1 . Average age is rising around the world——a demographic (人口统计)change that may pose a significant challenge to efforts to slow down climate change.
Hossein Estiri at Harvard University and Emilio Zagheni of the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Germany, have found that energy use increases as we get older, and not just because we tend to get wealthier. An ageing population could mean a greater proportion of society with higher energy use, their study suggests.
They combined two decades, worth of data from thousands of US households and used this to build a model to reveal how energy use varied across 17 age groups between 1987 and 2009. They found that, on average, children's energy consumption (消耗)climbs as they grow up, before dipping slightly when they leave home. Consumption then rises again when people hit their 30s, before briefly dropping after 55, and then beginning to climb again. The study involved factors such as income, local climate and the age, type and size of a person's home. The increase in energy use at various points in our lifespan (寿命)seems to be the result of life style and how our needs change as we age.
Why does demand grow so much in our 30s? “We need more of everything. More space, a bigger TV two fridges," says Estiri. The study found that, in warmer parts of the US, energy use increases in people over the age of 65—probably as a result of increased use of air conditioning, This suggests that there is a feedback effect between climate change and an ageing population that will only make matters worse.
Heat waves have become more common in the US in recent years and are expected to become more frequent due to global warming. More older people using more electrical energy to keep cool as temperatures rise could add to emissions (排放)，and thus drive more warming until our energy supply becomes entirely fossil fuel-free.
“This confluence (汇集)of population, ageing and climate change on energy demand is really important to start thinking about," says Estiri. Benjamin Sovacool at the University of Sussex, UK, says the work shows the importance of demographics when it comes to cutting carbon emissions. Most modelling of climate change mitigation (减缓气候变化的模型) assumes people's energy consumption either stays the same or only changes by a small amount over time.
"This study directly challenges that entire body of research by forcing it to fight with the temporality and complexity of the consumption of energy, says Sovacool.
Catherine Mitchell at the University of Exeter, UK, says the research could have an important influence on policy makers. "What the paper says is that there is a lot of work about how buildings use energy, but probably not enough about how the people in them use energy," she says.
1. By saying “not just because we tend to get wealthier" in Paragraph 2, the writer probably means that ______.| A．poor people can't bring down the high demand for energy |
| B．a comfortable life is not the main cause of in creased energy use |
| C．there are some other reasons leading to the increase in energy consumption |
| D．people being wealthy or not has nothing to do with the rise of energy consumption |
| A．Energy will stop increasing when people get older. |
| B．His research could inspire policymakers to change current polices. |
| C．Various factors influencing energy consumption should be considered. |
| D．Old people should use fossil fuel-free rather than electrical energy to keep cool. |
| A．It is expensive and difficult to promote. |
| B．It overestimates the household energy consumption. |
| C．It did not take climate change adaptation into account. |
| D．It regards energy consumption as stable or as only slightly changing. |
| A．More emphasis should be put on people's energy use. |
| B．The government can't do much without the support of the study. |
| C．It is the buildings, not the people in side, that consume the majority of the energy. |
| D．Policymakers have been working on how to cut down people's energy use. |
1. 垃圾问题的现状；
2. 垃圾分类的意义；
3. 询问对方城市垃圾分类的情况。
注意：1. 词数不少于100；
2. 适当增减细节，使文章连贯；
3. 开头、结尾已给出，不计入总词数。
Dear Chris,
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Yours,
Li Hua
3 . Many of the world’s largest brewers (啤酒商) are using new technologies to replace single-use, plastic six-pack beer rings with more sustainable materials. Though mostly being used in small test trials, full adoption could have a positive environmental impact. Carlsberg, for example, is using glue to adhere cans in a production method that the Danish brewer says would avoid using 1,200 tons of plastic yearly, or the equal of 60 million plastic bags, once fully adopted.
