Monarchs (黑脉金斑蝶) are the only butterflies known to make two-way migrations, as birds do. In the late summer and early fall, the butterflies typically leave southern Canada and northern and central
2 . The Best Eco-Friendly Gifts
For the eco-conscious, we’ve rounded up our favorite eco-friendly gifts to send to your love.
Reusable Produce Bags (Price: $ 33)
Website: Sears. com
This pack of seven teusable bags are plastic free and made from 100 percent biodegradable cotton. The set includes one cotton net bag, three produce bags, and three food bag. Double stitching and durable seams mean these bags are built to last, and they’re machine washable for easy cleaning.
Wood Bookmarks with Tassels (Price; $ 25)
Website: Etsy. com
Teachers often like to hand out small gifts to students at the end of the year, and this set of wooden bookmarks is a sustainable, affordable way to let students know you care. (Plus, they’re a great reminder to read over holiday breaks!) The bookmarks come with colorful tassels as well, making it easy to mark your place while reading.
Personalized Notebook (Price: $ 13)
Website: Journal. com
This customizable journal is a great gift to jot down notes, used as a daily thought journal, or as a place to keep travel memories or even grocery lists. The cover is made from eco-friendly heavy cotton paper. The pages are recycled cartridge paper that’s perfect for fountain pens and ink as well as other media.
Greener Bamboo Cutting Board (Price: $ 90)
Website: Amazon. com
This bamboo cutting board is naturally bacteria resistant and made from 100 percent Moso bamboo that’s grown in organic soil. One side of the board has a deep juice-catching groove that’s perfect for capturing juices as you cut. After cutting, simply flip the board to the other side for a beautiful presentation large enough for veggie arrangements, watermelon, and more.
1. What can remind you to read?| A．Reusable Produce Bags. | B．Personalized Notebook. |
| C．Wood Bookmarks with Tassels. | D．Greener Bamboo Cutting Board. |
| A．Etsy. com. | B．Sears. com. | C．Journal. com. | D．Amazon. com. |
| A．They all are expensive. | B．They are popular with students. |
| C．They are made of cotton paper. | D．They are sustainable and eco-friendly. |
3 . Don't worry about why the chicken crossed the road—the bigger question is whether it'll make it at all.
When officials began issuing stay-at-home orders to slow the spread of COVID-19, Shilling and his colleagues quickly realized they were witnessing a novel experiment:
The answer is a lot of things, including fewer accidents and lower greenhouse gas emissions from cars. In their latest report, the researchers found that driving less has also led to a dramatic decrease in roadkills.
"
The team documented about a third fewer kills in the four weeks following shutdowns. If such a slowdown persisted for a year, 27.000 large animals would be saved in just those three states.
People are now returning to the roads as stay-at-home orders are lifted.
| A．What happens when we all start driving way less? |
| B．But Shilling hopes some of the lessons might stick. |
| C．It's a good idea to stay knowledgeable about the risks. |
| D．The idea is that most of the animals died a senseless death. |
| E．It's actually the largest protection action that the U.S. has ever taken. |
| F．In California, the researchers also looked specifically at mountain lions. |
| G．Every year, millions of animals get killed by vehicles in the U.S. |
4 . The United States Fish and Wildlife Service has identified 23 species it says are now extinct. Most of the species had been found in states in the southeastern U.S. Eleven species lived in Hawaii or Guam.
Perhaps the best-known species on the list is the ivory-billed woodpecker. There had been unconfirmed sightings of the bird over the past 20 years. That led to search operations in parts of Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Florida. But none of the woodpeckers were found.
Other species on the list had only been identified in the wild a few times and never seen again. One example is the flat pigtoe found in Alabama and Mississippi. In such cases, the species likely started disappearing shortly after being discovered.
In declaring a species extinct, the Fish and Wildlife Service removes it from its Endangered Species Act (ESA). The purpose of the ESA is to call attention to species with the greatest need for protection.
All 23 species were thought to have at least a small chance of survival when added to the ESA list. Only 11 species have been previously removed because of extinction in the nearly half-century since the ESA was signed into law.
The Fish and Wildlife Service warned that climate change, combined with other environmental pressures, could make such disappearances more common. As an example, it said nearly 3 billion birds have been lost in North America since 1970.
Cornell University bird biologist John Fitzpatrick is a leading figure in the hunt for the ivory-billed woodpecker. He told The Associated Press he thinks it was too early to declare the birds extinct. “Little is gained and much is lost,” he said of the declaration process.
Fitzpatrick led a 2005 study that claimed the woodpecker had been rediscovered in eastern Arkansas. He said removing a species from the ESA reduces public attention that is needed to help continue environmental protection efforts.
