1 . It’s been more than 60 years since Jane Goodall started her pioneering work. In 1960, she was chosen to go to what is now Tanzania and study the little-known world of chimpanzees. Since then, Goodall has received many awards and honorary degrees as a world-famous conservationist (自然环境保护主义者). Now, Goodall has received an unusual honor. She is becoming a toy — a Barbie doll.
Goodall may not have expected to become a Barbie at 88 years old — but it’s not just any doll, it’s made out of recycled plastic. And Barbie is partnering with the Jane Goodall Foundation and its Roots & Shoots program which inspires young people to protect animals and the environment.
“You know, the main message is that every day you live, you make an influence on the planet and you get to choose what sort of influence you make,” Goodall said.
“There was a little boy of 7 in Burundi, and I had given a talk to the school and he came up to me and said, ‘If I pick out a piece of trash every day, it will make a difference, won’t it?’ And I said, ‘Yes it will. And suppose you persuade (劝说) 10 of your friends to pick up a piece of rubbish every day.’ He said, ‘Oh, that would really make a difference and then they could all get 10 of their friends, couldn’t they?’ Goodall said, “So, that’s it. The cumulative (积累的) effect of small actions can lead to big change.”
She’s been inspiring young people for decades, but now, newer generations will get to know Jane Goodall. “I sincerely hope that it will help to create more interest in the natural world,” she said about the Barbie. “Because hopefully, you know, they’ll learn more about me through the doll. And that will get them interested. It doesn’t really matter if they have a career in conservation, as long as they pay attention to conservation in their daily lives.”
1. What is the intention of Barbie’s making a doll of Jane Goodall?A.To give Jane Goodall a surprise. |
B.To test the quality of recycled plastic. |
C.To encourage environmental protection. |
D.To start a cooperative research program. |
A.Everyone can make an impact on the planet. |
B.Children will make the future world a better place. |
C.Every child should pick up a piece of rubbish every day. |
D.The accumulation of tiny actions makes a great difference. |
A.Critical. | B.Supportive. |
C.Disapproving. | D.Doubtful. |
A.Jane Goodall’s Good Expectation of Nature Conservation |
B.Young People’s Strong Interest in Nature Conservation |
C.Great Popularity of a New Barbie Doll of Jane Goodall |
D.Inspire Newer Generations to Care About Conservation Through a Doll |
2 . Tips for Green Travel with Kids
Traveling doesn’t mean letting go of all the eco-friendly choices we work so hard to achieve in our daily life. Here are a few tips for green travel with kids:
Booking nonstop flights whenever possible will reduce carbon emissions (碳排放).
Whether you’re flying or driving, it’s easy when traveling to pull into fast food restaurants for snacks.
Reusable water bottles are easy to bring along whenever you travel. At the airport, keep your reusable bottles empty until you have passed through the security (安检).
A.Too much carbon emissions seriously pollute the environment |
B.But you can pack healthy food before starting off |
C.In this way, you can save water and energy |
D.Fill them up on the other side of the security checkpoint |
E.Security check is a necessary part of each trip |
F.Save energy by turning off the hotel room lights when you head out for the day |
G.If the closest local airport doesn’t have nonstop flights to a certain place |
3 . There are more than 7 billion people on Earth. Imagine what will happen if each of us decides to do one thing — no matter how small — to protect wildlife every day. Even little actions can have a major influence when we all do something.
Raise an animal
From wild animals to wild places, there’s a choice for everyone.
Do some volunteer work
Speak up and join
Share your concern for wildlife protection with your family. Tell your friends how they can help. Ask everyone you know to do what they can to stop wildlife trafficking (非法交易).
Find new ways to use things you already own. If you can’t reuse them, recycle. The Minnesota Zoo encourages customers to recycle mobile phones to cut down a need for the mineral coltan (钶钽铁矿), which is mined from lowland gorillas’ living places.
