1 . The first time ever I realized that plastic was a serious matter for our planet was during a road trip in Western Australia, almost 12 years ago.
We
This was just one of the many experiences I’ve lived that made me more aware of my
Our trip to Borneo was another life-changing
Besides, we were also deeply
Facing this global issue
A.stayed | B.visited | C.worked | D.stopped |
A.land | B.ocean | C.district | D.supermarket |
A.threw | B.picked | C.dropped | D.carried |
A.dream | B.family | C.impact | D.income |
A.travel | B.deliver | C.remove | D.play |
A.story | B.growth | C.experience | D.suffering |
A.better-off | B.healthy | C.comfortable | D.zero-waste |
A.free | B.cheap | C.valuable | D.safe |
A.failed | B.managed | C.hesitated | D.happened |
A.hurt | B.surprised | C.impressed | D.moved |
A.dramatic | B.sustainable | C.firm | D.disappointing |
A.dry up | B.tie up | C.clean up | D.take up |
A.on purpose | B.for sure | C.by accident | D.in person |
A.confusion | B.determination | C.frustration | D.satisfaction |
A.make | B.do | C.achieve | D.find |
2 . The Sequoia National Park in California’s southern Sierra Nevada mountains is best known for the Giant Forest, a collection of 2,000 trees that includes half of the Earth’s largest and longest-living trees. This past weekend, the ancient wonders came dangerously close to being burned by the KNP Complex Fire. But thanks to resourceful firefighters, the precious treasure has been saved.
The firefighters had taken the standard measures of clearing brush and setting controlled fires long before the fire began heading toward the Giant Forest. But they knew more needed to be done. On September 17, 2021, they took the unusual step of covering the base of some of the oldest trees with protective aluminum “blankets”. High on the list was General Sherman, the world’s largest tree by volume. The park officials believed the specialized foil(锡纸)would help block some of the heat from the fires and enhance the natural insulation(隔热)provided by the ancient trees’ thick bark. They were right!
On Sunday, September 19, 2021, the officials reported that the extra prevention measures, which also included 24-hour timed sprinklers(洒水装置)on General Sherman and the nearby park buildings, had worked. Jack Owen, a spokesman for the KNP Complex Fire Information Office, said, “There are no trees that have been burned yet, as far as in the Giant Forest. Firefighters are pouring everything they can into it as long as it’s safe. That area is looking good.”
Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about the rest of the national park. The KNP Complex Fire has burned through 21,777 acres. Meanwhile, the Windy Fire, which started further south on the Sierra slopes on the same night, has burned over21, 598 acres. Hopefully, the weather will cooperate and allow firefighters to gain control of the massive fires, which are now beginning to threaten nearby communities.
1. What did the firefighters first do to protect the Giant Forest from fire?A.Cover it with specialized foil. |
B.Put it on the list of protective steps. |
C.Set up a fire prevention belt around it. |
D.find out the features of the complex fire. |
A.To stop some heat from the fire from developing. |
B.To stop the fire from spreading. |
C.To keep tree roots from losing water. |
D.To test the survival ability of the trees. |
A.Firefighters are ready to leave the area. |
B.General Sherman is relatively safe. |
C.Nearby buildings have been abandoned. |
D.Some trees in the Giant Forest have been cut down. |
A.Worried. | B.Optimistic. | C.Discouraged. | D.Unconcerned. |
Since Japan began releasing nuclear-contaminated (核污染) wastewater into the Pacific Ocean on last Thursday despite little
According to the spokesperson, the actions of the Japanese government are contradictory to international conventions (公约) and experts say that the influence of Japan’s release of wastewater
“The Chinese government will take necessary measures to
In a small community located at a suburb of Exeter, a disheartening issue had been troubling the neighborhood for years. The once pleasant surroundings were ruined by piles of waste that seemed to multiply with each passing day. Residents were growing tired of the worsening environment, leading many to abandon their homes in search of cleaner neighborhoods. It was in this terrible situation that two young students, Emma and Mia, decided to take matters into their own hands.
Emma and Mia were classmates and best friends from Phillips Exeter Academy, both passionate about environmental preservation and deeply concerned about the pollution crisis their community was facing. Witnessing more and more neighbors’ leaving, they knew they couldn’t stand by any longer. Determined to bring about a change, they undertook a mission that would soon catch the attention of the entire community.
