1 . The southern Spanish city of Seville has become the first in the world to name and classify heatwaves— much in the way that tropical storms or hurricanes are named-in an effort to better protect residents (居民) as periods of excessively hot weather become more frequent.
The year-long pilot project in one of Spain’s hottest cities classifies heatwaves into three categories (类别, 范畴), named from a list that includes Xenia and Wenceslao.
The project is part of a broader set of measures from emission (排放) reduction to decarbonisation, aimed at countering climate change, said the city’s mayor, Antonio Mufioz. “We are the first city in the world to take a step that helps us plan and take measures when this type of weather event happens— particularly because heatwaves always hit the most vulnerable (弱),” Mufioz said.
The pioneering programme comes days after Spain sweltered (热得难受) through one of its earliest heatwaves on record and after a May that ranked as the hottest in 58 years. The frequency of heatwaves in Spain has doubled compared with previous decades.
Central to the project is an algorithm that could forecast heatwaves up to five days in advance and categorize them based on the potential effect on human health and mortality. Each category is tied to specific measures such as the opening of swimming pools or sending health workers to check on the elderly or other at-risk individuals.
Heatwaves that reach category 3— the most severe will be named in the order of the Spanish alphabet. The first five names have already been chosen: Zoe, Yago, Xenia, Wenceslao, Vega.
The aim is to build awareness of the deadly effect of climate change and potentially save lives. “Heatwaves have been dubbed ‘the silent killer’ for a reason,” said Baughman McLeod. “They have unseen effect on our economies, attack the most vulnerable members of society, and kill more people than any other climate-driven danger, yet the dangers they may cause are totally underestimated and gravely misunderstood.”
1. What does the underlined word “countering” in Paragraph 3 mean?| A．Fighting against. | B．Writing down. |
| C．Taking control of. | D．Keeping track of. |
| A．To make emission reduction. | B．To deal with the climate change. |
| C．To compare heatwaves with hurricanes. | D．To keep people safe from heat disasters. |
| A．What effects heatwaves have. | B．Why there are more heatwaves. |
| C．How heatwaves are classified. | D．When heatwaves strike most. |
| A．The heatwaves cause the most deaths. |
| B．The climate change is going silently. |
| C．The dangers of heatwaves are usually ignored. |
| D．The economy is totally destroyed by heatwaves. |
2 . Animal appear to predict earthquakes by sensing electricity in the air — the first study to find reliable evidence of the phenomenon has shown.
Cameras revealed an “amazing” drop in the number of animals up to 23 days before a major quake hit their rainforest home at Yanachaga National Park in Peru. Lead scientist Dr Rachel Grant, from Anglia Ruskin University, said, “The results showed that just before the earthquake, animals’ activity dropped right down.”
On a normal day the cameras placed around Yanachaga National Park record between 5 and 15 animals. But in the 23 days before the earthquake, the number of animals dropped to five or fewer per day. No animals were photographed at all on five of the seven days immediately before the quake.
Another study showed that animal activity remained normal in the park over a different period when seismic (地震的) activity was low. Co-author, professor Friedemann Freund, said, “The cameras were located at an altitude of 900 meters. If air ionization occurred, the animals would escape to the valley below, where there were fewer positive ions ( 离子). With their ability to sense their environment, animals can help us understand small changes that occur before major earthquakes.”
Other evidence suggested that before the earthquake, the air around the high mountain sites filled with positive ions that can be produced when rocks are placed under stress. Positive ions have been known to cause ill effects in humans as well as animals. Scientists believe the animals were made to feel uncomfortable by the positive ions, leading them to avoid the area. They are thought to have escaped to lower ground, where the air was less ionized. The findings may help experts develop better short-term seismic forecasts.
1. How did scientists conduct the study?| A．By comparing different animals’ habits. |
| B．By observing animals in high mountains. |
| C．By explaining the positive ion phenomenon. |
| D．By analyzing images of animals they obtained. |
| A．The ground at a lower altitude is less ionized. |
| B．Cameras normally record more animals per day. |
| C．Earthquake warnings can be detected in lower places. |
| D．The activity of animals and earthquakes is consistent. |
| A．The findings make for accurate seismic forecast. |
| B．Animals tend to be uneasy with more positive ions. |
| C．Positive ions make humans and animals depressed. |
| D．All the animals remain abnormal before the earthquake. |
| A．Negative Influence of Positive Ions. |
| B．Ions’ Destruction to the Environment. |
| C．Animals’ Behavior Before Earthquakes. |
| D．Creatures’ Ability to Predict Earthquakes. |
3 . The South Bronx is one of the poorest and most polluted places in America, with smog-choked freeways and smelly wastewater treatment plants.
