1 . 阅读下面短文，根据所给情节进行续写，使之构成一个完整的故事。

A couple of years ago, I had the pleasure of teaching a young couple to dive (潜水) in Thailand on one of my favorite reefs (礁). The weather conditions were perfect, with mild currents and excellent sight of the beautiful ocean and the bright, vivid corals. Even with their masks on, I could see the smiles on my students’ faces.

The dive couldn’t have gone better. However, things changed as we made our way back to the boat. As we swam back along the reef, I noticed the current (水流) changing. As it did, huge quantities of trash and plastic began to flood the area. I saw small reef fish swimming amongst the straws, plastic bags and other bits of rubbish. I noticed that some of the fish were pecking away (啄) at the plastic. By the time we got back onboard the boat, there were bits of plastic floating all around us. It looked more like a trash site than the ocean.

When I got home, the first thing I did was to go online and research plastic pollution in the ocean. I was surprised to find out that over the past decade, divers and beach lovers have seen a lot of changes in the oceans. Even very remote locations were suddenly filled with plastic and other chemicals. Plastics were entering our oceans at an alarming rate—up to 12 million tons each year. This huge amount of plastic was wreaking havoc (破坏) not only on the environment, but also on the marine animals that lived in the ocean, such as sea turtles and sea birds. Some of them were sadly mistaking the pieces of plastic for food. Pollution has brought our oceans to the point of disaster, and unless we make a great change, then our oceans and all of its living things, will be at risk.

Since that unforgettable plastic-polluted dive, I have become an ocean supporter and spend my days trying to get the message out there about just how harmful ocean pollution is, not only to marine life, but also to mankind.

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。

Then the idea came to me: I could appeal to my fellow divers to take action.

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I decided to take it a step further to try and stop those companies producing single-use plastics.

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2 . There are a lot of chemicals that can cause indoor air pollution. A recent project conducted has found over 900 different substances in our home are related to it. Many researchers have already examined the causes of indoor air pollution.     1    

It has been proved that different kinds of chemicals can be released by building materials and new furniture. Everything from painting and decorating products, bathroom cleaners and beauty products can contain these chemicals.     2     For instance, cooking generates a lot of harmful emissions, like frying meat in oil.

As a research from Denmark has highlighted, cooking, particularly roasting can damage our body. Roast dinners contain many potentially harmful pollutants.     3     When exposed to cooking emissions, people actually had DNA damage. It can be associated with cell repair processes that trigger cancer—causing genetic changes.     4     And what can we do with it?

As far as cooking emissions are concerned, no one is suggesting switching to takeaways.     5     For example, cooking meat at high temperatures with lots of fat produces more harmful emissions than boiling pasta. Besides, opening windows and using cooker hoods are preferable so that we can enjoy the roasted meat without those undesirable effects.

A．In the long run, these changes lead to cancer.

B．They might also arise from cooking at home.

C．A wide range of sources are under investigation.

D．Therefore, what results from indoor air pollution?

E．However, most of us have ignored their bad effects.

F．So, what are the main contributors to poor air quality?

G．But we can change how we cook to deal with the emissions.

3 . Around 40 million tonnes of electronic waste, known as e-waste, is produced every year. This includes electrical or electronic equipment that has been discarded. But where does it all go? In the US alone, 100 million mobile phones, 41 million computers and over 20 million televisions are thrown into landfills in a year. Even for standard waste this is a big headache, because any materials that are buried in the ground can’t be easily recovered and recycled. Recycling electronics can save energy and means that less of Earth’s natural resources need to be mined.

Failing to recycle e-waste is extremely damaging the environment due to the nature of the materials used in modern devices. While heavy metals and chemicals improve a device’s safety and user experience, these components become poisonous if they’re not dealt with properly. Your old phones, Gameboys, kettles, microwaves and more can end up in landfills, leaking their harmful contents into the soil, water and air. Not only does this kill wildlife and destroy ecosystems, but the accumulation of poison can impact human health too. As heavy metals and chemicals flow into lakes and rivers, drinking water becomes polluted. These poisons spread through the soil, impacting the health of crops and animals that people also rely on.

