1 . Working at a bank in New York City in the mid-2010s, Anna Sacks was living the life-just not the life she wanted. Sure, she was happy. But she wanted to do something that felt important.
Some people seeking meaning might read a self-help book or perhaps volunteer a few hours a week. Sacks packed up her life and moved to Connecticut to participate in Adamah, a farming program that focuses on sustainable living and growing sustainable food. When she returned to New York, her life was with a new purpose and a variety of new skills to make her dreams a reality.
“One of the things that really stuck with me from Adamah was how little waste they produced and how they handled the waste they did have, primarily through composting (堆肥),” she says. “And I just thought, ‘Why aren’t we doing that here?’”“The Adamah program opened Sacks’ eyes to the damage consumer culture is doing on a local, national, and global level, and the need to find solutions. So in 2017, she began what she calls “trash walking”.
During tours around her community, Sacks picks through garbage to look for reusable items. Soon, her “trash walking” expanded to include corporate trash along with residential trash. Surprisingly, she discovered a wide range of really great stuff-like clothing, decorations, and food-all of which she documents on TikTok.
Under the name The Trash Walker, Sacks quickly gained popularity for her videos that highlight the problems with consumerism. “The root issue is overproduction, which leads to overconsumption, which leads to a large amount of waste,” she says.
The fact is, companies often choose to trash items rather than give them away to people who might need them. A big reason for this waste is the way our current tax laws are structured, Sacks says. Sellers who destroy goods can claim the cost as a loss on their taxes and be refunded. If they give away goods, they can claim only a small amount as a charitable reduction on their taxes.
Sacks’ main focus is simply getting people to pay attention to how many unnecessary things they buy and then throw away. “Once you become aware of the way you consume, you can see ways you improve,” she says.
1. Anna Sacks packed up her life and left New York to________.| A．lead a healthy lifestyle |
| B．observe how to grow food |
| C．pursue a meaningful life |
| D．volunteer to work in a bank |
| A．The importance of trash walking. |
| B．The sustainable food people produced. |
| C．The hard truth about consumer culture. |
| D．The way people there dealt with the waste. |
| A．The tax reduction. |
| B．The quality of goods. |
| C．The tax refund. |
| D．The overproduction. |
| A．Consumer culture accounts for wasting. |
| B．Corporate trash outweighs residential trash. |
| C．Trash walking is the key to becoming wealthy. |
| D．Turning to farming leads to sustainable living. |
1. 活动时间，地点;
2. 活动内容；
3. 希望获准。
注意：1.写作词数应为80左右； 2.请按如下格式作答。
参考词汇: 国际部环保社 the International Department's Environment Protection Club 减塑Less Plastics
Dear Mr. Smith，
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Yours,
Li Hua
3 . Sri Nihal Tammana, age 13, of Edison, New Jersey, was named a winner of the 2022 Gloria Barron Prize for Young Heroes. The Barron Prize annually honors 25 outstanding young leaders who have made a significant positive impact on people, their communities, and the environment.
Nihal founded Recycle My Battery to promote and facilitate the recycling of used batteries. His nonprofit places free battery recycling bins(箱子)and educates young people and adults about battery recycling. In just three years he has built a team of more than 250 student volunteers across the globe who have recycled nearly 200,000 batteries and educated millions of people. Nihal learned at age 10 that 15 billion batteries are thrown away each year and that most end up in landfills(垃圾填埋地)where they pollute groundwater, harm the ecosystem, and can cause catastrophic fires. Inspired to tackle the problem, he began collecting used batteries from his community. He put them in free recycling bins at stores like Staples until he was told he was bringing too many and had to stop.
Undeterred, he reached out for help from Call2Recycle, the largest battery recycling nonprofit in North America. Call2Recycle agreed to assist and provided recycling bins for free, which were placed in schools, libraries, and other public places. Nihal’s organization now operates across the U.S. and is expanding to other countries including Canada, Switzerland, and India. “Earth gives us so much — oxygen, food, water — everything! So it’s important that we give something back when we can,” says Nihal.
