| A．They use fewer plastic bags. |
| B．They don’t drive cars. |
| C．They waste less food. |
2 . More than half of the world’s oceans have changed greatly in color over the past 20 years, with human-caused climate change as the likely cause, according to the study published in the journal Nature. Oceans around the equator (赤道), in particular, have become greener, a trend that cannot be explained by natural, year-to-year variability (变化性) alone, reflecting changes in their ecosystems.
The ocean’s color changes based on what’s found in its upper layers. Bluer oceans tend to have little life, while greener oceans have more phytoplankton (浮游植物). Phytoplankton are the base of the ocean food web. In a balanced ecosystem, they serve as fuel for zooplankton and fish, which are eaten by larger fish, seabirds and marine mammals.
Nevertheless, the change in color has indicated a change in the ecosystem. While some areas are likely to have less phytoplankton, others will have more. These kinds of shifts could have ripple effects throughout the entire ocean ecosystem.
To determine whether this trend was related to climate change, researchers compared two ocean-color models which simulated how the oceans would respond under two conditions: one with added greenhouse gases and one without. The results predicted in the greenhouse gas model aligned (一致) almost exactly with what the researchers found from real-world data---within 20 years, about half of the oceans obviously shifted in color.
Dutkiewicz said she was not surprised at this finding. “But still I found the results overwhelmingly alarming; and there is another wake-up call that human-caused climate change has significantly impacted the earth system,” she said. “All changes are causing an imbalance in natural ecosystems. Such imbalances will only get worse over time if our oceans keep heating.” she added.
1. What does the new study mainly show?| A．The color of the oceans varies with the seasons. |
| B．Oceans are turning greener due to climate change. |
| C．Ocean ecosystems have become more and more fragile. |
| D．Human activities are the main cause of climate change. |
| A．Greener oceans are more beneficial to fish than blue ones. |
| B．Phytoplankton play a fundamental role in ocean ecosystems. |
| C．The number of phytoplankton is in decline in most oceans. |
| D．Phytoplankton are vital for fighting against climate change. |
| A．By exploring the waters covered by phytoplankton. |
| B．By referring to previous data about greenhouse gases. |
| C．By analyzing the source of greenhouse gas emissions. |
| D．By comparing ocean-color models in different conditions. |
| A．To offer solutions to ocean heating. |
| B．To show the changes in natural ecosystems. |
| C．To stress the urgency of dealing with climate change. |
| D．To state the importance of the ocean to human beings. |
3 . Going green is good for business. Consumers are often willing to pay more for eco-friendly products than other comparable products on the market, according to market research. But not all environmental claims are created equally. “Greenwashing” is a form of misinformation often used to fascinate an enthusiastic green consumer. Companies promising to be sustainable, or biodegradable sometimes fail to meet the promises they make to consumers.
Greenwashing is particularly common in the fashion industry, says Maxine Bédat, director of The New Standard Institute, a think tank(智库) focused on improving the industry’s environmental standards. Being sustainable is the latest trend and a way for the industry to attract consumers. “I think we’re at the top of green washing in the industry,” she says.”
Retailers(零售商) will mislead consumers by distracting them from a company’s larger issues. For example, a large retailer might roll out a new line of products, such as jeans, that uses less water and therefore theoretically has less of an environmental impact than the other clothes the company sells. “You think ‘Oh that sounds great,’” Bédat says. But that same company might ignore water usage in the rest of their products lines, while doing nothing to address the other ways that their production might be harming the environment.
When it comes to fashion, Bérdat says to rethink shopping habits. After all, buying a new sweater labeled “carbon neutral(碳中和)” still produces more carbon than wearing a sweater already in your closet. She notes, “The most sustainable thing you can do as a consumer is wear the things you have more.”
As more companies look to cash in on sustainable marketing, governments are beginning to take more action to safeguard consumers. In New York, The Fashion Act would require fashion companies operating in the state to obey the Paris Climate Agreement. A new law brought forth by members of the European Union would more strictly regulate environmental claims and sustainability labels slapped on products sold in Europe.
1. What is the purpose of greenwashing?| A．To advocate proper use of water. |
| B．To introduce green ways to wash clothes. |
| C．To reduce the impact on environment. |
| D．To appeal to those eco-friendly customers. |
| A．A new trend in fashion. | B．A new kind of product. |
| C．A trick of greenwashing. | D．A large issue of a company. |
| A．Doubtful. | B．Indifferent. | C．Disapproving. | D．Tolerant. |
| A．To enhance the quality of products. |
| B．To shelter customers from greenwashing. |
| C．To raise people’s awareness of going green. |
| D．To encourage carbon-neutral product lines. |
4 . Far, far below your feet lies a source of nearly endless energy. Earth's core is about as hot as the surface of the Sun, so hot that it melts the rocky layers above it into magma, or liquid rock. Wouldn't it be great if we could tap into all that energy? In some places, we do!
