高考英语阅读理解分类训练：环境类

这是一份高考英语阅读理解分类训练：环境类，共27页。

阅读理解
ECycling refers to the recycling of electronic items, which are becoming a common problem in American home and throughout the world. The EPA, or Environmental Protection Agency, has actually started a program to help and motivate the recycling of electronics.
To get the program to the regional and neighborhood levels, the EPA directed “Plug-In to eCycling Partners.” These partnerships support electronic reusing programs in individual communities. They provide local governments, retailers and manufacturers with opportunities to reuse and recycle their items. Those who make and offer electronic devices then promote programs and opportunities for consumers to reuse their second-hand electronic products. One of the EPA’s goals is to enlighten customers about why the recycling of electronics is so important. They likewise wish to make eCycling chances easily accessible to specific consumers and their family electronics. According to the EPA, the eCycling program has actually been quite successful. In 2008, the EPA collected 66.5 million pounds of electronic devices through their Plug-In Partners.
Local governments have actually likewise got on board and passed laws intended to handle used electronic devices. Huge corporations have actually introduced eCycling programs at their local retail stores. One seller offers customers small, medium and big boxes for sale, which the customers then load with used electronics and go back to the store. Typically, customers bring their recyclable electronics to a location. When the electronic items are gathered by the EPA (typically this is done by the Partners), they are reused or recycled.
Reused items are repaired and refurbished, and passed on to others as a contribution. You can repair or recondition your very own electronic devices too, extending the life of the items and conserving the energy of making new materials. Reusing electronic devices includes making use of the products and parts of the items. These materials and parts are then made use of to produce another item. This is more efficient than making items from new materials.
Some items that are commonly eCycled consist of televisions, computer monitors, printers, notebook computer, keyboards and cable televisions. Less usual items include copying machines, CD players, voice mail machines, computer hard drives, mobile telephones, remote controls, radios, batteries, telephones, facsimile machines and computer games. Occasionally, electronic items such as microwaves, fans, vacuums, smoke alarms, and toasters are eCycled.
As the eCycling program continues, you or your organization may want to get involved. Check the EPA’s internet site (www.epa.gov) for regional eCycling programs, or for details on how your company can participate. Their website has links to organizations that are taking part in the eCycling program.
1．The EPA brought about “Plug-In to eCycling Partners” to ________.
A．make and offer electronic devices to consumers
B．make customers understand the importance of eCycling
C．make it possible for consumers to reuse their used e-products
D．make the program accessible to local regions and communities
2．The Plug-In Partners are mainly engaged in ________.
A．offering customers different boxes for sale
B．reusing second-hand e-products
C．gathering recyclable electronics
D．repairing electronic device
3．What is the main purpose of this passage?
A．To call on local governments to support Plug-In Partners.
B．To attract people to join in the eCycling programs.
C．To teach customers how to recycle electronics.
D．To introduce a new way to save costs.
When I give public lectures about the climate crisis, the most common question people pose is: “Are you an optimist or a pessimist?”
My answer is yes. California has achieved dramatic emissions reductions in a thriving economy, which makes me hopeful, yet in general the fossil-fuel industry is determined not to change. The second most common question is: “What can I, personally, do?”
That’s a tough one. The major drivers of climate change are collective enterprises such as power grids, industry, large-scale agriculture and transportation systems. Substantial emissions reductions in these settings most likely will not come from personal actions; they will come from laws and policies such as carbon-pricing systems, revised building codes and supports for green investment.
Some people have argued that calls for individual action actually distract us from corporate responsibility. That could explain why the fossil-fuel industry is fond of such requests. Oil giant BP popularized and promoted the idea of a carbon footprint, deflecting attention to its customers who, it suggests, should take personal responsibility by lowering their carbon footprints. One study found that focusing on individual activity actually undermines support for more effective policy initiatives such as a carbon tax. Another problem with personal behavior is that people do not like to be told what to do.
Yet individual acts can grow into influential group activity. One effective act, and one that can be amplified, is to eat less red meat. Cutting meat consumption is a powerful and personal thing most Americans can do to tackle the climate crisis, and they can do it immediately. About 40 percent of greenhouse gases come from agriculture, deforestation and other land-use changes. Meat — particularly beef — drives climate change in two ways: first, through cows’ emission of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, and second, by destroying forests as they are converted to grazing land to satisfy the global demand for beef. By eating less beef, we can start to decrease that demand. You do not have to become a vegan to do this. If every person in the U.S. cut their meat consumption by 25 percent, it would reduce annual greenhouse gas emissions by 1 percent. That might not sound like a lot, but it would help protect the rain forest, so the positive effects — including reduced water and fertilizer use, improved biodiversity and safeguarded rights of indigenous peoples — would be amplified.
Perhaps most important, social action is contagious — in a good way. If lots of us begin to eat less meat and if we talk about it constructively, we will likely influence others. Pretty soon the 1 percent reduction becomes 2 percent or more. Reduced demand for meat could motivate my local supermarket to carry better produce, making it easier for me and my neighbors to prepare a few more satisfying meat-free meals. Ultimately changes in demand will influence industry. Forty years ago few mainstream supermarkets carried organic products; now nearly all do. Consumer demand did that.
Cutting back on red meat also has the added benefit of being good for your health. So while I wouldn’t advise governments to order people to stop eating hamburgers, if anyone asks, “What can I do?” a simple and accurate answer is: “Eat less meat. It’s in your control, and you can begin right now. It benefits both you and the planet.”
4．Which one plays the most decisive role in emissions reductions according to the passage?
A．Individual actions. B．Fossil-fuel industries.
C．The thriving economy. D．Effective laws and policies.
5．What do we learn from the passage?
A．Indigenous peoples turn forests into grazing land.
B．Meat is considered as the biggest driver of climate change.
C．Small individual acts can make a big difference collectively.
D．Most Americans have to become vegans to tackle the climate crisis.
6．What does the underlined word “contagious” in Paragraph 6 mean?
A．Appealing. B．Poisonous. C．Harmonious. D．Spreading.
7．What is the purpose of the author writing this passage？
A．To explain ways to reduce carbon footprint.
B．To persuade people to cut meat consumption.
C．To evaluate the effects of healthy eating habits.
D．To argue against the emission policies of industries.