In some western countries, e-waste isn’t hidden out of sight in landfills but is burnt in giant, open junkyards. They even ship waste electronics to other countries to deal with, and this often ends up in dumps across Africa and Asia. Workers in these places are exposed to polluted lands and chemical gas.

It is urgent that we should reduce the damaging and unsustainable side of e-waste production. Rare earth metals, some plastics and chemicals can be fed into the next generation of electronics. The steps to proper recycling of e-waste are extensive and need large investment, but more and more countries around the world are turning to e-waste recycling.

1. What does the underlined word “discarded” in Paragraph 1 mean?

A．Repaired.

B．Protected.

C．Used.

D．Abandoned.

2. What can be learned from Paragraph 2?

A．E-waste has a permanent effect on the environment.

B．E-waste may do harm to both ecosystems and humans.

C．Heavy metals and chemicals are poisonous to the users.

D．Burying e-waste into landfills is an effective way to recycle.

3. As for some western countries’ actions, the author is ________.

A．supportive

B．objective

C．concerned

D．uncertain

4. What might the author continue to talk about?

A．Solutions to destroying e-waste.	B．Ways to recycle e-waste properly.
C．Applications of recycled materials.	D．Investments in restoring ecosystems.

4 . 阅读下面短文，在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

The World Health Organization (WHO) has announced a shocking finding about the air we breathe. It has found that almost everyone on Earth breathes unhealthy air. The WHO made     1    (it) air quality update ahead of World Health Day on April 7. The update reported that 99 per cent of the world’s population breathes air     2     goes beyond WHO air quality limits. It looked at data from over 6,000 cities in 117 countries. People     3    (live) in lower- and middle-income countries breathe the poorest-quality air. Millions of people die in these countries because of pollution-related diseases. The WHO said: “After surviving a pandemic, it is unacceptable to still have 7 million preventable deaths due     4     air pollution.”

The WHO said its report highlighted the need to move away from fossil fuels. It asked governments to do more     5     (reduce) levels of air pollution. It said: “Current energy concerns highlight the importance of speeding up the transition to cleaner and     6    (healthy) energy systems.” It added that high gas prices, energy     7    (secure), the dangers of air pollution, and climate change mean the world must be less dependent on fossil fuels. The WHO report     8    (include) many recommendations for change. One of these is     9     use of clean energy for cooking, heating and lighting. Another is to “build safe and affordable public transport systems and pedestrian- and cycle-friendly     10    (network)”.

5 . The plastic value chain faces two key challenges: controlling plastic waste and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The chemical industry has a unique role to play in addressing these challenges. Cooperation between upstream and downstream partners is essential to develop solutions that reduce plastic pollution and emissions in plastic production. SABIC(Saudi Basic Industries Corporation)is at the forefront of these efforts.

SABIC has set specific goals, including a commitment to achieve icarbon neutrality(碳中 和) by 2050. To realize this goal, the company has outlined a Carbon Neutrality Roadmap that focuses on five pathways: energy efficiency; renewable energy; electrification; carbon capture, usage and storage(CCUS); and green/blue hydrogen.

Recognizing the scale of the challenges, SABIC understands that progress cannot be made alone. The company actively cooperates through initiatives, such as the Low — Carbon Emitting Technologies(LCET) initiative, where chemical companies work together to accelerate the development of technology solutions for carbon neutrality.

Partnerships are also vital in addressing plastic waste. SABIC is a founding member of the Alliance(联盟) to End Plastic Waste, an organization that brings stakeholders(利益相关者) from across the value chain together to take collective action on the ground. The alliance works towards a future where plastic products never end up in landfills or oceans, but instead are reused or transformed into new products. SABIC is also actively involved in driving the transition from a linear to a circular carbon economy. As responsible plastic producers, SABIC recognizes the importance of offering sustainable materials to customers.

Although the chemical industry has made significant progress, there is still more work to do to achieve the goals. SABIC is already making progress on the complex, long—term effort required and will continue to partner with others to increase the solutions needed to push meaningful change.

1. What kind of difficulty is the plastic value chain faced with?

A．Exploring renewable energy.	B．Reducing plastic production.
C．Decreasing plastic pollution.	D．Achieving carbon neutrality.