The Barron Prize was founded in 2001 by author T. A. Barron. “Nothing is more inspiring than stories about heroic people who have truly made a difference to the world,” says T. A. Barron. “And we need our heroes today more than ever. Not celebrities, but heroes — people whose character can inspire us all. That is the purpose of the Barron Prize: to shine the spotlight on these amazing young people so that their stories will inspire others.”
1. What does Recycle My Battery intend to do?| A．Protect the earth from used batteries. | B．Promote used batteries across the globe. |
| C．Make money by collecting used batteries. | D．Stop people throwing used batteries away. |
| A．Undiscouraged. | B．Unprepared. | C．Unsurprised. | D．Uninterested. |
| A．By making it go global. | B．By offering free recycling bins. |
| C．By providing financial support. | D．By buying more used batteries. |
| A．The importance of recycling batteries. |
| B．The impact of batteries on the environment. |
| C．The achievements of the Barron Prize winners. |
| D．The inspiring story of a young environmentalist. |
4 . Looking out of the window of his truck, Bob Fitzgerald sees dying forests and empty farmland. Fitzgerald says the land has been in his family since the 17th century. “I can show you land around here that people grew tomatoes on when I was a little boy. And now it’s gone.”
Climate change is making things worse. As sea levels rise, salt water is entering rivers and other waterways. As a result, the land is becoming too salty for crops to grow on. Hundreds of millions of people will be forced to move inland because of rising waters.
Kate Tully, a researcher in the University of Maryland, wants to keep coastal farmers in business as the seas rise. She has seen the forests filled with pine trees killed by the increasingly salty soil. The United States Department of Agriculture gave Tully and other researchers $1.1 million to study the problem. She and her team hope to give farmers ways to stay on their land.
They are testing different crops on pieces of land around the Eastern Shore. “Sorghum (高粱) is my new favorite crop because it can grow without rain and it can grow with lots of rain.” The grain (谷物) crop may be a good choice to feed the nearly 600 million chickens kept in the area each year. As farmers know, chickens can deal with salt, dry weather conditions and heavy rains. Yet just being able to grow a crop is not enough. The crop has to bring in money.
Some people believe the land should be given back to nature. They say the fields should be turned into wetlands, which are popular with duck hunters. “There’s money in duck hunting,” Tully said. “Hunting organizations will pay farmers for hunting on their land. Farmers could make a lot of money from duck hunting.”
Tully and her team are just getting started. It will be a few years before they really understand how to save the farms.
1. What is the purpose of Paragraph 1?| A．To lead to the main topic. | B．To describe the farm scenery. |
| C．To illustrate a memorable experience. | D．To provide the background information. |
| A．To help farmers stay on their land. | B．To study new crops for coastal farmers. |
| C．To study climate change in recent years. | D．To help farmers start their own business. |
| A．Concerned. | B．Doubtful. | C．Positive. | D．Negative. |
| A．Climate Change Making Things Worse. | B．Rising Seas Forcing Changes on Farms. |
| C．Coastal Farmers Saving Their Homeland. | D．Scientists Teaching Farmers to Plant Crops. |
5 . Plastic, which is now common, contains endocrine-disrupting chemicals, or EDCs (内分泌干扰物), that has been linked to increased risk of many chronic diseases. Parental exposure to EDCs, for example, has been shown to cause metabolic (新陈代谢的) disorders, including obesity and diabetes, in the later generations.
Led by Changcheng Zhou, a professor of biomedical sciences in the School of Medicine at the University of California, the researchers investigated the impact of fathers’ exposure to a phthalate called dicyclohexyl phthalate, or DCHP (邻苯二甲酸二环己酯), on the metabolic health of first generation (F1) and second generation (F2) in mice. Phthalates are chemicals used to make plastic more durable.
The researchers found that fathers’ DCHP exposure for four weeks led to high insulin (胰岛素) resistance and impaired insulin signaling in F1. The same effect, but weaker, was seen in F2 .
