1 . If you think about World Heritage Sites, you probably think of places associated with ancient art and culture and historical buildings. And of course, many of these are on the World Heritage List (WHL). These include remains of ancient cultures like Cuzco in Peru or the rock city of Petra in Jordan as well as old city centers such as Rome in Italy. Also common are places of artistic or cultural significance, like the Stonehenge stone circle in England. But the WHL contains a lot of sites that are not so obvious. Let’s look at a few of the more unusual sites on the WHL and why it is important to preserve them.
Citadel of Haiti
These monuments were built at the end of the 19th century when Haiti became independent and the many thousands of black slaves in Haiti were free for the first time. These ex-slaves built the monuments, which the WHL describes as “a universal symbol of liberty”.
Borders of France and Spain
This is an area of great natural beauty and the mountains have many interesting geological formations.
But it is also an area of small farms. The WHL has listed the site because it shows us about past European society through its landscape of villages, farms, fields, up land pastures and mountain roads.
The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway
This railway in India was opened in 1881 and is still operating today. It crosses a difficult area of mountain landscape and it is a great example of railway engineering. The WHL says that it is “the first, and still the most outstanding, example of a hill passenger railway.”
The city of Brasilia
Brasilia is a capital city that was created from nothing in 1956. The WHL calls it “a land mark in the history of town planning”. The different areas of the city and the buildings themselves were all designed at the same time so that they would harmonize with each other.
1. What’s the function of the examples of World Heritage Sites in paragraph 1?| A．To highlight the importance of WHL. |
| B．To exemplify sites of artistic and cultural value. |
| C．To compare the differences between various sites. |
| D．To draw readers’ attention to more unique sites on the WHL. |
| A．Former slaves. | B．Citizens in Haiti. |
| C．Active revolutionaries. | D．Haiti government. |
| A．Citadel of Haiti. | B．Borders of France and Spain. |
| C．The city of Brasilia. | D．The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway. |
2 . In a fascinating discovery, western lowland gorillas (大猩猩) at Zoo Atlanta have been caught summoning their keepers using a strange cough-sneeze mixture, which researchers have called a “snough”. Only two other species have displayed this ability to create new vocalizations to attract our attention: zoo-housed chimpanzees and orangutans. Now, we can add gorillas to that list.
As many of us know, Koko put a spotlight on gorilla intelligence in the 1980s and 1990s with her incredible ability to communicate with humans using sign language. She was trained and worked hard at it, but now it seems gorillas have taken it upon themselves to establish unique communication with us in their own way.
Roberta Salmi, a biological anthropologist at the University of Georgia, and colleagues ran an experiment to confirm the purpose of the “snough”, by placing eight of the zoo’s gorillas in three different situations. In the first, only the keeper was present; in the second only the food was present; in the final one, the keeper was holding the food. The food and keeper were in sight but out of reach. The gorillas involved used the “snough” vocalization most when there was a human present with food, indicating the call is likely an attempt to get the keeper’s attention.
This complex vocal learning — the ability to produce unique calls — is rare in the animal kingdom and confirmed only in some species of birds, bats and elephants. But they all do so by imitating. The analysis showed the gorilla’s “snough” is a unique sound, not an imitation — although they are certainly capable of imitating us in other ways.
“These results demonstrate that gorillas can change their calls to produce a novel sound and furthermore confirm that they can produce their calls and gestures intentionally to change the attention state of their caregiver,” the team concluded in their paper. We’ve clearly long underestimated these clever souls.
1. Which of the following can replace “summoning” underlined in paragraph 1?| A．pleasing | B．calling | C．finding | D．warning |
| A．By ordering the gorillas to make the “snough” vocalization. |
| B．By training the gorillas to attract their keepers’ attention. |
| C．By comparing the gorillas’ reactions in different situations. |
| D．By gathering information about the gorillas from their keepers. |
| A．To illustrate gorillas can imitate humans in other ways. |
| B．To confirm only gorillas have the ability to produce unique calls. |
| C．To prove the animals can produce unique calls through imitation. |
| D．To show gorillas’ ability to invent the new vocalization is uncommon. |
| A．Some animals have the ability to make new sounds. |
| B．Gorillas can create a new sound to draw zookeepers’ attention. |
| C．Some intelligent animals try to attract attention by imitating. |
| D．Gorillas are able to communicate with humans using unique gestures. |
3 . Every April 22 people come together to take action that will protect the environment. One theme of Earth Day is “Invest (投资) In Our Planet”. So how is investment in eco-innovation helping to deliver a more sustainable future?