A.Develop a habit of recycling |
B.Try to encourage others to do it |
C.Whether you’re into protecting natural living places or preventing wildlife trafficking |
D.If you don’t have money to give |
E.Get together with classmates to raise an animal from a wildlife organization |
F.Here are ways you can make a difference |
G.If you are busy with your work or studying |
4 . A team of conservationists (环境保护主义者) captured 14 Loa water frogs earlier this month in northern Chile, a wildlife group reported.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) lists the Loa water frog as “critically endangered”. The not-for-profit Global Wildlife Conservation group said the 14 frogs were in poor condition when they were discovered in late June. The animals were small and struggling because of a lack of food and water.
The Loa water frogs are known to live only in a single body of water near Calama, in Chile. The city sits in the middle of the Atacama Desert, where water is in great demand.
There was little water in the area where the frogs were found, the conservation group reported. The frogs’ environment had mostly dried up because water is being taken away and used for human activities, the group said. The activities include mining (矿业), agriculture and land development. “All of the frogs had been pushed into a tiny pool of muddy water,” the organization said. “The team collected the last 14 individuals and brought them to the National Zoo of Chile to start a conservation breeding (繁殖) program.”
Zoo specialists are closely watching the small creatures and trying to give them everything they need to survive and be healthy. Conservation groups have called on Chile’s government to take steps to halt any illegal water usage that threatens the frogs’ natural environment. They would also like to see creation of a government-supported shelter to protect the animals.
Jon Paul Rodriguez heads the IUCN’s Species Survival Commission. He suggested that an emergency plan be developed to prepare the Calama area for the frogs’ return.
“We need to work very hard to restore their environment because it’s pointless to breed them if they don’t have a home to go back to in the wild,” Rodriguez said.
1. What do we know about the frogs when they were rescued?A.They were looking for food. | B.They were in good condition. |
C.They were approaching death. | D.They were moving for new water source. |
A.Lack of water. | B.Air pollution. |
C.Human hunting. | D.Extreme climate. |
A.Improve. | B.Add. | C.Change. | D.Stop. |
A.Keep them healthy. | B.Recover their home. |
C.Raise them in the shelter. | D.Prevent them living in the wild. |
5 . As most people know, in the last few years, sandstorms have swept across many cities and areas of North China, polluting the air and disturbing daily lives of human beings. People look dirty and suffer many kinds of illnesses, such as breath difficulty. The sandstorm is such a serious problem that it has not only weakened the industrial and agricultural development of our country but also caused a lot of trouble to the living conditions of the Chinese people.
Therefore, effective measures should be taken as soon as possible to stop its happening. So how should we deal with the frightening sandstorms?
Some experts offer practical advice as follows: For one thing, more money ought to be put into tree planting and forest protection in order to keep more water on the Earth. For another, government of all countries should make laws on environment protection. For example, banning (禁止) the use of throw-away chopsticks and punishing illegal tree cutting. Scientists should also study and find ways to lower the grade of its destruction and to improve the environment. As for some schools, education about sandstorms should be spread properly and timely to make more and more people attach great importance to this problem.
How people look forward to sunny days with soft wind touching their faces now and forever! The golden days can come back so long as we try our best to protect the natural environment from today on. And the fact is that what I expect is not just a dream. There are some sweet fruits from the early efforts.
1. What’s the first paragraph mainly about?A.Ways to protect the environment. | B.Bad influences sandstorms bring. |
C.The biggest cause of sandstorms. | D.The fast development of China. |
A.One. | B.Two. | C.Four. | D.Six. |
A.Successful examples of stopping sandstorms. |
B.A bright world with no sandstorms anymore. |
C.How to realize our dream to live a happy life. |
D.Why people should always carry on with dreams. |
Dongying city in China’s Shandong Province has witnessed ecological improvements in the Yellow River Delta, thanks to various
Years ago, the wetlands there
Dongying has been adopting a comprehensive wetlands restoration model by giving high priority to protecting the nature reserve and letting nature restore
Last year, Dongying built a real-time monitoring network for bird species at the nature reserve, which ensures that birds are free from disturbance of human activity and
7 . Despite the bad reputation of sharks, they are crucial to the health of the marine ecosystem and can even help fight climate change.
