1 . In a high mountain area in central Utah stands the world’s oldest, heaviest and largest tree, Pando. And it’s dying!

Pando means “I spread” in Latin and it’s a name that makes sense. Pando is a big group of trees that all grow from the same roots (根). They look separate but are all connected underground by their roots. With all these roots connected, the whole group of trees can share water and food.

________. In summer, animals (mule deer and cattle) feed on the new leaves, making it difficult for the trees to grow. The number of mule deer has even increased because their natural enemies (mountain lions, bears) have disappeared. The second problem is from people. Hikers and campers like this area because of the colorful leaves in autumn. But getting too close and stepping on the new growth has made Pando smaller and thinner over the last 50 years.

Protecting Pando is challenging. Putting fences (栅栏) around it to keep animals away has helped new growth. But deer are smart, and they’ve found ways to get through the fences. Other efforts have included cutting or burning part of Pando to encourage new growth. Pando grows back very quickly after a forest fire, and these fires do not reach temperatures that would kill its root system.

Michael Grant, one of the scientists who helped name Pando, warns if the trees are in trouble, the whole ecosystem will be in danger too. We need to make people understand the long-term effects of our actions.

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4 .

①“Why don’t you ever listen?”

“You just don’t understand me!”

“You’re of no help at all!”

②Sound familiar? When you’re having a difficult conversation with your parents or friends, accusatory words like those can stop a discussion. As soon as one feels attacked, the defensive (防御的) walls come up, and real communication becomes all but impossible. We focus on the other person’s behavior first, without spending time thinking about and telling why we’re feeling hurt. Here lie the differences between “I” and “you” statements.

③An “I-statement” is a sentence beginning with the word “I” that tells another person how you are feeling in a clear way. For example, you might say, “I feel...” or “I become nervous when....” I-statements are a powerful tool to help you express your feelings to someone else without blaming (责怪) others. “You-statements,” such as those listed above, are statements that begin with the word “you”, pointing out what other people have done wrong. These statements often mean that the listener is responsible for something.

④Why are I-statements important? When you start a conversation by talking about the other person’s actions, you’re sending the message that they’re the problem. For most people, this immediately leads to them becoming defensive and trying to throw blame back onto you. However, starting a sentence with ‘I’ helps us talk about difficult feelings and how the problem is affecting us, and stops other people feeling blamed. This can be seen in the case when you feel left out. Instead of saying “You always leave me out”, you can say “I feel hurt when I’m not invited because it feels like I’m not welcome”. With this I-statement, you’re being honest about your feelings, but you’re not presenting them as something the other person did to you. As a result, the listener tends to experience this as more friendly, opening the possibility of further conversation and hope for a solution.

⑤It’s a simple change, but by being a little more careful of how you express yourself, you may find people are more likely to positively listen to you and understand more about what you are trying to say.

5 . When nature meets man-made roads, it’s seldom a good thing. Millions of animals get killed by cars every week. So, engineers tried to build green bridges for animals over busy roads. These bridges help keep animals and people safe.

The idea of green bridges isn’t really new. In fact, the first animal crossing appeared in France in the 1950s. As well as Germany, which has made more than 80 green bridges since 2005, Canada and the United States are also trying to protect native wildlife by building animal bridges over the years.

Although there are various designs, most green bridges share something similar. First, they are usually quite wide, giving animals plenty of room to move. Second, they are usually covered with soil and plants to look like the forests that lie on either side of the roads. Lastly, they are wider at the ends, spreading out where they meet the land. This helps gather animals onto the bridge and guide them out when they leave.

People may wonder ________. In Canada’s Banff National Park, 11 kinds of large animals such as bears, elk and cougar s have already gone across these green bridges more than 200,000 times since 1996. In some places, we’ve also seen a 90% drop in accidents between animals and cars where these bridges have been built.

These crossings are clearly a step in the right way to offer living chances and safety to wild animals. And with these bridges, both animal and human deaths on roads will continue to go down.

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6 . Imagine a city built as a line across the desert. It can run on 100% clean energy and 100% renewable water. That sounds impossible, but it’s becoming a reality.

Saudi Arabia is building such a city called The Line. It starts from the mountains of Northwest Saudi Arabia and pushes its way to the Red Sea. With an area of just 34 square kilometres, it can be home to 9 million people. The Line is 500 metres tall, 200 metres wide and 170 kilometres long, with two huge mirror walls standing on its both sides.

