1 . Polar bears are icons of the Arctic. Detailed monitoring of their populations is crucial for their conservation—but because polar bears are so difficult to find, we are missing critical data about population size. Scientists have now developed a new tool to help: DNA analysis using skin cells left in the bears’ footprints in the snow.
The scientists were inspired by the techniques that can be applied to tiny, degraded DNA samples. With these techniques, it isn’t necessary to physically capture bears, which can be stressful and dangerous for both bears and humans. Instead, the researchers can turn to the snow tracks of polar bears and look at sources of DNA left in passing—environmental DNA. "The tracks usually contain fresh cells, and the DNA is intact because of the cold’ storage’ temperature, "said Dr. Melanie Lancaster of the World Wide Fund, lead author.
The scientists collected snow from individual tracks made by Alaskan polar bears in the wild. Additional materials like hair and saliva(唾液)were sampled, confirming that the tracks provided accurate genotype(基因型) 24 wild polar bear tracks were sampled. The researchers melted and filtered the snow to collect environmental DNA, then carried out micro-satellite analysis. Although the concentrations (浓度)of DNA taken from trucks sampled in the wild were very low, 13 of the wild polar bear samples could be genotype, identifying 12 different individuals.
This technique has huge potential to inform conservation of these animals, to better understand their populations and behavior. Although the sampling has a lower success rate, ease of collection means that it can significantly expand sample sizes.
"We hope this method will be taken up by the polar bear research community, with the involvement of hunters, volunteers, and local communities, as a new way to collect information on polar bears, "said Lancaster. "We also hope the method will be expanded to other animals living in snowy environments. "
1. Why do scientists develop the new method?| A．To improve the environment in the Aretic. |
| B．To protect humans from the polar bears attack. |
| C．To find solutions to global climate change. |
| D．To gather essential data for monitoring polar bears. |
| A．Unknown. |
| B．Undamaged. |
| C．Unusual. |
| D．Unstable. |
| A．They tracked and caught polar bears in the wild. |
| B．They recorded the bears’ behaviors with cameras. |
| C．They analyzed DNA from polar bears’ snowy footprints. |
| D．They compared the polar bears’ genotype with other animals? |
| A．Disapproving. |
| B．Favorable. |
| C．Uncertain. |
| D．Suspicious. |
Just a few seconds later, fourth-placed Navarro caught up with him. Surely, he could simply overtake Esteban and come third. But Navarro slowed down and let Esteban run ahead of him. The two cyclists reached the finishing line with Esteban ahead on foot, Navarro just behind him. Navarro had let Esteban finish in third place, while he came fourth. The audience was amazed at his show of sportsmanship and cheered and clapped for the cyclists. After the race, Navarro said, “I didn’t want to win that way.” Later, Esteban, who won the bronze medal, tried to give his medal to Navarro. However, Navarro refused, and his response was: “Offering me the prize was worth more than what I did for him.”
Why did Navarro refuse Esteban’s medal? What did this gesture show?
3 . Cybercrime refers to any criminal offence related to the Internet. Internet crimes have been classified into four categories. First, they can be related to a lack of proper Internet security, such as downloading or deleting other people’s files without permission, and spreading computer viruses. The second are crimes usually committed without a computer, but can occur over the Internet. For some criminals use the Internet to cheat others of their money. Third, websites which offense information or encourage hatred and violence are named. Last, there are related to intellectual property (intellectual property is a design, patent, book, etc. law prevents other people from copying).
All Internet users are affected by cybercrime in one way or another. However, crime against a private organization in the USA, showed that 45.6 percent of the 351 biggest company government agencies had had their security systems broken into in the previous year. Security consultants tell us that cybercrime is costing firms worldwide hundreds of billions of dollars every.
Considering how bad the situation with cybercrime against companies has become, many people wonder why so little is known about this. The main reason is that most cybercrime is not reported. Until now, most companies have been unwilling to report cases of cybercrime. They fear that by doing so, they will lose customers, who may think that the company cannot protect their confidential information or their money.
All of this is made more difficult by the legal situation regarding cybercrime. Cybercrime is so new that many governments have not yet passed laws against it, and there are many holes in the legal systems. In addition, most countries do not have arrangements for dealing with suspects from other countries who may have committed cybercrime. Thus, it is difficult to catch criminals of cybercrime.
The only answer to this problem is international cooperation. Governments must join forces to keep up with the advances in technology used by the criminals. It is also important to draft new laws and negotiate international standards for fighting cybercrime.
