1. What were the yellow boxes for?
| A．For recycling newspaper. |
| B．For collecting the waste metal. |
| C．For decorating the neighborhood. |
| A．Blue boxes. | B．Green boxes. | C．Yellow boxes. |
| A．It costs too much. | B．It is such a waste. | C．It can’t be recycled. |
2 . Rainwater in cities causes more troubles than wet feet. It carries away waste from rooftops and streets as it washes through cities. European scientists are now trying to work out how to deal with flooding rainwater.
In the city of Wetteren, Belgium, researchers are experimenting with seashells. Millions of shells from the nearby North Sea are used to collect and treat rainwater from a shopping-mall roof and a parking lot. The shells are laid below a surface drain (下水道) through which dirty water is carried away. With a 70% empty space that allows them to store rainwater, they’re also a natural cleaning station, which is then used to water community gardens.
The experiment is part of a project called StopUP whose goal is to prevent rainwater from carrying pollutants into lakes and rivers. The project’s focus is to make sure that such wastewater, which can include everything from plastics to heavy metals, gets treated.
Thomas Jeffery, head of the College of Environmental Engineering in Germany, said a big knowledge gap can exist between the popular perception of rainwater and its true content. “Rainwater seems to be very clean, but when it washes the streets and roofs, it becomes full of dust and other harmful pollutants,” said Thomas.
In Europe, 38% of surface waterbodies have different forms of pollutants, which run deep in the ground and damage soils, plants and animals, according to Julie Rosalie, director of the European Environment Agency. Human health depends on clean water for drinking, bathing and cooking, and now we arc at risk because plants and animals are affected by chemicals in rivers, lakes and coastal waters.
“StopUP technologies and methods could provide tools to reduce rainwater pollution.” Rosalie said. “It has a positive effect on the quality of our common environment.”
1. What are the seashells in the experiment used for?| A．Clearing the polluted rainwater. | B．Repairing a shopping mall. |
| C．Making gardens more attractive. | D．Carrying away waste in cities. |
| A．Promoting the use of seashells. | B．Reusing plastics and heavy metals. |
| C．Experimenting ways to treat rainwater. | D．Encouraging people to stop water pollution. |
| A．Understanding. | B．Custom | C．Style. | D．Tendency. |
| A．More tools are needed to reduce water pollution. |
| B．StopUP helps to improve the environmental quality. |
| C．38% of surface water in Europe is free from pollutants. |
| D．Human beings are in danger because of a lack of water. |
3 . 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. |
4 . Isatou Ceesay was born in 1972 in a small village in Gambia Africa. As a teenager, Ceesay was forced to drop out of school because of poverty. She carried some goods with many girls like her to sell in the market to raise herself. At that time, the plastic bags, being strong and light, became popular in Gambia. The problem was that people did not reuse the bags and simply threw them behind their homes. Over time, the houses were surrounded by trash.
Ceesay lived in such an environment for many years. She kept learning from the surrounding environment and planned to take action to change. In 1997, she started a recycling movement called One Plastic Bag in Gambia. She educated women in Gambia to recycle plastic waste into income for themselves. In the beginning, the movement had a mission to educate their village colleagues about the need to reuse garbage and recycle plastic waste, rather than letting the garbage increase behind their homes.
Over time, the movement became big and able to support and provide income for women around. It was also able to greatly reduce plastic waste in Gambia. But the work of collecting trash turned to be taxing. During the rainy season, plastic waste became wet and difficult to take, and after that it still took patience to dry it before it could be processed.
Ceesay said, “As a habit, people are used to pouring their garbage behind their houses, and because it is not visible, they forget it. But the bad effects again knock on your door very quickly-dirty air, various diseases and so on. Of course, if one man’s house is clean but his neighbor’s is not, then the man is also not healthy.”
For 17 years, Ceesay has contributed to one of the most important problems about the plastic waste. In 2012, she got the TIAW Difference Maker Award in Washington, D.C., United States. Her story was written into a book, which inspires many others to join or become makers of change in their own communities.
