1 . Animals are natural resources that people have wasted all through our history. Animals have been killed for their fur and feathers, for food, for sport, and simply because they were in the way. Thousands of kinds of animals have disappeared from the world forever. Hundreds more are on the danger list today. About 170 kinds in the United States alone are considered in danger.
Why should people care? Because we need animals. And because once they are gone, there will never be any more.
Animals are more than just beautiful and interesting. They are more than just a source of food. Every animal has its place in the balance of nature. Destroying one kind of animal can create many problems.
For example, when farmers killed large numbers of hawks, the farmers’ stores of corn and grain were destroyed by rats and mice. Why? Because hawks eat rats and mice.With no hawks to keep down their numbers, the rats and mice multiplied quickly.
Luckily, some people are working to help save the animals. Some groups raise money to let people know about the problem. And they try to get the governments to pass laws protecting animals in danger.
Quite a few countries have passed laws. These laws forbid the killing of any animals or plants on the danger list. Slowly, the number of some animals in danger is growing.
1. What can we infer from the passage?| A．People have known the importance of animal protection a long time ago. |
| B．The number of hawks is on the decrease. |
| C．Animals play an important role in people’s life. |
| D．Many countries passed laws forbidding the killing of any animal. |
| A．Became more. | B．Became less. |
| C．Turned black. | D．Ate food. |
2 . People’s sensitivity to blood sugar is also dampened when they’re tired, the study found, which suggests those who don’t sleep well are at higher risk of type 2 diabetes. “We saw that the fatty tissue is attempting to increase its capacity to store fat following sleep loss.” said Dr Cedernaes, “And we observed signs of breakdown of skeletal muscle. We also noted changes in levels of proteins involved handling blood glucose. This could help explain why the participants’ glucose sensitivity was impaired following sleep loss.”
What does the underlined word “dampened” in paragraph 4 mean?
| A．Decreased. | B．Transformed. |
| C．Transmitted. | D．Promoted. |
3 . The yogurt that’s past its sell-by date. The banana in your lunch that turned brown. The leftovers in the fridge that you forgot to eat. For most people, all that food goes right into the garbage can.
Eight to ten percent of global greenhouse gas emissions (放) are related to food waste, according to a report by the U. N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. “When you throw away an egg or a sandwich,” says Yvette Cabrera, food waste vice director at the Natural Resources Defense Council (N. R. D.C.) ,“you’ re also throwing away all the resources that went into producing those things.”
That includes not only all the water, land, and fertilizer (化肥) that went into producing that food, but also the massive amounts of fossil fuels used to power the farms, transport the food, and create the packaging.
What does the underlined word “That” in Paragraph 3 refer to?
| A．The leftovers in the fridge. | B．The packaging for products. |
| C．The thrown egg or sandwich. | D．The resources to produce food. |
4 . Besides, 10% of rich countries greenhouse gas emissions come from food that was grown and never eaten. Food waste not only contributes to climate change, but also food insecurity and extreme poverty. As stated above, in the greatest food wasting countries, there are laws that confine produce from being donated to people in need.
What does the underlined word “confine” in paragraph 3 probably mean?
| A．Refuse. | B．Restrict. | C．Contact. | D．Protect. |
5 . 30 years later, Bob and his wife, Jill Welch, decided to turn their wedding into a fundraiser for the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Their wedding guests financed two wishes for local children, more being planned. Many donated generously to the cause, spending more, perhaps, than they might have if it was just to buy the couple a wedding gift like fine china or a kitchen appliance. Bob said their wedding donation to the Make-A-Wish Foundation isn’t going to be “one and done”. The two plan on continuing to contribute going forward.
What does the underlined part “one and done” in Paragraph 2 mean?
| A．Once-only. | B．Non-stop. | C．Sizable. | D．Personal. |
6 . The world is getting greener, according to a new study published in Nature this week.
Chi Chen, lead author of the study, and his colleagues have been mining data collected by an orbiting NASA camera that monitors green vegetation on Earth’s surface, day by day. Even more interesting: They are able to show the exact causes of increasing or decreasing leaf cover in particular areas.
In some cold places, increase in leaf cover apparently resulted from global warming. Since the climate is becoming more and more temperate and the growing season is getting longer and longer, the plants are growing bigger and leafier there.
