Your guardian angel might have four legs and a rocking tail.
A new study from two researchers at Arizona State University found, like the hero dogs of film and TV, your real-life one likely wants to rescue you when you’re in trouble, reports AFP.
“It’s a popular legend(传说), ” explained researcher Joshua van Bourg. “Simply observing dogs rescuing someone doesn’t tell you much. The difficult challenge is figuring out why they do it.”
To test if and why dogs want to save their humans, Joshua van Bourg and his partner, Clive Wynne, took 60 dogs and their owners and set up artificial rescue scene. For the study, the owner was put in a large box that had a lightweight door that the owner’s dog could move to one side to “save” them. Once in the box, the human would pretend to be in trouble, calling out for help without using their dog’s name. The second part of the test involved researchers placing dog food in a box and watching to see how many of the same 60 dogs moved to open the box to get the reward.
Looking at the two tests, the researchers found that about one-third of the dogs successfully rescued their owners and that around the same number also opened the box with the food. The study suggests that these responses could signal that dogs find rescuing their loved ones to be a rewarding task, much like nosing out and finding food. According to Joshua van Bourg, a dog’s natural heroism becomes even more impressive when you take “a closer look” at the study’s results.
“The key here is that without controlling for each dog’s understanding of how to open the box, the percentage of dogs who rescued their owners is much more lower than the percentage of dogs who wanted to rescue their owners.” Joshua van Bourg said.
“The fact that two-thirds of the dogs didn’t even open the box for food shows that rescuing requires more than just motivation(动机), there’s something else involved, and that’s the ability.” he added.
1. What do the researchers focus on in the studies?| A．The number of dogs smelling dog food. |
| B．The way of dogs opening the light door. |
| C．The reason for dogs rescuing their owners. |
| D．The willingness of dogs to enter the rescue scene. |
| A．Twenty dogs are brave enough to rescue humans. |
| B．Forty dogs help humans and open the boxes for food. |
| C．Owners are saved without calling their dogs name. |
| D．Dogs consider rescuing owners as a rewarding task. |
| A．Doubtful. | B．Objective. | C．Negative. | D．Pessimistic. |
| A．Teaching dogs how to rescue humans. |
| B．Reminding people of being kind to dogs. |
| C．Advocating people to raise more dogs as pets. |
| D．Testing dogs what to do while rescuing owners. |
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【推荐1】When Ariel Cordova-Rojas rode her bike to Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge in Queens, New York, last November, she planned to go hiking and bird-watching. Bingo! A mile into her walk, she spotted a gorgeous female swan near the water’s edge. Cordova-Rojas, 30, who had worked at the Wild Bird Fund care center in Manhattan, knew that swans can be aggressive. But as she approached this one, it didn’t move.
She was certain that the bird needed medical attention. Cordova-Rojas wrapped her jacket around the bird’s head to keep it calm, carefully picked it up, and cradled it in her arms. And then a thought struck her: What do I do now?
Her best bet was the care center, but that was across the East River and clear on the other side of town. How was she going to transport a 17-pound swan on her bike all that way? Luckily, some strangers driving by offered her, her bike, and the swan a lift to a nearby subway station.
On the subway, no one seemed particularly disturbed by the feathered passenger. One guy, says Cordova-Rojas, was “sitting right in front of me on his phone. I don’t know if he noticed there was a swan in front of him.” And then the animal-care manager picked her up at the subway station. There, staff members determined that the swan might have lead poisoning, caused by eating weights used on fishing lines.
The staff got the swan back up on her feet. She even made a boyfriend at the center — another injured swan. Sadly, the swan got a bacterial infection later. Two months after Cordova-Rojas came to her rescue, she passed away.
It’s a disappointing ending, but the real story is just how far some people are willing to go to save a swan in the big city — literally.
1. Why did Cordova-Rojas determine the swan needed medical care?| A．Because the swan was too aggressive. |
| B．Because the swan’s feet were injured badly. |
| C．Because the swan stayed still when she got closer. |
| D．Because she had worked at the Wild Bird Fund care center. |
| A．He felt disturbed by the swan. | B．He was sitting on pins and needles. |
| C．He paid little attention to the swan. | D．He was surprised at the swan’s presence. |
| A．The illness caused by bacteria. | B．The fishing lines eaten by the swan. |
| C．The serious injury of its feet. | D．The poisonous lead contained in weights. |
| A．Why a swan rescued still died. | B．What humans could do with nature. |
| C．How water pollution affected wild birds. | D．How far a bird lover went to save a swan. |
【推荐2】Peacocks (孔雀) have been troublesome birds of the Palos Verdes Peninsula and the San Gabriel Valley for decades, destroying gardens, blocking traffic, leaving droppings on roofs and making noises. Much to neighbors’ annoyance, some people leave out seeds and bread for the bright-colored feathered birds.
