| A. conclusive B. indiscriminate C. awe D. favourable E. uninhabitable F. address G. advocating H. agenda I. attain J. conventional K. odds |
The world has warmed more than one degree Celsius since the Industrial Revolution. The Paris climate agreement hoped to restrict warming to two degrees. The
In the decade that ran from 1979 to 1989, we had an excellent opportunity to solve the climate crisis. The world’s major powers came within several signatures of
Nearly everything we understand now about global warming was understood in 1979. Human beings have altered Earth’s atmosphere through the
But they failed, even though the world’s leading oceanographer Henry Stommel and the Harvard planetary physicist Richard Goody, whose mere presence could inspire
2 . Animal populations across the world have been reduced by 69% in less than 50 years, according to a new scientific report. The report’s authors are calling for urgent action to restore the natural world.
The Living Planet Report (LPR) is produced every two years by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and the Zoological Society of London. The most recent report, released on October 13, 2022, shows that almost 70% of the world’s monitored wildlife was lost between 1970 and 2018. The report is based on research from 195 countries around the world. Data was collected from almost 32,000 populations of 5,230 species.
Although the average global loss of wildlife is 69%, the rate is greater in the global south. Latin America and the Caribbean in particular have seen the sharpest fall, having lost 94% of their wildlife since 1970. Across the world, the biggest drop was in freshwater populations of wildlife — including almost 1,400 species of mammals, birds, fish, amphibians and reptiles — which have decreased by 83%.
The report identifies several causes for wildlife loss, including hunting, farming, the loss of forests, pollution and climate change. However, the report also promotes solutions, such as designing less destructive food production systems, urgently protecting the Amazon rainforest, limiting the use of fossil fuels, and creating new laws to protect our natural environment.
Commenting on the report, Marco Lambertini, director general of WWF International, called the figures “terrifying”, and said “we need to help nature recover and not simply halt its loss.” In December 2022, world leaders are meeting in Montreal for the 15th UN Biodiversity Conference, also known as COP 15. The authors of the LPR say that this is an opportunity for a global plan to deal with wildlife loss and restore nature. “Government leaders must step up at COP 15,” said Lambertini. “The world is watching.”
1. What does the author mainly want to show by listing the numbers in the first three paragraphs?| A．The causes of the urgent situation. | B．The seriousness of wildlife loss worldwide. |
| C．The detailed process of the research. | D．The drop in freshwater populations of wildlife. |
| A．Stop hunting and farming. | B．Not permit the production of wildlife food. |
| C．Replace the fossil fuels with renewable energy. | D．Offer legal protection of natural environment. |
| A．Accept. | B．Fear. | C．Stop. | D．Suffer. |
| A．Concerned. | B．Indifferent. | C．Positive. | D．Satisfied. |
3 . As the world struggles to deal with the climate crisis, some companies are working to remove polluting carbon dioxide from the air.
Scientists say large amounts of CO2 must be removed from the CO2 atmosphere and stored.
That means humans need to come up with ways of removing carbon from the air and storing it. This is called Direct Air Capture(DAC). The science of removing carbon from the air is challenging, and it’s still pretty new.
A company called Heirloom has just opened the first DAC plant in the United States. The company heats up the limestone to separate out the CO2, which is concrete. The process is extremely expensive.
| A．Plants and trees do this naturally. |
| B．That’s a huge and challenging goal. |
| C．Not everyone is excited about carbon removal. |
| D．Graphyte is another US company working on DAC. |
| E．The new plant can remove 1,000 tons of CO2 a year. |
| F．Most DAC processes require a large amount of energy. |
| G．As a matter of fact, CO2 is just a small part of the gases that make up air. |
4 . Look, let’s be honest-there’s no such thing as a “green” vacation. You’ll leave a carbon footprint, no matter what.
Is it a B Corp?
B Corps are businesses that meet a strict set of standards by the nonprofit B Lab. They include requirements for governance, workers, customers, community and the environment.
Does the company have any other environmental certifications?
Third-party certifications from Green Key, LEED and WELL can be signs that a travel company means business about the environment. Transportation companies may also offer verified certifications from organizations like Terrapass or the Gold Standard Foundation.
If the company claims to be green, don’t just take its word for it. Listen to what it says. If you see nothing but models on its Instagram channel or ads for online discounts on its site, perhaps it’s a shade of fake green. “A company’s social media strategy is generally a reflection of its current ethos and goals,” explained Julia Carter, founder of Craft Travel.
