1 . Researchers at MIT and in China developed a simple, solar-powered water desalination (脱盐) system. They have made a breakthrough in getting fresh drinking water from sea water by using sunlight.
As the research paper published in Energy & Environmental Science explains, equipment applied in this system includes several layers of fiat evaporators (蒸发器) that turn water sources into fresh water through solar energy, as well as condensers (冷凝器) that cool the gas into the liquid. The authors of the paper are MIT students Lenan Zhang and Lin Zhao, Professor Evelyn Wang, and nine other researchers at MIT and at Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China.
How the system uses each of the multiple stages to remove salt from the water is critical to its efficiency. The heat released per stage will be used by the next stage. In this way, the team’s device can convert (转换) the energy of sunlight into the energy of water evaporation with an efficiency of 385 percent.
The device can be considered as a multilayer solar still. The heat is absorbed by its flat panels and then transferred to make water evaporate. The vapor then cools down and turns into liquid water on the next panel. As the water is collected, the released heat is transferred to the next layer.
The team’s 10-stage system produces pure water. Its quality is above the city drinking water standards. It also has the highest yield compared to other similar systems, at a rate of nearly six cubic decimeter per hour for every square meter of the solar collecting area. The system is distinguished from some others by the fact that there is no accumulated salt to be got rid of. Most materials of the demonstration unit don’t cost much and are easy to get.
Further experiments will be carried out on the device to optimize the choices of materials and test its durability under realistic conditions. Researchers will also work on the design of the device to make it more consumer-friendly. It is expected that the system could finally help developing regions that are short of electricity supplies but rich in sea water and sunlight handle water crises.
1. What contributes most to the high efficiency of the device?| A．The recycling of released heat. | B．The choice of materials. |
| C．The use of multilayer equipment. | D．The simplicity of the structure. |
| A．What the device is for. | B．How solar energy is collected. |
| C．How the device works. | D．What makes the device. |
| A．The quality of water it produces. | B．Its zero accumulation of salt. |
| C．Its stable and high production level. | D．The low cost of its condensers. |
| A．make cheap | B．make perfect | C．make diverse | D．make beautiful |
| A．To make it suitable for use by consumers. | B．To make it environment-friendly. |
| C．To check its performance in labs. | D．To reduce its cost. |
After being evacuated (疏散) from her Florida home following Hurricane Michael. Amber Gee was attempting to get an idea of the destruction left behind when she discovered a sign of trouble. As reported by ABC News, Gee was using NOAA’s interactive aerial map (交互式航拍地图) to check the damage done to her and her family’s homes when she spotted the word “H-E-L-P” spelled out in the yard.
The NOAA website allows those impacted in the hurricane to get a look at specific streets or homes by zooming in on (用变焦距镜头拉近) aerial imagery of the affected area. According to ABC News, Gee was looking at one of these photos when she noticed a cry for help spelled out in wood in the front yard of her grandmother’s Bay County home.
Though her grandmother had evacuated, several other family members, including Gee’s uncle and his wife, had stayed behind. After spotting the message, Gee alerted (向……报警) Bay County Emergency Services, who went to the house and rescued those who were trapped in the residence.
“Apparently, they had to cut through a lot of downed trees to get there,” Gee told ABC News. Her uncle, Ernest, had reportedly used wood from one of those trees to spell out the message.
After the rescue, Bay County Emergency Services posted the incident on their Facebook page, writing, “This is an incredible story of how people are working together in this situation. Someone from another county was using the mapping app to check property in rural Bay County and noticed the word ‘help’ spelled out in the grass in wood. That person immediately contacted us and sent the picture and we dispatched emergency workers.”
Meanwhile, Gee says she is thankful that she was able to use the mapping tool to get her family to safety. “The hurricane has turned everything upside down everywhere. Some were more fortunate than others. I’m just happy that everybody is safe and sound and, hopefully, soon we will all get through this together and recover from this storm,” she said.
