1 . New research shows that removing black rhinos’ horns (犀牛角) to make them less attractive to illegal hunters is reducing their territory (领地) sizes and making them less sociable with each other.

The study, published in the journal PNAS, found that de­horned South African rhinos have home ranges that are 45 per cent smaller than those of complete animals, and that they were 37 percent less likely to engage in social interactions.

“The big, dominant bulls that used to have very large territories that overlapped with a lot of females may now have much less territory and much less reproductive (繁殖的) success,” says Vanessa Duthé, who led the work at Switzerland’s University of Neuchâtel.

“It’s really hard to predict the effects of this,” she says. “It doesn’t mean that population success will necessarily decline, because it might open up gaps for younger males that would not have had the space or the means before.” Indeed, a University of Bristol study published last year showed that de­horning (去角) does not negatively affect populations overall.

But such unintended behavioral consequences necessarily feed into judgments about whether this highly invasive procedure is worthwhile. Remarkably, perhaps, there is little hard evidence either way. “No one’s put all the data together to say whether it’s a really effective measure,” says Duthé.

“What is clear is that the introduction of de­horning and a decline in illegal hunting has occurred at the same time,” she adds. “But de­horning has been accompanied by other conservation measures that may be more effective.”

“It’s incredibly complicated,” says Lucy Chimes, a member of the Bristol team. “There are so many other factors involved. You have to consider what other security measures are being carried out — fencing, patrols, staff numbers — and poverty levels surrounding parks, their nearness to national borders and whether there is community engagement.” Chimes is currently planning a project that aims to separate these and other factors. In the meantime, Duthé believes that de­horning is a worthwhile tool of last course of action. “A rhino that is behaving a little bit strangely is better than a dead rhino.”

1. What is the purpose of removing the horns of black rhinos?

A．To make them less sociable.	B．To protect them from being hunted.
C．To reduce their home ranges.	D．To affect their reproductive success.

2. What does the underlined phrase “invasive procedure” in paragraph 5 refer to?

A．The removal of rhino horns.	B．The loss of rhino territories.
C．The impact on rhino population.	D．The change of rhino behavior.

3. What is Chimes’ attitude toward the de­horning of black rhinos?

A．Supportive.

B．Opposed.

C．Unconcerned.

D．Uncertain.

4. What can we learn from the last paragraph?

A．De­horning rhinos shows satisfying effects.

B．Various factors lead to the decline in illegal hunting.

C．De­horning is the last action researchers will take.

D．Rhinos are supposed to behave a little bit strangely.

2 . It was snowing hard. Gus Kiebel, a county wildlife officer, was driving home from work when he ________ the pair in the flash of his headlights. The father-to-be scanned the roadside so that his struggling ________ might rest safely for the night. He looked over at her ________. They needed a warm ________ from the bitter wind.

Gus parked his truck and ________ the animals. He stretched out his hands to the beagles (比格犬), which made no effort to ________. Then he dialed the number from the dogs’ tags (标牌). A man answered and immediately grew ________ when Gus told him why he was calling. “I gave those dogs away,” the man said. “They’re not mine anymore.” Then he hung up.

Obviously, these beagles were ________. Then he brought the tired beagles home. As a boy, owning beagles had been his ________, but keeping this pair was out of the question now—the Kiebels already had a family dog. So he ________ the League for Animal Welfare to drop them off—on one ________. “I’m not signing the dogs over to you if you’re going to ________ them,” he said. The shelter workers promised him they’d keep the couple together.

In the following days, Gus phoned the shelter ________ to check up on them. Soon, the beagles were adopted as a pair, to a loving family. It’s a simple story, but it ________ the best of our nature. And when kindness weighs more than ________, it becomes the greatest miracle of all.

1.

A．spotted

B．recorded

C．assisted

D．gathered

2.

A．instructor

B．companion

C．stranger

D．officer

3.

A．immediately

B．frequently

C．unwillingly

D．curiously

4.

A．comfort

B．fire

C．blanket

D．shelter

5.

A．protected

B．approached

C．awakened

D．embraced

6.

