1 . The cry of the fishing cat sounds like the quack of a duck, and the rest of this midsize cat also enables it to hunt in the water. Its streamlined head is perfect for moves in the mangrove swamps (红树林沼泽地) and wetlands of South and Southeast Asia, and its pointy ears even fold (折叠) down when it jumps into deep water. The short and strong tail helps control its direction. The extra-thick coat keeps it warm and dry while swimming.
“I found fishing cats to be very ingenious,” says Tiasa Adhya, co-founder of The Fishing Cat Project, a research and conservation group based in eastern India. Her research recently showed that the animal has two methods of catching fish. In deep waters, the cat stays still on the banks for hours before jumping into the water for the kill. In shallow (浅的) waters, though, the cat actively drives the fish out of their hiding places by moving about with heavy steps.
Now the fishing cat is facing another challenge: humans. The world has lost almost 90 percent of its wetlands since the 1700s, with Asia suffering the greatest loss. These days, industrialized fish farming, pollution and other human behaviors have destroyed the living condition of freshwater fish and set fishing cats against farmers, as the hungry cats steal farmed fish, and the farmers get even with them (报复). Once found along river systems from Pakistan to Vietnam, the cats have disappeared from large areas of their range.
Researchers are testing new methods, including the commercial launch (商业化推出) of a type of native rice variety. Depending on nutrients (营养物) washed in by rains rather than on chemicals, the rice creates living space for the fishing cat and its food. The idea is that in healthy lakes where there is plenty to feed fishing cats and fishermen alike, killings will be unnecessary. “Nobody takes a loss,” Adhya explains, “when somebody takes a fish.”
1. What does the author want to explain about fishing cats in the first paragraph?| A．Why they moved to South and Southeast Asia. |
| B．What helps them swim well in the water. |
| C．What pushes them to live with ducks. |
| D．Why they love staying in the water. |
| A．Friendly. | B．Alarmed. | C．Clever. | D．Lazy. |
| A．The battle between fishing cats and humans. |
| B．The decision to protect freshwater fish. |
| C．The importance of stopping pollution. |
| D．The method of increasing wetlands. |
| A．It will do some harm to the environment. |
| B．It will create a win-win situation. |
| C．It will increase food production. |
| D．It will cost a lot of money. |
2 . Finding a California condor in the wild would be the most unusual treat. perhaps even more unusual than finding a wolf in Yellowstone National Park. In fact, the wolf was what opened my eyes to the fact that humans could bring an animal back to the place where it had disappeared.
In 1987, there were only 27 California condors left, none of which were in the wild, only in captive breeding programs, It was those breeding programs that contributed to their population rise, enough that by 1991 some of them could be freed into the wild.
Still, the hope of seeing a California condor, which remains an endangered species, is very low, let alone getting a photo of one. California condor population dropped mostly due to human factors, such as poaching and living areas destruction-these are challenges California condors still face today.
Although this is just a bird’s-eye view of the challenges California condors face and there are many others, it is part of why the opportunity to work with the US Fish and Wildlife Service team and their partners helping their recovery is so special to me as a photographer. I am not only able to photograph the birds in their wild living areas, but also understand and record how difficult the work is of those people on the front lines of the protection.
I am grateful for the work of the team, and my hope is that California condor population will continue to rise allowing future generations an opportunity I never had when I first got here-to look to the sky and see one flying around.
1. What helped the increase of the California condor population in 1987?| A．Rules for hunters. | B．Captive breeding programs. |
| C．The improved natural environment. | D．The enlargement of wild living areas. |
| A．It is difficult. | B．It is easy. | C．It is boring. | D．It is dangerous. |
| A．He guided ways for them. | B．He made records by photos. |
| C．He helped the birds to recover. | D．He rebuilt the birds’ living areas. |
| A．New Way, New Hope | B．Wolves and California Condors |
| C．A Photo of a California Condor | D．The California Condor’s Coming Back |
3 . Most of us have heard of the 3Rs: reduce, reuse and recycle. It is the core principle of a sustainable (可持续的) life, but few of us can apply it in our own lives. Now, there’s a “lab” you can explore and discover a way toward living sustainably.
