1 . Wasting things is a nightmare (噩梦) for the environment, especially food waste, which does double harm to the environment. A plenty of resources go into the food and the food system also produces lots of greenhouse gases and pollution.
In our homes, restaurants, and food shops, 17 percent of all our food is thrown away—that’s about a sixth of all of the food we have. If you add on the food lost in production, about a third of all food produced never reaches a mouth. At the same time, nearly 700 million people were affected by hunger in 2019, while 3 billion still struggle to afford healthy food. It is mostly households that are to blame: 11 percent of the food ends up in the trash of our homes, compared to a mere 5 and 2 percent from stores and restaurants.
The reasons why food goes to waste are probably familiar to you: dinner party leftovers that never get eaten, food going bad before you cook it, or simply confusion over sell-by and use-by dates that leads to totally fine food ending up in the garbage.
The UN aims to cut food waste in half at the consumer and sale levels by late 2022. Luckily, there’s actually a lot we can do as individuals and governments can make policies to help people and the environment a lot. For individuals, something important is being more thoughtful and prepared when going to the grocery store. Make a list of meals you want to cook, and then only buy fresh produce that you will 100 percent be eating in the next few days. In social aspect, improving education on how to preserve food and understand tricky labels (标签), encouraging food recycling and pushing companies to sell smaller quantities of healthy, fresh food for one or two people could all play a helpful role in bringing down the massive pile of eatable waste.
1. Which of the following contributes most to food waste?| A．Food shops. | B．Restaurants. | C．Households. | D．Food production. |
| A．People eat less than before. | B．The food price is low. |
| C．Food spoils easily during the summer. | D．People are confused about the shelf life of food. |
| A．Grocery stores should supply limited food. |
| B．People should raise their awareness of food conservation. |
| C．Everyone should consume as little food as possible. |
| D．Governments should distribute food resources fairly. |
| A．Health. | B．Fashion. | C．Environment. | D．Science. |
2 . For 21-year-old Malhar Kalambe, weekends are not about hanging out with friends. Instead, they have a different mission — cleaning the Datar Beach. Collectively， they have made such a huge difference to the beach that the United Nations has recognized their contributions.
“Actually the idea stemmed from my vacation to Bali, the clean beach leaving a great impression on me. After returning, I found our beaches in shambles. During a conversation with my mother, I was complaining about how bad our beaches are compared to beaches in Bali, and my mother just said, 'Don't complain, if you care, just go and clean. ? and thus 'Beach Please'," Malhar said. “It began on September 10, 2017 and since then cleaning the garbage on the beach has become a weekend routine. Currently, there are 25 odd volunteers spending our weekends cleaning the beach.”
After cleaning the beach for months, Malhar and his friends realized that it was of a little help and there is no end to this. They needed to contain the source which dumps garbage in the ocean. They found that the Mithi River is being used to dump the industrial waste, construction waste and even domestic waste into the ocean and they decided to also clean the river. Now on Saturday, they clean the Mithi River and on Sunday, they focus on the Datar Beach. In order to make a sustainable （可持续的）difference, they must make people understand that they have to stop dumping garbage into any source. “Awareness, recycling and cleaning up are three steps which can bring a change. I hope people realize it's their duty to keep their surroundings as well as the ocean clean,“ Malhar added.
1. What does the underlined phrase “in shambles” in paragraph 2 mean?| A．Damp. | B．Messy. | C．Crowded. | D．Abandoned. |
| A．He likes hanging out with his friends. | B．He encourages his mother to join him. |
| C．He volunteers to clean the Datar Beach. | D．He complains his vacation to Bali to his friends. |
| A．Recycling most of domestic waste. |
| B．Calling for people to make a green trip. |
| C．Raising people's awareness of protecting the ocean. |
| D．Seeking for the source of the ocean pollution. |
| A．Sympathetic. | B．Considerate. | C．Outgoing. | D．Responsible. |
3 . Across the globe, we've developed a coffee addiction, and we've become addicted to single-use cups: 600 billion disposable cups are produced and sold annually. But there's a growing push to cut this down.
Here's the problem with disposable coffee cups: The thin, waxy, plastic coating inside makes it tricky to recycle or compost them. So, they most go into a landfill （垃圾填埋场）. More than that, it takes a lot of energy and resources to make them. Starbucks and McDonald's are trying to develop a disposable coffee cup that can be both recyclable and compostable. But that's easier said than done. The coffee giants have been dangling a million dollars to anybody who can crack the code.