Brewers have zeroed in on plastic six-pack-ring packaging partly because most consumers can recall the miserable image of a seagull, turtle, or some other aquatic (水生的) creature trapped or killed by the plastic rings. The packaging is so deep-rooted in our culture that many children were taught to cut up the rings to lessen the chance that an animal might choke itself to death.
The rings developed by E6PR (Edible Six Pack Ring) programme, which is led by another brewery called Saltwater, are now used by 35 brewers across the globe, including in Africa, Europe, and Australia. These rings are made of waste wheat in beer production. The final goal is to ensure that the rings can be eaten harmlessly by aquatic creatures or break down in nature within a matter of weeks rather than the years it would take for plastic.
Giving up plastic straws and beer rings may help consumers feel better about their carbon footprint, but some experts say we should focus on other efforts. Recycling rates in the U.S.stand at just over 34%. Glass, in which many brewers bottle their beer, can be difficult to recycle and large to transport. If brewers were to focus on using thinner glass, some experts say, the improvement could prove even more beneficial to the environment than giving up plastic rings.
There’s also the risk that if consumers think their E6PR rings are less harmful, they’ll be more likely to litter. “The idea of creating something that’s litter-friendly is an issue in my mind,” says Nina Goodrich, executive director of environmental nonprofit GreenBlue. “What we need in North America is a better system to encourage collection and sorting.”
1. What does the underlined word “adhere” in paragraph 1 mean?| A．Collect. | B．Stick. | C．Open. | D．Reuse. |
| A．To collect the rings for recycling. |
| B．To make the rings break down more easily. |
| C．To prevent the rings harming aquatic animals. |
| D．To increase children’s awareness of loving nature. |
| A．Low recycling rates in the U.S. |
| B．Benefits of giving up plastic beer rings. |
| C．Difficulty in transporting beer glass bottles. |
| D．Another way to protect the environment. |
| A．They will be thrown away more casually. |
| B．They will not be accepted by consumers. |
| C．They will be more difficult to recycle. |
| D．They will be still made of plastic. |
4 . NOT that long ago, the world wondered whether clean energy could survive without government support. Now the question is how far it can spread. The number of electric vehicles. which was about 1 million in 2015, last year reached 2 million. In electricity generation, too, trend is with the greens. In the first half of this year wind, solar and hydro generated a record 35% of Germany's power.
Greater success is breeding greater ambition. California is proposing to reach 60% renewable energy by 2030: 176 countries have clean-energy goals. Hawaii, America's most oil-dependent state, has promised to be 100% renewable by the middle of the century. So have 48 poor countries vulnerable to climate change. This week the number of multinationals making a commitment to running their operations on 100% renewable energy rose to 100.
But not every target is helpful. To see why, consider that goal of 100% renewable energy. It makes solving climate change seem easy. In fact, though wind and solar can generate the whole country's electricity some day, renewables still account for less than 8% of the world's total power output. Moreover, cleaning up electricity is only part of the battle. Even though gas-fired heating and cooking can be at least as big a source of greenhouse-gas emissions, renewable heating gets little attention. Transport policy is unpredictable, too. Carmakers may hit their goal of annual sales of 10 million electric vehicles in a decade, but battery-powered road transport, shipping and aviation are dreams. A much-quoted claim that America could rely on wind, solar and hydro alone for its electricity has recently been bitterly criticized by a group of respected academics.
Most importantly, a 100% renewables target confuses means with ends. The priority for the planet is to stop net emissions（净排放量）of greenhouse gases, especially carbon dioxide. Putting too much emphasis on wind, solar and other renewables may block off better carbon-reduction paths. After decades of investment, it is wrong to leave nuclear power off the table. Carbon emissions in Germany actually rose because it chose to phase out nuclear power gradually and so burned more coal. New technologies, such as "direct air capture" systems designed to separate carbon dioxide from the air, may in time prove vital. Likewise, greater energy efficiency could reduce emissions by even more than using renewables would.
