1 . When most kids go to the beach, they’re too focused on making sandcastles and splashing around to notice litter, but several years ago, for 7-year-old Cash Daniels, noticing a plastic straw sparked a lifelong passion for saving the planet.
Cash, who is now known as the “conservation kid”, has always loved nature. He grew up fishing along the Chattanooga River, after all! But once he learned that 80 percent of all trash from land and rivers ends up in the ocean, he couldn’t sit back.
He started with cleanups along the river, something that quickly went from a family affair to a community effort with volunteers and neighbors. In 2019, Cash, together with a Canadian conservationist, Ella Galaski-Rossen, started a nonprofit called the Cleanup Kids. Despite living in different countries, they managed to create educational videos on their YouTube channel. “We hope to be a really big nonprofit that eliminates plastic in the U. S. and Canada,” Cash said. “We want to inform kids and adults in the landlocked states of how their actions are connected to the water and the ocean,” Cash said.
Cash was selected as one of America’s top 10 youth volunteers of 2021 by the Prudential Spirit of Community Awards. He also earned the title of National Honoree, where he received a$5,000 grant to go to a nonprofit of his choice, and he became the first person to win the Youth Conservationist Award two years in a row from the Tennessee Wildlife Federation.
“I want to travel the world, teach others, and help them feel connected to the ocean. Because if you are connected to the ocean-if you love it and what lives in it—you’ll want to protect it,” he said. “This is my fun, and it becomes more fun with every new discovery.”
1. Which can replace the underlined words “sit back” in paragraph 2?A.Fall asleep. | B.Lose heart. |
C.Turn a blind eye. | D.Lend a hand. |
A.To recycle waste plastics. |
B.To make instructive videos. |
C.To spread marine knowledge. |
D.To appeal for ocean protection. |
A.Sympathetic and devoted. | B.Initiative and talented. |
C.Ambitious and humorous. | D.Determined and modest. |
A.Passion fuels dreams. |
B.Great minds think alike. |
C.Helping others is of great fun. |
D.Actions speak louder than words. |
2 . People have different ways of dealing with waste paper, specifically used newspapers. Some put them in the recycling area, while others keep them as wrappers (包装纸). While these are both good measures, a Japanese publishing company had a better idea for their end use.
The Mainichi Newspapers Co., Ltd. invented the “Green Newspaper”, which allows people to grow plants with it. This unique newspaper was published on Greenery Day, which is focused on environmental news and made of green paper with seeds placed into it. What makes it even more special is the ink (油墨) used to print words and photos, which is made from plants. The publisher advises readers to tear the used newspaper into small pieces and plant them in a container with soil. They should water them, like they would do for any plant. Within a few weeks, the seeds will grow into plants.
This brilliant concept was invented by Dentsu Inc., one of Japan’s most famous advertising agencies, which works with the publishing company on the initiative (倡议). The publisher’s belief is environmental sustainability (持续性). As its mission statement says, “The Mainichi doesn’t take action only through information, but also by solving global issues.” With joint efforts, this initiative has reached the corners of Japan and sold around millions of copies daily. Other such initiatives producing plantable paper are also seen in India and the US.
About 95 million trees are lost for producing newspapers every year. The Internet, the number of whose users stands for 62.5 percent of the population worldwide, has influenced how people read news and the print readership has dropped greatly. However, the reinvention and reimagination of this newspaper will bring about a change in the publishing industry as well as having an environmental influence.
1. What do we know about the “Green Newspaper”?A.It uses high-tech materials. |
B.It provides energy for seeds. |
C.It’s printed with plant-based ink. |
D.It’s published to celebrate Greenery Day. |
A.It’s easier said than done. |
B.Everything comes to him who waits. |
C.Many hands make light work. |
D.Actions speak louder than words. |
A.Doubtful. | B.Supportive. |
C.Indifferent. | D.Negative. |
A.About 59 million trees are lost for producing newspapers. |
B.The Internet has changed the way people read news totally. |
C.The popularity of the Internet leads to the fall of the print readership. |
D.The “Green Newspaper” will encourage more people to protect the environment. |
3 . With greater climate disasters lying ahead, it is natural for us to make every effort to stop a series of floods, unusual snowstorms, and alarming reports from scientists. For many of us, part of that means running out to buy reusable drinking tubes, organic cleaners, and packaging-free products.
However, before you are joyful of your “green” purchases, take a second to consider a principle that should be obvious: simply consuming less is better for the planet. After all, every new item a factory pumps out requires some resources to produce. But in the confusing stream of environmental news, this simple truth can get lost. Take plastic bag bans for instance. If your city is getting rid of single-use shopping bags, it can be tempting to pay for that fashionable organic cotton bag hanging in the check-outline of supermarkets. However, experts who have analyzed the data on environmental impact insist that growing cotton is actually no better for the Earth than producing the conventional plastic bag. Any bag you already own is your best bet for carrying your groceries if you care about sustainability.
