1 . When most kids go to the beach, they’re too focused on making sandcastles and splashing around to notice litter, but several years ago, for 7-year-old Cash Daniels, noticing a plastic straw sparked a lifelong passion for saving the planet.
Cash, who is now known as the “conservation kid”, has always loved nature. He grew up fishing along the Chattanooga River, after all! But once he learned that 80 percent of all trash from land and rivers ends up in the ocean, he couldn’t sit back.
He started with cleanups along the river, something that quickly went from a family affair to a community effort with volunteers and neighbors. In 2019, Cash, together with a Canadian conservationist, Ella Galaski-Rossen, started a nonprofit called the Cleanup Kids. Despite living in different countries, they managed to create educational videos on their YouTube channel. “We hope to be a really big nonprofit that eliminates plastic in the U. S. and Canada,” Cash said. “We want to inform kids and adults in the landlocked states of how their actions are connected to the water and the ocean,” Cash said.
Cash was selected as one of America’s top 10 youth volunteers of 2021 by the Prudential Spirit of Community Awards. He also earned the title of National Honoree, where he received a$5,000 grant to go to a nonprofit of his choice, and he became the first person to win the Youth Conservationist Award two years in a row from the Tennessee Wildlife Federation.
“I want to travel the world, teach others, and help them feel connected to the ocean. Because if you are connected to the ocean-if you love it and what lives in it—you’ll want to protect it,” he said. “This is my fun, and it becomes more fun with every new discovery.”
1. Which can replace the underlined words “sit back” in paragraph 2?A.Fall asleep. | B.Lose heart. |
C.Turn a blind eye. | D.Lend a hand. |
A.To recycle waste plastics. |
B.To make instructive videos. |
C.To spread marine knowledge. |
D.To appeal for ocean protection. |
A.Sympathetic and devoted. | B.Initiative and talented. |
C.Ambitious and humorous. | D.Determined and modest. |
A.Passion fuels dreams. |
B.Great minds think alike. |
C.Helping others is of great fun. |
D.Actions speak louder than words. |
2 . Plastic fishing nets, the so-called ghost nets, abandoned yearly in the sea—about 1 million tons—are more than just rubbish; they’re a killer. Fish, sea birds, and turtles get caught in the netting and die, with more species at risk.
Much shocked at this, Pranveer Singh Rathore, a materials-science engineer and materials R&D manager at Samsung, and his team set themselves the task of giving new life to the deadly nets. Last month, Samsung revealed a new line of Galaxy products made in part from recycled plastic fishing nets for the first time. The company estimates this year alone it can recycle over 50 tons of ocean-bound plastic into the key components that will go into its smartphones, tablets, and computers, thus taking a bite out of the global ghost nets problem.
It’s no small task to give waste fishing nets a second act. The nets are typically made of a substance called nylon which tends to dramatically degrade (降解) the longer it sits in the ocean and is exposed to the sun. “This makes it nearly impossible to use abandoned fishing nets directly,” Rathore explains. Besides, high-performance smartphone, tablet, or PC has to be waterproof and can survive severe weather. The nylon in the fishing nets falls far short of that level of durability (耐用).
To deal with that problem, Samsung last summer teamed up with two partners: one to collect and transform the nets into tiny nylon pellets (颗粒) while the other to strengthen their toughness and durability. The end result: The partners hit upon an eco-friendly and high-performance plastic material that’s being used to build the component parts for its latest line of products. For example, two parts of the Galaxy S22 mobile phone—the key bracket and the inner cover—are made of these fishing-net plastic materials. Samsung aims to use even more upcycled materials in future product lines.
“That’s the hope for the globe and our mission,” Rathore smiles.
1. What does the underlined word “this” in paragraph 2 refer to?A.Rubbish in the sea. | B.Recycling the deadly nets. |
C.Ocean species’ extinction. | D.Ghost nets’ threat to sea life. |
A.The low level of durability of nylon. | B.The second act of waste fishing nets. |
C.The great difficulty in reusing ghost nets. | D.The positive comment on Samsung’s products. |
A.They are made from tiny nylon pellets. | B.They put an end to the problem of fishing nets. |
C.They can stand up to water and severe weather. | D.They contain materials recycled from ghost nets. |
A.It makes plastic easier to break down. | B.It marks the shift of Samsung’s mission. |
C.It protects the planet from choking on plastic. | D.It raises public awareness of ocean exploration. |
3 . The Atlantic salmon (鲑鱼) of Scotland are hardy and determined animals. Each spring and summer, they return from the North Atlantic Ocean to lay eggs in Scotland’s shallow rivers,leaping up waterfalls and over barriers, pushing themselves upstream in enormous efforts. Some fail, and others succeed, but today they face yet another challenge.
