1 . Ten years ago, environmental journalist Ben Goldfarb was on a reporting trip about wildlife conservation. When he was shown around some new animal crossing structures near, Missoula, these new bridges and tunnels intrigued him. He was attracted by these beautiful human-built structures and inspired to write a book. Crossings: How Road Ecology Is Shaping the Future of Our Planet has now been published.
Through expert interviews, in-depth research and convincing analysis, Goldfarh brings to life the deadly consequences our 40 million miles of roadways have had and are having on the natural world and the creatures that inhabit it. A million animals are killed by cars each day in the US alone. Road salt pollutes lakes and rivers. And there's the barrier effect-the steady stream of traffic that prevents animals from migrating (迁徙) all together and finding habitats. Goldfarb writes that noise pollution is the most worrisome among all the road's ecological disasters. Both the engine noise and the tire noise greatly impact ecological environment.
Figures on deaths and disruptions (扰乱) are disheartening, but Goldfarb vividly describes how scientists are actively working on meaningful improvements to help animals and roads better coexist, such as wildlife crossings, from passages in Canada's Banff National Park to the famous Liberty Canyon Overpass in Los, Angeles. Another example is that in India, they built a new highway through a tiger reserve so that animals can come and go underneath the lifted freeway. Of course, that made the project more expensive, but it's ecologically the right thing to do.
Crossings is a truly important and landmark book on a subject whose full impacts continue to be disregarded or underestimated in considering conservation efforts. The book is a sympathetic, heart-warming guide to exploring the issues of wildlife survival and our own.
1. What does the underlined word “intrigued” in paragraph 1 mean?A.Confused. | B.Blocked. | C.Satisfied. | D.Interested. |
A.Road salt. | B.Roadkill. |
C.Vehicle noises. | D.Endless traffic stream. |
A.To bring shame on individual drivers. |
B.To stress the effect of roads on wildlife. |
C.To show humans' effort in animal protection. |
D.To explain the necessity of creating wild reserves. |
A.Vivid and touching. |
B.Pessimistic and sharp. |
C.Objective and critical. |
D.Abstract and humorous. |
1、环境的现状;
2、为保护环境中学生可以做写什么;
3、倡议大家行动起来。
注意:1.写作词数为100左右。2.可以适当增加细节,以使行文连贯。
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3 . After most people complete their undergraduate degree, they either take a break or jump into a job. Few, like Brianna Craft, set out to save the world.
It started when she was a freshman sitting in an environmental studies class in 2006. Craft was shocked when the professor described the harm climate change was having on people. She records the moment in her new book, Everything That Rises: A Climate Change Memoir.
After graduation, Craft spent a year in AmeriCorps, focusing on protecting the environment. AmeriCorps is an organization connecting individuals and organizations to help communities tackle their toughest challenges. “That helped me figure out that my future was not in doing science,” she says. Instead, she wanted to work with people and policy.
She then had an opportunity to attend the UN climate negotiations (磋商). That, in turn, prepared her for her current role as a senior researcher at the London-based International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED). Her focus is to ensure that the lowest contributors to greenhouse gases and those most affected by climate change have a voice in international climate negotiations.
For five years, Craft attended and supported climate conferences around the world, leading to the signing of the Paris Agreement in 2015. Craft says, “I wanted people to care about the work I did in the climate negotiations, and why we pushed so hard to form this agreement.” That led her to write Everything That Rises: A Climate Change Memoir.
Craft brings the viewpoint of an African American woman from a rural northwest community. She weaves (编织) together several storylines-including her difficult childhood with an irresponsible parent, her self-discovery in college and her work to help work towards climate agreements and ensure that even the smallest countries have a voice.
1. What motivated Craft to work on climate change?A.A course. | B.A book. | C.A scientist. | D.A program. |
A.She made achievements. |
B.She fell in love with science. |
C.She got inspiration for her book. |
D.She was clearer about her career path. |
A.She promotes equal rights to speak among countries. |
B.She focuses on removing greenhouse gases in London. |
C.She ensures climate negotiations are the UN’s top priority. |
D.She speaks for the countries producing the most greenhouse gases. |
A.Boring. | B.Risky. | C.Fruitful. | D.Well-paid. |
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, is road testing a new way to keep winter roads ice-free by spreading on them cheese brine, the salty liquid
Wisconsin, also called “America’s Dairyland”, is famous for its cheese. The state produced 2.8 billion pounds of cheese last year! As a result, there
Cheese brine has salt in it,
In addition to saving money, cheese brine could also be a more eco-friendly option. Many people suspect that all the rock salt used every winter
5 . Begun 30 years ago, the Kubuqi desert greening project has succeeded in not only controlling the fast growth of the seventh-largest desert in China, about the size of Kuwait, but also turning about 6, 000 square kilometers of the desert — one-third of it — green.
