1 . Despite the difficulties, the California coastal ecosystem is improving, largely thanks to the huge appetite sea otters (海獭) have for crabs. In a creative study, scientists revealed the return of otters to their former habitat in a Central California river mouth has slowed the decrease of the area’s river banks by up to 90%. “It would cost tens of millions of dollars for humans to rebuild these stream banks and restore these rivers. The otters are stabilizing them for free, in exchange for an all-you-can-eat crab feast,” said biology professor Brian Silliman, Ph. D. at Duke University.
Like many California river mouths, Elkhorn once was a habitat for otters, which need to eat around 20 to 25 pounds of food every day, with crabs being one of their favorite meals. But after fur traders hunted the local otter population nearly to extinction, the number of crabs exploded over the next century. Crabs dig into salt river soil, and over time can cause a salt river to wear away and collapse. Today, years after the otters returned, rivers and stream banks became more stable.
Angelini, one of the study’s authors, said that tool is an encouraging sign for her team as they face similar threats to Florida’s coastlines from sea level rise, storms, and extra nutrients overflowing into coastal waters. “All these seem unsurmountable,” Angelini said. “However, this study shows that, if we truly understand the ecosystem and know what tools to use, we can see significant benefits to the health and stability of these systems.”
The research team conducted large-scale surveys across 13 tidal (潮汐的) streams, as well as small-scale field experiments at five locations around the river mouth over a six-year period. Otters were not included in some lest sites but allowed to be used in others, using a caging system designed by Angelini.
“And all these years later, we now see these amazing results. It’s an inspiring story about the benefits of conservation and persistent, long-term research,” Angelini said.
1. What does Brian Silliman think of the function of sea otters?| A．It’s complex. | B．It’s expensive. |
| C．It’s effective. | D．It’s inefficient. |
| A．The collapse of salt rivers. |
| B．The hunting for their fur. |
| C．The decrease of the sea crabs. |
| D．The pollution of their habitat. |
| A．Hard to understand. | B．Difficult to deal with. |
| C．Impossible to avoid. | D．Dangerous to settle. |
| A．The process of the research. |
| B．The purpose of the research. |
| C．The limitation of the research. |
| D．The discovery of the research. |
2 . Bumblebees are vanishing at a rate consistent with widespread extinction, and climate change is playing a big role. The analysis comes from a new study published in the journal Science today.
The authors found that the likelihood of a bumblebee population surviving in any given place within North America and Europe has dropped by an average of 30 percent as temperatures have risen.
Pesticides, habitat loss, and pathogens(病原体) have already hit bumblebee populations hard. The new study, however, is able to isolate the effect that hotter temperatures are having on bumblebees. Sadly, bees are having a hard time adapting to a warming world. “If things continue along the path without any change, then we can really quickly start to see a lot of these species being lost forever,” lead author of the study Peter Soroye tells The Verge.
That’s not just a tragedy for the bees. It’s also bad news for all the plants that they pollinate and for humans who eat the fruits (and vegetables) of their labor. “We also lose out on a lot of color on our plates,” Soroye says. “Tomatoes, squash, and berries are just some of the crops we can thank bees for pollinating. Animal pollinators like bees, birds, and butterflies could be responsible for up to 1 out of every 3 bites of food we eat,” the US Department of Agriculture says.
For this study, Soroye and colleagues examined data from 1900 to 2015 on 66 species of bumblebees across North America and Europe. They mapped the places bees called home and how their distribution changed over time. They found that bees were vanishing in the areas that had heated up beyond the limit in which the bumblebees had historically been able to survive.
Some bee populations are colonizing new territories that were previously too cold. But those gains are overshadowed by losses in areas where the bees once thrived but are now too hot.
1. What is bumblebees’ main struggle?| A．Habitat loss | B．Climate change | C．Human activities | D．Virus treat |
| A．Humans can barely strive to save bumblebees from extinction. |
| B．Bumblebees will inevitably die out some day. |
| C．Bumblebees serve as a delicacy on our plates. |
| D．Human’s lives are tightly linked to bumblebees’. |
| A．Animal pollinators eat up 1 out of 3 of our food. |
| B．Peter Soroye’s study started from 1900 and lasted 25 years. |
| C．Bumblebees can not be accustomed to the places they used to live in. |
| D．Bumblebees are more used to colder weather. |
| A．The negative effects outweigh the positive ones. | B．No cold areas are left for Bumblebees. |
| C．The losses are beyond estimation. | D．Bumblebees will have a rather bright future. |
Thomas and Christine Noctor have lived and raised their family in the home for three decades. They and their 12-year-old grandson Dean, who lives with them, had most of their personal belongings damaged or destroyed after a fire broke out in Thomas’ home office on Saturday evening.
Ally Noctor was in the home with her mother, father, nephew Dean, and brother James when the incident happened. “My mom has COPD (慢性阻寒性肺病) so I said ‘just get out the back’, and she took the dog out the back,” Ally recalled. “My brother came running down looking for a fire extinguisher (灭火器), and my dad was screaming, ‘Fire !’”
