1 . Plastic straws (吸管) have been a major problem in global discussions of environmental damage. Maybe because of their small size, the production cost of straws is low. In many countries, straws are offered freely after buying soft drinks. Therefore, plastic straws are one of the most used plastics and pollutants in the world.
The plastic straw is light and small. Due to their small size, plastic straws are often eaten by sea animals. Environmentalists have shown that the death of many sea animals is caused by eating plastic straws. The other damaging characteristic of plastic straws is that they are made of materials which cannot degrade. That means the materials cannot be changed into small harmless (无害的) ones.
The most effective way of dealing with the environmental pollution caused by plastic straws is the reuse or banning (禁止) the use of plastic straws. Being plastics, the straws can be made new items. Many organizations around the world change used straws into new products. In Africa, local communities collect used plastic straws and use them to make mats and bags. Another way of dealing with environmental pollution caused by plastic straws is placing a ban on their production and use. Experts advise governments to ban using plastic straws to save the environment. A few countries in the world such as Rwanda, Macedonia, China, Kenya have already banned the use of plastic bags and are expected to include plastic straws and bottles. But it will be a long way to do this effectively.
There are few environmentally friendly and biodegradable productions to take the place of plastic straws. These productions include paper straws, bamboo straws. However, such straws are usually expensive as their production cost is high. It’s still a question whether they can entirely take the place of plastic straws.
1. Why can people be free to use plastic straws?A.They are very cheap. | B.They are light and small. |
C.They are dangerous. | D.They are easy to use. |
A.Cut up. | B.Because of. | C.Go on. | D.Break out. |
A.It’s not difficult to ban using plastic straws. |
B.Many countries have stopped using plastic straws. |
C.Experts advise people to stop producing plastic straws. |
D.Some Africans change plastic straws into new products. |
A.It is a must to use them. |
B.It’s not easy to reuse them. |
C.There are still some problems to be solved. |
D.There are some other kinds of cheaper straws. |
2 . The endangered pandas in the Qinling Mountains might face a new threat: the loss of their food, bamboo, which makes up 99% of their meals.
Adult pandas spend most part of the day eating bamboo and have to take in at least 40 pounds a day to stay healthy. However, a new study published in Nature Climate Change warned that they may soon find their food gone because most of the bamboo in the Qinling Mountains might disappear by the end of the century as a result of rising temperature worldwide.
A team made up of researchers from Michigan State University and the Chinese Academy of Sciences has studied the effects of climate change on the bamboo in the Qinling Mountains. They have found that bamboo is very sensitive to climate changes. “80% to 100% of the bamboo would be gone if the average temperature rises 3.5 degrees worldwide by the end of the century,” said Liu Jianguo, one of the report’s authors.
He added, “This is how much the temperature would rise by 2100 even if all countries will keep their promises in the Paris Agreement. But you know what is happening all around the world.”
In recent years, China has been trying its best to protect the endangered pandas by setting up more and bigger natural reserves.
“But it is far from enough and the endangered pandas need cooperation from the rest of the world, because their future is not just in the hands of the Chinese,” said Shirley Martin from the World Wildlife Fund but not a member of the team.
The Qinling Mountains, in the southwest of China, are home to about 260 pandas. That is about 13% of China’s wild panda population. In addition, about 375 are living in research centers and zoos in China.
1. How many wild pandas are there in China?A.About 260. | B.About 635. |
C.About 2,635. | D.About 2,000. |
A.China needs more help from the World Wildlife Fund. |
B.It is difficult to control the temperature rise within 3.5℃. |
C.Bamboo is sensitive to the changes of temperature. |
D.China is making great efforts to protect the pandas. |
A.The Qinling Mountains can provide enough bamboo for the pandas. |
B.Pandas in the Qinling Mountains are only threatened by the loss of food. |
C.Lots of the bamboo in the Qinling Mountains will probably disappear. |
D.Pandas have already eaten 99% of the bamboo in the Qinling Mountains. |
A.The Disappearance of Bamboo |
B.Necessity to Change Pandas’ Food |
C.A New Threat Faced by the Pandas |
D.Efforts Made to Save Pandas |
3 . You may not have noticed it, but according to a latest report, about 90 percent of the world’s largest cities lie near the sea. They can possibly be influenced by rising sea levels in the near future. But it doesn’t mean people who live in the city have to head for the hills.
City design companies Seanix and Jolly Group are working together on a possible solution. They said at a United Nations meeting that they are planning to build “Seanix Cities” -floating island structures (结构) that join together to form “land” on the surface of the water.
Unlike land-filling plans that have to pour sand into the ocean and ham ocean life, Seanix Cities are built to “live” together with the ocean. For example, energy used in the cities will be clean-mainly coming from waves, wind and the sun—and instead of chemicals, fish waste will be used to enrich the soil.
