1 . With climate change continuing to worsen, our situation is beginning to feel increasingly serious.
Techno-optimism is one of the greatest misconceptions when it comes to solutions to ensure our future. It can be defined as a belief that future technologies will solve all of our current problems. This definition reinforces (强化) the idea that there’s no reason to panic or change our current energy-intensive lifestyle. All society needs to do is look to green technology to work its magic.
One of the best examples of this optimistic misconception is the electric car. Despite being highly regarded as an eco-friendly way to get around, electric cars are not the end for the future of transport. Batteries in electric cars use chemical elements which we could be seeing a shortage of by the midcentury.
Techno-optimism puts too much emphasis on technology and not enough on what we can do right this minute. Unfortunately, people seem to like the picture that techno-optimism paints.
A.So where should we look for answers instead? |
B.The modern world’s simple solution is technology. |
C.Moreover, they are more energy intensive to produce. |
D.Is it a trap that many people have fallen into in recent years? |
E.Unfortunately, this is an incredibly dangerous opinion to hold. |
F.Despite any technology, we as a whole are not living sustainably. |
G.Nevertheless, the truth is, we need a widespread change in our lifestyles. |
2 . Early fifth-century philosopher St.Augustine famously wrote that he knew what time was unless someone asked him.Albert Einstein added another wrinkle when he theorized that time varies depending on where you measure it.Today's state-of-the-art atomic(原子的) clocks have proven Einstein right.Even advanced physics can't decisively tell us what time is, because the answer depends on the question you're asking.
Forget about time as an absolute.What if,instead of considering time in terms of astronomy,we related time to ecology?What if we allowed environmental conditions to set the tempo(节奏) of human life?We're increasingly aware of the fact that we can't control Earth systems with engineering alone,and realizing that we need to moderate(调节)our actions if we hope to live in balance.What if our definition of time reflected that?
Recently,I conceptualized a new approach to timekeeping that's connected to circumstances on our planet,conditions that might change as a result of global warming.We're now building a clock at the Anchorage Museum that reflects the total flow of several major Alaskan rivers,which are sensitive to local and global environmental changes.We've programmed it to match an atomic clock if the waterways continue to flow at their present rate.If the rivers run faster in the future on average,the clock will get ahead of standard time.If they run slower,you'll see the opposite effect.
The clock registers both short-term irregularities and long-term trends in river dynamics.It's a sort of observatory that reveals how the rivers are behaving from their own temporal frame(时间框架),and allows us to witness those changes on our smartwatches or phones.Anyone who opts to go on Alaska Mean River Time will live in harmony with the planet.Anyone who considers river time in relation to atomic time will encounter a major imbalance and may be motivated to counteract it by consuming less fuel or supporting greener policies.
Even if this method of timekeeping is novel in its particulars,early agricultural societies also connected time to natural phenomena.In pre-Classical Greece,for instance,people“corrected”official calendars by shifting dates forward or backward to reflect the change of season.Temporal connection to the environment was vital to their survival.Likewise,river time and other timekeeping systems we're developing may encourage environmental awareness.
When St.Augustine admitted his inability to define time, he highlighted one of time 's most noticeable qualities:Time becomes meaningful only in a defined context.Any timekeeping system is valid,and each is as praiseworthy as its purpose.
1. What is the main idea of Paragraph 1?A.Timekeeping is increasingly related to nature. |
B.Everyone can define time on their own terms. |
C.The qualities of time vary with how you measure it. |
D.Time is a major concern of philosophers and scientists. |
A.present an assumption | B.evaluate an argument |
C.highlight an experiment | D.introduce an approach |
A.Those who do not go on river time will live an imbalanced life. |
B.New ways of measuring time can help to control Earth systems. |
C.Atomic time will get ahead of river time if the rivers run slower. |
D.Modern technology may help to shape the rivers’ temporal frame. |
A.It is crucial to improve the definition of time. |
B.A fixed frame will make time meaningless. |
C.We should live in harmony with nature. |
D.History is a mirror reflecting reality. |
3 . Slowness has been a sweeping trend in sustainability. Slow food celebrates local produce and traditional cooking methods; slow fashion is made with a focus on people and the planet. You may have even heard of the slow city, a campaign to restore local cultures and turn cities back to their natural environments.
