1 . Nearly 40 years ago, Peter Harrison, a marine ecologist witnessed the first recorded large-scale coral bleaching（珊瑚白化）event. Diving in the Great Barrier Reef（大堡礁）, he was shocked by the scene before him. "The reef was made up of healthy corals and badly bleached white corals, like the beginnings of a ghost city," he says. Just months before, the same site was filled with colorful tropical life.
"Many of the hundreds of corals that I'd carefully tagged and monitored finally died," he says. "It was shocking and made me aware of just how weak these corals really are.”
Coral exists together with photosynthetic algae（藻类）, which live in its tissues and provide essential nutrition（and coloration）. But high temperatures and other stresses can turn algae poisonous. When this occurs, the algae may die or be removed by the coral, a process known as bleaching because the coral's clear tissue and white calcium carbonate skeleton（碳酸钙骨骼）are exposed. If the coral can't reestablish its link with algae, it will starve or become ill.
The widespread destruction Harrison saw in 1982 was repeated on many other Pacific Ocean reefs that year and the next. In 1997 and 1998 the phenomenon went global, killing some 16 percent of the world's corals. With rising temperatures, pollution, disease, increased ocean acidity, invasive species, and other dangers, Harrison's ghost cities are expanding
Scientists suppose that about four decades ago severe bleaching occurred roughly every 25 years, giving corals time to recover. But bleaching events are coming faster now—about every six years—and in some places soon they could begin to happen annually.
"The absolute key is dealing with global warming," says marine biologist Terry Hughes. "No matter how much we clean up the water, the reefs will die." In 2016, a record-hot year in a string of them, 91 percent of the reefs that consist of the Great Barrier Reef bleached.
1. Peter Harrison was shocked when diving in the Great Barrier Reef, because___________.| A．the reefs were made up of precious corals | B．the corals were ruined badly and quickly |
| C．he found a ghost city with tropical life | D．he saw the corals he had tagged before |
| A．the causes of coral bleaching | B．the weakness of corals and algae |
| C．the elements that make algae die | D．the process of building a link with algae |
| A．global warming | B．the polluted ocean | C．the white corals | D．invasive species |
| A．With algae living in its tissues, coral's white skeleton is exposed. |
| B．Solving global warming is the real solution to coral bleaching. |
| C．The reefs die because the water hasn't been cleaned thoroughly |
| D．The severest coral bleaching occurred about four decades ago. |
Over the last 200 years, humans have become the dominant species on earth. As a result, the natural world
Therefore, many environmentalists are turning to “rewilding”,
For these projects to succeed, they need
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 . I looked out of the door of my 100 year-old house and saw my newly built garden. I realized nothing is rubbish. I was full of
I
My neighbors would put the autumn
Nothing has to be really
| A．joy | B．sympathy | C．doubt | D．regret |
| A．refused | B．hesitated | C．liked | D．started |
| A．wealth | B．garbage | C．investments | D．necessities |
| A．packed up | B．brought up | C．threw away | D．gave away |
| A．value | B．request | C．confusion | D．consequence |
| A．own | B．find | C．forget | D．lose |
| A．collecting | B．recovering | C．recycling | D．competing |
| A．sorting | B．picking | C．spotting | D．recording |
| A．uniform | B．broken | C．limitless | D．separate |
| A．fruit | B．rice | C．leaves | D．vegetables |
| A．compare | B．deal | C．communicate | D．fit |
| A．platform | B．garden | C．picture | D．schedule |
| A．building | B．tent | C．sign | D．show |
| A．piled | B．polished | C．decorated | D．cleaned |
| A．unwillingly | B．hardly | C．seriously | D．casually |
| A．submitted | B．sowed | C．removed | D．reserved |
| A．smelly | B．annoying | C．imaginary | D．attractive |
| A．useless | B．careless | C．priceless | D．defenseless |
| A．pleasant | B．vivid | C．violent | D．disgusting |
| A．trouble | B．treasure | C．terror | D．trade |
5 . Would you sail over 12,900 kilometres across the Pacific Ocean in a boat made from plastic bottles?
In 2010, a crew of six people did. They sailed on the Plastiki, an 18.3-metre boat made from recycled materials. Everything about the Plastiki was environmentally friendly. The sails were produced from recycled plastic and the masts that held them from used aluminum pipes. Organic materials, such as glue made from nuts and sugar, were used to keep the bottles in place. To power the boat, solar panels and wind turbines were used.