“We found fathers’ exposure to EDCs may have intergenerational and transgenerational detrimental effects on the metabolic health of their later generations, ”Zhou said. “To the best of our knowledge, our study is the first to demonstrate this.”
In the case of fathers’ exposure in the study, intergenerational effects are changes that occur due to direct exposure to a stressor, such as exposure to DCHP of fathers (F0 generation) and his F1 generation. Transgenerational effects are changes passed down to later generations that are not directly exposed to the stressor (for example, F2 generation).
“This suggests that fathers’ DCHP exposure can lead to sex-specific transgenerational effects on the metabolic health of their later generations,” Zhou said.
Zhou stressed that the impact of exposure to DCHP on human health is not well understood, even though DCHP is widely used in a variety of plastic products and has been detected in food, water, and indoor particulate matter.
“It’s best to minimize our use of plastic products,” Zhou said. “This can also help reduce plastic pollution, one of our most pressing environmental issues.”
1. Why are phthalates added to plastic?| A．To beautify it. | B．To make it long-lasting. |
| C．To reduce its cost. | D．To increase its weight. |
| A．Negative. | B．External. | C．Distinct. | D．Adventurous. |
| A．Bury plastic waste. | B．Watch out for the food they eat. |
| C．Use fewest plastic products. | D．Never produce plastic products. |
| A．Plastic contains endocrine disrupting chemicals |
| B．Plastic pollution is a pressing environmental issue |
| C．DCHP is widely used in a variety of plastic products |
| D．Chemicals in plastic may impact two generations’ health |
6 . How to limit your environmental impact while travelling
Travelling unlocks a world of endless possibilities and adventures, allowing us to hike through breathtaking landscapes, encounter kangaroos and deer in their natural habitat, and witness the power of volcanoes.
Try to travel by land instead of air. While air travel can often be quicker, it is typically one of the most polluting forms of transport.
Make the most of safe tap water (自来水). Drinking tap water may come as a shock to many travelers. But when you’re in countries where tap water is safe to consume, avoid bottled options. Not only are they more expensive, but they have a higher level of pollution compared to treated tap water.
Respect the local environment. When visiting different destinations, we should recognize the importance of protecting the natural beauty. We mustn’t throw rubbish everywhere.
| A．Be a responsible hotel guest. |
| B．Explore with green tour companies. |
| C．Instead, carry a bottle and refill it wherever you can |
| D．And we should avoid activities that may harm wildlife. |
| E．However, tourism can also be harmful to the environment. |
| F．Low-cost airlines have made it much more affordable to travel. |
| G．Taking the train or driving in some countries may be better options. |
7 . The ocean is home to more than 200,000 known species and as many as 2 million that we have yet to discover. And, it is also home to 24.4 trillion pieces of microplastics. In 2022, researchers spotlighted how bad marine microplastic pollution, is getting: The total amount of microplastics on the bottom of oceans has greatly increased. in the past two decades.
Microplastic particles don’t just end up at the bottom of the ocean. Animals are eating them — at least 1,500 species have been reported to ingest plastic. And a lot of it. For example, whales in New Zealand’s Hauraki Gulf consume roughly three million microplastics daily, according to research published in Science of the Total Environment, which analyzed whale waste to see how much microplastics were present.
“Other research has shown that if plastics are small enough, they can cross the gut(肠道) wall and get into internal organs though the long-term effects are still unclear. Plastics can also release chemicals that are harmful to digestive system,” says Kahane-Rapport. “This is concerning, and while we do not yet understand the long-term health-effects, it is likely not a good sign for whales and their prey(猎物) to eat a man-made material like plastic.”
This is obviously bad for whales, but it also has effects on humans and the ocean at large. We are also part of these food chains and are consuming microplastics regularly. They are in our bottled water, in our table salt — they are even in our house dust and in the air we breathe. And we still don’t know what the health effects are. Meanwhile, the impact on whales — and what it indicates — is troubling on many fronts. “Whales are ecosystem engineers,” says Kahane-Rapport. “They can spread the nutrients that they consumed and serve as ecosystem guards — when whales are not healthy, other parts of the system will suffer.”
