1 . As humanity has got richer, animal’s roles have changed. People need their services less than before. Fewer wolves and thieves meant less demand for dogs for protection; the internal combustion engine（内燃机）made horses unneeded; modern sanitation（卫生设备）kept rats in check and made cats less useful. No longer necessities, domestic animals became luxuries. Pet-keeping seems to kick in when household incomes rise above roughly $5,000. It is booming.
The trend is not a new one. Archaeologists（考古学家）have found 10,000-year-old graves in which dogs and people are buried together. Some cultures -- such as in Scandinavia, where dogs have long been both working dogs and companions -- have kept pets for thousands of years. But these days the pet-keeping urge has spread even to parts of the world which have no tradition of sinking into a comfortable chair with a furry creature.
The pet business is growing even faster than pet numbers, because people are spending more and more money on them. No longer are they food - waste - recyclers, fed with the remains that fall from their masters’ tables. Pet - food shelves are full of delicacies crafted to satisfy a range of appetites, including ice cream for dogs and foods for pets that are old, diabetic or suffer from sensitive digestion; a number of internet services offer food, tailored to the pet’s individual tastes.
In the business this is called “pet humanisation” -- the tendency of pet owners to treat their pets as part of the family. This is evident in the names given to dogs, which have evolved from Fido, Rex and Spot to -- in America -- Bella, Lucy and Max. It is evident in the growing market for pet clothing, pet grooming and pet hotels.
People still assume that pets must be working for humanity in some way, perhaps making people healthier or less anxious. But the evidence for that is weak. Rather, new research suggests that dogs have evolved those irresistible “puppy - dog eyes” precisely to affect human emotions. It has worked. The species that once enslaved others now works very hard to pay for the care of its pets. Sentimental（多愁善感的）Americans often refer to themselves not as cat-owners but as the cat’s “mommy” or “daddy”. South Koreans go one further, describing themselves as cat “butlers”. Watch an unlucky dog-walker trailing “his” hound（猎犬）, plastic bag in hand to pick up its mess, and you have to wonder: who’s in charge now?
1. Which of the following trends is NOT TRUE according to the passage?| A．People’s needs for animal services are decreasing. |
| B．Both the pet number and the pet business are growing. |
| C．Pets are increasingly making their owners less anxious. |
| D．Pet foods are more various and customized than before. |
| A．The names given to pets in American families nowadays. |
| B．Pet’s inbuilt ability to affect emotions of their owners. |
| C．Human beings ever rising urge for pet-keeping. |
| D．Pet’s roles as both working staff and companions. |
| A．Pets should be treated as equals of their human masters. |
| B．Human beings are getting much benefit from their pets. |
| C．Pet-keeping is still restricted within certain parts of the world. |
| D．Some pet owners spend too much money on their pets. |
| A．The Changing Roles of Animals | B．The Urge for Pet-keeping |
| C．Who Owns Whom | D．Love Me, Love My Dog |
Iceland shows off nature
Found just south of the Arctic Circle, it’s far from the northernmost country on Earth. But as a travel destinations, Iceland is on top of the world.
Known as‚ “the land of fire and ice”, the country has many natural wonders. As the Today website put it, “It is
As the world was reminded when the Eyjafjallajokull volcano erupted six years ago, Iceland is a country “still in the making, and few other places offer the same opportunities to see the earth
Ice is Iceland’s other big attraction-to be exact, the huge glaciers which travel toward the coast,
On Sept 28, the country’s capital Reykjavik decided to turn off all streetlights for an hour at night to give people a unique chance to enjoy the northern lights. Thanks to the glaciers and the dark sky, the bright, colourful
And
“The beast in Iceland, with its harsh(严酷的) nature and bitter, ever-changing weather. We cannot escape it,” Haraldur Jonsson, an Icelandic artists, told the Observer newspaper while describing his inspiration. “So we find ways to live with it. We
3 . Though people have discussed the relationship between science and nature for many years, there is no consensual(统一的) explanation. While some view science as a powerful tool in
Despite the different presentations of the concepts, though time separated the two men, both pieces express a similar view on the relationship between science and nature. Both pieces suggest that nature is
As Commoner’s article suggests, nature only allows science to have limited power and success. Both men believe that complete trust in science is
Commoner’s article clearly represents science as weak and useless, but more importantly, dangerous. It gives evidence to support the suggested dangers
| A．building | B．defining | C．showing | D．uncovering |
| A．concerns | B．views | C．findings | D．achievements |
| A．interests | B．ambitions | C．discoveries | D．thoughts |
| A．preventing | B．earning | C．destroying | D．breaking |
| A．mysterious | B．powerful | C．fantastic | D．special |
| A．prosperity | B．perfection | C．improvement | D．integrity |
| A．beliefs | B．experiences | C．actions | D．attempts |
| A．disappointing | B．meaningful | C．useless | D．significant |
| A．throws | B．expresses | C．holds | D．casts |
| A．improper | B．unbelievable | C．dangerous | D．unwise |
| A．reforms | B．failures | C．experiments | D．changes |
| A．controlled | B．digested | C．shared | D．applied |
| A．question | B．doubt | C．hope | D．use |
| A．provided | B．supplied | C．associated | D．compared |
| A．directly | B．especially | C．definitely | D．necessarily |
4 . Each year, backed up by a growing anti-consumerist movement, people are using the holiday season to call on us all to shop less.
