1 . Finding a California condor in the wild would be the most unusual treat. perhaps even more unusual than finding a wolf in Yellowstone National Park. In fact, the wolf was what opened my eyes to the fact that humans could bring an animal back to the place where it had disappeared.

In 1987, there were only 27 California condors left, none of which were in the wild, only in captive breeding programs, It was those breeding programs that contributed to their population rise, enough that by 1991 some of them could be freed into the wild.

Still, the hope of seeing a California condor, which remains an endangered species, is very low, let alone getting a photo of one. California condor population dropped mostly due to human factors, such as poaching and living areas destruction-these are challenges California condors still face today.

Although this is just a bird’s-eye view of the challenges California condors face and there are many others, it is part of why the opportunity to work with the US Fish and Wildlife Service team and their partners helping their recovery is so special to me as a photographer. I am not only able to photograph the birds in their wild living areas, but also understand and record how difficult the work is of those people on the front lines of the protection.

I am grateful for the work of the team, and my hope is that California condor population will continue to rise allowing future generations an opportunity I never had when I first got here-to look to the sky and see one flying around.

1. What helped the increase of the California condor population in 1987?

A．Rules for hunters.	B．Captive breeding programs.
C．The improved natural environment.	D．The enlargement of wild living areas.

2. What does the author say about taking photos of a California condor in the wild?

A．It is difficult.

B．It is easy.

C．It is boring.

D．It is dangerous.

3. What did the author do when working with the US Fish and Wildlife Service team?

A．He guided ways for them.	B．He made records by photos.
C．He helped the birds to recover.	D．He rebuilt the birds’ living areas.

4. What is the best title for the text?

A．New Way, New Hope	B．Wolves and California Condors
C．A Photo of a California Condor	D．The California Condor’s Coming Back

2 . A lot of people find it difficult to do exercise regularly, even though they know it’s good for their physical and mental (身心上的) health. Yet keeping on a workout routine doesn’t necessarily go to the gym or run around your neighborhood. Gardening is a great example of a popular hobby that can be used as a workout.

Nashville resident Tom Adkinson, 72, is on board with the idea of gardening to stay fit. He has three gardens, which he uses primarily to grow tomatoes, sweet banana peppers and okra. Like traditional exercise, Adkinson does a lot of preparation before gardening, and then he spends hours watering and weeding (除草) all three gardens, involving bending and stretching, which he compares to performing garden yoga.

“It is wise of Adkinson to do so. Even though gardening may not appear difficult, using the body in new ways can make you hurt if you don’t warm up beforehand,” said Zeller, who teaches at the Rutgers Cooperative Extension of Cape May County in New Jersey.

Working in your garden just two hours a week could improve your mood. And the communal gardening, which is done by a number of people as a group in communities and schools, provides social benefits that can reduce stress and help fight against loneliness and even dementia according to studies.

“With all these benefits, gardening for fitness will be a trend (趋势) in the coming year,” announced Mandal, CEO of the fitness coaching app Future, “Our users at Future have already been asking their coaches to add gardening and landscaping activities into their routines because it’s easy to get and fit into their lifestyle.”

1. What do the underlined words “on board with” mean in paragraph 2?

A．In support of.	B．At the risk of.
C．Under the control of.	D．In opposition to.

2. What did Zeller probably suggest doing before gardening?

A．Having a good rest.

B．Getting enough water ready.

C．Doing warm-up exercise.

D．Preparing tools for weeding.

3. What is paragraph 4 mainly about?

A．Tips for gardening.

B．The benefits of gardening.

C．The process of garden management.

D．The difference between personal and group gardening.

4. Which activity may be added to the app Future according to Mandal?

A．Running.

B．Yoga.

C．Gardening.

D．Walking.

3 . Yue-Sai Kan was born in China. In 1972, she moved to New York. When Kan was a child, she was told by her father that she should always aim to (力争) be the first because no one remembered the second. What her father said has been a driving inspiration over the years for her to become a bestselling author and a successful businesswoman.

Her new book Be a Pioneer, which is the tenth she has written and her first Chinese-language autobiography (自传), was produced after three years, inspired by her father’s words.

When writing an autobiography, the biggest challenge is not how to present one’s life, but to remember it. To help with reconstructing her story, Kan asked many friends and colleagues she made over the years to write down their memories of her from earlier times. So besides featuring Kan’s own words, the new book is also filled with those of her friends’s, which gives Kan a new understanding of herself — a woman who works hard, studies hard. and the most important thing is that she is a woman filled with a sense of responsibility.

“My helper Stephanie mentioned that I was worried because we were running out of money for the company. My housekeeper reminded me that before the start of one of my events she found that I had fainted (晕倒) in the bathroom. I was so tired that I was getting sick. They know more about me than myself,” Kan says.

