1 . While pedaling hard on a bike, do you feel like you are saving the planet? Or do you just feel out of breath? In fact, cycling is now considered one of the ultimate weapons humanity can use in the fight against climate change.
The United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution in March supporting bicycles as a tool for dealing with climate change. The resolution calls on member states to “integrate the bicycle into public transportation, in urban and rural settings in developing and developed countries”, with all 193 members of the UN unanimously (一致同意地) adopting the resolution.
This decision has received a positive response from numerous groups in support of cycling and environmental awareness internationally. “It is an important step toward the recognition of cycling as an important mode of transport,” said the European Cyclists’ Federation.
The resolution from the UN comes at a time when climate change has returned to the center of global attention. On Feb 28, the UN published a new report assessing recent climate change trends. The report warns that the global average temperature will rise by 1.5 C above pre-industrial levels (1850-1900), with more than 40 percent of the world’s population being “highly vulnerable” to these temperature changes.
In May 2020, bike sales in Spain increased 22-fold (22倍) compared with 2019. In London, large parts of the city are being closed off to cars so that people can walk and cycle safely. Cities like Berlin and Montreal have also added new, wider bike lanes.
More importantly, the resolution focuses on bike-sharing services, which could be seen as recognition of China’s bike-sharing success, noted CGTN.
China has some of the largest bike-sharing systems in the world. The country has more than 360 cities with dockless (无桩的) bike-sharing systems, with nearly 20 million bicycles for an average 47 million trips each day, according to China’s Ministry of Transport. This transportation option that produces zero emissions reduces the amount of CO2 released into the atmosphere by 4.8 million tons every year, according to a 2020 report from the World Resources Institute.
1. According to the first paragraph, when cycling you may feel________ .| A．relaxed | B．proud | C．anxious | D．nervous |
| A．Because it is an only tool to cope with climb changes. |
| B．Because it can be used in urban and rural settings in all countries. |
| C．Because it has been agreed with by all 193 members of the UN. |
| D．Because most people support cycling and environmental awareness. |
| A．To show China has succeeded in bike-sharing services. |
| B．To indicate China has the most bikes in the world. |
| C．To call for the world to learn from China. |
| D．To suggest that China has developed quickly. |
| A．20 million tons. | B．9.6 million tons. |
| C．4.8 million tons. | D．24.8 million tons. |
2 . Paper is one of our oldest, simplest and most important inventions. But it also presents a danger to the world in two significant ways. First, the making of paper requires the loss of millions of trees each year. Between 2001 and 2019, the world lost 386 million hectares of forest. Of the trees that were cut down, 42% went to paper production. And worldwide use of paper is expected to double in the next 40 years. Clearly, the planet cannot sustain such a high rate of forest loss.
The second great problem with paper is what happens once it is no longer useful. A huge quantity of wastepaper ends up in dumps and landfills (垃圾填埋场), where it can produce harmful gases. Paper in landfills leads to the release (释放) of methane, a gas that is a significant contributor in global warming.
One simple solution can greatly reduce both of these problems: paper recycling. Paper is mainly made from cellulose (纤维素), which makes up the cell walls of trees and many other plants. Because of its structure, cellulose can be used repeatedly in papermaking. So far, trees are the only source of cellulose that can fill the massive demand for paper products. Therefore, recycling paper is simply one of the best ways to save trees.
Thanks to advances in processing, recycled paper isn’t the dull-colored stuff many of us are familiar with any more. It now can offer the same print performance as non-recycled paper.
Effective recycling requires a consistent effort. The way to begin is with education and understanding. Once enough people realize the need for recycling, more effective recycling systems can be carried out. The massive loss of trees affects everybody on earth. Everyone should do their part to recycle paper and encourage government and industries to do the same.
