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Caring for the Environment Starts from Ourselves
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________2 . The sunflower sea star has been listed as a critically endangered species following a groundbreaking population study led by Oregon State University (OSU) and The Nature Conservancy.
“These giant sea stars used to be easy to find and were a hit with divers. Unfortunately, your chances of finding one now are next to nothing in most of the areas near the United States—this listing is one step to extinction—and I don’t think they’re coming back without help,” said OSU’s Sarah Gravem, a research associate in the College of Science and the lead author of the study.
Populations of the sunflower sea star suffered dramatic crashes because of a marine (海洋的) wildlife epidemic event, which began in 2013. Scientists used more than 61,000 population surveys from 31 data sets to calculate a 90.6% decline in the sunflower sea stars and estimated that as many as 5.75 billion animals died from the disease, whose cause has not been determined. Moreover, the research showed no sign of population recovery in any region in the five to seven years since the event.
Sunflower sea stars are a key catcher of purple sea urchins (海胆) and the sea star decline has helped the increase in the urchin population in many regions. Too many urchins are linked to a decline in kelp forests（海藻林) already facing pressure from marine heat wave events, making the future uncertain for ecosystems that provide habitat for thousands of marine animals and help support coastal economies.
“Because most people are not out in the ocean every day, we don’t realize how much it’s being changed and impacted by humans. We need to think about how to keep our ocean healthy. While reducing the release of carbon dioxide is the most pressing need, rebuilding key catcher populations, like the sunflower sea star, can be an important piece of the puzzle too,” said study co-author Sara Hamilton, a Ph. D. candidate in the OSU College of Science.
1. What can we infer about sunflower sea stars from Sarah Gravem’s words?| A．They present a danger to divers. |
| B．They cannot recover on their own. |
| C．They cannot adapt to the new environment. |
| D．They attract many tourists to the United States. |
| A．Human beings’ overfishing. |
| B．The arrival of a new species. |
| C．The rising ocean temperature. |
| D．The occurrence of a marine disease. |
| A．Their common enemies are sea urchins. |
| B．Sunflower sea stars feed on the sea keep forests. |
| C．Sunflower sea stars help preserve the sea kelp forests. |
| D．The sea kelp forests provide habitats for sunflower sea stars. |
| A．More species should be introduced to the ocean. |
| B．Scientists play the most important role in protecting the ocean. |
| C．The influence of human activities on the ocean has decreased since 2013. |
| D．More action should be taken to increase the number of sunflower sea stars. |
3 . Most old, disused airports are usually torn down to make way for shiny new developments, although at huge cost, but not Tegel airport, in Berlin, Germany. The deserted 580 acres will be turned into an eco-friendly living neighborhood land, in Tegel Project that officials hope will become the blueprint for future disused airports.
After the airport was closed down a number of years ago, following the building of a newer and modern version nearby, developers began dreaming up the ambitious 5 million square meter Tegel Project. Those behind the project hope it will address housing shortages, pollution and other ban living problems. It will provide at least 5,000 homes for more than 10,000 people.
The entire project is all about being energy-efficient: vertical gardens (垂直花园) on apartment blocks, which is one way to keep buildings cool without costly air conditioning. Every rooftop is also going to be fitted with solar panels which will provide electricity. Sponge City technology, such as rain gardens, will help the city absorb as much water as possible.
Although turning an airport into a neighborhood isn’t common, it’s not the first time it’s happened. When Denver’s main airport moved to a new location, developers made the most out of the old airport and converted the space into a residential community with important locations like hospitals, schools, and supermarkets easily reached on foot.
Next to the new development in Germany’s former Tegel airport will be a commercial zone. The Urban Technology Republic is aimed at tech companies that will be encouraged to open offices in the development, as well as a large city park that will stretch across half of the urban tech space. There will also be a campus for the Berliner Hochschule fur Technik University. Construction is due to begin in 2023, with the first areas opening by 2027.
