New Zealand is no stranger to stranded whales (搁浅的鲸). Every year, rescuers help refloat many whales that get stuck in the coastal waters or sand during low tide (潮汐). However, last week’s stranding of two groups almost never happens.
On February 9, over 400 pilot whales were stranded at the base of Farewell Spit at the northern end of Golden Bay. Unfortunately, by the time rescuers arrived, almost 300 whales had died. More than 500 volunteers worked tirelessly to keep the remaining whales cool until high tide. At 3:30 PM local time, the whales had been successfully pushed back into the ocean.
But before the exhausted volunteers could recover, came another piece of news. Late on Friday, February 10, a new group of almost 200 pilot whales was discovered stranded along the same place. Andrew Lamason, the Operations Manager at the DOC, says they are confident it was a new group because they had tagged (贴标签) all the refloated whales from the first group and none of the whales in the new group had tags.
Unfortunately, nothing could be done to help the stranded whales at night. Early Saturday, hundreds of locals returned to the beach. To their surprise and delight, all but 17 of the stranded whales were gone! DOC spokesman Herb Christophers says they were probably able to “self-rescue” when the tide came in during the night. The rescuers took care of the remaining 17 whales until the tide returned.
Thanks to its unique shape and shallow waters that affect the echolocation (回声定位) of whales making their way around, whale strandings are not unusual near Farewell Spit. However, experts are shocked at the unusually large number. Christophers guesses that a lost whale’s distress (求救) call may have caused the entire group to rush to the rescue. However, another expert, Mike Ogle, has a different theory. After noticing some shark bites on one of the whales, he believes they may have been trying to escape from danger.
1. Which of the following is correct according to the passage?A.Only about 100 stranded whales in the first group survived. |
B.Rescuers arrived to save the first group of stranded whales in time. |
C.Rescuers couldn’t do anything to save the whale before high tide came. |
D.Whales seldom get stranded on the beach of New Zealand. |
A.at the sight of sharks | B.by means of the high tide |
C.under the guidance of the tags | D.with the help of human beings |
A.Many of the second group of stranded whales died. |
B.The stranded whales were taken away. |
C.Someone saved the stranded whales. |
D.High tide came. |
A.Because all the whales in the first group had shark bites. |
B.Because the whales in the second group looked strange. |
C.Because the whales in the second group did not have tags. |
D.Because the whales in the first group had left the coastline. |
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【推荐1】A fisherman I know named Joar Hesten called me late in April last year. A beluga whale was swimming around his boat near the northern tip of Norway. It appeared to be wrapped in a tight harness (套子), and Hesten didn’t know what to do. Belugas are usually found in groups in areas with ice and glaciers (冰川) —rarely alone along the Norwegian coast. As a marine biologist, I knew that the harness needed to be removed as soon as possible. I had no idea how puzzling it would turn out to be.
We contacted the local government. When inspector JørgenRee Wiig and his crew met with the fishing boat, they doubted Joar Hesten had clearly been trained. The mystery deepened when he got into the water to remove the belt. Attached to the harness were a camera mount (支撑架) and clips with the words (in English) “Equipment St. Petersburg.” The stuff didn’t look like anything that a scientist would use to track whales. The rescuers and I wondered whether he’d been trained for a special purpose. We named him Hvaldimir—the Norwegian word for “whale”.
A week after his discovery, Hvaldimir followed a sailboat to Hammerfest harbor, about 25 miles from where he was first spotted. He was thin: He wasn’t eating on his own and seemed unlikely to survive in the wild. Later the authorities decided to feed him; his meals became daily tourist attractions in Hammerfest. Hvaldimir became so popular in Hammerfest that rules had to be posted for interacting with him.
Yet when I slipped into the water to examine Hvaldimir, I was most struck by his friendliness—and his loneliness. During our swim together, Hvaldimir pulled off one of my flippers (脚蹼), which sank into the deep. I shouted to him underwater, and he dived for it. A few minutes later, he returned with my flipper balanced on his nose and presented it to me.
In June Hvaldimir left Hammerfest, in much better shape than when he arrived. Since then he has traveled along the coast of northern Norway, apparently feeding himself.