Driven by concerns about resource exhaustion, over recent years environmentalists have increasingly turned their sights on our “consumer culture”. Groups such as The Story of Stuff and Buy Nothing New Day are growing as a movement that increasingly blames all our ills on our desire to shop.
We clearly have a growing resource problem. The produces we make, buy, and use are often linked to the destruction of our waterways, biodiversity, climate and the land on which millions of people live. But to blame these issues on Christmas shoppers is misguided, and puts us in the old trap of blaming individuals for what is a systematic problem.
While we complain about environmental destruction over Christmas, environmentalists often forget what the holiday season actually means for many people. For most, Christmas isn’t an add-on to an already heavy shopping year. In fact, it is likely the only time of year many have the opportunity to spend on friends and family, or even just to buy the necessities needed for modern life.
This is particularly, true for Boxing Day, often the target of the strongest derision(嘲弄) by anti-consumerists. While we may laugh at the queues in front of the shops, for many, those sales provide the one chance to buy items they’ve needed all year. As Leigh Phillips argues, “this is one of the few times of the year that people can even hope to afford such ‘luxuries’, the Christmas presents their kids are asking for, or just an appliance that works.”
Indeed, the richest 7% of people are responsible for 50% of greenhouse gas emissions. This becomes particularly harmful when you take into account that those shopping on Boxing Day are only a small part of our consumption “problem” anyway. Why are environmentalists attacking these individuals, while ignoring such people as Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, who has his own￡1.5bn yacht with a missile defence system?
Anyway, anti-consumerism has become a movement of wealthy people talking down to the working class about their life choices, while ignoring the real cause of our environmental problems. It is no wonder one is changing their behaviours—or that environmental destruction continues without any reduction in intensity.
1. It is indicated in the 1st paragraph that during the holiday season, many consumers .| A．ignore resource problems |
| B．are fascinated with presents |
| C．are encouraged to spend less |
| D．show great interest in the movement. |
| A．has targeted the wrong persons |
| B．has achieved its intended purposes |
| C．has taken environment-friendly measures |
| D．has benefited both consumers and producers |
| A．madness about life choices |
| B．discontent with rich lifestyle |
| C．ignorance about the real cause |
| D．disrespect for holiday shoppers |
| A．anything less than a responsibility | B．nothing more than a bias |
| C．indicative of environmental awareness | D．unacceptable to ordinary people |
Now rewind this picture 1,839 years. You are in the same seat, only you are watching classical Greek entertainment.
The city of Athens is a fun mix of the old and the new, the classic and the modern. Often a little shop is located next to the ruins of a temple, which is only a block from a large, air-conditioned hotel. The great city of 2,500 years ago is still visible today.
Ruins are the most obvious sign of ancient Athens, and the most famous of these is the Acropolis(卫城). The Acropolis is a large hill that was the center of life in Athens. On its slopes were temples, monuments, and theaters. From the top, you can see how the urban area of Athens stretches out in every direction.
On the top of the Acropolis is the Parthenon. This was once a huge temple to Athena, the city’s patron. It was first completed in 432 B.C., but has been damaged and destroyed several times. However, visitors can still see the “tricks” used in building the Parthenon. The columns along the outside lean inward, and are slightly fatter in the middle. The temple is also higher in the middle than on the sides. All these effects make the Parthenon look perfectly straight from a distance.