1. Why did developers come up with Tegel Project?| A．To make room for city gardens. | B．To help solve rural living problems. |
| C．To reuse Tegel airport in a green way. | D．To set a good example for future cities. |
| A．Tegel Project has proven costly. |
| B．Vertical gardens are built on the rooftop. |
| C．A city park will be the center of the Tegel airport. |
| D．The practice of using old airport has been tried before. |
| A．Transformed. | B．Carried. | C．Slid. | D．Divided. |
| A．Less Is More | B．Trash Can Be Treasure |
| C．Technology Makes a Difference | D．Human and Nature Live in Peace |
4 . Poaching (偷猎) is a major cause of decline for elephants, with a total decrease to about 415,000, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
The research team found that poaching occurred more frequently in Central Africa and near the Mozambique-Tanzania border. In recent years, Garamba National Park, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, saw more than 860 elephants die at the hands of poachers, and Selous Game Reserve, in Tanzania, more than 750. Researchers discovered that the household wealth of those surrounding areas was relatively low and they hold a mid-level health.
Researchers said, “Illegal killings are driven by criminal networks who recruit poachers rather than by opportunistic hunters. When a lot of Africa’s national parks were established, people were often forced to be evicted from the land that was now designated a protected area. Local people who had been lived on hunting suddenly became described as poachers.”
“People living within about five miles of wildlife protected area in Tanzania also reported losing up to half their income. A local survey showed the destruction of their crops by elephants and killings of their livestock by lions.” Someone added, “If you’re closest to the park, you really do suffer more cost than benefit of the protected area.”
Researchers also noted, “When local communities enjoy the benefits of conservation, it will reduce incentives (诱因) to poach. When governments ensure that local communities are not subject to carrying the burden of the costs associated with this wildlife, they will have more access to income-generating opportunities that can help to lift communities out of poverty.”
Conservationists have to think creatively, carrying out strategies such as reducing demand in ivory-consuming countries, improving educational standards and medical facilities, and increasing support for wildlife rangers. “When we are looking to protect wildlife, we can’t do that without thinking about the well-being of people,” researchers said.
1. What do the numbers in Paragraph 2 imply?| A．Elephants mainly appear in Africa. |
| B．Poachers have found the track of elephants. |
| C．Elephants living in the protected area are facing a decline. |
| D．Hundreds of elephants in Africa die at the hands of poachers. |
| A．Leave. | B．Return. | C．Wander. | D．Seek. |
| A．Elephants poaching is likely driven by need, not greed. |
| B．Household wealth of people in the protected area is relatively high. |
| C．Wildlife protection and people’s well-being should go hand in hand. |
| D．People living close to the wildlife reserve lose nearly half their income. |
| A．A health column. | B．A travel brochure. |
| C．A geographic magazine. | D．A news story. |
5 . We use a huge amount of single-use plastic each year-we buy one million plastic bottles each minute around the world.Plastic waste,a material that can take centuries or more to disappear, is causing great damage to the planet.However,plastic waste produced in many countries typically ends up in open, uncontrolled landfills(垃圾填埋池），most of which finally enters the ocean either by wind or through waterways.
Now,Nzambi Matee,a 29-year-old woman from Nairobi,Kenya,is dealing with this global, crisis by recycling bags,containers, and other waste products into bricks(砖头）used for construction projects.Before founding her company -Gjenge Makers,Matee worked as an oil-industry engineer.After seeing plastic waste along Nairobi's streets,she decided to quit her job and built a small lab,testing sand and plastic combinations(结合）Matee managed to study in the materials lab at the University of Colorado Boulder, where she in the end developed a machine that produces the new bricks.
Made from a combination of plastic and sand,the bricks have a melting point higher than 350℃ and can be used for a longer time than traditional bricks. Matee and her team gain much of the raw product from factories and recyclers, and sometimes it's free, which allows the company to reduce the price point on the product and make it more affordable for schools and homeowners.
“There is waste that recyclers cannot deal with anymore. That is what we get,”Matee said. Her factory produces 1,500 bricks each day,made from a mix of different kinds of plastic.These are polyethylene(聚乙烯）used for milk bottles,sandwich bags, and ropes. But she does not work with polyethylene terephthalate or PET,commonly used for plastic bottles,which can be made into the same form easily again and again.
