1 . A rare wild flower is being re-established in Devon fields thanks to some four-legged helpers. A conservation charity called Planflife has employed donkeys as “ecosystem engineers”to encourage the return of the endangered small-flowered catchfly.

The catchfly was once found all across Britain but now it only grows in small areas of Wales and the south and west of England. Experts blame its decline on modern farming practices. The flower flourished around the edges of sandy fields where farmers grew their crops, but because of weedkillers that were used to remove “unwanted” plants, and fertilisers to boost crop yields, its habitat has largely disappeared.

Plantlife teamed up with the Donkey Sanctuary, a charity that looks after donkeys in the UK and around the world. It owns several farms across Devon and the UK, where it takes care of hundreds of rescued donkeys, as well as maintaining habitats for other wildlife. More than 20, 000 seeds have been scattered on fields at the sanctuary’s main Devon farm, and it is hoped that many will grow into plants this summer. They will provide food for threatened bird species such as linnets, yellowhammers and skylarks. Plantlife then aims to get the donkeys themselves involved, testing whether catchfly seeds benefit from being trampled into the ground as the donkeys take their exercise. Many plants have seeds that must be pressed into the soil in order to germinate.

“We’re incredibly grateful to partners like the Donkey Sanctuary who are helping these fantastically rare wild flowers come back from the edge of extinction,” Cath Shellswell of Plantlife told The Guardian newspaper. “We look forward to seeing small-flowered catchfly return and we are working with the sanctuary to ensure that this tiny plant has a thriving future. ”

1. Why are donkeys employed in Devon fields?

A．To work in the fields.	B．To restore the catchfly.
C．To avoid extinction.	D．To raise crop yields.

2. What caused the decline of the catchfly’s population?

A．Soil loss.	B．Water pollution.
C．Climate change.	D．Modern agriculture.

3. How do donkeys help the catchfly come back?

A．By pressing its seeds into the soil.	B．By working the land.
C．By providing nutrition for it.	D．By spreading its seeds.

4. What is the best title of the passage?

A．Donkeys help fields flower again.	B．Farmland becomes a natural habitat.
C．The biodiversity forms on Devon farms.	D．The catchfly has a thriving future.

4 . It is long known that there are benefits from being in nature. Living around trees can help you live longer. Walking in the woods is good for your mood. But it’s not just what you see that makes an impact. A group of scientists from the U. S. and Canada studied the advantages of nature using their ears instead of their eyes.

“Our research team studied the acoustic (声学的) environment for quite a few years, but from the view of the negative impacts of noise pollution,” Rachel Buxton, the post-doctoral researcher and bird expert says. “However, I’ve always been curious about what are the beneficial impacts of natural sounds.” Being a bird expert made him interested in sounds.

For their research, Buxton and her team identified three dozen studies that examined the health benefits of natural sound. Some examples they found reported in those studies included decreased pain, lowered stress, improved mood, and better cognitive (认知的) function. With these results in hand, they then listened to audio recordings from 251 sites in 68 national parks across the United States.

“We found many sites beneficial to health in parks—sites with abundant natural sounds and little disturbance from noise,” Buxton says. “Yet, parks that are more heavily visited or near urban areas are more likely to be flooded with noise. That means many park visitors are not gaining the health benefits found in more quiet spaces.”

Interestingly, Buxton says, there was also some evidence that natural sounds have benefits over silence. There was also evidence that more different types of natural sounds—more types of birds singing versus just one type of bird—have benefits over fewer sounds.

“Also, a really interesting result was that listening to natural sounds with road noise had more benefits than just listening to noise,” she says. “So although you might not be getting the same health benefits as a quiet environment with lots of natural sound, even in a city if you have noise in the background, listening to natural sounds still delivers some health benefits.”

1. How does the author introduce the topic of the text?

A．By listing examples.	B．By making a comment.
C．By providing some accurate data.	D．By presenting a widely held view.

2. What is Buxton’s previous study centered on?

A．The bad effects of noises.	B．Birds’ habitat environment.
C．The causes of noise pollution.	D．Humans’ visual interest in nature.