Their journey began with thorough research and planning. The two girls searched carefully on the Internet for information on environmental initiatives and connected with local environmentalists. They organized meetings with residents to understand the issues at hand, collecting data on the types of waste, the sources, and the areas most affected. Armed with this knowledge, Emma and Mia worked out a comprehensive plan and announced it to ask for opinions from the residents. Surprisingly it was strongly supported.
Their strategy was twofold. First, they initiated a waste classification and recycling program. They distributed recycling bins(回收箱) to every household and educated the community about the importance of responsible waste management. Soon, the streets began to show signs of improvement as the volume of garbage inappropriately thrown away decreased gradually.
The second part of their plan was more ambitious. Emma and Mia gathered volunteers from their school and the neighborhood to take part in a massive clean-up campaign. Armed with gloves and trash(垃圾)bags, they began systematically clearing the waste from the streets, parks, and even the local bodies of water. Their firm commitment and hard work inspired others to join the cause.
注意:1. 续写词数应为150左右;
2. 请按如下格式作答。
Half a year later, the changes were significant.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Emma and Mia received recognition and honors for their work.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________5 . A huge section of the Milne Ice Shelf, located on Ellesmere Island in the northern Canada, collapsed into the Arctic Ocean, according to the Canadian Ice Service. This created an “ice island” which is about 30 square miles in size. As a comparison, Manhattan Island is about 23 square miles.
“Entire cities are that size. These are big pieces of ice,” Luke Copland, a glaciologist at the University of Ottawa who was part of the research team studying the ice shelf, told Reuters. “This was the largest remaining intact (完整的) ice shelf, and it’s collapsed, basically. ”
The Canadian Ice Service said on Twitter that “above-normal air temperatures, offshore winds and open water in front of the ice shelf are all part of the recipe for the ice shelf to break up.” A huge section of the Milne Ice Shelf has collapsed into the Arctic Ocean, producing a 30-square-mile ice island.
The ice shelf has now been reduced in area by about 43%. An ice shelf is a thick slab of ice, attached to a coastline and extending out over the ocean, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center. “Some shelves have existed for thousands of years,” the center said.
So what’s going on up there? Though the planet is warming worldwide due to climate change, the Arctic has been warming at a rate twice that of the rest of the world. This summer has been particularly warm: Arctic sea ice melted to its lowest July level on record and in June, a town in Siberia soared (急升) to 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit, believed to be a record high for the Arctic.
“When I first visited those ice caps, they seemed like such a permanent fixture of the landscape,” Mark Serreze, director of the NSIDC and geographer at the University of Colorado, Boulder, said in a statement. “To watch them die in less than 40 years just blows me away.”
1. Why does the author mention Manhattan Island in Paragraph 1?A.To stress that Manhattan Island is vital for Canada. |
B.To introduce where Manhattan Island locates. |
C.To say the great collapse is terrible. |
D.To compare two different places. |
A.Its location. |
B.Its huge body. |
C.Special intact form. |
D.Higher air temperatures. |
A.Arctic sea ice melted to its lowest in June. |
B.Climate change brings about great changes. |
C.The earth is warming because of the loss of ice shelf. |
D.The Arctic warms more slowly than the rest of the world. |
A.Shocked. | B.Humorous. |
C.Scientific. | D.Neutral. |
6 . “There’s a little black woman walking, spraying (喷洒) stuff on the sidewalks and trees on Elizabeth and Florence...” he told the police. Her neighbor saw her spraying something on the sidewalks and trees and this made him worried. In the call to 911, he described the child as “a little black woman”.
Well, the “little black woman” was actually 9-year-old Bobbi Wilson, a young scientist. The fourth-grader had created her own insecticide (杀虫剂) to fight spotted lanternflies (斑衣蜡蝉). She came across the recipe on TikTok and had recently learned that the harmful species damages trees because they feed on their sap (树液). Bobbi was simply testing out her invention in her neighborhood when the police call was made.
“That’s her thing,” her mother Monique Joseph said. “She’s going to kill the lanternflies, especially if they’re on a tree. That’s what she’s going to do.” Bobbi’s 13-year-old sister, Hayden Wilson, also defended her, noting that Bobbi “was not only doing something amazing for our environment, but she was also doing something that made her feel like a hero”. Luckily, what happened didn’t influence Bobbi’s spirit and has led to some positive experiences for her.
