1 . Wild animals are human’s friends, an important part of the natural ecosystem, and valuable natural resources endowed(赋予)by nature.

Indian elephants, a subspecies of Asian elephants, have been considered endangered since 1986. There are only an estimated 20,000 to 25,000 Indian elephants left in the wild, and the global population is believed to be decreasing.

Habitat loss is widely considered a direct threat to Indian elephants. Recent economic growth and subsequent increased development in Asia are the main causes of this habitat loss. From expanding human settlements and mining to converting land to plantations and infrastructure(基础建设), many activities can block migratory elephant routes and drive them into smaller sub-populations. When animals are forced into smaller pockets of populations, they risk losing genetic diversity and have a higher chance of dying from disease and natural disasters.

In India, elephants have faced a 70% population decline over the last 60 years. When accounting for climate change projections, scientists predict that the elephant population in the country could lose over 40% of its habitat by 2070.

As elephants lose their habitats to human settlements and development, interactions between humans and elephants also rise. Elephant populations, especially those living outside of protected areas, wander into agricultural lands in search of food and cause crop or property loss. Even worse, these impacts may cause farmers and residents to retaliate against the elephants if they believe their assets are in danger. Poison or other deadly methods have been used.

Although countries like India, Vietnam, and Myanmar have completely banned the capture of wild elephants for any purpose, illegal hunting still happens in those and other nations where Indian elephants live.

Countries around the world are taking action to protect Indian elephants. In parts of Myanmar, teams of rangers work to protect and co-manage wild elephant populations with the Wildlife Conservation Society. They use the Spatial Monitoring and Reporting Tool(SMART), a geographic information systems-based software to systematically collect, manage, analyze, and report data collected from forests. With SMART, park managers can deploy rangers strategically in hotpots for illegal hunting or other illegal activities, manage efforts, and organize resources.

1. What is the immediate cause of the decline of Indian elephant’s number?

A．The growth of economy.	B．The loss of their habitat.
C．The change of the climate.	D．The increase of illegal hunting.

2. What do the figures in paragraph 4 show?

A．The main change of ecosystem.	B．The main features of Indian elephants.
C．The problems caused by Indian elephants.	D．The severity of Indian elephants’ situation.

3. How does the SMART work?

A．By completely preventing hunting.

B．By collecting and reporting data collected from forests.

C．By founding the Wildlife Conservation Society.

D．By counting the population of wildlife.

4. What’s the purpose of this text?

A．To advertise for Indian elephants.

B．To attract tourists to watch Indian elephants.

C．To appeal to people to protect Indian elephants.

D．To introduce Spatial Monitoring and Reporting Tool.

2 . A new study led by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School has found that climate-impact labeling on a sample fast food menu significantly influenced people’s food choices in favor of more climate-friendly items, such as vegetarian diet, chicken, or fish dishes.

The researchers enrolled over 5,000 online participants and presented them a sample menu resembling a fast food menu and asked them to choose a single item for a meal. While one group of participants received a menu with non-red meat items like salads or chicken sandwiches labeled “low climate impact”, another one received a menu with red meat items, such as beef burgers, labeled “high climate impact.” Finally, a third control group received a menu with QR codes on all items but no climate labels.

The analysis revealed that both the high and low climate-impact labels significantly reduced red meat selections compared to the control group. The high climate-impact labels had a strong effect, increasing non-beef choices by 23 percent compared to just 10 percent in the case of menus including low climate-impact labels.

“These results suggest that menu labeling, particularly labels warning that an item has high climate impact, can be an effective strategy for encouraging more sustainable food choices in a fast food setting,” said the study lead author Julia Wolfson, an associate professor in the Department of International Heath at the Bloomberg School.

Besides, participants were also asked to rate how healthy they believed the item they ordered was, and those who selected a more sustainable item perceived their choice to be healthier compared to those who selected a red meat item.

Since red meat consumption has been linked to a variety of health issues, including colorectal (结肠的) cancer and type 2 diabetes (糖尿病), the type of climate-impact labeling could prove highly effective in preventing illness. However, as the researchers warn, climate-impact labels may also have the unwanted side effect of making a choice seem healthier than it actually is.

“We look for labeling strategies that create ‘win-wins’ for promoting both more sustainable and healthier choices,” Wolfson concluded.

1. What is the finding of the study?

A．Red meat consumption is closely linked to climate labeling.