1. What endangered the whale most according to the author?A.Getting separated from its group. |
B.Being spotted by humans. |
C.Being caught by the harness. |
D.Being driven away from his familiar surroundings. |
A.His poor condition. | B.His mysterious identity. |
C.His strange tracks. | D.His faraway birthplace. |
A.He was taken good care of in a zoo. |
B.He was transported there by a fishing ship. |
C.He was well trained to entertain humans. |
D.He might feel comfortable with the presence of humans. |
A.To test its hearing. |
B.To express his anger to it. |
C.To ask it to pick up his flipper. |
D.To prove his training was a success. |
【推荐2】Help Hermit Crabs
Hermit crabs are nature’s recyclers. They eat waste and help keep oceans and shores clean. Unlike other crabs, the hermit crab has a thin outer shell over its soft tail. This makes the hermit crab easy prey for hungry predators. Hermit crabs stay safe by living in old seashells. A hermit crab is picky; it tries on many shells until it finds one that fits just right. In recent years, however, many hermit crabs have had trouble finding their perfect homes. What is the problems There are not enough shells to go around!
One reason for the seashell shortage is that ocean water is not as clean as it once was. This has caused chemical changes to sea water. Some sea animals, like snails, are affected by these changes. Now there are fewer snails making shells. People visiting the beach often take shells home as souvenirs. This is another problem. Other people even take shells for their own pet hermit crabs! They do not realize that hermit crabs in the wild need those shells too.
Now people are working to solve this hermit crab housing shortage. They are teaching beach-Boers to leave seashells where they belong — at the seashore! Some people even make fake seashells that they hope the hermit crabs will like. For example, a group called Project Shelter invited people who visited their website to create different designs for hermit crab shells.
These designers had a lot to consider. What kind of material should be used to build a seashells. The material must be light enough for the hermit crab to carry, but strong enough to protect the crab from predators. The man-made shells could not contain glue or any other substance that might harm a hermit crab. Another challenge with building a hermit crab home was the opening to the shell. Too big would mean the crab would not feel safe. Too small would be uncomfortable, and the crab would not want to move in.
The Project Shelter shells are placed in the wild for hermit crabs to find. Lucky hermit crabs can move into these new dream homes.
1. Where can hermit crabs stay safe?A.In different old seashells. | B.Behind the waste they’ll eat. |
C.In their own thin outer shells. | D.Under the stones at the seashore. |
A.The methods to recycle the wastes. | B.The ways to help the hermit crabs. |
C.The materials of seashells. | D.The designs of websites. |
A.man-made | B.perfect | C.hard | D.comfortable |
A.The Project Shelter Group. | B.The shortage of the seashell. |
C.New homes for hermit crabs. | D.The recyclers of the nature. |
【推荐3】For centuries, in the countries of south and Southeast Asia the elephant has been an intimate part of the culture, economy and religion, and nowhere more so than in Thailand. Unlike its African cousin, the Asian elephant is easily domesticated (驯化). The rare so-called white elephants have actually lent the authority of kingship to its rulers and until the 1920s the national flag was a white elephant on a red background. To the early Western visitors the country’s romantic name was “Land of the White Elephant”.
Today, however, the story is very different. Out of work and out of land, the Thai elephant struggles for survival in a nation that no longer needs it. The elephant has found itself more or less abandoned by previous owners who have moved on to a different economic world and a westernized society. And while the elephant’s problems began many years ago, now it rates a very low national priority.
How this reversal from national icon (圣像) to neglected animal came about is a tale of worsening environmental and the changing lives of the Thais themselves. According to Richard Lair, Thailand’s experts on the Asian elephant and author of the report Gone Astray, at the turn of the last century there may well have been as many as 100,000 domestic elephants in the country. In the north of Thailand alone it was estimated that more than 20,000 elephants were employed in transport, 1,000 of them alone on the road between the cities of Chiang Mai and Chiang Saen. This was at a time when 90 percent of Thailand was still forest — a habitat that not only supported the animals but also made them necessary to carry goods and people. Nothing ploughs through dense forest better than a massive but sure-footed elephant.
By 1950 the elephant population had dropped to a still substantial 13,397, but today there are probably no more than 3,800, with another 1,350 roaming free in the national parks. But now, Thailand’s forest covers only 20 percent of the land. This deforestation is the central point of the elephant’s difficult situation, for it has effectively put the animals out of work. This century, as the road network grew, so the elephant’s role as a beast of burden declined.
