A strong earthquake made Joseph Cadeau wake up from sleep on Saturday. Cadeau, a teenage boy,
Cadeau was one of at least 12,268 people
Cadeau managed to get out of the rubble
“I received treatment too late, which is why my foot is swollen like that,” said the teenager, pointing at
2 . European shepherds (牧羊人) and ranchers (大牧场主) are taking the lead in forest fire prevention, by leading their animals to clear away underbrush that allows fires to grow too big, a new study shows.
In thinner forested areas, large herbivores (食草动物) were found in a study to be greatly effective in reducing forest fire risk. “In general terms, it is clear that wild and semi-wild herbivores like horses can reduce wildfire risk through their eating grass,” says Julia Rouet-Leduc, lead author of the study. “Such herbivores can be particularly effective in remote areas, where careful management can prevent wildfire and benefit wild nature in other ways.”
Smaller animals like goats and sheep are ideal for areas that lack natural predators (捕食者). There are no large predators in all of Italy, and without the risk of losing an expensive animal, the eating habits of these smaller animals kept on a farm make them perfect for clearing underbrush and things which larger herbivores can’t stomach.
But there were laws that prevent goats and sheep from entering woods in order to protect them. Since natural numbers of red deer, and other native herbivores have long since disappeared from European forests, the loss of sheep and goats meant that nothing prevented grass from spreading in forests, turning brushfires into dangerous disasters.
That’s why shepherds on Sardinia have written a letter to the Italian Ministry of Agriculture, asking not only to allow their animals to eat grass within the woods, but to create a restoration project of rural areas in Montiferru, where Italy’s worst wildfire in 40 years recently burned its way from the mountain tops to the sea.
Their plan is to bring in more shepherds to better control the fires, and encourage eco-tourism in the area, to incentivize the shepherds to stay. This is already seeing success through both private and public inspiring measures in Catalunya, Spain.
1. What do Julia Rouet-Leduc’s words mainly show?| A．Shepherds should keep large herbivores. |
| B．Herbivores can greatly help reduce wildfires. |
| C．Better management is needed to protect forests. |
| D．Wild and semi-wild herbivores lack natural predators. |
| A．They were not allowed by law. |
| B．They couldn’t feed well there. |
| C．They had been killed by hunters. |
| D．They had been eaten up by predators. |
| A．To ask permission to raise more sheep. |
| B．To protect woods from hungry goats and sheep. |
| C．To offer a way of protecting forests from wildfires. |
| D．To draw attention to Italy’s worst wildfire in 40 years. |
| A．Pay. | B．Prove. | C．Remind. | D．Encourage. |
3 . When floods completely destroyed Bangkok more than a decade ago, Thai landscape architect, Kotchakorn Voraakhom became determined to help her sinking hometown fight this deadly climate threat. “The floods changed my life,” said Voraakhom, who studied at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design. “It was the turning point, when I started using the tools of landscape architecture to cope with climate change.”
Voraakhom’s fantastic projects in Bangkok include a park that can hold up to one million gallons of water, Asia’s largest rooftop farm, an elevated walkway installed on a bridge and a lush (草木繁茂的) canal park in the city center.
One of Voraakhom’s most innovative designs is Centenary Park in Chulalongkorn University. The park stores large amounts of rainwater and prevents the surrounding streets from flooding. Built on an incline (斜坡), it directs runoff water through inclined gardens and artificial wetlands. From there, water flows into a retention pond (澄清的) with a capacity of nearly 480,000 gallons. Beneath the soil is an additional water tank which can hold nearly 160,000 gallons. The entire park can store up to one million gallons of water.
Voraakhom also created Asia’s largest rooftop farm, Siam Green Sky, transforming 22,400 square meters (241,000 square feet) into a lush field. The farm, which recycles food waste from restaurants in the building below and uses it as plant fertilizer (肥料), also slows down, soaks up and stores large amounts of rainwater. It is then used to grow vegetables, herbs and fruit, as well as rice.
