The winter migration (迁徙) season has arrived. With the cold wave heading down south, migratory birds from faraway places such as Siberia have begun to arrive at Dongting Lake, central China for the winter.
Dongting Lake in central China’s Hunan Province is the country’s second-largest freshwater lake. When the temperature rises after a short cold time, locals call the 10th lunar month “Indian summer.” During this time, the lake’s water level drops and sedges (莎草) grow, allowing wintering birds to plentiful food.
Song Yucheng, deputy chief engineer of East Dongting Lake National Nature Reserve, is proud of their protection work. According to him, the Eurasian spoonbills are the first to arrive at the heart of East Dongting Lake National Nature Reserve. They line up and use sideways sweeps of their beaks to filter (过滤) out tiny fish and shrimp. When they fly to another spot looking for food, people can only see the vast expanse of a white sky.
“Now the weather is also very good, the sky is very clear, with green grass, clear water and white spoonbills wandering for hunting. It’s a beautiful picture of nature,” said Song.
For the villagers living in the East Dongting Lake National Nature Reserve, their farm fields are still full of busy and active fellows after harvest because there are about 100 swans settled down there. To provide these birds with an quiet and safe environment, the local government has stopped the vehicles and visitors from entering the area.
“Firecrackers are not allowed, and loud noises are also not allowed in the surrounding area,” said Long Yong, a villager from the Hehua Village, citing the local government.
1. The birds migrate to Dongting Lake not because _____.| A．Siberia is cold at winter. |
| B．It is the nearest to Siberia. |
| C．The protection work there goes great. |
| D．The warm temperature and plentiful food. |
| A．an engineer | B．a kind of bird |
| C．migration destination | D．birds food |
| A．Weather is always good here. |
| B．More birds are coming here. |
| C．The environment is beautiful here. |
| D．It’s good to draw pictures here. |
| A．government measures |
| B．fields harvest |
| C．village life |
| D．how to observe birds in nature |
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【推荐1】Save the Animals
Animals are natural resources(资源) that people have wasted all through our history.
Animals have been killed for their fur and feathers(羽毛), for food, for sport, and simply because they were in the way. Thousands of kinds of animals have disappeared from the earth forever. Hundreds more are on the danger list today. About 170 kinds in the United States alone are considered in danger.
Why should people care? Because we need animals. And because once they are gone, there will never be any more.
Animals are more than just beautiful or interesting. They are more than just a source of food. Every animal has its place in the balance (平衡) of nature. Destroying one kind of animal can create many problems.
For example，when farmers killed large numbers of hawks(鹰), the farmers’ stores of corn and grain were destroyed by rats and mice. Why? Because hawks eat rats and mice. With no hawks to keep down their numbers, the rats and mice multiplied(繁殖) quickly.
Luckily, some people are working to help save the animals. Some groups raise money to let people know about the problem. And they try to get the governments to pass laws protecting animals in danger.
Quite a few countries have passed laws. These laws forbid(禁止) the killing of any animal or plant on the danger list. Slowly, the number of some animals in danger is growing.
1. Animals are important to us mainly because ______.| A．they are beautiful and lovely |
| B．they keep the balance of nature |
| C．they give us a lot of pleasure |
| D．they give us a source of food |
| A．Thousands of kinds of animals are gone forever. |
| B．A few kinds of animals have died out. |
| C．All kinds of animals are in danger. |
| D．About 170 kinds of animals have disappeared forever. |
| A．They kill animals to raise some money. |
| B．Animals destroy their natural resources. |
| C．Animals create many problems. |
| D．They kill animals for something they need. |
| A．Animals in danger will not be killed any more. |
| B．The number of some animals in danger will increase. |
| C．Every person will know the importance of protecting wild animals. |
| D．Animals in danger will be kept away from people. |
【推荐2】Near the edge of the Arctic region of Canada, the short summer is rapidly disappearing. The sun is pale, and the brief days of fall are being chased away by a constant cold wind from the north. It’s an icy cold region in which few animals or plants can survive.
