1 . A video circulated on social media earlier this year, showing a tourist opening the door of a vehicle, reaching out an arm and attempting to stroke a passing lion. The lion shrugged the tourist off, but it could have easily gone horribly wrong.
Reckless behaviour around wildlife risks the safety of both people and animals. People risk being attacked, mauled (撕咬) and possibly killed, while animals can be harmed, removed or even put down, regardless of whether they were only defending themselves. Animal attacks can also cast a destination in a negative light, causing temporary closures or scaring off visitors. All just so someone could boast that they had stroked a lion or captured a moment on a camera phone.
“Tourists are getting more and more reckless around wildlife and the source of the problem is social media.” says wildlife photographer Anette Mosshachers. “People risking their lives or doing stupid things with wildlife are after ‘likes’ and followers, something to show off on social media,” says Mossbacher. “The greater the risk, the more ‘likes’ they get. With some clients, it seems like a sickness or addiction.”
Yet social media is not entirely to blame. People have always taken risks for an experience. Foolish behavior and a tendency to get cocky around dangerous animals must have been around since the dawn of humanity. A hunger for attention online might drive some of the current madness, but some individuals might be trying to recreate a piece of the action they have seen on television. Perhaps the adrenaline (肾上腺激素) rush when close to wild animals causes a disappearance of common sense.
“There’s a worrying lack of awareness that animals several times our size, weight, speed and strength can easily hurt us,” says wildlife photographer David Lloyd. “I don’t think parks are doing enough to raise awareness. Tourists need to know how their presence can affect wildlife. A good example is cheetahs (猎豹) on vehicle rooftops. It may be a thrill for the bystanders, but the consequences if a mother cheetah falls off would be severe. She would no longer be able to hunt, so her cubs could easily starve.”
“People aren’t getting the education about why they need to stay away from wildlife, including avoiding diseases, keeping people secure and letting wildlife be wild,” says Philip Muruthi, vice president of species conservation and science for the African Wildlife Foundation. “We need to educate tourists through signs, pamphlets and frontline drivers. We should stick to guidelines, and there needs to be enforcement through the law.”
1. What can we learn about reckless behaviour around wildlife?| A．It may get animals killed for defending themselves. |
| B．It may bring more profits to a tourist destination. |
| C．It enables tourists to get intimate with animals. |
| D．It harms tourists more than animals. |
| A．sympathetic | B．disapproving | C．indifferent | D．doubtful |
| A．over-sensitive. | B．over-confident | C．over-frightened. | D．over-shocked. |
| A．Punishment rather than education can stop people taking silly risks around wildlife. |
| B．Parks are expected to take more responsibilities for educating tourists. |
| C．More regulation of the tourist industry is the key to raising tourists’ awareness. |
| D．Raising tourists’ awareness means stressing the danger of animals to them. |
2 . Small batteries are big problems, but nobody really pays attention to where they end up. Researchers at the Cellulose & Wood Materials Laboratory are working to address this problem. Their new research paper describes a water-activated paper battery developed from environmentally friendly materials that could eventually present a sustainable alternative to the more harmful batteries common in low-power devices.
The paper battery has the same key components as standard batteries but packages them differently. Like a typical chemical battery, it has a positively charged side called a cathode, a negatively charged side called an anode, and a conductive material called an electrolyte (电解质) between the two. A traditional battery’s components are enclosed in plastic and metal; in the new battery, the anode and cathode are inks printed onto the front and back of a piece of paper. That paper is filled with salt, which dissolves (溶解) when the paper is dampened with water. The resulting saltwater solution acts as the electrolyte.
Sustainable materials were a precondition for the researchers, who considered only safe and plentiful ingredients to create their device. “We were fairly confident that we would have something that would work in the end, but developing these materials and ink systems is challenging,” says Gustav Nyström, senior author of the study.
After trying hundreds of formulations for the battery components, the researchers settled on a graphite ink to make the cathode, a zinc ink for the anode, and salt-filled paper to create the electrolyte.
