1 . The national movement to get rid of plastic bags is gaining steam — with more than 240 cities and counties passing laws that ban or tax them since 2007 in the US. But these bans may be hurting the environment more than helping it.
University of Sydney economist Rebecca Taylor and colleagues compared bag use in cities with bans with those without them. For six months, they spent weekends in grocery stores recording the types of bags people carried out.
Taylor found these bag bans did what they were supposed to: People in the cities with the bans used fewer plastic bags, which led to about 40 million fewer pounds of plastic garbage per year. But people who used to reuse their shopping bags for other purposes, like picking up dog waste, still needed bags. "What I found was that sales of garbage bags actually grew sharply after plastic grocery bags were banned," she says.
Garbage bags are thick and use more plastic than typical shopping bags. "So about 30 percent of the plastic that was reduced by the ban comes back in the form of thicker garbage bags," Taylor says. On top of that, cities that banned plastic bags saw a surge in the use of paper bags, which she estimates（估计）resulted in about 80 million pounds of extra paper garbage per year.
A bunch of studies find that paper bags are actually worse for the environment. They require cutting down and processing trees, which involves lots of water, toxic chemicals and fuel. While paper is biodegradable(可生物降解的) and avoids some of the problems of plastic, Taylor says, the huge increase of paper means banning plastic shopping bags increases greenhouse gas emissions(排放).
The Danish government recently did a study that took into account environmental impacts（影响）beyond simply greenhouse gas emissions, including water use, damage to ecosystems and air pollution. These factors make cloth bags even worse. They estimate you would have to use an organic cotton bag 20,000 times more than a plastic grocery bag to make using it better for the environment.
1. What is main idea of the passage?| A．Banning plastic bags is gaining popularity worldwide. |
| B．Banning plastic has great influence on people’s life. |
| C．Banning plastic increases the use of pager and cloth bags. |
| D．Banning plastic may harm rather than help the environment. |
| A．Plastic bags are no longer needed. |
| B．People began to reuse their plastic bags. |
| C．The amount of garbage is even greater. |
| D．Most of the reduced plastic returns in garbage bags. |
| A．They are not as biodegradable as plastic bags. |
| B．It hurts the environment more to make them. |
| C．They can’t be reused as many times as plastic bags. |
| D．They are much thicker than plastic bags. |
| A．Sharp increase. | B．Fast development. |
| C．Tight control. | D．Sharp decrease. |
2 . You'll need to take a deep breath before hearing this news. An astonishing 93% of kids around the world live in environments with air pollution levels that are damaging their health, according to a new report by WHO.
Air pollution is to blame for the deaths of 543,000 kids under 5 in 2016, with more than one in four deaths of children under five years old being related to environmental issues. Exposure (暴露)to air pollution can damage the health of kids in a variety of ways, either causing or being associated with everything from low birth weight to childhood obesity and so on.
"The large toll of disease and death revealed (揭示)by these new data should result in an urgent call to action for the global community especially for those in the health department WHO stated. “ Strong action to reduce exposure to air pollution offers an opportunity to protect the health of children. " The report stressed that health experts should communicate with families , communities and policy-makers about the serious risks of air pollution exposure. " Although more researches into how air pollution affects children's health will continue to be valuable, there is already evidence to justify strong, swift action to prevent the damage it clearly produces," WHO added.
Disease caused by dirty air is more common in low-and-middle in come countries, especially those in Africa, South-East Asia, and Western Pacific regions. Poor countries in these areas have the highest levels of exposure to household air pollution due to the use of polluting fuels and technologies for basic needs like cooking, heating and lighting.
Advised solutions include cleaner transport , cleaner cooking and heating fuels and technologies energy-efficient housing and urban planning, safer industrial technologies and better waste management.