3. Which paragraph best supports “Quiet environment with natural sounds has a better effect”?

A．Paragraph 3.

B．Paragraph 4.

C．Paragraph 5.

D．Paragraph 6.

4. What might be the best title for the text?

A．Advantages of being in nature.	B．Different types of natural sounds.
C．Well-being from sounds of nature.	D．Relationship between sounds and moods.

5 . Noise pollution has a long-term effect on tree populations that may persist even after the sources of noise are removed, according to research published Wednesday.

Man-made noise from industry and the building of infrastructure such as roads and pipelines has increased greatly since the middle of last century. While previous research has documented the short-term effect noise has on tree populations as it scares off pollinators (传粉者) such as insects and animals, few studies have covered the long-term effect.

Researchers in the United States looked at tree populations in New Mexico that had been “hearing”a high level of man-made noise for 15 years. They found 75 percent fewer pinyon pine seedlings (矮松苗) in noisy places than quiet ones.

Then they looked at other places in New Mexico, where sources of noise had recently been added and then removed, and examined how populations recovered. The team assumed that populations of the trees — in this case pinyon seedlings — would recover as the pollinators would return to the places once the noise had disappeared. Instead, they found a long-term drop in seedling numbers as the birds refused to revisit the places.

“The effects of human noise pollution are growing into these woodland communities,” said Clinton Francis, lead researcher from California Polytechnic State University. “What we’re seeing is that removal of the noise doesn’t necessarily immediately result in a recovery of ecological function.”

Jennifer Phillips, co-author of the research, said the findings showed how the effect of noise pollution could put pollinators off even after the noise is removed. “Animals like the birds that are sensitive to noise learn to avoid particular areas.” said Phillips. “It may take time for animals to come back to pollinate trees in these previously noisy areas, and we don’t know how long that might take.”

As governments continue to face growing evidence of the damage to nature caused by urbanization (城市化), Phillips held that the influence of noise pollution should also be factored into planning decisions.

1. What does the underlined word “persist” mean in paragraph 1?

A．Recover.

B．Decrease.

C．Last.

D．Disappear.

2. How did Clinton Franci’s team carry out the research?

A．By studying cases in New Mexico.

B．By challenging the previous research.

C．By recording the routines of pollinators.

D．By following the sources of noise pollution.

3. Which of the following would Phillips most probably agree with?

A．Noise pollution kills large numbers of birds.

B．Governments should take measures to remove noise.

C．Ecological recovery contributes to the removal of noise.

D．It’s hard to tell when birds will revisit previously noisy places.

4. What does the text mainly talk about?

A．Removing noise enables plants to grow better.

B．Pollinators play a role in increasing plant population.

C．Noise pollution has long-term effects on plant populations.

D．Man-made noise does great harm to woodland communities.

6 . 阅读下面短文，在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

Planting trees is a great way to reduce carbon emissions, but protecting our oceans and coastal ecosystems can do the same?

“Blue carbon” refers to organic carbon which     1     (store) by the oceans and coastal ecosystems. Mangroves, tidal marshes and seagrasses are the three main coastal ecosystems that can store large     2     (quantity) of blue carbon. They play a major role in reducing carbon dioxide in the air.

    3     (compare) with ecosystems on the land, coastal ecosystems can store carbon     4     (constant) in the long term. When plants on the coast die, the organic deposits that they become will slowly disappear thanks to the flowing seawater above,     5     means the carbon will not escape easily but remain stored for hundreds and thousands of years.

China is one of the few blessed     6     all three coastal ecosystems. Tidal marshes are the largest coastal ecosystem in China,     7     (occupy) an area of 5,448 square kilometers. In comparison, mangroves have a     8     (small) size. According to the latest data, the total area of China’s mangrove forests in 2020     9     (be) 289 square kilometers, and over 70 square kilometers of mangroves are newly planted and restored now.

By protecting and restoring these coastal ecosystems, we can avoid enormous amounts of stored blue carbon going back into     10     atmosphere, and safeguard wildlife living in these ecosystems.