1. What can be learned about young Ceesay from Paragraph 1?| A．She gave up the chance of going to school. |
| B．She had many friends good at doing business. |
| C．She sold strong and light plastic bags to support herself |
| D．She lived in an environment heavily polluted by plastic waste. |
| A．It aimed to make full use of natural resources to get rich. |
| B．It was hard to carry on because of the shortage of workers. |
| C．It benefited both people’s economic situation and the environment. |
| D．It taught the villagers to replace plastic bags with handmade ones. |
| A．Challenging. | B．Pleasant. | C．Dangerous. | D．Successful. |
| A．Bad habits are hard to remove once formed. |
| B．Garbage problems contribute greatly to climate change. |
| C．Valuing the relationship between neighbors is important. |
| D．Dealing with plastic waste is a shared responsibility in communities. |
5 . You may not have noticed it, but according to a latest report, about 90 percent of the world’s largest cities lie near the sea. They can possibly be influenced by rising sea levels in the near future. But it doesn’t mean people who live in the city have to head for the hills.
City design companies Seanix and Jolly Group are working together on a possible solution. They said at a United Nations meeting that they are planning to build “Seanix Cities” -floating island structures (结构) that join together to form “land” on the surface of the water.
Unlike land-filling plans that have to pour sand into the ocean and ham ocean life, Seanix Cities are built to “live” together with the ocean. For example, energy used in the cities will be clean-mainly coming from waves, wind and the sun—and instead of chemicals, fish waste will be used to enrich the soil.
As promising as this plan sounds, however, there is still one problem: The plan itself doesn’t aim at global climate change. Instead, it’s a “runaway” plan. Similar to the project of building human settlements on Mars, it’s a way out when Earth becomes unsuitable for human life to live on. It doesn’t stop us from ruining the planet in the first place.
But without doubt, things are changing. “As our climate and water ecosystems (生态系统) are changing, the way our cities relate to water needs to change, too, ” Lucas, a UN official, said at the meeting.
Maybe instead of building eco-friendly floating cities, we should learn to live with nature while we still have land.
1. What is the purpose of Paragraph 1?| A．To give a warning. | B．To introduce a topic. |
| C．To offer a solution. | D．To make a comment. |
| A．They are built by pouring sand into the ocean. |
| B．They are creative structures under the water. |
| C．They can get along well with the ocean life. |
| D．They are designed for global climate change. |
| A．Hopeful. | B．Shocking. | C．Powerful. | D．Imaginative. |
| A．We should protect the ocean life. |
| B．We should move to the floating cities. |
| C．We should build eco-friendly floating cities |
| D．We should stop destroying our mother planet. |
6 . Biologists are becoming more and more concerned that global climate change will probably reduce biodiversity. Some biologists estimate that 35% of animals and plants could become extinct in the wild by 2050 due to global climate change. Before the industrial revolution, atmospheric carbon dioxide levels rarely climbed above 280 ppm; But during the 2014 calendar year, carbon dioxide levels ascended to 402 ppm.
In the fall of 2014, the National Audubon Society released a report entitled Birds and Climate Change. It is a comprehensive, first-of-its kind study that predicts how climate change could affect the ranges of 588 North American birds. Of the 588 North American bird species, more than half are likely to be in trouble. The National Audubon Society’s models indicate that 314 species will lose more than 50 percent of their current climatic range by 2080. Of the 314 species at risk from global warming, 126 of them are classified as climate endangered. These birds are projected to lose more than 50 percent of their current range by 2050. The other 188 species are classified as climate threatened and expected to lose more than 50 percent of their current range by 2080 if global warming continues at its current pace.
In January 2020, two widely reported studies were carried out to show the dramatic impact of climate disruption on our wildlife and fisheries along the California coast. The first study showed that from 2014 to 2016, over a million common murres from Alaska through California died as a result of a marine heat wave. The second study shows that acid rainfall caused by carbon emissions is harming shell-building animals in the ocean. The study found that larval Dungeness crabs’ shells suffer damage in west coast seawater, putting at risk the most profitable fishery in California and a beloved local seafood.
These newly documented impacts provide more evidence that we are running out of time to take action by drastically reducing our use of fossil fuels in order to slow the rate of climate disruption and to give birds and other animals more time to adapt.
Visit our How You Can Help Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions page to learn what you can do to help protect these species at risk from climate disruption.