One animal, though, actually grows strong in these freezing, lonely surroundings: the polar bear. Winter has the perfect weather for the huge white bear. According to Cam Elliot of the governmental group called Manitoba Conservation, polar bears are built for winter. These warm-blooded mammals spend most of their life on frozen seas, so they have adjusted to be able to handle the cold weather. Their thick fur protects them from the freezing winds. They have short tails and tiny ears, both of which help reduce heat loss. The heavy layer of fat helps to protect the animals from the cold and allows them to live for long periods of time without eating.
What is especially attractive in polar bears in terms of conservation (保护)is that it is an umbrella species. No other animal hunts the polar bear. Because of their status as “top killers”, scientists feel that the health of polar bears parallel (平行的) directly with the health of the environment. Global warming may be affecting the ice patterns, which are critical for the survival of the polar bear.
Anything in the global climate that would affect the stability or the length of the time that the ice is on Hudson Bay or the Arctic waters, is going to have immediate impact on them.
When the ice melts early, the bears may lose one month of hunting opportunities, which can have major effects on their ability to find enough food. Another issue with the situation is that when we develop any consideration for measures for polar bears, we are also protecting the entire ecosystem. That is to say, by making the changes needed to keep this umbrella species alive, the world will save any number of animals that have the same environmental requirements.
1. What makes the polar bear particularly suited to the extreme weather there?| A．Determination. | B．Short tails and large ears. |
| C．The ability of adaptation. | D．The thin layer of fat. |
| A．The Arctic has a relatively long autumn. |
| B．The ice pattern plays a key role in the survival of the polar bear. |
| C．Polar bears are hurting more and more other small animals. |
| D．The earlier melting of the ice may do good to small animals. |
| A．Because they can provide shelter for other species. | B．Because they are very strong. |
| C．Because they are large killers. | D．Because they are at the top of the food chain. |
| A．Favorable. | B．Uncaring. | C．Unclear. | D．Doubtful. |
【推荐3】Goffin’s cockatoos, a kind of small parrot native to Australasia, have been shown to have similar shape-recognition abilities to a human two-year-old. Though not known to use tools in the wild, the birds have proved skilful at tool use while kept in the cage. In a recent experiment, cockatoos were presented with a box with a nut inside it. The clear front of the box had a “keyhole” in a geometric shape, and the birds were given five differently shaped “keys” to choose from. Inserting the correct “key” would let out the nut.
In humans, babies can put a round shape in a round hole from around one year of age, but it will be another year before they are able to do the same with less symmetrical (对称的) shapes. This ability to recognize that a shape will need to be turned in a specific direction before it will fit is called an “allocentric frame of reference”. In the experiment, Goffin’s cockatoos were able to select the right tool for the job, in most cases, by visual recognition alone. Where trial-and-error was used, the cockatoos did better than monkeys in similar tests. This indicates that Goffin’s cockatoos do indeed possess an allocentric frame of reference when moving objects in space, similar to two-year-old babies.
The next step, according to the researchers, is to try and work out whether the cockatoos rely entirely on visual clues (线索), or also use a sense of touch in making their shape selections.
1. How did the cockatoos get the nut from the box in the experiment?| A．By following instructions. | B．By using a tool. |
| C．By turning the box around. | D．By removing the lid. |
| A．Using a key to unlock a door. | B．Telling parrots from other birds. |
| C．Putting a ball into a round hole. | D．Grouping toys of different shapes. |
| A．How far they are able to see. |
| B．How they track moving objects. |
| C．Whether they are smarter than monkeys. |
| D．Whether they use a sense of touch in the test. |
| A．Cockatoos: Quick Error Checkers | B．Cockatoos: Independent Learners |
| C．Cockatoos: Clever Signal-Readers | D．Cockatoos: Skillful Shape-Sorters |
【推荐1】Going Zero Waste means more than dealing with the rubbish we create. It means reducing it, too. People who go Zero Waste are careful about what they do. They never take more than they need, they reuse plastic bags, and they make good plans not to buy more than necessary before going shopping.
Kamikatsu, a Japanese village, has already gone Zero Waste. The 2,000 villagers recycle (循环利用) everything possible. There are 34 different boxes at the recycling center! The villagers sometimes just feel unhappy about what they have to do, but they also see the good side.