When it comes to the environment, it can be argued that the technology industry is both the problem and the solution. Tech is responsible for between 3.5% and 4% of global greenhouse gas emissions (排放物). And the EU believes the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector is responsible for10% of all electricity consumption. On the other hand, we all want a sustainable future for the planet. Yet we also want the convenience and fun of modern living. Obviously, only eco-innovation can deliver the solutions.
Eco-innovation is the key to doing more with less. All over the world, and across many different industries, innovators are working to reduce the human footprint while improving productivity. Innovative farming is a good example.
Until recently, most agricultural improvements focused on the development of machines. Now digital tools are causing a new wave of efficiency. Innovative farming companies look to increase farm efficiency and reduce input waste through farming techniques. And they are using real-time devices located in the field or in equipment. The data collected by these devices help farmers make better decisions about where to provide effort and resources while reducing the environmental footprint.
As people’s awareness of environmental protection continues to increase, the tech industry needs to keep working on the inventions like those described above. These breakthroughs will help us all to do more with less. Also, tech companies are facing calls to keep their own houses in order. Lawmakers and consumers want them to use fewer materials in the production process and rethink their approach to recycling and waste. The good news is that governments and eco-innovative companies have already carried out a major clean-up mission.
1. What can we learn about the technology industry according to paragraph 2?| A．It contributes to saving electricity. |
| B．It will change our traditional way of life. |
| C．It benefits and damages the environment. |
| D．It is a major cause of greenhouse gas emissions. |
| A．The use of digital equipment. | B．The training of farmers. |
| C．The collection of resources. | D．The invention of machines. |
| A．Build more greenhouses. | B．Meet the market requirements. |
| C．Watch their environmental behavior. | D．Change their management style. |
| A．The long-term goal of Earth Day |
| B．Modern farming and technological change |
| C．The key to the development of technology industry |
| D．Eco-innovation and environmental protection |
4 . Any schoolchild knows that a whale breathes through its blowhole. Fewer know that a blowhole is a nostril (鼻孔) slightly changed by evolution into a form more useful for a mammal that spends its life at sea. And only a dedicated expert would know that while toothed whales, such as sperm whales, have one hole, baleen (鲸须) whales, such as humpback and Rice whales, have two.
Even among the baleen whales, the placing of those nostrils differs. In some species they are close together. In others, they are much further apart. In a paper published in Biology Letters Conor Ryan, a marine biologist at the Scottish Association for Marine Science, suggests why that might be. Having two nostrils, he argues, helps whales smell in stereo (立体空间).
Many types of baleen whales eat tiny animals known as zooplankton (浮游动物), which they catch by filtering (过滤) them from seawater using the sheets of fibrous baleen that have replaced teeth in their mouths. But to eat something you first have to find it. Toothed whales do not hunt by scent. In fact, the olfactory bulb—the part of the brain that processes smell—is absent in such creatures. But baleen whales still have olfactory bulbs, which suggests smell remains important. And scent can indeed give zooplankton away. Zooplankton like to eat other tiny creatures called phytoplankton (浮游植物). When these are under attack, they release a special gas called dimethyl sulphide, which in turn attracts baleen whales.
Most animals have stereoscopic senses. Having two eyes, for instance, allows an animal to compare the images from each in order to perceive depth. Having two ears lets them locate the direction from which a sound is coming. Dr Ryan theorized that paired blowholes might bring baleen whales the same sorts of benefits.
The farther apart the sensory organs are, the more information can be extracted by the animal that bears them. The researchers used drones to photograph the nostrils of 143 whales belonging to 14 different species. Sure enough, baleen whales that often eat zooplankton, such as the North Atlantic right whale, have nostrils that are farther apart than do those, such as humpback whales, that eat zooplankton occasionally. Besides allowing them to breathe, it seems that some whales use their blowholes to determine in which direction dinner lies.
1. What do we know about whales’ nostrils according to the first two paragraphs?| A．They are adapted ones. | B．They are developed merely for smell. |
| C．They are not easy to detect. | D．They are fixed universally in numbers. |
| A．The teeth that baleen whales have. |
| B．The smell that phytoplankton send. |
| C．The sound waves that zooplankton create. |
| D．The chemical signals that zooplankton give off. |
| A．By quoting a theory. | B．By using examples. |
| C．By making contrast. | D．By making inferences. |
| A．The sense of smell. | B．The possibility to attract food. |
| C．The ability to locate food. | D．The ability to communicate. |
| A．He is sick. |
| B．He wants to raise a dog. |
| C．He is allergic to long-haired animals. |
6 . When astronauts land on Mars, a couple of decades from now, perhaps, they’ll need to find a way to communicate-with each other, with equipment on and around the planet, and with mission control back on Earth. Despite living so far from home, they’ll no doubt want to connect with loved ones, or stream their favorite shows or music.
