1 . Henry, a rescue dog, came first. Cynthia Bennett and Andre Sibilsky, a new couple, wanted a high energy dog that they could take on long hikes and camping explorations from Colorado to California. With his playful air of confidence and active nature, Henry fit right in. The first time the couple took him hiking, he jumped up onto the large rocks like a moun-tain goat. His favorite activities are hiking outdoors and exploring mountains. But he's a big softy with severe separation anxiety, so eventually, the couple searched for a calm yet adven-turous cat that could keep Henry company-and keep up with him on the paths.
Rescued from a cat shelter after his mother abandoned him, the lovable and dependent cat, Baloo, bonded to Henry within hours. And Henry discovered that Baloo loved to explore as much as he did. Cynthia had already planned a camping trip with Henry to Telluride, Colo-rado, and took Baloo along. That, as they say, was the beginning of a beautiful animal friendship.
One day on the halfway Baloo was tired, and Cynthia took it into her head to place Baloo on Henry's neck. “Baloo just hung himself over Henry's head and neck. And Henry didn't mind at all.” How could you not take a photo of that?
Hundreds of photos later, Henry and Baloo are Internet celebrities. Cynthia and Andre started the Henry and Baloo Foundation, an official nonprofit organization with a mission to preserve 1,000 acres across the West and help reforest land that has been claimed by wildfires. They hike the land all the time, and it's a way for them to give back to future generations.
Cynthia and Andre hope that the adventures of Henry and Baloo will inspire others to discover, explore and treasure our country's natural beauty.
1. Why did the couple choose Henry?| A．He is strong and brave. |
| B．He is active and energetic. |
| C．He is anxious and cautious. |
| D．He is gentle and considerate. |
| A．They fight the moment they meet. |
| B．Henry hates carrying Baloo on his back. |
| C．Henry does not like to explore with Baloo. |
| D．They match each other in personality. |
| A．To protect the natural environment. |
| B．To enjoy the country's natural beauty. |
| C．To train pets to experience adventures. |
| D．To set up an official nonprofit organization. |
| A．Pet Adventure Trips. |
| B．True Brotherhood. |
| C．Henry and Baloo. |
| D．Pet Celebrities Online. |
Following pressure from animal activist groups , Apsara, the management authority for the Angkor Archaeological Park in Siem Reap, Cambodia announced in June 2019 it would ban elephant rides in early 2020. Now the process has already begun.
An Apsara press
In 2016, an elephant named Sambo died at Angkor Archaeological Park,
The ban comes at a time when more and more travelers and tourism organizations around the world have moved to eliminate animal-related attractions. Most recently, Trip Advisor-one of the world’s biggest travel listings and booking sites--announced that
3 . Venice is suffering the worst flooding the city has experienced in 50 years. The city is “on its knees” and Venetian Mayor Luigi Brugnaro tweeted as water submerged (淹没) much of the famous historical city.
While floods are a normal part of life in Venice, they have never happened with such frequency before. Experts say that climate change is likely to blame.
Flooding is just one of the many impacts from climate change that is being experienced with more frequency and globally threatens many vulnerable (脆弱的) areas and regions. There is a threat that is not often considered.
Changes in the ocean will have a profound impact on many of these sites.
Experts say that the solutions to saving these sites will be varied, but many will be very expensive.
| A．Different ways can be used to save these sites. |
| B．Climate change will impact these sites in different ways. |
| C．It is the damage from climate change to the world’s heritage. |
| D．But putting in place protective measures has proven difficult. |
| E．Warming water threatens to kill much of the coral in the Great Barrier Reef. |
| F．Many heritage sites on land are facing the great threat posed by global warming. |
| G．Therefore, they suggest that countries should work together to protect heritage sites. |
4 . Extracting (提取)CO2 from the air is one of the best ways to address climate change without preventing billions of people from getting the energy they need. But the trick is what to do with it afterwards.
Common approaches include injecting (注射)it deep underground to get rid of it. But if you could use it to make useful stuff, then it would do double duty and make the products zero-carbon since they wouldn't put extra carbon into the atmosphere. For years, focus has been on making zero-carbon petrol or jet fuel from the extracted carbon using non-fossil fuels to generate the energy needed.
