1 . A Malawian woman, Gloria Majiga-Kamoto, was recently awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize for Africa — the world’s leading award for grassroots environmental activists.
Gloria Majiga-Kamoto was then working for a local environmental organization with a program that gave goats to rural farmers, who would use the goat waste to produce low-cost, high-quality organic fertilizer (肥料). The problem? The thin plastic bags covering the Malawian countryside. “We have this very common street food, chiwaya, which is salty and served in little blue plastics,” Majiga-Kamoto says. “Goats eat the plastic for salty taste and they die because it blocks the ingestion (摄食) system.” For her, this was the moment when it all changed. All of a sudden, she started noticing how plastics were everywhere in the Malawian environment and food system-affecting people’s living and health.
“I remember back in the day when we’d go to the market and buy things like fish, you’d get it in newspapers,” the 30-year-old says. But thin plastics took off in the last decade or so as new producers sprung up in Malawi, selling products like thin plastic bags at cheap prices. In fact, the Malawian government decided to ban the importation, production and distribution of single-use plastic in 2015. But before the ban could go into full effect, Malawi’s plastics-producing industry appealed to the country’s High Court against the ban, causing it to be suspended.
When Majiga-Kamoto and her fellow environmentalists heard about this, they were annoyed. She organized marches and rejected the plastic industry’s argument that the ban would hurt Malawi’s economy — and even debated with an industry spokesman on TV. Finally in 2019, Malawi’s High Court ruled in favor of the ban. The following year, the government began closing down illegal plastic producers.
Michael Sutton, executive director of the Goldman Environmental Foundation, said, “Majiga-Kamoto’s fight with the plastic industry is a perfect example of the spirit of the prize.”
1. What made Majiga-Kamoto realize the problem?| A．Her experience with plastic-eating goats. |
| B．Her discovery of goat waste everywhere. |
| C．Her doubt about the safety of street food. |
| D．Her care for the farmers living in poverty. |
| A．It used to be extremely rich in fish. |
| B．It advocated using thin plastic bags. |
| C．It failed to ban single-use plastic at first. |
| D．It relied heavily on the plastic industry. |
| A．To put the ban into effect. |
| B．To support the government. |
| C．To back the plastic industry up. |
| D．To promote Malawi’s economy. |
| A．Humble. | B．Generous. | C．Patient. | D．Committed. |
World Oceans Day is an international day that takes place annually on 8 June. It is observed as a
The Day is now celebrated in over 100 countries with hundreds of special events broadcast across the globe. It
Young people are an important part. The Day provides them with a platform
3 . Cities are the planet’s largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions (排放), so they offer the greatest opportunity to tackle climate change. Hitting net zero emissions by 2050, a target set at the COP26 summit, could be achieved more quickly using city digital twins—working virtual replicas (复制品) that help track, manage and reduce environmental damage rapidly.
The United Nations says cities, the most suitable subjects, which occupy less than two percent of the Earth’s surface, are major contributors to climate change, consuming almost 80 percent of the world’s energy and producing more than 60 percent of greenhouse gas emissions. Urban areas are forecast to grow by another 2.5 billion people by 2050.
Digital twins look and behave identically in their real-world physical environments. Similar technologies have been in use since NASA’s Apollo moon mission in 1969, where computers and machine replicas were used to test and monitor spacecraft. Virtual 3D city models link to networks of sensors that collect data from buildings, transport, air quality and energy use, to see where emissions can be cut and efficiency improved.
The UK is planning a kind of national digital twins that will connect digital replicas man-aging buildings, factories, and the other infrastructure nationwide. And that could lead to en-tire virtual world online, part of a virtual reality space proposed by tech companies.
Research shows that digital twins can save cities more than $ 280 billion globally by 2030 through more efficient urban planning. A provider of digital twins, City zenith, believes that net zero deadlines could be achieved 15 years early if the world’s 100 biggest cities use the technology to remove carbon. “They are the perfect tool for managing and accelerating the energy transition,” said CEO Michael Jansen. “We could get to net zero emissions globally by 2035.”
In the US. the Digital Twin Consortium is working to standardize how digital twins are built and share data. Big tech companies around the world have developed software for replica-ting cities, including a district of Berlin, the island nation of Singapore, and the entire city of Shanghai in China.
