【推荐2】Going on holiday doesn’t have to be bad for the environment, and there are still plenty of ways in which you can have a much-deserved break without harming the environment.

Forget planes.

While most forms of transport produce carbon dioxide, one of the gases responsible for global warming, planes have a massive carbon footprint because of the huge number of miles they travel.     1     There’s so much to see and do in the U.K., yet most of us overlook the endless possibilities. There’s the unparalleled beauty of the Cornish coast and the Peak and Lake District. Enjoy the history of a stunning Welsh castle, try boating on the Norfolk Broads or riding the “Hogwarts Express” across Scotland. Or try taking the train over to Europe — within six hours of London are Amsterdam’s famous art galleries. Alternatively, take the car to Cannes in just over half a day or the ferry to Scandinavia for holidays you’d normally only dream of.

    2    

Hotels can be huge producers of greenhouse gases — think about the water that’s wasted, all the bathroom products thrown out half used and all the buffet food that goes uneaten. So choose an eco-friendly option instead. Camping and a home stay — where you live with a family in their own home — are two of the best options. But if you insist on staying in the hotel, some of the things to look out for are hotels made from ustainable materials, which are energy efficient or use their own solar energy and that recycle.     3    

Pack with care.

The less you take, the lighter your carbon footprint, because the heavier your luggage is, the more fuel it takes to carry. So pack light and responsibly.     4     All of their bottles, from shampoo and conditioner to body wash and moisturizer, are now made from recycled plastic that can be repurposed again and again so no new plastic is produced. And their iconic soap bars now also come in plastic-free packaging.

Buy gifts responsibly.

Bringing back gifts for friends and loved ones is part of the fun of a holiday.     5     Avoid anything plastic, or if it is plastic, make sure it is 100% recyclable, and make sure your friends will love whatever you give them so it isn’t just thrown in the bin headed for landfill. Try to buy presents made by local craftsmen, which will benefit the community and help their economy. And don’t bring back anything made from shells, corals or animal products, because you don’t know if they’re from sustainable sources.

A．Consider living in an eco-friendly hotel.

B．Think about eco-friendly accommodation.

C．But make sure you choose items carefully.

D．Some also have planting programs to attract wildlife.

E．Why not skip flying in favor of a holiday closer to home?

F．Rather than lie on a beach, why not help our precious planet when you’re away?

G．Take environmentally-friendly products with you, such as products from a household company.

【推荐3】Travelling doesn’t always have to be about changing your location. Reading books also takes you on real-life adventures around the world, even from our armchairs. Here we feature 4 adventure tales that we can dive into.

Land of the Dawn-Lit Mountains, by Antonia Bolingbroke-Kent.

Despite suffering from panic disorder, the brave Bolingbroke-Kent sets off on an adventure across a lesser-known part of India, Arunachal Pradesh. There is plenty of humor thrown in, along with the highs and lows of her journey, so it’s not just all serious.

Walk in the Woods, by Bill Bryson.

“A little voice in my head said: Sounds neat! Let’s do it!” writes Bryson of his more humorous than heroic journey from Maine to Georgia along the Appalachian Trail. Bryson’s tale may be the funniest call for conservation ever written.

Brazilian Adventure, by Peter Fleming.

Peter Fleming signed on to a risky 3,000-mile Brazilian jungle hunt to uncover the fate of a lost English explorer. Imagine a book: Funny, exciting, literate, a period piece that still works.

A Book of Migrations, by Rebecca Solnit.

It’s a search for roots in Ireland. Her long hike in western Ireland leads to a reflection on movement-cultural, psychological, personal. There is much to learn by getting away from the tourist route, walking and speaking to the people you meet along the way. They have stories to tell that you won’t find in the tourist guides.

What travel-inspiring books have you ever read? Please email us at amy.alipio@natgeo.com.

1. What is the common characteristic of the first three adventure tales?

A．Funny.

B．Magic.

C．Risky.

D．Serious.

2. Which book might be helpful if you care for environmental protection?

A．Land of the Dawn-Lit Mountains.	B．Walk in the Woods.
C．Brazilian Adventure.	D．A Book of Migrations.

3. What is special about the hike in A Book of Migrations?

A．It is a search in the western land.	B．It is full of cultural movements.
C．It doesn’t follow the tourist route.	D．It has many stories about tourist guides.

