1 . When it comes to global warming, we know that the real problem is not just fossil fuels — it is the logic of endless growth that is built into our economic system. If we don't keep the global economy growing by at least 3% per year, it will get into crisis. That means we have to double the size of the economy every 20 years, just to stay afloat. It doesn't take much to realise that this need for fast growth makes little sense given the limits of our planet.
Rapid climate change is the most obvious symptom of this contradiction, but we're also seeing it in the form of deforestation (滥伐森林) and mass extinction, with species dying as a result of the loss of their habitats. It was unthinkable to say this even 10 years ago.
The question is what to do about it. How can we redesign the global economy to bring it in line with the principles of ecology? The most obvious answer is to stop using GDP to measure economic progress and replace it with a more thoughtful measure-one that accounts for the ecological and social impact of economic activity. Outstanding economists like Nobel Prize winner Joseph Stiglitz have been calling for such changes for years and it's time we listened.
But replacing GDP is only the first step. While it might help refocus economic policies on what really matters, it doesn't address the main driver of growth: debt. Debt is the reason that the economy has to grow in the first place. Because debt always comes with interest, it grows fast — so if a person, a business, or a country wants to pay down debt over the long term, they have to grow enough to at least match the growth of their debt. Without growth, debt piles up and eventually lead to an economic crisis.
1. What does rapid climate change mainly result from?| A．The limits of our planet. |
| B．Mass extinction of species. |
| C．Logic of growth in economy. |
| D．The loss of some species' habitats. |
| A．Endless growth. | B．The real problem. |
| C．Global warming. | D．The global economy. |
| A．Redesigning the principles of ecology. |
| B．Concentrating more on saving natural resources. |
| C．Stopping using GDP to measure economy progress. |
| D．Using a new measure focusing on economic activity. |
| A．It drives economy to grow. |
| B．It helps avoid economic crisis. |
| C．It grows faster than the interest does. |
| D．It piles up when good growth of economy happens. |
2 . Most people can't wait for spring to arrive. It means flowers and warmer weather, all welcome changes from the dark winter days. Now we know that spring is arriving sooner in the Northern Hemisphere (北半球）than it was in the past, thanks to a study published in Scientific Reports.
For example, Los Angeles may experience spring only a day earlier than it did 10 years ago, but further north, in Seattle or Chicago, spring will arrive four days earlier. If you lived in the Arctic, spring could arrive 16 days earlier than it used to.
To determine how springtime is starting earlier, researchers looked at temperature records and 743 earlier studies over 86 years. These studies were about various biological indicators of spring, including birds migrating, plants flowering and amphibians（两栖动物）sounding their mating calls. Researchers then studied these data to see if they were occurring earlier. The result showed that not only is spring making itself known sooner but it's warmer, too.
Before you go out in a happy springtime hike, spring arriving sooner isn't so good. The livelihood of migratory birds, for instance, may be concerned.
“The food that birds rely on when they move to the north might not be reliable if the beginning of spring at these higher latitudes（维度）is expanded by future warming." said Eric Post. He is a fellow of the John Muir Institute and a polar ecologist.
Animals relying on Arctic sea ice, like polar bears, probably aren't crazy about things warming up sooner, either, because it impacts on their ability to hunt. Spring's early arrival could cause disorder in the delicate balance of various ecosystems~~not to mention how soon you'll need to buy allergy medicine.
1. We learn from the study published in Scientific Reports that.| A．spring comes earliest in Los Angeles |
| B．Los Angeles is further north than Seattle |
| C．spring comes 12 days earlier in Arctic than in Chicago |
| D．the further north a place lies, the sooner spring comes than before |
| A．comparing related data available |
| B．conducting research and test |
| C．calculating the exact length of each spring |
| D．observing animal's behavior all year round |
| A．Concerns over spring's early arrival. |
| B．Springtime emergence of creatures. |
| C．Early springtime's impacts on humans. |
| D．Disorder in the balance of ecosystems. |
| A．Medical Report. | B．Survival Stories. |
| C．Scientific Discoveries. | D．Natural environment |
3 . Our planet is covered in water. Just 2.5 percent of that water, however, is fresh. Of that, only about one third is liquid. The rest is locked up as ice. Yet we depend on the fresh water available for everything.
