1 . In the northernmost edge of Colombia sits the coastal town of Acandí. Access to the town is only by water or air; there is no road that leads there. The residents there are faced with the struggles of balancing livelihoods while protecting biodiversity.
In the past, traditional community fishing methods, passed down by the elders, focused on the reasonable fishing and management of resources. However, the introduction of large-scale trawling vessels(拖网渔船) decades ago gradually depleted the area’s fishing resources, leading to damage to marine(海洋的) life seriously.
Jesús Antonio Julio Cuestas, who serves in the region’s conservation and management of marine resources, stresses the bad impact of these developments and calls for new fishing techniques. “Fishing and conservation co-exist as long as we have good management practices and reasonable use of our fishing resources,” says Cuestas. He and other officials actively monitor fishing activities in Acandí. Each morning, they visit the fish markets to gather data on fishery resources—including prices and sizes—to monitor the state of the local fishing industry.
Along with Cuestas, the fishers work to reduce their impact on the marine ecosystem. By changing fishing methods and adopting new practices, they aim for a more balanced approach to fishing. “This year the local fishermen have not used the trawl net s that were causing the death of the leatherback sea turtles,” explains Cuestas proudly. Changes include the efforts of boats to protect the seagrass that serves as feeding grounds for marine life and an end to fishers throwing net s where turtles lay their eggs.
This marine reserve in Acandí, Cuestas believes, is their greatest treasure. He attaches great importance to working together with local residents to improve the quality of life while preserving the marine ecosystem. By doing so, he imagines a picture where individuals from the fishing community can pursue various careers, such as engineers or lawyers, proudly stating that they are the products of the fishing tradition in Acandí.
1. What does the underlined word “depleted” in paragraph 2 mean?A.Reused. | B.Restored. |
C.Explored. | D.Reduced. |
A.To cut down on the costs of fishing. |
B.To improve the income of local residents. |
C.To promote the well-being of marine wildlife. |
D.To spread traditional community fishing methods. |
A.The aim of the changes to fishing methods. |
B.The efforts to preserve marine ecosystem. |
C.The results the trawl net s have brought about. |
D.The impact of fishers on the local environment. |
A.Confident. | B.Uncaring. |
C.Concerned. | D.Doubtful. |
1.活动目的;
2.活动过程;
3.活动反响。
注意:可适当增加细节,使行文连贯;字数100左右。
Plogging — A Win-Win Activity
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________3 . After years of heated debate, gray wolves were reintroduced to Yellowstone National Park. Fourteen wolves were caught in Canada and transported to the park. By last year, the Yellowstone wolf population had grown to more than 170 wolves.
Gray wolves once were seen here and there in the Yellowstone area and much of the continental United States, but they were gradually displaced by human development. By the 1920s, wolves had practically disappeared from the Yellowstone area. They went farther north into the deep forests of Canada, where there were fewer humans around.
The disappearance of the wolves had many unexpected results. Deer and elk populations — major food sources (来源) for the wolf — grew rapidly. These animals consumed large amounts of vegetation (植被), which reduced plant diversity in the park. In the absence of wolves, coyote populations also grew quickly. The coyotes killed a large percentage of the park’s red foxes, and completely drove away the park’s beavers.
As early as 1966, biologists asked the government to consider reintroducing wolves to Yellowstone Park. They hoped that wolves would be able to control the elk and coyote problems. Many farmers opposed the plan because they feared that wolves would kill their farm animals or pets.
The government spent nearly 30 years coming up with a plan to reintroduce the wolvers. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service carefully monitors and manages the wolf packs in Yellowstone. Today, the debate continues over how well the gray wolf is fitting in at Yellowstone. Elk, deer, and coyote populations are down, while beavers and red foxes have made a comeback. The Yellowstone wolf project has been a valuable experiment to help biologists decide whether to reintroduce wolves to other parts of the country as well.
1. What is the text mainly about?A.Wildlife research in the United States. |
B.Plant diversity in the Yellowstone area. |
C.The conflict between farmers and gray wolves. |
D.The reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone Park. |
A.Damage to local ecology. |
B.Preservation of vegetation. |
C.A decline in the park’s income. |
D.An increase in the variety of animals. |
A.Doubtful. | B.Uncaring. | C.Positive. | D.Disapproving. |
4 . All types of marine life are important. Seaweed (海藻) and corals both play vital roles in the health of the ocean and the health of our communities.
However in the same way that a mountain lion. Which provides a valuable service by hunting diseased or elderly deer, wouldn’t be helping anyone if it took up residence in an office building. Seaweed largely prevents corals from performing their key function in the ecosystem, just like the lion would prevent any of the terrified office workers from doing their work.