1. Which of the following can be considered as cybercrime?| A．Copying others’ public files. | B．Creating computer virus. |
| C．Sending hatred words to a friend. | D．Stealing from online banks. |
| A．By comparing the changing numbers. | B．By listing the survey data. |
| C．By analyzing the heavy loss. | D．By adding background information. |
| A．Legal. | B．Valuable. | C．Private. | D．Correct. |
| A．Countries work together following the same law. |
| B．Abroad cybercriminals should be sent back. |
| C．The lawyers should learn more about laws. |
| D．The government should flow the law. |
4 . Chimps use loud calls and gestures to make their feelings known but until now, the exact meaning for individual movements has remained a mystery. Now researchers believe they have translated the key gestures used in the chimp community and identified their intentions for the first time.
From 4,351 gestures, experts were able to identify 66 that are used for 19 specific message meanings, including showing a foot to tell a child they can climb on their back. The researchers were able to narrow down these 66 gestures to 36 that are used intentionally to achieve 15 purposes. The translations were made by Dr Catherine Hobaiter and her colleagues at St Andrews University in Scotland.
Dr Hobaiter used behavior sampling and filmed all recorded cases of gestural communication. Other gestures include stomping their feet to ask another chimp to stop what they are doing, and slapping objects together to ask another to follow them. Of the 19 meanings,17 encouraged interactions to start, or to develop, such as “move closer,” and “change play”. Some of the gestures were found to have more than one meaning. and only 10 of the 66 gestures were used for only a single meaning.
Researchers collected a total of 471 video clips from two social groups of chimps at a shelter near Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo. As well as identifying what the gesture means, they also discovered the technique needed to increase the chances of success.
“Human children use gestures to communicate before they produce their first words, and their earliest gestures typically appear around 10 months of age,” explained the researchers. “In great apes, there is good evidence that language-trained individuals are capable of acquiring and understanding signals, but this is far less clear in their natural communication. ”
1. Chimps slap the objects to____________.| A．tell others to stop what they are doing | B．ask others chimps to join them |
| C．gather other chimps to move closer | D．encourage interactions to start |
| A．Chimps trained in language are good at understanding signals. |
| B．Two social groups of chimps live at a shelter near Kinshasa. |
| C．Language-trained individuals do well in natural communication. |
| D．Chimps’earliest gestures appear around 10 months of age. |
| A．By analyzing causes. | B．By examining differences. |
| C．By making comparisons. | D．By following time order. |
| A．A New Research on Chimps | B．Human Children and Chimps |
| C．Getting the Chimps Trained for Language | D．Translating the Sign Language of Chimps |
5 . VATNAJÖKULL NATIONAL PARK, ICELAND
Vatnajökull National Park is home to one of the largest glaciers in the world and two active volcanoes. A popular place to explore ice caves, you can experience here the breath-taking views of waterfalls, frozen rivers and herds of reindeer through cave tours, glacial hikes and jeep safaris.
Best time to visit: May to September.
ARCHAEOLOGICAL RUINS OF LIANGZHU CITY, CHINA
Dating back to 5,300 years ago, the Archaeological Ruins of Liangzhu City is considered as an important representation of early urban civilization based on rice plantation. The city ruins show the contributions made by the Yangtze River Basin to the origins of Chinese civilization.
Best time to visit: March to May & October to mid December.
BAGAN, MYANMAR
Located on the banks of the Ayeyarwady River, Bagan is the capital of the ancient Burmese empire and features a stunning range of Buddhist art and architecture. Visitors can get the best views at sunrise by taking a hot air balloon ride and witness hundreds of architectural treasures as far as the eye can reach.
Best time to visit: November to February.
JAIPUR CITY, INDIA
The walled city of Jaipur is one of the most colourful cities in the world and part of India's famous Golden Triangle. The city is not only famous for its pink coloured buildings, but also the houses, shops, restaurants and hotels which give you a feast for colors. Besides, you can enjoy the city's layout, busy streets and large public squares.
Best time to visit: November to March.
1. Which of the following is best recommended in April?| A．Bagan. | B．Jaipur City. |
| C．Vatnajökull National Park. | D．Archaeological Ruins of Liangzhu City. |
| A．It features views of volcanoes. |
| B．It is heavy with religious culture. |
| C．It has a history of over 5000 years. |
| D．It's known for colorful architecture. |
| A．Geography. | B．Culture. | C．Science. | D．Environment. |
6 . Sophia Gholz is an award-winning children's book author, music lover. and magic seeker. Sophia enjoys writing fiction with humor and heart. When writing nonfiction, she pulls on her love of science and her family background in ecology.