The fire started in the box room It’s Thomas home office. He’d just done it up. It was clearly an electrical fault but no one thought at the time to turn off the electricity. The room started filling with smoke quickly and they had to leave immediately.
The house is located just a short walk away from the fire station. But when neighbors called, the available trucks were already out — so nearly 20 minutes had passed before the fire crew arrived.
Thankfully, they managed to prevent the fire from spreading to the attic (阁楼) or to any more homes in the community.
The family then went back inside the house to investigate what had happened and survey the damage caused. Dean’s gaming PC was melted, toys were melted, and even the shower was melted. All their clothes couldn’t be taken out.
“The downstairs is okay, but there is smoke damage and water damage. And all of the upstairs is completely damaged. My mom is still in shock. She’s just staring into space,” Ally said.
But Ally was quick to praise her community, who were right there to help the Noctors get out of the house the moment they sensed trouble and every one of the family got timely help.
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上作答。
Ally ran out the door without shoes on when escaping.
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The temporary house is OK but New Year may be difficult.
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In China, Tree Planting Day falls on March 12, but more often people plant trees during Qing Ming Festival in early April. Newly-planted trees can survive more
China set March 12
Since 2013, Xi Jinping,
China has seen a
5 . Born to an adventure-loving mom and a National Geographic’s photographer dad, Alison Teal was already exploring the world as a baby. The family traveled the globe staying not at five-star hotels but in a six-foot-wide tent. From cold mountaintops to hot jungles, they completely involved themselves in local nature and culture.
Between journeys, they would return home to a quiet and faraway part of the Big Island of Hawaii, where they built a solar-powered oceanfront rest center. The front yard was the ocean, and Alison’s friends were dolphins. She would dive into the water and release seaweed. A dolphin would catch it on its nose or fin and throw it to the next player. Over the years, the dolphins grew to trust Alison. They looked for her and came close to her in the water.
After graduating from university, she continued her world travels. Her adventurous childhood and life skills landed her a spot in the reality show Naked and Afraid, in which she and her partner had to live on an unwelcoming island for 21 days. Alison’s deep knowledge of how to live in a wilderness saved the pair, but what shocked her was the amount of trash washed upon the shore.
“After that, I couldn’t ignore our plastic problem. I shifted my focus and started to protect our greatest resource, the ocean,” says Alison. Swimming in familiar waters back home, she also found her dolphin friends were no longer tossing (抛) seaweed to each other, but plastic. “That was distressing,” she says.
Her book, Alison’s Adventures: Your Passport to the World, is fled with travel tales and environmental lessons. She also offers free adventure films to go along with each chapter on her YouTube and TikTok. Alison believes all of us can make changes to protect the Earth and, in turn, those we love. “Whether you’re a lawyer, a gardener, an artist, a teacher or a surfer, we can all help in our own ways,” she says.
1. What can we infer from the first paragraph?| A．Alison Teal had a comfortable life when she was young. |
| B．Alison Teal was fond of photography when she was young. |
| C．Alison Teal’s parents we restrict with her when she was young. |
| D．Alison Teal led a life close to nature when she was young. |
| A．The amount of trash washed upon the shore. |
| B．The unwelcoming island where they had to live. |
| C．The lack of resources in the wilderness. |
| D．The dangerous situations they encountered. |
| A．During a journey with her parents. |
| B．After her participation in a show. |
| C．Before her graduation from university. |
| D．When visiting the Big Island of Hawaii. |
| A．Everyone can contribute in their own ways. |
| B．Only certain professions can make a difference. |
| C．It is impossible to make any significant changes. |
| D．It is the responsibility of governments and organizations. |
With the tourism
7 . In the rich countries of the West, the electric vehicle revolution is well underway. Climate-conscious consumers drive Teslas or Polestars for reasons of morality and fashion. Poorer countries are also experiencing a wave of electrified trend. In Bangladesh, electric three-wheeler taxis, known as tuk-tuks, are rapidly replacing gas-powered ones on the streets. Such electric vehicles are climate friendly, cost effective, and help reduce air pollution.
Yet a glance under the hood (引擎盖) of these vehicles reveals a poisonous secret: each tuk-tuk runs on five massive lead-acid batteries, containing almost 300 pounds of lead in total. Every year and a half or so, when those batteries need to be replaced and recycled, about 60 pounds of lead leak into the environment. Battery recycling, often at small-scale unregulated factories, is a highly profitable but deadly business.
Lead is dangerous, and any exposure to it is harmful to human health. Lead that has entered the environment hurts people on an extraordinary scale. The numerous ways lead enters air, water, soil, and homes across the developing world — and the enormous damage it does to human health, wealth, and welfare — causes one of the biggest environmental crises in the world yet receives little attention.
The World Bank estimates that lead kills 5. 5 million people per year, which would make it a bigger global killer than AIDS, malaria, diabetes, and road traffic deaths combined. On top of the shocking deaths, the social burden of lead poisoning is extraordinary, as is its contribution to global inequality — our research on the cognitive effects of lead poisoning suggests that it may explain about one-fifth of the educational achievement gap between rich and poor countries.
