1 . Whether due to genuine concern for the environment or the widespread criticism of plastic among consumers, many companies have invested heavily in reducing their use of plastic packaging, which may indeed have a positive environmental impact. But another trend that’s grown out of the anti-plastic movement is a lot less positive: overpackaging. More and more brands have begun adding unnecessary paper packaging on top of plastic packaging in order to make their products look more environmentally friendly, without actually reducing plastic waste.
Unfortunately, there’s a very good reason companies are adopting this clearly problematic approach. Through a series of eight studies with more than 4,000 participants, we found that consumers will accept a product’s packaging as more environmentally friendly if it’s plastic with an additional layer of paper than if the product is visibly packaged in identical plastic packaging but without the paper. These perceptions (认知) in turn make consumers both more likely to buy a product, and willing to pay more for it.
Part of what makes this overpackaging trend particularly harmful is that it is much valued by consumers who reported engaging in more eco-friendly behaviors. They were more likely to view overpackaged products as environmentally friendly. As a result, the very consumers who are most interested in pushing companies to make sustainable choices are likely unintentionally encouraging the environmentally harmful practice of overpackaging.
The good news is, overpackaging isn’t the only way to signal sustainability and attract such consumers. In our studies, we found that instead of additional paper packaging, simply adding a minimal packaging sticker to plastic packaging could clarify the misperception that overpackaged products are more sustainable, Especially for products for which plastic is necessary to ensure safe transportation and lengthen shelf life, this kind of clear messaging can help reduce consumers, discrimination against the responsible use of plastic packaging.
Of course, minimal packaging stickers certainly should only be used if a brand has actually ensured that it is using the minimal possible packaging, ideally under the supervision of a trade organization or regulatory body that maintains clear, consistent standards.
1. What can we learn about overpackaging according to paragraph 1?| A．It calls for less investment. |
| B．It involves the proper use of paper. |
| C．It has a positive environmental impact. |
| D．It causes over-consumption of materials. |
| A．They care about the environment. |
| B．They are always following the trend. |
| C．They like comparing products’ qualities. |
| D．They prefer beautifully-decorated products. |
| A．To help products stay fresh longer. |
| B．To improve the brand’s popularity. |
| C．To correct consumers’ misunderstanding. |
| D．To present more information about products. |
| A．Minimal packaging stickers have been widely used. |
| B．Advantages of minimal packaging stickers are overestimated. |
| C．The use of minimal packaging stickers should be strictly regulated. |
| D．The use of minimal packaging stickers is a solution to over-packaging. |
2 . As awareness of climate change grows, so does the desire to do something about it. But the scale of the problems it causes—from wildfires to melting glaciers to droughts—can seem utterly overwhelming. It can be hard to make a connection between our everyday lives and the survival of polar bears, let alone how we as individuals can help turn the situation around.
One way to gain a quantifiable understanding of the impacts of our actions, for good and bad, is through what is known as a carbon footprint. But while the concept is gaining traction, it is not always fully understood. According to Mike Berners-Lee, a professor at Lancaster University in the UK and author of The Carbon Footprint of Everything, it is “the sum total of all the greenhouse gas emissions that had to take place in order for a product to be produced or for an activity to take place.”
What steps a person can take to reduce their personal footprint the most of course depends on the kind of lifestyle they presently live, and the same actions are not equally effective for everyone. Berners-Lee notes that, “for some people, flying may be 10 percent of their footprint, for some people it’s zero, and for some it’s such a huge number that it should be the only thing they should be thinking about.”
It isn’t easy to calculate a carbon footprint and it has been claimed that the earliest such calculator appeared in 2004 as part of the “Beyond Petroleum” campaign of oil giant BP—a fact that causes some observers to criticize the pressure to reduce personal carbon footprints as a “sham” to “promote the slant that climate change is not the fault of an oil giant, but that of individuals.”
“I would say personal carbon footprint calculators are a useful tool to assess the impact of your immediate actions.” Berners-Lee says. “But what’s much more important than your personal carbon footprint is your climate shadow, which aims to paint a picture of the full sum of one’s choices and the impact they have on the planet. For example, how you vote, where you work, how you invest your money, and how much you talk about climate change.