2. What is vital for chemical companies according to paragraph 3 and paragraph 4?

A．Technology development.	B．Partners’ cooperation.
C．Carbon neutrality.	D．Sustainable development.

3. Which best describes SABIC’s efforts?

A．Fruitless

B．Predictable.

C．Frustrating.

D．Rewarding.

4. Which can be a suitable title for the text?

A．SABIC: A leader mapping the path forward.

B．SABIC: A leader solving the plastic pollution.

C．SABIC: A leader reducing greenhouse gas emission.

D．SABIC:A leader founding the plastic value chain.

6 . Even chess experts perform worse when air quality is lower, suggesting a negative effect on cognition(认知). Here’s something else chess players need to keep in check: air pollution.

That’s the bottom line of a newly published study co-authored by a researcher, showing that chess players perform objectively worse and make more suboptimal(次优的) moves, as measured by a computerized analysis of their games, when there is more fine particulate matter(颗粒物) in the air, notated as PM 2.5.

More specifically, given a modest increase in fine particulate matter, the probability that chess players will make an error increases by 2.1 percentage points, and the spectrum of those errors increases by 10.8 percent. In this setting, at least, cleaner air leads to clearer heads and sharper thinking.

“We find that when individuals are exposed to higher levels of air pollution, they make more mistakes, and they make larger mistakes,” says Juan Palacios, an economist in Sustainable Urbanization Lab.

“It’s pure random exposure to air pollution that is driving these people’s performance,” Palacios says. “Against comparable opponents in the same tournament round, being exposed to different levels of air quality makes a difference for move quality and decision quality.”

The researchers also found that when air pollution was worse, the chess players performed even more poorly when under time limitation. “We find it interesting that those mistakes especially occur in the phase of the game where players are facing time pressure,” Palacios says.

“There are more and more papers showing that there is a cost with air pollution, and there is a cost for more and more people,” Palacios says. “And this is just one example showing that even for these very excellent chess players, who think they can beat everything, it seems that with air pollution, they have an enemy who harms them.”

1. What effect does air pollution have on chess players?

A．They make fewer good choices.	B．They perform subjectively worse.
C．They suffer body discomfort.	D．They lose all games with computers.

2. What does the underlined word “spectrum” in paragraph 3 probably mean?

A．Magic.

B．Process.

C．Range.

D．Balance.

3. What does Palacios express in the last paragraph?

A．His appeal for attention to chess players.

B．His concern about air pollution.

C．An example of chess players’ performance.

D．Approaches to dealing with air pollution.

4. What’s the main idea of the text?

A．Air pollution is a tough enemy chess players face.

B．Chess players make more and more mistakes.

C．There is a cost with air pollution for more people.

D．Chess players perform poorly under time limitation.

7 . Water pollution caused by the coal industry is a critical issue that requires urgent attention. According to a report by environmental and clean water groups, coal plants are the primary source of toxic (有毒的) water pollution in the United States. Nearly 70% of 274 coal plants have no limits on toxic materials, such as As₂O₃ and Pb, and they were dumped directly into waterways. Over one-third of these plants have no requirements to monitor or report discharges of these toxic materials to government agencies or the public.

Furthermore, the report reveals that 71 coal plants discharge toxic water pollution into waterways that have already been declared damaged due to poor water quality. Almost half of the 386 coal plants surveyed operate without Clean Water Act permits, and 53 of them have permits that went out of date five or more years ago. These results are due to the lack of any strict standards limiting toxic pollution from coal plants.

Coal-fired power plants are the main source of toxic water pollution in the United States, accounting for more than half of all toxic water pollution. The human health impacts from this pollution are serious. The EPA estimates that nearly 140,000 people per year experience increased cancer risk due to As₂O₃ in fish from coal plants. The report indicates that almost 13,000 children under the age of seven each year have reduced IQs because of Pb in fish they eat, and almost 2,000 children are born with lower IQs because of toxic fish their mothers have eaten.

Fortunately, the EPA proposed the first ever national standards to limit toxics dumped into waterways from coal plants in April 2013. According to the EPA, these standards should reduce pollution by more than 5 billion pounds a year. The report suggests that the EPA’s new coal plant water pollution standards will not only clean up our water but will also save lives.

