1 . Amphibians are animals that can live both on land and in water. A new global assessment has found that 41% of amphibian species that scientists have studied are threatened with extinction. That’s up from 39% reported in the last assessment in 2004.

The study, published on Wednesday in the journal Nature, found that the loss of habitat from the legal and illegal expansion of farming and ranching (放牧) contributes most to the extinction risk of amphibians worldwide. But a growing percentage of amphibian species are now also pushed to the edge of extinction by novel diseases and climate change, the study found.

Amphibians have distinct life stages that each often require separate habitats, so they can be disturbed by changes in either water or land environments, said University of Texas biologist Michael Ryan, who was not involved in the study. They are also at risk because of their delicate skin. Most amphibians absorb oxygen to breathe through their skin, and so they do not have scales (鳞), feathers or fur to protect them. Chemical pollution, bacteria and fungal (真菌的) infections impact them quickly, as do heightened swings in temperature and dampness levels due to climate change.

For example, frogs are active usually at night. If it’s too hot, they won’t come out even at night because they would lose too much water through their skin, said co-author and researcher Patricia Burrowes. But remaining in sheltered resting places limits frogs’ ability to eat and to produce.

Juan Manuel Guayasamin, a frog biologist at the University San Francisco of Quito, Ecuador, said that advances in technology to track animals and climate variations allowed the new study to use much more precise data than the 2004 assessment. “We have a much better understanding of some risks,” said Guayasamin.

The study identified the greatest concentrations of threatened amphibian species in several biodiversity hot spots, including the Caribbean islands, the tropical Andes, Madagascar and Sri Lanka. Other locations with large numbers of threatened amphibians include Brazil’s Atlantic Forest, southern China and the southeastern United States.

1. What has the new study found?

A．Amphibian populations are now extinct.

B．The number of amphibians is rising slightly.

C．The extinction risk of amphibians has declined.

D．More amphibian species are endangered than before.

2. Which of the following is the single biggest threat to amphibians?

A．Habitat loss.

B．Illegal hunting.

C．Novel diseases.

D．Climate change.

3. What does the author want to show by the example in paragraph 4?

A．The unusual living habits of frogs.	B．The unique features of the frog skin.
C．The effect of climate change on amphibians.	D．The urgency of protecting amphibians’ habitats.

4. What does Guayasamin think of the new study?

A．Its methods are debatable.	B．Its findings are more reliable.
C．It needs to be better organized.	D．It covers wide geographical areas.

2 . 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。

A 5,100-year-old dam, capable of flood control and irrigation (灌溉), has been identified as China’s earliest     1     (know) water engineering project. The Xiongjialing Dam is part of the Qujialing relics site in Jingmen, China’s Hubei Province.

The dam was initially built around 5,100 years ago on a branch of the Qingmudang River. The     2     (exist) dam measures 2 meters in height, 13 meters in width and 180 meters in length. It has a water storage area to the east, equal to the size of three West Lakes, and     3     8.5-hectare irrigation area to the west, with the     4     (late) found to have been an expanse of prehistory rice field. A floodway at the northern side of the water storage area allowed for discharge (排放) of extra water during flood seasons. The dam     5     (construct) with local earth, which was mixed with plant roots     6     (increase) the structure’s toughness.

The design of the water project suggests that prehistoric     7     (ancestor) in the area had learned to control water use rather than     8     (simple) defending against floods and droughts. The Qujialing relics site is famous for witnessing the first-ever discovery     9     carbonized rice along the midstream of the Yangtze River. Researchers say the dam further illustrates that, in the Neolithic Age, the area had a mature rice-growing agriculture. That’s     10     this relies heavily on irrigation.

3 . Last summer on the Hawaiian Island of Kauai, Tina Taniguchi worked close to the ground. Her coconut leaf hat covered most of her thick brown hair. Wet soil had gotten on her clothes and her smiling face.

Taniguchi smiles a lot while working on the Hanapepe salt land on the west side of Kauai. It is a piece of land about half a hectare in size with pools of salty water. The salt becomes crystals (晶体)as the water dries.

“The work is tiring, but for me it’s also play,” Taniguchi said with a laugh. Taniguchi’s family is one of 22 families who make salt, following a cultural and spiritual tradition. Hanapepe is one of the last remaining salt lands in Hawaii. Its salt can be traded or given away but must never be sold. Hawaiians use it in cooking, healing, and as protection.

Over the past 10 years, there have been several threats to this field. They encompass development, pollution from a neighboring airfield, damage to the sand from vehicle traffic and waste left by visitors to the nearby beach. In addition, rising sea levels and weather might stop the practice.