When the paper is dry, the battery is shelf-stable. Add just a couple of drops of water, however, and the salt dissolves, allowing electrons to flow. Once the paper is dampened, the battery activates within 20 seconds. The new battery’s operating performance declines as the paper dries. When the scientists re-wet the paper during testing, the battery regained functionality and lasted an hour before beginning to dry out again.
Although the researchers demonstrated that their battery could power an alarm clock, the paper batteries are unlikely to replace standard ones on store shelves. Nyström envisions a future where these paper batteries could make their way into products within the next two to five years. “The performance that you see on this device, I think, is enough for a lot of other applications already,” he says. It is mostly a matter of increasing production and integrating the batteries into systems such as diagnostic tests and environmental sensors.”
1. How is the paper battery similar to the standard battery?| A．The key components are environmentally friendly. |
| B．They are both packaged in plastic and metal. |
| C．They both have two charged sides and an electrolyte. |
| D．Both batteries can operate for only an hour. |
| A．Heating the salt | B．Charging the electrons |
| C．Drying out the battery | D．Wetting the paper |
| A．major technological breakthrough will be made in the near future |
| B．all home appliances will be powered by paper batteries |
| C．the future for a wide application of paper batteries is not far off |
| D．paper batteries will have longer shelf life than traditional ones |
3 . 
Climate change influences how organisms live and function in their environment. Investigating how organisms adapt is essential for accurately predicting their survival, and tracking genomic(基因组的) changes helps researchers determine the lasting effects of the changing environment. Copepods, a dominant coastal species, are particularly useful for studying genetic changes in response to shifting marine environments. By studying copepods, researchers can get an idea of how the ocean food chain might react to changes in the Earth’s climate.
Tracking a copepod’s evolving genome in the wild, however, can be time-consuming and laborious. To circumvent this challenge, Pespeni and her team used an evolve-and-resequence approach in the lab. They exposed a copepod population to three stressors—water warming, acidification via high CO₂ levels, and combinations of the two ocean warming and acidification (OWA) conditions in the laboratory, and tracked their adaptations to these conditions over 25generations. Previously, they tracked reproductive fitness traits such as egg-hatching success under these conditions. They found that the fitness of the population exposed to OWA conditions initially decreased, but then adapted to the stressors over several generations.
In the current study, the researchers sequenced the genomes of animals in each experimental group at generation 0 and 25 to quantify how allele (等位基因) frequencies changed in response to experimental selective pressures. The researchers found adaptive alleles related to development were unique to the multiple stressor experiment, providing a possible explanation for the observed selection of hatching success.
“We showed that the warming alone was a much strong er selective pressure than CO₂. But when you combine them, you get a unique synergy. So, it’s not just one plus one equals two; it’s one plus one equals something totally different,” said Pespeni. Whereas previous studies observed the effects of single stressors on evolving organisms, Pespeni’s study demonstrated that multiple stressors result in a unique response to selection in a non-additive manner. This is important because human-induced environmental changes are multifaceted(多方面的), and additional stressors are still needed to further mimic natural environmental changes, and this study reveals the complexity of the genomic adaptive response.
According to Morgan Kelly, a professor who was not involved in the study, the insights presented by the researchers in this study call into question the previous single stressor studies and will influence future experimental design. “There’s this big question of the role that evolutionary change will play in response to climate change, and the way the researchers integrate genomic information is the best of its kind in the world of marine experimental evolution,” said Kelly.
According to Pespeni, there is reason to maintain hope in the face of climate change because her work revealed that the copepods eventually fully regained their ability to reproduce following the combined environmental changes.
