【推荐1】Scientists have discovered how plants manage to live alongside each other in places that are dark and shady. Plants in the deep darkness of a thick forest, where natural supplies are not very great in amount, won’t attempt to top their neighbors in growth as those in moderate (中度的) shade do. In deep shade conditions, it would be a waste of energy and harmful to survival because green shoots would never be able to top their larger neighbors in growth.

So how do plants prevent such growth in deep shade conditions? The secret lies in the clocks inside them, say scientists from the John Innes Centre and the University of Bristol.

They have discovered that when plants notice deep shade, this changes the expression of genes in certain parts of the circadian clock (昼夜节律时钟) — the internal daily timer found in plants and other living things. These clock components perform an additional role in preventing plants from lengthening and overtopping neighbors.

The work identifies a previously unknown role of the circadian clock in controlling plant development, and the findings may have possible effects on both natural plant populations and crops. Professor Antony Dodd of the John Innes Centre said, “The biological clock of plants plays a big part in their development and fitness. This work casts new light on a new role of the circadian clock in adapting plants to competition with other plants in their environments.” “It also gives us new insights into how plants adapt to very deep shade, where resources are very limited,” said Professor Kerry Franklin at the University of Bristol.

This work provides evidence for the stability of the circadian clock in stressful environments, and information that may be useful in developing new generations of crops in a challenging climate.

1. What do plants normally do in moderate shade?

A．Struggle to preserve energy.	B．Compete for limited resources.
C．Try to outgrow their neighbors.	D．Depend on each other to survive.

2. How does the circadian clock affect plants?

A．By changing their gene expression.	B．By making them realize light change.
C．By helping them adapt to the darkness.	D．By controlling their growth in deep shade.

3. Why does the author write the text?

A．To share a new discovery about plants.	B．To introduce the role of the circadian clock.
C．To explain plants’ secret of living in forests.	D．To compare plants living in certain conditions.

4. Which of the following could be the best title for the text?

A．How plants face a challenging climate

B．Why plants respond to different shade levels

C．Why the circadian clock is vital to plants’ growth

D．How plants become good neighbors in deep shade

【推荐2】After a heavy snowstorm, I ran outside excitedly to build a snowman. No matter how hard 1 rolled my snowball, it refused to grow. After resting for a while, I restarted the job. Then I noticed I had an audience — a prim (古板的)-looking couple with obvious disapproval. My face turned red as I tried to answer their unspoken question: Don’t you have anything better to do?

An adult playing by herself seems strange, but maybe it shouldn’t. New research suggests that modern adults have ignored their play instinct (本能). Most animals stop playing as adults. However, there are a handful of animals that never stop.

One possibility is that adult play is important and beneficial, a theory supported by a study. Researchers left some puzzle boxes for some monkeys to solve. To get the food inside, they had to drop a rock into the container. The monkeys that previously had dropped rocks for fun were more likely to solve the puzzle. This finding also suggests somewhere in our evolutionary history, a playful human invented stone tools. Even today, the urge to play accounts for some of humanity’s greatest inventions.

Adult play promotes inclusivity, cooperation and creativity — all qualities that we humans could use. Unfortunately, social norms hold back our urge to let loose. When studying the last remaining hunter-gatherer communities. Peter Gray, a play researcher at Boston College, noticed they were often described as “joyful”. “This makes evolutionary sense,” Gray says. “Generally speaking, we like to do things that are necessary for our survival.” Humans took one giant step away from fun when we started planting crops. We spent a lot of time plowing (耕) fields, so we had much less time to play.

With threats like climate change, it’s easy to get into seriousness. But we should understand the value of encouraging adult play. The next time I’m caught playing, I know what to say, “I’m playing for the benefit of all humanity. You’re welcome.”

1. Why did the author feel embarrassed?

A．She considered herself too old to play.

B．She was judged to behave improperly.

C．She had a hard job making a snowman.

D．She was laughed at while playing as an adult.

2. What can be inferred about adult play from paragraph 3?

A．It promotes human evolution.

B．It is the natural need of humans.

C．It is particularly noticeable in animals.

D．It can contribute to useful inventions.

