1 . Pollution’s disastrous effects on the environment have become more obvious in recent years, leading to a movement to promote energy efficiency, less reliance on fossil fuels and a reduction in air and water pollution. Most scientists agree that such changes are necessary to protect our environment from further harm.
The construction industry consumes a large quantity of energy and resources and creates a huge amount of pollution. In the United States, building and development account for 39 percent of the country’s total energy use, 12 percent of total water consumption, 68 percent of total electricity consumption and 38 percent of carbon dioxide emissions, according to the Environment Protection Agency.
Green buildings use less energy, water, create less waste and are healthier to live, work and go to school in than standard buildings. Builders of green buildings use techniques that use resources more efficiently during the entire building cycle — construction, restoration, operation, maintenance (维护) and demolition (拆毁) — than those who construct more regular buildings.
The environmental benefits of building green include the protection of ecosystems and biodiversity, improved air and water quality, less waste flowing into streams and the conservation of natural resources. Green buildings can also result in lower operating costs because they typically use less energy and fewer materials and improve indoor air quality, improving the health of people who live there.
The process of building green includes technical and artistic planning with nature conservation in mind. Building designs often reflect the surrounding environment and natural resources and use renewable building materials such as bamboo and straw. In addition, recycled resources found locally are used for green buildings, reducing the cost and air pollution associated with transporting materials long distances.
Careful site selection is important to minimize (最小化) human impact on the surrounding environment. For example, placing a structure in an area that allows it to take advantage of cool breezes (微风) and sunlight can reduce energy use and expenses. More energy and expense are needed for larger buildings as well, so it is important to build small.
Green roofs are another feature of green houses that reduce energy use and cost. These roofs are partially or completely covered with plants, which helps to keep heating and cooling costs low, prevent water running off and deal with pollutants.
Other features of green buildings often include energy and water conservation, recycling and waste reduction. In addition, renewable energy sources such as solar power, hydropower (水能) and wind power are used for heat and electricity, which greatly reduces costs and decreases the impact on the environment.
1. What is the text mainly about?| A．The necessity of promoting energy efficiency. |
| B．The process of building green buildings. |
| C．Green buildings’ effects on the environment |
| D．The benefits and features of green buildings. |
| A．use energy and resources more efficiently | B．only use clean energy |
| C．are made of recycled materials | D．produce no waste |
| A．They rely on fossil fuels and solar power for heat and electricity. |
| B．Small buildings are less efficient in energy use than larger ones. |
| C．The ecosystem has to be considered when building a green building. |
| D．They are difficult to maintain and thus need more operating costs. |
| A．they fit the surrounding environment well |
| B．they can help to control the temperature in the building well |
| C．they can keep natural water for use in everyday life |
| D．they are cheaper than other kinds of roofs |
注意：
1．词数；l20左右；
2．开头和结尾已经给出，但不计入总词数：
3．参考词汇：排放emission
Dear fellow students,
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Dear fellow students, let's take action right now!
要点：1.简要介绍之前存在的问题；2.具体整改措施及带来的好处。
注意：1.词数100左右；
2.可适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
Dear Peter,
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Yours sincerely,
Li Hua
4 . Your next car might drive itself. After years of trials on city streets, driverless vehicles are now nearing the production phase. Last month, a driverless bus began carrying passengers through Lyon, France. Most in the automobile industry think self-driving vehicles will be on the road by 2020 or before.
Driverless cars will at first be huddled with human-driven cars. But the first places where they will become dominant（占支配地位的）are dense urban areas-precisely the spots most damaged by the automobile age. Many advanced cities are already reducing the role of human-driven cars. Driverless cars will quicken that process and will bring us great benefits.
Driverless cars will reduce accidents by around 90 percent. That's big-the annual death toll on the world's roads is about 1.2 million a year. Pollution and carbon emissions will drop, because urban driverless cars will be electric. The old, otherwise they would stay at home most of the time and the disabled and teenagers will suddenly gain mobility.
On the other hand, driverless cars will bring catastrophe（灾难）.The best thing about the automobile age is that it employs tens of millions of people to make, market, insure and drive vehicles. Over the next 20 years, most men who now drive trucks, taxis and buses will see their jobs reduced. Carmakers are especially scared. A few cars in the future might be made by tech companies such as Apple, Baidu and Google. Imaging the impact on Germany, where the automotive sector is the largest industry.