Affordable wastewater treatment technologies exist to prevent toxic discharges and are already in use at some plants. It is time for the coal industry to be responsible for the damage it is causing, and for the government to set stricter standards to protect the environment and public health. With the proposed EPA standards, there is hope for a cleaner future. By holding the coal industry responsible, we can make significant steps in protecting our waterways and ensuring that future generations have access to clean and safe water.

1. What can we learn from the first two paragraphs?

A．Over 100 coal plants have limits on toxic materials.

B．Most coal plants operate with Clean Water Act permits.

C．About half of 274 coal plants monitor the toxic materials.

D．Strict standards limiting toxic pollution are urgently required.

2. Which is the main issue affecting human health according to the passage?

A．Outdated Clean Water Act permits.

B．Consumption of polluted fish by humans.

C．Air pollution caused by Coal-fired power plants.

D．Not advanced wastewater treatment technologies.

3. Which word can best describe the new water pollution standards in Paragraph 4?

A．Significant.	B．Ineffective.
C．Alternative.	D．Meaningless.

4. What is the main idea of the text?

A．Lack of strict standards to limit toxic pollution.

B．Serious health problems affected by coal plants.

C．Urgent joint efforts to deal with water pollution caused by coal plants.

D．Importance of affordable wastewater treatment technologies in the United States.

8 . 阅读下面短文，根据题目要求用英文回答问题。

THE GROWING PROBLEM OF E-WASTE

The term e-waste is short for “electronic waste”. It refers to electrical or electronic products that are thrown away when they are no longer needed. These include computers, televisions, ovens, and basically anything else that runs on batteries or has an electrical cord.

E-waste has been a problem since the 1970s because of how difficult it is to separate things like metal and plastic from various products. Also, many electronics contain toxic materials that can pollute the environment if left in landfills. Over the past few decades, the problem of e-waste has only increased along with advancements in technology.

E-waste is now the fastest-growing waste stream around the world. The total amount of e-waste created every year is expected to reach 74 million tons by the year 2030. Currently, it’s estimated that only about 17 percent of global e-waste is properly recycled. However, the United Nations hopes to bring that number up to 30 percent by the end of 2023.

With more people using smartphones and computers every year, the problem of e-waste cannot be ignored. To increase the recycling rate of e-waste items, cities should consider adding special collection boxes at grocery stores or government offices. There should also be delivery or pick-up services for e-waste items. That way, these items can be sent directly to people who are able to properly take them apart and recover their useful components.

Despite current difficulties, e-waste has great recycling potential. In addition to the items thrown away, lots of people keep old devices that aren’t used anymore. As a whole, they add up to a lot of metals and minerals that can, and should, be recycled. If these components are recycled to make new products, there would be less of a need to dig for more around the world.

So, if you must replace your phone or computer, try returning the device to the manufacturer or dropping it off at an e-waste processing facility if there is one nearby.

1. What does “electronic waste” refer to?
__________________________________________________________________
2. What is Paragraph 2 mainly about?
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3. Decide which part of the following statement is wrong. Underline it and explain why.
▶In order to reduce e-waste, people had better keep old devices that aren’t used anymore or drop them off in special collection boxes.
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4. Apart from the ways mentioned in the passage, please share your way(s) to reduce e-waste. (About 40 words)
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9 . Perhaps one day, robots could be cleaning up human-caused pollution in the ocean. At least that’s what scientists hope to achieve with the development of Jellyfish-Bot (水母机器人), a robotic device which looks like a jellyfish that could help pick up pollutants underwater.

The robot is about the size of a hand. The artificial muscles, called HASELs, can contract and expand, allowing Jellyfish-Bot to move through the water. Like a real jellyfish, the robot’s movements create currents beneath it. Jellyfish use the currents to collect nutrients, while Jellyfish-Bot uses these motions to trap pollutants. The robots move at a speed of 6.1 centimeters per second, trapping objects along the way, whether it’s a single robot or multiple ones working together. With larger objects, it may require at least two robots to collect and bring the items to the surface for recycling.