1. What did Gee use the mapping app to do? (no more than 12 words)2. Who can look at the NOAA website’s aerial photos of the affected area? (no more than 5 words)
3. Who spelled out “Help” to cry for help? (no more than 5 words)
4. What does the underlined word “dispatched” in Para. 5 probably mean? (one word)
5. What lesson can you learn from this story? Please explain. (no more than 25 words)
3 . 假设你是晨光中学的学生李津。在世界地球日即将到来之际，你校与英国友好校将在线举办“绿动校园，青春飞扬”的主题摄影展，以此来记录校园环保活动中的精彩瞬间。现组委会向同学们征集照片，你打算参加此项活动。请按照以下提示用英语给组委会写一封信来推荐你的照片：
（1）描述照片的内容；
（2）说明选择该照片的理由；
（3）表达对该照片入选的愿望。
参考词汇：绿动校园，青春飞扬Green Campus, Flying Youth
注意：
（1）词数不少于100；
（2）可适当加入细节，使内容充实、行文连贯；
（3）开头和结尾已给出，不计入总词数。
Dear Sir/Madam,
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Yours,
Li Jin
When Simon Cane was in the second grade, he began learning about all the ways humans have an impact on the environment and really took those classroom lessons to heart in a way that set him apart from his schoolmates at his elementary school, P. S. 81, in the Bronx. “He told me we drove too much and made too much pollution,” his dad, Jonathan Cane, told Runner’s World. So Simon convinced his parents to start hanging their clothes to dry, taking the stairs instead of elevators, and other “green” measures.
“For much of kindergarten and the first grade I rode my bike to Simon’s school with him on the back,” Jonathan said. “We had a lot of fun being outdoors. We’d stop to give our dog treats and generally enjoyed it.” As Simon got bigger, though, it wasn’t practical for him to ride on his father’s back, but it also didn’t make sense to ride together — both because of safety concerns and because there was no place to put away Simon’s bike. So, most of the time they drove the 1.5 miles to school.
But in 2019, when Simon was going into the third grade, the 8-year-old came up with a new way to help the planet: running the 1.5 miles to P. S. 81. And Jonathan promised his son he’d join him for as long as he wanted.
“We did a test run one day in August, and decided to give it a go. To be honest, I thought he’d blink after it got really cold or rainy, but he never did,” Jonathan said. He recalled one day when the weather was particularly bad. “It’s really raining out there today,” he told Simon. “And Simon said, ‘Well then we’re going to get wet!’ He took pride in toughing it out, and it became a really fun family routine.”
Since the start, Simon has run with his dad and their black dog, Lola, and has even inspired his mom, Nicole Sin Quee, to join in. They soon became known as “the family that runs to school”.
1. What made Simon different from his classmates? (no more than 10 words)2. Why did Simon usually go to school by car in the second grade? (no more than 15 words)
3. How do you understand the underlined part in the fourth paragraph? (no more than 15words)
4. How did Simon inspire his mom? (no more than 10 words)
5. What are your “green” measures? Please explain. (no more than 20 words)
5 . Styrofoam, or polystyrene, is a light-weight material, about 95 percent air, with very good insulation (隔热) properties, according to Earthsource.org. It is used in products from cups that keep your drinks hot or cold to packaging material that protects items during shipping. With the above good features, Styrofoam still enjoys a bad reputation. It cannot be recycled without releasing dangerous pollution into the air. The U. S. Environmental Protection Agency says it is the fifth-largest creator of harmful waste.
But now the common worms which are usually disgusting can come to the rescue, specifically, mealworms. Scientists from the U. S. and China have discovered that mealworms can digest plastic. One mealworm can digest a pill-sized amount of plastic a day. Study co-author Wei-Min Wu says that in 24 hours, the plastic is turned into carbon dioxide.
Since Styrofoam has no nutrition at all, are the worms hurt by eating plastic? Much to the scientists’ surprise, the study found that worms eating Styrofoam were as healthy as worms eating bran (谷糠). The researchers will study the worm’s eating habits and digesting system, looking to copy the plastic breakdown but on a larger scale. Once the way can be put into practice, it will make a revolutionary difference to the disposal of plastic.
“Solving the issue of plastic pollution is important”, says Wu, a Stanford University environmental engineering instructor. After all, our earth is small and landfill space is becoming limited with too much garbage waiting to be dealt with, he says.
About 33-million tons of plastic are thrown away in the United States every year. Plastic plates, cups and containers take up 25 percent to 30 percent of space in America’s landfills. One Styrofoam cup takes more than 1 million years to recycle in a landfill, according to Cleveland State University.