As promising as this plan sounds, however, there is still one problem: The plan itself doesn’t aim at global climate change. Instead, it’s a “runaway” plan. Similar to the project of building human settlements on Mars, it’s a way out when Earth becomes unsuitable for human life to live on. It doesn’t stop us from ruining the planet in the first place.
But without doubt, things are changing. “As our climate and water ecosystems (生态系统) are changing, the way our cities relate to water needs to change, too, ” Lucas, a UN official, said at the meeting.
Maybe instead of building eco-friendly floating cities, we should learn to live with nature while we still have land.
1. What is the purpose of Paragraph 1?A.To give a warning. | B.To introduce a topic. |
C.To offer a solution. | D.To make a comment. |
A.They are built by pouring sand into the ocean. |
B.They are creative structures under the water. |
C.They can get along well with the ocean life. |
D.They are designed for global climate change. |
A.Hopeful. | B.Shocking. | C.Powerful. | D.Imaginative. |
A.We should protect the ocean life. |
B.We should move to the floating cities. |
C.We should build eco-friendly floating cities |
D.We should stop destroying our mother planet. |
4 . Garbage sorting (分类) has become a hot topic around China, especially after Shanghai began carrying out a regulation (规章) on July 1.
Beijing has been expected to do the same. At present the regulation gives garbage sorting responsibilities to government departments, property management groups and other organizations. It also gives rules for companies, explaining how they’re responsible for waste collection, transportation and treatment. Citizens are free of responsibilities for the moment.
The long-awaited revision will soon change the situation. “Taking out the trash without sorting it properly will be illegal,” said Sun Xinjun, director of the Beijing Commission of Urban Management. In Shanghai, violators (违背者) are now fined up to 200 yuan for trash-sorting violations. “The maximum fine in Beijing will not be less than that,” he said.
The Beijing city government first promoted garbage sorting in 2009. Authorities have since called on citizens to sort their household waste into four types—recyclable waste, kitchen trash, dangerous waste and others , and leave it in a colored dustbin or trash can. Blue-colored dustbins are for recyclable items, green for kitchen trash, red for dangerous materials and grey for other waste.
To promote the awareness of garbage sorting and expand the base of participants, authorities have employed workers to help citizens. With intelligent devices, those who throw in recyclable waste at given places will be rewarded with bonus points, which can be used to buy daily goods. At some communities, there are no color-coded dustbins. Instead, a scheduled garbage collection service is offered to help improve the environment. In other communities, workers offer a door-to-door service to collect recyclable or kitchen waste.
Beijing Environmental Sanitation Engineering Group has been promoting new garbage sorting facilities such as recycling cabinets and smart kitchen waste trash cans since 2016, Xinhua News Agency reported.
1. Which of the following shouldn’t be thrown into a blue dustbin?A.Coke cans. | B.Thrown-away batteries. |
C.Used books. | D.Broken iron pots. |
A.citizens are not responsible for garbage sorting in Beijing now |
B.recyclable waste like newspapers should be thrown in green dustbins. |
C.people sorting recyclable waste will be rewarded in Beijing |
D.Shanghai carried out garbage sorting later than Beijing |
A.An Example in Garbage Sorting in Shanghai |
B.Action to Be Taken to Sort Garbage in Shanghai |
C.New Garbage Sorting Regulation in Beijing |
D.Present Garbage Collection in Beijing |
A.A fashion magazine. | B.A science book. |
C.A newspaper. | D.A government report. |
5 . David Katz was unhappy about all the plastic (塑料) going into the ocean. To help solve the problem, he had an unusual idea. Mr Katz calls his idea the “Plastic Bank”.
In poor countries, people are already working so hard just to get enough food to eat, to find a place to live, and to keep themselves healthy. Spending time on recycling (回收再利用) doesn’t make sense when you’re simply trying to survive.
The purpose of the Plastic Bank is to use plastic to help these people solve the problems that worry them the most—food, shelter, and health. So Plastic Bank adds a value to plastic waste by paying people to recycle it.
The program began in 2015 in Haiti, a poor island nation that doesn’t have strong programs for recycling. Plastic is often simply thrown out and ends up in rivers and the ocean.
The Plastic Bank has opened 30 “markets” in Haiti. At Plastic Bank markets, people can trade the plastic they’ve collected for money or other things they need. The Plastic Bank markets sell many things that local people need, such as cooking oil and heating oil. The stores also allow plastic collectors to use the money they get to pay for health care or school. For those who have cell phones, Plastic Bank can put the money they get into a special bank account (账户) that they can control using an app. This keeps their money safe.
