Inside a fishbowl, the goldfish — a species of carp native to East Asia, bred for aesthetic delight and traditionally believed to bring good fortune — is among the easiest of pets to keep. But released into the wild, the seemingly humble goldfish, freed from glass boundaries, can grow to large proportions. They can even kill off native marine wildlife and help destroy fragile and economically valuable ecosystems.
“They can eat anything and everything,” said Christine Boston, an aquatic research biologist with Fisheries and Oceans Canada. Over the past several years, Ms. Boston and her colleagues have been tracking invasive goldfish in Hamilton Harbour, which is on the western tip of Lake Ontario (安大略湖), about 35 miles southwest of Toronto.
Their study, published last month in the Journal of Great Lakes Research, could help pinpoint goldfish populations for culling, said Ms. Boston, who is the lead author. “We found out where they are before they start spawning (产卵),” she said. “That’s a good opportunity to get rid of them.”
The fast-growing female goldfish, Ms. Boston noted, can also reproduce several times in one season. “They have the resources,” she added, “and they can take advantage of them.” Their football-shaped bodies can swell to a size that makes them too large a meal for predators (捕食者) — up to about 16 inches long. The feral goldfish are also destructive, uprooting and consuming plants that are home to native species.
Nicholas Mandrak, a professor of biological sciences at the University of Toronto Scarborough, studies in the “dramatically increase” of the wild population in the past two decades. Their spawning explosion, he said, resulted partly from people in densely-populated areas releasing pets in urban ponds. He added, environmental managers tend to forget the goldfish. “They just assume, ‘It’s been there for 150 years — there’s nothing we can do about it.’”
The problem is not unique to Canada. In Australia, a handful of unwanted pet goldfish and their offspring took over a river in the country’s southwest. And the discovery of football-size creatures in a lake in 2021 even led British officials to beg their citizens: “Please don’t release your pet goldfish into ponds and lakes!”
People wrongly believe that because goldfish are “small and cute” they won’t pose a problem when released into the wild, said Anthony Ricciardi, a professor of invasion ecology at McGill University in Montreal.
Goldfish, he added, are just a small part of a vast invasion of non-native species whose outcomes can be unpredictable, and in some cases, are worsened by climate change.
“Under human influence, beasts are moving faster farther in greater numbers, reaching parts of the planet they could never reach before,” he said. “We’re talking about the redistribution of life on Earth.”
1. Which of the statements about the goldfish is correct?| A．Their place of origin is Canada. | B．They are capable of reproducing. |
| C．They will grow well over 16 inches. | D．They only invade Lake Ontario. |
| A．Killing | B．Controlling | C．Catching | D．Observing |
| A．Citizens wrongly set free the fish. | B．Climate change has a negative impact. |
| C．The environmental management is absent. | D．The food increases in habitats. |
| A．Now goldfish are turning into wild monsters. |
| B．Now goldfish are on the way to become a global issue. |
| C．Now goldfish are attracting scientists to study in. |
| D．Now goldfish are threatening the Great Lakes. |
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【推荐1】Crocodiles are suitable for climbing. But do you know that they can climb trees? Indeed, how well many crocs climb trees is surprising scientists.
Although living crocs are considered largely water animals, some reports had suggested ancient croc relatives might be able to climb trees. A new report finds that at least four species of living crocodiles can certainly ascend trees.
Researchers from the United States, Australia and Africa studied reports on the behavior of crocodiles. Some of those eyewitness reports came from the author themselves. Their data largely come from croc sightings associated with research on unrelated topics. These reptiles have been seen as tall as 4 meters up a tree and about 5 meters out along a branch.
Adam Britton of Big Gecko in Howard Springs, Australia, was part of the research team. He personally witnessed local crocs attempting to climb a 1.8-meter chain-link fence. Smaller crocs prove the best climbers. Rarely in trees were those more than 1.5-meter long, although Britton has spied at lease one 2-meter croc in a tree. Babies with strong claws can climb brick walls. That actually explains reports of them escaping from croc “farms”.
The scientists think that crocodiles use tree branches to sunbathe. Sunbathing helps the reptiles control their body temperature. Crocs usually were seen in trees only where there were few nearby ground sites on which they could have basked in the sun.
Climbing, as the scientists note, also should give crocs a better view of potential prey. When they spy any, the crocs can quickly drop down into the water.
The new observations may even help scientists better understand how well extinct species of crocodiles behaved, the author say.
