1 . Like many of the Indigenous (土著的) communities across the Australian continent, the remote communities in north-west New South Wales are struggling. Many of the 300 or so residents rely on welfare. Higher electricity bills—up to $3,000 a quarter for some households—further worsen the poverty. They’re always at the end of the power line, so the service that is there is quite extraordinary in terms of cost. It’s a real problem that needs to be fixed.
To that end, Anderson and other Indigenous leaders have formed the First Nations Renewable Energy Alliance (FREA) to push for renewable energy in Indigenous communities. They partner with private enterprise to support Indigenous communities looking to switch to renewable energy.
“We can build a power station where the community exists,” Anderson says, “so people are able to successfully live in the environment the way they want to live and have access to power which enables them to better determine their economic future.”
Only a handful of Indigenous communities have set up renewable energy projects in Australia. The Indigenous-owned and -operated company AllGrid Energy, for instance, has installed solar panels and battery storage systems to replace diesel (柴油) generators in the communities of Ngurrara and Kurnturlpara in the Northern Territory’s Barkly Tableland. Within two months of the system being installed in May 2016, people were moving back to their homelands, the communities growing from just two permanent residents to about 40.
But FREA will go one step further, working with community leaders and acting as a conduit (纽带) between the communities and the businesses they are dealing with. This is essential, says Anderson, to avoid predatory (吞并) practices they have seen in the past, with companies “playing on the psychology of poverty” to gain advantage. The FREA has drafted terms of agreements that will guide how companies engage with Indigenous communities for renewable energy projects.
One of the next steps for FREA will be to identify a community that can act as a test case for a renewables project. “Our experience is that if we can make it work for one community, it will work in every other community,” Anderson says.
1. What is FREA expected to do for the remote Indigenous communities?A.Increase power supply to them. | B.Help them return to their homelands. |
C.Shake them off poverty. | D.Reduce their higher power costs. |
A.Renewables projects are inaccessible. |
B.Renewables projects are quite workable. |
C.Renewables projects can increase locals’ income. |
D.Renewables projects can coexist with diesel power plants. |
A.Its strategies to win over the businesses. | B.Its cooperation with community leaders. |
C.Its potential conflict with energy companies. | D.Its innovation in directing renewables projects. |
A.Consult the experts. | B.Select a piloting community. |
C.Collect sufficient construction fund. | D.Make renewables projects available to all. |
2 . It’s an unusually calm morning for Jim Smith, owner of Ventura Dive Sport, and lifelong seaman. He’s in charge of the Raptor, carrying a boatload of divers and snorkeling(浮潜) enthusiasts over to the Channel Islands anchored just off the Southern Californian coast, in the remote Channel Islands National Park.
On this trip, in particular, Smith is hoping to spot giant black sea bass, a huge underwater creature that grows over seven feet long and can weigh more than 700 pounds. Unsurprisingly, it’s a fish that sits atop the food chain, and the species is an important part of the marine (海洋的) ecosystem.
Up until the 1970s, black sea bass were a common sighting in Southern California, but due to overfishing their population dramatically declined. As a result, fishing for giant black sea bass of any kind was banned in California in 1982. In the Channel Island region, thanks to the protected waters of the national park, there is a promising sign-a recent survey found around 50 individuals around the Catalina Island alone.
Marine biologists’ photos-and indeed anyone else’s-now have a permanent home, on a newly-created database named Spotting Giant Sea Bass. The website, launched and run by the Aquarium of the Pacific in July, is a joint community effort to find out more about these mysterious creatures. Scientists hope to be able to answer how the population is changing over time, how far giant sea bass move, where they spawn (产卵), and how they grow in marine protected areas. With more than 1 million dives recorded annually across the Golden State’s coastline, researchers hope a joint effort to document this species will aid with its recovery.