1. It can be inferred from the passage that .| A．the problem of climate change will be solved by using 100% renewable energy |
| B．with new technologies, Germany successfully cut down carbon emissions |
| C．it is probable that ships will one day be powered by battery |
| D．America is not likely to completely rely on wind, solar and hydro energy one day |
| A．promoting energy efficiency |
| B．blocking off carbon-reduction paths |
| C．using non-renewable heating |
| D．abandoning electric vehicles |
| A．ignore | B．reduce | C．use | D．invent |
| A．Fashion | B．Politics | C．Economy | D．Education |
The brightness of light from our cities has reached
Dr. Franz Holker said artificial light is
6 . Clothing rental is a hot new industry and retailers (零售商) are demanding to get on board in hopes of attracting green shopper.
But is renting fashion actually more environmentally-friendly than buying it, and if so, how much more? Journalist and author Elizabeth Cline investigated (调查) this question and concluded that it's not as sustainable as it seems.
Take shipping, for example, which has to go two ways if an item is rented — receiving and returning. Cline writes that consumer transportation has the second largest carbon footprint of our collective fashion habit after manufacturing.
She writes, ''An item ordered online and then returned can send out 20 kilograms of carbon each way, and increases up to 50 kilograms for rush shipping. By comparison, the carbon impact of a pair of jeans purchased from a physical store and washed and worn at home is 33.4 kilograms, according to a 2015 study by Levi's.''
Then there's the burden of washing, which has to happen for every item when it's returned, regardless of whether or not it was worn. For most rental services, this usually means dry cleaning, a high impact and polluting process. All the rental services that Cline looked into have replaced perchloroethylene (氯乙烯), a carcinogenic (致癌的) air pollutant, still used by 70 percent of US dry cleaners, with alternatives, although these aren't great either.
Lastly, Cline fears that rental services will increase our appetite for fast fashion, simply because it's so easily accessible. There's something called ''share washing'' that makes people waste more precisely because a product or service is shared and thus is regarded as more eco-friendly. Uber is one example of this, advertised as ''a way to share rides and limit ear ownership.'' and yet ''it has been proven to discourage walking,bicycling, and public transportation use.''
Renting clothes is still preferable to buying them cheap and throwing them in the dustbin after a few wears, but we shouldn't let the availability of these services make us too satisfied. There's an even better step — that's wearing what is already in the closet.
1. What is Elizabeth Cline's attitude toward clothing rental?| A．Approving. | B．Unfavorable. |
| C．Objective. | D．Enthusiastic. |
| A．rental services are on the rise |
| B．clothing rental will be as successful as Uber |
| C．renting clothes might waste more than expected |
| D．renting clothes might make people lose interest in fast fashion |
| A．give up renting any clothing |
| B．purchase inexpensive clothes |
| C．rent clothes rather than buy them |
| D．make full use of clothes we've possessed |
| A．Clothing rental is a new fashion. |
| B．Clothing rental is retailers' preference. |
| C．Renting clothes is not that eco-friendly. |
| D．Renting-clothes business is in a dilemma. |
7 . Surrounded by the sea off the coast in Mid-Norway, lies an island called Myken. This small island has about ten permanent residents, and for more than 50 years has been supplied with electricity via a 32-kilometer undersea cable (电缆). A break that appeared in the cable last autumn resulted in two months without power, so the island community started looking into a better way of sourcing their electricity.
“Myken is far out at sea, so as far as possible it should be taking care of things itself,” says Kyrre Sundseth, who is a hydrogen (氢) researcher in Norway and also the project manager for Myken’s energy project. “This is why we want Myken to become entirely self-sufficient in energy. It is also important to take the environment into consideration,” he says.
