One of my favourite things about spring is the arrival of different species of birds. My grandfather was a bird lover, and I picked up the birdwatching hobby at a young age, thanks to his influence. My husband John and I found it a relaxing way to enjoy nature; we like birdwatching when we go camping or hiking. Plus, I have a great love of nature photography, so when we sit out in the backyard of our home, I always have my digital camera with me. John is an artist, and he often paints the birds I photograph.
Usually when the yellow warblers (莺) come back from the south in springtime, they pass us by; we don’t typically see them hanging around our home. But not on this particular sunny day in spring. As soon as I finished my workday, I put on a light jacket and went out to the backyard to relax in my favourite way: by watching the birds.
While taking some pictures of cardinals (红衣凤头鸟) and chickadees (北美山雀) at one of our feeders, I looked up and noticed this yellow warbler in our maple tree. The tree had recently begun to bud, and the bird’s yellow feathers looked striking against the yellow blooms, so I took this photo. Our backyard has a variety of trees and between my husband and me, we’ve documented almost 40 different species of birds. I’ve photographed most of them, but some can be a bit camera shy so I also keep a written list of what we see. Our more common visitors are cardinals, chickadees, hummingbirds and various sparrows.
注意：1.续写词数应为150左右;
2.请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
One day, I was watching the yellow warbler jumping among trees when a snake crawled towards it.
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At this time, I saw many small stones in the backyard.
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2 . Humans have moved species of plants and animals around, introducing them to new habitats, for as long as we’ve been on Earth. Many of these introduced species have been beneficial, such as European honeybees that have proved to be excellent pollinators (传粉者) in the US. But that’s not the case for European beachgrass introduced to sand dunes (堆) on the coast of California. Beachgrass was planted to stabilize the ever-shifting dunes and it worked well. But the beachgrass is usually the only species living on dunes where there once were a large variety of native grasses and wildflowers.
It’s true that not all non-native species become invasive, but those that do adapt to the local environment, spread rapidly and outcompete native wildlife, often due to the absence of natural enemies that can keep their population in check. The spread of invasive species leads to the extinction and biodiversity loss on Earth, causing financial and ecological damage, according to the leading scientists.
Some campaigns have been launched to eradicate invasive species, including pesticides spray, manual removal and biological controls. Interestingly, a growing number of chefs and conservationists even have a far simpler idea: Eat them to beat them. Apart from providing favorable habitats for local species, perhaps the best way to fight invasive species is to prevent them from occurring in the first place. When boating, clean the boat thoroughly before transporting it to a different body of water. Don’t “pack a pest” when travelling, for fruit and vegetables, plants, insects and animals can carry pests or become invasive themselves. If you plan to own an alien pet, do your research and plan ahead to make sure you can commit to looking after it instead of releasing it into the wild. When you transfer an organism, you can also transfer its neighbors. Think before you move an animal or plant around!
1. What phenomenon does the author describe in paragraph 1?| A．Introduced species may cause unexpected results. |
| B．The beachgrass led to the biodiversity on the dunes. |
| C．Humans have a long history of working with nature. |
| D．The honeybees were forced out of Europe by humans. |
| A．The balanced ecosystem. | B．The competitive native wildlife. |
| C．The absence of natural enemies. | D．The extinction of invasive species. |
| A．Increase. | B．Introduce. | C．Wipe out. | D．Take over. |
| A．Release organisms into the wild. | B．Provide favorable habitats for them. |
| C．Mind the acts of transferring species. | D．Keep the wildlife population in check. |
3 . On September 7, 1991, the costliest hailstorm (雹暴) in Canadian history hit Calgary’s southern suburbs. As a result, since 1996 a group of insurance companies have spent about $2 million per year on the Alberta Hail Suppression Project. Airplanes seed threatening storm cells with a chemical to make small ice crystals fall as rain before they can grow into dangerous hailstones. But farmers in east-central Alberta — downwind of the hail project flights — worry that precious moisture (水分) is being stolen from their thirsty land by the cloud seeding.
Norman Stienwand, who farms in that area, has been addressing public meetings on this issue for years. “Basically, the provincial government is letting the insurance companies protect the Calgary-Edmonton urban area from hail,” Mr. Stienwand says, “but they’re increasing drought risk as far east as Saskatchewan.”
The Alberta hail project is managed by Terry Krauss, a cloud physicist who works for Weather Modification Inc. of Fargo, North Dakota. “We affect only a very small percentage of the total moisture in the air, so we cannot be causing drought.” Dr. Krauss says. “In fact, we may be helping increase the moisture downwind by creating wetter ground.”
One doubter about the safety of cloud seeding is Chuck Doswell, a research scientist who just retired from the University of Oklahoma. “In 1999, I personally saw significant tornadoes form from a seeded storm cell in Kansas,” Dr. Doswell says. “Does cloud seeding create killer storms or reduce moisture downwind? No one really knows, of course, but the seeding goes on.”