The architect said she integrates nature and water into her designs to create landscapes that help alleviate flooding and add greenery to densely populated cities. The central question sinking cities like Bangkok need to focus on is: “how are we going to live with the water, without fear?” said Voraakhom. This idea of “living with the water” lies at the heart of her design approach.
1. What did Kotchakorn focus on to cope with flooding?| A．Green coverage. | B．Soil conservation. |
| C．Architecture design. | D．Alternative resources. |
| A．Centenary Park. | B．Siam Green Sky. |
| C．An elevated walkway. | D．Chulalongkorn University. |
| A．Make less severe. | B．Get better. |
| C．Adapt itself to. | D．Take in. |
| A．Calming. | B．Disturbing. | C．Refreshing. | D．Challenging. |
4 . In a groundbreaking project, China First Metallurgical Group has completed its first overseas waste-to-energy plant in Hanoi, Vietnam.
The largest waste incineration (焚化) power plant in Vietnam has not only revolutionized waste management in the country but has also involved the training of local workers. The plant has addressed the city’s growing waste problem by processing 4,000 metric tons of urban waste every day, about 60 percent of the city’s daily waste, the group said. The technology in the facility not only converts waste into green energy but also ensures environmentally friendly treatment.
Hu Changbing, manager of the group’s Vietnam branch, said, “The plant is an achievement of the cooperation between China and Vietnam. It is a green project that benefits local residents.” Since the first unit started generating electricity in July, 2022, the plant has been operating well, Hu said.
The project was built on the former site of Hanoi's waste treatment center, where the majority of the city’s waste was previously buried in landfill. In addition to generating clean energy through incineration, the plant also produces environmentally friendly bricks from the residue (残渣). The emitted gases and wastewater are treated to meet European Union emission standards and achieve drinking-water quality. Covering an area of 170,000 square meters, the plant consists of waste storage pools, incinerators, treatment and processing plants, and waste gas treatment facilities.
Recalling the start of the project, Hu said to gain the trust of local residents, his group set up a dedicated team of Chinese and Vietnamese personnel to explain the benefits of the project and take on local people. Vietnam lacked experience in waste incineration power plant construction. The Chinese team has set a bench mark (标杆) for the local industry and left behind valuable technical knowledge, Hu said. During the peak of construction, over 80 percent of the 2,000 workers employed were locals. “The local workers proved to be intelligent and diligent. They learn skills quickly,” Hu said.
In 2021, Hu took over the management of the Vietnam project. Hu, a native of Yichang city, Hubei province, has been working with the group for 23 years since graduating from Hubei University of Technology with a degree in civil engineering. Chinese masters led groups of Vietnamese workers, teaching them skills and safety regulations, and assessing their qualifications before allowing them to work.
This success has also inspired the construction of multiple waste incineration power plants in Vietnam, with many workers having gained their skills and experience from the project, he added. The project was carried out under the framework of China’s Belt and Road Initiative and was aimed at contributing to the sustainable development of the Vietnamese capital.
1. How many metric tons of urban waste are produced daily in Hanoi?| A．About 4,000 metric tons. | B．About 5600 metric tons. |
| C．About 6000 metric tons. | D．About 6600 metric tons. |
①Making full use of solar and wind energy
②Planting a lot of trees and growing flowers
③Producing clean energy through incineration
④Dealing with wastewater to reach drinking-water quality
⑤Making environmentally friendly bricks from the residue
| A．②③④ | B．①④⑤ | C．③④⑤ | D．①②③ |
| A．Stubborn. | B．Courageous. | C．Gentle. | D．Hardworking. |
| A．China aids Hanoi with waste-to-power plant |
| B．Chinese masters train local workers in Vietnam |
| C．Achievement of cooperation between China and Vietnam |
| D．Project built on former site of Hanoi’s waste treatment center |
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. |
6 . 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. |
7 . 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. |
8 . 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 |
9 . Scientists have found a new way to break down a group of harmful chemicals very hard to get rid of. The discovery could help solve a dangerous and growing problem — how to clean up the pollution of “forever chemicals”.