Today, XPRIZE revealed the two winners in this year's 20-million-dollar prize for a competition developed to create breakthrough carbon technologies that turn emissions (排放物；排放)into products with a high net value. The winners were CarbonCure of Canada and CarbonBuilt of California. Interestingly, they both demonstrated technologies focused on decarbonizing (脱碳)the concrete industry.
CarbonBuilt developed a technology that reduces the carbon footprint of concrete by more than 50% while reducing raw material costs. During the curing process, CO2 is directly injected into the concrete mixture where it is chemically transformed and permanently stored.
CarbonCure's technology enables the production of concrete with a reduced water and carbon footprint while increasing the material's reliability. The CO2 is transformed into a permanently embedded mineral which can then be combined with new concrete mixes. The technology is able to reduce the material costs and increase profitability for producers.
Concrete is a major contributor to global warming as producing it releases a huge amount of carbon dioxide. Yet it's the most widely used artificial material, second only to water. Renewable energy sources use much concrete per unit energy produced. If they are to increase enough to make a difference in time to help the planet, getting control of the CO2 in concrete production is essential.
1. What does the underlined part “double duty” in Paragraph 2 refer to?| A．Extracting CO2 and making useful products. |
| B．Cutting CO2 emission and saving energy. |
| C．Removing CO2 and creating value. |
| D．Storing carbon and reducing waste. |
| A．They permanently store the CO2. |
| B．They make concrete more reliable. |
| C．They reduce the carbon footprint of concrete. |
| D．They lower the cost of concrete. |
| A．To manage concrete emissions. |
| B．To invest in clean energy sources. |
| C．To cut the use of concrete. |
| D．To find an alternative to concrete. |
| A．A competition on global crisis. |
| B．Innovative ways of decarbonization. |
| C．A revolution in the concrete industry. |
| D．The possibility of turning CO2 into treasure. |
5 . SAN FRANCISCO — A dog that survived the catastrophic wildfire in Northern California apparently protected the ruins of his home for almost a month until his owner returned.
Madison was there waiting when Andrea Gaylord was allowed back to check on her burned property in Paradise this week. Gaylord fled when the Nov. 8 fire broke out and destroyed the town of 27 ,000. Shayla Sullivan, an animal rescuer, who responded to Gaylord’s request to check on Madison first spotted the male Anatolian shepherd mix several days later.
Shayla Sullivan said the outdoor guard dog was mentally upset and kept his distance. Sullivan left food and water for him regularly until Gaylord got back on Wednesday. She also helped locate Madison’s brother Miguel, another Anatolian shepherd mix that was taken to a shelter 85 miles (135 kilometers) away after the wildfire.
“If the evacuees (疏散人员) can’t be there, I’m going to be there and I’m not going to give up on their animal until they can get back in,” Sullivan said.
The dogs reunited Friday when Gaylord came back to the property with Miguel and brought Madison his favorite treat: a box of Wheat Thin crackers.
Gaylord told news station ABC10 she couldn’t ask for a better animal. “Imagine the loyalty of hanging on in the worst of circumstances and being here waiting,” she said. “Their job is to watch the sheep and we’re part of them.” Gaylord said about her dogs. “It’s a comforting feeling.”
1. Andrea Gaylord was deeply touched by Madison’s ________.| A．noble blood | B．special habit |
| C．being faithful to his master | D．narrow escape from the wildfire |
| A．Gaylord requested Sullivan to leave food and water for Madison. |
| B．Madison was afraid of getting close to Sullivan in the beginning. |
| C．Sullivan saved Miguel in order to comfort Madison. |
| D．Sullivan took both two dogs to a shelter 85 miles away. |
a. Miguel was taken to a shelter
b. the wildfire in Northern California broke out
c. Madison was treated with a box of Wheat Thin crackers
d. Andrea Gaylord applied for search and rescue of Madison
| A．d-c-a-b | B．b-d-a-c | C．d-a-c-b | D．b-a-c-d |
| A．Andrea Gaylord found Madison in a shelter. |
| B．Gaylord told news station she wanted for a better animal. |
| C．The Nov. 8 fire killed 27,000 people in the town. |
| D．Shayla Sullivan was kind-hearted and patient. |
6 . 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. |
| 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. |
| 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. |
| A．To ensure fewer emissions. |
| B．To speed up the production. |
| C．To lower the production cost. |
| D．To collect more construction waste. |
7 . As COVID-19 hit and the world went into varying levels of lockdown (封锁), it became difficult for researchers to know what was happening in the ocean. But now, you can join the eOceans platform to help researchers gather data on oceans and ocean ecosystems in real-time.