“We’re a dumping ground,” Omar explains. “All the garbage from the rest of New York City ends up here.”
But Omar started looking at garbage in a different way. “A lot of what people throw away is perfectly good,” he says. “Just look at that stuff from construction sites — doors, sinks, toilets. People will buy those things. It’s only called garbage because somebody threw it away.” Omar was just out of college and working for an environmental group called Sustainable South Bronx when he started considering how to get this “good garbage” to people who could use it. Instead of destroying old things, why not clean them up and resell them? Why not hire people in the community to do the work? Better yet, why not make this business a “cooperative,” which means the people working in the business own it and share the profits?
Out of this, Omar started the first cooperative in the country dedicated to reusing construction waste. To start his business, Omar put up flyers along the truck-jammed, trash-filled neighborhood streets, looking for people to work with him. He soon found four other dedicated workers. They rented a warehouse and started looking for donations of used materials.
In April 2008, Omar’s cooperative, ReBuilders Source, opened its business and began selling construction supplies — at reasonable prices — to neighborhood builders and home owners. With the help of city officials, he also began planning a new training program to help local residents learn the skills to get good jobs that help the environment and even start their own cooperatives. Workers were trained to carefully take buildings apart so that things like doors and windows can be reused instead of being smashed and sent off to a landfill. Deconstructing buildings this way could be a huge industry with many good jobs for people who need them.
“If you have a use for something,” Omar says, “it’s no longer waste.”
1. Why is the South Bronx mentioned in the first paragraph?| A．To arouse readers’ interest. | B．To serve as the background information. |
| C．To contrast with the other districts. | D．To introduce a famous place. |
| A．To provide jobs for local people. | B．To deal with dumped rubbish. |
| C．To increase cooperation among neighbors. | D．To make money from garbage. |
| A．Idealistic and business-minded. | B．Creative and action-oriented. |
| C．Practical and self-focused. | D．Devoted and iron-hearted. |
| A．Knowledge starts with practice. | B．One good turn deserves another. |
| C．Four eyes see more than two. | D．Kill two birds with one stone. |
4 . Record sea ice loss caused a mass die-off of emperor penguin chicks in part of Antarctica last year, strengthening predictions that the world’s largest penguin will soon be in danger of extinction.
Unlike other penguins, emperors breed (繁殖) on sea ice rather than land.Male emperor penguins hatch the eggs during the Antarctic winter. The furry grey chicks need stable sea ice until December to grow their black waterproof feathers and gain enough muscle to swim. If they go into the water before they develop feathers, chicks can drown or freeze to death.
In February, the area of sea ice around Antarctica reached the lowest extent ever observed. After much of the ice began breaking up late last year, four out of five habitats in the hard-bit central and eastern Bellingshausen Sea suffered a total breeding failure, with no chicks surviving to the feather growing period. In mid-November, the sea ice there broke up, forcing the penguins to abandon the habitat and most if not all of their chicks.
A research team from Oxford Brookes University monitored populations by spotting penguin faeces (排泄物) in satellite photos. Emperor penguins tend to stay close, walking in a tight group to stay warm in temperatures as low as -60°C.The buildup of the habitat’s faeces stains the ice so brown that it can be seen from space. Once a habitat has been identified, researchers can count the individual penguins in very high-resolution satellite images.
The observations add weight to modelling predictions that 90 percent of emperor penguin habitats could be extinct or past the point of no return by 2100 if current rates of warming continue. While habitats can lose chicks in heavy storms or when severe winds break up the sea ice, this is the first-time widespread breeding failure has been linked to disappearing ice.
“Failure is the norm, but complete failure across a whole region, that’s not normal,” says Tim at Oxford Brookes University. “Will this impact the population? It really depends on how often it happens.”
