主题语境十七:世界与环境(二)
2020-12-29
Ⅰ. 閱读理解
体裁:说明文 篇幅:324词 建议用时:7分钟
文本来源:原创 新颖度:★★★★ 素养视角:环境问题与经济活动
The things we consume, from iPhones to cars to IKEA furniture, have costs that go well beyond their purchase price. What if the soybeans used to make that tofu you ate last night were grown in fields that were cut out of tropical rainforests? Or what if that T?shirt you bought came from an industrial area carved out of high?value habitat in Malaysia? Unless you buy sustainably sourced food or goods, it can be hard to know just how consumers purchases affect groups of animals or plants—until now.
Daniel Moran from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology and Keiichiro Kanemoto from Shinshu University in Japan have developed a technique that allows them to realize threats to wildlife caused by the worldwide supply chains. Theyve used this technique to create a series of world maps that show the species threat hot spots for individual countries.
The researchers calculated the percentage of threat to an animal or a plant in one country due to consumption of goods in another. They focused on 6,803 animals and most of them were easily hurt or in danger of dying out. They found that US consumption caused species threat hot spots in Southeast Asia, also in Southern Europe, throughout Central America and into Southern Canada.
The researchers say finding the relationship between consumption and environmental impacts offers an important opportunity for governments, companies, and individuals to find ways to act against them and do something connected with trade and industry. For example, Indonesia local government can only control the producers whose products cause losses of various plants and animals and cutting or burning down the trees. But if the EU wants to look at its role in causing those problems in Indonesia, they could look at the maps and see what kind of impacts EU consumers are having on that country and then decide to adjust their research programmes or environmental priorities and make changes.
1. Why does the author use the example in paragraph 1?
A. To call on people to deal with environmental problems.
B. To connect environmental problems to economic activities.
C. To reach wise decisions based on the local actual situations.
D. To seek practical ways to protect the animals, plants and trees.
2. What kind of contribution do the researchers make?
A. To mark the locations of the species threat.
3. A. face B. become C. observe D. change
4. A. hide B. control C. replace D. withdraw
5. A. Thanks to B. As to C. Except for D. Regardless of
6. A. safe B. funny C. cheap D. powerful
7. A. love B. lack C. prevention D. division
8. A. sensitive B. kind C. brave D. busy
9. A. ways B. places C. jobs D. friends
10. A. donate B. receive C. produce D. preserve
11. A. adapts B. returns C. responds D. contributes
12. A. tired of B. addicted to C. worried about D. ashamed of
13. A. newer B. stronger C. higher D. larger
14. A. pick up B. pay for C. hold onto D. throw away
15. A. advantages B. purposes C. functions D. consequences
16. A. show B. record C. decrease D. measure
17. A. technology B. environment C. consumers D. brands
18. A. However B. Otherwise C. Therefore D. Meanwhile
19. A. by B. in favour of C. after D. instead of
20. A. spending B. collecting C. repairing D. advertising
Ⅲ. 语法填空
体裁:說明文 篇幅:173词 建议用时:7分钟
文本来源:原创 新颖度:★★★★ 素养视角:空调简史
The first practical cooling system for use in industry was invented in 1922 1. Willis Carrier in New York, the USA. He continued to improve his 2. (invent) and, in 1928,
developed the first air conditioner for home use. In 1939, eleven years later, an American car company introduced the first air conditioner to cars, which made 3. possible for people to
drive in a more comfortable environment.
After World War Ⅱ, many American companies began making air conditioners and, 4.
(begin) in 1950, many homes in the USA 5. (equip) with central air conditioning. Central air conditioning uses a single unit 6. (heat) or cool a whole house. With this, people could
escape the heat of summer and the cold of winter despite the fact 7. the temperature changes from season to season.
In the 1970s, electricity became more and more expensive, so people developed 8.
(good) air conditioners to save money. Later, the cooling gas in air conditioners was found 9.
(pollute) the environment, so engineers 10. (work) to produce air conditioners more friendly to the environment since the 1980s.