1 . “The era of global warming has ended and the era of global boiling has arrived,” the UN secretary general, Antonio Guterres, said after scientists confirmed July 2023 was the world’s hottest month on record.
“Humanity is in the hot seat,” Guterres told a press conference on Thursday. “For vast parts of North America, Asia, Africa and Europe, it is a cruel summer. For the entire planet, it is a disaster. And for scientists, it is clear that humans are to blame. Climate change is here, it is terrifying, and it is just the beginning. The era of global warming has ended; the era of global boiling has arrived.”
Guterres urged politicians to take swift action. “The air is unbreathable, the heat is unbearable, and the level of fossil fuel profits and climate inaction is unacceptable. Leaders must lead. No more hesitancy, no more excuses, and no more waiting for others to move first. There is simply no more time for that.”
“It is still possible to limit global temperature rise to 1.5℃and avoid the very worst of climate change but only with dramatic, immediate climate action. We have seen some progress, but none of this is going far enough or fast enough. Accelerating temperatures demand accelerated action.”
The WMO secretary general, Petteri Taalas, said, “The need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is more urgent than ever before. Climate action is not a luxury but a must.”
Other climate scientists confirmed the findings. Karsten Haustein at Leipzig University found the world was 1.5℃ hotter in July 2023 than in the average July before industrialisation.
Marina Romanello, a climate and health researcher at University College London, said, “We have data showing how the very foundations of health are being undermined by climate change. But we still have time today to turn the tide and to ensure a liveable future for us and our children.”
1. What made Guterres feel worried?A.Global economy. | B.Natural disasters. |
C.Serious pollution. | D.Rising temperatures. |
A.To appeal to quick action. | B.To change people’s concept. |
C.To frighten the general public. | D.To make his report vivid. |
A.By analyzing some facts. | B.By quoting some experts. |
C.By offering statistics. | D.By giving explanations. |
A.Global Bailing: It Is Time to Act. |
B.Global Boiling: Who Is to Blame? |
C.Global Boiling: It Isn’t That Serious |
D.Global Boling: What Measure Should Be Taken? |
2 . Sounds from human activity flood across the oceans, causing trouble to ocean creatures. And climate (气候) change may make some places even louder.
Researchers have expected the oceans to get noisier because of increasing human activity. “The more goods you buy, the more shipping you have, so the more noise you have.” says Luca Possenti, a scientist studying sound in the ocean at the Royal Netherlands Institute. But Possenti and his co-worker realized that climate change might also influence how sound travels through the water.
Human-caused climate change is changing ocean temperatures, salt levels and acidity (酸度). So Possenti’s team used computers to model how those factors (因素) influence noise levels across the world’s oceans.
When waters become more acidic, they can’t take in sound at some wavelengths as well, so those sounds can travel further, adding to the noise in some areas. This effect is relatively small. Other changes impact the sound level more, the researchers found. Changes to temperature and salt levels can change how well different layers (层) of the ocean mix, which, in turn, impacts how sound travels.
The team predicted (预测) models of the world in about 70 years if climate change continues. And then they compared them with models of the world now. In the North Atlantic, they saw an increase in sound levels in the upper 125 meters of the ocean. This was caused mostly by ice melting (融化) off of Greenland, forming a cold layer of water near the ocean’s surface. Sound traveling through water tends to go toward the coldest area. As a result, sound waves tended to get stuck in the cold top layer-spreading further out across the water, instead of traveling deeper. That increased the noisiness at this depth in the North Atlantic. The models suggested that a single ship could sound about five times as loud underwater because of this. Considering all the ship traffic between Europe and North America, that may stress animals, many of which communicate, and catch food with sound.
