2 . Whenever I order food for delivery, I play a little game to guess how many sets of tableware(餐具)the restaurant will provide with my meal. Sometimes restaurants will throw in two, three or four sets for just one order. But I rarely need any tableware at all, and the waste goes into the trash or collects dust in a kitchen drawer.

Researchers working with Chinese technology group Alibaba tried a simple approach to this problem. Instead of just wastefully doling out tableware, the company required food-delivery customers in some cities in China to pick how many sets of tableware they wanted to receive.The default (默认设置)was set at zero. The result, published today in the journal Science, was a 638% increase in the share of no-tableware orders. If applied across China, researchers found, the approach would save nearly 22 billion sets of plastic tableware. The study doesn’t cover carbon emissions, but it’s safe to say that the impact would be significant. It struck me as a useful reminder of the many low-hanging fruits across the economy that can cut waste, and emissions.

Nudging its customers cost Alibaba nothing more than a few hours of software engineering time and the impact it brought was immense. The concept of nudging comes from the field of behavioral economics known as nudge theory. It suggests that a slight action can encourage good human behavior without the need for policies that limit choice or economic punishment that raises the cost of bad behavior. To nudge customers to eat better, for example, a restaurant might organize its menu by listing healthy options first and bury unhealthy ones at the bottom. More recently, some big companies like Google have also begun to use nudges to advance climate objectives.

Behavioral economics broadly, and nudges more specifically, aren’t without controversy. Some might think it assigns consumers responsibility for addressing environmental challenges. But there is another way to look at it. In the absence of necessary policy—and policy is needed一companies can help encourage a widespread shift of consumer behavior.

And all of that behavioral change can add up. The International Energy Agency found in 2021 that small behavioral changes in energy consumption such as walking instead of driving and adjusting the thermostat could in total shave off 4% of global emissions. The more that companies can do to facilitate such changes, the better.

1. What did Alibaba do with tableware waste?

A．It stopped restaurants from handing out tableware.

B．It withdrew unused tableware from customers.

C．It updated the food -delivery device regularly.

D．It allowed picking tableware at customers’ demand.

2. What do the underlined words “low-hanging fruits” mean in paragraph 2?

A．Easily accessible things.	B．Fast increasing orders.
C．Exceptionally tough choices.	D．Widely accepted strategies.

3. What can we learn about nudge theory from paragraph 3?

A．It brings about economic loss.

B．It results from consumption policies.

C．It indicates small action changes behaviour.

D．It implies bad behaviour impacts economy.

4. What is the main idea of the text?

A．Nudge theory affects behaviors.

B．Good behaviors boost economy.

C．Nudging helps build a greener world.

D．Behavioral economics benefits customers.

3 . Once the red wolf’s historic range stretched from Long Island to Missouri and down to the Texas-Mexico border. But by 1972 their population was reduced to a small area along the Gulf coast due to habitat loss and hunting.

To conserve the species, 14 individuals were caught as part of a reproducing program. In 1980 their wild relatives were declared extinct — the caught wolves were all that was left and thus lots of genetic variation was lost. You can’t help it when you have so few founders.

Kristin Brzeski is an assistant professor at Michigan Technological University, whose research focuses on the conservation of genetics of wild animal populations. He thought this work had been an underdog scientifically and for conservation, for all wolves decreased in amount dramatically, especially the red wolves. Now, Brzeski and her co-workers have found a surprising new pool of red wolf genes that might help bring more diversity to the tiny population: they found the disappearing genes of red wolves in wild coyote populations. But why did this happen?

Remember: when a population is dying out, it might find the closest related species as their own best mate, so a red wolf and a coyote can have offspring. As a result, people can rediscover their genes in their coyote hybrid offspring. As red wolves are released back into the wild, reproducing with these coyotes could help the critically endangered species regain some of its genetic diversity.

This would be kind of the opposite direction: take the existing small population that still has red wolf genes that are so critical, and put them into a wild landscape with new genetic variation that they haven’t seen for 50 years or more. And all of a sudden, hopefully, this is like a super mix of genetic health and sort of a rebound that these animals can be wild and be themselves again.

The next step will include how to release red wolves in a way that takes advantage of the genes red wolves hiding in coyote populations. There should be a philosophy in our mind that we created this problem, so we should be responsible for fixing it.

1. Why was much genetic variation of the red wolves lost?

A．Their habitat loss.	B．Their limited number.
C．Their relatives’ extinction.	D．Their poor adaptability.

2. What does the underlined word “underdog” in Para.3 mean?

A．Failure.

B．Success.

C．Breakthrough.

D．Dilemma.

3. What is Brzeski’s attitude to releasing red wolves into the wild?

A．Disappointed.