A．starve

B．interact

C．expect

D．escape

7.

A．refreshed

B．concerned

C．defensive

D．accessible

8.

A．abandoned

B．discovered

C．reconnected

D．released

9.

A．miracle

B．surprise

C．dream

D．pressure

10.

A．declined

B．reported

C．approved

D．contacted

11.

A．hand

B．basis

C．condition

D．level

12.

A．prevent

B．separate

C．impress

D．adopt

13.

A．gradually

B．traditionally

C．repeatedly

D．confidently

14.

A．influences

B．possesses

C．guarantees

D．conveys

15.

A．passion

B．cruelty

C．respect

D．tiredness

5 . Established earthquake warning systems provide at best just a minute or two of notice, leaving little time for preparedness. Decades of searching for a better warning sign-changes in the geochemistry of groundwater, electromagnetic effects in the upper atmosphere, and even changes in animal behavior-have failed. Many question whether such a precursor (先兆) even exists. This situation may change soon, as recent research is providing a glimmer of hope for improved earthquake prediction.

Researchers Quentin Bletery and Jean-Mathieu Nocquet from Cote d’Azur University in France collected data from over 90 earthquakes with magnitudes larger than 7 that had occurred in the past two decades.They focused on GPS station records near these quakes, which accurately captured land movement every 5 minutes with millimeter precision. They analyzed more than 3,000 time series of motion in the 48 hours leading up to the main ruptures (断裂).

They noticed that, in the first 46 hours, the records showed no significant features. However, during the 2 hours before the earthquake, they noticed signs of increasing movement along the fault zones (断层带). Essentially, there’s a slip between plates causing the land above them to move in a measurable, horizontal direction.

Could this be just a coincidence? The probability of this increase happening just before the quake and being unrelated is extremely low, and the researchers confirmed this by analyzing 100,000 random time windows in non-earthquake GPS data. The pattern occurred only 0.03% of the time in non-earthquake data.

While this precursor signal won’t be used for warnings anytime soon, officials from the United States Geological Survey (USGS) admit that this new study provides valuable insights into how to improve their warning systems-GPS data can grease the wheels of early earthquake warnings.

The researchers admit they're still a number of steps away from putting this precursor signal into use, particularly since detecting subtle signals at individual faults requires more GPS stations. But the biggest problem is that many of the world’s earthquake regions have no instrumentation. “We can’t realize the detection at the scale of one earthquake, so we cannot make predictions,” Bletery said.

1. What remains a tough problem for scientists?

A．Determining the magnitude of an earthquake.

B．Finding a way to detect earthquakes in early stages.

C．Measuring atmospheric changes during earthquakes.

D．Identifying animals’ possible responses to earthquakes.

2. What did the researchers find through their data analysis?

A．The chance of main ruptures occurring in fault zones.

B．The accuracy of GPS in recording land movement.

C．The existence of a two-hour precursory phase.

D．The horizontal slip within the first 46 hours.

3. What does the underlined part “grease the wheels of” in paragraph 5 mean?

A．Distinguish

B．Contradict

C．Overmatch

D．Facilitate

4. What holds back the practical application of the new findings?

A．The inaccessibility of precursor signals.

B．The complexity of updating GPS equipment.

C．The challenge of identifying earthquake regions.

D．The inconsistent slip patterns of different earthquakes.

6 . 听下面一段独白，回答以下小题。
1. What will the weather be like later today?

A．Rainy.

B．Cloudy.

C．Windy.

2. What will the low temperature be this Saturday?

A．10°C.

B．18°C.

C．28°C.

3. What are people advised to do while boating on Sunday afternoon?

A．Take an umbrella.

B．Follow the forecast.

C．Put on more clothes.

8 . Every tree tells a story. They hold our memories, represent belief, and witness countless moments of joy and sorrow. In our imagination, there is always a place for a tree.

