1 . “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. |
| 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. |
| 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. |
| 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. |
2 . Some years ago, Michel-Andre found himself staring at the body of a dead whale on a beach in the Canary Islands. It was obvious that the animal had been struck violently by a ship——but why? Only later, after surveying the whales which lived in the area and measuring the increase of sound pollution from ships did it become clear that there was a link.
The whales had become desensitised to the noise of approaching boats and were being struck by them, often seriously. “We never thought that this could be something that could kill,” recalls (回忆) Andre, who is the director of the Laboratory of Applied Bioacoustics at the Technical University of Catalonia, Barcelona.
Andre has spent 20 years developing an advanced system to better understand why incidents like this happen. His underwater microphones have exposed a world of deafening sound and animal communication never observed with such clarity(清晰) before.
It was not an easy task. Sound waves don't travel through water in the uniform, predictable way they do through the air. Instead, the temperature, salinity (盐度) and, flow of water have great effects on their path.
What can be done? One solution is to change shipping routes to courses where ships are statistically less likely to meet animals. It’s also possible to slow ships down to 18km/h or less, which is less likely to seriously injure a whale.
As for dealing with the root cause of the problem, the UN’s International Maritime Organisation has already published guidelines on how to quieten ships, but it will be a while before the effects of such changes might be observed.
“The ocean is not our world,” comments Andre. But it is ours to look after. And thanks to his work, we can better understand the effects of subsea sound pollution.
1. What does the underlined word “desensitised” in Paragraph 2 mean?| A．Stubborn. | B．Flexible. | C．Dull. | D．Friendly. |
| A．To lower the speed of ships. |
| B．To reduce the number of ships. |
| C．To set up preserves under the sea. |
| D．To give the injured animals timely treatment. |
| A．Doubtful. | B．Disapproving. | C．Positive. | D．Uncaring. |
| A．A great expert. | B．Noise in the sea. |
| C．Animals in the sea. | D．Sea exploration technology. |
3 . According to the International Ecotourism Society, eco-travel is “responsible travel to natural areas that protects the environment, maintains the well-beings and involves education”. Eco-travel is on the rise, as more and more people become conscious about their carbon footprint.
Expert from Boundless Journeys, Matt Holmes, who works-on travel experiences towards conserving areas said, “As scientists and non-scientists learn more about how we human beings are impacting the planet, I think. more people want to do what they can while still exploring the world. Our guests are definitely interested in that aspect of our journeys. Travelers can farm their own food in Italy, managing their use of water and using solar or wind power. They can also visit n family-run camp that cares for retired logging elephants in Myanmar, know a park entry fee goes to a conservation organization in Costa Rica, employ and train members of the local community or partner with a protection group. There are lots of options for seeking out greener holiday.”
Most people believe that eco-travel is expensive and it is true. Matt explained “Anti-poaching patrols (巡逻) need to be paid, solar energy equipment costs a lot to install, building with environmentally friendly, materials is more expensive and so on. The extra cost is necessary, as you re paying to minimize your footprint and protect the places you visit, which is exactly what eco-travel is about. The financial success and sustainability (可持续性) of an eco- focused operation doesn’t come from thin air.” The industry is trying to make eco-travel affordable and make it accessible to the common people.
1. What is the positive influence of eco-friendly travel?| A．It enables travelers to protect the environment while traveling |
| B．It keeps human beings healthy and happy in a friendly atmosphere. |
| C．It teaches us to be responsible for the development of economy. |
| D．It offers some valuable education about the knowledge of gardening. |
| A．eating delicious food in Italy | B．visiting elephants in the zoo |
| C．working together with a protection group | D．raising park entry fee in Costa Rica |
| A．Why eco-travel is expensive. |
| B．How we can make eco-travel less expensive. |
| C．What material are used in eco-travel. |
| D．Where we can go for eco-travel. |
4 . Coca-Cola, which reportedly produced more than 3 million tons of plastic packaging in 2017, announced Thursday it wants to “help fix the world’s plastic waste problem one community (社区) at a time.”
The soda giant is doing so by providing $ 5.4 million for recycling programs in cities like Atlanta, Boston, Denver and Houston. In these cities, partners, like The Green Blue Institute and The Recycling Partnership, which receive the money, will work together to improve recycling rates.
