1 . I was first going into this final day, the Junior Sled Dog Championship. We’d trained two years and wanted to beat Blake. I knelt down to pat Kenai and my hands
Just before the count down started, Blake shot me a
“Kenai! No!” My voice came out a howl. Kenai
The race vet examining Kenai, I watched Blake accept the trophy. Kenai squirming in my lap, I leaned over upon him. Just at that moment, I felt a warm tongue on my wet cheek. I smiled and realized that I had the
| A．softened | B．shook | C．withdrew | D．extended |
| A．clever | B．thirsty | C．helpful | D．ready |
| A．broad | B．satisfied | C．tight | D．slight |
| A．As | B．Beyond | C．Before | D．After |
| A．pulled | B．charged | C．jumped | D．barked |
| A．cut | B．missed | C．kept | D．rounded |
| A．took off | B．flew away | C．turned around | D．bent forward |
| A．race | B．difference | C．gap | D．goal |
| A．Suddenly | B．Finally | C．Gradually | D．Occasionally |
| A．way | B．hold | C．temper | D．sight |
| A．quitted | B．insisted | C．sighed | D．froze |
| A．struggled | B．decided | C．refused | D．pretended |
| A．forcing | B．begging | C．ordering | D．persuading |
| A．took up | B．put up | C．brought up | D．wrapped up |
| A．achievement | B．companion | C．prize | D．friendship |
2 . When a severe heat wave covered California in July 2006, it killed an estimated 650 people. But it may be tough to recall because heat waves don’t typically have names. They are already the deadliest weather-related danger, yet they remain invisible killers that few people take seriously. What if the most life-threatening heat waves did have names?
This summer, as many experience high temperatures fueled by greenhouse gas pollution and El Niño, there has been new openness to the idea of naming heat waves. People in Southern Europe have dubbed the July heat wave Cerberus. The results of a survey of more than 2,000 people found that people who knew the heat wave was named Cerberus were also more likely to take actions to stay safe, including drinking more water, spending more time indoors and warning others about the risk.
Though more research is needed, this suggests that naming heat waves, combined with stronger messaging, can not only help change people’s perception of the risk, but prompt them to take protective action. It would be more effective to broadcast that Heat Wave Zoe, a dangerous Category 3 event, will start tomorrow and here’s what you can do to protect yourself, your neighbors and co-workers. Names, after all, are easier to remember than numbers or weather forecasts.
But the World Meteorological (气象学的) Organization opposes naming heat waves on the grounds that it would confuse and distract the public. And the National Weather Service has no plans to rank or name heat waves either, saying that heat and its health impacts vary so dramatically across different regions and seasons that even coming up with a standard definition of a heat wave is impossible.
There’s nothing to lose by trying out a pilot program to name the most dangerous heat waves. It’s pretty clear the current approach to these disasters is falling far short of what’s necessary to protect lives. We need other ways to call attention to it and warn the public of the danger. It’s hard to make progress fighting an enemy with no name.
1. Why does the author mention the severe heat wave that covered California in July 2006?| A．To clarify the severity of heat waves. | B．To remind people of the tough heat wave. |
| C．To introduce the topic of naming heat waves. | D．To show people’s ignorance of the heat wave. |
| A．Due to its effectiveness, naming waves is a must. |
| B．There exist benefits of categorizing and naming heat waves. |
| C．Naming heat waves can change people’s perception of the risk. |
| D．Naming heat waves can urge people to take prompt action to protect themselves. |
| A．It will confuse and distract the public. |
| B．It is inappropriate for naming heat waves. |
| C．It is difficult to distinguish and predict heat waves. |
| D．It is unlikely to put forward a standard definition for heat waves. |
| A．Approving. | B．Indifferent. | C．Doubtful. | D．Opposed. |
My story started one autumn morning, at the bend on a path.
I was 13 years old, and was on the way to school. It was the first time I had caught sight of a fox. Fascinated to the point that I forgot all fear, I dared to go up to it. I had never come so close to a wild animal. There was nobody else around, only me and the fox.
“Hey, fox!” I tried to greet it, though my voice was so weak that it felt like I was saying hello to myself. It didn’t hear me. It stayed there and I watched it. My heart was beating flat out. It was so cute. For a moment, I thought I might be able to touch it.
Throughout the day at school, I could only think of the fox at the big beech (山毛榉) tree. At my return to the place where we met, I was sure I’d find it there.