Kahane-Rapport says more research is needed. “The next research step will be to determine how much plastic the whales excrete(排出) and how much is left in their bodies. Following that, we would be able to determine the direct health effects on their tissues.”
1. What does the underlined word “ingest” in paragraph 2 probably mean?| A．Deal with. | B．Bring up. | C．Take in. | D．Spread out. |
| A．Researches show contradictory results. |
| B．Digestive system is the most affected part. |
| C．Small plastics are more harmful than big ones. |
| D．Much about microplastics’ harm remains unclear. |
| A．The various sources of pollution. |
| B．Tab chain reaction of microplastics. |
| C．Possible solutions to plastic pollution. |
| D．Growing awareness of ocean protection |
| A．Microplastic pollution to the ocean bottom |
| B．The sufferings of other ocean creatures. |
| C．Whales’ contributions to the ecosystem. |
| D．The amount of plastic in whales bodies. |
内容包括：
1. 露营造成的问题；
2. 爱护环境的倡议。
注意：
1. 词数80左右；
2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Leave-No-Trace Camping
Dear all,____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Li Hua
February 2, 2024
9 . As a research scholar at the Indian Institute for Science Education and Research, I once monitored birds that inhabited grasslands in Daying Ering Memorial Wildlife Sanctuary, a protected area in Northeast India. This habitat forms a part of one of the most bio-diverse places on Earth. Yet despite their ecological importance and uniqueness, most grasslands are classified by the Indian government as “wastelands”.
Ecosystems throughout the world are suffering from the effects of unchecked habitat loss and climate change. While all types of ecosystems—forests, grasslands, oceans, wetlands and deserts—feel these effects, there is evidence of bias (偏好) towards the conservation of forest biodiversity. This bi as hurts the preservation of other ecosystems, including the grasslands that make up 24 percent of the Indian landmass. These grasslands are home to important biodiversity and support the livelihoods of millions of people, yet are defined in India by their value in being turned into forests for fighting climate change.
Apart from being costly, the move overlooks the ecological and social value of grasslands by turning them into mono-culture forests, which do not provide the same ecological benefits. Yet, grasslands could be equally good at storing carbon.
India and other countries with substantial grasslands need to recognize, support and prioritize evidence-based scientific attempts that focus on grasslands by establishing grassland-specific restoration efforts, as well as by mapping their extent and the ecosystem services they provide for humans. The time is ripe for abandoning outdated labelings like “wastelands”.
Already, communities like the Todas and the Idu Mishmi people are protecting grasslands in India through collective action and local stewardship (管理), which are helping them connect with the grasslands. With the aim of preserving the richness of nature, the government must restore greater rights to local communities to manage grasslands. Grasslands are an important feature of an ecologically sound India, one that must be preserved for that value above all others.
1. What does the author want to stress in the second paragraph?| A．Forests are hotspots of biodiversity. | B．Deserts badly affect local ecology. |
| C．Climate change threatens ecosystems. | D．Grasslands need equal conservation. |
| A．Tolerant. | B．Unclear. | C．Negative. | D．Favorable. |
| A．Government officials. | B．Local communities. |
| C．University researchers. | D．International agencies. |
| A．Stop Treating Grasslands as Wastelands | B．Take Active Steps to Limit Grasslands |
| C．Recognize the Polluted Grasslands | D．Transform Grasslands into Forests |
10 . Animals deserve to live a safe and healthy life as much as humans do.
Spread awareness. One way to protect endangered animals is to create awareness about them.
Drive carefully in forest areas. It is important to watch the road when you are going through roads in forest areas. Many animals die while trying to cross the road because people do not pay attention to them.
Avoid plastic items. Do you know what happens to a plastic bag thrown into a river?
| A．Change your regular routine. |
| B．So, we highly suggest careful use of water. |
| C．Spend time rescuing animals in your locality. |
| D．Sadly, this does not have universal acceptance. |
| E．So we can save their lives by being more careful. |
| F．It is probably eaten by an adult turtle, choking it to death. |
| G．You can create local community groups that work for this cause. |