“Writing a book is a good business to be in, not so much to make money but to grow the brain. I believe what I do will benefit the world. All the things I have done in Be a Pioneer — my successes and my failures — can be a good example to young people in particular. That’s the main reason why I wrote the book,” adds Kan.

1. What can we know about Kan’s book Be a Pioneer?

A．It took her 10 years to finish.

B．It is full of her father’s words.

C．It was completed with her friends’ help.

D．It tops the tenth on the bestseller list.

2. What is Kan’s difficulty in writing her autobiography?

A．Being short of money.	B．Having no supporters.
C．Having to write it in Chinese.	D．Remembering her past.

3. What does the author intend to do in paragraph 4?

A．To tell Kan is weak in health.

B．To show Kan is a worried woman.

C．To report the path of writing is difficult.

D．To state how Kan’s story was reconstructed.

4. What is Kan’s book Be a Pioneer aimed at?

A．Setting an example.	B．Earning money.
C．Making herself popular.	D．Proving herself to her father.

5 . How much do you love animals? Maybe not as much as photographer Joel Sartore. He is traveling the world to take pictures of as many animals as he can find, which allows people to focus on the beauty and uniqueness of each animal.

Sartore is working to take photos of all 20,000 different types of animals living in the world’s zoos, aquariums (水族馆) and wildlife shelters. And he’s already taken nearly 15,000! He hopes his photos will raise awareness of these planet’s most endangered creatures, and that he can document them before they’re gone. “My job is to tell their stories and hope that the world cares in time,” he told The Weather Channel in 2022.

Sartore calls his project the Photo Ark, like the story of Noah’s Ark, in which a large boat is built to save every type of animal in the world from a flood. He founded the Photo Ark in 2006 in his hometown of Lincoln, Nebraska.

He doesn’t just take his animal photos in the usual zoo environment, however — he puts each animal on a black or white background with studio lights. This helps him photograph their true colors, and lets people see a little mouse as clearly as a big elephant — and look each animal right in the eye. “When people connect to animals through eye contact, we’ve got a real chance at changing human behavior,” Sartore says.

The response has indeed been huge. Sartore has more than 1.6 million followers online and a best-selling series of Photo Ark books. He asks people to buy his books and photos, give money to the Photo Ark, and support zoos, aquariums and wildlife shelters near where they live.

1. According to the text, Sartore needs to take another ______ photos for his project.

A．5,000

B．10,000

C．15,000

D．20,000

2. What is the purpose of Sartore’s project?

A．To make a living in this way.	B．To help save animals in danger.
C．To meet his own interest in animals.	D．To offer another way to learn about animals.

3. What can we know about Sartore’s photos of the animals?

A．Some are black and white.	B．They are about animals in danger.
C．They were taken in the natural habitat.	D．Some were taken in designed environment.

4. What is people’s attitude towards Sartore’s project?

A．Unclear.

B．Doubtful.

C．Supportive.

D．Disappointed.

6 . In an awe-inspiring incident, a young killer whale recently demonstrated remarkable intelligence by seeking assistance from a group of humans to save its trapped mother, which challenged our conventional understanding of wild predators (食肉动物).

The online viral video, shared by Alvin Foo, began with a young killer whale emitting distressing cries towards a group of people on a boat. Recognizing the urgency of the situation, the concerned individuals promptly responded by contacting a rescue team. The young whale’s desperate request for help touched more people’s hearts and set a truly extraordinary chain of events in motion.

As the rescue team arrived, they were amazed to witness the young killer whale’s playful interaction with the humans. The whale appeared elated, seemingly understanding that assistance had finally arrived. This interaction between the mother killer whale and rescuers underlined the potential for mutual understanding beyond the boundary of traditional predator-prey relationships.

The young whale took on the role of a guide, leading the rescue team to its mother trapped in a fishing net. It navigated the water with purpose, as if fully aware that the humans possessed the means to save its mother. This display of intelligence left the rescuers in awe, highlighting the complex cognitive abilities of these magnificent marine creatures. With its guidance, the rescue team swiftly initiated the liberation process, carefully cutting the net to free the trapped whale. Astonishingly, they seemed to understand that the humans were there to help and did as asked.

The instant the mother whale was finally freed, an eruption of joyous cries filled the air. The emotional outpouring conveyed the immense gratitude of both the mother whale and the young whale to the humans who had intervened. As the rescue team made their way back to shore, the two whales swam alongside them. This heart-warming sight emphasized the lasting impact of the rescue. The bond formed through this extraordinary rescue operation was well obvious, proving that the profound connections can be established between various species. The journey back to safety symbolized the victory of compassion over adversity.

