1 . 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.precious | B.interesting | C.disturbing | D.awkward |
A.waste | B.tension | C.pain | D.damage |
A.Besides | B.However | C.Therefore | D.Otherwise |
A.agreed | 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.fantastic | D.beneficial |
A.back | B.top | C.foot | D.side |
A.cool | B.make | C.purify | D.collect |
A.returned | B.learned | C.failed | D.continued |
2 . When John Todd was a child, he loved to explore the woods around his house, observing how nature solved problems. A dirty stream, for example, often became clear after flowing through plants and along rocks where tiny creatures lived. When he got older, John started to wonder if this process could be used to clean up the messes people were making.
After studying agriculture, medicine, and fisheries in college, John went back to observing nature and asking questions. Why can certain plants trap harmful bacteria (细菌)? Which kinds of fish can eat cancer-causing chemicals? With the right combination of animals and plants, he figured, maybe he could clean up waste the way nature did. He decided to build what he would later call an eco-machine.
The task John set for himself was to remove harmful substances from some sludge (污泥). First he constructed a series of clear fiberglass tanks connected to each other. Then he went around to local ponds and streams and brought back some plants and animals. He placed them in the tanks and waited. Little by little, these different kinds of life got used to one another and formed their own ecosystem. After a few weeks, John added the sludge.
He was amazed at the results. The plants and animals in the eco-machine took the sludge as food and began to eat it! Within weeks, it had all been digested, and all that was left was pure water.
Over the years, John has taken on many big jobs. He developed a greenhouse — like facility that treated sewage (污水) from 1,600 homes in South Burlington. He also designed an eco-machine to clean canal water in Fuzhou, a city in southeast China.
“Ecological design” is the name John gives to what he does. “Life on Earth is kind of a box of spare parts for the inventor,” he says. “You put organisms in new relationships and observe what’s happening. Then you let these new systems develop their own ways to self-repair.”
1. What can we learn about John from the first two paragraphs?A.He was fond of traveling. | B.He enjoyed being alone. |
C.He had an inquiring mind. | D.He longed to be a doctor. |
A.To feed the animals. | B.To build an ecosystem. |
C.To protect the plants. | D.To test the eco-machine. |
A.Nature can repair itself. | B.Organisms need water to survive. |
C.Life on Earth is diverse. | D.Most tiny creatures live in groups. |
Two Toronto entrepreneurs (企业家) are on a mission to change the way you get your coffee to go. Scott Morrison and Ryan Dyment,
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Dream Zero supplied street festivals and corporate events with reusable cups to cut down on plastic waste. But when everything shut down and all of their 2020 events were canceled, they realized they had to come up with another idea.
That’s when they discovered Muuse, an app-based reusable cup program
In a phone conversation, Morrison explained how Muuse works. After a free 30-day trial, users can purchase a monthly membership for $5 and ask for a Muuse cup when they enter participating cafes. Morrison said, “The barista (咖啡馆招待员) shows the bottom of the cup,
When asked what appeal an in-house reusable cup program has for customers
4 . For some people, walking outdoors is a great way to exercise. What may not be so great is seeing the trash(垃圾) all over the ground. Well, some people are doing something about it. They are plogging!(运动+环保).
“Plogging” began in Sweden. The name combine the Swedish words “plocka” which mean picking up litter and the word “jogging” which means running slowly. A Swedish man named Erik Ahlstrom, started the movement in 2016. He says he became concerned about the amount of the trash and litter he saw each day on his way to work. So, he took matters into his own hands. He began picking up the trash.
Plogging, by that term, may have officially begun in Sweden. But many people who exercise outdoors have been doing this for many years. Take Jeff Horowitz,for example. He is a personal trainer in Washington, D.C. He says that he would often pick up the trash while running outside. He even turned it into a game; he would try to pick up the trash without stopping.
