1 . Royal Dutch Shell is launching a $ 300 million and forestry program, at a time when an increasing number of oil companies are putting money in carbon offset（碳补偿）plans to meet climate goals. The company will spend the money over the next three years on projects to store carbon, including large forests in the Netherlands and Spain, and will start offering motorists the option of purchasing carbon offsets when they buy petrol at the pump.

The executives of the company explained that these carbon offset projects were a new business opportunity for Shell, as well as a way to meet its climate targets. “We believe that over time we will be building a business, because these carbon credits will become more valuable as carbon becomes more limited,” they said. Shell recently decided to cut its net carbon footprint by 2-3 percent in five years, which includes emissions from the products it sells. The company plans to produce carbon credits from the forestry projects, then sell these credits on to customers buying its oil and gas products, or apply the credits to its own operations to lower its carbon footprint.

Plants absorb carbon dioxide as they grow and restoring forests and other natural areas is considered one of the simplest ways to store carbon. However, the voluntary market for carbon credits based on forestry projects has its critics, as projects in developing countries can be hard to monitor. Shell's move has also been criticized by some environmentalists. They worried that there was a risk of “green wash” when companies invested in forestry projects. “There is an entire debate about whether forestry projects truly reduce emissions or not,” they said, pointing out that planting it one area could cause deforestation to another.

Shell said it would rely on the third party to ensure its forest program to meet the Voluntary Carbon Standard and strict biodiversity requirements. Mark Lewis. head of climate change investment research at BNP Paribas, said. “Planting trees to offset emissions as far as it goes. is a step in the right direction.”

1. What is popular among oil companies these days?

A．Investing projects to store carbon.	B．Launching forestry programs.
C．Working out carbon offset plans.	D．Selling carbon credits.

2. How will Shell Company make profits from its carbon offset projects?

A．By abandoning the emissions of its products.

B．By commercializing carbon credits it produces.

C．By limiting the oil used by other companies.

D．By reducing its carbon footprint sharply.

3. What does the underlined word “green wash” in paragraph 3 mean?

A．Discount	B．Cheat
C．Decline	D．Change

4. What does the text imply about carbon offset projects?

A．They sharply reduce emissions.	B．They will fail in developing countries.
C．They require broader monitoring.	D．They contribute to deforestation.

4 . 假定你是李华，你正主持英语角活动。活动中大家以“外卖食品是否应该进校园”展开讨论。关于该问题有人赞同，有人反对，请你总结大家赞同和反对的原因，并提出自己的观点。
注意：
1. 词数100左右；
2. 可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
参考词汇：takeout food 外卖食品
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5 . On a break from his studies in the MIT Media Lab,Anirudh Sharma traveled home to Mumbai, India. While there, he noticed that throughout the day his T-shirts were gradually gathering something that looked like dirt."I realized this was air pollution，or sooty（像煤一样）particulate matter (PM)，made of black particles released from exhaust（尾气）of vehicles，" Sharma says. "This is a major health issue."Soot consists of tiny black particles, about 2.5 micrometers or smaller, made carbon produced by incomplete burning of fossil fuels.

Back at MIT,Sharma set out to help solve this air-pollution issue. After years of research and development, Sharma’s startup Graviky Labs has developed technology that attaches to exhaust systems of diesel generators（柴油发电机）to collect particulate matter.Scientists at Graviky then turn it into ink, called Air-Ink, for artists around the world. So far, the startup has collected I.6 billion micrograms of particulate matter.More than 200 gallons of Air-Ink have been harvested for a growing community of more than 1,000 artists, from Bangalore to Boston, Shanghai,and London.

Posted all over Graviky Lab's Facebook page today are photos of art made from the Air-Ink and pant, including street wall paintings, body art and clothing prints.At first, there was still no specific application for the ink. Then the startup decided to find new ways to further spread its mission.It chose to do so through art."Art helps us raise awareness about where the ink and paint comes from. Air pollution knows no borders. Our ink sends a message that pollution is one of the resources in our world that's the hardest to collect and use.But it can be done,"Sharma says.

1. What struck Sharma most during his break in India?

A．Dirt on his T-shirts.	B．Health issue of the locals.
C．Coal industry in Mumbai.	D．Incomplete burning of fossil fuels.

2. According to the text, Air-Ink is________.

A．a cleaner of outdoor air	B．a product made from PM
C．a newly-founded company	D．a printing technology

3. What can we infer about Air-Ink from the text?

A．It improves artistic effect.	B．It makes pollution acceptable.
C．It helps Sharma make a profit.	D．It raises environmental awareness.

4. What might be the best title for the text?

A．Arts know no borders	B．Waste has no price
C．Less pollution, more art	D．Creative thinking, effective painting

6 . Earth Hour is organized by the World Wide Fund for Nature. It's a big event usually at the end of March every year. On this evening, people “go dark”.     1    

It's true that turning off lights for just one hour saves only a small amount of power.    2    On one level, joining in Earth Hour makes people think about the problem of climate change and what we can do in everyday life to protect nature.

