3 . For centuries, elephants have played a big role in the world’s economies, culture and religion. The African elephants used to be found all over Africa and the Asian elephants moved from Syria to China to Indonesia. Nowadays, elephants are found in small groups in the south of the Sahara Desert and scarcely in Southeast Asia, Sri Lanka and India.

In the early twentieth century, there were close to ten million elephants, and now the elephant number is as low as 252, 000 and expected to drop down to 160, 000 by 2025. Between 2007 and 2014, the elephant population fell by at least 30%, or 144, 000 elephants. As researchers have traveled over the African plains, they only spotted one herd of 36 elephants in an area like the size of Mexico. It is clear that these gentle mammals are disappearing right before our eyes.

There are many reasons why the elephant population has been decreasing,one of which is their habitat. Humans are competing with elephants for living space, and as more and more humans clear the land that is being used by elephants, the elephants have less space. Elephant hunting or “poaching” has been a major factor for the disappearance of this species, and they are killed only for their valuable ivory tusks. Although the trade of tusks is illegal, it is still a common practice in many places.

Often, all the local people living among elephants would be farmers, and found that they could make more money by selling the tusks of one elephant, than doing manual labor for twelve years. That alone makes it really hard to prevent them from killing the elephants.

Some places such as Botswana, have put in extra effort to protect their wildlife from poachers by founding their Botswana Defense Force, which is made up of around 700 specially-trained soldiers that are stationed in 40 different areas. You may feel worried about the present situations elephants are in, but there are ways to help. To find out how you can help elephant conservation, adopt an elephant, or donate, click here.

1. The numbers listed in Paragraph 2 show that ________ .

A．humans don’t care for elephants	B．elephants have been next to extinction
C．elephants have become gentler than before	D．elephants have gained more attention

2. What is the biggest factor for the disappearing elephants?

A．Less space.	B．A lack of food.
C．Suffering from a disease.	D．Elephant hunting.

3. Why is it hard to ban killing the elephants among the farmers?

A．Their tusks are money-making.

B．Elephants are destroying their fields cruelly.

C．Farmers hope to make a living by selling their meat.

D．Farmers practice their hunting skills by killing elephants.

4. What is the purpose of this text?

A．To persuade readers to make a donation

B．To guide readers how to protect elephants.

C．To encourage readers to help protect elephants.

D．To introduce the decreasing number of elephants.

4 . I suspect that we socialize more during the spring and summer months. Under the warm sun, yards bloom with cold drinks and conversation, barbecues get fired up, and parties quickly spill outside. Shifting these sweet summer parties to ones that are also waste-free can be both simple and inexpensive, with just a few small changes to your habits.

The first step is to keep invitations virtual. Creating a Facebook event or sending a simple email is perfect for inviting guests to your party without generating waste from paper invitations, and if you’re looking for something a bit more formal, sites such as Greenvelope and Paperless Post have given the cheesy e-invitation a brilliant makeover. Virtual invites also allow you to track RSVPs, communicate with guests, and provide clickable information about your event.

To decorate, make use of the candles, flowers and greenery already in your outdoor space rather than stocking up on store-bought flowers, and consider using decorations that can be reused (like a cloth happy birthday banner, for example) rather than one-time use decorations. Skip the balloons in favour of large tissue paper pom-poms, and offer up any decorations still in decent condition to a free group after the event rather than just tossing them out.

The most obvious way to cut down on party waste, of course, is by getting rid of disposable plates, cups and things like that. I shouldn’t have to do much convincing in this department — does anyone actually enjoy using those paper plates that fold in half when you pile them high with too much salad or drip oil through the bottom? Has anyone in the history of the world ever actually successfully cut anything with one of those completely useless plastic knives? There really isn’t much to be gained from using disposables.

With these shifts and a few other small adjustments here and there — paper straws instead of plastic, a large drink dispenser (饮水器) rather than individual soft drinks or juice boxes — you’ll be set to celebrate all summer long, without suffering the accompanying garbage hangover the next day.

1. What does the underlined word “cheesy” in the second paragraph mean?

A．Free.

B．Formal.

C．Plain.

D．Inviting.

2. What should we do with used decorations in good condition?

A．Donate them.	B．Sell them.
C．Put them away.	D．Throw them away.

3. Why does the writer dislike paper plates?

A．They’re too expensive.	B．They’re not practical.
C．They’re not convincing.	D．They’re not popular.

4. Which is the best title for the passage?

A．How to hold a successful garden party.	B．Summer garden party habits.
C．How to hold greener summer parties .	D．How to entertain your guests.

5 . According to the WHO, 90 percent of the world’s population lives in a place where they are exposed to unsafe levels of airborne pollutants, contributing to up to seven million deaths each year. If you live in a city, chances are that you’re part of that 90 percent, even if your city is relatively clean. That’s why cities worldwide have started embracing Internet of Things (IoT) solutions.

One of the best ways to fight pollution is to figure out where it’s worst and where it’s coming from. If you’ve ever made a habit of checking air quality around you, you may notice that there aren’t actually that many monitoring stations, and your closest one may not be that close. For pollution data to really be accurate and helpful, we need a lot more of it.

Luckily, IoT sensors and low-power wide-area networks are making it a lot easier to get and spread ultra-local data. Lampposts are one popular place to put them. For example, the Republic of Korea and Barcelona have already built out a network of pollution sensors in their streetlights.

On the other hand, outfitting (配备) cars, bikes, and even people with pollution sensors provide valuable data on a smaller, more mobile scale.

Since pollutant levels can change dramatically even from one city block to another, having smaller-scale data is important for making a lot of decisions that, over time, might have a major influence on our health and behavior. It can influence where we decide to live, when we exercise, whether we bike to work, and, perhaps most importantly, what we can do about pollution in our area.