1. What can we learn about Pespeni’s previous and current studies?| A．The previous study tried new ways to quantify the response of copepods. |
| B．The current study may explain the success of hatching in the previous one. |
| C．The previous study reveals the complexity of the genomic adaptive response. |
| D．The current study sequenced copepods’ genes of 25 generations in each group. |
| A．study how other species adapt to global warming |
| B．include additional stressors in their experiments |
| C．track a copepod’s evolving genome in the wild |
| D．compare Pespeni’s study with previous ones |
| A．It integrates genomic information in the research. |
| B．It shows most species can easily adapt to climate changes. |
| C．It confirms the effectiveness of previous single stressor studies. |
| D．It demonstrates multiple stressors produce an additive response. |
| A．Scientists Edit Genomes to Help Copepods Survive |
| B．Research Removes People’s Worries about Climate Change |
| C．Combining Climate Stressors Leads to Unique Genomic Changes |
| D．The Evolve-and-resequence Approach Helps Fight Climate Change |
4 . Adom Appiah, is not your typical High School Junior. He has taken his volunteerism to a whole new level by starting a nonprofit charity organization called Ball4Good.
Amazingly, this innovative organization was a result of Adom’s 7th grade school assignment. At age 12, his history teacher, Mrs. Kelsea Turner, at Spartanburg Day School, had challenged her students to dedicate 20% of their class time to a service project. She suggested that they research a community need and then work independently on finding a solution. Adom was inspired.
Adom had great passion for playing sports as a soccer and basketball player. So, he naturally thought of combining sports and community support into an athletics-oriented service project. His idea was to invite athletes, leaders and celebrities to play ball games to raise money for local charities.
Ball4Good held its first Celebrity Basketball Game in 2017. He used donations received on his 13th birthday as seed money for the event. It was a huge success and raised over $70,000 for 13 local charities.
Then, Adom’s idea has transformed into a movement that is helping communities through various ways such as celebrity sport events, charity drives and fundraising. It donates raised funds to various causes affecting children, such as autism, homelessness, abuse and cancer.
If all these accomplishments about Ball4Good were not enough, the teen has also authored three motivational children’s books to inspire students to change the world and bounce back from failures. Donations from book sales have supported several charitable causes. In addition, he won a National Award (Gloria Barron for Young Heroes, 2019) that comes with a $10,000 prize for his public service efforts. Having multiple projects has not slowed Adom down, as he is currently hosting his own show called Kids Changing the World on TV.
“I try to have kids involved in every step of the way, so they can figure out how things work in the business and philanthropist world,” Adom said. He wants people to know that success starts with believing in yourself. His goal is to expand Ball4Good’s reach. He believes that by encouraging others to get involved, he’s multiplying the impact of Ball4Good.
1. What inspired Adom Appiah to start Ball4Good?| A．Passion for sports and support from a community. |
| B．A school assignment given by his history teacher. |
| C．His experiences of being a soccer and basketball player. |
| D．Athletes, leaders and celebrities he invited to play games. |
| A．aims to promote community sports |
| B．held its first activity with Adom’s own savings |
| C．helps communities simply through celebrity sport events |
| D．uses raised money to help children in various difficulties |
| A．Kind and humorous. | B．Generous and patient. |
| C．Innovative and inspiring. | D．Hardworking and reliable. |
5 . Conflict exists in all relationships. By conflict, we specifically mean verbal disagreements and arguments. People disagree sometimes, and that isn’t necessarily a bad thing — you have the right to have a different opinion from your partner(s). What’s important is that you communicate effectively and in a health y way that allows you to understand each other better and make your relationship stronger.
The Love Is Respect Youth Council is an organization created in 2020 as a way to directly engage with youth aged 12-17 to address the issues of relationships, including maintaining safety when socializing online, dealing with peer pressure at school and improving relationships with parents. Here are some tips to help resolve conflicts in a healthy way.
●Find the real issue
Arguments tend to happen when your wants or needs aren’t being met. Try to get to the real issue behind your argument. It’s possible that you or your partner are feeling insecure or you aren’t being treated respectfully, and are expressing those feelings through arguments over unrelated things. Learn to talk about the real issue, so you can avoid constant fighting that may keep you away from the heart of the problem.
● Compromise when possible
Compromise is a major part of conflict resolution and any successful relationship, but it can be hard to actually achieve. Take turns making decisions about things like what to eat for dinner, or find a middle ground that allows you both to feel satisfied with the outcome.
●Consider it all
If the issue you’re arguing over changes how you feel about each other or forces you to compromise your beliefs or morals, it’s important that you stress your position. If not, consider your partner’s views on the issue, why they’re upset, and if compromise is appropriate. Try to contextualize your arguments to give each other room to express your feelings.
