1 . McDonald’s customers are sharing their excitement over an eco-friendly change making its way to select US restaurants. McDonald’s eaters across the globe are used to collecting their burgers in paper wrapping, their fries in cardboard, and their drink in a plastic cup — even if they’re dining inside a McDonald’s restaurant. However, this may become a thing of the past. One American diner said there were reusable containers available at their local McDonald’s for dine-in meals only.
Plastic containers and cups have an environmental cost: Plastics are made using fossil fuels like oil and natural gas. And when these materials are heated to mould (浇铸) plastic, poisons are again released into the air.
According to the World Wide Fund for Nature, about 100 million tons of plastics are produced on an annual basis — releasing an estimated 850 million tons of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. “Generally, when those plastics go to landfill, they take hundreds of years to break down and slowly release substances into the environment,” Dr. Thornton said.
It is reported in the industry research that about 27 percent of customers at fast food establishments eat at the restaurant. This means McDonald’s could potentially remove a quarter of its packaging waste through a reusable container system. “If you’re comparing the single-use with the reusable, the reusable take a lot more combined in terms of resources, and energy and water and so on. If you use them a sufficient number of times, that’s when they start to become better environmentally.”
Currently, most of the fast-food outlets use paper containers. But in order to truly be sustainable(可持续的), Dr. Thornton said these items should be made of recycled materials — and only distributed to customers on a need-to-use basis. “Don’t use new resources. That’s probably one of the most important things to say,” he said. “Close the loop in terms of recycling, and make sure that they only provide packaging or the amount of packaging as needed.”
1. What is the eco-friendly change in some of the US McDonald’s?| A．Recycled plastic cups for drinks. |
| B．Cardboard packagings for fries. |
| C．Reusable containers for dine-in meals. |
| D．Selected paper wrappings for burgers. |
| A．25%. | B．50%. | C．75%. | D．100%. |
| A．Use paper containers for dine-in meals. |
| B．Reduce the food waste in their establishments. |
| C．Make reusable containers out of new materials. |
| D．Provide necessary recycled packaging to customers. |
| A．The impact of McDonald’s on the environment. |
| B．The cost of plastic containers and cups in McDonald’s. |
| C．The disadvantage of plastic packaging in fast-food establishments. |
| D．The significance of sustainable practices in the fast-food industry. |
2 . A small group of Cuban dive instructors have started a project to grow coral (珊瑚) and replant it. The divers hope to restore part of Cuba’s barrier reef (堡礁). And they are working with limited financial support and using materials recovered from the coast.
Luis is one of the project’s leaders. The 44-year-old fisherman grew up on Cuba’s north coast. He said, “It’s incredible to see the loss of coral in the past 30 years.” He added, “Our dream is to make the parts of the barrier reef that have lost their coral grow again.”
To make that happen, Luis worked with other dive instructors and neighborhood schoolchildren with the support from Cuba’s environmental organizations. They began collecting pieces of coral spread across the ocean floor after large storms three years ago. The pieces were then hung on branches of underwater “trees” made from old plastic pipes and supported by fishing lines recovered from the coast. They were then “replanted” on the coral reef, fixed by nails driven into the rock. In a year, most survive and grow enough to repopulate the part of the barrier reef between 60 to 80 meters in length.
Like many coral reefs around the world, the ones in Cuba are threatened by changing water temperatures, destructive plants and animals, pollution and over-fishing. It is reported that the world has already lost 30 to 50 percent of its coral reefs.
Karine is a French diver who just visited Cuba for the first time. She said the reef looked better than others she had seen on dives elsewhere in the world, including in Africa. “The coral needs to be protected,” she said after two dives on a recent trip to nearby Varadero. She said, “It’s good to see that in Cuba they take care of what they have, and that it is still not too affected by too much tourism.”