B．Climate-impact labels are gaining popularity worldwide.

C．Climate-impact labeling influences people’s food selection.

D．Menu labeling contributes to less sustainable food choices.

2. How did the researchers conduct the research?

A．By citing examples.

B．By group experimenting.

C．By providing explanations.

D．By analyzing cause and effect.

3. What does the underlined word “perceived” mean in Paragraph 5?

A．Detected.

B．Required.

C．Urged.

D．Considered.

4. What’s the researchers’ attitude towards climate-impact labeling?

A．Skeptical.

B．Objective.

C．Tolerant.

D．Conservative.

3 . Microplastic pollution is increasing greatly around the globe, according to a study of plastic particles (微粒)carried in the air.

People are already known to breathe, drink and eat microplastics, and research suggests that pollution levels will continue to rise rapidly. The researchers said that breathing in these particles can be harmful to lung tissue and lead to serious diseases.

Professor Natalie Mahowald, at Cornell University in the US and part of the research team, said, “ But maybe we could solve this before it becomes a huge problem, if we manage our plastics better, before they accumulate in the environment and move around everywhere.”

The research, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Acadenry of Sciences, examined airborne (空气传播的)microplastics, which have been far less studied than plastics in oceans and rivers.

The team gathered more than 300 samples of airborne microplastics from 11 sites across the western US. These were the basis for atmospheric modeling that estimated the contribution from different sources (来源),and it was the first such study to do so.

They found that roads were the main factor (因素)in the western US, linked to about 85% of the microplastics in the air. These are likely to include particles from tires and brake pads on vehicles, and plastics from litter that had been broken down.

The researchers extended their modeling work to a global level and this suggested that while roads are also likely to be the major driver of airborne plastics in Europe, South America and Australia, plastic particles blown up from fields may be a much bigger factor in Africa and Asia.

Professor Andreas Stohl of the University of Vienna’s Faculty of Earth Sciences said, “The study confirms the global-scale (全球规模的)nature of microplastic transport in the atmosphere and does a good job in highlighting highly relevant and concerning possibilities, but more measurement data is needed to get a better idea of the sources.”

1. What can be known about microplastic pollution from this text?

A．The particles can do great harm to our lungs.

B．Airborne microplastics have been widely studied.

C．It has become the most pressing environmental problem.

D．There is less plastic in the air than in oceans and rivers.

2. What did the researchers find out about microplastic pollution?

A．Its results differ across many continents.

B．Africa and Asia are suffering most from it.

C．Roads and fields are largely to blame for it.

D．It spreads fast from one continent to another.

3. What should the researchers do next according to Professor Andreas Stohl?

A．To predict the potential damage of microplastics.

B．To understand the nature of microplastic pollution.

C．To improve the method of collecting samples of microplastics.

D．To collect more data to understand the sources of microplastics.

4. What can be the best title for this text?

A．Effects of microplastics on human health

B．Microplastic pollution on the global scale

C．Possible solutions to microplastic pollution

D．Microplastic pollution rising quickly in the air

4 . 阅读下面短文，在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

With the continuous changes of road signs and the presence of fire prevention warnings, Saihanba, known as the “miracle on earth”, begins to come    1    view. However, Saihanba was a wasteland 59 years ago, which nowadays    2    (visitor) to Saihanba can hardly imagine. Watchmen Liu Jun and Wang Juan are observing the forest area on a watchtower in Saihanba Forest Farm in Hebei Province. Simple    3    it looks, the job is quite a burden(负担)on their shoulders. Since the establishment of the forest farm, over 20 couples    4    (guard)the watchtower, and there has been no fire reported in the farm.

Today, Saihanba is not only    5    “green Great Wall” for windbreak and sand fixation(固定), but also a wood source for factories. Whythe trees here are to be cut down in a planned way is     6    people would doubt. A staff member explains the cutting of plantation forests is more like     7    (thin) when farmers plant crops. Although doing this is profitable,the people of Saihanba do not value immediate benefits. Saihanba’s success has allowed this “miracle on earth”    8     (copy)across the country. The construction of the “three more Saihanba” project    9    (launch)in 1999 has already seen green barriers built in Chengde Yudaokou, Qiansongba, and Zhangjiakou Saibei,    10    (effective)preventing sand and dust from going south.

