1 . During a decline in tourism, one national park in Thailand has witnessed a dramatic rise in “visitors” recently. So many are the hermit crabs（寄居蟹）flooding into the otherwise empty beaches of Koh Lanta that shells for them to live in have become in short supply.
The Thai government moved quickly to ease the housing shortage, launching a public appeal for empty shells that netted over 200kg. On December 5 these were distributed around the park in a ceremony.
Hermit crabs rely on shells to protect their soft bodies, moving to larger shells as they grow. On Koh Lanta and the surrounding smaller islands, their rapid increase seems to be a natural phenomenon, rather than directly related to the absence of tourists. But the shortage of shells maybe man-made: pretty ones have long been gathered to be sold as goods. Crabs had begun to make do with potential death-traps such as plastic caps and bottles.
The shell drive was part of a government initiative to “regain the balance of nature”. “I have instructed all national parks to do whatever it takes,” says Varawut Silpa-archa, the minister for natural resources. His inspiration comes from the pause in tourism brought on by COVID-19. A ban on international visitors and the closure of national parks have helped nature recover, bringing endangered leatherback turtles back onto Thai beaches. In the coastal provinces of Phang Nga and Phuket, turtles have laid the largest number of eggs for 20 years.
The government has decided to try to copy the short break forced on it by COVID-19 in future. From now on, all national parks will be required to close for a short period during the off season and to limit the number of tourists through a reservation system when they are open. Although such restrictions mean reduced earnings from tourism in the short term, in the longer run more parks may help to keep the tourists coming.
1. What happened to the beaches of Koh Lanta recently?| A．They saw a constant stream of tourists. | B．They were packed with hermit crabs. |
| C．They became completely empty. | D．They got flooded by seawater. |
| A．Supportive. | B．Indifferent. |
| C．Critical. | D．Not mentioned. |
| A．To warn turtles are dying out. |
| B．To stress ecological diversity of Thailand. |
| C．To illustrate the birth of Varawut’s inspiration. |
| D．To prove beaches are their ideal habitats. |
| A．Authorities Help to Find Shelters for Homeless Hermit Crabs |
| B．Developing Economy or Protecting Animals? |
| C．Governments Are Responsible for the Balance of Nature |
| D．Closing National Parks or Drawing More Visitors? |
2 . Ant Forest, a green initiative by the world’s leading payment and lifestyle platform Alipay, received the “U.N. Champions of the Earth” award, the UN’s highest environmental honor. It was given to Ant Forest for motivating half a billion people to adopt an eco-friendly and greener lifestyle, greatly contributing to ecological protection with the help of digital technology.
Alipay achieved this by inspiring its users to do environmentally-friendly things, such as walking, using public transportation, going paperless in the office and more to earn “green energy points”. These points can then be used to water and grow their own virtual young trees. After the virtual young trees have grown up on line, Ant Forest will plant real trees somewhere in China.
The number of Ant Forest users has reached 350 million, reducing 3 million tons of carbon dioxide. “Such programs are quite attractive to me. I feel satisfied to see a real tree planted just by doing some simple things such as riding bicycles and buying tickets online,” said an interviewee.
This initiative of Ant Forest is in line with the Chinese government’s strategy of a “Green Economy”. The country is taking aggressive actions in expanding its green coverage. Now, its efforts are paying off, with improved biodiversity and a healthier economic growth. Rare animal species have been spotted and forest parks are now popular attractions of tourism.
The planet is at a critical point which could result in natural disasters. It seems clear that unless governments, businesses and people form a focused team, it’s difficult to stop global warming. Fortunately, Ant Forest shows that it is possible to make joint efforts while relying on digital technology. And more initiatives are using technology to contribute to a sustainable future of the planet.
1. What was Ant Forest given the award for?| A．It brings convenience to people’s lives. |
| B．It is run by the world’s leading payment platform. |
| C．It technically assists many people to protect ecology. |
| D．It has made the greatest contribution to global development. |
| A．How Alipay makes profits. |
| B．How Ant Forest is carried out. |
| C．What a low-carbon life is like. |
| D．Why Alipay takes up the initiative. |
| A．350 million people have planted real trees. |
| B．Promoting tourism can help save animals. |
| C．China keeps a balance between economy and ecology. |
| D．The expansion of green coverage mainly results from Ant Forest. |
| A．By criticizing natural disasters. |
| B．By stopping the global warming. |
| C．By providing a platform to make joint efforts. |
| D．By encouraging people to donate money to plant trees. |
3 . If we planted a lot more trees in just the right places, they could reduce the amount of carbon in the atmosphere to levels not seen since the 1920s, said study leader Jean Francois Bastin, an ecologist from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology. After examining more than 70,000 high-quality satellite photos of trees from all over the planet, ecologists concluded that the earth could support 900 million additional hectares (公顷) of tree cover.
