1 . My kitchen may be the best kitchen on the planet. That is because when I look out of its window can see the west side of Grandeur Peak. Grandeur Peak is one of the most attractive mountains in central Wasatch, with its animals, trees, morning clouds, evening sunset, and the mountain’s paragliders (滑翔伞运动员).
The number of paragliders flying above Grandeur Peak has grown over the past 15 years, so much so that they have become part of the mountain. But during the past year they have largely disappeared. Some paragliders told me that the wind became too strong to fly in. The wind is too strong! Is this another character of our changing climate (气候)? Will paragliding be a sport affected by a warming planet? Utah has been much windier in the past few years. For me, a scientist who studies living things, it is easy to believe that our future will be windier. This year it’s getting super-hot, and the planet is warming faster than scientists expected. I can’t help but worry that the future of paragliding in Utah is not bright.
I’m writing to the brave people who fly from Grandeur Peak with beautiful wings. I want you to join Clean The Dam Air, a group that’ s working hard to fight climate change and air pollution — I’m part of it too. We are introducing a measure, which aims to remove the state sales tax (税) on grocery store food and put a carbon tax on fossil fuels (化石燃料) in its place: gas, electricity produced from fossil fuels, and natural gas. The goal isn’t to make taxes higher. The idea is to encourage everyone to reduce their use of fossil fuels. So, paragliders, join us. Now is the time to take care of our planet. If we succeed, then Utah can be an example to others in fighting climate change.
1. Why does the author mention his kitchen?| A．To share his love of cooking dishes. |
| B．To bring back his memories of paragliding. |
| C．To introduce Grandeur Peak’s paragliding. |
| D．To describe his adventures around Grandeur Peak. |
| A．The author saw less paragliding. | B．Few people visited Grandeur Peak. |
| C．Air pollution became serious in Utah. | D．Strong winds stopped people going outside. |
| A．Uncaring. | B．Supportive. | C．Positive. | D．Worried. |
| A．Buy those foods that are taxed less. |
| B．Reduce flying with wings in Grandeur Peak. |
| C．Join him to support a program about taxing. |
| D．Join a group to improve their paragliding skills. |
2 . Yang He, a 64-year-old man from Yichang, Hubei, has observed the changes in finless porpoises (江豚) population with his camera for six years. As a(n)
Every day, Yang wakes up early and drives to the
The Yangtze finless porpoise is so
However, the situation has changed as
Thanks to his camera, he once discovered and
| A．leader | B．admirer | C．hunter | D．advisor |
| A．banks | B．waves | C．beaches | D．sights |
| A．suddenly | B．patiently | C．formally | D．strangely |
| A．imagination | B．anxiety | C．strength | D．beauty |
| A．follows | B．listens | C．knows | D．exchanges |
| A．belongs to | B．focuses on | C．applies for | D．adapts to |
| A．addicted | B．connected | C．convenient | D．important |
| A．threaten | B．balance | C．conduct | D．promote |
| A．crashing | B．trapping | C．tracking | D．preventing |
| A．in addition to | B．due to | C．in spite of | D．apart from |
| A．global | B．possible | C．effective | D．historic |
| A．creative | B．lucky | C．magic | D．valuable |
| A．catching | B．striking | C．kicking | D．drawing |
| A．inspired | B．approached | C．reserved | D．rescued |
| A．confirm | B．remind | C．document | D．identify |
3 . On November 8th, a tornado, the most powerful in the past 70 years, hit Jersey, causing great damages to the area and leaving the residents in great panic.
“Suddenly, the windows of the waiting room exploded in and dragged everything inside. My cars have been completely destroyed by branches and fences, and my garden is completely gone. There’s no furniture, no fence; everything has been thrown everywhere. At first there was lightning but then a strange noise and strange darkness came over the whole house. It was like being in a scary scene in the movie The Wizard of Oz,” Ashleigh Quail-Charleston, a Jersey resident, told the Bailiwick Express after the tornado that struck overnight on November 1—2 during Storm Ciaran.
The consequence looked like a bomb had gone off: cars hit, roofs with holes, windows broken. “A huge tree leans drunkenly against a block of flats. Piles of branches are piled optionally and pavements are covered with pieces,” said Chris Stone at BBC Radio Jersey. The tornado was powerful and exceptionally rare, caused by a severe thunderstorm that had sent out intense lightning and huge hailstones described as “ice bombs”. The Tornado and Storm Research Organization (Torro) and Jersey Met Office revealed the tornado left a trail of damages 8 km long across the island, and rated its intensity as T6 on an international scale of tornado power.
