1 . Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo has long worked to make her city less dependent on cars. She wanted to see more people using bicycles to get around. Over a number of years, the city government set limits on cars and increased the amount of bike paths from 200 kilometers to over 1,000 kilometers.

This year, Parisians are not complaining about too much automobile traffic. Instead, they say there are too many bikes. “Now, it’s really like a bike traffic jam(阻塞),” Thibault Quere, a spokesperson for France’s Federation of Bicycle Users, said. ”It’s kind of a good difficulty to have, especially when we think about what Paris used to be.”

Some famous roads along the River Seine are completely closed to cars. Now you see people riding bikes, running and walking with their families along the river. In another part of Paris, a bike path on Sebastopol Boulevard is one of the busiest in Europe, after opening in 2019. In one week in early September, it reached a record high of 124,000 riders.

The city will host the Summer Olympics in 2024 and plans to add more bike paths by then. Paris wants to reduce its pollution by half during the games, even as visitors from around the world will be in the city for the event. Organizers say all of the competition sites will be reachable by bike through a 60-kilometer network of bike paths.

The change to Paris, however, has not been easy. With more people using bikes, more people are making mistakes. Some of them are new to cycling and disobey traffic rules. But the environment may be improving. Cycling is good exercise and helps reduce pollution, which is still a problem for the large city. The French government blames atmospheric pollution for 48,000 early deaths in the country each year.

Hidalgo was re-elected in 2020 and plans to keep making what she calls a “Paris that breathes”. Her newest five-year bike plan includes over $250 million for more bike paths and bike parking. The new budget is an increase of over $100 million from her first five-year plan.

1. What can be learned from the second paragraph?

A．Hidalgo’s effort has paid off.	B．Parisians prefer to travel by car.
C．Parisians find it difficult to ride bikes.	D．Quere disagrees with Hidalgo.

2. Why does the author mention the data in paragraph 3?

A．To compare the famous roads in France.

B．To praise people enjoying riding bicycles.

C．To stress the importance of France in Europe.

D．To show how busy a cycle path is in Paris.

3. What do the organizers probably wish visitors to do during the Summer Olympics in 2024?

A．Tour local bike shops.	B．Ride to competition sites.
C．Promote the sights in France.	D．Support the athletes around the world.

4. Which word can best describe Anne Hidalgo?

A．Friendly.

B．Helpful.

C．Determined.

D．Honest.

2 . Plastic is everywhere in our modern world. Its toughness makes it an extremely useful material from household items to vehicle parts, but that same toughness makes it hard to break down for recycling or disposal (处理). However, Japanese scientists at the University of Tokyo have developed a new plastic material that can be broken down more easily and can self-heal and remember past shapes.

Based on a kind of plastic called an epoxy resin vitrimer, which is brittle (脆性的), the new plastic boasts a huge range of advantages. Once scratched with a knife, it can completely patch itself up after being heated to 150 ℃ for just 60 seconds. When shaped into the shape of a crane, then flattened, it can fold itself back into the crane shape by being heated up. It does all of this much faster than others of its type.

The new plastic can also break down easier. Even if it’s discarded (丢弃) into the environment, it still poses less of a, problem than other kinds of plastic, which the team demonstrated by placing it in seawater for 30 days. It biodegraded by 25% and released molecules (分子) that are essential food for marine life.

The new plastic is more resistant to breaking. It can also repair itself, and can recover its original memorized shape. It even biodegrades safely in a marine environment, according to Shota Ando, a researcher of the study.

The material can be used in a variety of applications, “Infrastructure materials for roads and bridges are often composed of epoxy resins mixed with compounds such as concrete and carbon,” said Ando. “By using the new plastic, these would be easier to maintain as they would be stronger and healable using heat. Unlike conventional epoxy resins, this new material is hard but stretchable, so it could also be expected to strongly bond materials of different hardness and stretch.”

1. What is the author’s purpose in writing paragraph 1?

A．To introduce the topic of the text.	B．To show the disadvantages of plastic.
C．To highlight the importance of plastic.	D．To indicate his views on previous plastic.

2. What do the underlined words “patch itself up” mean in paragraph 2?

A．Change itself.

B．Shape itself.

C．Repair itself.

D．Burn itself.

3. What do we know about the new plastic?

A．It is safe for animals in the ocean.	B．It can provide nutrition for animals.
C．It can change its shape when frozen.	D．It is more brittle than previous plastic.

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

A．Research Of New Molecules	B．An Interesting Scientific Study
C．The Widespread Application Of Plastic	D．A New Environmentally Friendly Plastic

3 . Landscape architect Kotchakorn Voraakhom has designed a new green roof on the Rangsit Campus of Thammasat University, about 25 miles north of central Bangkok, Thailand. Her imaginative work challenges the common thinking that urbanization has a negative impact on the planet, whether flooding, excess (过度的) energy use, disrupted (扰乱) biodiversity or the heat island effect.

The 236, 806-square-foot structure, which opened in December 2019, includes a flood water management system and Asia’s largest rooftop organic farm. It combines modern landscape architecture with traditional agricultural knowledge, creating a green and friendly environment.

