1 . The Canadian government announced a plan to ban single-use plastics as early as 2022. As someone who performs research on plastic pollution, I see this as a positive step forward. However, I wonder whether it will go far enough.

Some people may feel that this announcement is simply a “feel-good measure” and a distraction from bigger problems such as the climate disaster. The truth of the matter is that plastic pollution and the climate disaster are signs of the same disease. As much as 8% of global oil goes directly to plastic production—a figure that doesn’t include the transportation of single-use plastics to global markets, the energy used to transport plastics to landfills and the energy used to sort or recycle things.

In the past years, some bans have actually resulted in an increase in other forms of waste. For example, paper bags may be seen as a sustainable (可持续的) choice since, unlike plastics, paper breaks down in the environment. However, a paper bag has a carbon footprint three times that of a plastic bag and is still “single-use” just as much as a plastic bag is.

Adopting (采用) a science-based method, which the government has promised, will ensure the ways of using single-use plastics are more sustainable. I’m, however, concerned about the announcement because “as early as 2022” is very different from “by 2022”, which has a strict timeline. If we’re truly going to carry out an effective ban on single-use plastics, our government will need to spend a large amount of money on innovation (改革) and research into sustainable materials and our waste treatment system to prevent plastics from going into our oceans or landfills.

So the question remains: is this announcement simply smoke and mirrors, to hide a lack of determined action on both plastic waste and the climate disaster, or is this a real effort that will be carried out to stop the production of single-use plastics? We will have to wait and see.

1. How does the author feel about Canada’s new plan?

A．She is more excited than worried.	B．She never believes in Canada.
C．She considers it a great success.	D．She has mixed feelings about it.

2. The purpose of Paragraph 3 is to_________.

A．stress paper bags are sustainable materials

B．explain paper bags are greener than plastics

C．prove some measures are unsatisfactory

D．show paper bags are no different from plastics

3. Which aspect of the announcement makes the author concerned?

A．Its coming a little too late.	B．Its lacking scientific support.
C．Its having no strict timeline.	D．Its appearing far from practical.

4. What is mainly talked about in the text?

A．Canada’s efforts to reduce the use of plastics.

B．The author’s views on Canada’s single-use plastic ban.

C．Reasons for the author’s criticism of Canada’s new plan.

D．Similarities between plastic pollution and the climate disaster.

2 . One of the biggest topics of the last decade, sustainability has become the beacon (灯塔) of hope to protect the planet. From supermarkets taking action on plastic packaging to the zero waste movement that can be practised from your kitchen, changes made by individuals and organizations across the globe has had an impact on the way we think, shop and live.

So what does that mean for the world of technology? You’d be forgiven for thinking that the words “sustainable” and “tech” don’t usually go hand in hand.E-waste is, after all, one of the planet’s biggest contributing waste streams. Not only that, but the materials that go into tech products are also part of the problem.

But with a challenge comes an opportunity, and there’s already some brilliant progress happening — great news for those of us wanting to be more sustainable with our tech. Firstly, renewed is having its moment. While consumers would previously turn their noses up at the idea of a second-hand device, there’s been a huge surge in demand for renewed tech. The second major step in tackling the problem of e-waste is a change in attitudes from owning a product to subscribing for one. A subscription for a smartphone might sound like a foreign concept, but it’s already gaining momentum. At the forefront of this movement is London-based tech startup Raylo, a pending B Corp which offers a subscription service for the latest iPhone. As customers aren’t paying to own the phone at the end of their contract, the monthly price is significantly lower than average.

Studies show that extending a phone’s lifespan from one to four years can decrease its environmental impact by about 40%.So the next time it comes to refreshing your device — whether a smartphone, laptop, tablet or something else-consider the more environmentally-friendly options that are at your fingertips.

1. What’s the purpose of paragraph 1?

A．To change the way we think, shop, and live.

B．To introduce the topic of sustainability in tech.

C．To tell us what people have done to protect the planet.

D．To call on people to do something for the environment.

2. What does paragraph 2 mainly talk about?

A．High-tech products are in short supply.

B．E-waste contributes to the biggest waste streams.

C．The two sustainability problems in technology.

D．Ignoring sustainable technology is unforgivable.

3. Which of the following best explains “turn their noses up at” underlined in paragraph 3?

A．Oppose.

B．Present.

C．Explain.

D．Accept.

4. How can we become sustainable in technology according to Raylo?

A．By upgrading the old one.

B．By paying monthly for a smartphone.

C．By spending less money on a smartphone.

D．By replacing the old one with the latest one.

3 . Several art projects are on show to warn people of the climate change happening around us.