On Tuesday, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors decided that feeding peacocks is a misdemeanor, a slight crime, in unincorporated areas and the 44 cities that contract (签合同) with the county animal control department. Misdemeanors are punishable by up to six months in prison, a fine of up to $1, 000 or both. Contract cities can quit this rule, while unincorporated areas cannot, said Marcia Mayeda, director of the LA County Department of Animal Care and Control.
Some cities, including Pasadena and Arcadia, already ban feeding peacocks. Among the peacock-rich communities covered by the rule are Rancho Palos Verdes and Rolling Hills, as well as Chapman Woods near Pasadena.
“If a city said, We don’t want to adopt this. We have a different way of handling peacocks, we would agree to that, ” Mayeda said. According to him, animal control officers generally leave peacocks alone, as“they’re a difficult bird to catch”. Instead, the county will contract with wildlife expert Mike Maxcy, who worked at the Los Angeles Zoo for 33 years and has resettled peafowl, a kind of peacock, in large farms since 1999.
Peafowl are smart, eating practically anything and everything, Maxcy said. In adulthood, they don’t face many killers, other than humans. Feeding the birds, which are not native to Southern California, causes the population to increase, as they lay more eggs when resources are abundant. LA County’s peacock population has been increased by years of human feeding.
Thus, the problems are posed by their fans. “They’re all in very nice neighborhoods with very nice homes and tall, old pine trees (where they sleep), and dare I say, animal fans that love to feed them, ”Maxcy said.
1. What do we know about the new rule?| A．It is intended to protect peacocks. |
| B．It allows contract cities to drop out. |
| C．It applies to all the cities in Los Angeles. |
| D．It involves either being in prison or a fine. |
| A．To observe the rule strictly. |
| B．To make peacocks lay more eggs. |
| C．To get advice on feeding peacocks. |
| D．To deal with peacocks in another way. |
| A．Caused. | B．Addressed. | C．Discussed. | D．Covered. |
| A．Personal growth , joint efforts |
| B．No balance, no neighborhood |
| C．Feed a peacock , face a crime |
| D．Love a peacock, lose a fan |
【推荐3】Honeybees can’t swim, and when their wings get wet, they can’t fly. But one study shows that honeybees do have another, less obvious choice to save them from death in the water: surfing.
The discovery began with a lucky accident. When research engineer Chris Roh passed by Caltech’s Millikan Pond, he saw a honeybee resting in the water, and since it was midday, the honeybee’s shadow (影子) fell directly on the bottom of the pond. However, what really caught his eye was the waves created by the honeybee’s wings, as the waves from one wing crashed with those from the other wing.
Roh brought honeybees to the lab, where he recreated the conditions, he saw at Mfillikan Pond. He placed a bee in a pan of still water and then shone filtered (过滤的) light from above to pretend it was the midday sun. He did this with 33 bees, but only for a few minutes one single bee at a time, and then gave each bee time to recover.
While water prevents a bee from flying by clinging (紧附) to its wings, the same condition obviously provides another way for the bee to escape. The bee pulls water with its wings, creating waves that can push it forward.
But there are some limitations. Obviously, the bees can’t produce enough force to get them out of the water. However, the wave can push them forward enough to the edge of the water, where they can then climb out and fly away. This behavior is more tiring than flying, and Roh guesses the bees can only hold it for about 10 minutes before using up their strength, so the chances to get out may, be limited.
“This behavior has never been recorded in other insects,” Roh added. This study focused on honeybees, but future studies could investigate whether it is also used by other bee groups or possibly even by other winged insects.