Downloading the eOceans app on your smartphone and logging what you see when you are on the coast or in the ocean, including any animals, people, pollution or even an empty beach, you can help researchers monitor the world’s oceans. The app lets you note your observations as well as upload photos. This information is then linked to your geographical location and is made accessible to scientists studying that region. Using eOceans data, researchers can remotely monitor how oceans and coastal communities worldwide are happening, including in the context of the pandemic (疫情).
In reality, observations recorded through eOceans are already providing valuable insights. During Australia’s lockdown, for example, the largest group of turtles in the country’s history was spotted by researchers using eOceans data. And in Hawaii, data from the app suggests that clearer waters are associated with a reduction in tourists during the pandemic.
Negative impacts of the pandemic on the ocean have also been picked up through the app, including an increase in pollution from personal protective equipment, as well as pandemic-related interruptions to marine (海洋的) recovery following a 2019 oil leak in Brazilian waters. In future, data from eOceans could help enable early detection of hazards (危害), such as oil leaks, so that they can be dealt with sooner, says Christine Ward-Paige, founder and chief scientist at eOceans.
“Till now, more than 1,000 people have already joined the eOceans platform,” says Ward-Paige. “But more data on wild life spotted along coastlines, as well as information on how people are using these spaces, are still needed.”
1. How can people help researchers monitor the ocean through the eOceans platform?| A．By downloading and observing some data of hazards. |
| B．By spotting and marking the previous marine recovery. |
| C．By collecting and uploading timely oceanic information. |
| D．By detecting and reporting your present geographical location. |
| A．An oil leak occurring in Australian waters. |
| B．The largest turtle found in Australia’s history. |
| C．A factor contributing to clearer waters in Hawaii. |
| D．A boom of tourism appearing during the pandemic. |
| A．Indifferent. | B．Optimistic. |
| C．Doubtful. | D．Anxious. |
| A．Keeping an eye on the ocean. | B．Caring about the ocean pollution. |
| C．Showing love to coastal creatures. | D．Monitoring the quality of seawater. |
8 . Plastic pollution has long been a problem, but now it's gotten to a new height literally. Microplastic, referring to plastic fragments and particles less than 5 millimeters in diameter, have been found on Mount Qomolangma as high as 8,440 meters above sea level, just 408.86 meters below the peak of the mountain, according to a recent study published in the journal One Earth.
“These are the highest microplastics ever discovered so far.” lead author Imogen Napper from the University of Plymouth, UK, said in a statement. Scientists collected snow and water samples from 19 different locations from 4,200 meters above sea level all the way up to the summit of Mount Qomolangma. They found microplastics in all the water samples and part of the snow samples. The most polluted sample was from the Base Camp in Nepal, where most human activities on the mountain are concentrated. It had 79 particles of microplastics per liter of snow.
But how have these fragments made it all this way and in such a great abundance? The answer is apparent human activities. It is climbers who bring plastic products to the mountain. Even if they don't litter, just walking for 20 minutes or opening a bottle of water can release microplastics into the environment.
The harsh fact is that plastic pollution has reached even the most remote places on Earth. Researchers even found a plastic bag al the deepest point in the world's oceans—in the Mariana Trench, located in the Pacific Ocean. The bag is the same as the ones commonly used in grocery stores. Even covered in ice, the Arctic is still a victim of plastic pollution. A 2020 report published in Nature suggests that there are 2.000 to 17,000 plastic particles per cubic meter in Arctic ice cores, and between 0 to 18 microplastic particles per cubic meter from the water beneath ice floes. Experts think microplastics may be transported by air and then reach the North Pole in snowfall.