Slow design developed from the larger slow movement. Although the term was only recently introduced, the idea of thoughtful design looks back to a time when buildings and furniture were made with great craftsmanship (手艺) and by hand-before the mass-produced throwaway furniture took over. You can think of the term “slow” as a celebration of timelessness: both the timelessness of a piece and the timelessness of the relationship between that piece and its owner.
One example of slow design today is what’s been dubbed the brown furniture revival (复兴). Brown furniture refers to the heavy wooden furnishings that were popular in your grandparents’ day but suddenly fell out of style at the turn of the century. Brown furniture is often associated with dark woods, such as trees like mahogany, walnut, and teak, that take decades to reach maturity and true craftsmanship to transform into functional pieces.
Today’s furniture industry is dominated by the $13.1 billion-and-growing global ready-to-assemble(RTA) furniture market. RTA furniture is usually constructed from low-quality fiberboard, which lasts a small part of traditional furniture’s lifespan (寿命).The weight of furniture landfilled in 2018 was 9. 7 million tons, 4. 5 times what was landfilled in 1960.
In a less direct way, the idea of timelessness also lends itself to a lower environmental impact. Besides their demonstrated physical durability, slow materials and design are meant to outlive trends and never be thrown out simply because they’re out of style.
As second-hand shopping becomes more appealing to today’s young generation-because of its low environmental impact and affordability-the brown furniture of yesteryear is making a comeback.
1. Why is the first paragraph written?A.To explain a new term. |
B.To present the topic of the text. |
C.To provide background information. |
D.To highlight the importance of slowness. |
A.Known as. |
B.Mistaken for. |
C.Compared to. |
D.Connected with. |
A.It is out of date. |
B.It has a long lifespan. |
C.It is heavy and expensive. |
D.It has bad effects on the environment. |
A.Grandparents are buying new furniture. |
B.The brown furniture will soon be mass-produced. |
C.The young generation favors second-hand shopping. |
D.Materials for slow design furniture are more available. |
4 . Many cities around the world today are heavily polluted. Careless methods of production and
A recent study showed that two
Only a few years ago, it was impossible to find green products in supermarkets, but now there are hundreds. Some supermarket products
The
A.part | B.lack | C.lots | D.varieties |
A.applied to | B.contributed to | C.exposed to | D.devoted to |
A.possibility | B.chance | C.result | D.effect |
A.Therefore | B.Furthermore | C.Similarly | D.However |
A.After | B.Though | C.Before | D.Unless |
A.reused | B.safe | C.friendly | D.returned |
A.of | B.on | C.from | D.out of |
A.rhyme | B.way | C.section | D.branch |
A.carry | B.take | C.include | D.make |
A.advantage | B.technique | C.point | D.attraction |
A.concern | B.hope | C.care | D.plan |
A.what | B.how | C.whether | D.when |
A.saying | B.trust | C.attitude | D.fashion |
A.pressure | B.pleasure | C.discussion | D.interest |
A.enlarging | B.sharing | C.cleaning | D.improving |
5 . The number of fish caught just outside a recently expanded marine (海洋) protected area in Hawaii has risen. It is a sign that quadrupling (四倍) the size of the reserve in 2016 may have shored fish populations in the region.
When the Marine National Monument around Hawaii was enlarged to 1,510,000 square kilometers, marine conservationists around the world rejoiced.
Fishers may have felt differently, however, as fishing inside the area is not allowed. Yet by creating a space for dwindling tuna populations to recover, supporters argued, the reserve would benefit fisheries as well.
As populations inside the reserve boundaries steadily increased, they predicted, the fish would spill (溢出) over into the surrounding areas, increasing the amount of tuna available to catch.
