1 . Slowly, a great white shark swims toward the boat and onto a specialized lift. Once the shark is lifted onto the boat, the research team from OCEARCH, a nonprofit that specializes in shark tracking, performs about a dozen procedures.
The work is part of OCEARCH’s efforts to study great whites in the western North Atlantic, a less well-researched population than others around the world. “Here we are at the location of Jaws, and yet we didn’t really know the animals as well as we should,” says Bob Hueter, the chief scientist.
Two young great whites tagged (打标签) in this way, Simon and Jekyll, recently became famous thanks to a social media post that pointed out the pair had been traveling together for 4,000 miles up the North American Atlantic coast. People began to wonder if the sharks might be friends, but the situation is not so simple.
The two males were first tagged off the coast of Georgia in December 2022．The electronic tags transmit (传送) data via satellite when one of the sharks surfaces, allowing researchers to follow the animals’ movements online in real time. When Simon and Jekyll reached Long Island, researchers noticed their tracks were remarkably similar. Then they arrived in Novia Scotia within practically the same day!
Although this was a one-time event, such a similar route for the two sharks over a longtime and distance is significant. Great whites are traditionally viewed as solitary (独行者), but researchers believe they may display some social behaviors like other shark species. One study found that white sharks may remain close while hunting to benefit from food. “Surprisingly, we see more and more that white sharks might fit into that social category,” says Yannis Papastamatiou, a biologist at Florida International University.
However, Salvador Jorgensen, a marine ecologist at California State University, thinks there may be other reasons why the pair followed the same route.
1. What is the purpose of OCEARCH’s efforts?| A．To further study great whites. | B．To attract wildlife lovers. |
| C．To control the number of sharks. | D．To protect natural habitats. |
| A．To distinguish them from other species. | B．To track their travel routes. |
| C．To enable them to swim long distances. | D．To guarantee their safety. |
| A．The average size of the species has declined. |
| B．Many animals like to live in warmer weather. |
| C．The sharks reached Novia Scotia as expected. |
| D．White sharks tend to be social animals at times. |
| A．The patience the pair showed. | B．The hardship the sharks underwent. |
| C．Other factors guiding the pair’s behavior. | D．Coastal waters appealing to white sharks. |
2 . As a research scholar at the Indian Institute for Science Education and Research, I once monitored birds that inhabited grasslands in Daying Ering Memorial Wildlife Sanctuary, a protected area in Northeast India. This habitat forms a part of one of the most bio-diverse places on Earth. Yet despite their ecological importance and uniqueness, most grasslands are classified by the Indian government as “wastelands”.
Ecosystems throughout the world are suffering from the effects of unchecked habitat loss and climate change. While all types of ecosystems—forests, grasslands, oceans, wetlands and deserts—feel these effects, there is evidence of bias (偏好) towards the conservation of forest biodiversity. This bi as hurts the preservation of other ecosystems, including the grasslands that make up 24 percent of the Indian landmass. These grasslands are home to important biodiversity and support the livelihoods of millions of people, yet are defined in India by their value in being turned into forests for fighting climate change.
Apart from being costly, the move overlooks the ecological and social value of grasslands by turning them into mono-culture forests, which do not provide the same ecological benefits. Yet, grasslands could be equally good at storing carbon.
India and other countries with substantial grasslands need to recognize, support and prioritize evidence-based scientific attempts that focus on grasslands by establishing grassland-specific restoration efforts, as well as by mapping their extent and the ecosystem services they provide for humans. The time is ripe for abandoning outdated labelings like “wastelands”.
Already, communities like the Todas and the Idu Mishmi people are protecting grasslands in India through collective action and local stewardship (管理), which are helping them connect with the grasslands. With the aim of preserving the richness of nature, the government must restore greater rights to local communities to manage grasslands. Grasslands are an important feature of an ecologically sound India, one that must be preserved for that value above all others.
1. What does the author want to stress in the second paragraph?| A．Forests are hotspots of biodiversity. | B．Deserts badly affect local ecology. |
| C．Climate change threatens ecosystems. | D．Grasslands need equal conservation. |
| A．Tolerant. | B．Unclear. | C．Negative. | D．Favorable. |
| A．Government officials. | B．Local communities. |
| C．University researchers. | D．International agencies. |
| A．Stop Treating Grasslands as Wastelands | B．Take Active Steps to Limit Grasslands |
| C．Recognize the Polluted Grasslands | D．Transform Grasslands into Forests |
3 . Wildlife Preservation Volunteer Programs
Elephant Preservation Volunteer Program in Nepal
This program is suitable for active volunteers who love animals and want to care for the well-being of elephants. No experience is needed as you’ll be working closely with placement staff. The elephant shelter takes in elephants that have medical issues and require care.
Volunteers are accommodated in a local hotel. You should expect to share a room with one other volunteer.