And I did. This time I gathered a little bit more courage and called out to it, “Fox!” Of course it escaped. But that only made me long to meet it again. I decided that if I could find its kennel (洞) and catch it, I would try and tame (驯服) it, making it my friend.
Thus, I spent most of my free time in the forests trying to find the fox during the following months. But I never saw it again before winter came. During the winter, I followed its footprints far across the fields. Suddenly I was alarmed by the howling of wolves near me. I ran away frightened, stumbled and hurt my ankle. It healed very slowly, so that I had to stay at home during the winter, reading a book about animals of the forest and foxes.
When spring arrived, I was free again. I looked for fox kennels and waited for my fox. To my amazement, it had got young ones but kept moving because of my observations; therefore I decided to observe the fox from a longer distance.
注意：1. 续写词数应为150左右；
2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Paragraph 1:
Finally, it would let me get close.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Paragraph 2:
To my surprise, the day after I took it home, it fled.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________4 . Every day Juanita Mengel, a 67-year-old woman from the state of Ohio, wakes up and puts on her prosthetic (假体的) leg.
Then, Mengel does the same for Lola-Pearl, her five-year-old cat. Lola-Pearl also missed her back left leg. Mengel has many cats. Most of them have disabilities. But Lola-Pearl is special. She is a therapy (治疗) cat. And, she and Mengel are partners of a kind. They are among 200 therapy cat teams registered in the United States by the non-profit group, Pet Partners.
The group helps humans and pets alike by setting them up into teams to provide animal-assisted (帮助) therapy. The teams visit hospitals, nursing homes and schools and assist those in need. Besides dogs and cats, Pet Partners registers other species as therapy animals, including horses, rabbits, rats, guinea pigs, birds and mini pigs.
Taylor Griffin is national director at Pet Partners. She said, “Therapy animals are animals who’ve been gauged whether they are suitable for assisting some people, and are based on their ability to meet new people and enjoy the process.”
Mengel said Lola-Pearl showed signs that she would make a good therapy cat soon after the animal joined her family. “I just knew she would be a good therapy because she was so good with people. People really were attracted to her, too,” Mengel said.
Mengel was a traveling nurse when she was in a car accident that almost killed her. One of her legs could not be saved. Later, she connected with a friend in the state of Missouri who had a severely injured kitten. The cat’s legs were twisted together. An animal medical specialist worked to repair the damage, but in the end, they had to remove one of the baby cat’s legs. That kitten was Lola-Pearl.
Mengel took Lola-Pearl as her cat after talking with her friend. Despite the difficulties Mengel has faced, she is grateful to Lola-Pearl and their work in Pet Partners.
“It’s a really rewarding experience,” she said. “I get just as much out of it as the people that I visit.”
1. What can we know about Pet Partners?| A．It mainly provides animal-assisted therapy. | B．It is a non-profit group founded by Taylor Griffin. |
| C．It only offers help to patients in hospitals. | D．It doesn’t register birds as therapy animals. |
| A．Guessed. | B．Designed. | C．Explained. | D．Measured. |
| A．By working in Pet Partners. | B．Through one of her friends. |
| C．By repairing Lola-Pearl’s leg. | D．Through moving to Missouri. |
| A．Optimistic and helpful. | B．Proud and humorous. |
| C．Talkative and thoughtful. | D．Honest and talented. |
THE AMAZING ANIMALS OF AUSTRALIA
Our topic today is “Creatures Unique to Australia”, with questions answered by wildlife expert, Dr Jim Smith.
Australia has lots of unique animals, but which animal is a symbol of the country?
It has to be the kangaroo, as it has a wide distribution throughout the country. It’s a tough animal that has to survive in a difficult environment. Also, it cannot walk backwards, so it is always moving forwards. This expresses the strength and resolve of the Australians as individuals and as a nation. Baby kangaroos weigh only two grammes at birth. They then find their way into their mother’s pouch—a kind of pocket—to stay safe and warm. They sleep and drink milk in that temporary, protected environment until they are about seven or eight months old. After this phase, they go out to try their legs. After they learn to jump, they gradually spend less time with their mother and learn to be independent. Kangaroos may look cute, but encounters with them don’t always end so well. Kangaroos can hit and kick very hard, so please folks, if you see some kangaroos, remember they’re not for petting!
Koalas are cute, and we see so many pictures of people holding them. But in many places in Australia, it is against the law to even touch them. Can you clarify that?
They are really quite cute, but the truth is, koalas are very sensitive creatures who can easily panic because of even small changes in their environment. They spend quite a lot of time eating, sleeping, and hanging onto tree trunks, so interaction with humans can cause them a lot of stress.
