1 . As an ordinary man, I have a special habit to confess. Whenever I walk down the street, I offer to pour a bottle of water from the nearby river into the dirt of a street tree. It’s just my personal habit, and I think it doesn’t make a difference, but I’d like to do it. I mention this in light of a campaign launched by the Arboricultural Association to call on the public to water new street trees.

The UK government has committed to planting millions of trees to help meet climate targets and aims to increase tree cover from 14.5% to 16.5% by 2050. However, as John Parker, chief executive of the Arboricultural Association, says, “Planting a tree is just the start of the story. The health and survival of new urban trees is threatened by increasingly dry weather. It is recommended that the newly planted trees be given about 50 litres of water per week for the first three years.” While in rural settings, the newly planted trees and woods can take care of themselves and adapt, the challenging conditions mean trees in the urban areas need a bit more care.

Long ago, I assumed that the good of street trees was to soften the hard edges of urban environments. But, what an underestimation of tree power that was! A study from the University of Minnesota Twin Cities illustrates they can provide inspiration or a calming atmosphere in an otherwise crowded city. Trees are responsible for easing urban heat island effects and air and pollutant filtration. And I think they provide the habitat for wildlife, especially birds.

Trees can’t run away. Unfortunately for them and fortunately for urban residents, city trees are stuck with us. If we want to continue enjoying all the good they do, we should try to understand their needs and do all that we can to support them. A bottle of water won’t do much, but next time you all together have a bucket of water to pour, you know what big effect will happen.

1. What does the author think of his personal habit?

A．It is of little effect.	B．It is enforced.
C．It is of much significance.	D．It is common.

2. What does John Parker say about urban trees?

A．They have started to be watered regularly.

B．More work needs to be done for their living.

C．They are threatened by the increasing flood.

D．The newly planted ones can’t look after themselves.

3. What can we learn about street trees from paragraph 3?

A．Their usage is overrated.

B．Their value is thought highly of by the public.

C．They benefit residents physically and mentally.

D．They can thoroughly solve environmental problems.

4. What can be concluded from the last paragraph?

A．When in need, ask for it.	B．Tall trees catch much wind.
C．Many hands make light work.	D．Misfortunes seldom come alone.

2 . For the past two months, Mandy Chen, a second-year student at Beijing University of Technology, has been posting photos of herself to Taobao, posing with a reusable cup, climbing stairs and switching off lights.     1     Taobao’s Al algorithm (算法) calculates that Chen’s use of a reusable cup reduced 15.7 grams of carbon emissions (排放), while her choice to take the stairs instead of the lift resulted in a reduction of 19.5 grams.     2    

After seven days of posting her photos, Chen exchanged the points for a dozen of biodegradable rubbish bags from Taobao. Everyone can get an endless supply of free trash bags if they keep going, according to Chen.     3    

Chen uses Carbon88, a platform launched last August by Alibaba Group Holding, to help the more than 800 million users on Taobao adopt a sustainable lifestyle. The platform rewards users for over 70 low-carbon behaviours.     4     It also recommends products that it considers environmentally sustainable, and gives users points for buying them.

    5     “I didn’t know that my actions could produce such carbon reduction,” Chen said, “Now I feel good for what I’m doing to make this world a tiny bit better. We as a part of society can call for more systemic changes.”

A．It encourages them to reduce their carbon footprint.

B．And her efforts to save electricity prevented 65.50 grams.

C．It’s a valuable addition to current carbon-reduction policies.

D．Carbon reduction has helped increase Chen’s environmental awareness.

E．Within minutes, she receives a dozen points from the app as a reward.

F．They range from taking public transport to shopping of second-hand items.

G．She is now saving points for something better, like snacks and water bottles.

3 . 假如你是李华，海洋保护日在即，你校的英语报 World Outlook 征集关于海洋探索的文章，请你写一篇短文投稿，内容包括:
1. 你的看法；
2. 你的理由。
注意:
1. 写作词数应为100左右；
2. 题目已经给出。

Should we explore the sea?

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4 . When most kids go to the beach, they’re too focused on making sandcastles and splashing around to notice litter, but several years ago, for 7-year-old Cash Daniels, noticing a plastic straw sparked a lifelong passion for saving the planet.

Cash, who is now known as the “conservation kid”, has always loved nature. He grew up fishing along the Chattanooga River, after all! But once he learned that 80 percent of all trash from land and rivers ends up in the ocean, he couldn’t sit back.

