Qian Li Wei: Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, As
Ms Lin suggested that we should cut back
What we need are better
2 . Children need to be prepared for an earthquake as much as adults, if not more.
Infants and Toddlers (初学走路的儿童) For infants and toddlers, special emphasis should be placed on making their environment as safe as possible. The beds should be placed away from windows and tall bookcases that could slide or fall. A minimum of a 72-hour supply of extra water, bottles, food, juices, clothing and medications should be stored where it is most likely to be reached after an earthquake. Also keep an extra bag with these things in your car. Install bumper pads (防撞垫) to protect babies during the shaking. Install latches (闩锁) on all cupboards (not just those young children can reach) so that nothing can fall on your baby during a quake.
Preschool and School-age Children By age three or so, children can understand what an earthquake is and how to get ready for one. Take the time to explain what causes earthquakes in terms they understand. Include your children in family discussions and planning for earthquake safety. Conduct drills and review safety procedures every six months. Show children the safest places to be in each room when an earthquake hits. Also show them all possible exits from each room. Teach children what to do wherever they are during an earthquake (at school, in a tall building, outdoors). Make sure children’s emergency cards at school are up-to-date. It’s important that they know what gas smells like. Advise children to tell an adult if they smell gas after an earthquake.
1. What kind of people does the passage aim at?| A．Children | B．Adults | C．Students | D．Parents |
| A．Placing the bed away from windows. | B．Explaining the causes of an earthquake. |
| C．Showing children the safest places. | D．Pointing the exits of each room to them. |
| A．run away | B．tell an adult |
| C．hide in the safe place | D．look for the exits |
The heat wave that broke high temperature records in five European countries a week ago is now over Greenland,
Melting
Greenland, the world’s
4 . I strongly believe that individual actions make a difference to our environment. I’ve been a vegetarian for more than two decades, choose to be child-free partially because I can’t justify my genes’ importance over the shocking amount of resources needed for raising another American, and haven’t owned a car in four years. Those things, over time, will absolutely reduce my impact on our beautiful world, and the more people do them, the greater the impact is.
But it’s not nearly enough.
While I will continue to do my part to fight climate change, I have to wonder why there isn’t an equal effort by those who have the biggest impact. According to a recent report, 71% of greenhouse gases are produced by just 100 companies. Surely, working to minimize their emissions (排放物) will do far more, much faster than me talking people’s ears off on Facebook about eating less meat. After all, I have been doing that kind of work for 20 years now, and we are still headed towards climate disaster.
Why should so much of the solution to global warming be on the shoulders of individuals?
When President Kennedy decided we needed to beat the Russians to the moon landing, he didn’t encourage housewives to figure out bow to get there. He got the smartest and most talented people together to solve the challenges. NASA got us there, with lots of hard work and late nights, and also full encouragement and funding from the US government.
But this is not the case with climate change. Big companies are let off the hook while we take on the huge burden of dealing with the emissions of the biggest and most powerful. That strikes me as just plain unfair. The serious threats of climate change require an all-hand-on-deck response. Corporations need to do their part, because I can’t do it on my own.
1. Why does the author choose not to have a child?| A．America doesn’t have large amounts of resources. |
| B．A child can’t justify the importance of her genes. |
| C．She tries to avoid the trouble of raising a child. |
| D．She wants to reduce her impact on the environment. |
| A．Minimizing companies’ emissions. |
| B．Recommending a vegetarian diet. |
| C．Talking with friends on Facebook. |
| D．Heading towards climate disaster. |
| A．To praise housewives’ contribution. |
| B．To remember a former president. |
| C．To stress the importance of government’s role. |
| D．To encourage NASA to take on the challenge. |
5 . Steven Stein likes to track garbage trucks. He says, “It’s hard to resist.” Stein’s strange habit makes sense when you consider that he’s an environmental scientist who studies how to reduce litter, including stuff that falls off garbage trucks as they run down the road. What is even more interesting is that one of Stein’s current plans is defending an industry behind a source of trash: plastic shopping bags.
Americans use more than 100 million plastic bags every year. So many end up in tree branches or along highways that a growing number of cities are banishing (排除) them from checkout lines. The bags are outlawed in some places in the USA.