Video on the walls

Photographer Camille Seaman has traveled to both the North Pole and the South Pole, where she has captured the disappearing ice in photographs and video. Camille Seaman made a video with some of her most powerful photos of melting ice for people in four coastal cities to display on their buildings. The video ends with a prediction that sea level will rise by 2050 without relative action.

Mural (壁画)changing color

Temperatures in Austin, Texas, are on the rise, and climate change will put the city at higher risk of extended drought, wildfires, intense rain and flooding. Artist Lope Gutiérrez-Ruiz designed a unique mural that changes color as it gets hotter. This art work calls for people to change the world and change climate change, underlining the importance of individual actions to the collective future.

Public billboard   (广告牌)

Artist Christine Sun Kim released a public billboard on the 710 Freeway called The Sound of Temperature Rising. It points to the reality of climate disaster that has become all too clear on the West Coast and the need for significant change now. The illustration features a graph (图表) of music notes that get progressively longer and redder.

Anti-Extinction Library

Globally, species are disappearing at an unheard-of rate. In response, architect Mitchell Joachim created The Anti-Extinction Library in New York. The sculptural piece is not only beautiful but also functional. Their unique egg-shaped library has a special freezer storing test tubes with the frozen cells and DNA of rare animals and plants. It’s important for people to realize we must quickly work to protect the rights of different species in our area.

1. What is the key feature of the mural?

A．It lights up at night.

B．It moves with the wind.

C．It plays music when it rains.

D．It changes color with temperature.

2. Whose work contains frozen cells?

A．Camille Seaman’s.	B．Lope Gutiérrez-Ruiz’s.
C．Christine Sun Kim's.	D．Mitchel l Joachim’s.

3. What is the author’s purpose in writing the text?

A．To praise artists’ participation.

B．To call for people to take action.

C．To show the severe result of climate change.

D．To facilitate the combination of art and climate.

4 . Imagine a world without insects. It might sound good at first without creepy-crawly bugs and annoying flies in your apartment. However, the consequences would be disastrous.

The number of insects has dropped by more than half in the past decades, according to British biologist Dave Goulson, author of Silent Earth: Averting the Insect Apocalypse. As insects make up most of the known species on this planet, this data is not good news, The Guardian reported on July 25.

Insects are indeed on the path to extinction, according to the first global scientific review of insect population decline, which was published in the journal Biological Conservation in January 2019. The researchers say intensive agriculture has been the main cause of the decline. Pesticides, in particular, destroy insect habitats. Urbanization and climate change are also significant factors.

“Unless we change our ways of producing food, insects as a whole will go down the path of extinction in a few decades,” the researchers wrote in the review. “The repercussions (影响) this will have for the planet’s ecosystems are catastrophic to say the least.”

What would happen to Earth without insects? It’s almost impossible to predict, but the consequences would be far-reaching. We need insects to pollinate (授粉) crops, recycle plant and animal material, keep the soil healthy and much more. Without insects, many animals would have nothing to eat, and the predators of those animals would go hungry as well. The ecosystem would be thrown off balance.

“If insect species losses cannot be halted, this will have catastrophic consequences for both the planet’s ecosystems and for the survival of mankind,” said Francisco Sanchez-Bayo at the University of Sydney, Australia, one of the authors of the review.

The first step to halting this process is “to engender a society that values the natural world, both for what it does for us and for its own sake”, Goulson suggests. “The obvious place to start is with our children, encouraging environmental awareness from an early age.”

1. What does the underlined word “disastrous” in paragraph 1 probably mean?

A．Highly helpful.	B．Very interesting.
C．Extremely terrible.	D．Impossible to predict.

2. What is paragraph 3 mainly about?

A．Problems with intensive agriculture.

B．Causes of the decline in the insect population.

C．Factors causing insect habitat loss.

D．Influence of urbanization on insects.

3. Why are insects so important to Earth?

A．They help slow down climate change.

B．They reduce the number of predators.

C．They have a great impact on the ecosystem.

D．They keep the soil dry and healthy.

4. What does Goulson believe is key to preventing insect species losses?

A．Exploring the natural world often.

B．Providing insects with enough food.

C．Taking children to watch insects closely.

D．Raising public awareness of natural protection.

5 . Plastic pollution is one of the earth’s greatest challenges that humans have faced and often neglected. Anyone who uses plastic has caused problems in one way or another. In order to solve the environmental problems, more and more people are starting to live a simple and environmental-friendly life called zero-waste lifestyle.

When you choose a zero-waste lifestyle, you pay more attention to how your   consumption habits influence the environment. You’re more careful about what you buy and how you use it. So how can you live a zero-waste life? Actually when looking at your rubbish, you’ll grasp what it is.