The plastic waste is mixed with sand,heated and then pressed into bricks, which are sold at different prices,depending on thickness and colour.
1. What does Paragraph 1 mainly focus on?| A．The ways of finding single-use plastics. |
| B．Our dependence on single-use plastics. |
| C．The wide spread use of plastic products. |
| D．Our irresponsible behavior in using plastics. |
| A．Her job as an oil-industry engineer. |
| B．Her determination to go to university. |
| C．Her awareness of plastic waste problems. |
| D．Her research project in the university lab. |
| A．They take less time to make. |
| B．They bear much more weight. |
| C．They stay in good condition longer. |
| D．They change their colors more easily. |
| A．They are easy to recycle. |
| B．They are few in number. |
| C．They are mixed with sand. |
| D．They are difficult to deal with. |
6 . A worldwide shift from fossil fuel-powered cars to electric vehicles (EV) could significantly reduce the amount of carbon dioxide that humans emit to the atmosphere. But the vehicle electrification can also shift some pollution to communities already suffering under higher economic, health and environmental burdens, researchers warn.
California is seeking to reduce its carbon footprint and has made great increases in the promotion of electric vehicle purchases. One tool the state has launched is the Clean Vehicle Rebate Project, or CVRP, which offers consumers money back for the purchase of new EVs.
Now, an analysis of the CVRP’s impact on the state’s air quality from 2010 to 2021 reveals both good and bad news, researchers report May 3 in PLOS Climate.
The good news is that the CVRP is responsible for reducing the amount of the state’s overall CO2 emissions, reducing them by about 560,000 tons per year on average, says environmental scientist Jaye Mejia-Duwan at the University of California. In 2020, transportation in California produced about 160 million tons of CO2, about 40 percent of the total emitted by the state that year.
The bad news is that the most disadvantaged communities in the state didn’t see the same overall improvement in air quality. Those communities didn’t have the same decreases in CO2 — and in fact saw an increase in one type of air pollution, tiny particulates (颗粒) known as PM2.5. “These particulates are small enough to go deep into the lungs, increasing the risk of cancer, heart problems and cognitive decline,” Mejia-Duwan says.
“Electric vehicles are often referred to as ‘zero-emission vehicles,’ but in fact, they’re only as clean as the underlying electric grid (电网) from which the energy is sourced,” Mejia-Duwan says. EVs tend to be relatively heavy due to their batteries. And “heavier vehicles can produce more particulate matter than equally sized fossil fuel-powered cars, due to brake, tire or road wear,” Mejia-Duwan says.
1. California launched CVRP to ________.| A．save money for consumers | B．encourage the purchase of EVs |
| C．promote selling traditional cars | D．add to the profit of car industry |
| A．The seriousness of CO2 emissions. | B．The increasing popularity of EVs. |
| C．The present situation of environment. | D．The positive effect of CVRP. |
| A．Fuel-powered cars are relatively environment friendly. |
| B．There are more EVs in disadvantaged communities. |
| C．Electric vehicles can reduce the amount of emission. |
| D．Heavier vehicles do less damage to the environment. |
| A．Objective. | B．Supportive. | C．Opposed. | D．Indifferent. |
7 . Something has changed at a workplace cafeteria in Birmingham. Next to the sandwiches and hot and cold dishes is a small globe symbol, coloured green, orange or red with a letter in the centre from A to E. “Meet our new eco-labels” a sign reads.
Researchers at Oxford University have analysed the ingredients in every food item on the menu and given the dishes an environmental impact score, vegetable soup (an A) to the lemon, spring onion, cheese and tuna bagel(an E). They team up with the food services business Compass Group for a trial at more than a dozen of its cafeterias across the UK to see if a label can change the way people eat.
The challenge for the scientists designing the trial is the image the diners see on the signs. How much information do you include in a label? How do you strike a balance between effective and practical?