Plogging is not only exercise but also community service. As Julie Lawson explains, it can also build closer social connections in a community. Lawson works at Washington, D.C.’s Office of the Clean City. “When the street look bad and it’s dirty, you’re going to feel bad about the community. So if we’re all doing our part and picking the trash up, it’s very easy to help beautify it and build those social connections.”
Plogging can be fun, too. When Dana Allen goes plogging around Washington D.C., she invites her friends. And they make a day of it. “Sometimes we get groups together on a Saturday or Sunday. We go for a run. We pick up some garbage. Then we’ll actually go for brunch after.” Although Allen enjoys plogging, she says she does not do it all the time. When she is training for a serious marathon race, the trash has to wait.
Cities around the world now hold plogging events. The goal is to spread the idea that littering is not acceptable. We hope one day there will not be a need for plogging.
1. What inspired Erik Ahlstrom to start plogging?A.His trip to Sweden. | B.His daily experiences. |
C.His neighborhood. | D.His cleaning work. |
A.To show the popularity of plogging. |
B.To tell the benefits of plogging. |
C.To argue that plogging is not a completely new sport. |
D.To discuss the reason why plogging first arose in Sweden. |
A.Worried. | B.Critical. | C.Positive. | D.Doubtful |
A.She will ignore the litter in certain situations. |
B.Running marathons is more attractive. |
C.Plogging can be sometimes fun but tiring. |
D.She just picks up rubbish on weekends. |
5 . Officials from the Japanese Olympic Committee say they are sparing no effort to(不遗余力) to prepare and announce the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in 2021 is going green. The 5,000 medals Japan has made are more special than most.
One new focus of the Tokyo Olympics is to be “sustainable(可持续的)”——to avoid using too many natural resources, so that the games are easy on the environment. As part of this goal, the organizers decided to make all of the Olympic medals out of metal recycled from old electronics.
Almost all electronics are made with small amounts of “precious metals”, like gold and silver. But collecting enough of these metals to make 5,000 medals was a huge challenge. That’s because the amount of metal in each device(设备) is tiny. It would take about 20,000 cellphones to get just 1 kilogram of gold.
Beginning in April 2017, the organizers placed collection boxers around the country, and asked people to turn in their old electronic devices. Soon people began to respond to the initiative(倡议), turning in smartphones, digital cameras, handled games, and laptops. At first, collection went slowly, but soon more and more areas began to take part. By the end, 1,621 local governments had helped out with the collection process.
Then came the job of breaking those devices down into smaller pieces. After being taken apart and sorted, the small electronics were smelted(熔炼) to get all the gold, silver, and bronze elements. This is a tricky job, which calls for careful attention and good skill. It’s also dangerous, because some of the metals and other things aren’t safe for people to touch or breathe.
By the end of March, 2019, the organizers had hit their targets of getting enough metal for the medals. They had collected around 30.4 kilograms of gold, 4,100 kilograms of silver and 2,200 kilograms of bronze. And now all the 5,000 medals are available for the would-be winners.
1. What can we know about the Tokyo 2020 Olympic medals?A.They are hugely valuable. | B.They are of high quality. |
C.They are made from e-waste. | D.They are designed uniquely. |
A.The difficulty of making the medals. | B.The target of recycling old devices. |
C.The classification of the collected devices. | D.The process of collecting old electronics. |
A.Creative | B.Demanding(高要求) |
C.Well-paid | D.Time-consuming(消耗) |
A.To advocate sustainable(可持续的) use of resources. |
B.To promote the spirit of Olympic Games. |
C.To introduce a new technique to make medals. |
D.To call people’s attention to environmental damage. |
In order to protect the wildlife, we should
As we all know, billions of trees are being cut down every year
A DAY IN THE CLOUDS
The air is thin and we have to rest several times on the short hike from camp. To our left, snowcovered mountains disappear into clouds that seem almost close enough to touch. On the plain in front of us, we can just make out a herd of graceful animals. This is why we’re here—to observe Tibetan antelopes.
