Imagine that an alien species landed on Earth and, through their mere presence, those aliens caused our art to fade, our music to standardize, and our technological know-how to disappear. Actually, that is what humans have been doing to our closest relatives — chimps (大猩猩).
Back in 1999, a team of scientists led by Andrew Whiten showed that chimps from different parts of Africa be have very differently from one another. Some groups would get each other’s attention by tapping branches with their knuckles (指关节), while others did it by loudly tearing leaves with their teeth. The team identified 39 of these traditions that are practiced by some communities but not others — a pattern that, at the time, hadn’t been seen in any animal except humans. It was evident, the team said, that chimps have their own cultures.
It took a long time to convince unbelievers that such cultures exist, but now we have plenty of examples of animals learning local traditions from one another. However, when many scientists have come to accept the existence of animal cultures, many of those cultures might disappear. Ammie Kalan and her colleagues have shown, through years of intensive field work, that the very presence of humans has gradually reduced the diversity of chimp behavior. Where we grow, their cultures weaken. It is a bitterly ironic thing to learn on the 20th anniversary of Whiten’s classic study.
“It’s amazing to think that just 60 years ago, we knew next to nothing of the behavior of our sister species in the wild,” Whiten says. “But now, just as we are truly getting to know our primate (灵长类) cousins, the actions of humans are closing the window on all we have discovered.”
No one knows whether the destruction of chimp culture is getting worse. Obviously, conservationists need to think about saving species in a completely new way — by preserving animal traditions as well as bodies and genes. “Instead of focusing only on the conservation of genetically based beings like species, we now need to also consider culturally based ones,” says Andrew Whiten.
1. What does the author say we humans have been doing to chimps?| A．Ruining their culture. | B．Accelerating their extinction. |
| C．Treating them as alien species. | D．Standardizing their living habits. |
| A．Chimps demonstrate highly developed skills of communication. |
| B．Chimps rely heavily upon their body language to communicate. |
| C．Chimps behave in ways quite similar to those of human beings. |
| D．Different chimp groups differ in their way of communication. |
| A．Whiten’s classic study has little impact on the diversity of chimp behavior. |
| B．Chimp behavior becomes less varied with the increase of human activity. |
| C．Chimps transform their culture to quickly adapt to the changed environment. |
| D．It might already be too late to prevent animal cultures from extinction. |
| A．Focus entirely on culturally-based beings rather than genetically-based ones. |
| B．Place more stress on animal traditions than on their physical conservation. |
| C．Conserve animal species in a novel and all-round way. |
| D．Explore the cultures of species before they disappear. |
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【推荐1】The rhino census (犀牛普查) is out, bearing good news for the greater one-horned rhinos! In September, 2022, the International Rhino Foundation (IRF) documented in a report that there is a baby boom in this population, representing an increase of 167 percent.
According to the report, there are a total of 4,014 greater one-horned rhinos living in India, Nepal, and Bhutan. Although this is positive news, their IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) status still remains vulnerable.
In India alone, the home to 70 percent of the world’s greater one-horned rhinos, there was an increase of 274 rhinos since the last biannual census, according to the organization Rhino Review.
An important reason for this baby boom is the fact that Assam, India, has enlarged Kaziringo National Park, home to the world’s largest one-horned rhino population. The park went from 430 square kilometers to 1,040 square kilometers. This gives more breeding areas for the rhinos, and they are closed to visitors during breeding season.
India and Nepal are also protecting the rhinos by enforcing wildlife crime laws. To reduce rhino death by poaching (偷猎), the IRF donates vehicles and equipment, plus education including guard training and crime investigation.
The IRF data for other rhino species is not as promising, although the greater one-horned rhino numbers are encouraging for future conservation. According to the report, there is a decline in Sumatran rhinos, Africa’s white rhinos, while the Javan rhino population is stable and threatened by loss of habitat.
The State of the Rhino report offers hope for these other species. Given that the greater one-horned things were once close to extinction, with fewer than 100 living in the world, their recovery is incredible. This demonstrates that there are solutions when organizations and people work together. Let us hope that this successful rhino baby boom will affect other endangered wildlife species around the globe.