The green roof, containing an H-shaped landscape, looks like a futuristic hill with a brick building beneath it. The hill features a complex pattern of zigzagging terraces (之字形梯田) of planted beds, leading all the way down to the bottom. When rainwater hits the roof, it flows down the zigzags while being absorbed by the soil in the beds, The excess water is directed into four storage ponds — with a capacity of up to 3 million gallons. The process slows down the flow speed of rainwater runoff compared to a normal concrete rooftop. This keeps the area from flooding during heavy rains.

The roof’s terraces are filled with organically grown crops, including a drought tolerant variety of rice, many local vegetables and herbs. The farm can supply the canteens on campus with a large amount of rice, herbs and vegetables a year. The food waste is composted (把……制成堆肥) to fertilize the farm, and water from the storage ponds is used to water plants, creating an entirely localized and circular system.

The farm serves as an outdoor classroom and a source of local jobs, too. Farmers offer workshops on sustainable agriculture and nutrition as part of the university’s sustainability curriculum. “Students and community members are invited to participate in seasonal seeding, harvesting, and so on,” says Voraakhom. “The urban farm is training a new generation of organic farmers with real-world skills. It also promotes a sense of community.”

1. What can we say about Voraakhom’s work?

A．It’s short-lived.	B．It’s creative.
C．It’s demanding.	D．It’s time-consuming.

2. Why is the rooftop designed to be zigzag?

A．To store more water.

B．To plant diverse vegetables.

C．To slow the speed of water flow.

D．To make it look more attractive than other buildings.

3. What can be inferred about the farm from paragraph 4?

A．It uses food as fertilizer.	B．It benefits the environment.
C．It improves students’ lifestyle.	D．It produces vegetables and fruits.

4. What does the author want to show by mentioning the outdoor classroom?

A．Students can learn hands-on knowledge on the farm.

B．Farmers working on the farm can become professors.

C．The farm prevents government from offering people jobs.

D．The farm harms the relationship between university and community.

4 . Most of us have heard of the 3Rs: reduce, reuse and recycle. It is the core principle of a sustainable (可持续的) life, but few of us can apply it in our own lives. Now, there’s a “lab” you can explore and discover a way toward living sustainably.

3R Lab is located in Xuhui district, Shanghai. It offers exhibitions, activities and goods that showcase the 3R principle. The key to a sustainable life, according to Vincent T. M. Fong, the 32-year-old from Hong Kong who created the lab, is to make it a long-term promise. “A sustainable life should be sustainable itself in the first place. You can’t lead a sustainable life on a whim. Small and comfortable changes are exactly what you need,” Fong said.

The lab regularly hosts ugly fruit markets, offering these strange fruits which are often thrown away by traditional markets and consumers at a quite attractive price. “They’re thrown away simply because of their appearance. Buying fruit regardless of how they look reduces food waste significantly in our daily life,” Fong commented.

A water tank with two types of straws is another equipment in the lab. “One type is made from normal plastics widely used in our daily life while the other is from PHA, a new replacement for plastics, and the water is sourced from the Suzhou River,” explained Ni Li, an employee of the lab. Visitors can see how the PHA straws degrade (降解) into a thin layer in just one month, while the others remain unchanged.

“Leading a sustainable life does not necessarily mean sacrifice,” said Fong. Consuming ugly fruit and using degradable plastics are small changes that are good for the environment and easy to stick to. Only in this way can the 3R principle become part of our lives, he added.

After working there for six months, Ni, who wasn’t mindful of the 3R principle before arriving at the lab, now uses her cup every time she buys a coffee. “The job has reshaped my life,” Ni said.

1. What does the-underlined phrase “on a whim” in the second paragraph probably mean?

A．In a rush.	B．On a regular basis.
C．Without any reason.	D．As a common practice.

2. What is the purpose of the ugly fruit market at 3R Lab?

A．To reduce food waste.	B．To promote healthy eating.
C．To sell new kinds of fruit.	D．To provide more affordable fruit,

3. What can the water tank at 3R Lab show to its visitors?

A．The water pollution caused by plastics.	B．The degradation of PHA straws.
C．The interaction between two types of straws.	D．The disappearance of normal plastic straws.

4. What can we infer from the last paragraph about Ni?

A．She avoids going to traditional markets.	B．She has devoted less time to her hobbies.
C．She has got rid of a few bad habits.	D．She is leading a low carbon life now.

5 . 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。

With global events like the UN Climate Change Conference     1     (bring) sustainability (可持续性) into public focus, readers are expecting libraries to introduce more sustainable     2     (measure). They try to reduce their electricity usage and buy equipment from providers     3     are struggling to protect the environment. So far,     4     number of the libraries that have already taken steps to reduce their carbon footprint has been increasing.

Devices like monitoring tools can     5     (apply) to identify areas of a library that are frequently unoccupied. The Jean Anderson Morgan Student Center, for example, is taking advantage     6     the tools throughout its library study rooms. Up till now,     7     (significance) improvements have been made in reducing its energy usage. Bulb costs have     8     (obvious) declined, with fewer replacements needed in low occupancy areas.