1. What do we know about Styrofoam?| A．It can be used to cool drinks. |
| B．It is a weightless material. |
| C．It is harmful when recycled. |
| D．It is usually used on ships. |
| A．Mealworms have amazing digesting power. |
| B．Mealworms are not bad in their nature. |
| C．Mealworms can rescue people’s lives. |
| D．People misunderstood mealworms in the past. |
| A．To find ways to help mealworms grow larger. |
| B．To imitate their ways of breaking down plastic. |
| C．To help develop their digesting ability. |
| D．To make sure of their safety after eating plastic. |
| A．by raising amounts of mealworms |
| B．by environmental engineering instructors |
| C．using a method inspired by eating mealworms |
| D．without sending out dangerous pollution |
| A．Styrofoam is widely used in daily life. |
| B．Mealworms are genius at eating plastic. |
| C．Plastic recycling may be no more a problem. |
| D．Plastic can be turned into carbon dioxide. |
6 . In 2016, the world’s population cast aside 49 million tons of electronic waste, known as e-waste. It has been calculated that this number will grow to more than 60 million tons by 2021.
What is causing the upsurge (激增) in e-waste? Technology is becoming more and more widespread, covering almost every aspect of our lives. Meanwhile, the lifespan of devices is getting shorter—many products will be thrown away once their batteries die, to be replaced by new devices. Companies intentionally plan the obsolescence (过时) of their goods by updating the design or software and discontinuing support for older models, so that now it is usually cheaper and easier to buy a new product than to repair an old one. Since prices are falling, electronic devices are in demand around the world.
As more people buy electronic equipment, manufacturers (制造商) are beginning to face shortages of the raw materials needed to make their products, so recycling and reusing materials from discarded (扔掉的) products and waste makes economic and environmental sense.
Recycling e-waste is practiced both formally and informally. Proper or formal e-waste recycling usually involves taking apart the electronics, separating and sorting through the materials and cleaning them. Companies must obey health and safety rules to reduce the health and environmental hazards of handling e-waste by using pollution-control technologies. All this makes formal recycling expensive. Informal recycling is typically unlicensed and uncontrolled. At informal recycling workshops, men and women recover valuable materials by burning devices to melt away non-valuable materials. Usually they do not wear protective equipment and lack any awareness that they are handling dangerous materials.
With the amount of e-waste growing around the world, recycling alone will not be enough to solve the problem. In order to reduce e-waste, manufacturers need to design electronics that are safer, and more durable, repairable and recyclable. The best thing you can do is resist buying a new device until you really need it. Try to get your old product repaired if possible and, if it can’t be fixed, resell or recycle it responsibly. Before you recycle your device, put any broken parts in separate containers and close these tightly to prevent chemicals from leaking. Wear latex gloves and a mask if you’re handling something that’s broken.
1. Which of the following is a reason for e-waste’s sharp increasing?| A．The falling of devices’ quality. | B．The results of updating devices. |
| C．The methods of recycling e-waste. | D．The shortage of protective equipment. |
| A．Increasing the variety of electronic products. | B．Lowering the costs of technology innovation. |
| C．Relieving the lack of the raw materials. | D．Improving the poor quality of e-devices. |
| A．Influence. | B．Harm. | C．Limits. | D．Costs. |
| A．They are blamed for shortening the lifespan of devices. |
| B．Their ways of reusing waste are sometimes encouraged. |
| C．They aim to discover rare materials from waste for new products. |
| D．Their workers are unaware of the danger from dealing with devices. |
| A．Everyone should take action to reduce e-waste. |
| B．Companies should be mainly responsible for reducing e-waste. |
| C．Fixing a device could cause more pollution than buying a new one. |
| D．E-waste could be broken down by burying it underground for a long time. |
In 2019, the state of California was on fire. Alexandria Villaseor, who was 13 at the time, witnessed the destruction of Northern California’s Camp Fire, which would go on to burn more than 150,000 acres of land. Villaseor was scared. “That’s when I found out how important climate education was,” she reflected. “And just how much we lacked climate education these past couple of years.”
Villaseor, at the age of 15, was determined to have a bigger conversation. She quickly realized the fight requires international, government-level changes. For her, what started as local concern turned into a year-long protest in front of the United Nations’ New York City headquarters and a global campaign for more compulsory climate education. She sat on a bench in front of the headquarters, begging for the world’s leaders to take climate change seriously.
