1. Where is the man doing a project about the environment?
| A．At a library. | B．At school. | C．At a lab. |
| A．To get information about a project. |
| B．To know about her job. |
| C．To do research on greenhouse effect. |
| A．Solve the woman’s problem. |
| B．Move some books. |
| C．Do some reading. |
2 . Sarah Toumi, a young girl growing up in France, had a dream of becoming a leader who could make a positive impact on the world. Her desire to help others was awakened when she accompanied her Tunisian father to his hometown in the eastern part of Tunisia during vacations. During her time there, she organized homework clubs and activities for children. Toumi personally witnessed the negative effects of desertification (沙漠化). She realized that within 10 years, wealthy farmers had become worse off. Toumi was determined to stop the progression of the Sahara Desert. Due to a decrease in average rainfall and an increase in severe droughts (干旱), nearly 75% of Tunisia’s agricultural lands are currently at risk of desertification.
Toumi understood the need for a change in farming practices. She firmly believed that even small plots of land could bring significant returns if farmers were willing to adapt. This adaptation involved planting sustainable crops, using advanced water treatment technologies, and using natural products and fertilizers (肥料) instead of chemical alternatives.
In 2012, Toumi took a decisive step towards realizing her dream of fighting desertification. She moved to Tunisia and set up a program called Acacias for All, with the aim of putting her sustainable farming ideas into action. “I want to show young people in the countryside that they can create opportunities where they are. Nobody is better able to understand the impact of desertification and climate change than somebody who is living without water.”
By September 2016, over 130,000 acacia trees had been planted on 20 pilot farms, with a survival rate of 60% reported by farmers. Toumi estimates that around 3 million acacia trees are required to protect Tunisia’s farmland. She plans to plant 1 million trees by 2018. In the coming years, Toumi aims to promote the program to Algeria and Morocco.
1. How did Toumi’s holiday trips to Tunisia influence her?| A．They made her decide to leave the country. | B．They helped her better understand her father. |
| C．They destroyed her dream of being a teacher. | D．They inspired her to take action to help others. |
| A．Cold weather. | B．Soil pollution. | C．Low rainfall. | D．Forest damage. |
| A．To ensure access to primary education for children. |
| B．To promote the protection of agricultural land. |
| C．To create job opportunities for young people. |
| D．To persuade the farmers not to use fertilizers. |
| A．Determined and helpful. | B．Considerate and calm. |
| C．Wealthy and academic. | D．Thankful and flexible. |
1. What is the main idea of the conversation?
| A．How to help keep our environment clean. |
| B．How to open a recycling store. |
| C．How to change the city. |
| A．In China. | B．In France. | C．In England. |
| A．Broken cups. | B．Broken recycling bins. | C．Broken electronic items. |
National Tree-Planting Day
March 12th is China’s annual National Tree-Planting Day. On this day, millions of Chinese, from all
First
set in order to inspire people’s passions
China’s Tree-Planting Day could date back to a
In February 1979, the 5th National People’s Congress of People’s Republic of China made
5 . Growing up in Kenya, Lesein Mutunkei, together with his family, always celebrated significant occasions by planting trees, which motivated him to protect the environment. It’s what the now 18-year-old soccer player treasures, especially since Kenya has an ongoing problem with deforestation.
Mutunkei follows in the footsteps of the late Kenyan Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Maathai who founded the Green Belt Movement in 1977. This initiative has resulted in the planting of over 51 million trees to date.
In 2018, Lesein decided to start a movement of his own. He started by planting one tree for every goal he scored during a football match. He called it Trees4Goals, and it has grown so much that he now plants 11 trees, one for each member of his team, every time he scores. Through this, he wants to inspire young people, specifically his fellow athletes, to follow in his footsteps, take nature conservation seriously, and promise to plant trees every time they score. As a result, some of them have adapted this practice for their sports. “Seeing that they’re taking that responsibility because of the project I started, for me, that is the biggest achievement,” he said.
The initiative has caught the attention of English football club Arsenal and Kenya’s Ministry of Environment and Forestry, which he now works with regularly and gets advice from.
Like Green Belt Movement, Trees4Goals, which has planted 5,500 trees so far, has made it. While Lesein has received some recognition for his initiative, he sets his sights on making it a worldwide phenomenon. “Football is a universal game, and climate change is a universal problem,” he explains. “It has the power to unite, educate and inspire my generation to create a safer and greener future.” This is why he wants to work with the world’s biggest football federation FIFA.
As for what others can do to fight deforestation or other environmental concerns, the teenager says it’s important to just get involved in some way, no matter how small.
1. What made Lesein get interested in environmental protection?| A．The influence of his family. |
| B．Wangari Maathai’s huge assistances. |
| C．The demand of the football team. |
| D．His fellow athletes’ encouragement. |
| A．To gain Kenya’s support. |
| B．To set an example for others. |
| C．To catch Arsenal’s attention. |
| D．To show his achievements. |
| A．Promoting football’s development. |
| B．Going global with the help of FIFA. |
| C．Beating climate change completely. |
| D．Getting beyond Green Belt Movement. |
| A．Fame is a great thirst of the young. |
| B．A youth is to be regarded with respect. |
| C．Positive thinking and action result in success. |
| D．Success means getting personal desires satisfied. |
6 . 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. |
1. What advice is Tim going to give his teachers?
| A．Asking students to send in their work electronically. |
| B．Requesting students to recycle school paper. |
| C．Making students use both sides of paper. |
| A．Use local produce. |
| B．Have meatless meals. |
| C．Stop selling bottled drinks. |
| A．A recycling plan. | B．A green project. | C．The school life. |
1. What was the main topic of the meeting?
| A．Politics. | B．Green development. | C．The latest technology trends. |
| A．Making a wider variety of foods. |
| B．Developing sustainable agriculture. |
| C．Driving cars less. |
| A．Global teamwork. | B．Energy exploration. | C．More job opportunities. |
Earthquakes are one of the most destructive natural disasters. They can happen just about anywhere. Earthquakes cannot be stopped,
If you are in
Remember that aftershocks are possible at any time and are
10 . 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. |