Hope these tips are helpful. If you need more information, click here
1. To find the real issue, you should .| A．have open conversations | B．avoid arguments |
| C．seek for common ground | D．sacrifice your interests |
| A．break down the issue into small parts |
| B．argue over the issue with your partner |
| C．change how you feel about each other |
| D．put yourself in others’ shoes to examine the issue |
| A．when unsure of the safety of a specific website |
| B．when curious about how to improve math grade |
| C．when arguing with classmates over a group project |
| D．when struggling hard to stop social media addiction |
6 . There has been much discussion of the concept of quiet quitting — meaning, essentially, doing the bare minimum at work. And perhaps that’s not surprising: When you’re exhausted and overwhelmed, it feels like something needs to be given up — and for many, that seems to be the pursuit of excellence at work. But is taking your foot off the gas the answer?
As a writer focused on time management, I’ve come to realize that the opposite of burnout isn’t doing nothing, or even scaling back. As counterintuitive as it seems, adding energizing activities to your schedule just might make life feel more double.
That’s what I found when I ran a time-satisfaction study with more than 140 busy people. At the beginning of my project, they spoke of feeling worn out. “Life feels very chaotic with so many different balls in the air,” one person told me.“ My work to-do list is never-ending,” another said.
Over the course of nine weeks, some time-management strategies were introduced. Instead of subtractive changes, participants incorporated regular physical activity and made room for small adventures. And when it came to leisure activities, I asked them to put “effortful before effortless”. For example, even something as simple as reading a novel is better than binge-watching a TV show. I also introduced them to the principle of taking “one night for you”— committing to doing something you enjoy, apart from work and family. As with quiet quitting, this might sometimes mean leaving work a little earlier than usual, but the point is not to do less; the idea is that joining a choir, a softball team or anything else with expected attendance pushes you to figure out the logistics, arrange the child care if necessary and go — even if life seems too busy to think about such a thing.
Over the course of nine weeks, participants’ satisfaction with how they spent their time overall rose 16 percent from the beginning of the project to the end. When asked about how they spent their leisure time “yesterday” after nine weeks, participants reported that their satisfaction rose 20 percent. They even reported making more progress on their professional goals — pretty much the opposite of quiet quitting — as their increased energy and engagement spilled over into all areas of life.
We each have the same 168 hours every week. But time is also all about the stories we tell ourselves. When life is full of have-to-dos, with only brief periods of downtime in between, we can feel beaten down by responsibilities. The key is to incorporate energizing activities into our lives so that our inner narrative can be changed, making life feel less like a chore.
1. What can we learn from the passage?| A．People who quit quietly feel the need to pursue excellence. |
| B．Scaling back can help energize those exhausted from work. |
| C．Leisure events that require action are more recommended. |
| D．Going home earlier for a rest can effectively refresh people. |
| A．Reductive. | B．Extensive. | C．Enormous. | D．Gradual. |
| A．Introduction of the background. | B．Intervention in the experiment. |
| C．Principles of new strategies. | D．Suggestions based on the findings. |
| A．To introduce a finding in a psychological study. |
| B．To compare different time-management strategies. |
| C．To analyze the causes and effects of quiet quitting. |
| D．To argue for a new way to live a more fulfilling life. |
7 . On the morning of my first marathon, I woke up before my alarm and ate a classic runner’s breakfast. I had slept eight hours. My unreliable left knee wasn’t bothering me. I was
Then my girlfriend, Louisa, knocked on the door, asking whether I had checked my email. Race officials sent an email at 5 a. m. announcing The Twin Cities Marathon in Minneapolis and St. Paul had been
While I understood why the race organizers didn’t want to put runners at
I went to the starting line and saw many runners despite the cancellation. I joined a group of local runners who knew the route. While running, I was overfilled with
The last one mile of the route was downhill. By that point in the race, my legs felt like jelly. But from the top of the hill, I could see dozens of supporters cheering runners home, which
My first marathon was canceled, but I ran 26.2 miles
| A．ready | B．stuck | C．unfortunate | D．surprised |
| A．put off | B．called off | C．wiped out | D．carried out |
| A．rest | B．will | C．risk | D．ease |
| A．jam | B．heat | C．mood | D．drought |
| A．joy | B．tension | C．fear | D．peace |
| A．picking | B．clearing | C．pointing | D．handing |
| A．regular | B．advanced | C．entire | D．competitive |
| A．forced | B．expected | C．required | D．encouraged |
| A．speech | B．boost | C．solution | D．message |
| A．late | B．soon | C．anyway | D．somewhat |
8 . By now, we are all aware that social media has had a tremendous influence on our culture, in business, on the world-at-large. Social media websites revolutionized the way people communicate and socialize on the Web. However, aside from seeing your friend’s new baby on Facebook, or reading about Justin Bieber’s latest conflict with the law on Twitter, what are some of the real influences?