Microplastics —   tiny pieces of plastic waste less than five millimetres long that have been degraded by waves, wind and ultraviolet rays — have been discovered in the deepest oceanic trenches and within the stomachs of the organisms that live there, but we have little idea about where the great majority of them end up. More than eight million tonnes of plastic enters our oceans every year, comprising between 80 and 85 percent of all marine trash, but with inadequate data, there are concerns that these figures could be underestimates.
Currently, most of the data we have on microplastics are accidentally captured by research ships, which use plankton nets to collect marine-microorganism samples. However, researchers Christopher Ruf and Madeline Evans from the University of Michigan have discovered an innovative way to identify and track concentrations of microplastics in the ocean.
The technique relies on NASA’s Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System (CYGNSS), a constellation of eight micro-satellites used to predict hurricanes that calculate wind speeds above the ocean by measuring the roughness of surface waters. As the satellites are continuously recording, Ruf and Evans realised that they collect a great deal of additional data. It was while analysing these data that they noticed some differences-times where the surface of the ocean appeared to be much smoother than it should, given the prevailing wind (盛行风) conditions.
Knowing that water isn’t roughened as much when it contains a lot of floating material, Ruf and Evans identified a pattern that linked areas of unusual smoothness and predicted microplastic distributions. They found that the difference between their measurements, and how much rougher the surface would be if winds of the same speed were blowing across clear water, was “highly correlated with the presence of microplastics, and the degree of the difference also correlated with the concentration of the plastics.”
The research reveals that there are seasonal variations,where the concentrations of microplastics tend to be higher in the summer and lower in the winter in a very clean, periodic way, which Ruf explains mirrors the way in which the ocean circulation changes throughout the year. It also confirms, as was previously thought, that rivers are the main source of ocean microplastics.
Raising awareness of the issue of ocean microplastics among the public and politicians is just one of the researchers’ future aims; they are also in conversation with Duteh non-profit The Ocean Cleanup and Finnish clean-technology specialist Clewat, which are interested in using the information to more efficiently target their trash-collection campaigns.
So far, only one year’s worth of data have been processed since CYGNSS was launched in 2016. By looking at a longer time period, Ruf and Evans aim to determine whether the seasonal pattern is repeatable, and whether the concentration of micmplastics in the ocean is getting worse.
8．What is Paragraph 1 mainly about?
A．The limited knowledge about ocean microplastics.
B．The harm of ocean microplastics to sea creatures.
C．The methods of degrading ocean microplasties.
D．The previous research on ocean microplasties.
9．According to the passage, CYGNSS ________.
A．has offered data about the repeatable seasonal pattern
B．guides research ships to gather data about sea animals
C．provides unexpected data about the changes of sea surface
D．was designed to measure the distribution of ocean microplastics
10．What can we learn from the passage?
A．Microplastics will end up in the stomachs of the ocean organisms.
B．Mlicroplastics play a vital role in the yearly ocean circulation changes.
C．The surface of the ocean can get smoother with more microplastics in it.
D．The new way of tracking microplastics has helped prevent ocean pollution.
11．What is the main purpose of the passage?
A．To introduce the technology of CYGNSS.
B．To present a way to study ocean microplastics.
C．To test an assumption on ocean microplastics.
D．To propose a new means of protecting the ocean.
Few dishes taste better than a juicy cut of beef. One survey in 2014 found that steak was Americans’ favorite food. Unfortunately, by cooking so many cows, humans are cooking themselves, too.
The influence of food on greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions (排放) can slip under the radar. In a survey in Britain last year, the share of answerers saying that “producing plants and meat on farms” was a “significant contributor” to climate change was the lowest among ten listed activities. Yet two papers published this year in Nature Food find that food, especially beef, creates more GHGS than previously thought.
This March researchers from the European Commission and the UN’s Food and Agriculture Office released a study estimating that the global food system was responsible for 34% of GHG in 2015. The paper assigns the full impact of deforestation to the agriculture that results from it;includes emissions after food is sold(such as from waste and cooking);and counts non-food crops like cotton. But even when the authors took away emissions from sources like transport and packaging, they still found that agriculture generated 24% of GHGS.
Another recent paper, by Xiaoming Xu of the University of Illinois and eight co-authors, allocates (分配) this impact among 171 crops and 16 animal products. It finds that animal-based foods account for 57% of agricultural GHGS, versus 29% for food from plants. Beef and cow’s milk alone made up 34%. Combined with the earlier study’s results, this implies that cattle produce 12% of GHG emissions.
Relative to other food sources, beef is uniquely carbon-intensive. Because cattle emit methane (甲烷) and need large grasslands that are often created by cutting more forests, they produce seven times as many GHGS per calorie of meat as pigs do. This makes beef a bigger share among foods than coal is among sources of electricity.
The simplest way to cut beef output is for people to eat other animals instead, or become vegetarians. But convincing people to give up their burgers is a tall order.
Fortunately, lab-grown meats are moving from Petri dishes (培养皿) to high-end restaurants. Doing without beef from live cattle is hard to imagine, but the same was true of coal 100 years ago. Lab-grown meat could play an essential role in slowing a climate disaster.
12．The underlined phrase in paragraph 2 can probably be replaced by ____________.
A．be detected by radar B．be ignored by people
C．be explained by experts D．be controlled by government
13．What can we learn from the passage?
A．Lab-grown meats will replace other meats in the future.
B．Quitting steak may be an efficient way to reduce GHG.
C．Producing beef generates more GHG than burning coal.
D．Beef transport is the major contributor of GHG emissions.
14．The author mentions the coal in the last paragraph just to show ____________.
A．the importance of both lab-grown beef and coal B．the difficulty to produce the lab-grown meat
C．the necessity of beef from live cattle D．the future of lab-grown beef
Deep Sea: To Mine Or Not To Mine
A robot as large as a truck moves along the bottom of the deep sea. It eats metallic (含金属的) rock and soft mud. They travel up a long pipe to a ship, where workers and machinery separate out the rock and throw the mud back into the ocean. This is a mining operation. The rock contains a mixture of metals, including ones called rare earth metals. People use these materials to make batteries and electronics like computers and phones.
Deep-sea mining hasn’t happened yet. But it probably will occur within the next decade. No country owns any part of the deep sea, so a UN organization called the International Seabed Authority (ISA) decides who is allowed to mine there. It has allowed 29 organizations to explore the deep sea and make plans for mining, one of which plans to begin mining in the year 2027.