1. What does the underlined word “traction” in paragraph 2 probably mean?| A．attention | B．insight | C．control | D．power |
| A．By presenting a fact | B．By making a comparison |
| C．By clarifying a concept | D．By giving suggestions |
| A．unclear | B．favorable | C．indifferent | D．disapproving |
| A．Tools are more important than choices. | B．Only individuals are responsible for climate change. |
| C．Climate shadow covers a broad range of actions. | D．Calculating carbon footprint is the most effective. |
3 . If you haven’t taken down your Christmas tree yet, no worries. Here’s an idea: have you ever thought about eating it?
Julia Georgallis has some recipes. Over the last five years, she’s been preparing carefully for Christmas dinners in London with a friend. “How can we make something sustainable around Christmas time? What can we cat? What’s the thing that no one eats and that somehow represents Christmas? And then we just decided on Christmas trees,” Georgallis says.
She turned it into a book, How to Eat Your Christmas Tree. And her idea is that it’s not that odd. Some people enjoy Christmas wine. Some people like to go shopping and most people can get behind saving the planet.
“What I aimed for this book to do, really, was to get people thinking about the odd ways that they can be more sustainable in their daily lives,” Georgallis says.
“Eating Christmas trees isn’t going to save any animals in danger or freeze any ice caps. But if we start to think about everything that we do as a whole, then that builds up, you know, and that helps,” she says.
Most of the recipes in her book use the needles from the tree. “You’d use the needles like a herb,” she says.
“And different Christmas trees kind of have different flavors. They’re quite subtle, but they do have different flavors. So fir (冷杉), which is a really popular choice of Christmas trees, gives people better feeling and atmosphere. And then you have pine, which is a little bit more delicate.”
A warning: some Christmas trees are poisonous if eaten — like cypress and cedars. And be sure your tree wasn’t sprayed with pesticides (杀虫剂) and other chemicals. “So if you have any doubt that your Christmas tree might not have been grown to eat, then maybe don’t eat it,” Georgallis says.
And, of course, don’t even think about eating your artificial tree!
So, with all those instructions and with the appropriate tree, what could we cook? Well, Georgallis’ book has all sorts of recipes for different foods and drinks. Let’s open up the world’s cuisine with simple ingredients!
1. What’s the main purpose of Georgallis’ book?| A．To tell people not to buy real trees. | B．To inspire people to be more eco-friendly. |
| C．To teach people how to enjoy Christmas wine. | D．To encourage people to throw away odd traditions. |
| A．Artificial trees can also be cooked. |
| B．Eating Christmas trees does good to saving animals. |
| C．Different trees have different features and tastes. |
| D．All Christmas trees have their own ways to be cooked. |
| A．Tips for choosing Christmas trees. | B．Warnings for cooking Christmas meals. |
| C．Comparison between real and artificial trees. | D．Recipes for different foods with Christmas trees. |
| A．A diary. | B．A novel. | C．A scientific report. | D．A lifestyle magazine. |
4 . An impressive invention made by a 17-year-old teenager, called Anna Du, is helping to clean up small pieces of plastic from the ocean.
While walking along her local beaches in Massachusetts, the young student began collecting waste plastic bags and bottles. But what she noticed was a large number of tiny pieces of plastic or microplastics that were impossible to pick up. At just 12 years old, Du set out to solve the problem. After testing a few prototypes(原型)in her backyard, she invented a remotely operated vehicle that uses the infrared camera(红外摄像机)to detect microplastics on the ocean floor. More recently, Du has also created a simulation(模拟)model that uses artificial intelligence to predict where microplastics are located.
Du’s robot invention has earned her awards at top science fairs in the US, and she’s now a nationally recognized advocate for microplastic awareness and pollution prevention. “When I first started doing science fairs, I had no idea that a young girl without lots of money and just a little advanced engineering knowledge could make a difference in the world. I’ve learned that I truly love working on a problem that’s so much larger than me,” Du said.
Du has also released a new book to help spread the word not only about the dangers of microplastics but also about the ways to relieve the problem. Titled Microplastics &Me, the book follows Du’s own story of how she went from worrying about the environment to designing award-winning solutions. Writing for kids her own age, the young girl alerts her readers to the threat of microplastic pollution and urges them to care about the environment. The book hopes to encourage young students to get into science, technology, engineering and math(STEM)subjects and to inspire a new generation of inventors and engineers. What’s more, Du has even raised more than $7,000 to distribute the book free to kids and libraries in high-need communities.