1. Which of the following words can replace the underlined word “ascend” in Paragraph 2?| A．Fall. | B．Knock. | C．Bite. | D．Climb |
| A．They are based on believable evidence. | B．They need to be proved further. |
| C．They are considered to be doubtful. | D．They are proved with scientific experiments. |
| A．Catching their preys. | B．Enjoying the sunshine. |
| C．Escaping being attacked. | D．Having a good rest. |
| A．they are more than 1.5 meters. | B．they are heavy enough. |
| C．they are still young. | D．they are old enough. |
Making use of the wind, the water or, for more than half of all plant species, animals, plants disperse (散播) seeds far and wide. Frugivores — animals such as gibbons that feed on the fleshy fruits of plants — eat and then excrete (排泄) seeds away from the original tree. The African savanna elephant can carry seeds up to a record-breaking distance of 65 kilometres. This ability to shift geographical ranges will be crucial to plants when it comes to surviving climate change. However, just like all gibbon species, the African savanna elephant is endangered, its population down by 60 percent over the past 50 years.
Researchers in Denmark and the USA have published a new study into how the loss of seed-dispersing animals could affect the resilience (恢复力) of forests and other natural ecosystems. According to their research, this loss has already reduced the ability of plants to move in pace with climate change by 60 percent, and in some areas by as much as 95 percent.
Evan Fricke, lead author of the study, explains that in order to reach these results, they pulled together existing data from all previous studies and used machine learning to develop models that could estimate the seed dispersal potential of any animal, even ones that are now extinct.
The researchers found that, historically, the decline of seed-dispersing animals has had the greatest influence on plants across the temperate (温带的) regions of North and South America, Europe and southern Australia. “Our temperate ecosystems have lost a lot of the natural seed-dispersal function that they would have had.” explains Fricke, referring to large mammals that were once widespread in these regions.
Nevertheless, the poor conservation status of many seed-dispersing tropical animals puts plants in regions such as Southeast Asia and Madagascar most at risk today. Without the preservation of such animals, global seed dispersal could decline by a further 15 percent. “The direct implication of this decline is that many plant species will be unable to keep pace with a changing climate,” says Fricke. “That means the potential loss not only of plant biodiversity but of the ecosystem functions that those plants provide.”
As wildlife is lost, plants can no longer adapt and survive and forests become less sustainable, which reduces the amount of carbon they can store. They also lose their ability to support wildlife. Whole ecosystems are disrupted. The conclusion, Fricke says, is clear: we must conserve currently endangered species and restore the populations of important seed dispersers. “Independent of climate change, rewilding has the potential to benefit our ecosystems, but in a changing climate, it has the added benefit of increasing the climate resilience of those ecosystems,” he says.
1. The author mentions the African savanna elephant in Paragraph 1 is to ________.| A．highlight the problem | B．predict the ending |
| C．express an opinion | D．provide a solution |
| A．plants disperse seeds by way of animals excreting them. |
| B．rewilding can promote the climate resilience of our ecosystems. |
| C．seed-dispersing animals could hardly affect the natural ecosystems. |
| D．the loss of seed-dispersing animals has little influence on temperate regions. |
| A．The Resilience of Ecosystems |
| B．The Conservation of Seed-dispersing Animals |
| C．Animals That Spread Seeds Are Essential — And Under Threat |
| D．Animals That Spread Seeds Are Endangered — And Well Protected |
【推荐3】Blue whales are the largest animals ever known to have existed on the planet, and they can grow to a length of 100 feet and weigh more than 330,000 pounds. But recently researchers have found that these whales are on the move and they have migrated (moved) from California waters to areas off Canada and Alaska for the first time since commercial whaling ended in 1965.
The researchers identified 15 blue whales that have appeared off the coast of British Columbia and the Gulf of Alaska since 1997. Four of these whales were recognized as ones that were once sighted off California shores, suggesting that the whales are returning to an old migration pattern between the coasts.
Before commercial whaling began in the early 1900s, blue whales were found widely throughout the North Pacific and California waters. But from the 1920s to the 1960s, whaling severely reduced the whale populations. Blue whales never recovered in the Northern Pacific, making sightings in this area rare. However, much larger groups of whales have been observed close to California since the 1970s.
The scientists had previously thought that the California population was separate from the population that had historically lived in North Pacific waters. But the current study shows that whales off the coast of British Columbia and the Gulf of Alaska are likely part of the California population.
To identify the blue whales, the researchers looked at photos of cetaceans taken in the North Pacific Ocean and compared them with a library of blue whale pictures taken along the West Coast of the United States and Southern Pacific. Up to now, the researchers are not quite sure why the whales are changing their migration patterns, but they suspect that the whales may be following their food moving farther north by the changes in ocean conditions.
