1 . Born to an adventure-loving mom and a National Geographic’s photographer dad, Alison Teal was already exploring the world as a baby. The family traveled the globe staying not at five-star hotels but in a six-foot-wide tent. From cold mountaintops to hot jungles, they completely involved themselves in local nature and culture.
Between journeys, they would return home to a quiet and faraway part of the Big Island of Hawaii, where they built a solar-powered oceanfront rest center. The front yard was the ocean, and Alison’s friends were dolphins. She would dive into the water and release seaweed. A dolphin would catch it on its nose or fin and throw it to the next player. Over the years, the dolphins grew to trust Alison. They looked for her and came close to her in the water.
After graduating from university, she continued her world travels. Her adventurous childhood and life skills landed her a spot in the reality show Naked and Afraid, in which she and her partner had to live on an unwelcoming island for 21 days. Alison’s deep knowledge of how to live in a wilderness saved the pair, but what shocked her was the amount of trash washed upon the shore.
“After that, I couldn’t ignore our plastic problem. I shifted my focus and started to protect our greatest resource, the ocean,” says Alison. Swimming in familiar waters back home, she also found her dolphin friends were no longer tossing (抛) seaweed to each other, but plastic. “That was distressing,” she says.
Her book, Alison’s Adventures: Your Passport to the World, is fled with travel tales and environmental lessons. She also offers free adventure films to go along with each chapter on her YouTube and TikTok. Alison believes all of us can make changes to protect the Earth and, in turn, those we love. “Whether you’re a lawyer, a gardener, an artist, a teacher or a surfer, we can all help in our own ways,” she says.
1. What can we infer from the first paragraph?| A．Alison Teal had a comfortable life when she was young. |
| B．Alison Teal was fond of photography when she was young. |
| C．Alison Teal’s parents we restrict with her when she was young. |
| D．Alison Teal led a life close to nature when she was young. |
| A．The amount of trash washed upon the shore. |
| B．The unwelcoming island where they had to live. |
| C．The lack of resources in the wilderness. |
| D．The dangerous situations they encountered. |
| A．During a journey with her parents. |
| B．After her participation in a show. |
| C．Before her graduation from university. |
| D．When visiting the Big Island of Hawaii. |
| A．Everyone can contribute in their own ways. |
| B．Only certain professions can make a difference. |
| C．It is impossible to make any significant changes. |
| D．It is the responsibility of governments and organizations. |
In China, Tree Planting Day falls on March 12, but more often people plant trees during Qing Ming Festival in early April. Newly-planted trees can survive more
China set March 12
Since 2013, Xi Jinping,
China has seen a
3 . Bumblebees are vanishing at a rate consistent with widespread extinction, and climate change is playing a big role. The analysis comes from a new study published in the journal Science today.
The authors found that the likelihood of a bumblebee population surviving in any given place within North America and Europe has dropped by an average of 30 percent as temperatures have risen.
Pesticides, habitat loss, and pathogens(病原体) have already hit bumblebee populations hard. The new study, however, is able to isolate the effect that hotter temperatures are having on bumblebees. Sadly, bees are having a hard time adapting to a warming world. “If things continue along the path without any change, then we can really quickly start to see a lot of these species being lost forever,” lead author of the study Peter Soroye tells The Verge.
That’s not just a tragedy for the bees. It’s also bad news for all the plants that they pollinate and for humans who eat the fruits (and vegetables) of their labor. “We also lose out on a lot of color on our plates,” Soroye says. “Tomatoes, squash, and berries are just some of the crops we can thank bees for pollinating. Animal pollinators like bees, birds, and butterflies could be responsible for up to 1 out of every 3 bites of food we eat,” the US Department of Agriculture says.
For this study, Soroye and colleagues examined data from 1900 to 2015 on 66 species of bumblebees across North America and Europe. They mapped the places bees called home and how their distribution changed over time. They found that bees were vanishing in the areas that had heated up beyond the limit in which the bumblebees had historically been able to survive.
Some bee populations are colonizing new territories that were previously too cold. But those gains are overshadowed by losses in areas where the bees once thrived but are now too hot.