There are two main types of rubbish. The first is food packaging, so we should learn how to shop for things with no big pack or package-free. The second is product packaging, so we should learn how to make our own products in a green way. With our efforts, we will reduce a large amount of rubbish. Shopping for second-hand goods is also important. Instead of buying new clothes and putting new waste into the waste cycle, we should buy things that are second-hand or can be totally recycled.

There are many advantages of living a zero-waste life. Firstly, we can save money by making things ourselves and buying second-hand goods. Second-hand clothes are usually less expensive than new ones. Next, we can eat better to stay healthy. We should buy fresh fruits and vegetables to reduce the waste of resources when processing food.

Although government policies can make a difference, it needs everyone’s efforts to completely solve the problem. From now on, let’s begin to live a green life.

1. What is the first paragraph mainly about?

A．The challenge of improving the environment.	B．The importance of improving the environment.
C．The advantage of living a zero-waste life.	D．The reason for living a zero-waste life.

2. The underlined word “grasp” in paragraph 2 probably means “________” in the passage.

A．understand

B．catch

C．improve

D．doubt

3. How can we reduce rubbish according to the passage?

A．Buying food with fine packaging.	B．Using plastic bottles wisely.
C．Shopping for second-hand products.	D．Throwing away your old clothes.

4. The passage is mainly written to________.

A．explain why the environment is polluted	B．call on more people to live a green life
C．share some useful ways of reducing rubbish	D．talk about environmental problems in the future

6 . Half of the world's beaches could disappear by 2100, a study published in the journal Nature Climate Change suggests.

Michalis Vousdoukas, of the European Union's Joint Research Center in Ispra, Italy, was the lead researchist. "Tourist areas which have sandy beaches as their main selling point will probably face strong consequences," he said. Aside from economic value, beaches play an important environmental role. "Sandy beaches are important habitats supporting a wide range of species. They also protect the coast from the effects of storms, so without sandy beaches other inland environments can be affected by the effects of waves and saltwater entering," Vousdoukas added.

The main causes are rising sea-level and erosion (侵蚀)from storms, the study says, which warned of the near-disappearance of almost half of the world's sandy beaches by the end of the century. Beaches in the United States will be   “greatly affected”，as will shorelines in Canada, Mexico, China and Chile. In the U. S. , beaches along the East Coast and the Gulf Coast will experience the most erosion.

Michalis Vousdoukas and other researchers used satellite images to track the way beaches have changed over the past 30 years and patterned how global warming might affect them in the future. They found that West Africa will see some of the worst losses, where more than 60% of sandy coastline may be lost in countries such as The Gambia and Guinea-Bissau. Australia will also take a hit:when the total length of sandy beach projected to be lost is analyzed, Australia would be hit the hardest, with more than 7,000 miles at risk.

1. What mainly caused the disappearance of half of the world's beaches?

A．Over population and more tourism.	B．Severe erosion and coastline losses.
C．Global warming and climate change.	D．Sea-level rise and storm destruction.

2. Which country possibly loses more than half of sandy coastline according to the study?

A．Chile.

B．The Gambia.

C．Australia.

D．The United States.

3. Why are beaches important to wildlife?

A．They can provide habitats for species.

B．They can block out waves and storms.

C．They can be popular tourist attractions.

D．They can stop erosion from happening.

4. What is the author's purpose in writing this text?

A．To introduce beaches.	B．To make a comparison.
C．To protect environment.	D．To explain a study.

7 . 阅读下面短文，在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

When Abdus Salam looks across the trash-filled river near his home in one of Dhaka's major garment manufacturing districts, he remembers a time     1     the factories moved in. "When I was young there     2    (be) no garment factories here. We used to grow crops and loved to catch different kinds of fish. The atmosphere was very nice," he said.

The river beside him is now black like an ink stain. Abdus Salam said waste from nearby garment factories and dye houses has polluted the water. "There are no fish now," he said. "The water is so polluted that our children and grandchildren cannot have     3     same experience."

Bangladesh is the world's second     4    (big) garment manufacturing center after China,

    5     (export) $34 billion worth of garments in 2019. And clothes     6    (make), dyed and finished in the country often end up in main street shops across the United States and Europe.

Fashion is responsible for up to one-fifth of     7    (industry) water pollution, partly due

    8     weak regulation and enforcement in producer countries like Bangladesh, where wastewater is     9     (common) dumped directly into rivers and streams. The harmful discharge (排出物) not only hurts the environment, but pollutes essential drinking water sources.

One 55-year-old, who     10    (live) in Savar for the past 18 years, said the polluted waterways are a risk to his family's health. "The kids will get sick if they stay here," he said, adding that his two children and grandson are unable to live with him "because of the water."

