1. What’s the conversation mainly about?
A.Fighting fire. | B.Detecting fire. | C.Preventing fire. |
A.Australia lost 4% of its trees. |
B.The system is used in America. |
C.The system will use heat cameras. |
A.The size of a car. | B.The size of a plane. | C.The size of a football field. |
A.Protecting humans. | B.Purifying the air. | C.Saving animals. |
2 . Macquarie Island is a tiny island that’s part of Australia. It’s about halfway between New Zealand and Antarctica. The island’s been made a world heritage area because it’s so untouched, but this unique environment is under threat from some unwanted visitors.
It all started when seal hunters came to the island in the early 1800s. They brought rabbits with them as a source of food for the journey, and also on board the ships were rats and mice, which made their way onto the island too. They’re being blamed for destroying the homes of marine birds, causing soil loss and ripping up plant cover, as these before-and-after photos show.
So what’s being done about the problem? It starts with a team of helicopters that fly across the island carrying these giant containers. Inside them are poisoned pellets (有毒饲料) which are dropped and spread across the island. For any rabbits that survived the baiting (诱饵) , there’s a plan B. This special team of dogs is being put through a final training. It’ll be their job to track down any remaining rabbits. They have to also learn to behave around the island’s native wildlife. The dogs could be here for years or until the task is complete. The dogs don’t actually kill the rabbits. They find them, then the hunters decide to either catch the rabbits or shoot them.
But the program has received a bit of criticism. Some people argue 25 million dollars is a lot of money to be spending on wiping out rabbits and rodents (啮齿目动物), and in the process, some native birds will be killed because of the baiting.
The reality is the problem isn’t going to be solved overnight. The people running the program say that even if one pair of rabbits is left alive, the whole task will be seen as a failure, which means these guys could be here for a long time, trying to ensure that this precious island remains protected from pests.
1. Who are these unwanted visitors?A.Seal hunters. | B.Marine wildlife. | C.Native birds. | D.Foreign species. |
A.Advancing. | B.Destroying. | C.Dividing | D.Balancing |
A.Poisoned pellets are being dropped on the island from helicopters. |
B.A team of hunters is being trained to catch or shoot rabbits. |
C.Native birds are being protected from the unwanted visitors. |
D.A special team of dogs is being sent to kill the rabbits. |
A.To spend as little money as possible. |
B.To protect native birds from the unwanted visitors. |
C.To ensure that no pair of rabbits survive on the island. |
D.To train dogs to track down the rabbits on the island. |
3 . I finally climbed into bed at 1: 20 in the morning. My friends had helped me celebrate my 31st birthday in the basement apartment, where I lived.
Earlier in the day I had prepared for the unlikely event of a flood. We are about a third of a mile from the banks of the Ahr River. It had been raining buckets that week and the government had sent out a flood warning, though not for where I was. Still, I’d placed sandbags on the floor outside my garden door and put electronics on tables. “Silly bro!” My friends laughed at me for doing that, but I thought, why take a chance?
As I drifted off to sleep, I was awakened by the sound of rushing water, as if I were lying beside a waterfall. When I got off the bed, I was shocked that cold water was rising fast. In darkness, I grabbed my cellphone and turned on the flashlight. When I stepped out of the bedroom, I saw water shooting through the gaps of the door.
I began to panic. I knew I had to get out—fast! In bare feet, I started to make my way to the only escape: the door that led upstairs to the main floor. Finally I made it to the door and tried several times to-pull it open even just a little bit, but the rushing water shut it again. I looked around for anything I could use to keep it open. There in the corner was a coat rack (架子). I took it and, once again, opened the door, throwing the coat rack between the door and the frame (门框) to keep the door from shutting. Finally, I managed to make a gap just wide enough to squeeze (挤) through and make it into the hallway.
I leaped on to the stairs and ran outside. I stood there in the darkness, wet through. What was once a lovely street was now a waterscape, with floating ruins instead of people and cars. The river had drowned (淹没) the neighborhood!