Dramatic change is coming, and driverless cars could arrive by 2020. But governments have hardly begun thinking about it. Only 6 percent of the biggest US cities have factored them into their long-term planning.
A decade ago anyone hardly saw the smartphone coming. It has brought an epidemic of mass addiction. Let's hope we do a better job of handling the driverless car.
1. The underlined words "be huddled with "in Paragraph 2 can be replaced by "________".| A．show up with | B．exist together with |
| C．get rid of | D．take the place of |
| A．Driverless cars reduce the number of human-driven cars. |
| B．Driverless cars will be powered by electricity. |
| C．Driverless cars save fuel by driving themselves. |
| D．Driverless cars will reduce too many accidents. |
| A．They will not hit the road until 2020. |
| B．They will only be used in urban areas. |
| C．They will not cause any road accident. |
| D．They aren't still seriously taken by governments. |
| A．Doubtful. | B．Negative. |
| C．Objective. | D．Worried. |
Chinese net users have found a new way to battle desertification by playing virtual planting games Ant Forest. which is under Ant Financial of the Alibaba Group, told the Global Times that they had planted over 50 million trees
Ant Forest is the first such game in China. In the Ant Forest plan, any activity
The Chinese government attaches great
6 . The health of millions could be at risk because supplies of medicinal plants are being used up. These plants are used to make traditional medicine, including drugs to fight cancer. “The loss of medicinal plants is a quiet disaster,” says Sara Oldfield, secretary general of the NGO Botanic Gardens Conservation International.
Most people worldwide rely on herbal (药草制的) medicines which are got mostly from wild plants. But some 15,000 of the 50,000 medicinal species are under threat of dying out, according to report from the international conservation group Plantlife. Shortages have been reported in China, India, Kenya, Nepal, Tanzania and Uganda.
Over-harvesting does the most harm, though pollution and competition from invasive species (入侵物种) and habitat destruction all contribute. Businessmen generally harvest medicinal plants, not caring about sustainability (可持续性),” the Plantlife report says, “damage is serious partly because they have no idea about it, but it is mainly because such collection is unorganized”. Medicinal trees at risk include the Himalayan yew (紫衫) and the African cherry, which are used to treat some cancers.
The solution, says the report’s author, Alan Hamilton, is to encourage local people to protect these plants. Ten projects studied by Plantlife in India, Pakistan, China, Nepal, Uganda and Kenya showed this method can succeed. In Uganda, the project has kept a sustainable supply of low-cost cancer treatments, and in China a public-run medicinal plant project has been created for the first time.”
“Improving health, earning an income and keeping cultural traditions are important in encouraging people to protect medicinal plants,” says Hamilton, “You have to pay attention to what people are interested in.”
Ghillean Prance, the former director of the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew in London, agrees that medicinal plants are in need of protection. “Not nearly enough is being done,” he told New Scientist. “We are destroying the very plants that are of most use to us.”
1. From the first two paragraphs, we can learn that ________.| A．millions of people are threatened with cancer |
| B．most countries see a shortage of herbal medicines |
| C．about two thirds of medicinal species will disappear |
| D．a number of medicinal species are in danger of extinction |
| A．over-harvesting | B．habitat destruction |
| C．pollution | D．invasive species |
| A．pollution | B．other species’ invasion |
| C．sustainability | D．over-harvesting |
| A．Protecting medicinal plants has a long way to go. |
| B．Local people don’t know how to protect medicinal plants. |
| C．Ghillean Prance is optimistic about medicinal plants’ future. |
| D．China has made great progress in protecting medicinal plants. |
7 . The Lifecycle of a T-shirt
We all probably have a lot of T-shirts, but do you ever stop and think about the influence of a T-shirt on the planet? You’d probably be surprised to learn what's involved in the lifecycle of just one T-shirt.
There are 5 major stages: material, production, shipping, use and disposal.The material stage involves farming, irrigating, fertilizing, harvesting and ginning. While cotton is a natural fiber and not as harmful to the environment as manmade fibers, it still takes a toll in the material and production stages. Commercial cotton farming uses a large amount of water, and the use of pesticides (杀虫剂）is widespread across the globe, especially in cotton farming. Studies have shown that farmers spend around $4.1 billion on pesticides annually, of which 25% was spent on cotton crops in the US.