In the shallows of Shaik Bay, Western Australia, seagrass is food for the sea cows, which can weigh as much as 500 kg and eat roughly 40 kg of seagrass a day. Sea cows are a rich source of food for tiger sharks. By keeping the sea cow population controlled, tiger sharks here help the seagrass grow sustainably. A booming seagrass meadow stores twice as much CO₂ per square mile as forests typically do on land.
But tiger shark numbers are declining. Off Australia’s northeast coast of Queensland, tiger sharks are estimated to have fallen by at least 71 percent, largely due to overfishing. A reduction in tiger sharks means more seagrass consumed by herbivores (食草动物) and less carbon stored in sea vegetation. This raised the question: What if they were absent from the Shark Bay — would the seagrass-dominated ecosystem survive?
To find out, researcher led by Rob Nowicki of Florida International University, spent time in Eastern Australia, where shark numbers were lower and sea cows ate seagrass largely undisturbed. “When uncontrolled, sea cows can rapidly destroy wide areas of seagrass.” said Nowicki.
Those findings emphasized that tiger sharks were playing an important role in preventing the reduction of seagrass in Shark Bay. If their populations continue to decline, the resilience of carbon-rich ocean ecosystems will likely decrease.
When it comes to stimulating shark numbers, there have been movements toward more sustainable fishing, but a large percentage of the industry have not changed their methods, which is a reason why the population of many marine top predators (捕食者) continues to decline.
Aside from supporting sustainable fishing, Nowicki said the only way to truly protect marine life is to reduce our global greenhouse gas emissions. “Ultimately, if we are going to protect our ecosystems in the centuries to come, we are going to need to solve climate change while undertaking species protection at the same time.”
1. Why are tiger sharks vital to the marine ecosystem?A.They feed on various sea animals. | B.They can store large amounts of CO₂. |
C.They can prevent the loss of seagrass. | D.They influence marine species’ health |
A.Remark. | B.Recovery. | C.Bother. | D.Accident. |
A.Unsustainable fishing. | B.Lack of protection. |
C.Climate change. | D.Loss of seagrass. |
A.To tell the number of tiger sharks is decreasing. |
B.To show climate change causes the loss of seagrass. |
C.To tell environmental protection is at the top of the agenda. |
D.To show tiger sharks are vital to the health of the marine ecosystem. |
8 . Ninety-seven percent of Earth’s water is ocean. No blue, no green. If you think the ocean isn’t important, imagine Earth without it. Fifty years ago, when I began exploring the ocean, no one realized that we human being could do anything to harm the ocean.
For me, as a woman scientist, it all began in 1953 when I first tried diving. In 1979, by using a submersible, I had a chance to reach the ocean floor which was six miles offshore and 1,250 feet down. Since then, I’ve used about 30 kinds of submarines. We need new deep-diving submersible. We need to see the undersea mountains and understand life in the deep sea. Exploring and protecting the wild ocean is my big wish.
What’s worrying us is that an ice free Arctic Ocean may happen in this century. That’s bad news for the polar bears. Additional CO2 is not only driving global warming, but also changing ocean chemistry, making the sea more acidic. That’s bad news for coral reefs and oxygen-producing plankton(浮游生物). Actually, nearly half of the coral reefs have disappeared. We’re putting hundreds of millions of tons of plastic and other rubbish into the sea. We’re blocking the ocean, poisoning the planet’s circulatory system. Most of the turtles, sharks, tunas and whales are way down in numbers. All of these are part of our life support system.
Health to the ocean means health for us. I wish we would use all means—films, explorations, the web, new submarines—and campaign to stimulate public support for ocean protected areas. My wish is a big wish, but if we can make it happen, it can truly save and restore the ocean, the blue heart of the planet. For the children of today, for tomorrow’s children: as never again, now is the time.