1. What does the underlined sentence in paragraph 2imply?A.Better safe than sorry. |
B.It never rains but it pours. |
C.A lost chance never returns. |
D.A friend in need is a friend indeed. |
A.Celebrating his birthday. |
B.Sleeping in the basement. |
C.Placing sandbags by the door. |
D.Playing with electronic devices. |
A.Making his way to the door. |
B.Finding a coat rack. |
C.Keeping the door from shutting. |
D.Squeezing through the gap. |
A.Sad and shocked. |
B.Annoyed and anxious. |
C.Surprised and disappointed. |
D.Puzzled and awkward. |
1. What does the UN think of the government's action?
A.Enough. | B.Impressive. | C.Shocking. |
A.To create space for supplies. |
B.To show respect for the dead. |
C.To prevent the spread of disease. |
A.Damage to roads. | B.Too many survivors. | C.The closing of the airport. |
5 . Most of us have heard of the 3Rs: reduce, reuse and recycle. It is the core principle of a sustainable (可持续的) life, but few of us can apply it in our own lives. Now, there’s a “lab” you can explore and discover a way toward living sustainably.
3R Lab is located in Xuhui district, Shanghai. It offers exhibitions, activities and goods that showcase the 3R principle. The key to a sustainable life, according to Vincent T. M. Fong, the 32-year-old from Hong Kong who created the lab, is to make it a long-term promise. “A sustainable life should be sustainable itself in the first place. You can’t lead a sustainable life on a whim. Small and comfortable changes are exactly what you need,” Fong said.
The lab regularly hosts ugly fruit markets, offering these strange fruits which are often thrown away by traditional markets and consumers at a quite attractive price. “They’re thrown away simply because of their appearance. Buying fruit regardless of how they look reduces food waste significantly in our daily life,” Fong commented.
A water tank with two types of straws is another equipment in the lab. “One type is made from normal plastics widely used in our daily life while the other is from PHA, a new replacement for plastics, and the water is sourced from the Suzhou River,” explained Ni Li, an employee of the lab. Visitors can see how the PHA straws degrade (降解) into a thin layer in just one month, while the others remain unchanged.
“Leading a sustainable life does not necessarily mean sacrifice,” said Fong. Consuming ugly fruit and using degradable plastics are small changes that are good for the environment and easy to stick to. Only in this way can the 3R principle become part of our lives, he added.
After working there for six months, Ni, who wasn’t mindful of the 3R principle before arriving at the lab, now uses her cup every time she buys a coffee. “The job has reshaped my life,” Ni said.
1. What does the-underlined phrase “on a whim” in the second paragraph probably mean?A.In a rush. | B.On a regular basis. |
C.Without any reason. | D.As a common practice. |
A.To reduce food waste. | B.To promote healthy eating. |
C.To sell new kinds of fruit. | D.To provide more affordable fruit, |
A.The water pollution caused by plastics. | B.The degradation of PHA straws. |
C.The interaction between two types of straws. | D.The disappearance of normal plastic straws. |
A.She avoids going to traditional markets. | B.She has devoted less time to her hobbies. |
C.She has got rid of a few bad habits. | D.She is leading a low carbon life now. |
E-waste, the world’s largest and fastest growing type of waste, doesn’t only come from computers but other electronics as well. |
In 2019, the world produced 53. 6 million tons of e-waste. |
The world’s e-waste will reach 74.7 million tons by 2030. That’s almost a doubling of e-waste in just 16 years. Today, only 15-20 percent of all e-waste is collected and recycled. |
Why should we recycle e-waste? E-waste has many valuable things in it, such as gold, silver and copper(铜). One smart phone battery can pollute 600,000 liters(升)of water. |
What can we do? ●Try to repair your electronics instead of buying new ones. ●Check for recycling organizations and give away your broken electronics. ●Remove any batteries (电池) because they need to be recycled separately. ●Tell others to recycle e-waste. |
1. In___________, the amount of e-waste reached about 37.3 million tons.
A.2014. | B.2019. | C.2022. | D.2030. |
A.E-waste only comes from computers. |
B.In 2019, 53.6 million tons of e-waste was recycled. |
C.We need to recycle batteries with other electronics. |
D.We should consider repairing rather than buying new electronics. |
A.instruction | B.novel | C.newspaper | D.comic book |
7 . More than half of the world’s oceans have changed greatly in color over the past 20 years, with human-caused climate change as the likely cause, according to the study published in the journal Nature. Oceans around the equator (赤道), in particular, have become greener, a trend that cannot be explained by natural, year-to-year variability (变化性) alone, reflecting changes in their ecosystems.
The ocean’s color changes based on what’s found in its upper layers. Bluer oceans tend to have little life, while greener oceans have more phytoplankton (浮游植物). Phytoplankton are the base of the ocean food web. In a balanced ecosystem, they serve as fuel for zooplankton and fish, which are eaten by larger fish, seabirds and marine mammals.
