1 . Plastic-free July is a global campaign that challenges people to give up single-use plastic. The idea is the brainchild of Rebecca Prince-Ruiz, an activist living in Western Australia. She realized that, in addition to raising awareness, she wanted to do something to actually reduce plastic waste. She helped round up just 40 people in Perth, who volunteered to give up plastic for the month of July. In the last 6 years, the idea has become so popular that this year, over a million people in 130 countries are on board.

Beth Terry, America’s best-known plastic-free activist, first participated in Plastic Free July in 2014. She has nothing but high praise for this initiative and its founder. Beth’s website MyPlasticFreeLife.com includes “100 Steps to a Plastic-Free Life”, “carry your own containers for take-out food and leftovers,” along with reusable cookers and glass drinking straws. Eat ice cream on a cone rather than get it in a plastic-lined cup. Give up chewing gum.

You’re probably already using a reusable cloth bag rather than plastic at the grocery store, and drinking from a stainless steel or aluminum water bottle rather than buy water in a plastic bottle. But PlasticFreeJuly’s A-Z list shows how easy it can be to replace single-use plastic with a reusable version. The list includes replacing plastic doggy bags with folded up newspaper and using cloth diapers (尿布). PlasticFreeJuly’s website also lists some pretty astonishing facts. For example: Scientists predict there will be more tonnes of plastic than tonnes of fish in the world’s waterways and oceans by 2050. Plastic manufacturing consumes 6% of the world’s fossil fuels. In the first 10 years of the 21st century, the world economy produced more plastic than it did during the entire 1900s!

1. What is mainly talked about in Paragraph 1?

A．The background of Plastic-free July.	B．The challenges of recycling plastics.
C．The voluntary work of people in Perth.	D．The profession of Rebecca Prince-Ruiz.

2. What can we see on Beth’s website MyPlasticFreeLife.com?

A．Some childhood stories about Beth.

B．Some regulations to ban using plastic.

C．Some additional ways to live plastic-free.

D．Some pictures of people buying take-out food.

3. What can we infer from the text?

A．Plastic-free July has been operating for 40 years.

B．Plastic will have disappeared by the end of 2050.

C．A-Z list shows alternatives for plastic free living.

D．Plastic doggy bags have been replaced by paper bags.

4. What is probably the suitable title for the text?

A．Choose to Refuse Single-Use Plastic for Plastic-Free July

B．Plastic-Free July, a Growing Global Movement to Ban Plastic

C．Recycling Alone Could Not Solve the Plastic Pollution Problem

D．Rebecca Prince-Ruiz, America’s Best-known Plastic-free Activist

2 . China announced the establishment of the first — ever five national parks during the COP15 biodiversity summit.

Sanjiangyuan National Park

Located on the Qinghai — Tibet Plateau, the Sanjiangyuan area is home to the headwaters of the Yangtze. Yellow and Lancang rivers, which help to raise billions of lives. The glaciers and snow mountains are beautiful and animals such as snow leopards and blue sheep are tough. In Sanjiangyuan National Park, ecological protection and development of animal — farming areas are carried out.

The Northeast China Tiger and Leopard National Park

The Siberian tiger and the Amur leopard are endangered speciesunder global protection. The Northeast China Tiger and Leopard National Park is important for the survival of these animals and restoring and keeping stable populations. Tigers and leopards can walk around freely in the mountains.

The Giant Panda National Park

The Giant Panda National Park on the borders of Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu provinces is home to 1,339 wild pandas, 70 percent of China's total. As an umbrella species, countless creatures which share the habitat with the pandas also gain a better living environment. Rare animals such as golden snub-nosed monkeys and takins also thrive in the area.

Hainan Tropical Rainforest National Park

Hainan black — crested gibbons, listed as the world’s most endangered primate (灵长类的) species, are found only in the Hainan Tropical Rainforest National Park. To preserve the tropical rainforest ecosystem, the people in the core area moved out to leave an undisturbed environment for ecological restoration.

Wuyishan National Park

UNESCO described Wuyi Mountains as the most outstanding area for biodiversity conservation in southeast China. It is a lotus land of rare wildlife, with many species only found in China. For the past one hundred years, biologists from China and abroad have researched and discovered more than 1,000 new species in the mountains.

1. In which park can you see glaciers and snow mountains?

A．The Northeast China Tiger and Leopard National Park.	B．Sanjiangyuan National Park.
C．The Giant Panda National Park.	D．Wuyishan National Park.

2. What animals share the habitat with the pandas?

A．Blue sheep	B．The Amur leopard.
C．Black — crested gibbons.	D．snub — nosed monkeys.

3. How did people protect the Hainan Tropical Rainforest National Park?

A．They moved away from their original living places.