He started with cleanups along the river, something that quickly went from a family affair to a community effort with volunteers and neighbors. In 2019, Cash, together with a Canadian conservationist, Ella Galaski-Rossen, started a nonprofit called the Cleanup Kids. Despite living in different countries, they managed to create educational videos on their YouTube channel. “We hope to be a really big nonprofit that eliminates plastic in the U. S. and Canada,” Cash said. “We want to inform kids and adults in the landlocked states on how their actions are connected to the water and the ocean,” Cash said.

Cash was selected as one of America’s top 10 youth volunteers of 2021 by the Prudential Spirit of Community Awards. He also earned the title of National Honoree, where he received a$5,000 grant to go to a nonprofit of his choice, and he became the first person to win the Youth Conservationist Award two years in a row from the Tennessee Wildlife Federation.

“I want to travel the world, teach others, and help them feel connected to the ocean. Because if you are connected to the ocean-if you love it and what lives in it—you’ll want to protect it,” he said. “This is my fun, and it becomes more fun with every new discovery.”

1. Which can replace the underlined words “sit back” in paragraph 2?

A．Fall asleep.	B．Lose heart.
C．Turn a blind eye.	D．Lend a hand.

2. What is the purpose of starting the Cleanup Kids?

A．To recycle waste plastics.

B．To make instructive videos.

C．To spread marine knowledge.

D．To appeal for ocean protection.

3. Which of the following best describes Cash Daniels?

A．Sympathetic and devoted.	B．Initiative and talented.
C．Ambitious and humorous.	D．Determined and modest.

4. What does Cash Daniels story imply?

A．Passion fuels dreams.

B．Great minds think alike.

C．Helping others is of great fun.

D．Actions speak louder than words.

5 . To reach a sustainable food system, “integrity has to run through the whole system, especially with the farmers,” say Jan and Steve Petersen, Niman Ranch farmers. “We have to learn to care for our shared resources, like soil, water, air, and ecosystems.”

Jan and Steve created a family of sustainability advocates. To them, sustainable farming means protecting soil, water, and ecosystems for future generations. The Petersen family always farmed crops sustainably and raised their pigs naturally, using mostly organic practices. Their son Ted continues to work on the farm part-time, while their oldest son Luke works with farmers in California to encourage sustainable farming practices as a conservation biologist who received a Niman Ranch Next Generation Scholarship Award in 2008 to help him continue his farming practices. “He doesn’t hesitate to feed his dad ideas on new practices and technologies,” says Jan.

The Petersens joined Niman Ranch in 2003 for the support it provided for farmers raising pigs naturally after the pig market crashed in 1998. “We suddenly had a sense of belonging and support, becoming part of a whole network of farmers who shared similar values,” explain Jan and Steve. “This matched our personal passion for community revitalization (复兴) and the promotion of responsible land use practices.”

In their community, the Petersens have a great passion for responsible land use and its benefits for the food system. They realized early on how farmland preservation is connected to all sorts of land use issues, so they got involved on many levels. Steve chairs the local planning committee. And Jan not only started the community’s farmers’ market, but also serves on the county Brownfield Redevelopment Authority, encouraging businesses to redevelop ignored properties. Together, the Petersens also brought historic property in their community back to life.

“We feel we are caretakers of not just the land on this fifth generation farm, but also the historic house and barns, around 1871, here on the Petersen Farm. We always hope the wildlife appreciates our commitment to avoiding farming the whole place into the ground,” say the Petersens.

1. How did the Petersen family advocate sustainable farming?

A．By engaging neighbors in part-time laboring.

B．By cooperating with conservation professionals.

C．By encouraging practices on organic farming.

D．By awarding biologists for ecological conservation.

2. Why did the Petersens join Niman Ranch in 2003?

A．It applied innovation to farming.

B．It supplied assistance to farmers in need.

C．It introduced them to bigger markets.

D．It offered convenience to communities in trouble.

3. What did the Petersens do to make lands used properly?

A．They assumed leading roles.	B．They advocated land expansion.
C．They modernized historic properties.	D．They founded various organizations.

4. Which of the following is a suitable title for the text?

A．A Family’s Efforts to Protect Land	B．The Benefits of Sustainable System
C．The Protection of Shared Resources	D．The Progress in Organic Farming

7 . Wildlife Preservation Volunteer Programs

Elephant Preservation Volunteer Program in Nepal

This program is suitable for active volunteers who love animals and want to care for the well-being of elephants. No experience is needed as you’ll be working closely with placement staff. The elephant shelter takes in elephants that have medical issues and require care.

