1 . Tracee Herbaugh lives in the Boston area of Massachusetts. She thought she was alone in her backyard recently when she used the Merlin Bird ID app. She learned by listening that she was surrounded by more than 12 kinds of birds.

“Two birds identified by the app, veery (画眉鸟) and great homed owl, even had a red dot next to their names. The red dot means it is an unusual sighting.” Herbaugh wrote, “Who knew these birds could be in one yard?”

Cornell Lab of Ornithology is the maker of Merlin Bird ID. The app was released in 2014. At first, the app only identified birds by their photos through Photo ID. The user answered a series of questions about the photo to help identify the bird, such as date, area, color, and size. The app became popular during the pandemic, when people increasingly wanted to be outdoors.

In 2021, Cornell Lab added Sound ID to identify birds by their sound. In the United States alone, Merlin’s Sound ID can identify over 700 kinds of birds. More than 7 million people now use the Merlin Bird ID worldwide.

Alli Smith works on the Merlin project at Cornell Lab. Smith said bird watching by sound “opens up a whole new world” “Even if you cannot see the birds,” he added, “you can hear their beautiful songs and know they’re sharing your neighborhood.”

More than birds, Herbaugh said the app also helped her reconnect with people across the country. When Herbaugh shared her bird list on social media, two childhood friends who also used the app messaged her about it. Her relative in Montana shared a list of birds. And even her young children now quickly go for the app when they hear an unfamiliar bird call.

Herbaugh has identified 45 birds on her list so far. She said now her children are the ones driving her to get more on the bird list.

1. What does a red dot next to a bird’s name mean?

A．The bird is rarely seen.	B．The bird is endangered.
C．This bird is a new species.	D．The bird is beneficial to crops.

2. How did the app perform its functions initially?

A．By recording bird sounds.	B．By recognizing images of birds.
C．By asking experts online.	D．By tracking movements of birds.

3. What does the author intend to tell us in paragraph 6?

A．Another way of protecting birds.	B．The popularity of recording bird calls.
C．The enjoyment of listening to birds.	D．Another benefit of the Merlin Bird ID app.

4. Which of the following can be the best title for the text?

A．App Identifies Birds by Sound	B．App Gets Kids Interested in Birds
C．Old App Gains New Reputation	D．Birds May Hide in Your Yard

2 . How Gardeners Can Reduce Risk of Fire

If you are selecting plants for your garden, knowing which plants offer some fire resistance and which are more flammable (易燃的) can serve you well.

Quicker to catch fire

Plants like bamboo that produce flammable substances such as aromatic oils, resins (树脂), wax, or sap, are among the quickest to catch fire.     1    

Trees with thin bark (树皮) that falls off are usually more flammable than those without. And fine-needled plants like pine, juniper, and spruce contain resins.     2    

Many kinds of grasses are highly flammable. Their ability to catch fire increases when they are left to stand dry over winter or during periods without rain. Additionally, too much heat dries out the soil and under such conditions, many kinds of plants turn into a fire starter.

Native vs. non-native

As a group, native plants aren’t necessarily less flammable than introduced kinds of plants.     3     That is because they spread quickly and are usually left alone by wildlife. The non-native plants spread faster than native plants, and often tolerate heat, heavy rain and lack of water better.

For the best fire resistance, choose trees that lose their leaves every year, like ash, and maple, rather than fine-needled trees.     4     Those plants with water-filled leaves include ice plants and sedums. Some groundcover plants are also slow burners.

What to look for in plants

The Washington State University Extension Service has published advice for choosing plants that are fire-resistant.     5     They include:

•High water content in leaves.

•Little or no seasonal gain of dead plant material.

•Open branching (they provide less fuel for fires).

•Fewer total branches and leaves.

A．Some plants are more flammable than others.

B．Plants with water-filled leaves are slow to burn.

C．But non-native plants often are a greater fire risk.

D．Many plants have qualities that do not burn easily.

E．All plants might catch fire under the right conditions.

F．Their needle-like leaves increase the risk of fire when left on the ground.

G．They will often catch fire even if they have been well-watered and cared for.

3 . A Michigan farmer Bristle was digging with a backhoe (反铲挖土机) in one of his wheat fields when — bang — it struck a large bone.

Bristle contacted Fisher, a paleontology (古生物学家) professor at the University of Michigan. Fisher rushed to the farm and identified the bone as a fossil of an Ice Age mammoth (猛犸象). Since it was harvest season, Bristle gave Fisher and his students only one day to remove the rest of the fossils from the ground. The team found 20 percent of the animal’s bones, including its skull, tusks, pelvis, and shoulder blades as well as some teeth, ribs, and other bones.

