1 . Ecofriendly replacement products for single-use plastics are appearing everywhere. But have you heard of edible (可食性的) straws? Now EQUO, a new eco-friendly company in Vietnam has come up with a natural edible solution to plastic or paper straws.
The edible straws are completely plastic free, nontoxic, chemical free, and 100 percent biodegradable according to a company press release.
“It’s well known that plastic straws are harmful to the environment. Most of the 500 million used every day in America end up in oceans where they pollute water and harm marine life. Currently over eight billion straws pollute the world’s beaches,” said Marina Tran-Vu in the press release. “Although there are some plastic and paper straw alternatives on the market, most are environmentally harmful, and we were also unsatisfied with the quality and lasting of paper straws.”
All of the materials are locally from regions that support sustainable farming according to the company’s website and they struggle to have zero-net influence by” using the power of mother nature”. The name of the company was created by combining “ECO” — meaning environmentally friendly — with “STATUS QUO” — meaning the existent state. EQU stands for creating products that have minimal influence on the environment. The company was first shown on Kickstarter on May 18 and hit their funding goal in only 30 days.
Many countries are banning single-use plastics. The EU banned 10 single-use plastic products including straws that will take effect in 2021. Other items that will no longer be made of plastic include cutlery (餐具), and balloon sticks. These 10 items make up a large percentage of ocean waste that harms marine life.
So do your part, use biodegradable cutlery — you can carry your own , edible straws, and reusable water or coffee cups. These small items can contribute to reducing plastic waste.
1. What is the third paragraph mainly about?| A．The popularity of plastic straws. |
| B．The harm of plastic straws. |
| C．The pollution of beaches. |
| D．The necessity of change. |
| A．It means the original aim. |
| B．It means the existent state. |
| C．It means how to create products. |
| D．It means being good for the environment. |
| A．Plastic straws will be forbidden. |
| B．Edible straws will be sold cheaply. |
| C．Ocean waste can be rid completely. |
| D．Single-use plastic products will disappear. |
| A．Skeptical. | B．Objective. | C．Tolerant. | D．Approving. |
2 . August 24, 2023 may be imprinted in history as the day of disaster for the marine environment. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has asked Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), the operator of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, to release nuclear wastewater into the ocean from Thursday, ignoring strong objections from both home and abroad.
It will be a public crime if the discharge goes through and the decision will prove to be extremely unrewarding. The international community can hold Japan accountable indefinitely.
According to Paris-based French TV network France 24, some 1.34 million tonnes of nuclear wastewater, equivalent to almost the water in 540 Olympic pools, will be released into the ocean off Japan’s northeast coast, at a maximum rate of 500 cubic meters per day. The whole process is expected to take 30 to 40 years and cost around eight trillion yen (55 billion USD).
Junichi Matsumoto, the TEPCO executive in charge of the water release, told the Associated Press in July that the company plans to release 7,800 tonnes of treated water for 17 days in the first round. By the end of March 2024, the aim is to release 31,200 tonnes. The pace is expected to pick up later.
Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Sun Weidong asked the Japanese ambassador to China Hideo Tarumi on August 22 to meet him and make serious representations over the Japanese government’s announcement that it would start releasing nuclear-contaminated water on August 24.
Sun said the Fukushima nuclear accident is one of the world’s most serious nuclear accidents to date, resulting in the release of a large amount of radioactive material, which has far-reaching implications for the marine environment, food safety, and human health.
“The ocean is the blue home that all humanity depends on for survival, and the Japanese side should not dump nuclear-contaminated water at will,” Sun said.