Social networks offer the opportunity for people to re-connect with their old friends and acquaintances, make new friends, share ideas and pictures, and many other activities. Users can keep pace with the latest global and local developments, and participate in campaigns and activities of their choices. Professionals use social media sites like LinkedIn to enhance their career and business development. Students can work together with their peers to improve their academic and communication skills.
Unfortunately, there are a few downsides too to social networking. If you are not careful, immoral people can target you for cyber bullying and disturbance on social sites. School children, young girls, and women can fall victim to online attacks which can create tension and suffering. If you are a victim of cyber bullying, do not take it lying down, but try to take appropriate legal action against the attacker.
Many companies have blocked social networks as addicted employees can distract themselves on such sites, instead of focusing on work. In fact, studies show that British companies have lost billions of dollars per year in productivity because of social media addiction among employees.
Also, what you carelessly post on the Internet can come back to trouble you. Revealing (泄露) personal information on social sites can make users vulnerable (易受伤害的) to crimes like identity theft, stalking, etc. Many companies perform a background check on the Internet before hiring an employee. If a potential employee has posted something embarrassing on social media, it can greatly affect their chances of getting the job. The same holds true for our relationships too, as our loved ones and friends may get to know if we post something undesirable on social networks.
Social media has its advantages and drawbacks as each coin has two sides. It is up to each user to use social sites wisely to enhance their professional and social life, and exercise caution to ensure they do not fall victim to online dangers.
1. Paragraph 2 mainly shows that social networks ________.| A．help students finish their homework | B．offer professionals good chances |
| C．benefit users in various ways | D．guide users to make right choices |
| A．forbid the use of social networks during work time |
| B．avoid posting embarrassing information |
| C．refuse to hire potential addicted employees |
| D．take legal action against the attackers |
| A．share experiences in using social media | B．remind people to wisely use social media |
| C．provide some advice on social problems | D．raise public awareness of social problems |
A． | B． |
C． | D． |
9 . Hardly a day goes by without some new claim promising to bring us closer to the metaverse (元宇宙) in the not-too-distant future. On hearing this, some will feel pure excitement, but others will feel unsure or downright opposed. Our habit in recent history has been looking down upon those with doubts on technological progress. It may be time to re-examine that.
There has been a backlash to technology since historical memories began. Every new form of communication has attracted criticism for increasing the pace of life. For example, people once feared that cars travelling at 20 to 30 miles per hour might rob their passengers of oxygen.
When we look back, contemporary resistance to technological advancement can look completely foolish, but often it isn’t. The Luddites, for example, the destroyer of mill (作坊) machinery in the early industrial revolution, are generally referred to as a historical joke. But if we look at their real complaints, it wasn’t some naive anti-progress movement; it was about economics. Cotton mills replaced skilled, home-based, independent work with lower-skilled work in a factory, accompanied by much less autonomy and much less pay.
The mill might have been more efficient and thus more profitable, but it would take decades of campaigning to distribute those gains even approximately fairly — with the birth of the trade union movement, the welfare state and more. So, was their resistance really so unreasonable?