To put living experiences and natural environment first, The Line is designed to have three layers (层) . The top layer has no roads or cars, keeping over 95% of the nature around. Carefully designed environment makes the best balance of sunshine, trees and other natural sights. The middle layer is for services. All of them are operated by AI. Robots and a huge man-made moon make the city a technology paradise (天堂). From shopping malls to sports areas, wherever you go, you will be amazed at how convenient life can be. The lowest layer is the most important pat which shows how fast the city runs. The Line’s high-speed railway powered by electricity makes it possible to travel end to end in 20 minutes.

The plan started in early 2021 and is expected to finish its first stage in 2030. However, not everyone shows enough confidence in the plan. Environmentalists argue that mirror walls of The Line will bring danger to animals. For example, birds may hit onto the glass or even die when they migrate every spring and autumn. Besides, some commentators (评论员) also question whether the city will be built successfully. But Tarek Qaddumi, the director of the plan, seems sure, “We hope to get faster, better and greener results, with less environmental influence. It will set a new standard for future city life.”

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8 .

① Have you ever heard of Pi Day? You may think it is all about having pies.

That’s only partly right. Pi Day is actually about maths! Every year on March 14th, maths lovers and scientists celebrate Pi Day to honour the special number π(3. 14159…).

②____ ▲_______. It was founded in 1988 by Larry Shaw. He worked at the Exploratorium, a museum of science and technology. He linked (联系) March 14th with n and celebrated his very first Pi Day with a pie party. Later, the celebration became a yearly tradition at the museum and more visitors joined in. In November 2019, Pi Day was designated (指定) as the International Day of Mathematics by UNESCO, an international organisation.

③ There are many kinds of celebrations of Pi Day. Some people choose to memorise as many digits (数字)as they can, while some take part in a Pi parade, enjoying delicious pies and dancing to music.

Besides, people use a writing style called Pilish to celebrate Pi Day. In a Pilish sentence, the number of letters in each word matches the digit of π. The first word has three letters, the second has one letter, the third has four letters, and so on. An engineer, Michacl Keith, even wrote a book called Not a Wake by using Pilish

④ Pi Day is a day of discovery and joy, reminding us of the importance and beauty of mathematics in our lives. Let’s celebrate the mathematical wonder of π!

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Space junk is a danger to the satellites and may hurt astronauts. There are tens of millions of pieces of rubbish in space. Some of the pieces are from passing comets, but most of them are from large broken satellites and rockets after they stopped working.

Though satellite technology offers some advantages to people, the increasing use of it could make large areas of Earth’s orbit into bad condition. The space closely around our planet is becoming increasingly crowded with over 9,000 satellites in orbit today, and the Eastern Southern Observatory (ESO) shows that this number may grow to 75,000 by 2030.

As Space.com reported in October 2022, the International Space Station (ISS) had to think about how to keep clear of a piece of space junk from a broken Russian satellite in 2021. In November 2021, astronauts in the ISS had to stay inside their spaceship when the space station passed close to space junk.

NASA scientists have called for an agreement to make sure “space junk” doesn’t make the activities in Earth’s orbit into trouble and they are working on it. “Satellites are important to the people and Earth itself. However, using too much space will put our planet into a dangerous situation,” said Melissa Quinn, Head of Space port Cornwall. “I hope all countries need to pay attention, to understand the importance of the next step, and to work together, to keep the problem under control.”

10 .

The way people see movies may soon change completely, as the age of VR movies is coming. When you go to a cinema, the 3D glasses may not be clean. The people behind you may keep talking. But with VR, you don’t need to suffer all of these things. Movies will become more exciting and interesting. The “watch-it-alone”experience is also much better. Of course, the VR headset is what you need.

In big cities like Shanghai, you can already find lots of VR experience centres. People can watch VR movies or play VR games there. Online video sites are entering the age of VR too.

There are plenty of VR movies to enjoy. Now your home is the entertainment place for you. The VR headset can also help you keep your attention fully on what you are watching. That habit of checking your social media as you watch will be a thing of the past. Now you will not miss any part of a movie.

Some Chinese companies believe VR will pull viewers away from cinemas soon. China is home to a large number of smartphone users. Many of them are used to watching videos on their phones. This means it will be easy for them to accept VR movies.

Western companies think so too. A Canadian producer, has expressed his worries. “VR may not take place of traditional movies,” he says. “But it will really cause a big change.”

The producer, however, thinks that the movie industry needs more great stories. “The technology is already there,” he says. “What we still need more is good content.”