1 . Organic foods are produced according to certain production standards, meaning they are grown without the use of conventional pesticides, or chemical fertilizers and that they were processed without food additives. Livestock are raised without the routine use of antibiotics or growth hormones. In most countries, organic produced foods must not be genetically modified. They may also be required to be produced using energy-saving technologies and packaged using recyclable materials when possible.
Early consumers interested in organic food would look for non-chemically treated, fresh or minimally processed food. They mostly had to buy directly from growers: “Know your farmer, know your food” was the motto. Personal definitions of what constituted “organic” were developed through firsthand experience: by talking to farmers, seeing farm conditions, and farming activities. Historically, organic farms were relatively small family run farms—which is why organic food was once only available in small stores or farmers’ markets. However, since the early 1990s organic food has had growth rates of around 20% a year. As of April 2008, organic food accounts for 12% of food sales worldwide. Currently organic food production is legally regulated. Many countries require producers to obtain organic certification in order to mark food as organic.
Several studies have attempted to examine and compare conventional and organic systems of farming. The general consensus is that, in the short term, organic farming is less damaging for the following reasons:
●Organic farms do not release synthetic pesticides into the environment—some of which have the potential to harm soil, water and local wildlife.
●Organic farms are better than conventional farms at sustaining diverse ecosystems, i.e., populations of plants and insects, as well as animals.
●Organic farms are more energy efficient and produce less waste.
Another report published in March 2008 by The Organic Centre claims that organic food is on average 25% more nutritious than conventional food.
However, many critics believe that the increased land needed to farm organic food could potentially destroy the rainforests and wipe out many ecosystems. And organic products cost 10 to 40% more than similar conventionally produced products. Processed organic foods in supermarkets are 65% more expensive.
1. Early consumers knew what food was “organic” by________.| A．the “certified organic” label tag | B．firsthand experience |
| C．its packaging | D．examining its organic certification |
| A．in America, organic food can only be bought in small stores or farmers’ markets |
| B．organic food is produced by large-scale farms |
| C．organic food is also available in large supermarkets at present |
| D．organic food is often beautifully packaged |
| A．junk food | B．delicious snacks | C．conventional food | D．green food |
| A．The disadvantages of organic food. | B．The cost of organic food |
| C．The benefits of organic food | D．Organic food and conventional food |
| A．Organic farms are more energy efficient and produce less waste. |
| B．Organic food is generally thought to be more nutritious. |
| C．Organic farms are better than conventional farms at maintaining varieties of plants, insects and animals |
| D．Organic farms do not release synthetic pesticides into the environment. |
2 . Twelve years ago, a young traveler named Rhett Butler from San Francisco, California, visited the Sabah rainforest on Malaysian Borneo. In one area of the rainforest, he watched a bird flying through the trees. The beautiful sight left quite an impression on him. But weeks later, back home, Rhett Butler got the news that trees had been cut down in the area he visited.
That experience led Rhett Butler begin writing a book about rainforests and threats to their existence. But he did not publish the book. Instead, in 1999, he used his research for the book to create a website. The site is Mongabay. Com. His purpose was to inform the public about tropical rainforests. But the subject quickly developed. As a former businessman, he became a respected writer of science and environmental stories.
The popularity of Mongabay. Com attracted advertisers. Small ads on the site pay for its operations. Mongabay.Com has grown and led to other sites. For example, there is a site for children which is called kids. Mongabay.Com. Another one, WildMadangascar.Org, is all about the island nation that Rhett Butler calls his favorite place.
To keep his website going, he travels around the world on several major trips each year. His working tools are a laptop computer, cameras and sometimes diving equipment. He often calls on experts for information. For example, he interviewed Alison Jolly, a top experts on lemurs(狐猴). He interviewed Rodney Jackson, a biologist who established the Snow Leopard Conservancy.
Stories like these have made Mongabay a favorite place on the Internet for researchers, students and teachers. In April, Time.Com named it one of the fifteen top climate and environment websites in the world.
1. What’s the main idea of the passage?| A．How Rhett Butler made his website popular. |
| B．Rainforest on Malaysian Borneo. |
| C．How Rhett Butler protected rare animals. |
| D．Rhett Butler and his website. |
| A．making websites earns more money than writing books |
| B．he wanted to use the information to create a website |
| C．the book was not about rainforest protection |
| D．he didn’t want to become a writer |
| A．Rhett Butler made a lot of money from it. |
| B．It attracted many advertisers. |
| C．At least two related websites grew from it. |
| D．It was set up in 1999. |
| A．kept visiting the rainforest |
| B．made a great number of advertisements |
| C．raised rare snow leopards |
| D．traveled around and interviewed experts |
| A．Rodney Jackson was once a businessman |
| B．kids. Mongabay.Com. has many stories written by kids |
| C．WildMadagascar.org is better known than Mongabay.Com |
| D．Mongabay.Com was loved by researchers as well as students |
3 . In 2016, a team of Japanese scientists found bacteria capable of breaking down and “eating” one of the world’s most popular plastics-polyethylene terephthalate(PET). It was valued as a potential breakthrough at the time. But a new discovery came as a team of British scientists examined an enzyme(酶) produced by the Japanese bacteria to find out more about its structure. While operating the structure to better understand how it worked, they accidentally created the changed enzyme that’s even more efficient at breaking down plastic bottles.