3. Which of the following may let humans reduce the pleasure of playing?

A．Climate change.	B．The need to look for food.
C．Modern science.	D．The arrival of agriculture.

4. What is the best title for the text?

A．Let’s play to save our world

B．Play is enjoyed not just by animals

C．Why adults need to make time for play

D．How adult play changed its role for humans

【推荐3】Baby giraffes inherit aspects of their mothers’ patterning—which could give them a survival advantage if good camouflage runs in the family. Just like humans have unique sets of fingerprints, every giraffe has a unique set of spots.

Derek Lee is a wildlife biologist and population ecologist at Penn State, and with the Wild Nature Institute, a research consulting group. He and his colleagues have been tracking giraffes for seven years, throughout 1,500 square miles in Tanzania.

Now, they’ve used image analysis software to study the spots of mothers and their babies. And they found that baby giraffes inherit at least some particular elements of their patterning from their mothers, like how circular the spots are. They also found that baby giraffes with larger spots have better chance to survive their first months, because the spots are more like the dappled sunlight in the bushes where baby giraffes like to hide from hungry lions and hyenas(wild animals like dogs).

The results—and a lot of giraffe patterns—are recorded and explained in the journal Peer J.[Lee et al., Seeing spots: quantifying mother­offspring similarity and assessing fitness consequences of coat pattern traits in a wild population of giraffes (Giraffa camelopardalis)]

It’s perhaps not surprising that a physical characteristic that protects an individual from being eaten passes the test of Darwinian natural selection—and get passed along to later generations. “The fact that these things are inheritable and they do affect survival of baby animals makes us feel like evolution is embodied exactly by these spot features.” So if a mom’s camouflage is good, her babies, too, might have the spots that keep them safer.

1. Why are baby giraffes with larger spots more likely to survive?

A．Because their mothers tend to protect them more.

B．Because they keep away from lions and hyenas.

C．Because their spots match surroundings better.

D．Because they barely move around in the bushes.

2. What does the author intend to do in paragraph 4?

A．Summarize the previous paragraphs.	B．Add some background information.
C．Introduce a new topic for discussion.	D．Provide evidence for the findings.

3. What does “embodied” underlined in the last paragraph mean?

A．Promoted.

B．Prevented.

C．Questioned.

D．Represented.

4. What is the best title for the text?

A．Animals Have Their Unique Sets of Patterning

B．Derek Lee Has Been Studying Animal Patterning

C．Mom’s Genes Make Some Giraffes Hard to Spot

D．Animal Physical Characteristics Are Similar to Family’s

【推荐1】An artist has carved a giant SOS message into an Indonesian palm oil plantation（棕榈油种植园）to draw attention to the damage done by forest destruction and stress the impact on people and wildlife.

Emest Zacharevic created the Save Our Souls（SOS）project as part of a campaign on the impact palm oil plantations have on local communities and endangered species such as the orangutan（褐猿）. The SOS carving，which he completed last month，runs for about half a kilometer inside a plantation in North Sumatra，and can be seen from the air.

Environmentalists say land-clearing for agricultural plantations in Indonesia，the world's biggest palm oil producer，is responsible for forest destruction-forest cover has dropped by nearly a quarter since 1990.

Zacharevic's SOS project comes during growing pressure on companies to adopt sustainable（可持续的）practices. PepsiCo and British firm Lush have committed to ending the use of palm oil，which is found in products from soap to cereal.

Indonesia has been a focus of global efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions（排放）caused by the forest destruction to make way for plantations.

These forests are often in remote areas long occupied by native peoples, who might not have documents proving ownership or be able to contest land acquisitions in the resource-rich Southeast Asia. The forests are home to about 14,600 orangutans remaining in the wild in Sumatra.

"We are all contributing to the destructive effect of unsustainable palm oil, whether it is by consuming products or supporting policies that affect the trade," Jacharevic said. "This project is an effort to appeal to the consciousness of a wider audience."

1. What do you know about the orangutan according to the text?

A．They are well protected.	B．They are becoming extinct.
C．They live in local communities.	D．They are saved by the SOS project.

