1 . Dealing with water pollution is something that everyone needs to get involved with. Here are a few things you can do to help. You should never throw rubbish away.
Use water wisely. Do not keep the tap running when it is not in use.
Do not throw chemicals, oils, paints or medicines down the toilet. In many cities, your local environment office can help with the disposal (清除) of medicines and chemicals. And you should buy more environmentally-safe cleaning liquids for use at home and other public places. They are less dangerous to the environment.
There are also lots of organizations and groups that help educate people on the dangers of water pollution.
| A．It is a great idea to join these groups |
| B．Always look for the correct waste bin |
| C．Use fewer chemicals to clean your home |
| D．Also, you can reduce the amount of water in washing and bathing |
| E．Check your local government's laws before you pour the dirty water |
| F．Many governments have strict laws that help reduce water pollution |
| G．If you use chemicals for your farms, be careful not to overuse pesticides(杀虫剂) |
2 . It was late August when I got a call from a grandmother. She lives in Seeley Lake, Montana, and she has heard we have air purifiers(净化器)with highefficiency particulate air(HEPA)aircleaners that can help with smoke. She needs one for the baby’s room. I explained we didn’t have any and told her how to purchase one.
She coughed and went silent with disappointment before asking how much they cost. Almost every person I talk to in Seeley Lake has this cough.“The family doesn’t have much money, ”she said, but she promised to order a filter for the child.Small filters—ones that can clean a bedroom of up to 75 square feet—cost about
70 each.
The next day, the wildfire that had been burning for weeks in the Lolo National Forest, northeast of town, moved closer to the woman’s neighborhood, and the county sheriff’s office evacuated(疏散)the area.I wondered whether the aircleaner would be there when the family returned home.I knew the smoke would be.
As an airquality specialist with the Missoula CityCounty Health Department in Montana, my job is to understand air pollution, control it as much as possible, and help people protect themselves from its effects.I focus on smoke management：issuing permits for outdoor burns and updating residents about what to expect from the smoke when wildfires send it our way.
Never had we seen so many wildfires so close to home for so many weeks. There are six classes on the Environmental Protection Agency’s Air Quality Index(指数)：good, moderate, unhealthy for sensitive groups, unhealthy, very unhealthy, and dangerous.Seeley Lake’s air reached a dangerous class in 18 days last summer.
Last year was troubled by wildfires around the country.The fires that struck Northern California alone killed 44 people and caused more than9 billion in damage.But this isn’t just a recent problem, nor is it limited to the West.Wildfires hit 49 states in 2017, including a swath from Florida to Virginia. More than 9 million acres burned nationwide, compared with the yearly average of 6.5 million acres.
| A．To prevent the wildfire. | B．To help her make a move. |
| C．To ask for an air purifier. | D．To get information about air pollution. |
| A．Angry. | B．Hopeful. | C．Excited. | D．Disappointed. |
| A．about 49% | B．about 38% | C．about 72% | D．about 52% |
1. What is mentioned first as a cause of pollution?
| A．Buses. | B．Cars. | C．Factories. |
| A．Household waste. | B．Chemical waste. | C．Waste water from factories. |
| A．Improve the bus service. | B．Charge less. | C．Both A and B. |
4 . Baggy has become the first dog in the UK—and potentially the world—to join the fight against air pollution by recording pollutant levels near the ground.
Baggy wears a pollution monitor on her collar so she can take data measurements close to the ground. Her monitor has shown that air pollution levels are higher closer to ground level, which has helped highlight concerns that babies and young kids may be at higher risk of developing lung problems.
Conventional air pollution monitors are normally fixed on lampposts at about nine feet in the air. However, since Baggy stands at about the same height as a child in a pushchair（婴儿车）, she frequently records pollution levels which are much higher than the data gathered by the Environment A gency.