The desert lies about 800 kilometers to the west of Beijing in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region (自治区) and the greening efforts have also controlled desertification (沙漠化) in the rest of the area.
The project, which began about 30 years ago, can be looked to as an example of efforts to advance green development, in order to create harmony between humans and nature, and leave a better environment for future generations.
The success of the project, which has been praised by the UN Environment Programme as an “eco-pioneer”, sets an example for successful desertification control and ecosystem improvement based on effective government policies, supported by investment (投资) in the eco industry and combined with the efforts of local farmers. These three aspects are key to the success of the “Kubuqi model”.
Elion, a private ecology (生态) and investment company, has invested about 38 billion yuan($5. 82 billion)in the Kubuqi desert-greening project since 1988 helping to lift about 102, 000 local farmers out of poverty. For example, the locals grow a drought-tolerant (耐旱) plant, Chinese licorice, which is the most used herb in traditional Chinese medicine. The plant helps enrich the desert soil, with the bacteria around the roots of the plants producing nitrogen (氮气). Besides, Cistanche, another type of drought-tolerant herb, was introduced after the successful planting of licorice. Under the company’s guidance and with the local government’s support, the local people benefit from the “environmental wealth”.
More companies should be encouraged to apply the “Kubuqi model” in other desert control projects in Inner Mongolia and neighboring Gansu province, where the climate conditions are similar but not quite the same, so as to further gain experience and enrich the model in practice. Showing it can be successfully applied in other areas will help promote the model worldwide.
1. What do we know about the Kubuqi greening project?A.It increases the areas of desert. |
B.It has turned all of the desert green. |
C.It has achieved satisfying results. |
D.It is applied all over the world. |
A.Efforts of local farmers. |
B.Government policies’ support. |
C.Investment in the eco-industry. |
D.Help from the UN Environment Programme. |
A.Negative. | B.Doubtful. |
C.Supportive. | D.Indifferent. |
6 . During the 20th century, an estimated 3 million great whales were hunted to provide humans with oil, meat and rose fertiliser. Roger Payne, a biologist and environmentalist, spurred (推动) a worldwide environmental conservation movement with his discovery that whales could sing.
This discovery was made in 1967 during his research trip to Bermuda (百慕大) when a navy engineer provided him with a recording of curious underwater sounds documented. Payne identified the tones as songs whales sing to one another and he was conscious from the start that whale song was to get the public interested in protecting an animal previously considered little more than a resource, curiosity or nuisance.
Payne saw the discovery of whale song as a chance to spur interest in saving the giant animals, who were disappearing from the planet. In 1970, Payne released the album Songs of the Humpback Whale. The record, a surprise hit, fueled a global movement to end the practice of commercial whale hunting and save the whales from extinction. It remains the bestselling environmental album in history.
The impact of the whale song discovery on the early environmental movement was immense. Many antiwar protesters of the day took on saving animals and the environment as a new cause. The humpback whale became the icon of a new environmental awareness. And the whales entered pop culture, no longer the fearsome beasts. In 1977, the whale calls were loaded on to the Voyager probes and sent into outer space.
Payne, graduating from Harvard University and Cornell University with a doctor’s degree, authored or co authored dozens of scientific papers, gave hundreds of lectures, made countless television programmes and films, and led 100 oceanic expeditions. Payne had started an ambitious new project: CETI, a combination of scientists using new technology to interpret what whales might be “saying”.
1. What caused the decline of the whale population in the 20th century?A.Habitat loss. | B.The climate change. |
C.Uncontrolled hunting. | D.The ocean pollution. |
A.To boost interest in protecting whales. | B.To satisfy people’s curiosity about sea. |
C.To achieve great commercial success. | D.To earn a reputation as a researcher. |
A.Considerate. | B.Accomplished. |
C.Courageous. | D.Patient. |
A.The conservation of ocean environment. |
B.Efforts to awake public ocean awareness. |
C.A high-tech way to document whale tones. |
D.A whale protection campaign by a biologist. |
Like all big cities, Paris has a traffic problem: lots of cars, traffic jams and pollution from exhaust fumes (废气). So since 2007, the city
Under the Velib scheme (公共自行车计划), people can take a bicycle, use it as long as they want, and then leave it at the same or another bicycle station. The first half hour is free,
Paris isn’t the first city
A city spokesman said, “The bicycle scheme won’t solve all our traffic problems, but it might work in
8 . XI’AN — China has introduced various emergency responses and long-term measures against air pollution in the central and eastern regions.