The process of turning sea water into salt can be slow. The season begins once the rain stops and water starts to disappear from the salt beds. Ocean water travels underground and enters the wells. Each family has their own well. As water enters the well, so do tiny, red brine shrimp. These small ocean animals give Hanapepe salt its unusual, sweet taste.

The families first clean the salt beds and line them with black clay (陶土). Then they move water from the wells into the beds. There, salt crystals form. The top level, or layer, is the whitest. It is used for table salt. The middle layer is pinkish and is used in cooking, while the bottom layer, which is a deep red color, is used in blessings.

1. What do we know about Taniguchi?

A．She gives salt to others as a gift.	B．She works hard but with pleasure.
C．She has found a new way to make salt.	D．She fears old traditions will disappear.

2. What are Hawaiians not allowed to do with their salt?

A．Trade goods with it.	B．Use it as a treatment.
C．Make money from it.	D．Cook vegetables with it.

3. What does the underlined word “encompass” mean in paragraph 4?

A．Prevent.

B．Include.

C．Improve.

D．Discover.

4. What does a small sea creature bring to the traditional salt?

A．The special taste of the salt.	B．A thicker middle layer of salt.
C．More water in the wells.	D．A quicker process of making salt.

4 . A new study says that no matter how much the world cuts back on greenhouse gases, a large and important part of ice of Antarctica (南极洲) is expected to disappear.

Researchers used computer models to expect the future melting (融化) of protective ice around Antarctica’s Amundsen Sea in western Antarctica. They said the melting will take hundreds of years. It will slowly add nearly 1.8 meters to sea levels. And it will be enough to change where and how people live in the future.

The study found that even if future warming was limited to just a few tenths of a degree more, it would have limited power to prevent ocean warming that could lead to the breakdown of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet.

Study lead writer Kaitlin Naughten is an expert on oceans at the British Antarctic Survey. She said their research suggests that Earth is set on the path to a quickly increasing speed of ocean warming and ice shelf melting over the rest of the century.

While past studies have talked about how serious the situation is, Naughten was the first to use computer modeling to study how warm water from below will melt the ice. The study looked at four different cases in how much greenhouse gases the world produces. In each case, ocean warming was just too much for this area of the ice to survive.

Naughten looked at floating areas of ice that hold back glaciers (冰川). Once these areas of ice melt, there is nothing to stop the glaciers behind them from flowing (流) into the sea.

The study also looked at what would happen if future warming was limited to 1.5 degrees Celsius over mid-19th century levels: the international goal. They found the rapid melting process in this case as well.

The world has already warmed about 1.2 degrees Celsius since pre-industrial times and much of this summer went past the 1.5 degrees mark.

1. Which can best describe the findings of the study?

A．Cheerful.

B．Encouraging.

C．Misleading.

D．Disappointing.

2. What makes Naughten’s work on Antarctic ice special?

A．Her research area.	B．Her research time.
C．Her research method.	D．Her research purpose.

3. What do we know about floating areas of ice?

A．They will flow into the sea.	B．They protect the Antarctic ice.
C．They have warmed about 1.2℃.	D．They disappear faster than other ice.

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

A．Ice in Parts of Antaretica Will Disappear	B．Climate Change Will Harm Humans
C．Sea Level Will Rise Suddenly in the Future	D．Limiting Greenhouse Gases Makes No Sense

5 . On an October morning in 2021, ornithologist (鸟类学家) Mark A. Michaels spotted a bird in a forest, which he first thought was a duck based on its size and long neck. But then he noticed it sometimes folding its wings during flight, something he says that ducks don’t do-but woodpeckers do. “Ivory-billed woodpecker (象牙喙啄木鸟)!” he shouted, certain that the bird was a species that hasn’t been clearly identified in the wild since 1944.

Michaels has had several possible ivory-bill encounters, but he couldn’t be fully certain. This sighting was different. “That was the first time I had been absolutely sure,” he says.

But not everyone agrees this woodpecker remains in the wild. In September 2021, the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) put forward a ruling that would declare the ivory-billed woodpecker, along with 22 other species, extinct. However, the supportive data are debated. As a result, on July 6,2022, the agency gave the woodpecker an extension of six months before deciding whether to strip away its protected status (地位) as an existing endangered species.

This case highlights some challenges researchers face in determining whether a species has actually gone extinct. “It’s difficult to prove the absence of something,” says ecologist H. Resit Akcakaya, and so a lack of sightings is not necessarily evidence of extinction.