The doggy data research was the idea of Baggy's 13-year-old owner Tom Hunt and his dad Matt. The English youngster noticed that pollution levels are around two-thirds higher close to the ground than they are in the air at the height where they are recorded by the agency. Tom has since reported the shocking findings to the government in an attempt to emphasise that babies are at higher risk of developing asthma（哮喘）.
Matt Hunt said he was "very proud" of his son because “when the boy gets an idea, he keeps his head down and gets on with it, and he really does want to do some good and stop young kids from getting asthma."
“Tom built up a passion for environmental protection at a very early age," Matt added. “He became very interested in gadgets（小装置）. About one year ago, he got this new piece of tech which is like a test tube. One Sunday afternoon, we went out to do some monitoring, and he said, why don't we put it on Baggy's collar and let her monitor the pollution？'So we did it."
Tom said, "Most of the time, Baggy is just like any other dog. But for the rest of the time she is a super dog, and we are all really proud of her."
1. With a monitor on her collar, Baggy can ____________.| A．take pollutant readings | B．record pollutant levels |
| C．process collected data | D．reduce air pollution |
| A．High places are free of air pollution. |
| B．Higher pushchairs are more risky for kids. |
| C．Conventional monitors are more reliable. |
| D．Air is more polluted closer to the ground. |
| A．To warn of a health risk. | B．To find out pollution sources. |
| C．To test his new monitor. | D．To prove Baggy's abilities. |
| A．Modest. | B．Generous. | C．Creative. | D．Outgoing. |
5 . Honey can be used to measure air pollution, according to a new study from researchers at the University of British Columbia’s Pacific Centre for Isotopic and Geochemical Research (PCIGR).
The research, which was recently published in Nature Sustainability, drew on a survey of urban beehives (蜂房) around Vancouver that contained small levels of lead, according to The New York Times. Using beehives to measure pollutants could be a cost-effective way to monitor what is in the air.
“The good news is that the chemical composition of honey in Vancouver reflects its environment and is extremely clean,” the study’s lead author Kate E. Smith told the school’s website. “We also found that the concentration of elements increased the closer you got to downtown Vancouver, and that the lead largely came from man-made sources.”
The Vancouver area honey showed levels that were below the global average for things like lead, and the University of British Columbia website said someone would “have to consume more than 600 grams, or two cups, of honey every day to exceed tolerable levels.”
Hives for Humanity, a nonprofit in Vancouver, started the study when it asked a professor at the University of British Columbia to look at honey for pollutants. Through the honey samples alone, Smith said the researchers could find higher concentrations of lead in areas with heavy traffic or industrial activity. Researchers also noted that the lead wasn’t traceable to any local sources, which led them to think that large ships entering Vancouver from Asia could be the source of the pollutants.
“One of the exciting parts of this study is that it bridges science with community interests,” Smith told the school’s website. “Honey sampling can easily be performed by citizen scientists in other urban centers, even if they lack other environmental monitoring skills.”
1. Using beehives to measure pollutants could _______.| A．be an efficient method to see what is in the air |
| B．keep the environment from being polluted |
| C．monitor what happened to the air |
| D．cost a large amount of money |
| A．Downtown Vancouver is pretty clean. |
| B．The lead comes from man-made product. |
| C．The environment of Vancouver is not bad. |
| D．Human is responsible for the concentration of lead. |
| A．The problem of lead is easy to settle. |
| B．Ships from Asia are related to the pollutants. |
| C．Honey can be used to reveal lead and other pollutants. |
| D．Heavy traffic and industrial activity produce more lead. |
| A．The Importance of Honey |
| B．Environmental Monitoring Skills |
| C．Honey--Measure Lead and Pollution |
| D．How to Look at Honey for Pollutants |
6 . Do you still remember the haze（雾霾）in the winter? So many people got terribly ill during or after the haze.
Spend less time outdoors.This is the most effective way for self-protection in such bad weather.With PM2.5 increasing 103mg per cubic meter,residents will risk a 2.29% increase of death,which experts found out in 2012.If you have to get out,avoid riding bicycles.
