The Canada goose is the largest species of true goose. Its scientific name, Branta canadensis, means “black or burnt goose from Canada”. While Canada goose is the bird’s official and preferred name, it is also known colloquially (通俗地) as the Canadian goose.
The Canada goose has a black head and neck and a white “chinstrap (下巴)” that distinguish it from other geese. Its body is brown. The average Canada goose ranges from 75 to 110 cm in length and has a wingspan of 1.27 to 1.85 m. Adult females are slightly smaller and lighter than males, but they are visually indistinguishable. An average male weighs from 2.6 to 6.5 kg, while an average female weighs from 2.4 to 5.5 kg.
Canada geese are mostly herbivores (食草动物). They eat grass, beans, corn, and aquatic plants. They sometimes also eat small insects and fish. In urban areas, Canada geese will pick food from garbage bins or accept it from humans.
Fresh water is a primary need for these geese, and they seek it nearby wherever they happen to be. They will flock to lakes, ponds, streams, rivers and even swimming pools! This is the perfect habitat for Canada geese, and they take advantage of these areas commonly.
Originally, the Canada goose was native to North America, breeding in Canada and the northern U.S. and migrating further south in the winter. Some geese still follow the usual migration pattern, but large flocks have established permanent residences as far south as Florida.
Where you can find Canada geese varies based on what time of year it is. In some areas, the geese are becoming permanent residents, when they used to migrate south for the winter. The southern United States is their home during the winter, the northern United States has a year-round population, and Canada has a summer population.
1. What is characteristic of the Canada goose?| A．Its black head and neck and white chinstrap. |
| B．Its length and weight. |
| C．Its average wingspan. |
| D．Its brown body. |
| A．Its scientific name is the Canadian goose. |
| B．Its length varies based on where they live. |
| C．Adult females are usually larger and heavier than males. |
| D．It is hard to distinguish a female from a male in appearance. |
| A．Fish. | B．Food. | C．Corn. | D．Garbage. |
| A．Habitat and distribution. | B．Diet. |
| C．Migration. | D．Life Cycle. |
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【推荐1】If you ever get the impression that your dog can “tell” whether you look content or annoyed, you may be onto something. Dogs may indeed be able to distinguish between happy and angry human faces, according to a new study.
Researchers trained a group of 11 dogs to distinguish between images (图像) of the same person making either a happy or an angry face. During the training stage, each dog was shown only the upper half or the lower half of the person’s face. The researchers then tested the dogs’ ability to distinguish between human facial expressions by showing them the other half of the person’s face on images totally different from the ones used in training. The researchers found that the dogs were able to pick the angry or happy face by touching a picture of it with their noses more often than one would expect by random chance.
The study showed the animals had figured out how to apply what they learned about human faces during training to new faces in the testing stage. “We can rule out that the dogs simply distinguish between the pictures based on a simple cue, such as the sight of teeth,” said study author Corsin Muller. “Instead, our results suggest that the successful dogs realized that a smiling mouth means the same thing as smiling eyes, and the same rule applies to an angry mouth having the same meaning as angry eyes.”
“With our study, we think we can now confidently conclude that at least some dogs can distinguish human facial expressions,” Muller told Live Science.
At this point, it is not clear why dogs seem to be equipped with the ability to recognize different facial expressions in humans. “To us, the most likely explanation appears to be that the basis lies in their living with humans, which gives them a lot of exposure to human facial expressions, and this exposure has provided them with many chances to learn to distinguish between them,” Muller said.
1. The new study focused on whether dogs can_________.| A．distinguish shapes | B．make sense of human faces |
| C．feel happy or angry | D．communicate with each other |
| A．Researchers tested the dogs in random order. |
| B．Diverse methods were adopted during training. |
| C．Pictures used in the two stages were different |
| D．The dogs were photographed before the lest. |
| A．A suggestion for future studies. | B．A possible reason for the study findings. |
| C．A major limitation of the study | D．An explanation of the research method. |
【推荐2】It’s unlikely that we’ll see a dodo, a flightless bird, walking this earth anytime again, according to Beth Shapiro, a evolutionary molecular biologist.
“When most people think about de-extinction, they’re imagining cloning,” Shapiro said. Cloning, the approach that created Dolly, the sheep in 1996 and Elizabeth Ann, the black-footed ferret in 2020, creates an identical genetic copy of an individual by putting DNA from a living adult cell into an egg cell from which the nucleus (细胞核) has been removed. Adult cells contain all the DNA needed to develop into a living animal. Egg cells then use that DNA as a blueprint to turn themselves into many kinds of cells——skin, organs, blood and bones——the animal needs.