B．They defended the animal — farming areas.

C．They set up areas for animals to walk around freely.

D．They helped scientists research and discover new species.

3 . This week, both the US and the European Union (EU) announced their goals for reducing carbon dioxide. The EU’s newly approved goal is 55% below 1990 levels and the new US goal is 50% to 52% below 2005 levels.

Their goals sound very ambitious. However, the numbers aren’t quite what they seem, depending on what baseline year for those cuts. If you convert (换算) the European goal to the American-preferred 2005 baseline, it translates to 51% below 2005 levels. But if you compare them using Europe’s preferred 1990 as the baseline, the 50% minimum US cut is only 41%, far shy of the 55% EU goal. If you compare the numbers to 2019, the minimum the US would be cutting is about 40% from today’s level and the EU only 35%.

Why different baselines?

The idea behind different baselines goes back to the climate talks in 2009. Since developed countries have already put lots of carbon pollution into the air and they still wanted developing nations that were counting on fossil fuels for economic development to abandon the dirtier fuels, a solution was struck for the 2015 Paris agreement that allowed nations to voluntarily choose their own goals suitable to each country. Those nationally designed goals also included countries choosing their own baseline years. Naturally, countries tend to choose years in which they peaked (达峰) or near peaked on carbon emissions. For example, Europe, which took early action after the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, chose to keep that agreement’s 1990 baseline. This way, Europe gets credit for acting early.

“However, we should not just look at their numbers,” said Professor Nate Hultman from University of Maryland. The US goal includes methane (甲烷) and HFCs (氟烷) that trap more heat but don’t last as long as carbon dioxide. He said including those in the goals allows the US to pick low-hanging fruit to better reach its goal.

“Reducing methane and HFCs gets results more quickly than cutting carbon dioxide. But cutting them just buys us a little more time,” Nate said.

1. What can we know about the goals for reducing carbon dioxide?

A．They can be very misleading.	B．They are just influenced by baselines.
C．They can be compared directly.	D．They are too complex to be compared.

2. When did the US most probably peak or near peak on carbon emissions?

A．In 1990.

B．In1997.

C．In 2005.

D．In 2019.

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

A．The US's and EU's goals.	B．Methane and HFCs.
C．Carbon dioxide and HFCs.	D．The different baselines.

4. How did Nate Hultman most probably feel about the US’s goal?

A．Disappointed.

B．Satisfied.

C．Unconcerned.

D．Overjoyed.

4 . One Kenyan woman, Nzambi Matee, saw much plastic waste around. Tired of _______ and waiting for the government to solve all the problems related to plastic _______ , she decided to take action—she was referring to starting her company, Gjenge Makers.

At first, her team would sort and _______ : plastic waste to other recycling companies. When they _______ more than the companies could take,   _______ , they began to think outside the box. Mixing plastic with sand, they discovered a way to _______ plastic bricks. They’re seven times as strong as concrete but weigh half as much. Even better, they’re more _______   than traditional bricks, costing only about a tenth as much.

“Here in Nairobi, we generate about 500 tons of plastic waste every day and only a small part of that is _______ ,” Nzambi said. “ _______ , most factories have to pay to ________ the waste, but now we have made them free of the ________ .”

These innovative ________ are being used to make driveways, sidewalks and roads, but Nzambi’s ________ is to one day create some bricks that can be used in building construction. But now, her company is already making a huge ________ . “We right now have the ability to ________ 1,000 to 1,500 bricks a day,” Nzambi said. “So far we have recycled 20 tons of plastic, and we are ________ pushing that figure to 50 by the end of next year.”

Part of Gjenge Makers’ task is to ________ waste pollution first in Kenya and then in Africa as a whole, but their long-term goals are even more ________ . According to Nzambi, they want to ________ other people or companies to do ________ things in different places.

1.

A．cheering up

B．sitting around

C．celebrating

D．participating

2.

A．market

B．price

C．pollution

D．design

3.

A．owe

B．sell

C．show

D．lend

4.

A．cleaned

B．donated

C．consumed

D．collected

5.

A．however

B．besides

C．otherwise

D．instead

6.

A．mark

B．pile

C．create

D．move

7.

A．affordable

B．powerful

C．flexible

D．complex

8.

A．hidden

B．recycled

C．calculated

D．studied

9.

A．Originally

B．Fortunately

C．Suddenly

D．Hopefully

10.

A．put up

B．give away

C．deal with

D．take in

11.

A．hobby

B．problem

C．trick

D．competition

12.

A．gifts

B．factories

C．bricks

D．buildings

13.

A．chance

B．permission

C．way

D．goal

14.

A．conclusion

B．debate

C．difference

D．comparison

15.