1. Thailand was once called “Land of the White Elephant” because ______.A.white elephant is rarely seen and thus very special |
B.white elephant was a national symbol until the 1920s |
C.white elephant has helped kings to gain the ruling authority |
D.this name was so romantic that it was popular among visitors |
A.Because the elephants are no longer useful to their owners. |
B.Because their owners are westernized and neglect them. |
C.Because the government pay s little attention to the problem. |
D.Because there are too many elephants and too few jobs. |
A.There were 100,000 domesticated elephants at the turn of the last century. |
B.20,000 elephants were employed in transport in Thailand at the turn of the last century. |
C.By 1950 the elephant population in Thailand has been quite small. |
D.Today the elephant population is estimated at 5,150. |
A.a travel magazine | B.a history book |
C.a research report | D.an official announcement |
【推荐1】When man and nature try to co-exist, man usually wins out. But that wasn’t the case in a small town in southern India when a native Robin recently chose to build her nest in an extremely inconvenient location.
The village of Potthakudi contains only 120 homes and has a total of 35 streetlights. Unfortunately ,the misguided mama bird had decided to set up housekeeping in the town’s main lighting switchboard (配电板).
The nest and its inhabitants were first discovered by Karuppu Raja, the man tasked with turning on the streetlights each evening. A lifelong bird lover, Raja posted his find to local social media to warn the citizens of his discovery and ask for their cooperation in taking a hands-off approach to the unexpected guests.
“Switching off the lights is the only solution because the bird will fly once it realizes there is a human touch or contact near its nest,” Raja wrote on WhatsApp. “We should save the bird and its babies at any cost.”
While some initially voiced concerns that lack of nighttime illumination (照明) would be inconvenient ,Raja was eventually able to persuade his fellow villagers that any sacrifice would be worth it in the long run. “I explained that so many birds have died out and we should not let Indian Robin go the same way,” Raja recalled.
So, rather than ousted the bird, the villagers agreed to observe a blackout (断电) until the baby birds were old enough to fly away. The town spent a total of 45 days and nights in the dark, even disconnecting the switchboard from the power source to keep the mom and her chicks safe.
After mama Robin and her babies finally took off, the blackout was lifted, but the village’s extraordinary protection efforts for the sake of one lone bird and her babies didn’t go unnoticed.
A bird in the hand may be worth two in the bush, but a bird in the switchboard has earned Potthakudi a reputation for kindness that’s likely to light up smiles for quite some time to come.
1. What can we know about Karuppu Raja?A.He does his job carelessly. | B.He loves birds all the time. |
C.He argues with his villagers. | D.He is the leader of the village. |
A.Protected. | B.Set free. | C.Killed. | D.Drove away. |
A.The reasons why many birds have died out. |
B.The kind villagers in Potthakudi. |
C.What villagers do to help the birds. |
D.How to protect Indian Robins. |
A.Man will conquer nature. |
B.Man and animals can live in harmony. |
C.A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. |
D.A bird is known by its note and a man by his talk. |
【推荐2】There are a lot of wild camels in Australia. Although they don’t appear to be as destructive as other introduced species because they eat trees and plants that our native Australian animals don’t eat, in the last few years the Australian Camel population has been increasing at a fairly alarming rate and becoming a bit of a problem.
We didn’t see them that often where we grew up unless we went further into Queensland or South Australia. When we did see them it was always a bit of a thrill for us kids because it was somewhat of a novelty.
The suggestion of bringing camels to Australia was first made in 1837, 49 years after Europeans arrived in Australia. The importing of camels into Australia began in the mid 1800s to open up the desert areas of Central and Western Australia. They were handled and cared for by Muslim cameleers that came from countries like Egypt, Turkey and northern India. The cameleers were called Afghans or “Ghans” even though most of them were not Afghans. The name stuck to a part of the railroad track that links Port Augusta in South Australia to Darwin in the Northern Territory.
In a famous 176-kilometre race, between Bourke and Wanaaring in New South Wales a camel was beaten by a horse but the horse died the next day while the camel was ridden back to the starting point.
By the 1920s there were about 20, 000 domesticated camels in Australia, but with the arrival of motor and rail transport in the 1930s people no longer needed their camels and a lot of them were abandoned in the bush.
Australian Camels are now exported live to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and other countries where disease-free camels are considered a delicacy. Australian Camels are also exported to Arab Camel racing stables as breeding stock. The United States also imports them to use in tourist attractions. There are over 40 farms providing rides in Australia now.