1. How is paragraph 2 developed?A.By quoting an expert. | B.By using examples. |
C.By making comparisons. | D.By presenting research findings. |
A.Effects of temperature changes. | B.Some risk factors for a nosier sea. |
C.Impacts of acidity on wavelengths. | D.Ways oceans mix and sound travels. |
A.Sea animals will be protected from noises. |
B.Added meltwater does more harm than good. |
C.Greenland is hit the hardest by climate change. |
D.The result of the research is based on prediction. |
A.Increase in salt levels. | B.Failure of acidity control. |
C.Change in the ocean depths. | D.Formation of a cold water layer. |
3 . Low-effort things you can do to live sustainably
You might think you need to change a lot of your daily habits to live sustainably but, in fact, becoming more eco-friendly is much easier than it might seem. Below are some easy steps towards becoming more sustainable.
Shop at farmer markets.
Getting your daily fruit and vegetables from a local farmer market is an easy way to reduce your carbon footprint while eating healthily. It cuts out lengthy stays of the products in refrigerated storage and up to thousands of miles of fossil-fueled transportation.
Practice meatless Mondays.
Global meat production is a big contributor to greenhouse gasses.
Dispose of unused medications properly.
Flushing (冲) unused medications down the drain (下水道) can pollute water supplies affecting everything downstream. You shouldn’t throw medications away either as they can be dangerous for others to find.
It is easy to understand that buying something used is more environmentally friendly than buying something new and clothes are no exception.
A.Shop second-hand. |
B.Think twice before shopping. |
C.A meatless diet can help prevent disease. |
D.The best option is to take them to a collection site. |
E.It is not practical to expect everyone to go vegetarian, |
F.Additionally, less plastic in packaging reduces plastic waste. |
G.The fast-fashion industry consumes considerable resources each year. |
4 . Capentes is a waste picker. She collects bags of separated garbage, placing food waste in one container. This material will be turned into compost (堆肥) at the local recycling facility. The rest of the waste goes into separate containers. The recyclable materials are later sold.
The Mother Earth Foundation in the Philippines is a member of the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives, called GAIA. The organization wants to prevent food waste from going to landfills (垃圾填埋场). Food waste gives off methane (甲烷) gas as it breaks down. Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas. Methane traps more heat than carbon dioxide. But it does not stay in the atmosphere nearly as long—around 12 years compared with hundreds of years.
GAIA says preventing organic waste from going to landfills or being burned is a proven and cost-effective climate solution. The environmental organization supports its members, including waste pickers, around the world. GAIA is working with governments to set up systems to separate and collect organic waste and establish facilities to compost it.
At a materials recycling facility in Malabon, organic waste collected from households is turned into compost. This material then goes into a community garden to grow vegetables. Some of the food waste is broken down into biogas. This biogas is then used to cook vegetables for waste workers to eat. It is a complete cycle, said Froilan Grate, chief of GAIA Asia Pacific, based in Manila.
Grate said there are challenges in establishing these systems in new places. It costs money to set up a facility for composting. People, including local officials, have to be educated on the importance of separating waste. Containers have to be provided to households that cannot buy more than one. And sometimes separating organic waste is not thought to be important. Also, unlike recyclables and metals, there is not a large market for organic materials. Therefore, waste workers must be paid for the system to work.
But Grate believes these problems can be solved. More people are making the connection between reducing methane and fighting climate change. The world needs better systems for dealing with waste because the current methods are adding to warming. The treatment of organic matter is an important way to reduce methane gas.
1. What is GAIA currently committed to?A.Getting rid of food waste by burying it. | B.Reducing the impact of organic waste on the climate. |
C.Economizing on food. | D.Reducing the harm of carbon dioxide. |
A.The method to collect waste. | B.The process to treat organic waste. |
C.How to use a recycling facility. | D.The wide use of organic waste. |
A.Collecting organic waste does not require significant investment. |
B.Every household needs to constantly replace the latest trash cans. |
C.Organic waste holds a large share in the garbage market. |
D.Families need to develop the habit of garbage sorting. |
A.Methane: an Important Greenhouse Gas | B.The New Systems to Reduce Greenhouse Gas |
C.The New Uses of Organic Waste | D.Waste Pickers Help Fight Climate Change |
2. 简单评论;
3. 你的建议。
注意:
1. 写作词数应为80左右;
2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Green Travel
There are many ways we can choose from to travel to and from school.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________1. 珍稀动物的重要性;
2. 保护珍稀动物的倡议。
注意:
1.写作词数应为80左右;
2.请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Protecting Rare Animals
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________7 . Waterways are important for every country around the world. They provide not only water for everyday use but also routes for transport. However, due to industrial activity, many of them are now polluted.