Let’s think about how to enjoy a Zero Waste Christmas. By sending recyclable cards, we can help our friends and family reduce waste. And wouldn’t it be better to enjoy the spirit of Christmas with a real tree that can be re-planted in spring?
Going Zero Waste requires us to think more about what happens before and after we act. It is not always easy. But just think how good it would be, both for ourselves and for the environment, if we never had to waste anything.
1. The underlined word “it” in Paragraph 1 refers to .| A．a plastic bag | B．the rubbish |
| C．a difficult thing | D．going Zero Waste |
| A．Planting trees at Christmas. |
| B．Using plastic bags when shopping. |
| C．Sending recyclable cards for Christmas. |
| D．Buying food when you are very hungry. |
| A．To persuade people to reduce waste. |
| B．To teach people how to enjoy Christmas. |
| C．To introduce the life of Japanese villagers. |
| D．To tell people how to deal with difficulties. |
| A．Topic—Examples—Discussion |
| B．Examples—Argument—Topic |
| C．Topic—Explanation—Argument |
| D．Examples—Explanation—Discussion |
【推荐2】Blue Planet Ⅱ’s latest episode focuses on how plastic is having a devastating effect on the ocean and slowly poisoning our sea creatures. Researchers recently also found that sea creatures living in the deepest place on Earth, the Mariana Trench, have plastic in their stomachs. Indeed, the oceans are drowning in plastic.
Though it seems now that the world couldn’t possibly function without plastics, plastics are a remarkably recent invention. The first plastic bags were introduced in the 1950s, the same decade that plastic packaging began gaining in popularity in the United States. This growth has happened so fast that science is still catching up with the change. Plastics pollution research, for instance, is still a very early science.
We put all these plastics into the environment and we still don’t really know what the outcomes are going to be. What we do know, though, is disturbing. Ocean plastic is estimated to kill millions of marine animals every year. Nearly 700 species, including endangered ones, are known to have been affected by it. One in three leatherback turtles, which often mistake plastic bags for jellyfish, have been found with plastic in their bellies. Ninety percent of seabirds are now eating plastics on a regular basis. By 2050, that figure is expected to rise to 100 percent.
And it’s not just wildlife that is threatened by the plastics in our seas. Humans are consuming plastics through the seafood we eat. I could understand why some people see ocean plastic as a disaster, worth mentioning in the same breath as climate change. But ocean plastic is not as complicated as climate change. There are no ocean trash deniers (否认者), at least so far. To do something about it, we don’t have to remake our planet energy system.
This is not a problem where we don’t know what the solution is. We know how to pick up garbage. Anyone can do it. We know how to dispose (处理) of it. We know how to recycle. We can all start by thinking twice before we use single-use plastic products. Things that may seem ordinary, like using a reusable bottle or a reusable bag--when taken collectively, these choices really do make a difference.
1. Why is plastics pollution research still a very early science?| A．The plastics pollution research is too difficult. |
| B．Plastics have produced less pollution than coal. |
| C．The world couldn’t possibly function without plastics. |
| D．Plastics have gained in popularity too fast for science to catch up. |
| A．He presented data. |
| B．He mentioned remarks from experts. |
| C．He used examples from his own experience. |
| D．He used the strategy of comparison and contrast. |
| A．Climate change is caused by human activities. |
| B．Some people cast some doubts on climate change. |
| C．Climate change is less important than ocean pollution. |
| D．Ocean plastic is more complicated than climate change. |
| A．Ocean plastic is a global issue. |
| B．The oceans become choked with plastic. |
| C．Blue Planet Ⅱ has left viewers heartbroken. |
| D．Plastics gain in popularity all over the world. |
【推荐3】Julia Butterfly Hill worked at a restaurant. For many years, she was only interested in making money. Then one day she had a serious car accident, which changed her life. Hill said: “I realized I wanted to find a more powerful purpose for being here on this planet.”
As soon as she recovered, Hill traveled to California and she wanted to do something meaningful. There she saw ancient redwood trees, which are the largest trees in the whole world. The wood from redwood trunks is very hard. So the Pacific Lumber Company cut down many of the huge redwoods to use for construction. There are not many forests of these trees left. Many environmental activists want to protect the remaining trees. The redwoods are very important to the environment.