“We focus on areas where we have the ability to make the biggest influence on communities through the funding and expert skills of Coca-Cola employees,” Carlos Pagoagoa, Coca-Cola’s group director of community partnerships, said in a statement. “In each city, local partners will work together to identify barriers to recycling on a local level and test a range of solutions,” he added. “We hope the learnings from these ‘model markets’ can offer solutions to other cities facing similar challenges.”
As part of the effort, The Recycling Partnership and the city of Atlanta, where the cola company’s headquarters are based, will send street teams out to open recycling carts and leave citizens cards informing them what they can and can’t recycle, and let them know how their efforts work.
“Two of the most urgent problems with recycling in the U. S. today are lack of access, followed by pollution in recycling,” Keefe Harrison, CEO of The Recycling Partnership, said in a statement. “We know from the success of Atlanta in 2017 that the citizens want to recycle, and that communicating with them in the street works.”
Last year, Coca-Cola announced its task to collect and reuse a bottle or can for each one it sells, and increase the amount of its products out of recycled materials to 50% by 2030. The brand also aims to make all its packaging fully recyclable by 2025.
1. What does Coca-Cola company intend to do in the program?| A．Produce less packaging. |
| B．Help deal with plastic waste. |
| C．Pick up waste in communities. |
| D．Build a plant to recycle plastic waste. |
| A．How Coca-Cola conducts its program. |
| B．What organizations participate in the program. |
| C．How Coca-Cola chooses cities for the program. |
| D．What the local people do in Coca-Cola’s program. |
| A．Sort out various waste in the city. |
| B．Look into the cause of pollution. |
| C．Instruct local people what to recycle. |
| D．Hand cards to the locals in person. |
| A．Promising. | B．Difficult. | C．Pioneering. | D．Costly. |
Every Wednesday at 7 pm, a group of running enthusiasts from different countries gather at a bar in Shanghai before setting
Called “plogging”, this new fitness activity originated in Sweden in 2016 and was introduced to Shanghai in 2018. The term is a combination of the words “jogging” and “plocka upp”,
By the summer of 2018, just a few months after Trash Running China was founded,
There is a small but growing movement in America of many
Zero Wasters, as they are called, help each other by sharing advice on blogs and social media. A lot of people have given
Bea Johnson, a housewife, says that reducing shopping means her family has more money for fun vacations
Zero Wasters advocate
7 . Something’s happening at the lowest point on our planet,some 1,388 feet below sea level. The Dead Sea, a salt lake close to Israel, Jordan and the West Bank, is shrinking at an alarming rate—about 3.3 feet per year, according to the environmentalist group EcoPeace Middle East.
“It’s not just like one country is punishing the Dead Sea; it’s more like the whole region,” said photographer Moritz Küstner, who visited the area in February to work on his series “The Dying Dead Sea”.
The Dead Sea needs water from the other natural sources surrounding it, such as the Jordan River basin. But around the 1960s, the courses of some water sources it relied upon were diverted. Israel, for instance, built a pipeline during that time so it could supply water throughout the country.
Mineral extraction(提取) industries are another main reason why the water levels are declining, experts say. The Dead Sea’s minerals have been popular for their medical power and can often be found in cosmetics(化妆品) and other consumer products.
And then, of course, there’s the Middle East’s hot, dry climate, which makes it difficult for the lake to refill itself. Last year, Israel and Jordan signed a $900 million deal in an effort to stabilize the Dead Sea’s water levels. It involves building a canal from the Red Sea to the Dead Sea which would be able to not only supply water to Israel and Jordan but also to pump much needed water—some 300 million cubic meters annually—into the Dead Sea.
“This is the most important and significant agreement since the peace treaty with Jordan (in 1994),” said Silvan Shalom, Israel’s energy and water resources minister at the time. Whether the canal—estimated to take three years to complete—will work out positively and as planned remains to be seen.
For now, Küstner shows us that the Dead Sea remains very much a place of interest, with people from all over the world going there to swim in its salty waters.
1. How many reasons for the Dead Sea’s shrinking does the author mention in the passage?| A．One. | B．Two. |
| C．Three. | D．Four. |
| A．Switch. | B．Improve. |
| C．Accomplish. | D．Repair. |
| A．The Dead Sea is drying out causing water shortage to humans. |
| B．Küstner visited the Dead Sea to shoot TV series about people’s life. |
| C．The Dead Sea’s minerals have been used in some products. |
| D．The Dead Sea’s water levels have been stabilized by building a canal. |
| A．How the Dead Sea’s water levels’ decline influences human beings. |
| B．How important the Dead Sea is in Israel,Jordan and the West Bank. |
| C．What we should do to save the Dead Sea from being destroyed. |
| D．Why the Dead Sea is dying and the measure taken to save it. |
8 . The future of Australia’s solar industry is looking bright after a record 3.5m panels(嵌板)were installed on rooftops last year, giving the equal output of a medium-sized coal-fired power station. The record 1,057 MW of capacity (产能) in small scale systems installed across the country broke the previous record set in 2012, figures from the Clean Energy Regulator showed on Tuesday.
