【推荐2】“They’re all in trouble,” says Kenyan ecologist Paula Kahumbu. “All elephants are in major, major trouble.”

Populations of the elephants have declined and we humans are to blame. We’ve expanded into elephant territory, building homes and roads, felling forests and planting crops. More cruelly, people have indulged their desire for ivory trinkets (象牙装饰品) that come from a dead elephant. Although elephants are difficult to count, one estimate suggests that the African continent may have been home to some 26 million elephants at the beginning of the 19th century. That number has since dropped, becoming dangerously low in the past five decades, with the rise of poaching (偷猎). Now there are as few as 415,000 elephants in Africa. In Asia, there may likely be only 50,000 in the wild.

Poaching doesn’t just destroy animals, says Kahumbu, CEO of the Kenyan conservation organization WildlifeDirect; it undermines society. That’s why her organization monitored poaching cases in Kenyan courts, launched a campaign called Hands Off Our Elephants with then Kenyan first lady Margaret Kenyatta, and educates children on the value of wildlife. Kahumbu’s goal is noble and urgent: to change “the whole national consciousness about conservation.”

Now, she’s taking her message to an international stage with Secrets of the Elephants, a four-part series on National Geographic and Disney. It explores the hidden lives of elephants in four habitats — Asia, plus African forests, deserts, and savannas. She hopes it will familiarize people with the elephants that live in their midst.

Kahumbu also met people who were determined to save elephants. “She has great ambitions for this series, which offers vivid details about their work, their name, their voices, their achievements so that they can start pouring support onto the places where good work is being done,” said Joyce Poole, a leading expert on African elephant behavior.

1. What is a cause of the decline of elephant population?

A．Climate change.	B．Habitat loss.
C．Environment pollution.	D．Food shortage.

2. Why did Kahambu set up the organization WildlifeDirect?

A．To make people interested in African elephants.

B．To explore the habitats of elephants.

C．To raise people’s awareness of wildlife protection.

D．To fight against the killing of elephants in Kenya.

3. What can we learn about Secrets of the Elephants?

A．It shows the lives of wildlife in Asia and Africa.

B．It aims to arouse worldwide attention to elephants.

C．It tells the audience how scientists study elephants.

D．It has little influence on the protection of elephants.

4. What’s the Joyce’s attitude towards this series?

A．Favorable.

B．Doubtful.

C．Neutral.

D．Objective.

【推荐3】Where do the turtles go?
Every summer, thousands of endangered green sea turtles climb onto beaches around the world. Each mother sea turtle produces 100 or more eggs in a hole, and covers the hole with sand before she swims away.
Two months later, the eggs hatch(孵化), and the baby turtles climb out of the sand and swim into the ocean. They don’t reappear until they have grown as large as dinner plates. Until now, no one knows where the baby turtles go or what they do.
“if we don’t know where these little turtles are, we can’t protect them,” says Kim Reich, who helps solve part of the mystery.
Her teacher, Karen Bjorndal, has studied green sea turtles for more than 30 years. Every year, Bjorndal goes to the Bahamas Islands. Many young sea turtles come here to live and eat at the end of their childhood.
These turtles are the only sea turtles that live as plant eaters. In fact, their name may be a result of what they eat. The turtles don’t look green but they do have green fat. Scientists learned that the turtles eat green sea plants, which may turn their fat green.
Between 2002 and 2004, Bjorndal caught 44 green sea turtles in the Bahamas. After testing them, she found something to support the 20-year-old idea: baby green sea turtles eat meat before they turn to a diet of plants. In fact, they eat animals that live in the open ocean.
Scientists still need to find where exactly green sea turtles grow. We now know that baby green sea turtles are out in the open ocean, but the open ocean is a big place.
“It is really a problem,” says Bjorndal. The discovery may help us do a better job of protecting this sea animal.
1. What can we learn from the first two paragraphs?

A．baby turtles go to the ocean when they are two months old.

B．Mother turtles leave the eggs alone after they produce them.

C．No one knows when turtles appear on the beach.

D．Mother turtles are as large as dinner plates.

2. Kim Reich does research on where baby turtles go because she wants to _________.

A．help her teacher	B．prove an idea
C．protect turtles	D．become a scientist

3. What does Karen Bjorndal’s research prove about green sea turtles?

A．the young live in the Bahamas Islands.

B．The young eat meat before turning to a diet of plants

C．They live in the open ocean for a lifelong time

D．They are the only sea turtles that live as plant eaters.

