| A．Health. | B．Education. | C．Environment. |
2 . Twelve years ago, a young traveler named Rhett Butler from San Francisco, California, visited the Sabah rainforest on Malaysian Borneo. In one area of the rainforest, he watched a bird flying through the trees. The beautiful sight left quite an impression on him. But weeks later, back home, Rhett Butler got the news that trees had been cut down in the area he visited.
That experience led Rhett Butler begin writing a book about rainforests and threats to their existence. But he did not publish the book. Instead, in 1999, he used his research for the book to create a website. The site is Mongabay. Com. His purpose was to inform the public about tropical rainforests. But the subject quickly developed. As a former businessman, he became a respected writer of science and environmental stories.
The popularity of Mongabay. Com attracted advertisers. Small ads on the site pay for its operations. Mongabay.Com has grown and led to other sites. For example, there is a site for children which is called kids. Mongabay.Com. Another one, WildMadangascar.Org, is all about the island nation that Rhett Butler calls his favorite place.
To keep his website going, he travels around the world on several major trips each year. His working tools are a laptop computer, cameras and sometimes diving equipment. He often calls on experts for information. For example, he interviewed Alison Jolly, a top experts on lemurs(狐猴). He interviewed Rodney Jackson, a biologist who established the Snow Leopard Conservancy.
Stories like these have made Mongabay a favorite place on the Internet for researchers, students and teachers. In April, Time.Com named it one of the fifteen top climate and environment websites in the world.
1. What’s the main idea of the passage?| A．How Rhett Butler made his website popular. |
| B．Rainforest on Malaysian Borneo. |
| C．How Rhett Butler protected rare animals. |
| D．Rhett Butler and his website. |
| A．making websites earns more money than writing books |
| B．he wanted to use the information to create a website |
| C．the book was not about rainforest protection |
| D．he didn’t want to become a writer |
| A．Rhett Butler made a lot of money from it. |
| B．It attracted many advertisers. |
| C．At least two related websites grew from it. |
| D．It was set up in 1999. |
| A．kept visiting the rainforest |
| B．made a great number of advertisements |
| C．raised rare snow leopards |
| D．traveled around and interviewed experts |
| A．Rodney Jackson was once a businessman |
| B．kids. Mongabay.Com. has many stories written by kids |
| C．WildMadagascar.org is better known than Mongabay.Com |
| D．Mongabay.Com was loved by researchers as well as students |
3 . Lake Victoria is best known to the general public following the introduction of the 2004 documentary Darwin’s Nightmare, which focuses on the environmental and social effects of the Nile perch (河鲈) fishing industry. The Nile perch is the largest freshwater fish, which can grow up to two metres long and weigh 200kg. Its introduction into Lake Victoria in the 1950s and its rapid population growth in the 1960s gradually wiped out the native fish species living in the lake, causing a major ecological disaster. Today, the Nile perch population can be found everywhere but has reduced slightly due to overfishing, allowing some species to partially recover.
What is less well known, and perhaps interacting with the presence of the Nile perch, but equally damaging to the ecosystem, is the general water quality of the lake. “This declined sharply between the 1960s and the 1990s due to eutrophication (富营养化), which is caused by increased inputs of nutrients (营养物) into the water bodies as a result of increased human activities in the catchment area.” explains Alberto Borges, FNRS Research Director at the Laboratory of Chemical Oceanography from the University of Liege.
From 2018 to 2019, a research team led by Alberto Borges, studied the biomass (生物量) and composition of phytoplankton (浮游植物) as well as the nutrient status of the lake during three scientific missions. This study shows that the phytoplankton camass has decreased by about seven times compared to the 1990s.” says the researchers. “and that the species composition has also changed in a subtle way.” What seems to be good news for the environment of Lake Victoria may only be on the surface.
“This means that the current improvement in water quality in Lake Victoria may only be temporary and that conditions could become worse again in the future due to continued climate warming.” says Alberto Borges.
1. Why was the documentary Darwin’s Nightmare made in 2004?| A．To honor Darwin’s great contributions. |
| B．To make Lake Victoria known to the world. |
| C．To record the serious pollution in Lake Victoria. |
| D．To show how the Nile perch fishing industry affected Lake Victoria. |
| A．It was disastrous to Lake Victoria. |
| B．It helped control other species in Lake Victoria. |
| C．It benefited the fishermen a lot in Lake Victoria area. |
| D．It greatly improved the water quality in Lake Victoria. |
| A．The fishing industry. | B．The decreased number of fish. |
| C．The decrease of phytoplankton. | D．More and more inputs of nutrients. |
| A．Hopeful. | B．Deeply concerned. |
| C．Indifferent | D．Cautiously optimistic |
4 . Imagine a mass of floating waste is two times the size of the state of Texas. Texas has a land area of more than 678,000 square kilometers. So it might be difficult to imagine anything twice as big.