1. What are city digital twins used to do?| A．Decorate cities. | B．Change cities’ climate. |
| C．Popularize urban technology. | D．Reduce urban carbon emissions. |
| A．They occupy most of the Earth’s surface. |
| B．They consume little of the world’s energy. |
| C．They produce little of solid waste pollution. |
| D．They contribute most to the greenhouse effect. |
| A．To prove the accuracy of network data. |
| B．To tell us the importance of space tasks. |
| C．To explain the application of digital twins. |
| D．To show the difficulty of urban construction. |
| A．They lack research funding. |
| B．They are practical and promising. |
| C．They have reached a standard level. |
| D．They are complex and unrecognizable. |
4 . In the blue-green depths of the sea off the coast of Tuscany, Italy, an unusual seafloor sculpture park is defending its watery setting.
Since fisherman Paolo’s teens, he has been leading out daily to fish in these coastal waters along the Maremma coastline. It was in the 1980s that he began to notice the clear signs: a seabed that was becoming poor, with exhausted fish stocks. Until recently, he was forced to share catches with a threatening part: illegal “bottom trawlers’’(拖网捕鱼的人), who randomly spoil a large quantity of ocean life as they fish, dragging a weighted net along the seafloor behind their boats.
Paolo’s style of artisanal fishing, in contrast,needs to be sustainable as damaging the ecosystem could reduce fisher men’s income. Paolo understood that the success of his fishing activity was linked to the good state of the environment. “If the sea dies, so does the fisherman. You can’t just take. You have to give, too,” said Paolo. The underwater “House of Fish”sculpture park, which was started in 2015, was encouraged by this fisher man’s desire to do something that went beyond the handful of concrete blocks he had previously convinced local authorities and some environmental groups to drop into the sea to try and stop illegal trawling.
Concrete blocks or sculptures can break weighted trawler nets. They can also play a role as artificial reefs, giving corals and other sea life a place to live, and varying shade and lighting to help species flourish. Thanks to the underwater sculptures, some species not seen in a long while such as groupers and lobsters have returned. The sculpture park represents both an artistic statement and a physical barrier to seafloor trawling.
Today, 39 huge,other-worldly stone sculptures dot the seabed along a stretch of Tuscan coastline near the town of Talamone. These artworks have been already coated with algae, a sign that the natural habitat is being revived. In the immediate future, Paolo hopes to continue his beautiful solution in coastal waters. “Man is still destroying the seas,” he says. “And my mission continues.”
1. What threatens Paolo’s work of artisanal fishing?| A．Increasing fishermen. | B．Frequent bad weather. |
| C．Illegal trawling industry. | D．Concrete blocks on the seafloor. |
| A．To show his creativity in carving. |
| B．To protect the ecosystem of the sea. |
| C．To boost the development of local tourism. |
| D．To warn people against fishing in coastal waters. |
| A．The process of building sculpture parks. |
| B．The results of banning seafloor trawling. |
| C．The roles of sculpture parks under the sea. |
| D．The damaging effects of trawling on sea life. |
| A．The First Underwater Park in the World. |
| B．Fanciulli’s Innovation in Cleaning the Ocean. |
| C．Waters with Sculptures: Better Habitats for Fishes. |
| D．Seafloor Parks: Artworks for Protecting Our Sea. |
5 . I met the Man of the Trees in summer ten years ago, when I was visiting Uncle Jita.
Those were difficult times. People were cutting down our forest, and there was often flooding. Sometimes our water supply was dirty. When our pump(水泵)did have clean water, we had to wait in line for ages. When the pump wasn’t working, we had to walk five kilometres to the closest stream.
But I was happy. I was going to see my favorite uncle. When the day finally arrived, Dad drove me to Uncle Jita’s house and left. Once he saw me, Uncle Jita announced, “Tomorrow we’re going to explore a magical place. Here is my camera, Amy. You can take photos of what you see.”
The following day, we woke up and left early on a boat. The trip was exciting. But when we got off, there was ... nothing in front of us. “I don’t want to take pictures of this,” I complained.
Uncle laughed,“Start walking, Amy. I promise you’ll be surprised.” After some time, I could see the outline of a forest in the distance. A little closer, there was a man waving to us.
“That’s Kabir. The forest you see is his. He planted every single tree.” As we walked towards Kabir, Uncle explained that thirty years ago, the whole area was a wasteland. But one day Kabir decided to change all that and started planting trees. Thanks to him, part of the wasteland is now a paradise(天堂).
Uncle introduced me to Kabir, who had gray hair and a determined face. “Jita told me you like animals. Are you ready to see some?” he asked. “Of course!” I replied. We continued walking and soon were under the trees. I turned my head and was amazed at the difference between the two places. All because of the efforts of one man.