3R Lab is located in Xuhui district, Shanghai. It offers exhibitions, activities and goods that showcase the 3R principle. The key to a sustainable life, according to Vincent T. M. Fong, the 32-year-old from Hong Kong who created the lab, is to make it a long-term promise. “A sustainable life should be sustainable itself in the first place. You can’t lead a sustainable life on a whim. Small and comfortable changes are exactly what you need,” Fong said.
The lab regularly hosts ugly fruit markets, offering these strange fruits which are often thrown away by traditional markets and consumers at a quite attractive price. “They’re thrown away simply because of their appearance. Buying fruit regardless of how they look reduces food waste significantly in our daily life,” Fong commented.
A water tank with two types of straws is another equipment in the lab. “One type is made from normal plastics widely used in our daily life while the other is from PHA, a new replacement for plastics, and the water is sourced from the Suzhou River,” explained Ni Li, an employee of the lab. Visitors can see how the PHA straws degrade (降解) into a thin layer in just one month, while the others remain unchanged.
“Leading a sustainable life does not necessarily mean sacrifice,” said Fong. Consuming ugly fruit and using degradable plastics are small changes that are good for the environment and easy to stick to. Only in this way can the 3R principle become part of our lives, he added.
After working there for six months, Ni, who wasn’t mindful of the 3R principle before arriving at the lab, now uses her cup every time she buys a coffee. “The job has reshaped my life,” Ni said.
1. What does the-underlined phrase “on a whim” in the second paragraph probably mean?| A．In a rush. | B．On a regular basis. |
| C．Without any reason. | D．As a common practice. |
| A．To reduce food waste. | B．To promote healthy eating. |
| C．To sell new kinds of fruit. | D．To provide more affordable fruit, |
| A．The water pollution caused by plastics. | B．The degradation of PHA straws. |
| C．The interaction between two types of straws. | D．The disappearance of normal plastic straws. |
| A．She avoids going to traditional markets. | B．She has devoted less time to her hobbies. |
| C．She has got rid of a few bad habits. | D．She is leading a low carbon life now. |
4 . Standing on the ruins after the fire where his house had been, Peter Ruprecht admitted that he was not sure how or when to rebuild. He was still shocked by what Australia’s increasingly changeable climate had already delivered: first a drought, then a destructive bush fire, then a foot of rain from a storm.
“It’s unstoppable,” said Mr. Ruprecht, a former dairy farmer. “We speak about the warmth of Mother Nature, but nature can also be vicious and wild and frightening.”
Australia’s hellish (地狱的) fire season has eased (缓和), but its people are facing more than a single disaster. With floods destroying homes not far from where fires recently spread, they are facing a cycle of what scientists call “compound extremes”: one climate disaster strengthening the next.
Warmer temperatures do more than just dry out the land. They also heat up the atmosphere, which means clouds hold more moisture (水汽) for longer periods of time. So droughts get worse, giving way to fires, then to heavy rains that the land is too dry to absorb.
Many Australians in disaster zones complain that their government, after ignoring climate change for years, has not yet to draw up recovery plans that are clear and that take future threats into account.
At the same time, the economic costs of a changing climate are rising quickly. Philip Lowe, the governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia, warned recently that Australia was already paying a price, and that it would only go up.
1. Why is Peter Ruprecht’ story mentioned in Paragraph 1?| A．To lead to readers’ pity. | B．To introduce the topic. |
| C．To stress the problem. | D．To call on readers to help. |
| A．Grateful. | B．Advanced. | C．Responsible. | D．Cruel. |
| A．No government action. | B．Warmer temperature. |
| C．The lack of money. | D．No recovery plans. |
| A．A guidebook. | B．A travel magazine. |
| C．A news report. | D．A book review. |
5 . Zea Tongeman, a 14-year-old student, who is crazy about the Internet, applied technology to create an application that encourages people to recycle rubbish while having fun.