Only a block away from the Acropolis is the neighborhood of Plaka. The area, with its little shops and restaurants, is very popular with both tourists and locals, and is an important part of modern Athenian culture. Many great thinkers, writers, and political leaders lived in ancient Athens. The ruins of their homes and favorite spots are scattered throughout the busy port city. The hill where St. Paul addressed early Christian Athenians is located near the Acropolis. Great thinkers such as Perikles and Demosthenes spoke to the civil assemblies held at the Pnyx Hill. Today the Pnyx is an open-air theater for light and sound shows.
Tourism is very important to people who live in modern-day Athens. Thousands of people come every year to see these ruins and to tour the many museums that house artifacts from ancient times. This provides many jobs and brings money into Athens, which helps the city pay for improvements. Athenians take pride in the accomplishments of their ancestors, and people from all around the world come to admire them. By looking around the city today, we can imagine what life was like in ancient Athens.
1. Which of the following statements is INCORRECT about the city of Athens?| A．The culture of the city is a mixture of the old and modern. |
| B．Traces of the ancient city can still be found |
| C．Ruins and modern hotels co-exist in the city. |
| D．All the temples are not far away from air-conditioned hotels. |
| A．naughty acts | B．confusing constructing skills |
| C．skillful constructing methods | D．constructing materials |
| A．offering job opportunities to Athenians |
| B．enriching Athenians by providing accommodation for tourists |
| C．enabling Athenians to improve the infrastructures |
| D．making Athenians proud of their ancestors |
| A．Tourism in Athens | B．Athens: Then and Now |
| C．Historic Interests in Athens | D．The Magic of Ancient Athens |
6 . The connection between people and plants has long been the subject of scientific research. Recent studies have found positive effects. A study conducted in Youngstown, Ohio, for example, discovered that greener areas of the city experienced less crime. In another, employees were shown to be 15% more productive when their workplaces were decorated with houseplants.
The engineers at MIT have taken it a step further – changing the actual composition of plants in order to get them to perform diverse, even unusual functions. These include plants that have sensors printed onto their leaves to show when they're short of water and a plant that can detect harmful chemicals in groundwater. "We're thinking about how we can engineer plants to replace functions of the things that we use every day," explained Michael Strano, a professor of chemical engineering at MIT.
One of his latest projects has been to make plants glow in experiments using some common vegetables. Strano's team found that they could create a faint light for three-and-a-half hours. The light, about one-thousandth of the amount needed to read by, is just a start. The technology, Strano said, could one day be used to light the rooms or even to turn trees into self-powered street lamps.
In the future, the team hopes to develop a version of the technology that can be sprayed onto plant leaves in a one-off treatment that would last the plant's lifetime. The engineers are also trying to develop an on and off "switch" where the glow would fade when exposed to daylight.
Lighting accounts for about 7% of the total electricity consumed in the US. Since lighting is often far removed from the power source – such as the distance from a power plant to street lamps on a remote highway - a lot of energy is lost during transmission. Glowing plants could reduce this distance and therefore help save energy.
1. The first paragraph is mainly about _____.| A．A new study of different plants | B．A big fall in crime rates |
| C．Employees from various workplaces | D．Benefits from green plants |
| A．to detect plants' lack of water | B．to change compositions of plants |
| C．to make the life of plants longer | D．to test chemicals in plants |
| A．They will speed up energy production. | B．They may transmit electricity to the home. |
| C．They might help reduce energy consumption. | D．They could take the place of power plants. |
| A．The more plants, the less crime in the city. |
| B．The composition of plants will be changed to perform unusual functions. |
| C．The vegetables are expected to be used to light the room in the future. |
| D．The engineers will switch off the plants when they are exposed to daylight. |
Mako sharks get new protections
At the global wildlife trade meeting in Geneva, countries have decided to protect the endangered mako shark from trade. GENEVA made the proposal
The proposal, debated at this year’s CITES Conference, lists mako sharks under Appendix II, meaning that they can’t be traded
In the past, the U.S. and others have supported listing other shark species under CITES, but not so in this case,
The International Union for the Conservation of Nature, which determines the conservation status of species claims that both species of mako sharks to be endangered, saying an
8 . Science may never know what memories play on the mind of the California sea hare, a foot-long marine snail, when it eats algae — a sea plant — in the tide pools of the Pacific coast.