Her action received national attention, with millions of other students around the world joining in the movement. “It’s completely unacceptable not to learn anything about our planet and our environment in school, after all the young people would inherit the Earth.” Villaseor said, “That’s why I think that climate education is so important, and that’s why I focus a lot on it now.”
Right now, Villaseor is working with the American Administration on its climate plan, which has promised to center on the needs of young people and communities most impacted by climate change. She even spoke at the 2021 Democratic National Convention. “This was definitely a huge moment when I realized that people were listening to the voices of me and youth climate activists.” Villaseor said.
When she isn’t connecting with her fellow youth activists, Villaseor is like most other teens. “My favorite thing to do, of course, is sleep,” she said, “I like to read a lot. I like fantasy books, normally. I also like to write.”
1. What does Paragraph 1 mainly tell us? (no more than 10 words)2. How did Villaseor make the world’s leaders attach importance to climate education? (no more than 15 words)
3. How do you understand the underlined sentence in Paragraph 3? (no more than 15 words)
4. When was the huge moment to Villaseor? (no more than10 words)
5. What do you think of Villaseor? Please explain in your own words? (no more than 20 words)
8 . As people travelling by air become increasingly aware of their carbon footprint, flying has become not only one of the most polluting industries, but also one with the most potential to turn things around.
After Solar Impulse 2 completed the world’s first flight by a solar-powered aircraft in 2016, airlines and aircraft producers looked to become the first to provide a commercial plane. Bertrand Piccard, one of the pilots responsible for Solar Impulse 2’s journey said, “All the clean technologies we’ve already had can be used everywhere. We have to use them, not only for the environment, but also because they are profitable and able to create jobs.”
The following year saw many projects in the aviation (航空) field as the airline industry acknowledged the future of low- carbon transportation methods. In 2017, Zunum Aero, a small aviation company which focused on delivering a range of hybrid-electric (混合电动的) planes received financial aid from JetBlue and Boeing, whilst EasyJet teamed up with Wright Electric to develop battery-powered aircraft and NASA also announced its plans to develop its own electric aircraft.
Orkney Islands, lying about 20 miles north of the Scottish mainland, are rich in renewable resources, especially the wind energy. Loganair, a Scottish airline, is cooperating with aviation companies to make Orkney the world’s first fully electric airline routes. However, this is never easy. Due to the limited size and weight of a battery that an airplane can carry, airplane producers are faced with a bottleneck — the continued power supply for electric airplanes. They believe the abundant wind energy in Orkney could be the key to solving it.
The benefits of electric air travel transcend its low-carbon emissions. Aviation experts believe these aircraft’s power source will also mean they will be less noisy, smaller, require less maintenance costs, and need a shorter runway to take off and land — this could lead to more airports in small cities and more rural areas being connected to the world at large.
1. What did Bertrand want to convey in his words?| A．The future of aircraft pilots. |
| B．The success of Solar Impulse 2. |
| C．The convenience of commercial planes. |
| D．The significance of using renewable energy. |
| A．By asking for financial support from banks. |
| B．By working together with another company. |
| C．By purchasing patents from other countries. |
| D．By improving the technology on its own. |
| A．Use natural resources to charge airplanes. |
| B．Build more coal-fired power stations. |
| C．Develop shorter airline routes. |
| D．Increase the size of battery. |
| A．Go beyond. | B．Rely on. | C．Differ from. | D．Refer to. |
| A．Making plane tickets cheaper. |
| B．Making the flying time shorter. |
| C．Making the world more connected. |
| D．Making the plane maintenance easier. |
9 . The giant panda is more than just a cute conservation animal and a beloved media darling. It is also, according to new research, the protector of dozens of other unique Chinese species. The panda itself doesn’t actually defend other wildlife, but it helps to save it all the same by serving as what’s known as an “umbrella species”. In other words, efforts to preserve habitats for the giant panda also protect many other mammals, birds and amphibians (两栖动物) that live only alongside pandas, in the same areas and regions.
Conservationists have expressed this umbrella species theory for years but a paper published recently in Biological Conservation proves it. The research found that most of the forest animals in China live within the panda’s geographic range and the nature reserves set aside to protect them. In brief, most of this range overlaps (与……重叠) with important conservation areas for other local forest species.
Pandas do protect a lot although a few species fall outside the umbrella. The research found about one hundred kinds of animals are not protected by the giant panda’s current reservation. The paper identified 10 locations that might be suitable for new or improved nature reserves to help expand that coverage. Many of these areas, located in Sichuan Province, which is considered the stronghold (大本营) of giant pandas in the wild, are close to existing reserves.
