1 . Laura Madden is a small business owner and sustainable fashion advocate. “ReFashioned Art is a purpose-driven business, combining style and sustainability (可持续性),” Madden says,“I love fashion, but I also care deeply about the environment.”
She slowly built her network and became an influencer who ran a popular blog. She shares that her passion for sustainability came about in 2015 when she watched a life-changing documentary about the social and environmental issues brought up by the fashion industry. “My guilty pleasures－ shopping and fashion － that I assumed weren’t hurting anyone, were in reality hurting a lot of people,” she says.“I couldn’t stand the fact that something I loved so much was creating so much suffering on the planet. How could something that brought me so much beauty and joy be so dirty and destructive?”
With this realization, Madden became an advocate for sustainable fashion－including purchasing most of her own clothes second-hand and supporting sustainable brands. Although she was busy enough in 2019, she became a professional artist, creating pieces made from sustainable materials.
She notes that ReFashioned Art is first and foremost an art brand. “I am using my work to tell a story and create a narrative that style and sustainability can co-exist,” she says. “By repurposing old items into something more fashionable, elegant, and contemporary, I hope to inspire you to look for beauty where it is not normally found.”
For those interested in supporting sustainable art and fashion. Madden shares,“Get creative and look for beauty. Looking forward, I would love to partner with more designers.”
She adds,“We only have finite resources. The best thing we can all do is ask, ‘How else can I use this item?’”
1. What inspired Madden to be an advocate for sustainable fashion?| A．The popular blog she ran. |
| B．An unforgettable personal experience. |
| C．A documentary that changed her life. |
| D．A business with a specific purpose. |
| A．It focuses on both fashion and humans. |
| B．It’s a combination of fashion and old tradition. |
| C．It’s inspiring and instructive as an art style. |
| D．It cares little about social and environmental issues. |
| A．She partners with many designers. |
| B．She writes as many stories as possible. |
| C．She purchases brand-new clothes all the time. |
| D．She transforms old things into more modern ones. |
| A．Limited. | B．Enormous. | C．Valuable. | D．Fashionable. |
2 . Molai grew up in a tiny village in India. The village lay near some wetlands which became his second
When he was 16, Molai began to notice something
Molai
| A．dream | B．job | C．home | D．choice |
| A．nature | B．youth | C．culture | D．knowledge |
| A．remarkable | B．interesting | C．discomforting | D．embarrassed |
| A．waste | B．instant | C．barrier | D．damage |
| A．Besides | B．However | C．Therefore | D．Otherwise |
| A．inquired | B．realized | C．remembered | D．predicted |
| A．noise | B．heat | C．disease | D．dust |
| A．directions | B．partners | C．help | D．shelter |
| A．labor | B．police | C．forest | D．finance |
| A．rebuilt | B．discovered | C．left | D．managed |
| A．Decorating | B．Observing | C．Watering | D．Guarding |
| A．tough | B．illegal | C．adorable | D．efficient |
| A．back | B．top | C．foot | D．side |
| A．clean | B．boil | C．pour | D．collect |
| A．returned | B．learned | C．reacted | D．continued |
3 . Last fall, the Great Salt Lake hit its lowest level since record keeping began. The lake sank to nearly six meters below the long-term average. The lake’s shrinking threatens to upend the ecosystem, disturbing the migration and survival of 10 million birds, including ducks and geese.
Duck hunters aren’t the only ones worried about the Great Salt Lake. The decades-long decline in lake level is raising alarm bells for millions of people who live in the region. The low lake level and increasing salts in the lake water threaten to destroy economic mainstays like agriculture, tourism and mining. Exposed salts can also reduce air quality and so threaten public health.
Saline lakes (咸水湖) are terminal lakes. They have no rivers flowing out of them. As water disappears, salts are left behind. At the same time, the people who live in these deserts use freshwater for crops, homes and industry. Residents get water from streams and rivers into canals, pipelines or reservoirs before it reaches the lakes. And as the lakes shrink, the salt in water increases.
Lake Poopo, a highland lake in Bolivia that used to stretch 90 kilometers long and 32 kilometers wide, is now a salty mud flat. The Aral Sea shared by Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, once the world’s fourth largest lake, has at times in recent decades shrunk to a tenth of its historic 68,000-square-kilometer surface area. Some saline lakes, like Nevada’s Winnemucca Lake, dried up so long ago — the waters that fed it were led to agricultural fields — that most people have forgotten they were ever wet.
