1 . Plastic is low-cost and long-lasting. It is not easily degraded(降解) because natural degradation processes can’t deal with its chemical components(成分). It takes in other ocean-present harmful substances. These chemical and dangerous components are gradually got into the atmosphere with additives such as color, which turns out to be really harmful when the plastic breaks down.
The design and development of new plastic products was sped up after World War II. Life without plastic seemed impossible in the modern age. But even though plastic was quite convenient, the dark side of it was seen as people began to enjoy the throw-away community. Many plastic products, such as plastic bags, have a lifetime of a few minutes to hours. However, they’ll stay in the environment for hundreds of years. We are destroying the very world that nurtured us.
Just 9% of plastic has been recycled and 12% burnt after production rose in the 1950s, which leave s about 79% of the 8.3 billion tons produced sitting in landfills(垃圾填埋场) or damaging our fields, oceans, and waterways. And each year the plastic ends up as contaminants. So to beat plastic pollution, we need to work together.
While plastic burning reduces the amount of waste dumped into oceans and lands, harmful gases are still produced, which also leads to greenhouse gases. However, if we make a firm decision and use modern waste management methods, we will be able to create a safe and healthy world. It is high time that we as responsible global citizens, took on the duty of protecting our environment and made great effort in saving our mother earth, instead of just leaving everything to our government. So, ladies and gentlemen, let’s make a promise to successfully deal with plastic waste and protect our world from all possible risks.
1. What is Paragraph 1 mainly about?| A．The harm of plastic. | B．The convenience of plastic. |
| C．The protection of plastic. | D．The use of plastic. |
| A．Happy. | B．Worried. | C．Excited. | D．Relaxed. |
| A．Things that cause pollution. | B．Things that produce plastic. |
| C．Things that cost money. | D．Things that help people. |
| A．A short story. | B．A speech. | C．A newspaper. | D．A notice. |
2 . Climate experts have warned about the many ways a warming planet can negatively affect human health.
One long-held prediction that appears to be coming true — according to the results of a study recently published in Nature Scientific Reports — is how climate change might enhance
Vibrio vulnificus (创伤弧菌) flourishes in salty or brackish waters above 68℉. Infections are currently rare in the U.S., but that’s likely to change. Using 30 years of data on infections, scientists at the University of East Anglia in the U.K. found that Vibrio vulnificusis
“We’re seeing the core
Based on the latest data on how much the world’s water and air temperatures will rise, the scientists predict that by 2081, Vibrio vulnificus infections could reach every state along the U.S. East Coast. Currently, only about 80 cases are reported in the U.S. each year; by 2081, that could go up to over three-fold, the authors say.
Such a proliferation could have serious health consequences. Vibrio vulnificus kills approximately 20% of the healthy people it infects, and 50% of those with weakened immune systems. There is little evidence that antibiotics can
Warming sea temperatures aren’t the only reasons behind the rise of Vibrio vulnificus. Hotter air also draws more people to the coasts and bays, bringing them into closer contact with the bacteria.
“The bacteria are part of the natural marine environment, so I don’t think we can
To alert people to the growing threat,
Vbrio vulnificus is so
Lake says the expansion of Vibrio vulnificus is concerning for public health since the bacteria are now invading waters closer to heavily
| A．Even if | B．Except when | C．The instant | D．In case |
| A．numbers | B．ranges | C．coverages | D．concentrations |
| A．failure | B．fatality | C．survival | D．acid |
| A．ranging | B．varying | C．expanding | D．shifting |
| A．distribution | B．launch | C．community | D．sample |
| A．principle | B．lead | C．principal | D．hit |
| A．boost | B．accelerate | C．contain | D．remove |
| A．harms | B．damages | C．injuries | D．wounds |
| A．relieve | B．dissolve | C．resolve | D．erase |
| A．conscience | B．awareness | C．panic | D．alert |
| A．monitoring | B．processing | C．managing | D．delivering |
| A．sensible | B．vital | C．vulnerable | D．sensitive |
| A．populated | B．dense | C．paralleled | D．bordered |
| A．reaction | B．interaction | C．intervention | D．relativity |
| A．rather than | B．except for | C．such as | D．other than |
3 . The amount of sea ice surrounding Antarctica has reached its lowest level since modern records began, for the second year in a row. Sea ice is frozen seawater that floats on the ocean’s surface around the planet’s polar regions. It forms at much lower sustained temperatures than freshwater ice does, at around-1.8 degrees Celsius. Sea ice builds up during the winter until it reaches its maximum extent, and then melts (融化) away in the spring and summer until it reaches its minimum extent.