1. What does the author want to express in paragraph 1?| A．Consequences resulting from forest loss. |
| B．The significance of paper in daily life. |
| C．The disadvantages of current paper production. |
| D．The severe situation caused by papermaking. |
| A．It releases smelly gases. | B．It results in global climate change. |
| C．It pollutes the nearby land. | D．It may lead to fire accidents. |
| A．It produces cellulose to make more paper. | B．The structure of cellulose makes it possible. |
| C．The color of recycled paper is different. | D．It produces cellulose without using trees. |
| A．To introduce paper recycling technology. | B．To stress the threat of global warming. |
| C．To appeal to people to recycle paper. | D．To describe the considerable need for paper. |
Litter is everywhere, doing great harm
The story began with his 6-year-old daughter. One day they were going on a hike when the girl noticed a broken plastic tub (浴盆) in a river. She said, “Daddy, that doesn't go there.”That took Kirschner by surprise. He, like many adults, had become so used to seeing the rubbish
Jeff started to take
Litterati is more than an app. It is highly
4 . Sunscreen protects our skin from sunburn. But did you know that it is harmful to coral (珊瑚) living in the ocean？
Some chemicals in sunscreen, such as benzophenone (二苯甲酮), can kill coral. Every year, about 4,000 to 6,000 tons of sunscreen will flow into coral areas, according to the US National Park Service.
About one and half years ago, Zhang Baoxin, 17, who studies at Guangdong Experimental High School, read about this in an article. Then she had an idea – to make an environmentally friendly sunscreen to protect the marine environment.
To make this happen, Zhang read lots of literature and then put forward a new formula (配方). She mixed natural plant oils with safe and commonly-used sunscreen ingredients, such as titanium dioxide (二氧化钛) and zinc oxide (氧化锌) powder .
She tested about 10 kinds of plant oils, including jojoba oil (荷荷巴油) and coconut oil, to figure out whether they can take in sunlight. She then used a microscope to find out if the oil could be mixed with the powder. After trying about 20 formulas, Zhang found a jojoba oil formula that is effective, cheap and easy to make.
Zhang wrote a paper to explain her findings with her experimental process and data. The project made Zhang a nominee (候选人) of the Stockholm Junior Water Prize, an award to celebrate teenagers who help solve major water challenges. She was the only nominee from the Chinese mainland in 2020.
After this successful experiment, Zhang made some samples (样品) and printed out flyers (传单) for her new formula. She gave them out to people at swimming pools and water parks. “With my formula, anyone can make sunscreen at home. You just need a blender to mix the oil and the powder,” she said.
Zhang wants to study environmental science in college. “I want to use my knowledge to make a better world,” she said.
1. What inspired Zhang to make a new kind of sunscreen?| A．Her desire to protect sea species. |
| B．Her wish to study environmental science. |
| C．A book published by the US National Park Service. |
| D．A project at Guangdong Experimental High School. |
| A．Features of the new sunscreen. |
| B．Differences between different ingredients. |
| C．The process of developing the new sunscreen. |
| D．Difficulties Zhang met when making the new sunscreen. |
| A．She was accepted into a famous university. |
| B．She won the Stockholm Junior Water Prize. |
| C．She handed out her samples to people. |
| D．She continued to make other environmentally friendly products. |
| A．Curious and cheerful. |
| B．Helpful and sociable. |
| C．Diligent and cautious. |
| D．Creative and responsible. |
1、不浪费粮食和纸张；
2、尽量不使用方便筷、塑料袋；
3、毕业生将书赠给低年级同学循环使用。
注意：
1. 词数80左右；
2. 可适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
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6 . Plastic—Eating Worm
Humans produce more than 300 million tons of plastic every year. Almost half of that ends up in landfills(垃圾填埋场) , and up to 12 million tons pollute the oceans. So far there is no effective way to get rid of it, but a new study suggests an answer may lie in the stomachs of some hungry worms(幼虫).
Researchers in Spain and England found that the worms of the greater wax moth(大蜡螟) can break down polyethylene(聚乙烯), which accounts for 40% of plastics.
That is to say, part of plastics can be consumed by this kind of worms. The team left 100 wax worms on a plastic shopping bag for 12 hours, and the worms consumed and broke down about 92 milligrams, or almost 3% of it. To confirm that the worms' chewing alone was not responsible for the polyethylene breakdown, the researchers made some worms into paste(糊状物)and applied it to plastic films. 14 hours later the films had lost 13% of their mass—apparently broken down by enzymes(酶)from the worms' stomachs. Their findings were published in Current Biology.
Federica Bertocchini, co—author of the study, says the worms' ability to break down their everyday food—beeswax—also allows them to break down plastic." Wax is a complex mixture, but the basic bond in polyethylene, the carbon—carbon bond, is there as well," she explains. "The wax worm developed a method or system to break this bond."