All together, this mass of waste flowing in the North Pacific Ocean is known as the Great Pacific Ocean Garbage Patch. It weighs about 3,500, 000 tons. The waste includes bags, bottles and containers—plastic products of all kinds.
The eastern part of the Great Pacific Ocean Garbage Patch is about 1,600 kilometers west of California. The western part is west of the Hawaiian Islands and east of Japan. The area has been described as a kind of oceanic desert, with light winds and slow moving water currents (流, 流动). The water moves so slow that garbage from all over the world collects there.
In recent years, there have been growing concerns about the floating garbage and its effect on sea creatures and human health. Scientists say thousands of animals get trapped in the floating waste, resulting in death or injury. Even more die from a lack of food or water after swallowing pieces of plastic. The trash can also make animals feel full, diminishing their desire to eat or drink.
The floating garbage also can have harmful effects on people. There is an increased threat of infection (感染) of disease from polluted waste, and from eating fish that swallowed waste. Divers can also get trapped in the plastic.
Its existence first gained public attention in 1997. That was when racing boat captain and oceanographer Charles Moore and his crew sailed into the garbage while returning from a racing event. Five years earlier, another oceanographer learnt of the trash after a shipment of rubber duckies got lost at sea. Many of those toys are now part of the Great Pacific Ocean Garbage Patch.
1. The first paragraph is written to .| A．lead in the topic of the text |
| B．inspire readers’ imagination |
| C．develop readers’ interest in Texas |
| D．talk about reasons for water pollution |
| A．Increasing. | B．Determining. |
| C．Weakening. | D．Reserving. |
| A．It gives rise to various diseases. |
| B．It does great harm to sea animals. |
| C．Causes of it still remain unknown. |
| D．Efforts to clear it have been made. |
| A．To warn people about dangers of diving in the ocean. |
| B．To explore the future of the North Pacific Ocean. |
| C．To call on people to protect ocean environment. |
| D．To display some facts about floating waste. |
5 . “Plogging” is a new fitness trend (趋势). It is a combination of “jogging” and the Swedish phrase “plocka upp”, meaning “pick up”. It encourages people to stop while out on jogs to pick up litter.
Started in Sweden around 2016, plogging is now going global.
Like other fitness trends, there are plenty of plogging pictures and videos online.
Plogging is a great way to encourage people to make a difference in their local environment.
| A．They clearly show what this trend looks like. |
| B．Plogging is suitable for all ages and fitness levels. |
| C．If you’re not a runner, biking or walking works too. |
| D．It is appealing because it is simple and meaningful. |
| E．More and more runners are turning their jogs into plogs. |
| F．So it adds the idea of environmental protection to the sport. |
| G．Plogging isn’t the first fitness trend to connect sports with a good cause. |
1. What issue are the scientists working on?
| A．Climate change. | B．Electric vehicles. | C．Public transport. |
| A．Luxembourg. | B．Germany. | C．The United States. |
| A．In July 2019. | B．In January 2020. | C．In March 2020. |
7 . If you want to travel from Xi’an to Chengdu by train, it will take about 16 hours. But starting this month, the new Xi’an-Chengdu high-speed railway will shorten this travel time to three hours.
The 643-kilometer line is China’s first high-speed railway to run through the Qinling Mountains, which form a natural boundary (分界线) between China’s north and south. With a speed of 250 km per hour, it’s also the first mountain-heavy train line to provide a 4G network. Along the way, the train passes through two areas for rare (稀有) wild animals — one for pandas and the other for crested ibises (朱鹮).
To reduce the railway’s influence on the animals, workers and experts have designed and built the railway to be environmentally friendly. There were 345 wild pandas living in the Qinling Mountains. China currently has 1,864 wild pandas in total, according to the Xinhua News Agency.
To avoid disturbing the pandas, the railway was designed to run through tunnels (隧道) within the area. Protective shields (防护屏) are placed near the entrance of each tunnel to stop animals from going in.
To protect the thousands of crested ibises that fly near one part of the railway, protective nets have been set up to make sure the birds will not fly into a train.
The nets are about 32 km long and 4 meters high. Experts tested different shapes and materials for building the nets before making their final choice.