In Antarctica, where summer and winter are relative to the Northern Hemisphere, sea ice normally reaches its maximum extent in September when sea ice covers around 7 million square miles. At its minimum extent at the end of February, historically only around I million square miles remains. Last year the minimum sea ice extent was less than 772, 000 square miles, the lowest total since scientists began recording sea ice extent with satellites in 1979. On 21 February this year, that number had reduced to just 691, 000 square miles, which is roughly 40 per cent less than the average between 1981 and 2010.
The record-breaking minimum was expected after an extraordinarily hot January which was the seventh-warmest since records began 174 years ago. “By the end of January, we could tell it was only a matter of time until the record was broken,” said Will Hobbs, an Antarctic sea ice expert at the University of Tasmania and the Australian Antarctic Program Partnership. Antarctica’s minimum sea ice extent will likely continue to decrease in the coming decades as global temperatures rise as a result of human-caused climate change and more multiyear ice, which acts as a seed for new ice growth, melts away.
Sea ice is crucial for polar predators(捕食性动物) such as penguins in Antarctica and polar bears in the Arctic, which use the ice as a platform for hunting. But the sea ice also helps stabilise ice on Antarctica. “Lower sea ice extent means that ocean waves will pound the coast of the giant ice sheet，further reducing ice shelves around Antarctic,” said Ted Scambos, a senior research scientist at the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences.
1. What can we know about sea ice?| A．It can be seen on any ocean’s surface. | B．It forms at about -1.8 ℃. |
| C．It melts all the year round. | D．There is more sea ice than freshwater ice. |
| A．There are two seasons in Antarctica. |
| B．Scientists have been recording the change of sea ice. |
| C．Sea ice in Antarctica has been on decline in the past decades. |
| D．The ecology in Antarctica needs to be improved. |
| A．The earth becomes warmer. | B．Multiyear ice disappears completely. |
| C．Ocean waves destroy the giant ice sheet. | D．Human beings occupy Antarctica. |
| A．Human activities have caused global warming |
| B．Measures should be taken to stop sea ice decreasing |
| C．Sea ice is significant for polar animals |
| D．Antarctica’s sea ice reaches its lowest level since records began |
4 . When she first started learning about the climate change from one of her elders,Fawn Sharp was invited on a helicopter flight over the Olympic Mountains to survey the Mount Anderson glacier.But the glacier was gone,melted by the warming climate.Sharp had a deep sense of loss when she discovered the glacier wasn’t there anymore.
Loss is a growing issue for people working and living on the front lines of climate change.And that gave Jennifer Wren Atkinson,a full-time lecturer at the University of Washington Bothell,US,an idea for a class.
This term,she taught students on the Bothell campus about the emotional burdens of environmental studies.She used the experiences of Native American tribes(部落),scientists and activists,and asked her 24 students to face the reality that there is no easy fix—that “this is such an intractable problem that they’re going to be dealing with it for the rest of their lives”.
Student Cody Dillon used to be a climate science skeptic(怀疑论者).Then he did his own reading and research,and changed his mind.
Dillon wasn’t going into environmental work—he was a computer-science major.Yet,the potential for a worldwide environmental catastrophe seemed so real to him five years ago that he quit his job and became a full-time volunteer for an environmental group that worked on restoration(恢复) projects.
Six months into the work,he decided that Atkinson’s class was just what he was looking for—a place where he could discuss his concerns about a changing climate.
Atkinson said she hoped the class helped her students prepare themselves for the amount of environmental loss that will happen over their lifetimes.
“We are already changing the planet—so many species are going to be lost,displaced or massively impacted,” she said.“The future isn’t going to be what they imagined.”