Proving that is tricky, however, as tuna can’t be counted directly. Their numbers may rise or fall for a variety of reasons other than the expansion of a reserve. But the new study, published in Science this week, strongly suggests the number of fish caught just outside the MPA is higher now than it used to be.
Alan Friedlander, chief scientist for the National Geographic Society’s Pristine Seas project, calls the study a “very careful and strict test of spillover from marine protected areas.”
Importantly, says John Lynham, an environmental economist at the University of Hawaii and one of the study’s authors, the increase in tuna catches near the reserve held up even when looking at the average numbers caught by particular fishers. This shows the effect is not due to more effective crews now fishing local waters, he explains. To account for effort, catch numbers were divided by the ever-increasing number of fishing hooks in the area.
Lynham and colleagues found the catch per hook increased over the 10 years of the study. Fishers were catching on average six more yellowfin and five more bigeye tuna per year after the expansion than before.
“That last one, especially, was a surprise,” says Lynham, “because it is economically much more important, and there were fewer indications of an increase.”
1. What is the first paragraph mainly about?A.The rising number of fish caught is a sign of a well-reserved area. |
B.Enlarge the size of reserve may contribute to the increasing of fish population. |
C.The number of fish caught has risen to quadrupling (四倍) the size of that in 2016. |
D.Fish catching outside the reserve does good to the expanded marine protected area. |
A.They felt joyful. | B.They felt different. | C.They felt unpleasant. | D.They felt excited. |
A.By figuring the average catch per hook in the area. |
B.By summing up the catch of mare effective crews. |
C.By looking at the numbers caught by particular fishers. |
D.By detecting the number of tuna population in the surrounding area. |
A.Tuna population embraces a boost | B.Marine Protected Areas Help Fisheries |
C.Local fisheries hold a promising future | D.Tuna population can be counted scientifically |
6 . The rechargeable lithium-ion (锂离子) battery market is worth more than $50 billion. Lithium-ion batteries, whose demand continues to go up day by day, are used in a wide range of electronic devices. They are made of four main components, and cathode (阴极) is one of them. The cathode’s active material type is what determines the capacity of a battery.
A recent study, led by Wang Yan, a material scientist of Worcester Polytechnic Institute, finds that lithium-ion batteries made with recycled cathodes work better than those with new cathodes.
“The battery industry is expected to grow sharply in the next decade. This high demand has led companies to go to extremes, like increasing deep-sea mining, to gain access to the minerals used in lithium-ion batteries,” Wang said. “Mining minerals will have environmental impacts. Recycling spent lithium-ion batteries offers a way out.”
But until now, the prospect of using recycled materials in lithium-ion batteries has some manufacturers (制造商) worrying that it could impact performance. Thus, lithium-ion batteries are still not widely recycled. Aware of decreasing resources and environmental impact, Wang and other researchers set out to find a way to make recycling lithium-ion batteries economically practical. Through experiments, they could recover more than 90% of the key metals from spent batteries. These recovered metals became the basis of the new recycled battery’s cathode’s active material.
In tests between Wang’s team’s recycled batteries and brand-new batteries of the same composition, the recycled batteries outperform the new ones in their ability to maintain capacity. It took 11,600 charge cycles for recycled cathode batteries to lose 30 percent of their original capacity. That was about 50 percent better than the 7,600 observed cycles for new cathode batteries, the team reported. Those thousands of extra cycles could translate into years of better battery performance, even after repeated use and recharging.
1. What can we learn about lithium-ion batteries from the first paragraph?A.They are high in price. |
B.They are in great demand. |
C.They are limited in use. |
D.They are simple in composition. |
A.The target users of recycled batteries. |
B.The ways to get minerals for batteries. |
C.The major reasons for recycling batteries. |
D.The complex process of recycling batteries. |
A.Declining mineral resources. |
B.Difficult recycling techniques. |
C.Serious environmental problems. |
D.Inefficient battery performance. |
A.The battery industry is going to develop dramatically. |
B.Recycling batteries reduces impact on the environment. |
C.Scientists can recover key materials from spent batteries. |
D.Recycled batteries outperform new ones in charging circles. |
Japan Releases Nuclear Wastewater into the Pacific. How Worried Should We Be?