Moreover, there are costs to making the wrong call about a species’ existence in the wild. Continuing to classify (界定) an actually extinct species as endangered can misdirect financial resources away from protecting vulnerable (脆弱的) species to searching for ones that no longer exist. On the other hand, declaring something extinct when it isn’t can do further harm to a struggling species. “If we think a species is extinct, we no longer have to protect it,” Akcakaya says, “and then it may actually go extinct.”

In the case of the ivory-billed woodpecker, Michaels could do nothing but await USFWS’s ruling. But he was glad that the agency gave the extension. “I’m personally one hundred percent sure that it’s out there,” says Michaels.

1. What can we learn about the ivory-billed woodpecker from the first paragraph?

A．It was spotted many times.

B．It became extinct in 1944.

C．It looked a bit similar to a duck.

D．Its wings were always spread during flight.

2. What does the underlined phrase “strip away” in paragraph 3 probably mean?

A．Confirm.

B．Discuss.

C．Create.

D．Remove.

3. What do researchers find difficult when determining extinct species?

A．Winning the trust of the public.

B．Providing proof of their extinction.

C．Deciding which species are valuable.

D．Getting financial support for the research.

4. What will happen if a species is believed to be extinct?

A．New protection measures will be carried out.

B．There will be a huge waste of financial resources.

C．The protection of this species will come to an end.

D．Researchers will conduct further studies on this species.

6 . 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。

Most polar bears could die out by the end of the century due to global warming,     1     (scientist) say. According to a study, most polar bear populations will be dropping markedly by 2080. The cause is melting (融化) sea ice. Polar bears feed     2     (main) on seals on the ice. Without ice, the bears have to walk to faraway places and spend more and more time away from     3     (they) main food source. That means the animals could die.

Lack of food leads to another problem: Mother bears may not be fat enough to produce milk for their babies. Some bears could stop     4     (have) babies, which results     5     a rapid decline (减少) in numbers.

Arctic sea ice usually melts in spring and summer, and then grows in winter. But now, the ice is taking     6     (long) to grow back. Weather statistics say the Arctic is warming twice as fast as the rest of the planet. Ice in the region     7     (drop) by 13% every 10 years since the 1970s.

But the study also notes that it is still possible     8     (slow) Arctic melting. The world can cut the burning of coal, oil, etc. and lower the greenhouse gas emissions (排放)     9     bring about climate change. It would have to be a big drop to make     10     difference.

7 . 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。

Japan said on Tuesday that it had decided to    1    (gradual) release tons of treated wastewater from the ruined Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant (福岛第一核电站) into the ocean,    2     (describe) it as the best solution to dealing with the leftovers (残留物) from the Fukushima nuclear accident, one of the    3    (serious) in the world.

The    4    (decide) ends years of debate over how to deal with the water,    5    is enough to fill more than 500 Olympic-sized swimming pools.

“The Japanese government ignores concerns and strong opposition both at home and abroad. Such an    6    (responsilble)act not only directly harms the interests of the people in Japan’s neighbouring countries, but    7    threatens the global marine environment and international public health security,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said.

Greenpeace(绿色和平组织)criticized Japan’s plan and said there are other solutions that should    8    (censider). “    9    than using the best available technology to store and process the water    10    the long term, they have chosen the cheapest solution, damping the water into the Pactfie Ocean.”

8 . Humans’ ever spreading presence around the globe influences patterns of biological evolution in ways that we are just beginning to explore. On the Galápagos Islands, a body of evidence shows that the effect of our presence is increasing.

Luis F. De Leon from the University of Massachusetts Boston, together with other 6 scientists spent two years observing Darwin’s finches (雀科小鸟) to evaluate our effects on their behavior. They started by conducting feeding observations on coexisting finch species at sites that ranged from non-urban areas to urban areas. They also employed finch-human interaction experiments to test whether and how finches respond to human presence. To measure whether finch feeding preferences varied with the degree of urbanization, “cafeteria” experiments were carried out — finches were presented with a selection of human and native food items.

The scientists found that Darwin’s finches fed almost on human foods like rice and cookies or introduced garden species at urban locations. In contrast, at non-urban sites, finches fed mainly on native plant species and insects. Interaction tests suggest that urban birds get more accustomed to the presence of humans. Finally, at all sites of regular human presence, finches preferred human foods to natural foods.

The researchers warn that exploiting urban environments might present challenges for organisms (有机体), including shorter lifespans brought by the consumption of highly processed foods. Furthermore, the year-round availability of abundant human foods in urban environments might affect ecological and evolutionary processes that promoted species diversity. While the results clearly show a shift to human foods at urban sites, the adaptive significance of that shift is still an open question.

These findings also suggest that human behavior is the main driver of finch preference for human foods. The researchers propose a possibility that the effect of human behavior is facilitated by our tendency to feed birds, directly or inadvertently via food dropping or littering.

