1 . The World Wildlife Fund states that up to 100 million sharks and rays are caught each year across the world, both on purpose in targeted fisheries and by accident, as bycatch. As a result, shark populations are in rapid decline. Sharks grow relatively slowly and produce few young, so they are easily harmed or influenced by overfishing.
Robert Enever of Fishtek Marine and his team developed SharkGuard, in response to the dramatic declines in shark and ray numbers. They based it on shark deterrents that are currently used successfully to protect surfers and changed it to be used in tuna fisheries, where bycatch of sharks and rays is significant. The novel equipment is fixed to a hook on a line, and it produces a small electric field which sharks and rays can pick up with their electroreceptors and this, hopefully, will keep them away from the hook.
The experiments took place off southern France, during July and August 2021. Eleven separate fishing trips were made and 18,866 hooks were used, half of which carried a SharkGuard. The results, presented in the journal Current Biology, showed that SharkGuard hooks greatly reduced the number of blue sharks and oceanic stingrays caught, while having no big influence on the catch of bluefin tuna.
With its effectiveness proved, there is still some way to go before fisheries could start using the equipment. Firstly, there is the limitation of the batteries. Each SharkGuide needs to be changed every 65 hours of use. The developers are working to solve this problem, so users could “fit and forget“ them, while still protecting sharks and other sea animals.
Now, the researchers are calling on fishers and companies experiencing high shark and ray bycatch to contact Fishtek Marine.
1. What does the author want to talk about in the first paragraph?| A．The reason sharks need protection. | B．The way sharks avoid being caught. |
| C．The influence sharks have on the whole world. | D．The challenge sharks face while producing young. |
| A．It can attract more sharks. | B．It was invented to protect surfers. |
| C．It can warn sharks of all kinds of dangers. | D．It works through creating an electric field. |
| A．Unclear. | B．Mixed. | C．Encouraging. | D．Unsatisfying. |
| A．Its price. | B．Its disadvantage. |
| C．Its target market. | D．Its after-sales service. |
1. What is the woman?
| A．A teacher. | B．A radio hostess. | C．An expert. |
| A．700. | B．1，400 | C．2，100. |
| A．Learn some tree-planting skills first. |
| B．Come along anytime they like. |
| C．Bring along their gloves |
1. What did the man do during the earthquake?
| A．He ran out of the house. | B．He stayed in bed. | C．He cried for help. |
| A．Sick. | B．Hopeless. | C．Frightened. |
Melati and Isabel deeply love their home on the island, surrounded by tropical rain forests, green fields, and a vast ocean. Enjoying a swim at their local beach was once a daily pleasure for them. But when Melati was fifteen, and Isabel just ten, the sisters started to lose their enthusiasm for swimming in the waters near their borne. More often than not, plastic bags would be around them as they swam and some were scattered on the beach. They got really upset about that.
Melati didn’t think much about it until one day her teacher gave a lesson on some world heroes. Each of those people had sparked movements of positive changes in the world. They believed in the impact they could have and they did inspire more people to do something meaningful. After school, Melati walked home slowly in silence, concerned about the vast amount of plastic rubbish on the beach. The heroes crossed her mind. If they could do it, we could do it too, she thought. The idea lit her up. She couldn’t wait to share what she thought with Isabel and quickened her pace.
“So many plastic bags around! The beach is dirty and messy! It’s so terrible! We have lost the clean and beautiful beach. Can’t we do something to get it back?” Melati said heartily. Isabel felt a bit puzzled at what to do, but she also had a strong desire to do something. Picturing a beach as fascinating as before in mind, the pair jumped with joy.
They talked a lot, anxious to know how Dad and Mom would respond to their ideas. That night when the family sat by the dinner table, the sisters eagerly got their ideas across. While Mom and Dad listened to the girls carefully, their eyes shone. “How amazing that would be! We are so proud of you!” Dad exclaimed. Mom came up, gave them a thumb up and hugged the sisters.
注意：1．续写词数应为150左右；
2．请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Melati and Isabel decided to make a positive impact straight away.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________One month later, Melati received a call from the local newspaper.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Maggie and Alex live in a tall building in a neighborhood in the center of the city. There are no trees near their building, but they are happy in their home and it is close to their jobs.
In the part of the city where they live, there is not much fresh food to buy. The stores only have processed foods in packages. Maggie and Alex and all the other people in the building have to eat food that they buy in boxes and plastic containers.
This makes so much garbage that no one knows where to put it. While they wait for Fridays, when the city collects the garbage, all the neighbors put their trash into bags and sometimes leave it in the hallway or on the big, sunny roof. The whole building looks terrible. No one can spend time playing on the roof because it is full of trash.