1. What inspired Du to make the invention?| A．There was too much rubbish along the beaches. | B．The plastics were too small to collect by hand. |
| C．The sea was polluted seriously. | D．She was interested in AI. |
| A．She has a spirit of challenge. | B．She is too poor to make a difference. |
| C．She doesn’t study hard in engineering. | D．She wins international recognition. |
| A．Innovation. | B．Voice. | C．Culture. | D．Art. |
| A．To inspire readers to share their stories. |
| B．To raise the awareness of microplastics pollution. |
| C．To encourage high schools to offer STEM subjects. |
| D．To collect money for kids in high-need communities. |
5 . The world’s nations have promised to limit global temperature increases to 1.5 degrees over pre-industrial levels, which involves shutting down fossil fuel extraction (化石燃料开采) as quickly as possible. But despite this promise, first reached six years ago during the Paris Climate Accords, the fossil-fuel producing nations are on track to extract more than twice as much coal, oil and natural gas as would be permissible under this plan, a new United Nations report says.
To have a chance of limiting temperature increases to 1.5 degrees, production of coal needs to drop by 11% every year between 2020 and 2030. while production of oil and gas needs to drop by 4% and 3%, respectively, the report finds. Instead, production of oil and gas is set to increase, while coal production is projected to drop slightly.
The so-called production gap, the difference between countries’ climate promises and their fossil fuel production plans — hasn’t changed since the United Nations first examined it in 2019, indicating that international climate accords are still closer to theoretical promises than detailed plans.
The report looks at fossil fuel production in 15 countries — including Australia, Brazil, Canada, India, the U.S. and the United Kingdom — hat are collectively responsible for three-quarters of the world’s fossil fuel production. Most of these countries have promised to reach zero emissions by mid-century, but they are planning to increase their fossil fuel extraction until at least 2030.
So far, climate efforts from major fossil fuel extractors, including industry, have “focused on extracting fossil fuels in less-polluting ways, not on winding down production levels in line with climate goals,” the report says. While these efforts, such as developing carbon-capture (碳捕捉) technology and reducing methane leaks (甲烷泄露) are important. they fall far short of the changes science demands if global temperatures are to stay at a livable level.
To close that gap, the report urges governments to make realistic plans for winding down fossil fuel extraction, starting with state-owned companies, which arc responsible for more than half the world’s extraction of such fuels.
1. What does the new United Nations report say?| A．Climate promises are being made worldwide. |
| B．Fossil fuels arc being extracted in large quantities. |
| C．Global temperature will soon increase by 1.5 degrees. |
| D．Production of coal will drop sharply in the next decade. |
| A．To imply an energy crisis. |
| B．To show the efforts made by now. |
| C．To indicate how to close the production gap. |
| D．To stress the goal of the Paris Climate Accords. |
| A．They will achieve zero emissions by 2030. |
| B．They think little of carbon-capture technology. |
| C．They should turn to the United Nations for help. |
| D．They are on the way to breaking their promises. |
| A．Coal mines owned by the government. | B．Gas stations run by private companies. |
| C．Power plants owned by the government. | D．Car factories run by private companies. |
6 . A rainforest is an area covered by tall trees with the total high rainfall spreading quite equally through the year and the temperature rarely dipping below16℃. Rainforests have a great effect on the world environment because they can take in heat from the sun and adjust the climate. Without the forest cover, these areas would reflect more heat into the atmosphere, warming the rest of the world. Losing the rainforests may also influence wind and rainfall patterns, potentially causing certain natural disasters all over the world.
In the past hundred years, humans have begun destroying rainforests in search of three major resources: land for crops, wood for paper and other products, land for raising farm animals. This action affects the environment as a whole. For example, a lot of carbon dioxide(二氧化碳)in the air comes from burning the rainforests. People obviously have a need for the resources we gain from cutting trees but we will suffer much more than we will benefit.
There are two main reasons for this. Firstly, when people cut down trees generally they can only use the land for a year or two. Secondly, cutting large sections of rainforests may provide a good supply of wood right now, but in the long run it actually reduces the world’s wood supply.
Rainforests are often called the world’s drug store. More than 25% of the medicines we use today come from plants in rainforests. However, fewer than 1% of rainforest plants have been examined for their medical value. It is extremely likely that our best chance to cure diseases lies somewhere in the world’s shrinking rainforests.