She has since been recognized by several organizations for her environmental efforts. She has also been invited on special tours. One took place at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory. Another was given by the United States Department of Agriculture of New Jersey at a plant where they discussed lanternflies. But that’s not where her recognition ends! The Association of New Jersey Environmental Commissions (ANJEC) honored Bobbi with their Sustainability Award for her work to save trees and fight lanternflies.
“We were excited that she was doing that,” Ann Marchioni of the ANJEC said. Ann added that the organization praises volunteers for being “hands-on” in their community. In addition to the award, she and her family got to visit with a group of black female scientists at Yale University. They showed her various labs and even invited her to donate lanternfly specimens (标本) for the university’s work.
1. What made the neighbor call the police?A.A girl climbing trees. | B.A girl spraying something. |
C.A girl littering the sidewalks. | D.A girl testing something dangerous. |
A.Ashamed. | B.Proud. | C.Shocked. | D.Relieved. |
A.Those whose donations help ANJEC. |
B.Those who can do something creative in their university. |
C.Those whose environmental awareness is quite impressive. |
D.Those who can do something practical in their community. |
A.Creative and determined. | B.Watchful and serious. |
C.Friendly and generous. | D.Talkative and strict. |
1. 表示关心;
2. 介绍同学们可以提供给灾区的帮助;
3. 鼓励他振作起来重建家园
注意:
1. 词数80左右;
2. 可以适当增加细节,以使行文连贯。
Dear Smith,
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Yours,
Li Hua
1.世界地球日的意义。
2.你的具体行动(至少两条)。
参考词汇:世界地球日 World Earth Day
注意:1.词数 100 左右;
2.可以适当增加细节,以使行文连贯。
Dear Leslie,
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Yours,
Li Hua
When Zhou Longshan started filming birds 10 years ago at Baiyangdian Lake,
Then things snowballed. In the following years, the teacher became a bird watcher, a volunteer ranger at the lake, a photographer
“Sharing bird-protection knowledge with children can make them feel the
Growing up in a local village, Zhou,60, has fond childhood memories
“When I was a child, the water in Baiyangdian was limpid. The fish and aquatic plants in the water could be seen clearly,” he said. “I often caught fish with my friends, rowed boats and drank the lake water
Between the 1960s and 1980s,
When Zhou became a teacher in the 1990s, the stink from the lake could sometimes be smelled from his village. “The lake became stinking, the population and species of fish and birds decreased, and the locals were unwilling to go near the lake,” he recalled.
Since the Xiong’an New Area was established in 2017, Baiyangdian’s rehabilitation and protection activities
Zhou will retire in June. “I will continue patrolling the lake and photographing the birds, to contribute to the protection of birds in my hometown,” he said.
10 . About 40% of all food grown in the world goes uneaten each year, according to a World Wildlife Fund report from last year. And when food ends up in landfills, it produces huge amounts of greenhouse gases. So it’s no surprise that the app Too Good to Go designed to be opposed to this problem—by giving consumers the opportunity to purchase leftover, out-of-date or ugly food at discount prices—has become increasingly popular in recent years.
Users of the Too Good to Go app can search for local restaurants, bakeries and grocery stores—and purchase surprise bags filled with whatever food is left over at the end of the day. The bags range in price from about $3 to $5, but they’re stocked with food about three times that value. So customers are also getting a steep discount.
Too Good to Go first launched in Europe in 2015 and opened in the US in October 2020.Today it’s available in cities including Austin, Chicago, Los Angeles, Seattle and Philadelphia. And the app saves 300,000 meals a day from ending up in landfills around the world.
Besides saving meals from ending up in the trash, Too Good to Go’s primary aim is to increase awareness of food waste, eventually encouraging consumers to effect policy change in their local communities.
“The whole food chain is wasting food. So we need to help,” said Lucie Basch, co-founder of the app Too Good to Go.” But for us, starting with the consumers and raising awareness with a super simple app that anyone can download and start using today was really the opportunity to make a difference for us.”
1. What is the purpose of designing the app Too Good to Go?A.To fight against food waste. | B.To recycle the leftover food. |
C.To reduce air pollution. | D.To deal with world hunger. |
A.enveloped | B.housed | C.filled | D.coated |
A.It still has a long way to go |
B.It can change the existing food chain. |
C.It should work together with more grocery stores. |
D.It can help improve related policies of communities. |
A.The Main Cause of Food Waste | B.The Solution for Greenhouse Gases |
C.A New App Helps People Reduce Waste | D.A Consumption Concept Becomes Popular |