A．bury

B．replace

C．throw

D．produce

16.

A．considering

B．postponing

C．missing

D．avoiding

17.

A．ignore

B．mention

C．analyze

D．reduce

18.

A．ambitious

B．controversial

C．random

D．steady

19.

A．force

B．motivate

C．warn

D．forbid

20.

A．easy

B．safe

C．fair

D．similar

5 . School gardening has become very popular during the coronavirus health crisis, with families and teachers saying its hands-on lessons can be used to teach many subjects. Finding the money to keep a school garden going can be tough. Some experts and teachers, however, are finding creative ways to make it work.

Susan Hobart is a retired teacher at Lake View Elementary School in Madison, Wiscon. She manages the school’s large garden with 12 raised beds. “School gardens are a great way to get students outside with a purpose. Gardening helps calm the students and gives them a whole different perspective (思维方式) they wouldn’t have just sitting at desks,” she says.

Each spring, the school’s program gets plant seedlings (秧苗) grown through a training program at a nearby prison. A church group comes during spring break to prepare the garden for the children’s return. Over the summer, a volunteer takes care of the garden. “If we had to buy the seedlings, they’d cost $ 3 each and we could never afford that,” Hobart says. “If you take a look at your relationships and the community around you and then all the wider networks out there, there are plenty of creative ways to find help.”

Toby Adams directs the New York Botanical Garden’s Edible Academy, where schoolchildren learn about growing food. He says that there has been another increase in interest in school gardens since the start of this year. School gardens can teach lessons in health, science, social studies, and even arts classes.

For schools without space for even a small garden, turning to local botanical gardens and parks can sometimes be the answer. “We are located in the Bronx, where there are basically wall-to-wall six-story apartments. There’s limited space, and it’s hard to find a good place to gather 30 kids,” says Adams. He thinks that gardens do not have to take up a large area outdoors. “It could be a container garden and there are all kinds of gardens,” he says.

1. What does the underlined word “it” in paragraph 1 refer to?

A．Raising money.

B．A health guideline.

C．Teaching lessons.

D．School gardening.

2. What do Susan Hobart’s words in paragraph 2 suggest?

A．School gardening is beneficial to students.

B．Gardens are commonly seen in most schools.

C．Students should think twice before gardening.

D．Managing school gardens costs much money.

3. How does Lake View Elementary School manage its garden?

A．By expanding its campus.	B．By getting social support.
C．By relying on students only.	D．By collecting more money.

4. What is the problem with the Bronx’s school gardening?

A．Lack of space.

B．Little experience.

C．Poor management.

D．Students’ indifference.

6 . 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。

Eco-anxiety refers to anxiety or worry about the ecological threats facing the earth. Eco-anxiety is not considered to be     1     mental health concern. Rather, it     2     (see) as a typical reaction to the growing awareness of the problems that can result from climate change and other global threats.

Anxiety is a normal human experience and most people experience anxiety to some degree. Eco-anxiety is one form     3     anxiety, but it is generally considered normal     4     (have) fears about the future of the world,     5     (especial) in light of more recent research revealing the damaging effects of climate change.

As with all types of anxiety, self-care can be an effective tool for     6     (manage) eco-anxiety. Self-care involves getting adequate rest, keeping a nutritious diet, and engaging in regular physical activity. Those experiencing eco-anxiety may also find it     7     (help) to take breaks from technology in order to pursue more nature-oriented and relaxing     8     (hobby) such as yoga and gardening.

Besides, spending time in nature and doing projects to improve the planet’s outcome, to the extent of one’s     9    (able) to help, may also provide significant benefit. Starting recycling projects in the home or community, learning how to compost or make worm gardens, and picking up trash in the neighborhood are also     10     can make a difference.

7 . Litter may be an environmental hazard and eyesore — but for some animals, it provides a home. In a study of local rivers, researchers at the University of Nottingham in the UK have found more invertebrates (无脊椎动物) like insects living on litter than on rocks in water.

The researchers studied three local rivers; the River Leen, Black Brook and Saffron Brook, in Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire. They collected samples (试样) of 50 rocks and 50 pieces of litter from the riverbeds at each site and took them back to the lab for comparison.

There they washed them individually to look for macroinvertebrates and then measured the surface area of each item. They found that the surfaces of the litter were inhabited (居住) by a more diverse group of invertebrates than those found on rocks.

Plastic, metal, fabric, and masonry samples of litter had the highest diversity of inhabitants, while glass and rock were much less diverse than other types of materials. Flexible plastic, like plastic bags, had the most diverse animal communities, causing the researchers to guess that the plastic might be similar to the structure of plants found in water.