1. What can we infer from the recovery of the Cuba’s barrier reef?| A．It is just a new project to start. |
| B．It is a slow and difficult process. |
| C．It is mainly carried out by schoolchildren. |
| D．It is greatly supported by the government. |
| A．They are fastened to the rock by fishing lines. |
| B．They are supported by the trees on the ocean floor. |
| C．They are placed firmly by nails driven into the rock. |
| D．They are hung by old plastic pipes collected on the coast. |
| A．Endangered. | B．Beneficial. | C．Plentiful. | D．Harmful. |
| A．Doubtful. | B．Concerned. | C．Positive. | D．Disappointed. |
3 . The holiday season is a time for celebrating with friends and family, when people give gifts or decorate their homes. Unfortunately, this can all lead to a lot of waste. However, there are ways to reduce the amount of waste you create.
Use reusable bags for gifts
Gift bags or wrap that can be reused are recommended on the list. You can reuse them the next time you give a gift. You can also wrap gifts in old maps, pages from magazines, and art paper. The person receiving the gift could use the wrap for something else. The Chinese traditional cloth-wrapper is popular wrapping cloth, which is pretty and strong. It can be used for other things, like a colorful scarf or tablecloth, rather than just thrown away.
Choose electronic cards
For many people, sending holiday cards is a tradition. Now people are increasingly accepting electronic holiday cards. “There are so many digital options now, and people get just as much joy out of it,” some people said. These cards offer a range of benefits. With the increasing popularity, electronic cards have become a preferred choice.
Buy a real tree from a local farm
For decorating the home, real trees have become first option rather than plastic ones. Some trees are grown for the purpose of being cut, and new ones are typically replanted every year. So, the cycle continues. Buying local trees means that it doesn’t use much fuel. After the holidays, trees are picked and processed into usable products, like small wood pieces for the garden. What’s more, you can’t beat the smell of a fresh-cut tree.
1. What makes Chinese cloth-wrapper popular?| A．Its fresh smell. |
| B．The multiple uses. |
| C．Various digital options. |
| D．Its original birthplace. |
| A．They match the gardens. |
| B．They are easier to cut |
| C．They have better quality. |
| D．They are environmentally friendly. |
| A．A novel. |
| B．A textbook. |
| C．A magazine. |
| D．A journal. |
4 . Used clothing that you no longer wear can be donated to charities. And clothing with broken zippers or missing buttons can be repaired and worn again. But what do you do when your favorite shirt is too torn to wear or your socks have too many holes?
Every year in the UK, 336, 000 tons of unwanted old clothing and shoes are thrown out and sent to landfills (废物填埋场), according to Recycle Now.
One of the best ways to deal with unwanted clothing is to make it into something completely different. You can use pieces of old cloth as filling for pillows.
Another very good way to reuse old textiles (纺织品) made of cotton like T-shirts is to cut the clothing up and use it as cleaning cloths around your home.
Besides, animal shelters are always looking for used towels and blankets to keep their animals warm.
| A．You can bring your clothing to Green Life. |
| B．Or you can turn something you like into a doll. |
| C．So you can donate your unwanted clothing to such places. |
| D．Some clothing companies have their own recycling services. |
| E．The cleaning cloths can be washed and reused, unlike paper towels. |
| F．Check to see whether certain items you are throwing out can be donated. |
| G．This leads to greenhouse gases and allows chemicals to get into the soil. |
From the adorable pandas in Sichuan to the playful Pallas’s cats in Inner Mongolia, photographer Xie Jianguo has committed himself to documenting China’s rare and endangered animals,
Xie’s passion for
During his shooting process, Xie
With the aim of preserving the natural beauty of China
6 . 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 on 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. |
7 . After the death of her nature-loving mother, Margaret Renkl tenderly placed in an antique jar the “soft white hair” left behind in her mother’s hairbrush. Years passed. When it no longer carried the scent (气味) she treasured, Renkl laid the hair across a tree branch in her yard. This act was meant as a direct invitation to the birds in her yard, and it was accepted: A bird used the hair for the nest it was building.
Renkl devotes only a half-page to this story, but it conveys the beautiful interaction of human and other animal lives at the heart of The Comfort of Crows. Starting in winter and continuing through the seasonal round, Renkl brings alive in 52 chapters her love for the animals and plants in her half-acre (半英亩) yard in Tennessee and in nearby parks. Equally moving, she admits her desperation at the human-caused crisis the natural world faces, and her determination not to back off.