1. What problem with camels in Australia is mentioned?A.They carry disease. |
B.They hurt people sometimes. |
C.The number of them is growing rapidly. |
D.Some native animals are threatened by them. |
A.To keep the balance of nature. |
B.To develop the desert areas. |
C.To satisfy kids’ curiosity. |
D.To create new jobs. |
A.The disappearance of bushes. |
B.The spread of a serious disease. |
C.The introduction of other animals. |
D.The availability of modern vehicles. |
A.The history of Australian Camels. |
B.What Australian Camels are used for. |
C.The advantages of Australian Camels. |
D.Why Australian Camels are popular abroad. |
【推荐3】According to Dr. John Swaddle, a professor at the Institute for Integrative Conservation at College of William & Mary, hundreds of millions of birds die every year from window collisions.
However, if you put decals(贴花纸)or colorful stickers outside of your windows, the birds are more likely to see the barrier and therefore avoid it. Remember: never inside your window; always outside of your window.
“Double-glazed(双层的)windows reflect a lot of light, especially when you view them from a slight angle, as a flying bird would do,” Swaddle told Salon. He is the corresponding author of a recent study which tries to figure out how this basic reality of physics impacts on a bird’s experience as it flies near a standard window. For their experiment, researchers had birds perform repeated and controlled flight trials near windows with film(薄膜)products, BirdShades film and Haverkamp film, respectively.
“In our collision avoidance trials, BirdShades increased window avoidance by 47% and the Haverkamp increased avoidance by 39%. But neither product was effective when the films were applied to the internal surface of windows,” the authors concluded.
When breaking down the problem of avoiding window collisions from a bird’s point of view, Swaddle explained, “The light and reflected imagery from the external surface of the glass is sufficient to obscure a film or decal that is stuck to the inner surface from being seen clearly.”
If you want to protect birds from easily avoidable deaths without buying window film products, there are other solutions. Swaddle recommended “pleasing fritted glass(烧结玻璃)that could be used in new construction and which is also bird-friendly”. Besides, he notes that screens can be helpful as well, not only by limiting reflectiveness but by providing birds with a cushion if they make impact. It is also possible to use everyday household objects to signal to birds that there are barriers — netting, bits of string, colorful stickers, and paint. These can all be used to this effect.
1. Which of the following can work to reduce bird window collisions?A.Choosing double-glazed windows. |
B.Avoiding opening windows at night. |
C.Sticking decals to the outer side of windows. |
D.Covering the inner windows with colorful decals. |
A.The bird-friendly film products and glass. |
B.The efficient measures of collision avoidance. |
C.The bird behaviors when hitting the bright window. |
D.The link between light reflection and bird window collisions. |
A.They can slow down the crash. | B.They can be found in everyday life. |
C.They can be used in new construction. | D.They can remove the influence of reflectiveness. |
A.Soft screens to lessen impacts. | B.Household objects to warn birds. |
C.Approaches to avoiding bird collisions. | D.Bird-friendly objects to make birds pleased. |
【推荐1】When Harrison School District 2 turned to e-learning last spring, they made sure to provide each student with a laptop and the tools needed to succeed at home. But one remaining need in many families was Internet access.
Christine O’Brien, spokesperson for District 2 said, "When you had many people learning and working from home, sometimes there were Internet glitches. We wanted to avoid that and make sure students in our district could have equal chances to learn and that our families could learn from home as well."
O’Brien said that this year they made sure to survey each of their students to see who exactly needed the Internet.
“This year we were really specific about asking whether families had Internet service at home without a phone," she said. They discovered that about a thousand families needed some sort of Internet connection.
And that’s where Altia came into play. A local software company heard there was an Internet shortage for students and it stepped in to see how they could help. Teaming up with local foundations (基金会), they were able to provide a monthly Internet service that allows many people to have Internet access at the same time. Mike Juran, CEO of Altia said; “At Altia we talked to Randy Rocha at District 2 and I just put out an email to friends and people that I knew and that made its way back to Pikes Peak Community Foundation and Norwood Foundation and people spread that around. Within weeks we were able to get something done."
"The community came together and helped us piece this part. We worked so hard as a school district to get those devices into the hands of students but this was a piece that we weren’t ready to do. We hadn’t budgeted (预算) for it, so the community’s coming together to help our families in this way was really truly amazing," said O’Brien.