The researchers are now working to further improve the enzyme so it can be used on an industrial scale. It’s possible that within the next few years there could be an industrially possible process for turning PET into other substances so it can be recycled.
The ability to scale up the process will be important. Plastic pollution is fast becoming one of the biggest environmental issues of our time. More than 1 million plastic bottles are bought around the world every minute. Most of these bottles are made from PET，which can take up to1000 years to biodegrade(生物降解), and many are left in the oceans. Over half of global PET waste is not collected for recycling and only 7 percent of bottles are recycled into new bottles.
Some scientists say the breakthrough, though promising, is nowhere near enough to solve our pollution crisis. These enzymes are not abundantly present in nature. So you would need to produce the enzyme first, then add it to the PET plastic to degrade it.”This is likely to be a slow process. If you have gone through the trouble of collecting the PET waste, then there are clearly far better ways to recycle it or burn it for energy,” said Wim, head of the Industrial Biotechnology Center. He suggested the use of commercially available biodegradable bioplastics would still be a better bet.
1. What unexpected discovery did the British scientists make?| A．An effective way to deal with plastic waste. |
| B．A potential solution in collecting PET waste. |
| C．The way to understand the structure of enzyme better. |
| D．The real value of the discovery by Japanese scientists. |
| A．The process to find the enzyme. |
| B．The process to make more plastics. |
| C．The process to reduce the PET waste. |
| D．The process to produce kind of new PET. |
| A．Large quantities of plastic bottles are used. |
| B．Ocean plastic waste is harder to biodegrade |
| C．Most of the PET waste is left without treatment. |
| D．Most of the plastic products are made from PET. |
| A．The enzyme does not exist in nature. |
| B．The enzyme has helped to solve the plastic problems. |
| C．Burning plastic waste for energy is now the best way to rid it. |
| D．We have a long way to go to use the enzyme to recycle PET waste. |
4 . Imagine a mass of floating waste is two times the size of the state of Texas. Texas has a land area of more than 678,000 square kilometers. So it might be difficult to imagine anything twice as big.
All together, this mass of waste flowing in the North Pacific Ocean is known as the Great Pacific Ocean Garbage Patch. It weighs about 3,500, 000 tons. The waste includes bags, bottles and containers—plastic products of all kinds.
The eastern part of the Great Pacific Ocean Garbage Patch is about 1,600 kilometers west of California. The western part is west of the Hawaiian Islands and east of Japan. The area has been described as a kind of oceanic desert, with light winds and slow moving water currents (流, 流动). The water moves so slow that garbage from all over the world collects there.
In recent years, there have been growing concerns about the floating garbage and its effect on sea creatures and human health. Scientists say thousands of animals get trapped in the floating waste, resulting in death or injury. Even more die from a lack of food or water after swallowing pieces of plastic. The trash can also make animals feel full, diminishing their desire to eat or drink.
The floating garbage also can have harmful effects on people. There is an increased threat of infection (感染) of disease from polluted waste, and from eating fish that swallowed waste. Divers can also get trapped in the plastic.
Its existence first gained public attention in 1997. That was when racing boat captain and oceanographer Charles Moore and his crew sailed into the garbage while returning from a racing event. Five years earlier, another oceanographer learnt of the trash after a shipment of rubber duckies got lost at sea. Many of those toys are now part of the Great Pacific Ocean Garbage Patch.
1. The first paragraph is written to .| A．lead in the topic of the text |
| B．inspire readers’ imagination |
| C．develop readers’ interest in Texas |
| D．talk about reasons for water pollution |
| A．Increasing. | B．Determining. |
| C．Weakening. | D．Reserving. |
| A．It gives rise to various diseases. |
| B．It does great harm to sea animals. |
| C．Causes of it still remain unknown. |
| D．Efforts to clear it have been made. |
| A．To warn people about dangers of diving in the ocean. |
| B．To explore the future of the North Pacific Ocean. |
| C．To call on people to protect ocean environment. |
| D．To display some facts about floating waste. |
1．减少塑料的使用； 2．保持海滩和水路干净； 3．向更多人宣传海洋保护
注意：
1．词数100左右；
2．可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
参考词汇：水路waterway
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6 . “Plogging” is a new fitness trend (趋势). It is a combination of “jogging” and the Swedish phrase “plocka upp”, meaning “pick up”. It encourages people to stop while out on jogs to pick up litter.
Started in Sweden around 2016, plogging is now going global.
Like other fitness trends, there are plenty of plogging pictures and videos online.