6 . The weather forecast calls for a slight chance of thunderstorms, but you can only see a few white clouds overhead.    1    You spend a few minutes warming up and then wait! Is that thunder you hear? Was that a lightning flash?

What do you do? Keep playing until the thunder and lightning get closer? Go sit on the metal bench(长椅)under the trees to see what happens? Or get in your car and drive home?Correct answer: If no substantial, non-concrete shelter is nearby, get in your car and wait out the storm. Why?

    2    Although the odds of being struck by lightning in a given year are less than 1 in a million, some factors can put you at greater risk. Lightning most often strikes people who work outside or engage in outdoor recreational activities.     3    Florida is considered the “lightning capital” of the country, with more than 2,000 lightning injuries over the past 50 years. From 2009 to 2018,lightning caused an average of 27 deaths per year in the United States.     4    

·If the weather forecast calls for thunderstorms, postpone your trip or activity.

·When thunder rolls, go indoors. Find a safe, enclosed shelter. Safe shelters include homes, offices, shopping centers, and hard-top vehicles with the windows rolled up.

·    5    After you see lightning, start counting to 30. If you hear thunder before you reach 30, go indoors. Suspend activities for at least 30 minutes after the last clap of thunder.

·If you are caught outside with no safe shelter nearby，crouch(蹲下)down in a ball-like position with your head tucked(收拢)and hands over your ears.

A．Don’t forget the 30-30 rule.

B．Avoid using electronic equipment of all types.

C．So you and your tennis partner head for the tennis court.

D．Here are some tips to reduce your risk of being struck by lightning.

E．Perform the following actions if you are accidentally caught in an open area.

F．Because being outside when lightning is present is not something to take lightly.

G．Regional differences can also affect your risk of being injured by lightning.

7 . Sustainability for kids can start with a seed. We put together some ways to involve the whole family in protecting the environment.

Go on a hike. Parental involvement in early childhood education looks different in various settings from preschool to home and to the grocery store.     1     Going on a hike together can be an ideal thing to investigate a local ecosystem, look for signs of the changing season, and gain an overall appreciation of the world outdoors. Plus, by bringing an extra garbage bag and gloves to pick up trash along the way, parents can show kids some educational activities.

Go green for holidays. Make holidays fun while also supporting a green environment for kids. Use LED lights for decorative lighting.     2     Decrease your carbon footprint and purchase holiday gifts from local shops.

    3     Parents don’t need an acre of land to teach their children that food doesn't grow at the grocery store. All they need is sunlight, water and dirt. A windowsill is the perfect spot to grow herbs. A back deck can grow beautiful tomatoes. Plant peach seeds in a small container.     4    

Recycle together. Recycling activities for kids can be fun and support family involvement in education at the same time.     5     Then work with them to make something new out of the recycled items, such as making boxes out of recycled cardboard and storage tins out of recycled cans.

A．Plant a “garden”.

B．Don’t buy food from the grocery.

C．Protecting the environment for kids is important.

D．Parents should tell children what they can recycle.

E．And the children can watch a little peach tree grow.

F．Recycle Christmas trees instead of throwing them away.

G．To a child, every setting and every moment can be a teachable one.

8 . About 400 pounds of food is wasted per day from 5 pm to 8 pm in Douglass Dining Hall. “We scrape(刮掉) the food from the conveyor belt into the buckets by hand. Working for Dining Team Green, I don’t expect to basically become a garbage girl,” Roll said. “We do the work because we care much about it. We all have a responsibility to take care of the environment.”

To have more approachable composting(把……制成堆肥) machines on campus, Roll now has a new sustainable project investing in Lomi, an automated compost machine. “I learned about Lomi through an ad,” Roll said. “Funny enough, I just saw it and thought it perfect. It really interested me how the mechanism worked. ”

Lomi is a new technology that can break down food waste into natural compost. According to Roll, it breaks down waste in the way: grinding(碾碎) the food into plant fertilizer. Unlike most composting machines, Omi can compost animal products, such as small bones. Another huge benefit is that it doesn’t have smell and can convert waste to compost in a shorter time.

Roll plans on using the compost in the Gilbert community garden so that Dining Team Green can give back to the community. “It’s very exciting to see our food waste that would otherwise have gone in the trash and pollute the environment go to our community,” she said.

Roll is excited to introduce a new form of composting to the residents. She hopes that this machine will inspire other composting machines in all residential buildings. “I want Lomi not only to be a way to reduce food waste on the floor, but an educational tool to make people compost in a real way and not just talk about it in a theoretical sense,” Roll said.

