1 . Humankind’s growing need for food is in conflict with thousands of other species’ need for space. By 2050, humans may need to clear an additional 3.35 million square kilometers of land for agriculture. Changing the largely natural habitat would remove more than 17,000 species from the land, researchers report in Nature Sustainability.
“But changing how, where and what food is grown can reduce the effect,” says scientist David Williams of the University of Leeds. “We can feed the planet without making it too bad.”
To figure out how, Williams and his colleagues first identified habitat most likely to be cleared for cropland. The team then calculated how much food 152 countries would need to feed their growing population and mapped where crops would likely be grown in each, based on past land use changes. By 2050, the world’s 13 million square kilometers of cropland would need to increase by 26 percent, the team found. That growth is largely concentrated in Sub-Saharan Africa, South and Southeast Asia.
The researchers then put these estimates (估计) on distribution (分布) maps of nearly 20,000 species. While almost all of these species would lose some habitat, the team estimated 1,280 species would lose at least 25 percent of their range and that 96 species would lose at least 75 percent.
“Changing the global food system could cut these losses,” the team says. Among the changes are improving crop output and increasing food imports for food-poor countries. Adopting these measures would actually reduce the world’s cropland area by 3.4 million square kilometers by 2050 and result in just 33 species losing more than a quarter of their natural range, the team found. “Achieving that may be difficult and needs governments’ effort,” Williams says, “but emptying our plates at the family dinner tables could still have big effects.” “The world needs to feed a growing population, but it can be done more sustainably (可持续地),” he says.
1. What will cause danger for species’ natural habitat in the future?| A．Growing human population. | B．Reduction in cropland. |
| C．Agricultural revolution. | D．Change in food planting. |
| A．Scientific tests. | B．Accurate data calculation. |
| C．Reasonable estimates. | D．Previous research results. |
| A．Export more food. | B．Reduce food waste. |
| C．Improve crop output. | D．Protect wild animals. |
| A．To describe a natural law. | B．To state a scientific discovery. |
| C．To introduce a biological opinion. | D．To discuss an environmental problem. |
1. 目前汽车带来的空气污染和交通堵塞问题；
2. 骑自行车的益处，既能环保，有利健康等。
注意：1. 词数100左右；
2. 可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯；
参考词汇：低碳生活 (low-carbon life)；节能 (energy saving)
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3 . Nature is all about relationships: the interconnected links between the living and lifeless, and how they harmonize beautifully into a whole that might not be immediately apparent to us humans, as the complexities of the world sometimes escape the grasp of our relatively short-sighted understanding. Perhaps that's why the urgency of the climate crisis and other environ-mental issues don't truly hit home for some; because that important data is presented in a dry, factual way that doesn't touch the deeper parts of our collective soul, in a way that would move us to realize what is being lost.
Clare Celeste is an environmentally-minded artist creating artworks that aim to highlight the precious biodiversity of the planet. Using paper that is complexly cut and then hand-assembled piece by piece, Celeste forms imaginary landscapes of plants and animals that are folded or pressed between glass.
Growing up in Brazil, Celeste says that her earliest childhood memories were of green, tropical ecosystems slowly being eaten up by the rapid expansion of nearby cities.
Celeste said, “When I made a series of combinations, I realized that many of the species in the illustrations had already gone extinct. Humans have wiped out 68 percent of all our planet's biodiversity since 1970, so working with old illustrations can be very heartbreaking as much of the diversity in these beautiful old illustrations has been wiped out by human activities.”
Celeste explains some of the motivations behind this series of paper works: “I wanted to convey the beauty of our planet's plants and animals, while also introducing a more architectural or human-made element with the geometric (几何图形的) patterns. Having grown up in Brazil, I was surrounded by dense urban spaces that often had rich jungle growth just wanting to break through the concrete architecture. I suggest we go back to our love: our love of nature, of our children, of future generations. Because when we love something deeply, we are required to act—to save it when it is threatened.”
