1 . Directions: Complete the following passage by using the sentences in the box. Each sentence can only be used once. Note that there are two sentences more than you need.

When Leakey and Jane begin a study of wild chimpanzees on the shore of Lake Tanganyika, British authorities resist the idea of a young woman living among wild animals in Africa. They finally agree to Leakey’s proposal when Jane’s mother Vanne volunteers to accompany her daughter for the first three months.

On July 14, 1960, Jane and Vanne arrive on the shores of Gombe Stream Chimpanzee Reserve in western Tanzania.

    1     The animals fled from Jane in fear. With patience and determination, she searched the forest every day, deliberately trying not to get too close to the chimpanzees too soon. Gradually the chimpanzees accepted her presence. Jane observes meat-eating for the first time October 30, 1961. Later, she sees the chimpanzees hunt for meat.     2    

On November 4,1961, Jane observes David Greybeard and Goliath making tools to extract termites (白蚁) from their mounds. They would select a thin branch from a tree, strip the leaves and push the branch into the termite mound. After a few seconds they would pull out the termite-covered stick and pick off the tasty termites with their lips. This becomes one of Jane’s most important discoveries.     3     On hearing of Jane’s observation, Leakey famously says: “Now we must redefine tool, redefine man, or accept chimpanzees as humans.”

Jane’s work in Gombe becomes more widely known and in 1962 she is accepted at Cambridge University as a PhD candidate, one of very few people to be admitted without a university degree.     4     “It would have been more scientific to give them numbers”, they say. Jane has to defend an idea that might now seem obvious: that chimpanzees have emotions, minds and personalities.

Jane in Africa National Geographic decides to sponsor Jane’s work and sends photographer and filmmaker Hugo van Lawick to document Jane’s life in Gombe. In August 1963, Jane publishes her first article in National Geographic, My Life Among Wild Chimpanzees.

A．But studying the chimpanzees of Gombe was not easy.

B．Until that time, only humans were thought to create tools.

C．These observations disprove the widely held belief that chimpanzees are vegetarian.

D．So she learns to be a secretary and works for a time at Oxford University typing documents.

E．However, Jane loves the toy and names the chimpanzee Jubilee, carrying it with her everywhere.

F．Some scholars and scientists give Jane a cold reception and criticise her for giving the chimpanzees names.

2 . Plastic is everywhere, from the Arctic ice to vital organs in the human body. In fact, previous estimates suggest that the average person swallows a credit card-worth of microscopic plastic particles(颗粒) every week. But new research shows that this could actually be an understatement.

Microplastics are plastics smaller than 5 millimeters, found in industrial waste, beauty products, and formed during the degradation of larger plastic pieces. Over time, they break down into even smaller nanoplastics. These tiny particles can pass through our intestines and lungs into our bloodstreams, reaching vital organs like the heart and brain.

While the idea of eating plastic is unsettling in itself, the major concern here is that these plastic particles contain chemicals that can interrupt our body’s natural release of hormones, potentially increasing our risk of reproductive disorders and certain cancers. They can also carry toxins(毒素) on their surface like heavy metals.

In the past, researchers have shown bottled water can contain tens of thousands of identifiable plastic fragments in a single container. However, until recently, only the larger microplastics were detectable with available measuring tools, leaving the area of nanoplastics largely a mystery.

Using Raman microscopy (显微镜学), capable of detecting particles down to the size of a flu virus, the team measured an average of 240, 000 particles of plastic per liter of bottled water, 90 percent of which were nanoplastics, a revelation 10 to 100 times larger than previous estimates.

These plastics likely originate from the bottle material, filters used to “purify” the water, and the source water itself. “It is not totally unexpected to find so much of this stuff, ” the study’s lead author, Columbia graduate student Naixin Qian, said in a statement. His team hopes to expand their research into tap water and other water sources to better inform our exposure to these potentially dangerous particles. “The idea is that the smaller things get, the more of them I reveal, ” he added.

1. What is the primary focus of the new research?

A．The presence of plastic particles.	B．The use of plastic in everyday products.
C．The detection methods for microplastics.	D．The potential risks of nanoplastics to human.

2. What is the advantage of Raman microscopy?

A．Finding the source of plastic particles.	B．Helping to cure the deadly flu virus.
C．Detecting the smaller plastic particles.	D．Improving the quality of bottled water.

3. Why will the team expand their research into tap water?

A．To focus on areas with higher plastic pollution.

B．To be aware of the dangerous particles in daily life.

C．To further measure the types of particles in tap water.

D．To detect the smaller plastic particles in industrial areas.

4. What is Qian’s attitude towards his research?

A．Skeptical.

B．Objective.

C．Conservative.

D．Positive.