Her determination is more than lip service. She cures a neighborhood fox against a skin disease, with the help of a trap, a bit of bacon, and advice from an animal doctor; ensures that leaves from the trees in her yard are not gathered so that insects overwinter and hungry birds can dine there; fills a garden with milkweed in support of monarch butterflies.
With these steps, Renkl refuses to give up in the face of human-caused global warming that is changing our environment and harming other species. In these days of climate crisis, the phenomenon of ecological anxiety is real. In order to seize opportunities to help, many of us do require fuel to restore our spirits. Find that fuel in Renkl’s chapters of The Comfort of Crows. The animals and plants so cherished by Renkl need us now more than ever.
1. What is the central theme of Renkl’s The Comfort of Crows?| A．Personal preference towards country life. | B．Fond memories of close family members. |
| C．Profound disappointment at climate crisis. | D．Amazing interactions between man and nature. |
| A．Renkl’s efforts in protecting animals. | B．Renkl’s service in the neighborhood. |
| C．Renkl’s attempts to treat an injured fox. | D．Renkl’s determination to preserve the yard. |
| A．Indifferent yet realistic. | B．Concerned yet active. |
| C．Pessimistic yet tolerant. | D．Regretful yet hopeful. |
| A．To introduce the beauty of rural life. | B．To present the daily routine of Renkl. |
| C．To recommend an inspirational book. | D．To provide advice on nature protection. |
8 . Last month, a part of the Negro River in the Amazon rainforest reduced to a depth of just 12.7 metres, its lowest level in 120 years, due to the lack of rainfall. In Lake Tefé, about 500 kilometres away, more than 150 river dolphins were found dead, not because of the low water levels, but probably because the lake had reached temperatures close to 40℃.
“The Amazon rainforest in northern Brazil is experiencing a tough time and it is the sum of three things,” says Luciana Gatti, a researcher at Brazil’s National Institute. “The first is deforestation, which is turning rainforest into a drier, hotter place,” she says.
“Additionally, El Ninio climate pattern has begun and it makes things worse,” adds Gatti. El Niño is a phenomenon which occurs every two to seven years. During El Niño, winds that usually blow from east to west along the equator (赤道) are weakened or even turn the other way round. This leads to the change of rainfall in South America, causing dry air in the north, where the rainforest lies, and damp air in the south. As a result, countries in the south are currently greeted by heavy rains, while the Amazon is experiencing the lowest rainfall levels from July to September in 40 years.
The third factor is the unusual warming of the water in the northern Atlantic Ocean. The warming of these waters causes the Inter Tropical Convergence Zone (热带辐合带), a region of intense cloud and rain formation, to shift north. The ITCZ takes the storms with it, away from Brazil, and causes less rainfall than usual.
Although it is hard to predict when the next drought might strike the Amazon, studies show that climate change is messing with the timing of El Niño. “The tendency is that we have stronger and more frequent crises,” Gatti says. This could be a disaster for the Amazon rainforest, already hit by deforestation and a warming, drying climate.” The forest’s tipping point is coming closer—and it’s coming quick.
1. What phenomenon does the author describe at the beginning of the text?| A．The climate change and flood. |
| B．The extreme drought and heat. |
| C．The severe pollution and extinction. |
| D．The wildlife death and deforestation. |
| A．The east wind brings hot air. |
| B．The west wind causes heavy rain. |
| C．The high temperature has decreased damp air. |
| D．The wind direction has affected the rainfall pattern. |
| A．It produces rainfall in Brazil. |
| B．It carries clouds to rainforest. |
| C．Its movement worsens the drought. |
| D．Its formation raises the water temperature. |
| A．Concerned. | B．Unclear. | C．Positive. | D．Objective. |
9 . Zhu Dejun’s first job after graduating from college was as a road design engineer in his hometown, Alshaa League, North Chin’s Inner Mongolia autonomous region(内蒙古自治区). In 2011, when Zhu was conducting a road survey along with his colleagues, he saw a plant that he didn’t recognize. Later, Zhu learned that the plant was a saxaul (灌木梭梭) tree which is an excellent tree species for sand fixation and afforestation (造林) in desert areas. Known as a desert guardian, a fully grown saxaul tree can hold together a 10-square-meter patch of desert land, according to Zhu.
