1 . High school students perform better on tests if they are in a classroom with a view of a green space, instead of a windowless room or a room with a view of built-up space, according to research from the University of Illinois Department of Landscape Architecture.
“It is the first to show a relationship between studying with a green view and students’ performance.” said William Sullivan, head of the research team. “It’s a substantial finding that if you have a green view outside your window, you’ll do better on tests.” Sullivan hopes the results of their research will lead to some changes. “Changes in school design, for example, would be a much better thing than any of the things we spend money on in secondary education today,” Sullivan said.
The research included 94 students at five central Illinois high schools. Students were randomly assigned to one of three kinds of classrooms — windowless, with a window looking out onto built-up space, or with a window looking out onto green space. Each kind of classroom had almost the same size and layout (布局). The students took part in one-on-one experiments in which they did 30 minutes of activities that included a proofreading (勘校) exercise, a speech and a math exercise. Following the activities the students were given an attention test which asked them to repeat a series of numbers.
The findings: Students did better on both study activities and the attention test if they were in a classroom with a green view, Sullivan said.
The researchers suggest their findings can help planners and policymakers improve students’ health and learning. For example, planners can choose places for new schools that already have trees, or they can plant many trees on the site; architects can design classroom windows so they look onto green spaces.
1. What did the study find out about high school students?| A．They like to have green plants in their classrooms. |
| B．They will get better grades when studying in different classrooms. |
| C．Changes in school design will influence their attitudes towards teachers. |
| D．A green view through a classroom window can improve their performance. |
| A．Early. | B．Important. | C．Useless. | D．Possible. |
| A．How the study was carried out. |
| B．The result of the study. |
| C．Why the study was different. |
| D．The purpose of the study. |
| A．It has drawn public attention to education. |
| B．It can play a guiding role in school planning. |
| C．It has encouraged students to get close to nature. |
| D．It needs more support from high school teachers. |
2 . Research has found that using wood for construction instead of concrete and steel can reduce emissions. But Tim Searchinger at Princeton University says many of these studies are based on the false foundation that harvesting wood is carbon neutral (碳中和). “Only a small percentage of the wood gets into a timber (木料) product, and a part of that gets into a timber product that can replace concrete and steel in a building,” he says. Efficiencies vary in different countries, but large amounts of a harvested tree are left to be divided into parts, used in short-lived products like paper or burned for energy, all of which generate emissions.
In a report for the World Resources Institute, Searchinger and his colleagues have modelled how using more wood for construction would affect emissions between 2010 and 2050, accounting for the emissions from harvesting the wood. They considered various types of forests and parts of wood going towards construction. They also factored in the emissions savings from replacing concrete and steel.
Under some circumstances, the researchers found significant emissions reductions. But each case required what they considered an unrealistically high portion of the wood going towards construction, as well as rapid growth only seen in warmer places, like Brazil. In general, they found a large increase in global demand for wood would probably lead to rising emissions for decades. Accounting for emissions in this way, the researchers reported in a related paper that increasing forest harvests between 2010 and 2050 would add emissions equal to roughly 10 percent of total annual emissions.
Ali Amiri at Aalto University in Finland says the report’s conclusions about emissions from rising demand are probably correct, but the story is different for wood we already harvest. “Boosting the efficiency of current harvests and using more wood for longer-lived purposes than paper would cut emissions,” he says. “We cannot just say we should stop using wood.”
1. What is wrong with previous researches according to Searchinger?| A．They got wrong statistics. | B．They used an incorrect concept. |
| C．They included too many factors. | D．They were applied in limited countries. |
| A．The process of the new research. | B．The background of the new study. |
| C．The challenge of the new research. | D．The achievements of the new study. |
| A．When wood grows slowly. |
| B．When wood is largely used to make paper. |
| C．When wood is largely used in construction in countries like Brazil. |
| D．When wood is largely harvested in countries like Brazil. |
| A．Favorable. | B．Doubtful. | C．Critical. | D．Objective. |
3 . For Vishwanath Mallabadi from Bangalore, India, there is no such thing as a useless object or “waste”. Give him anything—abandoned metal or plastic items, old devices, dysfunctional printed circuit boards — and he’ll create art out of it.
Vishwanath’s passion is particularly relevant in the current age, where India generates more e-waste than it can recycle. From 2019 to 2020, the country generated a total of more than 1 million tonnes of e waste. Of this, only 22.7 percent was collected, taken apart and recycled. The eco-artist has upcycled and transformed nearly 200 kg of e-waste into usable products and proposes eco-art as a means to deal with waste management.