Tibetan antelopes live on the plains of Tibet, Xinjiang, and Qinghai. Watching them move slowly across the green grass, I’m struck by their beauty. I’m also reminded of the danger they were in. They were hunted, illegally, for their valuable fur.
My guide is Zhaxi, a villager from Changtang. He works at the Changtang National Nature Reserve. The reserve is a shelter for the animals and plants of northwestern Tibet. To Zhaxi, the land is sacred and protecting the wildlife is a way of life. “We’re not trying to save the animals,” he says. “Actually, we’re trying to save ourselves.”
The 1980s and 1990s were bad times for the Tibetan antelope. The population dropped by more than 50 percent. Hunters were shooting antelopes to make profits. Their habitats were becoming smaller as new roads and railways were built.
In order to save this species from extinction, the Chinese government placed it under national protection. Zhaxi and other volunteers watched over the antelopes day and night to keep them safe from attacks. Bridges and gates were added to let the antelopes move easily and keep them safe from cars and trains.
The measures were effective. The antelope population has recovered and in June 2015, the Tibetan antelope was removed from the endangered species list. The government, however, does not intend to stop the protection programmes, since the threats to the Tibetan antelope have not yet disappeared.
In the evening, I drink a cup of tea and watch the stars. I think about the antelopes and what Zhaxi told me. Much is being done to protect wildlife, but if we really want to save the planet, we must change our way of life. Only when we learn to exist in harmony with nature can we stop being a threat to wildlife and to our planet.
1. Match the main idea of each paragraph.A. We should learn to live in harmony with nature. B. Measures were taken to save this species from extinction. C. Tibetan antelopes are in danger. D. The good effects the measures have had. E. The guide, Zhaxi, and the Changtang National Nature Reserve. F. The bad times for the Tibetan antelope. G. The reason why we visit Tibet. |
Para. 2
Para. 3
Para. 4
Para. 5
Para. 6
Para. 7
2. Why did the writer visit Tibet?
A.To go camping alone. | B.To enjoy snowcovered mountains. |
C.To watch Tibetan antelopes. | D.To meet a villager from Changtang. |
A.For their valuable meat. | B.For their valuable fur. |
C.For their habitats. | D.For their bones. |
A.He is the writer’s close friend. | B.He is one of the local people. |
C.He is a visitor from China. | D.He often hunts the wildlife. |
A.They are very effective. | B.They should be stopped. |
C.They are too hard to carry out. | D.They are not enough. |
A.A report. | B.A travel journal. |
C.An advertisement. | D.A short story. |
antelopes | what I see and hear | Far away on the plain, I can |
situation in the past | There were bad times in the 1980sand 1990s. The population dropped by more than 50%. Hunters shot them for | |
the effect of the measures | The measures were |
(1) The air is thin and we have to rest several times on the short hike from camp.
(2) To our left, snowcovered mountains disappear into clouds that seem almost close enough to touch.
(3) On the plain in front of us, we can just make out a herd of graceful animals.
(4) Watching them move slowly across the green grass, I’m struck by their beauty.
9. 在课文中找出表示环境描写的句子。
(1)
(2)
Imagine that you’re sleeping in the wild in a tent and are awakened by the sound of wolves howling(狼嚎叫). That’s
The WCC educates people about wolves,
“Wolves help to keep all other animals in balance(平衡) and keep the environment really
When wolves became extinct in Yellowstone National Park, the elk(麋鹿) population increased to five times its normal(正常的) size and destroyed areas where birds lived. As
Now that wolves are back at Yellowstone, the birds have returned. “Learning about wolves, reading books about them, and telling your family and friends is a simple way
9 . Hardware in general, and smartphones in particular, have become a huge environmental and health problem in the Global South's landfill sites (垃圾填埋场).