It is not just the Earth that will be happier if you buy less. You will feel more contented too. There is a common view that green buying patterns mean people are going green. However, it doesn’t seem to be that way. Reduced consumption has positive effects on increased well-being, but you don’t see that with “green” consumption.
Many studies have shown that materialism in general makes us unhappy and lonely. It is perfectly possible to be a materialist and an environmentalist at the same time. Lusting (欲望) for every new “green” product on the market might make you feel good about yourself but it presents the same emotional traps as lusting for whatever the Joneses next door are buying. If you relieve yourself of that burden of ownership, most people report feeling a lot better and freer.
1. What is the function of Paragraph 1?A.To introduce the topic. |
B.To send a warning. |
C.To offer practical advice. |
D.To advocate green purchases. |
A.To promote cotton bags. |
B.To call for less consumption. |
C.To ban the using of plastic bags. |
D.To reveal the harm of using plastic bags. |
A.Buying less does benefit to the Earth. |
B.Green consumption increases well-being. |
C.Buying green indicates a green awareness. |
D.Being green gives rise to more consumption. |
A.Green Products Win Popularity |
B.Don’t Be Lost in Environmental Passion |
C.Buying Green Is Never a Final Solution |
D.Buying Less Beats Buying Green |
4 . The first rule of popular science is to reveal the wonder and mystery of the world. For that reason, Sentient (Picador), written by photographer and wildlife film-maker Jackie Higgins, is my pick of the year. According to my interviews with many readers, I select other four newly-published books in 2022.
Delicious
This book describes how our ancestors hunted and consumed ancient animals such as mammoths, bison, giant camels and many more now-extinct species. The diet of the Clovis peoples of North America was a menu described as “a record of a lost world”. This book explains how our dinners robbed the world of so many large animals. It gives inspiration for how modern humans can be at peace with nature.
The New Climate War
In 1999, Mann published a graph showing the rapid post-industrial rise in global temperatures. Two decades later, his book The New Climate War remains convinced that we can prevent climate change. This book sets out a common-sense approach to carbon pricing and a revision of the Green New Deal. Of course, there are still many people who deny that climate change is even happening.
The Geodesic Dome
Physicist Kate Greene imagines that she spends four months in a geodesic dome in Hawaii, with five other people, to mimic living in a colony on another planet. The story describes the future of our Earth. Kate makes readers cherish the natural environment. “No sunshine on our skin, and no fresh air in our lungs,” Greene turns the frustrations into a moving story.
Florida Scrub-Jay
The birds were once common across the peninsula. But as development over the last 100 years reduced the habitats on which the bird depends, the species became endangered. Mark Walters travels the state to report on the natural history and the current situation of Florida’s flag ship birds. This book can raise people’s awareness of protecting the birds’ habitats.
1. What can we infer about the author from the text?A.He’s a column journalist. | B.He’s a scientist. |
C.He’s a film-maker. | D.He’s a photographer. |
A.Delicious. | B.Florida Scrub-Jay. |
C.The Geodesic Dome. | D.The New Climate War. |
A.They have happy endings. | B.They record the natural history. |
C.They face doubts from many scientists. | D.They involve the environmental protection. |
5 . Earth Hour is organized by the World Wide Fund for Nature. It's a big event usually at the end of March every year. On this evening, people “go dark”.
It's true that turning off lights for just one hour saves only a small amount of power.
But on another level, a large number of people’s acting together sends a powerful message to governments and companies.
The logo(标识) of Earth Hour is “60+” .The number 60 is for the 60 minutes of Earth Hour.
A.But this is only the beginning. |
B.Earth Hour represents every hour of every day. |
C.After all, everyone has to answer for what they have done. |
D.Besides turning off the lights, people get involved in other events. |
E.It pushes them to take urgent measures by making changes to policies. |
F.That is, they switch off all unnecessary lights at the same time for one hour. |
G.The plus invites people to continue their action even after Earth Hour is finished. |
1.海报主题及制作过程;
2.活动感受。
注意:1.写作词数应为80个左右:
2.可适当增加细节以使行文连贯。
Dear fellow students,
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Thank you!
7 . Lisa Gautier receives nearly a dozen parcels of human hair every day. With her San-Francisco-based non-profit organization Matter of Trust, Gautier turns donated hair into mats used to soak up oil spills on land, and booms(long tubes)used for spills at sea.