1. What do we know about the search operations in the four states?| A．They had been working in the past 20 years. |
| B．They were conducted in the southeastern U.S. |
| C．They had found 23 species in Hawaii or Guam. |
| D．They had never found any ivory-billed woodpeckers. |
| A．It is a mistake to add it to the list. | B．The species has been out of danger. |
| C．The species has been declared extinct. | D．It has been lost for nearly half a century. |
| A．Climate change. | B．Serious air pollution. |
| C．Humans’ hunting for meat. | D．Breakdown of food chains. |
| A．Indifferent. | B．Opposing. | C．Supportive. | D．Ambiguous. |
5 . A report has warned of a “destructive” decline in freshwater fish, with nearly a third threatened by extinction. Conservation groups said 80 species were known to have gone extinct, 16 in the last year alone.
The report said populations of migratory fish have fallen by three-quarters in the last 50 years. Over the same time period, populations of larger species, known as “megafish”, have crashed by 94%, In UK waters, the sturgeon and the burbot have disappeared, salmon are disappearing and the European eel remains extremely endangered.
According to the WWF, much of the decline is driven by the poor state of rivers, mostly as a result of pollution. Besides, dams and waste water are also the factors. It has called on the government to restore freshwater habitats to good health through proper carrying out of existing laws, strengthening protections in the Environment Bill and championing a strong set of global targets for the recovery of nature.
Dave Tickner, from WWE, said freshwater habitats are some of the most full of life on earth, but as this report shows they are in “destructive” decline around the world. “If we are to take this government's environmental promises seriously, it must get its act together, clean up our rivers and restore our freshwater habitats to good health,” said the organization's chief adviser on freshwater.
Carmen Revenga of The Nature Conservancy said freshwater fish are a diverse and unique group of species that are not only important for the healthy functioning of our rivers, lakes and wetlands, but millions of people, particularly the poor, also depend on them for their food and income.
“It's now more urgent than ever that we find the collective political will and effective cooperation with private industries, governments, NGOs(Non-Governmental Organizations) and communities, to carry out nature-based solutions that protect freshwater species, while also ensuring human needs are met,” she said.
1. How is the second paragraph developed?| A．By examples. | B．By argument. | C．By explanations. | D．By cause and effect. |
| A．Overfishing. | B．River pollution. | C．Global warming. | D．Natural disasters. |
| A．The features of freshwater fish. | B．The significance of freshwater fish. |
| C．The situation of freshwater habitats. | D．The functions of conservation groups. |
| A．Indifferent. | B．Ambiguous. | C．Optimistic. | D．Concerned. |
6 . A shocking 53.6 million tons of electronic waste were discarded（丢弃）last year, a new UN-backed report has revealed. The report shows that e-waste is up 21%from five years ago. This isn't surprising, considering how many more people are adopting new technology and updating devices regularly to have the latest versions, but the report also shows that national collection and recycling strategies are nowhere close to matching consumption rates.
E-waste contains materials including copper（铜）, iron, gold and silver, which the report gives a conservative value of $ 57 billion. But most are thrown away or burned rather than being collected for recycling. Precious metals in waste are estimated to be worth $ 14 billion, but only $4 billion-worth is recovered at the moment.
While the number of countries with national e-waste policies has grown from 61 to 78 since 2014, there is little encouragement to obey and a mere 17% of collected items are recycled. If recycling does occur, it's often under dangerous conditions, such as burning circuit boards to recover copper, which "releases highly poisonous metals" and harms the health of workers.
The report found that Asia has the highest amounts of waste overall, producing 24.9 million metric tons (MMT), followed by Europe at 12 MMT, Africa at 2.9 MMT, and Oceania at 0.7 MMT.
But whose responsibility is it? Are governments in charge of setting up collection and recycling points, or should companies be responsible for recycling the goods they produce? It goes both ways. Companies do need to be held accountable by government regulations and have incentives to design products that are easily repaired. At the same time, governments need to make it easy for citizens to access collection points and deal with their broken electronics in a convenient way. Otherwise, they may turn to the easiest option-the landfill.
1. What can we learn from the first paragraph?| A．What e-waste refers to. |
| B．Where e-waste is collected. |
| C．Why e-waste is increasing rapidly. |
| D．How many kinds e-waste includes. |
| A．The functions of policies. |
| B．The great damage to environment. |
| C．The change of consumption rates. |
| D．The urgency of recovering e-waste. |
| A．It does harm to the workers' health. |
| B．It lacks national policy support. |
| C．It hardly makes profits. |
| D．It takes too much time. |
| A．New technology should be used to update old devices. |
| B．Governments and companies should take responsibilities. |
| C．Non-poisonous metals had better be used in e-device. |
| D．Citizens must play a key role in recycling e-waste. |