Electronic waste(e-waste) currently takes up 5 percent of all global waste, and it is set to increase rapidly as more of us own more than one smartphone, laptop and power bank. They end up in places like Agbogbloshie on the outskirts of Ghana's capital, Accra. It is the biggest e-waste dump in the world, where 10,000 informal workers walk through tons of abandoned goods as part of an informal recycling process. They risk their health searching for the precious metals that are found in abandoned smartphones.
But Agbogbloshie should not exist. The Basel Convention, a 1989 treaty, aims to prevent developed nations from unauthorized dumping of e-waste in less developed countries. The e-waste industry, however, circumvents regulations by exporting e-waste labelled as "secondhand goods' to poor countries like Ghana, knowing full well that it is heading for a landfill site.
A recent report found Agbogbloshie contained some of the most dangerous chemicals. This is not surprising: smartphones contain chemicals like mercury (水银), lead and even arsenic (砷). Reportedly, one egg from a free-range chicken in Agbogbloshie contained a certain chemical which can cause cancer and damage the immune system at a level that's about 220 times greater than a limit set by the European Food Safety Authority(EFSA). Most worryingly, these poisonous chemicals are free to pollute the broader soil and water system. This should concern us all, since some of Ghana's top exports are cocoa and nuts.
Some governments have started to take responsibility for their consumers' waste. For example, Germany has started a project that includes a sustainable recycling system at Agbogbloshie, along with a health clinic for workers. However, governments cannot solve the problem alone, as there is an almost limitless consumer demand for hardware, especially when governments' green policies are focused on issues like climate change.
Only the manufacturers can fix this. A more economically sustainable and politically possible solution is through encouraging hardware manufacturers to make the repair, reuse and recycling of hardware profitable, or at least cost-neutral.
1. What can we infer from paragraph 2?A.Electronic waste requires more landfill sites across Ghana. |
B.Electronic waste is too complex to get fully recycled. |
C.Electronic products need to be improved urgently. |
D.Electronic pollution is a burning question in Agbogbloshie. |
A.Abolishes. | B.Tightens. | C.Brings in. | D.Gets around. |
A.The threat of polluted food around the world. |
B.The damage of chicken’s immune system. |
C.The lack of diversity in Ghana’s exports. |
D.The violation of EFSA’s standards. |
A.Manufacturers’ developing a sustainable hardware economy. |
B.Governments’ adjusting their green policies about e-waste. |
C.Reducing customers’ demands for electronic products. |
D.Manufacturers’ urging the government to make effective policies to ensure more profit. |
10 . Afroz Shah, a lawyer in Mumbai, hasn’t had a weekend off in four years. But he hasn’t spent this time preparing for
His mission? Saving the world’s oceans from
It’s a calling he found in 2015 after moving to a community in Mumbai called Versova Beach. He had played there as a child and was
“The whole beach was like a
In October 2015, Shah began
For Shah, the work has always been a
He’s now spent 209 weekends on this mission,
“This world talks too much. I think we must talk
A.teaching | B.court | C.housework | D.cleaning |
A.river | B.soil | C.plastic | D.oil |
A.upset | B.excited | C.delighted | D.hesitant |
A.grown | B.changed | C.reserved | D.protected |
A.pure | B.golden | C.shiny | D.visible |
A.carpet | B.curtain | C.painting | D.photograph |
A.temporary | B.permanent | C.ugly | D.pretty |
A.sticks to | B.keeps off | C.gives back | D.ends up |
A.killer | B.cleaner | C.guest | D.decoration |
A.sweeping | B.attacking | C.visiting | D.beautifying |
A.pulling | B.thinking | C.picking | D.looking |
A.came | B.failed | C.went | D.spread |
A.involved | B.lived | C.stuck | D.paid |
A.easy | B.tough | C.personal | D.general |
A.known | B.regarded | C.decided | D.honored |
A.cause | B.case | C.position | D.fame |
A.requiring | B.rejecting | C.inviting | D.inspiring |
A.originally | B.finally | C.politically | D.theoretically |
A.fewer | B.less | C.better | D.worse |
A.honor | B.beauty | C.hope | D.love |