1 . 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.

2 . Objects in the night sky are disappearing from view because of light pollution, according to a new study. Outdoor lighting from street lamps, office buildings and vehicle headlights leads to sky less bright, which is when the night sky gets brighter. The brighter it is at night, the harder it is to see stars and planets from Earth.

Christopher Kyba, an astronomer with the GFZ German Research Center for Geosciences, led his team studying over 50, 000 star observations between 2011 and 2022. “If the brightening of the night sky continues at the current rate,” Kyba said, “a child born in a place where 250 stars are visible will only be able to see 100 stars by the time he or she turned 18.”

The issue is global but particularly common in North America, where 80% of people cannot see the Milky Way galaxy (银河系). This huge group of billions of stars should look like a wide strip of light in the dark night sky. However, only very remote places, such as the Sahara Desert and the Amazon Rain Forest, have a truly dark night sky.

Light pollution makes it harder for astronomers to study stars and planets. It also causes problems for animals. Animals active at night like bats become confused and crash into objects. Turtles that hatch (孵化)at night need moonlight to find the sea, but artificial lights can confuse them and make them head inland instead. Birds in cities often wake up and start singing earlier than they should. Human lights also cause themselves to produce less of a chemical called melatonin(褪黑激素). This can lead to sleep problems, headaches, tiredness, and mood issues.

To help, scientists want to raise awareness of light pollution. They suggest that people use outdoor lighting that causes less light pollution, such as motion-sensitive lights that switch on only when they’re needed.

1. How does the author lead in the topic of the text?

A．By giving examples.

B．By offering evidence.

C．By making comparison.

D．By bringing up the issue.

2. What can be inferred from Kyba’s words?

A．Light pollution is becoming serious.

B．Adults are easier to see stars than kids.

C．Stars are becoming fewer year by year.

D．Kids are losing interest in watching stars.

3. What effect may light pollution cause?

A．Turtles are forced to hatch at sea.

B．Humans produce more melatonin.

C．Bats can get lost during the flight.

D．Birds in cities wake up much later.

4. What is the best title for the text?

A．A New Origin of Light Pollution

B．Light Is Making Stars Unobserved

C．Ways to Deal with Light Pollution

D．Light Causes Human Sleep Issues

3 . How many plastic carrier bags have you got in your house? I seem to have cupboards full of them and it feels like they’re taking over my home! The shopping bag is just one example of the milion things we use made from this useful material, plastic. But unfortunately, it’s not the easiest thing to recycle and this is causing an environmental problem.

Most of our everyday plastic items end up in landfill, left to rot away for many years. But some of it blows away, causing damage to the natural environment and harming wildlife. The problem is most serious in our oceans.

The study, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, described how remote islands act as a “sink” for the world’s rubbish. They become collecting points for fishing items and everyday things including toothbrushes, cigarette lighters and razors (剃须刀); things that we throw away. Dr Jennifer Lavers from the University of Tasmania says, “Almost every island in the world and almost every species in the ocean is now being shown to be impacted one way or another by our waste.”

This highlights the potentially deadly effect of our disposable culture. When we throw something away, it doesn’t just disappear, it goes somewhere and because of the long-lasting nature of plastic, it takes a lot time to decompose (分解) and stays there causing great damage to the ocean’s ecology.

Some other recent worldwide research estimates that 90% of all seabirds have swallowed plastic. And worse still, this plastic is broken down into tiny particles (颗粒) over a long period by the wind and the waves, then sea creatures at the bottom of the food chain ingest (咽下) them. These creatures are eaten by the fish that we eventually consume.

The solution to this problem would be to use less plastic. So next time you pick up a carrier bag, or buy a plastic bottle of water, spare a thought for the birds and animals on the remote islands. What do you do to help the environment?

1. What’s the function of the first paragraph of the text?

A．To explain an idea.	B．To create a suspense.
C．To introduce the topic.	D．To summarize the text.

2. According to the passage, why is plastic difficult to decompose?

A．Because of its lasting nature.

B．Because we use so much of it.

C．Because of our disposable culture.

D．Because it causes damage to the ocean’s ecology.

3. Where will the plastic finally come in the food chain?

A．Seabirds.

B．Sea creatures.

C．Fish.

D．Human beings.

4. What does the author call on us to do?

A．To consume less plastic.

B．To pick up a carrier bag.

C．To buy a plastic bottle of water.

D．To see birds and animals on the remote islands.

4 . The world’s largest garbage dump doesn’t sit on some barren field outside urban centre. It resides thousands of miles from any land—in the Pacific Ocean.

The dump, known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, stretches for hundreds of miles across the North Pacific Ocean.     1    It has quickly come into the spotlight this year, thanks to growing media coverage and teams of scientists who took a voyage in August to study the patch.

    2    Shoes, toys, bags, wrappers, toothbrushes, and bottles too numerous to count are only part of what can be found in this dump floating midway between Hawaii and San Francisco.

But how did so much garbage get there?     3    The patch moves with the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre, a high pressure zone of air which forces ocean surface currents to move in a slowly clockwise pattern. This creates a whirlpool which sucks garbage problem: plastic that begins in human hands yet ends up in the ocean. Organic materials and garbage from other sources will eventually break down, but plastics do not, although they do break into smaller and smaller pieces.

    4    The area supports minimal sea life, because the garbage patch restricts the limited area of water which sea plants can live in. Other marine life including birds, mammals, fish and jellyfish also suffers because they mistake the garbage for food. A great deal of marine life is then consumed by humans, resulting in their ingestion of poisonous chemicals.

A．Plastic makes up 90 percent of all trash floating in the world’s oceans.