1. Why can rainforests help to adjust the climate?| A．They reflect more heat into the atmosphere. |
| B．They bring about high rainfall throughout the world. |
| C．They reduce the effect of heat from the sun on the earth. |
| D．They rarely cause the temperature to drop lower than 16℃. |
| A．There is great medicine potential in rainforests. |
| B．The level of annual rainfall affects wind patterns. |
| C．We can get enough resources without rainforests. |
| D．We will grow fewer kinds of crops in the gained land. |
| A．Rainforests and Medical Development | B．Rainforests and the Environment |
| C．How to Save Rainforests | D．How to Protect Nature |
7 . The area around Taal Lake on Luzon Island in the Philippines is known for its natural beauty. Tourism is popular there as travelers go there to see the scenery that surrounds Taal Volcano, one of the most active volcanoes in the country. It was quiet for years until January 12,2020 when the volcano erupted. Since then, the cities surrounding the volcano have been covered with ash and many people are forced to leave home.
But the ash didn’t stop the residents of Binan, a city that is 35 km south of Manilla, from finding a way to help their neighbors in the towns that suffered the most from Taal. Binan Mayor Walfredo Dimaguila ordered the city residents to collect the ash and to put it in sacks (麻袋) to be sent to the state-owned factory that can produce 5,000 bricks (砖) a day to turn it into bricks to use for rebuilding damaged communities.
“What we plan is to turn them into hollow blocks and bricks and sell them to interested companies,” Dimaguila said. But he noted, the money would be donated to the people directly affected by the volcano. “When Batangas (the region where Taal is located) is in recovery, the bricks can not only be used to build schools, community halls and livelihood centers but also help deal with ash pollution for the earth,” Dimaguila said. “The misfortune of our neighbors in Batangas is there. Let’s transform this into opportunity.”
The Philippines, located in the Pacific “Ring of Fire: zone of fire” and part of the typhoon belt, is a country that is known for natural disasters like earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and major storms. But the Filipino people show their strong will and community spirit.
1. What can be learned about Taal Volcano?| A．It attracts more and more settlers. | B．It becomes inactive. |
| C．It is covered with ash completely. | D．It causes damage to the locals. |
| A．To collect volcanic ash for recycling. | B．To save sacks for factories to use. |
| C．To set up a factory for making bricks. | D．To build communities for people from disasters. |
| A．Creative but expensive. | B．Environmentally and economically. |
| C．Helpful but challenging. | D．Interesting and practical. |
| A．Taal Lake is in danger. | B．Taal Volcano is popular. |
| C．Disasters hits Philippines. | D．People turn ash into treasure. |
8 . On a sunny afternoon in Dania Beach, a dozen scientist’s unloaded containers full of corals from a dive boat. They gently removed each piece from large tanks on the deck and placed them inside smaller containers, which were slowly taken onshore.
The operation is part of what scientists describe as a “Noah’s Ark(诺亚方舟)” mission to save corals from extinction as a mysterious disease damages mile after mile of the Florida Reef Tract. Since first being spotted in 2014, the disease has killed colonies already weakened by impacts from climate change, including frequent rounds of bleaching(漂泊).
During one trip, researchers spent six days diving in the Lower Keys to collect corals that haven’t yet been touched by a certain disease. Their mission, as the “Ark” reference suggests, is to preserve healthy examples of species that can be raised in labs, then later transplanted back to the barrier reef that parallels much of the Southeast Florida coastline.
“It’s a tough effort, but we need to do everything we can to help corals survive,” said Richard Dodge from Nova South eastern University’s [(NSU)] Halmos College, as he watched university staff and volunteers place the 341 corals in holding tanks on the university dock across from Port Everglades.
NSU is one of seven research facilities that will act as temporary hosts for samples collected for what is formally known as the Coral Rescue Collection Plan, part of an ambitious program led by the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration. NSU researchers will collect data on the species, then send them to other universities and zoos across the country, where they will be used to grow new colonies—seed stock for potential restoration efforts in the future.
1. What’s the best title for the passage?| A．Noah’s Ark mission | B．Corals are endangering |
| C．Corals are put in containers | D．Fight to preserve the corals |
| A．To emphasize it was very serious to corals. |
| B．To show few cared about its existence. |
| C．To appeal for international cooperation. |
| D．To state it was involved with climate change. |
| A．They conducted research on the spot. |
| B．They found it tough to collect corals. |
| C．They collected healthy corals. |
| D．They desired to get close to corals. |
| A．Culture. | B．Economy. | C．Entertainment. | D．Environment. |
9 . The scientists who re-engineered the plastic-eating enzyme (酶) PETase have now created a new enzyme called “cocktail”, which can digest plastic up to six times faster.
