1 . With greater climate catastrophe (气候突变) on Earth, it is natural for us to make every effort to stop the potential floods, snowstorms, and alarming reports from scientists. For many of us (myself included), part of that means running out to buy reusable straws, organic cleaners, and packaging-free products.

However, before you are delighted at “green” purchases, take a second to consider the results of a new study from Arizona University. By comparing the shopping habits, mental health and environmental impact of young people, the researchers reconfirmed a principle: Buying less beats buying “green” stuff without effort. And that is true whether you are looking at the impact that your purchases have on the Earth or on your own happiness.

It should not come as a shock that simply consuming less is better for the planet. After all, every new item a factory yields requires some resources to produce. Take plastic bag bans for instance. If your city is getting rid of single-use shopping bags, it can be attractive to pay for a fashionable organic cotton bag hanging in the check-out line of your local supermarket. However, experts insist that growing cotton is actually no better for the Earth than producing the conventional plastic bags. Then what is your best bet for carrying your groceries if you care about sustainability? Any bag you already own.

It is not just the Earth that will be happier if you buy less. You will feel more contented too, according to the new study. “People believe that they might well be self-satisfied about becoming environmentally conscious through ‘green’ buying patterns, but it doesn’t seem to be that way”, said the lead researcher Sabrina Helm. “Reduced consumption has effects on increased happiness, but we don’t see that with ‘green’ consumption.”

“Owning every new ‘green’ product on the market might make you feel contented, but if you relieve yourself of that burden of ownership, most people report feeling a lot better,” said Helm.

1. Why does the writer mention “green” shopping habits?

A．To call on a green lifestyle.	B．To present a half true “green” truth.
C．To introduce a social trend.	D．To praise people’s green efforts.

2. What’s the main idea of paragraph 3?

A．Growing cotton is far worse for the Earth.

B．Reduced consumption is better for the Earth.

C．Using any bag you have is the best bet.

D．The plastic bag bans are of no effect.

3. What does the underlined word “contented” in paragraph 5 refer to?

A．The sense of achievement.	B．The sense of relief.
C．The sense of happiness.	D．The sense of security.

4. What might be the best title for the text?

A．Less is More	B．The Greener, The Happier
C．Happiness Guarantee	D．What Are Green Products?

2 . At any moment, about half the world’s population is wearing denim (牛仔布). But few realize tiny bits of denim have been adding up to a surprising amount of pollution in water, as a new study shows.

Sam Athey, one of the study’s authors, says, “Even though denim is made of a natural material—cotton—it contains chemicals.” Cotton fibers are treated with many types of chemicals, she notes. Some improve its durability (耐久性) and feel. Others give denim its distinctive blue color.

Athey and her team washed jeans and found that about 50,000 microfibers come off from each pair per wash. Not all of those fibers make their way into the environment. Wastewater treatment plants catch about 83 to 99 percent of them. Catching 99 percent may sound pretty good. But one percent of 50,000 is still 500 fibers per wash. And since every pair of jeans is washed again and again, it still adds up to lots of microfibers entering water environments.

Denim microfibers showed up in sediment (沉淀物) from the Great Lakes. More of these fibers polluted a series of shallow lakes in southern Ontario. They even turned up in sediment from the Arctic Ocean in northern Canada. The team found denim accounted for 12 to 23 percent of microfibers in the sediment. There were other microfibers too. But the team focused on denim because so many people wear jeans.

“Everyone wears jeans so they could be our largest input of microfibers into our streams and soils,” Athey says. “An easy way to limit that is by washing our jeans less often.” Athey grew up thinking she should wash her jeans after every couple of wearings, but most jean companies recommend washing them no more than once a month. “The solution is not that you shouldn’t wear jeans,” she says. “We need to buy fewer denim clothes and only wash them when they truly need it.”

1. Why are chemicals used to deal with cotton according to the passage?

A．To avoid its harm.

B．To make it into denim.

C．To remove its blue color.

D．To prevent fibers from falling.

2. The figures in Paragraph 3 are intended to show _________.

A．wastewater treatment plants are good at dealing with microfibers

B．few microfibers are entering water environments

C．catching 99 percent means doing no harm to the environment

D．the effects of microfibers can not be ignored

3. What is Paragraph 4 mainly about?

A．The seriousness of denim pollution.

B．The types of water pollution.

C．The wide uses of denim.

D．The large water area of Canada.

4. What does Athey suggest people do about denim pollution?

A．Wash jeans more often.

B．Avoid wearing jeans.

C．Produce less jeans.

D．Reduce denim consumption.

3 . A worldwide shift from fossil fuel-powered cars to electric vehicles (EV) could significantly reduce the amount of carbon dioxide that humans emit to the atmosphere. But the vehicle electrification can also shift some pollution to communities already suffering under higher economic, health and environmental burdens, researchers warn.

California is seeking to reduce its carbon footprint and has made great increases in the promotion of electric vehicle purchases. One tool the state has launched is the Clean Vehicle Rebate Project, or CVRP, which offers consumers money back for the purchase of new EVs.

Now, an analysis of the CVRP’s impact on the state’s air quality from 2010 to 2021 reveals both good and bad news, researchers report May 3 in PLOS Climate.

