1 . You must have heard about animal migration (迁徙),such as Wildebeests dash across Africa; Monarch butterflies fly across the Americas... But did you know that forests migrate, too?
In his new book The Journeys of Trees, science writer Zach St. George explores an extremely slow migration, as forests creep inch by inch to more pleasant places.
“The migration of a forest is just many trees sprouting (发芽) in the same direction,” St. George writes. “Through the fossils that ancient forests left behind, scientists can track their movement over thousands of years. They move back and forth across continents, sometimes following the same route more than once, like migrating birds or whales.” This has happened over thousands of years, and climate change tends to be the driving force.
Of course, today, climate change is speeding up, and trees can’ t keep pace. Take California for example: It’s getting hotter and drier and scientists estimate that before too long, Sequoia National Park may not be able to keep giant sequoias (巨杉).
“The scientists there had never seen anything like it” St. George says. “They worried, and I think at some point we will lose these ancient trees and that we will have to think about what we do with the places, and whether we should plant new groves where they are easy to grow.”
This is known as “assisted migration” —humans planting trees in other places where they’ re more likely to flourish. But this process carries risks—people can accidentally introduce insects and diseases to new places, where they may wipe out entire native populations. So, St. George writes, there’ s a debate among conservationists and foresters today: Should humans help the trees escape?
“There may be cases where people are probably going to step in and help species move to places where they’ll be more suitable in the future,”St. George says.“So far, there are no huge movements of citizen groups moving trees north. But that is kind of one vision of the future that the people I interview hope to see.”
1. What can be learned about the forest migration?A.It is very difficult to track the migration. |
B.It takes several decades to complete it. |
C.It is mainly the result of climate change. |
D.It often follows certain migrating species. |
A.To prove the assisted migration carries risks. |
B.To stress the park is able to keep giant sequoias. |
C.To state scientists are hopeful about the environment. |
D.To show trees fail to adapt to climate change. |
A.Grow well. | B.Become valuable. |
C.Develop rapidly. | D.Escape diseases. |
A.Supportive. | B.Objective. |
C.Skeptical. | D.Disapproving. |
2 . Like many young people, Jessica wants to travel the globe. Unlike most of them, this 25-year-old is doing it
They’re part of a new form of the
Throughout their no-cost stays in
It’s not all sightseeing. The two travellers carefully
The couple has a high
A.indoors | B.online | C.single-handed | D.full-time |
A.game | B.service | C.vacation | D.flight |
A.safe | B.busy | C.helpful | D.affordable |
A.local | B.private | C.sharing | D.natural |
A.strangers’ | B.parents’ | C.co-workers’ | D.neighbours’ |
A.favour | B.mind | C.honour | D.absence |
A.plan | B.explain | C.compare | D.complete |
A.buy | B.please | C.choose | D.transport |
A.support | B.comfort | C.control | D.attention |
A.cooking | B.staying | C.waiting | D.studying |
A.success | B.survival | C.growth | D.interest |
A.power | B.abilities | C.expectations | D.understanding |
A.admiring | B.buying | C.sending | D.borrowing |
A.clean | B.open | C.simple | D.empty |
A.guess | B.decision | C.gesture | D.impression |
3 . Last summer, my family and I went on a road trip to the Grand Canyon. It was our first family vacation in years, and we were all
The trip was long, but we kept ourselves
One of the highlights of the trip was when we went on a helicopter
As the trip came to an end, we all felt a sense of
Looking back on the trip, I realized how important it is to spend time with
A.satisfied | B.excited | C.confused | D.annoyed |
A.packed up | B.cleaned up | C.pulled over | D.turned over |
A.followed | B.repaired | C.hit | D.filmed |
A.organized | B.addicted | C.challenged | D.entertained |
A.amazed | B.cheated | C.frightened | D.trapped |
A.measuring | B.designing | C.exploring | D.assessing |
A.experiment | B.sale | C.exhibition | D.tour |
A.experience | B.effort | C.regret | D.accident |
A.add | B.watch | C.make | D.record |
A.relaxation | B.sadness | C.relief | D.anger |
A.school | B.classes | C.life | D.neighborhoods |
A.Besides | B.Otherwise | C.Therefore | D.However |
A.family | B.strangers | C.staff | D.colleagues |
A.informed | B.reminded | C.warned | D.cured |
A.changing | B.losing | C.creating | D.recognizing |
4 . Earth is far more alive than we previously thought, according to “deep life” studies that reveal a rich underground ecosystem beneath our feet that is almost twice the size of all the world’s oceans. Despite extreme heat, no light and intense pressure, scientists estimate it has between 15 billion and 23 billion tonnes of microorganisms. “It’s like finding a whole new reservoir (储藏) of life on Earth,” said Karen Lloyd an associate professor at the University of Tennessee.
