1 . Hurricane season is here. Fiona ruined Puerto Rico, and less than two weeks later, Ian struck the west coast of Florida and its remnants(残余部分) moved up and hit the Eastern Seaboard.

Extreme weather events like Ian and Fiona have become more intense because of climate change. That reality has implications for those of us in health care. We have a duty to protect and advance the health of our patients.

We typically think of health as something doctors monitor, offering treatment such as prescription medications as needed. But in reality, only about 20% of a person's health is attributable to the medical care they receive. Social determinants such as people's neighborhood and socioeconomic status are actually responsible for 40% of a person's health outcomes. It's a sad truth that a ZIP code can be more predictive of a person's health than his or her genetic code.

Consider how extreme weather events such as this summer's heat waves affected communities unequally. Poor urban neighborhoods, with sparse tree cover but plenty of concrete and asphalt, absorb and retain the heat of the sun's rays, while leafy, shaded countrysides just a few miles away stay much cooler. A University of California–San Diego study that measured land surface temperatures in over 1,000 counties across the United States found that neighborhoods with the lowest average education and income levels generally recorded higher temperatures.

Extreme weather events such as flood can threaten people's physical and mental health long after it recedes. Almost 1 in 3 people in the flooded area were estimated to have suffered from certain post-traumatic stress disorder. Therefore, physicians in regions at increased risk of natural disasters may need to be ready to deliver more mental health care. For example, doctors in drought-stricken areas may need to make water safety a part of their conversations with patients, because groundwater sources can become unsafe to drink without sufficient rainfall.

Climate change has posed an immediate and dire health threat. Now is the time for health care providers to take collective action to adapt to this unfortunate reality.

1. What can we infer from paragraph 3?

A．ZIP code largely tells a person’s health outcomes.

B．A person’s genetic code is determined by ZIP code.

C．A person’s genetic code is less important than ZIP code.

D．ZIP code is most responsible for people’s health outcomes.

2. Why did the author mention poor urban neighborhoods?

A．To show that people with the lowest education have the lowest income.

B．To show that poor people tend to be more exposed to extreme weather.

C．To show that shaded countrysides stay much cooler than urban areas.

D．To show that poor people live in a less-environment-friendly community.

3. How many kinds of extreme weather are mentioned in the passage?

A．2.

B．3.

C．4.

D．5.

4. What is the tone of the passage?

A．Objective.

B．Urgent

C．Optimistic.

D．Worried.

2 . Directions: Complete the following passage by using the words in the box. Each word can only be used once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A. abandoned B. challenge C. colored D. demonstrate E. ensures F. initiatives G. innovation H. pilot I. purchased J. recycled K. tailors

Lego: One Step Closer to Being Sustainable

The Lego Group is one step closer to reaching its goal of making all its products from sustainable materials by 2030.

The Danish toymaker revealed a prototype (雏形) brick made from     1     plastic. In a news release, Lego said the PET plastic from     2     bottles makes up the first brick to meet the company’s “strict quality and safety requirements.” One way the company     3     safety is by sourcing materials from suppliers that use processes approved by the US Food & Drug Administration and European Food Safety Authority.

“The biggest     4     on our sustainability journey is rethinking and innovating new materials that are as long-lasting, strong and high quality as our existing bricks—and fit with LEGO elements made over the past 60 years,” Lego Group Vice President of Environmental Responsibility Tim Brooks said. “With this prototype we’re able to    5     the progress we’re making to the public.”

It will be “some time” before bricks made from used materials can be     6    , Lego said. The company will continue to test and develop the PET formulation (配方) and decide whether to move to the     7     production phase, which is expected to take at least a year. One factor the company is testing is how the material can be     8    .

“Experimentation and failing is an important part of learning and     9    . Just as kids build, unbuild and rebuild with LEGO bricks at home, we’re doing the same in our lab,” Brooks said.

The move follows last year’s announcement that the company was making a $400 million investment over three years into sustainability     10    . It included phasing out the single-use plastic bags from its boxes and instead using recyclable paper for its packaging.

3 . Earth Overshoot Day marks the date when humanity has used up nature’s annual resources. In 2020, Earth Overshoot Day fell on August 22, three weeks later than 2019’s date of July 29 as a result of COVID-19 lockdowns, meaning that humanity consumed less resources than last year.

According to research conducted by Global Footprint Network, an international research organization, COVID-19- related lockdowns resulted in a 9.3% reduction in humanity’s ecological footprint compared with the same period last year.

However, we would still need 1.6 Earths to keep up with our current use of ecological resources.

While Mathis Wackernagel, president of Global Footprint Network, called this year’s data “encouraging,” he called for further progress to be made “by design, not by disaster.”

CEO of Global Footprint Network Laurel Hanscom adds, “Sustainability requires that both ecological balance and people’s well-being be ensured over the long-term, therefore this year’s sudden Ecological Footprint reduction cannot be mistaken for progress.”

According to the research, Australia used up its resources in the first half year during its 2019/ 2020 forest fire season.