According to Torro records, this was the most powerful tornado to strike anywhere in the British Isles or Channel Islands since December 7th, 1954 when a tornado struck west London, leaving tremendous devastation, with Gunnersbury railway station torn apart, roofs torn off houses and one car even thrown through the air.
Tornados during Storm Ciaran also hit Sompting in West Sussex and Loders in Dorset. One resident in Loders, Sophie van Hensbergen, described the moment, saying, “The tornado struck with a very, very powerful whistling sound and the windows looked as though we were in a car wash.”
1. Why is The Wizard of Oz mentioned in paragraph 2?| A．To summarize the consequence. | B．To introduce the topic. |
| C．To enrich the readers’ knowledge. | D．To help describe the tornado. |
| A．How tornado was rated. |
| B．What caused the tornado. |
| C．How severe the tornado was. |
| D．What should be done to prevent the tornado. |
| A．Marks. | B．Damages. | C．Memory. | D．Impression. |
| A．A news item. | B．A science report. |
| C．A movie reviewer. | D．A weather forcast. |
4 . Coming into the town of Santa Catarina Palopó, in the highlands of Lake Atitlan in Guatemala, the first thing you notice is the bright colors. Most of the buildings along the main street are eye-catching, deep blues and greens, dotted with red and yellow to form diverse patterns and designs.
Santa Catarina Palopó was once a sleepy town of 5, 000 people, most of them dependent on agricultural work. But as agriculture began to dry up here, poverty came. To deal with poverty and promote econ on growth through tourism, a small but creative group of laborers, artisans, domestic workers and stay-at-home moms created the Pintando Santa Catarina Palopó project.
The project aimed to paint all 850 homes and buildings in bright colors to change the hillside town into a work of art. “We wanted to paint the houses with colors and figures that represent the community” says the project’s executive director Stephany Blanco. “Families can choose designs for their house that are representative of the family.”
One of the most representative characteristics of the region is the blue huipil, a traditional blouse which has been worn commonly by local women since the 16th century. That deep sky blue was chosen the primary color-for the Pintando project, with secondary colors found in the sunsets and the nearby lake to make the design more attractive. Inspiration was also found in local culture, symbols such as volcanoes, flowers, and the national bird of Guatemala.
Each week, local artists, community members and tourists pick up paintbrushes to make buildings colorful. “At first, the idea of the project was uncertain, but now you can see a considerable difference in the town,” Melissa Whitbeck said. “The color of the buildings is believed to improve the quality-of life of the people. It uplifts the people’s mood and encourages them to be proud of their hometown.”
1. Why was the Pintando Santa Catarina project started?| A．Because of a workforce shortage. | B．Due to the poor economic conditions. |
| C．Thanks to the increase in population. | D．For the old-fashioned farming ways. |
| A．Building family art galleries in Guatemala. | B．Creating job opportunities for local artists. |
| C．Developing local tourism by selling artworks. | D．Changing the town into a cultural destination. |
| A．The surrounding volcanoes. | B．Mayan-styled butterflies. |
| C．A type of traditional clothing. | D．The national bird of Guatemala. |
| A．Positive. | B．Reserved. | C．Concerned. | D．Negative. |
5 . Should we hide in the “Triangle (三角) of Life” when the earthquake comes?
At 1:39 on June 15, a magnitude (里氏) 3.1 earthquake occurred in Qingpu District, Shanghai, with a focal depth of 8 kilometers. Earthquakes are one of the major natural disasters, so how to avoid danger and self rescue during earthquakes has become a topic of great concern.
There has always been a saying on the Internet that when an earthquake comes, collapsed objects and solid large objects will form a triangular space around them(the “Triangle of Life area”), and hiding in this area will have a greater probability of survival, which many people believe deeply.
In this regard, the China Earthquake Administration said that although observing the ruins after the earthquake, we can find that there are similar triangular spaces in some places.
However, when an earthquake occurs, people cannot know in advance the way of the earthquake, the direction of the collapse of buildings or objects, and it is difficult to know where there will be the so-called “Triangle of Life”.
The “Triangle of Life area” was proposed by an American disaster relief worker named Kupp, who believed that traditional self-help methods such as drilling tables were no longer suitable for people living in modern buildings. The collapsed floor structure would crush the tables or beds for refuge, and only hiding in the triangle area could survive.
Although the “Triangle of Life area” self-help method has been popular for more than ten years. However, the American Red Cross, the California State Emergency Service Office and earthquake experts have all pointed out the irrationality of the “Triangle of Life”. The Chinese Ministry of Emergency Management has also provided a refutation explanation.
In fact, after an earthquake, the internationally recognized most reliable method of self rescue is ‘lying on the ground, blocking, and holding onto your hands’. You should lie down, squat down, or sit down, try to lower the center of gravity of the body, and protect important parts such as the head, neck, eyes, and mouth and nose.
