1 . French company Airseas, has promised to help big goods ships reduce their fuel consumption (能源消耗), and cut their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (排放) by 20%. And they’re doing this with the Seawing — a 1,000 square meter kite that will fly 300 meters above the water’s surface. So the shipping industry is rediscovering the joy and efficiency of sails (帆).
The large, ship-sized kite is now being developed, and the company plans to open a factory to produce the Seawing in 2026. Once produced, Airseas has promised that launching and operating a Seawing on a goods ship will be automated (自动化), making it easy for crews (船员) to use. The crew can simply press some buttons and a large kite will rise into the sky. That’s not to say that the goods ships won’t use their engines at all, but the kite will take some pressure off of those engines and will reduce the need for fuel. The wind will move the ship, just like it did for hundreds of years in the old days before industrialization.
Lowering emissions by 20% may not seem like a big deal, but moving large amounts of goods back and forth on the high seas creates 3% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. That’s more than the airline industry, which produced about 2% of the world’s emissions in 2021, according to the International Energy Agency. Shipping is also a massive industry, and one worth focusing on for lowering emissions. About 90% of the world’s traded goods are moved around through ships, according to the International Chamber of Shipping.
Some companies are expecting this new version of sails. Japanese shipping company, “K” Line has placed orders for the Seawing kite, and the European Union has also invested more than $2 million in funding.
1. What is French company Airseas trying to do?| A．Take part in kite-flying competitions. | B．Make sea exploration easy and joyful. |
| C．Produce big kites to be used for sailing. | D．Ship goods with low fuel consumption. |
| A．It will completely replace engines. | B．It will be light in weight. |
| C．It will follow the goods ship at sea. | D．It will be easily operated by crews. |
| A．To stress a problem. | B．To make a comparison. |
| C．To introduce a new topic. | D．To explore a possibility. |
| A．The sail ships are getting popular again. | B．The GHG emissions are a big problem. |
| C．Seawing will be produced in factories. | D．Kites will help cut shipping emissions. |
2 . After years of heated debate, gray wolves were reintroduced to Yellowstone National Park. Fourteen wolves were caught in Canada and transported to the park. By last year, the Yellowstone wolf population had grown to more than 170 wolves.
Gray wolves once were seen here and there in the Yellowstone area and much of the continental United States, but they were gradually displaced by human development. By the 1920s, wolves had practically disappeared from the Yellowstone area. They went farther north into the deep forests of Canada, where there were fewer humans around.
The disappearance of the wolves had many unexpected results. Deer and elk populations — major food sources (来源) for the wolf — grew rapidly. These animals consumed large amounts of vegetation (植被), which reduced plant diversity in the park. In the absence of wolves, coyote populations also grew quickly. The coyotes killed a large percentage of the park’s red foxes, and completely drove away the park’s beavers.
As early as 1966, biologists asked the government to consider reintroducing wolves to Yellowstone Park. They hoped that wolves would be able to control the elk and coyote problems. Many farmers opposed the plan because they feared that wolves would kill their farm animals or pets.
The government spent nearly 30 years coming up with a plan to reintroduce the wolvers. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service carefully monitors and manages the wolf packs in Yellowstone. Today, the debate continues over how well the gray wolf is fitting in at Yellowstone. Elk, deer, and coyote populations are down, while beavers and red foxes have made a comeback. The Yellowstone wolf project has been a valuable experiment to help biologists decide whether to reintroduce wolves to other parts of the country as well.
1. What is the text mainly about?| A．Wildlife research in the United States. |
| B．Plant diversity in the Yellowstone area. |
| C．The conflict between farmers and gray wolves. |
| D．The reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone Park. |
| A．Damage to local ecology. |
| B．Preservation of vegetation. |
| C．A decline in the park’s income. |
| D．An increase in the variety of animals. |
| A．Doubtful. | B．Uncaring. | C．Positive. | D．Disapproving. |
3 . Tips for Green Travel with Kids
Travelling doesn’t mean letting go of all the eco-friendly choices we work so hard to achieve in our daily life. Here are a few tips for green travel with kids.
Booking nonstop flights whenever possible will reduce carbon emissions (碳排放). If the closest local airport doesn’t have nonstop flights to a certain place, check with other local airports to see if nonstop flights are available.
It’s easy when travelling to pull in to fast food restaurants for snacks.
| A．Walking is good for your health. |
| B．Try to cut back to save water and energy. |
| C．But you can pack healthy food from home. |
| D．Travelling is a great chance to introduce your kids to the world. |
| E．Reusable water bottles are easy to bring along wherever you travel. |
| F．Save energy by turning off the hotel room lights when you head out for the day. |
| G．You might have to drive a bit farther, but saving on carbon emissions makes it worthwhile. |
4 . Damon Carson calls himself a matchmaker (媒人) of the never-ending waste of American society, trying not to pair people with people, but things with people.