1. Who did Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida ask to release nuclear wastewater into the ocean?| A．Spokesperson Wang Wenbin. |
| B．The TEPCO executive Junichi Matsumoto. |
| C．Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Sun Weidong. |
| D．The operator of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. |
| A．1.34 million tonnes. | B．7,800 tonnes. | C．2,3400 tonnes. | D．31,200 tonnes. |
| A．It has no implications for the marine environment. |
| B．Has no implications for food safety and human health. |
| C．It is one of the most serious nuclear accidents in history. |
| D．It resulted in the release of a small amount of radioactive material. |
| A．A research paper. | B．A newspaper report. |
| C．A business report. | D．A geography textbook. |
1. 野生动物被掠杀的现状和后果；2.保护野生动物的具体措施。
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Saihanba National Forest Park, located in northern China’s Hebei Province, was once a royal summer retreat (避暑地) thanks to its
The expansion of the desert led to Beijing
Up to now -- after a great many years of efforts by three generations of experts, Saihanba
5 . Recycling is good for our planet, but it can be confusing. Can I recycle plastic bags? What about pizza cartons? Toothpaste tubes? Which bin should I use? There are so many questions, and more than half of Americans are unsure about how to recycle.
Know what to put in the recycling bin. Keep it simple and focus on the most commonly recycled items, such as paper, glass, aluminum and plastic.
Wash or clean items. Do a quick clean to make sure there is no food left in containers before you put them in the bin.
Don’t bag it. Unless you live in a place that requires it, like New York City, keep the recyclables lost in the bin. “A lot of the time, it’s not safe for our employees to tear those bags open, or it takes too much time,” said Keller. “
| A．Know what is not recyclable. |
| B．The answers are not hard to find. |
| C．A lot of bagged stuff goes right to the landfill. |
| D．Plastic bags can be used again or returned to grocery stores. |
| E．If you really don’t know if an item is recyclable, then just throw it in the garbage. |
| F．This is really important if you only use one bin because food items could ruin paper. |
| G．Hard plastics like water and soft drink bottles or anything like these can be recycled. |
6 . Heatwaves in the U. S. and floods in western Europe have dominated the news cycle recently, forcing us to re-examine the relationship between climate change and extreme weather. Other catastrophes are going unnoticed.
In the past week, 380,000 people have been evacuated due to floods in China’s Henan province,30 villages in Uganda were affected as rivers overflowed and 25 people died in landslides after Mumbai was hit by big storms. Temperatures in Turkey and North Africa approached 50 °C, while South Africa and Brazil froze. Siberia is battling wildfires again. Finland experienced 31 continued days with maximum temperatures above 25 °C, the longest heatwave ever recorded in the country. In Iran, the hottest summer in decades has led to water shortages that in turn caused protests in the country’s southwest.
All these disasters are part of a series of extreme weather events that paint a picture of a world that’s already warmed 1.2 C from pre-industrial times. There’s no doubt that it will get warmer.
The global climate is out of balance, German meteorologist Johannes Quaas said in an interview last week. Our climate’s reaction to greenhouse gas emissions isn’t immediate. The warming and resulting weather events that we see today are a reaction to emissions that entered the atmosphere decades ago.
Scientists estimate that, even if we meet global emissions reduction goals, the planet will continue to warm after that. That will take the planet to somewhere between 1. 5 °C to 2 C above pre-industrial times by the end of the century. While their warming predictions have been correct in the past, there’s no way to be absolutely sure when temperatures will stop rising, because the experiment we’re running on the planet has never been attempted before.
Death, violence and destruction are all signs of humanity’s struggle to adapt to a changing climate. ”lt seems like there’s something in human nature that makes us be behind the events, and not ahead,”said Hans-Otto Portner, an adviser to the German government on climate and the environment. “ Maybe that’s because the nature of unprecedented events is that we can ‘t imagine what’s coming. ”
1. How is the second paragraph of the article developed?| A．By making comparisons. | B．By giving examples. |
| C．By presenting research results. | D．By analyzing the facts. |
| A．Temperatures won’t necessarily continue to rise. |
| B．Extreme weather contributes to disasters to some degree. |
| C．Scientists can effectively control climate changes. |
| D．Climate’s response to greenhouse gas emission is quick. |
| A．Global emissions reduction target will be soon met. | B．Temperatures have risen by 2 ℃ up to now. |
| C．Global warming will undoubtedly continue. | D．Temperatures will stop rising for sure. |
| A．A guidebook. | B．A science fiction. | C．A newspaper. | D．A feature story. |
7 . An English mother, Liz Pinfield-Wells, has recycled more than 2,600 pounds (1,200 kg) of trash (垃圾) through a DIY recycling center in her garden shed (棚) in Dawley Shropshire. Pinfield-Wells established the recycling center after the birth of her third child when she discovered that her town’s roadside recycling program did not accept certain items.