Because of this, the government began to make laws against touching koalas, in the interest of animal protection, as well as public safety. So, if you see one in the wild, you shouldn’t approach it to pick it up or even touch it. If you want to hold a koala, you have to go to certain licensed zoos where animal experts make sure that the koalas selected for each session are in a good state for human contact and that they are handled for only a limited time and on a limited frequency of occasions.
So, we’ve talked about some cute animals. What about animals which aren’t so cute?
My favourite is a little creature called the Tasmanian devil. If you are out camping in Tasmania and come across one, the experience might scare you! Tasmanian devils hunt at night, so you won’t usually see them, but you may hear their loud cries when they are fighting or eating. The noise they make could wake the dead. Frightening! They are about the size of small dogs and look like rather large black rats. They also have a terrible smell! Their diet is mostly dead animals. Fortunately, despite their name, they are generally not violent towards people.
Australia also has some animals that many people have never heard of, for example, the duckbilled platypus. Is that some kind of bird?
Not at all. While it may lay eggs in a nest like a bird, it’s really a primitive mammal, with a unique biology. Its eggs hatch after about ten days, and then the baby platypus nurses from its mother like all other mammals. Its nose looks like a duck’s bill, and it has feet like a duck’s so it can dive under the water, but it’s covered in hair. Do you know what’s really strange about a platypus? The platypus doesn’t use its senses of sight or smell to find food. It has a capacity to find food in the water by using electrical sensors in its bill. There are only a small handful of animals in the world that can do that!
1. What can we infer from the last two sentences of the first part?| A．Kangaroos can be dangerous sometimes. | B．It is hard to take kangaroos as family pets. |
| C．Meeting kangaroos is always a lucky thing. | D．It is always good to pet a cute kangaroo. |
| A．After they were born for ten days. | B．Until they can dive under the water. |
| C．Since they were born immediately. | D．When they are about seven or eight months old. |
| A．It may disturb their daily activities. | B．It can change their living habits. |
| C．It will bring pressure to their life. | D．It may attack people by surprise. |
| A．They are aggressive against humans. | B．They frighten their prey to death. |
| C．They belong to a rat family. | D．They make loud and frightening noise. |
6 . On September 7, 1991, the costliest hailstorm (雹暴) in Canadian history hit Calgary’s southern suburbs. As a result, since 1996 a group of insurance companies have spent about $2 million per year on the Alberta Hail Suppression Project. Airplanes seed threatening storm cells with a chemical to make small ice crystals fall as rain before they can grow into dangerous hailstones. But farmers in east-central Alberta — downwind of the hail project flights — worry that precious moisture (水分) is being stolen from their thirsty land by the cloud seeding.
Norman Stienwand, who farms in that area, has been addressing public meetings on this issue for years. “Basically, the provincial government is letting the insurance companies protect the Calgary-Edmonton urban area from hail,” Mr. Stienwand says, “but they’re increasing drought risk as far east as Saskatchewan.”
The Alberta hail project is managed by Terry Krauss, a cloud physicist who works for Weather Modification Inc. of Fargo, North Dakota. “We affect only a very small percentage of the total moisture in the air, so we cannot be causing drought.” Dr. Krauss says. “In fact, we may be helping increase the moisture downwind by creating wetter ground.”
One doubter about the safety of cloud seeding is Chuck Doswell, a research scientist who just retired from the University of Oklahoma. “In 1999, I personally saw significant tornadoes form from a seeded storm cell in Kansas,” Dr. Doswell says. “Does cloud seeding create killer storms or reduce moisture downwind? No one really knows, of course, but the seeding goes on.”
Given the degree of doubt, Mr. Stienwand suggests, “It would be wise to stop cloud seeding.” In practice, doubt has had the opposite effect. Due to the lack of scientific proof concerning their impacts, no one has succeeded in winning a lawsuit against cloud-seeding companies. Hence, private climate engineering can proceed in relative legal safety.
1. What does the project aim to do?| A．Conserve moisture in the soil. | B．Forecast disastrous hailstorms. |
| C．Prevent the formation of hailstones. | D．Investigate chemical use in farming. |
| A．Managers of insurance companies. | B．Farmers in east-central Alberta. |
| C．Provincial government officials. | D．Residents of Calgary and Edmonton. |
| A．To compare different kinds of seeding methods. | B．To illustrate the development of big hailstorms. |
| C．To show the link between storms and moisture. | D．To indicate a possible danger of cloud seeding. |
| A．Scientific studies have proved Stienwand right. | B．Cloud-seeding companies will continue to exist. |
| C．The doubt about cloud seeding has disappeared. | D．Private climate engineering is illegal in Canada. |
7 . Creighton is no stranger to the media. He was the face of a TV series, which remains popular for its behind-the-scenes look at the ups and downs of zoo life. He was often stopped on the street, and is regularly called “the man from the zoo”.