To make sure the plastic gets recycled, the Plastic Bank works with those who agree to use the plastic that is collected. For example, the British company Marks & Spencer and the German company Henkel are both paying more to use recycled plastic from the Plastic Bank in their products. When customers buy these products, which are labeled (标记) “Social Plastic”, they know that they are helping people in other parts of the world and keeping plastic out of the ocean.
The Plastic Bank has programs in Haiti, the Philippines, and Brazil. So far, the Plastic Bank has kept about 7 million pounds of plastic out of the ocean.
1. What might most Haitians think of plastic waste before 2015?A.It was harmful. | B.It was priceless. |
C.It was valueless. | D.It was recyclable. |
A.The high value of the local plastic. |
B.The local people’s basic needs for life. |
C.The local people’s care for the environment. |
D.The great support from the local government. |
A.By storing the waste in its special bank. |
B.By using the waste to produce oil and gas. |
C.By sending the waste to poor countries for reuse. |
D.By selling the waste to others who make products. |
A.Helping the poor. | B.Cleaning the ocean. |
C.Collecting plastic waste. | D.Treating plastic like money. |
6 . The newly-elected president of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro says that his country should withdraw (退出) from the 2015 Paris Agreement, and that Brazil’s rainforest protections are standing in the way of economic success. During the election campaign, he promised to ease protections for areas of the Brazilian Amazon set aside for native people and wildlife. Are Brazil’s rainforests in danger?
The Amazon, the world’s largest rainforest, is called “the lungs of the planet.” Each tree takes in and stores carbon dioxide from the air around it. Billions of trees pull up water through their roots and release water vapor into the air, forming tiny drops of water. The Amazon creates 30 to 50 percent of its own rainfall. Carlos Nobre, a climate scientist, says that it is almost impossible to say Just how important the rainforest is to the planet’s living systems.
Some of Bolsonaro’s support comes from business and farming groups. One supporter, Luiz Carlos, noted that farmers “are not invaders, they are producers.” He blamed the past government for supporting rainforest protections at the cost of farmers. “Brazil,” he said, “will be the biggest farming nation on Earth during Bolsonaro’s years.”
Paulo Artaxo, a professor of environmental physics at the University of Sao Paulo, says that if Bolsonaro keeps his campaign promises, then “deforestation of the Amazon will probably increase quickly — and the effects will be felt everywhere on the planet.”
Other scientists warn that if the Amazon and other tropical rainforests lose too many trees, this could affect rainfall in other areas. Without enough trees to support the rainfall, the longer and bigger dry season could turn more than half of the rainforest into a tropical grassland.
1. The first paragraph is intended to ________.A.draw people’s attention to the disappearing rainforests |
B.ask people to ease the protection of rainforests |
C.attract the public to the newly-elected president |
D.to complain about the new government's withdrawing |
A.produce much farmland |
B.examine people’s lungs |
C.change the earth’s living system |
D.destroy farmers’ crops |
A.The new president’s supporters care less about farmers. |
B.Scientists are concerned about the protection of rainforests. |
C.The rainforests will stop the economic development in Brazil. |
D.The past government is to blame for the destruction of rainforests |
A.a newspaper |
B.a magazine |
C.a guidebook |
D.a textbook |
7 . At the age of seven, while his friends were spending their pocket money on candy and toys, Jose Adolfo Quisocola, from Peru, came up with the creative idea of an eco-bank, which allows kids of all ages to become economically independent and financially wise while also helping the environment.
Set up in 2012, The Bartselana Student Bank is the world’s first cooperative bank for kids. Whoever wants to join has to bring in at least 5 kilograms (11 pounds) of solid waste (paper or plastic) and set a saving goal. Once accepted, all bank “partners” are required to deposit(存入)at least one additional kilogram (2. 2 pounds) of recyclables on a monthly basis and obey other requirements, such as attending financial education and environmental management workshops. The waste collected is sold to local recycling companies, who, thanks to some clever negotiation(协商)by Jose, pay a higher-than-market price for everything brought in by Bartselana Student Bank members. The money received is placed in the individual’s account where it adds up until his/her savings goal is reached. The account holder can then withdraw his/her money, or choose to leave it and continue to grow for a bigger target.
“At the beginning, my teachers thought I was crazy or that a child could not undertake this type of project, ” Jose recalls. “They did not understand that we are not the future of the country but its present. Luckily, I had the support of the school principal and an assistant in my classroom. ”
The youngster’s persistence(坚持不懈)paid off. Today, the eco-bank, which now has the support of several local organizations, has ten educational enters and begins accepting applications from kids all across Peru. On November 20, 2018, the young boy was awarded the famous Children’s Climate Prize(CCP). “Jose’s eco-bank is a brilliant way of linking economy and climate impact, both in thought and practice. The potential impact is amazing, ” a judge said.
