1 . The green, natural forest absorbs carbon dioxide from the air through photo- synthesis (光合作用). There is another way of dealing with the climate crisis. That is setting up fields of dark-colored solar panels (太阳能电池板), also known as “solar forests”, which replace power stations that use fossil fuels such as coal and gas to make electricity, thus mitigating harmful emissions (排放) of greenhouse gases.
But since they are both relatively dark, they absorb a lot of solar radiation. Some of the energy is used for photosynthesis in natural forests or to produce electricity in “solar forests”, but most returns to the atmosphere, heating it up. Then what would be the more effective land use option in terms of the climate crisis: planting a forest, or building solar panels? This issue has long been debated by decision-makers around the world. Now, we may have an answer, thanks to a new study.
First, the researchers compared the impact of a forest on the climate crisis in a dry area to that of a solar farm in a similar environment. The researchers found that the albedo effect (反射效应) of both of these “forests” was similar, but that the absorption or prevention of carbon emissions was very different. It turns out that it takes 2.5 years for the heat emitted by solar farms to be balanced by the carbon emissions that are avoided, thanks to the energy they produce. In the case of a natural forest of similar size, it would take more than 100 years of photosynthesis to balance its heating effect.
The researchers also studied how the heating-cooling relationship changed in other climates and found that in more humid environments, the heating effect of planting large numbers of trees is smaller. And the break-even point is reached within 15 to 18 years.
“In dry places, building solar forests seems far more effective in addressing the climate crisis. Meanwhile, forests absorb about a third of annual carbon emissions and play a vital role in the global rain cycle, in maintaining biodiversity and in many other environmental and social contexts. Preventing them from being cut down and planting more trees in humid areas are of great significance,” explains one of the researchers in the study.
What did the researchers find in the study conducted in the dry environment?| A．The natural forest exhibits a stronger albedo effect. |
| B．The solar forest can generate more energy in dry areas. |
| C．The solar forest is superior in balancing the heating effect. |
| D．The natural forest is more effective in solving the climate crisis. |
2 . The green, natural forest absorbs carbon dioxide from the air through photo- synthesis (光合作用). There is another way of dealing with the climate crisis. That is setting up fields of dark-colored solar panels (太阳能电池板), also known as “solar forests”, which replace power stations that use fossil fuels such as coal and gas to make electricity, thus mitigating harmful emissions (排放) of greenhouse gases.
But since they are both relatively dark, they absorb a lot of solar radiation. Some of the energy is used for photosynthesis in natural forests or to produce electricity in “solar forests”, but most returns to the atmosphere, heating it up. Then what would be the more effective land use option in terms of the climate crisis: planting a forest, or building solar panels? This issue has long been debated by decision-makers around the world. Now, we may have an answer, thanks to a new study.
First, the researchers compared the impact of a forest on the climate crisis in a dry area to that of a solar farm in a similar environment. The researchers found that the albedo effect (反射效应) of both of these “forests” was similar, but that the absorption or prevention of carbon emissions was very different. It turns out that it takes 2.5 years for the heat emitted by solar farms to be balanced by the carbon emissions that are avoided, thanks to the energy they produce. In the case of a natural forest of similar size, it would take more than 100 years of photosynthesis to balance its heating effect.
The researchers also studied how the heating-cooling relationship changed in other climates and found that in more humid environments, the heating effect of planting large numbers of trees is smaller. And the break-even point is reached within 15 to 18 years.
“In dry places, building solar forests seems far more effective in addressing the climate crisis. Meanwhile, forests absorb about a third of annual carbon emissions and play a vital role in the global rain cycle, in maintaining biodiversity and in many other environmental and social contexts. Preventing them from being cut down and planting more trees in humid areas are of great significance,” explains one of the researchers in the study.
What can be concluded from the last paragraph?| A．More trees should be planted in dry regions. |
| B．More methods should be adopted to address the climate crisis. |
| C．Fields of solar panels should be set up everywhere on the earth. |
| D．Building solar panels and planting trees should be effectively combined. |
3 . CLIMATE CHANGE REQUIRES THE WORLD’S ATTENTION
We have known about climate change for decades. There is little doubt that Earth is getting warmer and warmer (see the graph). A warming ocean and atmosphere along with melting ice and rising sea levels provide evidence of a dramatic change in the global climate.