8 . Andrew Otazo, 35, and Manny Rionda, 55, from Florida, used an app to track the hurricane bands. They ________ until winds temporarily became weaker before heading out to Key Biscayne Beach to ________ trash.

Then they hauled (拖) in 310 pounds of washed-up traps, rope and other ________. Two warm-hearted strangers who eagerly joined the cleanup group helped ________ this. The traps can cause great ________, Otazo said, as they pose a risk to turtles and birds.

Otazo started doing this five years ago, when he ________ a lot of trash trapped beneath the exposed roots of Florida mangroves (红树林). He began to ________ mangroves, and quickly learned about their ________. They protect the region from erosion (侵蚀) — particularly during extreme weather events, including hurricanes. Then he started to collect trash. So far, he has ________ more than 22,000pounds of trash from South Florida’s coastal ecosystem.

“Florida mangroves ________ the effects of natural disasters — the power that ________ can have in protecting our lives and our belongings is great,” said Anne Birch, a Florida ocean and coast strategy director, adding that mangroves are ________. “If mangroves are reduced in size, then you are reducing their benefits,” Birch said ________.

Birch also said that the ________ of environmentalists such as Otazo and Rionda is important. “When you start accumulating (积聚) the power of one ________, you can make a real difference,” she said.

That’s Otazo’s ________. Otazo also delivers speeches regularly to raise ________ and encourage people to protect the coastal ecosystem.

As natural disasters occur more frequently — which scientists say are ________ , at least in part, by climate change — Otazo believes his ________ is more important than ever.” I’m ________ to doing this for the rest of my life, until I physically can’t do it anymore,” Otazo said.

1.

A．chatted

B．hesitated

C．waited

D．complained

2.

A．pick up

B．sort out

C．set fire to

D．make use of

3.

A．equipment

B．material

C．baggage

D．waste

4.

A．cover

B．accomplish

C．carry

D．control

5.

A．uncertainty

B．change

C．damage

D．conflict

6.

A．buried

B．collected

C．cleaned

D．noticed

7.

A．plant

B．research

C．protect

D．appreciate

8.

A．role

B．species

C．favorite

D．growth

9.

A．recycled

B．burned

C．removed

D．monitored

10.

A．suffer

B．ease

C．avoid

D．show

11.

A．determination

B．knowledge

C．action

D．nature

12.

A．threatened

B．ignored

C．decorated

D．introduced

13.

A．regretfully

B．politely

C．worriedly

D．calmly

14.

A．reputation

B．work

C．opinion

D．recognition

15.

A．voice

B．individual

C．community

D．solution

16.

A．concern

B．style

C．choice

D．goal

17.

A．awareness

B．doubts

C．money

D．expectations

18.

A．maintained

B．challenged

C．fueled

D．surrounded

19.

A．observation

B．health

C．courage

D．initiative

20.

A．committed

B．limited

C．accustomed

D．reduced

9 . 垃圾已成为一个严重的环境问题。假如你是李华，请你给某英语杂志社的编辑写一封信反映这个情况，说明垃圾的危害以及处理办法。要点如下：
1．垃圾的现状和危害；
2．说明处理垃圾的办法：分类放进不同的垃圾桶里；提高环保意识；
3．自己的看法。
注意:1.词数120左右，开头结尾已经为你写好(不计入总词数);
2.可适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
参考词汇：垃圾 rubbish
分类放进不同的垃圾桶里 put into different dustbins
提高环保意识 raise awareness of environmental protection
Dear editor,
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Yours sincerely,

Li Hua

10 . 阅读下面材料，在空白处填入适当的内容（1个单词）或括号内单词的正确形式。

Across northern Africa, the desert is steadily growing. Dry lands are spreading. But a bold project known as the Great Green Wall aims to stop the     1     (grow) of the desert. The ambitious program includes plans     2     (help) protect and maintain resources and fight poverty.

Farmers are learning to care for their land and use water     3     (wise). They are also planting millions of trees and crops. The Great Green Wall would cover     4     area of more than 4,000 miles --from Senegal in the west to Djibouti in the east.

The Great Green Wall     5     (approve) by the African Union in 2007. The program receives support from the United Nations, the World Bank, and other groups.

The Great Green Wall’s trees provide a barrier     6     desert winds and help hold moisture(水分) in the air and soil,     7     (allow) crops to grow. In time, the richer soil will provide more land for animals to graze on. More resources will bring more jobs. “The goal is to create sustainable land management,” said Nora Berrahmouni, a forestry officer     8     works with the UN Food and Agriculture Organization.

Trees and crops have been planted in Senegal and Niger. An     9     (add) benefit of the Great Green Wall is that countries in the region are sharing information about which programs work and which don’t. Now, along with trees,    10    (idea) are taking root.