1 . Deserts could be the best places on Earth for harvesting solar power. They are spacious, relatively flat, and never short of sunlight. So researchers imagine it might be possible to transform the world’s largest desert, the Sahara, into a large solar farm, capable of meeting four times the world’s current energy demand.
While the black surfaces of solar panels absorb most of the sunlight that reaches them, only around 15% of that incoming energy gets turned into electricity. The rest is returned to the environment as heat, affecting the climate. If these effects were only local, they might not matter in a thinly populated desert. But the area of the installations in the Sahara would be vast, covering thousands of square miles. Heat released from an area this size will be redistributed by the flow of air in the atmosphere, having regional and even global effects on the climate.
A 2018 study used a climate model to assess the effects of building massive solar farms in the Sahara. The model revealed that when the size of the solar farm reaches 20% of the total area of the Sahara, the heat released by the darker solar panels creates a big temperature difference between the land and the surrounding oceans that ultimately lowers surface air pressure and causes wet air to rise and condense (凝结) into raindrops. With more rainfall, plants grow and the desert reflects less of the sun’s energy since vegetation absorbs light better than sand and soil. With more plants present, more water is evaporated (蒸发), creating a better environment that causes vegetation to spread.
So, a large solar farm could generate enough energy and at the same time turn one of the most abominable environments on Earth into a habitable place. Sounds perfect, right? Not quite. In a recent study, we used an advanced Earth system model to closely examine how Saharan solar farms interact with the climate. It showed there could be unintended effects in remote parts of the land and ocean.
We are only beginning to understand the potential consequences of establishing massive solar farms in deserts. Solutions like this may help society reduce the use of fossil energy, but Earth system studies like ours underscore the importance of considering the numerous coupled responses of the atmosphere, oceans, and land surface when examining their benefits and risks.
1. What can be learned about solar farms?| A．They are mainly located in deserts. |
| B．They can affect the local and even global climate. |
| C．They can make the best use of incoming energy. |
| D．They satisfy the world’s current energy demand. |
| A．It might become greener. |
| B．It might reflect more sunlight. |
| C．Its surface air pressure will increase. |
| D．Its temperature difference between day and night will decrease. |
| A．Addictive. | B．Dynamic. | C．Sensitive. | D．Unpleasant. |
| A．It is an impossible task. |
| B．It will do more good than harm. |
| C．It calls for more consideration. |
| D．It might be the solution to fossil fuel pollution. |
2 . Nanako Hama was holding a light envelop. When she tore it open with care, locks of hair emerged. Many strangers send Hama locks of their hair, hoping to recycle it.
People generate a huge amount of hair waste. Nearly all of that waste ends up in landfill, where it can release harmful greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change. But hair possesses useful qualities that it’s a shame to simply throw it away. That’s why people all around the world, like Hama, have been collecting hair and finding innovative ways to recycle it, including making mats (垫子) out of it for removing oil leaks in the ocean.
Hama is part of the nonprofit Matter of Trust (MoT) members working at more than 60 centers dotted across 17 countries, using machines to make hair donated from local salons and individuals into square mat, which are then used to clean up the floating oil. “Hair is particularly well-suited for this,” says MoT co-founder Lisa Gautier. “That’s because its rough sort of outer layer lets oil stick to it.” MoT’s mats have been used in major oil leaks, including the 2010 Deepwater Horizon and 2007 Cosco Busan incidents.
In a 2018 study, Murray, an environmental scientist at the University of Technology Sydney, in Australia found that mats made of recycled human hair could absorb 0.84 grams of oil onto its surface for every gram of hair—significantly more than polypropylene (聚丙烯),a type of plastic that’s typically used to clean up floating oil. Besides, hair is also useful as fertilizer (化肥). Hair contains a relatively high nitrogen (氮), a chemical element crucial for plant growth, and each lock of hair is made of roughly 16 percent of this essential nutrient. Last year, more than 560 gallons of liquid fertilizer made from human hair was sold to farmers in northern Tanzania and the feedback from the farmers has been very encouraging.
“It’s just a great way to use hair in a productive way. Hair is an answer literally hanging in front of our eyes—for oil and soil,” Hama says.
1. How does the author introduce the topic?| A．By presenting a scene. | B．By detailing the background. |
| C．By describing the usage of hair. | D．By praising an environmentalist. |
| A．Improve soil. | B．Prevent oil leaks. | C．Take in harmful gas. | D．Clear the sea of oil. |
| A．Its color and strength. | B．Its length and amount. |
| C．Its weight and flexibility. | D．Its structure and component. |
| A．Uncertain. | B．Promising. | C．Doubtful. | D．Worrying. |
1. Where do Indonesians put their garbage?
| A．In the front of their houses. |
| B．In the public garbage cans. |
| C．In the official garbage bags. |
| A．Yellow. | B．Blue. | C．Gray. |
| A．Their price depends on the type of waste. |
| B．They are provided by the government for free. |
| C．Different districts have different official garbage bags. |
4 . The rapid increase of the oil price has brought the world to its senses. Scientists are seeking suitable alternative (替换) but so far in vain. They are considering how they can make better use of the two other major fuels, coal and natural gas, but they have found that neither can replace oil in their economics. In recent years, there has been a growing concern for the environment and coal is not a popular fuel with environmentalists. Natural gas, the purest of the three fuels, is also the most limited in supply.