Given the degree of doubt, Mr. Stienwand suggests, “It would be wise to stop cloud seeding.” In practice, doubt has had the opposite effect. Due to the lack of scientific proof concerning their impacts, no one has succeeded in winning a lawsuit against cloud-seeding companies. Hence, private climate engineering can proceed in relative legal safety.
1. What does the project aim to do?| A．Conserve moisture in the soil. | B．Forecast disastrous hailstorms. |
| C．Prevent the formation of hailstones. | D．Investigate chemical use in farming. |
| A．Managers of insurance companies. | B．Farmers in east-central Alberta. |
| C．Provincial government officials. | D．Residents of Calgary and Edmonton. |
| A．To compare different kinds of seeding methods. | B．To illustrate the development of big hailstorms. |
| C．To show the link between storms and moisture. | D．To indicate a possible danger of cloud seeding. |
| A．Scientific studies have proved Stienwand right. | B．Cloud-seeding companies will continue to exist. |
| C．The doubt about cloud seeding has disappeared. | D．Private climate engineering is illegal in Canada. |
4 . Many news reports focus on climate change these days. Extreme heat, wildfires, floods, homeless polar bears... How do you feel when reading worrying news about climate change? You may believe that people are becoming insensitive to the warming planet, accepting that it is only getting worse.
A research team at Pennsylvania State University, US, reported otherwise. To record how the news can impact people’s emotions, participants were first exposed to negative news stories about climate change for three days. They then continued to read negative news headlines for seven days. In the first three days, the participants experienced greater fear and less hope, which can potentially hurt an audience’s belief that they can do anything to tackle the problem.
However, during the seven-day-long exposure, the fear peaked and then held steady (稳定的). “We saw the opposite pattern in our second study. The more exposure people had to these threatening news stories each day, the more likely they are to think that they can make a difference in tackling climate change,” Christofer Skurka, the paper’s lead author told the Pennsylvania State University website.
According to the researchers, one possibility is that when the public hears about climate change threats, they may convince themselves that they have control over the situation. They will then believe that their actions may make a difference.
Knowing that everyone is able to help is only the first step. According to a study that analyzed information from 430 different studies, what motivates people the most to change their behavior is social comparison. For example, if a person’s neighbors follow a low-carbon lifestyle, such as driving electric cars, the person may feel social pressure and become more likely to follow this behavior. This happens because people usually judge their own behavior and follow social norms (规范). Another effective motivation is providing financial rewards to consumers, helping them save money.
“There are so many routes to our goals,” Matthew Goldberg, the co-author of the study, told Scientific American. As Goldberg pointed out, future research like this can help policymakers decide how best to encourage people to ward more climate-friendly habits.
1. How did the participants react to negative news in the second study?| A．They found the news unbelievable. |
| B．They lost hope in tackling climate change. |
| C．They experienced greater fear for the future. |
| D．They felt a strong sense of social responsibility. |
| A．Effective policy. | B．Healthy lifestyle. |
| C．Social influence. | D．Financial support. |
| A．Responses to climate change education. |
| B．T he effectiveness of community initiatives. |
| C．T he impact of social norms on environment. |
| D．Ways to encourage climate-friendly behavior. |
| A．Doubtful. | B．Optimistic. | C．Objective. | D．Indifferent. |
5 . How to Help Kids Save Our Oceans and Be Environmental Heroes
The world’s oceans benefit us in many different ways.
●Do a local clean-up
Beach, lake or river clean-ups are a great way to get children involved in keeping our environment free from rubbish. Even a local park will benefit from a clean-up. Less trash in the environment in general is less trash that could get washed away in our bodies of water. Gather the family to pick up rubbish together.
●Reuse disposed (废弃的) items
A great way to get kids involved in recycling is to encourage them to find other uses for old items. Instead of throwing something away, help them turn it into art!
●
More than 70 percent of the plastic we use does not get recycled, and a lot of this plastic waste is swept into our oceans. Cutting down on plastic use is important if we are to protect our oceans.
Often, pre-packaged fruits and vegetables at supermarkets are a big source of single-use plastic. Getting kids interested in growing their own food is a fun and educational way to cut down on plastic use and shorten supply chains of foods. Besides, educate kids to use as little plastic as possible.
