1 . The green, natural forest absorbs carbon dioxide from the air through photo- synthesis (光合作用). There is another way of dealing with the climate crisis. That is setting up fields of dark-colored solar panels (太阳能电池板), also known as “solar forests”, which replace power stations that use fossil fuels such as coal and gas to make electricity, thus mitigating harmful emissions (排放) of greenhouse gases.
But since they are both relatively dark, they absorb a lot of solar radiation. Some of the energy is used for photosynthesis in natural forests or to produce electricity in “solar forests”, but most returns to the atmosphere, heating it up. Then what would be the more effective land use option in terms of the climate crisis: planting a forest, or building solar panels? This issue has long been debated by decision-makers around the world. Now, we may have an answer, thanks to a new study.
First, the researchers compared the impact of a forest on the climate crisis in a dry area to that of a solar farm in a similar environment. The researchers found that the albedo effect (反射效应) of both of these “forests” was similar, but that the absorption or prevention of carbon emissions was very different. It turns out that it takes 2.5 years for the heat emitted by solar farms to be balanced by the carbon emissions that are avoided, thanks to the energy they produce. In the case of a natural forest of similar size, it would take more than 100 years of photosynthesis to balance its heating effect.
The researchers also studied how the heating-cooling relationship changed in other climates and found that in more humid environments, the heating effect of planting large numbers of trees is smaller. And the break-even point is reached within 15 to 18 years.
“In dry places, building solar forests seems far more effective in addressing the climate crisis. Meanwhile, forests absorb about a third of annual carbon emissions and play a vital role in the global rain cycle, in maintaining biodiversity and in many other environmental and social contexts. Preventing them from being cut down and planting more trees in humid areas are of great significance,” explains one of the researchers in the study.
1. What does the underlined word “mitigating” in Paragraph 1 probably mean?| A．Releasing. | B．Decreasing. | C．Generating. | D．Stabilizing. |
| A．They cause much damage to the land. |
| B．They result in a serious loss of farmland. |
| C．They contribute to the warming of the atmosphere. |
| D．They lose energy during the absorption of solar radiation. |
| A．The natural forest exhibits a stronger albedo effect. |
| B．The solar forest can generate more energy in dry areas. |
| C．The solar forest is superior in balancing the heating effect. |
| D．The natural forest is more effective in solving the climate crisis. |
| A．More trees should be planted in dry regions. |
| B．More methods should be adopted to address the climate crisis. |
| C．Fields of solar panels should be set up everywhere on the earth. |
| D．Building solar panels and planting trees should be effectively combined. |
2 . Students at the Calhoun School in New York City have much more than a roof over their heads. They have a rooftop garden, with lush grass, colorful flowers and fragrant herbs. “Green roofs” are sprouting up all over, from schools to city skyscrapers. And roofs aren’t the only things going green. Architects are finding all sorts of new ways to build buildings that are easier on the environment. These schools, homes, and offices are called “green buildings”.
Normally it takes a lot of energy to run appliances. Too often, that energy comes from burning fossil fuels. So green buildings are designed to do all these things with much less energy. An energy-smart building starts with thick walls. A layer of insulation (隔热材料) traps air to stop heat from passing through. That keeps heat inside in the winter, and keeps heat outside in the summer. This saves energy for heating and cooling.
Heat pumps are another power-saving way to stay comfortable. A ground heat pump moves heat through pipes that run through the ground next to the building. A few feet under the ground, the temperature stays around 10℃ all year round. Water flowing around the pipes helps heat the building in winter and cool it in summer.
Another way to build green is to use recycled materials. That saves the cost and pollution of manufacturing something new. In the Chicago Center for Green Technology, the ceiling tiles (瓷砖) are made of pressed newspaper. The bathroom floors are tiled with recycled glass, and the stall walls are recycled plastic. Builders have found many creative ways to re-use old materials.
As more people become concerned about climate change, more buildings are going green. Green buildings produce less of the gases that warm the planet. City planners like green buildings because they save money. And they are healthier for the people who work and live inside. But you don’t need to build a whole new building. Simple changes like shading windows and planting trees can make any home greener—and a better Earth home for us all.