One day, Maggie and Alex decide to make a change. They go up to the roof and separate all the recycla-ble garbage, like cardboard, plastic bottles, glass, and aluminum cans. Then they take all of the garbage down to the street for the garbage collectors.
But they do not carry down the plastic bottles! They cut off the tops and use them as pots to plant tomatoes and carrots. They plant herbs, too.
注意：1.续写词数应为150左右；
2.请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Paragraph 1:
Maggie and Alex tell their neighbors about their project.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Paragraph 2:
Now the roof looks beautiful like a garden.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
6 . According to the Solar Energy Industry Association, the number of solar panels installed(安装)has grown rapidly in the past decade, and it has to grow even faster to meet climate goals. But all of that growth will take up a lot of space, and though more and more people accept the concept of solar energy, few like large solar panels to be installed near them.
Solar developers want to put up panels as quickly and cheaply as possible, so they haven’t given much thought to what they put under them. Often, they’ll end up filling the area with small stones and using chemicals to control weeds. The result is that many communities, especially in farming regions, see solar farms as destroyers of the soil.
“Solar projects need to be good neighbors,” says Jordan Macknick, the head of the Innovative Site Preparation and Impact Reductions on the Environment(InSPIRE)project. “They need to be protectors of the land and contribute to the agricultural economy.” InSPIRE is investigating practical approaches to “low-impact” solar development, which focuses on establishing and operating solar farms in a way that is kinder to the land. One of the easiest low-impact solar strategies is providing habitat for pollinators(传粉昆虫).
Habitat loss, pesticide use, and climate change have caused dramatic declines in pollinator populations over the past couple of decades, which has damaged the U.S. agricultural economy. Over 28 states have passed laws related to pollinator habitat protection and pesticide use. Conservation organizations put out pollinator-friendliness guidelines for home gardens, businesses, schools, cities—and now there are guidelines for solar farms.
Over the past few years, many solar farm developers have transformed the space under their solar panels into a shelter for various kinds of pollinators, resulting in soil improvement and carbon reduction. “These pollinator-friendly solar farms can have a valuable impact on everything that’s going on in the landscape,” says Macknick.
1. What do solar developers often ignore?| A．The decline in the demand for solar energy. |
| B．The negative impact of installing solar panels. |
| C．The rising labor cost of building solar farms. |
| D．The most recent advances in solar technology. |
| A．Improve the productivity of local farms. |
| B．Invent new methods for controlling weeds. |
| C．Make solar projects environmentally friendly. |
| D．Promote the use of solar energy in rural areas. |
| A．To conserve pollinators. | B．To restrict solar development. |
| C．To diversify the economy. | D．To ensure the supply of energy. |
| A．Pollinators: To Leave or to Stay | B．Solar Energy: Hope for the Future |
| C．InSPIRE: A Leader in Agriculture | D．Solar Farms: A New Development |
A Couple Fighting Sand in Inner Mongolia
After an early autumn rain, Bao Hua couldn’t wait to check on her trees in the desert. She was
In 2000, Bao, along
But Bao, a tough Mongolian, made up her mind
Before sunrise, they wear thick coats and hats and plant small trees in the strong, cold wind.
8 . Every October, families rush to the farms to pick out the perfect pumpkins. Some use them to carve scary jack-o’-lanterns,
A 2020 survey carried out by the UK-based non-profit organization found that over fifty percent of the 24 million Halloween pumpkins that British citizens bought that year were thrown into the landfill.
Once Halloween is over, drop your jack-o’-lanterns at a local compost (堆肥) collection center if possible. Better still, see if your city or town hosts a pumpkin smashing (打碎) event and have fun throwing yours on the ground with your friends. Don’t worry,
| A．Meanwhile, things are no better in the U.S. |
| B．Fortunately, this pollution problem is easy to solve |
| C．while others place them outside their homes as decorations |
| D．Halloween pumpkins are nothing more than overgrown vegetables |
| E．pumpkins used as decorations could also be used as a snack for wildlife |
| F．And there are many other ways to ensure the fruit does not end up in landfills |
| G．the remains will be collected and composted once all the pumpkins have been smashed |
9 . In North America, most large wildfires occur in the western states and Canada. But smoke generated (引发) in the West doesn’t stay there. It tends to travel east. Within days, it can dirty the air in the Midwest and even East Coast towns. Today, most asthma-related (哮喘相关) U.S. deaths and emergency-room visits from wildfire smoke occur in Eastern cities.