Dakota Perry from the US has experienced water pollution first-hand. The 15-year-old high school girl told Alabama Local News that she spends a lot of time going on boat rides with her dad on the river behind their house. However, the river has become littered with plastic bags, bottles and cups. Perry wanted to clean up the water so she could continue to enjoy the river. So, with the help of her father, she designed a system to collect and remove rubbish in waterways.
In May, Perry put forward her solution at the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair held in Georgia, US, and received a Judge’s Award from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for her project.
According to the Science News for Students website, her system was inspired by the Dutch Great Bubble (气泡) Barrier in Amsterdam, which creates a flow of bubbles that trap waste and directs it to a catchment system. But Perry tried to challenge herself and make her system more environment-friendly. She planned to create a curtain of bubbles that stretched the river diagonally (对角地). The curtain would stop the floating rubbish and then push it toward the shore. Once there, a conveyor run by a solar-powered battery would carry the waste to a dustbin.
In her backyard pool, Perry used an air compressor (压缩机) to send air through a pipe full of holes to create a stream of bubbles. She experimented with different amounts of pressure to make sure there would be enough bubbles to form a full curtain. “For the bubble system to actually work and collect rubbish,” she explained to Science News for Students, “I have to know how much pressure the air compressor is supposed to push out.”
After she tested her system for collecting rubbish, Perry found that it worked better than expected. Next, she plans to work out how to use the power of the river to run the air compressor.
1. What motivated Perry to design a rubbish-collecting system?A.Her father’s encouragement. |
B.Her desire to protect a nearby river. |
C.A visit to a science and engineering fair. |
D.An invention of a Dutch high school student. |
A.It was designed by Perry alone. |
B.It makes power to run the air compressor. |
C.It collects solar energy to remove rubbish. |
D.It creates a bubble curtain to block rubbish. |
A.Advantages of the system. | B.The way of testing the system. |
C.The improvement on the system. | D.Challenges in the design process. |
A.Efficient and ambitious. | B.Helpful and hardworking. |
C.Responsible and creative. | D.Professional and adventurous. |
8 . When 62-year-old fisherman Kpana Charlie has finished placing the day’s catch in his nets, he likes to sit on his wooden chair and let his mind go back to his childhood. Back then, his home on Sierra Leone’s Nyangai Island seemed like a paradise (天堂).
He spent endless hours playing with his friends on the island’s shining white beaches. He liked to kick around a soccer ball on the sports field in his village, and in mango season, he would shake the trees to collect their colorful fruit. Whenever he wanted to avoid doing his homework, he could simply disappear into the thick forest that covered much of the island.
Today, Nyangai is disappearing, swallowed up by the sea. As recently as ten years ago, it still measured some 2, 300 feet from end to end. What’s left today is a patch of (一片) sand which is 300 feet long and 250 wide. The forests are gone, flooded by saltwater. The soccer field lies under water for 22 hours of the day. And the land on which Charlie’s family home once stood, the home he was born in, has been disappearing under the waves. In as little as two years, Charlie fears, Nyangai may no longer exist at all.
With nearly a third of its population living in coastal areas, and its heavy reliance on agriculture and fishing, Sierra Leone has been treated as one of the world’s most vulnerable countries to the effects of climate (气候) change.
Gabriel Jaka, head of operations for the country’s Meteorological Agency, says the reason for Nyangai’s troubles is clear. “We’re seeing a significant sea-level rise and these people don’t have any proper defenses,” he says. “All they have are sandbags. If we don’t act now, the effects on people are just going to get worse.”