Marine (海洋的) Preservation Volunteer Program in Croatia
This program is suitable for physically fit volunteers who are experienced divers (潜水员). You will use your diving skills to collect marine waste from the bottom of the seabed. You will work within a team on sorting waste out and handing it to the recycling centre.
Volunteers will be accommodated in a hotel. Local workers will clean the accommodation throughout the week.
Victoria Falls Wildlife Volunteering in Zimbabwe
This program is suitable for animal-loving volunteers who want to contribute to protecting amazing creatures and their habitats. Activities include animal tracking, camping out on the reserve and supporting other partner organizations.
Volunteers are accommodated within private rooms at the preservation centre. The accommodation has an open-air area where volunteers can socialize.
Amazon Jungle Preservation Volunteer Program in Peru
This program is suitable for volunteers who care about the environment, like working hard and don’t mind getting their hands dirty. It’s a great opportunity if you’re looking to reset your life by getting out of your comfort zone. You’ll also be developing personally and professionally.
Volunteers are accommodated in local people’s houses. There are running showers but you can expect water to he cold.
1. What do the programs in Nepal and Zimbabwe have in common?| A．They need experienced volunteers. |
| B．They are suitable for animal lovers. |
| C．They include dirty work in the field. |
| D．They require camping out on the reserve. |
| A．They work on the seabed all the time. |
| B．They help to keep the environment clean. |
| C．They are taught diving skills after arrival. |
| D．They lead a team to explore the marine creatures. |
| A．Elephant Preservation Volunteer Program. |
| B．Marine Preservation Volunteer Program. |
| C．Victoria Falls Wildlife Volunteering. |
| D．Amazon Jungle Preservation Volunteer Program. |
4 . You might remember watching Tweety and Sylvester from the Looney Tunes cartoons while growing up. Every time the cat Sylvester would try to eat the bird Tweety, the latter would call its owner and complain about the cat, just as a human would. In reality, several birds are able to mimic (模仿) speech. The most common bird known to do this is the parrot.
Studies have shown that the young birds learn and memorize species-specific songs by mimicking vocalizations (发声) of their father, starting as early as a week after birth. If separated from the father during this sensitive (感觉敏锐的) period, young birds may develop very strange songs.
It is common sense that a singer with a broader vocal range (范围) will be more successful than one with a smaller vocal range. Similarly, male songbirds with the vocal learning ability to learn broader types of songs enjoy higher chances of attracting attention of female. Therefore, such songbirds started achieving broader song learning skills as time went by. Eventually, they ended up with vocal skills so broad that they could not just learn songs from other males in their species, but songs from different species too.
Parrots have been kept as pets for thousands of years, and are probably the most famous mimics. Vocal mimicry in parrots has often caught human’s attention, since they can mimic the difficult vocalizations of human speech learned from their caretakers. The reason for this is not to attract mates. Parrots raised as pets often mimic humans to establish social connections.
In a study on an African Grey parrot, scientists observed that it could not just mimic human speech, but could also learn several hundreds of words and their meanings, recognize objects by names, and even count! The study has made scientists think that parrots are not simply mimicking, but that their vocal ability is very similar to that of human speech. This is a huge discovery, as humans are the only animals known to be capable of using “language” to date.
1. Why does the author mention the cartoon in Paragraph 1?| A．To introduce the main topic. |
| B．To find a solution to a problem. |
| C．To present conflicts between animals. |
| D．To encourage readers to watch the cartoon. |
| A．Male birds are born to have the ability to use their language. |
| B．Animals start learning language one week earlier than humans. |
| C．Young male birds are more sensitive to vocalizations than female ones. |
| D．Language learning needs proper language environment at a proper stage. |
| A．To attract mates. | B．To build relations with humans. |
| C．To show off their vocal abilities. | D．To communicate with other parrots. |
| A．Confused. | B．Honoured. | C．Amazed. | D．Disappointed. |
5 . In a joint effort to tackle the climate crisis, humans are turning to offshore wind farms (OWFs) as a source of renewable energy. OWFs are, quite literally, one of the biggest forms of renewable energy. The world’s largest OWF covers an area of 462 square kilometers, with each turbine (涡轮) standing 200 meters above the sea. It has the capacity to power over 1.4 million homes. But what impact do the towering turbines have on life in the waters below and the skies above?
It’s thought that OWFs could affect marine (海洋的) life in a number of ways, from noise disturbing the behaviors of fish and whales to changes in the diversity of species in the area. Seabirds that live in the North and Baltic Seas — where a vast majority of OWFs are placed — are also thought to be endangered by turbines. A report from Bird Life International found that twelve North and Baltic seabird species were at high risk of crashing with farms and seven at high risk of being displaced by their construction.