The big problem comes from tiny aerosols (气溶胶) —bits of ash and tiny water drops in the air. Scientists refer to this mix as particulate matter, or PM. The smaller the PM, the longer it can stay in the air. And the longer it floats, the farther it can travel.
An especially worrisome size is known as PM2.5. These bits are no more than 2.5 micrometers wide, about one-thirtieth the width of a human hair. These aerosols are so small that they can be breathed deeply into the lungs. PM2.5 has been linked with breathing related injury, diabetes and heart disease. These aerosols also can cause asthma and other chronic conditions in otherwise healthy people. And especially in kids, smoke-related aerosols can lead to flare-ups of eczema, a skin disease.
Over the last few decades, U.S. clean-air laws have cut down on emissions (排放) of PM from industrial sources. That’s helped clean the air in many cities. But these rules don’t cover PM from wildfire smoke. Especially worrisome: Recent studies have shown that aerosols from wildfires are more poisonous than industrial sources of these pollutants. What’s more, exposure to wildfire smoke has been growing—in many places, by a lot.
How far and where the smoke travels depends in part on the weather. How high it goes into the sky also matters. The stronger and hotter the fire, the longer the smoke can last and the farther it can fly. Last year, distant wildfires badly polluted the air in the Great Plains. That’s a region stretching from Montana and Minnesota in the north down to New Mexico and Texas. But the smoke didn’t stop there. Some continued to move east, polluting the air from New York City to Washington, D.C.
1. Why can PM2.5 cause so many health problems?| A．PM2.5 can’t stay long in the air. |
| B．PM2.5 has strange smells. |
| C．PM2.5 can’t be dealt with by humans. |
| D．PM2.5 is easier to enter the body. |
| A．It’s more poisonous. |
| B．It’s strictly limited by laws. |
| C．It’s getting bigger in size. |
| D．It is made up of PM2.5. |
| A．The composition of the smoke. |
| B．The height of the smoke. |
| C．The wildfire’s cause. |
| D．The wildfire’s position. |
| A．Health risks from wildfire smoke. |
| B．Large wildfires in North America. |
| C．The ways to deal with wildfires. |
| D．The great harm of PM2.5. |
10 . February 13, 2022, marked the 25th anniversary (纪念日) of the Great LEGO Spill — the worst toy-related environmental disaster of all time. On this important day in 1997, the Tokio Express was hit by a huge, 28-foot high wave off the United Kingdom’s southwestern coast, tilting the ship by 60 degrees and causing it to drop 62 containers into the sea. One was filled with about 5 million colorful LEGO bricks!
Shortly after the incident, LECO pieces began washing ashore the beautiful beaches of Cornwall and Devon in southwest England. Many locals rushed to hunt for the toys. Cornwall resident Tracey Williams was among the thousands of locals that searched the beaches regularly to find the little sea-themed pieces.
In 2010 Williams moved to Cornwall and came across some LEGO pieces on her first trip to the beach. Wondering where else they had been found, she created a Facebook group. Called “Lego Lost at Sea”, it allowed her and hundreds of other collectors to share their discoveries. As it turned out, the LEGO bricks were not just washing ashore English beaches. They had also been found in Wales, Ireland, the Channel Islands, France, Belgium, and Holland, showing just how far ocean currents had carried them.
“What we’re finding now are the pieces that sank as well as the pieces that floated,” Williams says. “It’s providing us with an insight into what happens to plastic in the ocean, how far it drifts (漂移) — both on the surface of the ocean and also along the seabed—and what happens to it as it breaks down.”
No one knows when the LEGO bricks will stop appearing on the beaches. But one thing is for sure, that is, the plastic pieces will be around for centuries. A 2020 study analyzing the structure of the washed-up LEGO bricks concluded that the five million pieces could take as long as 1,300 years to degrade (降解) completely. And like all plastic products, the iconic toys will never entirely disappear. Instead, they will break down into tiny “microplastics” and be eaten by ocean animals. They will make their way up the food chain to humans.
1. What does the underlined word “tilting” in paragraph 1 probably mean?| A．Speeding up. | B．Leading something to fall. |
| C．Damaging seriously. | D．Making something not flat. |
| A．It resulted in many deaths. |
| B．It was caused by the pilot’s mistakes. |
| C．It made many LEGO bricks lost. |
| D．The ship dropped most containers. |
| A．To exchange toy blocks. | B．To collect LEGO toys. |
| C．To track the LEGO bricks. | D．To trade in toys worldwide. |
| A．They will break down completely. |
| B．They will influence human health. |
| C．They will be recovered by the maker. |
| D．They will soon disappear from the beaches. |