1. What was the result of the ice breaking last year?| A．The area of the sea reached the lowest point ever. |
| B．Emperor penguins left the habitats with their chicks. |
| C．Emperor penguins had to search for food themselves. |
| D．Most emperor penguins chicks studied failed to survive. |
| A．By counting the penguins. |
| B．By making the images clearer. |
| C．By spotting brown stained ice. |
| D．By collecting penguins’ faeces. |
| A．The area suffered breeding failure for the first time. |
| B．Severe storms caused the extensive breeding failure. |
| C．The total failure has made emperor penguins extinct. |
| D．The frequency of ice breaking needs to be controlled. |
| A．The main causes of global warming. |
| B．The exlinet emperor penguin habitats. |
| C．Emperor penguins’ severe breeding failure. |
| D．Health problems of emperor penguin chicks. |
5 . It was raining like nothing before when Ehdaa Bujeldain, an English teacher living with her family in the mountains of Derna in eastern Libya , heard a loud noise that sounded like an explosion (爆炸). Later they learned that a dam (大坝) in Derna had broken down under the pressure of running water. For the next four days, they had no power or internet, and it was only recently that they started to fully understand of the damage caused by the floods.
“Half of the city has been destroyed. My mom’s relatives, my friends, my coworkers ——they are all gone. Now we, the survivors, are just ghost s in shells,” says Bujeldain, whose sadness can be easily told from her blank expression.
Five days have passed since the terrible flooding in Derna, Libya’s Red Crescent organization estimated that 11,300 people have died, while the city’s mayor believes the number of deaths could be as high as 20,000.
Derna is a coastal city with a seasonal river called the Wadi Derna. Despite the abnormally heavy rain, people living near the river had little warning before the floodwaters came rushing in on that terrible morning. United Nations aid chief Martin Griffiths described the scale of the flood as “appalling” (令人惊骇的) and blamed the flood partly on sudden climate change.
Now international aid teams are arriving in Derna, but they face challenges due to damaged roads, lack of access to power, water, and fuel. Tarhoni, doctor of the rescue team, warns that the most difficult weeks lie ahead. “One disaster is done and there is another to come,” he says. “The thousands and thousands of people who lost everything these people now need comfort, they need company, they need psychological support.”
1. What do we know about Bujeldain’s family from paragraph 1?| A．The explosion they heard led to the destruction of the dam. |
| B．Bujeldain saved her family from the floods with her bravery. |
| C．Bujeldain immediately recognized the outbreak of the floods. |
| D．For several days, they didn’t fully realize the seriousness of the floods. |
| A．They run out of energy and are very tired. |
| B．They feel lucky as they are safe and sound. |
| C．They are completely saddened and shocked. |
| D．They are sorry for the loss of their homeland. |
| A．The absence of warning. | B．The extraordinary rainfall. |
| C．Unexpected climate change. | D．The damage to environment. |
| A．Addressing mental problems. |
| B．Providing immediate medical care. |
| C．Conducting climate change research. |
| D．Rebuilding roads and access to resources. |
6 . Heat waves are becoming more common in parts of the United States — and that means more people running their air conditioners for longer. But those air conditioners can make the problem worse, giving off greenhouse gases as they work that contribute heavily to climate change.
SkyCool Systems is trying to break that cycle, using technology that promises to offer buildings an alternative means to cool down in a similar way to how the planet cools itself. “Our planet naturally cools itself by sending heat out in the form of infrared light (红外线) or radiation,” said Eli Goldstein, SkyCool’s cofounder and CEO. “We do this through rooftop panels, which look like solar panels but actually do the opposite, reflecting 97% of the sunlight that hits them and cooling the surface below,” said Goldstein.
SkyCool’s model involves fixing a network of pipes below those panels. These pipes are filled with water, which is kept cool by the panels and then flows into an air conditioning system. This process is designed to take pressure off the system’s cooling mechanism. And because the panels cool naturally and don’t need external power to function, it helps the entire system use less electricity.
A Grocery Outlet store in California, which has been using SkyCool’s system since last year, says it saw a marked drop in its electrical bills. Jesus Valenzuela, the store manager, estimates that the panels have saved his store roughly $3,000 a month.