The Rolling Stones are also thinking about the sustainable cups. If you see the Stones in concert this summer and go to get a drink, there may be no single-use plastic cup for you. The bands approached Michael Martin, who has produced a bunch of big Earth Day concerts, asking for help to eliminate plastic waste. He came up with a simple solution.
"When you come up to get your first beverage（饮料）, you put down a $3 deposit, you get a really high-quality Rolling Stones-branded cup," says Martin. "You use it throughout the night, and at the end of the event you can turn your cup in and get your $3 back or you can keep your cup." If you return the heavier plastic cup at the end of the show, it gets washed and used again. Or recycled.
But this idea — returning and reusing a cup — this is not that complicated. So why is this just being tried now? "That's a really good question," says Martin. "In America, we're a throwaway society, and so we're hoping we'll be able to wake people up and change things." He's starting with rock concerts because artists have a pretty powerful platform. I mean, if Mick Jagger tells his fans to stop abusing the planet, who's going to say no to that?
1. Why is there a growing push to cut single-use cups down?| A．Because too many people are coffee addicts. |
| B．Because disposable cups are hard to recycle and compost. |
| C．Because it takes a lot of energy and resources to recycle them. |
| D．Because Starbucks and McDonald's are dangling a million dollars. |
| A．develop a cup. | B．set up a recycling company. |
| C．find the password. | D．tackle the problem. |
| A．People will wash the cups at the end of the show. |
| B．People hand in the cup and get 3-dollar reward. |
| C．People can own the cup by paying 3 dollars. |
| D．People must pay 3 dollars and return the cup. |
| A．Artists have a great impact. |
| B．Martin is giving a rock concert. |
| C．Mick Jagger' fans are abusing the planet. |
| D．Mick Jagger' fans never disagree with him. |
4 . Modeste Traore has lived his whole life near Lake Wegnia, in the Sahel area of Mali. The lake’s fish have provided him with a way to earn money to support his extended family. How-ever, because he can’t catch enough fish to feed his family, he now raises farm animals. But as temperatures rise, evaporation increases, making the body of water shrinks. Studies have linked rising temperatures on Earth’s surface to climate change.
The lake is shrinking, so are the chances of his children becoming fishermen. “If things go on like this, I don’t think our children can become fishermen like us. They will have to choose other jobs,” the 56-year-old Traore said. “During the rainy season, there is a lot of water but as soon as it’s over, there is no water left in the lake. We are fishermen. I don’t think our children will be,” he said.
Lake Wegnia is in the Sahel region of Koulikoro, around 120 kilometers north of Mali’s capital, Bamako. Some 12,000 people, including fishermen and farmers, depend on it for food, water and employment. But the lake has shrunk by 20 percent since 2017.
The UN expects temperatures there to increase 1.5 times higher than the average increase worldwide. UN officials note that the flooding and a severe lack of rainfall can cause problems in the Sahel: Food insecurity, the fight over farmland and the fast population growth can lead to conflict.
Aid group is leading the Eco-Lac Wegnia project. The group is working to improve water management and fight the effects of global warming. Moussa Savagodo is Eco-Lac Wegnia’s local representative. He says that failing to make changes quickly can mean the lake will disappear completely in less than 5 years.
People in the rural areas Wegnia and Kononi-Sirakoro have planted 56,000 trees in the past two years. And they are better controlling their water by building stone barriers to help the soil keep the rain that does fall. The progress and international official support are not enough for them, however. More and more people are turning to other agriculture.
1. How did Traore work to support his family in the past?| A．By fishing. | B．By raising farm animals. |
| C．By taking charge of the lake. | D．By working as an environmentalist. |
| A．A lot of farmland will form. |
| B．The rainy season will end early. |
| C．Many fishermen will flee their homes. |
| D．The later generation will change their careers. |
| A．Drought and flood will directly cause conflict. |
| B．Reducing population is a way to protect the lake. |
| C．Water management makes no difference to the lake. |
| D．The rise in temperature will cause water resource problems. |
| A．The local officials. | B．The Aid group members. |
| C．The villagers. | D．The representatives. |
5 . As climate change affects the planet, the world is turning to seaweed (海草)as a possible settlement and play a huge role in fighting climate change. It is used to create natural fuel and renewable plastics. It helps improve oceanic ecosystems.
People think of forests as the best defense(防护)against climate change. But some researchers say seaweed is a better settlement. Unlike trees, seaweed doesn't need fertilizers or fresh water. It grows faster than trees do. And it doesn't require any land. Most importantly, it absorbs carbon from the environment.