4. What does the underlined word “It” in the last paragraph refer to?

A．Finding out where young turtles grow.

B．Protecting this endangered sea animal.

C．Changing young turtles’ eating habits.

D．Living in the open ocean.

【推荐1】Knock knock. Starting from Nov. 1, people will be knocking on doors across the country to collect personal information. But don't panic. This is for the seventh national population(人口普查).

The Chinese population census takes place every 10 years. It gathers data including name, age, ID number, gender, education, job, marital status and housing situation.

Tracking down more than 1 billion Chinese citizens is by no means easy. This year, about 7 million staff will be needed to visit homes for registration work, according to Xinhua. New methods will also be used during this census, including online information registration, application of electronic devices and big data.

Compared with previous surveys, new methods will be convenient for people who are not living where they are officially registered, as well as those who do not want to be bothered by census takers' door-to-door surveys. The new methods also reduce census takers' workload.

The data is expected to give a full picture of the population, including its size, structure and distribution and recent changes. It provides support for making national development policies.

The census has a large impact on our lives. For instance, areas with a high number of children may receive more funding for public schools. Researchers can use the results to investigate population trends in different cities. The census will help to find out the number of foreigners living in China. It can also tell how many Chinese people have moved to other countries.

However, citizens' privacy concerns could be one of the biggest challenges. Some may not be willing to give their personal information to census takers because they are worried about what the data would be used for.

There are also worries about privacy leakage among the public.

In response to such concerns, Jiangsu's pilot work zone allowed residents to upload personal data on their own through WeChat, which avoids information leakage. The data will be delivered directly to the National Bureau of Statistics through a WeChat program, the Global Times reported.

1. Who can benefit from new methods during this census?

A．People whose work as census takers.

B．People who are living where they are officially registered.

C．People who prefer to be bothered by census takers' door-to-door surveys.

D．People who are worried about personal data.

2. What does the underlined word "it” refer to in paragraph 6?

A．The number.	B．The census.
C．A large impact.	D．China.

3. According to the passage, how did Jiangsu avoid information leakage ?

A．The National Bureau of Statistics requires residents to make their information secure.

B．Residents' personal information will be protected safely by census takers.

C．Residents can use WeChat to deliver their personal data to the National Bureau of Statistics .

D．Residents can refuse to provide their information as they like.

4. What is the main purpose of the passage?

A．To tell us people will be knocking on doors across the country.

B．To clarify the importance of privacy.

C．To report the results of the census.

D．To inform us national survey trials new methods.

【推荐3】To answer a suit(诉讼)against its “no outside food and drink ”policy, Shanghai Disneyland said on Monday that the policy is similar to that of many other theme parks across China and that guests are welcome to enjoy their own food and drink outside the park.

The suit was brought by a law school student in Shanghai. She was told by park workers to either throw away the snacks she had brought in her backpack or finish them. In order to get into the park, she gave up the snacks, which were worth 46.3 yuan. What’s more, she failed to call the police and the municipal(市政的)official complaint hotlines.

The student, surnamed Wang, was a junior from East China University of Political Science and Law. She made the trip to the park in late January and brought the case(案件)to the People’s Court(法院)of Pudong New Area where the theme park is located. She called for the park’s rule to be changed and for the park to pay for her loss. The case was heard on April 23 and the decision is pending(待定).

Since a number of Chinese media reported the case over the weekend, the case has caused lots of discussions. They wonder whether it is reasonable for the world’s second largest Walt Disney park not to allow visitors to bring their own food. Most agree that the food and drinks sold in the park are too expensive, making the purpose of making money behind the policy appear too proud.

This is not the first time that Shanghai Disneyland has got sued(起诉)over the policy. In June 2018, a lawyer from Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, tried to take the theme park to court by the same reason. But the court turned down his appeal.

1. What did Shanghai Disneyland think of its policy?

A．Strict.

B．Common.

C．Wrong.

D．Famous.

2. We can learn from Paragraph 2 that_______ .

A．the student had to give up her snack

B．the police answered the students call

C．the student got into the park, with the snacks

D．the government hotline answered the call

3. The Walt Disney park stops visitors from bringing their own food mainly because of_______.

A．the park’s safety	B．visitors’ health
C．making money	D．playing games

4. This passage may be found in the section of " _______" in a newspaper.

A．Fun

B．Culture

C．Sports

D．News

【推荐1】Six “sacrificial pits（祭祀坑）”. dating back 3,200to 4,000 years. were newly discovered in Sanxingdui Ruins site in Guanghan. Southwest China's Sichuan province. Over 500 artifacts. including gold masks. bronze wares. ivories. jades. and textiles. were unearthed from the site.

