1. What are the speakers mainly talking about?
A.How to help people who suffer from a disaster. |
B.How to attend a performance. |
C.How to raise money for the poor. |
A.A donation ceremony. | B.A speech. | C.A concert show. |
A.It is not as rich as Turkey. | B.It wasn’t badly damaged. | C.It had enough support. |
2 . Animal populations across the world have been reduced by 69% in less than 50 years, according to a new scientific report. The report’s authors are calling for urgent action to restore the natural world.
The Living Planet Report (LPR) is produced every two years by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and the Zoological Society of London. The most recent report, released on October 13, 2022, shows that almost 70% of the world’s monitored wildlife was lost between 1970 and 2018. The report is based on research from 195 countries around the world. Data was collected from almost 32,000 populations of 5,230 species.
Although the average global loss of wildlife is 69%, the rate is greater in the global south. Latin America and the Caribbean in particular have seen the sharpest fall, having lost 94% of their wildlife since 1970. Across the world, the biggest drop was in freshwater populations of wildlife — including almost 1,400 species of mammals, birds, fish, amphibians and reptiles — which have decreased by 83%.
The report identifies several causes for wildlife loss, including hunting, farming, the loss of forests, pollution and climate change. However, the report also promotes solutions, such as designing less destructive food production systems, urgently protecting the Amazon rainforest, limiting the use of fossil fuels, and creating new laws to protect our natural environment.
Commenting on the report, Marco Lambertini, director general of WWF International, called the figures “terrifying”, and said “we need to help nature recover and not simply halt its loss.” In December 2022, world leaders are meeting in Montreal for the 15th UN Biodiversity Conference, also known as COP 15. The authors of the LPR say that this is an opportunity for a global plan to deal with wildlife loss and restore nature. “Government leaders must step up at COP 15,” said Lambertini. “The world is watching.”
1. What does the author mainly want to show by listing the numbers in the first three paragraphs?A.The causes of the urgent situation. | B.The seriousness of wildlife loss worldwide. |
C.The detailed process of the research. | D.The drop in freshwater populations of wildlife. |
A.Stop hunting and farming. | B.Not permit the production of wildlife food. |
C.Replace the fossil fuels with renewable energy. | D.Offer legal protection of natural environment. |
A.Accept. | B.Fear. | C.Stop. | D.Suffer. |
A.Concerned. | B.Indifferent. | C.Positive. | D.Satisfied. |
3 . Your carbon footprint is the amount of greenhouse gases that you produce as you live your life. In order to hold the global temperature rise to 2˚C or less, everyone needs to average an annual carbon footprint of 1.87 tons by 2050.
Eat low on the food chain. This means eating mostly fruits, vegetables, grains, and beans. Meat and dairy is responsible for 14.5 percent of man-made global greenhouse gas emissions.
Use low energy appliances. Replace traditional light bulbs with LED ones. Though LEDs cost more, they use a quarter of the energy and last up to 25 times longer. Make energy efficiency a primary consideration when choosing a new microwave, air conditioning unit, dishwasher, or refrigerator.
Choose green travel. An average car produces about five tons of carbon each year.
A.Don’t buy fast fashion. |
B.Never choose quality clothing. |
C.But people ignore this serious problem. |
D.Making changes in transport matters much. |
E.Here are ways to reduce your carbon footprint. |
F.They are mainly from food production and processing. |
G.Products with the ENERGY STAR sign have better efficiency. |
4 . The Forest Eye project aims to create the largest living forest feature in England by growing 5,000 alder, beech and maple trees into the shape of a child’s eye. The trees are being planted in Dalby Forest, North Yorkshire, with the help of local young people. The trees will form an eye 300 meters wide that will be visible from the sky in about six years, when they have grown.
The project hopes to focus on the importance of young people’s ideas for creating a health y natural environment. It was designed by a company called Sand in Your Eye and has been created by Forestry England, an organization that protects forests and woodlands.
Josephine Lavelle, director at Forestry England, says, “Having the gaze of a child growing in the heart of this beautiful and ever-changing forest is a powerful symbol of how we need to listen and respond to the needs and vision of future generations.”
The project also aims to highlight the important role that forests play in fighting climate change. As well as providing a home for wildlife, trees absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and create oxygen that humans need to breathe. When the trees have grown, they will provide a place for lots of wild animals, like bats, birds and small mammals to live. The Forest Eye will also create a space for people to explore and connect with nature.
Jamie Wardley, artistic director at Sand in Your Eye, has plenty of experience creating pieces of “land art”. These are huge drawings and sculptures made from grass, ice and sand, including a 60-meter portrait of Swedish climate-change campaigner Greta Thunberg on a school field in Yorkshire. He says, “The trees are my paint.” “Our work is about prompting people to think deeply and respond emotionally to some of the biggest issues facing us, including the climate crisis.” Wardley also plans to develop the Forest Eye into an even bigger project. “It is our ambition to create the whole face of a young girl at the same scale, measuring 2,000 meters across. Those trees that are planted in the Forest Eye are the very beginning of this,” he says.