1. What contributes to the baby boon of one-horned rhinos in Assam, India?| A．Extending the protected areas for rhinos. |
| B．Raising fund to set up more reserves for rhinos. |
| C．Leaving the one-horned rhinos alone in the wild. |
| D．Keeping visitors away from the Kaziringo National Park. |
| A．By cooperating with other organizations. |
| B．By enhancing anti-poaching efforts. |
| C．By transferring the rhinos to other habitats. |
| D．By guarding the rhinos with new equipment. |
| A．Rhinos are no longer a vulnerable species. |
| B．Rhinos will affect other wildlife in the world. |
| C．Everyone can play a role in protecting nature. |
| D．It is possible to protect other endangered species. |
| A．To inform good news on the greater one-horned rhinos. |
| B．To show the measures taken to protect the one-horned rhinos. |
| C．To introduce an endangered species—the greater one-horned rhinos. |
| D．To indicate the decline of other species of rhino population. |
【推荐2】Late one afternoon, Raphael Kaplan and his family were out walking near their home in Los Angeles, Calif., the second largest U.S. city.
“They were ‘hanging out’”, he says, “just lying down and waiting for us to pass.”
Coyotes look like medium-sized dogs or small wolves with short gray and brown fur.
Encounters with coyotes happen regularly across the United States as well as in Canada, Mexico and parts of Central America. In Chicago, Illinois, for instance, coyotes once lived on the top floor of a parking garage across from Soldier Field, the home stadium of the Chicago Bears football team. In 2015, New York City police officers in trucks, cars and helicopters chased a coyote through Riverside Park in Manhattan.
| A．Coyotes are kind and beautiful. |
| B．People tried to get rid of coyotes, too. |
| C．But they are a separate species, Canis latrans. |
| D．Are coyotes moving into your neighborhood? |
| E．They aimed to move the animal out of the city. |
| F．This wasn't an unusual experience for 10-year-old Raphael. |
| G．He looked through a fence surrounding a golf course and saw two coyotes. |
【推荐3】Saturn, an alligator, aged 84, died at the Moscow Zoo. That in itself made Saturn unusual. In the wild, the normal life span for an alligator is 30 to 50 years. But longevity was the least unusual aspect of Saturn’s life story.
Saturn was born somewhere in Mississippi in 1936 and was shipped to the Berlin Zoo from which he disappeared on November 23rd, 1943, when the zoo was stricken in an air bombing campaign. Of the 16,000 animals once kept in the Berlin Zoo, fewer than 100 survived the war. Saturn was one of them.
When he got freedom in 1943, Saturn was 7 years old. In June 1946, an almost adult Saturn was discovered and captured by British army. The alligator was then turned over to the allied Soviet troops in Berlin who sent him on to Moscow where he would live in the next 74 years.
It was in Moscow that word got around that Saturn was a pet which belonged to Adolf Hitler. This undocumented episode with Hitler made Saturn a public figure.
“Even if he belonged to someone,” the zoo’s announcement of Saturn’s death says, “animals are not involved in war and politics.” Officials at the Moscow Zoo treated him as an honored guest. “We tried to take care of him with great care and attention. He was picky about food.” Even among his keepers, he knew who he liked. He perfectly remembered the trusted keeper.
If a zoo animal can be a historical figure, officials say this one qualifies.
“Saturn is a whole era for us. There is not the slightest exaggeration,” the announcement of his death said. “He came after the victory in WWII — and witnessed its 75th anniversary. It is a great happiness that each of us could look into his eyes, just quietly being near. He saw many of us as children. We hope that we did not disappoint him.”
Death may not end Saturn’s public career. It has been reported that his body will be maintained and placed on show at Moscow’s Charles Darwin Museum of Biology.
1. What does the underlined “That” in Paragraph 1 refer to?| A．Saturn’s death. | B．Saturn’s longevity. |
| C．Saturn’s life story. | D．Saturn’s living conditions. |
| A．Saturn was born and raised in the Berlin Zoo in 1936. |
| B．Saturn survived an air attack and got freedom in 1943. |
| C．Saturn got caught by the allied Soviet troops in 1946. |
| D．Saturn celebrated its 75th birthday and died in 2020. |
| A．He was kept a pet there. | B．He could remember all the keepers. |
| C．He lived a go-as-you-please life. | D．He got well-known as a picky eater. |
| A．His story with Adolf Hitler. | B．His uncommon 84-year lifespan. |
| C．He will be on show after death. | D．He was identified as a history witness. |
| A．To introduce an unusual alligator. | B．To draw visitors to the Museum in Moscow. |
| C．To present the impact of war on poor animals. | D．To show a close bond between man and animals. |
【推荐1】Sea stars can grow new arms. Crayfish can grow new claws. There are interesting creatures that can grow back body parts if accidents happen. However, that is child’s play after what researchers saw a sea slug do.
