1 . In 2015, the last golden eagle in England died at Haweswater in the Lake District National Park. Its death was the latest in a series of losses in the Lake District. In his book, Wild Fell, published by Doubleday on 24 February 2022. Haweswater Site Manager Lee Schofield calls on the local people to revive the landscape—telling the ups and downs of taking over the management of two hill farms in 2012 and how his team are combining ancient practices with new ambition so that farming and nature can develop well, and that one day eagles may surge once again.
In the Lake District, Lee and his team, working with landowner United Utilities, have changed a polluted river, restored wetlands, and equipped cows with GPS collars to protect endangered wildflowers. As well as helping wildlife, this is also good for people—there are twice as many people working at Haweswater than a decade ago, thousands of tons of carbon are being locked away in new woodlands and restored wetlands, and changing the river has added 180m to its length, slowing the flow of water and reducing flood risk. By restoring the habitats in the area, it will also finally help improve the water quality in the reservoir at Haweswater that provides water for more than two million people across North West England.
Lee says, “Change is possible, but we can’t depend on reserves as lifeboats for nature—we need a great transformation with people and wildlife at the heart of every decision made up and down this country. Wild Fell is not intended to be an instruction book, and there’s never a one-size-fits-all solution, but I hope it can serve as an example of what can happen when we work together to fight for our wildlife and our livelihoods.” Isabella Tree, author of The Return of Nature to a British Farm, says of Wild Fell, “It is an inspiring journey into the restoration of our lands. Reasoned, intelligent and well-informed, this is a story of hope and renewal for both nature and farming.”
1. What does the underlined word “surge” in paragraph 1 mean?| A．Increase greatly. | B．Hide safely. |
| C．Compete freely. | D．Differ slightly. |
| A．Their plans and principles. | B．Their problems and solutions. |
| C．Their contributions and limitations. | D．Their efforts and achievements. |
| A．It will be an instruction book. |
| B．It will inspire more people to fight for nature. |
| C．It will provide an example of building reserves. |
| D．It will change the way of linking people with wildlife. |
| A．Doubtful | B．Negative. | C．Favorable. | D．Unconcerned. |
2 . He’s as big as a small golden dog and covered with scales (鳞片). He is the pangolin (穿山甲), an endangered animal.
According to the wildlife trade monitoring organization Traffic, about one million pangolins were killed from 2000 through 2013, mainly for their scales, which are used in medicine. Pangolins are sensitive creatures and picky eaters that only eat certain species of ants, a diet that’s very difficult to copy in the food chain.
“In the last decade, there’s been a huge growth trade in pangolins between continents, especially their scales,” says Dan Challender, chair of the pangolin specialist group. Previously, most pangolin killing happened within Asia, he says. This shift means that Asian pangolins are becoming difficult to find but that the value of the scales makes it worth the extra cost to take pangolins from Africa to Asia secretly.
All eight species of pangolins, four in Africa and four in Asia, are in danger of extinction due to the illegal trade. International trade in the four species of Asian pangolins has been banned since 2000. In the past few years, a ban on international commercial trade in all eight species has gone into effect. It was voted by 183 governments that are parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), which is in charge of cross-border trade in wild animals and their parts.
Pangolins are eaten as bushmeat in western and central Africa and by some local groups in South and Southeast Asia. Their parts also are used in Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa, and elsewhere in sub-Saharan Africa as traditional medicine. Typically dried, ground into powder, and put into pills, pangolin scales are used in a range of traditional medicines to help mothers who have given birth to babies to recover. But they are now endangered. Perhaps no pangolins can be seen when our next generation grow up.
1. What do you know about pangolins from Paragraph 2?| A．Their meat is very delicious. |
| B．Their scales are of great value. |
| C．They are smaller than young dogs. |
| D．They are on the top of the food chain. |
| A．Pangolins are cheaper in Africa. |
| B．No laws protect pangolins in Africa. |
| C．People in Asia can really save pangolins. |
| D．Pangolins have sharply decreased in numbers in Asia. |
| A．Pangolins have many different species. |
| B．The bans on pangolin trade are ineffective. |
| C．People used to take advantage of pangolins in different ways. |
| D．Governments have tried to contribute to the protection of pangolins. |
| A．Positive. | B．Uncaring. | C．Concerned. | D．Confident. |
3 . Scientists from Deakin University in Australia have traced how about 30 species changed across various time periods in response to rising temperatures. They searched through nearly 100 past studies by other researchers, and tracked comparisons that date back a century or two in some cases. They found many creatures are changing the sizes and shapes of certain body parts.
