1 . 用所给单词的恰当形式填空。每个单词使用一次，每空填入一个单词。

dominant       maximum       expansion       release       policy resolve       trend       undergo       decline       investment

The fast shift toward clean energy technologies means global greenhouse gas emissions may fall in 2024. Recent analysis from the International Energy Agency (IEA), based on the public     1     of governments, suggests emissions may in fact have peaked last year. The finding is supported by analysis from Climate Analytics, which found a 70% chance of emissions falling from 2024 if the current growing     2     in clean technologies continues.

A growing number of major economies have already passed their period of    3     emissions, including the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom and Japan. Compared with them, China now is the most     4    in emitting greenhouse gases, contributing 31% of the global total last year. But explosive growth in clean energy    5    means China’s emissions are set not only to fall in 2024, but to go into structural    6    . What’s more, China is currently    7     a boom in clean energy production and a historic growth of renewable energy — especially solar. Similarly,     8     is expected for batteries and electric vehicles.

A peak in global emissions is cause for optimism — but it is far from     9     the problem. More greenhouse gases will still be    10     in the atmosphere and drive severe warming, until we bring the emissions as close to zero as possible.

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.

2. How do the dive instructors fix the pieces of coral on the reef?

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.

3. What does the underlined word “destructive” in paragraph 4 mean?

A．Endangered.

B．Beneficial.

C．Plentiful.

D．Harmful.

4. What is Karine’s attitude towards the Cubans’ effort to recover the coral reef?

A．Doubtful.

B．Concerned.

C．Positive.

D．Disappointed.

3 . 课文内容填空

Written Chinese has also    1     which China’s present is connected with its past. People in modern times can read the classic works which were written by Chinese in ancient Times.    2     the Chinese writing system can be seen in the development of Chinese characters as an art form,    3    , which has become an important part of Chinese culture. Today, the Chinese writing system is still an important part of Chinese culture. As China plays a greater role    4    , an increasing number of international students are beginning, to appreciate China’s culture and history    5    .

The air is thin and we have to rest several times on the short hike from camp. To our left, snow-covered mountains    6    that seem almost close enough to touch. On the plain in front of us, we can just    7    a herd of graceful animals. This is why we’re here-- to observe Tibetan antelopes.

In the evening, I drink a cup of tea and watch the stars. I think about the antelopes and what Zhaxi told me.    8     to protect wildlife, but if we really want to save the planet, we must change our way of life. Only when we learn to exist    9    with nature can we    10    to wildlife and to our planet.

4 . When glaciers melt, they leave behind infertile (贫瘠的) landscapes. But a new study found that within just three years, such exposed land was restored by llamas (美洲驼), whose activity enriched the soil and promoted plant growth. By the foot of Peru’s melting Uruashraju glacier, researchers partnered with local farmers to farm llamas on four specific plots. For three days a month from 2019 to 2022, the llamas grazed (吃青草) the plots, fertilizing them with waste and spreading seeds from droppings.

As is the case worldwide, glaciers are disappearing in Peru’s Cordillera Blanca mountains at an alarming rate. And as the ice melts, nearby ecosystems wither: They lose access to summertime supplies of freshwater and sometimes encounter harmful acidic minerals in rocks once covered by the glaciers.

Llamas may help count er some of these effects. Their transformation of the land, as seen in the new study, could reduce rock weathering and help the soil hold onto more dampness, thus limiting the acidic runoff that can poison farmers’ crops. Such pollution is one reason why local farmers partnered with the researchers. The animals’ behavior could one day even generate new grasslands as soil quality improves.

The idea that animal grazing may positively impact a landscape is not new. Nor is rewilding, the push to bring key species back to their native ecosystems, unique to the Cordillera Blanca mountains. In Finland, for example, the Indigenous Sami are working to reintroduce reindeer in deforested land, potentially restoring it. But the size and speed of the changes the llamas helped bring about surprised the researchers. From 2021 to 2022, the average amount of plant cover in the llama plots grew from about 9 percent to nearly 14 percent—faster than it did in four control plots. The research underscores the valuable roles animals play in shaping landscapes, says ecologist Kelsey Reider of James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Va., “The animals themselves are doing a lot.”

1. What did the new study find?

A．Llamas could help improve ecology.	B．Llamas needed to be exposed to soil.
C．Llamas might survive poor situation.	D．Llamas were able to stop ice melting.

2. What does the underlined word “wither” in Paragraph 2 probably mean?

A．Expand.

B．Arise.