B．Favorable.

C．Pessimistic.

D．Cautious.

4. What is the best title of the passage?

A．A promising way to save red wolves	B．Red wolves — an endangered species
C．Wild coyotes — red wolves’ perfect match	D．An unknown future to protect red wolves

4 . Open an app at your smart phone and scan the code bar on the garbage can. When you throw garbage into the garbage can, it will show the weight of the garbage and the points you can get from doing so.     1     It will become more popular in the future. Yes, we are talking about the smart garbage can.

    2     The environmental problems have become constant headaches in the development of those cities. Encouraging garbage classification has become an effective way.

In some cities, a variety of multifunctional smart garbage cans are being put into use. In Beijing, for example, a smart garbage can is equipped with an LED screen, which not only shows national policies on garbage classification but also shows the correct steps for garbage sorting. It can also calculate the weight of the garbage and the accumulated points one can get. They can be traded for some articles of daily use.     3     Its body is actually a screen. It is equipped with some Internal sensors. When people throw garbage into it, the internal sensors can automatically tell the types of the garbage. Meanwhile, people can see how to deal with them.     4    

Garbage disposal is a small issue that involves everybody each day. However, it is also a big issue.    5     With smart garbage cans in our daily life, the idea of garbage sorting will become more established. Our dream of building a greener and more beautiful China will come true so long as we start to make small changes right now.

A．Garbage sorting has been a new fashion.

B．Another kind of garbage can is even smarter.

C．It is no wonder that residents cheered for their presence.

D．Such a way of handling garbage has appeared in some cities.

E．It will affect China’s transformation towards green development.

F．Over 200 million tons of garbage is produced each year in some cities.

G．The good habit of garbage classification can improve the living environment.

5 . A Purdue University invention could save millions of taxpayer dollars and significantly reduce traffic delays. The new invention, a sensor that allows concrete to “talk”, decreases construction time and how often concrete pavement (路面) needs repairs while also improving the road’s sustainability and cutting its carbon footprint. Fixed directly into a concrete pour the sensor sends engineers more precise and consistent data about the concrete’s strength and need for repairs than is possible with currently used tools and methods.

“Traffic jams caused by repairs have wasted 4 billion hours and 3 billion gallons of gas, on a yearly basis. This is mainly due to insufficient knowledge and understanding of concrete’s strength levels,” said Luna Lu, who has been leading development of the sensor since 2017. “For instance, we don’t know when concrete will reach the right strength needed to accommodate traffic loads just after construction. The concrete may be put into use too early,leading to frequent repairing,” she added.

With the technology Lu and her team invented, engineers can directly monitor the fresh concrete and accurately measure many of its properties at once. The sensor notifies engineers via a smartphone app exactly when the pavement is strong enough to handle heavy traffic. The stronger the pavement is before being used by vehicles, the less often it will need to be repaired. By decreasing road repairs and construction timelines, this technology could reduce carbon dioxide that vehicles would have given off while waiting in traffic to get around a construction site.

Methods that the industry has used for more than a century call for testing large samples of concrete at a lab or onsite facility. Even though these tests are well understood by the industry, differences between lab and outdoor conditions can lead to inaccurate estimates of the concrete’s strength due to the different concrete compositions and temperatures of the surrounding area.

1. What can be learned about the new invention?

A．It decreases accidents.

B．It is costly to produce.

C．It reduces road repairs.

D．It is difficult to operate.

2. What does Paragraph 2 mainly talk about?

A．Waste caused by road repairs.

B．Characteristics of the concrete.

C．Situations of road constructions.

D．Necessity of inventing the sensor.

3. What does the underlined word “notifies” in Paragraph 3 mean?

A．Signals.

B．Awakes.

C．Monitor.

D．Examines.

4. What is the problem with the previous tests?

A．Samples must be tested on the spot.

B．The results turn out to be unreliable.

C．Fewer properties have been measured.

D．Concrete is tested in certain temperature.

6 . You want to go vegan to help the planet, but it is your parents who are paying for the shopping. You think trains are better than planes when traveling.     1    Young people are some of the world’s most powerful climate leaders and want rapid action to tackle the problem.

    2    But the power to act is often still in the hands of older people, including parents. Big changes are difficult, especially when they involve other people. Where do you begin?

Eating less meat is one of the best ways to reduce our impact on the planet. Teach the Parent is a campaign that encourages these conversations between generations. It was started by young people frustrated with the lack of international climate action and their feelings of powerlessness. Even if your first talk with your parent goes badly, you should keep going.     3    If you bring it up every so often, it shapes your parent’s attitudes in the long term.