The Geysers is an area north of San Francisco in California where magma's heat turns a reservoir of underground water into steam. This region is home to 18 geothermal power plants. The steam rises up through spaces between the rocks underground, a bit like how steam pours from a teakettle boiling on a stove. The power plant has pipelines that send the steam into the turbines (涡轮机) where electricity flow is generated. Once the steam leaves the turbine, it goes into a cooling tower where it turns back into liquid. Then it's piped back into the reservoir to be reheated again. Other kinds of geothermal power plants pump hot groundwater into the power plant. Then the pressure is reduced, causing the liquid to flash into steam that turns the turbine and generates electricity flow. Once the steam cools and turns back into liquid, it's pumped back down into the reservoir to begin the cycle again.
So why don't we all heat our homes with free steam from the earth? First, the heat has to be close enough to the surface for us to reach it. Next, there has to be plenty of underground water to be heated. Finally, there has to be a layer of rock that water or steam can flow through. So in places where all three of those things come together, geothermal energy can be a powerful renewable energy source. Besides, when a geothermal plant returns water back into the hot rocks of a reservoir, it makes the rock crack a bit, which can cause small earthquakes. There's another danger that comes with drilling near magma-pipes and other equipment might melt if they hit a pocket of magma or are caught in an eruption. One geothermal plant in Hawaii was partially buried by lava in 2018. But engineers are hopeful that the repaired plant will generate even more power. Geothermal energy isn't the answer for everywhere, but it's a piece of the puzzle to help slow climate change.
1. In which part of power plants is the electricity made?| A．The turbine. | B．The reservoir. | C．The pipeline. | D．The tower. |
| A．Hard surface and possible earthquakes. |
| B．Changeable climate and unqualified equipment. |
| C．Limited underground water and thin layers of rock. |
| D．Unsuitable geological conditions and potential dangers. |
| A．To demonstrate the great effort that engineers made. |
| B．To show the power that the repaired plant can generate. |
| C．To illustrate the danger caused by drilling near magma. |
| D．To praise the engineers who repaired the generate plant. |
| A．Unconcerned. | B．Unclear. | C．Doubtful. | D．Approving. |
5 . Some talk of building settlements on the moon or mars to help make sure humanity survives long into the future. Others have their sights set closer to home: on future cities under the ocean.
“Technologically speaking, it is absolutely possible to colonize the bottom of the sea,” says Fabien Cousteau, a well-known ocean explorer who once spent 31 days living in what is now the world’s only functioning undersea habitat, Aquarius. It’s about the size of a school bus and located 62 feet below the ocean surface off the Florida Keys.
Just as astronauts test what it would be like to live in space, aquanauts try out undersea living with an eye on the future. Escaping from disasters such as climate change, wars, or pandemics is one reason to live under the sea. Others include studying, exploring, or appreciating the ocean. It’s costly and expensive to constantly keep up an ocean habitat which must pump in or make its own air, electricity, and fresh water. Inhabitants have to deal with high pressure. And infections can develop rapidly due to high humidity.
Despite the challenges, several new ocean habitats and cities are under construction. A series of space station-like undersea living quarters for aquanauts called Proteus are scheduled to be completed by 2025 off Curacao, an island north of Venezuela in South America. An undersea colony called Ven Base Alpha will be built near a hydrothermal vent, which would supply it with energy. Meanwhile, an undersea city called Ocean Spiral in Japan would link its surface to the deep sea, using the difference in pressure to generate energy and produce fresh water. This sounds amazing, but it would be extremely expensive and remains just a design.
Not everyone agrees that building homes in the ocean is a good idea. This type of development could place even more strain on ecosystems that are already struggling with pollution and climate change. It’s important to make sure that any construction is done carefully, says Susanne Menden-Deuer, an oceanographer at the University of Rhode Island. Wild undersea habitats should be treated as “the precious, irreplaceable resource that they are,” she says.
1. What do we know about Aquarius?| A．It is still under construction. |
| B．It functions as an undersea school bus. |
| C．It is the only ocean habitat in operation. |
| D．It only allows a person to live there for 31 days. |
| A．The present and future of living under the sea. |
| B．The reasons and challenges of living under the sea. |
| C．The purpose and cost of building undersea settlements. |
| D．The problems and findings of building undersea settlements. |
| A．Rapid development of undersea habitats. |
| B．Protection of irreplaceable ocean resource. |
| C．Negative impacts on undersea ecosystems. |
| D．Struggles with pollution and climate change. |
| A．A textbook. |
| B．An exam paper. |
| C．An academic article. |
| D．A science magazine. |
“Green Games” became a calling card for the 19th Asian Games.