Volunteers are accommodated in a local hotel. You should expect to share a room with one other volunteer.

Marine (海洋的) Preservation Volunteer Program in Croatia

This program is suitable for physically fit volunteers who are experienced divers (潜水员). You will use your diving skills to collect marine waste from the bottom of the seabed. You will work within a team on sorting waste out and handing it to the recycling centre.

Volunteers will be accommodated in a hotel. Local workers will clean the accommodation throughout the week.

Victoria Falls Wildlife Volunteering in Zimbabwe

This program is suitable for animal-loving volunteers who want to contribute to protecting amazing creatures and their habitats. Activities include animal tracking, camping out on the reserve and supporting other partner organizations.

Volunteers are accommodated within private rooms at the preservation centre. The accommodation has an open-air area where volunteers can socialize.

Amazon Jungle Preservation Volunteer Program in Peru

This program is suitable for volunteers who care about the environment, like working hard and don’t mind getting their hands dirty. It’s a great opportunity if you’re looking to reset your life by getting out of your comfort zone. You’ll also be developing personally and professionally.

Volunteers are accommodated in local people’s houses. There are running showers but you can expect water to he cold.

1. What do the programs in Nepal and Zimbabwe have in common?

A．They need experienced volunteers.

B．They are suitable for animal lovers.

C．They include dirty work in the field.

D．They require camping out on the reserve.

2. What can be known about the volunteers working undersea?

A．They work on the seabed all the time.

B．They help to keep the environment clean.

C．They are taught diving skills after arrival.

D．They lead a team to explore the marine creatures.

3. Which program provides the hardest living conditions?

A．Elephant Preservation Volunteer Program.

B．Marine Preservation Volunteer Program.

C．Victoria Falls Wildlife Volunteering.

D．Amazon Jungle Preservation Volunteer Program.

8 . When Alex Lin was 11 years old, he read an alarming article in the newspaper about e-waste. The article said that people were throwing away their e-waste in places it should never go. This was dangerous, the article said, because e-waste contains poisonous chemicals and metals like lead. These harmful substances (物质) can leak into the environment, getting into crops, animals, water supplies — and people.

Alex showed the article to a few of his classmates. They were worried too. But what could they do about this problem with e-waste? How would they even start? “The first thing we did,” Alex says, “was to learn more about the problem.” Alex and his friends spent several weeks gathering information about the chemicals in e-waste and their effects on humans. They learned how to dispose (处理) of e-waste properly and how it could be recycled. “Then,” he says, “we had to find out what the situation was in our town. So we sent out a survey.”

What they found shocked them: Of the people who answered the survey, only one in eight even knew what e-waste was, let alone how to properly dispose of it. Alex and his friends went into action. They advertised in the local newspaper and distributed notices to students, asking residents to bring their unwanted electronics to the school parking lot. The drive lasted two days, and they collected over 21,000 pounds of e-waste.

The next step was to set up an e-waste drop-off center for the town and to find a responsible company to recycle the waste. That was when Alex and his friends learned another scary fact about e-waste — some irresponsible recycling companies don’t break down the e-waste and dispose of it safely themselves. Instead, they ship it overseas to countries such as China and Nigeria, where local environmental laws are not applied. “We checked carefully online to make sure the company we chose didn’t do this,” Alex says.

Because of the work of people like Alex and his team, more and more people are getting the message about safe disposal of e-waste. As Alex says, “Today’s technology should not become tomorrow’s poisonous trash.”

1. What can we learn about Alex from paragraph 1 and paragraph 2?

A．He was curious about chemistry experiments.

B．He possessed a strong sense of responsibility.

C．He set out to solve the problem individually.

D．He formed the habit of reading newspapers.

2. What does the underlined word “drive” mean?

A．Campaign.

B．Imagination.

C．Performance.

D．Technology.

3. Why did some companies transport the e-waste to other countries?

A．Lack of available space was the reason for shipping.

B．Recycling was totally banned in their own country.

C．They were running their companies on a tight budget.

D．They were not charged with insecurely disposing it.

4. What’s the suitable title for the text?

A．Reusing School Computers	B．Recycling Electronic Waste
C．Meeting a challenge	D．Doing Scientific Experiment

9 . The monkey puzzle tree is the remains of the Jurassic era, more than 145 million years ago, outlasting ancient dinosaurs. Monkey puzzle trees’ presence in the wild is decreasing and after one million years, their very existence is now endangered.