The age of a mammoth can be determined by counting the rings in one of its tusks. Like the rings in a tree trunk, each ring stands for one year of a mammoth’s life. Fisher thinks that the bones are supposed to belong to male mammoth around forty years old. It was probably a rare hybrid of a woolly mammoth and a Colombian mammoth that lived between 11,700 and 15,000 years ago during the Pleistocene lee Age, when ice sheets covered much of Earth’s land.

The bones appeared to have been cut up and some of them were missing, leading Fisher to conclude that early humans must have killed the animal and stored its meat so they could return to it at a later time. Some other indications of human activity include a stone flake (薄片) that might have been from a cutting tool and the arrangement of the neck bones in order. If the mammoth had died naturally, its bones would have scattered randomly.

In the US, fossils found on private property belong to the owner of the land. However, Bristle donated the fossils to the University of Michigan for further study. Fisher hopes to display the bones at the University of Michigan Museum of Natural History, possibly combined with fiberglass models of bones from other Michigan mammoths to form a complete Mammoth skeleton (骨架).

1. Why was Fisher’s time limited to one day?

A．Because the mammoth was a small one.	B．Because it was easy to remove the bones.
C．Because it was the time of gathering crops.	D．Because Bristle was busy planting in the field.

2. How did Fisher infer the mammoth’s age?

A．By counting the bones.	B．By judging the living age.
C．By measuring the ice sheets.	D．By numbering the tusk rings.

3. What is Paragraph 4 mainly about?

A．How the mammoth died.	B．Where the missing meat was.
C．How the stone flake was made.	D．Whether the neck bones scattered.

4. What is Fisher’s wish according to the last paragraph?

A．To own the fossils.	B．To study the mammoth.
C．To complete the skeleton.	D．To promote the university.

4 . For generations, Nafisa Bayniyazova and her family have made a living growing melons, pumpkins and tomatoes on farms around the Aral Sea. Bayniyazova, 50, has spent most of her life near Muynak, in northwestern Uzbekistan, tending the land. Farm life was sometimes difficult but generally reliable and productive.

Now, Bayniyazova and other residents say they’re facing a disaster they can’t beat: climate change, which is speeding up the decades-long disappearance of the Aral, once the lifeblood for the thousands living around it.

Decades ago, deep blue and filled with fish, the Aral was one of the world’s largest inland bodies of water. Thousands of migrants from across Asia and Europe moved to the Aral’s shores for jobs popping up everywhere from canning factories to luxury vacation resorts. Today, the few remaining towns sit quiet along the former seabed of the Aral—technically classified as a lake, due to its lack of a direct outlet to the ocean, though residents and officials call it a sea.

Much of its early disappearance is due to human engineering and agricultural projects gone wrong, now paired with climate change. Summers are hotter and longer; winters, shorter and bitterly cold.

Without the moderating influence of a large body of water to regulate the climate, dust storms began to blow through towns. Strong winds caused dunes (沙丘) to swallow entire towns, and abandoned buildings were filled with sand. A dozen fish species went extinct, and businesses closed down. “The fish factories closed, the ships were stuck in the harbor, and the workers all left,” said Madi Zhasekenov, former director of the Aral Sea Fisherman Museum in Aralsk, Kazakhstan. “It became only us locals.”

On her Uzbekistan farm, Bayniyazova’s family has dug an earthen well, hoping to hold on to the precious little water that’s left. “If there is no water, it will be very difficult for people to live,” Bayniyazova said. “Now people are barely surviving.” She doesn’t plan to leave her farm but yet knows more hardships are likely ahead.

1. How is paragraph 3 developed?

A．By reasoning.	B．By making comparison.
C．By experimenting.	D．By analyzing data.

2. What can be inferred from paragraph 5?

A．The number of fish in the Aral Sea is increasing.

B．Madi Zhasekenov feels hopeful about his future.

C．Local people around the Aral have lost their livelihoods.

D．Madi Zhasekenov has adapted to the changing climate.

3. How does Bayniyazova feel now?

A．Ashamed.

B．Worried.

C．Relieved.

D．Embarrassed.

4. What is the best title for the text?

A．The Importance of the Aral Sea

B．How to Deal With the Aral Sea Disaster

C．We Will Face the Challenge of Adapting to Climate Change

D．Climate Change Is Quickening the Disappearance of the Aral Sea

5 . Blue whales have made themselves at home in a part of the Indian Ocean where they hadn’t been seen for many years, according to a study published late last year. The blue whale, an endangered species, is the largest animal on Earth. These whales can grow to about 100 feet long and the animal’s heart alone can be the size of a small car.

Blue whales were filmed in the waters around the Seychelles in 2020 and 2021. The Seychelles area group of islands that make up the smallest African country. Hunters almost completely wiped out blue whales in the area in the 1960s.