2. The SOS carving in the plantation can be described as _______.

A．enormous	B．classic
C．holy	D．primitive

3. The forests are cut down in Indonesia with the intention of _______.

A．selling trees	B．building houses
C．hunting orangutans	D．setting up plantations

4. Why did Zacharevic start the SOS project?

A．To forbid the use of palm oil.	B．To obtain support for plantations.
C．To arouse environmental awareness.	D．To help native peoples acquire more land.

【推荐2】Scientists say a huge percentage of bird species are in danger because their habitats, or homelands, are disappearing.

Traditional migration paths take birds through countries that are not protecting the places for birds to stop, rest and feed. The scientists studied the migration or flight paths of almost 1,500 species. They decided that 91 percent of them passed through dangerous areas.

The major danger for migratory birds is development. Buildings and pavements have covered the places where birds stop and feed as they move from one part of the world to another. One of the scientists who worked on the study says “Many of these important places have been lost to land reclamation because of urban, industrial and agricultural land expansion”.

The problem, according to scientists, is that many of these small birds die along their migration paths because they don’t have a safe place to feed and rest. There is no place to restore their energy for the next part of their journey. Countries in North Africa, Central Asia and those along the coasts of East Asia are having the most difficult time in protecting land. The scientists say these countries do not have enough areas that are safe for birds. One species that doesn’t exist now is the Eskimo curlew. “Our world gets poorer every time we lose a species,” one of the scientists says.

The researchers say countries need to work together and come up with safe stopping areas for birds that pass through their boundaries. For example, one country might have preserved safe zones for migrating birds. But a neighbor country might not. A bird might die.

One scientist who is not connected with the report tells Los Angeles Times that while some habitats are changing, more work can be done to make urban areas safe for birds.

He says small changes, like planting more native plants or keeping cats out of the areas birds would be likely to use, could make a big difference.

1. What mainly caused the disappearing of birds’ habitats?

A．The decrease of awareness to protect birds.	B．Natural disasters.
C．Overuse of land by human beings.	D．The rising sea level.

2. What may be the main reason for many birds’ death on the way of migration?

A．Tiredness and hunger.	B．Beast attack on the ground.
C．Hunting of humans.	D．The long journey.

3. According to the last two paragraphs, how should we protect the migrating birds?

A．By keeping fewer cats or dogs.

B．By restoring their destroyed habitats.

C．By helping change the birds’ migration paths.

D．By preserving the ecological environments on their migration paths.

4. What is the author’s purpose in writing the passage?

A．To call on people to protect the birds’ habitats.

B．To analyze the reasons for disappearing of birds’ habitats.

C．To offer some solutions to the problem of birds’ habitats.

D．To tell us a huge percentage of bird species are in danger.

【推荐3】What is eco­fashion? Eco-fashion is about making clothes that take into account the environment, the health of consumers and the working conditions of people in the fashion industry.

    1     Firstly, the production of textiles(纺织品)pollutes the environment heavily. Cotton­planting uses pesticides(杀虫剂)；sheep­farming and wool­cleaning contribute to global warming；Secondly, every stage of clothing production has a significant effect on the environment. They all use a great deal of energy, and some also involve chemicals which evidently do harm to the surroundings.    2    Thirdly, growing consumption levels and our shopping habits further worsen the bad effects. We are now so quick to throw away clothes that have been worn only a couple of times.

    3    To a large degree, it is the fashion producers that really have the power and the responsibility to shape our future. There are numerous ways in which these producers can reduce their ecological footprint, from switching to green energy and reducing energy use, through selecting sustainable (可持续的)materials and choosing local suppliers, to recycle and minimize waste.     4    

There is some concern that eco-friendly fashions are just a trend that we will eventually grow tired of but in fact, more and more people are concerning about this and we can make sure that doesn’t happen.    5    

A．Then, how to solve the problems?

B．They relate directly to our personal health.

C．Because choosing eco­fashion can also contribute to our personal health, though it is mostly done by way of keeping the health of the planet.

D．In addition to this, there is a lot of waste produced in the process, especially in the form of polluted water.

E．The fashion industry has developed quickly.

F．On the other hand, as consumers we can all make contributions by selecting environmentally friendly clothing and reducing clothing consumption.

G．A closer look at the fashion industry points out many problems.