How deep is its commitment to the environment?
| A．But your trip can be green-ish. |
| B．What’s the company saying to everyone? |
| C．How can we find a reliable company online? |
| D．Don’t trust anything the company says to the public. |
| E．These certifications aren’t a guarantee the company is green. |
| F．Look for reliable reports on sustainability from a travel company. |
| G．You can search the directory of these forward-looking companies online. |
5 . In an effort to help out important insects like bees and butterflies, bus stops across the United Kingdom (UK) are getting living roofs. Small gardens on bus shelter roofs are being planted with flowers chosen to help support the struggling insects. The gardens provide much-needed islands of nature in a man-made environment of a city.
Humans count on bees and other “pollinators (授粉者)” like butterflies to help grow plants, such as flowers and trees. But with humans taking over more and more land for cities, roads and farms, more natural areas have disappeared. The Wildlife Trusts, a group which works to protect wildlife in the UK, says that 97% of England’s wildflower fields have been lost since World War II and the insect numbers there have dropped by 50% since 1970. Bee bus stops are a small step toward supporting these important insects.
The advertising company Clear Channel is working with The Wildlife Trusts and city governments to set up bee bus stops in cities across the UK. Bee bus stops are like ordinary bus shelters, but small gardens have been added to the roofs. The gardens are filled with flowers and plants chosen to attract bees and butterflies. The company plans to set up 1,000 bee bus stops in the UK.
Clear Channel already has bee bus stop programs in several countries in Europe. In the Netherlands, the city of Utrecht has 300 bee bus stops. Research shows that these bus stops—along with many other steps taken to support pollinators—may be helping. After decades of dropping numbers, bee populations in the Netherlands seem to have become more stable over the last few years.
The little gardens can also help to slightly lower city temperatures. Even though the bus shelter gardens are small, together they add up to a much larger area. Thirzah McSherry, who works for The Wildlife Trusts, says, “We’re living through a nature and climate crisis and we need to use every tool we’ve got to deal with it.”
1. Why are bee bus stop gardens being built in the UK?| A．To beautify the city. | B．To improve urban farming. |
| C．To solve the environmental pollution. | D．To provide shelters for pollinating insects. |
| A．Losses of forests. | B．Climate changes. |
| C．Human activities. | D．Natural disasters. |
| A．By analyzing the data. | B．By making a comparison. |
| C．By showing similar examples. | D．By presenting its bright future. |
| A．The urban environment is getting worse. |
| B．The United Kingdom is building bee bus stops. |
| C．City should build larger gardens for the insects. |
| D．The bee bus stop is the best way to save the city. |
6 . How to Go Green
The idea of “going green” means that you’ll try to reduce your impact on the environment. It’s a great way to improve the planet.
Walk or bike to places if you live close enough.
Communicate digitally whenever possible, and only print out items when you absolutely must. When you do use paper, recycle it or save it to reuse the other side of it.
Buy second-hand products or borrow items instead of buying something new.
Buying things produces more waste and pollution, so try not to buy things you don’t need. When you do need something, shop at local second-hand market or use online resale shops.
Skip products that have a lot of packaging.
Products that come with a lot of packaging are bad for the environment because the packaging is waste. Even if you recycle the package, it’s still an unnecessary waste of resources.
| A．Cars use up a lot of gas |
| B．Limit your use of paper |
| C．Use reusable bags while you’re shopping |
| D．If you’re ready to go green, start from the following good habits |
| E．Do your best to pick products that have as little packaging as possible |
| F．In order to save money, cut down on the cost of paper you’re using |
| G．If you can, borrow items that you don’t use often, like tools, from a friend |
7 . While waste within the convenience economy should certainly be solved, it is neither realistic nor sustainable to work towards the complete abandonment of plastics for packaging and other convenience items. Plastics play a crucial role in preserving products both physically and from the effects of water, oxygen and other things. Further, we cannot over-rely on recycling when we consider weak market interest in low-grade materials.
What we need is a strong focus on improving the sustainability of the plastics that we will continue to need. For these plastics, the clear goal should be to stop the use of oil. We must turn to materials based on natural, renewable resources and produce plastics that have minimal impact on the environment after multiple use. Several of these products are already available on the market, but the key to challenging the dominance of oil-based plastics is extending and developing the capacity and range of such products with new material science.