According to a new discovery by Sayaka Mitoh and her colleagues of Nara Women’s University in Japan, two species of sea slugs managed to lose their heads and then began crawling around. Eventually, they grew an entirely new body. “We were surprised to see the head moving just after it was removed,” said Sayaka Mitoh. “We thought that it would die soon without a heart and other important organs, but we were surprised again to find that it regenerated the whole body.”
After the initial discovery, the researchers found that for younger slugs, the detached heads began eating algae within hours. The wound typically closed at the back of the head within days. They started regrowing a heart within a week and the regeneration of the entire body was finished after around three weeks. Older slugs weren’t as fortunate. Often the heads didn’t feed, so they died in about 10 days. Young or old, the headless bodies never generated a new head. But they did move around and respond to being touched for several days and sometimes months after losing their heads.
The researchers aren’t sure why the sea slugs dropped their heads or how they’re able to grow new bodies. They may have parasites (寄生虫) that can hurt reproduction so they are removing their heads in order to also remove the parasites. But the researchers aren’t sure what prompts them to know when to cast off the body when they do it. Sayaka Mitoh says they believe there must be cells located in the neck that are similar to stem cells. These are able to regenerate a new body.
How the heads can survive without a heart and other vital organs is another puzzle. The researchers say these sea slugs fuel their bodies by photosynthesis (光合作用). They rely on chloroplasts from algae in their own bodies when other food isn’t available, a process known as kleptoplasty (盗食质体). They think this might help them survive long enough to regenerate a body.
“As the separated body is often active for months, we may be able to study the mechanism and functions of kleptoplasty using living organs, tissues, or even cells,” Sayaka Mitoh said. “Such studies are almost completely lacking, as most studies on kleptoplasty in these animals are done either at the genetic or individual levels.”
1. What surprised Sayaka Mitoh and her colleagues?| A．The sea slug could survive without organs. |
| B．The sea slug could regrow a new body. |
| C．The sea slug could remove its own head. |
| D．The headless sea slug could grow a new head. |
| A．Their bodies kept moving around for some time. |
| B．They healed the wound within ten days. |
| C．They lost their sense of touch and died soon. |
| D．Their heads survived by eating algae. |
| A．To get rid of parasites. |
| B．To end their reproductive cycle. |
| C．To generate new stem cells. |
| D．To get away from predators. |
| A．The process of sea slugs hunting for food. |
| B．The importance of studying functions of kleptoplasty. |
| C．The condition for sea slugs to perform photosynthesis. |
| D．The reason for sea slugs to survive the loss of their bodies. |
【推荐2】Our planet is covered in water. Just 2.5 percent of that water, however, is fresh. Of that, only about one third is liquid. The rest is locked up as ice. Yet we depend on the fresh water available for everything.
As climate changes, though, water available changes too. Water, climate and weather are connected in the water cycle. Scientists use supercomputers to explore the complex ways that climate change is changing the water cycle. They have found that as climate warms, the atmosphere holds more water: about 4 percent more for every 1.8 degrees Celsius. From 2002 to 2017, a satellite mission called Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment called GRCE tracked Earth's water resources from above. A pair of twin satellites was able to "weigh" earth's water by measuring how much the planet pulls it. If the amount of surface water or even groundwater changes, so does the pull of gravity at that location. That gravitational pull is affected by changes in mass (质量). As the first satellite passed over an area, differences in gravity slightly changed the distance between the two satellites. Scientists translate those data into water or ice mass. Then they compare them with historical data to measure changes in places where water and ice are distributed over time.
Data from computers and satellites agree. That is, climate change is changing the availability of water around the world. In South Africa and many regions, droughts are becoming more common. In other areas, such as California and Europe, changing rainfall patterns lead to river flows peaking earlier in the year, followed by water shortages. Meanwhile, the average rainfall in the United States has actually increased by 5 centimeters (2 inches) since 1895.
1. How does climate warming affect water recycle?| A．More water goes into the atmosphere. |
| B．More ice melts into liquid. |
| C．More water spreads on the surface of the earth. |
| D．It's harder to get underground water. |
| A．Underground water changes too. |
| B．Gravitational pull at the same place changes too. |
| C．Changes in mass of water happens. |
| D．The planet pulls the water harder. |
| A．The water cycle is hard to break. |
| B．Earth's total water remains the same. |
| C．Climate change can't change the water cycle. |
| D．Climate change alters the distribution of water resources. |
| A．The availability of fresh water on the earth. |
| B．The causes of climate warming. |
| C．The effect of climate warming on water cycle. |
| D．The use of modern technology to study climate change. |
【推荐3】A recent study has found that using wood for construction instead of concrete and steel can reduce emissions. But Tim Searchinger at Princeton University says many of these studies are based on the false foundation that harvesting wood is carbon neutral (碳中和). “Only a small percentage of the wood gets into a timber (木料) product, and a part of that gets into a timber product that can replace concrete and steel in a building,” he says. Efficiencies vary in different countries, but large amounts of a harvested tree are left to be divided into parts, used in short-lived products like paper or burned for energy, all of which generate emissions.