“It is also able to collect fragile biological samples such as fish eggs. Meanwhile, there is no negative impact on the surrounding environment. The interaction with aquatic (水生的) species is gentle and nearly noise-free,” explained Tianlu Wang, a postdoctoral researcher.

According to the researchers, the robot is no louder than background noise, so it shouldn’t menace sea life. The insulating polymer (绝缘聚合物) shell around the robot shouldn’t harm humans or fish if it were to be torn apart.

For now, the robots are powered by thin wires, which prohibits their practical use in oceanic settings. But the scientists hope that they can achieve a wireless Jellyfish-Bot in the near future.

“Seventy percent of oceanic litter is estimated to sink to the seabed. Plastics make up more than 60% of this litter, taking hundreds of years to degrade. Therefore, we saw an urgent need to develop a robot to move or control objects such as litter and transport it upwards,” Scientist Hyeong-Joon Joo said. “We hope that underwater robots could one day assist in cleaning up our oceans.”

1. What is paragraph 2 mainly about?

A．The working principle of Jellyfish-Bot.

B．The main parts of Jellyfish-Bot.

C．The effect of the robot on the ocean.

D．The threat of pollutants to the ocean.

2. What does the underlined word “menace” mean in paragraph 4?

A．Destroy.

B．Threaten.

C．Transform.

D．Dominate.

3. What do we know about wireless Jellyfish-Bots?

A．They have been widely used underwater.

B．They lack practical use in oceanic settings.

C．They will take the place of the wire robots.

D．They will be researched and developed for use.

4. Which of the following is a suitable title for the text?

A．It’s of great urgency to clean up ocean pollutants

B．A new function of robot is just around the corner

C．Jellyfish-Bot makes a lot of difference to the ocean

D．An underwater robot could help clean up ocean pollutants

10 . The increased use of light-emitting diodes (LED) and other forms of lighting are now brightening the night sky at a dramatic rate. Research has revealed that light pollution is now causing the night sky to brighten at a rate of around 10% a year, an increase that threatens to ruin the sight of all but the most brilliant stars in a generation. A child born where 250 stars are visible at night today would only be able to see about 100 by the time they reach 18.

Physicist Christopher Kyba, of the German Centre for Geosciences told the Observer. “A couple of generations ago, people would have regularly encountered this glittering (闪耀) vision of the universe—but what was formerly universal is now extremely rare.” Nevertheless, the introduction of only a modest number of changes to lighting could make a considerable improvement, Kyba argued. These moves would include ensuring outdoor lights are carefully capped, point downwards, have limits placed on their brightness, and are not predominantly blue-white but have red and orange components.

The problem is that light pollution is still not perceived by the public to be a threat. As Professor Oscar Corcho, of Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, has put it: “The negative consequences of light pollution are as unknown by the population as those of smoking in the 80s.”

Yet action is now urgently needed. Apart from its astronomical impact, light pollution is harming human health. “When reddish light shines on our bodies, it stimulates mechanisms including those that break down high levels of sugar in the blood. Since the introduction of LEDs, that part of the spectrum (光谱) has been removed from artificial light and it is playing a part in the waves of obesity (肥胖) and rises in diabetes cases we see today,” said Prof Fosbury from University College London (UCL),

UCL researchers are preparing to install additional infrared (红外线) lamps in hospitals and intensive care units (ICU) to see if they have an effect on the recovery of patients who would otherwise be starved of light from this part of the spectrum.

1. What does the author want to show by citing the child’s example?

A．More objects in the universe will disappear.

B．Light pollution is blinding our view of the stars.

C．People’s perception of the universe is inadequate.

D．New forms of lighting have made stars unnecessary.

2. What does Kyba think of the moves to ease light pollution?

A．They are practical.	B．They are rarely successful.
C．They aren’t worth the effort.	D．It takes ages to see the result.

3. What is top on the agenda of solving light pollution?

A．Controlling population growth.

B．Changing people’s perception.

C．Exploring the unknown universe.

D．Banning smoking in public places.

4. What does the follow-up study aim to find out about infrared lamps?

A．Whether they help patients recover.

B．Whether they increase obesity risk.

C．Whether they leave people starving.

D．Whether they raise blood sugar level.