During the mid-1980s, there were between eight and ten million salmon swimming around Scotland’s Atlantic coast; that number has now dropped sharply. There’s evidence of reducing the availability of the salmon’s prey (猎物) as climate change warms and acidifies oceans. New research suggests climate change is also bearing down on rivers, which is bad news for salmon.Adapted to life in cold water, salmon experience slow growth and population changes at high temperatures. Heat influences their health and reduces their resistance to disease.
“Now salmon are struggling to deal with the rising temperatures. There are recent records of 27°C in the upper reaches of the Dee catchment,” says Peter Cairns, director of an environmental charity. In 2018, Scotland recorded the lowest pole catch for salmon since records began. Evidence suggests that the degraded quality of river worsens the impact of our changing climate. “Atlantic salmon evolved using river systems in Scotland that were once way more forested and therefore shaded.” Yet Scotland is today one of the least wooded countries in Europe, with just 3 percent of its native woodland undamaged. Scientists have found that just 35percent of rivers in Scotland have enough tree cover for salmon survival.
A movement to get trees back on riverbanks is gathering pace. “Broad-leaf trees close tothe bank can reduce the light that enters the water,” explains fisheries scientist Anthony Hawkins. A new initiative called Riverwoods — led by the Scottish Wildlife Trust and supported by Scottish Water and several other government and regulatory bodies — aims to create a network of woodlands along Scotland’s riverbanks, and has already received a number of large funds.“Money is not the pressing business. River health is complex, but tree planting is one of the most basic things we can get started with right away,”says Cairns.
1. Why do Atlantic salmon make great journeys back to the rivers?A.They search for foods. |
B.They reproduce themselves. |
C.The rivers are relatively cool. |
D.The seas are increasingly warm. |
A.They grow more quickly. |
B.They are more heat-resistant. |
C.They are less active in water. |
D.They are more likely to get diseases. |
A.There is a shortage of food. |
B.There is much fish catching. |
C.The ecology environment has changed. |
D.The river systems are unsuitable for the forest growth. |
A.It is urgent to plant riverbank trees. |
B.It is too hard to restore the river health. |
C.There is enough money for the project. |
D.There are too many vital things to deal with. |
4 . In recent years, lots of American companies have gotten behind a potential climate solution called carbon capture and storage, and the government has backed it with billions of dollars in tax preferences and direct investments. The idea is to trap planet-heating carbon dioxide from the smokestacks of factories and power plants and ship it to sites via thousands of miles of new pipelines. Communities nationwide are pushing back against these pipeline construction and underground sites, arguing they don’t want the pollution running through their land.
Now the U. S. Forest Service is proposing to change a rule to allow storing this carbon dioxide pollution under the country’s national forests and grasslands. “Authorizing carbon capture and storage on National Forest System (NFS) lands would support the Administration’s goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 50 percent below the 2005 levels by 2030,” the proposed rule change says.
Some experts, like June Sekera, a research fellow with Boston University, question the timing of the proposed rule change, given community pushback across the country to pipelines planned on private land. Yet she says the Forest Service proposal to open up national parks for CO2 storage is “an end run around local towns and counties. And it’s a much simpler and way less expensive route.”
In an email, Scott Owen, press officer for the Forest Service, writes that the proposed rule change would allow the Forest Service to consider proposals for carbon capture and storage projects. He writes that any proposals must still pass through a secondary screening, adding, “The Forest Service has been ‘screening’ proposals for use of NFS lands for over 20 years as a means to be increasingly consistent in our processes and also be able to reject those uses that are inconsistent with the management of the public’s land. ” He notes the Forest Service currently does not have any carbon capture project proposals under consideration. The Forest Service has opened public comments on the proposed rule change until Jan. 2, 2024.
