1 . Chongqing, a city of more than 32 million people, faced an unheard-of test this summer with a heat wave and drought causing a series of large wildfires since Aug 17.
Local residents have safeguarded their hometown in every way possible, with thousands of volunteers from all walks of life fighting the fires with professionals.
Under a very hot sun, some residents used chain saws(锯) to fell trees to make fire barriers. Others rode motorcycles on newly formed paths to take firefighters and supplies up a mountain, while some volunteers carried food and drinks on their backs by foot. Women and children helped organize supplies and clear the ground, and performed other essential tasks.
On Thursday night, as wildfires approached a man-made barrier on Jinyun Mountain in Beibei district, a total of more than 1000 firefighters and volunteers stood alongside the barrier with fire extinguishers. Seen from overhead, their lights formed a silver wall against the raging fire.
The residents’ stories have touched many people.
“Chongqing people are really amazing.“ said Du Hailang, head of the Beijing Emergency Rescue Association, an NGO founded in 2007 that has taken part in many overseas rescue operations. Du and 10 other members of the association joined the fire rescue team in Chongqing last week.
“The man-made wall was unbelievable, but shocking. It really showed Chinese people’s determination to defend their homeland.” Du said.
The outstanding work of the volunteers and the hospitality of local residents impressed the firefighters, too···
Bai Xueguang, from Gansu Forest Fire Brigade, said, “I never imagined that I would have ice cream and cold drinks at a fire rescue site.”
Zhou Hongyu, from Yunnan Forest Fire Brigade, said every volunteer he met at the scene asked him if he needed anything “It was the first time I had taken a motorcycle to reach a fire scene. We really appreciate the locals’ hospitality. Their support has been wonderful.” Zhou said.
1. What test that never had happened before did Chongqing face this summer?| A．A heat wave. | B．Drought. | C．Wildfires | D．Flood. |
| A．To show their enthusiasm. | B．To impress professional firefighters. |
| C．To get paid from it. | D．To protect their homeland. |
| A．Responsible and helpful | B．Enthusiastic and faithful |
| C．Reliable and honest | D．Ambitious and determined |
| A．No pains, no gains. | B．Hard work pays off. |
| C．Love breaks down barriers. | D．Many hands make light work. |
2 . Rainforests provide much of the world’s oxygen. People have been trying to protect them for years. But another type of forest, the cloud forest, is just as important to humans.
These forests are at the tops of mountains, generally near the equator (赤道). These wet, wooded mountaintops are mainly in African and Central and South American countries. They are called “cloud forests” because their height allows for the formation of clouds among the trees. The trees in these forests pull water out of the clouds. The water gathers on the leaves and falls into small rivers below, which flow into towns at the bottom of the mountain. The yearly rainfall in these areas is about 180 centimetres. Cloud forests can pull in up to 60 percent of that. The water is important to the plants and the people in the area. It helps them survive.
Cloud forests are also home to countless species of plants that can’t be found anywhere else. One small cloud forest has as many types of plants as there are in all of Europe. In fact, there are so many that scientists haven’t made a complete list of them yet.
These forests are being destroyed at an increasing speed. Trees are being cut down, and roads are being built in their place. Some people have a goal to get government money to protect the forests. But they have had little success so far. Another way is to take the place of the destroyed plants with new ones. That, too, has been difficult because the plants are so special. There’s plenty of work to be done, but saving the cloud forests is still possible with creative solutions.
1. Where can you probably find cloud forests?| A．In North America. | B．Far from the equator. |
| C．In some African countries. | D．At the foot of mountains. |
| A．About 60 cm. | B．About 108 cm. | C．About 180 cm. | D．About 300 cm. |
| A．Europe is short of plant types. | B．Scientists are working on a list. |
| C．Cloud forests are getting smaller. | D．Cloud forests house many plants. |
| A．In a storybook. | B．In a travel guide. |
| C．In a chemistry textbook. | D．In a geography magazine. |
3 . It’s no surprise that wasting things is a nightmare for the environment — everything that we eat, wear, and consume takes up natural resources.When it comes to food waste, the environment has a double whammy — water, packaging,transportation,and agricultural resources get used up, and leftover sandwich or expired (过期的) broccoli you bought in hopes of healthy eating releases greenhouse gases as it decomposes in a landfill.