During the journey, crew members lived in a plastic cabin. Their daily routine consisted of sleeping, eating and doing chores. For food, they mainly survived on fresh vegetables grown in a hanging garden as well as canned and dried food. They also ate fresh fish, but were surprised to discover that they found more plastic than fish. “From above, the oceans still look beautiful and untouched,” David said, “but just below the surface is this toxic stew that could quickly end up on our dinner plates.”
The leader, David, organised the voyage in order to draw people’s attention to the environmental dangers our oceans face and the need to recycle plastic. He planned to visit damaged coral reefs and islands in danger from rising sea levels. However, his most important objective was to see the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a huge mass of plastic particles floating in the North Pacific. David hoped that, by sailing through the Patch, he could show the world how serious plastic pollution had become.
Unfortunately, the Plastiki was more difficult to control than expected. Therefore, the boat missed its main destination. However, the crew did make stops at islands in the mid-Pacific, where they picked up supplies and talked to local students. Along the way, they battled fierce ocean storms, torn sails and temperatures that reached up to 38°C.
When the Plastiki finally sailed into Sydney’s harbour, the crew were greeted by cheers. The Plastiki’s journey had shown that if we understand how to use waste materials efficiently, they can be transformed into valuable resources. It had also revealed that it was more important than ever to deliver a serious message: our oceans are filling up with plastic faster than we thought.
1. What was special about the Plastiki?| A．It had high-tech equipment. | B．It was made of green materials. |
| C．It once crossed the Pacific Ocean. | D．It had a professional crew on it. |
| A．To protect endangered ocean life. | B．To test the safety of a new boat. |
| C．To stop people using plastic products. | D．To highlight the plastic waste problem. |
| A．Boring but carbon-free. | B．Controversial but fruitful. |
| C．Aimless but comfortable. | D．Challenging but significant. |
| A．Limited resources should be valued. |
| B．Actions must be taken by individuals. |
| C．Plastic waste can be turned into treasure. |
| D．Environmental problems can be easily solved. |
6 . During a decline in tourism, one national park in Thailand has witnessed a dramatic rise in “visitors” recently. So many are the hermit crabs（寄居蟹）flooding into the otherwise empty beaches of Koh Lanta that shells for them to live in have become in short supply.
The Thai government moved quickly to ease the housing shortage, launching a public appeal for empty shells that netted over 200kg. On December 5 these were distributed around the park in a ceremony.
Hermit crabs rely on shells to protect their soft bodies, moving to larger shells as they grow. On Koh Lanta and the surrounding smaller islands, their rapid increase seems to be a natural phenomenon, rather than directly related to the absence of tourists. But the shortage of shells maybe man-made: pretty ones have long been gathered to be sold as goods. Crabs had begun to make do with potential death-traps such as plastic caps and bottles.
The shell drive was part of a government initiative to “regain the balance of nature”. “I have instructed all national parks to do whatever it takes,” says Varawut Silpa-archa, the minister for natural resources. His inspiration comes from the pause in tourism brought on by COVID-19. A ban on international visitors and the closure of national parks have helped nature recover, bringing endangered leatherback turtles back onto Thai beaches. In the coastal provinces of Phang Nga and Phuket, turtles have laid the largest number of eggs for 20 years.
The government has decided to try to copy the short break forced on it by COVID-19 in future. From now on, all national parks will be required to close for a short period during the off season and to limit the number of tourists through a reservation system when they are open. Although such restrictions mean reduced earnings from tourism in the short term, in the longer run more parks may help to keep the tourists coming.
1. What happened to the beaches of Koh Lanta recently?| A．They saw a constant stream of tourists. | B．They were packed with hermit crabs. |
| C．They became completely empty. | D．They got flooded by seawater. |
| A．Supportive. | B．Indifferent. |
| C．Critical. | D．Not mentioned. |
| A．To warn turtles are dying out. |
| B．To stress ecological diversity of Thailand. |
| C．To illustrate the birth of Varawut’s inspiration. |
| D．To prove beaches are their ideal habitats. |
| A．Authorities Help to Find Shelters for Homeless Hermit Crabs |
| B．Developing Economy or Protecting Animals? |
| C．Governments Are Responsible for the Balance of Nature |
| D．Closing National Parks or Drawing More Visitors? |
The public nowadays has a
After a forest fire, many wildlife species will move into
If you are asked to picture the forest floor,
Exploring Beyond
Following the call of our restless genes has not ended well for all explorers. The British explorer Captain James Cook died in a fight with Hawaiians ten years after he received the precious map from Tupaia. His death, some say, brought to a close
NASA's Michael Barratt—a doctor, diver, and jet pilot; a sailor for 40 years; an astronaut for 12—is among those
Not all of us
9 . For 30 years we have been told how temperatures have been rising rapidly to unheard of levels. This is causing polar ice to melt, sea-levels to rise and has brought about a dangerous increase in extreme weather events. These intense climatic changes would likely present challenges to our society and environment.