7 . Over the last two days in December last year, nearly 30 tornadoes caused great damage across six states—from Arkansas in the south to Illinois in the midwest. More than 100 tornado warnings were issued—the most ever for a day. The tornado in Kentucky caused at least 50 people’s deaths, which was described as the worst in this state’s history.

As one of the largest countries in the world, the United States is also one of the most geographically various countries—from deserts to forests to miles of coast line. While this comes with many advantages, it unfortunately leaves the country easily damaged by all kinds of natural disasters.

Different parts of the United States face different types of natural disasters. The west coast is at risk of wildfires, earthquakes, and even volcanic eruptions. The southern part of the country is frequently hit by tornadoes, and the east coast faces the threat of serious hurricanes every year. Midwestern areas near rivers are often flooded by huge floods, and these are the worst floods in American history.

The governments reviewed the weather event in each state’ s history that caused the highest number of deaths to determine the worst natural disaster in every state, Thanks to their location and geographic research, some states made preparations ahead of time to avoid mass-casualty (重大伤亡的) weather events.

However, many other parts of the country have been less fortunate, experiencing massive storms and floods. Many such events, like the 1900 hurricane that hit Galveston of Texas, killed so many people that it was impossible to get an exact number of final deaths, especially during that time.

American weather continues to become more changeable. In 2018, there were 14 weather events that caused over $ 1 billion in damage. And in many parts of the country, these weather events could become even more destructive (毁灭性的) because of global warming.

1. What do we know from the figures in paragraph 1?

A．America suffered from serious natural disasters.

B．Tornadoes were the greatest threat to Americans.

C．The tornado in Kentucky was the worst in America.

D．Less and less natural disasters hit America.

2. What does paragraph 3 mainly talk about?

A．The worst floods in American history.

B．The earthquakes in the west coast of US.

C．The hurricanes along the east coast of US.

D．The natural disasters in different parts of US.

3. Which of the following can best describe American’s weather in the future?

A．Controllable.

B．Unchangeable.

C．Worrying.

D．Pleasant.

4. What may be the best title for the text?

A．A Serious Tornado in Kentucky	B．A Weather Report from the US
C．Tornadoes Causing Great Damage	D．Common Natural Disasters in the US

8 . The San Diego County Water Authority has an unusual plan to use the city’s scenic San Vicente Reservoir (水库) to store solar power so it’s available after sunset. The project could help unlock America’s clean energy future.

Perhaps ten years from now, if all goes smoothly, large underground pipes will connect this lake to a new reservoir, a much smaller one, built in a nearby valley about 1100 feet higher. When the sun is high in the sky, California’s abundant solar power will pump water into that upper reservoir. It’s a way to store the electricity. When the sun goes down and solar power disappears, operators would open a valve (阀门) and the force of 8 million tons of water, falling back downhill through those same pipes, would drive machines capable of producing 500 megawatts of electricity for up to eight hours. That’s enough to power 130, 000 typical homes.

“It’s a water battery!” says Neena Kuzmich, Deputy Director of Engineering for the water authority. She says energy storage facilities like these will be increasingly important as California starts to rely more on energy from wind and solar, which produce electricity on their own schedules, without considering the demands of consumers.

Californians learned this during a heat wave this past summer. “Everybody in the state of California got a text message at 5:30 in the evening to turn off their appliances,” Kuzmich says. The sun was going down, solar generation was disappearing, and the remaining power plants, many of them burning gas, couldn’t keep up with demand. The reminder worked:People stopped using so much power, and the grid (电网) survived.

Yet earlier on that same day, there was so much solar power available that the grid couldn’t take it all. Grid operators turned away more than 2000 megawatt hours of electricity that solar generators could have delivered, enough to power a small city. That electricity was wasted. There was no way to store it for later, when operators desperately needed it.

1. What is the function of Paragraph 2?

A．To present the importance of a reservoir.	B．To recall a situation in recent ten years.
C．To introduce the usage of solar energy.	D．To explain a way to store electricity.