The air quality index (AQI)) for Xi’an reached 500 on Wednesday afternoon, at the top of the AQI scale, according to the national air quality monitoring website. Xi’an weather forecasters predict the smog will continue for the next week and air pollution may worsen.
“I have to keep buying masks for my family,” said Liu, buying masks at a pharmacy (药店) near her home in downtown Xi’an. “This is the only thing we can do to protect ourselves.”
On Wednesday, a city government emergency response plan was put into action, suspending all construction and taking at least 50 percent or government vehicles off the road. Power plants must limit their output and reduce emissions.
Nearly half the country, more than 100 cities in 20 provinces, has suffered from smog since last December. Many have taken action, including experimenting with artificial methods to reduce smog, limiting vehicle use and fining polluters.
Assessments based on GDP alone were abandoned last month and more emphasis has been put on public well-being and the environment. Whether the move will be effective or not in forcing the local governments to consider environmental issues over economic growth remains to be seen. Environmental protection professionals are doubtful about the immediacy of the effects of these measures.
Xiao Hang, an urban researcher at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said it took London 50 years to lose the moniker (绰号) “foggy London town”, and Los Angeles still struggles to control its photochemical (光化学) smog. “We can’t ignore environmental problems during the development process and China has a long way to go,” he said.
1. What’s the main idea of the article?A.AQI for Xi’an reached 500. | B.Dust masks become hot sellers. |
C.Smoggy Chinese cities are to clear the air. | D.Smog crisis tries the limits of people’s patience. |
A.encouraging | B.stopping | C.continuing | D.expanding |
A.Xi’an was the most polluted city in China. |
B.China is the only country suffering from smog. |
C.Assessments based on GDP alone were harmful to environmental protection. |
D.Environmental professionals believe the air quality will soon be improved with these measures. |
A.the development of China is more important |
B.solving environmental problems requires great efforts |
C.it’s normal for China to have environmental problems |
D.London still has serious air pollution after 50 years of efforts |
The story started with the killing of a 19-year-old female elephant at the hands of hunters in northern Kenya in 2016. Her two calves (幼崽) then started a journey to the area where their mother
According to that sad but inspiring true story, elephant-lover Sun Xiao wrote a children’s book Samburu, I’m Back. Sun is
In the past decade, Sun
10 . Zo Trisha Prinsloo cares about the beaches of Cape Town, South Africa. She leads cleanups there. She set up a group called Save a Fishie years ago! It has picked up plastic bottles, food containers, and other waste. “My main goal is to constantly remove anything and everything I can off our beaches,” she says, “and to try to prevent litter from being taken out to sea.”
Lately, however, Prinsloo has noticed an increase in a certain kind of plastic waste. It’s from PPE (personal protective equipment). Her group Save a Fishie saw eight different kinds of gloves” during a cleanup. I find masks more and more regularly, too,” she said.
People everywhere are wearing PPE to protect themselves from COVID-19. But when PPE isn’t thrown out the right way, it pollutes the environment and endangers wildlife. Each year, at least 8 million tons of plastic enter the world’s oceans. Now this waste includes more PPE. Last year, the Ocean Conservancy led by its chief scientist George Leonard held its annual International Coastal Cleanup. “We’ve found tens of thousands of PPE waste, and more of it is being put into oceans. PPE waste is a significant threat to oceans,” Leonard said. PPE waste can hurt ocean animals that can eat it or get tangled (缠绕) in it. Sue Schwar manages South Essex Wildlife Hospital in the UK. Her team saved a seagull. Its legs got tangled,” she said. Thankfully, the staff was able to untangle the bird and set it free.
PPE will continue to be common until COVID-19 ends, but there’re steps you can take to reduce its environmental impact. Wear clean reusable masks and deal with them carefully before throwing them into rubbish bins to make sure animals won’t get tangled up. Put used PPE in a bin with a safe lid (盖子). This is important when the bin is outside because masks and gloves can be carried away by the wind.
1. Why did Prinsloo set up Save a Fishie?A.To clean up the beaches. | B.To offer free PPE to people. |
C.To stop people producing rubbish. | D.To help fight against COVID-19. |
A.Ocean animals also need PPE. | B.PPE waste is a growing problem. |
C.Ocean environment depends on PPE. | D.PPE can help protect people greatly. |
A.What to do to reduce rubbish. | B.Where to put rubbish bins. |
C.How to solve the PPE problem. | D.When to wear masks and gloves. |
A.A biography. | B.A diary. | C.A novel. | D.A magazine. |