●Eat sustainably sourced fish
| A．Reduce plastic use |
| B．Yet, our oceans are being heavily polluted |
| C．Plastic is a material produced from oil by a chemical process |
| D．The kids will really see the difference it makes to an area that they play in |
| E．Fish is an essential part of a balanced diet for many people across the globe |
| F．People can have an opportunity to appreciate rare fish in an aquarium (水族馆) |
| G．Local school children in Rome, Italy recently participated in a “Creating art from waste” workshop |
From green sporting venues (场馆)
Through the Games, Hangzhou’s green and high-tech development concepts served as models for other cities in China, which also showed the country’s
The 65 venues and related facilities of the Games realized 100 percent green electricity supply. At the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Centre Aquatic Sports Arena, the intelligent light guide system can save 100,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity per year by introducing outdoor
As Hangzhou
7 . As Christmas approaches and Christmas trees come down, Earthwatch offers the opportunity to sponsor the planting of a new tree with the Tiny Forest initiative.
Earthwatch Europe’s Tiny Forest initiative is devoted to increasing biodiversity and enabling people to reconnect with nature through citizen science. Since planting the first forest in 2020, the movement has grown to almost 150 forests, resulting in increased biodiversity and carbon storage.
There have been some reports to suggest that when poorly planned or managed, planting trees can actually do more harm than good. This can happen when trees are being planted with the express purpose of carbon storage to offset (抵消) carbon emissions by, for example, big companies—the trees planted for this purpose aren’t always native species. The planting of nonnative trees can lead to monocultures (单种栽培) that cannot support life.
Biodiversity needs to be a key consideration for reforestation, but this doesn’t offer the financial return s of planting for carbon storage or timber (木材) markets, so it can often fall by the wayside.
It is estimated that 50-60 million Christmas trees are produced and cut in Europe annually. In the run-up to Christmas, Earthwatch’s Sponsor a Sapling campaign offers the chance to sponsor the planting of a tree for £8.
Josh Kubale, Senior Communications Manager at Earthwatch, says, “We’re delighted with the Tiny Forest Sponsor a Sapling campaign, which will help people engage with what we’re doing at Tiny Forest and gives the option of an alternative and environmentally conscious Christmas present, As well as being a great Christmas gift, the campaign will help to fun d Earthwatch’s work across all our programmes. We’ve now planted 160 Tiny Forests and as we celebrate our third anniversary, we hope to plant many more!”
1. What is Earthwatch Europe’s Tiny Forest initiative aimed to do?| A．Motivate economy. | B．Connect with people. |
| C．Enlarge biodiversity. | D．Reduce carbon emission. |
| A．By increasing more investments in plants. |
| B．By planting more nonnative trees. |
| C．By raising the awareness of the environment. |
| D．By improving planning and management. |
| A．Because it is lack of economic benefit. |
| B．Because it is short of key consideration. |
| C．Because there is no support from the public. |
| D．Because the timber market is oversupplied. |
| A．Choose a Christmas gift. | B．Participate in Tiny Forest. |
| C．Celebrate their third anniversary. | D．Donate to their programmes. |
8 . There was one minute left on Suzanne Horsley’s watch and the atmosphere remained thick with carbon dioxide, despite the efforts of her third graders to clear the air. Horsley, a wellness teacher, had directed the kids to throw balls representing carbon dioxide molecules to their classmates representing forests. “That was hard,” said Horsley after the round ended. “In this time period versus the 1700s, the way is more challenging, right?” “Yeah.” “In 2022, we got a lot of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere,” said Horsley. “What’s the problem with it? What is it causing?” “Global warming,” volunteered one girl.
Two years ago, New Jersey became the first state in the country to adopt learning standards requiring teachers to instruct kids about climate change across grade levels and subjects. “There’s no way we can expect our children to have the solutions to these challenges if we’re not giving them the tools and resources needed here and now,” said Tammy Marphy. Kids need to understand the basics of climate change—the vocabulary, the logic behind it—before they can handle the climate crisis.
On a recent weekday, Cari Gallagher was reading to her students from No Sand in the House, which tells the story of a grandfather whose home is destroyed by Hurricane Sandy. Later, the students sat down to write about what they’d heard, drawing connections between the book and their own lives, world events or other books they’d read. Then, they built structures—carports, walls and other barriers made of Legos, blocks and straws—that might protect against climate change calamities(灾难).
At Horsley’s class, students reflected on the lesson. Wes said adults could have done more to protect the environment. Abby said it was up to humans to drive less and recycle and protect other species from climate disasters. “When I first found out we were going to learn about climate change in the gym, I was like, that’s surprising, because normally we learn that in class,” Abby added. “But I’m glad we did it in the gym,” she continued. “It was really fun.”
1. What does Horsley’s class suggest?| A．Less carbon dioxide is absorbed by forests. |
| B．The air at the playing ground is polluted. |
| C．The amount of CO₂ is increasing sharply. |
| D．Playing games is challenging for some kids. |
| A．Doubtful. | B．Tolerant. | C．Critical. | D．Supportive. |
| A．Education has a positive effect on our dealing with climate change. |
| B．Hurricanes usually have a destroying power. |
| C．Reading is a way to learn about natural disasters. |
| D．Any materials can be used to fight against climate change. |
| A．Their disappointment at learning climate change in the gym. |
| B．Their expectation to adopt environmentally friendly practices. |
| C．Their puzzlement about the behaviors of adults. |
| D．Their sympathy for severely endangered species. |
9 . China has planted millions of trees in its north over the past two decades as part of its fight against expanding deserts.