Results suggest 70 percent of Earth’s bacteria and archaea exist in the subsurface. One organism found 2.5 kilometers below the surface has been buried for millions of years and may not rely at all on energy from the sun. Also, the methanogen (产甲烷菌) has found a way to create methane in this environment, which the methanogen may not use to reproduce or divide, but use to replace or repair broken parts. Lengths of their lives were completely different. Some microorganisms have been alive for thousands of years, barely moving except with shifts in earthquakes or eruptions. They’re just active inside, with less energy than people thought possible to support life.
The team consists of 1,200 scientists from 52 countries in disciplines ranging from geology and microbiology to chemistry and physics. A year before the conclusion of their study, they will present the findings before the American Geophysical Union’s annual meeting opens this week, which they say are made possible by technical advances on drills and microscopes.
The scientists have been wondering about the point beyond which life cannot exist, but the deeper they dig, the more life they find. There is a temperature maximum—currently 122℃—but they believe this record will be broken if they keep exploring and developing more advanced instruments.
Questions remain, including how the microbes interact with chemical processes, and what this might reveal about how life and Earth coevolved.
1. What do the scientists find about the underground organisms?A.They can’t reproduce and divide. | B.They’re the oldest living things. |
C.Some of them consume no energy. | D.Some of them almost always keep still. |
A.It last for around one year. | B.It involves efforts from many fields. |
C.It promotes technical development. | D.It is conducted in 52 countries. |
A.To break their previous record. |
B.To find the depth limit of life. |
C.To discover more ancient microorganisms. |
D.To measure the highest subsurface temperature. |
A.Earth Depths Are Full of Life. |
B.Organisms Live Better Underground. |
C.Earth Is Fat Beyond Human Exploration. |
D.Subsurface Life Differs from That on Land. |
5 . After graduation, I decided to take the gym seriously. Accompanied by a friend, I
One day, he suggested that we
But several weeks later, he managed to
“We’re not getting enough
“Tennis? I can’t play tennis! That
However, weeks later, I started playing tennis. After several months of painful practice, one day, as the ball came flying towards me, my racket and the ball met in what tennis players
I learned a valuable
A.started | B.changed | C.quit | D.designed |
A.confident | B.familiar | C.content | D.careful |
A.focus on | B.take up | C.make up | D.check in |
A.refused | B.supported | C.revised | D.admired |
A.remind | B.attract | C.request | D.persuade |
A.imagined | B.wanted | C.scheduled | D.arranged |
A.fluent | B.impressive | C.curious | D.skillful |
A.exercise | B.adventure | C.movement | D.time |
A.includes | B.explores | C.improves | D.requires |
A.behaviour | B.strategy | C.suggestion | D.goal |
A.view | B.comment | C.doubt | D.express |
A.obviously | B.formally | C.finally | D.actually |
A.lecture | B.lesson | C.message | D.responsibility |
A.flash | B.contact | C.follow | D.narrow |
A.calm | B.positive | C.confused | D.interested |
6 . People from East Asia tend to have more difficulties than those from Europe in distinguishing facial expressions and a new report published online in Current Biology explains why.
Rachael Jack, University of Glasgow researcher, said that rather than scanning evenly (均匀的) across a face as Westerners do, Easterners fix their attention on the eyes.
“We show that Easterners and Westerners look at different face features to read facial expressions,” Jack said. “Westerners look at the eyes and the mouth in equal measure, whereas Easterners favor the eyes and overlook the mouth.”
According to Jack and her colleagues, the discovery shows that human communication of emotion is more complex than previously believed. As a result, facial expressions that had been considered universally recognizable cannot be used to reliably convey emotion in cross-cultural situations.