In a report for the World Resources Institute, Searchinger and his colleagues have modelled how using more wood for construction would affect emissions between 2010 and 2050, accounting for the emissions from harvesting the wood. They considered various types of forests and parts of wood going towards construction. They also factored in the emissions savings from replacing concrete and steel.
Under some circumstances, the researchers found significant emissions reductions. But each case required what they considered an unrealistically high portion of the wood going towards construction, as well as rapid growth only seen in warmer places, like Brazil. In general, they found a large increase in global demand for wood would probably lead to rising emissions for decades. Accounting for emissions in this way, the researchers reported in a related paper that increasing forest harvests between 2010 and 2050 would add emissions equal to roughly 10 percent of total annual emissions.
Ali Amiri at Aalto University in Finland says the report’s conclusions about emissions from rising demand are probably correct, but the story is different for wood we already harvest. “Boosting the efficiency of current harvests and using more wood for longer lived purposes than paper would cut emissions,” he says. “We cannot just say we should stop using wood.”
1. What is wrong with previous researches according to Searchinger?| A．They got wrong statistics. | B．They included too many factors. |
| C．They used an incorrect concept. | D．They were applied in limited countries. |
| A．The process of the new research. | B．The background of the new study. |
| C．The challenge of the new research. | D．The achievements of the new study. |
| A．When wood grows slowly. | B．When wood is used to make paper. |
| C．When wood is used to build a house. | D．When wood is harvested in countries like Brazil. |
| A．Favorable. | B．Doubtful. | C．Critical. | D．Objective. |
 Samantha Cristoforetti The gaze flies, the heart expands, the joy of the senses can reach its peak, & indeed, this is true happiness.  ESA及另外4人  |
. 2022/10/12 …仰观宇宙之大，俯察品类之盛，所以游目骋怀，足以极视听之娱，信可乐也。Looking up, I see the immensity of the cosmos; bowing my head, I look at the multitude of the world. Besides ‘‘wow” and “great”, what else would you say when flying over the Earth in space? Samantha Cristoforetti, an Italian female astronaut, posted several lines of a famous ancient Chinese composition on Twitter during her mission at the International Space Station to share her joy.
She first wrote in Chinese, and then attached an accurate translation of the lines in both Italian and English to help more people understand. The text she quoted is from the Preface to Poems Composed at the Orchid Pavilion, a Chinese calligraphy masterpiece by Wang Xizhi of the Eastern Jin Dynasty. She also attached three photos taken in space of China’s Bohai Bay and the day-night view of Beijing.
The beauty of space and Chinese literature resonated on Cristoforetti’s Twitter account. Her post went viral on Twitter with thousands of retweets, likes and replies in a few hours. “Her quotation of the lines shows that she observed the universe with the vision of Chinese civilization while observing China from space,” one user comments. “A European astronaut in space recites Chinese ancient poetry, how romantic,” says another.
Cristoforetti has been highly praised for her Chinese language skills. The Italian speaks half a dozen languages and has previously taken part in joint training between the European Space Agency (ESA) and the China Manned Space Agency. Apart from Cristoforetti, Matthias Maurer, a German astronaut from ESA who went to China together with Cristoforetti for the joint training, can also speak fluent Chinese. Since China and Europe have had friendly cooperation in the field of manned space flight, many foreign astronauts have shown great interest in learning Chinese.
ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher is positive about the unifying spirit of space exploration. He said, “Space is international. There is no way to put a boundary in space—because the space station and the satellites fly around the earth, cross boundaries, cross cultures, cross religions and different divides in terms of philosophy and history.”
While there may be many problems between nations here on Earth, in space, cooperation is strong.