Zea was really inspired when she attended “Little Miss Geek Day”, an event that aims at making technology more accessible and appealing to young women and inspiring them to consider technology careers. Soon after, she entered “Apps for Good”, a competition that encourages students to create positive change through technology. Teaming up with her friend, Jordan Stirbu, she laid the foundations for the “Jazzy Recycling”.
The “Jazzy Recycling” application is designed to encourage young people to recycle rubbish more, which wins the favour of the youth. It turns waste disposal into a game and helps you find places to recycle it. Then you scan what you need to recycle, share it, and get rewards such as shopping vouchers (代币券) and games to be unlocked for what you have recycled.
Tapping into the teen enthusiasm for sharing every little aspect of their daily lives on social media, recycling efforts can be shared too as a fun game among friends, which can make more people take part in recycling activities.
Zea explains why she is addicted to the Internet and how technology has changed her ideas about the future, “I used to think technology was just fixing computers and using smartphones; I have become very tired of just using what is available. I have discovered another side of it and that I can make technology of my own.”
In fact, Zea Tongeman has taken the idea of recycling seriously and hopes all her fellow human beings would give it a serious thought. This teen girl from the United Kingdom has made use of computer programming to create her own app that would encourage people to go recycling for a better world.
1. What is “Little Miss Geek Day” intended to do?| A．To inspire students to go recycling. | B．To encourage students to create more. |
| C．To introduce some famous young ladies. | D．To get girls interested and involved in technology. |
| A．It combines recycling with fun. | B．It offers money to those who recycle rubbish. |
| C．It raises their awareness of waste disposal. | D．It provides varieties of convenient services. |
| A．Brave. | B．Honest. | C．Creative. | D．Kind. |
| A．Teenagers have a talent for creating apps. |
| B．Technology plays a significant role in education. |
| C．Competitions inspire teenagers to achieve success. |
| D．Young people can make a difference in their own ways. |
6 . Last week, three wildfires swept through the island of Maui in Hawaii. The fires have claimed at least 111 lives. Many people are still unaccounted for (下落不明). Some of the fires are still burning.
The wildfires began on Tuesday night, August 8. Soon, extremely strong winds caused the fires to grow out of control. There were around 400 alarms used to warn people about dangers like this, 80 of them in Maui, but none of them went off. People only found out about the fires when they saw them. The historic area of Lahaina on the west side of Maui was hit worst. The wildfire destroyed over 2,700 buildings around Lahaina, most of them homes. The Lahaina wildfire is the deadliest wildfire in the US since 1918.
The causes of the fires haven’t yet been determined, but the National Weather Service had issued warnings for the Hawaiian Islands for high winds and dry weather-conditions ripe for wildfires. It’s worthwhile mentioning that the wildfires in Hawaii burned through grasslands. About 25% of Hawaii is covered with grasses that originally came from Africa. They grow quickly and push out plants that grow naturally in Hawaii. The grasses created huge amounts of dry fuel (燃料) to feed the fires.
Much of the western part of Maui remains without power. Local officials have also warned against drinking tap water — even if it is boiled. Though some cell services have been restored, authorities have also asked residents to text rather than talk over the phone because of restrained bandwidth (带宽).
There are so many questions that need to be answered by the government. People feel like the warnings came too late, and there hasn’t been enough help after the fire. There’s a bad need for power lines to be restored. Plus, shortages of food, water and fuel are growing. Many local people are working together to solve problems themselves. Fortunately, the government has promised to look into the fire and the way it was dealt with.