Which of the following best explains the underlined word “temperate” in paragraph 3?
| A．Warm. | B．Wet. |
| C．Cold. | D．Dry. |
7 . As Ginni Bazlinton reached Antarctica, she found herself greeted by a group of little Gentoo penguins (企鹅) longing to say hello. These gentle, lovely gatekeepers welcomed her and kick-started what was to be a trip Ginni would never forget.
Ever since her childhood, Ginni, now 71, has had a deep love for travel. Throughout her career (职业) as a professional dancer, she toured in the UK, but always longed to explore further. When she retired from dancing and her sons eventually flew the nest, she decided it was time to take the plunge.
Which of the following best explains “take the plunge” underlined in paragraph 2?
| A．Try challenging things. | B．Take a degree. |
| C．Bring back lost memories. | D．Stick to a promise. |
8 . A hungry badger (獾) searching for food seems to have uncovered what turned out to be hundreds of Roman coins in a Spanish cave, according to a new study.
Archaeologists (考古学家) first discovered several coins laying on the ground at the entrance to a small cave in the woodlands outside Grado in northern Spain in April 2021. The researchers suspect that the coins were unearthed by a badger from a nearby den (兽窝) after a heavy snow which made it harder for animals to find food. The hungry badger probably got into the cave looking for food but came across the coins instead.
After fully exploring the cave, researchers collected 209 coins dating to between the third and fifth centuries A. D. “To date, this is the largest amount of Roman coins found in the cave in northern Spain,” the researchers wrote in their paper. They described the discovery as an “exceptional find”.
What do the researchers think of the discovery in 2021?
| A．It’s dangerous. | B．It’s timely. | C．It’s meaningless. | D．It’s unusual. |
9 . ...We spoke our own language. And my favorite: Safe. Safe meant cool. It meant hello. It meant don’t worry about it. Once, when trying a certain trick on the beam(横杆), I fell onto the stones, damaging a nerve in my hand,and Toby came over, helping me up: Safe, man, Safe. A few minutes later,when I landed the trick,my friends beat their boards loud, shouting: “Safe! Safe! Safe!” And that’s what mattered-landing tricks, being a good skater.
What do the underlined words “Safe! Safe! Safe!” probably mean?
| A．Be careful! | B．Well done! | C．No way! | D．Don’t worry! |
10 . Researchers say they have translated the meaning of gestures that wild chimpanzees (黑猩猩)use to communicate. They say wild chimps communicate 19 specific messages to one another with a “vocabulary” of 66 gestures. The scientists discovered this by following and filming groups of chimps in Uganda, and examining more than 5, 000 incidents of these meaningful exchanges.
Dr Catherine Hobaiter, who led the research, said that this was the only form of intentional communication to be recorded in the animal kingdom. Only humans and chimps, she said, had a system of communication where they deliberately sent a message to another group member.
“That’s what’s so amazing about chimp gestures,” she said. “They’re the only thing that looks like human language in that respect.”
Although previous research has shown that apes and monkeys can understand complex information from another animal’s call, the animals do not appear to use their voices intentionally to communicate messages. This was a significant difference between calls and gestures, Dr Hobaiter said.
Chimps will check to see if they have the attention of the animal with which they wish to communicate. In one case, a mother presents her foot to her crying baby, signaling: “Climb on me.” The youngster immediately jumps on to its mother’s back and they travel off together. “The big message from this study is that there is another species (物种)out there that is meaningful in its communication, so that’s not unique to humans,” said Dr Hobaiter.
Dr Susanne Shultz, an evolutionary biologist from the University of Manchester, said the study was praiseworthy in seeking to enrich our knowledge of the evolution of human language. But, she added, the results were “a little disappointing”.
“The vagueness of the gesture meanings suggests either that the chimps have little to communicate, or we are still missing a lot of the information contained in their gestures and actions,” she said. “Moreover, the meanings seem to not go beyond what other animals convey with non-verbal communication. So, it seems the gulf remains.”
What does the underlined word “gulf” in the last paragraph mean?
| A．Difference. | B．Conflict. |
| C．Balance. | D．Connection. |