The good news is that the CVRP is responsible for reducing the amount of the state’s overall CO₂ emissions, reducing them by about 560,000 tons per year on average, says environmental scientist Jaye Mejia-Duwan at the University of California. In 2020, transportation in California produced about 160 million tons of CO₂, about 40 percent of the total emitted by the state that year.

The bad news is that the most disadvantaged communities in the state didn’t see the same overall improvement in air quality. Those communities didn’t have the same decreases in CO₂ — and in fact saw an increase in one type of air pollution, tiny particulates (颗粒) known as PM2.5. “These particulates are small enough to go deep into the lungs, increasing the risk of cancer, heart problems and cognitive decline,” Mejia-Duwan says.

“Electric vehicles are often referred to as ‘zero-emission vehicles,’ but in fact, they’re only as clean as the underlying electric grid (电网) from which the energy is sourced,” Mejia-Duwan says. EVs tend to be relatively heavy due to their batteries. And “heavier vehicles can produce more particulate matter than equally sized fossil fuel-powered cars, due to brake, tire or road wear,” Mejia-Duwan says.

1. California launched CVRP to ________.

A．save money for consumers	B．encourage the purchase of EVs
C．promote selling traditional cars	D．add to the profit of car industry

2. What do the figures in paragraph 4 indicate?

A．The seriousness of CO2 emissions.	B．The increasing popularity of EVs.
C．The present situation of environment.	D．The positive effect of CVRP.

3. What can we learn from the last two paragraphs?

A．Fuel-powered cars are relatively environment friendly.

B．There are more EVs in disadvantaged communities.

C．Electric vehicles can reduce the amount of emission.

D．Heavier vehicles do less damage to the environment.

4. What is the author’s attitude to EVs?

A．Objective.

B．Supportive.

C．Opposed.

D．Indifferent.

6 . A butterfly-shaped island in the central Aegean hopes to become Greece’s first carbon-free tourist destination. Under a deal with the government, Volkswagen, a carmaker, has donated several new electric vehicles for use by Astypalea’s public services; it will sell others at cost price to its 1,200 year-round residents. In return, the government has offered more financial assistance for islanders to buy electric cars and will build a solar and wind-fuelled power plant to replace polluting generators.

Unlike other nearby islands, Astypalea is not connected to Greece’s electricity providers. With only 3,000 rooms for visitors in small hotels or flats, tourism is still low-key. Many residents make a living the old-fashioned way: raising goats, keeping bees and fishing. The island was selected for Volkswagen’s experiment after Nikos Komineas, the go-ahead mayor, contacted the transport ministry for help in finding an electric bus to try out on its rough roads.

Most islanders sound keen on the project. Mr Komineas expects the number of private cars on Astypalea to fall by a third over the next five years. Its residents, he says, will get around on electric minibuses, which will be free, linked to a mobile-phone app and available round the clock.

Some observers smell green washing in the project. A bid for a solar park that would generate half the island’s electricity within three years will not get under way before the tourist season ends. A single wind-fuelled engine will be set up only in 2026, assuming the licensing process goes smoothly. That is not normally the case in the Aegean, where islanders worry that tourists will go elsewhere if the view is spoiled by an engine 200 meters high. And even then, the solar and wind-fulled power unit is planned to cover only about 80% of summer demand. But it is a start.

1. Why has Volkswagen signed the deal with the government?

A．To control car prices.	B．To help generate electricity.
C．To promote public transport.	D．To build a zero-carbon island.

2. What makes Astypalea different from other nearby islands?

A．It has an aggressive leader.

B．It is out of the national electricity network.

C．It is a crowded tourist destination.

D．It has various goats, bees and fishes.

3. What can be inferred from the text?

A．The experiment will come to nothing.

B．There are barriers in conducting the project.

C．Green tourism will become a trend in Greece.

D．The islanders are unwilling to change their lifestyle.

4. What does the author think of the project?

A．It’s pioneering.	B．It’s practical.
C．It’s destructive.	D．It’s costly.

9 . 假设你是李华，你校正在开展“防止空气污染”的活动。请你代表你校学生会用英语写一封倡议书，内容包括：
(1)空气污染的原因及危害;
(2)如何防止空气污染;
(3)发出倡议。
注意：
(1)词数80左右;
(2)可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
Dear fellows,
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Li Hua

10 . 用本学期所学语段中的原词填空。

Hunting and fishing have had damaging effects on the world’s animal populations. Some people hunt animals for f    1    : whale meat is eaten in some parts of the world. Some people hunt animals for f    2    : animal skin is used to make coats and bags. Still others hunt animals just for fun: deer are tracked and shot by people who enjoy the e    3    of the sport.

Human activities that have indirect effects on animals can be just as h    4    . When we build farms or factories, we destroy animal habitats and leave many animals with n    5    to live, or no food to eat. We can also put animals in danger without ever entering their h    6    . Air, water, noise and light pollution can all have a deep and damaging i    7    quite far from their source. Partly due to pollution c    8    by ship traffic and other human activities, for example, the dolphin population has d    9    greatly. As the human population continues to grow, so does the e    10    we have on animals.