Once the cotton is grown and harvested, so begins the production stage: spinning, knitting, bleaching, dyeing, cutting, sewing, etc.——these processes also use a great deal of water and energy. Commercial dyes and bleaches are harmful pollutants and can eventually pollute groundwater.
After the T-shirt is produced, it enters the transportation stage. This often involves overseas shipping. Take a look in your closet. Chances are that most of your cotton garments (衣服）are made in China or India. Garments can be shipped via plane, ship or truck…，all of which spill CO2 into the atmosphere. Calculations show that C02 emissions from light trucks alone amount to 1.15 pounds per mile.
Once the T-shirt reaches the retail market, it is purchased. This stage may seem like the leastenvironmentally damaging part. But consider the number of times you’ve washed and dried your favorite T-shirt. Washing machines are certainly becoming more efficient. However, the average American household does 400 loads of laundry per year, using about 40 gallons of water per load. Such excessive water use is combined with the large amount of energy used by dryers.
The final stage of life is disposal. This releases harmful emissions, or involves a landfill where cotton takes years to break down. Current US records show that an estimated 15% of clothes and shoes are recycled, which means that consumers send a shocking 85% of these materials to landfills.
We all need new clothes every once in a while, but let’s all try to keep in mind what goes into the production of clothing... It has a real impact on the planet.
There are a lot of things you can do to help reduce your impact. Reuse and recycle clothes. If they’re too worn out to wear, cut them up and use them as cleaning rags. Donate them to charity or another organization that recycles textiles. When possible, make an effort to buy organic cotton. Turn down the thermostat on your washer, and line dry your clothes when the weather will allow it.
1. What can be inferred from this passage?| A．The production process may affect water safety. |
| B．The clothing cost is relatively low in China and India. |
| C．Cotton clothes are buried because they are hard to break down. |
| D．The use stage is the least environmentally harmful of the five stages. |
| A．pesticides in cotton farming cost over 4 billion dollars every year |
| B．C02 emissions of land transport amount to 1.15 pounds per mile |
| C．about 15% of the clothes and shoes are made of materials that are recycled |
| D．about 16, 000 gallons of water is used annually by an average family on laundry |
| A．wastes water | B．has a bad effect |
| C．uses energy | D．takes a lot of time |
| A．To encourage people to donate clothes to charity. |
| B．To introduce the five stages in the lifecycle of clothing. |
| C．To persuade people to purchase more organic cotton. |
| D．To promote eco-friendly actions related to clothes. |
8 . EcoTreasures, a young tour company based in Sydney, have involved a new plan in their Manly Coastal Walks to remove marine debris from Penguin habitats.
The tour company specializes in Ecotourism experiences on Sydney’s Northern Beaches and within Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park, New South Wales. Ecotreasures have been lucky to host a range of international study tour students visiting Sydney this winter, who have been participating in the plan. The students arrive in Australia for short stays of generally 7—14 days, which consist of English lessons and Australia tour experiences. EcoTreasures owner, Damien McClellan, has been happy to host the students on his tours and to involve a new element in the half-day adventure, with a purpose to clean up marine debris that accumulates in the natural environment known to be the habitat for little penguins.
McClellan has been very proud to run these tours, which highlight a range of environmental awareness messages, and mentions, “when we visit the little penguin habitat at Collins Beach in Sydney Harbour National Park we conduct a beach clean-up. The students always put in 110% and we remove as much as marine debris from the catchment(积水处) as possible. We are all giving back to the location we are appreciating because of its natural beauty, and I’m proud of all these international guests caring for Australia’s environment.”
The tours offer a great display of Sydney’s natural setting right on the city’s door step. Mr. McClellan also adds, “The students and teachers really enjoy their experience on the walk around Manly. We visit the beach, Sydney Harbour National Park, Cabbage tree Aquatic reserve and Manly suburbs all in a half day adventure. We always keep the walk fun and interesting by identifying native plants & searching for Whales from land with binoculars and other wildlife along the way.”
EcoTreasures was founded in 2010 by Damien McClellan, and the business is looking forward to working with more partners in the future, developing new ecotourism plans for a range of target markets, and keeping it fun is part of the plan. EcoTreasures is Advanced Ecotourism and ROC certified.
