1 . Among the world’s waste-recycling pioneers, Germany is the leader. The country has quite a detailed way of sorting their waste-down to the color of glass waste, the type of paper, the separate bin for metals, etc.
Here below are what you should know about Germany’s waste sorting system：
◇You are expected to gather your waste in your apartment/housing area’s local public garbage bins.
◇There are commonly several types of public garbage bins available in the German’s apartment/housing areas：
Blue bin — for paper and cardboard
Green and white bin — for glass, different bins for differently colored glass, not available for holiday decorations and lights
Yellow/orange bin — for plastic and metals
Brown bin — for goods that can be changed naturally by bacteria into substances that don’t harm the environment, like leftovers, fruit and vegetables
Gray/black bin — for everything else that can’t be recycled such as used cat litter and animal waste
◇Some items don’t belong in these public garbage bins. Items like used batteries, electronics, unused paints, and lights must be returned to the special agent/locations so they can be properly recycled. Other items such as clothes, shoes, and oversized rubbish and furniture are advised to be donated or sold.
◇There’s this thing called Pfand in Germany, a certain part of the price for a bottled drink that you get back if you send back the bottle to certified (有资历的) shops. German law requires shops over a certain size selling bottled drinks have a Pfandruckgabestelle, or place for bottles with deposits (押金). These bottles usually made of glass or plastic will be refilled. Of course, there’re strict health regulations.
1. Which bin should the fallen leaves be classified into？| A．The blue bin. | B．The brown bin. |
| C．The grey/black bin. | D．The green and white bin. |
| A．By returning it to special agents. | B．By placing it in a specific location. |
| C．By giving it away to those in need. | D．By donating it to a Pfandruckgabestelle. |
| A．To collect money for some shops. | B．To help shops reuse plastic or glass. |
| C．To reduce the broken bottles. | D．To encourage bottles to be returned. |
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
A recent study shows that the world's coral reefs have been showing strong bleaching(漂白) due to global warming.
In the 1980s beaching
Bleaching is caused when warm water breaks down the algae (海藻) inside the refs. They provide food for the corals and keep them
Coral reefs,
The oceans can absorb 93 per cent of the heat trapped by the greenhouse gases which humans release into the atmosphere. And the other 7 per cent
“If the ocean wasn’t absorbing as much heat, the surface of the land would heat up much
However, the ocean itself, as Discover Magazine noted, is heating up 40 per cent faster on average than the United Nations
5 . About 12 million tons of plastic wastes are entering the oceans every year. This garbage pollutes the water, kills wildlife and breaks down into small pieces that fish and other creatures eat.
Now a group of Spanish fishermen will receive economic support to catch plastics. It is part of a new project. Carlos Martin is one of the fishermen taking part in the project. He and his partners collect the plastic in the ocean and bring it back to land every week. Martin thinks rivers carry a lot of plastics to the sea. He says his most concern is no more than that the plastics often get caught in the nets, which makes nets not work properly. They take on mud（泥）, causing the nets to break because they weigh so much.
Under the new programs, one million pounds will support ocean cleanup efforts for fishermen like Martin. The money is coming from the European Union and the Catalan government. Sergi Tudela, the General Director of Catalonia Fisheries, is responsible for the cleanup project. He said, "We are hopeful that if we are successful in this project, we can apply it to other areas in the Mediterranean（地中海）."
Government reports show that the amount of plastic wastes washing up along the Spanish coastline has grown by 65 percent in just six years. Fishing equipment makes up a large part of the about 8 to 12 million tons of plastics left in the world's oceans every year.
Martin says the fishing community now understands how big the problem is. He says, "In the past we didn't see it that way. We took the plastic garbage and threw it back into the water. I think that after a few year here we have realized the problem. Nothing is thrown into the water; we collect everything and bring it to shore.
1. What worries Martin most about plastic wastes at the beginning?| A．They pollute the sea environment. |
| B．They affect the quality and taste of fish. |
| C．They prevent the fishing nets from working well. |
| D．They kill wildlife and reduce his fishing amount. |
| A．Getting more money to support the project. |
| B．Getting help from other European countries. |
| C．Spreading the cleanup project to more places. |
| D．Praising the European Union for their helping to the oceans. |
| A．Its members do a lot of work for free. |
| B．It has stopped using plastic fishing equipment. |
| C．It has made positive changes to fight plastic wastes. |
| D．Its members find people sill throw the garbage carelessly. |
| A．New programs are changing fishermen's life |
| B．Money is given to Spanish fishermen to clean up oceans |
| C．Traditional fishing equipment causes a lot of plastic wastes |
| D．Spanish fishermen are encouraging people to clean up oceans |
6 . Plastic bottles by the side of a road are a common sight, an unseemly reminder of how often consumer products are thrown away carelessly. Now some of those bottles may become part of the road. A California company has put recycled plastic into road repaving (重铺)，which could revolutionize the industry with environmental benefits.