1. How did the scientists carry out the study?

A．By carrying out experiments in labs.	B．By training finches and observing results
C．By observing finches in different sites.	D．By analyzing findings from previous experiments.

2. Which is probably finches’ favorite food at non-urban sites frequently visited by humans?

A．Rice.	B．An insect.
C．The leaves of a native plant.	D．The seed of an introduced plant.

3. What can we learn from the findings?

A．All finches observed are willing to approach humans.

B．Human food availability might lead to biodiversity loss.

C．The reason for the shift of finch diets remains unknown.

D．The more processed foods finches consume, the longer they live.

4. What does the underlined word in paragraph 5 probably mean?

A．Illegally.

B．Voluntarily.

C．Deliberately.

D．Unintentionally.

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。

A City Frozen in Time

The year 79 AD would have seemed just like any other year in the Roman city of Pompeii. Each day , the street     1    (fill) with the sounds of busy shops and customers enjoying the city’s many café. People bathed and chatted happily in     2     (they) beautifully built baths.

No one gave any     3    (think) to Mount Vesuvius, a volcano close to Pompeii. Vesuvius had been inactive for years. The soil in that area was good     4     agriculture. The people of Pompeii had no reason     5     (fear) the volcano. But one day, the sleeping mountain woke up out of the blue.

The eruption when it happened, was unlike anything witnessed before. A huge cloud of hot ash and rock rose into the air, covering the     6     (surround) area. Pompeii was left in total darkness.

A young man, watching from a distance, recorded how the thick dark cloud spread everywhere. He described how people were frighten by the sudden disaster. They took     7     they could as they tried to get away from the city.     8     many people were trapped by falling building.

Suddenly, there was a powerful flow of gas, ash and rock. It moved down Vesuvius at a speed of about 450 kilometres     9    hour. When it reached Pompeii, it     10    (immediate) killed anyone in its path. The city was covered by up to six metres of ash. Pompeii became a city frozen in time.

10 . The impact of the man-made climate crisis on Antarctica is scientifically undeniable: stable ice shelves are retreating, air temperature increased by 3 degrees Celsius. krill(磷虾)numbers are declining, melting ice is contributing to sea level rise, and polar bears and seals are getting displaced. “Antarctic biodiversity could decline substantially by the end of the century if we continue with business as usual.” Jasmine Rachael Lee, lead author of the University of Queensland study says.

Published in the journal PLOS Biology, the study finds population declines are likely for 65% of the continent’s plants and wildlife by the year 2100. The most vulnerable(脆弱的)species is the Emperor penguins. In October 2022, the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service listed Emperor penguins as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act(ESA), as experts predict the flightless seabird will see a 26% to 47% dip in its population by 2050. “This listing reflects the growing extinction crisis and highlights the importance of the ESA and efforts to conserve species before population declines become irreversible(不可逆转).” said Service Director Martha Williams at the time.

Aside from Emperor penguins, other Antarctic specialists, like the Adélie penguin and dry soil nematodes, were also highly vulnerable. We urgently need a combination of global and local conservation action to best conserve Antarctic species. Global action and global voices to help relieve climate change—because the biggest threat to Antarctica is coming from outside of it. And then we need local actions to help protect biodiversity against local threats and give them the best chance of adapting to climate changes. This will help to save our iconic(代表性的)species like the Emperor penguins and all of Antarctica’s unique and highly adapted inhabitants. It will also help humankind, as we rely heavily on the priceless services the Antarctic provides in regulating our climate and capturing sea level in its ice sheets.

1. What can we learn from Paragraph 1?

A．The impact of climate crisis is usually denied.

B．Conservation efforts are badly needed.

C．Air temperature on Antarctic increases 3℃ annually.

D．Sea level rise results in seabirds losing their habitats.

2. Why is the Emperor penguin mentioned in Paragraph 2?

A．To serve as a call to protect wildlife on Antarctic

B．To reflect the growing population of wild species.

C．To prove the effectiveness of the Endangered Species Act.

D．To highlight the severe impact of rising temperature.

3. What is probably the best conservation policy?

A．Reducing the chances of making a trip to Antarctic.

B．Making joint efforts to relieve climate change.

C．Attempting to provide essential nutrients to the ecosystem.

D．Continuing to carry forward the Endangered Species Act.

4. What is the best title for the text?

A．Plants and Wildlife on Antarctica Will Decline Quickly

B．Antarctic Species Are Vulnerable to Human Threats

C．More Action Should Be Taken to Protect Wildlife on Antarctica

D．The Best Conservation Strategy Will Be Carried Out Soon