1 . Roads and railways have made it easy for people to travel around the UK, but have had the precisely opposite effect for insects. Alongside housing developments, transport infrastructure (基础设施) has separated insect habitats, leaving many pollinators (传粉昆虫) stuck on decreasing islands of biodiversity.
A new conservation project aims to address that by creating a network of wildflower superhighways across the UK. The B-Lines network aims to join the dots between meadow habitats, enabling pollinators and other wildlife to move freely between them. Ten years in the making, the B-Lines initiative was launched by the insect charity Buglife on Tuesday and has already generated interest from unexpected quarters. “After the launch, some house builders rang up asking how they could include the network into house building, so it could have a really positive effect,” said Buglife’s Paul Hetherington.
Buglife has spent the last decade mapping potential routes for the insect superhighway. Hetherington said the proposed highway could give the UK’s weak insects a boost and a route out of habitats that become too hot due to the climate crisis and it can make a huge difference in easing declines. “The things that have really hammered pollinators are habitat loss, loss of connectivity of habitat, climate change and pesticides—this deals with everything except pesticides,” said Hetherington.
The B-lines network is not just a concept. Pilot sections have already been completed, including the South Wales B-Lines near Cardiff. “Since that was done, there have been recordings of one of our rarest bees in Cardiff town centre, which shows this connectivity can work,” said Hetherington. And in Norwich, Buglife has been working with Network Rail to plant wildflowers along the track. Anyone living along the proposed route can get involved in the project. All they need to do is let their lawns grow, or even just create a small herb garden, which Hetherington likened to creating a “motorway service station for bees”.
1. What can we learn about the B-Lines network from paragraph 2?A.It will separate insect habitats. | B.It can help insects to pollinate. |
C.It is still being planned now. | D.It hasn’t caused any attention. |
A.The last decade. | B.The superhighway. | C.The climate crisis. | D.The decline. |
A.By recording the tracks of bees. | B.By cooperating with Network Rail. |
C.By planting herbs in their own gardens. | D.By creating a motorway service station. |
A.Roads and railways have caused bad effect on insects. |
B.Transport infrastructure prevents housing developments. |
C.Pollinators are stuck on decreasing islands of biodiversity. |
D.Conservationists are creating “superhighways” for insects. |
2 . My name is Miranda Gibson. I have been at the top of a tree for five months now. Some people might wonder
I have walked through this forest many times. On December 12, 2011,
Life in the tree top can be
Living on the tree has been inspiring. I am willing to
A.why | B.when | C.how | D.where |
A.water | B.animals | C.machinery | D.tourists |
A.bear | B.help | C.keep | D.spare |
A.sold | B.stolen | C.protected | D.lost |
A.grew out | B.fell short | C.ran out | D.let go |
A.refreshing | B.risky | C.challenging | D.rewarding |
A.get up | B.get away | C.give in | D.give up |
A.change | B.look | C.search | D.touch |
A.confused | B.nervous | C.sorry | D.lonely |
A.Beyond | B.Without | C.Despite | D.Unlike |
A.height | B.experience | C.background | D.position |
A.return | B.stop | C.stay | D.hide |
A.but | B.though | C.because | D.so |
A.soon | B.long | C.near | D.bad |
A.moved | B.logged | C.burned | D.missed |
3 . A record surge in the creation of marine protected areas has taken the international community close to its goal of creating nature refuges on 17% of the world’s land and 10% of seas by 2020, according to a new UN report. Protected region snow cover more than five times the territory of the US, but the authors said this good news was often undermined by poor enforcement. Some reserves are little more than “paper parks” with little value to nature conservation. Atleast one has been turned into an industrial zone. More than 27m square kilometres of seas (7% of the total) and 20m sq km of land (15% of the total) now have protected status, according to the Protected Planet report, which was released on Sunday at the UN biodiversity conference in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.
Almost all of the growth has been in marine regions, most notably with the creation last year of the world’s biggest protected area: the 2m sq km Ross Sea reserve, one-fifth of which is in the Antarctic. The no-fishing zone will be managed by New Zealand and the US.