“But no living cells from dodos exist. Instead,” Shapiro said, “you’d have to start with a closely related animal’s genome (基因组) and then change it into one similar to dodos.” For example， mammoths (猛犸) are also extinct，but they were very closely related to modern Asian elephants, so researchers are attempting to bring mammoths back from extinction by creating a hybrid mammoth with some mammoth genes replacing part of the elephant genome in an elephant egg cell. However, there are likely millions of genetic differences between the genome of an Asian elephant and that of a mammoth according to Shapiro.
As for the dodo, its closest living relative is the Nicobar pigeon. Mammoths and Asian elephants are pretty closely related, whereas it had been more than 20 million years since the dodo and the Nicobar pigeon had any common ancestors. Genetic differences between the two bird species are therefore much greater, making it a formidable task to create a successful hybrid in the lab, Shapiro said.
Even if scientists manage to bring dodos back, the island where they once lived is a very different place nowadays, which make it impossible to reintroduce dodos without major intervention.
1. What is Paragraph 2 mainly about?| A．The special role of DNA. |
| B．The process of cloning. |
| C．The development of cloning. |
| D．The complexity of cloning. |
| A．Dodos are harder to bring back to life. |
| B．Their living cells are hard to preserve. |
| C．Cloning can be used to recreate extinct animals. |
| D．They share a similar genome with Asian elephants. |
| A．Urgent. |
| B．Possible. |
| C．Tough. |
| D．Different. |
| A．Favorable. |
| B．Intolerant. |
| C．Objective. |
| D．Negative. |
【推荐3】Being taken off the endangered species list doesn't guarantee a carefree future for whales. Recent research estimates that the population of Pacific gray whales off North America's West Coast has dwindled by almost a quarter since 2016. Starting in 2019, alarming numbers of dead gray whales were spotted on beaches and floating offshore throughout their habitat, from Mexico to Alaska. The National Marine Fisheries Service defined it as an “Unusual Mortality Event”. UMEs are declared when a “significant die-off” occurs and when information is collected to clarify why it occurs.
The Arctic has historically low levels of sea ice in recent years, upending the delicate ecosystem that sustains gray whales. Like other migrators, they don't feed on their winter breeding (繁殖) grounds or along their migration, and must gain weight during the summer to sustain themselves through the rest of the year. Observers using air photography noted the whales looked skinnier and arrived in Mexico in poor condition, which suggested they were not finding enough food during the summer.
This die-off is alarmingly similar to the events of 20 years ago, when another UME resulted in a significant drop in the gray whale population. Although the cause was ultimately undetermined, it's thought that the population reached “carrying capacity”— it grew too large for the environment to support it. Although that idea has been suggested for this die-off as well, it's more likely blamed on the changing conditions of the Arctic.
Gray whales, hunted almost to extinction by the mid-20th century, were one of the first to be protected from hunting. The Eastern North Pacific population rebounded without pressure from whaling and was taken off the Endangered Species List; the Western North Pacific population is still listed as endangered. This die-off is a reminder that “delisting” doesn't indicate a population's secure future. New threats arise, climate change upends habitats, and continued monitoring is needed in case a crash comes.
1. What does the underlined word “dwindled” in paragraph 1 mean?| A．Increased. | B．Bounced. |
| C．Multiplied. | D．Dropped. |
| A．Consume few calories. | B．Travel south to breed. |
| C．March back to Alaska. | D．Seek food in the Arctic. |
| A．Serious illnesses. | B．Sea pollution. |
| C．Environmental changes. | D．Limited carrying capacity. |
| A．Favorable. | B．Concerned. |
| C．Intolerant. | D．Regretful. |
【推荐1】Researchers studied the responses of the biggest living animals on the planet to stimulated mid-frequency military sonar (声呐), which is used by military to detect submarines.
By studying 17 blue whales, which feed on large groups of krill (磷虾) in the ocean, the scientists found the giant sea animals would cut short dives for food after a sonar “ping”. The animals also tried to avoid areas where the sonar had been used for some time afterwards.
They found that the whales stopped feeding for more than an hour after the sonar, resulting in a loss of around 1,000kg of krill for the animals.
The researchers say their findings disagree with the idea that military sonar has no influence on blue whales and other related species of whale.
A second study by the same researchers also showed that military sonar caused another species of whale, the Cuvier’s beaked whale, to stop feeding and swim away from the sound.
Dr Brandon Southhall, from the Long Marine Laboratory at the University of California who led the project, said, “These findings help us to understand risks to these animals from human sound and inform timely protection and management decisions.”
The scientists argue that the influence of “active” military sonar on blue whales must be considered in environmental assessments before military tests.
They said they hoped the US Navy, which funded the work, would use the findings to search for ways of reducing the influence of sonar on whale species.
Dr Stacy DeRuiter, from the University of St Andrews, who also took part in the studies, said, “While military tests have been said to be linked to whale strandings (搁浅), we don’t really understand the chain of events that lead to that. The number of strandings also does not match the number of military tests and sonar events, so the Navy wants to understand this more.”