How we travel is a major source of carbon emissions, but switching from driving or lying can potentially limit family holidays and cost more. Present a solution rather than just a problem.    4    For example, saying “let’s do this thing instead” is really a good way to communicate. People talk about how expensive trains are, but think about what the carbon emissions from taking a plane mean in the long term for us.

Radically reducing what we buy and throw away can improve our carbon footprint, but it can be time-consuming and difficult. Advise your parents to reduce food waste and think more carefully about what they buy. Be well-informed about the things you want your family to start changing so they can see you care and have done some research. It’s important to not go into it expecting your parents to change their whole lives.    5    .

Taking action as an individual means you have managed to feel a lot more in control of your future.

A．That makes a lot of sense.

B．Big lifestyle changes take time.

C．Small things can make a difference.

D．It’s a big bother for you and your parents.

E．Give your parents options for something fun or exciting.

F．The conversations can be challenging at times.

G．However, your dad books the summer holiday.

7 . For the past 13 years, Martin Burrows has been working as a long-distance truck driver. Spending up to five nights a week on the road can be a lonely business, leaving him with plenty of time to notice his surroundings. “I kept seeing more rubbish everywhere and it was getting on my nerves. I decided I had to do something about it,” he says. One day, he stopped his vehicle, took out a trash bag and started picking up the garbage. The satisfaction after clearing a small area was remarkable.

Before his time on the road, Burrows spent over two decades in the military as a vehicle driver. His service saw him stationed throughout Europe and also on tours in Afghanistan. After returning to civilian life, he was diagnosed with PTSD (创伤后应激障碍) and had a mental health crisis in 2017. His involvement in fundraising for Help for Heroes led him to meet a man who used model-building as a distraction from PTSD. Burrows realized that his act of roadside cleanup had a similar calming effect on his mental well-being.

By 2019, Burrows had begun using his free time on the road to regularly clean up garbage. A passerby encouraged him to set up a Facebook group, which he called Truckers Cleaning Up Britain. “I was worried I’d be the laughing stock of my town for putting videos and photos up of me cleaning but people started to join,” he says. “I was amazed. The local council stepped in and gave me litter-picking supplies and we’re up to almost 3,000 members now.”

Since truckers are so often on the move, the Facebook page acts as a means of raising awareness rather than a platform for organizing cleanups. Burrows expressed his intention to continue the cleanup efforts as long as his physical condition allowed, as he still found joy in the process.

1. What initially caused Burrows to pick up roadside garbage?

A．He wanted to kill time by picking up litter.

B．He aimed to raise fund for soldiers with PTSD.

C．He felt annoyed to see the increasing rubbish.

D．He received the assignment from his employer.

2. How did collecting roadside garbage affect Burrows’ PTSD?

A．It resulted in his embarrassment.	B．It increased his sense of isolation.
C．It worsened his stress and anxiety.	D．It brought him comfort and relief.

3. What concerned Burrows when he started Truckers Cleaning Up Britain?

A．He feared being teased for his action.

B．He was lacking in advanced cleanup tools.

C．He was unsure about the group’s development.

D．He worried about the local council’s disapproval.

4. What can be a suitable title for the text?

A．A Joyful Volunteer Experience	B．A Trucker’s Cleanup Initiative
C．A Fighting Hero against PTSD	D．A Platform for Environmentalists

8 . Shop Sustainably

If you have to name one thing that contributes most to your ecological footprints, you may say the energy you use at home, or your car’s emissions.     1     Knowing this can make your grocery shops more planet-friendly. Here is what you can do to help shop sustainably.

●    2     Using those is a great first step. If you get some, do remember to fill them with your purchases. When you adapt yourself to reusing them, then you’ll cut your consumption of single-use plastic bags even further.

●Avoid unnecessary packing. Buy loose fruit and vegetables instead of pre-packaged produce, and avoid products that contain multiple single packages or double packaging, like grain in a box and a bag. Consider switching from tea bags and coffee pods to tea leaves and ground coffee.     3    

●Go organic when you can. In addition to the benefit organic farming has to insect biodiversity, it’s also considered more sustainable and better for the environment.     4    Choosing free-range or Marine Stewardship Council-certified products also encourages environment- and animal-friendly food production.

●Buy seasonal and native products.     5     So you can avoid buying goods that have travelled long distances to reach your plate. As well as opting for local goods, depending on where you live, in the supermarket, you can also buy directly from the source at farmers’ markets.

A．Take reusable grocery bags.

B．Select single-use plastic bags.

C．It supports local farmers and food producers.

D．You can also refill your own containers with loose-packed food.

E．When buying organic products, look for those officially certified.

F．But it’s what we eat that accounts for up to 60% of our personal demand.

G．You’ll find it convenient whenever you buy tea or coffee in the supermarket.