Scientists and environmentalists, though, warn that mining could destroy deep-sea ecosystem. In 1989, ecologist Hjalmar Thiel carried out a test. His team searched the seafloor of the Pacific Ocean, in a spot with lots of the metallic rocks that miners wanted. They didn’t actually collect any of the rocks. But they disturbed the mud, just as a mining operation would. The cloud of mud fell back down over the ocean floor burying creatures living there. Up to now, the area they disturbed has not recovered. Signs of the search are still there. Deep sea creatures like sponges and corals have not moved back in. That means mining could have harmful, long-lasting consequences for deep ocean life. Scientists want to understand the deep sea better before disturbing it.
Leaving the deep sea alone sounds great, but people need those metals. “Mines on land are soon going to run out,” geologist Steven Scolt of the University of Toronto told Smithsonian Magazine. “Every electronic device in the world has rare earth metals in it... we need raw resources.” New energy technologies including solar and wind power and electric cars rely on these metals as well. We may need to mine them from the sea in order to switch to greener energy sources.
15．According to the passage, why do people want to carry out deep sea mining?
A．To test the mining robot. B．To collect rare earth metals.
C．To separate the rock from mud. D．To understand the deep sea better.
16．What can we infer from the test of Hjalmar Thiel in 1989?
A．They gathered some metallic rocks the miners wanted.
B．They helped the recovery of the disturbed mining areas.
C．They discovered the deep-sea mining affected the ocean ecology.
D．They found the rare metallic rocks were harmful to sea creatures.
17．What is Steven Scolt’s attitude towards deep-sea mining?
A．Doubtful. B．Neutral. C．Supportive. D．Disapproving.
If you’re someone who spends time outdoors you probably have a positive body image and high self—esteem. Surprising? You’d better believe it. Fresh air isn’t just good for your health; it can also help you feel confident about how you look.
A UK study of 199 women and 200 men aged between 19 and 76 from the US—led by a Cambridge Professor Viren Swami—has reported that being in natural surroundings can help make people feel more respect for their bodies.
Consequently, they take more care of themselves and stay in better health. It can also help people feel further removed from the pressures of society and lessen the need to conform to stereotypes, such as being thin or muscular.
For the study, participants were asked to visit different locations like the countryside, the seaside, the beach and open spaces in cities like parks. Then they were asked to describe how their visits and overall experience had affected them.
The researchers found trips to nature were linked to great feelings of relaxation and refreshment. This was especially true of visits to country or coastal locations, and to protected sites.
The strongest connections with nature were found in visits that lasted longer than 30 minutes and so had greater psychological benefits. Another study from researchers at the universities of Surrey, Exeter, Plymouth, and from Natural England, surveyed 4,500 people as they spent time in nature. For the first time, they investigated how different environmental settings can affect psychological wellbeing. Lead author of the paper Dr Kayleigh Wyles, from Surrey University, said: “We’ve demonstrated that nature can be beneficial to us, but we’re still exploring how and why. “Here we have found our mental wellbeing and our emotional bond with nature may differ depending on the type and quality of an environment we visit.”
“These findings are important as they not only help unpick the mechanisms behind these psychological benefits, but they can also help to prioritize the protection of these environments and emphasize why bracing nature is so important.”
18．Which is not a benefit natural surroundings brings to human according to the passage?
A．Increase the need to conform to stereotypes, such as being thin or muscular.
B．Make people feel more respect for their bodies.
C．Help people stay in better health.
D．Help people feel further removed from the pressures of society.
19．For the study, participants were asked to visit different locations except _________?
A．the countryside. B．the seaside. C．the beach. D．high street.
20．Which exposure to nature may bring the largest psychological benefit?
A．Stay at coastal locations for 25 minutes. B．Stay at coastal locations for 5 hours.
C．Stay at park for 20 minutes. D．Stay at school for 2 hours.
21．Why researchers at the universities of Surrey, Exeter, Plymouth, and from Natural England, surveyed 4,500 people?
A．They want to know whether natural surrounding will benefit human’s mental wellbeing.
B．They want to learn the connection between environment and personality.
C．They want to study human’s psychology.
D．They want to explore how and why nature can be beneficial to human.
22．which is the best title for the passage?
A．countryside will make you feel better. B．sports and health.
C．let’s take a trip. D．the secret of health.
When a chunk of ice fell from a collapsing glacier(冰川)on the Swiss Alps’ Mount Eiger in 2017, part of the long deep sound it produced was too low for human ears to detect. But these vibrations held a key to calculating the ice avalanche’s(崩塌)critical characteristics.
Low-frequency sound waves called infrasound that travel great distances through the atmosphere are already used to monitor active volcanoes from afar. Now some researchers in this field have switched focus from fire to ice: dangerous blocks snapping off glaciers. Previous work has analyzed infrasound from snow avalanches but never ice, says Boise State University geophysicist Jeffrey Johnson. “This was different,” Johnson says. “A signature of a new material has been detected with infrasound.”
Usually glaciers move far too slowly to generate an infrasound signal, which researchers pick up using detectors that track slight changes in air pressure. But a collapse—a sudden, rapid breaking of ice from the glacier’s main body—is a prolific infrasound producer. Glacial collapses drive ice avalanches, which pose an increasing threat to people in mountainous regions as rising temperatures weaken large fields of ice. A glacier “can become detached from the ground due to melting, causing bigger break— offs,” says University of Florence geologist Emanuele Marchetti, lead author of the new study. As the threat grows, scientists seek new ways to monitor and detect such collapses.
Researchers often use radar to track ice avalanches, which is precise but expensive and can monitor only one specific location and neighboring avalanche paths. Infrasound, Marchetti says, is cheaper and can detect break—off events around a much broader area as well as multiple avalanches across a mountain. It is challenging, however, to separate a signal into its components (such as traffic noises, individual avalanches and nearby earthquakes) without additional measurements, says ETH Zurich glaciologist Malgorzata Chmiel. “The model used by Marchetti is a first approximation for this,” she says. Isolating the relevant signal helps the researchers monitor an ice avalanche’s speed, path and volume from afar using infrasound.
Marchetti and his colleagues are now working to improve their detectors to pick up more signals across at-risk regions in Europe, and they have set up collaborations around the continent to better understand signals that collapsing glaciers produce. They are also refining their mathematical analysis to figure out each ice cascade’s physical details.
