The world's first-known nursery for baby giant manta rays(蝠鲼) has been discovered hidden away in the Gulf of Mexico, the place of 70 miles off the coast of Texas, after studying decades of giant manta ray data from the area by the scientists.
Where the baby manta rays grow up has long troubled scientists, as they are rarely spotted in the four to five years it takes them to become adults, when they can often grow to more than 20ft wide.
In the study Mr Stewart and colleagues describe a reef (暗礁)---filled with mantas of all ages---where the sea floor runs down into deeper water. He said "We think they may be feeding on specific types of zooplankton(浮游生物) there, then migrating up toward the surface, where we saw them. They might be hanging around the banks because it could be a little safer than open water. We’ve seen them so rarely that we know very little about these baby manta rays. We don‘t know how far they move, or exactly what they feed on, or all of the habitats these access.”
Giant manta rays are listed as species dying out by protectors, although actual population numbers of the mysterious "gentle giant" are hard to calculate. Sightings of the closely-related reef manta, however, have dropped by 90 percent in regions of southeast Asia in the past decade, according to a study.
Fishing is considered the biggest threat to giant manta numbers, both intentional and accidental. Their gill plates(腮下肉)- the parts through which they filter(过滤) their food from seawater-are sold in China for medical purposes, while they often end up as something caught by mistake due to their huge wings.
1. Where do the baby manta rays probably grow up according to the study?| A．In the deep water area. |
| B．On the surface of the sea water. |
| C．Around the banks of channel. |
| D．In the reef of the Gulf of Mexico. |
| A．Manta rays can be seen on the sea surface. |
| B．Manta rays prefer the open water to the banks. |
| C．The scientists have known much about manta rays. |
| D．Manta rays are fond of eating on the sea surface. |
| A．The habitat environment becomes worse. |
| B．They are overfished by people |
| C．They are not very difficult to catch. |
| D．People can see the reef manta much less than before. |
| A．Summarize the previous paragraphs. |
| B．Warn people of their wrong behaviors. |
| C．Introduce some knowledge of the fish. |
| D．Give examples to support his point. |
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1. When was the environmental symbol of Beijing Olympics made public?
| A．On January 23,2005. |
| B．On September 24,2005. |
| C．On February 5,2007. |
| D．On March 11,2007. |
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| B．Green Olympics Forum In Beijing 2004 |
| C．Olympic Games Quizzes and Olympic Games Trivia |
| D．OFFICIAL WEBSITE OF THE OLYMPIC MOVEMENT |
| A．Olympic—Modern Olympic Games |
| B．Green Olympics Forum In Beijing 2004 |
| C．Environmental Symbol of Beijing Olympics—‘Green Olympics’ |
| D．Ancient Olympic Heritage and Modern Olympic Games in Athens 2004 |
| A．Beijing has made efforts to improve its air quality. |
| B．The Olympic torch relay route has not been planned. |
| C．The Olympic flags will be on display in Athens. |
| D．A quiz on the Olympics will be held in Beijing. |
【推荐2】Many animals and plants are endangered in the world today. These endangered species are threatened with becoming extinct, meaning they will no longer exist on Earth. Examples include the Cuban Macaw and the Sri Lankan Legume Tree. Hunting, and collecting of the Macaw bird for pets, led to its extinction. Whilst the main reason the native Sri Lankan Legume Tree went extinct was due to habitat loss from development in the 20h century. The main cause for animals and plants disappearing is often a disruption (扰乱) to the food chain due to hunting, habitat loss or even the introduction of invasive (入侵的) species.
Every living thing from one-celled animals to a blue whale needs to eat. Nature is connected and controlled by many fragile (脆弱的) food chains. A food chain describes who eats whom in a habitat. When one of the links in a food chain is no longer present — for example, a species goes extinct — the food chain breaks and sometimes this can cause other animals to disappear and the whole system can become imbalanced or even collapsed.
Humans can have disastrous effects on food chains. When people first explored the world, they took animal and plant species from their home countries to the places they explored and settled in. They did not realise the consequences of introducing invasive species. By doing so, they were disrupting the natural food chains of the areas they explored.
Nowadays there are strict rules controlling the movement of animals and plants between countries. But some parts of the world are still experiencing problems with invasive species introduced hundreds of years ago.
With rising awareness of how we affect the natural environment, hopefully we can learn to protect these food chains and help them to thrive. Otherwise the continued loss of species will eventually mean our own extinction.
1. What could be inferred from Paragraph 1?| A．Macaws are extinct because of habitat loss |
| B．Sri Lankan Legume Tree became extinct because of seed collecting. |
| C．The invasive species may lead to the extinction of the native species. |
| D．The main cause of plants extinction is hunting. |
| A．It only affects one-celled animals. | B．It decides the balance of the whole system. |
| C．It is always broken by invasive species. | D．It is controlled by fragile nature. |
| A．By settling in. | B．By taking away native species. |
| C．By hunting local animals. | D．By introducing foreign species. |
| A．to continue to live or exist |
| B．to grow toward full stature or physical or mental maturity |
| C．to become, and continue to be, successful, strong, healthy, etc. |
| D．to get away from an unpleasant or dangerous situation |
| A．The food chain will always find a way to be balanced. |
| B．The natural world experiences times of damage but it always can recover. |
| C．Human activity, in all forms, tends to cause great destruction to the natural world. |
| D．Despite the climate change caused by humans, plants and animals will go extinct naturally. |
【推荐3】Panera Bread has announced that it will update its menus with a series of climate-friendly food designed by the World Resources Institute (WRI) that helps inform consumers about how their food choices affect global climate change.
The “Cool Food Meals” sticker (标签) will appear on Panera Bread’s menu to show that the carbon dioxide used to create the ingredients (成分) is low enough to agree with the research published by the WRI, which matches agriculture and food-related emissions (排放) with the reduction in CO2 emissions needed to meet the 2030 Paris Agreement on climate change.
People are becoming more aware of climate change and its effects, but many still don’t know what they can do about it. Cool Food Meals helps people understand that taking action is as simple as what we eat. A busy parent or a college student—almost anyone—can now go into Panera and by choosing a Cool Food Meal, they are part of a growing group of people who are building a climate-friendly lifestyle.
In some ways, more consumers are looking for more climate-friendly food according to a small survey of 1,000 Americans aged 18-80. 69% of those surveyed said it was important to them that their food should be produced in a sustainable manner. 68% of participants said they tried to stay away from carbohydrates (碳水化合物) and sugar.
Through WRI’s Cool Foods Initiative (倡议), Various cities and universities have signed on to the Cool Foods Pledge (宣言) to try and turn civil food service bodies into ones that reduce the amount of CO2 in the supply chain.
According to WRI, first data shows that Cool Food Pledge Members have already reduced their food-related emission by 3%, which is beyond the course to reach the reduction aims in line with the Pans Agreement.
1. What’s the purpose of the first paragraph?| A．To introduce the World Resources Institute. |
| B．To advertise Panera Bread. |
| C．To encourage new ideas. |
| D．To raise the topic of the passage. |
| A．It helps people to build a climate-friendly lifestyle. |
| B．It helps people to lose weight. |
| C．It contains higher carbon dioxide. |
| D．It gives people a chance to taste various food. |
| A．Supportive. | B．Negative. | C．Uncertain. | D．Doubtful. |
| A．Health. | B．Education. | C．Science. | D．Environment. |
