1 . 语法填空

China will closely track     1     assess the impacts of Japan's "extremely selfish and     2    (responsible) " plan to discharge nuclear-contaminated water into the ocean, the National Nuclear Security Administration said.

Japan's plan prioritizes its own interests     3     the long-term well-being of humanity, the administration said in     4     media release on Thursday, the same day that Japan is set to start releasing     5     (treat) radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean     6     part of its plan to decommission the crippled Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida     7     (give) the final go-ahead for the plan to gradually release more     8    1 million metric tons of radioactive water from the plant into the ocean at a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday.

"We urge the Japanese government to listen to the voice of the international community and     9     (effective) dispose of the nuclear-contaminated water in a     10     (science), safe and transparent manner under strict international supervision," the administration said.

2 . 听下面一段较长对话，回答以下小题。
1. Who kept the man informed of most related information?

A．The staff.

B．The students.

C．The cleaners.

2. What waste was most commonly seen in the university?

A．The paper copying.

B．The paper cups.

C．The plastic cups.

3. What proportion of interviewees were worried about waste?

A．55%.

B．45%.

C．30%.

4. What does the woman suggest to raise people’s awareness?

A．Putting up a poster.

B．Holding an exhibition.

C．Delivering a lecture.

3 . In the first test of its kind in Europe, and only the second in the world, Belgian researchers tested 39 brands of straws (吸管) for the group of synthetic (合成的) chemicals known as poly-and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). The straws are made from five materials — paper, bamboo, glass, stainless steel and plastic. PFAS were found in the majority of the straws tested and were most common in those made from paper and bamboo. They were not found only in steel straws tested.

PFAS are used to make everyday products, from outdoor clothing to non-stick pans, resistant (抵抗to water, heat and stains. They are, however, potentially harmful to people, wildlife and the environment. They have been related to a number of health problems, including lower response to vaccines (疫苗), lower birth weight, thyroid disease, liver damage, kidney cancer and testicular cancer. They break down very slowly over time and can last thousands of years in the environment, a property that has led to them being known as “forever chemicals”.

A growing number of countries, including the UK and Belgium, have sopped the sale of single-use plastic products, including drinking straws, and plant-based versions have become popular. The PFAS concentrations (浓缩物) were low in them and, bear in mind that most people tend to only use straws occasionally, bringing a limited risk to human health. However, PFAS can remain in the body for many years and concentrations can build up over time.

It isn’t known whether the PFAS were added to the straws by the producer for waterproofing or the PFAS were the result of contamination. Potential sources of contamination include the soil the plant-based materials were grown in and the water used in the production process. However, the presence of the chemicals in almost every brand of paper straws means it is likely that it was, in some cases, being used as a water-resistant coating, say the researchers.

1. Why are PFAS called “forever chemicals”?

A．They are commonly seen in daily life.

B．They bring humans health problems.

C．They remain in the environment for long.

D．They can resist water, heat and stains.

2. How can PFAS harm people’s health?

A．By bringing people air pollution.

B．By polluting humans’ food.

C．By building up little by little in humans’ body.

D．By making people addicted to drinking easily.

3. What does the underlined word “contamination” in the last paragraph mean?

A．Pollution.

B．Discovery.

C．Experiment.

D．Development.

4. What does the text mainly talk about?

A．More and more countries give up single-use plastic products.

B．PFAS are widely used in the production of daily necessities.

C．Certain kinds of new synthetic chemicals were discovered.

D．Environment-friendly drinking straws are actually harmful.

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 . Have you ever stopped to consider how empty the world would look without trees? Below are five of the top benefits that trees provide.

    1     When adults who are feeling down spend time in the forest, they feel better. Forest therapy can range from simply walking among the trees for a couple of hours to meditating (冥想) in a forest. The adults note they become more confident and their mood improves after forest therapy.

Trees help you heal faster. Natural environments, including forests, help you reach a more positive state of mind.     2     In fact, sick people with exposure to nature heal faster than those who don’t, even if it’s just a view through a window!

Trees reduce air pollution and improve respiratory (呼吸的) health. Trees take in many harmful pollutants from our environment.     3    These forests reduce an estimated 670, 000 cases of respiratory illness and save 850 lives.