Jennifer Debruyn, a microbiologist at the University of Tennessee, who was not involved in the study, says it is not surprising that such worms can break down polyethylene. But compared with previous studies, she finds the speed of breaking down in this one exciting. The next step, DeBruyn says, will be to identify where the enzyme comes from. Is it an enzyme produced by the worm itself or by its gut microbes(肠道微生物)?
Bertocchini agrees and hopes her team's findings might one day help make use of the enzyme to break down plastics in landfills. But she expects using the chemical in some kind of industrial process—not simply "millions of worms thrown on top of the plastic."
1. What can we learn about the worms in the study?| A．They take plastics as their everyday food. |
| B．They can consume plastics. |
| C．They end up in landfills. |
| D．They are new creatures. |
| A．prove the research findings |
| B．discover other kinds of worms |
| C．increase the breakdown speed |
| D．find out the source of the enzyme |
| A．help to raise worms |
| B．help make plastic bags |
| C．be used to clean the oceans |
| D．be produced in factories in future |
| A．To propose new means to keep eco—balance. |
| B．To present a way to break down plastics. |
| C．To introduce the diet of a special worm. |
| D．To explain a study method on worms. |
Nowadays, people are understanding the need to solve the climate and biodiversity problem. Poor ecosystems, forest fires, Covid-19 and more extreme weather events are showing us that the destruction of the natural world is greatly impacting on the planet.
Rainforest Concern
One of the most immediate threats to the bio-region is heavy industry, resulting in polluted rivers and the
To protect the cloud forests from threats, Rainforest Concern supports community reserves and has created a private reserve,
1. 世界环境日的宗旨；
2. 你的做法；
3. 你的呼吁。
注意:
1. 写作词数应为80左右:
2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Paper is mainly made of cellulose (纤维素) This molecule (分子) makes up the cell walls of trees and many other plants. Because of its sturdy (结实的) structure, cellulose can
Effective recycling requires a consistent effort from everyone at all levels of society. The way
The need is
10 . Attention to the fight against climate change tends to be focused on trees, but 75% of the planet's surface is covered by the ocean, and a natural process taking place underwater has excited scores of investors at the recent World Economic Forum (论坛) who may want to help.
During the recent wildfires in the Amazon rainforest, journalists often described trees as the “lungs of the world”, but that title most certainly belongs to phytoplankton, which alone refreshes nearly 50% of the atmospheric oxygen on planet earth, the value of four Amazons.
And, in the effort to stop the warming of the planet, our greatest assistants could belong to whales, because of the great amount of their excrement left in the sea.
A new paper published by economist Dr. Ralph Chianti underlines the influence that whales, especially blue whales, and their excrement have on climate change. It is all due to whales’ excrement in the diets of phytoplankton.
The tiny marine algae (海洋藻类) floats at the center of several marine food webs, and they provide food for many sea creatures including whales, while also requiring whales’ excrement to feed on. They also require CO2 to survive, just like trees.
Whales, after deep-sea dives for krill (磷虾), return to the surface and release excrement, which is rich in nitrogen (氮) and iron, into the top ocean layer, which provides a key food source for phytoplankton.
In his paper, Dr. Chiami suggests that since phytoplankton populations can expand wherever whales are, a significant effort should be made to fight against climate change by encouraging the growth and protection of whale populations. “At a minimum, even a 1% increase in phytoplankton productivity thanks to whale activity would take in hundreds of millions of tons of additional CO2 a year, which is equal to the sudden appearance of 2 billion mature trees,”says Chiami.
1. What makes the investors excited?| A．Trees’ function as “lungs of the world”. |
| B．Phytoplankton’s ability to create oxygen. |
| C．The success of the World Economic Forum. |
| D．People's continuous fight against climate change. |
| A．They refresh much oxygen. | B．They never send out CO2. |
| C．They kill much phytoplankton. | D．They supply food to phytoplankton. |
| A．Complex. | B．Competitive. | C．Dependent. | D．Distant. |
| A．Rebuild food webs. | B．Try to protect whales. |
| C．Grow more phytoplankton. | D．Limit population explosion. |