“One of the main things people want to see when they come out with us during September and October is giant sea bass,” Smith says. “If you’re lucky enough to be on a dive and one swims past you. . . it really is the most incredible experience. ”
1. Who is Jim Smith?A.A marine biologist. |
B.A dive boat captain. |
C.A founder of a website. |
D.A guard of a national park. |
A.They are experiencing population growth. |
B.They are being overfished. |
C.They are living in terrible conditions. |
D.They are disappearing due to pollution. |
A.Southern California. |
B.Spotting Giant Sea Bass. |
C.Marine protected areas. |
D.The Aquarium of the Pacific. |
A.Swimming with them in the sea. |
B.Prohibiting deep-sea diving. |
C.Working together to record information. |
D.Discovering more islands. |
1. 野生动物现状及原因;
2. 保护野生动物的重要性及建议。
注意:
1.词数80左右;
2.可以适当增加细节,以使行文连贯。
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1. What are the good seeds confirmed by?
A.Containers. | B.X-rays. | C.Freezers. |
A.To be preserved for long. |
B.To tackle climate change. |
C.To safeguard food supply. |
A.Where seeds are stored. |
B.How the seed bank works. |
C.Why seed banks are important. |
5 . Humans eat an astonishing amount of meat every year-some 800 billion pounds of it, enough flesh to fill roughly 28 million dump trucks. Our desire for meat, particularly in industrialized countries like the United States, is one reason why the planet is warming as fast as it is. Raising animals consumes a lot of land that could otherwise soak up carbon. Cows, sheep, and goats give out heat-trapping methane (甲烷). And to grow the corn, soy, and other plants that those animals eat, farmers spray fertilizer that emits nitrous oxide (一氧化二氮), another planet-warming gas.
Cutting out meat sounds like an effective approach. But what would happen if everyone actually stopped eating meat tomorrow? Such a quick shift probably wouldn’t cause the sort of turmoil that would come if the planet immediately abandoned fossil fuels. But still, the consequence could be quite chaotic, causing different problems.
Researchers say the economic damage caused by the sudden disappearance of meat would fall disproportionately on low-income countries with farming economies, like Niger or Kenya, where farming and raising livestock are critical sources of income. Getting rid of livestock overnight would not only deprive many people of essential nutrients, but also threaten food security, especially in regions like South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. Besides, there’s the issue of cultural damage. Taking away meat, according to Wilson Warren, a history professor at Western Michigan University, would do more than just deprive Americans of hot dogs and hamburgers and Italians of salami.
Rejecting meat entirely, let alone immediately, isn’t an ideal solution to the climate crisis. Dutkiewicz, a political economist at the Pratt Institute, suggested using guidelines established by the EAT-Lancet Commission, an international group of scientists who have designed a diet intended to give people the nutrients they need without destroying the planet.
1. What can be inferred from the first paragraph?A.Feeding animals costs more than growing plants. |
B.The USA consumes the most meat annually. |
C.Meat consumption may increase global warming. |
D.Fertilizer should be banned around the world. |
A.Prediction. | B.Disorder. | C.Pollution. | D.Shortage. |
A.the global crisis | B.improved well-being |
C.cultural diversity | D.food safety issues |
A.The declining meat industry. | B.Specific diet suggestions. |
C.Global climate crisis. | D.Farmers’ protest. |
6 . Once upon a time, sewing and mending clothes was common.
Why should you learn to mend?
Beyond the functional benefits, mending is about using what you have, embracing imperfections, fixing what’s broken, and rejecting the idea that new er is better. The other aspect of mending is mindfulness.
If you are interested in sewing and mending, it is the perfect time to learn the new skill. which can especially have a positive impact on the world.
A.But all hope is not lost. |
B.Because it is a means of making a living. |
C.Mending is a great way to reject consumerism. |
D.Buying secondhand goods makes it possible to be sustainable. |
E.This way, you may find yourself upcycling pieces into ones that suit you. |
F.At some point in the last few decades, though, it became something of a lost art. |
G.You focus on the task at hand and use your creativity to make your clothes unique. |
7 . At first glance the sea turtles look as if they were dead because they hardly move. But if you look closely enough, they show a slow glimpse of life. These turtles are all washed up in Massachusetts every December, on the windy beaches of Cape Cod Bay.