The researchers studied cultural differences in the recognition of facial expressions by recording the eye movements of 13 Western Caucasian and 13 East Asian people while they observed pictures of expressive faces and put them into categories: happy, sad, surprised, fearful, disgusted, angry, or neutral. They compared how accurately participants read those facial expressions using their particular eye movement strategies.
It turned out that Easterners focused much greater attention on the eyes and made significantly more errors than Westerners did. “The cultural difference in eye movements that they show is probably a reflection of cultural difference in facial expressions,” Jack said. “Our data suggest that whereas Westerners use the whole face to convey emotion. Easterners use the eyes more and mouth less.”
In short, the data show that facial expressions are not universal signals of human emotion. From here on, examining how cultural factors have diversified these basic social skills will help our understanding of human emotion. Otherwise, when it comes to communicating emotions across cultures, Easterners and Westerners will find themselves lost in translation.
1. What does the discovery show about Westerners?A.They pay equal attention to the eyes and the mouth. |
B.They consider facial expressions universally reliable. |
C.They observe the eyes and the mouth in different ways. |
D.They have more difficulty in recognizing facial expressions. |
A.To get their faces impressive. | B.To make a face at each other. |
C.To classify some face pictures. | D.To observe the researchers’ faces. |
A.They do translation more successfully. | B.They study the mouth more frequently. |
C.They examine the eyes more attentively. | D.They read facial expressions more correctly. |
A.The Eye as the Window to the Soul | B.Cultural Differences in Reading Emotions |
C.Effective Methods to Develop Social Skills | D.How to Increase Cross-cultural Understanding |
7 . Math had never been something I was good at since middle school. Classes became harder in high school, and I was even further from a math teacher’s dream student. So at the start of my freshman year, I had a dislike to math. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to do well, but simply that I didn’t think I was able to do well. “I can’t” became my state of mind in all things related (有关的) to math.
However, I was soon to learn that “I can’t” was not a choice in Mr. A’s class.
Mr. A always greeted (迎接) us with open arms as he said, “Welcome! Smile! It’s a great day to be alive!” It was clear that Mr. A had a true passion (热情) not only for math but for teaching. If Mr. A ever experienced bad days in life, he never showed it. Mr. A greeted us with that same smile every day. He encouraged each student, from the top achiever to the “I can’t” student.
I found myself looking forward to math class, although I still hated the subject itself. Being in Mr. A’s presence made me feel good, as if I had the chance to succeed. As the year progressed, I spent increasingly more time on my homework, and I met with Mr. A weekly. My classmates began to do the same, and it became “cool” to have lunch and a talk with Mr. A. We didn’t know it at the time, but he was changing our attitudes (态度).
Though my story is not one of overnight success and I didn’t become a straight-A math student, my hard work did begin to pay off and my grades slowly began to climb. There were hard times, of course. Difficult math questions sometimes succeeded in bringing me down, but Mr. A kept reminding (提醒) me, “Kate, smile! It’s a great day to be alive!”
1. What can we know about the author from Paragraph 1?A.He was the math teacher’s dream student. |
B.He was satisfied with his current situation. |
C.He did not believe his ability to learn math well. |
D.He was good at math before high school. |
A.Responsible and honest. | B.Optimistic and passionate. |
C.Enthusiastic and humorous. | D.Creative and patient. |
A.He gradually improved his math grades. | B.He never met any difficulties again. |
C.He lived a more happier life than before. | D.He fell in love with math. |
A.Math requires much more time to master. |
B.Good schools have good teaching qualities. |
C.Students should face difficulties bravely while learning. |
D.A good teacher can motivate students’ interest in learning. |
8 . A new study in the journal of Tourism Analysis shows frequent travelers are happier with their lives than people who don’t travel at all.
Chun-Chu Chen, an assistant professor at Washington State University, conducted a survey to find out why some individuals travel more frequently than others and whether or not travel and tourism experiences have a lasting effect on happiness and wellness.
The results of his analysis show individuals who pay more attention to tourism-related information and frequently discuss their travel plans with friends are more likely to go on regular vacations than those who aren’t constantly thinking about their next trip. Additionally, participants in the survey who reported regularly traveling at least 75 miles away from home also reported being about 7% happier when asked about their overall well-being than those who reported traveling very rarely or not at all.