PETase breaks down PET back into its building blocks, creating an opportunity to recycle plastic and reduce plastic pollution. PET is the most common thermoplastic (热塑性塑料) used to make single use drinks bottles, which takes hundreds of years to break down in the environment, but PETase can shorten this time to days. The initial discovery set up the prospect of a revolution in plastic recycling, creating a potential low-energy solution to tackle plastic waste.
Now, the same trans Atlantic team have combined PETase and its “partner”, a second enzyme called MHETase, to generate much bigger improvements: simply mixing PETase with MHETase doubled the speed of PET breakdown, and engineering a connection between the two enzymes to create a “super-enzyme” increased this activity by a further three times.
The team was co-led by the scientists who engineered PETase, Professor John McGeehan and Dr Gregg Beckham. Professor McGeehan said: “Gregg and I were chatting about how PETase attacks the surface of the plastics and MHETase chops things up further, so it seemed natural to see if we could use them together. Our first experiments showed that they did work better together, so we decided to physically link them. It took a great deal of work, but it was worth the effort—we were delighted to see that our new enzyme is up to three times faster than the separate enzymes.”
The original PETase enzyme discovery indicated the first hope that a solution to the global plastic pollution problem might be within grasp, though PETase alone is not yet fast enough to handle the tons of PET bottles. Combining it with a second enzyme and finding they work even faster together means another leap forward has been taken towards finding a solution to plastic waste. PETase and the new combined MHETase-PETase both work by digesting PET plastic. This allows for plastics to be made and reused endlessly, reducing our reliance on fossil (化石) resources.
1. What can we learn about “cocktail” from the text?| A．It doubles the breakdown of plastics. | B．It takes hundreds of years to break down. |
| C．It deals with the plastic waste three times faster. | D．It contributes to breaking down plastic quickly. |
| A．A new study of PET. | B．The breakdown of PET. |
| C．The functions of PETase. | D．The discovery of PETase. |
| A．Combining PETase and MHETase. | B．Co-leading the trans Atlantic team. |
| C．Attacking the surface of the plastics. | D．Conducting experiments. |
| A．Plastic eating enzyme “cocktail” promises new hope for plastic waste. |
| B．MHETase-PETase makes the world free from plastic pollution. |
| C．New enzyme is speeding up our reliance on fossil resources. |
| D．PET pollution is no longer a difficult problem to deal with. |
10 . Using CRISPR genome (基因组) editing on a few common crops, a team of plant and soil scientists seeks to greatly increase and speed up carbon storage to help fight climate change.
To prevent dangerous levels of global warming, scientists say it won’t be enough to just stop burning fossil fuels that release carbon into the air. Because it’s nearly impossible for humanity to do that as fast as is now required, we will also need to pull carbon out of the air and secure it.
Plants are among the best tools we have to do this, since these living solar collectors already capture billions of tons of carbon dioxide each year from the atmosphere through photosynthesis (光合作用). About half of that carbon winds up in roots and eventually the soil, where it can stay for hundreds to thousands of years.
But what if we could create plants and soils that are better at capturing carbon? With CRISPR genome editing—a new molecular (分子的) biology tool that allows scientists to make edits to the DNA code that underpins all life—that might be possible.
Last month, the Innovative Genomics Institute (IGI), a research team founded by CRISPR pioneer Jennifer Doudna, began to explore the idea. With an $11-million donation from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, a team of researchers made a three-year effort using CRISPR to create new crop varieties that photosynthesi ze more efficiently and transport more carbon into the soil. Eventually, the researchers hope to create gene-edited rice and sorghum seeds that could—if planted around the globe--pull more than a billion extra tons of carbon out of the air annually.
It’s an ambitious goal, and the team is likely to face numerous challenges in the lab before its CO2-cleaning plants can be put in the ground. Additional social, policy, and ethical considerations will determine whether those crops are widely accepted by farmers. But the researchers believe their ambitious project is beneficial to cope with climate crisis.
1. What is the purpose of using CRISPR genome editing on crops?| A．To improve soil structure. | B．To increase carbon storage. |
| C．To create new crop varieties. | D．To help fight climate change. |
| A．Mix. | B．Release. | C．Absorb. | D．Grab. |
| A．CO2-cleaning plants can be put in the ground now. |
| B．It is still unknown whether gene-edited crops will be accepted. |
| C．Researchers have successfully created gene-edited rice and sorghum seeds. |
| D．CRISPR genome editing will face so many challenges that it has no future. |
| A．Hopeful. | B．Doubtful. | C．Indifferent. | D．Negative. |