1. How are green buildings designed to keep warm in the winter?| A．By-burning fossil fuels. | B．By using thick walls with insulators. |
| C．By running heating devices. | D．By equipping buildings with appliances. |
| A．saving water | B．using recycled materials |
| C．using less energy | D．reducing greenhouse gas emissions |
| A．Education. | B．Culture. | C．Economy. | D．Technology. |
| A．Recycling: to make a better earth for us all |
| B．Heat Pumps: a new approach to saving energy |
| C．Green Roofs: more than a roof over our heads |
| D．Building Green: to hug the earth more kindly |
3 . Sugar cane contains around 10% sugar, but that means it contains around 90%non-sugar —the material known as bagasse (甘蔗渣). World production of cane sugar was 185 million tonnes in 2017.
Most bagasse is burned. Often, it fuels local generators that power the mills, so it is not wasted. But Zhu Hongli, a mechanical engineer at Northeastern University, thinks it can be put to better use. A bit of bagasse makes an excellent and biodegradable replacement for the plastic used for disposable food containers like coffee cups.
Previous attempts tended not to survive contact with liquids. But she thought she could overcome that by mixing the sugar cane pulp (浆) with another biodegradable material. She knew from previous research that the main reason why past efforts fell to pieces when wet is that bagasse is composed of short fibres unable to keep the finished product resilient (有弹性的). She therefore sought to insert a suitably long-fibred substance.
Bamboo seemed to fit the bill. It grows quickly, degrades readily and has appropriately long fibres. And it worked. When the researchers added a small amount of bamboo pulp to bagasse, they found that the result had a strong interweaving of short and long fibres. As a bonus, they also discovered that the lignin(木质素) in the fibres, a thick and solid water-proof material, bound the fibres together.
To test their new material, Dr Zhu and her colleagues first poured hot oil onto it and found that, rather than entering the material, the oil was kept away by their invention. Also, a cup out of the stuff and filled with water heated almost to boiling point remained well in shape for over two hours. Though not as long as a plastic cup would last, it is long enough for all practical purposes. Moreover, the new material is twice as strong as the plastic used to make cups, and is definitely biodegradable.
Overall, Dr Zhu argues that bagasse is an obvious choice for making coffee cups, disposable plates and so on. Once used, these could be dumped in landfills with a clear conscience.
1. Why is world production of cane sugar in 2017 mentioned?| A．To show the harvest of cane sugar. | B．To present a danger in environment. |
| C．To imply people’s demand for cane sugar. | D．To stress the potential amount of bagasse. |
| A．To gain long fibre. | B．To stick the fibres together. |
| C．To make the product biodegradable. | D．To enhance the product’s endurance. |
| A．Critical thinking could make a big difference. | B．Innovative spirit yields a better alternative. |
| C．Trash could be turned into treasure. | D．A willing heart makes miracles. |
| A．One Stone Kills Two Environmental Birds | B．A Bird In Hand Is Worth Two In The Bush |
| C．Failure is the Mother of Success | D．Knowledge is Power |
4 . Visitors to an arts Venue (场馆) in Glasgow, Scotland, now have the perfect reason to keep dancing as hard as they can-they’re creating renewable energy.
The venue, which is called SWG3, has launched a system that uses the heat produced by dancing as a source of energy. The more energetically people dance, the more heat they create. Devices on the ceiling take in heat from inside the club and transport it through pipes using a special type of liquid. The heat energy travels through 12 holes into the ground to be stored 200 meters below. The heat energy can be kept in the bedrock (solid rock below the ground) like a thermal battery (a battery that stores energy as heat) until it is needed. Another system then moves the heat to areas that need warming.
The project, which is called Body heat, was officially setup on 6 October, but it was tested during the COP26 conference in Glasgow in November 2021. At the event, world leaders discussed how to settle climate change. The system stored the heat from visitors and used it to power lights and heating. Now, the owners of SWG3 say they’ll be able to switch off their gas boilers and use Body heat to supply all their heating. This would add up to big savings in the amount of CO2 they produce. The hope is that by 2025, SWG3 will not be releasing any CO2 into the atmosphere. This is called net-zero carbon emissions.
Dr Jon Gluyas, from Durham University, told the BBC that the Body heat project was a “really good move”. He said it could help with the energy crisis in the UK by producing more energy here instead of having to rely on buying energy from other countries. Angus Millar, from Glasgow City Council, said, “People really are making Glasgow greener—while having a great time.”