Facing these situations, plastic-bag manufacturers are hiring scientists like Stein to make the case that their products are not as bad for the planet as most people assume. “It’s important to base your decisions on facts,” says Stan Bikulege, CEO of Hilex Poly, which has hired Stein.
Among the bag makers’ argument: many cities with bans still allow shoppers to purchase paper bags, which are easily recycled but require more energy to produce and transport. And while plastic bags may be ugly to look at, they represent a small percentage of all garbage on the ground today.
The industry has also taken aim at the product that can take the place of plastic bags: reusable shopping bags. The sturdier a reusable bag is, the longer its life and the more plastic-bag use it cancels out. But this plan has another side. Longer-lasting reusable bags often require more energy to make.
Environmentalists don’t agree with these points. They hope paper bags will be banned someday too and want shoppers to use the same reusable bags for years. So are reusables our destiny? The answer is probably yes. And Andy Keller, inventor of reusable polyester (聚酯纤维) bags, says, ”If you can carry it out in your hands or put it back in your car, you don’t need a bag.”
1. The first paragraph serves as___________.| A．an explanation | B．an introduction | C．a comment | D．a background |
| A．To collect facts about shopping bags. |
| B．To show plastic bags are eco-friendly. |
| C．To research on people’s consuming habits. |
| D．To prove plastic bags are better than people thought. |
| A．They look a bit ugly. | B．They are easy to break. |
| C．Their prices are comparatively high. | D．Their production is energy-consuming. |
| A．Stronger. | B．Lighter. | C．Heavier. | D．Softer. |
| A．Forget about plastic bags. | B．Paper bags are coming. |
| C．Paper, plastic or neither. | D．A strange scientist. |
6 . An earthquake can strike without warning. But many injuries and deaths from this kind of natural disaster can be prevented if people follow these safety tips.
If you’re inside a building, stay there! One of the most dangerous things to do in an earthquake is to try to leave a building.
If you are trapped in the ruins, cover your mouth with a handkerchief or a piece of clothing. Use your cellphone to call for help if possible. Don’t shout.
Be prepared for aftershocks
| A．Don’t move about or kick up dost. |
| B．If you’re outside, go to an open space. |
| C．Shouting can cause you to breathe in dust. |
| D．Don’t park your car under a tree or any tall object. |
| E．Take a good hold of your cellphone in the building. |
| F．They can happen in the first hours after the earthquake. |
| G．Most injuries happen when people inside buildings try to get out. |
7 . More than half of the food produced in Canada goes to waste. A shocking new study has shown that the level of food waste is far worse than previously thought, at 58%. Of that, about 85% of food waste is due to food processors. This differs from earlier studies, which criticized families for driving food waste and said they were responsible for 51% of food waste.
The study was carried out by Martin Hooch, the leading expert on food waste and the author of several previous studies on the subject. Reflecting on the study’s findings, Hooch said, “It means stopping criticizing consumers. Sure, consumers are part of the problem, but they’re not the problem.”
In the past, Hooch didn’t master good data, particularly from the private factories, but relied on numbers collected by the food industry for purposes other than tracking waste. This time, however, Hooch worked directly with companies at all stages along the food production chain and interviewed over 700 experts in the industry. Clearly he found it hard to believe what he was seeing.
This is what they found: Food processing causes 34% of food waste. This is followed by production, which causes 24%. Next is manufacturing at 13%, then hotels and restaurants at 9%. Families cause only 14%, and market sales 6%. This should be a scrious wake-up call for Canadians who would do well to examine their own food supply chains. Food waste is costly, not only in terms of dollars wasted, but also in resources like land, water, and so on. To be using these resources and wasting the product is totally irresponsible and unnecessary.
To make matters worse, when food is thrown into rubbish cans, it produces methane, a greenhouse gas 30 times more powerful than carbon dioxide (CO2). At Canada’s rate of food waste, that’s like adding 12 million cars to the road. It seems that the food industry needs redesigning. Therefore, let’s hope the government takes action.
