1 . Saving Us: A Climate Scientist’s Case for Hope and Healing in a Divided World—Katherine Hayhoe’s new book, proposes to fight climate change through better communication. It is a follow-up to her awesome TED talk in 2018, when she declared the most important thing any individual can do to fight climate change is to talk about it.
Of many refreshing aspects of this book, one is that Hayhoe recounts both her successes and her failures to communicate, through which she has gathered evidence about what works and what does not. Much of the book’s advice is common sense, all backed up not just by Hayhoe’s experience but also with convincing research by psychologists and social scientists.
Hayhoe advises against trying to engage with a small minority, the “Dismissives”, who angrily reject the idea that human-caused climate change is a threat. Hayhoe pays special attention to Dismissives early on, noting that their aggressive posture online may create the impression that they’re everywhere. However, she argues, Dismissives account for only 7% of all American adults. The other 93% are more receptive by degree.
The book includes amusing examples of her encounters with the “Dismissives”, including an engineer who was unconvinced about the evidence but with whom she was able to establish mutual (相互的) respect through a shared passion for knitting (打毛线衣). It is also packed with inspiring accounts of how she has won over even the crowds who are the most suspicious. Her motto is “bond, connect and inspire”, which represents her approach of always looking for point s of common ground.
She also tells of a man who approached her after an event in London in 2019. Inspired by her TED talk, he had started to speak to everybody he could in his neighborhood of Wandsworth. He showed her details of 12,000 conversations that had taken place, claiming that they had helped to convince the council to declare a climate emergency and to switch investments from fossil fuels to renewable energy.
And so, while it may feel difficult to influence the outcome of the COP26, Hayhoe’s uplifting book makes a persuasive case that we can all do our bit to bring about success just by talking about the issue.
1. What does the book mainly focus on?| A．Explaining critical talking through literature. |
| B．Teaching communication skills with TED talks. |
| C．Sharpening people’s insight into climate change. |
| D．Sharing communication-centered tips for climate problems. |
| A．Serious and challenging. | B．Well-based and workable. |
| C．Approachable but one-sided. | D．Practical but unacknowledged. |
| A．By upgrading their social position. |
| B．By seeking shared interests or hobbies. |
| C．By changing their fundamental beliefs. |
| D．By offering more facts about climate change. |
| A．Turning to clean energy is inevitable. |
| B．We should raise people’s awareness of the climate crisis. |
| C．Conversations have an impact on climate decision-making. |
| D．A shy man began to speak to everybody motivated by Hayhoe. |
2 . Bringing species like beavers (河狸) back to England is no longer a priority, the government said on Friday to criticism from wildlife groups.
A recent report shows that one in six UK species are at risk of extinction. In September more than 60 conservation organizations reported a significant decline in species due to expansions in farming and the effects of climate change. In recent years, animals and plants have been reintroduced by charities as part of efforts to restore the country’s reduced biodiversity.
Despite the government allowing this, the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee concluded in July that there was an absence of long-term plans on how to manage this. In response, the government has now said that the "reintroduction of species is not a priority".
The government said it was focused on increasing biodiversity through habitat restoration. The government's environment department has come under scrutiny (详细审查) for not doing more to prevent sewage dumping and other forms of pollution in England's waterways.
Sir Robert Goodwill, chair of the Committee, said he was disappointed with the government response. Bringing back extinct species is a controversial issue- although farmers and landowners appear broadly supportive, there are risks of reintroducing new species, and without clear guidance, problems could arise.
A recent study showed that river barriers similar to those built by beavers can protect communities at risk of flooding. But there have also been cases documented in Europe where beavers have built their dams in places that have damaged crops and changed rivers.
Joan Edwards, director of Policy &Public Affairs at The Wildlife Trusts said, “Reintroducing wildlife must be part of the UK government’s arsenal (武器) for tackling nature loss and climate change—it is astonishing there is no strategy for doing so.”
“The return of wild beavers can help to recreate lost wetlands, with a knock-on effect that benefits other wildlife including insects, invertebrates and birds. Beavers also slow the flow of water, which can reduce flood risks to towns and villages,” she said.