Bastin and his colleagues developed a computer program that estimates how much forested land could be restored both now and in a future warmer world. The team members combed through 78,774 satellite photos of a variety of ecosystems- everywhere from the thick Amazon rainforest to the dry Sahel in Africa-that had been protected from human influence. They counted every tree in every photo to assess the current tree coverage in natural environments. The researchers combined that information with data about the climate, temperature and soil conditions for each ecosystem. Then they taught their program to put it all together to determine how much tree coverage a particular area could support.
The result shows trees currently cover 2.8 billion hectares of land- but they have the potential to populate as much as 4.4 billion hectares. Right now, much of the additional 1.6 billion hectares is being used for agriculture or urban spaces. The researchers took those areas off the table and saw that the earth still has 900 million hectares ready and waiting to be restored with trees an area roughly the size of Brazil. When those trees mature, they could remove 205 gigatonnes (兆吨) of carbon from the atmosphere, the study calculated, That represents about two-thirds of the roughly 300 gigatonnes of atmospheric carbon that can be traced to human actions, they said.
Even if trees are planted in the most mindful way, other actions are still needed to fight climate change, Bastin said.
1. Why did Bastin develop a computer program?| A．To reduce air pollution in Africa. |
| B．To determine carbon dioxide in the air. |
| C．To assess the potential forested land. |
| D．To calculate the area of forest in the world. |
| A．Looked into. | B．Put away. |
| C．Brought back. | D．Took in. |
| A．Brazil has large areas to plant trees. |
| B．The tree cover is not enough to control greenhouse gases. |
| C．Trees removed two-thirds of carbon in the atmosphere. |
| D．Other actions are equally important compared to planting trees. |
| A．Disapproving. | B．Doubtful. |
| C．Supportive. | D．Objective. |
4 . British artist Amy Sharrocks collects nearly all kinds of water. In 2013 she set up the Museum of Water, a live piece of artwork that travels all over the world and invited people to donate water—from spit to melted snow—in a bottle and discuss what it means to them.
The program aims to understand why people treasure water and help prepare them for a drier future and climate，Ms. Sharrocks told an audience of climate experts, activists and museum curators(馆长). ''For example, we show them how to have three minute showers to better deal with water shortages，'' she said.
Amy is not alone as a matter of fact. As world leaders increasingly face up to the serious results of climate change，curators are planning a new wave of museums, which are devoted to what many consider a vital issue of the times. In 2015, a former lawyer Miranda Massie created the first United States museum which was entirely devoted to climate change in New York City. ''Climate change is affecting virtually every aspect of our lives，'' Ms. Massie said. ''But we can't fight the problem with topdown policies alone. We need the public to participate and museums are a way to open people's mind to what matters. ''
Bridget McKenzie, director of Flow Associates, wanted to raise awareness of the dilemma of the Pacific island nations, which are particularly vulnerable(易受伤害的) to rising sea level. So with her team she set up a ''ghost boat'' made of old fish nets at the University of Cambridge's Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, and asked visitors what they would take with them if they were suddenly forced to leave their homes.
While museums can be a powerful way of communicating the effects of climate change, they should also practice what they spread and control their own emissions (排放物). ''Roughly half of cities' emissions come from energy use in buildings, '' said Elliot Goodger, a museums' association representative of the West Midlands in Britain，''museums have a duty to be energy efficient, for example, by using laser lighting for displays or improving their building materials. ''
1. Why did Amy Sharrocks set up the Museum of Water?| A．To help people get rid of water shortages. |
| B．To collect some special water worldwide. |
| C．To remind people to attach importance to water. |
| D．To warn people of the danger of a drier future. |
| A．Fighting climate change demands joint efforts. |
| B．More climate museums should be built in future. |
| C．Climate change is a matter of concern to the public. |
| D．Policy responses to climate change need improving. |
| A．What is valuable to people. |
| B．What causes sea level to rise. |
| C．Rising sea level puts people's homes at risk. |
| D．The Earth's climate change endangers fishing. |
| A．Take the initiative. |
| B．Lead by example. |
| C．Change their traditional functions. |
| D．Add climate topics to their programs. |
5 . Royal Dutch Shell is launching a $ 300 million and forestry program, at a time when an increasing number of oil companies are putting money in carbon offset (碳补偿)plans to meet climate goals. The company will spend the money over the next three years on projects to store carbon, including large forests in the Netherlands and Spain, and will start offering motorists the option of purchasing carbon offsets when they buy petrol at the pump.