During this recent exploration, however, scientists spotted several of the creatures. Research suggests that these whales are not just passing through — they are staying in the region for months. The discovery was made with the help of a “sound trap”, an object that was fitted with recording equipment and batteries and placed on the seafloor in November 2021. It was left there for a year, recording 15 minutes every hour. When scientists studied the recordings, they discovered the blue whales’ recognizable song, which is so deep that it can’t be heard naturally by human ears.

The whale songs were found between December and April, a common time for blue whales to breed (繁殖) and nurse their young. Kathleen Stafford, one of the researchers, told BBC News that the scientists think the noise was the singing of male whales. “They sing during the breeding season to attract the females,” she explained. This could mean that the Seychelles is an important breeding area or nursery site for the species.

The government of the Seychelles has been making major efforts to protect the oceans around the islands since 2015. The appearance of these whales shows that its work seems to have made a big difference. Stafford said that the Seychelles, which doesn’t have ma my big ships sailing nearby, could be “a nice, quiet, safe place for blue whales”.

1. What does the underlined phrase “wiped out” in Paragraph 2 mean?

A．Killed.

B．Washed.

C．Removed.

D．Approached.

2. What is the purpose of the “sound trap”?

A．To track sounds.	B．To video whales，
C．To study the seafloor.	D．To play songs every hour，

3. What did the researchers say about the noise?

A．It is seasonal.	B．It is annoying.
C．It can be heard by humans.	D．It can drive away other animals.

4. Who contributes a lot to the appearance of blue whales?

A．Local hunters.	B．Foreign sailors.
C．The government.	D．Kathleen Stafford.

6 . In a groundbreaking achievement, a rhino has successfully undergone embryo (胚胎) transfer, marking the first successful use of a method that holds promise for saving the nearly extinct northern white rhino subspecies.

The experiment, conducted with the less endangered southern white rhino subspecies, involved creating an embryo in a lab using eggs and sperm (精子) collected from other rhinos. This embryo was then transferred into a southern white rhino alternative mother in Kenya. Despite the unfortunate death of the alternative mother due to an infection in November 2023, researchers praised the successful embryo transfer and pregnancy (怀孕) as a proof of concept. They are now ready to proceed to the next stage of the project: transferring northern white rhinoembryos.

Professor Thomas Hildebrandt expressed optimism about the findings, highlighting the significance of the successful embryo transfer in demonstrating that frozen and defrosted embryos produced in a lab can survive. This development offers hope for the revival of the northern white rhino population.

However, challenges facing rhino conservation remain significant. While the southern white rhino subspecies and the black rhino species have shown signs of recovery from population declines due to illegal hunting for their horns (牛角), the northern white rhino subspecies is on the edge of extinction. With only two known members left in the world, Najin and her daughter Fatu, both unable to reproduce naturally, and the recent death of the last male white rhino, Sudan, in 2018, urgent action is needed to prevent the extinction of this subspecies. Dr. Jo Shaw, CEO of Save the Rhino International, emphasized the importance of addressing the primary threats facing rhinos worldwide: illegal hunting for their horns and habitat loss due to development. She stressed the need to provide rhinos with the space and security they need to succeed in their natural environment.

While the successful embryo transfer representsa significant advancement in rhino conservation efforts, organized action is required to address the main challenges facing rhino populations worldwide.

1. What is the purpose of the experiment mentioned in the text?

A．To evaluate the efficiency of a new rhino birth program.

B．To observe the behavior of rhinos in a controlled environment.

C．To assess the effects of climate change on the southem rhino habitats.

D．To develop a way of rescuing the endangered northern white rhinos subspecies.

2. Which word can replace the underlined word “revival” in paragraph 3?

A．Rebirth.

B．Decline.

C．Stability.

D．Decrease.

3. What is the current condition of the northern white rhino subspecies?       

A．Facing extinction.	B．Showing signs of recovery.
C．Developing in their natural habitat.	D．Recovering from population declines

4. What might be the best title of this text?

A．Dr. Jo Shaw’s Call to Action: Addressing Threats to Rhino Survival

B．Challenges Facing Rhino Conservation Efforts: Urgent Action Needed

C．The Successful Embryo Transfer: A Breakthrough in Rhino Conservation

D．Professor Thomas Hildebrandt’s Optimism: Hope for Rhino Population Revival

7 . 听下面一段独白，回答以下小题。
1. How do students celebrate Earth Day?

A．By holding a celebration.	B．By doing some clean-up.
C．By promoting a volunteer job.

2. How long will the event last?

A．Two hours.

B．Three and half hours.

C．Four hours.

3. What requires the participants to do?

A．Go there with parents.

B．Complete an online form.

C．Bring their own gloves.

8 . 听下面一段较长对话，回答以下小题。
1. What will the woman do after the interview?

