The air is thin and we have to rest several times on the short hike from camp. To our left, snow- covered mountains disappear into clouds that seem almost close enough to touch. On the plain in front of us, we can just make out a herd of graceful animals. This is why we are here—to observe Tibetan antelopes.
Tibetan antelopes live on the plains of Tibet, Xinjiang, and Qinhai. Watching them move slowly across the green grass, I am struck by their beauty. I am also reminded of the danger they are in. They are being hunted illegally for their valuable fur.
My guide is Zhaxi, a villager from Changtang. He works at the Changtang National Nature Reserve. The reserve is a shelter for the animals and plants of northwestern Tibet. To Zhaxi, the land is sacred and protecting the wildlife is a way to life. “We are not trying to save the animals,”he says. “Actually, we are trying to save ourselves.”
The 1980s and 1990s were bad times for the Tibetan antelope. The population dropped by more than 50 percent. Hunters were shooting antelopes to make profits. Their habitats were becoming smaller as new roads and railways were built.
In order to save this species from extinction, the Chinese government placed it under national protection. Zhaxi and other volunteers watched over the antelopes day and night to keep them safe from attacks. Bridges and gates were added to let the antelopes move easily and keep them safe from cars and trains.
The measures were effective.The antelope population has recovered and in June 2015, the Tibetan antelope was removed from the endangered species list. The government, however, does not intend to stop the protection programmes ,since the threats to the Tibetan antelope have not yet disappeared.
In the evening, I drink a cup of tea and watch the stars. I think about the antelopes and what Zhazi told me. Much is being done to protect wildlife, but if we really want to save the planet, we must change our way of life. Only when we learn to exist in harmony with nature can we stop being a threat to wildlife and to our planet.
1. Why did the writer visit Tibet?2. What happened to the Tibetan antelope in the 1980s and 1990s?
3. What were the measures to save the Tibetan antelope from extinction? Please write down at least one measure?
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【推荐1】Climate change is changing the migration routes of animals worldwide. Take the mule deer for example. Every spring in Wyoming, green-up first appears at lower altitudes before progressing up the mountainside. Migrating mule deer follow and seek food on this green wave. But as a changing climate leads to more frequent and more severe droughts, the greenery is not as abundant as it used to be.
Ellen Aikens, a researcher from the University of Wyoming, tracked mule deer as they surfed the green wave. In comparison to wet years, the green-up lasted across the landscape for about half as long in drought years and was also fragmented. Although the deer were able to keep up with the faster green wave, the nutritional value was lower, leaving the animals less prepared for the challenges of the year ahead.
Meanwhile in Europe, the population of Bewick’s swans that spend the winter in the Netherlands is declining. But when researchers looked at the data more closely, they found an increase in the wintering population of swans in Germany. It turns out that since the 1970s, the swans’ wintering habitat has shifted an average of 13 kilometers to the east each year.
“The swans like to spend time where it’s 5℃. And the temperature line has shifted in the same rate as the swans shifted eastward,” said Rascha Nuijten, an ecologist at the Netherlands Institute of Ecology.
These findings are important to our understanding of the conservation of migrant animals. When it comes to protecting a certain species, it’s not just about the current situation. Nature is dynamic. And the species that is present now might not be present in 10 years, not because we didn’t protect it but because maybe it is dynamic in its way. We need to include the dynamics of nature into our legislation and management.
1. What’s the challenge the mule deer face?A.Wet years. | B.Low altitudes. |
C.Fast green wave. | D.Lack of quality food. |
A.They are endangered. |
B.They used to spend winter in Germany. |
C.They move their wintering habitats eastward. |
D.Germany has more of them than the Netherlands. |
A.Its warmer in the east. |
B.The 5℃ line shifts at a fast rate. |
C.The swans move with the temperature line. |
D.Climate change affects the swans’ feeding habits. |
A.To introduce two research findings. |
B.To appeal to protect animals in a dynamic way. |
C.To discuss methods of fighting climate change. |
D.To explain why animals change their migration routes. |
【推荐2】It is not always easy to understand animal behavior, especially when it’s related to other species (物种). For decades, researchers have observed orca (虎鲸) attacking and even killing porpoises (鼠海豚) in the Pacific Northwest. But it confuses people that these expert hunters don’t eat them. So what’s going on here?
Southern Resident orcas are a different population of orcas that live in the Pacific Northwest. The lives of these orcas are closely tied to those of the salmon (鲑鱼). So if the salmon disappear, so too will the orca. But despite their preference for salmon, these whales are known to attack and kill other smaller marine mammals (海洋哺乳动物)without eating them.