Her book, The Boy Who Grew a Forest, shares the true story of Jadav Payeng, a man in India who single- bandedly planted an entire forest over the course of his lifetime. When he was younger, Jadav Payeng was shocked by the destruction of his island home. So he took matters into his own bands and began planting one seed at a time. Jadav's forest is now over 1300 acres and provides a home to many animals, some endangered. Jadav is still planting today and his hard work has now been celebrated around the world.
To write this story, Sophia got to know more about Jadav Payeng and his forest through a documentary film called Forest Man. Influenced by her father, a forest ecologist and a scientist, she grew up learning about the importance of trees and the natural world. When she heard about a man on a m1ssion to reforest an entire island on his own, she was drawn to this story.
As for research, most of her research was done online. She read every news article that she could find about Jadav and listened to every interview. Then she reached out to several people who had met or interviewed Jadav as well, including the producer of his short documentary film.
She hopes that The Boy Who Grew a Forest lights a spark in everyone who reads it to go out and care for our beautiful planet. She'd love young readers to be inspired to plant or to learn more about animal habitats, biodiversity and science in general.
1. What is the second paragraph mainly about?| A．A story on how to plant trees. | B．Endangered animals in the forest. |
| C．Destruction of Jadav's island home. | D．A book introducing a tree- planting hero. |
| A．He has quit planting recently. | B．He is known to many people. . |
| C．He was an actor of Forest Man. | D．He planted trees with his family. |
| A．Humorous and skilled. | B．Creative and outgoing. |
| C．Determined and diligent. | D．Controversia1 and helpful. |
| A．To encourage research on wildlife. | B．To describe a boy's farming experience. |
| C．To stress the importance of planting trees. | D．To advocate the action to protect the earth. |
In Africa, the honeyguide birds can respond to human calls to lead people to honey—what scientists describe as a mutualistic interaction, or one that benefits both creatures. The birds tweet and fly from tree to tree to guide honey seekers to hidden bee nests, typically inside trees. Then, humans open the trees to find honey, and the birds can dine on beeswax, their favorite food. |  |
Dogs have an excellent sense of smell, which is why the folks at Penn Vet Working Dog Center are training dogs to identify the smell of cancer using tissue and blood samples from people who suffer. The scientists hope to develop a way for dogs to screen samples first, then perform follow-up testing on the samples the dogs flagged—a system for spotting cancer in its early stages. |  |
Having a snake wrapped around your neck isn’t necessarily what you usually expect. But Monty, a 13-year-old snake has been helping customers relax with neck massages(按摩). It’s unlikely he was trained to do the job and is just pulsating like any other snake would when around a person’s neck. Regardless, this special snake books out a few weeks in advance. |  |
The Guide Horse Foundation has been training miniature horses (those standing 34 inches or less) as assistance animals for the visually damaged since 1999. Miniature horses are ideal service animals for people who feel uncomfortable with dogs or who want a guide animal with a longer life span. The horses typically live from 30 to 40 years. |  |
1. According to the text, which animal can help you relax?
| A．A snake. | B．A dog. |
| C．A honeyguide bird. | D．A miniature horse. |
| A．blind people who dislike dogs | B．blind people who can live longer |
| C．animal lovers who search for honey | D．animal lovers who suffer from cancer |
| A．special training | B．great potentials |
| C．unique jobs | D．high intelligence |
8 . Men hunted.Women gathered. But the discovery of a woman buried 9,000 years ago in the Andes Mountains with weapons and hunting tools challenges this widely accepted view. The woman, thought to be between 17 and 19 years old when she died, was buried with items that suggested she hunted big-game animals by spear (矛) throwing.
The objects accompanying people in death tend to be those that accompanied them in life. Although some scholars have suggested a role for women in ancient hunting, others have dismissed this idea even when hunting tools were uncovered in female burials.
To examine whether this woman found at this site was an exception, the researchers examined 429 skeletons at 107 burial sites from around 8,000 to 14,000 years ago. Of those, 27 individuals were buried with hunting tools—11 were female and 15 were male. The sample was sufficient to “justify the conclusion that female participation in early big-game hunting was likely nontrivial,” said lead study author Haas.
The findings add to doubts about “man-the-hunter” assumption about early humans since the mid-20th century. That theory assumes that it was men who went out and hunted, bringing home meat to feed women and children, who were responsible for gathering berries, plants and nuts to enrich the dict.
But recent research suggests hunting was very much a community-based activity, needing the participation of all able-bodied individuals to drive large animals, the study said. Meanwhile, the spears used at that time had low accuracy, encouraging participation, and using it was a skill learned from childhood. Women may also have been freed from child care demands by “allo-parenting”—raising children was a job shared by many.
“Our findings have made me rethink the most basic organizational structure of ancient hunter-gatherer groups, and human groups more generally,” Haas said.