B．The environmental risks caused by the patch are serious.

C．The patch contains about 3. 5 million tons of garbage.

D．The patches are connected by a thin 6,000-mile-long current called the Subtropical Convergence Zone.

E．Roughly the size of Texas, the patch is sometimes referred to as the “eighth continents”.

F．The garbage patch formed and continues to exist because of ocean currents.

5 . Coca -Cola, PepsiCo and Nestle have been accused of “zero progress” on reducing plastic waste, after being named the world’s top plastic polluters for the third year in a row.

Coca -Cola was ranked the world’s No. 1 plastic polluter by Break Free From Plastic in its annual audit, after its beverage bottles were the most frequently found discarded on beaches, rivers, parks and other litter sites in 51 of 55 nations surveyed. Last year it was the most frequently littered bottle in 37 countries, out of 51 surveyed.

The annual audit, undertaken by 15,000 volunteers around the world, identifies the largest number of plastic products from global brands found in the highest number of countries.     1    

Coca -Cola came under fire from environmental campaigners earlier this year when it announced it would not abandon plastic bottles, saying they were popular with customers. In March, Coca -Cola, PepsiCo, Nestle and Unilever were found to be responsible for half a million tonnes of plastic pollution in six developing countries each year in a survey.

“     2    But instead they are continuing to pump out harmful single -use plastic packaging,” said Emma Priestland, Break Free From Plastic’s global campaign coordinator. Priestland said the only way to halt the growing global tide of plastic litter was to stop production, phase out single use and implement reuse systems. “Coca -Cola, PepsiCo, and Nestle should be leading the way in finding real solutions to reinvent how they deliver their products,” she said. Coca -Cola said it was working to address packaging waste, in partnership with others, and disputed the claim that it was making no progress. “     3    And the plastic can be recycled into new bottles,” a spokesperson said. “Bottles with 100% recycled plastic are now available in 18 markets around the world, and this is continually growing.” The spokesperson said Coca –Cola had also reduced plastic use in secondary packaging, and that globally ”more than 20% of our portfolio comes in refillable or fountain packaging“.

A spokesperson for PepsiCo said the company was taking action to tackle packaging through “partnership, innovation and investments”. They said it has set plastic reduction goals “including decreasing virgin plastic in our beverage business by 35% by 2025“, and was also ”growing refill and reuse through businesses like SodaStream and SodaStream Professional, which we expect will avoid 67 billion single -use plastic bottles through 2025”.

    4    But it recognised more was needed: “We are intensifying our actions to make 100% of our packaging recyclable or reusable by 2025 and to reduce our use of virgin plastics by one-third in the same period. So far, 87% of our total packaging and 66% of our plastic packaging is recyclable or reusable.”

A．The world’s top polluting corporations claim to be working hard to solve plastic pollution.

B．Up to 91% of all the plastic waste ever generated has not been recycled and ended up being incinerated, in landfill or in the natural environment.

C．A statement from Nestle said the company was making “meaningful progress” in sustainable packaging.

D．Globally, we have a commitment to get every bottle back by 2030, so that none of it ends up as litter or in the oceans.

E．This year they collected 346, 494 pieces of plastic waste, 63% of which was marked clearly with a consumer brand.

F．Coca-Cola branding was found to be worse than PepsiCo and Nestle combined.

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?
__________________________________________________________________
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.
__________________________________________________________________
4. Apart from the ways mentioned in the passage, please share your way(s) to reduce e-waste. (About 40 words)
__________________________________________________________________

9 . 语法填空

Air pollution, global warming and overflowing landfills are the most serious environmental problems we are currently facing today.

The main cause of air pollution is the burning of fossil fuels.Other human activities,such as construction and the burning of waste,also contribute to air pollution.The effects on our health can be very serious.You can easily contribute to     1     (reduce) air pollution by using public transport.

Global warming     2     (cause) by the build-up of carbon dioxide and other pollutants in the atmosphere.These trap the sun’s heat and warm up the planet.Global warming has already caused     3     wide range of problems.

Landfills are used for waste disposal in many countries around the world.However,due     4     the amount of waste our lifestyles produce,these landfills are now reaching full capacity.When this happens,the chances of dangerous     5     (chemical) in the waste entering our water supply increase.The amount of waste in landfills in China     6     (rise) greatly over the last decade.The government is now trying to find alternative waste disposal methods.Apart from the three Rs (Reduce,Reuse and Recycle),some experts have begun advocating the fourth R — Responsibility.They believe     7    although recycling waste is effective,the most effective way of solving the problem of overflowing landfills     8     (be) to encourage people     9     (take) responsibility for reducing the waste they produce     10     (they).

10 . 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。

A sandstorm,     1     originated in Mongolia on Tuesday, swept through vast regions of northern China, causing heavy pollution. The storm, according to the National Meteorological Center, was the     2    (strong) in China so far this year and affected several provincial-level regions. It was said that strong winds     3    (blow) over loose sand and soil created the conditions for sand and dust storms. Satellite images showed that by Wednesday morning, it     4    (cover) 854,000 square kilometers,     5    (rough) twice the size of the US state of California.     6    violent sandstorm swallowed everything in its path and caused much inconvenience. Visibility remained lower than 1,000 meters in some parts of northern China. The     7    (government) of the affected areas urged people with respiratory(呼吸道)illnesses to avoid outdoor activities and recommended that brightly colored clothes     8    (wear)to avoid accidents amid poor visibility. The capital’s parks stopped boats and cable cars     9    (ensure)the safety of visitors. It is hard to say     10     there will be more such weather conditions, but the NMC will keep close watch this spring.