C．Integrate.

D．Worsen.

3. Why did the farmers work with the researchers?

A．Because they longed to be more learned.

B．Because they profited from the research.

C．Because they wanted to keep llamas away.

D．Because they failed to know llamas’ behavior.

4. What can we know from the last paragraph?

A．Llamas restore the forest in Finland.	B．Wildlife helps a lot in restoring nature.
C．The idea of rewilding isn’t common.	D．The research should collect more data.

5 . Ensuring that your home is as energy-efficient as it can possibly be is essential. Take the steps listed below, and you’ll be living in an energy-efficient home in no time.

    1     To stop it in its tracks, you must invest in having your house insulated (隔热的). Taking such action may demand some cost in advance, but it will be sure to save you over £100 a year when it comes to your energy bills.

The old boilers (锅炉) are not as energy-efficient as the very latest models in this field.     2     By investing in a top of the line boiler, you’ll no doubt tap into a number of savings. What’s more, making this kind of investment will also be sure to lower your home’s carbon emissions.

Only when you know how much energy you use can you take action to be less wasteful and more resourceful in this instance.     3     To assist you in taking on this extremely important challenge, you might want to consider fitting an energy monitor in your home.     4     But if you’re lucky, your electricity provider will give you one for free. This monitor will provide you and your family with constant updates on the amount of energy you are using on a day-to-day basis.

With just twelve years (now seven years) to go until climate change alters earth forever, now is the time for you to play your part in protecting the planet that you live in.     5    

A．The investment demanded in this instance is significant.

B．Taking such action will help you adapt to climate change.

C．Generally, this type of device will cost between £25 and £40.

D．It means you should try to keep track of energy consumption.

E．By putting the above advice into practice, you’ll be green soon.

F．Most of your home’s wasted energy will escape through your roof.

G．It might be high time to update yours if you haven’t done so for years.

6 . A smoke bomb from a party started a major blaze (火焰) near Los Angeles in September,just one of many recent wildfires ignited (引燃) by people. Now, an analysis of satellite data shows human-caused blazes spread much faster and kill more trees than ones ignited by lightning.

Fire has always been a part of California’s natural history. But several centuries of human settlement have created new conditions that promote its spread.Studies have shown human ignition is to blame for 84% of all wildfires in the United States,and 97% of all those that threaten homes.

Human-caused fires always seemed more extreme, says Stijn Hantson,a fire ecologist at the University of California,Irvine,who led the new research. But measurements of how fast they spread and their impacts on ecosystems (生态系统) in California had not been explored, he notes.

To examine those differences, Hantson and his colleagues analyzed satellite data for 214 wildfires in California between 2012 and 2018.Human-caused fires typically spread about 1.83 kilometers per day, more than twice as fast as lightning-ignited burns,the team reports.The faster spreading fires also burned more violently and killed “double or triple” the trees as lightning-caused ones.

However, there is no fundamental difference in the chemistry of a human-caused blaze. “A fire is a fire” Hantson says. “It’s the surrounding things that matter.” Causes of fires ranging from improperly thrown cigarettes to sparking (冒火花) power lines could ignite a blaze on any given day, he says, while lightning strikes and dry thunderstorms only happen seasonally.

The researchers tracked meteorological data and found that human-caused fires were more likely to start on days with extreme weather conditions,and were more associated with drier,less-forested landscapes. This adds to scientists’ understanding of how humans are extending the fire season, says Nathan Mietkiewicz, an ecologist with the National Ecological Observation Network.

1. The author uses some data in paragraph 2 to show that ________.

A．wildfires are mostly caused by humans

B．most wildfires threaten people’s homes

C．wildfire is a part of California’s natural history

D．wildfires break out frequently in the United States

2. What’s the purpose of Hantson’s research?

A．To prove how extreme human-caused fires are.

B．To find out the causes and solutions of wildfires.

C．To explore the speed and effects of wildfires caused by humans.

D．To examine the differences between a human-caused blaze and a nature-caused one.

3. How is the result presented in paragraph 4?

A．By giving examples.

B．By making comparisons.

C．By analyzing cause and effect.

D．By giving definitions.

4. What can be inferred from the last two paragraphs?

A．Human-caused fires and lightning-caused fires are basically different.

B．Lightning strikes and thunderstorms can always lead to wildfires.

C．Wildfires only happen in dry,less-forested areas.

D．Humans are to blame for the extended fire season.