Monkey puzzle trees are only known to grow in Chile and Argentina, along the mountainside of Patagonia’s volcanoes. Due to increased human habitat attacks, fires, and overgrazing (过度放牧), the forest habitat for the monkey puzzle tree has rapidly declined.

The near extinction of this ancient tree poses a threat to the austral parakeet (南方长尾小鹦鹉), which relys on its large seeds as a food source. Monkey puzzle pine nuts are vital to the crowds of parrots and studies show that both the tree and the parakeets benefit from this symbiotic (共生的) relationship.

Scientists have found that the austral parakeet helps enhance the shooting speed of the seeds by consuming them away from the original tree and leaving their partially eaten “leftovers” on the forest floor. The parakeets’ vital spread helps new trees reproduce further away from the mother plant.

In addition to the parakeets, the monkey puzzle pine nuts are a traditional food source for the native Mapuche people. Using skillful climbing, the Mapuche people climb the trees to gather pine nuts. Although the Mapuche people have the right to collect pine nuts in their ancestral areas, the local government restricts the quantity collected by the general public and requires a permit for commercial purposes.

Despite these regulations, illegal collection still occurs and the continued human seed collection threatens monkey puzzle tree populations. The Mapuche people have a history of protecting the monkey puzzle tree that is linked with their lifestyles. The Mapuche demanded legal protection for the tree that was facing extinction due to logging. Currently, the Mapuche people are working to replant the monkey puzzle tree and hope that these ancient trees will one day grow better.

1. What do human activities result in?

A．The decrease of the forest habitat.

B．The extinction of austral parakeets.

C．The eruption of Patagonia’s volcanoes.

D．The disappearance of monkey puzzle trees.

2. What is paragraph 4 mainly about?

A．Why scientists study the trees.

B．Who pays more attention to the trees.

C．What the trees provide for the parakeets.

D．How the parakeets help the trees return.

3. What does the local government do to protect the trees?

A．Limit collecting pine nuts strictly.	B．Make new laws to ban logging.
C．Permit substitutes of pine nuts.	D．Prohibit any trade on pine nuts.

4. What do we know about the Mapuche people?

A．They mainly live on pine nuts.	B．Their life is closely related to the trees.
C．They will en large their habitat.	D．They won’t collect pine nuts in the future.

10 . Recent research confirms what our farming ancestors have known for centuries about hedges (树篱). They conserve precious soil by acting as windbreaks and absorbing rainwater that would otherwise wash it from the fields. And hedges store carbon, putting them in the front line of our bi d to tackle the climate crisis.

However, hedges have had a tough time in the poor countryside, with farmers encouraged to tear them down in pursuit of maximum production and larger field s to accommodate ever-larger machinery. What’s more, some hedges have been ignored. If left to their own devices, they’ll eventually become a line of trees. Some hedges each year lose their structures and fail to fulfil the primary duty as a barrier. Around a half of the nation’s hedges have disappeared in the past century.

There are signs that “the tide is turning”. The search for net zero has aroused many organizations’ interest in the humble hedge’s role as a carbon sink. The Climate Change Committee is recommending a 40 percent increase in hedges: an additional 200,000 km. Such recommendations are starting to drive policy. Cash-pressed farmers will be encouraged to create new hedges and improve their management of existing ones under the new Environmental Land Management Schemes, which will replace many of the existing agricultural support payments in coming years. Meanwhile, initiatives such as Close the Gap, led by the Tree Council, is providing funding and support to plug the gaps in existing hedges with new planting. There’s even an app to help time-pressed farmers do a quick survey to spot where their hedges need some help.

This is a good time for hedges. Take some of the most pressing challenges facing the countryside, and indeed, the world as a whole — the climate crisis, soil erosion (侵蚀), insect attack and wider biodiversity loss — and hedges are part of the solution.

1. What does recent research show about hedges?

A．They are unique landscapes in the rain.

B．They act as dividing lines between fields.

C．They have long been helpful to agriculture.

D．They are frequently washed away from the fields.

2. What does paragraph 2 mainly tell us about hedges?

A．Their suffering.	B．Their production.
C．Their duties.	D．Their structures.

3. What is many organizations’ attitude towards saving hedges?

A．Puzzled.

B．Concerned.

C．Humble.

D．Indifferent.

4. What is the best title for the text?

A．Hedges: Ancient Resources

B．Hedges: Official Recommendations

C．Restoring Hedges: Bringing Benefits to the Environment

D．Researching Hedges: Originating from Farmers’ Request