In 2013, a lot of people were shocked by a news photo of a dead polar bear that was found on Norway’s Arctic island of Svalbard. According to the scientists who found its dead body, all that remained of the polar bear was “skin and bones”. An expert who has studied polar bears for many years said that from the position of its dead body, the bear appeared to have starved and died. Experts claimed that low sea-ice levels caused by climate change meant the bear could not hunt seals as before, so it had to travel greater distances in order to find food. This alarming case showed how the increase in temperature had an impact on Earth’s ecology.
Then what is causing the increase in the global average surface temperature? Climate scientists often mention a key climate process called the “greenhouse effect”, which has two common meanings: the “natural” greenhouse effect and the “man-made” greenhouse effect. The “natural” greenhouse effect refers to the fact that heat from the sun enters the atmosphere and warms Earth’s surface as short-wave radiation. The heat is released back into space at longer wave lengths. Greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, such as methane and carbon dioxide, trap some of the heat, keeping Earth’s climate warm and habitable. Without this process, Earth could not sustain life. However, the “man-made” greenhouse effect has now become a big problem. When people produce huge amounts of extra greenhouse gases by burning fossil fuels, more heat energy is trapped in the atmosphere and causes Earth’s surface temperature to rise quickly.
There is strong and comprehensive evidence that the rise in temperature has led to an increase in extreme weather and natural disasters worldwide, not only causing serious damage, but also costing human lives. Climate scientists have warned that if we do not take appropriate actions, this warming trend will probably continue and there will be a higher price to pay. In fact, news reports are frequently broadcast about extreme rainstorms and heatwaves causing deaths and economic losses.
Continued greenhouse gas emissions will result in further warming and long-lasting changes to the global climate. This requires the attention of people all over the world. Governments need to consider making policies and taking appropriate actions and measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. We as individuals can also reduce our “carbon footprint” by restricting the amount of carbon dioxide our lifestyles produce. It is our responsibility to seize every opportunity to educate everyone about global warming, along with its causes and impacts, because this is the most serious issue affecting all of us on this planet. So what will you do to help?
1. What type of writing is this passage?| A．Argumentative writing. | B．Narrative writing. |
| C．Expository writing. | D．Advertising writing. |
| A．Entertainment. | B．Economy. |
| C．Education. | D．Environment. |
CLIMATE CHANGE REQUIRES THE WORLD’S ATTENTION
We have known about climate change for decades. There is little doubt that Earth is getting warmer and warmer (see the graph). A warming ocean and atmosphere along with melting ice and rising sea levels provide evidence of a dramatic change in the global climate.
In 2013, a lot of people were shocked by a news photo of a dead polar bear that was found on Norway’s Arctic island of Svalbard. According to the scientists who found its dead body, all that remained of the polar bear was “skin and bones”. An expert who has studied polar bears for many years said that from the position of its dead body, the bear appeared to have starved and died. Experts claimed that low sea-ice levels caused by climate change meant the bear could not hunt seals as before, so it had to travel greater distances in order to find food. This alarming case showed how the increase in temperature had an impact on Earth’s ecology.
Then what is causing the increase in the global average surface temperature? Climate scientists often mention a key climate process called the “greenhouse effect”, which has two common meanings: the “natural” greenhouse effect and the “man-made” greenhouse effect. The “natural” greenhouse effect refers to the fact that heat from the sun enters the atmosphere and warms Earth’s surface as short-wave radiation. The heat is released back into space at longer wave lengths. Greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, such as methane and carbon dioxide, trap some of the heat, keeping Earth’s climate warm and habitable. Without this process, Earth could not sustain life. However, the “man-made” greenhouse effect has now become a big problem. When people produce huge amounts of extra greenhouse gases by burning fossil fuels, more heat energy is trapped in the atmosphere and causes Earth’s surface temperature to rise quickly.
There is strong and comprehensive evidence that the rise in temperature has led to an increase in extreme weather and natural disasters worldwide, not only causing serious damage, but also costing human lives. Climate scientists have warned that if we do not take appropriate actions, this warming trend will probably continue and there will be a higher price to pay. In fact, news reports are frequently broadcast about extreme rainstorms and heatwaves causing deaths and economic losses.
Continued greenhouse gas emissions will result in further warming and long-lasting changes to the global climate. This requires the attention of people all over the world. Governments need to consider making policies and taking appropriate actions and measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. We as individuals can also reduce our “carbon footprint” by restricting the amount of carbon dioxide our lifestyles produce. It is our responsibility to seize every opportunity to educate everyone about global warming, along with its causes and impacts, because this is the most serious issue affecting all of us on this planet. So what will you do to help?