Industrial biotechnology is becoming a cornerstone of the bio-economy. It involves working with natural processes to extend biochemical pathways that can be used in manufacturing (制造业). It has the potential to improve how we manufacture materials and allow us to produce entirely new materials, at the same time protecting the environment and reducing costs.
At Biome Bio-plastics, for example, our industrial biotechnology development programme has already successfully produced bio-based chemicals at sufficient scale (规模) for industrial testing from lignin, the woody material in plants and other renewable carbon sources. Availability of these chemicals could-completely transform the bio-plastics market, creating natural polymers (聚合物) that can compete with oil-based polymers on both cost and functionality. We believe that our product can deliver important changes across the materials industry and provide a critical tool in the fight against plastic pollution.
1. What does paragraph 1 mainly focus on concerning plastics?| A．Their source materials. | B．Their vital importance. |
| C．The problems they cause. | D．The methods to abandon them |
| A．They should be eco-friendly. | B．They could be a bit expensive. |
| C．They could be replaced by plant products | D．They should be made from used things. |
| A．The high cost of carbon sources. |
| B．The wide variety of their products. |
| C．The low availability of oil-based polymers. |
| D．The application of industrial biotechnology |
| A．A newspaper journalist. | B．A government officer. |
| C．A company manager. | D．A university researcher |
1. 野生动物目前面临的问题；
2. 保护野生动物的措施；
3. 发出倡议。
注意：1. 写作词数应为80个左右；
2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Wildlife in Danger
Dear fellow students,____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The Student Union
9 . Have you ever observed how a family runs smoothly? It’s the balance that plays a role in a family. But a family where there is too much chaos (混乱), argument, and one-sided communication has no balance. As a result, such a chaotic family suffers consequences like divorced parents, distances between children.
In the same way, nature needs balance, harmony and protection. You are already aware of the phrase — too much of everything is bad. That’s why the sensibility to bring balance in nature is every human’s responsibility.
The community of living species interacts with the environment’s non-living components in a healthy ecosystem. Rainfall, temperature, sunlight, soil, and water chemistry are the main examples of abiotic (无生命的) aspects of ecosystems that need to be in a stable manner.
To survive, plants need a certain combination of temperature, moisture, and soil chemistry. Protecting plants is also important because it provides food for the animals.What you see above are the natural phenomena that have been happening since the beginning of the universe. That’s how nature has been functioning. But indulgent human activities in using natural resources has created poor habitation in the natural environment. In fact, here are the human actions that have broken the balance in nature for so many years now.
People cut down trees to make space for new companies owing to an increase in population, which has decreased the amount of oxygen in the air. Global warming has resulted in the melting of the ice caps, leading to rising sea levels and other natural disasters like cyclones and tsunamis. As a result of habitat loss, it is getting harder for species to survive.To bring the Earth to its original form is impossible. But there is always a potential for bringing awareness. Hence, if the above human activities are lessened or changed with recycling activities, the next generation can still live a healthy life.
1. Why is a chaotic family mentioned in paragraph 1?| A．To bring up a new topic. |
| B．To come to a conclusion. |
| C．To complain about family chaos. |
| D．To admire the balance of a family. |
| A．Limit human activities to the fullest. |
| B．Control a certain amount of everything. |
| C．Don’t cut down trees for new companies. |
| D．Don’t use energy for economic development. |
| A．Responsible. | B．Controlled. | C．Romantic. | D．Unlimited. |
| A．Worried. | B．Doubtful. | C．Confident. | D．Uncertain. |
10 . Your carbon footprint is the amount of greenhouse gases that you produce as you live your life. In order to hold the global temperature rise to 2˚C or less, everyone needs to average an annual carbon footprint of 1.87 tons by 2050.
Eat low on the food chain. This means eating mostly fruits, vegetables, grains, and beans. Meat and dairy is responsible for 14.5 percent of man-made global greenhouse gas emissions.
Use low energy appliances. Replace traditional light bulbs with LED ones. Though LEDs cost more, they use a quarter of the energy and last up to 25 times longer. Make energy efficiency a primary consideration when choosing a new microwave, air conditioning unit, dishwasher, or refrigerator.
Choose green travel. An average car produces about five tons of carbon each year.
| A．Don’t buy fast fashion. |
| B．Never choose quality clothing. |
| C．But people ignore this serious problem. |
| D．Making changes in transport matters much. |
| E．Here are ways to reduce your carbon footprint. |
| F．They are mainly from food production and processing. |
| G．Products with the ENERGY STAR sign have better efficiency. |