The executives of the company explained that these carbon offset projects were a new business opportunity for Shell, as well as a way to meet its climate targets. “We believe that over time we will be building a business, because these carbon credits will become more valuable as carbon becomes more limited," they said. Shell recently decided to cut its net carbon footprint (碳排放)by 2-3 percent in five years, which includes emissions (排放)from the products it sells. The company plans to produce carbon credits from the forestry projects, then sell these credits on to customers buying its oil and gas products, or apply the credits to its own operations to lower its carbon footprint.
Plants absorb carbon dioxide as they grow and restoring forests and other natural areas is considered one of the simplest ways to store carbon. However, the voluntary market for carbon credits based on forestry projects has its critics, as projects in developing countries can be hard to monitor. Shell's move has also been criticized by some environmentalists. They worried that there was a risk of " greenwash when companies invested in forestry projects. "There is an entire debate about whether forestry projects truly reduce emissions or not," they said, pointing out that planting in one area could cause deforestation (滥伐森林)to another.
Shell said it would rely on the third party to ensure its forest program to meet the Voluntary Carbon Standard and strict biodiversity requirements. Mark Lewis, head of climate change investment research at BNP Paribas, said, " Planting trees to offset emissions, as far as it goes, is a step in the right direction."
1. What is popular among oil companies these days?| A．Studying climate changes. |
| B．Launching forestry programs. |
| C．Working out carbon offset plans. |
| D．Attracting motorists to buy their petrol. |
| A．By quitting the emissions of its products. |
| B．By reducing its carbon footprint by a quarter. |
| C．By limiting the oil used by its own operations. |
| D．By putting carbon credits it produces on the market. |
| A．The projects can't really stop carbon emissions. |
| B．The projects are hard to monitor in poor countries. |
| C．The projects may lead to deforestation in other forests. |
| D．The projects haven't met strict biodiversity requirements. |
| A．Discount. | B．Cheat. |
| C．Decline. | D．Change. |
6 . How to Let Go of the World and Love All the Things Climate Can’t Change is the latest movie from filmmaker and climate activist Josh Fox. The movie is the third film in a three-part series about climate change.
In 2010, Fox’s documentary Gasland explored the hotly debated process of removing natural gas from the ground. He examined the subject again in Gasland II. Fox was against traditional fossil fuels(矿物燃料) and in support of renewable energy. In his third film, Fox says pollution from fossil fuels must be reduced. Without limits, there will be more extreme weather, like dry weather, rising sea levels and lack of food and water. “When you really meet that head on, it causes unbelievable danger.”
Fox notes there are things that climate cannot change. “Those are our value structure and that is what the film starts to explain. We start to really emphasize the things that are inside-courage, love, generosity and creativity. I think those are the centers of what we talk about when we talk about a response to climate change.”
In the new film, Fox travels through a sunless forest in the Amazon with local activists to measure oil spills. He goes to a village in Ecuador to learn how people there stopped a pipeline from being built. He joins young people in Australia to stop ships from entering the port of Newcastle.
“You should probably know the negative part of what we’re about to do. This is the short list: drowning, arrest, being run over by boats, being carried away in water into the Pacific Ocean, cultural disrespect and big waves.”
Also in the film, Fox talks to Ella Zhou, an energy expert. She explained the importance of what she calls“moral(道德) imagination”. “I think that it forces us to get out of our box of thinking about, for example, what is being successful. It allows us to have a moral value about what we want as a person. What do we want to do for the world and for ourselves? ”
1. What does the underlined word “that” refer to?| A．The extreme weather. | B．The lack of food and water. |
| C．The pollution from fossil fuels. | D．The support for renewable energy. |
| A．The centers of our value structure. |
| B．The correct response to climate change. |
| C．The terrible effects climate change causes. |
| D．The process of removing natural gas from the ground. |
| A．To call on people to join him. |
| B．To express his love for adventure. |
| C．To prove that filming is a difficult career. |
| D．To stress the difficulties they met as climate activists. |
| A．It tells us the way to success. | B．It makes us creative in thinking. |
| C．It encourages us to realize our dreams. | D．It helps us find the true meaning of life. |
7 . Darrell Blatchley, a marine biologist and environmentalist based in the Philippine city of Davao, received a call from the Philippines, Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (渔业与水产资源局) early Friday morning reporting a death of a young whale.