Shaver, chief of the Division of Sea Turtle Science and Recovery at Padre Island National Seashore in Texas, said, “If we don’t help save this species, we will lose a piece that enriches us. There’s a whole variety of things that can harm them: oil spills, boat strikes, red tides, and so on.” That is why all the urgent care they’re getting back up North is more important than ever.
Saving could never happen unless hundreds of pilots were willing to volunteer their time, their planes, and their fuel to rush the rescued turtles to willing rehab facilities (康复中心) all around the country.
On this particular mission, Andrews, vice president of a unique nonprofit called Turtles Fly Too, with his dad as a co-pilot, will fly more than 2,000 miles, from Boston, to Atlanta, then on to Gulfport and finally Dallas, dropping off 44 sick sea turtles along the way, in hopes that one day they’ll be well enough to be released. It is worth mentioning that the pilots that are flying these missions are pulling $1 million out of their pocket to fly these missions every year.
With good care and the help of volunteers, these turtles were finally ready to go home again. According to Andrews, “90% of the turtles that we’ve moved to the rehab facilities have ended up back in the ocean.”
“We humans have not always been kind to the sea and those that live in it. But on this day, it was humans-not me, but the hundreds of veterinarians, biologists, volunteers, and pilots—who all came together to give these critically-endangered sea turtles a second chance that they rarely got, ”Andrews added.
1. What happens to the turtles on the beaches of Cape Cod Bay?A.They are dying out. | B.They are in danger. |
C.They adapt to living onshore. | D.They are caught by humans. |
A.Thrilled. | B.Annoyed. | C.Concerned. | D.Moved. |
A.The pilots’ generous devotion. |
B.The division’s urgent care. |
C.The rehab facilities’ willingness to help. |
D.The improvement of the turtles’ habitats. |
A.It is unsatisfactory. | B.It costs too much. |
C.It is controversial. | D.It quite pays off. |
8 . People have come to understand the enormous impacts-beneficial as well as harmful- plastics have on human lives and the environment. As polymer (聚合物) scientists committed to inventing sustainable solutions for real-world problems, we set out to tackle the issue of plastic waste by rethinking the way polymers are designed so we could make plastics with recyclability built right in.
Everyday items including milk jug, grocery bags, and takeout containers are made from a class of polymers called polyolefins. These plastics are really durable (耐用的) because the chemical bonds in those polymers are extremely stable. In a world set up for disposable (一次性的) items, durability is no longer a design feature but rather a design drawback. Imagine if half the plastics used today were recyclable through twice as many processes as they are now. Also conventional recycling requires careful sorting of all the collected materials, which can be challenging with so many different plastics. For example, separating paper from metal doesn’t require complex technology, but sorting a container from a milk jug of a different polyolefin is difficult to do without the occasional mistake.
In a study published in Science in October 2023, we described a series of polymers with only two building blocks-one soft polymer and one hard polymer-that behave like polyolefins but could be chemically recycled. Connecting two different polymers multiple times until they form a single, long molecule (分子) creates what’s called a multiblock polymer. By changing how much of each polymer type goes into the multiblock polymer, our team produced a wide range of materials with properties that covered all polyolefin types.
Using the same strategy but by adding hydrogen, we could disconnect the polymers back into their building blocks and easily separate them to use again. When we made new polymers out of these recycled plastics, they performed just as well as the original materials even after several rounds of chemical recycling. So we were able to create materials with similar properties of the plastics the world relies on. We believe this work is a step toward more sustainable plastics.
1. What is paragraph 2 mainly about concerning plastics?A.Their multiple uses. | B.Their chemical properties. |
C.Their recycling challenges. | D.Their classification criteria. |
A.mixing building blocks with long molecules |
B.integrating chemicals into the two polymers |
C.combining two different multiblock polymers |
D.adjusting the percentage of the two polymers |
A.They are made from sustainable materials. |
B.They can be recycled by adding hydrogen. |
C.Their reliability outperforms traditional plastics. |
D.Their properties change with rounds of recycling. |
A.Designing for Recycling | B.Classifying Plastic Waste |
C.Replace Plastics with Polymers | D.Technology Creates the Future |
9 . T. O. Fuller State Park in Memphis, Tennessee, has been loved for generations and has always been a ground where community has come first. Back in 1938, it was the first park east of the Mississippi river to open for African American visitors. Over 80 years later, the park is continuing its forward-thinking tradition, this time, through a pioneering sustainability project.