Sean Weaver, president of TechniSoil Industrial in the northern California city of Redding, said, “With this new technique, the repaved roads are stronger, flatter, safer and last longer than those made with regular asphalt (沥青).”
More appealing to environmentalists, the repaved roads incorporate 100% of the old asphalt - sparing the air from dozens of trips by trucks pulling away and bringing in building materials - and provide a new market for plastic products that could otherwise wind up in a landfill.
“Everybody that's looked at it said this will be one of the most transformative road construction technologies ever,” Weaver said. “We're recycling what's there, and we're delivering a road that's better than the original, at no higher cost than it would cost you to repave that road the traditional way.”
The process involves four large construction vehicles linked together in what's called a recycling train which scoops up the top 3 inches of asphalt on a lane, grinds (磨碎)them on a mill and mixes them with TechniSoil's G5 binder (粘合剂),containing from 2% to 20% of liquefied plastic. The mixed product is deposited back on the road, paved and rolled over. There’s no heat involved in the operation, which essentially replaces the traditional binder - bitumen, a leftover from refining oil - with a stronger plastic composite. The other elements of asphalt, such as crushed rock, gravel, sand and filler, remain in place.
1. What’s the new move of the California company?| A．To put asphalt into road construction. |
| B．To revolutionize the recycling industry. |
| C．To use recycled plastic in road repaving. |
| D．To add plastic bottles to house-building. |
| A．The technique they use is cost-saving. |
| B．His company enjoys a high reputation. |
| C．The road-construction process is complex. |
| D．Environmentalists think highly of the new roads. |
| A．How roads are repaved in the new way. |
| B．Where the new building materials are mixed. |
| C．Why there is no heat in the road construction. |
| D．What materials are used in the road repaving. |
7 . Reducing plastic waste isn't easy because the cheap material is found in almost every household item. Now a delicious and nutritious solution has come up to help reduce our dependence on this environmental hazard（危害）.
David Christian, the co-founder of Evoware, says the idea of creating the biodegradable （生物降解的）products came from concern at the country's high pollution rate. Indonesia is home to four of the world's worst polluted river. Since single-use packaging is a large contributor to the problem, Evoware decided to deal with that first.
After investigating various materials, the company settled on seaweed. Unlike corn, commonly used for biodegradable containers, seaweed does not require resources like water or large amounts of space. Since Indonesian farmers already harvest more seaweed than they can sell, it's easy for the company to find the material.
Though they will not reveal their production process, Evoware says the seaweed packaging contains no chemicals and is safe to consume. The company has also invented single-use cups, which can break down 30 days after they're thrown away.
While replacing plastic with the seaweed products may seem appealing to most of us, it is a hard-sell in Indonesia. According to Christian, The awareness to reduce single-use plastic is still very low. This makes our bioplastic unnecessary.” Also a factor is the cost, which is higher than using plastic. Hopefully, Evoware will succeed in convincing Indonesians and people worldwide that switching to their products will be helpful to protecting our beautiful planet.
1. What problem did Evoware decide to deal with first？| A．Ways to clean the four worst polluted rivers. |
| B．How to deal with single-use packaging. |
| C．Means to contribute to the country’s economy. |
| D．What nutritious materials for people to use. |
| A．It could be found everywhere in his country. |
| B．It was most commonly used for packaging. |
| C．It didn't require much space and was easy to get. |
| D．It grew thickly in most of the polluted rivers. |
| A．Sometimes it's hard to get people to reduce the use of plastics. |
| B．Their seaweed products have won government support. |
| C．Their new products have received worldwide popularity. |
| D．The cost of making seaweed products will be lowered soon. |
8 . NOT that long ago, the world wondered whether clean energy could survive without government support. Now the question is how far it can spread. The number of electric vehicles. which was about 1 million in 2015, last year reached 2 million. In electricity generation, too, trend is with the greens. In the first half of this year wind, solar and hydro generated a record 35% of Germany's power.