When the necropsy (尸检) was performed, Blatchley told NPR, he was not prepared for the amount of plastic they found in the whale’s stomach. “It was full of plastic nothing but nonstop plastic.” he said “It was filled to the point that its stomach was as hard as a baseball.” That means that this animal has been suffering not for days or weeks but for months or even a year or more,” Blatchley added.
Blatchley is the founder and owner of the D’Bone Collector Museum, a natural history museum in Davao. In the coming days, the museum will display all the items found in the whale’s system. Blatchley and his team work with the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources and other organizations to assist in rescue and recovery of marine animals.
“Within the last 10 years, we have recovered 61 whales and dolphins just within the Davao Gulf,” he said. “Of them, 57 have died due to man whether they took plastic or fishing nets or other waste, or gotten caught in pollution — and four were pregnant.”
Blatchley said he hoped that the latest incident would launch the issue of plastic pollution in the Philippines and across the globe. “If we keep going this way, it will be more uncommon to see an animal die of natural causes than it is to see an animal die of plastic,” he said.
1. What can be inferred from the second paragraph?| A．The whale was starved to death. |
| B．Blatchley was shocked at what he found. |
| C．The dead whale must have swallowed a baseball. |
| D．Blatchley didn’t make preparations for the necropsy. |
| A．Waste collected from the ocean. |
| B．The whole system of the whale. |
| C．Things found in the whale’s body. |
| D．Many different tools of whaling. |
| A．Uncommon. | B．Worrying. | C．Inspiring. | D．Mild. |
| A．A Whale Found Dead of Plastic |
| B．Stand Up for Protecting Whales |
| C．Plastic Threatening Our Existence |
| D．Natural Death or Merciless Murder |
8 . Blue Planet II’s latest episode focuses on how plastic is having a disastrous effect on the ocean and slowly poisoning our sea creatures. Researchers recently also found that sea creatures living in the deepest place on Earth, the Mariana Trench, have plastic in their stomachs. Indeed, the oceans are drowning in plastic.
Though it seems now that the world couldn’t possibly function without plastics, consumer plastics are a remarkably recent invention. The first plastic bags were introduced in the 1950s; the same decade that plastic packaging began gaining in popularity in the United States. This growth has happened so fast that science is still catching up with the change. Plastics pollution research, for instance, is still a very early science.
We put all these plastics into the environment and we still don’t really know what the outcomes are going to be. What we do know, though, is disturbing. Ocean plastic is estimated to kill millions of marine animals every year. Nearly 700 species, including endangered ones, are known to have been affected by it. One in three leatherback turtles, which often mistake plastic bags for jellyfish, have been found with plastic in their bellies. Ninety percent of seabirds are now eating plastics on a regular basis. By 2050, that figure is expected to rise to 100 percent.
And it’s not just wildlife that is threatened by the plastics in our seas. Humans are consuming plastics through the seafood we eat. I could understand why some people see ocean plastic as a disaster, worth mentioning to the same degree as climate change. But ocean plastic is not as complicated as climate change. There are no ocean trash deniers (否认者), at least so far. To do something about it, we don’t have to remake our planet energy system.
This is not a problem where we don’t know what the solution is. We know how to pick up garbage. Anyone can do it. We know how to dispose (处理) of it. We know how to recycle. We can all start by thinking twice before we use single-use plastic products. Things that may seem ordinary, like using a reusable bottle or a reusable bag----when taken collectively, these choices really do make a difference.
1. Why is plastics pollution research still a very early science?| A．The plastics pollution research is too difficult. |
| B．Plastics have produced less pollution than coal. |
| C．The world couldn’t possibly function without plastics. |
| D．Plastics have gained in popularity too fast for science to catch up. |
| A．By statistics. |
| B．By quotations from leading experts. |
| C．By using examples from his own experience. |
| D．By comparison and contrast. |
| A．Climate change is caused by human activities. |
| B．Some people hold some doubts about climate change. |
| C．Climate change is less important than ocean pollution. |
| D．Ocean plastic is more complicated than climate change. |
| A．Ocean plastic is a global issue. |
| B．The oceans become choked with plastic. |
| C．Blue Planet II has left viewers heartbroken. |
| D．Plastics gain in popularity all over the world |
9 . The number of snow geese arriving in the Arctic each spring to breed has risen over the past few decades. At first, wildlife biologists saw this as an environmental crisis, pointing to marshes（湿 地 ） where plants were eaten by the hungry birds. In response, the federal government loosened restrictions on snow goose hunting.