A new walking and biking trail has been built through this historic park. Illegally dumped (被丢弃的) tires are not only unpleasant to see, but they’re a dangerous addition to the environment. Rubber, like plastic, is a material that won’t naturally break down. In a place as hot as Tennessee, these dumped tires often begin to melt and release these harmful gasses into the air. Fortunately, the old tires were sent to Patriot Tire Recycling in Bristol, TN, the only facility in the area that can break down tires in an environmentally sound way. There, the collected tires were safely broken down into the crumble(碎屑) rubber that was eventually used to pave the new trail.
TN State Parks explained how the trail’s construction, which has been in development since 2019, was a joint effort. Officials from the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, the Tennessee Department of Transportation, the City of Memphis, Shelby County, and Memphis City Beautiful were all involved in funding this recycling project.
These officials named their initiative the “Tires to Trails” project. Workers from these departments, alongside some 450 volunteers, came together to collect over 24, 000 tires that had been illegally dumped in the area around the park to be recycled.
“This is a perfect example of recycling in full circle, collecting dumped material, then converting it into positive use,” David, a leader of the project, said in a statement.
1. What kind of park is T. O. Fuller State Park?A.It is a popular park with a good tradition. | B.It is the first park welcoming all visitors. |
C.It is a park west of the Mississippi river. | D.It is a modern park without biking trails. |
A.They are ugly to see. | B.They release harmful gasses. |
C.They are made up of plastic. | D.They could only be used to pave the new trail. |
A.It is the park’s responsibility to recycle. |
B.The park is built on dumped materials. |
C.The park successfully recycled dumped tires. |
D.It is possible to turn everything into useful things. |
A.A state park is making pioneering efforts to achieve sustainability. |
B.A state park is to rebuild a trail in an innovative way. |
C.Tires have been transformed into a new trail in a state park. |
D.Officials and people worked together to recycle tires in a state park. |
10 . How do oceans affect you? If you live far from the coast, you might think they don’t. But life on this planet depends on the ocean. It covers almost three-quarters of the planet and holds 97% of Earth’s water. The phytoplankton (浮游植物) that live on the oceans’ surface produce half of the oxygen in the atmosphere. Oceans are a vital source of food and other resources and an economic engine for many communities.
For all the ocean provides us, we haven’t always been so responsible in our stewardship (管理). “The ocean was considered as a dumping ground for so long,” says Caitlyn Toropova of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). “There was a sense that there was no way we could harm it because it is so vast.”
But human activities are having a negative impact on many of the world’s oceans, jeopardizing marine life, habitats, and ecosystems. These threats include overfishing or destructive fishing, coastal development, pollution and water runoff, and the introduction of non-native species. Climate change is also having a big effect by causing warming seas and ocean acidification.
Realizing that something needs to be done to stem or reverse the damage has led to the creation of marine protected areas (MPAs). There are approximately 5,000 designated (指定) MPAs around the world but many more that are not officially recognized. That may sound like a lot, but less than 1% of the world’s oceans is protected. “Countries around the world have committed to protecting 10%. But even though there’s been an increase in the past ten years, at the current rate, it would take 100 years to reach that goal,” Toropova says.
1. What does paragraph 1 intend to show us?A.The human impact on ocean species. |
B.The importance of oceans to humans. |
C.The urgency of protecting our oceans. |
D.The great success in ocean exploration. |
A.It was too vast to be fully explored. |
B.Ocean pollution was not very serious. |
C.Human activities had little effect on it. |
D.It provided us with abundant resources. |
A.Rescuing. |
B.Classifying. |
C.Discovering. |
D.Endangering. |
A.More efforts are needed to protect oceans. |
B.MPAs contribute little to ocean protection. |
C.People’s goals are too unrealistic to be achieved. |
D.Every country has the duty to save marine wildlife. |