The recycling center accepts 30 different categories of recyclable waste. Pin field-Wells encouraged the public to leave their mixed recycled items at the end of her driveway, and dozens of residents have since dropped off their trash in her shed. She has even accepted Pringles tubes, which have metal and plastic components and should not be placed in the roadside bin. “Setting up the recycling drop-off center, in my front garden has hopefully helped the community to recycle more. It can sometimes seem a little difficult knowing where to start but with every small step, it gets that little bit easier,” she said.
Every month, she sends the collected items in vacuum-packed (真空包装的) bags to TerraCycle, a firm that turns the waste into small plastic balls for use in other products, such as watering cans and benches. The weight of the trash is then changed into points for money, which can be paid out twice a year to a charity or sports organization of her choice.
In the last three years, Pinfield-Wells has raised more than £1,000, which she has donated to her 14-year-old daughter Zoe’s gymnastic group to buy new equipment. She has also donated money to another local charity to buy woodchips for their community garden.
Pinfield-Wells hopes that her recycling center will raise awareness about the importance of recycling and encourage others to take small steps to reduce their carbon footprint. She has created a Facebook group for here eco-center recycling shed, which now has over 1,000 members.
1. What inspired Liz to start the program?| A．Overloading trash. | B．Her preference for DIY practice. |
| C．Her children’s encouragement. | D．Limitation of local trash service. |
| A．It develops plastic tubes. |
| B．It produces vacuum-packed bags. |
| C．It processes waste into small plastic balls. |
| D．It supplies woodchips for community gardens. |
| A．It will get new equipment. | B．It will boost community economy. |
| C．It will replace the local trash service. | D．It will motivate more people to take action. |
| A．Ambitious and intelligent. | B．Responsible and thoughtful. |
| C．Adventurous and determined. | D．Pioneering and humble. |
8 . In a paper published recently in Nature Communications, the authors, including experts from China’s Tsinghua University, said that most of the current electricity demand in advanced, industrialized nations can be met by some combination of wind and solar power. “Wind and solar could meet more than 80 percent of demand in many places without crazy amounts of storage or additional generating ability,which is the critical point (临界点),”said co-author Steve Davis,UCI professor of Earth system science,“if we want to have a zero-carbon emission (排放) future without using fossil energy resources”.
The team analyzed 39 years’ worth of hourly energy demand data from 42 major countries to evaluate the adequacy of wind and solar power resources to serve their needs. They found that a full shift to sustainable power resources can be easier for lower-latitude (低纬度的) countries,which can rely on solar power availability throughout the year. The researchers highlighted Germany as an example of a relatively smaller country, in terms of land mass, at higher latitude which will make it more challenging to meet its electricity needs with wind and solar resources.
“Historic data show that countries which are farther from the equator (赤道) can occasionally experience periods during which there is very limited solar and wind power availability,” said lead author Dan Tong, assistant professor of Earth system science at Tsinghua University. “One recent occurrence of this phenomenon in Germany lasted for two weeks, forcing Germans to turn to dispatchable (可调度的) generation,which in many cases is provided by fossil fuel-burning plants.” Among the approaches the researchers suggested to alleviate this problem are building up generating capacity, developing long-term storage capabilities and pooling resources of multiple nations on a continental land mass to make the burden lighter to a certain country.
“Europe provides a good example to help people produce net-zero carbon electricity,” said Tong. “A lot of consistency and reliability could be provided by a system that includes solar resources from Spain, Italy and Greece with plentiful wind available in the Netherlands, Denmark and the Baltic region.”