1. What can we learn about the video from paragraph 2?

A．It spread widely.

B．It went unnoticed.

C．It documented humans’ requesting help.

D．It recorded passive response to the rescue.

2. What does the underlined word “elated” in paragraph 3 mean?

A．Tired.

B．Excited.

C．Frightened.

D．Confused.

3. What is the young whale like?

A．Wise and cooperative.	B．Complex and mysterious.
C．Curious and careful.	D．Wild and rude.

4. What does the author mainly want to convey in the last paragraph?

A．Adversity is a good discipline.

B．It is urgent to protect wildlife.

C．Different species can coexist in harmony.

D．Human intervention poses a threat to whales.

7 . “It’s too sugary, I can’t manage very many,” said a friend. She wasn’t talking about dessert but about some fresh cherries. I bit into another cherry and realized she was right. The fruit was so sweet that it was as if it had been pre-sugared.

But the cherries of my childhood were much less sweet than today’s cherries. Some of them were hardly sweet at all, which made it all the more exciting when you happened upon a super sweet one.

Is modern fruit getting sweeter? The answer is yes. Some of the most powerful evidence comes from zoos. In 2018, Melbourne Zoo in Australia had stopped giving fruit to most of its animals because cultivated fruit was now so sweet that it was causing tooth decay and weight gain.

Breeding isn’t the only reason that modern fruit is sweeter; there’s also climate change. It’s found that since the 1970s, with rising temperatures, Fuji apples have become significantly sweeter and softer.

But the sweetness of modern fruit is not without its problems, especially for people with diabetes, who have to be careful to moderate their intake of higher - sugar fruits such as pineapple. Fruit that is bred sweeter also tends to be lower in the phytochemicals (植物化学成分) that make it so healthy.

Health aside, maybe the real problem with modern fruit is that it has become yet another sweet thing in a world filled with sugar. Even grapefruit, which used to be quite bitter, is sometimes now as sweet as oranges. If you’ve never tasted a sour cherry, how can you fully appreciate a sweet one? Experts put forwards some thoughts about how to appreciate the various tastes of modern fruit.

1. Why does the author mention her friend’s words in Paragraph 1?

A．To introduce the topic of the extreme sweetness of modern cherries.

B．To highlight the content of friend’s preference for sour cherries.

C．To emphasize the importance of pre-sugaring fruits.

D．To show the breeding and selection of modern fruit.

2. What’s the author’ view on the rise of consistently sweeter fruit?

A．The author believes it has no impact on health.

B．The author sees it as a triumph of plant breeding.

C．The author thinks it is a bit worrying in today’s world.

D．The author is concerned that it will lead to bitterness in fruit.

3. What is a shortcoming of the modern fruit according to the passage?

A．It is short of healthy phytochemicals.

B．It may not be as tasty as it used to be.

C．It could lack variety and contrast in taste.

D．It doesn’t meet people’s need for sweetness.

4. What might the author continue talking about?

A．The advice on selecting modern fruit.

B．The approaches to freeing bitter fruit.

C．The comments about cultivated grapefruit.

D．The research into the health of zoo animals.

8 . Meteorites (陨石) can offer clues about what the early solar system was like. But finding them is far from difficult. Now, some scientists are turning to drones (无人机) and machine learning to help spot freshly fallen meteorites much more efficiently. “A team of six people on a meteorite-hunting expedition can search about 200,000 square meters per day,” says Seamus Anderson, a planetary scientist in Australia.

Around 2016, Anderson began toying with the concept of using drones to take pictures of the g round to look for meteorites. That idea blossomed into a Ph.D. project. In 2022, he and his colleagues reported their first successful recovery of a meteorite spotted with a drone. They’ve since found four more meteorites at a different site. Drone-based searches are much faster than the standard search way. “You’re going from about 300 days of human effort down to about a dozen or so,” he says.

Anderson and his workmates have used drones to search for meteorites in remote parts of Western Australia and South Australia. The team is tipped off about a fall site by networks of ground-based cameras that track meteoroids flashing through the Earth’s atmosphere. The researchers have to do a series of fun but difficult work before the hunt. They pack a four-wheel drive vehicle with drone and computer equipment, battery charging stations, generators, fuel, food, camping equipment, tables, chairs and much more. The drive to the fall site can take more than a day, often on rough or nonexistent roads. Anderson says, “You hope you don’t pop a tire.”

After arriving, the team flies its primary drone at an altitude of about 20 meters. Its camera takes an image of the ground once every second, and the scientists download the data every 40 minutes or so when the drone lands to receive fresh batteries. A typical day of flying can net over 10,000 images, which are then divided digitally into 100 million or so smaller sections. Those “tiles”, each 2 meters on a side, are fed into a machine learning algorithm (算法) that has been trained to recognize meteorites based on images of real land rocks which are spray-painted black.

