1 . Research has found that using wood for construction instead of concrete and steel can reduce emissions. But Tim Searchinger at Princeton University says many of these studies are based on the false foundation that harvesting wood is carbon neutral (碳中和). “Only a small percentage of the wood gets into a timber (木料) product, and a part of that gets into a timber product that can replace concrete and steel in a building,” he says. Efficiencies vary in different countries, but large amounts of a harvested tree are left to be divided into parts, used in short-lived products like paper or burned for energy, all of which generate emissions.
In a report for the World Resources Institute, Searchinger and his colleagues have modelled how using more wood for construction would affect emissions between 2010 and 2050, accounting for the emissions from harvesting the wood. They considered various types of forests and parts of wood going towards construction. They also factored in the emissions savings from replacing concrete and steel.
Under some circumstances, the researchers found significant emissions reductions. But each case required what they considered an unrealistically high portion of the wood going towards construction, as well as rapid growth only seen in warmer places, like Brazil. In general, they found a large increase in global demand for wood would probably lead to rising emissions for decades. Accounting for emissions in this way, the researchers reported in a related paper that increasing forest harvests between 2010 and 2050 would add emissions equal to roughly 10 percent of total annual emissions.
Ali Amiri at Aalto University in Finland says the report’s conclusions about emissions from rising demand are probably correct, but the story is different for wood we already harvest. “Boosting the efficiency of current harvests and using more wood for longer-lived purposes than paper would cut emissions,” he says. “We cannot just say we should stop using wood.”
1. What is wrong with previous researches according to Searchinger?| A．They got wrong statistics. | B．They used an incorrect concept. |
| C．They included too many factors. | D．They were applied in limited countries. |
| A．The process of the new research. | B．The background of the new study. |
| C．The challenge of the new research. | D．The achievements of the new study. |
| A．When wood grows slowly. |
| B．When wood is largely used to make paper. |
| C．When wood is largely used in construction in countries like Brazil. |
| D．When wood is largely harvested in countries like Brazil. |
| A．Favorable. | B．Doubtful. | C．Critical. | D．Objective. |
Rising sea levels are threatening coastlines in China, for example in
The good news is
The development of electric vehicles is particularly
Ecological civilization has become the cornerstone (基石) of China’s long-term development strategy, much like climate action is
3 . Are you a tea drinker? If so, you’re not alone. Every day around the world millions of cups of this popular brew are drunk, and it’s been that way for thousands of years. The oldest discovered tea is from the Han Dynasty, dating from 206BC to 220AD. But it’s thought that the tea trend really took off during the Tang Dynasty in the 8th Century, when it became China’s national drink. Now, Turkey, the Republic of Ireland and the UK are believed to be the biggest tea—drinking nations, per capita.
Tea is consumed in many ways-slurped, sipped or glugged. It can be poured from pots, infused or brewed in the cup using tea bags—and it’s this latter process that is causing concern. Research last year found some premium tea bags might be leaving billions of microscopic plastic particles in the cup. Scientists from McGill University in Montreal found that some ‘plastic’ tea bags shed high levels of micro plastics into water. However, The World Health Organization says such particles in drinking water do not appear to pose a risk.
Most tea bags are made from paper, with a small amount of plastic used to seal them shut— made from oil. This has led to debate about whether they can be recycled, but many are still composted. However, gardener Mike Armitage has told the BBC that the plastic contained in the soil could be washed into streams and rivers and ultimately out to sea.
Unilever, the owners of the tea brand PG Tips, said their tea bags are made with a small amount of plastic—used to seal them—and that they are suitable for composting. And the brand Yorkshire Tea said their bags do contain 25% polypropylene, but they were “actively developing plant—based and biodegradable alternatives”.
While tea bag manufacturers might be doing their bit to reduce plastic pollution, it could be a good time to switch your favourite beverage to coffee, or if that isn’t your cup of tea then try using loose-leaf tea, which can have a better flavour.
1. What is the main idea of paragraph 2?| A．Tea can be consumed in many ways. |
| B．The use of tea bags doesn’t appear to pose a risk |
| C．The use of tea bags is causing concern. |
| D．Some tea bags might be leaving microscopic plastic particles in the cup. |
| A．reduce the amount of plastic used to seal tea bags |
| B．wash the plastic in the soil into streams, rivers and sea |
| C．develop plant-based and biodegradable alternatives |
| D．switch to coffee or try to use loose-leaf tea |
| A．Supportive | B．Indifferent | C．Opposed | D．Neutral |
| A．Potential Plastic Pollution |
| B．Chinese tea culture |
| C．What is your favorite drink? |
| D．The Humble tea bag |
4 . Sprite has been recognized for decades by its green cans and bottles, but it is retiring its green plastic bottles after more than 60 years.