While metaverse advocates would like to paint skeptics as simply rooted in the past, at least some doubts are well founded. The reasons to be cautious of the next wave of technology are varied. One is simply whether the technologies in question are where they are claimed to be. If the company has a habit of over promising, few in the know will take its claims of inventions seriously.
Other more striking metaverse technologies rely on virtual reality, which still largely consists of heavy headsets and odd arm controls — all just to be able to operate an avatar through an awkward online world. VR has been “the next big thing” for decades and the public has consistently felt otherwise: there isn’t much to do once you are there, the technology gives many people motion sickness and, perhaps most problematically of all, the whole thing just seems extremely silly. Another popular innovation, health tracking, hasn’t caught the wider public by storm because many consumers worry about what will happen to their data.
There is much to anticipate as we bring online and offline worlds together. But we should learn not to dismiss concerns or caution about this, either. There are many rational reasons for people to take part in the techlash.
1. What does the underlined word “backlash” in Paragraph 2 most probably mean?
| A．Exposure. | B．Commitment. |
| C．Opposition. | D．Transformation. |
| A．It contributed to the success of the industrial revolution. |
| B．It made lower-skilled workers replaced by mills. |
| C．It led to the birth of the trade union movement. |
| D．It was launched largely for economic reasons. |
| A．are not interested in virtual reality |
| B．think some companies make overstatements |
| C．worry about the inaccuracy of their data collected |
| D．are embarrassed about wearing the awkward headsets |
| A．enthusiasts are being unreasonable |
| B．the public should stay cool-headed |
| C．most of the criticism is groundless |
| D．people should welcome new technology |
10 . Noodles can turn from white to purple to pink with the aid of red cabbage and lemon juice; a chocolatey “liquid” can be rolled like a solid. These are just a few of the edible (可食的) treats in The Kitchen Science Cookbook that kids can make from everyday kitchen ingredients. The book has non-edible experiments, too—volcanoes that erupt with lava made from baking soda and vinegar—and most recipes cost less than a dollar, says the book’s creator, a nanotechnologist (纳米专家) and science communicator, Michelle Dickinson, known as Nanogirl.
Dickinson was inspired by a mother who told her she’d failed in science at school but wanted to develop a love of science in her own daughter. “Then the mother offered me a cake she’d made at home as a gift. I told her, ‘You do use science—you baked this cake!’ and she replied, ‘No, that’s baking, very different from science.’ I said, ‘Well, what happens if it doesn’t rise enough? You use more baking soda and then turn the oven up higher...’ There was a real disconnection between what the mother was doing and the word ‘science’.”
So Dickinson spent three years using her kitchen as a lab, coming up with 300 experiments. She put a call-out online for recipe testers, “thinking I’d get about five of my friends with kids responding, but in 24 hours we had 2,000 applicants from 24 countries!”
In 2012, she was asked by TEDx to give a lecture on nanotechnology, where she presented herself as Nanogirl—a confident, smart, amazing superhero on stage. In last year’s six-week nationwide tour, Nanogirl performed science stunts (特技表演) to thousands of kids, and trained 200 teachers in how to integrate science in the classroom.
Dickinson has got thousands of videos posted by children who’ve attempted the experiments she encourages them to try at home. “Then we have kids building all sorts of weird and wonderful things.”
Now Nanogirl has gone global, with local versions surfacing in five countries and in four languages.
Dickinson self-published The Kitchen Science Cookbook as part of a pay-it-forward program, where for every book sold, a book will be donated to a library, school or community organization. A Kickstarter fund helped pay for the printing. “I’m so grateful people believed in us.”
1. Dickinson became a science communicator because ______.| A．her mother developed a love of science in her |
| B．she got inspired by her cake-baking experience |
| C．she noticed people were unaware of science in life |
| D．her kitchen experiments went popular on social media |
| A．200 teachers have joined her to become nanogirls. |
| B．Nanogirls emerge following in her steps worldwide. |
| C．A few schools and libraries have been funded by her. |
| D．Many kids are encouraged to donate books to schools. |
| A．passionate and inspiring | B．creative and humorous |
| C．cooperative and generous | D．courageous and grateful |