1. What does the Forest Service intend to do by changing a rule?A.Answer the appeals of communities. | B.Provide legal space for carbon storage. |
C.Enlarge national pipeline storage capacity. | D.Loosen tax burden on American companies. |
A.An eventful act. | B.A desperate try. |
C.An alternative way. | D.A breathtaking race. |
A.It is still up in the air. | B.It is dead in the water. |
C.It is widely recognized. | D.It is far from satisfactory. |
A.A fruitful research. | B.A timely rule change. |
C.An authorized project. | D.A controversial proposal. |
5 . After years of heated debate, gray wolves were reintroduced to Yellowstone National Park. Fourteen wolves were caught in Canada and transported to the park. By last year, the Yellowstone wolf population had grown to more than 170 wolves.
Gray wolves once were seen here and there in the Yellowstone area and much of the continental United States, but they were gradually displaced by human development. By the 1920s, wolves had practically disappeared from the Yellowstone area. They went farther north into the deep forests of Canada, where there were fewer humans around.
The disappearance of the wolves had many unexpected results. Deer and elk populations — major food sources (来源) for the wolf — grew rapidly. These animals consumed large amounts of vegetation (植被), which reduced plant diversity in the park. In the absence of wolves, coyote populations also grew quickly. The coyotes killed a large percentage of the park’s red foxes, and completely drove away the park’s beavers.
As early as 1966, biologists asked the government to consider reintroducing wolves to Yellowstone Park. They hoped that wolves would be able to control the elk and coyote problems. Many farmers opposed the plan because they feared that wolves would kill their farm animals or pets.
The government spent nearly 30 years coming up with a plan to reintroduce the wolvers. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service carefully monitors and manages the wolf packs in Yellowstone. Today, the debate continues over how well the gray wolf is fitting in at Yellowstone. Elk, deer, and coyote populations are down, while beavers and red foxes have made a comeback. The Yellowstone wolf project has been a valuable experiment to help biologists decide whether to reintroduce wolves to other parts of the country as well.
1. What is the text mainly about?A.Wildlife research in the United States. |
B.Plant diversity in the Yellowstone area. |
C.The conflict between farmers and gray wolves. |
D.The reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone Park. |
A.Damage to local ecology. |
B.Preservation of vegetation. |
C.A decline in the park’s income. |
D.An increase in the variety of animals. |
A.Doubtful. | B.Uncaring. | C.Positive. | D.Disapproving. |
1.对该主题的理解;
2.具体的倡议内容。
注意:
1.词数 120 左右;
2.开头和结尾已给出,不计入总词数.
Good morning, everyone!
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That’s all. Thank you.
7 . A new international organization, ReShark, including partners from 15 countries and 44 aquariums, is challenging the shark statistics. According to National Geographic, ReShark’s goal is to release 500 endangered zebra sharks in Indonesian waters to increase a wild population that is on the edge of extinction. This is the first-ever attempt to reintroduce captive sharks into the wild.
Marine reintroductions present significant challenges due to the complexity and shortage of ocean life, as well as the difficulty in managing threats, according to National Geographic. Team ReShark understands that the reintroduction may go up in smoke. Unlike land animals that have been successfully reintroduced in the past, such as giant pandas in China, young sharks are more likely to suffer from diseases and be killed by other animals, and they struggle to find food on their own.
Sharks have a remarkable history as one of the oldest vertebrate species, surviving five mass extinctions over a period of 420 million years. They play an important role in marine ecosystems by influencing the ocean’s food chains. However, they are now facing the second-highest rate of disappearance. Research shows that more than 37 percent of the shark species are at risk of extinction due to overfishing, both legal and illegal. Sharks are hunted for their meat. Nearly 100 million sharks are killed by human hands each year, according to the organization Sentient Media.
Despite the alarming decline in shark populations globally, top shark scientists are hopeful that ReShark’s efforts will succeed. Given these challenges, Simon Fraser University ecologist Dulvy initially had some doubts about ReShark’s plans. However, after asking some questions, he was surprised by what the initiative could produce. “This initiative is different,” Dulvy explained. Similarly, Rima Jabado, Dulvy’s successor, recognized ReShark as a unique project that could provide a lifeline for endangered shark species. “It may provide an opportunity for species not to go extinct,” she said.