23．What can we learn from Paragraph 2 and Paragraph 3?
A．Infrasound has a major role to play in discovering new materials.
B．Ice avalanches are a bigger threat to people than volcanic eruptions.
C．Researchers are trying to use infrasound in detecting ice avalanches.
D．Scientists employ infrasound more in mountain areas than in other places.
24．Which is an advantage of infrasound over radar?
A．The combination with other relevant signals.
B．The accuracy in locating a certain avalanche.
C．The ability in picking up signals in wider areas.
D．The sensitivity in tracking air pressure changes.
25．The underlined word “this” in Paragraph 4 refers to________.
A．distinguishing different components of a signal
B．detecting multiple avalanches at the same time
C．calculating the speed and path of ice avalanches
D．monitoring the specific location of ice break—offs
26．Which of the following would be the best title for the passage?
A．From Fire to Ice B．Glacier Whispers
C．Nature is Warning D．Secret of Ice Avalanches
When it comes to lowering our carbon emissions (排放), it seems that nothing is simple. Electric vehicles (EVs) act as an example of potential greenwash. “They seem very attractive at first sight,” writes The Next Web in a report. “When we look more closely, it becomes clear that they have a substantial carbon footprint.”
The rare earth metals and costly minerals included as essential ingredients in EV batteries are not renewable. What’s more, their extraction (提炼) is often anything but green.
So the question is: is it worth it? Just how much emission reduction can EVs justify? Luckily, a life cycle assessment has been done to give us some answers.
“A life cycle analysis of emissions considers three phases,” writes The Next Web. “the manufacturing phase, the use phase, and the recycling phase.” In the manufacturing phase, the battery is to blame. “Emissions from manufacturing EV batteries were estimated to be 3.2 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2), 1/4 of those from an electric car, 13 tons of CO2. Those were bigger than emissions from gas cars, 10.5 tons of CO2.” If the vehicle life is assumed to be 150,000 kilometers, emissions from the manufacturing phase of an electric car are higher than gas cars.”
In the use phase, the source of electricity the consumer is using to power their car comes into play in a major way. “To understand how the emissions of electric car vary with a country’s renewable electricity share, consider Australia and New Zealand,” continues the report. “In 2018, Australia’s share of renewables in electricity was about 21%. In contrast, the number in New Zealand’s was about 84%. Electric car emissions in Australia and New Zealand are estimated at about 170g and 25g of CO2 per km respectively. As a consumer, our car is only as green as our country’s energy mix.”
Finally, in the recycling phase, we look at vehicle dismantling(拆除), vehicle recycling, battery recycling, and material recovery. “The estimated emissions in this phase, based on a study, are about 1.8 tons for a gas car and 2.4 tons for an electric car. This difference is mostly due to the emissions from battery recycling, which is 0.7 tons,” shows in the report. “While electric cars cause more greenhouse gas emissions than gas cars do, it's important to note the recycled batteries can be used in subsequent batteries. This could have significant emissions reduction benefits in the future. For complete life cycle emissions, the study shows that EV emissions are 18% lower than gas cars.”
So here’s the takeaway: EVs are greener. Maybe they’re not as green as we thought. There’s certainly room for improvement. But the real challenge lies in speeding the global energy transition toward greener energy-production.
27．Why is a life cycle analysis of emissions made?
A．To illustrate the advantages of EVs.
B．To show how gas cars outperform EVs.
C．To weigh the environmental impact of EVs.
D．To examine the energy sources of gas cars and EVs.
28．How does the author support the underlined statement in Paragraph 5?
A．By giving instructions. B．By highlighting features.
C．By making comparisons. D．By analyzing cause and effect.
29．According to the passage, what contributes to EVs’ beating gas cars?
A．Recycling of batteries. B．Overall driving distance.
C．Manufacturing technology. D．Government’s energy policy.
30．Which of the following statements does the author support?
A．EVs are worthy of the praise they have received.
B．EVs are not successful for their environmental downsides.
C．EVs will no longer be widely accepted for their emissions.
D．EVs are not truly green until their energy sources become green.
While the human world is suffering from the novel coronavirus outbreak, our planet is actually showing certain signs of “recovery” from the damage caused by human activity. According to the BBC, new satellite images released by the European Space Agency showed that levels of air pollutants and greenhouse gases have “fallen sharply” in major cities in Europe and the United States ever since the lockdown started.
This is a great example of how the world can change overnight as soon as people change their behavior—especially after recent discoveries in Antarctica.
An international team of 89 scientists found that the ice in Greenland and Antarctica is melting six times faster in the 2010s than it was in the 1990s. And in February, Argentina’s Marambio research station in Antarctica recorded a record high temperature of 20.75 ℃ on the continent.
So what exactly will happen if the temperature keeps rising and the ice keeps melting? A third study might give you an idea. A team of scientists drilled a hole into the seafloor in west Antarctica and extracted material from underground, in which they found traces of roots, spores and pollen—typical products of a rainforest—that dated back 90 million years ago. In other words, Antarctica was very likely a rainforest back when the dinosaurs walked on Earth.
But given the fact that the South Pole has four months of darkness winter—even millions of years ago—scientists believe that the rainforest could only exist if the greenhouse gas concentrations were extremely high back then to keep the continent warm when there was little or no sunlight. “We didn’t know that this Cretaceous（白垩纪的）greenhouse climate was that extreme,” Johann Klages of the Alfred Wegener Institute in Germany and a co-author of the research told the Guardian. “It shows us what carbon dioxide is able to do.”
Ice or no ice, Antarctica will be—and has always been—fine with extreme changes. The human world, however, may not be.
Now, during the coronavirus lockdown, we’ve seen the changes resulting from less human activity. Hopefully, we’ll hold on to those changes—not for Antarctica or the planet, but for ourselves.
31．What message does the author mainly want to convey in the first paragraph?
A．The air pollution issue in major cities urgently needs to be dealt with.
B．The novel coronavirus outbreak has resulted in a damage to nature.
C．Reduced human activity is beneficial to the healing process of the earth.
D．The novel coronavirus outbreak has changed the patterns of human activity.
32．What can we learn from the recent discoveries in Antarctica?
A．The climate in Antarctica can change overnight.
B．The greenhouse effect in Antarctica is extremely severe.
C．The high temperature in Antarctica is caused by climate change.
