What is the single most effective way to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions? Go vegetarian? Replant the Amazon? Cycle to work? None of the above. The answer is: make air-conditioners radically better. On one calculation, replacing refrigerants(制冷剂) that damage the atmosphere would reduce total greenhouse gases by the equivalent of 90bn tonnes of CO2 by 2050. Making the units more energy-efficient could double that.
Air-conditioning is one of the world’s great overlooked industries. Automobiles and air-conditioners were invented at roughly the same time, and both have had a huge impact on where people live and work. Unlike cars, though, air-conditioners have drawn little criticism for their social impact, emissions or energy efficiency. Most hot countries do not have rules to govern their energy use.
Yet air-conditioning has done quite a lot things to benefit humankind. It has transformed productivity in the tropics and helped turn southern China into the workshop of the world. In Europe, its spread has pushed down heat-related deaths ten times less than what it was in 2003, when 70,000 people, most of them elderly, died in a heatwave. For children, air-conditioned classrooms and dormitories are associated with better grades at school.
Environmentalists who call air-conditioning “a luxury we cannot afford” have half a point, however. In the next ten years, as many air-conditioners will be installed around the world as were put in between 1902 (when air-conditioning was invented) and 2005. Until energy can be produced without carbon emissions, these extra machines will warm the world. At the moment, therefore, air-conditioners create a vicious cycle. The more the earth warms, the more people need them. But the more there are, the warmer the world will be.
Cutting the impact of cooling requires three things (beyond turning up the thermostat(温度调节器) to make rooms less Arctic). First, air-conditioners must become much more efficient. The most energy-efficient models on the market today consume only about one-third as much electricity as average ones. Minimum energy-performance standards need to be raised, or introduced in countries that lack them altogether, to push the average unit’s performance closer to the standard of the best.
Next, manufacturers should stop using damaging refrigerants. One category of these, hydrofluorocarbons, is over 1,000 times worse than carbon dioxide when it comes to trapping heat in the atmosphere. An international deal to phase out these pollutants, called the Kigali amendment, will come into force in 2019. Foot-draggers should approve and implement it; America is one country that has not done so.
Last, more could be done to design offices, malls and even cities so they do not need as many air-conditioners in the first place. More buildings should be built with overhanging roofs or balconies for shade, or with natural air-circulation. Simply painting roofs white can help keep temperatures down.
Better machines are necessary. But cooling as an overall system needs to be improved if air-conditioning is to fulfil its promise to make people healthier, wealthier and wiser, without too high an environmental cost. Providing indoor sanctuaries of air-conditioned comfort need not come at the expense of an overheating world.
1.Why does the author think air-conditioning is an overlooked industry？
A.Because many hot countries haven’t put the energy-controlling rules into force.
B.Because it has caused the same impact on people’s life and work as automobiles have.
C.Because it has brought great economic, physical, and educational benefits to humans.
D.Because it doesn’t get the due criticism for its environmental impact as automobiles do.
2.What can we learn from Paragraph 4?
A.The price of air-conditioning will go up due to the large demand for it.
B.A high environmental cost will come along with the air-conditioning service.
C.Environmentalists are expecting extra machines which can warm the world.
D.Governments partially agree that air-conditioning is a luxury we cannot afford.
3.With regard to the measures to cut the impact of cooling, which of the following statements is TRUE?
A.Manufacturers should only stop using hydrofluorocarbons.
B.People should avoid turning up the air-conditioners to have cool rooms on hot days.
C.People should adopt more environmentally-friendly materials when designing buildings.
D.Governments should give a green light to the agreement on eliminating the pollutants.
4.The author writes this passage to _______.
A.arouse people’s attention to the global warming.
B.appeal for the global joint efforts to combat global warming.
C.give credit to air-conditioning for its great contributions to humans
D.offer a new perspective on how to reduce greenhouse gasses emissions
Research has shown that two-thirds of human conversation is taken up not with discussion ofthe cultural or political problems of the day, not heated debates about filmswe've just watched or books we've just finished reading, but plain and simple_______.
Language is our greatest treasure as a species, and what do we _______ do with it? We gossip. About others' behaviour and private lives, such as who's doing what with whom, who's in and who's out——and why; how to deal with difficult_______ situations involving children, lovers, and colleagues.
So why are wekeen on gossiping? Are we just natural _______, of both time and words? Or do we talk a lot about nothing in particular simply to avoid facing up to the reallyimportant issues of life? It's not the case according to Professor RobinDunbar. In fact, in his latest book, Grooming, Gossip and the Evolution of Language, the psychologist says gossip is one of these really_______issues.
Dunbar _______the traditional view that language was developed by the men at the early stage of social development in order to organize their manly hunting activities moreeffectively, or even to promote the exchange of poetic stories about their origins and the supernatural. Instead he suggests that language evolved among women. We don't spend two-thirds of our time gossiping just because we can talk, argues Dunbar —_______, he goes on to say, language evolved specifically to allow us to gossip.
Dunbar arrived at his cheery theory by studying the _______ of the higher primates likemonkeys. By means of grooming——cleaning the fur by brushing it,monkeys form groups with other individuals on whom they can rely for support inthe event of some kind of conflict within the group or_______ from outside it.
As we humanbeings evolve from a particular branch of the primate family, Dunbar __________that at one time in our history we did much the same. Grouping together made sense because the bigger the group, the greater the __________ it provided; on theother hand, the bigger the group, the greater the stresses of living close toothers. Grooming helped to __________ the pressure and calm everybody down.