For the locals in Naunde, Mozambique, a mango tree provides more than just shade from the Saharan sun. It is also a traditional setting for storytelling, ceremonies, and regulating village life. “It is a place to meet and talk, to seek agreement and settle arguments, to bridge differences and develop unity,” wrote Kofi Annan, the former Secretary-General of the UN. “If you have a problem and can’t find a solution, you meet again tomorrow under the tree and you keep talking.”

The mango tree always stands there, witnessing and remembering everything, and at the same time becomes an inseparable part of the collective memory of the locals. “Each growth layer that trees add every year contains a bit of the air from that year. The trees absorb carbon dioxide from the air through tiny pores (气孔) , which helps build their tissues, so they physically hold the record of the years of their surroundings,” said Benjamin Swett, author of New York City of Trees. In this way, trees also serve as nature’s memory stick, keeping a record of a history as long as themselves.

The English language borrows a lot from trees: We turn over a new leaf and branch out, meaning we move on from the past and start something new. And there are times when we can’t see the wood for the trees. We tend to enjoy the flourishing leaves, branches, and roots of the trees. However, we pay little attention to the forests that embrace trees. The same things often happen to us in our own lives. We often dip ourselves into some bad experiences in life. As a result, we may give up at a terrible moment instead of imagining satisfying success after defeating the failure.

Trees inspire mankind, not just through language, but through ideas. Perhaps the most famous is a tree in a garden in Lincolnshire, England, where an apple fell and inspired young Isaac Newton to wonder: Why would that apple always fall directly to the ground? According to an   18th-century account, Newton was home from Cambridge when he stepped into the garden and into a reverie (沉思) . There, the idea of gravitation came into his mind, inspired by an apple.

1. What is the role of a mango tree in Naunde?

A．A spot to bind the locals together.	B．A witness to the changing weather.
C．A generous food supplier on Earth.	D．A shelter to protect villagers in disasters.

2. How do trees keep a record of their surroundings?

A．By changing the width of their growth layer.

B．By sticking out branches in different directions.

C．By absorbing carbon dioxide to build their tissues.

D．By reflecting changing climate conditions with their tiny pores.

3. What is the fourth paragraph mainly about?

A．Suggestions on facing failure.	B．Famous English stories about trees.
C．The relationship between trees and forests.	D．Lessons from English expressions related to trees.

4. Why does the author mention Newton in the last paragraph?

A．To explain the necessity of observation.	B．To show how gravitation was discovered.
C．To stress the importance of trees in inspiring ideas.	D．To introduce how trees serve as a mirror of history.

9 . 阅读下面材料，根据其内容和所给段落开头语续写两段，使之构成一篇完整的短文。

More than 20 hours earlier, my friend Emma and I had stood at the entrance to the cave. We laughed and joked as I climbed down the steep mouth and she followed. Six of us had gone on that camping trip, but after a full day of exploring caves, the others had gone back to the campsite to eat. Emma and I decided to explore one more cave.

The mud of the cave floor was soft and sticky as we snaked our way through the tunnel. The air was damp and heavy. As the passage twisted through the earth, it became smaller. Then, suddenly, after a tight squeeze, I came into a larger room.

“Once you make it past this narrow spot you can almost stand,” I told Emma, as I stretched out my arms and legs and enjoyed the big space. “Alright, I’m almost th...” Emma’s sentence was cut short. I turned around. “Are you alright?” I asked. All I could see was her face, and her eyes were full of fear. “I don’t think so,” she said. “I’m stuck.”

Emma and I tried everything we could to free her. But it became apparent that we needed help. I took out my cell phone to call my other four friends, but there was no signal. I couldn’t go to seek help because Emma was stuck between me and the cave mouth. That was why we were so relieved when we heard voices behind us. A beam of light shot down the tunnel.

“What’s going on here?” rang a young man’s voice. “We need help,” I shouted. “She’s stuck.” “I’ve got two buddies with me,” he said. “They can go to find a park ranger (公园管理员), but I’ll stay here and see if I can help from this side.”

注意：
1.续写词数应为150左右；
2.请按如下格式作答。

The next several hours were long and arduous (艰难的).

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Almost five hours after we had entered the cave, the rescue team arrived.

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