Much points to the idea that the solution may lie in a Hydrogen plant, specifically tailored for small islands. The “raw materials” for hydrogen production come from nature itself in the form of the sun and wind. Researchers have calculated that energy costs will be lower by using hydrogen production than the undersea cable option. And it is possible to store energy in the form of hydrogen for longer periods. This means that supplies will not have to rely on a lot of expensive batteries or external energy sources, even during periods when the sun isn’t shining, or the wind isn’t blowing.
The Myken project has attracted several technology companies. They are currently working on a pilot project. The pilot involves experiments on the feasibility (可行性) of the hydrogen system in which electricity is generated from solar and wind sources. The electricity can be used immediately, but during periods when all the energy generated is not required, the spare energy can be used to split seawater into hydrogen and oxygen. The hydrogen can be stored in a tank, and used later to generate electricity. The pilot will help researchers know more about how effectively the system will work in the hydrogen plant. Since the island has a distillery (酿酒厂), where the distillation (蒸馏) process relies on energy, a hydrogen plant on Myken offers an even greater environmental benefit. Spare heat from the hydrogen system can also be used for the heating part in the distillation process.
“In Norway alone there are about 300 island inhabited all year round by small populations,” says Kyrre Sundseth. “All of these islands may be candidates for using this technology. In global terms we’re talking about 10,000 similar islands.”
1. Why is a hydrogen plant suitable for Myken?| A．It is perfect in size for small islands. |
| B．It can send electricity to faraway places. |
| C．It will restore local natural environment. |
| D．It provides green and sustainable energy. |
| A．The study on the energy storage. |
| B．The test on the hydrogen system. |
| C．The experiment on the raw materials. |
| D．The research on the innovation of the pilot. |
| A．produce purified seawater |
| B．prove more technically reliable |
| C．contribute in more than one way |
| D．benefit from the distillation process |
| A．Promising. |
| B．Systematic. |
| C．Irreplaceable. |
| D．Time saving. |
8 . Why do we like drinking water form plastic bottles? Some people think it is healthy and clean. Others drink bottled water because it’s easy — you can carry it around with you. In hot countries, like Greece, they often buy bottles of cold water in summer.
However, making lots of plastic is not a good idea for many reasons. First of all, we need a lot of oil for plastic products. We usually use oil as a source (资源) of energy. If we reduced the number of bottles we made, we wouldn’t need so much oil. Plastic bottles also pollute the environment. If we recycled all our plastic bottles, we wouldn’t need so much space for rubbish dumps. But in Greece, they don't recycle much of the plastic they use. In 2006, Greeks recycled only about 10% of plastic waste. The rest became rubbish on land and in rivers and seas.
So next time you want to throw away a plastic bottle in the litter bin, stop and think. If you recycled it, you would help the environment. But what can you do when there isn’t a recycling bin near you? Well, there are lots of useful ways that you can use your bottles again. For example, an empty bottle makes a great piggy bank for your pocket money, and if you cut a bottle in halves, you will have a plant pot. Go green! You can make a difference.
1. What is not mentioned about bottled water in this passage? It’s ______.| A．expensive | B．healthy | C．clean | D．easy |
| A．energy | B．oil | C．soil | D．plants |
| A．10% | B．50% | C．80% | D．90% |
| A．To drop them into the river. | B．To make a plant pot. |
| C．To make a piggy bank. | D．To recycle them. |
Strange things were
10 . 低碳生活
现在全世界都在倡导“低碳生活”(low-carbon life)，低碳生活对我们大家都有好处，请你写一篇短文向一家英文报社投稿。
提示词语:be good for, ride a bike, on foot, make a difference, protect, environment, live a low-carbon life, reuse.
要求:1.词数80-120词；
2.字迹工整，语言流畅，表达正确，逻辑清晰；
3.文章中不得出现真实的校名、姓名、地名等。
内容:作为学生，该如何去实践低碳生活，请根据以下要点，谈谈你的经历、感受及建议:
1.上下学走路或骑自行车，少乘汽车；
2.随手关灯节约用电；
3.生活简单，生活用品尽量做到循环使用。
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