1. The discovery of the buried woman shows ________.| A．she was killed by a big-game animal | B．she might use hunting tools when alive |
| C．women were good at throwing spears | D．women were buried alone after death |
| A．limited | B．direct | C．significant | D．passive |
①allo-parenting ②big-game hunting ③tasks of gathering ④less accurate tools
| A．①②③ | B．②③④ | C．①③④ | D．①②④ |
| A．most of our ancestors were buried with hunting tools |
| B．we should reconsider previous views on human groups |
| C．division of labor in hunter-gatherer society remains unchanged |
| D．the tomb found in the Andes justifies “man-the-hunter” assumption |
9 . Ann started to work last summer. In order to have a holiday, she saved as much as she could and, this January, she booked a package tour to Spain. She left London airport early on the morning of the first Saturday in August. She was very excited, as this was her first trip abroad. When she arrived at Barcelona airport, the weather was beautiful.
At the hotel, she found that her Spanish money wasn’t in her handbag. All she had was a small purse with ten English pounds in it!
Ann found a place to change her English money for Spanish money. She would stay here for two weeks. After changing her money, Ann bought some cheese, some bread and some oranges. When she got back to the hotel, she told the tour guide that her doctor had told her not to eat much food, so she’d just have breakfast each day. This was all right, as she knew breakfast was included in the price of hotel.
For the rest of her holiday, Ann swam in the hotel or lay on the beach. She also went for long walks with Jane, a Scottish girl. However, when the others went to interesting places, Ann always said she wasn’t well. In fact, her holiday wasn’t bad, except that she was always hungry.
On the last day, Jane asked her why she never ate with them in the hotel restaurant. The food was excellent. Ann told her all about her money problem. Jane looked at her for a minute, and then said, “But didn’t you know? The price of this tour includes everything!”
1. Why was Ann so excited about the trip?| A．Because she had never been abroad. |
| B．Because she had saved enough money. |
| C．Because she had booked a cheap tour. |
| D．Because she had found a good job. |
| A．She didn’t find her purse. |
| B．She couldn’t find a place to change money. |
| C．She couldn’t find her Spanish money. |
| D．She didn’t understand Spanish. |
| A．she wanted to see a doctor. |
| B．she doubted the price of the hotels. |
| C．she had bought some food for her meals. |
| D．she would only take breakfast. |
| A．Ann was not allowed to eat much. |
| B．Ann’s Spanish money was stolen. |
| C．Ann missed some meals included in the tour. |
| D．Ann didn’t like the restaurant and the holiday. |
10 . Remote work, especially in a world affected by COVID-19, naturally leads to "flex time". Employees with small children might be getting the majority of their work done at night after the kids are in bed. Working early, you quit early. Starting late, work late.
With your teammates working during different hours, you may be getting messages at all hours of the day, night, or weekend, making you always available. That might be necessary in some industries during these challenging times, but certainly not in every industry and not for everyone in any industry. Once this takes root in your company culture, it becomes difficult to "reset" later. Besides, “always-on” isn't sustainable (可持续的), which increases pressure and quickly turns your company into an unpleasant place to work.
If your company adapts "flex time", how can you accommodate your employees’ needs while still protecting your culture and your team's work-life balance? The key is to encourage flex time while also setting clear "communication hours" (for example, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.）. Outside of those hours, employees should be encouraged to change their settings to "Do Not Disturb" and to use the “schedule send” feature of their email client so that messages only get delivered during communication hours.
If messages must happen outside of the set communication hours, such as for urgent or time-sensitive issues, make employees phone or text only. This way people can comfortably close down all other communication channels like email, WeChat, WeCom, etc. The act of having to call or text someone is usually enough to give the sender a pause to think, "Do I really need this person now, or can the communication wait?" This allows everyone on your team to work whenever is appropriate for them, but not feel like they have to work all the time to accommodate everyone else's schedule. A word of “Thanks for being so responsive” to someone answering an email outside of the defined communication hours definitely brings empathy (同理心) which smooths the urgency while also cultivating the trust and culture.
1. What may result in the phenomenon of "always-on"?| A．COVID-19. | B．Some industries. |
| C．Increasing pressure. | D．Flexible working time. |
| A．The phenomenon of "flex time". | B．The disadvantages of “flex time”. |
| C．The necessity of “flex time”. | D．The company culture of “flex time”, |
| A．It helps to make up for the shortcomings of “flex time". |
| B．It should be set from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. |
| C．Employees mustn't be disturbed within the hours. |
| D．Employees are still responsive outside of the hours. |
| A．Neutral. | B．Supportive. |
| C．Opposed. | D．Indifferent. |