Creighton’s father and his brother also worked at Dublin Zoo. “I don’t ever remember not being in the zoo,” he said.
Creighton’s passion for animal welfare is clear, and not something that has reduced over the years — for him, or his father. Just a few hours earlier he was at the vet’s with his father where their 15-year-old German shepherd had to be put to sleep. “For any zookeeper, losing an animal is like losing a part of yourself,” said Creighton. He has been present for the euthanasia of an old lion, which reduced many zookeepers there to tears. He was present for the death of a chimpanzee in her 50s who both Creighton and his father had cared for over the years. He also described the death of a rhino, which escaped from a transport container in 1996, as something gut-wrenching.
In January 2021, he left Dublin Zoo and started his own consultancy agency, Global Elephant Care. He is working on developing elephant care and enclosures (围场) in France, the UK, the US, Israel, Australia and the United Arab Emirates, where elephants will have air conditioning to save them from the 50-degree heat. He is also working on projects to manage the gradual release of elephants back into the wild, but nevertheless talks straightly about their situation. There are about 40,000 Asian elephants left in the world. In an hour, there will probably be five or six African elephants killed for their ivory.
Despite the cruel reality for elephants around the world, with increasing human encroachment (侵占) on their natural habitat, Creighton faces it with a smile.
1. Why is Creighton familiar to media?| A．He was involved in a TV program. |
| B．He filmed a documentary on the people. |
| C．He posted his work life in the zoo online. |
| D．He was the zookeeper of the popular zoo. |
| A．Too proud. | B．Greatly cheerful. |
| C．Quite helpless. | D．Extremely upset. |
| A．To raise money to help elephants. |
| B．To guarantee the elephants’ welfare. |
| C．To manage the elephants in the wild. |
| D．To improve elephants’ living conditions. |
| A．Efficient and just. | B．Sociable and loyal. |
| C．Caring and optimistic. | D．Sensitive and mean. |
8 . Parrots are prey animals, which means that other predators (捕食者) in the wild, such as hawks or snakes, are looking to make them into a meal. This one factor influences parrots’ behavior in your house more than any other.
Parrots are most easily hurt when feeding on the ground. Membership in a group plays an important function in ensuring their safety and improving their chances of survival from attacks by predators. The most common predators of parrots include hawks, snakes, cats, monkeys, and bats. Some predators make attacks only during the day while others hunt in the night.
As prey animals, parrots are constantly watching out for danger and they instinctively (本能地) react to risks. Their first choice is to take flight. However, if this is not possible, they will fight with their powerful beaks to defend themselves.
Because their biggest enemy is the hawk, parrots are especially reactive to quick movements from above and behind. For this reason, it is wise to avoid quick, sudden movements near your bird. This is a built-in reaction not subject to logic or reason. Simple and relatively harmless household objects can draw extreme fear responses from a bird. For example, a balloon may represent a hawk or a vacuum hose (吸尘器软管) may be the same as a snake in your bird’s mind.
As prey animals, parrots are often frightened by exposure to new household items or strangers. It is important to expose your bird to safe experiences and changes starting at a very young age to build flexibility and improve their adaptability. Variety in diet and toys, travel, and exposure to new people and places all help to make your bird more flexible and adaptable to change.
1. What is important for parrots to better survive from attacks in the wild?| A．Living in a group. | B．Growing beautiful feathers. |
| C．Feeding on the ground. | D．Avoiding coming out at night. |
| A．To attack back. | B．To get away. |
| C．To protect the young. | D．To play dead. |
| A．It may explode suddenly. | B．It may be in a strange shape. |
| C．It may have a strong color. | D．It may move around quickly. |
| A．To explain wild parrots’ behavior. | B．To give advice on raising a parrot. |
| C．To call for action to protect animals. | D．To introduce a study on bird ecology. |
9 . Whenever I order food for delivery, I play a little game to guess how many sets of tableware(餐具)the restaurant will provide with my meal. Sometimes restaurants will throw in two, three or four sets for just one order. But I rarely need any tableware at all, and the waste goes into the trash or collects dust in a kitchen drawer.