1. According to the passage, blue whales are __________.| A．following the fixed route of migration |
| B．dying out due to commercial whaling |
| C．rarely found in the Southern Pacific |
| D．moving from the south to the north |
| A．is different from the California population |
| B．has become the largest group since the 1970s |
| C．is probably part of the California population |
| D．has lived there since the 1960s. |
| A．whales species | B．land creatures |
| C．ocean conditions | D．migration patterns |
| A．Commercial whaling. | B．Food resources. |
| C．Weather conditions. | D．Life reproduction. |
【推荐1】Reducing, reusing and recycling is a way of life in Sweden. Recycling is required by law and garbage is sorted at home before it goes to a recycling center. Recyclables are sorted into seven categories and recycling stations are within just 300 meters of all residential areas. “Recycling almost everything is a must in Sweden now. It actually feels very uncomfortable when you visit another country and can't find easy ways to recycle,” said Owen Gaffney, an expert at Stockholm Resilience Centre and Future Earth.
But not all of its garbage is recycled. Sweden uses alternatives that include burning garbage to make electricity instead of using fossil fuels to heat 1.2 million homes. About half of household garbage is sent to one of the 33 waste-to-heat plants. Sweden is importing garbage from other countries to keep these plants running. Sweden is also a world leader in turning food waste into eco-friendly biogas. It has made food waste collection compulsory beginning in 2021. There is a food waste biogas plant, which allows biogas to be used to run public buses and to heat apartment buildings.
Sweden now wants to deal with those remaining items that cannot be recycled by using a circular(循环论证的)economy approach. It means that products can be reused and only recycled when absolutely necessary. The Swedish government formed an advisory group to find a new way of making this part of its environmental policy.
This will not work effectively unless people are taught to change their behavior. Now the government is reforming its tax code so that people could get cheaper repairs or buy used things. The large Swedish clothing retailer(零售商)H&M operates a recycling program that gives customers discounts when they bring back old clothing.
Sweden is fighting climate change by doing all the right stuff. Waste recycling and the plans to switch to a circular economy will go a long way in reducing its carbon footprint and will help stop global warming.
1. What do we know about Sweden?| A．Sweden imports household garbage for biogas. |
| B．Everything is recycled after being used in Sweden. |
| C．Half of garbage in Sweden is used to produce heat. |
| D．It is convenient to recycle things in Sweden. |
| A．Teach people how to save fossil fuels. | B．Conduct a survey about the local economy. |
| C．Make sure the citizens recycle wisely. | D．Offer advice on environmental policy. |
| A．It provides various recycling programs. | B．It cuts down taxes on new products. |
| C．It offers lower prices for repairs. | D．It gives discounts to regular buyers. |
| A．A book on city environment. | B．A news report on local environment. |
| C．A science report on public health. | D．A travel guide on Sweden. |
【推荐2】Australia is no stranger to wildfires. The country's weather patterns create heat and dryness, which fuel occasional bushfires in a natural cycle. However, one that started in September, 2019 continues to bum, and it may not be natural at all. So far, the fire has burned 7.3 million hectares (73,000 square kilometers) of land, killing at least 28 people and destroying more than 3,000 homes in the process, reported The Telegraph. Scientists say that man-made climate change has played a role in the fire's creation and duration.
“What we have are fires that might have occurred anyway,” Peter Gleick, a US climate scientist, told Time. “But the extent, the severity and the intensity of these fires are far worse than them otherwise would have been without the fingerprints of climate change.”
According to Australia's Bureau of Meteorology, the country's temperatures have risen by more than one degree Celsius since 1920. The spring of 2019 was Australia's driest in 120 years. In December, the country saw its hottest day ever, with an average temperature of 41.9.
“Due to enhanced evaporation in warmer temperatures, the vegetation and the soils dry out more quickly,” Stefan Rahmstorf, a lead author of the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's Fourth Assessment Report, told Time.
Worse still, researchers at the UK Bureau of Meteorology believe that wildfires like this might become “normal conditions” in the future, according to the BBC. They looked at 57 research papers published since 2013, which examined the relationship between climate change and the risk of wildfires. They found that the link between the two had already been observed in many parts of the world, including the western US, Canada, southern Europe, and even Scandinavia and Siberia.