1. What can we know about the project?A.It is planting trees to form an eye. | B.It is aimed at creating artworks. |
C.It is proposed by the local youth. | D.It is carried out in the largest forest. |
A.The argument for the project. | B.The benefits of tree. |
C.The value of children’s ideas. | D.The fight against climate change. |
A.Ignorant. | B.Adventurous. | C.Emotional. | D.Creative. |
A.Land arts take off | B.Tree planting catches on |
C.Giant eye planting kicks off | D.Environmental groups spring up |
1. What happened to the speakers?
A.They lost their computers. |
B.They suffered from a big storm. |
C.They failed to graduate. |
A.Amy’s neighbour. | B.Amy’s mother. | C.Jack’s neighbor |
A.By posting online. |
B.By calling the police. |
C.By going to the insurance company. |
A.In July. | B.In August. | C.In September. |
1. What does the man suggest doing in an earthquake?
A.Going outside. | B.Protecting the pet. | C.Hiding under something. |
A.20. | B.25. | C.30. |
A.She is a journalist. | B.She is a firefighter. | C.She is an animal trainer. |
1. 大熊猫的基本信息;
2. 大熊猫的保护措施。
注意: 1. 词数 80 左右;2. 开头和结尾已经给出,不计入总词数。
Dear Jack,
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Yours,
Li Hua
9 . Omar Vazquez grew up in poverty on Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula. He watched his single mother struggle to put food on the table, and today the memory inspires him to help those in need. When an invasive (入侵的) seaweed called sargassum showed up on Mexico’s Caribbean beaches, Omar looked past the matter of it all and saw an opportunity to help others.
Sargassum is not dangerous, but it has an unpleasant smell and can become so thick that it keeps people from entering the water. Mexico has experienced record-setting amounts of the seaweed in recent years, and it has made its way to Florida’s beaches as well. Experts say there could be as much as 100 tons of sargassum blocking Mexican shorelines in 2023.
With tourism dollars at risk, officials and locals alike were eager to remove the seaweed, but only Omar saw its true potential. The professional gardener organized a beach cleanup that provided jobs for about 300 local families, but he knew there was more to do. Since people’s attitude towards the seaweed reminded him of his own life experiences, he decided to become an agent (推动者) for change.
When sargassum started arriving, everyone was complaining. “I wanted to make something good out of something everyone saw as bad,” Omar explained.
In 2018, Omar found a way to turn sargassum into building blocks that he calls Sargablock. He creates these blocks by mixing 40% sargassum with other materials like clay, then putting them in a block-forming machine and baking them in the sun for days. The end result is an organic, sustainable, and ecologically friendly building material that experts say could last for 120 years.
To date, Omar’s company, Bluegreen Mexico, has used 700 tons of sargassum to build low-income housing for those in need. Omar said he would take on more projects, and donate more houses to single mothers like his own mom.
1. What can be learned from paragraph 1?A.Omar’s family often assisted people in need. |
B.Sargassum originated on the Caribbean beaches. |
C.Omar’s experience in childhood has influenced him much. |
D.Omar has met a lot of generous people since he was young. |
A.They didn’t take it seriously. | B.They were anxious to clear it up. |
C.They viewed it as new materials. | D.They were excited to see a grand scene. |
A.Honest and ambitious. | B.Strong-willed and confident. |
C.Quick-thinking and humorous. | D.Sympathetic and innovative. |
A.It’s never too old to learn. | B.Love shines every dark corner. |
C.Solutions can be obtained from problems. | D.Heroes arise from humble beginnings. |
10 . Common water plant could provide a green energy source. Scientists have figured out how to get large amounts of oil from duckweed, one of nature’s fastest-growing water plants. Transferring such plant oil into biodiesel (生物柴油) for transportation and heating could be a big part of a more sustainable future.
For a new study, researchers genetically engineered duckweed plants to produce seven times more oil per acre than soybeans. John Shanklin, a biochemist says further research could double the engineered duckweed’s oil output in the next few years.
Unlike fossil fuels, which form underground, biofuels can be refreshed faster than they are used. Fuels made from new and used vegetable oils, animal fat and seaweed can have a lower carbon footprint than fossil fuels do, but there has been a recent negative view against them. This is partly because so many crops now go into energy production rather than food; biofuels take up more than 100 million acres of the world’s agricultural land.
Duckweed, common on every continent but Antarctica, is among the world’s most productive plants, and the researchers suggest it could be a game-changing renewable energy source for three key reasons. First, it grows readily in water, so it wouldn’t compete with food crops for agricultural land. Second, duckweed can grow fast in agricultural pollution released into the water. Third, Shanklin and his team found a way to avoid a major biotechnological barrier: For the new study, Shanklin says, the researchers added an oil-producing gene, “turning it on like a light switch”by introducing a particular molecule (分子) only when the plant had finished growing. Shanklin says, “If it replicates (复制) in other species-and there’s no reason to think that it would not — this can solve one of our biggest issues, which is how we can make more oil in more plants without negatively affecting growth.”
To expand production to industrial levels, scientists will need to design and produce large-scale bases for growing engineered plants and obtaining oil — a challenge, Shanklin says, because duckweed is a non-mainstream crop without much existing infrastructure (基础设施).
1. What can people get from duckweed firsthand?A.Plant oil. | B.Stable biodiesel. |
C.Sustainable water. | D.Natural heat. |
A.Options for renewable energy. |
B.Reasons for engineering genes. |
C.The potential of revolutionary energy source. |
D.The approach to avoiding agricultural pollution. |
A.Industrial levels. | B.Unique design. |
C.Academic research. | D.Basic facilities. |
A.Duckweed Power | B.Duckweed Production |
C.Genetic Engineering | D.Genetic Testing |