Australia’s solar power prosperity could almost double capacity in a year, The data also revealed that the average system size has also doubled since then from three to six kilowatts as average prices continued to fall. A fully installed 5KW system costs an average of $5,930 in Australia, according to the energy broker Solar choice. net. au. Its records show that the price has roughly halved in many capital cities since 2012.
The regulator’s executive general manager, Mark Williamson, said there was increasing interest in renewals as a way to take control of electricity bills. But more importantly, he said it was also good news for reducing carbon emissions,
“We are seeing a wide cross section of Australians—households, community centers, schools, and small businesses—receiving rewards under the small scale renewable energy scheme,” Williamson said, “Our data shows consumers are embracing renewable energy to take control of their electricity bills. ”
In 2017, there was a 41% increase in installing renewable energy capacity across all states and territories compared to 2016. Queensland led the way with installed capacity at 295MW, with the Australian Capital Territory taking top place for the biggest annual increase by 57 %. “I he data collected by the Clean Energy Regulator in 2017 reflects the industry is going from strength to strength, It looks like 2018 will be another big year for the solar industry.”
The total of installed capacity for last year is expected to rise to 1,070MW when all the data is collected. A large coal-fired power station such as Loyd Yang A in Victoria’s Latrobe Valley has a capacity of 2, 200MW.
1. What do we know about the Australia’s solar industry from the first paragraph?| A．It’s still risky. |
| B．It’s promising. |
| C．It’s unpredictable. |
| D．It’s within expectation. |
| A．The continuous fall of average price of installing a solar energy system. |
| B．The entire decrease of the carbon emissions. |
| C．The autonomous control of the electricity bills. |
| D．The doubt about the capacity of coal-fired power station. |
| A．Australia’s solar industry is being accepted. |
| B．Australia’s solar industry is developing rapidly. |
| C．Australia’s solar industry is more practical than before. |
| D．Australia’s solar industry is more advanced than other countries. |
| A．Reducing pollution. |
| B．Providing enough energy. |
| C．Lowering electricity bills. |
| D．Simplifying installed equipment. |
9 . We love the sea. We swim into it, live near it, build beside it, and even imagine about living under the sea. But we’re terrified of it, too. For much of our history, we have turned to “hard engineering” to control the marine (海洋) environment and manage its influence on us. We build dams, sea walls and channels. But all these efforts seem to fail. The sea has a habit of taking back its own. And we suffer.
Johnston, a marine ecologist, is advocating for “blue engineering” — the marine version of the “green engineering” movement on land that has seen nations like Singapore building the walls and roofs of the concrete jungle with plant life.
We are expanding further into the marine environment. This practice does harm lo marine ecosystems. We’re loving the sea to death, but we’ve not been thinking about design of structures (建筑物) with respect to ecology. Some coastal structures create shade, which reduces the growth of seaweed. Bright lights at night contuse species such as turtles. That’s why blue engineering comes in.
Throughout the world people are starting to turn things around. Researchers with the World Harbour Project are creating tiles (瓦片) similar to the natural structures found on rocky shores with 3D printing technology. These make more attractive homes for marine creatures. Researchers are also actively seeding these tiles with local seaweeds and creatures such as the Sydney rock oyster, which is particularly good at improving water quality. Twelve harbours around the world are taking part in this marine tile experiment, each working with their own unique marine life.
It’s a far cry from, he days when huge number, of old tyres were thrown, into the sea to build “artificial reef” (礁石). Those clumsy early attempts are now costing millions to remove, showing just how far we have yet to go in understanding how best to co-habit with the underwater world.