Like Uncle said, Kabir’s forest was magical. We saw deer, rhinos, and even tigers. During lunchtime, Kabir explained how, by planting trees, it was possible to stop the land from eroding(侵蚀).
注意：1．续写词数应为150左右；
2．请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Hearing this, I turned to my uncle, “I think we can plant trees too ”
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________In the years that followed, people in our village worked hard to carry out our plan.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________6 . These days, there’s a green version of just about everything. There are cars that run on electricity and alternative fuels, houses that are powered by solar energy and wind farms seemingly popping up on every open space from California to coastal Japan. Even drones (无人机) ate getting in on the action. The unmanned air vehicles are also being put to environmental uses around the globe.
The eye in the sky that they provide helps researchers better understand what’s going on with the natural world in which we live. For environmentalists and earth scientists, the flying machines can be sent way up in the air to record sweeping footage of a large area to track the impact of things like climate change, migration and the acts of cutting down and burning forest trees, which can be done without having to buy a helicopter, rent a plane or tape a video camera to a bird.
Sure, there’s plenty of satellite footage already out there, but drones let researchers accurately position the data set that they want to get a quicker, closer look at the area that they’re looking to monitor. In 2013, for example, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) sent a drone into the Turrialba Volcano in Costa Rica to gather data about its emissions. The temperature, ash height and gas concentration information collected during the mission helped earth scientists determine which way the volcanic and potentially poisonous gas erupting from the volcano was moving and take steps to limit its environmental impact.
Similarly, Arctic researchers are using drones to help study temperature change and the melting of glaciers. They use drones equipped with infrared (红外线的) cameras to sweep into places that they may otherwise not be able to reach to monitor and collect data on the melting ice. The same flying machines may also eventually be used to transport other data collection tools into the wild.
1. How does the author lead in the topic of the text?| A．By giving examples. | B．By listing data. |
| C．By drawing a distinction. | D．By making assumptions. |
| A．The high safety. |
| B．The huge space. |
| C．The recovery capability after damage. |
| D．The ability to collect data at a high altitude. |
| A．Their production steps. |
| B．Their practical functions. |
| C．Their potential impacts on the atmosphere. |
| D．Their data set for motoring the environment. |
| A．Drones: Poisonous | B．Drones: Eco-friendly |
| C．Drones: Limited | D．Drones: Adaptable |
7 . A carbon capturing device, called Orca, began operating in Iceland in September. The machine was invented and made by a Swiss company called Climeworks. The name comes from the Icelandic word orka which means energy.
Orca can pull carbon dioxide out of the air and send it deep into the ground, where it is turned into stone. The device is made up of four sections which look like giant air conditioners stacked together. Each section contains 12 large fans that suck air from outside into steel compartments.
Inside, the air passes through a filter (过滤器) which gathers the carbon dioxide. It is then heated to a high temperature so the carbon dioxide can be collected from the filter. Then, the carbon dioxide is mixed with water and put deep in the ground into a type of rock called basalt. Basalt causes the carbon dioxide mixture to turn into stone after two or three years.
Orca is an experimental device. It was built to demonstrate that it is possible to permanently remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. It can remove 4, 000 metric tons of carbon dioxide from the air each year. That’s about the same amount as the emissions produced by 850 cars in a year. In order to remove enough carbon dioxide to make a big difference to global warming, much larger devices like Orca would have to be built in many countries around the world.
Some environmental activists say governments should spend more time and money on reducing the amount of greenhouse gas we produce each year, instead of investing in carbon capture methods. But others say that, in order for countries to meet their goal of net zero emissions by 2050, they will need to do both: reduce new emissions and remove the carbon dioxide already in the air.
1. What’s the purpose of designing Orca?| A．To conserve energy. | B．To achieve zero emissions. |
| C．To protect natural resources. | D．To remove carbon dioxide in the air. |
| A．Orca. | B．The basalt. | C．The air. | D．Carbon dioxide. |
a. Sucking the air. b. Collecting the carbon dioxide.
c. Mixing with water. d. Filtering and heating.
e. Putting into the ground.
| A．a, d, b, c, e | B．a, c, d, b, e | C．a, d, c, b, e | D．a, b, c, d, e |
| A．Reducing emissions is more important. |
| B．It might result in new pollution. |
| C．The technology is not mature. |
| D．It doesn’t work efficiently. |
8 . Cotton bags have become a means for brands, retailers, and supermarkets to promote a planet-friendly concept — or, at least, to show that the companies are aware of the overuse of plastic in packaging. “There’s a trend in New York right now where people are carrying cotton bags from local bakeries, hardware stores, or their favorite steakhouses,” said designer Rachel Comey.