Protecting the newly identified locations, however, won’t save all of China’s unique wildlife. “Pandas are a good umbrella species for forest ecosystems in China but that’s not enough,” says co-author Binbin Li. “In China we have many ecosystems. We need more umbrella species.” For example, she says tigers could serve the same role in the northern part of the country and snow leopards could be an umbrella for grassland species.
“The new findings are important,” Pimm (the other author) and Li say, “because many people doubt whether China’s commitment to preserving giant panda habitats is doing much good.” Other people around the world don’t even realize that wild pandas still live in their native forests. “A lot of the resources in China go to releasing captive (被关住的) pandas back into the wild,” Li says. “The news doesn’t cover that.” She says this paper helps display wild pandas and also shows that the expense in preserving them is money well spent.
The researchers hope their paper helps to set the tone for future discussions not only about umbrella species but also giant pandas themselves, along with all China’s wildlife.
1. Giant pandas are called an umbrella species because ________.| A．they never fight for protected species |
| B．they help take care of other baby animals |
| C．their precious value requires better protection |
| D．the protection for them also extends to other species |
| A．The number of nature reserves may be reduced. |
| B．The coverage of nature reserves may be expanded. |
| C．The giant panda lives in important local conservation areas. |
| D．Many nature reserves in China are located in Sichuan Province. |
| A．Create more kinds of strong species. | B．Find more kinds of umbrella species. |
| C．Focus solely on pandas’ conservation. | D．Search for much bigger nature reservations. |
| A．showing how well pandas are living | B．blaming the media for their ignorance |
| C．proving China’s efforts to protect pandas | D．appealing to organizations to donate money |
| A．The umbrella species have a great influence on the ecosystem. |
| B．Researchers have done a lot to protect China’s local species. |
| C．Giant panda conservation also protects other unique species. |
| D．Conservationists expressed a new umbrella species theory. |
10 . Eradajere Oleita thinks she may have a partial solution for two of our country’s long-standing problems: garbage and poverty. It’s called The Chip Bag Project. The 26-year-old student and environmentalist from Detroit is asking a favor of local snack lovers: Rather than throw your empty chip bags into the trash, donate them so she can turn them into sleeping bags for the homeless.
Chip eaters drop off their empty bags from Lay’s (乐事公司) at two locations in Detroit: a print shop and a clothing store, where Oleita and her volunteer helpers collect them. After they clean the chip bags in hot soapy water, they slice them open, lay them flat, and iron them together. It takes about four hours to sew a sleeping bag, and each takes around 150 to 300 chip bags, depending on whether it’s single-serve or family-size. “The result is a sleeping bag that is waterproof, lightweight, and easy to carry around.” Oleita told The Detroit News.
Since its start in 2020, The Chip Bag Project has collected more than 800,000 chip bags and, as of last December, it has created 110 sleeping bags. Sure, it would be simpler to raise money to buy new sleeping bags. But that’s only half the goal for Oleita—whose family moved to the United States from Nigeria a decade ago with the hope of attaining a better life—and her fellow volunteers. “We are committed to making an impact not only socially, but also environmentally.” she said.
And, of course, there’s the symbolism of salvaging bags that would otherwise be abandoned in the trash and using them to help the homeless. It’s a powerful reminder that environmental injustice and poverty often go hand in hand. As Oleita told www.hourdetroit.com, “I think it’s time to show connections between these issues.”
1. What is the purpose of The Chip Bag Project?| A．To make donations for the homeless. |
| B．To deal with garbage and sleeping bags. |
| C．To stop pollution caused by snack lovers. |
| D．To protect the environment and reduce poverty. |
| A．By turning to chip eaters. | B．By producing chip bags. |
| C．By purchasing snacks. | D．By cooperating with the poor. |
| A．Oleita raises money by creating new sleeping bags. |
| B．Oleita hopes to gain a better life through the project. |
| C．Oleita and her fellow volunteers will continue pursuing their goal. |
| D．110 sleeping bags were created by The Chip Bag Project in 2020. |
| A．Sewing. | B．Recycling. |
| C．Emptying. | D．Designing. |
| A．Determined and honest. | B．Ambitious and humorous. |
| C．Devoted and creative. | D．Caring and independent. |