Trees provide oxygen. Trees are like the lungs of our Earth. They supply us with oxygen while taking away our carbon dioxide and ask for nothing in return. A single tree can provide enough oxygen for four people.     4    

Trees cool cities. Trees cool things down by offering shade and through evapotranspiration (蒸腾作用).     5     Trees even save your money on your electric bill. When a tree offers direct shade for your home, you’ll use less air conditioning.

A．Trees cheer you up!

B．Trees help reduce the effects of climate change.

C．This, in turn, affects your overall state of wellness.

D．In fact, large forests can influence regional weather patterns.

E．So plant more trees around your home if you want to feel cooler.

F．And of course, trees also provide plenty of oxygen for birds and other wildlife.

G．For example, in the US, forests remove 17.4 million tons of pollution per year.

6 . 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。

Factory farming involves     1     (keep) farm animals inside buildings to increase the production of meat or eggs. According to an institute, “74% of the world’s poultry, 43% of its beef and 68% of its eggs     2     (produce) in this way.”

The main     3     (argue) for factory farming is that, apart from being a lot cheaper than     4     (tradition) or organic farming, it     5     (provide) more food for a world population that has already reached seven billion. As factory farms do not use many workers, the costs are low and the production is high. Moreover, factory-farmed animals suffer from     6     (few) diseases than those living outside.

On the other hand, opponents of factory farming say that it is cruel to the animals. For instance, many farm animals are kept in small spaces     7     they can hardly move. In addition to this, factory farming has a negative impact     8     the environment because it creates a lot of waste products, and uses a lot of chemicals to control insects and drugs     9     (treat) diseases.

To sum up, despite producing cheap food, factory farming is bad for the planet and for the animals themselves. We should try to reduce this kind of farming, although we would have to pay more for our eggs     10     meat.

7 . Walking along any beach in the world, you will find plastic of some kind on the shoreline, offering a reminder of the throwaway culture of the present day world. Now, a study has sounded a fresh warning on the damage caused to the marine (海洋的) ecosystem due to plastics, which eventually has an effect on human health due to the seafood we eat

In a paper titled “A Growing Plastic Smog”, researchers called on governments around the world to take firm action to handle the “plastic pollution” of the world's oceans.

The plastics break down over time into minute particles(微小颗粒) that cannot be seen by eyes, but find their way into the ocean ecosystem and into the seafood humans consume. “Microplastics are a problem because they are mistaken for food and eaten by small marine animals.” Charlene Trestrail said. “Once eaten, microplastics can damage an animal’s intestines(肠), and give out potentially harmful chemicals inside animals.”

Charlene Trestrail, a researcher at the University of Technology Sydney, said “the study shows just how big the problem is and that much of the blame was placed on the plastics industry for failing to recycle or design for recyclability.”

Paul Harvey, an environmental scientist, said “Globally, we have reached a point where we can no longer ignore the plastic pollution pandemic(流行病) that is infecting our oceans. This research shows us that beach cleanups and citizen science projects that focus on the environmental problems of plastics have little impact on solving the problem.”

Marcus Eriksen, lead author of the study, said that the findings were a “stark warning that we must act now at a global scale”. “Cleanup is useless if we continue to produce plastic at the current/rate, and we have heard about recycling for too long, while the plastic industry refuses any commitments to buy recycled material or design for recyclability. It is time for policymakers, governments and businesses to wake up and take the issue seriously.”

1. What is the third paragraph mainly about ?

A．The effect of chemicals.	B．The harm of microplastics.
C．The food of marine animals.	D．The breakdown of microplastics.

2. Who is to blame most for plastic pollution in the ocean?

A．Plastics industry.

B．Government.

C．Tourists.

D．Cleaners

3. What does Paul Harvey think of beach cleanups?

A．Useful.

B．Negative

C．Positive

D．Indifferent

4. What will the author talk about next?

A．The tendency of plastic pollution.

B．The bad effects of plastic pollution.

C．The measures to deal with plastic pollution.

D．The reason for plastic pollution in the ocean.

8 . 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.

9 . 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.

10 . 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.