But unlike many challenges faced by developing countries, lead poisoning is a problem that is fixable with some attention and a relatively modest financial investment. Better monitoring, research, and rules can help protect children all over the world from the dreadful effects of lead poisoning and reduce the massive global costs it brings.
1. How does the author describe the lead problem in paragraph 2?| A．By making a comparison. | B．By analyzing hidden causes. |
| C．By listing convincing numbers. | D．By explaining its working principle. |
| A．Lead enters rich countries in various ways. |
| B．Lead poisoning may make poor societies poorer. |
| C．Exposure to lead doesn’t necessarily harm someone. |
| D．Lead leaking has caused great panic in both countries. |
| A．Fixing these used batteries. | B．Putting certain effort and money. |
| C．Prohibiting the illegal use of lead. | D．Reducing the cost of recycling lead. |
| A．The Impacts of Lead Poisoning on Human Health |
| B．The Outcomes of Using Electric Vehicles |
| C．The Ways to Solve Lead Problem |
| D．The Global Lead Poisoning Crisis |
8 . There are hundreds of great national nature reserves in China. Now feast your eyes on the following amazing ones.
Qinghai Lake National Nature ReserveQinghai Lake, China’s largest saltwater lake in Qinghai Province, is a key body of water for lots of animals and birds. As an important stopover, migratory birds (候鸟) would rest in this area during their movement trip every year. The reserve became a national nature reserve in the year of 1997.
Bayanbulak National Nature ReserveThe only Bayanbulak Wetland, in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, is at the foot of Tianshan Mountains, which makes itself suitable for migratory birds. Bayanbulak means “rich spring water” in Mongolian, meaning that the area is rich in water. Every year, swans (天鹅) from different places fly here for nesting, which became a national swan reserve in 1986.
Rongcheng Swan National Nature ReserveAs one of the largest wintering places for swans in China, this reserve in Shandong Province mainly protects whooper swans (大天鹅), which make it different from other nature reserves. In 2007, it was changed into a national nature reserve. Now every year, thousands of whooper swans arrive here to spend the winter, making it an important resting and wintering place for themselves.
Sanya Coral Reef (珊瑚礁) National Marine Nature ReserveThis reserve focuses on protecting coral reefs and their living environment in Sanya City, Hainan Province. In 1990, it became a national nature reserve. This reserve is on the coast, so the area of the reserve has good water quality and many kinds of creatures,
1. What do the first reserve and the second reserve have in common?| A．The area of wetland. | B．The geography of them. |
| C．The year of becoming the national reserve. | D．The friendly environment for migratory birds. |
| A．Its saltwater lake. | B．The whooper swans. |
| C．Its rich spring water. | D．The warm climate. |
| A．Bayanbulak National Nature Reserve. | B．Qinghai Lake National Nature Reserve. |
| C．Rongcheng Swan National Nature Reserve. | D．Sanya Coral Reef National Marine Nature Reserve, |
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10 . New discoveries and technological breakthroughs are made every year. Yet, as the information industry moves forward, many people in society are looking back to their roots in terms of the way they eat. A “locavore” movement has emerged in the United States. The movement supports eating foods grown locally and sustainably, rather than prepackaged foods shipped from other parts of the world.
Experts hold that eating local has many merits, and is expected to become a trend featuring sustainability. Erin Barnett is the director of Local Harvest, a company that aims to help connect people to farms in their area. By eating local, she argues, people have a better and more personal understanding of the impact their food consumption has on the rest of the world. “There is a way of connecting the point, where eating locally is an act that raises our awareness of sustainable living,” Barnett says.
The United States’ agricultural output is one of the highest in the world, says Timothy Beach, a professor of geography and geoscience at the University of Texas in Austin, Texas. “There’s just no other place on Earth where the amount of input is so productive,” Beach says of American agriculture. “Nobody can cut off the food we need.”
However, the US food system is not sustainable because of its dependency on fossil (化石) fuels, says Beach. Equipment used on “extremely productive” farms is quickly consuming Earth’s natural resources, particularly oil. Additionally, the production of agricultural supplements (补充剂)，such as fertilizer, uses large amounts of energy.
The world has used close to half of the global oil supply, Beach says, and the second half will be consumed at an even faster rate because of the growing population and economic development. Although many businesses are experimenting with wind, solar, and biofuel, Beach says there’s nothing that we see on the horizon that can replace it. “There is no way on Earth we are using fossil fuels sustainably. Then we have to reconsider the impact of eating local,” he says.
1. What is the special focus of the “locavore” movement?| A．The development of information society. | B．The emergence of new discoveries. |
| C．The localization and sustainability of food. | D．The globalization of eating styles. |
| A．Agricultural companies have the responsibility to help farmers. |
| B．Raising the awareness of sustainability is an urgent issue currently. |
| C．Eating locally can quickly increase the growth of the local economy. |
| D．The diversity of things can greatly enrich the lives of local people. |
| A．The agricultural weaknesses of the US. | B．The benefits of fossil fuels. |
| C．The most productive equipment on farms. | D．The consumption of local food. |
| A．The population is growing too fast. | B．Global economy develops rapidly. |
| C．Eating locally can’t be accepted. | D．No suitable energy can replace oil. |