1. What’s the ReShark’s intention of releasing sharks?A.To conduct shark data collection. |
B.To study the living habits of sharks. |
C.To save the endangered shark species. |
D.To test new ways of keeping sharks. |
A.Disappear. | B.Fail. | C.Work. | D.Influence. |
A.By giving examples. | B.By giving descriptions. |
C.By making comparison. | D.By making classifications. |
A.Special and promising. | B.Hopeful and effortless. |
C.Risky and costly. | D.Doubtful and immature. |
8 . From airplanes to apartments, most spaces are now designed with sound-absorbing materials that help decrease various sounds of everyday life. But most of the sound-absorbing materials that can cancel out human voices, traffic noise and music are made from plastic foams (泡沫) that aren’t easily recycled or degraded. Now, researchers reporting in ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering have created a biodegradable film (薄膜) obtained from seaweed, which effectively absorbs sounds in this range.
Controlling and optimizing the way sound moves throughout a room is the key to creating functional spaces. Foam sound-absorbing panels are a common solution, and they come in a variety of materials and thicknesses tailored to specific sound requirements. Most of these foams, however, are made from a type of plastic material and other chemical substances that are obtained from natural oil or petrol. To avoid petrochemicals, researchers have explored more renewable sources and biodegradable sound-absorbing alternatives. But many current options are made from plant fibers that don’t effectively decrease noises in the most useful range of sound frequencies, or they are too thick or difficult to produce. So, Chindam’s team wanted to develop a biodegradable material from a plant, which would be simple to produce and could absorb a range of sounds.
The team created films of agar (琼脂), a material that comes from seaweed, along with other additives developed from plants and varied the thickness of the films. After running the materials through a battery of tests, the researchers measured how well the films reduced sound across a range of frequencies. To do this, the team created a sound tube in which a speaker is placed at one end, and the test film is fitted over the other end. Microphones in the middle of the tube measured the amount of sound sent by the speaker and the amount of sound reflected off the film. These experiments showed that the films with many small holes made with the highest concentrations of agar had the greatest sound-absorbing qualities and performed similarly to traditional sound-absorbing foams. The researchers plan to explore ways to change the agar films to give them other desirable properties, such as flame resistance, and will explore other biologically obtained film materials.
1. What is the disadvantage of plastic foams?A.They take up, too much space. | B.They cannot absorb sounds effectively. |
C.They cannot meet specific sound requirements. | D.They have difficulty achieving sustainable use. |
A.One obtained easily and effectively. | B.One produced toughly and tiredly. |
C.One developed from petrochemicals. | D.One made from plant fibers. |
A.The purpose of film research. | B.A series of tests on the new material. |
C.A tool of measuring the film thickness. | D.The difficulty of searching the new material. |
A.An Eco-friendly Sound-absorbing Material from Seaweed |
B.Plastic Foams: the Worst Choice of Absorbing Sounds |
C.A Tube for Measuring the Amount of Underwater Sounds |
D.Seaweed: a Better Sound-absorbing Underwater Plant |
9 . The carbon footprint shows how much carbon dioxide a person emits(排放)in everyday life. It measures the amount offossil(化石)fuels and electricity someone uses up as well as the carbon footprint of the products they buy. When we use our cars or heat our homes with carbon dioxide,various other gases are set free.
You can measure your carbon footprint by using a calculator that you can find on various websites.
A.Many people travel between cities and suburbs every day. |
B.The carbon footprint is usually measured in tons of CO2 per year. |
C.These emissions lead to a thicker atmosphere and global warming. |
D.It is also vital to persuade others to take the same steps that you do. |
E.There are many actions you can take to reduce your carbon footprint. |
F.The websites also provide carbon storage tools and methods for individuals. |
G.Buying local food is another way of restricting emission into the atmosphere. |
10 . Cities are diverse ecosystems. In addition to visitors from the wild, a large number of species share our urban areas. As our cities spread, we need to think about what it is like for other species to have human neighbors.
Cities are built for humans.
There are also structures built with the aim of bringing wildlife into the city. The Beijing Olympic Forest Park is a good example. The park used native plants and created open, natural spaces for wildlife. The result is a zone in Beijing with over 160 species of birds. In many ways, the park is the opposite of a zoo.
If we learn to share our space, we can become better neighbors to the wildlife around us.
A.They would feed water plants. |
B.Our actions sometimes help other species. |
C.If we do not, more species will become extinct. |
D.Now, they have come to value their winged neighbors. |
E.Therefore, they do not always provide suitable habitats for wildlife. |
F.Instead of being kept in cages, wildlife can move about freely. |
G.It’s intended to protect birds and fight pollution at the same time. |