1. What does “ascended” underlined in Paragraph 1 mean?| A．Reduced. | B．Rose. |
| C．Fell. | D．Appeared. |
| A．The report on the human society. |
| B．The reason of global warming. |
| C．The disappearance of the birds. |
| D．The influence of climate change. |
| A．They both had a big effect on humans. |
| B．Many murres were killed by heat wave. |
| C．Crabs’ shells are local people’s favorite. |
| D．Acid rain caused most carbon emission. |
| A．A science website. | B．An art magazine. |
| C．A history book. | D．A diet newspaper. |
7 . Rainforests provide much of the world’s oxygen. People have been trying to protect them for years. But another type of forest, the cloud forest, is just as important to humans.
These forests are at the tops of mountains, generally near the equator (赤道). These wet, wooded mountaintops are mainly in African and Central and South American countries. They are called “cloud forests” because their height allows for the formation of clouds among the trees. The trees in these forests pull water out of the clouds. The water gathers on the leaves and falls into small rivers below, which flow into towns at the bottom of the mountain. The yearly rainfall in these areas is about 180 centimetres. Cloud forests can pull in up to 60 percent of that. The water is important to the plants and the people in the area. It helps them survive.
Cloud forests are also home to countless species of plants that can’t be found anywhere else. One small cloud forest has as many types of plants as there are in all of Europe. In fact, there are so many that scientists haven’t made a complete list of them yet.
These forests are being destroyed at an increasing speed. Trees are being cut down, and roads are being built in their place. Some people have a goal to get government money to protect the forests. But they have had little success so far. Another way is to take the place of the destroyed plants with new ones. That, too, has been difficult because the plants are so special. There’s plenty of work to be done, but saving the cloud forests is still possible with creative solutions.
1. Where can you probably find cloud forests?| A．In North America. | B．Far from the equator. |
| C．In some African countries. | D．At the foot of mountains. |
| A．About 60 cm. | B．About 108 cm. | C．About 180 cm. | D．About 300 cm. |
| A．Europe is short of plant types. | B．Scientists are working on a list. |
| C．Cloud forests are getting smaller. | D．Cloud forests house many plants. |
| A．In a storybook. | B．In a travel guide. |
| C．In a chemistry textbook. | D．In a geography magazine. |
8 . David Katz was unhappy about all the plastic (塑料) going into the ocean. To help solve the problem, he had an unusual idea. Mr Katz calls his idea the “Plastic Bank”.
In poor countries, people are already working so hard just to get enough food to eat, to find a place to live, and to keep themselves healthy. Spending time on recycling (回收再利用) doesn’t make sense when you’re simply trying to survive.
The purpose of the Plastic Bank is to use plastic to help these people solve the problems that worry them the most—food, shelter, and health. So Plastic Bank adds a value to plastic waste by paying people to recycle it.
The program began in 2015 in Haiti, a poor island nation that doesn’t have strong programs for recycling. Plastic is often simply thrown out and ends up in rivers and the ocean.
The Plastic Bank has opened 30 “markets” in Haiti. At Plastic Bank markets, people can trade the plastic they’ve collected for money or other things they need. The Plastic Bank markets sell many things that local people need, such as cooking oil and heating oil. The stores also allow plastic collectors to use the money they get to pay for health care or school. For those who have cell phones, Plastic Bank can put the money they get into a special bank account (账户) that they can control using an app. This keeps their money safe.
To make sure the plastic gets recycled, the Plastic Bank works with those who agree to use the plastic that is collected. For example, the British company Marks & Spencer and the German company Henkel are both paying more to use recycled plastic from the Plastic Bank in their products. When customers buy these products, which are labeled (标记) “Social Plastic”, they know that they are helping people in other parts of the world and keeping plastic out of the ocean.
The Plastic Bank has programs in Haiti, the Philippines, and Brazil. So far, the Plastic Bank has kept about 7 million pounds of plastic out of the ocean.