Close your windows.Experts advice residents to avoid opening windows at home.If you have to ,avoid the time when smog is at its densest（浓的）.
Smoke less.
| A．Wear masks. |
| B．Pay attention to other daily things. |
| C．Also avoid rush hours,when pollutants will be denser. |
| D．That’s because haze does harm to the health of people. |
| E．Cigarettes could cause more particulate matters,which are included in PM2.5 . |
| F．Take more fruits and vegetables instead,which are good for lung,spleen（脾）and kidney（肾）. |
| G．For residents who use air-conditioner,make sure your apartment has enough oxygen indoors. |
7 . Changing weather pallerns, stronger storms, longer droughts- these are just a few signs that our climate is changing rapidly.
Recently, lawmakers in New Zealand signed the Zero Carbon Bill, which lays out a path for the country to reduce its carbon emissions to zero by 2050.
Net-zero is the balance between the amount of greenhouse gases a country releases into the atmosphere and how much is removed from the atmosphere.
A reasonable way to achieve net-zero is to divide the goal into two parts. To reduce emissions, countries can gradually adapt their economies to be less carbon dependent. This can be done by developing renewable energy, improving transportation and food production, stopping deforestation and restoring lands, reducing food wastage, and consuming less meat.
Countries can then address remaining emissions with carbon removal, a process that removes greenhouse gases directly from the atmosphere. This can be done by planting more trees and developing technologies that capture and store carbon.
New Zealand’s Zero Carbon Bill aims to reduce fossil fuel usage and replace it with renewable energy sources. The government has also focused on promoting electric vehicles, public transportanon, biking, and walking. Additionally, New Zealand is committed to planting 1 billion trees by 2028.
The country wants to include agriculture into its climate solution. The government will tax farmers who do not decrease their carbon emissions by 2022. Currently, agriculture in New Zealand accounts for over half of its greenhouse gas emissions.
Methane is a greenhouse gas produced by the decomposition of organic matter from crops and livestock such as sheep and cattle — known as biogenic (生物的) methane. New Zealand will reduce biogenic emissions by 10% before 2030 and between24% to47% before2050. Here , the country is being denounced for not doing enough as methane is a much stronger greenhouse gas, even though it does not stay in the atmosphere as long as carbon dioxide.
Sixty countries have already committed to net-zero, yet they only make up 11% of global emissions. We need convince our leaders that our planet cannot survive if we don't take action.
1. What plan is New Zealand going to carry out?| A．To find the causes of climate change. |
| B．To limit its temperature rise to 2 degrees, |
| C．To record the signs of changing climate. |
| D．To make zero amount of carbon emissions. |
| A．Eating less meat. | B．Planting more trees. |
| C．Throwing away less food. | D．Walking more to work or school. |
| A．Transportation. | B．Tourism. |
| C．Industry. | D．Agriculture. |
| A．Blamed. | B．Chosen. |
| C．Ignored | D．Recorded. |
8 . It was once thought that air pollution affected only the areas immediately around large cities with factories and heavy automobile traffic. Today, we know that although these are the areas with the worst air pollution, the problem is actually worldwide. On several occasions over the past decade, a heavy cloud of air pollution has covered the entire eastern half of the United States and led to health warnings even in rural areas away from any major concentration of manufacturing and automobile traffic. In fact, the very climate of the entire earth may be affected by air pollution. Some scientists feel that the increasing concentration of carbon dioxide in the air resulting from the burning of fossil fuels (coal and oil) is creating “a greenhouse effect”, holding in heat reflected from the earth and raising the world’s average temperature. If this view is correct and the world’s temperature is raised only a few degrees, much of the polar ice cap will melt and cities such as New York, Boston, Miami, and New Orleans will be under water.
