1 . In our human-centric view, the ability to shoot ink or change colors may seem odd, but you know what’s really odd? Menopause (更年期). You can count species other than humans known to experience and outlive menopause on one hand. Only Oracs (虎鲸) and some whale populations have females that live long past their reproductive years to become grandmothers. But a new, landmark study confirms that at least one population of chimpanzees can now be added to the list.

The discovery comes as the result of 21 years’ worth of observing the Ngogo community of wild chimpanzees in Kibale National Park, Uganda. Studying urine from 66 Ngogo females, aged 14 to 67, showed that their hormone levels changed after approaching 50, confirming they were in menopause. Interestingly, 50 is also the age when many people begin to experience menopause. “It’s really cool to finally have that piece of the puzzle come into place,” says Catherine Hobaiter, a primatologist who was not part of the new study.

But Catherine points out that the Ngogo community lives in a chimp paradise: the resource-rich, well-protected Kibale National Park that also lacks leopards, their main predator. And because the Noggo community is found in the heart of the park, its only neighbors are other chimps — not humans who can expose chimpanzees to viruses that have devastated other communities. “The Ngogo population may be an outlier (局外人) when it comes to the rest of the species,” she cautions.

And there is a question concerning “the grandmother effect”, according to which a grandmother has a decidedly beneficial effect on her children and grandchildren. Chimpanzees do not form long-term pair-bonds and females leave in search of new communities when they reach maturity, which means grandmother chimpanzees likely don’t know who their grandchildren are in the same way humans or even orcas do. What they do after the menopause remains a question of interest. “And that’s all future work to be done.” said Catherine.

Long ago in Ancient China, there was a mythical figure     1     (know) as Shennong. Not only did Shennong bring agriculture and the use of herbal medicine to China, but he also invented     2     (agriculture) tools and techniques, and the Chinese calendar with its 24 solar terms.

It is said that the home town of Shennong was a forest in Hubei Province, which today is called “Shennongjia”. This beautiful and diverse region covers     3     area of 3,253 square kilometers of north-west Hubei Province. It gives shelter to over 1000 species of medicinal plants, many of     4     are rare and unique to Shennongjia. Here mountain slopes     5     (cover) with trees and some of them grow up to 40 meters tall. In summer, pink and violet flowers lend splashes of color. These are some of     6     (it) most breathtaking landscapes. The magnificent Shennong Peak rises to 3,105 meters above sea level.

Banbiyan is famous for its stone forest, as well as its bamboo forests and grasslands that flood with     7     (flower). The stone forests of Fengjingya stand     8     a background of green mountains that reaches as far as the eye can see. When it rains, the tops of these mountains look like islands     9     (float) on a sea of clouds. Come to Shennongjia     10     (enjoy) its beauty and the legend.

4 . It was a typical summer day in my small town, with the sun shining and the sky clear. I was sitting on my porch, enjoying the peaceful view of the rolling hills and the calm lake, when suddenly a strong wind blew in from the west. The peaceful sky turned dark as a storm approached.

I went inside, grabbing my raincoat and heading to the barn to secure the animals. The cows were nervous, sensing the approaching storm. I quickly tied them up and ran back to the house, just as the rain started to pour down. The wind was howling and the rain was pounding against the windows. Lightning and thunder followed, making the atmosphere even more electric. I sat by the window, watching the raging storm and praying that everything would be okay.

After what seemed like hours, but was only a few minutes, the storm passed. The clouds moved away, revealing a bright and sunny sky. I walked outside, taking in the fresh air and surveying the damage. The trees were bent over and some branches had been blown off. Our vegetable garden was flooded, but other than that, everything seemed to be fine. I breathed a sigh of relief as I realized that no serious damage had been done.

That evening, as I sat by the fireplace with a cup of hot coffee, I reflected on the experience. It reminded me that nature can be both powerful and unpredictable, but that we must persevere and adapt to whatever it throws at us. The next morning, as I watched the sun rise over the now-calm landscape, I felt a sense of pride knowing that my family and I had weathered the storm together.

7 . A Purdue University invention could save millions of taxpayer dollars and significantly reduce traffic delays. The new invention, a sensor that allows concrete to “talk”, decreases construction time and how often concrete pavement (路面) needs repairs while also improving the road’s sustainability and cutting its carbon footprint. Fixed directly into a concrete pour the sensor sends engineers more precise and consistent data about the concrete’s strength and need for repairs than is possible with currently used tools and methods.

“Traffic jams caused by repairs have wasted 4 billion hours and 3 billion gallons of gas, on a yearly basis. This is mainly due to insufficient knowledge and understanding of concrete’s strength levels,” said Luna Lu, who has been leading development of the sensor since 2017. “For instance, we don’t know when concrete will reach the right strength needed to accommodate traffic loads just after construction. The concrete may be put into use too early,leading to frequent repairing,” she added.