The group of chemicals known as PFAS (全氟烷基物) are pretty amazing. They’re non-stick, waterproof, and oil proof. They don’t burn easily or dissolve (溶解) in water. So scientists got really excited when they were discovered. Businesses started putting PFAS in all sorts of products, from non-stick pans to waterproof clothes, and from fire-fighting spray to carpets that resist stains. Even things like food wrappers and floss for cleaning your teeth contain PFAS chemicals.
But after a while, scientists realized the same things that made the chemicals useful also caused a real problem — PFAS doesn’t break down in nature. It doesn’t dissolve in water or bum. Not even bacteria can break PFAS down. No wonder these chemicals are known as “forever chemicals”.
As a result, PFAS chemicals surge in the environment. The chemicals are found in air, water, and dirt around the world — and in animals and people. In the US, 97% of humans have PFAS in their blood.
Luckily, scientists in the US have now found a way to break down some PFAS chemicals. Their solution requires boiling PFAS with two other very common chemicals. These chemicals can be found in just about any laboratory.
Dr. Brittany Trang, one of the scientists involved, said she didn’t even want to test the idea at first. “I thought it was too simple,” she said. But the process worked.
The research involved 10 types of PFAS, including two of the most common kinds. That’s a big step. But there are over 12,000 different kinds of PFAS. It’s important to note that the new method can only break down PFAS chemicals that have already been collected. Figuring out how to remove PFAS chemicals from the environment and collect them remains a huge challenge.
1. What can we infer about PFAS chemicals from paragraph 2?| A．Scientists were so excited to invent them. |
| B．They were environmentally friendly at first. |
| C．They are really widely used in our daily life. |
| D．They have more advantages than disadvantages. |
| A．Increase fast. | B．Float everywhere. | C．Extend fully. | D．React quickly. |
| A．It’s already too late to get rid of them. |
| B．There’s still a long way to go about it. |
| C．The new method is too simple to work well. |
| D．It’s impossible to get them removed from the environment. |
| A．Say Goodbye to Forever Chemicals |
| B．PFAS Chemicals Are a Two-edged Sword |
| C．PFAS Chemicals Will Remain a Challenge for Long |
| D．Scientists Find a Way to Break down Forever Chemicals |
10 . Hiking is tricky when you’re carrying a threatened species. Ally Whitbread carefully walked through the wilds while carrying a cooler full of small, rare snails —the Chittenango ovate amber snails.
“I feel like I’ve got 500 babies to take care of—just like a very crazy mother hen,” she said. Whitbread is part of a team transporting a lab-grown population to a new, remote home. The snails are facing extinction —only dozens are estimated to remain at one waterfall in upstate New York. “Such a recovery process can take years to decades. There are several things remaining to be unlocked during the process —what the action is going to bring, what role that species might play, and whether they might live well. We are just racing to better understand our planet’s biodiversity before the species die out.”
It took the scientists years to raise this population in the lab. The hike to a hidden waterfall is a chance to examine what makes them grow well in the wild, or what doesn’t. The snails don’t have any known unique features critical to humans, and it’s been a long journey just to attempt to save them. These efforts could figure out their hidden benefits.
Specialist Cody Gilbertson said the drive to save them can go deeper, not just the love for science. The creatures are no bigger than a fingertip and look up at their caregivers. “You know their big eyes are staring at you, like —there’s no way that you’re not going to kind of fall in love,” Gilbertson said.
Dropping them off at their new waterfall home wasn’t even the end —it’ll be another 5 years before the team knows whether the snails can survive there. They’ll go for a hike twice a month to track their progress.
1. How does Whitbread feel about the snails’ future?| A．Hopeful. | B．Uncertain. | C．Excited. | D．Disappointed. |
| A．To figure out their hidden benefits. |
| B．To observe their reproducing process. |
| C．To preserve the planet’s biodiversity. |
| D．To identify factors in their survival. |
| A．Open. | B．Develop. | C．Improve. | D．Uncover. |
| A．Their lovable appearance. | B．Their endangered state. |
| C．Their potential role. | D．Their growing conditions. |