1. What is the graph about? What information can you get from it?2. Have you ever seen the photo before? What might be the story behind it?
5 . “If you look at where hydrogen is going to be produced in Europe in the next million years, it’s in two countries, Spain and Portugal,” said Thierry Lepercq, the founder and president of HyDeal Ambition, an industry platform bringing together 30 companies. “Hydrogen is the new oil.”
Lepercq is working with companies like Spanish gas pipeline corporation Enagas and global steel giant ArcelorMittal to design an end-to-end model for hydrogen production, distribution and supply at a competitive price. Criticism has centered on green hydrogen’s higher cost compared with highly-polluting “gray hydrogen” drawn from natural gas. Lepercq argues that solar energy produced in Spain is priced low enough to compete.
Globally, Lepercq said, “Electricity is 20% of energy consumption. What about the 80% that is not electrified? ... You need to replace those fossil fuels. Not in 50 years’ time. You need to replace them now.”
What can be inferred about green hydrogen in Spain according to Lepercq?| A．It is highly priced. | B．It is easy to store. |
| C．It is competitive. | D．It is highly-polluting. |
6 . But, it doesn’t have to be all bad news. “One major motivation in studying the link between climate change and human-wildlife conflicts is finding solutions,” said Abrahms. “As we learn about specific incidents, we can identify patterns and tends-and come up with interventions(干预) to try to address these conflicts.”
Some interventions maybe as simple as public-awareness campaigns. Governments can also plan forties when extreme climate events will bring people and wild if e into closer contact. “Once you know the root causes of a conflict, you can design interventions to help both people and wildlife,” said Abrahms. “We can change.”
What does Abrahms think of interventions?| A．They are too simple. | B．They are out-of-date. |
| C．They are changeable. | D．They are beneficial. |
7 . As cultural symbols go, the American car is quite young. The Model T Ford was built at the Piquette Plant in Michigan a century ago, with the first rolling off the assembly line (装配线) on September 27, 1908. Only eleven cars were produced the next month. But eventually Henry Ford would build fifteen million of them.
Modern America was born on the road, behind a wheel. The car shaped some of the most lasting aspects of American culture: the roadside diner, the billboard, the motel, even the hamburger. For most of the last century, the car represented what it meant to be American—going forward at high speed to find new worlds. The road novel, the road movie, these are the most typical American ideas, born of abundant petrol, cheap cars and a never-ending interstate highway system, the largest public works project in history.
In 1928 Herbert Hoover imagined an America with “a chicken in every pot and a car in every garage.” Since then, this society has moved onward, never looking back, as the car transformed America from a farm-based society into an industrial
The cars that drove the American Dream have helped to create a global ecological disaster. In America the demand for oil has grown by 22 percent since 1990.
The problems of excessive (过度的) energy consumption, climate change and population growth have been described in a book by the American writer Thomas L. Friedman. He fears the worst, but hopes for the best.
Friedman points out that the green economy (经济) is a chance to keep American strength. “The ability to design, build and export green technologies for producing clean water, clean air and healthy and abundant food is going to be the currency of power in the new century.”
What has the use of cars in America led to?
| A．Decline of economy. |
| B．Environmental problems. |
| C．A shortage of oil supply. |
| D．A farm-based society. |
8 . California has lost half its big trees since the 1930s, according to a study to be published Tuesday and climate change seems to be a major factor(因素).
The number of trees larger than two feet across has declined by 50 percent on more than 46, 000 square miles of California forests, the new study finds. No area was spared or unaffected, from the foggy northern coast to the Sierra Nevada Mountains to the San Gabriels above Los Angeles. In the Sierra high country, the number of big trees has fallen by more than 55 percent; in parts of southern California the decline was nearly 75 percent.
Many factors contributed to the decline, said Patrick McIntyre, an ecologist who was the lead author of the study. Woodcutters targeted big trees. Housing development pushed into the woods. Aggressive wildfire control has left California forests crowded with small trees that compete with big trees for resources(资源).
But in comparing a study of California forests done in the 1920s and 1930s with another one between 2001 and 2010, McIntyre and his colleagues documented a widespread death of big trees that was evident even in wildlands protected from woodcutting or development.