There is long-standing competition between seaweed and corals and this competition has been influenced heavily for over a century by overfishing climate change, and coral discases, which resulted in corals being now too weak to compete with seaweed.
Seaweed too often is blocking sunlight from reaching baby corals, while releasing chemicals that prevent corals from reproducing-as well as making them marc likely to be attacked by diseases.
The researchers from Florida International University supposed that if sufficiently distributed, the Caribbean king crab (蟹), lovingly called the “reef (礁)goat”, could make coral reefs free of seaweed fast, so they conducted a case-control study where they released the crabs on some reefs and let some others remain crab-less.
Eating seaweed at a rate higher than any other grazer (食草动物), the crabs were able to reduce seaweed cover by 80%, while a 3 to 5 fold increase of both baby corals and fish species added to the successful outcome.
On dry land, goats have been used as ground clearers for thousands of years, as they eat everything from clover and grasses to poison oak and invasive blackberry thorns. Hopefully, the results of this study can solidify Caribbean king crabs as their equivalent at the bottom of the sea.
1. What does the author want to tell us by mentioning the mountain lion?A.The competition among different species is intense. |
B.The ecological balance has been largely disturbed. |
C.It’s important to have diverse species. |
D.Too much seaweed causes problems. |
A.It breaks the food chain. |
B.It influences corals’ growth. |
C.It affects the fishing industry. |
D.It prevents baby corals from discases. |
A.To prove Caribbean king crabs can save coral reefs from seaweed. |
B.To know how to protect biological diversity. |
C.To find out how to farm seaweed. |
D.To learn why corals are declining. |
A.It is unreliable. |
B.It is unpredictable. |
C.It needs further discussion. |
D.It may make a great difference. |
5 . My 5-year-old daughter Kai walked around a bus stop, picking up candy wrappers and plastic bottles and throwing them in the waste bin. We were a visiting family here, but she was cleaning the sidewalk, which didn’t shock me, nor was I
Our cleanup project began when we drove past an empty field one day and Kai
However, it seems we can never
Now Kai hopes to become a marine biologist to protect sharks one day. She still has many years to
The last time our family was at the beach, we still picked up plastic bottles. Most
A.embarrassed | B.discouraged | C.concerned | D.frightened |
A.apologized | B.confirmed | C.spotted | D.explained |
A.loose | B.magic | C.processed | D.abandoned |
A.trade | B.mistake | C.replace | D.change |
A.pulled over | B.blew up | C.turned down | D.gave in |
A.due to | B.ahead of | C.other than | D.instead of |
A.official | B.serious | C.optional | D.regular |
A.deliver | B.remove | C.track | D.produce |
A.stress | B.comfort | C.anger | D.pride |
A.mess | B.platform | C.court | D.house |
A.scary | B.pleasant | C.historic | D.real |
A.decide | B.struggle | C.survive | D.contribute |
A.safe | B.giant | C.distant | D.sick |
A.personally | B.memorably | C.technically | D.universally |
A.promise | B.threat | C.reminder | D.favor |
6 . For every goal that Lesein Mutunkei scores, trees get planted. It’s a simple yet effective message that appeals, and leads to a satisfying way of motivating us to promote environmentalism in our own way.
Born in Nairobi, Lesein is in his late teens, and his Trees4Goals is the means with which he intends to make the world greener. It unites two of his passions in life: love of the outdoors and love of football. Lesein enjoyed walking in the forest. He recognised his country was experiencing a serious loss of tree cover. Between 2001 and 2020, Kenya lost an estimated 11% of trees, releasing 176 million tons of CO2.
In a blog post for WWF Kenya, Lesein revealed that, once he started the Trees4Goals initiative, he originally planned to plant one tree per goal. In 2020, he wanted to take his efforts even further. What started as one tree planted per goal mushroomed into 11 trees planted per goal. Explaining the reason behind expanding the tree-planting, he said, “It represents team efforts in football and the contribution by my team. I have planted over 1,000 trees in the last two years.”
While it’s something of an own goal to destroy the forests and jungles providing enormous biodiversity, initiatives like Trees4Goals are an assured way to score an environmentalist hat-trick. Sports such as football are popular with the booming Kenyan population and have the ability to cut through cultural barriers regardless of the countries they are played in. Sports have the power to unify and excite large audiences. Lesein Mutunkei has taken this strategy and scored a winning goal of his own.
Like a seed, best ideas start small and change into something that can become far larger than anticipated. While Lesein continues planting 11 trees per goal, the Kenyan government is aiming to plant 1.8 billion trees to reach a point where 10 per cent of the country is covered by trees. The science behind is clear; a report in 2019 claimed that if 900 million hectares were devoted to additional tree planting of half a trillion trees, the world could offset (抵消) half of all carbon emissions produced since 1960.