1. What did the new studies find about whales?| A．They were forced to leave their habitats. |
| B．They were starving because of military sonar. |
| C．They would stop feeding for some time because of military sonar. |
| D．They would find new feeding areas once hearing sonar. |
| A．Worried. | B．Helpless. |
| C．Shocked. | D．Puzzled. |
| A．military tests in the sea should be stopped |
| B．military sonar leads to the death of many whales |
| C．the US Navy should take action to protect whales |
| D．further study should be done to find out why whales were stranded |
| A．A book review. | B．A science fiction. |
| C．A science report. | D．An official document. |
【推荐2】Many dogs are very hardworking animals. They have been helping people for thousands of years. Dogs protect our homes and help people with disabilities. They team up with rescue workers in search and rescue operations.
Conservation experts in Australia are training dogs to use their sense of smell to find some of the country’s most endangered creatures.
A deadly fungus (真菌) has killed nearly all of Australia’s Baw Baw frogs.
| A．Luke Edwards is a dog owner and trainer |
| B．Recently, the dogs went on a very important job |
| C．They are very clever and can understand their owner |
| D．Unlike the male Baw Baw frogs, they do not have a call |
| E．And now, dogs can even help to find endangered animals |
| F．Without these dogs, it is really difficult to find these rare frogs |
| G．Scientists say these creatures can disappear in the next 5 to 10 years |
【推荐3】New international research reveals the far-reaching impacts of forest cover loss on global biodiversity (生物多样性). The study, led by the University of Edinburgh and the University of St Andrews, investigated the impacts of forest loss on species and biodiversity over time and around the world, revealing both losses and gains in species.
Focusing on biodiversity data spanning 150 years and over 6,000 locations, the study, published in Science, reveals that as tree cover is lost, plants and animals are responding to the transformation of their natural habitats.
Bringing together over 5 million records of the numbers of different plants and animals with information on both historic and contemporary peaks in forest loss, the researchers discovered both immediate and delayed effects of forest loss on ecosystems.
The pace at which biodiversity responds to forest loss varies from a few years, as is the case for light-loving plants and insects, to decades for long-living trees and larger birds and mammals.
Gergana Daskalova, a Ph.D. student in the School of GeoSciences at the University of Edinburgh and lead author of the study, said: “Changes in the biodiversity of the planet’s forests matter because they will echo through how these landscapes look, the types of species they support and the benefits that forests provide for society like clean air and water.”
Maria Dornelas, a co-senior author from the School of Biology at the University of St Andrews, continued: “Humans are undoubtedly changing the planet. Yet, global analyses (分析) of how biodiversity is changing over time are revealing biodiversity changes are slightly different and variable (可变的).”
She added, “With a better understanding of the different ways, both positive and negative, in which forest loss influences biodiversity, we can improve future conservation and restoration of global ecosystems.”
1. What did the international research find?| A．Species suffer losses as tree cover is lost. |
| B．Historic and contemporary peaks in forest loss vary. |
| C．Forest loss cannot impact ecosystems immediately. |
| D．Plant and animal species are reacting to forest cover loss. |
| A．Species respond to forest loss at different paces. |
| B．Insects adapt to forest loss quite slowly. |
| C．Effects of forest loss are difficult to notice. |
| D．There are different degrees of forest loss in history. |
| A．They are hardly significant. | B．They impact society. |
| C．They are not influential. | D．They worsen the landscapes. |
| A．Find ways to produce accurate analyses of biodiversity. |
| B．Figure out the varying, distinct changes in biodiversity. |
| C．Draw people’s attention to what they do to nature. |
| D．Improve protection and restoration of global ecosystems. |
【推荐1】Before James Blunt became a musician, he served in the army. He spent four and a half years there, with six months in Kosovo as part of the peacekeeping force. Before leaving the army, Blunt had decided to achieve his dream of becoming a musician. In 2003, he was discovered by a music producer Linda Perry who signed him to her Custard label. However, the road to success never runs smoothly. It seemed that he would become another struggling singer trying to live from hand to mouth (现挣现吃地) when his first two singles failed to make an impact on the British charts. But everything changed when his third single You’re Beautiful made it all the way to No.1 on the UK singles charts, and remained there for five weeks. The album (专辑) Back to Bedlam soon followed and quickly became one of the biggest selling records of the year, remaining ten continual weeks at No. 1. Since then, he has sold more than three million records, making him the first British artist to top the American singles charts in nearly a decade.
Blunt, 34, a throwback (返祖者)to the 1970s soft rock golden age, has been quoted by Western media as saying that he will never get used to people screaming at him in the street.