1. What does paragraph 2 want to convey?| A．The situation of species in the UK Severe. |
| B．Reintroduction of species in the UK is not a priority. |
| C．Expansions in farming have a great effect on climate change. |
| D．The UK government's response to reduced biodiversity is disappointing. |
| A．By restoring habitat. | B．By offering guidance. | C．By expanding farming. | D．By developing strategy. |
| A．It was messy. | B．It was controversial. | C．It was beneficial. | D．It was costly. |
| A．The advantages of reintroducing wildlife. | B．The responses to a government statement. |
| C．The effects of climate change on farming. | D．The approaches to increasing biodiversity. |
3 . Damon Carson calls himself a matchmaker (媒人) of the never-ending waste of American society, trying not to pair people with people, but things with people.
In the late 1990s, Carson was on break from business school in Vail, Colorado, when he
For nearly ten years, his company, Repurposed Materials, has not been looking to
Carson, a husband and father of three adult children, is far from
“Why break something down, why melt something down, if it still has
American industrial facilities create and
| A．created | B．consumed | C．discovered | D．used |
| A．thinking about | B．protesting against | C．objecting to | D．complaining of |
| A．animals | B．materials | C．wine | D．antiques |
| A．eaten | B．killed | C．wasted | D．drunk |
| A．boomed | B．broke | C．failed | D．appeared |
| A．sell | B．donate | C．abandon | D．recycle |
| A．areas | B．forms | C．factories | D．ways |
| A．young | B．wealthy | C．generous | D．wasteful |
| A．charity | B．online | C．brand | D．chain |
| A．cost | B．strength | C．value | D．shape |
| A．power | B．water | C．courage | D．time |
| A．wood | B．plastics | C．bamboo | D．fence |
| A．purchase | B．transport | C．design | D．manufacture |
| A．destroy | B．distribute | C．throw | D．replace |
| A．lives | B．colors | C．companions | D．surfaces |
4 . Artificial intelligence (AI) is showing promise in earthquake prediction, challenging the long-held belief that it is impossible. Researchers at the University of Texas, Austin, have developed an AI algorithm(算法) that correctly predicted 70% of earthquakes a week in advance during a trial in China and provided accurate strength calculations for the predicted earthquakes.
The research team believes their method succeeded because they stuck with a relatively simple machine learning approach. The AI was provided with a set of statistical features based on the team’s knowledge of earthquake physics, and then instructed to train itself using a five-year database of earthquake recordings. Once trained, the AI provided its prediction by listening for signs of incoming earthquakes within the background rumblings(隆隆声) in the Earth.
This work is clearly a milestone in research for AI-driven earthquake prediction. “You don’t see earthquakes coming,” explains Alexandros Savvaidis, a senior research scientist who leads the Texas Seismological Network Program (TexNet). “It’s a matter of milliseconds, and the only thing you can control is how prepared you are. Even with the 70% accuracy, that’s a huge result and could help minimize economic and human losses and has the potential to remarkably improve earthquake preparation worldwide.”
While it is unknown whether the same approach will work at other locations, the researchers are confident that their AI algorithm could produce more accurate predictions if used in areas with reliable earthquake tracking networks. The next step is to test artificial intelligence in Texas, since UT’s Bureau TexNet hastions and over six years worth of continuous records, making it an ideal location 300 earthquake sta for these purposes.
Eventually, the authors hope to combine the system with physics-based models. This strategy could prove especially important where data is poor or lacking. “That may be a long way off, but many advances such as this one, taken together, are what moves science forward,” concludes Scott Tinker, the bureau’s director.
1. How does the AI forecast earthquakes?| A．By identifying data from the satellites. |
| B．By analyzing background sounds in the Earth. |
| C．By modeling data based on earthquake recordings. |
| D．By monitoring changes in the Earth’s magnetic field. |
| A．The ways to reduce losses in earthquakes. |
| B．The importance of preparing for earthquakes. |
| C．The significance of developing the AI prediction. |
| D．The limitation of AI algorithms in earthquake prediction. |
| A．Conducting tests in different locations. |
| B．Applying the AI approach to other fields. |
| C．Building more earthquake stations in Texas. |
| D．Enlarging the database to train the calculation accuracy. |
| A．Stable but outdated. |
| B．Effective but costly. |
| C．Potential and economical. |
| D．Pioneering and promising. |
5 . Visitors post photos and videos of themselves getting close to flamingos at several resorts (旅游胜地) in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic on social media. The pink, leggy birds wander the grounds, walking through artificial ponds and eating food dropped by tourists.