1. Why do the scientists study meteorites?

A．To spot the planetary course.	B．To promote machine learning.
C．To test the functions of drones.	D．To explore the past of solar system.

2. What does Anderson say about drone-based searches in paragraph 2?

A．Their barriers.	B．Their causes.
C．Their efficiency.	D．Their concept.

3. Which words can best describe the preparations of the drone search for meteorites?

A．Fun and light.	B．Smooth and flexible.
C．Difficult and unpleasant.	D．Complicated and tough.

4. How does the drone process images?

A．By dividing them in half.	B．By storing them for analysis.
C．By combining them into a picture.	D．By linking them with a digital printer.

9 . Recent research confirms what our farming ancestors have known for centuries about hedges (树篱). They conserve precious soil by acting as windbreaks and absorbing rainwater that would otherwise wash it from the fields. And hedges store carbon, putting them in the front line of our bi d to tackle the climate crisis.

However, hedges have had a tough time in the poor countryside, with farmers encouraged to tear them down in pursuit of maximum production and larger field s to accommodate ever-larger machinery. What’s more, some hedges have been ignored. If left to their own devices, they’ll eventually become a line of trees. Some hedges each year lose their structures and fail to fulfil the primary duty as a barrier. Around a half of the nation’s hedges have disappeared in the past century.

There are signs that “the tide is turning”. The search for net zero has aroused many organizations’ interest in the humble hedge’s role as a carbon sink. The Climate Change Committee is recommending a 40 percent increase in hedges: an additional 200,000 km. Such recommendations are starting to drive policy. Cash-pressed farmers will be encouraged to create new hedges and improve their management of existing ones under the new Environmental Land Management Schemes, which will replace many of the existing agricultural support payments in coming years. Meanwhile, initiatives such as Close the Gap, led by the Tree Council, is providing funding and support to plug the gaps in existing hedges with new planting. There’s even an app to help time-pressed farmers do a quick survey to spot where their hedges need some help.

This is a good time for hedges. Take some of the most pressing challenges facing the countryside, and indeed, the world as a whole — the climate crisis, soil erosion (侵蚀), insect attack and wider biodiversity loss — and hedges are part of the solution.

1. What does recent research show about hedges?

A．They are unique landscapes in the rain.

B．They act as dividing lines between fields.

C．They have long been helpful to agriculture.

D．They are frequently washed away from the fields.

2. What does paragraph 2 mainly tell us about hedges?

A．Their suffering.	B．Their production.
C．Their duties.	D．Their structures.

3. What is many organizations’ attitude towards saving hedges?

A．Puzzled.

B．Concerned.

C．Humble.

D．Indifferent.

4. What is the best title for the text?

A．Hedges: Ancient Resources

B．Hedges: Official Recommendations

C．Restoring Hedges: Bringing Benefits to the Environment

D．Researching Hedges: Originating from Farmers’ Request

10 . Let’s get to some famous attractions in London!

Chinatown

At the beginning of the 20th century, many Chinese immigrants gathered together in the East End of London and set about creating businesses to provide services for Chinese people who frequented the area. In the 1930s and 1940s, with a large inflow of immigrants from Hong Kong and a growth in popularity of Chinese cooking style, many Chinese restaurants opened elsewhere.

Natural History Museum

It was ever known as part of the British Museum which was established in 1753. The museum exhibits a large number of cultural relics. It holds collections coming from every continent around the globe. It exhibits millions of life and earth samples, and visitors can witness collections having great scientific value like samples that were collected by Charles Darwin.

Madame Tussauds London

The museum is created by the w ax sculptress, Marie Tussaud. Located on Marylebone Road, it is the first Madame Tussaud’s museum, which opened about 200 years ago, though there are now a variety of other branches within different cities around the globe. The museum hosts lifelike figures, including royal people, film stars, sports stars and models.

Royal Observatory, Greenwich

The Royal Observatory, Greenwich in London, has played a global role in the history of astronomy and navigation. It was established in 1675 with the key function being to set right the places of the fixed stars and find the desired navigational places. With its position overlooking the River Thames in central London, it makes for an excellent tourist attraction on a year-round basis.

1. Where is the text most probably taken from?

A．A course plan.	B．A tourism journal.
C．A science magazine.	D．A history textbook.

2. What makes Natural History Museum different from the other three places?

A．Its scientific samples.	B．Its birth city.
C．Its Chinese architectural style.	D．Its lifelike figures.

3. Which attraction has the longest history?

A．Chinatown.	B．Natural History Museum.
C．Madame Tussauds London.	D．Royal Observatory, Greenwich.