1. What is bumblebees’ main struggle?| A．Habitat loss | B．Climate change | C．Human activities | D．Virus treat |
| A．Humans can barely strive to save bumblebees from extinction. |
| B．Bumblebees will inevitably die out some day. |
| C．Bumblebees serve as a delicacy on our plates. |
| D．Human’s lives are tightly linked to bumblebees’. |
| A．Animal pollinators eat up 1 out of 3 of our food. |
| B．Peter Soroye’s study started from 1900 and lasted 25 years. |
| C．Bumblebees can not be accustomed to the places they used to live in. |
| D．Bumblebees are more used to colder weather. |
| A．The negative effects outweigh the positive ones. | B．No cold areas are left for Bumblebees. |
| C．The losses are beyond estimation. | D．Bumblebees will have a rather bright future. |
4 . Brazilian scientists think they might have found a way to undo the damage caused by the cutting down of trees and turn farmland back into forest. The secret lies in ancient local knowledge of soil.
Amazonian Dark Earth (ADE) is a thick, black soil found deep in the Amazon rainforest, and it could help restore forests around the world. ADE is a kind of compost (soil made from dead plants and animals). Various kinds of compost are sold in gardening centers around the world, but ADE is unique. It was created by indigenous people from the Amazon between 2,000 and 2,500 years ago. The Amazonian people, today known as Amerindians, created ADE using charcoal from fires, animal bones, food waste and poo. It contains microbes (微生物) that help to turn chemicals in the soil into useful nutrients that feed plants and trees.
Vast areas of the Amazon have been cut down, mostly to make way for grassland for raising cattle. Scientists are looking for a way to turn grassland back into rainforest and revive forest ecosystems. These support thousands of animal and plant species, many of which are unique to the area. Forests also absorb lots of carbon dioxide.
To see if the Amazon’s special soil could help, the scientists grew grasses and trees in ADE, regular earth and a mixture of both. Trees grown in ADE were up to six times taller than those in regular soil. ADE takes hundreds of years to create, so the scientists can’t simply make more. Team member, Dr Siu Mui Tsai, said that instead they want to try and “copy its characteristics”, especially its helpful microbes, and see if it could help to restore natural habitats.
1. What makes ADE valuable?| A．Its history of thousands of years. | B．Its potential to enhance reforestation. |
| C．Its medical properties for plants and animals. | D．Its being discovered by the Amazonian people. |
| A．The necessity of restoring forests. |
| B．The serious situation of endangered animals. |
| C．The positive effects of ADE on forest ecosystems. |
| D．The adaptation of grasslands to the changing climate. |
| A．An alternative is bound to replace ADE. |
| B．Soil with similar features is in development. |
| C．ADE works better when mixed with regular soil. |
| D．ADE has been proved effective in growing trees. |
| A．A biology textbook. | B．An archeology journal. |
| C．A science magazine. | D．A literary collection. |
A composting (堆肥) program at The Wesley School in Los Angeles is helping students get hands-on experience and ways
The school’s composting program
The school will use the compost on plants around campus. Some will
It takes two hours for the container to be emptied and prepared to receive
内容包括：
1.地球的重要性；
2.保护地球的倡议。
注意：
1.写作词数应为80左右；
2.标题已为你写出，不计入总词数。
The World Earth Day
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________7 . There’s nothing wrong with a tomato that isn’t perfectly round or a peach with an extra dimple or two; they still carry the same benefits and flavors as the versions we’re used to seeing in grocery stores (食品杂货店). Farmers throw away these imperfect items, as many grocery chains won’t buy them for fear that they are unsellable. However, a growing group of grocery chains are fighting to make these discarded fruit and vegetables part of consumers’ buying habits.
One such business is Imperfect Produce, a start-up that provides fresh ugly produce for consumers. Through this service, you can get up to 20 pounds of fruit and vegetables for around $20 a week. This is about a 30 percent discount compared to what’s now sold in stores. Recently, the company had a major advancement when Whole Foods Market accepted their partnership and agreed to sell the misshapen produce.