Sanxingdui site. first found in 1929. is generally considered as one of the most important archaeological（考古）sites along the upper reaches of the Yangtze River. However. the work of excavation on the site only began in 1986. when two pits—widely believed for sacrificial ceremonies—-were accidentally discovered.

Investigation in the area around No.1 and 2 pits was relaunched in October 2019. and No. 3 pit was found in December 2019. according to Lei Yu. a researcher of Sichuan Provincial Cultural Relics and Archaeology Research Institute who heads the ongoing excavation. Thirty four research universities and research institutes have cooperated in this project. He said the new discoveries will help to better understand many unexplained findings in 1986. More excavation followed institutes have cooperated in this project. He said the new discoveries will help to better understand many unexplained findings in 1986. More excavation followed in March 2020, and five more pits were found last year. And detailed research began in October. Excavation capsules with hi-tech equipment were set up in the pits in order to prevent the site from further damage.

Sanxingdui site covers an area of 12 square kilometers, and its core zone of an ancient city covers nearly 4 square kilometers. According to the National Cultural Heritage Administration, studies of Sanxingdui site will become a crucial project in an ongoing program Archaeology China, which tries to explain the origins of Chinese civilization and how diverse cultures communicate and come together.

1. How did archaeologists protect the Sanxingdui site?

A．By dividing the task of excavation into several parts.

B．By cooperating with research universities and institutes.

C．By conducting more experiments around the site.

D．By using excavation capsule armed with hi-tech equipment.

2. What can we infer about the pits from the text?

A．The size of the core zone is about 1/3 of Sanxingdui site.

B．The discovery of Sanxingdui site only began in 2019.

C．There are 6 sacrificial pits discovered in Sanxingdui site in all.

D．All sacrificial sites were discovered in the meantime.

3. Which of the following can be the best title for the text?

A．Sanxingdui discoveries tell us more about ancient China.

B．Sanxingdui Site needed to be protected.

C．Sacrificial pits were unearthed in Sanxingdui Site.

D．Hi-tech helped to exploreSanxingdui Site.

【推荐3】When HarmonyOS, the Chinese self-developed operating system for Huawei mobile devices, was released on Aug 9, it quickly became a hot topic on social media. Many believe it not only represents the rise of the country as a tech power, but also shows respect to classical Chinese culture by naming the system “Hongmeng” in Chinese.

“Hongmeng” is a classical word from Zhuangzi. In the ancient times of Chinese legend and myths (神话), “Hongmeng” was used to describe the original state of the universe before matter existed. For HamonyOS,“Hongmeng” indicates the developers’ aim to make an innovative operating system, unlike any other.

Besides “Hongmeng”, Huawei has also registered many of its products under the names of legendary creatures from Chinese myths. For example, the company’s Kirin mobile chip got its name after a lucky monster called “Qilin”. And its server chip is called “Kunpeng”, a creature that changed from a fish into a giant bird.

Many Chinese Internet users and media have praised Huawei’s use of these names, “as they stand for Chinese wisdom and ancient people’s imagination and spirit of exploration”, Global Times noted.

In fact, Huawei is not alone in using traditional culture for modern ventures. Ne Zha, the new film, also portrays traditional culture in a modern context. The movie is loosely based on the well-known work of classical Chinese myth The Investiture of the Gods. Earlier this month it became the biggest animated movie in China and was called “the glory of domestic anime (国产动漫)”.

Indeed, the long history and splendid classic works have given China a profound culture. Myths and legends are the creative works of tremendous imagination. As Global Times put it, today by revisiting a modern context, “ancient myths has the power to inspire imagination in young people”. After all, imagination is the beginning of creation.

1. What do we know about HarmonyOS?

A．Its release raised a storm of objections.

B．It is named after a creature in myth.

C．It combines high technology and culture.

D．It’s the best operating system.

2. Which of the following best explains “innovative” underlined in Paragraph 2?

A．creative

B．modern

C．popular

D．intelligent

3. How do the public think of Huawei’s use of the names?

A．Confused.

B．Unexpected.

C．Approving.

D．Doubtful.

4. What can be inferred from the last two paragraphs?

A．The film Ne Zha is not adapted from myths.

B．The film Ne Zha is a big hit.

C．More businesses follow Huawei’s lead.

D．Ancient myths is a good choice for entertainment.