3 . Directions: Fill in each blank with a proper word chosen from the box. Each word can be used only once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A．experience       B. associated        C．position        D．claim       E．accompanied F．conducted        G．duration        H．preserve        I．breeze        J．representative K．weighed

One of the British royal traditions is that the king or queen can     1     ownership of any unmarked mute swan in open water in Britain. For many years, this tradition was     2     with Queen Elizabeth II. Every summer, the swans on the River Thames would be counted for Her Majesty. Now, with Britain having King Charles III on the throne, this centuries-old tradition known as the Swan Upping will continue to be     3     over five days during the third week of every July.

Several years ago, when I was living in London, I went along to     4     the tradition for myself. It was a completely enjoyable experience. School kids and elderly watchers gathered ahead of the day’s launch in Marlow (马洛，一个英国城镇) to meet the Royal Swan Marker — Queen Elizabeth II’s     5     in her absence — David Barber, and other Swan Uppers, or catchers.

The Uppers themselves are a mix of old boys and younger men-all dressed in uniforms. They paddle their way upriver in a fleet of wooden boats, shiny with gold detailing. Flags flutter behind them in the     6    .

The small fleet is     7     by an armada (舰队) of watchers. A boatload of journalists is there for the     8    . Hug e passenger boats cruise alongside, trying to get a view of each catch.

Not long after, the traditional call goes out: “All up!” it’s the first catch of the day. The Uppers carefully     9     their boats around the birds, moving closer, before catching and tying them. The young swans are taken ashore and     10    , measured and recorded with rings attached to their legs. And the adult swans are checked against the records. Then the young birds are released with their family, unharmed.

4 . Why is the fish in danger of dying out?

A．Because of over-fishing.

B．Because of water pollution.

C．Because of a natural disaster.

5 . Mars is no stranger to life. Seven U. S. spacecraft have successfully landed there, and all of them took microbes to the planet’s surface(though the bugs probably did not survive for long). Yet the world’s space agencies continue to maintain strict spacecraft sterilization (消毒) procedures in the hope of minimizing the spread of Earth life beyond our planet. For decades this idea — known as planetary protection—is widespread. Now, some scientists say, these procedures are preventing the search for life beyond Earth by raising costs and preventing innovative missions-without meaningful benefits.

Of all missions to Mars to date, only the Vikings, the first trip to the Red Planet, were intended to test for life. Spacecraft that went later did not have that ability. But a future mission will, and the protectionist thinking goes, a spacecraft might not be able to distinguish between a life form native to Mars and one with origins on Earth. In July 2013 astrobiologists Dirk Schulze-Makuch and Alberto Fairen argued against this in Nature Geoscience.

“If Earth life can thrive on Mars, they almost certainly already do,” the authors write. “If they cannot, the transfer of Earth life to Mars should be of no concern, as it would simply not survive.”

With clear evidence of a water y history and some signs of water present, Mars could be where we find life in our solar system. And with the development of Curiosity’s precise landing system, we can finally reach the mysterious parts of the planet. But it’s these areas that require a craft sterilization process.

In the 1970s Vikings 1 and 2 revealed what seemed like a dead planet, so planetary-protection requirements were relaxed. Now, with more knowledge of Mars’ environment, missions set to visit areas with evidence of flowing water below the surface have to meet the strict-and more costly- Vikings standards.

Finally, there’s the philosophical problem of what responsibility, if any, we have to other planets and any life we leave there. The truth is we’re never going to be able to fully protect Mars if we intend to explore it. And spreading is simply what life does.

“If we want to survive for a long time, we have to expand beyond Earth,” Schulze-Makuch says. “There’s no other way.”

1. Strict spacecraft sterilization procedures are meant to ______.

A．decrease the costs of space exploration

B．help the search for life forms beyond Earth

C．contribute to innovative missions in the universe

D．prevent Earth life being transferred to other planets

2. Planetary-protection requirements were relaxed in the 1970s because ______.

A．there was no preclse landing system

B．Mars was considered to be a lifeless planet

C．the mysterious parts of Mars remained unknown

D．flowing water was found below the surface of Mars

3. Dirk Schulze-Makuch and Alberto Fairen are most likely to agree that ______

A．Mars is now on the edge of being destroyed

B．human beings are too ambitious to expand beyond Earth

C．there is no need to worry about bringing Earth life to Mars

D．we need to be responsible for keeping Mars what it is like now

4. Schulze-Makuch takes a(n)______attitude towards planetary protection.

A．optimistic

B．relaxed

C．debatable

D．negative

6 . Directions: Complete the following passage by using the words in the box. Each word can only be used once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A. authorities   B. conflicts   C. increasingly   D. infected E. invisibly F. oddly G. outbreaks   H. present   I. subjected   J. suspected   K. unexpected

Deadly virus approaches tigers

India’s most important tiger conservation body is to investigate growing concern that Asia’s wild tigers are     1     to a deadly new disease.