1. Where is heat energy preserved before being used?| A．In pipes. | B．In 12 holes. | C．In the bed rock. | D．In a battery. |
| A．Money saving. | B．Popularity of SWG3. |
| C．Energetic dance. | D．CO2 emission reduction. |
| A．World leaders are promoting Body heat. |
| B．Body heat is promising in fixing energy issues. |
| C．Body heat will supply all the heating for Glasgow. |
| D．The UK will no longer buy energy from abroad. |
| A．Enjoying dancing. | B．Joining in a good move. |
| C．Creating energy. | D．Easing energy crisis. |
5 . Research has found that using wood for construction instead of concrete and steel can reduce emissions. But Tim Searchinger at Princeton University says many of these studies are based on the false foundation that harvesting wood is carbon neutral (碳中和). “Only a small percentage of the wood gets into a timber (木料) product, and a part of that gets into a timber product that can replace concrete and steel in a building,” he says. Efficiencies vary in different countries, but large amounts of a harvested tree are left to be divided into parts, used in short-lived products like paper or burned for energy, all of which generate emissions.
In a report for the World Resources Institute, Searchinger and his colleagues have modelled how using more wood for construction would affect emissions between 2010 and 2050, accounting for the emissions from harvesting the wood. They considered various types of forests and parts of wood going towards construction. They also factored in the emissions savings from replacing concrete and steel.
Under some circumstances, the researchers found significant emissions reductions. But each case required what they considered an unrealistically high portion of the wood going towards construction, as well as rapid growth only seen in warmer places, like Brazil. In general, they found a large increase in global demand for wood would probably lead to rising emissions for decades. Accounting for emissions in this way, the researchers reported in a related paper that increasing forest harvests between 2010 and 2050 would add emissions equal to roughly 10 percent of total annual emissions.
Ali Amiri at Aalto University in Finland says the report’s conclusions about emissions from rising demand are probably correct, but the story is different for wood we already harvest. “Boosting the efficiency of current harvests and using more wood for longer-lived purposes than paper would cut emissions,” he says. “We cannot just say we should stop using wood.”
1. What is wrong with previous researches according to Searchinger?| A．They got wrong statistics. | B．They used an incorrect concept. |
| C．They included too many factors. | D．They were applied in limited countries. |
| A．The process of the new research. | B．The background of the new study. |
| C．The challenge of the new research. | D．The achievements of the new study. |
| A．When wood grows slowly. |
| B．When wood is largely used to make paper. |
| C．When wood is largely used in construction in countries like Brazil. |
| D．When wood is largely harvested in countries like Brazil. |
| A．Favorable. | B．Doubtful. | C．Critical. | D．Objective. |
After 30 years in hotel management, Anne Guan started her BnB business in a valley of Yellow Mountain. It is one of the most famous
Anne
“It’s all too much, and you can’t even imagine how there can be so much trash,” said Anne. “So we started to pick up waste all the way during the trip. First, it’s just me and my friends. And then, our Tibetan guides and other
The experience in Tibet carved into Anne’s heart. “I want to use my own
7 . Animals being extinct from the Earth is a serious issue. When this happens in order to use their fur or skin for fashion, it is even worse, since it’s not even for a matter of human survival. That’s why a London zoo decided to make a powerful statement at the Siamese crocodile enclosure(鳄鱼围栏).
When visitors come in expecting to see a crocodile, they’re greeted with the handbag instead, making a very effective and powerful point about illegal wildlife trade and the harm it takes on the species involved.
A sign by the enclosure reads, “This bag used to be found swimming in slow-moving rivers and streams across Southeast Asia and Indonesia. Over the last 75 years, more than80% of Siamese crocodiles have disappeared. Many, like this one, were hunted for their skins as part of the illegal wildlife trade.”
Native to parts of Southeast Asia, Siamese crocodiles are critically endangered and have become virtually extinct in the wild. Due to hunting as well as habitat loss, they are now absent from nearly 99% of their original range. A huge part of the decline of population is due to humans using their wet land habitat for rice farming, and things only took a turn for the worse when large-scale hunting for their skin for commercial purposes began in the 1950s.
The particular handbag that is on display at the zoo was confiscated at a UK airport, according to Benjamin Tapley, leader of reptiles and amphibians at ZSL London Zoo.
