1 . It was 1:20 a. m. I had just gone to bed, a bit
I was awakened by the
Shaking in darkness, I
I took
In the end, I think the experience made me
| A．relieved | B．drunk | C．excited | D．satisfied |
| A．stones | B．sandbags | C．wood | D．boxes |
| A．in doubt | B．in return | C．in turn | D．in case |
| A．thundering | B．snowing | C．pouring | D．blowing |
| A．roar | B．taste | C．rhythm | D．smell |
| A．appearing | B．spreading | C．freezing | D．rising |
| A．grabbed | B．adjusted | C．dropped | D．studied |
| A．realize | B．guess | C．see | D．check |
| A．extremely | B．violently | C．narrowly | D．certainly |
| A．get out | B．check out | C．calm down | D．help out |
| A．brave | B．immediate | C．determined | D．calculated |
| A．fear | B．annoyance | C．stress | D．responsibility |
| A．active | B．proud | C．grateful | D．amazed |
| A．ask | B．ensure | C．hear | D．follow |
| A．loved | B．forgave | C．survived | D．graduated |
2 . Soot (烟灰) pollution is speeding up climate-driven melting in Antarctica, a new study suggests, raising questions about how to protect the delicate continent from an increasing number of humans who want to visit the place.
“It really makes us question, ‘Is our presence really needed?’” says Alia Khan, one of the authors of the new study. “We have quite a large black carbon footprint in Antarctica, which is enhancing snow and ice melt.”
Black carbon is the leftover thing from burning plants or fossil fuels. Soot in Antarctica comes primarily from waste gases of cruise ships (游轮), vehicles and airplanes, although some pollution travels on the wind from other parts of the globe. The dark particles (微粒) coat white snow and absorb heat from the sun the way a black T-shirt does on a warm day. The blanket of dark bits speeds up melting, which has already been happening more quickly because of global warming.
When snow and ice are uncovered, they reflect an enormous amount of sunlight before it can turn into heat. “These are the mirrors on our planet,” says Sonia Nagorski, a scientist at the University of Alaska Southeast. “When those mirrors are covered in a film of dark bits, they don’t send back that much light and heat. That means more heat is trapped on Earth, speeding up melting and contributing to global warming.”
As a scientist who personally visits Antarctica every year, Khan says she is troubled by her own research results. On the one hand, she goes to Antarctica to collect crucial data about how quickly the snow and ice there are disappearing. “But then when we come to conclusions like this, it really does make us think twice about how frequently we need to visit the continent,” she says, “and what kinds of regulations should be placed on tourism as well.” That could mean requiring that cruise ships and vehicles be electric, for example, or limiting the number of visitors each year.
1. What does the underlined word “It” refer to in Paragraph 2?| A．That thick snow and ice cover Antarctica all year round. |
| B．More and more people’s hoping to explore Antarctica. |
| C．Stopping soot from approaching Antarctica. |
| D．Tapping natural resources in Antarctica. |
| A．To make a guess. | B．To make a comment. |
| C．To make a comparison. | D．To make a conclusion. |
| A．Heat can be made full use of in Antarctica. |
| B．Uncovered snow and ice can trap more heat. |
| C．Speeding up melting can slow down global warming. |
| D．Snow and ice covered with dark particles reflect less sunlight. |
| A．She helps make regulations about travel in Antarctica. |
| B．She often leads tourists to visit Antarctica. |
| C．Trips to Antarctica should be controlled. |
| D．Tourism can help to develop Antarctica. |
1. What can be seen from space?
| A．The smoke in the Arctic. |
| B．The wildfires in Scandinavia. |
| C．The melting ice in Greenland. |
| A．In Greenland. | B．In Alaska. | C．In Siberia. |
| A．Strong winds. |
| B．More lightening strikes. |
| C．High temperatures. |
| A．The Arctic fires. |
| B．The habitat loss. |
| C．The death of animals. |
4 . A librarian, whose name is Raden Roro Hendarti in Indonesia’s Java island, is lending books to children in exchange for trash they collect in a special way to clean up the environment and get the kids to read more.
Each weekday Raden Roro Hendarti fills up her three-wheeler with books, and then she rides it to Muntang village. There she exchanges books with the children for plastic cups, bass and other waste that she carries back. She told Reuters (路透社) she is helping develop reading in the kids as well as make them aware of the environment. As soon as she shows up, little children, many accompanied by their mothers, surround her “Trash Library” and exchange for the books.
They are all carrying trash bags and Raden’s three-wheeler quickly fills up with them as the books fly out. She’s happy the kids are going to spend less time on online games as a result. “Let us build a culture of reading from young age to reduce the harm of the online world,” Raden said.