“We have seen an enormous expansion in the past two years. There is now more marine protected area than terrestrial, which nobody would have predicted,” said Kathy McKinnon of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. “I think we’ll continue to see a substantial increase, I’d guess, to at least 10% in the near future.”
The UN convention on biological diversity says it has received national commitments for an additional 4.5m sq km of land and 16m sq km of oceans to be given protected status in the next two years. This would put it on course to achieve one of the key aims of the 2010 Aichi biodiversity targets.
“This is the target with the most progress. In an ocean of bad news about biodiversity loss and eco-destruction, it is important to highlight that progress, though we still have a lot more to do to ensure not just the quantitive target but the effectiveness of the management,” said CristianaPașca Palmer, the head of UN Biodiversity.
The creation of protected areas has not been enough to halt a collapse of species and ecosystems that threatens civilisation. Since 1970 humanity has wiped out 60% of mammal, bird, fish and reptile populations, with a dangerous knock-on impact on food production, fisheries and climate stability.
Protected areas are important refuges from this wave of extinctions but many are underfunded and poorly policed. Only one in five have provided management assessments to the UN, which has raised questions about the viability of the rest.
Naomi Kingston, of UN environment world conservation monitoring centre, said: “There is a race to deliver on Aichi target 11. It is fantastic that countries are coming with more ambition, but not if it is just a number without substance.
“Some areas that have been reported to us as protected areas have been completely built over. We need datasets to define which areas are paper parks and which are real.”
Developing nations have better reporting standards because many are obliged to provide regular assessments in order to qualify for funds from the Global Environment Fund. By contrast, many wealthier nations devote few resources to monitoring.
Discussions will focus on a new, more flexible category for community land that is used by locals for both agricultural production and wildlife conservation. In Africa, Asia and Latin America, this is a model that has often helped improve biodiversity because residents — often from indigenous communities — live closely with nature and have an interest in protecting it.
1. What promotes the achievement of the goals of marine nature reserves?A.Poor management of marine protected areas. |
B.Loss of biodiversity and ecological destruction. |
C.Rapid growth in the number of marine protected areas. |
D.Commitments in the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity. |
A.They have promoted the expansion of marine protected areas. |
B.They have little value for nature conservation. |
C.They all turn into industrial zones. |
D.They will slow down the collapse of ecosystems. |
A.NewZealand and the United States regulate fishing-ban zones. |
B.In the near future, the number of marine refuges will increase by at least 10%. |
C.The quantity and management quality of marine refuges are equally important. |
D.Many countries have ambitions to achieve Aichi 11. |
A.A recorded surge in the creation of marine protected areas. |
B.Developing countries may receive funding from the Global Environment Facility. |
C.The Increase of marine refuges and the views of relevant personnel. |
D.Achieving Aichi 11 Goal. |
4 . Every year, an average American produces more than 250 pounds of plastic waste. Recycling is part of the solution, but many of us are confused about what can be recycled and what can’t.
Plastic film
At the store we find it covering vegetables, meats and cheeses. It’s common, but it can’t be recycled because it’s hard to deal with at the MRF (材料回收厂). The thin and soft film gets stuck around the equipment and can bring it to a stop.
Plastic bags
Plastic bags — like those used for bread, sandwich as well as grocery bags — create similar problems for recycling machines as thin plastic film. Therefore, most of the plastic bags end up in landfills and oceans.
Yogurt and butter cups
These containers often mix with other kinds of materials. It’s not possible to separate them. In addition, this type of packaging flattens out on the MRF’s conveying belt and can bring the equipment to a stop, too.
Beverage (饮料) bottles
These containers are firm. They don’t flatten out like yogurt cups and they’re made from one kind of plastic that recyclers can easily sell for making products such as carpet, clothing or even more plastic bottles.
Warning: Be aware that we cannot recycle as much as we want. For example, plastic bottles are a highly desirable product for recyclers, but just about a third finds their way into the MRFs. Therefore, it’s more important for us to reduce packaging.