1. What gave Lesein the idea of launching the project?A.Release of too much CO2. | B.His dream of motivating others. |
C.His passion for sports and nature. | D.Habit of exercising in the woods. |
A.He created a blog for WWF. | B.He set a higher aim. |
C.He planted one tree for each goal. | D.He extended his work to other teams. |
A.The aim that is intended to achieve. | B.Action that harms one’s own interests. |
C.Pursuit of one’s personal success. | D.The goal that is scored for the opposing team. |
A.United, we win. | B.No pains, no gains. |
C.Love me, love my dog. | D.Small deeds, big difference. |
7 . We all have an idea about the common types of environmental problems. However, light pollution may be a new term to many of us. But, the fact is that it does affect mankind, other living forms and the environment as a whole.
What is light pollution? It presents all forms of misused man-made light. The obvious cause of light pollution is the use of outdoor lighting products improperly. It can be office lighting, car headlights, station lights, streetlights and many more.
Light pollution is harmful to both animals and plants. Upon studies, it is found that obvious effects are observed in the behaviour of animals that are active at night. Needless to mention, bright light at night makes it difficult for these animals to hunt, wander and perform their regular activities. Light pollution is directly or indirectly responsible for causing several diseases. Its effects are related to disturbance in the physical rhythm (节奏). It contributes to risks of developing cancerous cells. So, it’s nothing less than a threat to human health.
You have already seen the negative effects of light pollution on animals and human health. Apart from this, the actual cost of misused light is about millions of dollars every year. It also leads to the release of greenhouse gases and global warming. After all, coal or gas is used for producing electricity.
While outdoor lighting and using man-made lighting products are part of our modern lifestyle, some simple ways will surely help in reducing light pollution. For example, while installing (安装) outdoor lighting, make sure that they are pointed downwards. Also, use only the required lighting equipment for both home and offices. Believe it or not, many people living in the urban areas cannot view clear sky and stars at night. Let’s contribute our part in reducing the pollution.
1. What can we learn about light pollution?A.It has little effect on plants. |
B.It contributes to most cancers. |
C.It is a negative fruit of light technology. |
D.It affects animals’ behavior during the day. |
A.It increases the temperature at night. |
B.It creates clouds in parts of the Earth. |
C.It stops the release of greenhouse gases. |
D.It is related to the burning of coal and gas. |
A.Forbid the use of outdoor lighting. |
B.Use clean energy to produce electricity. |
C.Avoid unnecessary lights at home and offices. |
D.Reduce money spent on light in urban areas. |
A.Citizens should be banned to install outdoor lighting. |
B.Only simple ways can help reduce light pollution. |
C.There is no clear sky or stars over the urban areas. |
D.Light pollution needs to be dealt with urgently. |
8 . In a county of Britain, a pair of pig farmers has managed to feed one million bees by turning over half of their land to wildflowers. Four years ago, brothers Mark and Paul Hayward decided to fill 81 acres of their farm land with wildflowers. This week, a study found they were feeding one million bees at any time.
“This was our target when we started, to, grow enough flowers to feed a million bees on a single day.” Mark said. “We are acutely aware that bees are under threat from modern farming methods and that East England is one of the worst places where bees are seriously suffering from lack of wildflower diversity,” he continued.
“Every third bite of food you eat can come from bees and we wanted to create an operation on our farm that did not push nature out but rather hugged it-as a central part of our ecology system and our food cycle,” he said.
The farm uses all kinds of seeds which can produce many different wild plants and of course, the bees can get food from different wildflowers.
“We are taking a very small role in helping society restore a balance and this starts with plant diversity to encourage insects, bees, small mammals(哺乳动物), and birds,” said Paul. “At the end of the day, we see ourselves as caretakers of this land. Between us we have six children and we owe it to them to farm sustainability(持续性)and set an example for the generations to come,” added Paul.
According to the Bee Conservation Trust, many types of bees have seen their populations decline by 70%, and two species have become extinct in the last century.
Gill Perkins, CEO of the Bee Conservation Trust said, “Thanks to Mark and Paul, at least here, a million bees can keep living, which is of great significance for ourselves now and future.”