But on another level, a large number of people’s acting together sends a powerful message to governments and companies.     3     They begin considering green issues when big decisions.

The logo(标识) of Earth Hour is “60+” .The number 60 is for the 60 minutes of Earth Hour.     4     In fact, people who join in Earth Hour say that taking part makes them want to do more for the environment.

    5     Musicians give concerts by playing acoustic(原声的) instruments instead of electric ones, and using candles instead of electric lights. Celebrity chefs have created special recipes for families to prepare and eat by candlelight. Tree-planting sessions, group walks and runs are also among the options.

A．But this is only the beginning.

B．Earth Hour represents every hour of every day.

C．After all, everyone has to answer for what they have done.

D．Besides turning off the lights, people get involved in other events.

E．It pushes them to take urgent measures by making changes to policies.

F．That is, they switch off all unnecessary lights at the same time for one hour.

G．The plus invites people to continue their action even after Earth Hour is finished.

7 . The populations of common animals are just as likely to rise or fall in number in a time of accelerating global warming as those of rare species, a study suggests.

Until recently, scientists were still accumulating data on how animal populations were shifting over time globally across the different regions of the planet.

Making use of the newly available data, a team of University of Edinburgh researchers studied nearly 10000 animal populations recorded in the Living Planet Database between 1970 and 2014 to provide a new perspective on animal population change. These include records of mammals, reptiles, sharks, fish, birds and amphibians.

The team found that 15 percent of all populations declined during the period, while 18 percent increased and 67 percent showed no significant change. Amphibians were the only group in which population sizes declined, while birds, mammals and reptiles experienced increases. The overall decline in amphibians makes them a priority for conservation efforts, researchers say, as their loss could have knock-on effects in food chains and wider ecosystems.

Gergana Daskalova, of the University of Edinburgh’s School of GeoSciences, who led the study, said, “We often assume that declines in animal numbers are prevalent everywhere. But we found that there are also many species which have increased over the last half of a century, such as those which do well in human-transformed landscapes or those which are the focus of conservation actions.”

Dr. Isla Myers-Smith, also of the School of GeoSciences, who co-authored the study, said, “Only as we bring together data from around the world, can we begin to really understand how global change is influencing the biodiversity of our planet.”

1. With the global temperature rising, what happens to the animals?

A．Rare animal species tend to decline.

B．Common animal species tend to increase.

C．Global wanning is accelerating with the loss of animal species.

D．The population of common animals changes just like rare ones.

2. How did scientists carry out the study?

A．By analyzing existing information.	B．By studying animals，behavior.
C．By comparing different studies.	D．By recording the data of animals.

3. What does the underlined word “prevalent” in Paragraph 5 mean?

A．Sharp.

B．Common.

C．Steady.

D．Relative.

4. What is Dr. Isla Myers-Smith's attitude toward the study?

A．Objective.

B．Optimistic.

C．Subjective.

D．Pessimistic.

8 . The Aral Sea was once the world's fourth largest lake. Filled with salt water and at least 24 species of fish, the Aral Sea supported a large fishing industry. In the 1960s, water from the Aral Sea started to be used to irrigate dry fields to produce cotton. Three quarters of the water was pumped from the sea over the next two decades, leaving behind a salt-covered desert. The disappearing Aral Sea split into two separate lakes-the small Northern Sea and a much larger body of water to the south.

By that time, most fish in the Aral Sea were gone. Salty irrigation water soon damaged the soil in the cotton fields, so huge amounts of chemical pesticides(杀虫剂)and fertilizers were used trying to keep the fields productive, which could be found in the groundwater and drinking water although must cotton fields disappeared, And the wind picked up salt from the dried-up lake and carried it to farmland far from the Aral. Besides, people who lived in the area experienced many health problems.

Today, however, there is some hope for the region. In the late 1990s, people in Kazakhstan used sand and soil to build a dam that would prevent the Syr Dar'ya river water that fed the lake from flowing, out of the lake. They also decided to take less water from the river for irrigation. The water level began to rise, and places that had been completely dry for decades began to show signs of life. People who lived nearby began to believe that the Aral Sea might return.

A permanent dam, the Kok-aral dam, was completed in August 2005. By April 2006, the water level had already risen three meters, and the water was less salty. The northern part of the Aral Sea may soon be a much healthier place to live for both fish and people.

1. What aspect of the Aral Sea does paragraph 1 focus on?

A．Description of the landform.	B．Protection of the ecosystem.
C．Methods of the development.	D．Reasons for the disaster.

2. What measure did Kazakhstan employ to save the Aral Sea in the 1990s?

A．They gave up the cotton fields for it.

B．They reduced its consumption for irrigation.

C．They replaced the earthen dam with a new one.

D．They stopped the Syr Dar'ya river water running into it.

3. What is the writer's attitude towards the future of the Aral Sea?

A．Concerned

B．Positive.