All the Internet of Things can help us do on a personal level is use less energy. The data it provides, though, can be used to make big and small changes to the way we behave and build, and that is eventually where we’ll see benefits.

1. What’s the problem mentioned in Paragraph 1?

A．The death rate is high every year.

B．There are too many people in the world.

C．There is little space for people to live in.

D．Air pollution is more serious than expected.

2. What does the underlined word “it” in Paragraph2 refer to?

A．Pollution data.

B．A monitoring station.

C．Internet of Things.

D．A low-power network.

3. Why is it necessary to collect data on a smaller scale?

A．It directly decreases pollutant levels.

B．It uses less energy to clean the air.

C．It covers more areas of air pollution.

D．It betters decisions on our lifestyle.

4. What’s the author’s attitude towards using IoT to solve air pollution?

A．Disapproving.	B．Doubtful.
C．Positive.	D．Uncaring.

6 . A boy who was crazy about collecting rubbish is only four years old. He has finally fulfilled his dream of being a cleaner. Riley Mccourt has admired the local rubbish collectors for ages, spending his days picking up waste on his street and wheeling bins to the side of the road to help out his neighbors. He loves cleaning and binning waste. His favourite chore is to empty the rubbish from the chip shop his mum runs. Two weeks ago, however, a disaster struck: Riley accidentally knocked over one of the bins and was accused of causing trouble.

Someone posted in the local Facebook group that Riley had put rubbish in the street, clearly unaware of his love for keeping the streets clean. Thankfully his innocence was quickly proven, and his local council decided to make his dreams come true by allowing him to work alongside the cleaners for a day.

Riley joined the waste collection crew on Wednesday, chatting with the team, helping with the recycling, and riding in the waste collection vehicles. He even got his own jacket. Riley’s mum, Toni Mccourt, said, “He loves the bins and trucks.” Riley’s favourite day is definitely bin day. He goes round collecting the rubbish up on the street. The cleaners all know him when they spot him. He goes outside as soon as he sees them come round. He helps his neighbors put their bins out for collection.

Riley clearly made a good impression during his first day on the job, as community services manager Jane Carrol said she was very pleased with his enthusiasm for the role. Jane said, “Riley is clearly a keen recycler and when he is older, I’m sure he’d make an excellent member of the team here. It was a pleasure for the team to show him around the vehicles.”

1. What can we learn about Riley from the first paragraph?

A．Riley likes making trouble.	B．Riley was wronged by someone.
C．Riley was knocked over by a bin.	D．Riley looks down upon rubbish collectors.

2. Which of the following is Riley’s dream?

A．To work as a real cleaner.	B．To keep the street clean.
C．To prove his innocence.	D．To work with the local council.

3. What does Jane Carrol think of Riley’s action?

A．It is meaningless for him to do so.

B．It is unnecessary to do so on the street.

C．It is challenging for such a little boy to do so.

D．It is worthwhile to give Riley very high remarks.

4. Where is the text most likely from?

A．A newspaper.

B．A diary.

C．A biography.

D．A novel.

8 . 阅读下面短文, 在空白处填入一个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

Litter is everywhere, doing great harm to the environment and life on our planet. Jeff Kirschner, who wants to build a litter-free world, started a global community named Litterati     1     (settle) this problem.

The story began with his 6-year-old daughter. One day they were going on a hike     2     the girl noticed a broken plastic tub in a river. She said, “Daddy, that doesn’t go there.” That took Kirschner by surprise. He, like many adults, bad become so used to the rubbish around them that he hadn’t given it     3     second look.     4     his daughter said reminded him of the serious problem our planet faces.

Jeff started to take action. He created Litterati, an app that makes it fun to pick up litter. The idea is     5     (fair) simple: Spot a piece of trash, take a photo, post the photo online and then put the litter into dustbins.

    6     that Jeff was keeping a record of the positive impact he was having     7     the environment, people worldwide started participating in it. Up to now, over 2,500,000 photos posted by 3,500 people from over 40 countries     8     their way to Litterati’s digital landfill.

Litterati is more than an app,     9     is a highly effective solution to a pressing issue. Wherever you live, whatever you do and whoever you are, join Litterati to make the world a cleaner and     10     (health) place to live in!

9 . 为提高高二学生的锻炼意识和环保意识，你校学生会将于2021年10月31日上午9: 00在韶州公园组织一次Jogging and Picking活动 (跑步捡垃圾活动)。请你根据提示给高二师生写一则通知，内容包括：
1. 活动目的；
2. 活动内容；
3. 注意事项。
注意：1 .写作词数80左右；
2. 请按格式要求在答题卡位置作答。
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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 (影响)on the environment. After all, you were jumping into your car, driving across town, coughing out emissions (产生排放)and using gas all the way. But now that we’re used to staying at home and streaming 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 Shift 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 cause 3.5 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions. That’s like driving 3.9 miles. 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 crazier about our digital devices (设备)and the possibility of enjoying entertainment where and when we want it increases. 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 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 change in the way people seek entertainment.

D．The environmental impacts of streaming services.

2. We may learn from the text that ______ ．

A．3.9 miles drive may produce 3.5 pounds of CO2

B．digital technologies account for 4% of electricity use

C．online video use makes up 80% of all internet traffic

D．60% of the world’s population watch videos online now

3. What can we infer about the use of streaming services?

A．It is being reduced to protect the planet.

B．Its environmental effects are worsening.

C．It is easily available to almost everyone.

D．Its side effects have drawn global attention.

4. Which of the following is the most environmentally-friendly?

A．Watching downloaded movies on a mobile phone.

B．Downloading music on a personal computer.

C．Uploading a lot of images of the same thing.

D．Playing online games over mobile networks.