Fixing automated equipment that runs on minimal electrical power is libraries’ another effort     9     (operate) more sustainably. Sophisticated self-service machines are now able to     10     (simple) the process of loaning and returning books without causing a big increase in a library’s electricity bill.

6 . Want to eat healthy and also save the planet?     1     Making simple substitutions, such as switching from beef to chicken or drinking plant-based milk instead of cow’s milk, would help both the planet and your health.

How do our food choices affect climate change?

Food production accounts for about 20% of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide.     2     Swapping out “high-emission” food and replacing it with “low-emission” food reduces the amount of greenhouse gases needed to grow, process, transport, distribute, prepare, consume and dispose of that food.

In each of four food groups — protein, mixed dishes, dairy and beverage — researchers looked at foods that disproportionately contribute to greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming.     3     Finally, they calculated what the impact would be both for an individual’s carbon footprint and for the country’s if the dietary changes were made. By doing this, it will be pretty easy for people to adopt the new dishes because they will be pretty similar to what they are currently eating.

Top foods to swap out

USA TODAY asked if there is one specific food (or food group) that would be most recommended to be swapped out of.     4     Replacing beef with poultry or vegetarian items was particularly impactful, but other options include replacing juice with whole fruit and replacing dairy milk with nondairy milks like soy or almond milk.     5     Even replacing just one serving per day or one serving per week can add up to meaningful benefits.

A．If universally adopted, the recommended changes would lower the nation’s dietary carbon footprint.

B．The team then matched each of these environmentally unfriendly foods to a similar option with a far lower carbon footprint.

C．The good news is that there are many options for small changes to make to reduce your carbon footprint and improve your diet.

D．A drastic change in your diet isn’t necessary to make a significant difference.

E．You don’t have to make these changes all the time to make a difference.

F．This means that changing what we eat can reduce greenhouse gas and carbon pollution.

G．If you are a person who make the changes that we propose, you’re likely to see the benefits you want.

7 . Human activities are making the globe saltier, specifically in our soils, fresh water and air, according to a study released this week in the journal Nature Reviews Earth & Environment.

Salt pollution isn’t some flashy threat to our existence — like, say, a meteor hitting Earth — but the issue is gravely overlooked and is a “sleeping giant”, said Sujay Kaushal, lead author of the study. Over the past 50 years, salt have increased in streams and rivers as people have begun using and producing more salts. The team found that across the globe, about 2.5 billion acres of soil — an area about the size of the United States — have become saltier.

Most people think of salt as the white specks we put in our food or the salt in the oceans, chemically known as sodium chloride (NaCl). That sodium salt can also be found in detergents (去污剂), other household products and more, but there are many different salts, including calcium, magnesium and other ions used in additional products — and they’re all increasing in places where they don’t normally occur.

Salt is a natural and necessary component of Earth. The compound is brought to the surface slowly over long geological time scales, through natural processes such as weathering of sedimentary (沉积而成的) rocks. When exposed at the surface, the salt can mix with water, be transported into water or go into the air. Living organisms, from plants to people, take up small portions to help regulate daily functions. Excess salt hitches a ride with water molecules, entering soil and the oceans. But human activities have altered this normal salt cycle in recent decades, the team found. Agriculture, mining, construction, water and road treatment, and other industrial activities are increasing the salt in our ground, freshwater systems and air.

Before this study, scientists didn’t really know how much humans were changing salt concentrations around the globe. But the “magnitude to which we have altered one of Earth’s natural cycles is alarming,” said ecologist Bill Hintz, who was not involved in the research. He agreed with the study’s authors that these changes to the salt cycle are an existential threat to freshwater supplies.

1. The underlined word “flashy” in Paragraph 2 can best be replaced by ________.

A．instant

B．serious

C．damaged

D．unsolved

2. What can we infer from Paragraph 3 about salt?

A．People can only have access to sodium salt in daily life.

B．People intend to have a limited insight into salt.

C．Additional products are supposed to be banned.

D．Salts are increasing in the world scale.

3. What’s the normal salt cycle according to paragraph 4?

A．Forming as a compound — weathering of sedimentary rocks — consumed by living organisms

B．Coming into being in Earth naturally — being brought to the surface — combining with water — entering soil and oceans

C．Coming into being in Earth naturally — being transported to water and air — increased by human activities

D．Forming as a compound — removing excessive salt — entering soil and oceans

4. Which of the following words can best describe the study?

A．Inefficient.

B．Unreliable.

C．Brain-washing.

D．Ground-breaking.

9 . 4 月 22 日是世界地球日(The World Earth Day)。假如你是英语校报的编辑李华，请你根据以下信息，在校报上给你的同学们写一封信，向大家介绍世界地球日，并倡议大家共同努力，改善我们生活的环境。
写作要点：
1. 介绍世界地球日；
(1)时间：每年的 4月22日；
(2)范围：全球;
(3)目的：提高人们对环境问题的认识。
2. 请对中学生如何改善我们生活的环境提出具体建议。
Dear classmates,

The World Earth Day is coming.

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Let’s protect our environment together!

Yours,

Li Hua