1. What might most Haitians think of plastic waste before 2015?| A．It was harmful. | B．It was priceless. |
| C．It was valueless. | D．It was recyclable. |
| A．The high value of the local plastic. |
| B．The local people’s basic needs for life. |
| C．The local people’s care for the environment. |
| D．The great support from the local government. |
| A．By storing the waste in its special bank. |
| B．By using the waste to produce oil and gas. |
| C．By sending the waste to poor countries for reuse. |
| D．By selling the waste to others who make products. |
| A．Helping the poor. | B．Cleaning the ocean. |
| C．Collecting plastic waste. | D．Treating plastic like money. |
9 . Colombia's Chiribiquete National Park, which is the largest protected tropical forest in the world, was just named a UNESCO World Heritage Site for its outstanding global value for nature and people. It was built in 1989 and has been enlarged twice and now covers 4. 4 million hectares in the Northern Amazon. This is a great win for environmentalists
Chiribiquete National Park has a high rate of species variety. It is home to almost 3, 000 animal and plant species, many of which are endangered outside of this amazing protected area. The park is also home to a huge amount of species that are distinctive to this area. Some of them have been decided to be many years old. According to UNESCO, the park, which is located in the middle of two Pleistocene refuges and functions as a corridor(走廊) between three bio-geographic provinces, hosts many special species. "
The National Heritage designation(称号)marks the great success of decades of joint conservation(保护)efforts by the Colombian government, the World Wide Fund for Nature(WWF), and other environmental organizations. “This is an important moment for the protection of key ecosystems in Colombia, " said Mary Lou Higgins, Director of WWF Colombia. "The recognition of this unique place as a World Heritage Site is an important step toward protecting forests for future generations. It is a milestone for the Amazon and for forest conservation globally. "
Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos said that he welcomed the UNESCO designation and considered it as great news for Colombia. He promised to increase the conservation funds by an additional $525 million to better protect the country's environment. However, it is still a long way to go in protecting the park for generations to come.
1. What do we know about Chiribiquete Nation l Park?| A．Its species have a big influence on tourism |
| B．It’s large size attracts environmentalists attention. |
| C．Its natural beauty has been damaged a lot. |
| D．Its value has got international recognition |
| A．friendly | B．unique. | C．harmful. | D．common |
| A．The designation of the park is meaningful to forest protection |
| B．The future generations should consider the balance of species. |
| C．The park's environmental problems have been solved. |
| D．The ecosystems in Colombia are in a dangerous situation. |
| A．He would try to change the living habits of some species. |
| B．He would build more wildlife centers in other countries. |
| C．He would help to offer financial support. |
| D．He would stop people from cutting down big trees |
10 . Some of the oldest art in human history is being damaged, scientists say. And climate change may be speeding up its loss. New research reports that ancient rock art in Indonesian caves is degrading over time, as bits of rock slowly break off from the walls. It's a huge loss for human history.
Salt crystals（结晶）building up on the walls are a key part of the problem, the study suggests. These salt crystals go into the cave walls, changing sizes as temperatures rise and fall. This process causes the rock to slowly break down.
Salt crystals may become larger when exposed to repeated changes between wet conditions and periods of drought. These kinds of changes are expected to become more obvious as the climate continues to warm.
In particular, the researchers say, climate change may cause more intense El Nino （厄尔尼诺）events in the future. These events can strengthen the kinds of conditions that help salt crystals form Scientists are still debating the exact influence of climate change on El Nino, a natural climate cycle that drives changing patterns of warming and cooling in the Pacific Ocean.
The new study, led by Jillian Huntley, examined 11 ancient cave art sites in South Sulawesi, Indonesia. The researchers found evidence of salt formation at all 11 sites. It's merely a small part There are more than 300 known eave art sites around the region. The researchers note that salt crystals may indeed be part of the problem, adding that climate change is a growing threat, one that deserves more attention.
1. What is the main cause of the rocks breaking off from the wall?| A．Weather patterns. | B．Salt crystals. |
| C．Wet conditions. | D．Drought Periods. |
| A．El Nino events prevent salt crystals forming. |
| B．Climate change makes little difference to El Nino. |
| C．Salt crystals may become much larger in wet conditions. |
| D．Constant warm weather may cause salt crystals to change size. |
| A．Worried. | B．Curious. | C．Doubtful. | D．Positive. |
| A．The formation and patterns of salt crystals. |
| B．The impact of climate change on ancient rock arts, |
| C．The historical value of ancient rock art in cave sites. |
| D．The threats of human activities to ancient eave art sites. |
