3 . Although we're surrounded by millions of bricks every day, most of us don't think about them too often. For thousands of years, the humble clay-fired bricks haven't changed.

They're made from natural materials, but there are problems with bricks at every step of their production. Bricks are made from clay—a type of soil found all over the world. Clay mining is harmful to plant growth. In conventional brick production, the clay is shaped and baked in kilns(窑) mostly heated by fossil fuels, which contributes to climate change. Once made, bricks must be transported to construction sites, generating more carbon emissions. With so many bricks produced globally, their impact adds up.

Gabriela Medero, a professor at Scotland's Heriot-Watt University, decided to find solutions to that. With her university's support, Medero set up Kenoteq in 2009. The company's signature product is the K-Briq. Made from more than 90% construction waste, Medero says the K-Briq—which does not need to be fired in a kiln—produces less than a tenth of the carbon emissions of conventional bricks. With the company testing new machinery to start scaling up production, Medero hopes her bricks will help to build a more sustainable world.

The K-Briq will be comparably priced to conventional bricks. Additionally, as a new product, the K-Briq has been subjected to strict assessment and authoritative certification. Reusing old bricks is an expensive process and there is no standardized way to check the strength, safety or durability (耐久性) of recycled bricks. Medero says that K-Briq could solve both these problems. She claims that K-Briq is stronger and more durable than fired clay bricks.

Over the next 18 months, Medero plans to get K-Briq machines on-site at recycling plants. "This will reduce transport-related emissions because trucks can collect K-Briq when they drop off construction waste," says Medero.

1. What inspired Medero to invent the K-Briq?

A．The poor quality of the conventional bricks.

B．The outdated style of the conventional bricks.

C．The high cost of manufacturing conventional bricks.

D．The problems with the conventional brick production.

2. Why is the K-Briq production sustainable?

A．It won't produce waste.

B．It brings no pollution to the air.

C．The plants occupy much less land than before.

D．The K-Briq is mainly made from construction waste.

3. What is the fourth paragraph mainly about?

A．The popularity of the K-Briq.

B．The advantages of K-Briq over traditional bricks.

C．The special materials used in K-Briq.

D．The advanced technology used for K-Briq.

4. Why does Medero decide to put K-Briq machines at recycling factories?

A．To ensure fewer emissions.

B．To speed up the production.

C．To lower the production cost.

D．To collect more construction waste.

4 . Earth Hour is organized by the World Wide Fund for Nature. It's a big event usually at the end of March every year. On this evening, people “go dark”.     1    

It's true that turning off lights for just one hour saves only a small amount of power.    2    On one level, joining in Earth Hour makes people think about the problem of climate change and what we can do in everyday life to protect nature.

But on another level, a large number of people’s acting together sends a powerful message to governments and companies.     3     They begin considering green issues when big decisions.

The logo(标识) of Earth Hour is “60+” .The number 60 is for the 60 minutes of Earth Hour.     4     In fact, people who join in Earth Hour say that taking part makes them want to do more for the environment.

    5     Musicians give concerts by playing acoustic(原声的) instruments instead of electric ones, and using candles instead of electric lights. Celebrity chefs have created special recipes for families to prepare and eat by candlelight. Tree-planting sessions, group walks and runs are also among the options.

A．But this is only the beginning.

B．Earth Hour represents every hour of every day.

C．After all, everyone has to answer for what they have done.

D．Besides turning off the lights, people get involved in other events.

E．It pushes them to take urgent measures by making changes to policies.

F．That is, they switch off all unnecessary lights at the same time for one hour.

G．The plus invites people to continue their action even after Earth Hour is finished.

5 . About 12 million tons of plastic wastes are entering the oceans every year. This garbage pollutes the water, kills wildlife and breaks down into small pieces that fish and other creatures eat.