The answer would seem to lie in nuclear power stations. They need very little fuel to produce enormous amounts of power and they do not pollute the atmosphere. Their dangers, however, are so great and the costs of building them are also high. Not only could one accident in a nuclear power station spread as much radioactivity (放射物) as a thousand Hiroshima atom bombs, but the radioactive waste from these stations is extremely dangerous.
Scientists have recently turned their attention to natural sources of energy: the sun, the sea, the wind and hot spring, of which the sun seems the most promising source for the future. Houses have already been built which are heated entirely by solar energy. However, solar energy can only be collected during daylight hours, and in countries where the weather is unreliable, an alternative heating system has to be included.
However, many scientists are optimistic that new ways of generating large amounts of energy will be successfully developed, but at the same time they fear the consequences. If the world population goes on increasing at its present rate, we may, in fifty years’ time, be burning up so much energy that we would damage the earth’s atmosphere. By raising the temperature of the atmosphere,we could melt the Arctic and Antarctic ice-caps and change the pattern of vegetable and animal life throughout the world——a frightening possibility.
1. What does the underlined phrase “in vain” in Paragraph1 mean?| A．without doubt | B．without results | C．in progress | D．under attack |
| A．it is too pure | B．the source of it is limited |
| C．its price is increasing | D．it may cause more pollution |
| A．coal | B．natural gas | C．wind energy | D．solar energy |
| A．it may pollute the atmosphere |
| B．it cannot generate large amounts of power |
| C．it may use up enormous amounts of fuel |
| D．it may cause great danger to us if not properly handled |
China will build the world’s largest national park system, and a layout plan will be released soon. The plan is being drafted
6 . In the rich countries of the West, the electric vehicle revolution is well underway. Climate-conscious consumers drive Teslas or Polestars for reasons of morality and fashion. Poorer countries are also experiencing a wave of electrified trend. In Bangladesh, electric three-wheeler taxis, known as tuk-tuks, are rapidly replacing gas-powered ones on the streets. Such electric vehicles are climate friendly, cost effective, and help reduce air pollution.
Yet a glance under the hood (引擎盖) of these vehicles reveals a poisonous secret: each tuk-tuk runs on five massive lead-acid batteries, containing almost 300 pounds of lead in total. Every year and a half or so, when those batteries need to be replaced and recycled, about 60 pounds of lead leak into the environment. Battery recycling, often at small-scale unregulated factories, is a highly profitable but deadly business.
Lead is dangerous, and any exposure to it is harmful to human health. Lead that has entered the environment hurts people on an extraordinary scale. The numerous ways lead enters air, water, soil, and homes across the developing world — and the enormous damage it does to human health, wealth, and welfare — causes one of the biggest environmental crises in the world yet receives little attention.
The World Bank estimates that lead kills 5. 5 million people per year, which would make it a bigger global killer than AIDS, malaria, diabetes, and road traffic deaths combined. On top of the shocking deaths, the social burden of lead poisoning is extraordinary, as is its contribution to global inequality — our research on the cognitive effects of lead poisoning suggests that it may explain about one-fifth of the educational achievement gap between rich and poor countries.
But unlike many challenges faced by developing countries, lead poisoning is a problem that is fixable with some attention and a relatively modest financial investment. Better monitoring, research, and rules can help protect children all over the world from the dreadful effects of lead poisoning and reduce the massive global costs it brings.
1. How does the author describe the lead problem in paragraph 2?| A．By making a comparison. | B．By analyzing hidden causes. |
| C．By listing convincing numbers. | D．By explaining its working principle. |
| A．Lead enters rich countries in various ways. |
| B．Lead poisoning may make poor societies poorer. |
| C．Exposure to lead doesn’t necessarily harm someone. |
| D．Lead leaking has caused great panic in both countries. |
| A．Fixing these used batteries. | B．Putting certain effort and money. |
| C．Prohibiting the illegal use of lead. | D．Reducing the cost of recycling lead. |
| A．The Impacts of Lead Poisoning on Human Health |
| B．The Outcomes of Using Electric Vehicles |
| C．The Ways to Solve Lead Problem |
| D．The Global Lead Poisoning Crisis |
Tibetan antelopes live on the plains of Tibet
8 . 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 on 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. |
内容包括：1.节约用电的意义；2.日常节电的措施；3.对大家的呼吁。
注意：1.词数80左右，可适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
2.请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Dear teachers and students,
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The School Newspaper
(1) 垃圾问题的现状；
(2) 垃圾分类的好处(至少2点)；
(3) 呼吁全体同学积极参加垃圾分类。
注意：词数：100 左右；
参考词汇：垃圾分类 rubbish classification 可回收物 recyclable waste
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