1. Why did the author mention the case of Fawn Sharp?| A．To lay a basis for Fawn Sharp’s further research. |
| B．To prove Fawn Sharp’s work is similar to Atkinson’s. |
| C．To lead into the issue of loss caused by climate change. |
| D．To show scientists’ concern about the Mount Anderson glacier. |
| A．Simple. | B．Difficult. |
| C．Common. | D．Interesting. |
| A．To explore how different people deal with climate change. |
| B．To get students more concerned about the environmental issue. |
| C．To find solutions to the environmental issue of Olympic Mountains. |
| D．To teach students how to conduct research about environment. |
| A．It made him work as a part-time volunteer for restoration projects. |
| B．It made him realize a planet-wide climate disaster would happen. |
| C．It encouraged him to be more involved in environmental protection. |
| D．It discouraged him to work on restoration projects for the environment. |
5 . Naturalist Enzo Suma, who is now 40, lives in Puglia, a region in southern Italy whose long coastline faces the Adriatic Sea. Floating waste accumulates in this relatively enclosed part of the Mediterranean, unlike the open ocean, where the waste tends to be spread over a vast area. Feeling concerned about that, Suma makes it a habit to pick up the washed-up waste along the shore, especially after big winter storms.
One day, Suma was walking along the beach near his home when he discovered a bottle of Coke. Suma noticed on the bottle that the price, clearly printed on the bottom, was in lire, a currency (货币) that hadn’t been used in Italy since it was replaced by the euro in 2002. Could a plastic container have well survived in the Mediterranean, he wondered, for about two decades?
That led him to founding the Archeoplastica museum. It has a collection of about 500 unique pieces recovered from Italian shores and the Coke bottle is the first one of them. All collection demonstrates the unsettling life force of plastic waste in the environment. “Seeing that a product people may have used 30, 40, or 50 years ago remains still unchanged, you’ll feel different. It’s a great shock,” Suma said to a reporter. So Suma often exhibits selected pieces from the Archeoplastica collection at local schools around his hometown of Ostuni.
“The playful side of the work allows you to arrive at the less beautiful side of things,” Suma acknowledged. “Plastic is a kind of useful substance. But it’s unthinkable that a water bottle, made from a material designed to last so long, can be used for just a few days—or even minutes—before becoming garbage. Clean the beaches. Clean the oceans. Recycle. But if we are still throwing out plastics, none of those are going to be long-term solutions.”
1. What’s Suma’s concern about his living place?| A．Its long coastline is disappearing. | B．Big storms frequently hit the area. |
| C．Floating waste spreads over a vast area. | D．The waste pollution on shore is worsening. |
| A．They have a history of more than half a century. |
| B．They were quite valuable before turning into waste. |
| C．They’re more like educational exhibits than garbage. |
| D．They have stronger life force than ordinary plastic products. |
| A．Creative, devoted and socially responsible. | B．Enthusiastic, ambitious and adventurous. |
| C．Generous, cautious and humorous. | D．Curious, efficient and playful. |
| A．The birth of plastics has greatly served humans. |
| B．The key to tackling the plastic pollution is to stop littering. |
| C．The plastic problem can be solved by cleaning and recycling. |
| D．People should be more aware of the powerful functions of plastics. |
6 . This year, why not think of Earth Day as being like New Year’s Day?
Send your kids out to play. Sign up for the 1,000 hours challenge, where families accumulate (积累) 1,000 hours of outdoor play in a year.
Learn how to cook five easy main dishes well. By promoting your kitchen skills and developing some of your own recipes, you won’t be so much interested in take outs and all the related packaging waste.
Walk or bike, don’t drive.
| A．Shop second-hand. |
| B．Try some zero waste beauty products. |
| C．It’s a chance to make a lifestyle change. |
| D．If that’s too much, aim for two hours of daily outdoor play. |
| E．Discover the satisfaction that comes with using what you have. |
| F．See if you can use your own leg power for all trips under three miles. |
| G．And you will be more likely to use up food in your fridge before it goes bad. |
7 . European Union member states gave final approval Tuesday to a plan that would require all new cars sold in the EU to be zero-emission (零排放) vehicles starting in the year 2035. It’s part of the EU’s plan to address climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and more ambitious than similar efforts in America. A quarter of the group’s emissions come from the transportation sector, and 70% of that is road traffic.
“The direction of travel is clear: in 2035, new cars and vans must have zero emissions,” European Commission Executive Vice President Timmermans said in a statement. “The new rules on CO2-emissions from cars and vans are a key part of the European Green Deal and will be a big contribution to our target of being climate neutral by 2050,” Timmermans added.
The plan also requires that, by the year 2030, the average emissions of new cars drop by 55% and the average emissions of new vans drop by 50%, compared with vehicle emissions in 2021.