A new study from the UN Environment Program has found that a fair amount of food may never reach our mouth. Some get lost in production process, but it is mostly households that are to blame: the major waste results from our kitchen. 11 percent of the food in our fridges ends up in the trash, compared to a mere 2 and 5 percent respectively, from grocery stores and fast-food restaurants. These data madden almost half of the world’s population who are still struggling for healthy food. But surprisingly, the new study found that even less-developed countries are guilty of astonishing food waste, which is previously being thought of only as a rich-nation issue.
So what can we do? Something crucial is being more considered and prepared when going to the grocery store. Make a list of meals you want to cook, and then only buy fresh produce that you will 100 percent be eating in the next few days.
Societally, enhancing education on food preservation, food recycling and composting (堆肥), and pushing companies to sell smaller quantities food for one or two persons could all play a helpful role in bringing down the massive pile of food waste, says Edward Jaenicke, a professor of agricultural economics.
While some climate change related issues seem above our individual choices to solve, like the sea level rise,food waste is something we can actually make an impact on, by shopping smart, learning how to compost, and even getting creative with ingredients in the kitchen.We can actually make a difference by making some efforts or good choices or even changes in life.
1. What does the underlined word “whammy”in paragraph 1 mean?| A．Solution. | B．Responsibility. | C．Trouble. | D．Advantage. |
| A．Grocery stores. | B．Home kitchens. |
| C．Fast-food restaurants. | D．Production workshops |
| A．Poor countries are also wasting lots of food. |
| B．Food waste in developed countries is serious. |
| C．The economy determines the degree of waste. |
| D．Sufficient food supply remains a big challenge. |
| A．Improve food sale strategies. |
| B．Educate students to avoid junk food. |
| C．Buy what you eat and eat what you buy. |
| D．Hand out strict punishment for food waste. |
4 . The production and distribution(分布，配送)of food accounts for a third of the world’s total greenhouse gas emissions (排放) approximately. But as a consumer(消费者), it’s difficult to measure the climate influence of what you eat. An app called Evocco could soon make it a cinch. “It lets you track, improve and offset (抵消) the climate effect of your food purchases,” the founder Hugh Weldon says.
Users simply photograph their grocery receipt(票据)using the Evocco app, which identifies the food products by reading the printed text. It then works out the carbon (碳) footprint based on the store’s location and by checking the type, weight and origin of a food. The app also gives users the option to offset their shopping by contributing to Go Carbon Neutral, an Irish not-for-money project that plants native woodland.
As well as the immediate influence of offsetting groceries, Evocco hopes to raise public awareness of the carbon footprint of different foods. Some factors are well known — for instance, animal products are more resource-concentrated than plant-based food, and also importing products increases their carbon footprint — but the app also helps identify other important differences between items, such as seasonality or whether refrigeration (fridge) was required. It also offers tips on how to reduce shopping emissions. The app has been downloaded more than 1,000 times since its launch.
Apart from the app, Evocco is developing a digital tool to sell to e-commerce(电商) and delivery platforms that will track the climate impact of a product’s journey through the supply chain. The aim is to help provide climate impact information directly for consumers, while also giving Evocco product data to improve its app.
1. What does the underlined part“a cinch”in paragraph 1 mean?| A．huge success. | B．An easy task. |
| C．A great challenge. | D．An official standard. |
| A．Local seasonal fruits. | B．Local refrigerated meat. |
| C．Imported cold chain meat. | D．Imported seasonal vegetables. |
| A．Finding ways to reduce the carbon footprint. |
| B．Promoting the food industry on e-commerce platforms. |
| C．Monitoring products’ climate impact during transportation. |
| D．Helping retailers access up-to-date information about consumers. |
| A．Why grocery stores are bad for the environment |
| B．What to buy at grocery stores for the lowest carbon footprint |
| C．Go Carbon Neutral helps offset your shopping’s carbon footprint |
| D．An app can work out your carbon footprint from your grocery receipt |
5 . Even if you live a green lifestyle at home, it’s possible to ignore (忽视) the impact (影响) your travels could have on the environment.
Choose your means of transportation. If you can reach a destination by train, consider taking one.
Find eco-friendly accommodation.