1. What is the second paragraph mainly about?| A．The way to fight air pollution. |
| B．The serious result of air pollution. |
| C．The illnesses children are suffering. |
| D．The deaths caused by air pollution. |
| A．Number. | B．Threat. | C．Fact. | D．Report. |
| A．Do more researches. | B．Find ways to fight air pollution. |
| C．Make the serious risks known. | D．Develop cleaner fuels and technologies. |
| A．Researches of this kind have stopped. |
| B．Air pollution caused 543,000 kids' death in 2016. |
| C．Nothing can be done to stop air pollution al present. |
| D．Air pollution is more serious in low-and-middle-income countries. |
3 . Politicians and officials across the world — at local, regional (区域性的) and national level — have been coming up with new ideas to reduce air pollution. More recently, some have pointed the finger at countryside “contributions” to air pollution in the developing world, especially in India and China. During Diwali celebrations at the end of October last year, New Delhi’s pollution level was off the charts, cementing (巩固) the Indian capital’s status as the world’s most polluted large city and causing a nationwide debate on India’s killing smog (雾霾).
Official data from the Delhi Pollution Control Committee showed dangerous levels of smog, with concentrations (浓度) of both PM2.5 and PM10 hitting levels more than 30 times the World Health Organization’s recommended 24 hour average limit. Over the last few years India has held many conferences and workshops to find a solution to the smog. A regional approach is the most common suggestion to have appeared from these conferences, but the situation on the ground has not changed. In fact, it is getting worse with each passing year.
India has more than 100 coal-based power factories with old technology, with burning of crop remains adding to the emissions (排放物). And New Delhi’s grievous pollution is the result of a harmful mixture of emissions from vehicles and coal-fired power factories, fumes (烟) from cooking stoves and crop-burning in neighboring provinces. In Beijing, where air pollution is being treated as a health emergency, the government can order cars off the road and shut down schools and industries if particulates (微粒) threaten to rise to the highest WHO level — New Delhi’s level of pollution is unimaginable in Beijing.
North China, which battles smog in the winter, also has the problem of crop burning. Some local governments in China are punishing farmers who burn their crop remains and thus contributes to the air pollution in nearby cities. The problem is, farmers often burn crop remains as it is the only way to treat remains, and they have to burn coals to keep warm during the freezing winter in North China because they lack other means of heating.
Some will say this reflects elements of unbalanced economic development and the unfairness between countryside and urban areas is at the heart of the issue. Many people ask what options farmers have to keep themselves warm in the winter except by burning crop remains. Ideally, they should be provided with alternative energy sources, solar power or natural gas for example, to keep their homes warm in the freezing winter.
This can be achieved by China without much difficulty, because the country leads the world in investment in renewable energy. The plan, however, needs to be targeted at countryside farmers if we want them to stop adding to the air pollution of cities. Such a development is something I look forward to during my visits to China.
1. What can we know about Indian measures to reduce pollution?| A．The Indian regional approach has great effect on smog. |
| B．Indians tried their best to reduce pollution effectively. |
| C．India did nothing to find a solution to the smog. |
| D．The Indian regional approach has no effect on smog. |
| A．It has many coal-based power factories with old technology. |
| B．A harmful mixture of emissions leads to New Delhi’s serious pollution. |
| C．Burning is one way for coal-based power factories to deal with crop remains. |
| D．The government can order cars off the road if particulates threaten to rise too high. |
| A．New Delhi’s celebrations caused Indian discussion on pollution. |
| B．New Delhi’s pollution level has made Indians know its damage. |
| C．Pollution created by crop burning is not a problem unique to India. |
| D．Farmers can burn crop remains to keep warm around the world. |
| A．The government should develop urban areas firstly. |
| B．The government should force farmers to use solar power. |
| C．The government should permit farmers to burn crop remains. |
| D．The government should do more for countryside development. |
4 . Health officials in Canada are very busy these days. They are placing chickens at fixed points all along their border with the United States of America. That’s a great distance of 2,500km. It’s not a practical joke, nor have the Canadians gone mad. They are using these chickens to see if the deadly West Nile virus is hiding around. The virus infects birds, so they think that the chickens have a good chance of catching the virus, or the virus will catch the chickens. The Canadians are worried because the West Nile virus is transmitted to humans by mosquitoes. It killed seven people in New York last year.