D．The glacier in Antarctica is melting in a faster speed in this century.
33．Why was Antarctica likely to be a rainforest 90 million years ago?
A．Traces of typical elements in a rainforest were found underground.
B．The greenhouse gas concentrations were extremely high back then.
C．The density of carbon dioxide has changed the climate in Antarctica.
D．The temperature in Antarctica have been increasing since the Cretaceous time.
34．According to the passage, which of the following statements is True?
A．Human activities do little harm to Antarctica.
B．We should limit carbon dioxide emissions to save ourselves.
C．There is little we can do to recover the environment in Antarctica.
D．Limiting human activities can be used to slow down global warming.
As the sun neared the horizon, Ali began his nightly walk through the sandy streets of Timbuktu in Mali. Covered in robes of indigo, he passed through the streets of Timbuktu and continued out into the sand dunes, just beyond the city’s western suburbs.
Ali was a teenager when he first saw the city that would later become his home. “I couldn’t believe the lights!” he remembered. Members of his family still live a semi-nomadic (半游牧的) existence out in the desert. But when he became an adult, drought and the need to earn a living drove Ali into Timbuktu, where he set up a business as a guide for tourists who wanted to explore the Sahara. His heart remained in the desert even when he had to be in the city. He refused to get a fixed-line telephone in case he came to depend upon it. When he had no clients, he would escape to the desert, spending months at a time camping out, drinking tea with friends and sleeping under the stars.
As a guide, Ali made friends from around the world, and he visited some in Europe. It was, to him, an alien world, just as Timbuktu remains for many around the globe. “The first time I was in Europe, I saw water just lying on the ground. Everything moved at a speed that was unthinkable in the Sahara. I thought ‘these people are crazy’. In the desert we have infinite time but no water,” he said. “In Europe, you have plenty of water but no time.”
When travelers wanted to see more of the Sahara, Ali took them to Araouane, a sand-drowned town 270 km north of Timbuktu. And yet for the tourists who visited there, the town was undoubtedly more to it than that. There was something there that produced a feeling similar to excitement. It was the awe of vast skies and big horizons.
35．What did Ali do daily when the sun would set?
A．He took a night walk. B．He chatted with neighbors.
C．He took a photo of the sun. D．He bought some food in a store.
36．How did Ali feel when first seeing the city?
A．Confused. B．Amazed.
C．Frightened. D．Moved.
37．What can we learn about Ali from paragraph 2?
A．He established a travel company.
B．He explored the Sahara Desert on his own.
C．He lived a semi-nomadic life with his wife.
D．He escaped from Sahara Desert with his friends.
38．What does the underlined part “these people are crazy” in paragraph 3 mean?
A．People in Europe waste so much time.
B．People in Europe always let water running.
C．People in Europe are curious about everything.
D．People in Europe are always busy with their life.















参考答案：
1．D
2．C
3．B
【解析】
【导语】
这是一篇说明文。主要介绍了eCycling这一项目的开展情况和人们的参与情况。
1．
细节理解题。根据第二段“To get the program to the regional and neighborhood levels, the EPA directed “Plug-In to eCycling Partners.”(为了将该项目推广到地区和社区层面，美国环境保护署指导了Plug-In to eCycling Partners项目。)”可知，美国环境保护署推出了Plug-In to eCycling Partners计划，是为了使当地地区和社区都可以使用该项目。故选D项。
2．
细节理解题。根据第二段“They provide local governments, retailers and manufacturers with opportunities to reuse and recycle their items. Those who make and offer electronic devices then promote programs and opportunities for consumers to reuse their second-hand electronic products.(它们为地方政府、零售商和制造商提供了重复使用和回收其产品的机会。然后，那些制造和提供电子设备的公司会为消费者提供重复使用二手电子产品的项目和机会。)”可知，Plug-In Partners主要从事的活动是收集可回收利用的电子产品。故选C项。
3．
推理判断题。根据最后一段“As the eCycling program continues, you or your organization may want to get involved. Check the EPA’s internet site (www.epa.gov) for regional eCycling programs, or for details on how your company can participate. Their website has links to organizations that are taking part in the eCycling program.(随着eCycling计划的继续，您或您的组织可能希望参与其中。查看美国环境保护署的网站（www.epa.gov）了解区域eCycling项目，或了解贵公司如何参与的详细信息。他们的网站上有与参与电子产品回收项目的组织的链接。)”可知，本文的主要目的是吸引人们参加eCycling项目。故选B项。