His success proves a lasting theory: You spend years chasing the right song. Then, if you’re lucky, and if the song really takes off, you spend the rest of your life trying to escape it, or learning to live with it. A few years removed from You’re Beautiful, he can still fill stages worldwide with fans who stay until the end.
1. Which of the following can describe James Blunt’s life as a musician before he sang the song You’re Beautiful?| A．Difficult. | B．Happy. | C．Boring. | D．Smooth. |
| A．Blunt will never adjust himself to the noisy environment around. |
| B．The popularity of Blunt has been gaining him an increasing number of fans out of his expectation. |
| C．What Blunt sings disturbs people so much that they yell to him their anger. |
| D．People in the street are rude civilians who are against any form of entertaining, including Blunt’s songs. |
| A．Blunt is wellknown in the world for his talent |
| B．Blunt’s fame as a musician came easily |
| C．Blunt wasn’t lucky enough to win his fans’ support |
| D．Blunt has to face the inconvenience his fame has caused |
【推荐2】“When studying foreign speech, don’t forget about body language. ” Anne Merritt said.
Something as simple as a smile can show: friendliness in one culture, embarrassment in another, impatience in a third. Even silence means different things in different places. If you want to avoid making some mistakes when traveling abroad, you should pay attention to the following.
Touch
Britain, along with much of Northern Europe and the Far East, has a “noncontact” culture. In those countries, there is very little physical contact (接触) in people’s daily talks. Even brushing someone’s arm by accident is the reason for an apology. However, in the high-contact cultures of the Middle East, Latin America, and Southern Europe, physical touch is a big part of daily life.
What’s more, there are different standards, for who touches whom and where. In much of the Arab world, men hold hands and kiss each other in greeting, but would never do the same with a woman. In Thailand and Laos, it is taboo (禁忌的) to touch anyone’s head, even children’s. In South Korea, elders can touch younger people with force when trying to get through a crowd, but younger people can’t do the same.
Eye contact
In most Western countries, frequent eye contact: is a sign of confidence and attentiveness (注意). We may think that a conversation partner who looks away is either not listening to us or lying. Of course, this is not the standard around the world.
In many Asian, African, and Latin American countries, the unbroken (未间断的) eye contact would be considered impolite and rude. These cultures consider avoiding eye contact a sign of respect for bosses and elders. In these parts of the-world, children won’t look at an adult who is speaking to them, nor will employees look at their bosses.
1. In Britain, when people are talking, they usually_________.| A．avoid eye contact | B．brush the others’ arms |
| C．avoid physical contact | D．apologize for their mistakes |
| A．unnecessary | B．impolite | C．dangerous | D．common |
| A．How to have a good time abroad. | B．The importance of body language. |
| C．How to communicate with foreigners. | D．An introduction to some body language. |
【推荐3】When Thomas Edison hit a wall with his inventions, he would nap in an armchair while holding a steel ball. As he started to fall asleep and his muscles relaxed, the ball would strike the floor, waking him with insights into his problems.
To see whether Edison was right, researchers recruited more than 100 easy sleepers. The team gave them a math test. The volunteers weren’t told that there was an easier way to get the right answers by following a hidden rule. Those who didn’t find the rule after 30 trials took a 20-minute break resting in a chair in a dark room with their eyes closed. Each held a plastic bottle in their right hand while the researchers recorded their brain activity. They were also told to report aloud what was in their minds if they let the bottle fall. Most of those who napped reported various visions: dancing numbers and different shapes, the Roman Colosseum, a hospital room with a horse. After the break, the participants went back to complete the math problems.
The researchers didn’t see any connection between the content of peopled visions and their performance on the task. But looking at brain activity, they found that those who napped and were awakened during the first stage of sleep were three times better at finding the hidden key to the problem than those who remained awake. The creative effect happened even for people who spent just 15 seconds in the first sleep stage. But the trick didn’t work for those who reached later stages of sleep.
Contrary to the Edison tale, the magic moment didn’t come immediately after waking in this study. People took on average 94 trials of the math test after the nap to have an insight. “It is not like you can take a power nap and wake up with a solution right away.” Oudiette says, a sleep researcher at the Paris Brain Institute. Her team has already planned an experiment to help people reach a creative zone by monitoring their brain waves in real time. “Edison was somewhat right,” she says, “and now we have a lot more to explore.”
1. What does the underlined words “hit a wall” mean in paragraph 1?| A．Feel painful. | B．Get satisfied. |
| C．Become breathless. | D．Stop making any progress. |
| A．How visions and creativity are related. | B．Who performed better in the test. |
| C．How the research was conducted. | D．Who took part in the test. |
| A．a man who sleeps more than 15 seconds |
| B．a man who is easy to wake up |
| C．a man who wakes up during the first sleep stage |
| D．a man who sleeps deep |
| A．Favorable. | B．Unconcerned. |
| C．Doubtful. | D．Worried. |