Know your environment. Remember every country has challenges to deal with. For some it is plastic (塑料的) bags, for others the amount of energy (能源) used on air conditioning or heating.
| A．Eat locally grown foods. |
| B．Get your home holiday-ready. |
| C．But the influences traveling has on the environment are great. |
| D．Make sure you know them and act responsibly. |
| E．Be as green as you are at home. |
| F．Where you choose to sleep at night plays a key role in being a green traveler. |
| G．It’s a great way to see a destination and has a less environmental impact than flying. |
6 . There are many ecosystems that are truly suffering from damage. One of the solutions to the problem is that they can be restored (修复) by reintroducing some animal species. A study shows if you introduce right large mammals (哺乳动物), you can successfully restore a lot of the planet.
Some roles that species play in the environment are extremely important, so the loss of any of these can break the ecological balance. So on the other hand, it means that reintroducing a species can produce positive results. When a few wolves were reintroduced to Yellowstone Park, it became one of the most successful examples to prove the reintroduced species did help restore the ecosystem. Dr. Carly, a scientist, along with her team, was able to identify 20 kinds of mammals that could help restore a lot of what we’ve destroyed in nature if reintroduced. The species benefit the nature in different ways like helping renew soil and grass.
The team compared environments of 500 years ago with conditions of modern environments. And they figured out that only 16% of the world still has undamaged wild mammals communities, and just 6% looks similar to what it looked like before 1500. They believed that undamaged mammals communities can easily be swollen through reintroduction program, especially in South America and northern areas of Africa.
In Europe, reintroducing wolf, bison, and reindeer could really make a great impact. However, just wolves and wild horses could make a difference to Asia. “Our recommendations may not be suitable everywhere in the world—local assessments (评估) must be made to decide whether to start a reintroduction program or not. If hunting pressures within different species, shortage of food are still problems, they need solving first. However, our findings show there are huge areas of the world that could be suitable for large mammal restoration if other problems are managed,” said Dr. Carly.
1. What role did the wolves play in Yellowstone Park?| A．Attracting some other animal species. |
| B．Keeping the balance of the ecosystem. |
| C．Creating better soil for other animals. |
| D．Preventing more visits to the park. |
| A．Planned. | B．Cut. | C．Controlled. | D．Increased. |
| A．The more species reintroduced, the better for the local area. |
| B．It is almost impossible for the damaged nature to be restored. |
| C．Reintroducing species must be based on the local conditions. |
| D．Providing enough food for reintroduced species is a challenge. |
| A．Environment. | B．Culture. | C．Health. | D．History. |
7 . The tradition of giving gifts didn’t start with the modern holidays we celebrate. Many ancient cultures celebrated holidays with the exchange of gifts. People who love to give gifts often can’t wait until it’s time for the recipients to open their gifts. If you’ve ever been given a gift, you know that part of the fun is the curiosity that builds as you wonder what the gift is.
The wish to hide the identity of a gift until just the right moment led people to wrap gifts long, long ago. Historians believed wrapping gifts in paper probably started not long after paper was invented thousands of years ago.
Wrapping paper like what we use today, though, is a much more recent invention. More than 100 years ago, gifts were usually wrapped in heavy brown paper. Before that, cloth was often used. The technology to mass-produce wrapping paper didn’t come along until the early 1900s. The first American gift wrap company— Hy-Sill Manufacturing Inc. — was founded by Eli Hyman and Morris Silverman in 1903. It wasn’t as easy to wrap presents back then as it is today, though, because adhesive tape (胶带) wasn’t invented until 1930.
Over the years, wrapping paper has developed into what we see in stores each holiday season. But scientists say that the United States alone produces an extra 5 million tons of waste over the holidays, most of which is from wrapping paper and shopping bags. To cut down on this waste, some people carefully unwrap presents, so that the wrapping paper can be reused. Others have started to use reusable gift bags instead of wrapping paper.