Tapley told The Huffington Post, “We made this exhibit, within ZSL London Zoo’s Reptile House, to draw visitors’ attention to the destructive impact the Illegal Wildlife Trade(IWT) is having on species around the world. At ZSL, we are working globally with governments and local communities to protect wildlife, support law enforcement(执法)that targets illegal trade networks, empower local communities affected by IWT and reduce demand for threatened wildlife.”
1. Why does the sign say this handbag used to swim?| A．It is made into a crocodile shape. | B．It was kept in flowing river at first. |
| C．It is light enough to float on water. | D．It is made of a crocodile’s skin. |
| A．Wildly hunting of Siamese crocodiles. |
| B．Causes to make Siamese crocodiles endangered. |
| C．Commercial value of Siamese crocodiles. |
| D．Destruction of Siamese crocodiles’ habitats. |
| A．Seized. | B．Sold. | C．Bought. | D．Stolen. |
| A．Success in wildlife protection. | B．Species of endangered animals. |
| C．The purpose to show the handbag. | D．The handbag’s attraction to visitors. |
8 . For Vishwanath Mallabadi from Bangalore, India, there is no such thing as a useless object or “waste”. Give him anything—abandoned metal or plastic items, old devices, dysfunctional printed circuit boards — and he’ll create art out of it.
Vishwanath’s passion is particularly relevant in the current age, where India generates more e-waste than it can recycle. From 2019 to 2020, the country generated a total of more than 1 million tonnes of e waste. Of this, only 22.7 percent was collected, taken apart and recycled. The eco-artist has upcycled and transformed nearly 200 kg of e-waste into usable products and proposes eco-art as a means to deal with waste management.
Vishwanath’s father, D M Shambhu, was a famous sculptor and painter, but he wanted his son to choose medicine and become a doctor. However, Vishwanath, who was interested in upcycling second-hand objects right from childhood, decided to pursue a BFA in Applied Art. He later went on to work in a company as a high-level administrator and retired two years ago. “In my free time and during the weekends. I used to conduct experiments in e-waste and try to develop something unique,” he recalled.
So far, the eco-artist has created more than 500 objects. These include a six-foot tall sculpture made from upcycled computer keyboard keys, and a painting inspired by Vincent Van Gogh’s The Starry Night, using upcycled resistors (电阻器) on wood. Among his other artworks are a 42×38 inch figure statue created from upcycled keyboard keys on a sun board finished with plastics, a deer made of colorful used wires, plants and flowers from computer parts, and eco jewellery from upcycled digital wrist watch parts.
“The work involves selecting the e-waste objects—the texture, shape, and colour etc, and visualising and conceptualising the final product. It might take weeks and months for sculptures. However, sustainable initiatives and upcycled art are nowadays in demand in multinational companies opting for a sustainable culture,” he said.
1. What does the author try to convey in paragraph 2?| A．The seriousness of e-waste in India. |
| B．Vishwanath’s passion for environment protection. |
| C．The achievements of waste management in India. |
| D．Vishwanath’s attitude towards dealing with e-waste. |
| A．A passionate eco-artist. | B．A private doctor. |
| C．A famous sculptor. | D．A senior manager. |
| A．The deer and the plants. | B．The sculpture and the figure statue. |
| C．The painting and the flowers. | D．The deer and the eco jewellery. |
| A．Exciting but unprofitable. | B．Creative but useless. |
| C．Demanding but worthwhile. | D．Efficient but costly. |
If you’re one of those people planning to do something helpful in honor of Earth Day, you may be wondering what
Since our cars are some of the
But that single gallon of gas sends 20 pounds of carbon dioxide into the air. That’s because 1 gallon of gas
So how will you get around? Consider
10 . As we all know, waste is extremely bad for the environment. Let’s talk about why litter is harmful to our streets and towns, our drinking water, and sea animals.
Waste can have a bad influence on our cities. Cleaning up litter costs US taxpayers (纳税人) and businesses $11.5 billion each year.
As you can see, waste is harmful in many ways.
| A．Everybody wants to breathe fresh air. |
| B．That money could have been spent on parks. |
| C．How do you feel when you see people littering around? |
| D．In the future there might be more waste than fish in the ocean. |
| E．Litter can go into the soil and water and pollute our drinking water. |
| F．We need to stop littering for us, for the environment, and for the planet. |
| G．Did you know every day almost 8 million pieces of litter go into the ocean? |