Plogging is a great way to encourage people to make a difference in their local environment.
| A．They clearly show what this trend looks like. |
| B．Plogging is suitable for all ages and fitness levels. |
| C．If you’re not a runner, biking or walking works too. |
| D．It is appealing because it is simple and meaningful. |
| E．More and more runners are turning their jogs into plogs. |
| F．So it adds the idea of environmental protection to the sport. |
| G．Plogging isn’t the first fitness trend to connect sports with a good cause. |
There is a strong evidence that the rise in temperature has led to
1. What issue are the scientists working on?
| A．Climate change. | B．Electric vehicles. | C．Public transport. |
| A．Luxembourg. | B．Germany. | C．The United States. |
| A．In July 2019. | B．In January 2020. | C．In March 2020. |
9 . The world's first-known nursery for baby giant manta rays(蝠鲼) has been discovered hidden away in the Gulf of Mexico, the place of 70 miles off the coast of Texas, after studying decades of giant manta ray data from the area by the scientists.
Where the baby manta rays grow up has long troubled scientists, as they are rarely spotted in the four to five years it takes them to become adults, when they can often grow to more than 20ft wide.
In the study Mr Stewart and colleagues describe a reef (暗礁)---filled with mantas of all ages---where the sea floor runs down into deeper water. He said "We think they may be feeding on specific types of zooplankton(浮游生物) there, then migrating up toward the surface, where we saw them. They might be hanging around the banks because it could be a little safer than open water. We’ve seen them so rarely that we know very little about these baby manta rays. We don‘t know how far they move, or exactly what they feed on, or all of the habitats these access.”
Giant manta rays are listed as species dying out by protectors, although actual population numbers of the mysterious "gentle giant" are hard to calculate. Sightings of the closely-related reef manta, however, have dropped by 90 percent in regions of southeast Asia in the past decade, according to a study.
Fishing is considered the biggest threat to giant manta numbers, both intentional and accidental. Their gill plates(腮下肉)- the parts through which they filter(过滤) their food from seawater-are sold in China for medical purposes, while they often end up as something caught by mistake due to their huge wings.
1. Where do the baby manta rays probably grow up according to the study?| A．In the deep water area. |
| B．On the surface of the sea water. |
| C．Around the banks of channel. |
| D．In the reef of the Gulf of Mexico. |
| A．Manta rays can be seen on the sea surface. |
| B．Manta rays prefer the open water to the banks. |
| C．The scientists have known much about manta rays. |
| D．Manta rays are fond of eating on the sea surface. |
| A．The habitat environment becomes worse. |
| B．They are overfished by people |
| C．They are not very difficult to catch. |
| D．People can see the reef manta much less than before. |
| A．Summarize the previous paragraphs. |
| B．Warn people of their wrong behaviors. |
| C．Introduce some knowledge of the fish. |
| D．Give examples to support his point. |
Storms and huge waves are a constant threat and none of Tuvalu's nine little islands is more than five metres above sea level. Salt water is already entering the country's drinking water supply, as well as damaging plants that produce fruit and vegetable. Without urgent help, the country's days are numbered.
But Tuvalu is not the first place to face sinking into the sea. Venice, a historic city in Italy best known for its canals, has sunk about 24 cm over the past 100 years. Experts say that it will have sunk another 24 cm by 2050. A century ago, St. Mark's Square, the lowest point in the city, flooded about nine times a year. Nowadays, it happens more than 100 times. While Venice is slowly sinking into the mud on which it stands, Tuvalu's rising sea level is caused by global warming.
The average global temperature has increased by almost 0. 5 centigrade degrees over the past century, scientists expect it to rise by extra 1.3 degrees over the next 100 years.
Warmer weather makes glaciers(冰川) melt, adding more water to the ocean. The warmer temperatures also make water expand, so it takes up more space, causing the sea level to rise. The sea level has risen 10.25 cm in the last 100 years.
The main cause of global warming is human pollution. Through burning coal, oil and gas, people have been increasing the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, such as CO2. This adds to the power of the greenhouse effect, making the planet even warmer.
Many scientists believe that, if the warming is not stopped, there will be huge climate changes. The sea level could rise by one meter this century.
Should this come true, the sea will swallow up millions of homes and the world will be flooded with "climate refugees" looking for somewhere to live.
1. We can infer from the second paragraph that .
| A．Tuvalu is in danger of being swallowed up by the sea |
| B．all Tuvalu's islands are about five metres above the sea level |
| C．drinking water in Tuvalu has been destroyed |
| D．Tuvalu is often flooded by storms and waves |
| A．they are the first places sinking into the sea |
| B．they are both sinking into the mud where they stand |
| C．they will disappear in the future |
| D．their trouble is caused by global warming |
| A．People who are forced away from their homeland by climate. |
| B．Climate changes. |
| C．Rare animals. |
| D．Climate effect. |
| A．Tuvalu's nine little islands are less than five meters above the sea level. |
| B．The average global temperature has risen by 13 centigrade degrees over the past 100 years. |
| C．The warmer temperature causes the sea level to rise. |
| D．There will be huge climate changes unless the warming is stopped. |