But perhaps the biggest barrier to making the technology ubiquitous (无处不在的) is its relatively high cost. Increasing production could help bring the cost down, Goldstein said, particularly for developing countries in Asia and Africa where SkyCool hopes to eventually expand. For now, the company is focused on commercial applications of the technology, though it hopes to start setting up panels on the roofs of individual homes. “We’re just excited to be able to use this new technology for good,” Goldstein said.
1. How did Goldstein explain the way their rooftop panels work?| A．By citing an expert’s words. | B．By making comparisons. |
| C．By analyzing cause and effect. | D．By describing the process in detail. |
| A．To store cold water to help cool the panels. |
| B．To help ease the water pressure of the air conditioning. |
| C．To power the panels by making use of flowing water. |
| D．To feed cold water into the air conditioning system. |
| A．It’s pretty effective. | B．It has increased sales for his store. |
| C．It will go out of style quickly. | D．It will cost too much to set up. |
| A．It’ll bring in a good profit for the company. | B．It’ll gain popularity in developed countries. |
| C．It’ll take the place of air conditioners. | D．It’ll be accessible to common households. |
7 . Antecedent (先前的) carbon emissions are greenhouse gases released during the making of a product. Most manufacturers or customers pay little attention to them. In fact, operating emissions is important in a fossil-fuel-powered world.
An expert, Annika Ramskold, summarized the problem and said, “Going fossil free isn’t just about how things are powered. It’s about removing fossil fuels from how things are sourced, made, transported and assembled. While electric vehicles are a great start, we need to go further. Fossil fuel free vehicles mean greenwash (环保幌子) until the entire production part has been decarbonized (使环保).”
One manufacturer paying much attention is a Swedish electric motorcycle company. It plans to build the world’s cleanest motorcycle. But it may have trouble visualizing carbon dioxide. The company came up against the problem. It said, “As the Cleanest Dirt Bike Ever project involves global suppliers. it is difficult to get primary data, due to the complex global supply chain. It is also difficult to clean up that global supply chain. We investigated the possibility of treating each component separately. This needed to track the entire supply chain of each individual part. We eventually didn’t focus on the end product, but dealt with the materials used to make said parts.”
So instead, they are concentrating on the four main materials in the bikes—aluminum. steel, plastic and rubber. But some parts of the bike, including motor. battery, controller, brakes and suspension. are made by outside suppliers located globally. The company will have much trouble making much of a dent in that.
Ultimately, the answer is how much stuff goes into your vehicle. The motorcycle is said to have a twentieth of the antecedent carbon of an electric car. This is why the company’s work is so important. When people finally understand the effect of antecedent carbon emissions. they may realize that the most important choice they can make is not to drive a car as much as possible.
1. What does Annika Ramskold want to stress?| A．People should stop producing fossil fuel free vehicles. |
| B．Electric vehicles can solve environmental issues well. |
| C．It’s important to make production environmentally friendly. |
| D．Customers should pay little attention to operating emissions. |
| A．Fruitful. | B．Challenging. | C．Meaningless. | D．Conventional. |
| A．Know the reasons for emissions. | B．Make some important choices. |
| C．Buy the company’s motorcycles. | D．Adopt greener means of travel. |
| A．Sweden Is Trying to Go Green |
| B．Making Production Green Is Really Green |
| C．Global Companies Reject Carbon Emissions |
| D．Choosing Electric Vehicles to Reduce Emissions |
8 . This summer has brought extreme heat and droughts to places around the world. The droughts are leading to serious problems, including shortages of food and energy, problems with transportation, and food price increases. The effects of the droughts are likely to be felt for years.
From Africa to Europe to the US to China, record temperatures and low rainfall have been causing problems. Droughts aren’t new, but Earth’s rising temperatures because of global warming are making them much harder to avoid.
The drought in the Horn of Africa may be the most serious situation. For several years, the area has had very little rain during the rainy seasons. Now the area, which includes Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia, is suffering from its worst drought in 40 years.
Almost two-thirds of Europe is threatened (威胁) by what may be the worst drought there in 500 years. With temperatures reaching 40℃ and hotter, many crops have been damaged. In France, Spain, Portugal, and even Britain, firefighters have struggled to control wildfires.
In the US, many states that use water from the Colorado River are struggling with low water levels. Farmers in California and Arizona have been hit particularly hard. In California water use is being limited now and farmers aren’t able to grow as many crops. That can drive up food prices, and that affects everyone.