1. What did earlier studies say about food waste in Canada?| A．Families were to blame for food waste. | B．Food went bad when it was processed. |
| C．Most of the food was wasted on purpose. | D．Food waste was better than expected. |
| A．By studying data from the industry. | B．By drawing a conclusion from the previous studies. |
| C．By collecting advice from experts worldwide. | D．By tracking the whole production chain. |
| A．Because it is harmful to the trees. | B．Because it produces more greenhouse gas. |
| C．Because it gives off unpleasant smells. | D．Because it pollutes the soil around it. |
| A．Canadians don’t like to save food for future. |
| B．Families are mainly responsible for food waste. |
| C．More than half of the food is wasted in Canada. |
| D．The food industry is better redesigned in Canada. |
8 . After years of heated debate, gray wolves were reintroduced to Yellowstone National Park. Fourteen wolves were caught in Canada and transported to the park. By last year, the Yellowstone wolf population had grown to more than 170 wolves.
Gray wolves once were seen here and there in the Yellowstone area and much of the continental United States, but they were gradually displaced by human development. By the 1920s, wolves had practically disappeared from the Yellowstone area. They went farther north into the deep forests of Canada, where there were fewer humans around.
The disappearance of the wolves had many unexpected results. Deer and elk populations — major food sources (来源) for the wolf — grew rapidly. These animals consumed large amounts of vegetation (植被), which reduced plant diversity in the park. In the absence of wolves, coyote populations also grew quickly. The coyotes killed a large percentage of the park’s red foxes, and completely drove away the park’s beavers.
As early as 1966, biologists asked the government to consider reintroducing wolves to Yellowstone Park. They hoped that wolves would be able to control the elk and coyote problems. Many farmers opposed the plan because they feared that wolves would kill their farm animals or pets.
The government spent nearly 30 years coming up with a plan to reintroduce the wolvers. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service carefully monitors and manages the wolf packs in Yellowstone. Today, the debate continues over how well the gray wolf is fitting in at Yellowstone. Elk, deer, and coyote populations are down, while beavers and red foxes have made a comeback. The Yellowstone wolf project has been a valuable experiment to help biologists decide whether to reintroduce wolves to other parts of the country as well.
1. What is the text mainly about?| A．Wildlife research in the United States. |
| B．Plant diversity in the Yellowstone area. |
| C．The conflict between farmers and gray wolves. |
| D．The reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone Park. |
| A．Damage to local ecology. |
| B．Preservation of vegetation. |
| C．A decline in the park’s income. |
| D．An increase in the variety of animals. |
| A．Doubtful. | B．Uncaring. | C．Positive. | D．Disapproving. |
9 . Tips for Green Travel with Kids
Travelling doesn’t mean letting go of all the eco-friendly choices we work so hard to achieve in our daily life. Here are a few tips for green travel with kids.
Booking nonstop flights whenever possible will reduce carbon emissions (碳排放). If the closest local airport doesn’t have nonstop flights to a certain place, check with other local airports to see if nonstop flights are available.
It’s easy when travelling to pull in to fast food restaurants for snacks.
| A．Walking is good for your health. |
| B．Try to cut back to save water and energy. |
| C．But you can pack healthy food from home. |
| D．Travelling is a great chance to introduce your kids to the world. |
| E．Reusable water bottles are easy to bring along wherever you travel. |
| F．Save energy by turning off the hotel room lights when you head out for the day. |
| G．You might have to drive a bit farther, but saving on carbon emissions makes it worthwhile. |
10 . In the spring and summer months, thunderstorms are common.
It was reported that a man was struck by lightning when he was making a phone call under a tree. He died at once. You may not know it, but nearly 1,800 thunderstorms are happening at any moment around the world.
If you are indoors during a thunderstorm:
*Stay away from anything that is metal because lightning can come into the house through it.
*Don’t stand near the windows.
*Don’t take a shower or bath. Lightning can travel through water.
* Never use the phone.
If you are caught in a thunderstorm outdoors:
*
*Do not go under a tree because the lightning could hit the tree and travel through the tree to hit you.
* Never use a cell phone.
| A．Try to get home as soon as possible. |
| B．Go into a nearby building or car right away. |
| C．But it is very important for us to learn about lightning. |
| D．In fact, many people are killed by lightning every year. |
| E．Lightning could travel through the phone line and hit you. |
| F．Since they happen often, some people don’t take them seriously. |
| G．But you can reduce those chances by following these safety rules. |