1. According to the new study, what helps honeybees avoid death in water?| A．The crash between their wings. |
| B．The water clinging to their bodies. |
| C．The strong will to get out of water. |
| D．The waves produced by their wings. |
| A．To help the honeybees recover quickly. |
| B．To make the honeybees gain more force. |
| C．To keep the honeybees in warm conditions. |
| D．To create a shadow on the bottom of the pan. |
| A．By using examples. |
| B．By giving explanations. |
| C．By making a comparison. |
| D．By listing specific numbers. |
| A．No insects can surf other than honeybees. |
| B．More methods will be used to study insects. |
| C．Researches will be done into other bee species. |
| D．Bees made more and more scientists concerned. |
【推荐1】Curiosity is key to learning. In fact, studies show that, when we’re curious about a subject, we are much more likely to remember information we learned about that subject. If you’re an educational professional or are considering earning a teaching degree and entering the classroom, knowing how to enlighten students’ curiosity can help you improve learning outcomes.
Curiosity most often begins with “why”. Why does natural gas burn blue? Why is blue spelled blue and not blew? Why does the wind blow? If you want to fire up your students’ curiosity, you need to encourage them to ask and try to answer questions. That means you should avoid giving tedious lectures where you explain everything. Instead, try designing your classes so that you’re posing questions. And be sure to leave openings for students to participate and ask questions about what they’re learning.
Not every question your students ask will be a question you expect. But all questions prove a curious mind, so don’t dismiss questions that don’t fit with your lesson. Instead, leave unstructured time in class to address unexpected questions, or establish a system whereby unexpected questions can be “stored” for later, like on a whiteboard or in an online document.
In addition to making room for unexpected questions, you should also make room for students’ exploration of their questions. If you give your students enough time to discuss questions, their curiosity is certainly to expand.
Curiosity is a fuel. It drives us to try to figure things out and, finally, to learn. So make sure you give your students time for reflection after every class. Ask them to create a quick piece of art to reflect what they’ve learned. Not only does this kind of reflection aid in learning, it can also teach students to make curiosity a constantly present part of their lives.
1. Why is curiosity vital to study according to the text?| A．It improves students’ memory. |
| B．It helps gain a better learning result. |
| C．It assists teachers in encouraging students. |
| D．It promotes the understanding of each other. |
| A．Dull. | B．Considerable. | C．Essential. | D．Popular. |
| A．By asking as many questions as possible. |
| B．By encouraging students to ask unexpected questions. |
| C．By offering students sufficient time to discuss questions. |
| D．By dismissing the questions that don’t fit with the lesson. |
| A．Definition of curiosity. | B．Significance of imagination. |
| C．Ways of making classes educative. | D．Methods for enlightening curiosity. |
【推荐2】Speaking two languages deeply affects the brain and changes how the nervous system reacts to sound, and researches have shown that learning a foreign language can strengthen brain power, but a new study suggests that the effects go further to those who begin in middle childhood.
It indicates that people who began learning a foreign language at 10 and were always exposed to the language, meaning they heard and used it in daily life, had improvements in the structure of the brain’s white matter compared with people who grew up speaking only one language and did not learn a foreign language.
These “higher levels of structural integrity(完整性)” were in areas responsible for language learning and semantic(语义的)processing, which occurs when the meaning of a word is encoded and related to similar words with similar meaning.
The new findings, published in the National Academy of Sciences on Monday, studied brain scans from 200 subjects(实验者), all around the age of 30, who lived in Britain for at least 13 months. They all started learning English as a foreign language at the age of 10.
Their imaging scans were compared with people of similar age who spoke only English. The study was led by Christos of the University of Kent School of Psychology in Britain.
“Everyday dealing with more than one language benefits specific language-related brain structures by preserving their integrity, and therefore it protects them against deterioration in older age,” the study found.
1. Who may have stronger brain power according to the text?| A．A person who learns English as a foreign language. |
| B．A person who speaks English as a mother language. |
| C．A person who can speak English well at an early age. |
| D．A person who hears and uses English in everyday life. |
| A．The 200 subjects lived in Britain to learn English. |
| B．The 200 subjects studied English at the age of 30. |
| C．The structure of their brains’ white matter improved. |
| D．The structure of their brains’ white matter disappeared. |
| A．Evolving. | B．Reaction. | C．Worsening. | D．Formation. |
| A．Speaking two languages affects the brain seriously. |
| B．Speaking two languages changes how the brain works. |
| C．Learning a foreign language can affect people’s childhood. |
| D．Learning a foreign language at 10 strengthens brain power. |
【推荐3】In July, 2015, NASA's Kepler mission has confirmed the first near-Earth-size planet in the "habitable zone" around a sun-like star. This discovery and the introduction of 11other new small habitable zone candidate planets mark another milestone in the journey to finding another "Earth"
The newly discovered Kepler-452b is the smallest planet to date discovered orbiting in the habitable zone—the area around à star where liquid water could pool on the surface of an orbiting planet—of a G2-type star, like our sun. The confirmation of Kepler-452b brings the total number of confirmed planets to 1,030.