Greater success is breeding greater ambition. California is proposing to reach 60% renewable energy by 2030: 176 countries have clean-energy goals. Hawaii, America's most oil-dependent state, has promised to be 100% renewable by the middle of the century. So have 48 poor countries vulnerable to climate change. This week the number of multinationals making a commitment to running their operations on 100% renewable energy rose to 100.
But not every target is helpful. To see why, consider that goal of 100% renewable energy. It makes solving climate change seem easy. In fact, though wind and solar can generate the whole country's electricity some day, renewables still account for less than 8% of the world's total power output. Moreover, cleaning up electricity is only part of the battle. Even though gas-fired heating and cooking can be at least as big a source of greenhouse-gas emissions, renewable heating gets little attention. Transport policy is unpredictable, too. Carmakers may hit their goal of annual sales of 10 million electric vehicles in a decade, but battery-powered road transport, shipping and aviation are dreams. A much-quoted claim that America could rely on wind, solar and hydro alone for its electricity has recently been bitterly criticized by a group of respected academics.
Most importantly, a 100% renewables target confuses means with ends. The priority for the planet is to stop net emissions（净排放量）of greenhouse gases, especially carbon dioxide. Putting too much emphasis on wind, solar and other renewables may block off better carbon-reduction paths. After decades of investment, it is wrong to leave nuclear power off the table. Carbon emissions in Germany actually rose because it chose to phase out nuclear power gradually and so burned more coal. New technologies, such as "direct air capture" systems designed to separate carbon dioxide from the air, may in time prove vital. Likewise, greater energy efficiency could reduce emissions by even more than using renewables would.
1. It can be inferred from the passage that .| A．the problem of climate change will be solved by using 100% renewable energy |
| B．with new technologies, Germany successfully cut down carbon emissions |
| C．it is probable that ships will one day be powered by battery |
| D．America is not likely to completely rely on wind, solar and hydro energy one day |
| A．promoting energy efficiency |
| B．blocking off carbon-reduction paths |
| C．using non-renewable heating |
| D．abandoning electric vehicles |
| A．ignore | B．reduce | C．use | D．invent |
| A．Fashion | B．Politics | C．Economy | D．Education |
As we all know, there are many kinds of pollution all over the world, air pollution, water pollution, noise pollution and so on. Although we can't save the world in a short time, we can take some measures to protect
10 . For some people, walking or running outdoors is a great way to work out. What may not be so pleasant is seeing trash all over the ground. Well, some people are doing something about it. They are logging!
“Plogging” began in Sweden. The name combines the Swedish word “plocka” which means to pick up, and the word “Jogging”, which means to run slowly. A Swedish man named Erik, started the movement in 2016. On the World Environment Day website, Erik says that he moved to Stockholm from a small community in northern Sweden. Each day he would ride his bike to work.
Concerned about the amount of trash and litter he saw each day on his way to work, he took matters into his own hands.
Flogging, by that term, may have officially begun in Sweden. But many people who exercise outdoors have been doing this for years. Take Jeff Horowitz, for example. He is a personal trainer in Washington D.C. He often picks up trash while running outside. He even has turned it into a game. He will try to pick up the trash without stopping. “I didn’t know it was a thing really. This is just my personal ethics (道德标准) where I go for a run and if I happen to see a piece of garbage lying around and it’s within reach — it is a kind of a little test for me to see if I can grab it and throw it in a near trash can without stopping. And that way, I think, it gives me a little exercise and a little focus for my run. And it helps clean up the neighborhood,” he announced.
Today, logging is an official activity, one that is becoming increasingly popular. Cities around the world now hold plogging events. “I would just hope people would think twice before dropping a garbage on the ground. We have containers…seems on every block. So, it’s easy to put your garbage in the trash cans. I just think people should think about it a little bit more. I do hope one day there will not be a need for logging.” said an interviewee.
1. Which of the following can replace the underlined phrase “took matters into his own hands”?| A．began to pick up the trash. | B．appealed to people to go green |
| C．called on people to join him. | D．had the collected trash recycled |
| A．deliberate | B．automatic | C．arbitrary | D．temporary |
| A．Jogging is truly beneficial. | B．Trash cans should be within reach. |
| C．Communities should be kept clean. | D．Littering is not acceptable. |
| A．New Exercise Trend Also Helps Environment |
| B．New Exercise Enjoys unbelievable popularity |
| C．Plogging — a Fashionable Way to clear waste |
| D．Plogging — an Exercise Originating in Sweden |