1. What can we infer from the first paragraph?| A．People are connected with each other. |
| B．People find data on nature boring to study. |
| C．People can't solve the climate crisis on their own. |
| D．People don't fully understand environmental issues. |
| A．Cities were rich in green plants. |
| B．Buildings were decorated with plants. |
| C．Urbanization destroyed the local biodiversity. |
| D．Nature was a mixture of natural artworks. |
| A．Most species die without adapting to environment. |
| B．Humans feel painful at the loss of species. |
| C．Her paper cuts represent the extinction of species. |
| D．Human activities have severely damaged biodiversity. |
| A．The desire to protect the biodiversity. |
| B．The desire for a good childhood memory. |
| C．The idea of imagining landscapes. |
| D．The hope of preserving natural beauty. |
4 . The permafrost (永久冻土) is melting fast... that’s bad news, because these frozen soils store billions of tons of carbon dioxide, just waiting to be released. So is there a way to save the permafrost? One team of researchers thinks it may have found a possible solution: big animals and herbivores (食草动物).
Back 1996, researchers started an experiment called Pleistocene Park. They fenced about eight square miles of land in northeast Siberia. And then they introduced different types herbivores: horses, sheep and other large creatures. Since then, scientists have studied these animals effects on the ecosystem. One outcome is that these large herbivores help keep the ground very cold-cooler than it would otherwise be.
“The snow in winter is important to soil temperature, because it acts as an insulating layer (隔绝层). So the air in winter, at the high altitudes, is much colder than the soil,” Philipp Porada, ecologist at the University of Hamburg said. So the idea of this experiment was to introduce large herbivores to quantify their effects on soil temperature and see if they can actually protect permafrost soils against melting. And this works because the animals’ trampling (踩踏) leads to less insulation of the soil against cold air temperatures and results in a cooling effect.
Porada and his colleagues realized the significance of this effect, so they pulled data from Pleistocene Park to model what effect herbivores could have on permafrost if they lived in large numbers in the Arctic.
Porada said, “These herbivores in the model reduce soil temperature greatly, by 1.7 grees on average. And this leads a preservation of around 80 percent of today s permafrost area. And without the herbivore effect in the model, we found that only 50 percent of the permafrost area would remain by the year 2100.”
1. What will the permafrost’s melting result in?| A．The decrease air. | B．The cooling effect. |
| C．The rise the surrounding temperature. | D．The increase in herbivores. |
| A．They can make more insulating layers. |
| B．They can protect the snow on the ground. |
| C．They make the ground release lots of carbon. |
| D．They make cold air reach the soil more easily. |
| A．It remains to be checked. | B．It’s unreasonable. |
| C．It’s significant. | D．It has been used widely. |
| A．The herbivores could lead to the preservation of permafrost. |
| B．The herbivores would help find more permafrost areas. |
| C．The temperature would increase greatly in the future. |
| D．Only half of the permafrost would remain by the year 2100. |
5 . Coral reefs (珊瑚礁)are in great danger ,due to warming oceans. Conservationists are worried about how to save them, but a new study might come as music to their ears.
A team of scientists came up with an unusual idea to play underwater sounds along degraded(退化) coral reefs of Australia's Great Barrier Reef that would copy the usual noises heard on a healthy and active reef. When they did so, they found that fish were attracted to the music and more willing to hang around.
Dr. Stephen Simpson, a researcher at the University of Exeter, UK, said that coral reefs are remarkably noisy places full of various sounds. Young fish will be attracted to these sounds after they spent their early stage in the open ocean. However, once a reef becomes degraded, it smells and sounds less attractive to the young fish, who choose to settle elsewhere, thus speeding up further degradation of the reef.
In the experiment, reefs were given one of three experimental treatments. They either had no loudspeaker, a fake loudspeaker, or a real loudspeaker that played reef sounds. Playback occurred for 40 days, always at nighttime, which is when fish settlement typically occurs.
After 40 days, there were twice as many young fish on reefs with real loudspeakers than the other two kinds of reefs, with no significant differences between the two control treatments. And biodiversity also increased by 50 %, with more species attracted to the sound.