Vishwanath’s father, D M Shambhu, was a famous sculptor and painter, but he wanted his son to choose medicine and become a doctor. However, Vishwanath, who was interested in upcycling second-hand objects right from childhood, decided to pursue a BFA in Applied Art. He later went on to work in a company as a high-level administrator and retired two years ago. “In my free time and during the weekends. I used to conduct experiments in e-waste and try to develop something unique,” he recalled.
So far, the eco-artist has created more than 500 objects. These include a six-foot tall sculpture made from upcycled computer keyboard keys, and a painting inspired by Vincent Van Gogh’s The Starry Night, using upcycled resistors (电阻器) on wood. Among his other artworks are a 42×38 inch figure statue created from upcycled keyboard keys on a sun board finished with plastics, a deer made of colorful used wires, plants and flowers from computer parts, and eco jewellery from upcycled digital wrist watch parts.
“The work involves selecting the e-waste objects—the texture, shape, and colour etc, and visualising and conceptualising the final product. It might take weeks and months for sculptures. However, sustainable initiatives and upcycled art are nowadays in demand in multinational companies opting for a sustainable culture,” he said.
1. What does the author try to convey in paragraph 2?| A．The seriousness of e-waste in India. |
| B．Vishwanath’s passion for environment protection. |
| C．The achievements of waste management in India. |
| D．Vishwanath’s attitude towards dealing with e-waste. |
| A．A passionate eco-artist. | B．A private doctor. |
| C．A famous sculptor. | D．A senior manager. |
| A．The deer and the plants. | B．The sculpture and the figure statue. |
| C．The painting and the flowers. | D．The deer and the eco jewellery. |
| A．Exciting but unprofitable. | B．Creative but useless. |
| C．Demanding but worthwhile. | D．Efficient but costly. |
An old courthouse in London is set to change into an office building with a rooftop forest. The seven-story building
5 . In order to learn about advanced scientific technology and ideas for fighting against desertification (沙漠化), Rezaali Pakzad left Iran to study in Northwest China’s Gansu province. He is a 27-year-old doctoral student at Lanzhou University, focusing on soil desertification control.
In his view, Iran, like many countries, faces environmental problems such as desertification. When he did field surveys and research in Minqin county, Gansu, he found that the local desertification characteristics were very similar to those of his hometown. “Minqin is between two deserts. From being ‘about to disappear’to being gradually green, the scientific and effective prevention and control methods of the Chinese government have greatly changed the county, and made me see the hope of improving the ecology in my hometown,” he says.
He believes that China has certainly contributed to the global effort to combat desertification, and that the Chinese contribution is worth learning from. Through in-depth research in recent years, he has learned a lot about China’s new technologies and new ideas for combating desertification.
China has developed advanced technology models, which have introduced more green to deserts. Already among the top nations in the world in the field of combating desertification, China has shared its experience with other countries, carried out international consociation, and contributed to global desertification control.
Rezaali also believes he has made progress during his five years of living and studying in China. He hopes to achieve a lot, at a high level, in his research field and to contribute to international exchanges and cooperation in desertification control. “I want to be an ‘ecological messenger’ by spreading green ideas,” he says.
1. What is the similarity between Minqin and Rezaali’s hometown?| A．Ways to fight desertification. |
| B．The features of desertification. |
| C．The progress made in preventing desertification. |
| D．The technology used in controlling desertification. |
| A．Unclear. | B．Doubtful. | C．Favorable. | D．Objective |
| A．Contract. | B．Cooperation. | C．Commitment. | D．Contribution. |
| A．He advocates an international lifestyle. |
| B．He wants to major in ecology in China. |
| C．He will promote ecological protection. |
| D．He is satisfied with what he has achieved. |
6 . I fell in love with Yosemite National Park the first time I saw it. My parents took us there for camping. On the way out, I asked them to wait while I ran up to El Capitain, a
About 15 years ago I started seeing a lot of
I tried
In 2004, together with some climbers, I set a date for a
Each year volunteers come for the cleanup from everywhere. In 2007 alone, 2,945 people picked up 42,330 pounds of trash.
I often hear people
| A．distant | B．huge | C．narrow | D．loose |
| A．immediately | B．finally | C．gradually | D．recently |
| A．imagining | B．painting | C．describing | D．climbing |
| A．garden | B．home | C．lab | D．palace |
| A．material | B．resources | C．waste | D．goods |
| A．more | B．most | C．less | D．least |
| A．throwing away | B．picking up | C．breaking down | D．digging out |
| A．kill | B．save | C．wait | D．spend |
| A．cleanup | B．party | C．picnic | D．concert |
| A．dropped out | B．showed up | C．looked around | D．called back |
| A．demand | B．receive | C．achieve | D．overcome |
| A．plan | B．visit | C．contact | D．difference |
| A．talk | B．complain | C．argue | D．quarrel |
| A．doing | B．thinking | C．questioning | D．watching |
| A．method | B．explanation | C．example | D．research |
7 . As time goes on, people have come to realize the importance of protecting the environment. But they can’t deal with everything by themselves. Take small steps, and you can make a difference.