Hopefully, Jose’s success will inspire more kids and adults to come up with new ideas that create value while helping the environment. As the boy says, “Together we can change the world...we just need an Opportunity...”
1. For what main purpose was the eco-bank created?A.To educate children how to spend their pocket money. |
B.To help children become independent from their parents. |
C.To raise children’s awareness of environmental protection. |
D.To encourage children to donate their money in a wise way. |
A.The history of the eco-bank. |
B.The wise way to deal with waste. |
C.The requirements of membership. |
D.The process of running the eco-bank. |
A.Lack of enough support. | B.Lack of enough money. |
C.Lack of relevant experience. | D.Lack of relevant knowledge. |
A.An Amazing Boy, Jose | B.Recycling does Count Much |
C.An Opportunity to Change the World | D.An Eco-bank, Economical and Ecological |
8 . The need to feed a growing population is putting much pressure on the world’s supply of water. With 97% of the world’s water too salty to be drunk or used in agriculture, the worldwide supply of water needs careful management, especially in agriculture. Although the idea of a water shortage seems strange to someone fortunate enough to live in a high rainfall country, many of the world’s agricultural industries experience constant water shortages .
Although dams can be built to store water for agricultural use in dry areas and dry seasons, the costs of water redistribution(重新分配) are very high. Not only is there the cost of the engineering itself, but there is also an environmental cost to be considered. Where valleys are flooded to create dams, houses are lost and wildlife homes destroyed. Besides, water may flow easily through pipes to fields, but it cannot be transported from one side of the world to the other. Each country must therefore rely on the management of its own water to supply its farming requirements.
This is particularly troubling for countries with agricultural industries in areas dependent on irrigation(灌溉). In Texas, farmers’ overuse of irrigation water has resulted in a 25% reduction of the water stores. In the Central Valley area of southwestern USA, a huge water engineering project provided water for farming in dry valleys, but much of the water use has been poorly managed.
Saudi Arabia’s attempts to grow wheat in desert areas have seen the pumping of huge quantities of irrigation water from underground reserves. Because there is no rainfall in these areas, such reserves can only decrease, and it is believed that fifty years of pumping will see them run dry.
1. From the first two paragraphs we learn that ________.A.much of the world’s water is available for use | B.the costs of water redistribution should be considered |
C.people in high rainfall countries feel lucky | D.water can be easily carried through pipes across the world |
A.The water stores in Texas have been reduced by 75%. |
B.Most industries in the world suffer from water shortages. |
C.The underground water in Saudi Arabia might run out in 50 years. |
D.Good management of water use resulted from the project in the Central Valley. |
A.Steps to improving water use management. |
B.Ways to reduce the costs of building dams. |
C.Measures to deal with worldwide water shortages. |
D.Approaches to handling the pressure on water supply. |
A.water supply and increasing population |
B.water use management and agriculture |
C.water redistribution and wildlife protection |
D.water shortages and environmental protection |
Ecotourism is commonly regarded as low impact (影响) travel to undisturbed places. It is different from traditional tourism because it allows the traveler to become
Ecotourism has
Due to
·Minimize the impact of
·Build respect for and awareness of the environment and cultural practices.
·Provide
·Make sure that the tourism provides experiences for both the visitors and the hosts.
Komodo National Park, officially recognized in 1980, is popular for ecotourism because of its unique biodiversity.
10 . The situation of the world’s plants is not good. One fifth of the kinds of plants are in danger of disappearing, according to a report.
“Plants are very vital to human beings,” said Kathy Willis, who led the new report. “Plants provide us with everything—food, fuel, and medicine, and they are very important for our climate controlling. Without plants we would not be here.”
The good news is that deforestation rates around the world have dropped largely since the 1950s. However, this report on the health of plants around the world shows that there is much more to be done.
The report predicts that there are now 390,900 kinds of plants. And about 21 percent of those plants are in danger of disappearing. “The good side is that we’re still discovering lots of new plants, about 2,000 each year,” said Dr. Willis. “The bad side is that we’ve seen a huge change in land cover, mainly caused by cultural activity, with a little bit of climate change in there as well.”
Human activity has a great effect on the danger of plants disappearing. As humans cut down forests to make room for agriculture, towns and cities, biodiversity is lost. This could not only affect our own food supply directly, but also affect the food web.
1. What does the underlined word “vital” in Paragraph 2 probably mean?A.Useless. | B.Friendly. | C.Equal. | D.Important. |
A.New plants are more than ever before. | B.About half the plants will disappear soon. |
C.Many new plants are found every year. | D.Plants mustn’t be used to produce medicine. |
A.We have made little progress. | B.There is a long way for us to go. |
C.We have achieved our goal. | D.There will be nothing we can do. |
A.Biodiversity Being Lost | B.Human Social Activity |
C.Environment Protection | D.Nature Climate Change |