“While things like work, family life and friends play a bigger role in overall reports of well-being. The accumulation (积累) of travel experiences’ does appear to have a small yet noticeable effect on self-reported life satisfaction,” Chen said.
Participants in the study were asked about the importance of travel in their lives, how much time they spent looking into and planning future vacations, and how many trips they went on over a year. They were also asked about their life satisfaction. Out of the 500 survey participants, a little over half reported going on more than four pleasurable trips a year. Only 7% of respondents did not take any vacations.
As travel restrictions (限制) due to COVID-19 pandemic begin to relax in the future, the research could have important effects on both tourists and the tourism industry. Based on the results of the study, Chen said travel companies, resorts and even airlines, could launch social media campaigns, such as creating signs about the scientific benefits of vacation, to spark people’s interest in discussing their opinions about travel.
1. What is the benefit of frequent travelling according to the study?A.Getting more tourism information. | B.Making more friends. |
C.Bettering tourism industry. | D.Improving one’s well-being. |
A.Why the professor carried out the study. |
B.How the participants felt about the survey. |
C.What the participants were interviewed about. |
D.What the participants panned to do in the future. |
A.Tourism industry should improve their service. |
B.The results of the study will benefit tourism industry. |
C.COVID-19 pandemic will be more serious in the future. |
D.People will live a happier life after COVID-19 pandemic. |
A.Travel more and be happier | B.Make good use of travelling |
C.Prepare for the tourism development | D.Make travel plans with friends |
9 . Shawn Cheshire rode across the country on her bicycle, depending on Jesse Crandall, a chemistry professor, to guide her every step of the way. Cheshire lost her
To Crandall, teaching and guiding are about helping others through
Crandall and Cheshire have been skiing, climbing and bicycling together for the past decade. In 2018, the
While their next adventure remains uncertain, Crandall knows that there are no
A.hearing | B.sight | C.balance | D.mind |
A.religion | B.nature | C.athletics | D.art |
A.living | B.struggling | C.learning | D.testing |
A.introduced | B.adapted | C.added | D.applied |
A.disasters | B.difficulties | C.accidents | D.injuries |
A.interviewing | B.evaluating | C.following | D.coaching |
A.theoretically | B.unexpectedly | C.occasionally | D.hopefully |
A.pair | B.family | C.community | D.army |
A.refreshing | B.relaxing | C.challenging | D.frustrating |
A.cared about | B.listened for | C.picked up | D.replied to |
A.broke | B.fell | C.shone | D.sounded |
A.set | B.monitored | C.kept | D.issued |
A.secrets | B.promises | C.limits | D.choices |
A.bond | B.encouragement | C.techniques | D.preferences |
A.establish | B.push | C.respect | D.maintain |
10 . My husband, Russ, and I drove through our neighborhood, the place we’d called home for 28 years. The foothills (山麓) once thick with pines, were
Two weeks earlier, we’d gotten an early-morning call telling us to
Now we’d been allowed to return. Russ and I brought
“How will we survive this?” I wondered. “How will we go on?” It felt as if our lives had been destroyed. Later that afternoon Russ
I turned to get in the car. That’s when I
Words that must have come from one of my books, a passage I couldn’t recall but now said everything I needed to
A.beautiful | B.greenish | C.unrecognizable | D.unfit |
A.remained | B.painted | C.destroyed | D.saved |
A.enjoy | B.leave | C.help | D.rescue |
A.happy | B.sorry | C.famous | D.eager |
A.bad | B.good | C.useful | D.impressive |
A.tools | B.books | C.sweaters | D.posters |
A.take | B.bring | C.save | D.understand |
A.waited | B.helped | C.awarded | D.prevented |
A.something | B.anything | C.nothing | D.everything |
A.improved | B.enjoyed | C.put | D.exchanged |
A.suffered | B.trapped | C.figured | D.noticed |
A.easy | B.sharp | C.helpful | D.clear |
A.courage | B.happiness | C.sadness | D.anger |
A.say | B.hear | C.sing | D.give |
A.stop | B.begin | C.live | D.read |