Zhu quit (辞去) his job at the design institute in 2014 and joined a nonprofit organization, the Society of Entrepreneurs and Ecology Conservation, or SEE, in the same year, concentrating on dealing with desertification (沙漠化) .During the past eight years, Zhu has been leading a team from SEE to plant saxaul trees in sandy areas in Alshaa League and other places of Inner Mongolia.
In 2014, the SEE launched a project titled “one million saxaul trees”, aiming to reach that number from 2014 to 2023, turning the desert of more than 133, 330 hectares (公顷) back into a satisfying ecosystem. By the end of 2018, half of the organization’s goal had been achieved. In 2016, Ant Finance cooperated with SEE to introduce the Ant Forest platform, not only encouraging people to choose “a low-carbon way” of shopping, traveling and living, but also to help control desertification.
Through the participation of a greater number of online users, who grow virtual trees, the SEE Foundation, set up in 2008, has been providing subsidies (补助金) for local herdsmen and farmers while also offering technological support to plant saxaul trees in desert areas. Now, Zhu is the head of the foundation’s project to fight desertification. He also gives lectures about saxaul trees and the fight against desertification at schools, hoping to raise awareness among young people.
1. What did Zhu Dejun do first after graduation?| A．Here searched on saxaul trees. |
| B．He joined a nonprofit organization. |
| C．He found ways to fight desertification. |
| D．He focused on road design engineering. |
| A．They are easily taken care of. |
| B．They can grow fast in deserts. |
| C．They are perfect for holding water. |
| D．They can fight desertification effectively. |
| A．They teamed up with Ant Finance. |
| B．They planted one million saxaul trees. |
| C．They held online lectures on desertification. |
| D．They encouraged donation from online users. |
| A．By providing subsidies. | B．By raising awareness. |
| C．By planting trees online. | D．By offering technological support. |
10 . An international group of electronic music composers is taking beats from the dance club to jungles and forests and back, all to help save nature’s greatest singers. A Guide to the Birdsong of Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean is a new album that includes the sounds of endangered birds. The album will come out next month, whose proceeds will go directly towards efforts to save birds.
The whole project was born out of this idea of trying to combine birdsong, electronic music and conservation. A Guide to the Birdsong of Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean was organized by activist, music producer, Robin Perkins. He invited artists from each of the endangered birds ‘homelands to build their own songs around the birds’ songs. There are contributions from ten artists in eight different countries.
First single Black Catbird was created by The Garifuna Collective, from Belize. Al Obando, guitarist and producer of the group, always took in national parks and viewed birds when on the road with the band. “There are no trails, and there are no signs there to tell you about what you’re seeing,” Obando says. “So we’re trying to do something for the birds and nature tourism.”
Another musician who responded to Robin’s call is Tamara Montenegro, an artist from Nicaragua. She was shocked to hear of the serious situation of the Guardabarranco after being approached: “This beautiful creature I grew up adoring also faced the influence of the systematic human activities”. In response, she created a song inspired by this bird and the challenges it faces to live naturally.
The new album is the second edition, following on from A Guide to the Birdsong of South America, produced by Robin in 2015. That first album has raised, to date, over $15,000 benefitting conservation projects in South America. As with the first album, all of the money from the sales of the new album will support specific organizations, including Birds Caribbean.
1. What does the underlined word “proceeds” in Paragraph 1 refer to?| A．Profits. | B．Budgets. | C．Challenges. | D．Effects. |
| A．He created a hit single himself. |
| B．He was fond of observing birds. |
| C．He was the organizer of the new album. |
| D．He did a lot for birds in South America. |
| A．It was friendly to humans. |
| B．It was living in bad conditions. |
| C．It was beautiful in appearance. |
| D．It was facing challenges from other birds. |
| A．To collect money for a project. |
| B．To popularize electronic music. |
| C．To recommend some famous artists. |
| D．To introduce a new album of electronic music. |