With the technology Lu and her team invented, engineers can directly monitor the fresh concrete and accurately measure many of its properties at once. The sensor notifies engineers via a smartphone app exactly when the pavement is strong enough to handle heavy traffic. The stronger the pavement is before being used by vehicles, the less often it will need to be repaired. By decreasing road repairs and construction timelines, this technology could reduce carbon dioxide that vehicles would have given off while waiting in traffic to get around a construction site.

Methods that the industry has used for more than a century call for testing large samples of concrete at a lab or onsite facility. Even though these tests are well understood by the industry, differences between lab and outdoor conditions can lead to inaccurate estimates of the concrete’s strength due to the different concrete compositions and temperatures of the surrounding area.

8 . Polar bear mothers invest a huge amount into their cubs (幼兽), isolating themselves in dens (兽穴) dug with great effort into piles of snow to provide care through the unforgiving conditions of Arctic winter. It’s little wonder that the bears are hesitant to leave when disturbed, even when oil drilling equipment is in operation nearby.

“We found that bears wouldn’t abandon their dens even with vehicles driving right overhead,” says Wesley Larson, who worked his way from office assistant to a graduate student position with Utah’s Brigham Young University, monitoring polar bears on Alaska’s North Slope.

Scientists have recorded an increase in human-wildlife conflict in the area, as offshore pack ice has decreased, forcing the bear population to create their dens closer to petrol industry activity. With increased industry interest in oil and gas leasing (租赁) in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, strong evidence to help support and carry out protective measures for the species has never been more important.

Wildlife managers in Alaska depend on a rule that industrial activity and research cannot take place within 1. 6 km of a den with newborn babies in it. Working with 15 years of monitoring records, and 30 years of notes concerning interactions between the industry and the bears, Larson and colleagues were able to confirm that the regulation was sufficient, but that more needed to be done to actively locate dens. He explains that with entrances quickly covered by snow and dens closed-up until spring, they are effectively undetectable to the naked eye.

“While technology such as forward-looking infrared cameras can be used to try to pick up a heat signature inside the den, it only works when conditions are perfect, and they rarely are in Arctic winter,” says Larson. He is now consulting on a project using radar technology to identify dens and ensure protection for the animals symbolic of the Arctic.

9 . 阅读下面短文，在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

The main structure of the Datengxia water resources management facility in Southwest China has been completed four months ahead     1     schedule, the Ministry of Water Resources said on Saturday.

The project,     2     is located in the Xijiang River, has eight power generation     3     (unit), each with an installed capacity of 200,000 kilowatts (千瓦). It can     4     (annual) generate more than 6 billion kilowatt hours of electricity.

In cooperation with other reservoirs (水库), the project can help Wuzhou, a city with     5     population of over 2.8 million in Guangxi, deal with once-in-a-hundred-year floods. Previously, the city was only able to hold floods that occur once every 50 years. The project also enables some cities in the Pearl River Delta     6     (resist) floods that happen once every two centuries.

The ministry said the Datengxia facility will also provide strong support for rural development, offering irrigation (灌溉) water to 80,000 hectares of farmland and     7     (address) drinking water shortage for almost 1.4 million people in Guangxi.

The project has already played     8     (significance) roles in the past three years when it was put into trial operation. For example, in June last year, it helped prevent     9     store about 700 million cubic meters of floodwater when the Xijiang River     10     (hit) by a flood. In the peak, it reduced water flow by 3,500 cubic meters per second.

10 . Many pet owners desire to talk with their animals. After all, if pets were able to talk, people could take care of them more easily and have closer emotional connections to them, so a number of companies are working on devices and apps that could help understand what animals have to say.

One such app is called MeowTalk.     1     For example, one type of sound might mean “feed me” while another could be translated “let me outside.” The app can use machine learning to assess its translations and improve at identifying one particular cat’s vocalizations.    2    

For dogs, a Japanese company called Inupathy has developed a harness (系带) with a heart rate monitor to record dogs’ heart rate and thus assess dogs’ emotional state.     3    

The harness also has a light that turns red when the dog is excited, but when the dog is relaxed, the light is blue.

The most obvious application of this technology is to help pet owners empathize (共情) with and provide for their pets better.     4     There are other uses for technology that help us understand animals. For example, some sheep farmers are using artificial intelligence to scan animals’ faces and determine if they are in pain, which helps them identify sick animals.     5    

Anyone who interacts regularly with animals could benefit from understanding their animals better. Thus these technological developments might transform the way we interact with the creatures around us. Maybe in the near future, we can interact with our furry friends more effectively.