Wackernagel says, “We’re using up the future to pay for the present. We’ve only got one planet and that’s not going to change.”

The research organization says that sustainability of a society depends on the sound management of ecological resources. To do this, we need to change the way we produce our food, we move around, how many children we have and how much land we protect for wildlife. Reducing our overall carbon footprint by 50% would push the date back 93 days, cutting food waste in half, 13 days. And if we push the date back by 5 days each year, humanity would be using less than one planet before 2050.

1. What led to less resource consumption in 2020?

A．COVID-19 lockdowns.	B．Improved awareness.
C．The forest fire season.	D．Sound management of ecology.

2. What is Laurel Hanscom’s attitude towards this year’s data?

A．Negative.	B．Critical.
C．Cautious.	D．Positive.

3. What can we learn from the figures of the last paragraph?

A．We have reduced carbon footprint by 50%.

B．The more children we have, the wealthier our life are.

C．The way we travel around doesn’t make any difference.

D．Good management of natural resources has a positive effect.

4. What’s the best title for this text?

A．To reduce carbon footprint of food.

B．Using less resources in 2020 than last year.

C．To encourage humans to use resources slowly.

D．COVID-19 lockdown being good for development.

4 . The process by which rich land becomes desert is called desertification(沙漠化).     1    The U. N. says up to 45 percent of Africa’s land is impacted by desertification, worse than any other continent.

Africa’s Great Green Wall is a project to build an 8000-kilometer-long forest across 11 of the continent’s countries. The project is meant to contain the growing Sahara Desert and fight climate change.     2    They include limited political support, lack of money, weak organizational structures, and not enough consideration for the environment. Just 4 million hectares of land have been turned into forest since the work on the Great Green Wall began 15 years ago.     3    

Launched in 2007, the project aims to plant a forest from Senegal on the Atlantic Ocean in western Africa to Eritrea, Ethiopia and Djibouti in the east.     4     It could also reduce levels of climate-related migration in the area and capture hundreds of millions of tons of carbon dioxide from the air.

    5    They say some progress has been made in recent years in the east of the continent. For example, efforts in Eritrea and Sudan have resulted in nearly 140, 000 hectares of newly planted forest.

The U. N. desertification agency says the project will need to plant an average of 8. 2 million hectares yearly to reach its goal of 100 million hectares by 2030.

A．It has severe impacts on the environment.

B．That is only 4 percent of the program’s goal.

C．However, it is difficult to carry out the project.

D．But the project has been facing many problems.

E．The project would create millions of green jobs in rural Africa.

F．Despite many problems, those involved in the project remain hopeful.

G．Some countries have struggled to keep up with the demands of the project.

5 . Carbon dioxide emissions from transportation are now thought as the top source of green—house gases. One of the most effective ways to reduce your carbon footprint is to reconsider how much, and how often, you travel.

Going car free for a year could save about 2.6 tons of carbon dioxide, according to a study from the University of British Columbia. How can you stop using a car? Try taking a train, bus or better yet, riding a bike.

But let’s be realistic. You will likely need to use a car this year. So, when you do, here are some tips to make your trip more climate—friendly. Driving efficiently can help to reduce emissions. Go easy on the gas and brakes and drive like you have an egg under your foot. Regularly service your car to keep it more efficient. Keeping your tires pumped correctly can reduce emissions. Low tire pressure will hurt your fuel economy. Air conditioning and frequent city driving can make emissions go up So cut down on these as often as possible. Use cruise control(定速巡航)on long drives—in most cases, this can help to save gas. Don’t weigh your car down with extra things that you don’t need on your trip.

Fly often? Taking one fewer long round—trip flight could reduce your personal carbon footprint significantly. If you use public transportation often and fly less, your carbon foot print might still be relatively sustainable, but if you drive and fly a lot, your emissions will be higher. If you can’t avoid flying, you can offset them by donating money to sustainable projects, such as supplying efficient stoves to rural homes, or projects which help farmers deal with crop waste environmentally.

1. What does the author think of going car free?

A．Efficient.

B．Costly.

C．Impractical.

D．Reliable.

2. Which can be adopted to save fuel of your car?

A．Maintaining your car properly.

B．Using cruise control in the city.

C．Stepping hard on the gas and brakes.

D．Getting rid of all the necessary loads.

3. What does the underlined word “offset” in paragraph 4 mean?

A．Put up with.

B．Team up with.

C．Set foot in.

D．Make up for.

4. Which is the best title for the text?

A．Lower carbon footprint in transportation

B．How to reduce your carbon footprint

C．Reduce carbon footprint by all means

D．How to save fuel when driving cars

6 . Soot (煤灰) pollution is speeding up climate-driven melting in Antarctica, a new study suggests, raising questions about how to protect the delicate continent from the increasing number of humans who want to visit.

“It really makes us question, is our presence really needed?” says Alia Khan, one of the authors of the new study. “We have quite a large black carbon footprint in Antarctica, which is enhancing snow and ice melt.”