But as thegroups got bigger and bigger, the amount of time spent in grooming activities also had to be __________ to maintain its effectiveness. Clearly, a more __________kind of grooming was needed, and thus language evolved as a kind of vocal grooming which allowed humans to develop relationship with ever-larger groups by exchanging information over a wider network of individuals than would bepossible by one-to-one __________ contact.
1.A.claim B.description C.gossip D.language
2.A.occasionally B.habitually C.independently D.originally
3.A.social B.political C.historical D.cultural
4.A.admirers B.masters C.users D.wasters
5.A.vital B.sensitive C.ideal D.difficult
6.A.confirms B.rejects C.outlines D.broadens
7.A.for instance B.in addition C.on the contrary D.as a result
8.A.motivation B.appearance C.emotion D.behavior
9.A.attack B.contact C.inspection D.assistance
10.A.recalls B.denies C.concludes D.confesses
11.A.prospect B.responsibility C.leadership D.protection
12.A.measure B.show C.maintain D.ease
13.A.saved B.extended C.consumed D.gained
14.A.common B.efficient C.scientific D.thoughtful
15.A.indirect B.daily C.physical D.secret
Directions：After reading the passage below, fill in the blanks to make the passage coherent and grammatically correct. For the blanks with a given word, fill in each blank with the proper form of the given word; for the other blanks, use one word that best fits each blank.
To Be Joyful, To Be Young
What really works to make sustainable changes in diet and lifestyle? It’s probably not what you think. In the past 30 years of conducting clinical research, I1.(learn) that real keys are pleasure, joy and freedom. Joy of living is sustainable; fear of dying is not.
Why? Because life is to be enjoyed. There’s no point2.(abandon) something you enjoy unless you get something back that’s even better, and quickly. When people eat more healthfully,3.(quit) smoking, and manage stress better, they find they feel so much better, so quickly. It reconstructs the reason for making these changes from fear of dying to joy of living.
When you exercise and eat right, your brain receives more blood flow and oxygen, so you become smarter, have more energy, and need less sleep. Two studies showed just walking for three hours per week for only three months caused so many neurons(神经细胞)4. (grow) that it actually increased the size of people’s brains!
Your face receives more blood flow, so your skin glows more and wrinkles less. You look younger and more attractive. In contrast, an unhealthy diet, lasting emotional stress and smoking reduce blood flow to your face 5.you age more quickly. Smoking speeds up aging because nicotine contributes to your blood vessel becoming narrower,6.decreases blood flow to your face and makes it wrinkle prematurely. This is why smokers look years older than they really are.
One of the most interesting findings was that the mothers’ awareness of stress was more important than 7.was objectively occurring in their lives.8.(give) a questionnaire, the women were asked to rate on a three-point scale how stressed they felt each day. The women who realized they were under heavy stress had significantly shortened and damaged telomeres(染色体端粒) compared with 9.who felt more relaxed. Contrarily, some of the women who felt relaxed 10.raising a disabled child had more normal-appearing telomeres.
In other words, if you feel stressed, you are stressed.
假定你是高中学生李华，你的美国朋友 Jim 即将升入中国的一所高中学习，想让你给他一些学习建议。请你给他写一封电子邮件，内容包括：
1.与老师交流，征求老师意见；
2.上课积极参与讨论，专心听讲，做好笔记；
3.课后积极完成作业，巩固知识。
注意：1.词数100左右；
2.可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
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阅读下面材料，在空白处填入适当的内容(1个单词)或括号内单词的正确形式。
There is a lovely panda.She lives with her parents and they lead 1. happy life in the forest.One day，the panda 2.(pick) a huge pumpkin and wanted to take it home.But the pumpkin was too big for her 3.(take) it home on her own.She could do nothing but sit beside the pumpkin.She thought 4. she waited there，she might turn to a passerby for help.
Suddenly，she saw a bear 5.(ride) a bike towards her.She watched the bike and suddenly，she jumped and shouted 6.(happy), “I know！I have a good idea—I can roll the pumpkin.It’s just like a wheel！”Therefore，she rolled the pumpkin to 7.(she) house.When her mother saw the big pumpkin，which was 8.(big) than her little daughter，she was 9.(surprise)，“Oh，my God！How can you get it home？” The little panda answered proudly，“I can’t lift it，but I can roll it.” Her mother smiled and said，“10. a clever girl you are！”
句子翻译
1.我的父母对乡村生活感到满意，那里没有空气污染。
My parents ____life in the country, where the air is____.
2.随着考试的临近，所有学生都开始专注于复习功课。
______, all the students began to ______their lessons.
3.难怪她看起来这么非常瘦弱, 因为Jane 对吃食很挑剔。
________she looks so slim and weak. That’s because Jane _______.
4.她对于教书职业的全身心投入给我们所有人留下了很深的印象。
______the teaching career has left ______all of us.
5.由于事先没有消除一个重大的误解，双方在即将到来的贸易会谈中达成协议的可能性不大。
________a major misunderstanding ________, neither side ______an agreement in the coming trade talks.
6.他在大门口等着，为的是在她出来时见她一面。
He waited at the gate _________ _________ _________ meet her when she came out.
7.在仔细考虑后，他决心到农村去当志愿者。
After thinking it over, he __________ __________ __________ __________ __________ be a volunteer in the countryside.