1. Why does the writer say “No blue, no green.” in the first paragraph?A.To tell us the colors of the earth. | B.To refer to the ocean and the land. |
C.To show the importance of ocean. | D.To encourage us to explore the ocean. |
A.Make joint efforts. | B.Save life support system. |
C.Encourage children to take action. | D.Explore the ocean by new technology. |
A.Negative. | B.Concerned. | C.Uncertain. | D.Indifferent. |
9 . The first time ever I realized that plastic was a serious matter for our planet was during a road trip in Western Australia, almost 12 years ago.
We
This was just one of the many experiences I’ve lived that made me more
Our trip to Borneo was another life-changing
Besides, we were also
Facing this global issue
A.stayed | B.visited | C.worked | D.stopped |
A.land | B.ocean | C.district | D.supermarket |
A.threw | B.picked | C.dropped | D.carried |
A.sure | B.proud | C.conscious | D.comfortable |
A.travel | B.deliver | C.remove | D.play |
A.story | B.growth | C.experience | D.suffering |
A.free | B.cheap | C.valuable | D.safe |
A.failed | B.managed | C.hesitated | D.happened |
A.firmly | B.violently | C.deeply | D.dramatically |
A.action | B.project | C.schedule | D.protection |
A.dry up | B.tie up | C.clean up | D.take up |
A.washed | B.proved | C.rushed | D.injured |
A.on purpose | B.for sure | C.to an extent | D.in person |
A.confusion | B.determination | C.frustration | D.satisfaction |
A.make | B.do | C.achieve | D.find |
10 . In July 2017, Hoh Xil became a world heritage (遗产) site and there live more than 70, 000 Tibetanantelopes. Every year, pregnant (怀孕的) Tibetan antelopes migrate (迁徙) to Hoh Xil between the end of May and early June to give birth and leave with their children around August. Zonag Lake at the heart of Hoh Xil is known as the “delivery room” for the species.
About 40 female Tibetan antelopes with three young were spotted crossing the Qinghai-Tibet Railway Saturday. Experts say that in recent years, the number of young Tibetan antelopes among the migrating groups consisted of between a fifth and quarter of the population.
“In the early stage of migration, Tibetan antelopes face a high risk of falling prey to predators (盗猎者) so the number of young Tibetan antelopes is relatively small, and there may even be none,” said Lian Xinming, an associate research fellow at Northwest Institute of Plateau Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences.
According to research, the number of Tibetan antelopes that migrate back has been rising. A total of 5, 952 Tibetan antelopes were spotted migrating in 2020, and 233 more in 2021. “This year’s migration season is expected to finish in early September. The population is expected to continue to increase,” Lian said.
Tibetan antelopes are mostly found in Tibet autonomous region, Qinghai province, and Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region. The species is under first-class state protection in China.
In the 1980s, the Tibetan antelope population declined sharply from 200, 000 to 20. 000, due to illegal hunting. It has recovered thanks to the country’s efforts to improve its habitat and crack down on poaching (盗猎).
To make sure the species go back to their habitats safe and sound, the reserve’s management bureau has staff monitor their migration. When they come over in large groups, they temporarily close some sections of the road to make way for the animals and prevent them from having interactions with humans.
1. What can we learn from the text?A.Tibetan antelopes migrate to Hoh Xil to find mates. |
B.Baby Tibetan antelopes are born in Zonag Lake. |
C.Female Tibetan antelopes made up a fifth of the population. |
D.Migrating Tibetan antelopes’ number is 6,185 in 2021. |
A.Promising. | B.Concerning. | C.Perfect. | D.Unpredictable. |
A.To offer delivery place. |
B.To catch unlawful predators. |
C.To stop poaching Tibetan antelopes. |
D.To avoid animals meeting people. |
A.The Habitats of Tibetan Antelopes |
B.The Migration of Tibetan Antelopes |
C.The Methods to Stop Poaching Tibetan Antelopes |
D.The Measures of Protecting Tibetan Antelopes |