Nevertheless, the change in color has indicated a change in the ecosystem. While some areas are likely to have less phytoplankton, others will have more. These kinds of shifts could have ripple effects throughout the entire ocean ecosystem.
To determine whether this trend was related to climate change, researchers compared two ocean-color models which simulated how the oceans would respond under two conditions: one with added greenhouse gases and one without. The results predicted in the greenhouse gas model aligned (一致) almost exactly with what the researchers found from real-world data---within 20 years, about half of the oceans obviously shifted in color.
Dutkiewicz said she was not surprised at this finding. “But still I found the results overwhelmingly alarming; and there is another wake-up call that human-caused climate change has significantly impacted the earth system,” she said. “All changes are causing an imbalance in natural ecosystems. Such imbalances will only get worse over time if our oceans keep heating.” she added.
1. What does the new study mainly show?A.The color of the oceans varies with the seasons. |
B.Oceans are turning greener due to climate change. |
C.Ocean ecosystems have become more and more fragile. |
D.Human activities are the main cause of climate change. |
A.Greener oceans are more beneficial to fish than blue ones. |
B.Phytoplankton play a fundamental role in ocean ecosystems. |
C.The number of phytoplankton is in decline in most oceans. |
D.Phytoplankton are vital for fighting against climate change. |
A.By exploring the waters covered by phytoplankton. |
B.By referring to previous data about greenhouse gases. |
C.By analyzing the source of greenhouse gas emissions. |
D.By comparing ocean-color models in different conditions. |
A.To offer solutions to ocean heating. |
B.To show the changes in natural ecosystems. |
C.To stress the urgency of dealing with climate change. |
D.To state the importance of the ocean to human beings. |
8 . Hello, everyone! I’ve just come back from a wonderful trip to Tibet. Snow-covered mountains disappear into clouds that seem almost close enough to touch. It was so beautiful there that
A.I felt as if I was in a fairyland (仙境). |
B.As they pass through Tibet. |
C.visitors are being told to pay more attention to protecting the environment. |
D.this beautiful countryside is being destroyed by careless visitors. |
E.How can we make visitors more aware of the damage that is being done to the environment? |
F.I’m struck by their beauty. |
G.We must change our way of life. |
9 . The UK Government has announced plans to build eight nuclear power reactors as part of its new energy strategy.
By 2030, the Government wants 95%of the UK’s electricity to come from low-carbon energy sources. Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas that is released from the burning of fossil fuels (coal, oil and gas). It is a big cause of climate change- long-term shifts in weather patterns, including rising temperatures.
The Government wants to increase renewable energy sources, such as wind turbines and solar panels. The Government hopes that by 2030, 50 gigawatts (亿瓦特) of energy will come from offshore wind farms (ones that stand in the sea). That’s enough to power all the houses in the UK. There are also plans to build eight new nuclear reactors. Nuclear reactors generate (产生) energy through a process called nuclear fission (裂变), when heavy atoms are split into lighter ones. The Government wants to make the UK’s energy cleaner and cheaper, and for the UK to produce its own energy rather than relying on other countries. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has affected the world’s gas and oil supply, making power more expensive.
The UK Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, says the plans will lead to clean and secure energy made in Britain. Some people have said that these plans don’t go far enough and won’t help people who are struggling with high energy bills at the moment.
Labour Party leader Keir Starmer has said that the Government should do more to insulate people’s homes. Insulating homes is when material is put inside a house to stop heat from getting out. It means people would need to use less energy to heat their homes.
1. What does the underlined “It” refer to in the second paragraph?A.Carbon dioxide. | B.A fossil fuel. |
C.A renewable energy source. | D.The low-carbon energy source. |
A.The Government wants to be more independent on energy production. |
B.Nuclear reactors produce energy through nuclear fission. |
C.The UK is unwilling to produce its own energy. |
D.In the process of nuclear fission,lighter atoms are split into heavy ones. |
A.Supportive. | B.Unconcerned. |
C.Unappreciative. | D.Satisfied. |
A.Cheaper Energy in the UK |
B.Electricity from Low-carbon Energy Sources |
C.The UK Government Builds Eight Nuclear Reactors |
D.The UK Government Launches Energy Plan |
1. What has the city of Wenzhou managed to do recently?
A.Attract investment. |
B.Become an eco-friendly city. |
C.Found a hydro-electric power plant. |
A.Stopping using gas. |
B.Building wind power plants. |
C.Raising awareness about resources. |