While this movement might be a new trend here in the U.S., it’s already gained serious momentum (势头) in Europe. In 2014, the EU announced the European Year Against Food Waste, with French supermarket chain Intermarché launching a very successful campaign called Inglorious Fruits and Vegetables and England’s Waitrose selling weather blemished apples. In Portugal, a similar company to Imperfect Produce called Fruta Feia has also taken off.
Buying the unfortunate-looking produce should be attractive to consumers not only because of the affordability, but also because of the support it gives to farmers and the direct impact it has on reducing food waste and environmental pollution. When the discarded fruit and vegetables decompose, they release (释放) methane (CH.), a greenhouse gas. When released into the air, it is about 86 times as powerful as carbon dioxide (CO,) over a 20-year period. Waste is, in fact, the ugliest thing of all.
1. What does the underlined word “discarded” in paragraph 1 probably mean?| A．Thrown away. | B．Harvested. | C．Eaten up. | D．Packaged. |
| A．To make better profits. | B．To sell unattractive goods. |
| C．To get discounts from farmers. | D．To compete with Whole Foods Market. |
| A．It hardly produces misshapen fruit and vegetables. |
| B．It has more successful food chains than the U.S. |
| C．It is facing the serious problem of unfavorable weather. |
| D．It solves the problem of ugly produce earlier than America. |
| A．It pollutes the farms. | B．It gives off a bad smell. |
| C．It contributes to global warming. | D．It produces lots of carbon dioxide. |
1.当前现状；
2.提出倡议；
3.其他。
注意：
1.词数80左右；
2.可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
With the tourism
10 . In the rich countries of the West, the electric vehicle revolution is well underway. Climate-conscious consumers drive Teslas or Polestars for reasons of morality and fashion. Poorer countries are also experiencing a wave of electrified trend. In Bangladesh, electric three-wheeler taxis, known as tuk-tuks, are rapidly replacing gas-powered ones on the streets. Such electric vehicles are climate friendly, cost effective, and help reduce air pollution.
Yet a glance under the hood (引擎盖) of these vehicles reveals a poisonous secret: each tuk-tuk runs on five massive lead-acid batteries, containing almost 300 pounds of lead in total. Every year and a half or so, when those batteries need to be replaced and recycled, about 60 pounds of lead leak into the environment. Battery recycling, often at small-scale unregulated factories, is a highly profitable but deadly business.
Lead is dangerous, and any exposure to it is harmful to human health. Lead that has entered the environment hurts people on an extraordinary scale. The numerous ways lead enters air, water, soil, and homes across the developing world — and the enormous damage it does to human health, wealth, and welfare — causes one of the biggest environmental crises in the world yet receives little attention.
The World Bank estimates that lead kills 5. 5 million people per year, which would make it a bigger global killer than AIDS, malaria, diabetes, and road traffic deaths combined. On top of the shocking deaths, the social burden of lead poisoning is extraordinary, as is its contribution to global inequality — our research on the cognitive effects of lead poisoning suggests that it may explain about one-fifth of the educational achievement gap between rich and poor countries.
But unlike many challenges faced by developing countries, lead poisoning is a problem that is fixable with some attention and a relatively modest financial investment. Better monitoring, research, and rules can help protect children all over the world from the dreadful effects of lead poisoning and reduce the massive global costs it brings.
1. How does the author describe the lead problem in paragraph 2?| A．By making a comparison. | B．By analyzing hidden causes. |
| C．By listing convincing numbers. | D．By explaining its working principle. |
| A．Lead enters rich countries in various ways. |
| B．Lead poisoning may make poor societies poorer. |
| C．Exposure to lead doesn’t necessarily harm someone. |
| D．Lead leaking has caused great panic in both countries. |
| A．Fixing these used batteries. | B．Putting certain effort and money. |
| C．Prohibiting the illegal use of lead. | D．Reducing the cost of recycling lead. |
| A．The Impacts of Lead Poisoning on Human Health |
| B．The Outcomes of Using Electric Vehicles |
| C．The Ways to Solve Lead Problem |
| D．The Global Lead Poisoning Crisis |