The good news is that people still have time to halt the Great Salt Lake’s decline by using less water. Cutting agricultural and other outdoor water use by a third to half through a combination of voluntary conservation measures and policy changes would allow the lake to refill enough to support the region’s economy, ecology and quality of life. If this succeeds, the Great Salt Lake can be a model for how to save other saline lakes around the world.
1. What do we know about the Great Salt Lake from the first two paragraphs?| A．It is home to ducks. | B．It will disappear soon. |
| C．It will be less important. | D．It’s been shrinking for years. |
| A．Their current states. | B．The challenges they face. |
| C．Measures to restore them. | D．Reasons why they become saltier. |
| A．Stop. | B．Boost. | C．Adapt. | D．Learn. |
| A．The Great Salt Lake Is Getting Smaller |
| B．The World Is Becoming Drier and Drier |
| C．Saline Lakes Need Freshwater Deadly |
| D．Many Lakes in the World will Disappear |
4 . My 5-year-old daughter Kai walked around a bus stop, picking up candy wrappers and plastic bottles and throwing them in the waste bin. We were a visiting family here, but she was cleaning the sidewalk, which didn’t shock me, nor was I
Our cleanup project began when we drove past an empty field one day and Kai
However, it seems we can never
Now Kai hopes to become a marine biologist to protect sharks one day. She still has many years to
The last time our family was at the beach, we still picked up plastic bottles. Most
| A．embarrassed | B．discouraged | C．concerned | D．frightened |
| A．apologized | B．confirmed | C．spotted | D．explained |
| A．loose | B．magic | C．processed | D．abandoned |
| A．trade | B．mistake | C．replace | D．change |
| A．pulled over | B．blew up | C．turned down | D．gave in |
| A．due to | B．ahead of | C．other than | D．instead of |
| A．official | B．serious | C．optional | D．regular |
| A．deliver | B．remove | C．track | D．produce |
| A．stress | B．comfort | C．anger | D．pride |
| A．mess | B．platform | C．court | D．house |
| A．scary | B．pleasant | C．historic | D．real |
| A．decide | B．struggle | C．survive | D．contribute |
| A．safe | B．giant | C．distant | D．sick |
| A．personally | B．memorably | C．technically | D．universally |
| A．promise | B．threat | C．reminder | D．favor |
This year, August 15th marked China’s first National Ecology Day,
The establishment of National Ecology Day will enhance ecological understanding among the public and help the nation
The move
China’s laws and administrative regulations
A rainforest is an area
In the past hundred years, humans
Rainforests are often called the world’s drug store. More than 25％ of the medicines we use today come from plants in rainforests. However, fewer than l％of rainforest plants have been examined for their
7 . E-waste is a serious problem that isn’t going to get better on its own.
Maybe the biggest cause of our e-waste problem is the fact that we buy things that we just don’t need. Next time you feel like you need a device or electronic item, stop yourself and ask if it is truly necessary. This is maybe also the easiest way we can manage e-waste.
If you do not need a piece of equipment and it is in good enough condition to be reused, donate it as soon as you can so that somebody else can use it. Donations are good for us because they are a useful way to get tax deductions (减税), and a lot of times that tax deduction will be close to the value of the item had you tried to sell it.
There are also places to sell electronics that might be valuable to somebody else. Just be sure to sell them right away, because they lose value very rapidly in our changing market.
If you are frequently receiving memory sticks and little gadgets, collect them into a good-e-bag.
| A．Organize your electronics. |
| B．Don’t buy too many gadgets. |
| C．Take your electronics back to the store. |
| D．Here are some do-it-yourself tips on how to manage e-waste. |
| E．Donation means a lot for people who are in need of electronic devices. |
| F．Your house will be cleaner, you will save money and you’ll be doing a good thing. |
| G．Whenever you no longer need a USB stick or a small electronic device, toss it into the bag. |
8 . After being driven to near extinction, wolves are back in Washington state.