Countries around the world are realizing something important that it may just be possible to stop certain kinds of people from entering their land, but it is very difficult to stop viruses travelling from one end of the earth to the other. When they travel to new places, they sometimes adjust very easily to those climates and start destroying the local plant and animal life. These biological polluters are called smart polluters, which can be carried across borders of countries unknowingly. Just as we humans are travelling across the globe more often than earlier, these biological polluters have also started journeying much more. They travel in the ballast(压舱物）of tankers. They sneak into aircraft through their wheels. They bore their way into objects that air travelers may be carrying from one country to another.
The customs officials in many foreign countries prevent you from bringing in a small plant, or a decorative item made of wood that is in its natural form. They tell you it’s in the rules. They have these rules because they know that these varieties of plants that are special to specific places have the power to spread new diseases among native plants and animals. They always create problems in places where they do not belong. Viruses causing these new diseases could come with special varieties of plants, bugs or even animals.
1. Which of the following best explains “transmitted” underlined in Paragraph 1?| A．Passed. | B．Supplied. |
| C．Promised. | D．Addressed |
| A．They can hide from anyone. |
| B．They can never be killed in any case. |
| C．They can be spread by many approaches. |
| D．They can evolve to suit any environment. |
| A．Native plants and animals mustn’t be exported. |
| B．Animals can be brought into any country freely. |
| C．No plants can be brought across country borders. |
| D．Special living things are forbidden to be imported. |
| A．Wipe Out All the Viruses | B．The Smart Polluters |
| C．The Basic Customs Rules | D．A Practical Joke of Canada |
1．工业污染的影响到处存在
2．人口的持续增长，烟尘，化学废料产生的后果。
3．人们需要的是清洁的空气，安全的饮用水，孩子们的健康。
4．解决环境污染问题，不能只靠政府。
5．保护环境应从我做起。
100词左右，文章开头结尾已经给出，不计入总词数。
Ladies and gentlemen,
Yesterday our teacher of English asked me to say something about pollution．Now, I give you my views on this vital question．
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Thank you for listening
原因 | 措施 |
| 1.人口增长速度快 2.过度使用原材料 3.有害的化学物品的生产污染环境 | 1.建立法律保护环境 2.教育人们要从根本上认识到保护环境的重要性 3.污染环境的工厂要多交税 |
你的观点 | 不少于两点 |
注意：1.短文必须包括所有要点；
2.词数120字左右；
3.短文的开头已写好，不计入总词数。
Today the quality of our environment has become an important issue. The reasons are as follows.
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With new life coming out in spring. everyone is expecting to enjoy beautiful flowers and fresh air. However, to our disappointment, the sky is always grey, the haze (雾霾) blankets everything…
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8 . Garbage or trash is a major kind of environmental pollution.Each person produces about 2kg of trash a day.We are making waste products faster than nature can break them down.And we are using up resources（资源）faster than they can be replaced（取代）.
This adds up to trouble for the environment.Where does all that garbage go?What can be done to help dispose of（处理）garbage?How call we make less garbage?
Garbage isn't just the smelly rotting fruits,vegetables or meat that we throw away in our homes.Those are only a small pan of all the stuff we throw away.We create other kinds of waste,in construction,mining and in our factories.
Did you ever wonder what happens to your garbage?Most is burned or buried in landfills（垃圾填埋场）Less than a quarter of our waste is recycled.
With a population of 1.3 billion（十亿）,garbage is a big problem for China.Chinese cities create around 148 million tons of garbage every year.The amount is growing at around 10 percent each year.
Once we used about 3 billion plastic shopping bags every day in China.The result was a great waste of resources and serious pollution.So we did something about that.Now we use more cloth bags and shopping baskets when we shop.
In the coming years China will build waste-to-energy plants in cities to clean up the garbage.But there’s a lot more that needs to be done.And you can play a part.
1. What can be learned from the first paragraph?| A．Garbage is the most serious environmental pollution. |
| B．Each person produces 20kg of garbage a week. |
| C．Nature can break the garbage down as soon as we produce it. |
| D．We may use up our resources before they can be replaced. |
| A．homes | B．schools |
| C．factories | D．banks |
| A．植物 | B．种植 |
| C．设备 | D．工厂 |
| A．How to deal with garbage in daily life. | B．Let's make the Earth a cleaner place. |
| C．New resources. | D．Problems in big cities. |
| A．An English scientist. | B．A Chinese journalist. |
| C．A UN governor. | D．An American student. |
9 . Climate change will increase US wildfires,and the smoky air will cause terrible problems in areas far beyond those burned,reports an environmental group Thursday.