Seaweed could also become a key global food source. Many worry about the environmental influence of eating meat. Could seaweed farms provide enough protein for the world? Carlos Duarte, a professor of oceanic ecology thinks so. When you look at how we are going to feed the world population by 2050, in a way that doesn't harm the environment, there is only one pathway," he says. "Seaweed fanning."
In the past decade or so, global seaweed production has doubled. In British Columbia, seaweed farming becoming popular. For thousands of years, First Nations people, the native people of Canada, have farmed on land and in the ocean. Seaweed farming helps them create economies of their own that agree with their traditions. Their role has always been to connect with the land and repair it.
Seaweed might fight climate change but it isn't without risks. If it isn't harvested, it can go bad and give off carbon back into the air or water. Growing too much of it could also affect the amount of light that reaches species living deeper in the water. That would be dangerous for underwater ecosystems. So some scientists think seaweed can be a part of the settlement to climate change, but it's not a perfect one on its own.
1. What is an advantage of seaweed in fighting climate change compared with trees?| A．Growing taller. | B．Using fewer resources. |
| C．Living longer. | D．Absorbing more carbon. |
| A．Unclear. | B．Doubtful. | C．Uncaring. | D．Supportive. |
| A．First Nations people have changed their traditions. |
| B．Seaweed farming has its origin in British Columbia. |
| C．Seaweed farming isn't risk-free for the environment. |
| D．Global seaweed production has been less in recent years. |
| A．Seaweed Farming for Food | B．Seaweed Production in the World |
| C．Seaweed Creating Natural Fuel | D．Seaweed in Environmental Protection |
6 . Ecotourism has become increasingly popular in recent years.Travelers visit natural environments funding conservation efforts or promoting local economies.In many cases, ecotourism involves close interaction with wildlife.
Now, scientists have analyzed more than 100 research studies on how ecotourism affects wild animals.They find the presence of humans changes the way animals behave, and those changes may put them at risk.Therefore, they have concluded that such trips can be harmful to the animals.
When animals interact in seemingly kind ways with humans, they may let down their guard.As animals learn to relax in the presence of humans, they may become bolder in other situations.If this transfers to their interactions with predators (捕食者), they are more likely to be injured or killed.
The presence of humans can also discourage natural predators.It creates a kind of safe place for smaller animals that may make them bolder.For example, in Grand Teton National Park, elk and pronghorns in areas with more tourists are less watchful and spend more time eating.
Interacting with people can cause great changes in the characteristics of various species over time.“If animals become accustomed to tourists, we might create unintended consequences — affecting the behavior or population of a species and influencing the species’ function in its community,” the researchers write.
Ecotourism has effects similar to those of animal domestication (驯养) and urbanization.Research has shown that domesticated silver foxes become more obedient and less fearful.Fox squirrels and birds that live in urbanized areas are slower to flee from danger.The phenomena result from evolutionary changes, but also from regular interactions with humans.
Scientists hope the new analysis will encourage more research into the interactions between people and wildlife.It is essential to develop further understanding of how various species in various situations respond to human interaction and under what conditions human exposure may place them at risk.
1. We can learn from the passage that ___________.| A．ecotourism causes damage to the natural homes of wildlife |
| B．it is easy for eco-tourists to build up trust with wild animals |
| C．the effects brought by ecotourism may be harmful to the animals |
| D．wildlife interactions with humans strengthen their function in community |
| A．shyer | B．braver | C．wiser | D．swifter |
| A．wild animals become more relaxed due to evolution |
| B．animals’ reactions to humans vary from species to species |
| C．smaller animals tend to be in harmony with natural predators |
| D．the presence of humans reduces their awareness of potential danger |
| A．Ecotourism Can Put Wild Animals at Risk |
| B．Ecotourism Has Become A Popular Trend |
| C．Wildlife’s Reactions to Human Activities |
| D．Latest Research Findings on Ecotourism |
1. 野生动植物的现状；
2. 分析造成许多野生动植物濒临灭绝的原因；
3. 提出几条保护野生动植物的具体措施。
注意：1. 词数100左右；
2. 不可遗漏要点，可适当增加细节；
3. 书写要干净、工整；
4. 开头和结尾已给出，不计入总词数。
Dear Sir or Madam,I’m writing to give some suggestions to protect the wildlife living in and around our city.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Yours sincerely,
Li Hua