4．D
5．C
6．D
7．A
【解析】
【导语】
本文是一篇说明文。文章主要介绍了通过个人的努力，也可以为减少碳足迹贡献自己的力量。
4．
细节理解题。根据第三段“they will come from laws and policies such as carbon-pricing systems, revised building codes and supports for green investment.(它们将来自法律和政策，如碳定价体系、修订的建筑法规和对绿色投资的支持。)”可知，有效的法律和政策在减排中起决定性作用。故选D。
5．
推理判断题。根据第五段“Yet individual acts can grow into influential group activity. (然而，个人行为可以发展成有影响力的群体活动。)”及下文所举少吃肉的例子可推断，小的个人行为可以产生大的影响。故选C。
6．
词句猜测题。根据划线词后文“Reduced demand for meat could motivate my local supermarket to carry better produce, making it easier for me and my neighbors to prepare a few more satisfying meat-free meals. (如果我们很多人开始少吃肉，如果我们建设性地谈论它，我们很可能会影响其他人。很快，1%的减少就变成了2%或更多。)”可知，社会行动具有传染性。所以contagious为“感染性的；传播性的”之意。故选D。
7．
推理判断题。根据最后一段“So while I wouldn’t advise governments to order people to stop eating hamburgers, if anyone asks, “What can I do?” a simple and accurate answer is: “Eat less meat. It’s in your control, and you can begin right now. It benefits both you and the planet.”(所以，虽然我不会建议政府下令人们停止吃汉堡包，但如果有人问：“我能做什么?”一个简单而准确的回答是:“少吃肉。”一切都在你的掌控之中，你现在就可以开始。这对你和地球都有好处。”)”及全文可推断，作者写这篇文章的目的是解释如何通过个人努力减少碳足迹的方法。故选A。
8．A
9．C
10．C
11．B
【解析】
【导语】
这是一篇说明文。主要介绍了密歇根大学的研究人员发现了一种识别和跟踪海洋中微塑料浓度的创新方法。
8．
主旨大意题。根据第一段“Microplastics - tiny pieces of plastic waste less than five millimetres long that have been degraded by waves, wind and ultraviolet rays-have been discovered in the deepest oceanic trenches and within the stomachs of the organisms that live there, but we have little idea about where the great majority of them end up.(微型塑料——在最深的海沟和生活在那里的生物体的胃里发现的被海浪、风和紫外线降解的长度不到5毫米的塑料废料，但我们不知道绝大多数塑料废料最终会在哪里。)”以及本段内容可知，本段主要介绍了海洋微塑料有限的信息。故选A项。
9．
细节理解题。根据第三段“The technique relies on NASA’s Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System (CYGNSS),a constellation of eight micro-satellites used to predict hurricanes that calculate wind speeds above the ocean by measuring the roughness of surface waters. As the satellites are continuously recording, Ruf and Evans realised that they collect a great deal of additional data.(这项技术依赖于美国宇航局的旋风全球导航卫星系统（CYGNSS），这是一个由八颗微型卫星组成的星座，用于预测飓风，通过测量地表水的粗糙度来计算海洋上方的风速。随着卫星不断记录，鲁夫和埃文斯意识到他们收集了大量额外数据。)”可知，CYGNSS收集到了有关海面变化的大量额外数据，可以提供有关海面变化的额外数据。故选C项。
10．
细节理解题。根据第四段“Knowing that water isn’t roughened as much when it contains a lot of floating material(知道当水中含有大量漂浮物时，水不会变得那么粗糙)”可知，如果水中有微塑料时，水面会变得不那么粗糙，海洋表面会由于海中存在更多的微塑料变得更加光滑。故选C项。
11．
推理判断题。根据第二段“However, researchers Christopher Ruf and Madeline Evans from the University of Michigan have discovered an innovative way to identify and track concentrations of microplastics in the ocean.( 然而，密歇根大学的研究人员克里斯托弗·鲁夫和马德琳·埃文斯发现了一种识别和跟踪海洋中微塑料浓度的创新方法。)”以及文章内容可知，本文的主要目的是介绍一种研究海洋微塑料的创新方法。故选B项。
12．B
13．B
14．D
【解析】
【导语】
这是一篇说明文。短文介绍了动物尤其是牛在整个食物链上对对温室气体排放的不良影响。呼吁人们吃其他动物，或者成为素食者，并指出实验室培育的肉类可能在减缓气候灾难方面发挥重要作用。
12．
词句猜测题。根据第二段“In a survey in Britain last year, the share of answerers saying that “producing plants and meat on farms” was a “significant contributor” to climate change was the lowest among ten listed activities.”（去年在英国进行的一项调查中，回答者认为”农场生产植物和肉类”是造成气候变化的”重要因素”的人数比例，在所列的10项活动中排名最低。）可知，食物对温室气体(GHG)排放的影响可能不人们忽视。所以划线部分的意思是“被人们忽视”。故选B项。
13．
推理判断题。根据倒数第三段“Relative to other food sources, beef is uniquely carbon-intensive. Because cattle emit methane(甲烷)and need large grasslands that are often created by cutting more forests, they produce seven times as many GHGS per calorie of meat as pigs do. This makes beef a bigger share among foods than coal is among sources of electricity.”（相对于其他食物来源，牛肉是唯一的碳密集型食品。因为牛会排放甲烷，而且需要大草原，而大草原往往是砍伐更多的森林造成的，所以每消耗一卡路里的肉，牛产生的温室气体是猪的七倍。这使得牛肉在食品中的份额比煤炭在电力来源中的份额还要大。）以及最后一段“Lab-grown meat could play an essential role in slowing a climate disaster.”（实验室培育的肉类可能在减缓气候灾难方面发挥重要作用）由此判断出，不吃牛排可能是减少温室气体排放的有效方法。故选B项。
14．
推理判断题。根据最后一段“Fortunately, lab-grown meats are moving from Petri dishes(培养皿)to high-end restaurants. Doing without beef from live cattle is hard to imagine, but the same was true of coal 100 years ago.”（幸运的是，实验室培养的肉类，正从培养皿转移到高档餐厅。很难想象没有活牛的牛肉，但100年前的煤炭也是如此。）可知，作者在最后一段提到了煤炭，只是为了展示实验室培育牛肉的未来。故选D项。
15．B
16．C
17．C
【解析】
【导语】
本文是一篇说明文。文章介绍了深海采矿作业给海洋环境带来的危害和必要性。
15．
细节理解题。根据第一段“A robot the size of a large bulldozer moves along the bottom of the deep sea.(一个大型推土机大小的机器人沿着深海底部移动)”和“This is a mining operation. The rock contains a mixture of metals, including ones called rare earth metals.(这是一个采矿作业。这种岩石含有多种金属，其中包括一种叫做稀土金属的金属)”可知，深海采矿作业是为了获得稀土金属。故选B项。