1. From this month, it will take ________ to travel from Xi’an to Chengdu by the high speed train.| A．16 hours | B．13 hours | C．3 hours | D．1 hour |
| A．It is China’s first high-speed railway. |
| B．It runs through the Qinling Mountains. |
| C．It is the best mountain-heavy train line. |
| D．The train passes through many areas for rare wild animals. |
| A．To save money and energy. |
| B．To avoid damaging the mountains. |
| C．To avoid harming wild animals. |
| D．To help the train run through tunnels quietly. |
| A．Tunnels. | B．Tracks. |
| C．Protective shields. | D．Protective nets. |
| A．Xi’an Chengdu high-speed railway. |
| B．How to protect pandas and crested ibises. |
| C．Qinling Mountains. |
| D．Protective shields and nets. |
At 8,844.43 meters high, Mount Qomolangma is
According to the UN, over 140 tons of trash have been left on the mountain. To reduce trash, China is limiting the number of people
Local residents cleaned the mountain last year,
This year, the local government plans to spend 4 million yuan
In addition to trash, workers will also collect the bodies of
A group of artists will try to turn some trash into artwork. They will show these works
9 . The Equatic Process, a novel carbon removal technology, is getting a major increase, with the world’s largest ocean carbon dioxide removal (OCDR) facility set to be built in Singapore-sparking optimism for what has been regarded as a potential game change r for global climate efforts.
On Tuesday, Singapore’s national water agency PUB announced that it was furthering its cooperation with the University of California in Los Angeles and Equatic, a startup founded by UCLA scientists. Together, they plan to build a $20 million plant that removes 4,000 tons of carbon dioxide from the ocean every year through the Equatic Process, which uses electrolysis (电解) to change carbon dioxide in seawater into stable solids.
The extracted (提取) carbon dioxide is stored in the form of solid calcium and magnesium-based materials-similar to how seashells are naturally formed- “for at least 10,000 years,” according to a recent press release. And the treated seawater that is pumped back into the ocean would then have the capacity to absorb even more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
Advocates of the Equatic Process say that it would be a big boost for the global fight against climate change. But the technology has also been met with apprehension by some scientists who realize its potential ecological risks and who urge more research and investment into OCDR to better understand both its benefits and dangers.
Pang Chee Meng, PUB’s chief engineering and technology officer says that the treated seawater is specially processed before being poured back into the ocean, to “ensure that the ocean chemistry is preserved,” adding that the agency and Equatic will closely monitor the environmental impact of the plant.
PUB also says that they are currently exploring the potential for the solid carbonates (碳酸盐) produced by the Equatic Process to be used in the construction industry. And hydrogen, another by-product of the Equatic Process, may be used to power the process itself, the agency adds, or used as a clean energy source to produce electricity.
1. What is the main idea of the text?| A．Scientists have agreed to keep global warming at safe levels. |
| B．People have become more optimistic about global climate. |
| C．Singapore will strengthen ties with the University of California. |
| D．Singapore will boost carbon-removal power of the ocean with a new facility. |
| A．Building a factory to store seawater. |
| B．Changing the form of carbon dioxide. |
| C．Collecting natural seashells in the ocean. |
| D．Pumping treated seawater back into the ocean. |
| A．Support. | B．Confirmation. | C．Anxiety. | D．Underestimate. |
| A．PUB’s measures to guarantee safety. |
| B．How to make use of solid carbonates. |
| C．Dangerous by-products of the Equatic Process. |
| D．Other benefits brought by the Equatic Process. |
阅读下面短文，简要回答所给问题。
The first Earth Day was in 1970. People were beginning to worry about what we were doing to our environment. So they set up Earth Day to tell everyone about their worries.
In 2007 organizers over 150 countries planned over 4,000 big events. But Earth Day is not just about marches(游行) and big events. In the week around Earth Day (22 April) there were many thousands of smaller, local events. These events dealt with environmental problems in the neighborhood. The World Wide Fund for Nature made a list of 5 things that each person could do to save the environment.
*Don't leave the tap running.
*Turn off lights when you leave a room.
*Turn off your computer every night.
*Wash your clothes, and yourself, in warm or cold water, not hot water.
*Dishwashers use as little water as possible. If we all do at least 20 of these all the time, we can make a big difference.
1. What is the purpose for people to set up Earth Day?
2. When is Earth Day?
3. What should people do when the water keeps running from a tap?
4. Does the word “dishwashers” mean “machines for washing dishes”?
5. Besides the five, what else can you do to save our environment? (One example is OK.)