Starting Aug. 1, the Coca-Cola Co., which produces Sprite, will package the lemon-lime drink in clear plastic bottles in North America, the company announced Wednesday. Sprite’s current plastic contains green polyethylene terephthalate(PET)(聚对苯二甲酸乙二醇酯), an additive(添加剂) that can’t be recycled into new bottles, a key choice for the company as it looks to reduce plastic waste.
“When recycled, clear PET Sprite bottles can be remade into bottles, helping drive a circular economy for plastic.” Julian Ochoa, CEO of R3CYCLE, a plastic group helping Coca-Cola improve its recycling, said in a statement.
Customers will also notice a revised logo and packaging design on the Sprite bottles that aims to provide a more “consistent look around the world,” the company said. The well-known green color will still be used on Sprite labels. Other beverages that use green bottles in Coke’s portfolio(系列产品), including Fresca. Seagram’s and Mello Yello, will also be replaced with clear containers in the coming months.
Coca-Cola reported higher-than-expected second-quarter earnings Tuesday, citing strong demand, and lifted its revenue forecast for the full year.
The beverage giant has often been criticized for contributing to environmentally damaging plastic waste. In 2020, the company was named as the world’s No. 1 plastic polluter by the environmental firm Break Free From Plastic. Its logos and branding were found on 13, 834 pieces of discarded plastic in 51 countries, often in public spaces such as parks and beaches.
1. Why will the Coca-Cola Co. stop using green Sprite bottles?| A．They think the old design is out of date. |
| B．They want to cut down the production cost. |
| C．Customers prefer clear bottles to green bottles. |
| D．They want to help drive a circular economy for plastic. |
| A．They have not any plastic. | B．They have a consistent look. |
| C．They have not green color at all. | D．They have quite a different design. |
| A．Not the design, but the logo of the Sprite. |
| B．Not the material, but the design of the bottles. |
| C．Not the color, but the material: single-use plastic. |
| D．Not the recycling, but using as much plastic as possible. |
| A．The Coca-Cola attaches importance to profits. |
| B．The Coca-Cola lays the needs of customers first. |
| C．The Coca-Cola values environmental protection most. |
| D．The Coca-Cola likes the fame of the world’s No. 1 plastic polluter. |
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. |
6 . Two thirds of the ice in the glaciers (冰川) of the Alps is doomed! These glaciers will melt by the end of the century as global temperatures rise, according to a recent study.
Scientists claim that half the ice held in some 4,000 Alpine glaciers will disappear by 2050 due to global warming through the effect of past emissions. After that, even if carbon emissions drop to zero, two-thirds of the ice will still have melted by 2100. If emissions continue to rise at the current rate, the ice tongues will have all but disappeared from Alpine valleys by the end of the century. The most pessimistic prediction tells us that the Alps will be mostly ice-free by 2100. Only isolated ice patches would remain at high altitudes, representing five per cent, at most, of the ice volume seen today.
The researchers warn that the loss of these glaciers will mean much less water is available for farming and hydroelectricity, especially during droughts. It would also affect nature and tourism.
In February, a study found that a third of the huge ice fields in Asia’s towering mountain chains were also under threat for the same reasons. This will lead to serious consequences for almost two billion people who live downstream. Glaciers along the Hindu Kush and Himalayan range are at higher, colder altitudes. If global carbon emissions are not cut, however, two-thirds of their ice could be gone by 2100.
The latest research combined computer models with real-world data to forecast the fate of the glaciers. It used 2017 as its starting point. Unlike previous work, these models included how the glaciers move down the mountains. Applying this approach to other glaciated mountain chains could improve ice loss forecasts there.
Cutting the emissions from fossil-fuel burning, deforestation and other polluting activities is the biggest factor in minimizing the melting of the ice. The future of these glaciers is indeed at risk, but there is still a possibility of limiting their disappearance.
1. What does the underlined word “doomed” mean in paragraph 1?| A．Polluted. | B．Discovered. | C．Endangered. | D．Abandoned. |
| A．Emissions have much to do with the ice melting. |
| B．The Alps is expected to lose all its ice by 2100. |
| C．Ice loss will be avoided with emissions prevented. |
| D．Large ice pieces will just exist at the mountain top. |
| A．To explain how glacier melting came about. |
| B．To imply pollution is a worldwide problem. |
| C．To show what consequences ice melting will cause. |
| D．To indicate the Alps is not alone to face ice melting. |
| A．Objective. | B．Optimistic. | C．Critical. | D．Doubtful. |
In downtown Xiamen, Fujian Province, a 6-meter-high mound(土堆) that stretches for 60 to 70 meters stands in contrast to the high-rise
The blue-tailed bee-eater, or Merops philippinus, is known for its colorful plumage and on the Chinese mainland it
In recent years, with improved environmental conditions in Xiamen and the city government’s commitment
In 2015, the center
The birds,
The 13-year experience of preserving blue-tailed bee-eaters has given the center a grasp of their habits and made the Wuyuanwan Nature Reserve a stable home for them.