China is facing similar problems. It has been attacked by a terrible drought this summer, with temperatures as high as 45℃. The drought has dried up much of the water in the Yangtze, China’s longest river. That has cut the amount of energy produced by the world’s largest dam by 40%.
There are no easy solutions for any of these droughts. It took years to create the climate crisis, and it will take a long time to get it under control. For now, governments and people will need to carefully manage water supplies and other resources to limit the damage as much as possible.
1. What does the underlined word “them” in Paragraph 2 refer to?| A．Problems. | B．Droughts. |
| C．The effects of the droughts. | D．Earth’s rising temperatures. |
| A．Wildfires. | B．Food prices. |
| C．Water limits. | D．High water levels. |
| A．By giving some examples. | B．By offering some reasons. |
| C．By answering some questions. | D．By explaining some puzzles. |
| A．The Reasons Behind Worldwide Droughts |
| B．The Effects of Extreme Heat and Droughts |
| C．Droughts Cause Problems Around the World |
| D．Solutions Are Needed for Worldwide Droughts |
9 . Desertification, the process by which fertile (肥沃的) land becomes desert, has severe impacts on food production and is worsened by climate change.
Africa’s Great Green Wall is a project to build an 8,000- kilometre-long forest across 11 of the continent s countries. The project is meant to contain the growing Sahara Desert and fight climate change.
First proposed in 2005, the project aims to plant a forest from Senegal on the Atlantic Ocean in western Africa to Eritrea, Ethiopia and Djibouti in the east.
| A．But the project faces many problems. |
| B．That is only 4 percent of the programme’s goal. |
| C．However, it is difficult to work on the Great Green Wall. |
| D．A quarter of Africa is under threat of food shortage. |
| E．Some progress has been made in recent years in the east of the continent. |
| F．Supporters hope that the project will create millions of green jobs in rural Africa. |
| G．The U.N. says up to 45 percent of Africa’s land is impacted by desertification, worse than any other continent. |
10 . Two thousand years ago, the ancient Roman city of Caesarea had the largest harbor on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. It was a wonder of engineering for its time. Then disaster struck. Written records say a huge wave destroyed the harbor. What kind of wave caused it? Did it ally happen? No one had ever found the evidence of the wave... until now.
Dr Goodman is part of a team of scientists studying samples at Caesarea to figure out what happened in the past. A sample is taken by striking a tube into the seafloor. When the tube is pulled up, it contains sediments (沉淀物) that have collected on the seafloor for hundreds or thousands of years. Looking down through the mixture of sand, stones and other sediments is like looking back in time.
That’s what Dr. Goodman was doing when she found something astonishing. It was a layer (层) of shells — all came from the time the harbor was destroyed. Dr. Goodman knew this shell layer had a story to tell.
Usually, shells are part of the mixture of sediments collected on the seafloor. A shell layer is as thin as your finger. Yet Dr. Goodman was staring at a layer nearly 1 meter thick! Almost all the shells were broken.
The thick layer of broken shells meant a sudden, powerful event swept these shells into the area. The broken shells were evidence that a huge wave really did destroy the harbor. Dr. Goodman could even tell the direction of the wave from the way the shells lined up.
Here’s what Dr. Goodman thinks happened. First, an earthquake struck north of Caesarea along the coast. Energy from the movement of rock during the earthquake caused a tsunami. This huge wave raced across the sand and kicked up shells along the way and broke them into pieces. Finally, the wave crashed into the harbor and destroyed it.
Dr. Goodman plans to gather evidence for other ancient tsunamis along the Mediterranean coast. This will help her predict what areas are likely to be struck by future tsunamis. Then people can avoid building in these areas.
1. What can be learned about the Caesarea harbor?| A．It was the largest in the world. |
| B．It was destroyed by a tsunami. |
| C．It is a mystery whether it existed. |
| D．It is studied by many engineers now. |
| A．By studying underwater. | B．By analyzing the mixture. |
| C．By digging for ancient shells. | D．By collecting sediments in a tube. |
| A．The direction of the wave. | B．The diversity of sediments. |
| C．The way the shells lined up. | D．The thick layer of broken shells. |
| A．Shells Tell the Story | B．Scientists Predict Disasters |
| C．Underwater Clues for Future | D．Sea Exploration of Mediterranean |