During the pandemic, researchers ran studies on an online supermarket where people were given fake money to complete their fake shopping list. The trial gave a sense of what labels were more likely to sway people to buy eco-friendly. They round the most effective way to get people not to buy an item was to use a dark red globe symbol with the word "worse" printed on it. But while effective, it had real world limitations. "You're not going to be able to get anyone to use that unless you threaten them with legislation, because they don't want to say 'don't buy this',"said Brian Cook, the leader of the research.
The next challenge is the scale, especially in supermarkets. Going through tens of thousands of products and countless ingredients, determining the environmental impact in a supermarket would be a Herculean(艰巨的) task. To make it easier, the research team finally decided on four indicators for the trial's formula: greenhouse gas emissions, biodiversity loss, water pollution, and water use. They weighted each indicator equally in their equation for overall impact.
In most cases, the researchers say the biggest environmental impact will be to get people off meat. "Given that the goal is to get people to shift behaviour the most correct and scientifically reliable approach may actually not be the best approach." Clark said. He has considered that a national rollout of labels might need to be based on indicators already prioritised by businesses and mandated (强制执) by governments, to make the move as easy as possible.
1. What has changed at a workplace cafeteria i Burmingham?| A．Food is marked from A to E according to its nutrition. |
| B．Dishes are displayed with an environmental impact score. |
| C．The ingredients in every food item are regularly analysed. |
| D．The restaurant reopened with a sign "Meet our new eco-labels". |
| A．The image does not affect consumers’ opinion |
| B．The dark red globe symbol is a threat to the law. |
| C．An effective image might not be a practical one. |
| D．The image must carry as much information as possible |
| A．damage the interest of the business in food industry |
| B．put more weight on the indicator of greenhouse gas emissions |
| C．combine the benefit for business and the order of the government |
| D．consider whether the approach is supported by scientific evidences |
| A．Eco-friendly, Start from Food |
| B．Off Meat, We Will Be Healthy |
| C．Eco-labels, A New Way We Eat |
| D．Globe Symbol, A New Trend for Business |
8 . The San Diego County Water Authority has an unusual plan to use the city’s scenic San Vicente Reservoir (水库) to store solar power so it’s available after sunset. The project could help unlock America’s clean energy future.
Perhaps ten years from now, if all goes smoothly, large underground pipes will connect this lake to a new reservoir, a much smaller one, built in a nearby valley about 1100 feet higher. When the sun is high in the sky, California’s abundant solar power will pump water into that upper reservoir. It’s a way to store the electricity. When the sun goes down and solar power disappears, operators would open a valve (阀门) and the force of 8 million tons of water, falling back downhill through those same pipes, would drive machines capable of producing 500 megawatts of electricity for up to eight hours. That’s enough to power 130, 000 typical homes.
“It’s a water battery!” says Neena Kuzmich, Deputy Director of Engineering for the water authority. She says energy storage facilities like these will be increasingly important as California starts to rely more on energy from wind and solar, which produce electricity on their own schedules, without considering the demands of consumers.
Californians learned this during a heat wave this past summer. “Everybody in the state of California got a text message at 5:30 in the evening to turn off their appliances,” Kuzmich says. The sun was going down, solar generation was disappearing, and the remaining power plants, many of them burning gas, couldn’t keep up with demand. The reminder worked:People stopped using so much power, and the grid (电网) survived.
Yet earlier on that same day, there was so much solar power available that the grid couldn’t take it all. Grid operators turned away more than 2000 megawatt hours of electricity that solar generators could have delivered, enough to power a small city. That electricity was wasted. There was no way to store it for later, when operators desperately needed it.
1. What is the function of Paragraph 2?| A．To present the importance of a reservoir. | B．To recall a situation in recent ten years. |
| C．To introduce the usage of solar energy. | D．To explain a way to store electricity. |
| A．The reservoir serves to store energy. | B．Californians need little solar energy. |
| C．People used to waste too much energy. | D．New storage ways are environmentally friendly. |
| A．To stop people working. | B．To warn people of danger. |
| C．To tell people the sunset time. | D．To remind people of lack of energy. |
| A．Scenic San Vicente Reservoir | B．San Diego County Energy Plan |
| C．Water Batteries to Store Solar Power | D．Machines to Store Water in California |
9 . Imagine a world without insects. It might sound good at first without creepy-crawly bugs and annoying flies in your apartment. However, the consequences would be disastrous.