9 . British sculptor Jason Taylor has made it his mission to use his talent to conserve our ecosystems by creating underwater museums. Over the years, the environmentalist has put over 850 massive artworks underwater worldwide. On February 1, 2021, Taylor launched his latest work---The Underwater Museum of Cannes.

“The main goal was to bring attention to the fact that our oceans need our help,” Taylor told Dezeen. “Ocean ecologies have been destroyed by human activity in the Mediterranean over the past few decades, and it is not obvious what is taking place when observing the sea from afar.”

The Underwater Museum of Cannes contains 6 sculptures featuring local residents of various ages. They range from Maurice, an 80-year-old fisherman, to Anouk, a 9-year-old student. Towering over 6-feet-tall and weighing 10 tons, the faces are sectioned into two parts, with the outer part like a mask. The mask indicates that the world’s oceans appear powerful and unbeatable from the surface but house an ecosystem that is extremely fragile to careless human activities.

Though the waters surrounding the sculptures now appear a pristine blue, the seabed was filled with old boat engines, pipes, and other human-made trash when the project began about four years ago. Besides removing the trash, Taylor also restored the area’s seagrass. Just one square meter of the seagrass can generate up to 10 liters of oxygen daily. The seagrass also helps prevent coastal erosion and provides habitats for many ocean creatures.

“The idea of creating an underwater museum was to draw more people underwater and develop a sense of care and protection,” Taylor told Dezeen. “If we threw unwanted waste near a forest, there would be a public outcry. But this is happening every day in our surrounding waters and it largely goes unnoticed.”

1. What are the underwater museums intended to do?

A．To make huge profits.	B．To raise awareness of protecting the ocean.
C．To show Jason Taylor’s talent.	D．To draw attention to endangered sea animals.

2. Why does the outer part of the sculptures look like a mask?

A．To popularize the features of the locals.

B．To remind people to protect themselves.

C．To reflect people’s protection of the ocean.

D．To stress the sensitiveness of the ecosystem.

3. What’s Paragraph 4 mainly about?

A．How the project was started.	B．How the seagrass was restored.
C．What recovery effort the project made.	D．Why the surroundings were improved.

4. What can we infer from what Jason Taylor said in the last paragraph?

A．The situation of the ocean is easily ignored.

B．The destruction caused to the ocean is noticeable.

C．Forests play a more important role in ecosystems.

D．People have zero tolerance to damage done to nature.

10 . The UN this week launched a report urging companies to stop issuing false net-zero targets that amount to greenwashing.

Greenwashing is a term used to describe situations where companies mislead consumers by claiming to be eco-friendly or sustainable as a marketing plan rather than as a core principle of their business model. Often, these industries spend more money making themselves appear sustainable than they do taking actual sustainable measures into their company.

Cities, financial institutions, and scores of companies have announced plans to reduce their emissions to zero, which, in principle, should help the fight against climate change.

“The problem is that the criteria for these net-zero commitments have varying levels of precision and loopholes (漏洞),” said UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres during the launch of the report.

Many net-zero plans contain far-away or unclear targets and often call for the use of unproved technologies like carbon capture and tree planting, which effectively allow companies to continue polluting the atmosphere. Studies show that most of these net-zero plans will do little to stop temperatures from rising. For example, many oil majors have announced plans to reduce emissions from their operations to zero by 2050 that do not take into account the carbon emitted by the fossil fuels they sell, which would allow them to increase production. Far from decreasing, fossil fuel production is going strong.

To close these net-zero loopholes, the UN this week released a report that includes 10 recommendations to ensure that companies, cities, regions, and other non-state actors issue credible and accountable net zero commitments. “Their plans cannot rely on cheap carbon credits instead of immediately cutting their own emissions,” Guterres said.

Financial institutions need to cut down emissions from all their investments and businesses need to bring down the carbon footprint of their supply chain, the report said. The report’s lead author, Catherine McKenna, urged companies to release new net-zero targets within a year. The updated targets must contain concrete actionable details.

1. What does “greenwashing” refer to?

A．A green technology.	B．A misleading statement.
C．A business model.	D．A spending target.

2. Why does the author mention the oil majors?

A．To prove oil majors are really responsible.

B．To set some good examples for other companies.

C．To show some net- zero commitments make no sense.

D．To indicate the benefit of net zero plans to climate change.

3. How does Guterres feel about the issued net-zero plans?

A．Dissatisfied.

B．Guilty.

C．Shocked.

D．Confused.

4. What is advised to do to fix net-zero loopholes?

A．Plant more trees.	B．Share more supply chains.
C．Depend on cheap carbon credits.	D．Make concrete actionable targets.