“These are impacts we are seeing for one degree of global climate change. The impact will get worse if we don't do what it takes to stabilize the world's climate,” Corinne Le Quere, a professor from the University of East Anglia in the UK, told the BBC. “What we are seeing in Australia is not the 'new normal'. It's a transition to worse impacts.”
1. What do we know about the bushfire that started in September, 2019 in Australia?| A．It has done a lot of harm to people's living environment. | B．It followed the laws of nature. |
| C．It was soon under control. | D．It was started on purpose. |
| A．Plants stayed as lively as usual. | B．Australia suffered a hot day. |
| C．The plants and the soils became dry faster. | D．Every season became the driest in the year. |
| A．How human activities cause climate change. |
| B．Where deadly wildfires happen more often. |
| C．Whether climate change brings more wildfires. |
| D．Why climate change has drawn international attention. |
| A．The future of Australia. | B．Solutions to climate change. |
| C．The effects of wildfires. | D．The urgency of fighting climate change. |
【推荐3】How do oceans affect you? If you live far from the coast, you might think they don’t. But life on this planet depends on the ocean. It covers almost three-quarters of the planet and holds 97 percent of Earth’s water. The phytoplankton (浮游植物)that live on the oceans’ surface produce half of the oxygen in the atmosphere. Oceans are a vital source of food and other resources and an economic engine for many communities.
For all the ocean provides us, we haven’t always been so responsible in our administration. “The ocean was thought of as a dumping (倾倒的) ground for so long,” says Caitlyn Toropova of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). “There was a sense that there was no way we could harm it because it is so vast.”
But human activities are having a negative impact on many of the world’s oceans, jeopardizing marine life, habitats, and ecosystems. These threats include overfishing or destructive fishing, coastal development, pollution and runoff, and the introduction of non-native species. Climate change is also having a big effect by causing warming seas and ocean acidification.
The realization that something needs to be done to prevent the damage has led to the creation of marine protected areas (MPAs), Specifics differ around the globe, but the United States defines a marine protected area as “any area of the marine environment that has been preserved to prov d eating protection for part or all of the natural and cultural resources.”
There are approximately 5,000 designated (命名) MPAs around the word but many more that are not officially recognized, says Toropova, the conservation group’s officer for marine protected areas. That may sound like a lot, but less than one percent of the world’s oceans is protected. Countries around the world have committed to protecting 10 percent, Toropova say, But “even though there’s been an increase in the past 10 years, at the current rate it would take 100 years to reach that goal,” she says.
1. What does the author intend to emphasize in paragraph 1?| A．Oceans are crucial for humans’ survival. | B．Oceans affect little to people far from them. |
| C．The phytoplankton needs many sea resources. | D．Seas should make more room for our land. |
| A．It covers so much and holds so much of Earth’s water. |
| B．They thought everyday wastes had little effect on it. |
| C．Its floor is just as irregular as the surface of the land. |
| D．People have acknowledged quite little about the sea. |
| A．Feeding. | B．Replacing. | C．Harming. | D．Protecting. |
| A．Marine protected areas aren’t necessary. | B．We still need contribute more to the sea. |
| C．MPAs have shown great effects on the sea. | D．Most of world’s oceans are being protected. |
【推荐1】Who needs friends? According to most psychologists we all do, especially nowadays when so many other aspects of modern life are changing. It seems that having friends keeps us both healthy and happy.
The number of TV series about groups of friends shows just how important friendship is to us. Psychologist Dorothy Rowe says that many of us now turn to our friends, instead of our families, for advice and comfort. One woman named Rebecca she interviewed even told her that if she had got to choose between her husband and her friend, she would choose her friend.
Since our friends mean so much to us, it is not surprising that the happiest marriages are also friendships. “Once the romantic stage of a relationship has passed, it is friendship that holds people together,” says Rowe. If the couple do not make some changes. They will either get tired of each other and break up or stay together and look for friendship with others.
For men, friendship is usually based on doing things together rather than the private conversations that are typical of women friends. Men share time building a business or playing football together, but they don’t often share their feeling. Although many women find their relationship with a husband or boyfriend is not enough, many men say that their partner is their best friend. Even women who are very happily married are likely to become very unhappy without a close friend and can even find the break-up of a close friendship as painful as the end of a marriage.
Lasting friendships can provide a lot of the same support that families provided in the past, but the perfect situation is to have your family there for you as well. Friendships and family relationships can both change, but a friend will not consider you when making really important decisions in the same way that a family member will.