1. What does EcoTreasures mainly specialize in?| A．protecting Little Penguins. |
| B．teaching students about environmental protection. |
| C．cleaning up penguin habitats. |
| D．holding ecotours in certain areas. |
| A．water | B．animal | C．trash | D．rock. |
| A．His appreciation for natural beauty. |
| B．His purpose to run the tours. |
| C．His pride to run the tours. |
| D．The importance of raising environmental awareness. |
| A．the tours are pleasant and valuable. |
| B．the tours make the students tired. |
| C．the tours are held far from Sydney. |
| D．the tours are held mainly for students |
9 . Five steps to make a difference to the oceans
The oceans are being seriously polluted now. Plastics are harming the marine (海产的) life. Carbon pollution is warming the oceans and increasing their acidity(酸度). Waters are being overfished.
1.Bring our own bags.
2.Talk about it now. We should carry that conversation into public places. Talk to our friends and family about why the ocean is important and why we take steps to help it, and challenge them to do the same.
3.
4.Throw away our cars.
5.Recycle, obviously. Experts say recycling is an obvious action to take. Check on what can be recycled in our community, and make sure you’re separating out your plastic.
In summary, think about it more and act on it more. The more someone thinks about plastics and plastics pollution, the environment and the consequences of our actions, the more likely they are to act on it.
| A．Plan a cleanup. |
| B．Choose public transportation over driving our cars. |
| C．Driving cars is not a good way to protect the oceans. |
| D．However, experts say there’s still hope to make a difference. |
| E．However, marine life plays a very important role in the oceans. |
| F．If everyone can contribute to the oceans, the oceans will be well preserved. |
| G．Whenever we put something, we should bring our own bag, but not a plastic one. |
10 . Summers around the world are already warmer than they used to be, and they are going to get dramatically hotter by the century’s end if carbon pollution continues to rise. That problem will be felt most acutely in cities.
The world’s rapidly growing population coupled with the urban “heat island” effect, which can make cities up to 7.8℃ warmer than the countryside, adds up to a recipe for dangerous and potentially deadly heat.
Currently, about 54 percent of the world’s population lives in cities, and by 2050 the urban population is expected to have grown by 2.5 billion people. As those cities get hotter, weather patterns may shift and make extreme heat even more common. That will, in turn, threaten public health and the economy.
Under the high-pollution situation, currently mild Ottawa, Canada could have the tropical climate of Belize City by 2100. Mountainous Kabul, Afghanistan could feel like coastal Colombo, India. Already hot Cairo, Egypt could feel like its sweltering (闷热的) neighbor, Abu Dhabi.
The average land temperature is projected to rise 4.8℃, but due to the differences in geography, some cities will warm much more. Sofia, Bulgaria is predicted to have the biggest overall temperature shift, with temperatures rising nearly 8.4℃ by 2100. That would make its summers more like in Egypt.
The average summer temperature in Khartoum, Sudan is projected to skyrocket to 44.1℃ if carbon pollution continues to be unchecked. That shift emphasizes that unless carbon pollution is limited, the planet could be headed toward a state that humans have never experienced.
Dealing with less extreme heat makes adaptation easier and less expensive, and given that choice, perhaps it’s no surprise cities are leading the charge on climate change. They face the worst impacts of extreme heat and are home to billions. That’s why thousands of mayors from around the world have banded together and promised to reduce their emissions. That includes lots of U.S. cities committing to meet the Paris Agreement goals after President Trump announced he was pulling the U.S. out of the agreement.
1. What may happen by the end of the century according to the passage?| A．Carbon pollution will be worse and worse. |
| B．The world’s population living in cities will decline. |
| C．The temperature in cities will be too high to bear in summer. |
| D．The economy and population will be impacted severely by pollution. |
| A．Ottawa, Canada. | B．Sofia, Bulgaria. |
| C．Khartoum, Sudan. | D．Kabul, Afghanistan |
| A．rise rapidly. | B．change gradually |
| C．reverse completely | D．drop naturally |
| A．Dealing with the climate problems right now is hard and expensive. |
| B．Officials are unwilling to deal with climate change. |
| C．Extreme heat will have no impact on the climate in the countryside. |
| D．Many U.S. cities are dealing with climate problems actively. |