8 . Bioluminescence (生物发光) is a natural phenomenon wherein a chemical reaction within an organism’s body produces light. It can be found in many places in nature — fireflies, some mushrooms — but mostly in the deep sea.
Recently, Rambouillet, a small historic French town, has teamed up with a company called Glowee to turn the city into a full-scale bioluminescence laboratory. The goal is to change the way in which cities use light. The company uses marine (海的) bacteria harvested from the coast of France. It makes some of the town’s public light up in the cool blue of bioluminescence.
These bioluminescent bacteria are stored in a seawater filled tube, giving the bacteria room to float around and light up. The light provided by the bacteria is part of their natural metabolism, so producing the light requires no energy other than that which is needed to feed the organisms. This makes it much more environmentally friendly and sustainable than electric light, which consumes a huge amount of non-renewable energy.
“On the way to lighting up the world with bioluminescence, you have to feed the bacteria and add water as they grow. That’s not so easy. The phenomenon will be very temperature-dependent and I doubt that it will work in the winter. Also, bioluminescence is not very bright compared to electrical lighting, though they have improved the light intensity,” Carl Johnson, a professor from Vanderbilt University said.
One potential solution to these issues — and one that Glowee is looking into — is to remove the biological aspect of the whole process. Theoretically, luciferase (荧光素酶) can be removed from the bacteria and used to create light instead of the bacteria itself. Because luciferase is non-living, it doesn’t need to be fed. Creating new means of sustainable lighting is a way of being environmentally friendly without plunging the earth back into darkness.
1. What do we know about Glowee?| A．It is an ancient laboratory in France. |
| B．It solves power shortages in coastal cities. |
| C．It adopts bioluminescence as a light source. |
| D．It feeds marine organisms to produce chemicals. |
| A．The reasons for energy waste. |
| B．The advantages of the marine bacteria as light. |
| C．The living conditions of the bioluminescent bacteria. |
| D．The difficulties of storing bioluminescent organisms. |
| A．The bacteria work more efficiently under low temperatures. |
| B．It will cost too much to improve the luminescence intensity. |
| C．The application of bioluminescence enjoys a bright prospect. |
| D．The development of bioluminescence faces many challenges. |
| A．A Historic Town Lit up by Nature |
| B．The First Zero-carbon City in the World |
| C．A Reform of Producing Electricity in Cities |
| D．The Discovery of Luciferase in Marine Bacteria |
Polar bears are undergoing hunger in a world
Polar bears live in the environment too cold for most animals. For most of the year, they live and hunt on Arctic sea ice. Nature has prepared
Polar bears’ world is melting. Studies show that polar ice
10 . During the 20th century, an estimated 3 million great whales were hunted to provide humans with oil, meat and rose fertiliser. Roger Payne, a biologist and environmentalist, spurred (推动) a worldwide environmental conservation movement with his discovery that whales could sing.
This discovery was made in 1967 during his research trip to Bermuda (百慕大) when a navy engineer provided him with a recording of curious underwater sounds documented. Payne identified the tones as songs whales sing to one another and he was conscious from the start that whale song was to get the public interested in protecting an animal previously considered little more than a resource, curiosity or nuisance.
Payne saw the discovery of whale song as a chance to spur interest in saving the giant animals, who were disappearing from the planet. In 1970, Payne released the album Songs of the Humpback Whale. The record, a surprise hit, fueled a global movement to end the practice of commercial whale hunting and save the whales from extinction. It remains the bestselling environmental album in history.
The impact of the whale song discovery on the early environmental movement was immense. Many antiwar protesters of the day took on saving animals and the environment as a new cause. The humpback whale became the icon of a new environmental awareness. And the whales entered pop culture, no longer the fearsome beasts. In 1977, the whale calls were loaded on to the Voyager probes and sent into outer space.
Payne, graduating from Harvard University and Cornell University with a doctor’s degree, authored or co authored dozens of scientific papers, gave hundreds of lectures, made countless television programmes and films, and led 100 oceanic expeditions. Payne had started an ambitious new project: CETI, a combination of scientists using new technology to interpret what whales might be “saying”.
1. What caused the decline of the whale population in the 20th century?| A．Habitat loss. | B．The climate change. |
| C．Uncontrolled hunting. | D．The ocean pollution. |
| A．To boost interest in protecting whales. | B．To satisfy people’s curiosity about sea. |
| C．To achieve great commercial success. | D．To earn a reputation as a researcher. |
| A．Considerate. | B．Accomplished. |
| C．Courageous. | D．Patient. |
| A．The conservation of ocean environment. |
| B．Efforts to awake public ocean awareness. |
| C．A high-tech way to document whale tones. |
| D．A whale protection campaign by a biologist. |