1. What do the first two kinds of packaging have in common?A.They are used for the same products. | B.They are mixed with other materials |
C.They are too thin and soft to be recycled. | D.They are usually recycled in special MRFs. |
A.Plastic film. | B.Beverage bottles. | C.Plastic bags. | D.Yogurt and butter cups. |
A.Reduce packaging. | B.Try to build more MRFs. |
C.Use recyclable bags. | D.Separate the waste properly. |
5 . In recent years, cotton bags have risen to popularity as an eco-friendly alternative to single-use plastic bags. But the sudden increase in the use of the cotton bag as a basic accessory may actually have created a new problem.
An organic cotton bag needs to be used 20, 000 times to offset (抵消) its overall impact of production on the environment, according to a study by the Ministry of Environment and Food of Denmark. That is equal to daily use for 54 years for just one bag. According to this measure, for Venetia Berry, an artist in London who found she had at least 25 cotton bags in her closet, she would have to live for more than 1, 000 years to offset her current possessions if all her bags were organic.
According to the Circular Laboratory, it requires between 10, 000 and 20, 000 liters of water to produce one kilogram of cotton. And only 15 percent of the 30 million tons of cotton produced every year actually makes its way to textile (纺织品) warehouses. Even when a cotton bag does make it to a treatment plant, most logos printed on them are not recyclable. They’re extremely difficult to break down chemically.
That’s not to say cotton is worse than plastic, or that the two should even be compared. While cotton can use pesticides and has dried up rivers, lightweight plastic bags use fossil fuels that release greenhouse gases, never break down and block the oceans.
Buffy Reid, of the British knitwear label &. Daughter, stopped production of her cotton bags in April 2021. Skincare brand Aesop is changing the composition of their bags to a 60-40 mixture of recycled and organic cotton. Some brands are turning to other textile solutions. The British designer Ally Capellino replaced cotton with hemp (大麻), while Ms. Hindmarch introduced a new version of her original bag, this time made from recycled water bottles. In the end, the simplest solution may be the most obvious; Not every product needs a bag.
1. What do the figures in Paragraph 2 indicate?A.Cotton bags are not all that perfect. |
B.Cotton bags have quite a long service life. |
C.Cotton bags are enjoying widespread popularity. |
D.Cotton bags require a complex production process. |
A.They are not recyclable and difficult to break down. |
B.Their logos are made from planet-friendly materials. |
C.They require high consumption of water resources. |
D.Their production generates fossil fuel-related emissions. |
A.Stopping producing cotton bags. |
B.Reducing the use of shopping bags. |
C.Replacing cotton with other materials. |
D.Changing the composition of cotton bags. |
A.The cotton bag crisis. |
B.The rise of cotton bags. |
C.The comparison between cotton and plastic. |
D.The production and recycling of cotton bags. |
⑴ 演讲目的;
⑵ 保护野生动物的原因;
⑶ 保护野生动物的建议;
⑷ 再次呼吁保护野生动物。
注意:词数在100左右,可以适当增加细节。
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7 . Recycling is good for our planet, but it can be confusing. Can I recycle plastic bags? What about pizza cartons? Toothpaste tubes? Which bin should I use? There are so many questions, and more than half of Americans are unsure about how to recycle.
Know what to put in the recycling bin. Keep it simple and focus on the most commonly recycled items, such as paper, glass, aluminum and plastic.
Wash or clean items. Do a quick clean to make sure there is no food left in containers before you put them in the bin.