7 . Record sea ice loss caused a mass die-off of emperor penguin chicks in part of Antarctica last year, strengthening predictions that the world’s largest penguin will soon be in danger of extinction.

Unlike other penguins, emperors breed (繁殖) on sea ice rather than land.Male emperor penguins hatch the eggs during the Antarctic winter. The furry grey chicks need stable sea ice until December to grow their black waterproof feathers and gain enough muscle to swim. If they go into the water before they develop feathers, chicks can drown or freeze to death.

In February, the area of sea ice around Antarctica reached the lowest extent ever observed. After much of the ice began breaking up late last year, four out of five habitats in the hard-bit central and eastern Bellingshausen Sea suffered a total breeding failure, with no chicks surviving to the feather growing period. In mid-November, the sea ice there broke up, forcing the penguins to abandon the habitat and most if not all of their chicks.

A research team from Oxford Brookes University monitored populations by spotting penguin faeces (排泄物) in satellite photos. Emperor penguins tend to stay close, walking in a tight group to stay warm in temperatures as low as -60°C.The buildup of the habitat’s faeces stains the ice so brown that it can be seen from space. Once a habitat has been identified, researchers can count the individual penguins in very high-resolution satellite images.

The observations add weight to modelling predictions that 90 percent of emperor penguin habitats could be extinct or past the point of no return by 2100 if current rates of warming continue. While habitats can lose chicks in heavy storms or when severe winds break up the sea ice, this is the first-time widespread breeding failure has been linked to disappearing ice.

“Failure is the norm, but complete failure across a whole region, that’s not normal,” says Tim at Oxford Brookes University. “Will this impact the population? It really depends on how often it happens.”

1. What was the result of the ice breaking last year?

A．The area of the sea reached the lowest point ever.

B．Emperor penguins left the habitats with their chicks.

C．Emperor penguins had to search for food themselves.

D．Most emperor penguins chicks studied failed to survive.

2. How did the team identify a habitat in satellite images?

A．By counting the penguins.

B．By making the images clearer.

C．By spotting brown stained ice.

D．By collecting penguins’ faeces.

3. What can be inferred from the last two paragraphs?

A．The area suffered breeding failure for the first time.

B．Severe storms caused the extensive breeding failure.

C．The total failure has made emperor penguins extinct.

D．The frequency of ice breaking needs to be controlled.

4. What is the passage mainly about?

A．The main causes of global warming.

B．The exlinet emperor penguin habitats.

C．Emperor penguins’ severe breeding failure.

D．Health problems of emperor penguin chicks.

8 . Heat waves are becoming more common in parts of the United States — and that means more people running their air conditioners for longer. But those air conditioners can make the problem worse, giving off greenhouse gases as they work that contribute heavily to climate change.

SkyCool Systems is trying to break that cycle, using technology that promises to offer buildings an alternative means to cool down in a similar way to how the planet cools itself. “Our planet naturally cools itself by sending heat out in the form of infrared light (红外线) or radiation,” said Eli Goldstein, SkyCool’s cofounder and CEO. “We do this through rooftop panels, which look like solar panels but actually do the opposite, reflecting 97% of the sunlight that hits them and cooling the surface below,” said Goldstein.

SkyCool’s model involves fixing a network of pipes below those panels. These pipes are filled with water, which is kept cool by the panels and then flows into an air conditioning system. This process is designed to take pressure off the system’s cooling mechanism. And because the panels cool naturally and don’t need external power to function, it helps the entire system use less electricity.

A Grocery Outlet store in California, which has been using SkyCool’s system since last year, says it saw a marked drop in its electrical bills. Jesus Valenzuela, the store manager, estimates that the panels have saved his store roughly $3,000 a month.

But perhaps the biggest barrier to making the technology ubiquitous (无处不在的) is its relatively high cost. Increasing production could help bring the cost down, Goldstein said, particularly for developing countries in Asia and Africa where SkyCool hopes to eventually expand. For now, the company is focused on commercial applications of the technology, though it hopes to start setting up panels on the roofs of individual homes. “We’re just excited to be able to use this new technology for good,” Goldstein said.

1. How did Goldstein explain the way their rooftop panels work?

A．By citing an expert’s words.	B．By making comparisons.
C．By analyzing cause and effect.	D．By describing the process in detail.

2. What is the function of the pipes in SkyCool’s model?

A．To store cold water to help cool the panels.

B．To help ease the water pressure of the air conditioning.

C．To power the panels by making use of flowing water.

D．To feed cold water into the air conditioning system.