“Warm-blooded animals in the wild rely on their own bodies to avoid overheating. They release heat through their appendages (肢体),” explains Sara Ryding, who led the study. For little creatures. like mice, tails do the job. For birds, their bills (喙) do the work.
The animals’ shape-shifting changes make sense, researchers say. In biology, an established concept called Bergmann’s rule shows that creatures that live in colder climates tend to be larger and thicker than those closer to the equator (赤道). Later, a biologist, Joel Asaph Allen further expanded the concept, saying that animals that adapted to cold climates have shorter limbs (肢) and bodily appendages — to keep the warmth in. For similar reasons, in hotter climates, warm-blooded animals"appendages become larger, relative to their body size. Larger appendages can help animals release more heat into the surrounding air.
Ryding’s team also conducted various field studies. One of them measured the bills of Galapagos finches from 2003 to 2011 and found they enlarged in response to temperature rises. Other data the researchers analyzed focused on European rabbits, which were brought to Australia and settled in areas with different weather. Those that found themselves in hotter places developed longer ears over time.
However, the researchers aren’t sure whether this shape-shifting is a good development. If larger ears or bills can help the animal cool off, that’s a good thing. But certain changes may damage some creatures’ ability to hunt for food. “If you’re a hummingbird and your bill is getting broader and wider, it may become too large to effectively feed on flowers where you’ re drawing your nutrition from,” says Ryding.
1. How did the scientists carry out their study?| A．By experimenting in the wild. | B．By referring to previous data. |
| C．By exploring a variety of fields. | D．By collecting information worldwide. |
| A．To offer background information. | B．To raise doubts about a concept. |
| C．To stress the role of weather changes. | D．To explain the researchers’ findings. |
| A．Their rules. | B．Their reason. | C．Their effects. | D．Their frequency. |
| A．Animals are good at surviving tough situations. |
| B．Animals base their body changes on their environments. |
| C．Climate change forces animals to change their habitats. |
| D．It is wise of animals to use their different body parts effectively. |
4 . Plants don’t have ears or a central nervous system, but new research out of the University of Missouri has demonstrated that they might still have the ability to “hear”. More specifically, plants have been shown to exhibit an immune (免疫) response to the mere sound of a hungry insect.
For the study, researchers played the sound of a caterpillar chewing to a group of plants, which caused slight vibrations (振动) on the plants’ leaves. The plants were able to recognize these vibration patterns as danger, and responded by mounting the appropriate immune response. In other words, it appears that plants can “hear” themselves being chewed on.
Researchers assume that plants achieve this remarkable ability thanks to proteins that respond to pressure found within their cell membranes. Vibrations cause pressure changes within the cell, which can change the behavior of the proteins; however, additional study will be required to confirm or deny this theory.
Once researchers identify the exact mechanisms at play in this process, it could lead to advances in crop protection. Farmers could potentially learn to use sound to cause a plant’s natural chemical defenses against insect threats, rather than turning to poisonous chemicals.
“We can imagine applications of this where plants could be treated with sound or genetically engineered to respond to certain sounds that would be useful for agriculture,” said study author Heidi Appel.
The study adds to the growing list of ways that plants have been shown to sense their environments. They are not the boring organisms that many people assume they are. For instance, some plants are able to communicate with each other and signal upcoming danger to their neighbors by releasing chemicals into the air. Plants can respond to light (think about sunflowers) and temperature. Some can even respond to touch, such as the Venus flytrap (捕蝇草), which snaps shut when an insect stimulates its hairs.
1. Why did researchers carry out the study?| A．To find out if plants can react to sounds. |
| B．To learn how plants recognize dangers. |
| C．To discover if plants can shake their leaves. |
| D．To see how plants improve immune systems. |
| A．To remove insects. | B．To protect crops. |
| C．To treat plant diseases. | D．To produce chemicals. |
| A．There are more plants than we know. |
| B．Plants are more active than we think. |
| C．Plants fit in well with their environments. |
| D．Lots of secrets about plants remain unclear. |
| A．Can plants “talk” with each other? |
| B．How do plants make use of sounds? |
| C．Can plants “hear” themselves being eaten? |
| D．How do plants defend themselves against attacks? |