1. What is the interesting part of people giving a gift?| A．Hiding their gifts and their feelings. |
| B．Giving the recipients a surprise. |
| C．Letting the recipients open gifts at once. |
| D．Following a century-old tradition. |
| A．People didn’t know wrapping paper until 1903. |
| B．Heavy brown paper has been used to wrap gifts for 100 years. |
| C．Technology made wrapping paper widely available. |
| D．Adhesive tape was first created by gift wrap companies. |
| A．The future of reusable gift bags. |
| B．The waste produced by Americans. |
| C．Wrapping paper’s influence on the environment. |
| D．People’s admiration for wrapping paper. |
| A．The popularity of wrapping gifts. |
| B．The start of wrapping gifts in paper. |
| C．The problems caused by wrapping paper. |
| D．The story behind wrapping paper. |
8 . Sometime last year, Michael Blonder began giving out reusable fabric bags with each purchase instead of disposable plastic bags at A. L. Goodies General Store, the souvenir shop he
The move, Blonder said, was in anticipation of a ban on plastic bags,
Eight states around the country have already
On Monday, Annapolis Alderman Rob Savidge introduced a
Savidge hopes the bill will cut off the public’s
A ban is a(n)
| A．builds | B．enters | C．visits | D．runs |
| A．though | B．until | C．unless | D．after |
| A．sold | B．banned | C．reduced | D．produced |
| A．introduce | B．announce | C．interview | D．direct |
| A．lose | B．find | C．fight | D．wind |
| A．making up | B．building up | C．blocking up | D．showing up |
| A．bill | B．note | C．letter | D．measure |
| A．teachers | B．officers | C．doctors | D．shopkeepers |
| A．providing | B．producing | C．recycling | D．employing |
| A．looks for | B．calls for | C．makes for | D．hopes for |
| A．cleaner | B．private | C．public | D．larger |
| A．promise | B．dependence | C．opinion | D．income |
| A．notice | B．law | C．information | D．rule |
| A．meaningless | B．impossible | C．essential | D．immediate |
| A．refuse | B．learn | C．adjust | D．understand |
9 . The desire for ivory products causes the killing of an elephant, but as their populations continue to fall, the hungry black market has become creative to satisfy its greed. Now, ivory hunters are setting their sights on everything. One victim of this cruel practice is the hippopotamus(河马). A new study says that arise in demand for hippopotamus’s teeth is threatening them with extinction.
In many ways, it takes a lot of effort to kill an elephant. They are legally well protected in most countries where they range and international regulations are clear. Also, smuggling(走私)large pieces of ivory internationally is easily noticed. Hippos offer a cheaper and easier ivory option. The simple truth is that they are not high on the priority list of the international conservation community. A group of wild-living African elephants will either be tracked with radio collars(项圈) or will be the focus of long-term conservation research, ecotourism or law-enforcement efforts. Not so with hippos. Unlike their famous cousins, they don’t come with a protective environment, meaning hunters can take their time.
Most elephant populations are listed under the highest level (Appendix I) of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, but hippos are listed under Appendix Ⅱ of it, meaning some trade impossible. We have created a situation where some hippos can be shot, but we have few effective ways to regulate the trade, leaving it wide open to abuse.
Having lived in Africa and worked in frontline conservation, I have seen the first-hand that in the name of art, no ivory-bearing animal is safe. I have heard the stories and seen the bodies of hippos killed by machine-gun fire, mouths open, bloody and toothless. People are working to stop this and many wildlife authorities do what they can, but until there is a real change in the demand for ivory, the hippo has joined the elephant in being in desperate need of our help.
1. What does the new study find?| A．Black marketers are hunting other animals for ivory. |
| B．Hippos face extinction due to ivory demand. |
| C．The number of elephants is decreasing. |
| D．Ivory demand is rising. |
| A．They wear radio collars. |
| B．They are the targets of ecotourism. |
| C．They live in a less protective environment. |
| D．They are well protected by clear international regulations. |
| A．by process |
| B．by analyses |
| C．by statistics |
| D．by comparison |
| A．Law enforcement. |
| B．The efforts of authorities. |
| C．Raising public awareness. |
| D．Reducing the demand for ivory |
10 . The earthquake was over and the city was in ruins. I had no choice but to walk home as all the
My friend,
Then the next day I drove to have my car
At the escape centre I saw a man
| A．life | B．business | C．rescue | D．traffic |
| A．noticed | B．missed | C．ignored | D．caught |
| A．opening | B．selling | C．repairing | D．building |
| A．who | B．whom | C．which | D．he |
| A．buy | B．care | C．matter | D．mind |
| A．used up | B．taken up | C．filled up | D．washed away |
| A．gas | B．information | C．food | D．water |
| A．behind | B．between | C．among | D．beneath |
| A．Except for | B．Together with | C．Instead of | D．Because of |
| A．Not at all | B．Of course | C．No way | D．Never mind |
| A．share | B．offer | C．learn | D．choose |
| A．crying | B．eating | C．smiling | D．singing |
| A．ways | B．roles | C．words | D．promises |
| A．bought | B．wasted | C．prepared | D．received |
| A．disaster | B．chance | C．city | D．centre |