1. The example of Rebecca in paragraph 2 shows that some people think ________.| A．one friend is more than enough. | B．friends are just like their family. |
| C．friends matter more than family. | D．friends make them more comfortable. |
| A．Couples tend to be friends in a good marriage. |
| B．Couples will have new friendship after they get married. |
| C．Friendship help couples build healthy relationships. |
| D．Friendship hold couples together when romance has passed. |
| A．Women often do things together with friends. |
| B．Men seldom talk to their friends about their feelings. |
| C．Women often talk about business with friends. |
| D．Men often talk to their friends about work and family. |
| A．Friendship cannot replace family relationships. |
| B．Friendship can last longer than family relationships. |
| C．Friendship and family relationships are both changeable. |
| D．Family members help you make better decisions than friends do. |
【推荐2】Around the country and around the world, there is no shortage of human suffering. Poverty, disease, violence, hurricanes, wildfire and more are constantly troubling humanity, and even our best efforts thus far can’t address all of everybody’s needs. Many are looking for places to cut funding, and one of the first places that comes up in conversation is excessive spending on space exploration. What good is it to conduct microgravity experiments repeatedly when children are starving? Why launch so many space-related projects when nuclear war threatens our planet?
This is a line of thinking that has been coming up throughout history. Yes, it’s short-sighted, in that it fails to recognize that our greatest problems require long-term investment, and that society’s greatest advances come about through hard work, research, development of decades after that is made. Investing in science is investing in the betterment of humanity.
Over these years, much of the results of the space research have been adapted to be applicable to our daily lives. For example, NASA’s advancements in the areas of robotics have given manufacturers an additional basis for the development of more advanced artificial limbs. Additionally, certain nutritional enrichment ingredients (成分) that were developed by NASA have been integrated into baby food formula.
Space technology has also helped improve economies. Within the next three years, the space exploration and space tourism industry are expected to be valued at 3 trillion USD. It is true that for every dollar we spend on the space program, the US economy receives about $8 of economic benefit. Space exploration can also serve as a motivation for children to enter the fields of science and engineering.
To many people, the idea of space travel may still seem far from practical. However, I believe that it is important that we keep going forward or we’ll risk delaying further discoveries and technological advancements that will be beneficial for us.
1. According to paragraph 1, what do some people think of space exploration?| A．Useless. | B．Wasteful. | C．Beneficial. | D．Harmful. |
| A．The advance. | B．The development. |
| C．The investment. | D．The problem. |
| A．By providing a foundation. |
| B．By adding certain materials. |
| C．By acting as a driving force. |
| D．By helping realize the mass production. |
| A．Space programs are of great benefit to us. |
| B．Space travel appears to be within people’s reach. |
| C．More and more children are interested in science. |
| D．New technological discoveries have been delayed. |
【推荐3】I love books that are great to read aloud, side-splittingly funny, hair-raisingly exciting and make me cry. Here are my top four children's books.
A book that made me cry: The Lorax by Dr. Seus
The Lorax's doomed fight to save his beloved Truffula trees from extinction at the hands of the blue-armed capitalist called the Onceler, has that lovely mixture of humour, truth and pathos. "Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better, it's not," says the Onceler, throwing the Very Truffula Seed of Them All down to the child who is being told the story.
At this point, if you are not in tears, you have a heart of stone.
A book that made me want to be the heroine: Pippi Long-stocking by Astride Lindgren
Pippi Lon-stocking was so strong that she could lift a horse above her head. She had independent means, no visible parents, the cheek of several Peter Pans and her very own monkey. I longed to be her.
A book with a fantasy world I am tempted to believe is true:
The Sword in the Stone by T.H. White
"The best thing for being sad, is to learn something," says Merlin, the magician who lives life backwards. This is a book about learning to be a hero, and it is funny and wise. The fight between the two knights with armour（盔甲）so heavy that they can barely move still makes me laugh out loud.
A book for your inner and your actual teenager: Holes by Louis Sachar
Stanley Yelnats is a young delinquent who is pointlessly digging holes at Camp Green Lake as punishment for a crime he did not commit. A thrilling story of crime, redemption（救赎）and how the past haunts the present.
1. Which book is hair-raisingly exciting?| A．The Lorax | B．Pippi Long-stocking | C．The Sword in the Stone | D．Holes |
| A．The Lorax tells a thrilling story that may scare many children. |
| B．Pippi Long-stocking is a hero with special personality traits. |
| C．The Sword in the Stone tells a story about a magician looking for as sword all his life. |
| D．In Holes, Stanley Yelnats is wronged and punished. |
| A．imaginative | B．exclusive | C．thrilling | D．humorous |