Among all of the Games’ 56 competition venues, just 12 were
7 . The endangered pandas in Qinling Mountains might face a new threat: the loss of their food—bamboo, which makes up 99% of their meals.
Adult pandas spend most part of the day eating bamboo and have to take in at least 40 pounds a day to stay healthy. However, a new study published in Nature and Climate Change warned that they may soon find their food gone because most of the bamboo in Qinling Mountains might disappear by the end of the century as a result of rising temperature worldwide.
A team made up of researchers from Michigan State University and the Chinese Academy of Sciences has studied the effects of climate change on the bamboo in Qinling Mountains. They have found that bamboo is very sensitive to climate changes. “80% to 100% of the bamboo would be gone if the average temperature increases 3.5 degrees worldwide by the end of the century.” said Liu Jianguo, one of the reports’ authors. He added, “This is how much the temperature would rise by 2100 even if all countries will keep their promises in the Paris Agreement. But you know what is happening around the world.”
In recent years, China has been trying its best to protect the endangered pandas by setting up more and bigger natural reserves. “But it is far from being enough and the endangered pandas need cooperation from the rest of the world, because their future is not just in the hands of the Chinese,” said Shirley Martin from World Wildlife Fund.
The Qinling Mountains are home to about 360 pandas. That is about a quarter of the China’s wild panda population. In addition, about 435 are living in research centers and zoos in China.
1. What can we learn from the first paragraph?| A．Pandas have already eaten 99% of the bamboo in Qinling Mountains. |
| B．Pandas in Qinling Mountains are just threatened by the loss of food. |
| C．Lots of the bamboo in Qinling Mountains will possibly disappear. |
| D．Qinling Mountains cannot provide enough bamboo for the pandas. |
| A．The changes of temperature is sensitive to bamboo. |
| B．China needs more help from World wildlife Fund. |
| C．China is making great efforts to protect the pandas. |
| D．It is difficult to control the temperature rise within 3.5 degrees. |
| A．About 1,500. | B．About 720. | C．About 360. | D．About 1,900. |
| A．Necessity to Change Pandas’ Food | B．A New Threat Faced by the Pandas |
| C．The Disappearance of Bamboo | D．Efforts Made to Save Pandas |
8 . On August 19, smoke filled the sky over Sao Paulo, Brazil. The smoke was coming from the Amazon rainforest, hundreds of miles away. Some parts of the rainforest had been burning for several weeks. But people can make few efforts to stop it.
The Amazon is the largest rainforest in the world. About 60% of it is in Brazil. The Amazon is home to millions of species of plants and animals. It is also important to the health of the earth. Its trees take in carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and replace it with oxygen. This helps slow climate change.
Experts believe the fires were set on purpose. In general, it’s against the law to start a fire in the rain-forest. But it’s not uncommon. Farmers regularly do so. They clear land so they can plant crops and raise cattle for beef production.
Since 1978, some 289,000 square miles of the Amazon have been destroyed. Deforestation (滥伐森林) was the most serious in the early 2000s. Then, the Brazilian government began to deal with illegal fires. This greatly slowed the tree loss. But the new president of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, wants to cut down on environmental protection. Since he took power, Brazil has rolled back efforts to prevent deforestation.
So what you can do in the future is help protect the Amazon. Raise money for organization such as the Rainforest Alliance and Amazon Watch which are working to raise awareness and protect the rainforest. Tell companies to make sure their practices don’t harm the environment. Take a look at our own habits. If we reduce the amount of meat we eat and paper we use, we can reduce deforestation.
1. What do we know about the Amazon?| A．It plays an important role. |
| B．It has the most animals. |
| C．It has 60% rainforest in the world. |
| D．It has solved the problem of climate change. |
| A．Animals’ dying out. |
| B．Humans’ influence. |
| C．Natural disaster. |
| D．Plants’ shortage. |
| A．Started. | B．Improved. | C．Reduced. | D．Gained. |
| A．Give away what we have. |
| B．Punish companies for their illegal fires. |
| C．Change laws about forests immediately. |
| D．Develop good habits friendly to the earth. |
When garden designer Jane Gates moved to the Sussex countryside in 2015, she fell in love with a traditional black barn conversion(改建的房屋), and set about creating a droughts-resistant garden around it.
Over the years, Gates
Gates’ garden is a big gravel(砾石)one.
1. What is the aim of the campaign?
| A．To remind people of Earth Day. |
| B．To encourage people to reduce garbage. |
| C．To warn people of the bad effects of pollution. |
| A．Planting trees. | B．Designing posters. | C．Collecting garbage. |
| A．Paint paper. | B．Stop driving cars. | C．Decorate classrooms. |
| A．Ridiculous. | B．Confusing. | C．Wonderful. |