A standard way to clean up oil from land is to use mats made from polypropylene(聚丙烯). But polypropylene is a non-biodegradable plastic, and producing it ultimately means more drilling for oil. Hair, by contrast, is an environmentally friendly resource that can soak up around five times its weight in oil, according to Matter of Trust, and it is abundant.
Oil spills can pollute drinking water, endanger public health, harm plants and wildlife, and damage the economy. According to Gautier, the spills that hit the headlines only make up 5% of global oil pollution.
Megan Murray, an environmental biologist at the University of Technology Sydney, develops sustainable technologies to tackle oil spills. Her research indicates that as well as being biodegradable, human hair is often just as effective as polypropylene, and in some circumstances even better. “The hair mats are very beneficial to land spills,” says Murray but adds that when raw oil is spilled on beach sand, it is very difficult to absorb it using any of the materials she has tested. Another advantage of hair is that it costs less than conventional materials and is “globally available as a recycled material,” she says.
However, Murray cautions that hair mats are not a perfect solution, because they are single-use, and can only be dealt with by burning or by burying into soil which then isn’t suitable for growing food. She is now researching methods to extract the oil from a used hair mat, meaning both can be reused.
As the hair mat designs aren’t under patent, other groups have begun producing their own mats and booms. Gautier is pleased to see the movement growing. “Anyone can make a hair mat,” she says. “It creates green jobs, it cleans water, it reduces waste in landfill, and it’s promoting renewable resources.”
1. What do we know about polypropylene according to the passage?A.It is environmentally friendly. |
B.People need more oil to produce it. |
C.It can soak up around five times its weight in oil. |
D.People seldom use mats made from it to clean up oil from land. |
A.Hair mats do no harm to soil after being burnt. |
B.People spend more to make hair mats than conventional materials. |
C.The effect of hair mats on terrestrial(陆地上的)spills is not very good. |
D.Hair mats are not a perfect solution because they can’t be recycled now. |
A.Most oil-spill events have received widespread media coverage. |
B.Lisa Gautier donated her hair to soak up oil spills on land and at sea. |
C.Megan Murray goes all out to make the hair mats and the oil extracted from them reused. |
D.There are many other materials used to treat oil spills on beach sand besides hair. |
A.Human Hair Is Being Used to Clean Up Oil Spills |
B.A Perfect Recycled Material—Human Hair |
C.Take Action to Make Hair Mats And Booms |
D.How to Tackle Oil Spills |
8 . Buying furniture is easier than ever. You can even order a new table and chairs online without ever leaving home. But did you ever think about how furniture is made? The process begins with trees but now researchers have found a better way: growing it in a lab instead of a forest. Instead of cutting down trees and adding to deforestation, Velasquez-Garcia said, “If you want a table, then you should just grow a table.”
The research group found a way to actually grow plant tissue (组织) — wood and fiber — in a lab that is similar to the way cultured meat is grown. While there is still a long way to go to actually grow a table, the team was able to grow structures from cells from zinnia leaves.
Making furniture and other items from biomaterials could eliminate cutting down trees in forests. “The way we get these materials hasn’t changed in centuries and is very inefficient,” said Velasquez-Garcia. “This is a real chance to avoid all that inefficiency.”
There are other benefits to using lab wood too. Lab grown wood can be handled to take on any shape — like 3 D printing — so it may be possible to build a table without glue or screwing parts together.
Beckwith, a mechanical engineering PhD student, was inspired by a visit to a farm to try to make land-use more efficient and environmentally sound. “That got me thinking: Can we be more strategic (战略上的) about what we’re getting out of our process? Can we get more yield for our inputs?” she told MIT News. “I wanted to find a more efficient way to use land and resources so that we could let more farmlands remain wild, or to remain lower production but allow for greater biodiversity.”
Today, the two largest uses of trees are to make wood products and paper. When new biomaterials become readily available, forests will lose their economic value and will be preserved for their environmental, health, and recreational value. These researchers, like Velasquez-Garcia, are speaking for the trees.
1. What does the author think of growing furniture according to Paragraph 1?A.It turns out to be convenient. |
B.It’ll cut down daily expense. |
C.It might have a bright future. |
D.It’s as important as making furniture. |
A.Risk. | B.Fancy. | C.Remove. | D.Delay. |
A.To make large profits. |
B.To keep biodiversity. |
C.To increase production. |
D.To use wild resources. |
A.Wide use of new biomaterials. |
B.Less use of wood products and paper. |
C.Making effective forest laws. |
D.Caring more for the environment. |
At the Shishou Milu National Nature Reserve in Hubei Province, about 2,000 creatures wander freely. Their numbers include 460 deer born this year, showing that the species,
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Nowadays, the life of many people in the world