1. What information can we learn about the “Triangle of Life” in the first three paragraphs?| A．The Triangle of Life area is an official definition. |
| B．Many people believe in the “Triangle of Life”. |
| C．The earthquake in Shanghai has caused panic among the masses. |
| D．When an earthquake strikes, one should hide in the triangle area. |
| A．To protect himself | B．To overthrow the government |
| C．To avoid earthquakes | D．To attract attention |
| A．Its unpredictability | B．Its out-of-date construction |
| C．Its instability | D．Its illegality |
| A．Newspaper | B．Horror Book | C．History Book | D．Science Magazine |
6 . Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo has long worked to make her city less dependent on cars. She wanted to see more people using bicycles to get around. Over a number of years, the city government set limits on cars and increased the amount of bike paths from 200 kilometers to over 1,000 kilometers.
This year, Parisians are not complaining about too much automobile traffic. Instead, they say there are too many bikes. “Now, it’s really like a bike traffic jam(阻塞),” Thibault Quere, a spokesperson for France’s Federation of Bicycle Users, said. ”It’s kind of a good difficulty to have, especially when we think about what Paris used to be.”
Some famous roads along the River Seine are completely closed to cars. Now you see people riding bikes, running and walking with their families along the river. In another part of Paris, a bike path on Sebastopol Boulevard is one of the busiest in Europe, after opening in 2019. In one week in early September, it reached a record high of 124,000 riders.
The city will host the Summer Olympics in 2024 and plans to add more bike paths by then. Paris wants to reduce its pollution by half during the games, even as visitors from around the world will be in the city for the event. Organizers say all of the competition sites will be reachable by bike through a 60-kilometer network of bike paths.
The change to Paris, however, has not been easy. With more people using bikes, more people are making mistakes. Some of them are new to cycling and disobey traffic rules. But the environment may be improving. Cycling is good exercise and helps reduce pollution, which is still a problem for the large city. The French government blames atmospheric pollution for 48,000 early deaths in the country each year.
Hidalgo was re-elected in 2020 and plans to keep making what she calls a “Paris that breathes”. Her newest five-year bike plan includes over $250 million for more bike paths and bike parking. The new budget is an increase of over $100 million from her first five-year plan.
1. What can be learned from the second paragraph?| A．Hidalgo’s effort has paid off. | B．Parisians prefer to travel by car. |
| C．Parisians find it difficult to ride bikes. | D．Quere disagrees with Hidalgo. |
| A．To compare the famous roads in France. |
| B．To praise people enjoying riding bicycles. |
| C．To stress the importance of France in Europe. |
| D．To show how busy a cycle path is in Paris. |
| A．Tour local bike shops. | B．Ride to competition sites. |
| C．Promote the sights in France. | D．Support the athletes around the world. |
| A．Friendly. | B．Helpful. | C．Determined. | D．Honest. |
7 . Slobodchikoff, a biologist who has spent years working to better understand the calls of dogs, used that knowledge to help people who were having trouble with their pets.
A man reported his dog wanted to bite him. So Slobodchikoff went to the man’s house. He watched as the owner walked over to the dog, towered over the pet and then said, “Good dog!” in a low-pitched(音高) voice. “The dog ran into a corner,” Slobodchikoff recalled. The owner had scared the dog. Slobodchikoff recommended that the man should do the opposite. The owner took that advice—and ended up developing a great relationship with his pet.
Not everyone has the time to study dog communications or the money to bring in an expert. Slobodchikoff thinks tech could help. He thinks a cell phone app or device that you could point at a dog. This would record video and audio(音频) of a dog’s behavior and then upload it.An artificial intelligence(AI)system would later analyze it.
The AI “ would translate this for you into English or any other language,” says Slobodchikoff. The result, he explains, may be something like “‘I’m hungry’ or ‘I need to go outside to pee’ or ‘I want to go for a walk.’”
To train the AI system, Slobodchikoff planned to get data directly from pet dogs, but for some reason, he hasn’t yet restarted the project to date, but hopes to soon.
Search an app store for a pet translator and you’ll find plenty. Some are completely unscientific and silly. MeowTalk, however, is a cat-translation app based on an AI model. In 2021, its creators reported that the AI model achieved 90 percent accuracy at identifying nine different emotional states in meows. These included angry, happy, hunting, pain and rest. The app picks conversational phrases based on these emotions, like “nice to see you,” or “let me rest.”
People who have tried the app say it doesn’t always work well. But better translations of barks and meows may be just around the corner.