The effort paid off. Around the year 2000, deserts across the country were still expanding by 10, 400 km a year. But in 2017, the State Forestry Administration reported that China’s deserts were decreasing by more than 2, 400km2 a year. The achievement was confirmed by a 2018 study from the Laboratory of Climate and Environmental Sciences in Paris.
“In 1999, the Chinese government began planting millions of trees in its Grain for Green Program. It was intended to repair damaged farmland in the northern Loess Plateau, which is roughly the size of France,” says Philippe Ciais, a climate researcher at the laboratory. “I was there a few months ago, and it is indeed amazing that once bare landscapes are now almost fully covered by plants.”
And China is doubling its effort and has announced a target of 30% forest coverage by 2050. At the moment, the coverage is 22%.
“The growth of forests is significant and necessary progress in the fight against desertification,” says Jianping Huang, a climate researcher at Lanzhou University. “But it’s still too early to determine whether it has solved the problem. In northwestern China, researchers have found that many of the plant species introduced to the Loess Plateau use more water than native vegetation. A 2016 study found that the restored ecosystem was already using too much rainfall and reducing the amount of water that runs off to rivers. It could lead to water shortages for humans.”
Considering water shortages is important, the national forestry department has recognized the error of planting trees in dry areas. In recent years, it has worked more closely with researchers and communities to find ways to seed less-thirsty plants that have economic value. These include plants used in traditional Chinese medicine, which farmers can harvest and sell.
“All programs need to take into account local conditions,” the forestry department said in March. “Our efforts should go towards keeping vegetation healthy, rather than simply planting trees.”
1. What is the second paragraph mainly about?| A．The effort of planting trees. |
| B．The worsening desertification. |
| C．The hard fight against expanding deserts. |
| D．The result of the Grain for Green Program. |
| A．22%. | B．30%. | C．44%. | D．52%. |
| A．The rapid growth of the foreign species. |
| B．The fast losses of native plants and trees. |
| C．The war for water between trees and humans. |
| D．The quickly declining rainfall in the dry areas. |
| A．To put economic value first. | B．To consider the income of all parties. |
| C．To base its decisions on local conditions. | D．To wait for complete scientific evidence. |
10 . In the old days, when you had to drive to a movie theater to get some entertainment, it was easy to see how your actions could have an impact on the environment. After all, you were jumping into your car, driving across towns, coughing out emissions (排放) and using gas all the way. But now that we’re used to staying at home and streaming (流式传输) movies, we might get a little proud. After all, we’re just picking up our phones and maybe turning on the TV. You’re welcome. Mother Nature.
Not so fast, says a recent report from the French-based Shit Project. According to Climate Crisis: The Unsustainable Use of Online Video, digital technologies are responsible for 4% of greenhouse gas emissions, and that energy use is increasing by 9% a year. Watching a half-hour show would lead to 3.5 pounds of CO2 emissions. That’s like driving 6.28 kilometers. And in the European Union, the Eureca project found that data centers (where videos are stored) there used 25% more energy in 2017 compared to just three years earlier, reports the BBC.
Streaming is only expected to increase as we become more enamored of our digital devices (设备) and the possibility of enjoying entertainment where and when we want it to increase. Online video use is expected to increase by four times from 2017 to 2022 and account for 80% of all Internet traffic by 2022. By then, about 60% of the world’s population will be online.
You’re probably not going to give up your streaming services, but there’re things you can do to help lessen the impact of your online use, experts say. For example, according to Lutz Stobbe, a researcher from the Fraunhofer Institute in Berlin, we have no need to upload 25 pictures of the same thing to the cloud because it consumes energy every time. If instead you delete a few things here and there, you can save energy. Moreover, it’s also a good idea to stream over Wi-Fi, watch on the smallest screen as you can, and turn off your Wi-Fi in your home if you’re not using your devices.
1. What topic is the first paragraph intended to lead in?| A．The environmental effects of driving private cars. |
| B．The improvements on environmental awareness. |
| C．The environmental impacts of streaming services. |
| D．The change in the way people seek entertainment. |
| A．Get more skeptical of. | B．Become more aware of. |
| C．Ge more worried about. | D．Feel much crazier about. |
| A．Its environmental effects are worsening. | B．It is being reduced to protect the planet. |
| C．It is easily available to almost everyone. | D．Its side effects have drawn global attention. |
| A．Playing Online games over mobile networks. | B．Downloading music on a personal computer. |
| C．Uploading a lot of images of the same thing. | D．Watching downloaded movies on a mobile phone. |