The number of insects has dropped by more than half in the past decades, according to British biologist Dave Goulson, author of Silent Earth: Averting the Insect Apocalypse. As insects make up most of the known species on this planet, this data is not good news.
Insects are indeed on the path to extinction, according to the first global scientific review of insect population decline, which was published in the journal Biological Conservation in January 2019. The researchers say intensive agriculture has been the main cause of the decline. Pesticides (杀虫剂), in particular, destroy insect habitats. Urbanization and climate change are also significant factors. “Unless we convert our ways of producing food, insects will go down the path of extinction in a few decades.”
What would happen to Earth without insects? It’s almost impossible to predict, but the consequences would be far—reaching. We need insects to pollinate (授粉) crops, recycle plant and animal material, keep the soil healthy and much more. Without insects, many animals would have nothing to eat, and the predators (捕食者) of those animals would go hungry as well. The ecosystem would be thrown off balance.
“If insect species losses cannot be halted, this will have catastrophic consequences for both the planet’s ecosystems and for the survival of mankind,” said Sanchez-Bayo, one of the authors of the review. The first step to halt this process is “to engender a society that values the natural world, both for what it does for us and for its own sake”, Sanchez—Bayo suggests. “The obvious place to start is with our children, encouraging environmental awareness from an early age.”
1. What’s people’s general impression of insects?| A．Quite unpleasant. | B．Very interesting. |
| C．Extremely helpful. | D．Unexpectedly disastrous. |
| A．Change. | B．Abandon. | C．Expand. | D．Simplify. |
| A．Insects ensure the earth’s diversity. |
| B．Insects maintain the earth ecosystem. |
| C．Insects make the soil dry and healthy. |
| D．Insects help slow down climate change. |
| A．Exploit nature in a gentle way. |
| B．Change our way of producing food. |
| C．Educate younger generation to be aware of it. |
| D．Provide insects with enough habitats and food. |
10 . A 2018 report found that food waste would increase by a third to 2. 1billion tons by 2030. Beyond the cost of the waste itself，thrown-away food generates a gas that contributes to climate change.
Home delivery meal kits(盒)can reduce food waste by more than two-thirds，but suppliers need to switch to reusable packaging to make them environmentally friendly.
Tailor-made meal kits cut waste by providing people with precise amounts of fresh ingredients(烹饪原料)for chosen recipes，meaning leftovers are minimized. But while the delivery services score well on reducing food waste，buying the same food ingredients from the supermarket almost always saves energy overall simply because meal kits use so much single-use packaging. The good news is that if people have meals that are tailored for consumption，they won’t overbuy and have less food waste. They fine-tune the amount of food to what they will actually eat.
Meal kits can reduce transport emissions(排放)if people go to the supermarket less frequently. If people only go and buy such goods as soap and toilet paper，they may only have to visit once every couple of months. A delivery truck can carry meals for a lot of people in the neighborhood. So dozens of car trips might be replaced with one truck trip.
However，study found that even if delivery meal kits reduced food waste to zero，they would still use up more energy overall than buying the same food from the supermarket unless the energy used for the meal kit packaging was cut by a fifth. The packaging is a killer if it’s single-use and thrown away，which can make all the environmental benefits lost. But if the packaging can be reused，if it’s glass bottles，like in the old days，we can get some benefits.
1. What can we learn about home delivery meal kits?| A．They can cut down on daily expenses. |
| B．They will totally solve the problem of food waste. |
| C．They can keep energy consumption to a minimum. |
| D．They will benefit the environment with reusable packaging. |
| A．Attach. | B．Adjust. |
| C．Raise. | D．Compare. |
| A．reduce transport emissions | B．save more food |
| C．shop only in the supermarket | D．shorten car trip distances |
| A．Supportive. | B．Unfavorable. |
| C．Objective. | D．Indifferent. |