"On the 20th anniversary year of the discovery that proved other suns' host planets the Kepler has discovered a planet and star which most closely resemble the Earth and our Sun," said John Grunsfeld, associate administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. “This exciting result brings us one step closer to finding an Earth 2.0.”
Kepler-452b is 60 percent larger in diameter than Earth arid is considered a super-Earth-size planet. While its mass and composition are not yet determined, previous research suggests that planets the size of Kepler-452b have-a good chance of being rocky.
While Kepler-452b is larger than Earth, ' its 385-day orbit is only 5 percent longer. The planet is 5 percent farther from its parent star Kepler-452 than the earth is from the sun. Kepler-452 is 6 billion years old, 1.5 billion years older than our sun, has the same temperature, and is 20 percent brighter and has a diameter 10 percent larger.
"We can think of Kepler-452b as an older, bigger cousin to Earth, providing an opportunity to understand and reflect upon Earth's evolving environment," said Jon Jenkins, who led the team that discovered Kepler-452b. "If all the necessary ingredients and conditions for life should exist on this planet, there would be a good opportunity for life to arise."
To help confirm the finding and better determine the properties of the Kepler-452 system, the 'team conducted a series of ground-based observations: These measurements were the key for the researchers to confirm the planetary nature of Kepler-452b and to better pin down(确定)the size of the planet and its orbit.
1. When was the first host planet found in another solar system?| A．In 2015. | B．In 1985. |
| C．In 2005. | D．In 1995. |
| A．Whether there is life on Kepler-452b remains unknown. |
| B．Kepler-452b is 10 percent larger in diameter than the sun. |
| C．Judging from its size, it is very likely that Kepler-452b is rocky. |
| D．Kepler-452b is a planet orbiting in the habitable zone. |
| A．which Kepler-452b resembles more, the earth or the sun |
| B．more mysteries in our solar system |
| C．the planetary nature of Kepler-452b |
| D．the significance of NASA's Kepler mission |
| A．the discovery of a new Earth-like planet |
| B．the discovery of a new solar system |
| C．the origin of the universe |
| D．the comparison, between the earth and Kepler-452b |
【推荐1】Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White is a children’s book.
As the story opens,eight-year-old farm girl Fern Arable stops her father from killing a baby pig who is weaker than his brothers and sisters. The little pig, Wilbur, becomes one of the main characters in the story. Later he will be treated as a friend by Charlotte, a wise and loving spider living on the same farm. Wilbur slowly realizes that the farmer will kill him for his meat in a few months, and Charlotte decides to help him out. She tries many things to keep Wilbur alive. She writes words in her web describing how wonderful Wilbur is and this makes the farm famous.
White creates a sort of modern animal fable(寓言), in which animals can speak both with each other and with Fern. Also there are many great characters in this book.
The society of animals has many lessons to teach children and adults: friendship, sacrifice(牺牲), hope, determination, love, duty, fairness, respect, and many more.
Part of this novel’s success is the fact that the author makes a heroine(女主角) out of a spider, a creature that many people probably dislike. Unlike a lovely little pig or other creatures, a spider is a creature greatly different from humans. White’s Charlotte is a truly wonderful character. He tells the story of Charlotte and her friends in a special way. This is a book that no one could ever dislike. It has much to offer to children as well as to older teens and adult readers.
1. According to the descripion of the book,Charlotte ______.| A．is a nice and clever spider |
| B．often teaches her friends good lessons |
| C．always sacrifices herself for her friends |
| D．is disliked by many animals around her |
| A．That there are many animals in the book. |
| B．That the author of the book is very famous. |
| C．That the author knows children very well. |
| D．That the author makes a heroine out of a spider. |
| A．is the most interesting book for children |
| B．is E.B. White’s only book written for children |
| C．is a good book not only for children but also for adults |
| D．is mainly about how animals get along with each other |
| A．To introduce the book Charlitte’s Web |
| B．To discuss what kinds of books are good to read |
| C．To explain why Charlitte’s Web is a good book |
| D．To tell us the importance of friendship in our life |
【推荐2】There is mounting evidence that the smartphone era is fading. Phone sales have been in gentle decline since 2016, as slower technological improvement has led to people upgrading less often.