●Think Green. Think about the environment as you live your life. If you turn off lights and TV when leaving the room, you’ll save energy. If you take shorter showers, you will save water.
●Shop Green. Shopping is fun, but buying things you don’t need is wasteful and even bad for the earth. Before you buy something, ask yourself how much you will use it, and whenever possible, buy things locally made instead of those shipped from far away.
●Dress Green. What really matters is not the colour. It’s how the clothes were made. So look for products made from environmentally friendly(环保的)materials.
●Study Green. What’s better than learning about the environment? Save it while you learn. It can be as simple as using both sides of a piece of paper before you recycle it.
1. What does the writer want us to do?| A．Know some facts. | B．Deal with everything at once. |
| C．Protect the environment. | D．Make no difference. |
| A．Three. | B．Four. | C．Five. | D．Six. |
| A．Take a shower as long as possible. | B．Wear clothes whose colour is green. |
| C．Buy things that are locally made. | D．Use only one side of a piece of paper. |
| A．children | B．women | C．men | D．all people |
8 . Should We Create More National Parks
Don't you find it worrying that more and more species of animals are in real danger of becoming national parks extinct?
In addition, national parks protect animals from the danger of being hunted. A major reason why many species are endangered is that the animals are killed by hunters. They hunt animals to make money.
On the other hand, some people fight against the creation of national parks because they consider it wrong to interfere with nature. They believe that wild animals are happier living in their natural environment.
All in all, these disadvantages are far less important than the benefits of national parks, because these parks allow animals to live in a safe environment.
| A．They say though the animals may face danger, they enjoy a free life. |
| B．Firstly, national parks protect the animals' natural environment. |
| C．To begin with, animals are important to humans. |
| D．I personally believe that we must save these animals. |
| E．There is a heated discussion about whether to create more national parks. |
| F．In fact, they protect animals from their greatest enemies--human beings. |
| G．Some hunters even hunt animals simply for sport. |
9 . More than 10,000 people were made homeless in Ternang when the Sungai Mas overflowed its banks yesterday after six days of continuous heavy rain.
The wooden bridge across the river has been washed away. The town is cut off by flood waters. At the fifth mile, Jalan Tengkn, the water is two meters deep. It is closed to all traffic. Flooding first happened at mid-afternoon yesterday along the river banks. People trying to get to higher ground were just in time to escape the destroying of the flood. Most of the flood victims(受害者) had to leave all their things behind.
The National Flood Relief(救济) Center was reported to give its help and by early evening the whole town was moved out, helped by the army, police, Red Cross Society and volunteers(志愿者).
The flood victims are now housed in different simple relief centers in the nearby town of Ternang. “Everything possible is being done to help the unlucky people,” a government spokesman said, “In fact, money, food and clothing have begun to come in from public organizations and helpful people. A Disaster Relief Fund(救灾基金会) will be started as soon as possible.”
According to the latest reports it is still raining heavily at Ternang. The whole town is expected to be wholly covered by the water. So far no deaths have been reported.
1. This passage is probably taken from ______.| A．a storybook | B．a textbook |
| C．a magazine | D．a newspaper |
| A．the banks were too low | B．the wooden bridge is solid (坚固) |
| C．the river was too narrow | D．they had had wet days for some time |
| A．though the town was flooded, you could still go there by bus |
| B．as soon as the water flowed over the banks, people began to go to higher lands |
| C．the government and the whole society are taking great care of the flood victims |
| D．the flood hasn't brought a large loss to the town as nobody died in the flood |
| A．A Big Flood | B．Ternang Is destroyed |
| C．Over 10,000 People Are Homeless | D．Rescue Team Arrived |
增加：在缺词处加一个漏词符号(∧)，并在此符号下面写出该加的词。
删除：把多余的词用斜线( \ )划掉。
修改：在错的词下划一横线，并在该词的下面写出修改后的词。
注意：1. 每处错误及其修改均仅限一词；
2. 只允许修改10处，多者(从第11处起)不计分。
When I was a child, I hoped to live in the city. I think I would be happy there. Now I am living in a city, and I miss my home in the countryside consisted of clean air and the green mountains. Fortunately, the environment has been polluted on the development of industrialization. Lots of studies have shown that global warming has already become a very seriously problem. The airs we breathe in is getting dirtier and dirtier, that causes many diseases. We must draw conclusion and find ways to protect our environment. If you fail to do so , we’ll live to regret it .