“But behind the fantastic social media posts, things are less rosy for the flamingos,” says Fernandez, a Dominican conservationist and photographer.
Some of these flamings have their secondary feathers cut, which prohibits flight. Others have a bone removed from their wings. This grounds the bird for life, which can be up to 60 years.
Fernandez has also witnessed flamingos being given much pet food, which eventually fades the pink color that comes from eating their native diet of shrimp and other small crustaceans. The birds change behaviorally as well, becoming used to people and asking them for food, as Fernandez has seen.
On the other side of the country, Monte Cristi National Park is the natural habitat for Caribbean flamings; it’s also a popular trapping site. And it is here that Paulino works to remove the traps, which are made of wooden sticks attached to fishing wires.
Paulino’s group first noticed the traps in 2009 and has been reporting them to the authorities ever since, but the practice hasn’t stopped. Once, Paulino says, she spotted a trapper carrying nine flamingos in a bag. On a trip early in 2023, the group took 706 traps from three locations.
This method of trapping harms, or even kills the birds, which Paulino has seen firsthand in the field. Flamingos are walking around and all of a sudden their leg falls in the wires and when they pull, they’re caught. They are trapped by the knee or the ankle, and struggle to break free, which exhausts them.
1. Why do some flamingos have their secondary feathers cut?| A．To help them live longer. | B．To make them more beautiful. |
| C．To make them fly higher. | D．To destroy their flying ability. |
| A．The change of their food. | B．Suffering from serious diseases. |
| C．Living with other small animals. | D．The influence of eating too much food. |
| A．Clever. | B．Cruel. | C．Creative. | D．Careless. |
| A．The Survival Situation of Flamingos Is Unoptimistic |
| B．Flamingos Live a More Comfortable Life in Resorts |
| C．People Have Raised Awareness of Protecting Animals |
| D．The Methods of Protecting Flamingos Are Inappropriate |
6 . The ocean is home to more than 200,000 known species and as many as 2 million that we have yet to discover. And, it is also home to 24.4 trillion pieces of microplastics. In 2022, researchers spotlighted how bad marine microplastic pollution, is getting: The total amount of microplastics on the bottom of oceans has greatly increased. in the past two decades.
Microplastic particles don’t just end up at the bottom of the ocean. Animals are eating them — at least 1,500 species have been reported to ingest plastic. And a lot of it. For example, whales in New Zealand’s Hauraki Gulf consume roughly three million microplastics daily, according to research published in Science of the Total Environment, which analyzed whale waste to see how much microplastics were present.
“Other research has shown that if plastics are small enough, they can cross the gut(肠道) wall and get into internal organs though the long-term effects are still unclear. Plastics can also release chemicals that are harmful to digestive system,” says Kahane-Rapport. “This is concerning, and while we do not yet understand the long-term health-effects, it is likely not a good sign for whales and their prey(猎物) to eat a man-made material like plastic.”
This is obviously bad for whales, but it also has effects on humans and the ocean at large. We are also part of these food chains and are consuming microplastics regularly. They are in our bottled water, in our table salt — they are even in our house dust and in the air we breathe. And we still don’t know what the health effects are. Meanwhile, the impact on whales — and what it indicates — is troubling on many fronts. “Whales are ecosystem engineers,” says Kahane-Rapport. “They can spread the nutrients that they consumed and serve as ecosystem guards — when whales are not healthy, other parts of the system will suffer.”
Kahane-Rapport says more research is needed. “The next research step will be to determine how much plastic the whales excrete(排出) and how much is left in their bodies. Following that, we would be able to determine the direct health effects on their tissues.”