Don’t bag it. Unless you live in a place that requires it, like New York City, keep the recyclables lost in the bin. “A lot of the time, it’s not safe for our employees to tear those bags open, or it takes too much time,” said Keller. “
A.Know what is not recyclable. |
B.The answers are not hard to find. |
C.A lot of bagged stuff goes right to the landfill. |
D.Plastic bags can be used again or returned to grocery stores. |
E.If you really don’t know if an item is recyclable, then just throw it in the garbage. |
F.This is really important if you only use one bin because food items could ruin paper. |
G.Hard plastics like water and soft drink bottles or anything like these can be recycled. |
Climate Change Requires The World’s Attention
There is little doubt that Earth
Climate scientists often mention a key climate process
There is strong and comprehensive evidence that the rise in temperature has led to an increase in extreme weather and
Governments need to consider making policies and taking appropriate actions and measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. We as individuals can also reduce our “carbon footprint”. It is our
9 . In the 1970’s, people who managed ponds had a problem with plants and snails in the water. To control the pests, the managers brought four species of carp, a type of fish, from Asia. But some of the fish escaped into rivers and other waterways. Soon, there were lots of fish. And they became troublesome invasive species. These non-native fish can bully ecosystems, quickly taking over. Growing fast and big, they ate lots of the food on which the native fish would normally depend. Bighead carp are an invasive species in the United States. Binbin Wang is using a combination of computer modeling and field experiments to study how the eggs of these and other invasive carp could be transported in the Missouri River.
Today, the descendants (后代) of those carp remain a big problem. And as the fish spawn (产卵), their eggs have been drifting (漂流) far and wide. Anticipating where something will drift can be a challenge. But finding answers may handle the crisis.
At the University of Missouri in Columbia, civil and environmental engineer Binbin Wang is working to figure out where eggs of the invasive fish are spreading in the Missouri River. If science can get ahead of the problem, there’s hope that people may figure out how to stop it. But if science is too slow to answer this question, legions of carp eggs will grow into adults that out-compete their neighbors. Stopping their spread would help reduce the overall damage they cause.
Drifting may seem somewhat random, but scientists are doing researches to make useful predictions possible. Some of these drift detectives want to know if large icebergs threaten offshore oil platforms. Others hope to track the polluted air or water-and determine where they’re coming from. The work is challenging. It also can be very rewarding. Most importantly, their findings may point toward solutions for some important environmental threats.
1. The scientists track the drifting of carp eggs in order to ________ .A.ensure the quality of their eggs | B.protect the native fish |
C.stop them from polluting the water | D.make it easier to transport them |
A.The carp’s spawning. | B.The direction of eggs’ drifting. |
C.The extinction of the invasive fish. | D.The spread of the invasive fish. |
A.Where carp eggs are drifting is still a barrier to the research. |
B.Researches have already found ways to stop the drifting of eggs. |
C.It’s easy to predict the direction of the drifting of invasive fish eggs. |
D.Cleaning the polluted water is the best solutions to environmental treats. |
A.Indifferent. | B.Unclear. | C.Positive. | D.Doubtful. |
10 . When you throw something in the recycling bin, do you think about what it could become? And when you do, does it make you more likely to use that recycling bin? Recently, a study was conducted in an effort to decide whether or not explaining to people what their recyclables are transformed into would help increase recycling rates.
The researchers started with a group of 111 college students, asked to draw on paper before watching one of three ads.One was a public service message that showed paper going into recycling bins.The other two also showed the paper either being transformed into new paper or a guitar.After completing a survey, the students were asked to deal with the paper when they left. Half of those who saw the first ad recycled their paper, while the recycling rate jumped to 80% for those who'd seen the other ads.
After doing a few more lab experiments, the researchers headed into the real world.At a party, volunteers spoke with attendees (出席者) about recycling, with half mentioning transformed products and half keeping it general.They discovered the subject of the talks came into play.After the game, the recycling and trash bags were weighed.Those who received a message recycled over half of their waste, while those who did not recycled less than a fifth.
All this is to say that details matter.People want to know what treasures their trash can become, and when that's laid out clearly, they' re more likely to do it.Perhaps recycling companies should redesign signs to describe the items being created.Recycling is far from a perfect solution,but it doesn't hurt to manage to improve its rates.
1. What's the function of the first paragraph?A.To lead to the main topic. |
B.To reflect the author's attitude. |
C.To introduce a new recycling bin. |
D.1 To emphasize the benefits of recycling. |
A.Took effect. |
B.Broke down. |
C.Took off. |
D.Came to mind. |
A.Sign the names on the items. |
B.Find perfect ways of recycling. |
C.Examine the details of items. |
D.Show the transformation of waste. |
A.Sports and games. |
B.Travel and tourism. |
C.Entertainment and recreation. |
D.Science and human life. |