“What we don t yet fully know is the potential problems these tiny pieces of plastic could be having to ecosystems, to organisms and even to our own health as well,” said Christian Dunn of Bangor University, UK. Then what can we do? “We need to start focusing on deeper technological solutions that focus on microplastics, like changing fabric design and including natural fibers instead of plastic when possible.”
1. What are the first two paragraphs mainly about?| A．The polluted samples from the peak were the most serious. |
| B．Plastic pollution has been discovered at high altitudes. |
| C．Humans have .climbed to the peak of Mount Qomolangma. |
| D．Microplastics are a newly-found material by researchers. |
| A．Microplastics may go far beyond the range of human activities. |
| B．The means of microplastics transportation has been confirmed. |
| C．There are frequent exchanges between Arctic ice cores and ice floes. |
| D．Bags from grocery stores are the main source of plastic pollution. |
| A．to prohibit the use of plastic products | B．to diversify the design of microplastics |
| C．to apply only natural fibrous alternatives | D．to develop more advanced technologies |
| A．Litter in the Mariana Trench | B．New One Earth Campaigns |
| C．Pollution Reaches New Height | D．Adventurous Human Activists |
9 . With over 4. 1 billion people, or around 55 percent of the world’s population, living in urban areas, cities and towns worldwide are getting increasingly congested. In addition to spending many hours stuck in traffic, residents are also exposed to high air pollution levels caused by transportation emissions. Now, Saudi Arabia hopes to revolutionize urban living with “The Line”— a city designed around nature, without cars and roads!
“The Line” is designed by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS). Located in NEOM — a 10,000-square-mile high-tech planned development on the Red Sea coast in the northwestern Saudi province of Tabu — The Line will be the cornerstone of MBS s Saudi Vision 2030. The plan aims to diversify Saudi Arabia’s oil-dependent economy into other sectors, like tourism, and create exciting job opportunities for its citizens.
The 105-mile-long city, expected to cost between $100 billion and $200 billion, will be built along a straight line and is made up of several self-sustaining communities. To ensure all services are within a short, five-minute walk, each community will feature a three-layer infrastructure (基础设施).
The top “pedestrian layer” will be void of cars and roads, allowing residents to freely walk and bike in the surrounding green spaces. The second “service layer”, will include all essential daily services, such as schools, leisure facilities and grocery stores. The third “spine layer” will house high-speed subway and autonomous vehicles capable of transporting residents across communities in less than 20 minutes. The entire city will be powered with renewable clean energy sources such as solar and wind, and possibly even hydrogen.
If all goes according to plan t construction of this complex project will start before the 1st quarter of 2021. In addition to providing up to a million residents with a clean and stress-free living environment, The Line is expected to create 380,000 new jobs, start economic diversification, and contribute an astounding $ 48 billion to Saudi Arabia’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 2030. More importantly, MBS believes it will provide governments worldwide a “blueprint for how people and planet can co-exist in harmony.”
1. We can infer that “The Line” will be_________.| A．temporary | B．primitive | C．eco-friendly | D．conventional |
| A．Low crime rates. | B．High unemployment. |
| C．Super communities. | D．Diverse economic sectors. |
| A．Medical clinics. | B．Bus stops. |
| C．Underground trains. | D．Cycling lanes. |
| A．Saudi Arabia Has Created A Green City With No Cars Or Streets |
| B．“The Line” Will Be The Cornerstone Of MBS's Saudi Vision 2030 |
| C．“The Line”— Blueprint Of People And Animals Co-existing In Harmony |
| D．Saudi Arabia Announces “The Line”— A Low Carbon City Without Cars |
10 . 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”.
It's true that turning off lights for just one hour saves only a small amount of power.
But on another level, a large number of people’s acting together sends a powerful message to governments and companies.
The logo(标识) of Earth Hour is “60+” .The number 60 is for the 60 minutes of Earth Hour.
| 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. |