Not all impacts are negative though — some research has suggested that OWFs have the potential for environmental benefits too. A study following the movement of gray seals in the North Sea found that they were frequent visitors to two OWFs, searching between turbines for food. The researchers suggested that farms be acting like artificial reefs, representing a new and concentrated source of food. In areas where marine life has become less dense, it could allow life to flourish (繁荣) once again.
Even so, researchers explained that it’s difficult to predict the full extent of the potential environmental outcomes from these unexpected artificial reefs: “Only a small proportion of our study seals used wind farms or pipelines,” study author Deborah Russell told The Guardian at the time.
To avoid replacing one problem by creating a new one, it seems that researchers and developers will have to continue working hand in hand to ensure OWFs and marine life can successfully live side by side.
1. What is the main purpose of Paragraph 1?| A．To lead in the main topic of the text. |
| B．To show the effect of OWFs on sea life. |
| C．To draw readers’ attention to artificial reefs. |
| D．To introduce the largest OWF in the world. |
| A．They will help all the gray seals survive. |
| B．They will increase the diversity of species. |
| C．They will become a threat to seabirds. |
| D．They will provide new resources for seabirds. |
| A．Explore another resource of renewable energy. |
| B．Reduce the bad effects of OWFs on the marine life. |
| C．Build new OWFs to supply energy for more homes. |
| D．Make accurate assessment about the effect of OWFs. |
| A．OWFs — Friends or Enemies to Marine Life? |
| B．The Pros and Cons of Wind Farms on Land |
| C．The Turbines — a Danger or Favor to Seals? |
| D．The Shift to OWFs as a Source of New Energy |
6 . The combined quantity of water on Earth has varied over the course of our planet’s geological history, and it still does.
Today, Earth includes some 1,386 million cubic kilometres of water, a volume that includes water in oceans, lakes and rivers, plus ground water, vapour in the atmosphere, and the frozen water of glaciers and ice caps. On the young Earth — some four billion years ago — vast quantities of water were added to the planet by ice-containing comets (a mass of ice and dust that moves around the sun and looks like a bright star with a tail) that struck us, eventually making our world a “blue planet”. But such events became increasingly rare in Earth’s more recent history, and today we are in an age during which Earth is losing water.
The water loss is due to the fact that particles (微粒) sometimes escape Earth’s gravity to travel into space. This is particularly true of the light hydrogen atoms that form part of water molecules (分子) together with oxygen. Every time the atmosphere loses hydrogen, we lose one of the building blocks of water. Scientists estimate that Earth loses about 3kg of hydrogen per second. At this pace, Earth would run out of water in three billion years — but that assumes that we don’t get any new water supplies.
New water need not come from space — it might come from the inside of the Earth. At depths below 50km, minerals contain water that is not reckoned within the water cycle. Some of it dates back to Earth’s formation; the rest is part of slow geological exchange between the planet’s layers. When Earth’s plates sink and melt, deep minerals can release these bound water molecules so that they can subsequently rise to the surface via volcanic eruptions, adding to the planet’s overall water resources.
1. How did Earth become a “blue planet” in geological time?| A．By getting water from comets | B．By making use of glaciers. |
| C．By releasing its inside water. | D．By storing water in the ocean. |
| A．Serious. | B．Regretful. | C．Uncertain. | D．Unworried. |
| A．locked | B．displayed | C．counted | D．marked |
| A．Where Can Water Be Stored? | B．Could Earth Run Out of Water? |
| C．How Can New Water Be Found? | D．Will There Be More Water on Earth? |
7 . Janet Kelly and her husband, DaQuan Davis, were out shopping one afternoon when DaQuan’s brother, Demetrius, called in a panic. Some children playing with a lighter in the downstairs apartment
That’s when Janet
The family were especially
| A．found | B．started | C．fought | D．stopped |
| A．As a result | B．In addition | C．On the contrary | D．Worse still |
| A．safe | B．healthy | C．panic | D．hungry |
| A．assumed | B．learned | C．decided | D．predicted |
| A．rescuing | B．persuading | C．contacting | D．adopting |
| A．ordered | B．took | C．picked | D．pointed |
| A．looked out | B．made room | C．went back | D．brought food |
| A．gone | B．mild | C．detectable | D．thick |
| A．checked | B．threw | C．followed | D．cheated |
| A．staring | B．praying | C．listening | D．barking |
| A．wake | B．locate | C．comfort | D．direct |
| A．grateful | B．rude | C．familiar | D．generous |
| A．news | B．incident | C．conflict | D．change |
| A．Similarly | B．Occasionally | C．Apparently | D．Surprisingly |
| A．babysitter | B．housekeeper | C．manservant | D．firefighter |
8 . As founder of the Global Water Policy Project and lead expert for National Geographic’s Freshwater Initiative, Sandra’s goal is to promote the conservation and sustainable use of the Earth’s freshwater resources.