The National Tiger Conservation Authority is to fun d a study of Canine Distemper Virus(CDV) in six of the most important areas for the species, which could confirm a problem that a few experts have     2    for a number of years.

There have been     3    of CDV in wild tigers in other areas. According to Dr Dale Miquelle of the Wildlife Conservation Society, quite a few tigers were either killed or seriously affected by a disease that was probably CDV in 2010. And the Sikhote-Alin Biosphere Reserve has also reported a(n)     4     decline in tiger numbers.

CDV may also exist in the tiger population in Sumatra, where animals have been reported to be behaving     5    and losing their fear of humans.

Dr John Lewis of the British charity Wildlife Vets International is helping the Sumatran    6    to fight the risk by training local vets in what he calls “the world’s first tiger- disease monitoring program”.

Lewis also believes that the way CDV changes tigers’ behavior could be a factor where tiger- human     7    are an issue. This could be true of the Sundarbans, a large area shared by India and Bangladesh where man-eating is spreading.

Perhaps we should not be surprised that tigers are     8    with CDV. In 2004, it killed 1,000 lions in the Serengeti in Tanzania, and as wildlife reserves are    9    surrounded by people with dogs, the problem is only likely to get worse.

But as Miquelle told BBC Wildlife, “Very few people were aware of the potential threat, let alone looking for it, even if it is     10    in the system. But at least now they are.”

7 .

A．The summer this year is terribly hot.	B．Last summer was even hotter.
C．Hot weather helps people lose weight.	D．Light was stronger this morning.

8 . Not all birds sing, but those that do—some several thousand species—do it a lot. All over the world, as soon as light filters over the horizon, songbirds start singing. They sing to defend their territory and to impress potential mates.

“Why birds sing is relatively well-answered,” says Iris Adam, a behavioral neuroscientist at the University of Southern Denmark. The big question for her was this: Why do birds sing so much? “For some reason,” Adam says, birds have “a crazy drive to sing.” This means hours every day for some species, and that takes a lot of energy. Plus, singing can be dangerous.

“As soon as you sing, you reveal yourself,” she says. “Like, where you are, that you even exist, where your territory is —all of that immediately is out in the open for predators, for everybody.”

In a new study published in the journal Nature Communications, Adam and her colleagues offer a new explanation for why birds take that risk. They suggest that songbirds may not have much choice. They may have to sing a lot every day to give their vocal muscles the regular exercise they need to produce top-quality song.

These findings could be related to human voices too. “If you apply the bird results to the humans,” says Adam, “anytime you stop speaking, for whatever reason, you might experience a loss in vocal performance.”

To figure out whether the muscles that produce birdsong require daily exercise, Adam designed a series of experiments on zebra finches —little Australian songbirds with striped heads and a bloom of orange on their cheeks.

Through these experiments. Adam’s conclusion is that “songbirds need to exercise their vocal muscles to produce top-performance song. If they don’t sing, they lose performance, their vocalizations get less attractive to females—and that’s bad.”

This may help explain songbirds’ constant singing. It’s a kind of daily vocal practice to keep their instruments in tip-top shape. It’s a good rule to live by, whether you’re a bird or a human—practice makes perfect, at least when it comes to singing one’s heart out.

1. What does Iris Adam try to figure out?

A．Why all the birds don’t sing.	B．Why songbirds sing so well.
C．Why songbirds sing so much.	D．Why birds have vocal muscles.

2. What do the underlined words “that risk” in Paragraph 4 probably mean?

A．Defending territory.

B．Impressing partners.

C．Singing all to death.

D．Threatening lives.

3. Which of the following agrees with Adam’s experiment conclusion?

A．Regular singing helps to exercise songbirds’ vocal muscles.

B．Songbirds have to sing their heart out to win their partners.

C．Zebra finches are born to have excellent vocal instruments.

D．Good vocal muscles are more attractive to female songbirds.

4. What can be the best title for the text?

A．A New Study of Songbirds	B．The Way That Songbirds Sing
C．Practice Makes a Perfect Song	D．The Reason Why Birds Sing Much

9 .

A．The Hawaii volcano eruption was destructive.

B．What the man said is not currently relevant.

C．The man should read newspapers of last year.

D．The locals in Hawaii suffered a great deal.

10 . 听下面一段独白，回答以下小题。1.

A．Birds’ physical characteristics.	B．The migrating patterns of birds.
C．The size of bird population.	D．The behavior of migrating birds.

2.

A．They become tired of their partners.	B．They can’t reach home at the same time.
C．They are likely to find new mates.	D．They have conflicts during the flight.

3.

A．They are able to keep pace with their partners.

B．They migrate shorter distances than other birds.

C．They do not have to migrate for food.

D．They have little chance to meet new mates.