To better understand this unusual behavior, an international team of researchers did a research and examined more than 60 years of recorded interactions between Southern Resident orcas and porpoises in the Salish Sea.
“Why don’t the Southern Residents just eat porpoises instead?” Deborah Giles of Wild Orca said. “It’s because fish-eating killer whales have a completely different ecology and culture from orcas that eat marine mammals. So we must conclude that their interactions with porpoises serve a different purpose, but this purpose has only been a guess until now.”
According to Giles and her colleagues’ work, the orca may be attacking the porpoise as a form of social play. It is possible these large animals may be attacking the smaller mammals as a way to build up social cohesion (凝聚力). Similarly, the behavior could represent hunting practice, by which the orcas are practising their teamwork and cooperation skills for hunting salmon. Finally, the behavior could be a way of “mismothering” where the orca see the smaller porpoises as weaker or ill and so in need of care.
This work highlights the need for the protection of salmon populations in the area as well as the orcas’ entire hunting range. The threat (威胁) to the salmon’s future is not just a threat to a single species, but an entire ecosystem.
1. Why did an international team of researchers do their study?A.To find out a way to protect porpoises. |
B.To make sure the reason why some orcas attack salmons. |
C.To solve the problem of marine mammals’ living environment. |
D.To better understand the strange behavior of Southern Resident orcas. |
A.Porpoises | B.Marine mammals. | C.Salmons. | D.Whales. |
A.It’s a kind of social play with porpoises. |
B.It is a practice to kill porpoises as their food. |
C.The orcas may dislike the smaller porpoises. |
D.It’s a way for the orcas to practice their hunting skills. |
A.Positive. | B.Objective. | C.Doubtful. | D.Uncertain. |
【推荐3】The shy, 8-year-old rescue dog, with brown spots was lost in the winter cold.
Her owner, Charles Reigies, remembers the moment she disappeared, the day after Christmas. He and his girlfriend, Hanna Poscente, were driving back home in one of the first storms of the season. Reigies hit a black ice. The Jeep crashed onto its side. “When I came to myself, she was hurt and the dog was gone,” he said.
It was dark out and they were miles from any town, two hours from home. An ambulance rushed Poscente to a hospital with a broken neck. As Reigies waited for a tow truck (拖车), he kept searching for Mia in the snow. But there were no signs of her.
The next day, Poscente restarted her Facebook account to post about Mia. She joined groups of lost-and-found pets across the region. Days passed. The posts were liked and shared. Strangers in small towns kept searching for Mia and posting daily updates online.
And if that village had a mayor, it would be Janet Cross, who lives about 20 minutes from the crash site. She had heard that pets will keep returning to where they’ve lost their people. So, 10 days after the crash, she set up a camera at the site. She could see that Mia was still coming back twice a day. It was hopeful. Mia was alive.
Over the next couple of weeks, people called and messaged with Mia sightings. And Charles and Hanna came back to check the crash site as often as they could. There were several near misses. Finally, Poscente received a call from a woman, saying “I’m looking at your dog.”
Thanks to the help of many people, Mia made it home.
1. What caused the rescue dog lost?A.A car accident. | B.A heavy rainstorm. |
C.The break-down of the car. | D.The slide of a very big ice. |
A.To show up his posting skills. |
B.To help the lost dogs in the region. |
C.To seek her missing rescue dog online. |
D.To share the best memories of the dog. |
A.Responsible and elegant. | B.Helpful and thoughtful. |
C.Generous and ambitious. | D.Considerate and brave. |
A.The Lost Dog | B.The Adventure of A Rescue Dog |
C.Facebook Makes Our Life Better | D.Many Hands Made Mia back Home |
【推荐1】On November 7, Lewis Pugh completed a one-kilometer swim in the freezing waters of King Edward Cove, off South Georgia in Antarctica. He was wearing only his swimming glasses, cap and Speedos (速度计).
Pugh is an advocate (提倡者) for our oceans and seas, working to protect these ecosystems (生态系统) with their large diversity of sea life. When asked why he doesn’t wear a wetsuit, Lewis says, “I ask world leaders to do everything they can to protect our oceans. Sometimes the steps they need to take are difficult and unpopular. If I’m asking them to be courageous, I must also be. Swimming in a wetsuit would not send the right message.”
It took Pugh about 19 minutes to complete the one-kilometer swim in Antarctica where the water averaged about 1.6 degrees Celsius. He says that his body can only tolerate about 20 minutes in the freezing waters before it starts shutting down. As he swims, his body temperature steadily drops, which in turn causes his muscle control to drop, slowing him down. When he is done with his swim, his support team rushes him to a hot shower and it takes almost an hour for his body temperature to return to normal.