Another view, less widely held, is that increasing particulate (废气排到空中而形成的微粒、颗粒) matter in the atmosphere is blocking sunlight and lowering the earth’s temperature—a result that would be equally disastrous. A drop of just a few degrees could create something close to a new ice age and would make agriculture difficult or impossible in many of our top farming areas. At present we do not know for sure that either of these conditions will happen (though one recent government report prepared by experts in the field concluded that the greenhouse effect is very likely). Perhaps, if we are very lucky, the two tendencies will offset each other and the world’s temperature will stay about the same as it is now.
1. As pointed out at the beginning of the passage, people used to think that air pollution ________.| A．caused widespread damage in the countryside |
| B．affected the entire eastern half of the United States |
| C．had damaging effects on health |
| D．existed merely in urban and industrial areas |
| A．shares the same view with the scientists |
| B．is uncertain of its occurrence |
| C．rejects it as being ungrounded |
| D．thinks that it will destroy the world soon |
| A．slip into | B．make up for |
| C．set up | D．catch up with |
| A．lowering the world’s temperature merely a few degrees would lead many major farming areas to disaster |
| B．raising the world’s temperature only a few degrees would not do much harm to life on earth |
| C．almost no temperature variations have occurred over the past decade |
| D．the world’s temperature will remain constant in the years to come |
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 the 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 （可持续的）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 products need improving urgently. |
| B．Electronic waste is too complex to get fully recycled. |
| C．Electronic waste requires more landfill sites across Ghana. |
| D．Electronic pollution is a burning question in Agbogbloshie. |
| A．Tightens. | B．Abolishes. |
| C．Gets around. | D．Brings in. |
| A．The violation of EFSA's standards. |
| B．The lack of diversity in Ghana's exports. |
| C．The damage to chicken's immune system. |
| D．The threat of polluted food around the world. |
| A．Manufacturers' developing a sustainable hardware economy. |
| B．Governments' adjusting their green policies about e-waste. |
| C．Reducing customers 'demands for electronic products. |
| D．Letting governments take on the main responsibility. |
10 . Following efforts to limit plastic bags, the push by environmentalists against straws (吸管), has gained attention in recent months, partly because they're seen as unnecessary for most. Companies including Starbucks and Disney are promising to get rid of plastic straws which can be difficult to recycle because of their size and often end up as trash in the ocean. A handful of U.S. cities recently passed or are considering bans. And the push may bring attention to other items people may not have considered — like festive balloons.
“The issue of balloons has really broadened the marine debris (海洋垃圾) issue,” says Emma Tonge of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. “People might not realize balloons are a danger”, she says, “because of their ‘light’ image”. Balloons are not among the top 10 kinds of debris found in coastal cleanups, but Tonge says they're common and especially dangerous to marine animals.
Already, a few states restrict balloon releases to some extent, according to the Balloon Council, which represents the industry and advocates for the responsible handling of its products. That means never releasing them into the air, and ensuring the strings have a weight tied to them so the balloons don't accidentally float away. Lorna O'Hara, executive director of the Balloon Council, agrees that marine creatures might mistake balloons for jellyfish and eat them. But she says that doesn't mean balloons are necessarily causing their deaths.
Some states such as California ban balloon releases for other reasons. Pacific Gas & Electric, which serves northern and central California, says metallic balloons often get caught in power lines and have caused 203 power cuts in the first five months of this year, up 22 percent from a year ago.
1. Why does the author mention plastic bags and straws in Paragraph 1?| A．To investigate the cause of plastic pollution. |
| B．To bring up the topic of balloon pollution. |
| C．To call on people to use less plastic products. |
| D．To make a comparison between balloons and straws. |
| A．They are a threat to land animals. |
| B．They are too light-colored to be noticed. |
| C．They can be a cause of coastal pollution. |
| D．They rank among the top 10 kinds of marine debris. |
| A．Balloons do little harm to fishes. |
| B．Balloons should be made stronger. |
| C．The sale of balloons should be banned. |
| D．It is irresponsible to release balloons into the air. |
| A．Balloons waste electric power. |
| B．Balloons contribute to air pollution. |
| C．Balloons affect people's normal lives. |
| D．Balloons do more harm than plastic bags. |