1. What made the locals fail to find out about the wildfires in time?| A．The fires spread too fast at night. | B．The alarms did not work at all. |
| C．They ignored the dry weather. | D．They were sleeping at that time. |
| A．They favor nature protection. | B．They enrich the local plants. |
| C．They fueled the wildfires. | D．They blocked the wildfire rescue. |
| A．Developed. | B．Damaged. | C．Limited. | D．Recovered. |
| A．Positive. | B．Proud. | C．Unclear. | D．Unsatisfied. |
7 . British chip maker Walkers is being flooded with mail deliveries of its own packaging. An online petition (请愿) with more than 312,000 signatures so far encourages those who signed to mail their empty chip plastic bags to Walkers as an act of protest against the bags’ non-recyclable design.
As petition organizer Geraint Ashcroft explained, the majority of chip packets, made from plastic coated with metal, are not recyclable and have been found fully undamaged up to 33 years after consumption. The UK alone consumes 6 billion bags of chips a year, and Walkers turns out 11 million bags daily. Ashcroft wrote, “At today’s consumption rate in 33 years’ time, there will be 200 billion packets either sent to landfill or polluting our oceans. Many will be eaten by fish or birds, leading to a slow death.”
Mailing the bags to Walkers is a way to hold the company accountable for its packaging and to pressure it to come up with a better design. But it is controversial. Because the Royal Mail postal service isn’t happy about the sudden in flow of packages, asking people calm down to help with ease of delivery. Critics on Twitter also question the logic of buying a product in order to protest against its producer and suggest that giving up chips altogether would improve one’s health as well as the environment.
Walkers issued a statement on Wednesday, saying it will make its packaging plastic-free by 2025. “We have received some returned packets and recognized the efforts being made to bring the issue of packaging waste to our attention. The returned packets will be used in our research as we work towards our commitment of improving the recyclability of our packaging.”
1. Why do people mail their empty chip bags to Walkers?| A．To oppose Walkers’ plastic packaging. |
| B．To exchange them for some new chips. |
| C．To make Walkers use them once more. |
| D．To appeal to people for not using the bags. |
| A．The production of plastic bags. |
| B．The cause of animals’ death. |
| C．The potential harm of chip bags. |
| D．The opinion of Geraint Ashcroft. |
| A．Explainable. | B．Responsible. | C．Significant. | D．Anxious. |
| A．Doubtfully. | B．Indifferently. | C．Positively. | D．Cautiously. |
8 . The Antarctic’s snow-white environment is going green and facing other unexpected threats.
Scientists say that as temperatures go up in the polar areas, invading(侵袭)plants and insects, including the flies, cause a major threat.
More and more of these invaders, in the form of larvae(幼虫)or seeds, are surviving in coastal areas around the South Pole, where the temperature has risen by almost 3℃ over the past five decades. Glaciers have melted, exposing more land which has been occupied by mosses that have been found to be growing more quickly and thickly than ever before—providing potential green homes for invaders.
“The common houseflies are a perfect example of the problem the Antarctic now faces from invading species,” said Dominic Hodgson of the British Antarctic Survey. “They arrive by ship, where they exist in kitchens. They now have an increasing chance of surviving in the Antarctic as it warms up, and that is a worry. Insects like the houseflies carry bacteria that could have a deadly effect on native life forms.”
The Antarctic has several native species of insects. Together with its native mosses, these are now under increased threat from three major sources: visiting scientists, increasing number of tourists and global warming. However, it is global warming that is the main driver of the “greening” of the Antarctic.
In the 2015-2016 travel season, more than 38,000 tourists visited the Antarctic. “These tourists are often very careful about not leaving waste. But they could carry seeds or larvae on their boots when they set foot on the Antarctic,” said Dominic.
More and more invading insects and plants have been found on the Antarctic and have required removal. “The insects and plants that are native to the Antarctic have survived there for thousands of years,” said Dominic. “We have to act now if we want to save the environment.”