1. What does the underlined word “glitches” in Paragraph 2 mean?A.Users. | B.Services. | C.Problems. | D.Repairmen. |
A.They kept track of students’ situations. |
B.They sold laptops to students cheaply. |
C.They kept holding new learning programs. |
D.They encouraged students to treat each other equally. |
A.By visiting the families every month. |
B.By sending emails to students every week. |
C.By setting up a local foundation to raise money. |
D.By offering Internet service to students in need. |
A.It inspired students to be helpful and active. |
B.It helped deliver devices to the hands of students. |
C.It added a big part to the school’s planned budget. |
D.It solved things the school district was unprepared for. |
【推荐2】In the lead-up to the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, educators across Qatar Foundation(QF)have found creative ways to take advantage of the global sporting event in the classroom to teach both physical and social skills, and to bring their lesson plans to life.
“Apart from encouraging them to take part in the physical aspect of the game, it’s a perfect opportunity to teach social skills, such as team spirit, fair play, respect for rules, cooperation, discipline and tolerance, etc. These are all essential skills for future participation in group activities and professional life,” explained Sara Hal Hajri, assistant director of QF.
The topics include learning about the event, the sport of football, stadiums and how they link to Qatari culture and heritage, and the positive impact the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 will have on the local community, etc. Classes will also be designing and creating a sustainable football in honor of the landmark year.
At the heart of the activities are friendly football matches organized to simulate the match experience where students will engage as either football players or audience. They will create cheers for their favourite team, use a match ticket, and purchase refreshments to mirror the experience at a match.
Football in Qatar Academy Sidra(QAS), a QF school, has been included in the curriculum across the age groups to teach subjects like geography, art writing, math and others in creative ways. For example, grade 4 students are using maps to determine the distances between stadiums while grades 11 and 12 engage in redesigning the FIFA World Cup using recycled materials.
Fatima Saad Mohannadi, a grade 10 student from QAS said, “Everyone is pumped up about the World Cup—it’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and there are so many activities being linked to it. And when we also have it included in our day-to-day learning, it just makes school that much more fun and something that, like the World Cup, we all look forward to.
1. What does Sara want to stress concerning integrating football into class?A.Its diversity. | B.Its significance. | C.Its prospect. | D.Its efficiency. |
A.Model. | B.Sponsor. | C.Observe. | D.Recall. |
A.Excited. | B.Resistant. | C.Doubtful. | D.Tolerant. |
A.The Cultures Behind the Football Event |
B.The Positive Impacts of Playing Football |
C.Qatar Plays Host to the 2022 FIFA World Cup |
D.QF Schools Use Football As a Novel Teaching Tool |
【推荐3】China landed a spacecraft on Mars for the first time last Saturday. This makes China the first country to make a successful landing on Mars on its first mission to Mars. China’s Zhurong rover (探测车), named after a traditional Chinese fire god, has touched down on the martian surface, the China National Space Administration confirmed on the morning of Saturday, May 15.
The rover is part of the Tian wen-1 mission, which consists of an orbiter, a probe, and a lander. The mission was launched in summer last year, and took seven months to complete its journey to the red planet. It arrived at Mars in February this year, and since then the spacecraft has been performing operations such as capturing images of Mars.
Believe it or not, traveling to Mars is actually the easy part of such a mission. The truly hard part is landing on the planet’s surface, as landers must contend with factors like the planet’s thin atmosphere, its variable dust storms, and a communication delay between Mars and Earth. This delay makes it impossible for people in mission control on Earth to control a craft in real time as it approaches the planet, so the landing must be performed autonomously.
To slow its speed as the lander approached the surface, it used both a parachute (降落伞) and a retrorocket (减速火箭) in its own “seven minutes of terror” as it moved through the atmosphere. It then landed in the Utopia Planitia area, a large impact basin, part of which was exploded by NASA’s Viking 2 lander in the 1970s.
According to China’s slate news agency Xinhua, President Xi Jinping said he was sending “warm congratulations and sincere greetings to all members who have participated in the Mars exploration mission.”
The rover will now begin its three-month mission to explore the Utopia Planitia area, where it will be searching for surface and subsurface ice. The mission will involve both the rover and the orbiter working in concert to create a map of water ice, with the orbiter focusing on the planet’s polar regions.
1. Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?A.The Tianwen-1 mission includes four space missions. |
B.Zhurong was known as a great astronomer in ancient China. |
C.The spacecraft has carried out a series of experiments in advance. |
D.China achieved success in landing on Mars creating a new record. |
a. Mars’s atmosphere. b. Mars’s bad weather
c. The landing instructions. d. The communication delay.
A.abc | B.bed | C.abd | D.abcd |
A.The landing way is quite different. | B.The landing process is full of danger. |
C.The landing site is unknown to NASA. | D.The landing time is calculate precisely. |