But how do the Inuit, in whose backyard this is taking place, view the situation? A recent plan is giving Inuit wildlife experts the opportunity to lend their knowledge to managing the species. The snow goose study, which is supported in part by Polar Knowledge Canada and led by the Kivalliq Wildlife Board (an Inuit organization that manages hunting, trapping and fishing in central Nunavut), asked the experts to share their generations of knowledge about snow geese and their views on what should be done.
“The community had concerns about controlling the population,” says Ron, a community officer of the Kivalliq Inuit Association, “and Inuit snow goose knowledge had never been recorded. People wanted to pass on what they knew.” Inuit experts disagreed with that, considering it wasteful and unnecessary. They felt hunting more snow geese in an organized way, such as paying local hunters a minimal amount of money and distributing the birds to disadvantaged families or operating a limited commercial hunt by employing local people, would be appropriate.
Inuit wildlife experts will plan to call on scientists this fall. They say they hope to search for a common way forward and that while there may be too many snow geese in some areas, it’s not a crisis. Biologists now generally agree that there seem to be plenty of undamaged marshes available and newer research shows that some damaged areas can recover.
“Now that we have recorded and documented Inuit knowledge of snow geese,” says Ron, “when facing the crisis other people will be able to use the information to help manage the species, which is fundamental to dealing with it effectively.”
1. Why did the federal government loosen limitations on snow goose hunting?| A．To make more profits. | B．To create more marshes. |
| C．To wipe out the hungry birds. | D．To protect the ecosystem. |
| A．Organizing large commercial hunts. |
| B．Using snow goose hunting to man’s best advantage. |
| C．Regarding too many snow geese as a crisis. |
| D．Hunting as many snow geese as possible. |
| A．It’s a bit promising. | B．It’s unpredictable. |
| C．It’s too discouraging. | D．It’s hard to get better. |
| A．The species. | B．Inuit knowledge. |
| C．The crisis. | D．Inuit research. |
10 . Not only does the use of plastic water bottles hurt your wallet, it also increases pollution and wastes energy and water. Only 23% of all plastic in America ends up in a recycling bin, meaning over $ 1 billion worth of plastic is treated as rubbish a year. Recently, Skipping Rocks Lab has invented a kind of water bottle called Ooho.
It is a convenient, clear water bottle that can either be drunken or eaten. To drink it, you can either peel off the membrane (薄膜) or tear a hole in the membrane with your teeth to pour the water into your mouth. To eat it, you simply put the whole bottle in your mouth. One problem the scientists have run into is how to ship large amounts of Ooho bubbles(水泡) without arriving with a very wet truck. However, they have attempted to package units of individual bubbles together inside a larger and thicker membrane. It is targeting large outdoor events, such as marathons, music festivals, and sporting events, where tons of plastic bottles are used, and frequently left behind as litter. And too much plastic is sure to do harm to the environment, which could account for their purpose of such a new invention.
The team has been working for the past two years to develop the technology and materials needed to produce Ooho; they have recently applied a patent for their new advancements. The price for an individual bubble or a unit of bubbles has not been set yet, but they cost about two cents to create a unit, which is cheaper than plastic bottles. It has appeared at events in London, San Francisco, Boston, at conferences, festivals, and so on.
Ooho is catching many people’s attention and has raised over $ 1 million and gained 1,000 investors in only three days. It is mostly being sold at events at the moment to keep the consumer’s interest while the production machine is getting up and running. It is quickly making a rise,so keep an eye out this year for these bottles of the future.
1. How is most plastic dealt with in America?| A．It’s sold. | B．It’s recycled. |
| C．It’s buried. | D．It’s wasted. |
| A．To make a profit for a company. | B．To protect the environtnent. |
| C．To make people eat as they drink. | D．To reduce the cost of plastic bottle. |
| A．It is easy and safe to ship it in large amounts. |
| B．It has become popular since it began to be sold. |
| C．It might be sold at a lower price than plastic bottles. |
| D．It cost the team a lot of money to develop the technology. |
| A．Ooho is to be a success in the future. |
| B．Ooho is being supported by smart people. |
| C．Ooho is taking the place of plastic bottles now. |
| D．Ooho is being produced to attract more investors. |