Black carbon is the leftover thing from burning plants or fossil fuels. Soot in Antarctica comes primarily from waste gases of cruise ships (游轮), vehicles, airplanes and electrical generators, although some pollution travels on the wind from other parts of the globe. The dark particles (微粒) coat white snow and absorb heat from the sun the way a black T-shirt does on a warm day. The blanket of dark bits speeds up melting that was already happening more quickly because of global warming. When snow and ice are uncovered, they reflect an enormous amount of sunlight before it can turn into heat.

“These are the mirrors on our planet,” says Sonia Nagorski, a scientist at the University of Alaska Southeast. “When those mirrors are covered in a film of dark bits, they are less reflective. That means more heat is trapped on Earth, speeding up melting and contributing to global warming.”

As a scientist who personally visits Antarctica every year, Khan says she is troubled by her own research results. On the one hand, she goes to Antarctica to collect crucial data about how quickly the snow and ice there are disappearing. “But then when we come to conclusions like this it really does make us think twice about how frequently we need to visit the continent,” she says, “and what kind of regulations should be placed on tourism as well.” That could mean requiring that cruise ships and vehicles be electric, for example, or limiting the number of visitors each year.

1. What are the feelings expressed in Khan’s words in paragraph 2?

A．Doubt and concern.

B．Confidence and courage.

C．Anger and disappointment.

D．Optimism and certainty.

2. Which of the following is a major source of soot in Antarctica?

A．Burnt plants.

B．Tourist vehicles.

C．Black carbon elsewhere.

D．Fossil fuels underneath Antarctica.

3. What does Nagorski say about soot?

A．It causes Antarctic surface temperature to rise.

B．It is increasing in amount because of wind.

C．It reflects a large volume of sunlight.

D．It is like a big mirror on Earth.

4. What might Khan do in the future?

A．Help design scientific research regulations.

B．Use electric cars for her daily transportation.

C．Collect more data about Antarctica.

D．Reduce her visits to Antarctica.

7 . Liu Tao would like to express his concern over the wetland in his hometown. Help him finish the passage with the present continuous passive voice of the verbs in brackets.

In the wetland of my hometown, there are many different kinds of animals, including wild birds, fish, snakes, insects and so on. When I was in primary school, I often went there with my friends to watch the birds and study them. That was an interesting place for all of us. But things have begun to change in recent years. Small birds     1     (catch) with nets. Wild ducks     2     (sell) at food markets. Fish and snakes     3     (kill) for food in restaurants. And even worse, the wetland     4     (destroy). Some parts     5     (cover) with new houses. You can see rubbish everywhere. The wetland     6     (pollute) seriously every day. I am very worried about it. What can we do?

10 . The results of failing to keep the world’s temperature down are beginning to show.Extreme weather events are likely to become more frequent, and the world’s peoples and their governments are being urged to do more to handle climate change.

Ma Jun, director of the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs, an environmental group in Beijing, said the consensus among scientists now is that “climate change has resulted in an increase in extreme weather events across the globe, including temperature extremes, heavy rains, river floods, droughts, storms, as well as compound events”.

Over the past few years heat waves have occurred in places that had previously enjoyed mild weather, higher temperatures have occurred in normally colder regions, and places that are hot are now frequently enduring wildfires, he said, citing a report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change(IPCC) that includes a whole chapter on weather extremes.

The IPCC AR6 Synthesis Report said it is an“established fact”that human-caused greenhouse gas emissions have led to an increased frequency of some weather and climate extremes since preindustrial times.

The global surface temperature is now about 1.09C higher than in the preindustrial period(1850-1900), with stronger warming over land (1.59 C) than over oceans.

Extreme weather events have continued to hit the glebe this year and have killed many people, disrupted (扰乱) the lives of millions and disrupted production.

In Europe, after a summer of extremely high temperatures, violent thunderstorms and hurricane-force winds have hit the continent, leaving at least 13 people dead in Austria, France and Italy by Friday, authorities said.

The Netherlands is one of many European countries that have suffered drought this summer, bringing water shortages in the low-lying country as inland rivers and lakes have fallen to historically low levels.

1. What is the consensus among scientist?

A．Increased extreme weather events resulted from climate change.

B．There will be more extreme weather events in the near future.

C．The government are to blame for the increased extreme weather.

D．The government should reach a consensus on climate change.

2. What can we conclude from the third paragraph?

A．People in tropical areas will have to endure more wildfires.

B．Places enjoying mild weather will always have heat waves.

C．Cold regions normally have experienced higher temperatures.

D．The IPCC report places great emphasis on weather extremes.

3. How do you understand“an established fact”mentioned by the IPCC?

A．It means the fact has to be proved through experiments.

B．It means the fact has been agreed on commonly by scientists.

C．The fact is that green gas is to blame for more extreme events.

D．Scientists have to establish the fact by doing more experiments.

4. What might be the best title of the article?

A．An SOS Goes out as Globe Burns and Drowns

B．More Disasters will Happen around the World

C．The Global Surface Temperature is Higher than Ever

D．Governments are being Urged to Do More