But in a new study, researchers claim to have made headway in understanding the simplest kind of memory a creature might form.
David Glanzman, a neurobiologist at the University of California, believes the kinds of memories that trigger a defensive reaction in the snail are encoded not in the connections between brain cells, as many scientists would argue, but in RNA molecules (分子) that form part of an organism’s genetic machinery.
In an experiment to test the idea, Glanzman implanted wire into the tails of California sea hares, and gave them a series of electrical shocks. The procedure sensitized the animals so that when they were prodded (戳) in a fleshy spout called a siphon, they contracted their gills (鳃状呼吸器官) in a strong defensive action.
After sensitizing the sea snails, Glanzman extracted RNA from the animals and injected it into other sea snails to see what happened. He found the recipient sea snails became sensitized, suggesting the “memory” of the electrical shocks had been transplanted. When Glanzman repeated the experiment with RNA from sea snails that had been hooked up to wires but not shocked, the reaction behavior did not transfer.
Despite the result, the work has not found widespread acceptance. “Obviously further work needs to be carried out to determine whether these changes can happen without failure in a wide range of conditions,” said Prof Sherilynn Vann, who studies memory at Cardiff University. “While the sea hare is a fantastic model for studying basic neuroscience, we must be very cautious in drawing comparisons to human memory processes.”
Tomas Ryan, who studies memory at Trinity College Dublin, is firmly unconvinced. “It’s interesting, but I don’t think they’ve transferred a memory,” he said. “This work tells me that maybe the most basic behavioral responses involve some kind of switch in the animal and there is something in the liquid that Glanzman extracts that is hitting that switch.”
But Ryan added that different thinking about memory was badly needed: “In a field like this which is so full of accepted beliefs, we need as many new ideas as possible. This work takes us down an interesting road, but I have a huge amount of skepticism about it.”
1. Why were the sea hares given electrical shocks?| A．To rob them of their memory. |
| B．To see how they defend themselves. |
| C．To break the connection between nerves. |
| D．To make them sensitive to external stimulations. |
| A．Memory can be encoded and changed by people. |
| B．Only with strong stimulation can sea snails form reaction. |
| C．The memory giving rise to sea snail’s sensitization is held in RNA. |
| D．The sea snail’s defense is probably enabled by connectivity of brain cells. |
| A．The recipient sea snail’s response may require further confirmation. |
| B．Variables (变量) in the experiments may not have remained the same. |
| C．Something else other than RNA in the extract may lead to the recipient’s reaction. |
| D．The sea snail “memory transplant” may not apply to more complex memory process. |
| A．criticism | B．doubt | C．relief | D．optimism |
9 . When discussing the causes of animal endangerment, it is important to understand that individual species are not the only factors involved in this difficult situation. Endangerment is a broad
Our planet is continually changing, causing habitats to be altered and modified. Natural changes tend to occur at a(n)
It can be difficult for an individual to
| A．remark | B．issue | C．project | D．experiment |
| A．worsen | B．protect | C．seek | D．ignore |
| A．extreme | B．favorable | C．gradual | D．rapid |
| A．command | B．spirit | C．impact | D．expectation |
| A．react | B．boost | C．express | D．announce |
| A．sports | B．meanings | C．forces | D．crimes |
| A．usually | B．formally | C．freely | D．formerly |
| A．escape | B．goal | C．release | D．origin |
| A．update | B．recognize | C．cover | D．remind |
| A．predict | B．devote | C．struggle | D．transfer |
| A．obvious | B．vital | C．contemporary | D．selfish |
| A．In short | B．In a word | C．As a result | D．For example |
| A．naturally | B．completely | C．fully | D．actually |
| A．contain | B．lack | C．reduce | D．limit |
| A．growth | B．loss | C．extension | D．planting |
How Do Avalanches Happen
If you’re ever skiing in the mountains, you’ll want to be aware of avalanches. An avalanche is a sudden flow of snow down a slope, such as a mountain. The amount of snow in an avalanche
Avalanches
Avalanches usually occur during the winter and spring,
(occur). When over a foot of fresh snow falls, experts know to be on the lookout for avalanches. Explosives can be used in places
When deadly avalanches do occur, the moving snow can quickly reach over 80 miles per hour. Skiers caught in such avalanches can be buried under dozens of feet of snow.
If you get tossed about by an avalanche and find yourself
Experts suggest that people caught in an avalanche try to dig around you