2. What may Neena Kuzmich agree?

A．The reservoir serves to store energy.	B．Californians need little solar energy.
C．People used to waste too much energy.	D．New storage ways are environmentally friendly.

3. Why was a text message sent to everyone in California?

A．To stop people working.	B．To warn people of danger.
C．To tell people the sunset time.	D．To remind people of lack of energy.

4. Which of the following is a suitable title for the text?

A．Scenic San Vicente Reservoir	B．San Diego County Energy Plan
C．Water Batteries to Store Solar Power	D．Machines to Store Water in California

9 . 阅读下面短文，在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

Water shortage is one of the     1     (great) crises facing us today, with two thirds of the global population living in areas     2     water is scarce(稀缺的) for a month or more every year. There are two contributing factors to this problem: increasing global demand     3     water, and unsustainable means by which these demands are being met. Yet, despite global water usage already increasing threefold(三倍) over the last fifty years, it     4    (predict) that there will be a further 60%-100% increase in water usage by 2050.

This is not just     5     matter of turning the tap off when you brush your     6     (tooth), cutting your showers down to 3 minutes, or sharing the washing-load with your flatmates. In fact, daily activities of human make up less than 4% of our total water consumption, with the     7     (remain) 92% falling into two ‘invisible’ categories: the industrial production of household items, and the production of food. Astonishingly, 69% of our total daily water consumption comes from the     8     (grow) and production of food alone.

    9     (unfortunate), there is no single go-to refererence book for the exact number of litres used in the production of any individual food item. This is a hard pill to swallow, for we have other factors     10     (consider) when weighing up the benefits of every food choice: taste, cost and convenience.

10 . Mount Qomolangma, meaning “Holy Mother” in Tibetan, is the world’s highest mountain above sea level. No wonder most people consider climbing to its top as one of their biggest achievements. More than 4, 000 climbers, ranging from 13 to 80 years old, have managed to reach the top. Three people from the Sherpa community hold the current record at 21 times each!

You may be surprised at these numbers but that’s just the start of it. Last year, cleanup crews collected as much as 8. 4 tons of garbage from Mount Qomolangma’s North Base Camp in Tibet at 5,150 meters. And in the regions below that level, more than 335 tons of waste was collected. What a sad fact it is that the highest mountain in the world is turning into the highest mountain of trash!

To reverse the trend, the Chinese government recently announced that it had closed the North Base Camp to tourists. From now on, ordinary tourists will only be able to travel as far as Rongbuk Monastery, about 5, 000 meters above sea level. No more than 300 climbers with special permits will be allowed to climb Qomolangma each year. They are supposed to follow stricter rules, including carrying all their waste out with them and only climbing in spring.

Despite these tough measures, it is clear that tourism has caused enormous damage to the natural environment. Mount Qomolangma is not alone. Some popular parks around the world are also struggling to preserve their environments and keep up with increased tourism. Yellowstone National Park in the U.S. has long been troubled by the overflowing trash piles. Joshua Tree National Park suffered a wave of vandalism (破坏), with graffiti sprayed on rocks and ancient trees destroyed. In order to protect the environment, the National Park Service had no choice but to close the park temporarily.

As we can see, the natural environment can be destroyed by human activities in less than five minutes, but it might take hundreds of years to recover. Now it’s time for ordinary tourists to leave “Holy Mother” alone and wait for her to restore her beauty.

1. Why are the figures listed about Qomolangma in paragraph 2?

A．To describe it is extremely vast and high.

B．To show it is difficult to collect trash there.

C．To indicate it is a popular tourist attraction.

D．To illustrate it is suffering serious pollution.

2. What does the underlined word “reverse” mean in paragraph 3?

A．Fit with.

B．Follow up.

C．Turn around.

D．Speed up.

3. What is the author likely to support to protect Qomolangma?

A．Developing its tourism.	B．Reducing human activities.
C．Forbidding any entry in spring.	D．Building more base camps.

4. Which section of a newspaper might this article come from?

A．Environment.

B．Society.

C．Tourism.

D．Education.