C．Skeptical.

D．Cautious.

4. What is the best title of the passage?

A．Bringing Back the Aral Sea

B．Building dams in the Aral Sea area

C．The disappearance of the Aral Sea

D．The development of the Aral Sea

9 . Plastic, a durable material, is probably the definitive 20th century “mod-con”. It has proved attractive to consumers and manufacturers. But the tide, now packed with an additional 8 million tons of plastic entering the oceans annually, is slowly turning.

The scale of the environmental problem with plastic waste is astonishing More than 6.3 billion tons of plastic waste has been produced since the 1950s, more than half of which was produced in the past 16 years, and plastic production is expected to double again in the next 20 years. Despite higher recycling rates, large amounts of plastic leak into the environment. Estimates suggest there will be more plastic than fish in the sea by 2050 and there is evidence that it is present throughout the human food chain. An ecologically and technologically superior replacement for many uses of plastic is long overdue.

Consumers have become keen recyclers. Yet this is not as good an outcome as it seems. Even when plastics are recyclable and put in a recycling bin, the majority still ends up in landfill, causing huge emission problems, or ends up in the sea.

Recycling is a complex, expensive, low-profit business. It is made harder because, although 95 per cent of people in the US and EU markets recycle, only about 30 per cent recycle carefully enough for it to be usable.

Nevertheless, growing demand for alternatives to plastic is running ahead of the scientific breakthroughs. These are needed to ensure the environmental impact of replacing it is a net positive. One popular proposal—using paper instead of plastic if possible—however could exacerbates global warming, a more pressing problem.

Having turned consumers into keen recyclers, governments must ensure recycling work. This will require an internationally joined-up regulatory, environment that ensures manufacturers bear the cost of using non-recyclable or uneconomical materials.

Equally, consumers should continue to demand a circular plastic economy. This would be a world in which unnecessary and eco-unfriendly plastic is completely removed, all plastic packaging is 100 per cent reusable or recyclable. The waste must end.

1. What does the second paragraph mainly tell us about?

A．Plastic production.	B．Life chain.
C．Material substitution.	D．Plastic problem.

2. What does the underlined word “exacerbate’ in the fifth paragraph mean?

A．Affect.	B．Better
C．Remove	D．Worsen.

3. What will manufactures have to do without using recyclable materials?

A．Pay for the outcome.	B．Refund the consumers.
C．Abandon their products.	D．Provide the recycling stuff.

4. What is the author's purpose in writing the text?

A．To inform us of the plastic problem.

B．To praise consumers' sense of responsibility.

C．To suggest there is a long way solving the plastic problem.

D．To indicate manufacturers should create a safer environment

10 . The best and most-commonly used sources for the pills we have are oily fish like salmon（畦）， mackerel and sardines. Many environmentalists fear that some species are being over fished for this purpose. We may have an endless voracity for fish oil, but we don't have an endless supply of fish.

Menhaden, which is described as “a big-headed, smelly, foot-long fish" , is in great danger. Although prized for dinner in the 18th century, the species has become the unknown victim of the fish oil business ₉ which presents us with potential sea fish. Menhaden filter-feed almost entirely on algae （海藻）and is especially good at changing it into-3 fatty acids, which make them a good target for fish oil companies.

One particular company, Protein of Houston, has been fishing 90 percent of the country' s menhaden. It's become such a big problem that 13 of the 15 Atlantic states have banned the company * s boats from their waters. Yet the company is still allowed to fish in North Carolina and Virginia, as well as federal waters; the company * s efforts result in the removing of half a billion menhaden every year.

Aside from running out a public natural resource for a company，s private profit, the damage to the ecosystem is cause for alarm. The muddy brown color of the Long Island Sound is the direct result of lacking water nitration （过滤）一a job that was once done by menhaden.

Menhaden keep the ocean waters of the Atlantic and Gulf coasts clean. A menhaden filters four to six gallons of water of algae in a minute, which prevents underwater dead zones.

Measures should be taken to avoid the over fished situation. Plant seeds such as flax seed, chiaseeds, hemp seeds, and sesame seeds — and particularly their oils — are good vegetarian sources of omega-3 fatty acids, although the mix of specific acids is different from which one can get with fish.

1. Why does menhaden become a good fish for companies to make pills?

A．It is good at forming-3 fatty acids.

B．It feeds mainly on the harmful algae.

C．It is well-known for its rich protein.

D．It is relatively easy for companies to catch.

2. What does the underlined word "voracity" in paragraph 1 mean?

A．trouble	B．shortage
C．resource	D．appetite

3. What does the author intend to suggest us in the last paragraph?

A．To grow more plants for their seeds to make oil.

B．To use some substitutes instead of more fish oil.

C．To call on the government to make laws in fishing.

D．To take part in more activities to protect the environment.

4. What is the best title for the text?

A．The broken natural ecosystem.	B．The process of making fish oil.
C．Bad effects of fish oil making.	D．How to use natural resources.