1. What made Cristoforetti post the message on the Internet?| A．The desire to show off her Chinese. |
| B．The amazement at the view of the space. |
| C．The wish to work with Chinese astronauts. |
| D．The duty of popularizing space knowledge. |
| A．Cristoforetti spread Chinese civilization on her Twitter account. |
| B．Cristoforetti’s success in learning Chinese encouraged others. |
| C．Cristoforetti’s post became a hit on the Internet. |
| D．Cristoforetti is a genius at learning languages. |
| A．Space exploration settles differences between nations. |
| B．The longing for solving problems on Earth is universal. |
| C．Mastering more than one language is a trend among astronauts. |
| D．Cooperation in the space field bridges the gap between cultures. |
【推荐2】More than two-thirds of adults in the United States are overweight and half of them are trying to lose weight. According to a recent study, led by Evan Forman, a psychology professor from Drexel University, a smartphone app called OnTrack can predict ahead of time when users are likely to lapse in their weight loss plans and help them stay on track.
People on weight loss plans often experience lapses, which can prevent successful weight loss or even lead to weight regain, according to Forman. The study evaluated the effectiveness of the app among weight loss program participants and individuals attempting to follow an online weight management plan from Weight Watchers for eight weeks.
OnTrack uses advanced statistical methods — machine learning — to learn over time a user’s individual patterns of eating. Specifically, it learns patterns that are predictive of staying on one's weight loss plan and patterns that are predictive or lapsing from one's plan. When the app detects the risk of lapsing is high, it sends a special coaching message that matches the reasons someone is at risk. For example, the app can predict a person is eating late at night because of being bored at home with tempting food. The predictions get better over time as the app learns a user's behavioral patterns.
According to Forman, over the course of the study, participants averaged a 3.13 percent weight loss and reduction in unplanned lapses. The next step is clinical trial to confirm the apps ability as a weight loss tool.
1. What is OnTrack used to do?| A．To keep track of phones. | B．To plan route for its users. |
| C．To predict possible mental disease. | D．To help stick to weight loss plans. |
| A．The basic principles of OnTrack. | B．The main patterns of healthy eating. |
| C．The importance of weight loss plans. | D．The development of machine learning. |
| A．OnTrack may have side effects. | B．OnTrack is popular among young people. |
| C．OnTrack does very well in predicting lapses. | D．OnTrack is a clinically proven weight loss tool. |
| A．To give tips on losing weight. | B．To introduce a smartphone app. |
| C．To analyze what leads to lapses. | D．To encourage people to keep fit. |
【推荐3】When it comes to praising your child for their actions, parents walk a fine line between being helpful or harmful to their child’s development. However, if you’ve got some rising kids in your home that need to learn to brush their teeth, don’t worry. It’s just fine to praise them.
“Our study does suggest that praise can be a really positive feature of parenting. Praise wins the gold when compared to boring instruction, at least when it comes to dental hygiene (口腔卫生). You can’t go wrong if you say ‘good job!’ when your child successfully brushes their own teeth,” said Julia Leonard, an assistant professor of psychology at Yale University.
The study followed 81 three-year-old just learning to brush their teeth. Parents were required to video their child’s tooth-brushing endeavors (尝试) for 16 nights, hitting record as they handed the brush to their child and pushing stop when they took it back.
That allowed researchers to capture all of the parent’s praise “Well done! Good job!”—and instructional endeavors such as “Brush the backs of your teeth.” and “Hey, don’t stop. You’re not done yet.” After uploading the videos, parents were told to score their child’s mood (extremely bad to extremely good) and their own stress levels during the nightly endeavor. Those scores ranged from a scale of 0 (easy-peasy) to 10 (I’m pulling all their teeth out now).
Interestingly, a child’s tooth brushing success was directly related to the level of praise in the parents’ talk. Children brushed longer on days when their parents used more praise and less instruction. The work is the first to show that parent praise relates to child’s persistence (坚持不懈).
However, the study could not show a direct cause and effect, only an association, Leonard stressed. “We don’t know that praise causes kids to brush longer. We just know it’s associated with more brushing, she said. More research is needed to see if the study’s findings could be applied to other tasks that require a child’s persistence.
1. What can be inferred from Julia Leonard’s words?| A．Praise can make children honest. |
| B．Praise can make a positive effect on children. |
| C．Saying “good job!” to children can be wrong. |
| D．Praise always fails when compared to boring instruction. |
| A．By interviewing kids. | B．By using old databases. |
| C．By collecting recordings from parents. | D．By asking parents to do questionnaires. |
| A．Over-praising didn’t lead to ideal results. |
| B．Praise caused kids to brush longer directly. |
| C．Praise helped to build a good habit — persistence. |
| D．Instruction had greater effects on tooth brushing. |
| A．More Instruction, Longer Brushing | B．The Power of Parents |
| C．The Benefits of Building Persistence | D．Parents: Show your kids praise |