1. What can we know about the brothers from the first two paragraphs?A.They have about 160 acres of land. |
B.They grow wild flowers for pigs. |
C.They are not good at growing wild flowers. |
D.They have to support 1, 000, 000 bees in their land. |
A.There is a shortage of water for bees. |
B.Bees are not used to the modern society. |
C.There are too many animals eating bees. |
D.Bees can not find different wild flowers. |
A.Opposed. | B.Doubtful. |
C.Supportive. | D.Disappointed. |
A.The Bees are in Danger Now |
B.Two Brothers Feed a Million Bees |
C.Only one Million Bees are Surviving in East England |
D.Two Brothers Love Wild Flowers in East England |
9 . To solve the problem of tiny plastics polluting waterways, chemists in the Czech Republic are thinking small. Their brainchild is a new microrobot which is no bigger than the tip of a sharpened pencil. When sunlight hits them, they produce chemical reactions that push them through water in a specific direction. When they find a piece of plastic, they stick to it and start to break it down.
Chemist Martin Pumera at the Czech University led the project. A decade ago, he chose to focus on the problem posed by microplastics. They’re everywhere—from the bottom of the ocean to air blowing onto ice atop mountains. They’ve turned up in drinking water. Some studies estimate that billions of pieces of plastic end up in the world’s waters. The plastic has many sources, from shopping bags to washing and cleaning wipes.
In lab experiments, the star-shaped swimmers stuck onto each of four different types of plastic. And after a week exposed to light, the robots had reduced the weight of the plastics. It wasn’t much—only by percent. But that was an indication that they were breaking the plastic down. They also caused the surface of the plastic to change from smooth to rough. That’s another sign that the robots were degrading (分解) it. The new study is a proof of concept type. That means it shows something can be done successfully.
In fact, Pumera says they still have a long way to go. There are many types of plastics. And even these microrobots are unlikely to succeed in degrading them all. The researchers also have not yet shown how safe this system is for the environment, although Pumera says that’s their next goal. The first real-world test will be in a wastewater-treatment plant. “Indeed,” says one researcher. “We’ll need a lot of testing to show that they’re safe in open waterways, such as at sea.”
1. What does the underlined word “brainchild” in paragraph 1 refer to?.A.idea | B.hope | C.project | D.routine |
A.The purpose of Pumera’s project. |
B.The preciousness of drinking water. |
C.The seriousness of plastic pollution. |
D.The working principle of the microrobots. |
A.The weight loss of the plastics. |
B.The disappearance of the plastics. |
C.The shape change of the microrobots. |
D.The improvement in the quality of water. |
A.Ways to Obtain Cleaner Drinking Water |
B.Microrobots Invented to Treat Wastewater |
C.New Hope for the Solution to Plastic Pollution |
D.Technology Widely Applied in Environment Protection |
10 . It’s a warm June afternoon, and in a group of bushes and trees, a bird sings. A small insect climbs over a leaf. The Muziekplein forest, next to an 18-story building and a railway line, is about the size of a basketball court; before it was planted in 2018, the area was a parking place. The forest is one of seven such extremely small forests in the Dutch city of Utrecht, and 144 across the Netherlands. By the end of this year, according to IVN Nature Education, the organization proposing the country’s initiative, there will be 200.
Since the first forest was planted in the Netherlands in 2015, the concept has become popular. Daan Bleichrodt, who launched IVN’s Tiny Forest initiative with the goal of making it easier for children to get into and connect with nature, said that he thinks it is popular because people are becoming more aware of major environmental challenges. It’s a very practical way to do something positive in the light of climate change and loss of biodiversity.
Jeroen Schenkels, a senior adviser for the city of Utrecht on green planning, said he sees the mini-forests as nature-based approaches that are able to help the city weather heat waves and improve water retention (保持). But one of the biggest interests is social. “One of the most important things is that they give people the opportunity to be involved in nature in the neighbourhood,” Schenkels said.
Between 2018 and 2020, 40 different plant and animal groups and 121 total animal species were found in the Muziekplein forest alone. According to Wageningen University researchers, across the 11 tiny forests in their study, volunteers observed 636 animal species. They also identified 298 plant species in addition to the original species planted in the plots. Maintenance of the forests occasionally involves removing aggressive weeds, but in general new plant species, such as wildflowers that appear, are allowed to grow.
1. What is special about the Muziekplein forest?A.It is newly planted. | B.It sits in an urban area. |
C.It grows along a railway. | D.It is shaped like a basketball court. |
A.To make people realize environmental challenges. |
B.To make nature more accessible to children. |
C.To increase the Netherlands’ biodiversity. |
D.To call for action on climate change. |
A.Benefits of mini-forests in cities. | B.Ways to keep neighborhoods green. |
C.Inspiration for planting forests in cities. | D.Importance of being exposed to nature. |
A.By listing data. | B.By giving examples. |
C.By doing experiments. | D.By making comparisons. |