In 2012, Hill learned a group called Earth First was working to protect a particular group of trees. They decided to send someone up into a redwood tree, hoping this would stop the company from cutting the trees down. Julia Butterfly Hill volunteered.
Hill lived in the tree for over two years without ever coming down. Her home was a 6-by-8-foot tree house, 180 feet up. It is always cold and wet in a redwood tree. There were even very serious winter storms while Hill was in the tree. The wind and cold almost knocked Hill out of the tree. But she did not fall — she survived.
Finally, after years of arguing, the company decided to protect Luna, the tree Hill lived in. They signed an agreement to never cut down this huge redwood tree or the trees around it. When Hill put her feet on the earth again, she began to cry. But from that moment on Hill hasn’t stopped working to protect the environment.
1. What made Hill think about doing something meaningful?| A．A car accident. | B．A forest fire. |
| C．A redwood tree. | D．A serious disease. |
| A．The Pacific Lumber Company lost much money. |
| B．People could only use the redwoods for construction. |
| C．Environmental activists didn’t work together. |
| D．The redwoods were disappearing quickly. |
| A．Comfortable. | B．Tough. | C．Cool. | D．Satisfying. |
| A．She once lived in a redwood tree for over two years. |
| B．She had a sense of social responsibility. |
| C．She continued working to protect the environment. |
| D．She finally gave in to the Pacific Lumber Company. |
【推荐1】Hummingbirds are natural acrobats (杂技演员), twisting their wings in ways that let them fly backward and upside down, unlike any other bird. Now, high-speed video shows how the birds can slip through gaps narrower than their wingspan (翼宽).
Hummingbirds fly sideways to make it through holes too small for their stiff (僵硬), outstretched wings, scientists report November 9 in the Journal of Experimental Biology. The birds move their wings at a part of the full range of motion, keeping them from hitting the hole’s sides while preserving the backward flying ability. After navigating (穿行) the barriers a few times, hummingbirds flatten their wings against the body and travel through the holes.
“This is a new insight into the amazing capacity of hummingbirds,” says Bret Tobalske, a biomechanist at the University of Montana in Missoula who was not involved in the study. Most birds just pull their wings close to the body to fly through thick vegetation. Sideways flight highlights how unique these hummingbirds are, Tobalske says.
Biologist Marc Badger and colleagues trained four wild Anna’s hummingbirds to fly between two feeders, then introduced barriers monitored by high-speed cameras. Each barrier had holes ranging from 6 to 12 centimetres across, which are equal to about half or a full hummingbird wingspan.
The sideways flight astonished study coauthor Robert Dudley, a physiologist at the University of California, Berkeley. “To slow it up and then go sideways and not drop in altitude was a novel behaviour.”
Perhaps hummingbirds fly sideways to navigate barriers that might hide enemies, says Badger, who did the work while at UC Berkeley. Once the birds know it’s safe, they use the technique to avoid breaking feathers, he suggests.
1. What makes it difficult for hummingbirds to fly through tiny gaps?| A．They have poor vision. |
| B．Their wings don’t easily bend. |
| C．They are unable to fly backward. |
| D．Their enemies often hide in narrow gaps. |
| A．He didn’t engage in the study. |
| B．He works at the University of California. |
| C．He thinks little of hummingbirds’ flying ability. |
| D．He trained four hummingbirds to fly between two feeders. |
| A．Doubtful. | B．Upset. | C．Concerned. | D．Amazed. |
| A．Hummingbirds Are Natural Performers |
| B．Hummingbirds Have High Survival Abilities |
| C．Hummingbirds Show off Their Sideways Flight |
| D．Hummingbirds Are Recorded by High-Speed Cameras |
【推荐2】A computer program that could help catch and ever translates from aliens in outer space has been started by a British scientist.
If aliens are discovered one day, scientists fear their language may make it possible to understand them. But John Elliott of needs Metropolitan University in Britain has come up with a program that can figure out the structure(结构)of their language. He thinks that’s the first step in understanding what they are saying.