Two-thirds of Americans,or nearly 212 million,lived in states suffering from wildfire smoke three years ago,according to the report by the Natural Resources Defense Council(NRDC).These areas,which had smoke for at least a week,were nearly 50 times greater than those burned directly by fire.
“It affects a much wide area of the United States than people have realized.” says author Kim Knowlton,a Columbia University health professor,adding the smoke can move up to hundreds of miles.She says the smoke contains air pollution and can cause several kinds of diseases.
Texas was hit hardest in 2011,when smoke stayed for at least a week in areas that are home to 25 million people,according to NRDC’s report.Illinois,which recorded no wildfires within its borders, came second with nearly 12 million people affected by smoke that moved in from elsewhere.The other eight states with the most people in touch with smoky air were,in descending order: Florida,Missouri,Georgia,Louisiana,Michigan,Alabama,Oklahoma and Iowa.
Nearly two dozen states had no wildfires within their borders in 2011,but eight of them still had at least one week of smoky air: Illinois,Missouri，Iowa,Kansas,Nebraska,Indiana,Wisconsin and Ohio.
Only 18 states and the District of Columbia had no people in touch with at least a week of smoke that year,although five of them—Alaska,California,Hawaii,Nevada and Utah—had a large area burned by wildfires.
The problem will only get worse.Knowlton says.Scientific research shows climate is causing higher temperatures and health problems.
1. We can learn from the first two paragraphs that_______.| A．climate change killed many Americans |
| B．there are fewer states burned by wildfires |
| C．every state had wildfire smoke for at least a week |
| D．most Americans suffered from wildfire smoke 3 year ago |
| A．Iowa. | B．Kansas. |
| C．Ohio. | D．California. |
| A．going down | B．coming true |
| C．looking practical | D．turning back |
| A．Climate change causes more wildfires. |
| B．Wildfire smoke becomes a serious health problem. |
| C．More wildfires cause climate changes. |
| D．Air pollution becomes a terrible problem. |
Electronic trash, or e-waste, is piling up faster than ever in American homes and businesses. People do not know what to do with old televisions or computers so they throw them in the trash.
National Solid Waste Management Association (NSWMA) state programs director Chaz Miller says the large amount of electronic waste Americans product is not unexpected.
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates more than 400 million consumer electronic items are dumped each year, and there is a push by more states to ban the waste from landfills (垃圾填埋场) and create recycling programs. They can be torn apart and sorted for useable parts. Mike Fannon who runs the plant in Baltimore says, “There are lots of valuable metals that can be recovered and reused instead of just putting them in the landfill, and in certain components there are some materials that should not really be in the landfill.”
Fannon says nearly 20 percent of electronic waste is recycled nationwide. Thirteen years ago, it was only about 6 percent. Recycling rates continue to rise as more communities have banned electronics from landfills in order to keep e-waste poisons like lead (铅) and mercury (汞) out of garbage dumps.
This year several states like Vermont imposed a ban on electronic waste in landfills. More than 25 other states have also adopted bans on e-waste in landfills. Chaz Miller says more can be done to boost electronic waste recycling.
“We can do much better,” noted Miller. “I think clearly our goal should be to do as well as we do recycling newspapers.”
1. Which of the following does NOT belong to e-waste?
| A．Old televisions. | B．Old computers. |
| C．Old cell phones. | D．Old newspapers. |
| A．Because it can not be recycled. |
| B．Because the landfills are already full. |
| C．Because it might damage the environment. |
| D．Because it can be shipped to other countries. |
| A．Recycling it. | B．Selling it. |
| C．Burying it. | D．Breaking it. |
| A．Chaz Miller works for EPA. |
| B．Miller is optimistic about the future of e-waste. |
| C．At present, less than 10 percent of e-waste is recycled. |
| D．All states in the US have banned e-waste from landfills. |