As climate changes, though, water available changes too. Water, climate and weather are connected in the water cycle. Scientists use supercomputers to explore the complex ways that climate change is changing the water cycle. They have found that as climate warms, the atmosphere holds more water: about 4 percent more for every 1.8 degrees Celsius. From 2002 to 2017, a satellite mission called Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment called GRCE tracked Earth's water resources from above. A pair of twin satellites was able to "weigh" earth's water by measuring how much the planet pulls it. If the amount of surface water or even groundwater changes, so does the pull of gravity at that location. That gravitational pull is affected by changes in mass (质量). As the first satellite passed over an area, differences in gravity slightly changed the distance between the two satellites. Scientists translate those data into water or ice mass. Then they compare them with historical data to measure changes in places where water and ice are distributed over time.
Data from computers and satellites agree. That is, climate change is changing the availability of water around the world. In South Africa and many regions, droughts are becoming more common. In other areas, such as California and Europe, changing rainfall patterns lead to river flows peaking earlier in the year, followed by water shortages. Meanwhile, the average rainfall in the United States has actually increased by 5 centimeters (2 inches) since 1895.
1. How does climate warming affect water recycle?| A．More water goes into the atmosphere. |
| B．More ice melts into liquid. |
| C．More water spreads on the surface of the earth. |
| D．It's harder to get underground water. |
| A．Underground water changes too. |
| B．Gravitational pull at the same place changes too. |
| C．Changes in mass of water happens. |
| D．The planet pulls the water harder. |
| A．The water cycle is hard to break. |
| B．Earth's total water remains the same. |
| C．Climate change can't change the water cycle. |
| D．Climate change alters the distribution of water resources. |
| A．The availability of fresh water on the earth. |
| B．The causes of climate warming. |
| C．The effect of climate warming on water cycle. |
| D．The use of modern technology to study climate change. |
4 . El Nino, a Spanish term for “the Christ child”, was named by South American fisherman who noticed that the global weather pattern, which happens every two to seven years, reduced the amount of fishes caught around Christmas. El Nino sees warm water, collected over several years in the western Pacific, flow back eastwards when winds that normally blow westwards weaken, or sometimes the other way round.
The weather effects are both good and bad, which are felt in many places. Rich countries gain more from powerful Nino, on balance, than they lose. A study found that a strong Nino in 1997-98 helped American’s economy grow by 15 billion, partly because of better agricultural harvests: farmers in the Midwest gained from extra rain. The total rise in agricultural incomes in rich countries is greater than the fall in poor ones.
But in Indonesia extremely dry forests are in flames. A multi-year drought (干旱) in south-east Brazil is becoming worse. Though heavy rains brought about by El Nino may relieve the drought in California, they are likely to cause surface flooding and other disasters.The most recent powerful Nino, in 1997-98, killed around 21,000 people and caused damage worth $36 billion around the globe. But such Ninos come with months of warning, and so much is known about how they happen that governments can prepare. According to the Overseas Development Institute (ODI), however, just 12% of disaster-relief funding in the past two decades has gone on reducing risks in advance, rather than recovery and rebuilding afterwards. This is despite evidence that a dollar spent on risk-reduction saves at least two on reconstruction.
Simple improvements to infrastructure (基础设施) can reduce the spread of disease. Better sewers (下水道) make it less likely that heavy rain is followed by an outbreak of the disease of bad stomach. Stronger bridges mean villages are less likely to be left without food and medicine after floods. According to a paper in 2011 by Mr Hsiang and co-authors, civil conflict is related to El Nino’s harmful effects—and the poorer the country, the stronger the link. Though the relationship may not be causal, helping divided communities to prepare for disasters would at least reduce the risk that those disasters are followed by killing and wounding people. Since the poorest are least likely to make up for their losses from disasters linked to El Nino, reducing their losses needs to be the priority.