Doctors and Pugh warn that one must receive months of training to swim in such cold waters. Even expert swimmers who are unused to freezing water can drown within minutes because of the physical shock experienced by the body. Pugh says he trained for six months before this swim.
This is not the first time that Lewis has swum in dangerous conditions. In 2007, he swam one kilometer in the North Pole to draw attention to the melting Arctic ice due to the climate change. In 2015, he swam in the Bay of Whales in Antarctica’s Ross Sea as part of his successful campaign to help set up a sea life reserve (保护中心) there.
1. Why did Lewis Pugh swim without a wetsuit?A.To swim faster. | B.To show his bravery. |
C.To win public attention. | D.To protect the ecosystems. |
A.His body. | B.His muscle. |
C.His body temperature. | D.The water temperature. |
A.should be expert at swimming | B.should be ready to take on challenges |
C.must be trained professionally | D.must be used to long-distance swimming |
A.Tips for protecting oceans and seas | B.Lewis Pugh: achieving the impossible |
C.Tips for extreme swimming | D.Lewis Pugh: swimming for a cause |
【推荐2】What is sustainable travel? Traveling sustainably means being aware of the impact of tourism on the environment and following good practices to reduce the negative effects. Planet Earth has limited resources and mass tourism puts their existence at risk.
Let’s find out a few easy ways to travel in an eco-friendly way.
Stay in eco-friendly accommodations.
From renewable energy production to bio-architecture, eco-friendly accommodations focus on preserving the environment and have positive environmental effects.
Take public transportation.
Interaction with locals is one of the most rewarding things about sustainable travel and preserves traditions passed down from generation to generation. It is essential to respect traditions as they form the identity of the local community and create a sense of unity among people.
Say NO to single-use plastics.
Saying NO to single-use plastics reduces pollution. The production of plastics uses fossil fuels(化石燃料) and therefore releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, contributing to climate change.
A.However, this is not all. |
B.Buy from and support local businesses. |
C.Respect the culture of local communities. |
D.Therefore, sustainable travel is a way to preserve nature. |
E.Traveling slow allows you to enjoy the scenery along the way. |
F.This practice helps reduce air pollution and improve traffic flow. |
G.In addition, numerous plastics end up in oceans every year, threatening sea life. |
【推荐3】“The number of sightings has fallen during lockdown, although pigeons are increasing”, reports Mark Bridge, an editor of BBC Gardeners World Magazine. He notes that sightings of some of Britain’s best-loved garden birds have fallen, blaming the reduction on fewer hedges (篱) and over “tidy” gardening.
The annual review by BBC Gardeners World Magazine found that blackbirds, house sparrows, blue tits (蓝山雀) were spotted less often than in previous years. Sightings of blackbirds were reported by only 85 percent of interviewees last year, down from 90 percent in 2018. The number of interviewees reporting sightings of house sparrows fell from 79 percent to 75 percent in the same period, with a similar decline from 80 percent to 75 percent for blue tits.
Lucy Hall, the magazine chief editor, said, “while watching wildlife has been a great distraction from the pandemic, this decline in common UK bird species is a huge concern.” Hall said that reasons for the decline included the reduction of hedges as people smartened their living surroundings. “More hedges are coming down,” she said. “People are also transforming front gardens for parking. So the sorts of habitats we’ve provided... are being ripped out.”
“As an old Chinese saying goes, when the water is too clear, there are no fish. ‘Birds’ need as lightly messy space,” she said. “They need leaf litter, a bit of rotting wood at the back of a hedge. If you haven’t got a caterpillar, the blue tit has nothing to feed on. The good news is we can all do something to help make a big difference whether it’s filing bird feeders or installing bug boxes and log (原木) piles.”
While some species were in decline, others appeared to be going well. The number of interviewees seeing feral pigeons was up by eight percentage points to 59 percent since 2018. Common gulls were also up, while robins were the birds seen by the greatest number of interviewees at 91 percent.
1. Why are the data used in Paragraph 2?A.To prove the decrease of sighting of birds. |
B.To challenge Mark Bridge’s finding. |
C.To interpret the outcome of the lockdown. |
D.To blame the review by BBC Gardeners World Magazine. |
A.Made use of. | B.Under destruction. |
C.Under control. | D.Made up for. |
A.To feed birds on caterpillars. | B.To pile logs on bug boxes. |
C.To arrange extremely messy space. | D.To offer insects in feeding boxes. |
A.Wildlife is spotted less often than before. |
B.Beloved birds take flight from tidy gardens. |
C.The pandemic contributes to the decreasing birds. |
D.Living surroundings are now smartened by Brits. |