Japan has started releasing wastewater into the ocean. But this isn’t the kind of wastewater
Since the accident, over 1.3 million tons of nuclear wastewater
Japan’s discharge plan involves incrementally (递增地) releasing it over the next three decades, although some experts say it could take longer, given the amount still
Now, American scientists are raising concerns that marine life and ocean currents could carry harmful radioactive isotopes (同位素) —also called radionuclides—
“It’s a trans-boundary and trans-generational event,” says Robert Richmond, director of the Kewalo Marine Laboratory at the University of Hawaii. “
The radionuclides could be carried by ocean currents, especially the cross-Pacific Kuroshio current. Marine animals that migrate great distances could spread them too. No
Richmond and Buesseler say that
8 . Climate experts have warned about the many ways a warming planet can negatively affect human health.
One long-held prediction that appears to be coming true — according to the results of a study recently published in Nature Scientific Reports — is how climate change might enhance
Vibrio vulnificus (创伤弧菌) flourishes in salty or brackish waters above 68℉. Infections are currently rare in the U.S., but that’s likely to change. Using 30 years of data on infections, scientists at the University of East Anglia in the U.K. found that Vibrio vulnificusis
“We’re seeing the core
Based on the latest data on how much the world’s water and air temperatures will rise, the scientists predict that by 2081, Vibrio vulnificus infections could reach every state along the U.S. East Coast. Currently, only about 80 cases are reported in the U.S. each year; by 2081, that could go up to over three-fold, the authors say.
Such a proliferation could have serious health consequences. Vibrio vulnificus kills approximately 20% of the healthy people it infects, and 50% of those with weakened immune systems. There is little evidence that antibiotics can
Warming sea temperatures aren’t the only reasons behind the rise of Vibrio vulnificus. Hotter air also draws more people to the coasts and bays, bringing them into closer contact with the bacteria.
“The bacteria are part of the natural marine environment, so I don’t think we can
To alert people to the growing threat,
Vbrio vulnificus is so
Lake says the expansion of Vibrio vulnificus is concerning for public health since the bacteria are now invading waters closer to heavily
A.Even if | B.Except when | C.The instant | D.In case |
A.numbers | B.ranges | C.coverages | D.concentrations |
A.failure | B.fatality | C.survival | D.acid |
A.ranging | B.varying | C.expanding | D.shifting |
A.distribution | B.launch | C.community | D.sample |
A.principle | B.lead | C.principal | D.hit |
A.boost | B.accelerate | C.contain | D.remove |
A.harms | B.damages | C.injuries | D.wounds |
A.relieve | B.dissolve | C.resolve | D.erase |
A.conscience | B.awareness | C.panic | D.alert |
A.monitoring | B.processing | C.managing | D.delivering |
A.sensible | B.vital | C.vulnerable | D.sensitive |
A.populated | B.dense | C.paralleled | D.bordered |
A.reaction | B.interaction | C.intervention | D.relativity |
A.rather than | B.except for | C.such as | D.other than |
This year, August 15th marked China’s first National Ecology Day,
The establishment of National Ecology Day will enhance ecological understanding among the public and help the nation
The move
China’s laws and administrative regulations
增加:在缺词处加一个漏字符号(∧),并在其下面写出该加的词。
删除:把多余的词用斜线(\)划掉。
修改:在错的词下划一横线,并在该词下面写出修改后的词。
注意:1. 每处错误及其修改均仅限一词;
2. 只允许修改10处,多者(从第11处起)不计分。
Last month, our school launched a campaign which intention was to promote environmental protection. The campaign last for one week. Firstly, there was a photo display to show the seriously pollution caused by human activities. Secondly, there was a lecture on many small step that we could take in our daily life protect the environment. For example, taking the bus and using the bike-sharing system would be a good way. Last but not the least, we students were encouraging to decorate our classrooms with recycled materials. Through the campaign, they have benefited a lot. We realize that it is our responsible to leave a better, cleaner and healthier planet for future generations.