1. What do we know about “hard engineering”?| A．It has improved sea environment. |
| B．It can control the influence of sea. |
| C．It has failed to achieve its purpose. |
| D．It makes living under sea impossible. |
| A．drawbacks | B．reasons |
| C．procedures | D．measures |
| A．Constructing buildings with plant life. |
| B．Expanding into marine environments. |
| C．Creating an artificial reef with old tyres. |
| D．Building structures benefiting sea creatures. |
| A．Relieved | B．Doubtful |
| C．Satisfied | D．Disappointed |
10 . Old problem，new approaches
While clean energy is increasingly used in our daily life，global warming will continue for some decades after CO2 emissions (排放) peak. So even if emissions were to begin to decrease today，we would still face the challenge of adapting to climate change. Here I will stress some smarter and more creative examples of climate adaptation.
When it comes to adaptation，it is important to understand that climate change is a process. We are therefore not talking about adapting to a new standard，but to a constantly shifting set of conditions. This is why, in part at least，the US National Climate Assessment says that：“There is no ‘onesize fits all’ adaptation.” Nevertheless，there are some actions that offer much and carry little risk or cost.
Around the world, people are adapting in surprising ways，especially in some poor countries. Floods have become more damaging in Bangladesh in recent decades. Mohammed Rezwan saw opportunity where others saw only disaster. His notforprofit organization runs 100 river boats that serve as floating libraries，schools，and health clinics，and are equipped with solar panels and other communicating facilities. Rezwan is creating floating connectivity(连接) to replace flooded roads and highways. But he is also working at a far more fundamental level：his staff show people how to make floating gardens and fish ponds to prevent starvation during the wet season.
Elsewhere in Asia even more astonishing actions are being taken. Chewang Norphel lives in a mountainous region in India, where he is known as the Ice Man. The loss of glaciers (冰川) there due to global warming represents an enormous threat to agriculture. Without the glaciers, water will arrive in the rivers at times when it can damage crops. Norphel's inspiration came from seeing the waste of water over winter, when it was not needed. He directed the wasted water into shallow basins where it froze, and was stored until the spring. His fields of ice supply perfectly timed irrigation(灌溉) water. Having created nine such ice reserves, Norphel calculates that he has stored about 200，000m3 of water. Climate change is a continuing process, so Norphel's ice reserves will not last forever. Warming will overtake them. But he is providing a few years during which the farmers will, perhaps, be able to find other means of adapting.
Increasing Earth's reflectiveness can cool the planet. In southern Spain the sudden increase of greenhouses (which reflect light back to space) has changed the warming trend locally, and actually cooled the region. While Spain as a whole is heating up quickly, temperatures near the greenhouses have decreased. This example should act as an inspiration for all cities. By painting buildings white, cities may slow down the warming process.
In Peru, local farmers around a mountain with a glacier that has already fallen victim to climate change have begun painting the entire mountain peak white in the hope that the added reflectiveness will restore the lifegiving ice. The outcome is still far from clear. But the World Bank has included the project on its list of “100 ideas to save the planet”．
More ordinary forms of adaptation are happening everywhere. A friend of mine owns an area of land in western Victoria. Over five generations the land has been too wet for cropping. But during the past decade declining rainfall has allowed him to plant highly profitable crops. Farmers in many countries are also adapting like this—either by growing new produce, or by growing the same things differently. This is common sense. But some suggestions for adapting are not. When the polluting industries argue that we've lost the battle to control carbon pollution and have no choice but to adapt, it's a nonsense designed to make the case for business as usual.
Human beings will continue to adapt to the changing climate in both ordinary and astonishing ways. But the most sensible form of adaptation is surely to adapt our energy systems to emit less carbon pollution. After all, if we adapt in that way, we may avoid the need to change in so many others.
1. The underlined part in Paragraph 2 implies ________．| A．adaptation is an everchanging process |
| B．the cost of adaptation varies with time |
| C．global warming affects adaptation forms |
| D．adaptation to climate change is challenging |
| A．The project receives government support. |
| B．Different organizations work with each other. |
| C．His organization makes the best of a bad situation. |
| D．The project connects flooded roads and highways. |
| A．Storing ice for future use. |
| B．Protecting the glaciers from melting. |
| C．Changing the irrigation time. |
| D．Postponing the melting of the glaciers. |
| A．White paint is usually safe for buildings. |
| B．The global warming trend cannot be stopped. |
| C．This country is heating up too quickly. |
| D．Sunlight reflection may relieve global warming. |
| A．adapt to carbon pollution |
| B．plant highly profitable crops |
| C．leave carbon emission alone |
| D．fight against carbon pollution |
| A．Setting up a new standard. |
| B．Reducing carbon emission. |
| C．Adapting to climate change. |
| D．Monitoring polluting industries. |