“There were five species on litter. Some of these species are normally found on plants in water, which suggests that flexible plastic might be mistaken as those plants,” says lead author Hazel Wilson, a PhD student in the School of Geography at the University of Nottingham. “However, we need more investigation to work out for sure which characteristics of litter attract so many animals. This could help us discover methods and materials to replace the litter habitat with alternative and less damaging materials when we conduct river cleanups.”

“While these invertebrates have found a use for plastic bags and other trash, that obviously doesn’t mean that’s a good reason to leave litter in the environment. Our findings highlight the poor environmental quality in some rivers and point to the need for supporting better biodiversity,” says Wilson.

1. What did the researchers do for their study?

A．They cleaned macroinvertebrates carefully.

B．They threw various types of litter into rivers.

C．They searched the samples for invertebrates.

D．They measured the surfaces of invertebrates.

2. What is a finding of the study?

A．Litter is less attractive for invertebrates.

B．Litter can support greater biodiversity.

C．It’s easy for animals to survive in rivers.

D．Flexible materials are ignored by animals.

3. What is Hazel Wilson’s attitude towards leaving litter in rivers?

A．Generally disapproving.	B．Particularly ambiguous.
C．Basically uncaring.	D．Totally positive.

4. What is the best title for the text?

A．Litter Turns Out Beneficial to the Environment

B．River Animals Need a Cleaner Home to Survive

C．River Cleanups Shouldn’t Include Litter Anymore

D．Litter Creates Habitat for Some Animals in Rivers

8 . Debris flow (泥石流) is a kind of destructive geological disaster. July to August is the most frequent period of debris flow in China.     1    , it can increase the probability of survival in an emergency.

Don’t overlook your surroundings while hiking. Pay attention to the surrounding environment and pay special attention to whether you hear thunder-like sound from the valley in the distance. If you hear it, you should raise the alarm.     2    .

Don’t panic and escape in the direction of debris flow. When meeting with debris flow, stay calm.     3    . If the path is perpendicular (垂直的) to the direction of debris flow and climbs to the hillside on both sides, the higher the better and the faster the better. It is absolutely not allowed to go to the downstream of debris flow.

    4    . When traveling by car meeting debris flow, you should abandon the car and run away. If you hide in the car, it is easy to be buried in the car. In that case, you are at great risk.

Don’t think it’s safer in the area where the debris flow just happened. Sometimes the debris flow will happen intermittently (间歇地).     5    , you must be careful of another one on the road. You’d better take another way to find a safe route.

A．Don’t try to stay in your car

B．It is likely to be a sign of debris flow

C．Try to determine the safe path to escape

D．Don’t drive a car for a trip in the mountain

E．Stay calm and look at the map on your phone

F．If you know some emergency knowledge about debris flow

G．If you are walking through the area where the debris flow just happened

9 . Here I’d like to share some interesting news with you.

Living without electricity

Noplug is a small community in Seoul, South Korea. It hopes they can make a difference by reducing the carbon use. They rely on fuel sources(来源) such as solar and fire to do daily tasks.

Dr Yasuyuki Fujimura visits the community from Japan each month to educate people on how to meet everyday needs without electricity.

A playhouse made of instant noodles

A Chinese made international news headlines after using instant noodles to build a playhouse for his unborn son.

Photos of the unusual playhouse went viral(传播) online quickly after being posted on social media by the builder, a Mr Zhang, who spent four days building the structure out of out-of-date instant noodles which he thought it was a pity to throw away by his friends. The playhouse can accommodate a bed, as well as his unborn son’s toys, featuring windows to let the light in.

Swimming through the sky

Lying over thirty meters above the ground, between two buildings in London, the Sky Pool makes you feel like you’re swimming through the sky.

The outdoor pool offers swimmers breathtaking views of London’s city skyline, floating in the air.

Thanks to modern technology and architectural innovations, the pool can handle the natural movements of the two buildings it connects.

Painting in virtual reality

Talented artist Anna Zhilyaeva, a pioneer in the fields of virtual reality and mixed reality painting, has been pushing the boundaries of painting by combining the centuries-old art form with one of the most advanced technologies of our times—virtual reality.

Using some software and a virtual reality headset, she is able to paint three-dimensional (三维) artworks often referred to as painted sculptures(雕塑).

1. What fuel source does the Noplug community live on?

A．Raw fuel.	B．Recycled carbon.
C．Solar and fire.	D．Self-produced electricity.

2. What can be inferred about the Sky Pool?

A．It went viral online.	B．It is located in Asia.
C．It involves virtual reality.	D．It is a creative design.

3. Which news may environmentalists be most interested in?

A．News I and News 2.	B．News 3 and News 4.
C．News l and News 3.	D．News 2 and News 4.