Wolf 32M, called The Old Guy by wolf specialist Ben Maletzke, lived some 12 years as the patriarch (族长) of the Teanaway Pack, kicking off the recovery of wolves in Washington. The pack’s territory was roasted by wildfire in 2014. But wolf 32M and his family remained in existence, bringing the call of the wild back for the first time in a century. These wolves are what Maletzke calls stepping stones in recovery — the animals that could help lead the way to new territory not yet repopulated by wolves.
Wolves spread to new territory to find mates and begin packs of their own. It is this pack dynamic that wildlife biologists are counting on, in time, to urge wolves into areas where they do not presently live. “We just need a couple to pick up and go,” Maletzke says.
All along, the Teanaway pack has stayed mostly out of trouble probably, helped by a lot of range riding (牧区巡逻) intended to help reduce conflicts over wolf recovery by keeping wolves away from cattle. “He is an example of wolves living and doing what they do, even around people,” Maletzke says of wolf 32M.
Story Warren, a student at the University of Montana, was just a girl when she first saw 32M’s tracks in the Teanaway River Valley — an exciting encounter that helped generate a serious interest in wildlife that now fuels her studies. To her, the return of the wolf is about more than the species; it is about recovering something even bigger: hope.
“Growing up in my generation, there is so much bad ecological news, a lot of hopelessness about climate change and loss of biodiversity and extinctions,” Warren says, “To have something as wild as wolves coming back to Washington is very encouraging for me — just to know such an amazing and powerful creature exists.”
1. Why does Maletzke call Wolf 32M family “stepping stones”?| A．They are nearly dying out. | B．They are victims of wildfire. |
| C．They are worth protection. | D．They are pioneers in wolf recovery. |
| A．To present a result. | B．To clarify a concept. |
| C．To offer an explanation. | D．To make a prediction |
| A．Wolves face a lot of trouble. |
| B．Wolf recovery counts on its population. |
| C．Certain measures to ensure cattle safety are required. |
| D．Wolves should be forbidden from human residence. |
| A．It fuels more studies on wildlife. | B．It clears up bad ecological news. |
| C．It worsens climate change. | D．It excites hope for the ecosystem. |
9 . 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. |
10 . Where does food waste go? In most countries around the world, it goes into landfills (垃圾填埋场). But not in South Korea. The country banned food waste in landfills nearly 20 years ago and today, it is turned into animal feed, fertilizers and fuel.
Around the globe, 1.4 billion tons of food is thrown away every year. The waste goes into landfills where it can pollute the land and water as well as releasing methane — a greenhouse gas — into the air. In fact, food waste is the third-largest source of methane in the US.
The system that is in place in South Korea keeps almost 100 percent of unused food out of landfills. While other cities and local governments have put similar plans in place, it is not done anywhere else on a country-wide basis.
There are two reasons why South Korea passed laws to carry out mandatory (强制性的) recycling of food waste. First, the country’s cooking tradition of numerous small dishes resulted in large amounts of uneaten food. This food waste went into landfills. But the country’s mountainous geography didn’t allow for enough landfills to be built. That’s why the government forced recycling of paper and plastic in 1995 but food waste continued to be buried in landfills. But it was the neighbors of these landfills that demanded that another solution be found due to the very unpleasant smell from rotting food. The government banned organic waste from landfills in 2005. Another law that was passed in 2013 banned dumping liquid food waste in the ocean.
The system is not free but most of the cost is absorbed by the country. People can buy yellow recycling bags that are picked up on the roadside and some local governments have placed autonomous food waste collectors that require residents to pay a weight-based fee by using cards.
The food waste is collected from the bins every day except Sunday. Some of it is used to make animal feed or fertilizers and some is used to make fuel.
1. What phenomenon does the author describe in paragraph 2?| A．The US is worried about landfills. | B．Landfills are the most common. |
| C．Greenhouse gas is hard to avoid. | D．Food waste can cause much harm. |
| A．Other governments don’t plan to recycle food waste. |
| B．100 percent of food waste goes into landfills worldwide. |
| C．South Korea is successful in dealing with the unused food. |
| D．South Korea should follow others’ way of building the system. |
| A．Some people’s appeal. | B．Insufficient landfill sites. |
| C．Unhealthy traditional diets. | D．Large amounts of food waste. |
| A．By avoiding using cards. | B．By purchasing recycling bags. |
| C．By paying the cost of collectors. | D．By picking up waste on the roadside. |