1. What does Steve Davis imply by saying “critical point”?| A．Carbon emission will be reduced by using wind and solar power. |
| B．Electricity demand will be beyond human control in the future. |
| C．Electricity generating can be replaced by wind and solar power. |
| D．Fossil energy will be used with zero-carbon emissions in the future. |
| A．Having a large land of its own. | B．Having a small population. |
| C．Being developed in all respects. | D．Being located near the equator. |
| A．Ease. | B．Stress. | C．Accept. | D．Arrange. |
| A．People can solve increasing energy demand in the future like Europe. |
| B．Most countries in Europe have a lot of solar resources to make electricity. |
| C．Europe has done a good job in producing net-zero carbon electricity. |
| D．Countries like Spain, Italy and Greece have plenty wind resources. |
Maria and Peter lived in a coastal city. The greatest pleasure in summer for them was to swim at their local beach after school. But one day they started to lose their enthusiasm for swimming in the waters. More often than not, they would find plastic bags thrown on the beach. Worse sill, as they swam in the water, some plastic bags would float around them and even stick to their legs when they walked to the shore.
They were upset and decided something needed to be done to stop the beautiful sea becoming consumed by waste.One weekend,Maria and Peter brought a big bag to the beach and determined to clean it up. Sweat streamed down from their forehead while they bent down and picked up the plastic bags. To their disappointment, after a day’s hard work, there were still many plastic bags lying on the beach or floating in the water. Going home with aching legs and arms, Maria and Peter were almost defeated by a strong sense of failure.
That night over dinner with their parents, the pair ate silently. Noticing their low spirits, Mother asked gently, “You two looked so down. What happened?”Exchanging glances with Peter, Maria replied in a low voice,“It’s those annoying plastic bags. We tried to clean up but it was just impossible.”Understanding the pair’s disappointment, their father patted them on the back and comforted,”Well, it’s really hard for just two of you to fix such a big problem.”“Just two of us.”complained Maria and Peter, looking at each other.Suddenly, an idea lashed through their minds, their eyes shining with excitement.“Yes,that’s the point! We should make more people aware of the problem and encourage them to take action!” the pair said in chorus.
注意：1.续写词数应为150左右;
2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Quickly finishing their dinner, the pair went upstairs and started planning.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Excited and nervous, they posted the video and article on WeChat.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________“Judy, hurry up! Let’s go to the beach!” That was a familiar morning call from my older brother, Sirin. Hearing that, I would spring up quickly and we would set off on our journey. Raised by our grandparents in Savanna, we experienced our happiest moments there. Nestled between the mountains and the sea, with its lush green trees, crystal-like ocean, and clear blue sky, Savanna was like a small village from a fairy tale.
Sirin and I often enjoyed the gentle sea breeze as we explored the breathtaking coast, with the endless, open water beside us and the vast, clear sky overhead. We felt a sense of freedom to wander the sandy beach or experience the excitement of sailing out to sea, delighting in the awe-inspiring beauty of nature’s wonders. When we grew tired, leisurely walking on the soft, warm sands to collect unique, fascinating seashells brought us a different kind of peaceful joy. The friendly, warmhearted villagers treated us like family, often sharing their freshly-caught seafood with us.
Three years later, we were taken away from the village to receive a better education by our parents. Occupied with our study, we rarely visited our beloved grandparents, only calling them occasionally. We gradually adapted to the fast-paced city life and found it more efficient and convenient. Whenever we had an appetite for seafood, our dad would simply order it through his phone, and it would be delivered to our doorstep within minutes. In addition to seafood, we could order anything our hearts desired, no matter how late it was. What we loved most was the convenience of not needing to wash the dishes after eating, as they were all disposable, designed for single use.
However, deep within us, we sometimes longed for the simple pleasures of village life. We were told by our grandparents that more and more tourists flooded into the village, which strengthened our desire to return. So, when the eagerly-awaited summer vacation arrived this year, we finally made our dream trip back to our childhood paradise. After greeting our grandparents with hugs and smiles, we eagerly headed towards the sun-kissed seaside to relive our cherished memories.
注意：1.续写词数应为 150 左右;
2.请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Paragraph 1: However, what we saw shocked us.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Paragraph 2: Hearing Grandfather’s words, we couldn’t wait to do something to tackle the pollution.
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