人教版（2019）选择性必修三高中英语Unit 3 Environmental Protection Period 1素养检测

A rainforest is an area covered by tall trees with the total high rainfall spreading quite equally through the year and the temperature rarely dipping below 16℃. Rainforests have a great effect on the world environment because they can take in heat from the sun and adjust the climate. Without the forest cover, these areas would reflect more heat into the atmosphere, warming the rest of the world. Losing the rainforests may also influence wind and rainfall patterns, potentially causing certain natural disasters all over the world.

In the past hundred years, humans have begun destroying rainforests in search of three major resources: land for crops, wood for paper and other products, land for raising farm animals. This action affects the environment as a whole. For example, a lot of carbon dioxide in the air comes from burning the rainforests. People obviously have a need for the resources we gain from cutting trees but we will suffer much more than we will benefit.

There are two main reasons for this. Firstly, when people cut down trees, generally they can only use the land for a year or two. Secondly, cutting large sections of rainforests may provide a good supply of wood right now, but in the long run it actually reduces the world's wood supply.

Rainforests are often called the world's drug store. More than 25% of the medicines we use today come from plants in rainforests. However, fewer than 1% of rainforest plants have been examined for their medical value. It is extremely likely that our best chance to cure diseases lies somewhere in the world's shrinking(萎缩的) rainforests.

Scientists think they have answered a mystery: How some ocean creatures got so huge so quickly.

A few million years ago, the largest whales averaged about 15 feet long. Then seemingly overnight, one type of whale, the toothless baleen whale(须鲸) became huge. Modern blue whales get as big as 100 feet. Nicholas Pyenson of the Smithsonian Natural History Museum said," Why is that? "

"It happened in the glance of an evolutionary eye, which makes it harder to figure out what happened," said Graham Slater, lead author of the study. Their study has suggested an answer: Ice ages in the last 3 to 5 million years started it, changing the oceans and food supply for whales. 

The researchers used fossil records of the smaller whales to create a family tree for baleen whales, which include blue whales, humpbacks and right whales. Using computer simulations(模拟) and knowledge about how evolution works, they concluded that when the size changes started, the poles got colder, ice expanded and the water circulation in the oceans changed and winds shifted. Slater and Pyenson said cold water went deep and moved closer to the equator(赤道) and then eventually moved back up with small fish and other small animals that whales eat.

Baleen whales which have no teeth feed by eating huge amounts of fish they capture. Toothed whales, like sperm whales(抹香鲸), hunt individual fish, so the ocean changes that made food less evenly spread out didn't affect them as much. But baleen whales hunt schools of fish.

Olivier Lambert at the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences calls it" a really convincing situation". But he said the lack of fossils in certain time periods is an issue. As oceans warm from man-made climate change, the seas will be more like it was when the whales were smaller and they will have a more difficult time surviving.

Recycle everything, especially paper!

There is a large amount of paper a college student goes through per semester. We know that these things can't be avoided, but the way you handle the use of all the paper can really help create a better green campus. 

Buy green.

 Paper, cleaning products and water are products that can be bought as recycled goods. They're slightly more expensive than the normal products, but it's worth it to make a green campus. 

Walk and bike to school.

Most campuses, especially those that are trying to become an eco-friendlier campus, have pretty good public transit.  Walking or biking will help make your campus a green university.

A water bottle can be refilled at any water fountain and can easily be drunk in class or while riding a bike. This will save the environment by decreasing the amount of plastic waste on your campus.

Buy used clothing.

It is usually thought of as something to do to save money. Recycling clothes minimize the use of resources to make clothing.

A. Carry a water bottle.

B. Don't use plastic bottles to drink water.

C. Buy recycled goods as much as possible.

D. It is also good for the environment!

E. On top of that, almost all universities are pedestrian (行人) friendly.

F. It includes class notes, term papers, student newspapers and so on.

G. Universities call on all the students to learn to recycle all the waste paper.

1）汽车排放废气；

2）工厂燃烧各种燃料；

3）人类过度消耗各种资源。

注意：1）词数80个左右。开头已经给出，不计入总词数；

2）可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。

Recently my classmates and I have made a survey about the reasons for environmental pollution.

We're often reminded of the importance of preserving the planet as we see it for future generations—and children at St Oswald's CE Primary School Chester certainly agree.

Nine-year-old Isobel Kelleher from the school's Hummingbirds class thinks adults need to take note." Sometimes they can be busy and I don't think they think they can make a difference, but if everyone does a little bit it all adds up," she tells HuffPost UK." We started looking at plastic pollution in our oceans and the things like plastic bags that are polluting them," she says." Fish can eat the plastic and they can die, or we might even eat the fish ourselves."

Mr Timms, Isobel's teacher, has been spearheading a new project at the school which lets children loose creatively to raise awareness of the need to be more environmentally friendly. The entire Hummingbirds class, which is made up of 9-and 10-year-old pupils, has been busy writing poems and creating online video adverts to warn adults about the serious situation of our oceans and wildlife.

Mr Timms thinks children have an important role to play in teaching us how to take care of the things around us." We sometimes overlook how much we can really learn from children," he says." It has been really hard to believe having parents come in saying that their children have been asking them to stop using plastic, and to recycle more, and even stopping them using plastic straws."

Mr Timms is proud of his Hummingbirds class." The message that they would like to send to world is simple: stopping this isn't someone else's job, and it won't be OK if we just leave it."