1. What does the underlined word “mosses” in Paragraph 3 refer to?| A．Houseflies. | B．Coastal areas. |
| C．A kind of plants. | D．A kind of animals. |
| A．They are native to the Antarctic. |
| B．They will die out because of the freezing weather. |
| C．They come to the Antarctic from nearby islands on their own. |
| D．They could severely influence the native species of the Antarctic. |
| A．The arrival of scientists. |
| B．The increasing number of visitors. |
| C．The rapid spread of native plants. |
| D．The rising temperature around the world. |
| A．The Antarctic Is Becoming Green and Energetic |
| B．Various Threats Are Putting the Antarctic at Risk |
| C．More and More Scientists Get to Explore the Antarctic |
| D．Global Warming Causes the Temperature in the Antarctic to Go Up |
9 . Ways to Reduce Plastic Waste
Plastic has been found virtually in everything these days. Your food is packaged in it. Your car, phone and computer are made from it.
Luckily, there are simple steps you can take to dramatically decrease the amount of plastic waste you produce.
One of the easiest ways to keep plastic out of the landfill is to refuse plastic straws. Simply inform your waiter or waitress that you don’t need one, and be sure to state this clearly when ordering at a drive-through. Can’t stand giving up the convenience of plastic straws?
Use reusable bags
About one million plastic bags are used every minute. A single plastic bag can take 1,000 years to degrade(降解). If you’re already bringing reusable bags to the grocery store, you’re on the right track. Purchase some reusable bags and help keep even more plastic out of the landfill. However, you should avoid those bags made from nylon or polyester (聚酯纤维).
Use matches
| A．Say no to plastic straws |
| B．Choose cotton ones instead |
| C．Don’t use plastic containers |
| D．Choose matches instead of plastic lighters |
| E．Most restaurants will have no problem with it |
| F．And you might even chew it daily in the form of gum |
| G．Purchase a reusable stainless steel or glass drinking straw |
10 . Two thirds of the ice in the glaciers (冰川) of the Alps is doomed! These glaciers will melt by the end of the century as global temperatures rise, according to a recent study.
Scientists claim that half the ice held in some 4,000 Alpine glaciers will disappear by 2050 due to global warming through the effect of past emissions. After that, even if carbon emissions drop to zero, two-thirds of the ice will still have melted by 2100. If emissions continue to rise at the current rate, the ice tongues will have all but disappeared from Alpine valleys by the end of the century. The most pessimistic prediction tells us that the Alps will be mostly ice-free by 2100. Only isolated ice patches would remain at high altitudes, representing five per cent, at most, of the ice volume seen today.
The researchers warn that the loss of these glaciers will mean much less water is available for farming and hydroelectricity, especially during droughts. It would also affect nature and tourism.
In February, a study found that a third of the huge ice fields in Asia’s towering mountain chains were also under threat for the same reasons. This will lead to serious consequences for almost two billion people who live downstream. Glaciers along the Hindu Kush and Himalayan range are at higher, colder altitudes. If global carbon emissions are not cut, however, two-thirds of their ice could be gone by 2100.
The latest research combined computer models with real-world data to forecast the fate of the glaciers. It used 2017 as its starting point. Unlike previous work, these models included how the glaciers move down the mountains. Applying this approach to other glaciated mountain chains could improve ice loss forecasts there.
Cutting the emissions from fossil-fuel burning, deforestation and other polluting activities is the biggest factor in minimizing the melting of the ice. The future of these glaciers is indeed at risk, but there is still a possibility of limiting their disappearance.
1. What does the underlined word “doomed” mean in paragraph 1?| A．Polluted. | B．Discovered. | C．Endangered. | D．Abandoned. |
| A．Emissions have much to do with the ice melting. |
| B．The Alps is expected to lose all its ice by 2100. |
| C．Ice loss will be avoided with emissions prevented. |
| D．Large ice pieces will just exist at the mountain top. |
| A．To explain how glacier melting came about. |
| B．To imply pollution is a worldwide problem. |
| C．To show what consequences ice melting will cause. |
| D．To indicate the Alps is not alone to face ice melting. |
| A．Objective. | B．Optimistic. | C．Critical. | D．Doubtful. |