There’s one major warning to the plan. The European Commission said it would carve out a favorable policy for the continued sale of cars that run on e-fuels past 2035 at Germany’s request, according to Reuters. E-fuels are made using captured CO2 emissions. Poland opposed (反对) the new law, the BBC reported, and Italy, Bulgaria and Romania didn’t vote.
But there is no deny that the plan has an extremely good future. President Biden has said he supports the rise of electric vehicles, and in 2021 he signed an official order setting a goal that half of all new passenger cars and light trucks sold in the U.S. in 2030 be zero-emission vehicles, including plug-in hybrids. Several states have announced future bans on gas-powered cars, though.
However, the shift from petrol engines to electric vehicles won’t be as easy as turning a key. Some of the challenges of switching to zero-emission vehicles include the relatively high cost of electric cars and a lack of charging infrastructure (基础设施).
1. What is the purpose of the new vehicle plan?| A．To promote car sales in the EU. |
| B．To decrease the greenhouse gas emission. |
| C．To show the advantages of gas-powered cars. |
| D．To introduce new electric vehicles to be sold in the EU. |
| A．It wins the support from all the EU citizens. |
| B．It can be carried out effortlessly and smoothly. |
| C．It calls for improvement of electric vehicles’ charging access. |
| D．It may receive strong opposition from electric vehicles makers. |
| A．Cautious. | B．Unclear. | C．Positive. | D．Uncaring. |
| A．New cars in the EU will be zero-emission from 2035. |
| B．The EU reaches an agreement to improve vehicle quality. |
| C．The law on zero-emission vehicle causes heated discussion. |
| D．The new zero-emission U. S vehicles will win the EU market. |
8 . Wildfire season has begun in many places around the world. The dangerous smoke wildfires produce can spread far and wide. It blocks sunlight, poisons the air and damages the health of people and other living things.
Some of those living things could be the plants in gardens, says gardening expert Jessica Damiano, who writes gardening stories for the Associated Press. Damiano lives in New York City and recently experienced several days of very smoky air. Wildfires in eastern Canada were the source.
Damiano, like other people, limited the time she spent outdoors when the air quality was poor. She also wore a face covering when she had to go outside.
But the plants in her garden had no such escape. They had to breathe the poisoned air through the extremely small holes in their leaves.
Pollutants in smoke landing on plants can block sunlight, which is essential for photosynthesis (光合作用). Reduced photosynthesis results in reduced energy. That means slower growth. Additionally, smoke can also affect a plant’s ability to take in nutrients(营养物质).
Brooke Edmunds, a plant scientist and community horticulturalist with Oregon State University Extension, said plants that are affected by smoke for a short amount of time will usually recover quickly. “It depends on how close they are,” she said. “There could also be a localized effect, where one garden is covered in ash(灰烬), and a half-mile away, there’s nothing because that’s the way the wind was moving things around.”
The best thing home gardeners can do is keep an eye on plants. Edmunds suggests giving plants some extra love and care. “Wash the plants gently to remove pollutants left by smoke. Then give them a long, slow drink of water. Most will pull through,” Edmunds said. However, people should not use leaf blower machines to remove ashes from plants because they will risk breathing in what is blowing around.
1. What happened to Jessica Damiano?| A．She had her house burned in a fire. |
| B．She couldn’t afford face coverings. |
| C．She suffered from health problems. |
| D．She had to deal with poor air quality. |
| A．The bad effects of smoke on plants. |
| B．The benefits of growing plants. |
| C．The role of plants in the environment. |
| D．The importance of water to plants. |
| A．Wind has little effect on plants. |
| B．Plants can sometimes make a quick recovery. |
| C．Ashes can spread more than half a mile. |
| D．Plants close to smoke usually grow well. |
| A．By pulling them out of the ground. |
| B．By using leaf blower machines. |
| C．By washing them with great care. |
| D．By giving them a fast drink of water. |
9 . Gardeners who use pesticides are contributing to the decline of British songbirds, a study suggests. Scientists have urged people to stop “spraying their gardens with poisons” in order to halt bird decline and adopt instead wildlife-friendly practices. The results of the University of Sussex study, which researchers call the first of its kind, were published in the journal Science of the Total Environment.