Now a group of Spanish fishermen will receive economic support to catch plastics. It is part of a new project. Carlos Martin is one of the fishermen taking part in the project. He and his partners collect the plastic in the ocean and bring it back to land every week. Martin thinks rivers carry a lot of plastics to the sea. He says his most concern is no more than that the plastics often get caught in the nets, which makes nets not work properly. They take on mud（泥）, causing the nets to break because they weigh so much.

Under the new programs, one million pounds will support ocean cleanup efforts for fishermen like Martin. The money is coming from the European Union and the Catalan government. Sergi Tudela, the General Director of Catalonia Fisheries, is responsible for the cleanup project. He said, "We are hopeful that if we are successful in this project, we can apply it to other areas in the Mediterranean（地中海）."

Government reports show that the amount of plastic wastes washing up along the Spanish coastline has grown by 65 percent in just six years. Fishing equipment makes up a large part of the about 8 to 12 million tons of plastics left in the world's oceans every year.

Martin says the fishing community now understands how big the problem is. He says, "In the past we didn't see it that way. We took the plastic garbage and threw it back into the water. I think that after a few year here we have realized the problem. Nothing is thrown into the water; we collect everything and bring it to shore.

1. What worries Martin most about plastic wastes at the beginning?

A．They pollute the sea environment.

B．They affect the quality and taste of fish.

C．They prevent the fishing nets from working well.

D．They kill wildlife and reduce his fishing amount.

2. What does Sergi Tudela probably consider doing?

A．Getting more money to support the project.

B．Getting help from other European countries.

C．Spreading the cleanup project to more places.

D．Praising the European Union for their helping to the oceans.

3. What do Martin's words in the last paragraph imply（暗示）about the fishing community?

A．Its members do a lot of work for free.

B．It has stopped using plastic fishing equipment.

C．It has made positive changes to fight plastic wastes.

D．Its members find people sill throw the garbage carelessly.

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

A．New programs are changing fishermen's life

B．Money is given to Spanish fishermen to clean up oceans

C．Traditional fishing equipment causes a lot of plastic wastes

D．Spanish fishermen are encouraging people to clean up oceans

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。

The production of coffee beans is a huge, profitable business, but, unfortunately, full-sun production is taking over the industry and bringing about a lot of damage. The change     1     coffee is grown from shade-grown production to full-sun production endangers the very     2     (exist) of certain animals and birds, and even disturbs the world’s ecological balance.

On a local level, the damage     3     (cause) by full-sun fields affects the area’s birds and animals. The shade of the forest trees provides a habitat     4     birds and other species that depend on the trees’ flowers and fruits. Full-sun coffee growers destroy this forest home. As a result, many species are     5     (quick) dying out. On a more global level, the destruction of the rainforest for full-sun coffee fields also threatens human life.

Medical research often makes use of the forests’ plant and animal life,     6     the destruction of such species prevents researchers from finding cures for certain diseases. In addition, new coffee-growing techniques are poisoning the local water and     7     (poison) the world’s groundwater in the future.

The loss of shade trees is gradually causing     8     slight change in the world’s climate, and studies show that loss of oxygen-giving trees also leads to air pollution and global warming.

It is obvious that     9     (grow) much full-sun coffee affects many aspects of life, from the local environment to the global ecology. But consumers do have a choice. They can purchase shade-grown coffee whenever possible, although at a higher cost. The future health of the planet and mankind     10     (be) surely worth more than an inexpensive cup of coffee.

7 . Clothing rental is a hot new industry and retailers (零售商) are demanding to get on board in hopes of attracting green shopper.

But is renting fashion actually more environmentally-friendly than buying it, and if so, how much more? Journalist and author Elizabeth Cline investigated (调查) this question and concluded that it's not as sustainable as it seems.

Take shipping, for example, which has to go two ways if an item is rented — receiving and returning. Cline writes that consumer transportation has the second largest carbon footprint of our collective fashion habit after manufacturing.

She writes, ''An item ordered online and then returned can send out 20 kilograms of carbon each way, and increases up to 50 kilograms for rush shipping. By comparison, the carbon impact of a pair of jeans purchased from a physical store and washed and worn at home is 33.4 kilograms, according to a 2015 study by Levi's.''