16．
细节理解题。由文章第三段“But they disturbed the mud, just as a mining operation would. The cloud of mud fell back down over the ocean floor burying creatures living there. Up to now, the area they disturbed has not recovered. Signs of the search are still there. Deep sea creatures like sponges and corals have not moved back in. That means mining could have harmful, long-lasting consequences for deep ocean life. Scientists want to understand the deep sea better before disturbing it.(但他们扰乱了泥浆，就像采矿作业一样。泥云落在海底，埋葬了生活在那里的生物。到目前为止，他们扰乱的地区还没有恢复。搜寻的迹象仍然存在。海绵和珊瑚等深海生物还没有搬回来。这意味着采矿可能对深海生物产生有害的、长期的后果。科学家希望在干扰深海之前更好地了解它。)”可知，海底采矿会影响海洋生态系统。故选C项。
17．
推理判断题。由文章最后一段“Leaving the deep sea alone sounds great, but people need those metals. “Mines on land are soon going to run out,” geologist Steven Scolt of the University of Toronto told Smithsonian Magazine. “Every electronic device in the world has rare earth metals in it... we need raw resources.”(离开深海听起来很棒，但人们需要这些金属。多伦多大学的地质学家史蒂文·斯考特告诉史密森尼杂志：“陆地上的矿很快就会耗尽。世界上每一个电子设备都含有稀土金属……我们需要原材料。”)”可知，他对海底采矿是支持的。故选C项。
18．A
19．D
20．B
21．D
22．A
【解析】
【导语】
本文是一篇说明文。文中主要介绍了经过研究人员的调查和研究，他们发现大自然中的新鲜空气对人们的身心健康都有益处。
18．
细节理解题。根据第三段“It can also help people feel further removed from the pressures of society and lessen the need to conform to stereotypes, such as being thin or muscular.( 它还可以帮助人们感到进一步远离社会的压力，并减少遵从刻板印象的需要，比如身材瘦削或肌肉发达。)”可知，选项A. Increase the need to conform to stereotypes, such as being thin or muscular. (增加了符合刻板印象的需求，比如身材瘦削或肌肉发达。)说的是“增加了”，而本文说的是“减少”，所以它不是自然环境带给人类的好处。故选A。
19．
细节理解题。根据第四段“For the study, participants were asked to visit different locations like the countryside, the seaside, the beach and open spaces in cities like parks.( 在这项研究中，参与者被要求访问不同的地点，如乡村、海滨、海滩和公园等城市的开放空间。)”可知，只有选项D. high street(主干道)没有被提及。故选D。
20．
细节理解题。根据第六段“The strongest connections with nature were found in visits that lasted longer than 30 minutes and so had greater psychological benefits.( 接近大自然持续时间超过30分钟被发现有最好的效果，因此有更大的心理益处。)”可知，“接近大自然”和“超过30分钟”两个因素可能会给人们带来更大的心理益处，只有B.Stay at coastal locations for 5 hours.(在海滨呆5个小时 )符合题意。故选B。
21．
细节理解题。根据第六段“We’ve demonstrated that nature can be beneficial to us, but we’re still exploring how and why. (我们已经证明了自然可以对我们有益，但我们仍在探索如何和为什么有益。)”可知，来自这几所大学的研究人员想探索自然是如何以及为什么能对人类有益的。故选D。
22．
主旨大意题。文中主要介绍了经过研究人员的调查和研究，他们发现大自然中的新鲜空气对你的身心健康都有益处。可知，本文主要谈了自然环境和健康两个方面，所以最佳题目是A. countryside will make you feel better.(乡村会让你感觉更好)。故选A。
23．C
24．C
25．A
26．B
【解析】
【导语】
这是一篇说明文。文章介绍冰崩会发出大量的次声波，研究人员正在尝试用次声探测技术来检测和探测冰崩。
23．
细节理解题。根据第二段的“Previous work has analyzed infrasound from snow avalanches but never ice, says Boise State University geophysicist Jeffrey Johnson. （博伊西州立大学的地球物理学家Jeffrey Johnson说，之前的工作分析过雪崩的次声，但从未分析过冰的次声）”和第三段的“But a collapse—a sudden, rapid breaking of ice from the glacier’s main body—is a prolific infrasound producer.（但是冰川的崩塌——冰川主体的冰突然迅速断裂——是大量次声的产生者）”和“As the threat grows, scientists seek new ways to monitor and detect such collapses.（随着威胁的增加，科学家们寻求新的方法来监测和探测这种崩塌）”可知，从第二和第三段我们知道研究人员正试图利用次声探测冰崩。故选C。
24．
细节理解题。根据第四段的“Researchers often use radar to track ice avalanches, which is precise but expensive and can monitor only one specific location and neighboring avalanche paths. Infrasound, Marchetti says, is cheaper and can detect break—off events around a much broader area as well as multiple avalanches across a mountain.（研究人员经常使用雷达来跟踪冰雪崩，这种方法精确但昂贵，而且只能监测一个特定的位置和邻近的雪崩路径。马尔凯蒂说，次声探测技术成本更低，可以探测到更广阔的区域附近的断裂事件，以及山脉上的多次雪崩）”可知，和雷达相比次声探测的优势是能接收更大范围内的信号。故选C。
25．
词句猜测题。分析句子可知，句中this应指代上文出现的内容。根据第四段的“It is challenging, however, to separate a signal into its components (such as traffic noises, individual avalanches and nearby earthquakes) without additional measurements, says ETH Zurich glaciologist Malgorzata Chmiel. （然而，苏黎世联邦理工学院的冰川学家Malgorzata Chmiel说，在没有额外测量的情况下，将一个信号分解成它的组成部分(如交通噪音、单独的雪崩和附近的地震)是一项挑战）”推知，this指代“区分信号的成分”，即马尔凯蒂使用的模型是区分信号成分的初步近似（该模型能区分出信号的不同成分）。故选A。
26．
主旨大意题。根据文章的主要内容，尤其第一段的“But these vibrations held a key to calculating the ice avalanche’s(崩塌)critical characteristics.（但这些振动是计算冰崩临界特性的关键）”和第三段的“But a collapse—a sudden, rapid breaking of ice from the glacier’s main body—is a prolific infrasound producer.（但是冰川的崩塌——冰川主体的冰突然迅速断裂——是大量次声的产生者）”和“As the threat grows, scientists seek new ways to monitor and detect such collapses.（随着威胁的增加，科学家们寻求新的方法来监测和探测这种崩塌）”可知，冰崩会发出大量的次声波，研究人员正在尝试用次声探测技术来检测和探测冰崩。故B项“冰川低语”可以作为本文标题，吸引读者。故选B。
27．C
28．C
29．A
30．D
【解析】
【导语】