The experiment, which surveyed 615 gardens in Britain, found 25% fewer house sparrows when glyphosate (草甘膦) was used regularly. This is an ingredient found in commonly used herbicide (除草剂) brands such as Roundup or Gallup. Slug pellets (鼻涕虫杀虫剂) also seemed to have an impact on bird sightings; in gardens where Slug pellets were used, house sparrow numbers were down by almost 40%.
Prof. Dave Goulson, of the school of life sciences at the University of Sussex, said, “The UK has 22 million gardens, which collectively could be a fantastic refuge for wildlife, but not if they are overly tidy and sprayed with poisons. We just don’t need pesticides in our gardens. Many towns around the world are now pesticide free. We should simply ban the use of these poisons in urban areas, following the example of France.” The Royal Horticultural Society, the UK’s leading gardening charity, said the use of pesticides and herbicides should be avoided if possible and they should only be used, if ever, in small and targeted applications.
The research also found that those who adopted wildlife-friendly practices such as planting native shrubs and flowers, or digging a wildlife pond, saw more birds than those who did not. Cannelle Tassin de Montaigu, a PhD researcher within the school of life sciences and an author of the study, said, “It’s encouraging to find that simple measures, such as planting native shrubs and trees and creating a pond, together with avoiding the use of pesticides, really make a measurable difference to the number of birds you will see in your garden.”
1. What does the underlined word “halt” in paragraph 1 most probably mean?| A．Stop. | B．Attract. | C．Note. | D．Witness. |
| A．To reveal the severe influence of pesticides on birds. |
| B．To compare the effects of two kinds of pesticides. |
| C．To convince readers of the importance of house sparrows. |
| D．To help gardeners choose the proper pesticides. |
| A．The ideal places for wildlife in the UK are extremely tidy gardens. |
| B．The gardens in the UK are so tidy that pesticides are not needed. |
| C．Pesticides should be prohibited from use throughout the UK. |
| D．Some countries like France have made urban areas pesticide free. |
| A．Alternative methods to keep gardens tidy. |
| B．Assistant ways to increase the number of birds. |
| C．Gardeners’ attitudes towards the experiment. |
| D．Other researchers’ interest in the experiment. |
10 . Flying someone one-way from London to New York City produces a lot of climate-warming greenhouse gas. But there is a new way to cut the climate influence of flying. Most planes crossing the Atlantic Ocean follow one of several fixed paths that are widely spaced. “Instead of having these fixed tracks which keep the planes apart, airlines can fly much more flexible routes (灵活的路线),” says Cathie Wells. She is a PhD student in mathematics.
The aviation industry knows it has a high carbon footprint (碳排放量). To reduce that footprint, some people share their ideas. For instance, experts could redesign planes. Or airlines could choose fuels (燃料)from renewable sources, such as plants. But it takes decades and many billions of dollars to design, test and fly new planes and try new fuels.
Taking more flexible routes, in contrast, can cut costs and energy right away. “Reducing fuel use is a win-win solution,” says Irene Dedoussi, who works at Delft University of Technology. It allows the aviation industry to save money on fuels while reducing carbon footprints. “Even savings of just one or two percent are generally considered important. Using something so simple to cut fuel use by one sixth is huge,” she said. Before that can happen, however, Wells needs to make a few changes. The researchers of her team will have to work out the best flight paths that consider scheduling issues.
National Air Traffic Services (NATS) provides air-traffic control for the United Kingdom. It invited Wells to describe her new findings. Just one week after her team’s new study was published, NATS said it would change its flight-paths system. For now, NATS will be working with airlines to allow them to choose routes that would best limit their fuel use.
1. What is Cathie Wells’ way to cut the climate influence of flying?| A．Making changes to flight paths. |
| B．Changing the design of planes. |
| C．Using environment-friendly fuels. |
| D．Improving the pilots’ driving skills. |
| A．They require dangerous experiments. |
| B．They are not supported by the public. |
| C．They take a lot of time and can be costly. |
| D．They are unable to reduce carbon footprints to the lowest. |
| A．It brings better service to passengers. |
| B．It is helpful in reducing traffic jams. |
| C．It has little influence on the aviation industry. |
| D．It has big advantages but needs careful consideration. |
| A．A solution to traffic problems. |
| B．The growing interest in the study of planes. |
| C．The influence of air travel on the environment. |
| D．A new way to make future air travel greener. |