She collects about 100 kg of waste each week, which is then sorted out by her colleagues and sent for recycling or sold. She has 6,000 books to lend and wants to take the mobile service to neighbouring areas as well. She hopes that more and more people can do something to help protect the environment.
1. Why is Raden lending books to children in exchange for trash they collect?| A．To collect trash and fight against climate change. |
| B．To teach children to save the earth by reading books. |
| C．To protect the environment and help children read more. |
| D．To introduce her books on protecting the earth to children. |
| A．Curious. | B．Responsible. | C．Hard-working. | D．Positive. |
| A．the service is popular only among adults. |
| B．Raden exchanges books two days a week. |
| C．Raden may take the service to neighbouring areas. |
| D．the waste will be sorted out after recycling or sold. |
| A．A Great Librarian. | B．Trash for Books. |
| C．Promotion for Recycling. | D．More Reading, Less Online Games. |
5 . We should all have at least one fire extinguisher somewhere in our home, but it’s not enough to simply keep one under the kitchen sink. If there is a fire, your safety — and the safety of your home — depends on knowing how to use that fire extinguisher correctly. In case your fire extinguisher has been sitting around collecting dust, here’s everything you need to know before brushing it off and fighting a fire in your home the right way.
Steps for proper extinguisher use
Once you understand the different types of fire extinguishers and their uses, you need to be able to properly operate one.
Step 1: Identify a clear exit/escape route
Before operating the fire extinguisher, make sure you have a clear evacuation path. If you cannot put out the fire, you’ll need to make a safe exit. Also, make sure everyone else is being evacuated from the building.
Step 2: Call the fire department
Even if the fire appears manageable, you should always have the fire department on the way. Once firefighters arrive, they can double-check whether the fire has been completely extinguished.
Step 3: Stand back
Face the fire and keep your back to the clear exit. You should stay between 1.8 and 2.5 meters away from the flames as you prepare to operate the fire extinguisher.
Step 4: Operate the extinguisher
It can be difficult to think clearly during an emergency. Thankfully, there is a long-standing acronym (首字母缩略词) — PASS — to help you recall the steps involved in operating your fire extinguisher.
P: Pull the pin (保险销) on the fire extinguisher.
A: Aim low. Point the nozzle at the base of the fire instead of the flames.
S: Squeeze the handle or lever to discharge the extinguisher.
S: Sweep the nozzle back and forth until the flames are extinguished.
Step 5: Keep an eye on things
After the flames appear to be out, continue to watch the fire area to make sure it doesn’t reignite. If the fire does start up again, repeat the “PASS” process.
Step 6: Get to a safe place
Once the fire is out, or if you are unable to put it out, leave the scene. Find a place out of reach of the fire.
1. According to the passage, what is the top priority in a fire emergency?| A．Find out how to escape. |
| B．Operate a fire extinguisher. |
| C．Call the fire department. |
| D．Escape and leave everything behind. |
| A．③②④① | B．④②③① |
| C．③④①② | D．④③①② |
| A．leave the fire area at once |
| B．repeat the “PASS” process |
| C．inspect the fire area carefully |
| D．have the fire department on the way |
6 . The world’s most famous tire (轮胎) graveyard (坟地) of 42 million tires in the sands of Kuwait is finally being cleaned up and recycled. This news in itself would be a major relief to locals who have to suffer from the clouds of black smoke arising during fires. But the government isn’t stopping there. They are aiming to create a green city of 25,000 homes in line with a post-oil Persian Gulf, with a focus on sustainability and tourism.
The first step is to clear the ground. The Salmiya area, nicknamed “Rubber (橡胶) Mountain”, is formed from hundreds of small mountains of spent tires — a reaction from the one million cars which were added to Kuwait’s roads over the decade.
EPSCO Global General Trading recycling company has opened a recycling plant for the tires, where they’ve been collected, sorted, cut up, and pressed into other materials like rubbery coloured flooring tiles (铺地砖). The plant opened in January of 2021, and can recycle up to 3 million tires a year. The recycled material is then exported out to nearby gulf neighbours and Asia. In the place of the tires will be South Saad Al-Abdullah City, a green city characterizing a new era in the Middle-Eastern country.
Spent tires are a major environmental problem worldwide due to the room they take up and the chemicals they can release.
“We have moved from a difficult stage that was characterized by great environmental risk,” says Oil Minister Mohammed al-Fares. “Today the area is becoming clean and all tires are being removed to begin the launch of the project of Saad Al-Abdullah city.”
Expected to cost €3.3 billion and require 30 years to complete, the city hopes to feature green technology, probably like the kind one can see in other cities on the Persian Gulf, both existing and not. Saudi Arabia is planning to build a zero-emissions, car-less future city that’s centered around access to big data rather than water or crops.