1. Which of the following can best describe Lomi?

A．Elegant.	B．Widespread.
C．Low-powered.	D．Environmentally friendly.

2. What does paragraph 3 mainly talk about?

A．The reasons for designing Lomi.	B．The impact of wasting food.
C．The solution to food waste.	D．The advantages of Lomi.

3. What may be Roll’s expectation?

A．More people will get involved in composting initiatives.

B．Dining Team Green will become an educational tool.

C．More developed composting machines will be invented.

D．Dining Team Green will build community gardens.

4. What can we know about Roll?

A．She lives in the Gilbert community.

B．She is a member of Dining Team Green.

C．She knows a lot about residential buildings.

D．She plans to design more composting machines.

9 . 阅读下面短文，在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

Biodiversity matters to humanity’s    1    (survive) on the planet and is the material basis for sustainable economic and social development.

In recent years, China has made great progress in biodiversity protection. Wildlife protetion in China have also    2     (increase) adopted measures and practices to better conserve biodiversity, which we    3     (illustrate) with the typical case of the Longwan National Nature Reserve in the paragraphs.

Located in Jilin Province,Longwan National Nature Reserve is devoted to the protection of the forest wetlands formed    4     the basis of volcanic landforms and the various biological species and their ecological environment.

Established in 2003 and    5    (cover) a total area of 15,061 hectares,the Longwan National Nature Reserve is categorized as a natural ecosystem. The park makes full use of the telecom signal towers in the area    6    other commanding heights in the reserve    7    (fix) cameras to send the signals to the monitoring and command center platform.

So far,through the remote video monitoring system and the use of GPS and other equipment, the    8    (intelligence) and information-based three-dimensional system of the “sky and ground” for biodiversity protection    9    (establish). And through these measures more typical representative species in this area have been monitored under    10    first level of national wildlife protection.

10 . According to the Living Planet Index, which has been in existence for five decades, animal populations across the world decreased by an average of 69% between 1970 and 2018.

Not all animal populations decreased, and some parts of the world saw greater changes than others. But experts say the sharp loss of biodiversity is a worrying sign of what’s to come for the natural world.

According to the report’s authors, the main cause of biodiversity loss is land-use changes driven by human activity, such as industry development, energy production and deforestation (毁林).

But the report suggests that climate change — which is already showing wide-ranging effects on plant and animal species globally —will become the leading cause of biodiversity loss if rising temperatures aren’t limited to 1.5 C.

“The message is clear and the lights are flashing red,” said WEF International Director General Marco Lambertini.

Lambertini said the biodiversity loss and climate change are already responsible for a series of problems for humans, including death and displacement from extreme weather, a lack of access to food and water and an increase in the spread of some diseases.

He said world leaders: gathering at the U.N. Biodiversity Conference in Montreal in December should take major steps to change environmental damage.

“This is the last chance we will get. By the end of this decade we will know whether this plan was enough or not; the fight for people and nature will have been won or lost,” Lambertini said. “The signs are not good. Discussions so far are locked in old-world thinking and fixed positions, with no sign of the active action needed to achieve a nature-positive future.”

The report calculated the average change in the “relative abundance” of 31,821 wildlife populations representing 5,230 species. Latin America and the Caribbean saw a decline 94% average population loss and Africa saw a 66% decline, while North America experienced only a 20% drop and Europe and central Asia saw its wildlife populations decreased by 18%.

The WWF said the difference could be due to the fact that much of the development in North America and Europe occurred before 1970, when the data on biodiversity loss started.

1. What is the major reason for biodiversity loss?

A．The global eh-mate warming.

B．The shift in the use of land.

C．The human beings’ illegal hunting.

D．The occurrence of natural disaster.

2. What is Lambertini’s attitude toward the animals’ current condition?

A．Indifferent.

B．Tolerant.

C．Optimistic.

D．Concerned.

3. What does Lambertini expect the world leaders to do according to the text?

A．Hold a meeting to discuss.

B．Continue the original plan.

C．Take new and active measures.

D．Exchange ideas among countries.

4. What is mainly talked about in the text?

A．Humans are harming natural resources.

B．Biodiversity is dropping greatly

C．The climate is getting increasingly worse.

D．The deforestation is showing its bad effect.