A．Advertise the garden.

B．Visit the man’s garden.

C．Write for a newspaper.

2. What firstly made the man show an interest in gardening?

A．Being gifted plants by friends.

B．Reading about gardening in 1980.

C．Visiting Kew Gardens frequently.

3. Where did Mr. Whinfield learn a lot about gardening?

A．From gardening classes.

B．From visiting Kew Gardens.

C．From reading gardening books.

4. What did the man’s first garden look like?

A．It was a tiny piece of land.

B．It was filled with wildflower.

C．It was located in West London.

9 . Not much trash and almost no plastic actually gets recycled. About a third of U.S. garbage gets recycled, according to the Environmental Protection Agency’s most recent estimate. The rest goes to landfills, which release greenhouse gases into the atmosphere and pollute their surroundings.

To make recycling easier, many U.S. cities don’t ask Americans to separate paper, glass, metal and plastic. ‘They just ask people to put anything recyclable into one bin and let waste plants do the sorting. But waste plants don’t catch everything. AI is now an essential tool for the world’s waste management leaders. Greyparrot, a tech company has already installed more than l00 AI trash spotters in about 50 sorting facilities.

Greyparrot’s device is, basically, a set of visual and infrared (红外线的) cameras hooked up to a computer, which monitors trash as it passes by on a conveyor belt and labels it under 70 categories, from loose bottle caps to books to aluminum cans. Waste plants could connect these AI systems to sorting robots to help them separate trash from recyclables more accurately. They could also use the AI as a quality control system to measure how well they’re sorting trash from recyclables. That could help plant managers adjust their production lines to cover more recyclables, or cheek that a bundle of recyclables is free of pollutants, which would allow them to sell at a higher price.

In the next few years, some recycling companies plan to retrofit (改良) thousands of material- recovery facilities with Al trash - spotting tools. Of these companies, Bollegraaf has built thousands of these facilities, including 340 in North America, accounting for a majority of the recovery plants in the world.

The trash-spotting computers could one day help regulators punish companies that produce tsunamis of non - recyclable packaging because the AI systems are so accurate that they can identify the brands on individual items. Putting the AI tools in thousands of waste plants can raise recycling percentage. If the needle can be moved by even 5 to 10 percent, that would be a phenomenal outcome for greenhouse gas emissions and environmental impact.

1. What does the author want to show in paragraph 1?

A．People pay little attention to environmental protection.

B．Greenhouse gas is a major contributor to air pollution.

C．Americans show little enthusiasm for recycling.

D．All trash has not been recycled in the US.

2. How does Greyparrot’s AI system work?

A．By working with sorting robots.

B．By adjusting the production line.

C．By monitoring the conveyor belt.

D．By controlling cameras in a computer.

3. What can he inferred about AI tools in the last two paragraphs?

A．They are well received.

B．They are highly profitable.

C．They have unpredictable prospect.

D．They present a challenge for regulators.

4. What can be a suitable title for the text?

A．The Use of the Useless

B．AI Assistants in Recycling

C．A Pressing Trash Issue in US

D．AI Tools with Great Potential

10 . Are worms the heroes we didn’t know we needed? Silent, slimy and wriggling (扭动), you might think that worms are good for nothing except bait (诱饵) on the end of a fishing pole.     1    

The British naturalist Charles Darwin said that no other animal has “played such an important part in the history of the world as these lowly organised creatures”. They have lived on Earth for 600 million years and have even survived five mass extinctions.     2    

Earthworms literally move the earth, and this is why farmers love them. As they travel, they aerate (使透气) the soil by loosening, mixing and oxygenating it.     3     They are effectively a small but very efficient plough (犁). But it’s not just earthworms that deserve praise.

In 2022, a group of scientists at the Margarita Salas Centre for Biological Research isolated enzymes (酶) found in wax worm saliva (唾液) which are plastic-eating.     4     It’s hoped that by producing these enzymes on an industry-level scale, we will have a more environmentally friendly way to reduce plastic pollution.

    5     Bloodworms are small sea creatures which press themselves into the mud of the ocean floor. Scientists at the University of California, Santa Barbara have been studying their jaws, which are made up of 10% copper proteins (铜蛋白) and are so strong that they last the worm’s entire five-year lifespan. Because of this research, engineers may start using the jaws as inspiration for the design and manufacture of materials like concrete.

So, next time you see a worm, show it a little respect. They really are changing the world!

A．So, what do worms do that is so great?

B．Worms have a lifespan of a few months.

C．And worms are even inspiring the building industry.

D．It increases the ground’s capacity to hold and empty water.

E．However, there is more to the humble worm than meets the eye.

F．Humans produce more than 300 million tons of plastic every year.

G．These can break down a very common plastic that normally breaks down over many years.