【推荐1】Dodder is an unusual and unwanted plant that attacks other plants. Except for its flowers, the plant looks like spaghetti, a kind of noodles in the shape of long thin pieces that look like string when they are cooked. Its almost leafless, thread-like stems（茎）hang down on top of other plants that dodder needs to stay alive. Dodder does not produce its own food. Instead, it steals food from other plants. It feeds by sucking juices from the plant which is wrapped around, often making its host very weak or even killing it.

Dodder can find other plants by their smell. When a young dodder plant starts growing, it follows the smell of plants it prefers, like tomato plants, potato plants, or other farm crops. Unlike most plants that usually grow in the direction of light or warmth, a dodder plant will grow in the direction of, for example, tomato smell-if a tomato happens to be growing nearby.

However, a young dodder plant must find a host plant quickly. It no longer needs its root once it is attached to the host and wrapped around it. If it cannot catch a smell of a potential host within a few days, it will dry up and disappear-even if there is plenty of water around. Once it finds a host, the young dodder plant will attach itself to it and start growing faster. At that point the dodder plant will drop its root.

Dodder is thus a difficult weed to manage and a real headache for farmers. When it does get out of hand, dodder can greatly reduce a farmer’s harvest or even destroy crops completely. Before sowing their produce, especially farmers in warm parts of the world often check to make sure no unwanted dodder seeds have mixed with their crop seeds. This is a good way to stop dodder plants from making their way to a crop field secretly.

1. Why does the author mention spaghetti in the first paragraph?

A．To analyze the content of some food.

B．To describe the shape of dodder plants.

C．To explain where the dodder plants come from.

D．To argue that dodder plants can be used.

2. What will happen if a dodder plant starts growing where there are no other plants around?

A．It will die sooner or later.

B．It will grow deep roots.

C．It will attract other plants.

D．It will cover the entire area of soil.

3. What can be inferred from the passage?

A．Dodder does not produce its own food.

B．Dodder can affect farmers’ income.

C．Dodder can only survive in the shade.

D．Dodder only grows in the warm areas.

4. What is the main topic of the passage?

A．A new variety of farm crops.

B．Plants that are harmful to humans.

C．The special abilities of a dangerous plant.

D．Recent improvements in farming methods.

【推荐2】You can't see your sleeping pet's brain waves, but its behavior can tell you when Fido or Fluffy (possibly your cat's name) might be dreaming. If you watch closely, you'll see as your cat falls asleep, her breathing becomes slow and regular and her body still. She has entered the first stage of sleep, called slow-wave sleep. After about 15 minutes you'll notice a change in her breathing. Her eyes move under her closed eye-lids. Her paws and moustache twitch. Fluffy has entered the REM (rapid eye movement), or dreaming, phase of sleep. Although she twitches and makes little noises, messages from her brain to the large muscles in her legs are blocked, so she can't run about. She is in a state of “sleep paralysis.”

Back in 1963, Michel Jouvet, a French scientist who was studying sleep in cats, interrupted their sleep paralysis. Even though they were completely asleep, the dreaming cats began to chase balls that Jouvet couldn't see and arches their backs at invisible enemies. He figured he was watching them act out their dreams!

What were they dreaming about? Mostly, the dreaming cats seemed to be practicing important cat skills: following, pouncing, and fighting.

Many researchers now think that in both people and animals, one purpose of dreams is to practice important skills and nails down recent learning. This may account for why so many people dream about fighting and escaping, skills that were probably vitally important to our primitive ancestors, and why dreaming influences our ability to learn.

Do all animals dream? From looking at the brain waves of sleeping animals, scientist think that all mammals dream, but reptiles, and fishes don't. (They're not sure about birds.)

How often animals dream seems to be tied to body size. Cats dream about every 15 minutes, mice every 9 minutes, and elephants every 2 hours. And though cows and horses usually sleep standing up, they only dream when lying down.

1. The author describes a cat's sleeping behavior at the very beginning to ________.

A．attract readers' attention	B．draw a conclusion about his perspective
C．put forward a theory on cats	D．bring up the subject of the text

2. What did Michel Jouvet find out in his research?

A．Cats demonstrated what they dreamt.	B．Cats became unconscious after falling asleep.
C．Cats were rather naughty while sleeping.	D．Cats could suffer paralysis due to sleeping issues.