1. Why is the Salmiya area called “Rubber Mountain”?| A．It is rich in rubber. | B．It has too many waste tires. |
| C．It used to be a mountain. | D．It has been a tradition. |
| A．A recycling company. | B．The purpose for removing tires. |
| C．How to build a green city. | D．What is done with the spent tires. |
| A．To make a prediction. | B．To explain an idea. | C．To present a fact. | D．To analyze a cause. |
| A．The Transformation of a Huge Landfill | B．Spent Tires, a Big Threat to the Environment |
| C．The Salmiya Area’s Measures to Kick Pollution | D．Kuwait Tire Mountain to Be into a Green City |
7 . Nanako Hama gets a lot of mail, mostly from strangers who live in her home city of Tokyo. In light envelopes, they send locks of their hair, hoping to recycle it.
People generate a huge amount of hair waste. Nearly all of that waste ends up in landfill, where it can release harmful greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change.
But hair possesses useful qualities that it’s a shame to simply throw it away. That’s why people all around the world, like Hama, have been collecting hair and finding innovative ways to recycle it, including making mats (垫子)out of it for removing oil leaks.
Hama is part of the nonprofit Matter of Trust (MoT) members working at more than 60 centers dotted across 17 countries, using machines to make hair donated from local salons and individuals into square mats, which are then used to clean up the floating oil.
Hair is particularly well-suited for this, says MoT co-founder Lisa Gautier. “That’s because its rough sort of outer layer lets oil stick to it.” MoT’s mats have been used in major oil leaks. including the 2010 Deepwater Horizon and 2007 Cosco Busan incidents.
In a 2018 study, Murray, an environmental scientist at the University of Technology Sydney, in Australia found that mats made of recycled human hair could absorb 0.84 grams of oil onto its surface for every gram of hair—significantly more than polypropylene (聚丙烯), a type of plastic that’s typically used to clean up floating oil.
Besides, hair is also useful as fertilizer (化肥). Hair contains a relatively high nitrogen (氮), a chemical element crucial for plant growth, and each lock of hair is made of roughly 16 percent of this essential nutrient. Last year, more than 560 gallons of liquid fertilizer made from human hair was sold to farmers in northern Tanzania and the feedback from the farmers has been very encouraging.
“It’s just a great way to use hair in a productive way. Hair is an answer literally hanging in front of our eyes—for oil and soil,” Hama says.
1. How does the author introduce the topic in paragraph 1?| A．By detailing the background. | B．By presenting a scene. |
| C．By describing the feedback. | D．By supporting evidences. |
| A．Fertilize the soil. | B．Prevent oil leaks. |
| C．Clear the sea of oil. | D．Take in harmful gas. |
| A．Its color and strength. |
| B．Its length and amount. |
| C．Its weight and flexibility. |
| D．Its structure and component. |
| A．Debatable. | B．Applicable. |
| C．Irreplaceable. | D．Uncontrollable. |
8 . The number of fish caught just outside an expanded Marine Protected Area (MPA) in Hawaii has risen. It is a sign that quadrupling (使成四倍) the size of the reserve in 2014 may have increased fish populations in the region.
When the Marine Protected Area around Hawaii was enlarged to 1,600,000 square kilometers, marine conservationists around the world were delighted. As opposed to those who advocates marine conservation, fishers may have felt differently at first, as fishing inside the area is not allowed. Yet by creating a space for the ever reducing tuna (金枪鱼) populations to recover, supporters argued, the reserve would benefit fisheries (捕鱼业) as well. As populations inside the reserve boundaries steadily increased, they predicted, the fish would spill (溢出) over into the surrounding areas, increasing the amount of tuna available to catch.
Proving that is tricky, however, as tunas can’t be counted directly. Their numbers may rise or fall for a variety of reasons other than the expansion of a reserve. But the new study, published in Science this week, strongly suggests the number of fish caught just outside the MPA is higher now than it used to be.
Alan Fried, chief scientist for the National Geographic Society’s Pristine Seas project, calls the study a “very careful and strict test of spillover from Marine Protected Area.”
Importantly, says John Lynn, an environmental economist at the University of Hawaii and one of the study’s authors, the increase in tuna catches near the reserve held up even when looking at the average numbers caught by particular fishers. This shows the effect is not due to more effective crews now fishing local waters, he explains.
Lynn and colleagues found the catch per hook increased over the 10 years of the study. Fishers were catching on average six more yellow-fin tunas and five more big-eye tunas per year after the expansion than before.