Then there's the burden of washing, which has to happen for every item when it's returned, regardless of whether or not it was worn. For most rental services, this usually means dry cleaning, a high impact and polluting process. All the rental services that Cline looked into have replaced perchloroethylene (氯乙烯), a carcinogenic (致癌的) air pollutant, still used by 70 percent of US dry cleaners, with alternatives, although these aren't great either.

Lastly, Cline fears that rental services will increase our appetite for fast fashion, simply because it's so easily accessible. There's something called ''share washing'' that makes people waste more precisely because a product or service is shared and thus is regarded as more eco-friendly. Uber is one example of this, advertised as ''a way to share rides and limit ear ownership.'' and yet ''it has been proven to discourage walking,bicycling, and public transportation use.''

Renting clothes is still preferable to buying them cheap and throwing them in the dustbin after a few wears, but we shouldn't let the availability of these services make us too satisfied. There's an even better step — that's wearing what is already in the closet.

1. What is Elizabeth Cline's attitude toward clothing rental?

A．Approving.	B．Unfavorable.
C．Objective.	D．Enthusiastic.

2. The Uber example in Paragraph 6 indicates that      .

A．rental services are on the rise

B．clothing rental will be as successful as Uber

C．renting clothes might waste more than expected

D．renting clothes might make people lose interest in fast fashion

3. The author suggests that we should      .

A．give up renting any clothing

B．purchase inexpensive clothes

C．rent clothes rather than buy them

D．make full use of clothes we've possessed

4. What is the passage mainly about?

A．Clothing rental is a new fashion.

B．Clothing rental is retailers' preference.

C．Renting clothes is not that eco-friendly.

D．Renting-clothes business is in a dilemma.

8 . “Birds” and “airports” are two words that, paired together，don’t normally paint the most harmonious picture. So it really raises some eyebrows when China announces plans to build an airport that is for birds.

Described as the world’s first-ever bird airport, the proposed Lingang Bird Sanctuary(保护区）in the northern coastal city of Tianjin is, of course,not an actual airport. Rather，it's a wetland preserve specifically designed to accommodate hundreds-even thousands-of daily takeoffs and landings by birds traveling along the East Asian-Australian Flyway. Over 50 species of migratory (迁徙的）water birds，some endangered, will stop and feed at the protected sanctuary before continuing their long journey along the flyway.

Located on a former landfill site，the 150-acre airport is also open to human travelers.(Half a million visitors are expected annually.) However，instead of duty-free shopping，the main attraction for non-egg-laying creatures at Tianjin’s newest airport will be a green-roofed education and research center, a series of raised “observation platforms” and a network of scenic walking and cycling paths totaling over 4 miles.

“The proposed Bird Airport will be a globally significant sanctuary for endangered migratory bird species, while providing new green lungs for the city of Tianjin.” Adrian McGregor of an Australian landscape architecture firm explained of the design. Frequently blanketed in smog so thick that it has shut down real airports, Tianjin is a city---China’s fourth most populous----that would certainly benefit from a new pair of healthy green lungs•

1. The underlined phrase “non-egg-laying creatures” in Paragraph 3 refers to?

A．Visitors.	B．Designers.
C．Endangered water birds.	D．Planes.

2. What do we know about the airport according to the passage?

A．People cannot watch birds up close here.

B．It is located on a 150-acre landfill site.

C．It functions as an actual airport and a wetland preserve.

D．It provides migratory birds with food and shelter.

3. What can we infer from the last paragraph?

A．The airport will become a permanent home for birds.

B．Tianjin will win worldwide fame in the future.

C．Tianjin’s air quality will improve thanks to the airport.

D．Tianjin will be able to accommodate more people.

4. What is this passage mainly about?

A．Airports shut down and open up.

B．China is to open the first Bird Airport.

C．Airports turn into green lungs.

D．Birds are no longer enemies to airports.