3. What does the underlined phrase “nails down” in Paragraph 4 probably mean?

A．Rides.

B．Tests.

C．Masters.

D．Accepts.

4. What can be a suitable title for the text?

A．You'll Never Truly Understand Your Cat	B．Your Cat Hides Secrets in Her Dreams
C．How to Read Animals’ Dreams?	D．Do Animals Dream?

【推荐3】Being able to tell human faces apart is a skill that almost every person has, although some are far better at it than others. But a new study from the journal Scientific Reports says that this is not just a skill that humans possess. Even fish can do it.

Following up on research studying different species’ abilities to recognize human faces (sheep, dogs, cows, horses, and birds have all been tried), the researchers from the University of Oxford and the University of Queensland decided to pick an animal that does not have an evolved neocortex (大脑新皮层), the part of the brain that processes sight and sounds, and does not have a close relationship with humans. That way, there would be no reason why these test subjects would have a past history of identifying human faces. So they picked the archerfish, a reef fish variety that shoots water into the air to knock its prey(猎物) out of the sky. They used this adaptation to have the fish spray water at a face on a monitor hanging over their tanks for a reward. Most of the fish were able to pick out their learned face, even when colours were taken away or methods were used to make the face shapes unclear.

This study gives more backing to the hypothesis (假设) that differentiating between faces is not just a skill that big-brained organisms are born with. It is possible that a good portion of recognizing faces is learned over time. The development of the neocortex may contribute only to quickly process a large number of faces in varying situations. But more work needs to be conducted to find a deeper link to this possible learned behaviour. The subject(实验对象) of this study was very small—only eight fish were used altogether. Also, the faces displayed on the monitor were only white, female faces from a German database, shown in a frontal view, with no expressions. Other animal trials have shown that some species, like pigeons, respond more to differing angles and varied expressions.

1. What is the purpose of this passage?

A．To introduce a scientific discovery.

B．To present the differences between species.

C．To show how animals tell human faces apart.

D．To introduce the animals that can recognize human faces.

2. Why were the archerfish chosen as test subjects?

A．They are cleverer than other species.

B．They have sharp vision and hearing.

C．They aren’t closely related to humans.

D．They spray water to hit the prey.

3. What is the author’s attitude toward the study?

A．Cautious.

B．Negative.

C．Positive

D．Sympathetic.

4. Which of the following is suggested for similar studies in the future?

A．Including more experimental subjects.	B．Enlarging the human faces.
C．Employing more male researchers.	D．Using black-and-white pictures.

【推荐1】Sixty feet beneath the surface of the Caribbean Sea, aquanaut(观察员)Fabien Cousteau and industrial designer Yves Behar are imagining the world's largest underwater research station.

The pair have for the first time shown Proteus, a 4,000-square-foot modular(组合)lab that will sit under the water off the coast of Curacao, providing a home to scientist, and researchers from across the world studying the ocean.

Designed as a two-story round building grounded to the ocean floor, Proteus contains laboratories, personal quarters, medical bays and a moon pool where divers can access the ocean floor. Powered by wind and solar energy and ocean thermal energy, different from its forerunners, the building will have the first underwater greenhouse for growing food. The underwater site will allow scientists to perform continuous night and day diving without requiring hours of relieving pressure between dives. Like astronauts in space, they can stay underwater for days or weeks at a time.

Though oceans cover 71 percent of the world's surface, humans have only explored about 5 percent and mapped less than 20 percent of the world's seas. "Ocean exploration is 1,000 times more important than space exploration for, selfishly, our survival, for our life into the future," Cousteau said, "It's our life support system. It is the very reason why we exist in the first place."

Proteus is intended to be the underwater version of the International Space Station(ISS), where government agencies, scientists, and the private companies can cooperate, regardless of borders.

Space exploration receives more attention and funding than its ocean copy, which Cousteau hopes to change that with Proteus. While the project currently has some backing from private companies, it is currently seeking further funding. Beyond backers, the station's wet and dry labs can be rented to government agencies, corporations and academic institutions. Part of the plan is to make it easy to see regularly what is happening on Proteus, including live streams and VR/AR content. In this way Cousteau hopes to engage a wider audience.