While the presence of fish alone cannot restore a coral reef to good health, study author Dr. Mark Meekan explained that “recovery is encouraged by fish that clean the reefs and create space for corals to regrow”. This could promote a “snowball effect”, with other fish responding positively to communities founded earlier, causing further increases in settlement.
The researchers hope that this discovery can add to reef restoration efforts because, at this point ,the reefs need all the help they can get.
1. How will conservationists feel about the new study?| A．Hopeful. | B．Amused. | C．Worried. | D．Uncertain. |
| A．To explain the importance of sounds to corals. |
| B．To figure out the effect of some sounds on fish. |
| C．To prove the relationship between fish and corals. |
| D．To show fish prefer to gather around loudspeakers. |
| A．They can provide food for corals. |
| B．They can make beautiful music for corals. |
| C．They can cure unhealthy corals of diseases. |
| D．They can create room for the growth of corals. |
| A．Fish Can Help Degraded Corals Produce Music |
| B．Reef Music Attracts Young Fish to Degraded Corals |
| C．Pleasant Music Can Help Coral Reefs Grow Healthily |
| D．Degraded Coral Reefs Can Create Music to Attract Fish |
6 . In recent years, Ethiopia has become a regional leader in solid waste management. Last year, the country transformed the landfill (垃圾填埋场) in Addis Ababa into a new waste-to-energy plant, the first such project on the continent. The plant incinerates up to 1, 400 tonnes of waste every day, about 80 percent of the city's rubbish, supplying the capital with 25 percent of its household electricity needs.
However, despite these important steps, challenges remain in Ethiopia. Although the country has permitted the Basel, Stockholm and Rotterdam conventions, laws and policies for environmentally sound management of hazardous (有害的) wastes are still not effective in pre- venting littering waste illegally.
To help Ethiopia meet these challenges, the Chemicals and Waste Management Program is supporting the country with a three-year project to enhance its capacity for sound management of hazardous wastes.
In the initial stages, a project management unit will be formed, made up of many representatives from government departments and private organizations. This unit will be responsible for reviewing and assessing Ethiopia's current legal system, which, despite numerous advances in recent years, does not specifically target the recycling of hazardous waste. Once legal gaps are identified, the project will seek to update existing policies and strategies.
Many people in Ethiopia are not aware of the possible effect of environmental damage and the need to report such crimes to the police. To resolve this pressing issue, Ethiopia will be conducting a series of capacity-building activities, including creating awareness-raising programs, training trainers and providing equipment.
Ethiopia will also work to establish a national mechanism for chemicals and waste management by engaging government departments and civil society groups. Authorities will also make budgetary provisions (预算拨款) in national, regional and institutional planning to ensure funding for these activities is sustainable even after the project's completion.
1. Which can replace the underlined word “incinerates” in paragraph 1?| A．Produces. | B．Burns. | C．Gathers. | D．Absorbs. |
| A．The relevant laws are not sound. | B．The shortage of workers is severe. |
| C．The pollution level is too high. | D．The funds are not sufficient. |
| A．Restrict their environmental movement. | B．Call on them to start some programs. |
| C．Reward them with budgetary provisions. | D．Raise their environmental awareness. |
| A．Ethiopia is facing serious environmental problems. |
| B．Ethiopia has achieved success in waste management. |
| C．Ethiopia is putting efforts into waste management. |
| D．Ethiopia has reduced environmental pollution levels. |
7 . Extreme heat can kill people, even though most of the deaths are preventable. It is reported that in the 24 years between 1979 and 2003 more people died in the United States of extreme heat than from hurricanes, lightning, tornadoes, floods and earthquakes.
| A．How can we survive it? |
| B．Extreme heat can also bring wildfires. |
| C．It is clear that the world is getting warmer. |
| D．Very often you can see such a terrible circle! |
| E．It is also reasonable to realize the man’s effect on the world’s weather. |
| F．How can people predict extreme heat according to the climate change? |
| G．Great damage can be caused in a short time if quick action is not taken. |
1.感谢外国友人的夸赞；
2.列举中国环保措施；
3.表达祝愿。
注意：1.词数80左右；
2.可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
Dear David,
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Yours
Li Hua