1. What can we learn about El Nino in Paragraph 1?| A．It sees the changes of water flow direction in the ocean. |
| B．It takes place almost every year all over the world. |
| C．It forces fishermen to stop catching fish around Christmas. |
| D．It is named after a South American fisherman. |
| A．Agricultural harvests in rich countries fall. |
| B．Droughts become more harmful than floods. |
| C．Poor countries suffer less from droughts economically. |
| D．Rich countries’ gains are greater than their losses. |
| A．To introduce El Nino and its origin. | B．To explain the consequences of El Nino. |
| C．To show ways of fighting against El Nino. | D．To urge people to prepare for El Nino. |
5 . No one can change the weather. Nobody can control the weather. But if we read correctly the signs around us, we can tell what the more important changes in the weather will be. This way of telling what the weather will be like on the following day or two is called weather forecasting. For many centuries and in all countries, people have studied the weather and tried to make weather forecasting. Rings around the sun are a sign of coming rain. Many people feel in their bones the coming of wet weather, their joints(关节) hurt. Some birds fly high if fine weather is coming, but they fly near the ground if rainy or stormy weather is on the way. It is probably because the insects which they are hunting fly low. If you see a rainbow during rainy weather, this is a sign that the weather will become clear and fine. If the stars twinkle clearly at night, then fine weather will continue. If a fog appears in the morning just above a river, then the day will be warm. If the sunset is mostly red in color, then the following day will be fine. If a rainbow appears in the morning, rainy weather will probably come. Most of the above sayings have been made by the people who have used their eyes and brains to make weather forecasting.
1. People’s joints ache ______.| A．is a sign of coming rain | B．without any reason |
| C．because they are ill | D．because of the insects |
| A．be warm | B．be rainy |
| C．become clear and fine | D．be cold |
| A．use our eyes and brains | B．study the weather hard |
| C．read correctly the signs | D．All of the above |
During my recent travels in China, I went from the top to the bottom of the country. I was astonished at
The weather was
In Qingdao, we ate seafood, drank beer and even swam in the sea. In Harbin, we wore our warmest jackets and saw the
Shanghai reminded me
Guilin was a good place to be touring around during Spring Festival. Fireworks
But Yangshuo
Now, I am back in Beijing. I am looking forward to
7 . The bristlecone pine is the longest-living thing on the earth. These trees, with their strangely-shaped, wind-beaten limbs(枝干), can live up to 5,000 years. But experts worry that a warming climate in some areas may threaten its future.
Researchers say warmer weather is permitting a similar kind of tree, the limber pine, to take over good growing places from the ancient bristlecone. They say the tree is being crowded out of mountainous areas where it grows.
“The bristlecone pine is the oldest individually growing organism,” researchers say. They grow in high mountain forests in eastern California, Nevada and Utah. In those mountains, the trees face high winds and extreme temperatures, which leave them with twisted limbs and shapes. “Even in such tough conditions,” Brian Smithers, a researcher at the University of California, said, “the limber pine is taking all the good spots.”
The limber pine is the bristlecone’s distant relative and competitor. It can also live a long time——up to 2,000 years. And it is usually found at lower altitudes, where temperatures are warmer. However, according to a three-year study which centered on trees that have started growing in the last 50 years in California’s White Mountains, most of the trees growing at higher altitudes were limber pines.
Scientists compared the competing species to two o1d men in a very slow race up a mountainside. This race between such slow-growing trees takes thousands of years. They say climate change is causing the competition.
Smithers said the bristlecone pines are not in danger of disappearing. But he assumes they could be crowded out of some places where they have grown for thousands of years.
The researchers say the findings show how climate change can affect the two kinds of trees. The information, they say, can help scientists understand more complex forests.
1. What’s the function of Paragraph 1?| A．To introduce a topic. | B．To summarize the whole passage. |
| C．To describe the appearance of a tree. | D．To praise the hard work of the experts. |
| A．There will be older trees sent out of those mountains. |
| B．There will be more places covered with bristlecone pines. |
| C．There will be better limber pines replacing the ancient ones. |
| D．There will be fewer bristlecone pines growing in those areas. |
| A．the high winds | B．the difficult conditions |
| C．the changing climate | D．the extreme temperatures |
| A．Positive. | B．Concerned. |
| C．Enthusiastic. | D．Indifferent. |
