US. |
B.They were quite successful. |
C.People had different attitudes towards them. |
D.They were made by Jason Andrews. |
A.Stones. | B.Guns. | C.Branches. | D.Bows. |
A.Ways to Protect the Environment |
B.The Number of Deer in the US |
C.People’s Attitude to Deer Hunting |
D.America’s Rules for Deer to Keep Ecological Balance |
8 . In the 2010s, 34-year-old Brianne Miller travelled around the world as a marine biologist. No matter how remote the location, she made the same alarming discovery: Copious amounts of plastic littering the water and threatening marine life.
Canadians throw out three million tons of plastic waste each year. Approximately one third of all food produced worldwide goes to waste, too, according to a United Nations study. Miller, determined to fix the problem at the source, envisioned a shop that went further than banning plastic bags—a place that eschewed both wasteful packaging and the bad habit of wasting food itself.
In 2015, she called a store in Vancouver, explaining how her mission mirrored that brand’s emphasis on sustainability, and convinced its managers to host her first pop-up. She sold out in one afternoon—and knew she was onto something.
In June 2018, after another year and a half of successful pop-ups, Miller opened one of the first zero-waste grocery stores in Canada. She named it Nada, and ensured everything was designed to make the zero-waste shopping experience easy. You can bring your own containers, though it’s not necessary: right by the front door are well-organized bins of “upcycled” sanitized glass or plastic containers, free for the taking.
Nada sells the food items you’d expect and hundreds you wouldn’t, all 100 percent package-free. The suppliers must have a social or environmental mission, and just as importantly, they must work to reduce waste in their own supply chain.
Miller is clear that the store doesn’t try to compete on price. For example, popcorn kernels at a generic store may cost 70 cents per 100 grams; at Nada, a customer might pay $1 per 100 grams, knowing that the kernels are organic and non-GMO.
The early days of the pandemic were tough on the business. Nada closed its doors to the public for 18 months. Miller turned to online ordering and delivery, though in a very Nada way. Carbon neutral deliveries are made by c-bike and, as of February, via a fleet of electric vehicles.
Those containers do so much more than just reduce waste. They get people thinking big, just as Miller had hoped they would. “They’re tagged with Nada stickers, so you can see how many times the container has been used,” she says, and then smiles.
1. When travelling around the world, what did Brianne Miller discover?A.One third of all food produced worldwide went to waste. |
B.Most of what Canadians picked up came from food packaging. |
C.Lots of plastic littering the water was threatening marine life. |
D.Everything could be designed to make the zero-waste shopping experience easy. |
A.Avoided and stayed away from. | B.The activity of offering |
C.Worried about or feared something | D.Left something undone. |
a. Miller determined to solve the problem about waste at the source.
b. Miller opened one of the first zero-waste grocery stores named Nada.
c. Miller convinced a store to host her first pop-up.
d. Miller closed Nada to the public for 18 months and then turned to online ordering and delivery
A.a-b-c-d. | B.a-c-b-d. | C.c-d-b-a | D.b-c-a-d. |
A.Because Nada tries to compete on price. |
B.Because bulk food sales were restricted. |
C.Because zero-waste shopping can come with savings. |
D.Because the kernels at Nada are organic and non-GMO. |
9 . Ride-sharing services are thought to help to reduce pollution since fewer people use private vehicles and cause carbon dioxide.However, a new study has found that these services result in much more pollution than other kinds of private and public transportation.Ride-sharing trips also draw passengers away from more environmentally-friendly methods of travel, like public transportation, walking or biking, the study found.
Several studies in recent years have suggested that ride-sharing services like Uber and Lyft can worsen traffic problems in cities, which continue to have high rates of private vehicle ownership.
The new study, carried out by the nonprofit group Union of Concerned Scientists, represents an attempt to center on how ride-sharing services affect pollution.The research examined the effects of ride-sharing services on seven of America's largest cities.Overall, the researchers reported that ride-sharing trips now “result in about 69 percent more climate pollution on average than the trips they replace”.The study notes that the same passengers could have chosen to travel by bus, train, bike, scooter(小型摩托车)or on foot.
One of the big reasons they give for this result is that ride-sharing vehicles are often driven with no passengers in the car.This happens when drivers are either waiting for rider requests, are on the way to pick up passengers or are driving between pickups.
This situation, known as“deadheading” takes up about 42 percent of the ride-sharing driving activity, the study found.The researchers said that “deadheading” results in about 50 percent more carbon dioxide than one person driving in a private vehicle.
The study urges services like Uber and Lyft to increase the number of electric vehicles on the road and to improve connections to public transportation centers.The two companies already operate businesses that offer electric scooters and bikes and have begun to include public transportation information in their systems.In some cities, they have also promoted vehicle electrification.
1. According to the text, it is generally thought that car-sharing services _____________.A.lower the price of private cars | B.guarantee a healthier lifestyle |
C.greatly cut down travel expenses | D.are environmentally-friendly |
A.The so-called “deadheading”. | B.The old way vehicles travel. |
C.The huge number of passengers. | D.The unfamiliar ride-sharing trips. |
A.It is opposed by ride-sharing services. | B.It is actually of practical significance. |
C.It requires improving in the long term. | D.It earns much money for Uber and Lyft. |
A.Travel. | B.Technology. | C.Economy. | D.Environment. |
10 . Going green seems to be fad (时尚) for a lot of people these days. Whether that is good or bad, we can’t really say, but for the two of us, going green is not a fad but a lifestyle.
On April 22,2011,we decided to be green every single day for an entire year. This meant doing 365 different things, and it also meant challenging ourselves to go green beyond the easy things. Rather than recycle and reduce our energy, we had to think of 365 different things to do and this was no easy task.
With the idea of going green every single day a year, Our Green Year started. My wife and I decided to educate people about how they could go green in their lives and hoped we could show people all green things that could be done to help the environment. We wanted to push the message that every little bit helps.
Over the course of Our Green Year, we completely changed our lifestyles. We now shop at organic (有机的) stores. We consume less meat, choosing green food. We have greatly reduced our buying we don’t need. We have given away half of what we owned through websites. Our home is kept clean by vinegar and lemon juice, with no chemical cleaners. We make our own butter, enjoying the smell of home-made fresh bread. In our home office anyone caught doing something ungreen might be punished.
Our minds have been changed by Our Green Year. We are grateful for the chance to have been able to go green and educate others. We believe that we do have the power to change things and help our planets.
1. What might be the best title for the passage?A.Going Green. | B.Protecting the Planet. |
C.Keeping Open-Minded | D.Celebrating Our Green Year. |
A.they were expected to follow the green fad |
B.they didn’t know how to educate other people |
C.they were unwilling to reduce their energy |
D.they needed to perform unusual green tasks |
A.They tried to get out of their ungreen habits. |
B.They ignore others’ ungreen behavior. |
C.They chose better chemical cleaners. |
D.They sold their home-made food. |
A.The government will give support to the green people. |
B.The couple may continue their project in the future. |
C.Some people disagree with the couple’s green ideas. |
D.Our Green Year is becoming a national campaign. |