1. What does the underlined word “ingest” in paragraph 2 probably mean?| A．Deal with. | B．Bring up. | C．Take in. | D．Spread out. |
| A．Researches show contradictory results. |
| B．Digestive system is the most affected part. |
| C．Small plastics are more harmful than big ones. |
| D．Much about microplastics’ harm remains unclear. |
| A．The various sources of pollution. |
| B．Tab chain reaction of microplastics. |
| C．Possible solutions to plastic pollution. |
| D．Growing awareness of ocean protection |
| A．Microplastic pollution to the ocean bottom |
| B．The sufferings of other ocean creatures. |
| C．Whales’ contributions to the ecosystem. |
| D．The amount of plastic in whales bodies. |
7 . A new study led by researchers at the Yale School of Public Health finds air pollution may negatively impact standardized test scores. Using data from the North Carolina Education Research Data Center, the researchers tracked 2.8 million public school students in North Carolina from 2001 to 2018 and measured their exposure to PM2.5 found in polluted air. While previous research has shown negative effects on academic performance, it has relied on relatively small or less representative samples. “The biggest strength of this study is that we tracked every student in North Carolina in those years, for the whole time period that they were in the public schools,” said Emma Zang, coauthor of the study.
The study also finds that test scores of ethnic minorities and girls are disproportionately (不成比例地) impacted by PM2.5 levels. “Females and ethnic minorities face sexism and racism,” said Zang. “There are a lot of policies that are not friendly towards them. So, when they’re exposed to the same level of air pollution, they don’t have the resources to lessen the negative influences.” More privileged populations, however, might have more resources that allow them to live in a better environment, such as in houses with air purifiers.
“The level of PM2.5 pollution in the US is relatively low, but students living in areas below the current air quality standard of annual PM2.5 concentration are still negatively impacted by air pollution when it comes to their test scores,” said Zang. “We should aim to strengthen the annual PM2.5 standard to better protect our children.”
Air pollution is known to contribute to disease and death, and it also negatively affects students’ academic performance even at low levels of pollution. The subsequent studies, the researchers said, would involve looking at whether the findings hold true in different areas, and also the reasons behind the ethnic and sexual differences.
1. What’s the greatest advantage of the study?| A．Tracking each student for 18 years. | B．Collecting more comprehensive data. |
| C．Measuring students’ PM2.5 exposure precisely. | D．Building links between air pollution and test scores. |
| A．benefit from current policies on PM2.5 pollution |
| B．have the lowest test scores due to their identities |
| C．lack resources to reduce the impact of air pollution |
| D．suffer from educational inequalities owing to their background |
| A．Offering a suggestion. | B．Raising a doubt. |
| C．Making a comparison. | D．Giving a prediction. |
| A．Applicability of the findings to other regions. | B．Ways to address racial and sexual differences. |
| C．Long-term impacts of air pollution on children. | D．Establishment of PM2.5 standard fit for children. |
8 . Floods can come from multiple sources. It can be a hurricane, failed dam, or overflowing river. The disasters can move quickly.
A flood is simply an event where water overflows a natural area and covers normally dry places. In general, there are two types.
A flood can be caused by many things.
There is no specific flood season.
| A．The rising river threatens people’s lives. |
| B．Floods can be preventable and predictable. |
| C．Flash floods are more common in dry areas. |
| D．And sometimes they come with little warning. |
| E．The weather forecast accurately predicts all disasters. |
| F．They include severe weather, geography, and other man-made factors. |
| G．Generally, the period from spring to fall is considered a heightened risk for floods. |
1. When did the earthquake take place?
| A．On Tuesday. | B．On Wednesday. | C．On Thursday. |
| A．He was badly hurt. |
| B．He was buried under a refrigerator. |
| C．He was slightly wounded. |
| A．He stayed in a refrigerator. |
| B．His father pulled him out in time. |
| C．Their house escaped the earthquake. |
| A．About 500. | B．About 5, 000. | C．About 50, 000. |
| A．A new source of fuel oil. |
| B．An alternative use of fuel oil. |
| C．A way to make fuel oil less polluting |
| D．A new method for locating underground oil. |
| A．She was doing research for a paper on it |
| B．She was told about it by her roommate. |
| C．She read a newspaper article about it. |
| D．She heard about it in class. |
| A．To produce a gas containing carbon and hydrogen. |
| B．To heat the reactors to a proper temperature. |
| C．To prevent dangerous gases from forming. |
| D．To remove impurities from methanol |
| A．It hasn't been fully tested. |
| B．It is quite expensive. |
| C．It uses up scarce minerals. |
| D．It produces harmful gases. |