In the late 1990s, Carson was on break from business school in Vail, Colorado, when he discovered the vast world of waste. He began thinking about creating a secondhand store that would sell old materials and keep them out of being wasted. As a result, in 2010, his company, Repurposed Materials appeared.
For nearly ten years, his company, Repurposed Materials, has not been looking to recycle the waste he gets — breaking it down to make something new — but rather finding new homes for thrown-away goods in their original forms.
Carson, a husband and father of three adult children, is far from wasteful. Frugal is how he describes himself. The clothes he’s wearing all came from a charity shop; his truck was bought with 290, 000 kilometers driven.
“Why break something down, why melt something down, if it still has value?” he asks. An old oil-field pipe might be melted down and turned into a car bumper, but it still takes an amount of power to finish the complete change. Why not leave it as a steel pipe? Why not turn it into a fence post on a farm? The only cost is transport.
American industrial facilities create and throw about 7.6 billion tons of unwanted industrial materials every year. For the moment, Carson’s unique business finds new lives for millions of kilograms of industrial waste every year.
1. What is paragraph two mainly about?| A．Carson’s school lessons. |
| B．Carson’s journey to Colorado. |
| C．The start of Carson’s business. |
| D．The serious waste of materials. |
| A．Marketing wastes to people in need. |
| B．Breaking down the wasted goods. |
| C．Manufacturing industrial products. |
| D．Recycling the thrown-away stuffs. |
| A．Economical. | B．Poetic. | C．Tough. | D．Risky. |
| A．Well began, half done. |
| B．Innovative thinking counts. |
| C．One is never too old to learn. |
| D．Hard work will pay back. |
5 . When I give public lectures about the climate crisis, the most common question people ask is: “Are you an optimist?” My answer is yes. The second most common question is: “What can I, personally, do?”
That’s a tough one. About half of all greenhouse gas emissions come from electricity generation and industrial fossil-fuel use. Some people have argued that calls for individual action actually distract us from company’s responsibility. Oil giant BP promoted the idea of a carbon footprint, moving attention to its customers who, it suggests, should take personal responsibility by lowering their carbon footprints. One study found that focusing on personal activity will ruin support for more effective policy initiatives (提案) such as a carbon tax.
Another problem with personal behavior is that people do not like to be told what to do. As former congressperson (国会议员) Bob Inglis of South Carolina said, people think, “You’re saying that I shouldn’t have this house in a suburb? I shouldn’t be driving this car.”
Cutting meat consumption (消耗) is a powerful and personal thing most Americans can do to deal with the climate crisis, and they can do it immediately. About 40 percent of greenhouse gases come from agriculture, deforestation and other land-use changes. Meat—particularly beef—drives climate change in two ways: first, through cows’ emission of methane(甲烷), and second, by destroying forests as land areas as required to the cows to live on. Despite the economic slowdown caused by the COVID 19, atmospheric greenhouse gas levels continued to rise in 2020, in large part because of emissions increase in the Amazon as rain forests were changed into land for cattle to satisfy the global demand for beef. By eating less beef, we can start to reduce that demand.
You do not have to become a vegan (素食主义者) to do this. Cutting back on red meat also has the added benefit of being good for your health. While I wouldn’t advise governments to order people to stop eating hamburgers, if anyone asks, “What can I do?” a simple and accurate answer is: “Eat less meat. It’s in your control, and you can begin right now. It benefits both you and the planet.”
1. What can we learn about BP?| A．It moves responsibility to consumers. |
| B．It calls for company to take responsibility. |
| C．It has lost support from effective policy initiatives. |
| D．It brings up carbon footprint and gains much support. |
| A．Officials are not always model examples of people. |
| B．We are uncomfortable to be informed what we should do. |
| C．The more people are involved in, the more influential the group activity is. |
| D．Owning a house or driving a car is not eco-friendly to the environment. |
| A．Less meat consumption to save the planet | B．Individual acts to influence our planet |
| C．An optimist to protect the planet | D．A vegan to benefit our planet |
| A．In a storybook. | B．In a science report. |
| C．In a novel. | D．In a magazine. |
6 . Known for their huge size, whales are important sea animals. The organizations of the world are calling all nations not to kill or eat whales any more.
After the Japanese government made its decision clear on Nov. 8, 2016 to catch 100 more whales in 2017, many animal experts in the world voiced their angry answers. Japan’s new whaling (捕鲸) plan is a great danger to the living of these large animals. It will also do harm to the sea interests (利益) of other surrounding countries including China, experts said.