1. What can we infer about the Marine Protected Area?| A．It used to be about 400,000 square kilometers before 2014. |
| B．It is accessible to local fishers for fishing after its expansion. |
| C．It would not benefit fisheries in the long run. |
| D．It was lacking in space for tunas to hunt for food. |
| A．Joyful. | B．Cautious. | C．Unpleasant. | D．Excited. |
| A．Tunas will benefit the local fisheries. |
| B．Tunas available to catch outside MPA will increase. |
| C．The number of tunas can’t be counted directly. |
| D．The expansion of Marine Protected Area is beneficial. |
| A．Advocates call on protecting the local fisheries. |
| B．Expanded Marine Protected Area helps fisheries. |
| C．Local fisheries hold a promising future. |
| D．Tuna population can be counted in an accurate and scientific way. |
9 . Last summer on the Hawaiian Island of Kauai, Tina Taniguchi worked close to the ground. Her coconut leaf hat covered most of her thick brown hair. Wet soil had gotten on her clothes and her smiling face.
Taniguchi smiles a lot while working on the Hanapepe salt land on the west side of Kauai. It is a piece of land about half a hectare in size with pools of salty water. The salt becomes crystals (晶体)as the water dries.
“The work is tiring, but for me it’s also play,” Taniguchi said with a laugh. Taniguchi’s family is one of 22 families who make salt, following a cultural and spiritual tradition. Hanapepe is one of the last remaining salt lands in Hawaii. Its salt can be traded or given away but must never be sold. Hawaiians use it in cooking, healing, and as protection.
Over the past 10 years, there have been several threats to this field. They encompass development, pollution from a neighboring airfield, damage to the sand from vehicle traffic and waste left by visitors to the nearby beach. In addition, rising sea levels and weather might stop the practice.
The process of turning sea water into salt can be slow. The season begins once the rain stops and water starts to disappear from the salt beds. Ocean water travels underground and enters the wells. Each family has their own well. As water enters the well, so do tiny, red brine shrimp. These small ocean animals give Hanapepe salt its unusual, sweet taste.
The families first clean the salt beds and line them with black clay (陶土). Then they move water from the wells into the beds. There, salt crystals form. The top level, or layer, is the whitest. It is used for table salt. The middle layer is pinkish and is used in cooking, while the bottom layer, which is a deep red color, is used in blessings.
1. What do we know about Taniguchi?| A．She gives salt to others as a gift. | B．She works hard but with pleasure. |
| C．She has found a new way to make salt. | D．She fears old traditions will disappear. |
| A．Trade goods with it. | B．Use it as a treatment. |
| C．Make money from it. | D．Cook vegetables with it. |
| A．Prevent. | B．Include. | C．Improve. | D．Discover. |
| A．The special taste of the salt. | B．A thicker middle layer of salt. |
| C．More water in the wells. | D．A quicker process of making salt. |
10 . A new study says that no matter how much the world cuts back on greenhouse gases, a large and important part of ice of Antarctica (南极洲) is expected to disappear.
Researchers used computer models to expect the future melting (融化) of protective ice around Antarctica’s Amundsen Sea in western Antarctica. They said the melting will take hundreds of years. It will slowly add nearly 1.8 meters to sea levels. And it will be enough to change where and how people live in the future.
The study found that even if future warming was limited to just a few tenths of a degree more, it would have limited power to prevent ocean warming that could lead to the breakdown of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet.
Study lead writer Kaitlin Naughten is an expert on oceans at the British Antarctic Survey. She said their research suggests that Earth is set on the path to a quickly increasing speed of ocean warming and ice shelf melting over the rest of the century.
While past studies have talked about how serious the situation is, Naughten was the first to use computer modeling to study how warm water from below will melt the ice. The study looked at four different cases in how much greenhouse gases the world produces. In each case, ocean warming was just too much for this area of the ice to survive.
Naughten looked at floating areas of ice that hold back glaciers (冰川). Once these areas of ice melt, there is nothing to stop the glaciers behind them from flowing (流) into the sea.
The study also looked at what would happen if future warming was limited to 1.5 degrees Celsius over mid-19th century levels: the international goal. They found the rapid melting process in this case as well.
The world has already warmed about 1.2 degrees Celsius since pre-industrial times and much of this summer went past the 1.5 degrees mark.
1. Which can best describe the findings of the study?| A．Cheerful. | B．Encouraging. | C．Misleading. | D．Disappointing. |
| A．Her research area. | B．Her research time. |
| C．Her research method. | D．Her research purpose. |
| A．They will flow into the sea. | B．They protect the Antarctic ice. |
| C．They have warmed about 1.2℃. | D．They disappear faster than other ice. |
| A．Ice in Parts of Antaretica Will Disappear | B．Climate Change Will Harm Humans |
| C．Sea Level Will Rise Suddenly in the Future | D．Limiting Greenhouse Gases Makes No Sense |