The loss of big trees was greatest in areas where trees had suffered the greatest water shortage. The researchers figured out water stress with a computer model that calculated how much water trees were getting in comparison with how much they needed, taking into account such things as rainfall, air temperature, dampness of soil, and the timing of snowmelt(融雪).
Since the 1930s, McIntyre said, the biggest factors driving up water stress in the state have been rising temperatures, which cause trees to lose more water to the air, and earlier snowmelt, which reduces the water supply available to trees during the dry season.
What is a major cause of the water shortage according to McIntyre?| A．Inadequate snowmelt. |
| B．A longer dry season. |
| C．A warmer climate. |
| D．Dampness of the air. |
9 . New research links outdoor air pollution — even at levels considered safe — to an increased risk of diabetes (糖尿病) globally, according to a study from the VA St. Louis Health Care System. The findings raise the possibility that reducing pollution may lead to a drop in diabetes cases in heavily polluted countries such as India and less polluted ones such as the United States.
Diabetes is one of the fastest growing diseases, affecting more than 500 million people worldwide. The main drivers of diabetes include eating an unhealthy diet, having a sedentary lifestyle and obesity, but the new research indicates the extent to which outdoor air pollution plays a role.
“Our research shows a significant link between air pollution and diabetes globally,” said Ziyad Al-Aly, MD, the study’s senior author and an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Washington. “We found an increased risk, even at low levels of air pollution currently considered safe by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the World Health Organization (WHO). This is important because many industry lobbying (游说) groups argue that current levels are too stringent and should be relaxed. Evidence shows that current levels are still not sufficiently safe and need to be tightened.”
While growing evidence has suggested a link between air pollution and diabetes, researchers have not attempted to quantify that burden until now. “Over the past two decades, there have been bits of research about diabetes and pollution,” said Al-Aly. “We wanted to thread together the pieces for a broader, more solid understanding.”
The researchers also found that the overall risk of pollution-related diabetes tilted (倾斜) more toward lower-income countries such as India that lack the resources for environmental mitigation systems and clean-air policies. For instance, poverty-stricken countries facing a higher diabetes-pollution risk include Afghanistan, Papua New Guinea and Guyana, while richer countries such as France, Finland and Iceland experience a lower risk. The US experiences a medium risk of pollution-related diabetes.
What’s the purpose of Al-Aly’s team?| A．To identify the causes of diabetes. |
| B．To make better air pollution control policies. |
| C．To lead the study of diabetes and air pollution. |
| D．To figure out the link between pollution and diabetes. |
10 . New research links outdoor air pollution — even at levels considered safe — to an increased risk of diabetes (糖尿病) globally, according to a study from the VA St. Louis Health Care System. The findings raise the possibility that reducing pollution may lead to a drop in diabetes cases in heavily polluted countries such as India and less polluted ones such as the United States.
Diabetes is one of the fastest growing diseases, affecting more than 500 million people worldwide. The main drivers of diabetes include eating an unhealthy diet, having a sedentary lifestyle and obesity, but the new research indicates the extent to which outdoor air pollution plays a role.
“Our research shows a significant link between air pollution and diabetes globally,” said Ziyad Al-Aly, MD, the study’s senior author and an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Washington. “We found an increased risk, even at low levels of air pollution currently considered safe by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the World Health Organization (WHO). This is important because many industry lobbying (游说) groups argue that current levels are too stringent and should be relaxed. Evidence shows that current levels are still not sufficiently safe and need to be tightened.”
While growing evidence has suggested a link between air pollution and diabetes, researchers have not attempted to quantify that burden until now. “Over the past two decades, there have been bits of research about diabetes and pollution,” said Al-Aly. “We wanted to thread together the pieces for a broader, more solid understanding.”
The researchers also found that the overall risk of pollution-related diabetes tilted (倾斜) more toward lower-income countries such as India that lack the resources for environmental mitigation systems and clean-air policies. For instance, poverty-stricken countries facing a higher diabetes-pollution risk include Afghanistan, Papua New Guinea and Guyana, while richer countries such as France, Finland and Iceland experience a lower risk. The US experiences a medium risk of pollution-related diabetes.
What can be the best title for the text?| A．Current pollution control levels need to be tightened |
| B．Diabetes is one of the fastest growing diseases globally |
| C．Air pollution contributes significantly to diabetes globally |
| D．Poverty-stricken countries face a higher diabetes-pollution risk |