The causes of climate change are mainly anthropogenic (人为的) in nature. Since the industrial revolution, human activities have increased the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. The increased amount of gases which absorb heat has led to more heat being kept in the atmosphere, causing global warming.
The certainty of global warming can be seen through some of the natural phenomena like the effect on crops and extreme weather conditions around the world. The most recent assessment report says that the earth’s average temperature has risen by 0. 74 degrees in the period from 1906 to 2005, and that the average temperature will continue to rise. There have also been more violent downpours, sea levels have risen and the ice at the world’s poles and on its mountains is melting. The rising sea level is flooding the low-lying countries in Asia and small islands in the Pacific. This may lead to the displacement of millions of people, loss of millions of land and consequently billions of dollars.
Troubled by the serious situation, world leaders came together for the 2015 United Nations (UN) Climate Change Conference in Paris. The climate talks led to 196 countries reaching a landmark agreement that will, for the first time, commit nearly every country to lowering planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions to address global climate change. That was certainly an encouraging step forward for our earth and mankind!
As the world leaders continue to commit themselves to monitor our sick planet, we need to continue to take small steps to heal the world. We are left with not much of a choice. If only we could just pack our bags and migrate to Mars!
1. What does paragraph 2 mainly talk about?| A．The information of industrial revolution. |
| B．The greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. |
| C．The reasons of climate change. |
| D．The result of extreme weather events. |
| A．We have made great achievements. |
| B．Some measures are still required to take. |
| C．Mars is suitable for people’s living. |
| D．Some countries will receive urgent aid. |
| A．Long Live Planet Earth! |
| B．Environment Changes Rapidly! |
| C．What Serious Global Warming! |
| D．How Important the UN Agreement Is! |
A． | B． |
C． | D． |
10 . Although billions of locusts(蝗虫) appearing on East African countries greatly panicked farmers in 2020, they managed to see through this unexpected crisis. “Their success primarily results from a technology-driven anti-locust operation,” said Mr. Cressman, an officer in the UN Food and Agriculture Organization.
Normally, these locusts live alone across the deserts of North Africa, Southwest Asia and the Middle East. But when rains arrive, they change from a slightly brown into a deep yellow and form groups of more than 15 million insects per square mile. Such quantities of locusts can consume the equivalent amount of food in a single day as more than 13 000 people.
Locust trackers in Sudan and Eritrea find the insects by using a tablet-based program to transmit data to authorities so experts can design appropriate control strategies. But people who want to use this system might encounter a technological problem: The version of the tablets that the locust-tracking program was written for is not manufactured and newer tablets are unsuitable for the software.
Rather than rewriting the locust-tracking software for newer tablets, Mr. Cressman thought creating a simple smartphone app would make anyone collect data like an expert. He sought help from Dr. Hughes, who had already created PlantVillage to track a crop pest. Borrowing from this blueprint Dr. Hughes and his colleagues completed eLocust3m, which anyone with a smartphone can use. The app presents photos of locusts at different stages of their life cycles, which helps users diagnose what they see in the field. The locations are then automatically recorded by GPS and algorithms(算法) double check submitted photos. If necessary, pesticide-spraying aircraft will take position.
The F.A.O. estimates that this effort in East Africa has prevented the loss of agricultural products with a commercial value of $ 1.5 billion, saving the livelihood of 34 million people.
1. What does the author intend to do in Paragraph 2?| A．Summarize the previous paragraph. | B．Provide scientific data for readers. |
| C．Add some background information. | D．Introduce a new topic for discussion. |
| A．The low adaptability of the software. | B．Too many versions of new tablets. |
| C．The complex process of transmitting data. | D．The urgency of rewriting the software. |
| A．Cressman created a smartphone app. |
| B．ELocust3m is based on PlantVillage. |
| C．Operating ELocust3m needs much training. |
| D．Users should record where they find locusts. |
A． | B． | C． | D． |