The current big idea is virtual-reality (VR) headsets, promoted in part by pandemic lockdowns. More promising are glasses for experiencing augmented reality (AR), in which computer graphics are overlaid on the real world. Most of America’s big tech firms-among them Apple, Google, Meta and Microsoft-as well as Asian giants like ByteDance (TikTok’s Chinese owner) and Sony, are developing or selling VR or AR headsets. What has so far been a niche (有利可图的) market is about to become very crowded.
What does seem to be under way, however, is a gradual movement by consumers towards a series of new wearable devices. These include voice-activated smart headphones, which can make calls, read messages and more, and smart watches, which handle scheduling, navigation and fitness. Many health-tech gadgets measure everything from blood sugar to sleep patterns. In some countries unit sales of these “wearables” are already close to sales of smart phones.
People are not about to ditch their phones, any more than they threw out their laptops a decade ago. But as they interact more often with earphones or, soon glasses, more of them will come to use their phone as a kind of back office, primarily there to provide processing muscle for other gadgets. As chips get even smaller, phones may not be needed even for that.
1. According to the passage, the reason for the fact that smartphones have been less popular is ________.| A．that the digital market is becoming crowded |
| B．that people are being locked down during the pandemic |
| C．that technology is improving slowly |
| D．that many USA’s tech companies are developing VR or AR headsets |
| A．smartphones | B．VR headsets | C．AR glasses | D．smart watches |
| A．Put away. | B．Cast away. | C．Keep away. | D．Interact with. |
| A．The popularity of AR and VR |
| B．The decrease in sales of smartphones and new alternatives |
| C．The “wearables” are more popular than smart phones. |
| D．Smartphones are not in demand any longer in the future. |
【推荐3】A 2018 Guardian article predicted a hopeless future for Icelandic as a language: “fighting the threat of ‘digital extinction’”. In that report, it was explained how the mother tongue and the cultural identity of Icelanders are getting stuck on an Internet that is almost entirely in English. The same Government also warned a few years ago that in a few generations, if it could not continue to be the country’s default (默认的) language in the face of rapid digitization, it would disappear completely.
To protect it, the country even coins Icelandic terms for new concepts rather than borrowing words from other languages. Computer, for example, becomes tolva, which is a mix between tala and volva. The goal is for the language to remain “clean” and keep its Old Norse roots. But despite this, Icelandic is only used today by about 340,000 people. And, at a time when Netflix, YouTube and voice assistants have become the normal in the globalized world, Icelandic is sinking into an ocean of English.
A few months ago, Open AI issued the long-awaited GPT-4 model, an update to the technology behind its popular Chat GPT, the fastest-growing application in history. The company says that GPT-4 is its most advanced system and can produce safer and more useful replies, adding that GPT-4 goes beyond Chat GPT in its advanced reasoning abilities. Iceland has seen a solution to its problems. The country’s president, GuOni Th. JOhannesson, has partnered with Open AI to use GPTT-4 to preserve Icelandic.
And how can AI help Iceland? To answer that question, one must understand that Open AI’s GPT models are largely trained by text on the Internet. That means that most of the technical knowledge and training is in English. That, in turn, means GPT doesn’t have the same understanding abilities in smaller languages. Although GPT-4 performs much better than its former versions, it still has some grammatical, “translation” and cultural errors. To address this, the Icelandic language technology company MiOeindehf has asked a team of 40 volunteers to train GPT-4 on proper Icelandic grammar and cultural knowledge.
1. Why does the author mention the 2018 Guardian article in paragraph 1?| A．To show the difficult situation of Icelandic. |
| B．To show the rapid development of digitization. |
| C．To explain how the Iceland government popularizes English. |
| D．To explain why Icelanders are changing their cultural identity. |
| A．The effort made by Iceland to protect its language. |
| B．The new language rules discovered by Icelanders. |
| C．The translation of Icelandic into other languages. |
| D．The comparison of Icelandic and other languages. |
| A．It replies more quickly than Chat GPT. |
| B．It is the fastest-growing application in history. |
| C．It was originally designed for language protection. |
| D．It performs better in advanced reasoning than Chat GPT. |
| A．By updating Icelandic’s online database regularly. |
| B．By asking volunteers to give GPT-4 proper training. |
| C．By learning from Chat GPT’s previous translations. |
| D．By separating grammatical errors from cultural errors. |