So far, so earth-friendly? Not exactly. It turns out the wholehearted embrace of cotton bags may actually have created a new problem.
An organic cotton bag needs to be used 20,000 times to offset (抵消) its overall impact of production, according to a 2021 study by the Ministry of Environment and Food of Denmark. That is equal to daily use for 54 years — for just one bag. Even when a bag does make it, most coloring matters used to print logos and decorations onto them are PVC-based and thus not recyclable in waste treatment factories.
That’s not to say cotton is worse than plastic, or that the two should even be compared. While cotton can use pesticides and has dried up rivers from water consumption, lightweight plastic bags use greenhouse gas-emitting fossil fuels, never break down, and block up the waterways.
Some brands are turning to other fabric solutions. British designer Ally Capellino recently swapped cotton for straw, while designer Anya Hindmarch introduced a new version of her original bag, this time made from recycled water bottles. In the end, the simplest solution may be the most obvious. “Not every product needs a bag,” Comey said.
1. Why on earth do companies offer cotton bags?| A．To provide convenience to their customers. |
| B．To cut down on the use of plastic packaging. |
| C．To advertise themselves as eco-friendly ones. |
| D．To promote the concept of protecting the earth. |
| A．They can be used for over five decades. |
| B．They do much harm to the environment. |
| C．They have logos printed with natural materials. |
| D．They can be recycled in waste treatment factories. |
| A．It consumes too much water. | B．It saves the use of fossil fuels. |
| C．It pollutes the earth’s atmosphere. | D．It increases the use of pesticides. |
| A．Plastic Bags Beat Cotton Bags | B．A Revolution for Bag Designers |
| C．How to Choose Bags for Yourself | D．Less Packaging, Better Environment |
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删除：把多余的词用斜线（\）划掉。
修改：在错的词下划一横线，并在该词下面写出修改后的词。
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Qinghai Lake has seen it largest water areas since 2004 as a result of increased rainfall and improving ecological conservation. Increased rainfall was the mainly reason for the lake’s water area expansion. Enhanced ecological conservation also played the important role.
The lake has been shrinking since the 1950s due to multiple reason, such as human activities. It was the combined efforts of conservation and changes to the regional climate which turned things around.
In 2008, Qinghai launched a 10-year plan on the ecological environment protection as well comprehensive management of the Qinghai Lake basin. However, the improved ecosystem of the lake has benefited from a variety of plant and animal species.
10 . The Best Eco-Friendly Gifts
For the eco-conscious, we’ve rounded up our favorite eco-friendly gifts to send to your love.
Reusable Produce Bags (Price: $ 33)
Website: Sears. com
This pack of seven teusable bags are plastic free and made from 100 percent biodegradable cotton. The set includes one cotton net bag, three produce bags, and three food bag. Double stitching and durable seams mean these bags are built to last, and they’re machine washable for easy cleaning.
Wood Bookmarks with Tassels (Price; $ 25)
Website: Etsy. com
Teachers often like to hand out small gifts to students at the end of the year, and this set of wooden bookmarks is a sustainable, affordable way to let students know you care. (Plus, they’re a great reminder to read over holiday breaks!) The bookmarks come with colorful tassels as well, making it easy to mark your place while reading.
Personalized Notebook (Price: $ 13)
Website: Journal. com
This customizable journal is a great gift to jot down notes, used as a daily thought journal, or as a place to keep travel memories or even grocery lists. The cover is made from eco-friendly heavy cotton paper. The pages are recycled cartridge paper that’s perfect for fountain pens and ink as well as other media.
Greener Bamboo Cutting Board (Price: $ 90)
Website: Amazon. com
This bamboo cutting board is naturally bacteria resistant and made from 100 percent Moso bamboo that’s grown in organic soil. One side of the board has a deep juice-catching groove that’s perfect for capturing juices as you cut. After cutting, simply flip the board to the other side for a beautiful presentation large enough for veggie arrangements, watermelon, and more.
1. What can remind you to read?| A．Reusable Produce Bags. | B．Personalized Notebook. |
| C．Wood Bookmarks with Tassels. | D．Greener Bamboo Cutting Board. |
| A．Etsy. com. | B．Sears. com. | C．Journal. com. | D．Amazon. com. |
| A．They all are expensive. | B．They are popular with students. |
| C．They are made of cotton paper. | D．They are sustainable and eco-friendly. |