1. What is paragraph 3 mainly about?

A．The purpose of Proteus.	B．The benefits of Proteus.
C．The functions of Proteus.	D．The significance of Proteus.

2. Why is ocean exploration vital according to Cousteau?

A．Oceans are under-explored.	B．Ocean exploration is left unnoticed.
C．Oceans determine humans' life and future.	D．Oceans cover most of the surface of the earth.

3. What does Cousteau think of the project?

A．It needs improvement.	B．It needs better policies.
C．It needs opportunities.	D．It needs more attention.

4. Where does the text probably come from?

A．A science report.

B．A guidebook.

C．A diary.

D．A science fiction.

【推荐2】If you need glasses to read this, you are among the majority of Chinese students. That’s because most students in China are short-sighted which means they can only see things close up and distant things will be blurry. Four-fifths of high school students wear glasses and now more and more children in primary school need glasses, too.

This epidemic of poor eyesight has two very simple causes: too much time spent indoors studying and too little time spent outdoors playing. Reading and writing for hours and hours, sometimes in poorly lighted rooms, causes eyesight to weaken. But students have to do this because there is so much pressure on them to succeed in school. And because they spend so much time indoors at school and at home, they have less time to spend outdoors enjoying the sun.

The sun, as a consequence, is important in developing good eyesight. Exposure to daylight releases a chemical in the eyes that prevents, or at least delays, short-sightedness. According to a study by Ian Morgan of Australian National University, Australian children and Chinese children have the same level of eyesight before they start school, but once they enter primary school, Chinese children only spend about an hour a day outside, while Australian children spend three to four hours each day in the sunshine. The result is that while about 40 percent of Chinese primary school students need glasses, only three percent of Australian children do.

Wearing glasses may not seem like a big deal. For some, wearing glasses can even be an opportunity to make a fashion statement. But poor eyesight at a young age can have serious long term consequences. As you get older, your eyesight can worsen and lead to things like macular degeneration(黄斑变性), a condition of the eyes for which there is no cure and which can eventually lead to blindness.

With all that in mind, don’t you think it’s time to give your eyes a break? Try spending a little less time inside and go for a walk in the park, instead. It’s the healthy thing to do and your eyes will thank you for it.

1. What does the underlined word “blurry” mean?

A．unpopular.	B．unpleasant.
C．unclear.	D．unconscious.

2. How should the students protect their eyesight according to the passage?

A．They should study less and less.	B．They should stay longer outdoors.
C．They should wear sun-glasses.	D．They should have a longer rest in bed.

3. It can be inferred from the passage that _____ is to blame for the poor eyesight of Chinese children.

A．the ever-worsening bad weather	B．the ever-increasing burden of study
C．the ever-decreasing sunny days	D．the ever-decreasing period of study time

4. What is the purpose of this article?

A．To explain why Chinese students are poor-sighted.

B．To admire Australian children’s good eyesight.

C．To criticizethe present education system.

D．To call on people to protect Chinese children’s eyesight

【推荐3】We all dream of taking a perfect vacation.    1    Read the following tips to make sure he best vacation you may ever have.

    2    .Do you want to Relax? Explore a completely different place? If you just want to relax, going somewhere that's close might make you feel like you're taking a walk in the neighborhood.

    3    .Once you know what you want, use the Internet or get some travel brochures(手册)to see what the local attractions are.

Book a flight and/or a hotel.    4    .If you've had a bad experience with a certain airline,don’t make the same mistake again.Find a good hotel that isn’t too expensive and is near the attractions.Don't book a hotel room or a flight too early because there might be some better last minute deals.

Mind the details.There are lots of things that have to be taken care of-just like every other vacation.If you're always late to the airport, don't get it wrong this time.Try to leave the house two or three hours earlier.Also, make sure you have your passport with you if you're going to a different country.    5    

A．Realize what you want.

B．Always make sure you are in good spirits.

C．There are many different places where you can go.

D．Gather detailed information about your destination.

E．Unfortunately, most vacations do not turn out perfect.

F．Don’t leave things for the last minute and pack your suitcase early.

G．This is important because sometimes they can ruin your entire vacation.