本文为一篇说明文。电动车更环保，但是只有电动汽车实现能源方面的绿色，才能实现真正的绿色。
27．
细节理解题。根据文章第一、二段内容及第三段“So the question is: is it worth it? Just how much emission reduction can EVs justify? Luckily, a life cycle assessment has been done to give us some answers.”（所以问题是：这值得吗？ 电动汽车到底能减排多少呢？幸运的是，一个生命周期评估已经完成，给了我们一些答案。）可知，对排放进行生命周期分析是为了衡量电动汽车对环境的影响。故选C项。
28．
推理判断题。根据文章第五段内容“In 2018, Australia’s share of renewables in electricity was about 21%. In contrast, the number in New Zealand’s was about 84%. Electric car emissions in Australia and New Zealand are estimated at about 170g and 25g of CO2 per km respectively.”（在2018年，澳大利亚可再生能源在电力中的份额约为21%。相比之下，新西兰的这一数字约为84%。据估计，澳大利亚和新西兰的电动汽车每公里排放的二氧化碳分别为170克和25克。）可知，作者通过作比较的方法来支持陈述“作为消费者，我们的汽车是否环保取决于我们国家的能源组合。”这一观点。故选C项。
29．
细节理解题。根据文章倒数第二段内容“While electric cars cause more greenhouse gas emissions than gas cars do, it's important to note the recycled batteries can be used in subsequent batteries. This could have significant emissions reduction benefits in the future. For complete life cycle emissions, the study shows that EV emissions are 18% lower than gas cars.”（虽然电动汽车比汽油汽车排放更多的温室气体，但需要注意的是，回收电池可以用于后续电池。这可能在未来产生显著的减排效益。研究表明，在整个生命周期的排放中，电动汽车的排放量比汽油汽车低18%。）可知，电动汽车打败汽油汽车的原因是其电池的回收。故选A项。
30．
推理判断题。根据文章最后一段“So here’s the takeaway: EVs are greener. Maybe they’re not as green as we thought. There’s certainly room for improvement. But the real challenge lies in speeding the global energy transition toward greener energy-production.”（所以结论是：电动汽车更环保。也许它们没有我们想的那么环保。当然还有改进的余地。但真正的挑战在于加快全球能源向绿色能源生产的转变。）可知，实现了能源方面的绿色，电动汽车才是真正绿色的。故选D项。
31．C
32．D
33．A
34．B
【解析】
【导语】
这是一篇说明文。文章首先提到新冠肺炎期间的封城给环境带来了一些积极影响，接着作者举例南极洲的考察发现告诉我们温室气体浓度上升对我们人类带来了影响。最后作者提倡为了人类要减少对环境的影响。
31．
主旨大意题。根据文章第一段“According to the BBC, new satellite images released by the European Space Agency showed that levels of air pollutants and greenhouse gases have “fallen sharply” in major cities in Europe and the United States ever since the lockdown started（据英国广播公司报道，欧洲航天局发布的新卫星图像显示，自封城开始以来，欧洲和美国主要城市的空气污染物和温室气体水平“急剧下降”）”可知，文章第一段主要告诉我们由新冠肺炎所以引起的封城给环境带来了一些积极的影响，比如空气污染物和温室气体水平都急剧下降。故选C。
32．
细节理解题。根据文章第三段“An international team of 89 scientists found that the ice in Greenland and Antarctica is melting six times faster in the 2010s than it was in the 1990s.(一个由89名科学家组成的国际团队发现，在21世纪10年代，格陵兰和南极地区的冰的融化速度比20世纪90年代要快六倍)”可知，南极冰川在本世纪融化的速度很快，故选D。
33．
推理判断题。根据文章第四段“A team of scientists drilled a hole into the seafloor in west Antarctica and extracted material from underground, in which they found traces of roots, spores and pollen—typical products of a rainforest—that dated back 90 million years ago. In other words, Antarctica was very likely a rainforest back when the dinosaurs walked on Earth.（一组科学家在西南极洲钻了个洞直到海底，并提取了地下的一些物质，在这些物质中他们发现了追溯到9000万年前的根、狍子以及花粉的足迹，这些都是典型的雨林物质。换句话说，在恐龙时代，南极很有可能是一个雨林）”可知，南极很可能在9000万年前是雨林是因为在地下发现了典型雨林物质的足迹，故选A。
34．
细节理解题。根据文章最后一段“Now, during the coronavirus lockdown, we’ve seen the changes resulting from less human activity. Hopefully, we’ll hold on to those changes—not for Antarctica or the planet, but for ourselves(现在，在冠状病毒封城期间，我们看到了人类活动减少带来的变化。希望我们能坚持这些改变——不是为了南极洲或地球，而是为了我们自己)”可知，冠状病毒封城期间，人类带给环境的积极影响要继续。为了我们自己好，我们要继续减少温室气体的排放。故选B。
35．A
36．B
37．A
38．D
【解析】
【导语】
这是一篇新闻报道。文章主要从主人公阿里的视觉出发，讲述了出生于沙漠的阿里走出沙漠，到达城市之后的感受。他对城市灯光感到震惊，城市里的人却通过他的旅游公司到沙漠旅游。欧洲人总是很忙的生活方式也让阿里感到很吃惊。去沙漠旅游的人有一种类似于兴奋的感觉。这是对广阔天空和广阔地平线的敬畏。
35．
细节理解题。根据文章第一段内容“As the sun neared the horizon, Ali began his nightly walk through the sandy streets of Timbuktu in Mali.(当太阳接近地平线时，阿里开始在马里廷巴克图的沙质街道上进行夜间散步。)”可知，当太阳下山时，阿里开始在夜间的行走。故选A项。
36．
推理判断题。根据文章第二段内容“Ali was a teenager when he first saw the city that would later become his home. ‘I couldn’t believe the lights!’ he remembered.(阿里第一次看到这座后来成为他家的城市时还是个十几岁的孩子。“我简直不敢相信灯光！”他记得。)”可知，阿里第一次看到这座城市时，对城市的灯光感到惊讶，由此可推知，他第一次看到城市时应该是震惊的。故选B项。
37．
细节理解题。根据文章第二段内容“But when he became an adult, drought and the need to earn a living drove Ali into Timbuktu, where he set up a business as a guide for tourists who wanted to explore the Sahara.(但当他长大成人后，干旱和谋生的需要驱使阿里来到廷巴克图，在那里他创办了一家公司，为想探索撒哈拉沙漠的游客提供导游服务。)”可知，阿里来到城市后创办一家为想探索撒哈拉沙漠的游客提供导游服务的公司。故选A项。
38．
词义猜测题。结合语境可知，后文内容是对划线句子的进一步解释，根据前文“‘In the desert we have infinite time but no water,’ he said. ‘In Europe, you have plenty of water but no time.’ (“在沙漠中，我们有无限的时间，但没有水，”他说，“在欧洲，你有足够的水，但没有时间。)”可知，对于出生于沙漠的阿里来说，他们在沙漠里的生活应该是总是要花时间寻找水源，却没有水，在欧洲，不需要花时间找水，欧洲人却没有时间，总是在忙。由此可推知，“these people are crazy”应是表达了阿里的诧异，即，“欧洲人怎么会这么忙（欧洲人总是忙于他们的生活）”。故选D项。