Dr.Elliott’s program would compare an alien language to a database(数据库)of 60 different languages in the world to look for a similar structure. He believes that even an alien language will have its own structure.Language has to be structured in a certain way, or it will be harder to use,he told New Scientist magazine.
Research had shown that it is possible to know if a signal(信号)carries a language rather than a picture or music. Dr.Elliott has gone a step further by finding a way to pick out what might be words and sentences. Because languages have different word orders, Dr.Elliott has set up a library of the sentence structures of 60 human languages.
If a message is received from outer space, it could be compared against this database. Scientist would then be able to see if it’s similar to any human language, or a mix of the language.
However, Dr.Elliott also said that in order to translate what the aliens are actually saying, it may still be necessary to have a code book.
1. Why did Dr.Elliott come up with the program?| A．To learn more about outer space. |
| B．To develop a new language. |
| C．To help translate the messages for aliens. |
| D．To compare an alien language to human languages. |
| A．Coming up with a program. | B．Knowing a structure. |
| C．Understanding aliens. | D．Discovering aliens. |
| A．Some necessary conditions for making the program work. |
| B．Dr.Elliott’s findings about different kinds of languages. |
| C．Three important functions of the program. |
| D．The number of sentence structures of human languages. |
| A．Mix the message with 60 human languages. |
| B．Translate the message and send it to the database. |
| C．Pick out the sentence structure and translate it. |
| D．Compare the message to the database of 60 human languages. |
| A．Not all languages have their own structure. |
| B．The structure of alien languages is similar to that of human languages. |
| C．To translate alien languages, there is much work to do.. |
| D．Alien languages are signals carrying pictures and music. |
【推荐3】Forests in countries like Brazil and the Congo get a lot of attention from environmentalists, and it is easy to see why South America and sub-Saharan Africa are experiencing a loss of forest on a large scale: every year almost 5 million hectares （公顷） are lost. But forests are also changing in rich Western countries. They are growing larger, both in the sense that they occupy more and that the trees in them and bigger. What is going on?
Forests are spreading in almost all Western countries, with fastest growth in places that historically had rather few trees. In 1990 28% of Spain was forests; now the proportion is 37%. In both Greece and Italy, the growth was from 26% to 32% over the same period. Forests are gradually taking more and in America and Australia. Perhaps most astonishing is the trend in Ireland. Roughly 1% of that country was forested when it became independent in 1922. Forests cover 11% of the land, and the government wants to push the proportion to 18% by the 2040s.
Two things are fertilizing this growth. The first is the abandonment of farmland,especially in high, dry places where nothing grows terribly well. When farmers give up trying to earn a living from farming or herding trees simply move in. The second is government policy and subsidy（补贴）. Throughout history,governments have protected and promoted forests for diverse reasons, ranging from the need for wooden warships to a desire to promote suburban house-building. Nowadays forests are increasingly welcome because they suck in carbon pollution from the air. The justification change; desire for more trees remains constant.
The greening of the West does not delight everyone. Farmers complain that land is being taken out of use by generously subsidized tree plantations. Parts of Spain and Portugal suffer from terrible forest fires. Others simply dislike the appearance of forests planted in neat rows. They will have to get used to the trees, however. The growth of Western forests seems almost as unstoppable as deforestation elsewhere.
1. What is catching environmentalist's attention nowadays?| A．Rich countries are robbing poor ones of their resources. |
| B．Forests are fast shrinking in many developing countries. |
| C．Forests are eating away the fertile farmland worldwide. |
| D．Rich countries are doing little to address deforestation. |
| A．Those that have newly achieved independence. |
| B．Those that have the greatest demand for timber. |
| C．Those that used to have the lowest forest coverage. |
| D．Those that provide enormous government subsidies. |
| A．Their unique scenic beauty. |
| B．Their use as fruit plantation. |
| C．Their capability of improving air quality. |
| D．Their stable supply of building materials. |
| A．Deserts in sub-Saharan Africa will decrease gradually. |
| B．It will play a more and more important role in people's lives. |
| C．Forests destruction in the developing world will quickly slow down. |
| D．Developed and developing countries are moving in opposite direction. |