According to a Japan News report, Japan caught 174 minke whales and 140 sei whales totally in the northwest Pacific Ocean in 2017. “After years of overfishing (过度捕捞), the population of minke whales in the northwest Pacific Ocean has been reduced to a dangerous level. Therefore, Japan should stop whaling in the area,” said Wang Yaming, a leader of the International Whaling Organization.
According to Wang, most whales living in the northwest Pacific Ocean are migratory (迁徙的) animals, and their traveling way is very close to the land of Russia, South Korea, North Korea, Japan and China. Japan’s whaling will also have a terrible influence on those countries.
Although the world has stopped to catch and kill whales, Japan lies to others that its killing of whales is just for scientific purposes. However, many experts don’t agree with it completely. “Japan should not kill more whales, as doing so would harm the international whale resources (资源). Japan’s whaling in the northwest Pacific Ocean hasn’t drawn much more attention because it hardly influences the interests of western countries.” Wang explained.
It is really high time for Japan to stop its whaling from now on.
1. What is animal experts’ attitude towards the Japan’s whaling plan?| A．Surprised. | B．Interested. | C．Angry. | D．Happy. |
| A．About 314. | B．About 274. | C．About 240. | D．About 414. |
| A．Whales travel far from the land of Japan when they are migrating. |
| B．Western countries strongly oppose to Japan’s whaling in the northwest Pacific Ocean. |
| C．Japan’s whaling has nothing to do with the neighboring countries. |
| D．Overfishing has made certain whales in the northwest Pacific Ocean fewer. |
| A．Food supply. | B．Scientific study. | C．Zoo interests. | D．Sea balance. |
内容包括：
1. 地球环境的重要性；
2. 保护地球环境的倡议。
注意：1. 词数 80 左右；
2. 短文的题目和首句已为你写好。
Our Earth, Our Responsibility
April 22 nd was named as Earth Day in 1970 and it is celebrated every year.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
1.活动情况简介；
2.活动的意义。
注意:1.词数100左右；
2.可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
Dear Tom,
I’m delighted to learn that you are interested in our tree-planting activity.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Yours,
Li Hua
9 . Hello, everyone! I’ve just come back from a wonderful trip to Tibet. Snow-covered mountains disappear into clouds that seem almost close enough to touch. It was so beautiful there that
| A．I felt as if I was in a fairyland (仙境). |
| B．As they pass through Tibet. |
| C．visitors are being told to pay more attention to protecting the environment. |
| D．this beautiful countryside is being destroyed by careless visitors. |
| E．How can we make visitors more aware of the damage that is being done to the environment? |
| F．I’m struck by their beauty. |
| G．We must change our way of life. |
10 . All types of marine life are important. Seaweed (海藻) and corals both play vital roles in the health of the ocean and the health of our communities.
However in the same way that a mountain lion. Which provides a valuable service by hunting diseased or elderly deer, wouldn’t be helping anyone if it took up residence in an office building. Seaweed largely prevents corals from performing their key function in the ecosystem, just like the lion would prevent any of the terrified office workers from doing their work.
There is long-standing competition between seaweed and corals and this competition has been influenced heavily for over a century by overfishing climate change, and coral discases, which resulted in corals being now too weak to compete with seaweed.
Seaweed too often is blocking sunlight from reaching baby corals, while releasing chemicals that prevent corals from reproducing-as well as making them marc likely to be attacked by diseases.
The researchers from Florida International University supposed that if sufficiently distributed, the Caribbean king crab (蟹), lovingly called the “reef (礁)goat”, could make coral reefs free of seaweed fast, so they conducted a case-control study where they released the crabs on some reefs and let some others remain crab-less.
Eating seaweed at a rate higher than any other grazer (食草动物), the crabs were able to reduce seaweed cover by 80%, while a 3 to 5 fold increase of both baby corals and fish species added to the successful outcome.
On dry land, goats have been used as ground clearers for thousands of years, as they eat everything from clover and grasses to poison oak and invasive blackberry thorns. Hopefully, the results of this study can solidify Caribbean king crabs as their equivalent at the bottom of the sea.
1. What does the author want to tell us by mentioning the mountain lion?| A．The competition among different species is intense. |
| B．The ecological balance has been largely disturbed. |
| C．It’s important to have diverse species. |
| D．Too much seaweed causes problems. |
| A．It breaks the food chain. |
| B．It influences corals’ growth. |
| C．It affects the fishing industry. |
| D．It prevents baby corals from discases. |
| A．To prove Caribbean king crabs can save coral reefs from seaweed. |
| B．To know how to protect biological diversity. |
| C．To find out how to farm seaweed. |
| D．To learn why corals are declining. |
| A．It is unreliable. |
| B．It is unpredictable. |
| C．It needs further discussion. |
| D．It may make a great difference. |