1. What might the man do to calm the dog?| A．Tower over the pet dog. | B．Follow the dog to the corner. |
| C．Give the dog delicious food. | D．Speak in a high-pitched voice. |
| A．To analyze data. | B．To train a dog. |
| C．To record a dog’s behavior. | D．To collect data from a dog. |
| A．It can communicate with cats. | B．It can judge cats’ state of mood. |
| C．It can store 90 conversational phrases. | D．It can be used to track pet cats. |
| A．A biologist’s puzzle. | B．Slobodchikoff’s achievements. |
| C．Trials of animal translator technology. | D．The invention of Slobodchikoff. |
8 . An owl (猫头鹰) named Flaco escaped New York’s Central Park Zoo last week after his cage was broken. This set off a bird-hunt of police officers and park rangers (护林员). Zoo officials worried that Flaco, who had been kept in his zoo cage for 13 years, may have lost the survival abilities he needed in the wild. They placed some of his favorite treats in the open air to attempt to trap him.
Flaco was not fooled. Instead, he was sighted flying over5th Avenue, and Central Park’s skating rink. A number of New Yorkers came into Central Park to try to catch a glimpse of Flaco, taking photos with excitement.
But this week, zoo officials announced they accepted that Flaco remained in Central Park because he had been seen bringing up bones and fur from the park’s community of rats. “He has been very successful at hunting and consuming lots of rats in the park.” zoo officials told the New York Post.“ And that’s amazing. He’s hunting on his own. He’s flying better. Flaceo really seems to be enjoying himself out there.”
There is a caution attached to this story of an owl who is making it on his own in the city that never sleeps. Owls are nocturnal. They go around searching for food at night. They sleep during the day, or try to, like lots of people who work the overnight shift. Yet some New Yorkers who don’t know proper bird-watching behavior reportedly see Flaco sleep in a tree during the day, and begin to shout at him. It interrupts his sleep. Flaco can’t try to say “shh, shh” with the traditional New York reply. After all, a bird can’t give someone the bird.
1. Why were zoo officials concerned about Flaco’s ability to survive?| A．Because his favourite food was too little. | B．Because he might be attacked by police. |
| C．Because his cage was severely damaged. | D．Because he was kept in his cage for long. |
| A．He has adapted to the wild. | B．He has found his previous home. |
| C．He still faces great challenges. | D．He dislikes the rats in the park. |
| A．Scary-looking. | B．Shy and quiet. |
| C．Active at night. | D．Badly-behaved. |
| A．Cautious. | B．Favorable. | C．Unclear. | D．Disapproving. |
9 . Yang He, a 64-year-old man from Yichang, Hubei, has observed the changes in finless porpoises (江豚) population with his camera for six years. As a(n)
Every day, Yang wakes up early and drives to the
The Yangtze finless porpoise is so
However, the situation has changed as
Thanks to his camera, he once discovered and
| A．leader | B．admirer | C．hunter | D．advisor |
| A．banks | B．waves | C．beaches | D．sights |
| A．suddenly | B．patiently | C．formally | D．strangely |
| A．imagination | B．anxiety | C．strength | D．beauty |
| A．follows | B．listens | C．knows | D．exchanges |
| A．belongs to | B．focuses on | C．applies for | D．adapts to |
| A．addicted | B．connected | C．convenient | D．important |
| A．threaten | B．balance | C．protect | D．promote |
| A．crashing | B．trapping | C．tracking | D．preventing |
| A．in addition to | B．due to | C．in spite of | D．apart from |
| A．global | B．possible | C．effective | D．historic |
| A．creative | B．lucky | C．magic | D．valuable |
| A．catching | B．striking | C．kicking | D．drawing |
| A．inspired | B．approached | C．reserved | D．rescued |
| A．conquer | B．remind | C．document | D．identify |
10 . Steller or Northern Sea Lions are sometimes confused with California Sea Lions but are much larger and lighter in color. Males may grow to 11 feet in length and weigh almost 2,500 pounds.
Stellers are not often seen in bays or rivers. Steller pups are born on offshore islands from mid-May to mid-July and weigh 35—50 pounds.
The current population of Steller Sea Lions is about 40,000 along the entire Pacific coast. There is great concern about this species. The western Aleutian stock has dropped by 80 percent in the last 30 years. In 1997, the western stock in Alaska was listed as endangered.
| A．Steller Sea Lions eat a variety of fishes. |
| B．Reasons for this decline are not known. |
| C．The male has a thick neck and looks like a lion. |
| D．They spend about half their time on land and half in water. |
| E．Mothers stay with pups for one to two weeks before hunting at sea. |
| F．They forbid the killing, harming or disturbance of any sea mammal. |
| G．Females are much smaller, growing to 9 feet in length and weighing up to 1,000 pounds. |