1. What do the figures in paragraph 3 show?A.Nyangai is large in area. |
B.Nyangai has a long history. |
C.Nyangai is being destroyed by humans. |
D.Nyangai is suffering a lot from a sea-level rise. |
A.Far-reaching. | B.Protected. |
C.Easy to be attacked. | D.Difficult to keep in touch with. |
A.Worried. | B.Calm. |
C.Unconcerned. | D.Hopeful. |
A.To introduce a poor fisherman. |
B.To call for actions to fight climate change. |
C.To present a fisherman’s old hometown. |
D.To show the destruction of the forest. |
9 . Shop Sustainably
If you have to name one thing that contributes most to your ecological footprints, you may say the energy you use at home, or your car’s emissions.
●
●Avoid unnecessary packing. Buy loose fruit and vegetables instead of pre-packaged produce, and avoid products that contain multiple single packages or double packaging, like grain in a box and a bag. Consider switching from tea bags and coffee pods to tea leaves and ground coffee.
●Go organic when you can. In addition to the benefit organic farming has to insect biodiversity, it’s also considered more sustainable and better for the environment.
●Buy seasonal and native products.
A.Take reusable grocery bags. |
B.Select single-use plastic bags. |
C.It supports local farmers and food producers. |
D.You can also refill your own containers with loose-packed food. |
E.When buying organic products, look for those officially certified. |
F.But it’s what we eat that accounts for up to 60% of our personal demand. |
G.You’ll find it convenient whenever you buy tea or coffee in the supermarket. |
10 . When lightning caused fires around California’s Big Basin Redwoods State Park north of Santa Cruz in August 2020, the fire spread quickly. Mild fires strike coastal redwood (红杉) forests about every decade. The giant trees resist burning thanks to the bark (树皮), up to about 30 centimetres thick at the base, which contains acids. Their branches and needles are normally beyond the reach of flames. But this time flames shot through the top of 100-metre-tall trees, burning the needles. “It was shocking,” says Drew Peltier, a tree expert at Northern Arizona University. “It really seemed like most of the trees were going to die.”
Yet many of them lived. In a paper published yesterday in Nature Plants, Peltier and his colleagues help explain why: The survivors use long-held energy reserves—sugars that had been made from sunlight decades earlier—and poured them into buds (芽) that had been lying dormant (休眠的) under the bar k for centuries.
“This is one of those papers that challenges our previous knowledge on tree growth,” says Adrian Rocha, an ecosystem ecologist at the University of Notre Dame. “It is amazing to learn that carbon taken up decades ago can be used to sustain its growth into the future.” The findings suggest redwoods have the tools to cope with big fires driven by climate change, Rocha says. Still, it’s unclear whether the trees could cope with the regular infernos that might occur under a warmer climate environment.
The fire in 2020 was so intense that even the top branches of many trees burned and their ability to photosynthesize (光合作用) went up in smoke along with their pine needles. Trees photosynthesize to create sugars and other carbohydrates (碳水化合物), which provide the energy they need to grow and repair tissue. Trees do store some of this energy, which they can call on during a drought or after a fire. Although the redwoods have sprouted (长出) new growth, Peltier and other forest experts wonder how the trees will cope with far less energy from photosynthesis, given that it will be years before they grow as many needles as they had before the fire. “They’re alive, but I would be a little concerned for them in the future.”
1. What’s special about this big fire for coastal redwood forests in 2020?A.It burnt the top of the trees. | B.It was very close to the last fire. |
C.It resisted burning effectively. | D.It caused relatively minor damage. |
A.Sugars protected their barks. | B.Energy reserves promoted the growth of buds. |
C.They got used to hot climate. | D.They took in much carbon to resist fire. |
A.Unpredictable disasters. | B.Changeable climate. |
C.Terrible environment. | D.Uncontrollable fires. |
A.Their tissues can’t be repaired. | B.They can’t save energy anymore. |
C.Their energy saved is not sufficient. | D.They grow too slowly. |