3. How might Jesus Valenzuela view SkyCool’s system?

A．It’s pretty effective.	B．It has increased sales for his store.
C．It will go out of style quickly.	D．It will cost too much to set up.

4. What does SkyCool expect of its system?

A．It’ll bring in a good profit for the company.	B．It’ll gain popularity in developed countries.
C．It’ll take the place of air conditioners.	D．It’ll be accessible to common households.

9 . 阅读下面短文，在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

The World Health Organization (WHO) has announced a shocking finding about the air we breathe. It has found that almost everyone on Earth breathes unhealthy air. The WHO made     1    (it) air quality update ahead of World Health Day on April 7. The update reported that 99 per cent of the world’s population breathes air     2     goes beyond WHO air quality limits. It looked at data from over 6,000 cities in 117 countries. People     3    (live) in lower- and middle-income countries breathe the poorest-quality air. Millions of people die in these countries because of pollution-related diseases. The WHO said: “After surviving a pandemic, it is unacceptable to still have 7 million preventable deaths due     4     air pollution.”

The WHO said its report highlighted the need to move away from fossil fuels. It asked governments to do more     5     (reduce) levels of air pollution. It said: “Current energy concerns highlight the importance of speeding up the transition to cleaner and     6    (healthy) energy systems.” It added that high gas prices, energy     7    (secure), the dangers of air pollution, and climate change mean the world must be less dependent on fossil fuels. The WHO report     8    (include) many recommendations for change. One of these is     9     use of clean energy for cooking, heating and lighting. Another is to “build safe and affordable public transport systems and pedestrian- and cycle-friendly     10    (network)”.

10 . Seafood that never sees the sea

Although 80% of the world’s seafood comes from marine harvests, there is a major shift underway toward aquaculture (水产业) now. Nearly 40% of salmon marketed today is raised in fish farms, compared with 6% a decade ago. Almost 35% of all oysters are produced in farm environments, along with 65% of freshwater fish. “The fact that world seafood supplies continue to increase at all is due almost entirely to the phenomenal growth in aquaculture,” says Anne Platt McGinn, a research associate at the Worldwatch Institute.

Biotechnology is contributing to high-yield aquaculture through transgenics—the transfer of genes from one species to another. Researchers introduce advantageous genetic features into fish, creating stronger stocks. For example, some species of fish have a protein that allows them to live in Arctic waters. By transplanting this “anti-freeze” gene into other species, researchers have created more fish that can survive in extremely cold water. Biotechnologists are attempting to improve a wide range of genetic features in fish used for aquaculture, developing fish that are larger and faster-growing, more efficient in changing feed into muscle, more tolerant of low oxygen levels in water, and better able to resist disease.

While aquaculture produces a reliable source of protein, there are a lot of environmental problems in the industry, claims McGinn. Perhaps the biggest concern is water pollution. Fish waste and uneaten food accumulate at farm sites and can float directly downstream into water supplies. McGinn charges that aquaculture also uses resources inefficiently. Fish farms need protein feed, and about 17% of ocean fish, an overharvested wild resource, becomes food for farm-raised fish. “An estimated five kilograms of oceanic fish reduced into fish meal are required to raise one kilogram of farmed ocean fish or shrimp, representing a large net protein loss,” says McGinn.

Fish farming does not have to be an inefficient or polluting industry. McGinn predicts that many consumers will choose sustainably produced fish in the future, just as they prefer dolphin-free tuna (金枪鱼) today.

1. What can we infer from Paragraph 1?

A．Nearly 80% of the world’s seafood is sourced from marine harvests.

B．The aquaculture undergoes minor changes within the recent decade.

C．Most of the seafood people consume are supplied by fish farms today.

D．The increase in aquaculture brings about the rise of world seafood supplies.

2. How do biotechnologists promote the high production of seafood?

A．They create even larger and faster-growing fish.

B．They make use of the technology of transgenics.

C．They introduce a variety of genetic features in fish.

D．They transplant “anti-freeze” genes into other species.

3. What is one of the problems caused by present seafood industry?

A．It fails to provide a reliable source of protein.

B．It reduces the wild resource for farm-raised fish.

C．It leads to the over-consumption of oceanic fish.

D．It causes great water pollution downstream only.

4. What does McGinn mean by saying “just as they prefer dolphin-free tuna today”?

A．Aquaculture is a very serious polluting industry.

B．Fish farming can be improved to be eco-friendly.

C．Most consumers are against the present fish farming.

D．Dolphin-free tuna is consumers’ favourite fish meal.