Researchers working with Chinese technology group Alibaba tried a simple approach to this problem. Instead of just wastefully doling out tableware, the company required food-delivery customers in some cities in China to pick how many sets of tableware they wanted to receive.The default (默认设置)was set at zero. The result, published today in the journal Science, was a 638% increase in the share of no-tableware orders. If applied across China, researchers found, the approach would save nearly 22 billion sets of plastic tableware. The study doesn’t cover carbon emissions, but it’s safe to say that the impact would be significant. It struck me as a useful reminder of the many low-hanging fruits across the economy that can cut waste, and emissions.
Nudging its customers cost Alibaba nothing more than a few hours of software engineering time and the impact it brought was immense. The concept of nudging comes from the field of behavioral economics known as nudge theory. It suggests that a slight action can encourage good human behavior without the need for policies that limit choice or economic punishment that raises the cost of bad behavior. To nudge customers to eat better, for example, a restaurant might organize its menu by listing healthy options first and bury unhealthy ones at the bottom. More recently, some big companies like Google have also begun to use nudges to advance climate objectives.
Behavioral economics broadly, and nudges more specifically, aren’t without controversy. Some might think it assigns consumers responsibility for addressing environmental challenges. But there is another way to look at it. In the absence of necessary policy—and policy is needed一companies can help encourage a widespread shift of consumer behavior.
And all of that behavioral change can add up. The International Energy Agency found in 2021 that small behavioral changes in energy consumption such as walking instead of driving and adjusting the thermostat could in total shave off 4% of global emissions. The more that companies can do to facilitate such changes, the better.
1. What did Alibaba do with tableware waste?| A．It stopped restaurants from handing out tableware. |
| B．It withdrew unused tableware from customers. |
| C．It updated the food -delivery device regularly. |
| D．It allowed picking tableware at customers’ demand. |
| A．Easily accessible things. | B．Fast increasing orders. |
| C．Exceptionally tough choices. | D．Widely accepted strategies. |
| A．It brings about economic loss. |
| B．It results from consumption policies. |
| C．It indicates small action changes behaviour. |
| D．It implies bad behaviour impacts economy. |
| A．Nudge theory affects behaviors. |
| B．Good behaviors boost economy. |
| C．Nudging helps build a greener world. |
| D．Behavioral economics benefits customers. |
10 . For years, communities around Kenya’s Tsavo National Park have been troubled by elephants straying (走失) into their farms and homes. Residents are caught unawares whenever the huge creatures turn up in their villages, hurting people and destroying things.
Four Kenyan teens, Sandra Lukindo, Joyce Moto, Nancy Wairimu and Macrin a Antonia, came up with a solar-powered sensor kit to alert (使戒备) the authorities to stray elephants.These four youngsters won the Startup Africa Competition and are now taking the global scene by storm.
The device is an integration of motion sensors and the Global System for Mobile communication with the ability to send strong signals and raise alarms once an elephant is on the way to a village. “It has a red light, which indicates that power is on. A sensor set to track an elephant passing about 180m away raises a siren (警报器), which alerts both the community and KenyaWildlife Service (KWS) officials through a short message service,” Wairimu said.
“This device will take care of both the elephants and the community. The number of elephants being killed secretly keeps increasing,” Antonia said. She cited research showing that KWS struggles to deal with illegal hunters in the vast park.
George Nagwala, KWS assistant director, said the creation is an effective way of solving the human-wildlife conflict, “We are happy because the community is getting a unique way of dealing with this problem, even as our officers work around the clock to safeguard wildlife and the community,” Nagwala said. The wildlife service is currently using radio collars to map out the elephants’ migratory routes and identify how far they travel in search of water and vegetation.
1. What has been a long-term headache for residents near Tsavo National Park?| A．Their villages being crowded with visitors. |
| B．Their houses being destroyed by storms often. |
| C．Their daily lives being impacted by stray elephants. |
| D．Their farmland being taken up to make room for the park. |
| A．To discuss the wide application of their device. |
| B．To explain what inspired their invention. |
| C．To demonstrate how their device works. |
| D．To introduce the elephants they have spotted. |
| A．It can help fight illegal elephant hunting. |
| B．It can replace the old-fashioned radio collars. |
| C．It can map out the elephants’ migratory routes. |
| D．It can offer a cheap way of driving elephants away. |
| A．Negative. | B．Positive. | C．Doubtful. | D．Neutral. |
