1 . When Alex Lin was 11 years old, he read an alarming article in the newspaper about e-waste. The article said that people were throwing away their e-waste in places it should never go. This was dangerous, the article said, because e-waste contains poisonous chemicals and metals like lead. These harmful substances (物质) can leak into the environment, getting into crops, animals, water supplies — and people.

Alex showed the article to a few of his classmates. They were worried too. But what could they do about this problem with e-waste? How would they even start? “The first thing we did,” Alex says, “was to learn more about the problem.” Alex and his friends spent several weeks gathering information about the chemicals in e-waste and their effects on humans. They learned how to dispose (处理) of e-waste properly and how it could be recycled. “Then,” he says, “we had to find out what the situation was in our town. So we sent out a survey.”

What they found shocked them: Of the people who answered the survey, only one in eight even knew what e-waste was, let alone how to properly dispose of it. Alex and his friends went into action. They advertised in the local newspaper and distributed notices to students, asking residents to bring their unwanted electronics to the school parking lot. The drive lasted two days, and they collected over 21,000 pounds of e-waste.

The next step was to set up an e-waste drop-off center for the town and to find a responsible company to recycle the waste. That was when Alex and his friends learned another scary fact about e-waste — some irresponsible recycling companies don’t break down the e-waste and dispose of it safely themselves. Instead, they ship it overseas to countries such as China and Nigeria, where local environmental laws are not applied. “We checked carefully online to make sure the company we chose didn’t do this,” Alex says.

Because of the work of people like Alex and his team, more and more people are getting the message about safe disposal of e-waste. As Alex says, “Today’s technology should not become tomorrow’s poisonous trash.”

1. What can we learn about Alex from paragraph 1 and paragraph 2?

A．He was curious about chemistry experiments.

B．He possessed a strong sense of responsibility.

C．He set out to solve the problem individually.

D．He formed the habit of reading newspapers.

2. What does the underlined word “drive” mean?

A．Campaign.

B．Imagination.

C．Performance.

D．Technology.

3. Why did some companies transport the e-waste to other countries?

A．Lack of available space was the reason for shipping.

B．Recycling was totally banned in their own country.

C．They were running their companies on a tight budget.

D．They were not charged with insecurely disposing it.

4. What’s the suitable title for the text?

A．Reusing School Computers	B．Recycling Electronic Waste
C．Meeting a challenge	D．Doing Scientific Experiment

3 . The Cambodian Government’s Fisheries Administration and WWF announced that the Irrawaddy dolphin population in the Mekong River numbers just 89. The number is a slight decline from the estimate of 92 in 2018, but shows that the population has stabilized. In recent years after decades of sharp decline.

Critically, the survey’s findings also indicate a positive survival rate of calves through to adulthood, with a “recruitment rate” of 4.22%, signalling an improving trend for the dolphin population. “Although the survey confirmed that the number of river dolphins in Cambodia has stabilized, the population size is still small, so stronger conservation action is urgently needed,” said Mr. Seng Teak, WWF Country Director.

The Irrawaddy dolphins are fully protected under Cambodia’s Fisheries Law. The dolphins, however, continue to face great danger. Gill nets, development of upstream dams, overfishing, and illegal fishing practices such as electrofishing are among major known threats to the survival of the species.

Effective conservation action in recent years has halted the decline in the population, but more is required to ensure that the population expands. The Fisheries Administration and WWF are committed to continuing to work gather with the local communities and other partners to make collective efforts to carry out the recommendations of the 2020 population report.

These recommendations include enforcement of the fisheries law and the ban on illegal gill net use in the protected dolphin habitat, continued robust monitoring of the species population, and management of the Ramsar site in Stung Treng province to improve natural fish stocks for food and prey enhancement for both the local communities and the dolphins.

1. Which of the following best describes the present population of dolphins in Cambodian?

A．Uncertain

B．Steady

C．Declining

D．Increasing

2. What is not included among the threats that the Irrawaddy dolphins face according to the text?

A．Normal fishing.

B．Gill net fishing.

C．Illegal fishing.

D．Too much fishing.

3. What can be inferred about recommendations of the 2020 population report?

A．The recommendations haven’t been put to use.	B．It is banned to fish in conservative habitats.
C．The species of dolphins will be managed.	D．Dolphins will have more fish to eat.

4. What is the passage mainly about?

A．The food the dolphins eat.	B．The threats the dolphins meet.
C．The protection of dolphins in the Mekong.	D．The population of dolphins in the Mekong River.