Sandra says she grew up in New York as a Long Island beach kid. She was always a ware of the “comfort, peace, and balance” offered by the natural world, especially the environments of wetlands and rivers. Before starting work on a project, Sandra considers an area’s “geography of water”: the amount of water in the area’s basin, the population, and the agricultural use of water. The geography of water helps Sandra determine an area’s water stress. Water stress is the situation where a community is using more water than nature made available.
Sandra first became aware of the concept of water stress after reading Swedish hydrologist Malin Falkenmark’s book Water for a Starving World. This groundbreaking work linked water use, food and population. As Sandra began to understand water stress, she realized it affects everything, from a community’s development to its political security. “So many great civilizations developed alongside rivers and lakes,” she says, pointing to the ancient civilizations of Ur (between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers), Egypt (which developed on the Nile), and the Indus River Valley.
Today, Sandra points out, more than 200 rivers are shared between two or more nations. Dams and other river management techniques implemented (实施) by nations upstream have a huge impact on nations downstream. The Tigris and Euphrates rivers have their sources in Turkey, for example, but their basins are in Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Syria. River management from Turkey would impact the freshwater available to these countries for drinking, hygiene (卫生), industry, and transportation.
Water management has become part of many nations’ foreign policy. Sandra points to the Mekong River Commission. The headwaters of the Mekong River are in China, although the basin is nearly 800,000 square kilometers and includes the nations of Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam. Many governments are members of the Mekong River Commission, which promotes sustainable development of the water supply.
1. What did water mean to Sandra as a child?| A．It represented a kind of spirit. |
| B．It caused stress to her life. |
| C．It brought many obstacles to her. |
| D．It offered a way for transportation. |
| A．Water stress was perfectly settled. |
| B．Water contributed much to the world culture. |
| C．Water had no impact on the steadiness of a nation. |
| D．Water crisis was recognized before Malin’s book. |
| A．Upstream countries have priorities. |
| B．Every country has its policy for rivers. |
| C．Rivers across countries are decreasing. |
| D．Source governance of rivers is critical. |
| A．To show its importance to the locals. |
| B．To emphasize its great volume of flow. |
| C．To show the power of cooperation. |
| D．To tell its challenges to related nations. |
9 . Solar stills (蒸馏器) provide a clever and simple means of purifying dirty or salty water, but they work at a rather slow rate. A new material has been shown to boost their performance, and it’s made from fruit waste which would otherwise be thrown away.
In its most basic form, a conventional solar still consists of a basin of undrinkable water that is set beneath a cover. The water evaporates (蒸发) as it’s heated by the sun, condensing (凝结) on the inside surface of the cover. That condensation—which is pure, clean water-drops down the cover and is collected in a separate container for drinking. In order to warm the dirty/salty water at a faster rate, scientists have developed materials that float on its surface, transforming sunlight into heat. They commonly use carbon obtained from coal.
To seek a less costly and more environmentally-friendly alternative, Prof. Edison and colleagues at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University looked to something that is free for the taking—fruit waste. More specifically, the scientists tried out coconut peels, orange peels and banana peels.
In a simple carbonization process, the fruit waste was heated at 850℃for a few hours, and mixed with a kind of chemical substance. Doing so transformed the fruit waste into a new material which has a very highlight-to-heat transforming efficiency.
When tested in a small solar still, this new material proved to be very effective at transforming sunlight into heat, causing the dirty/salty water to evaporate much more rapidly. And because the material is full of holes, the waters team is able to rise right through it, subsequently condensing on the inside of the still’s cover.
Prof. Edison and his team found material obtained from the coconut peels worked best, as it transformed sunlight to heat with an efficiency rate of 94%. They are now developing the technology further, and are seeking industry partners to help with its commercialization.
1. What is the paragraph 2 mainly about?| A．The working principle of solar stills. |
| B．The advantages of conventional solar stills. |
| C．The new materials of building a solar still. |
| D．The different ways of purifying dirty water. |
| A．To solve the problem of environmental pollution. |
| B．To find out more eco-friendly materials. |
| C．To expand the applied range of the solar still. |
| D．To make solar stills much easier and less costly. |
| A．Get more wastewater from the solar still. |
| B．Test chemical substances in the solar still. |
| C．Obtain an efficient water-purifying material. |
| D．Take measures to improve water quality. |
| A．Scientists are transforming sunlight into heat |
| B．Simple process turns fruit waste into new material |
| C．Solar still s are the best way to get drinking water |
| D．New technology helps, solar stills reach the customers |
1. What does the woman want to prepare for her mother?
| A．A clean house. | B．Some nice food. | C．A comfortable chair. |
| A．Feed the mouse with peanuts. |
| B．Prepare a trap with glue on it. |
| C．Go to a field to find a mouse. |
| A．A small mouse. | B．A fat mouse. | C．A friendly mouse. |