But setting up a Wi-Fi connection to Earth’s internet won’t be a choice. Earth is simply too far away—around 55 million to 400 million kilometers, depending on where the planets are in their orbits. We will need another strategy.
Establishing good communication equipment is essential for human missions to Mars. Researchers are testing ways to upgrade existing networks, along with some far-out alternatives. For example, NASA’s Psyche mission, which lifted off in October with the job of exploring an asteroid (小行星) between Mars and Jupiter, will also test the communication using lasers. Lasers could carry far more data than the radio waves that have been used from the earliest days of space travel.
There is no strategy which can get rid of the time lag in communications between Earth and Mars; a message moving at the speed of light takes anywhere between 4 and 24 minutes for a one-way trip. In other words, a quick ping to mission control is out of the question, not to mention a WhatsApp call home.
There’s also the issue of solar conjunction (聚合), says Parfitt, when the sun comes between Earth and Mars. This happens for a couple of weeks every two years or so, cutting off communications between the planets. The last one took place in November.
But new approaches could open possibilities that make communications on Mars more like what we experience here on Earth. At least one research team has wondered: What if Mars had its own internet?
1. What discourages Mars to have a net connection to Earth?| A．The Earth is too far to reach. | B．The Earth is hard to identify. |
| C．The current strategy doesn’t work well. | D．Many planets are blocking the signals. |
| A．Raising a question. | B．Giving an example. |
| C．Listing numbers. | D．Comparing facts. |
| A．Laser carries less data than the radio waves. | B．There is no such thing as time lag. |
| C．It takes only four minutes for a single trip. | D．The process could sometimes be cut off. |
| A．The possible mission of the astronauts on Mars. |
| B．The communication among the astronauts on Mars. |
| C．The possibility for Mars to have its own network. |
| D．The opinions given by experienced astronomers. |
7 . Every order of takeout comes with a side of single-use plastics and each plastic fork. knife, spoon and straw-whether or not you wanted it or used it-ends up in the trash.
New research found that 139 million metric tons of single-use plastic waste was generated in 2021-six million metric tons more single-use plastics compared to 2019. A hunger for takeout meals during the pandemic contributed to the surge.
An estimated 60% of Americans order takeout or delivery at least once a week and online ordering is growing 300% faster than in-house dining; that means millions of single-use plastic utensils (餐具) are going out with every order.
New laws aim to address the problem. Some of the recent bills are thanks to The National Reuse Network, part of the environmental nonprofit Upstream, which launched a national Skip the Stuff campaign to work out policies that require restaurants to include single-use plastic utensils, straws, and napkins only when customers request them.
The bills also require meal delivery and online apps like Uber Eats, GrubHub and Door Dash to add single-use extras to their menus; customers can choose the items and quantities to have them included in the order. Customers that don’t order the single-use plastics won’t receive them. The goal of the bills is to reduce the 40 billion plastic utensils sent to the landfill (垃圾填埋场) every year.
“Most of the time, people are taking food home or to their offices where there are reusable utensils so these utensils wind up in a drawer or get thrown out,” says Alexis Goldsmith, national organizing director for a nationwide project Beyond Plastics. “Some people do need utensils, but for the most part, they’re not needed.”
To date, Skip the Stuff bills have been passed in several cities, including Denver, Washington, D.C. and Chicago, California and Washington state passed statewide bills that make single-use plastic “accessories” available with takeout orders only upon request.
Organizations like Upstream, Beyond plastics and NRDC have created toolkits to help additional communities launch their own Skip the Stuff campaigns.
1. What does the underlined word “surge” in paragraph 2 probably mean?| A．Great desire. | B．Sharp decline. | C．Rapid increase. | D．Obvious panic. |
| A．Choosing green products. | B．Adding single-use napkins. |
| C．Recycling and reusing utensils. | D．Providing utensils only on request. |
| A．To reduce plastic waste. | B．To stop bad eating habits. |
| C．To encourage people to eat out. | D．To better the dining environment. |
| A．Unimportant. | B．Damaging. | C．Much-needed. | D．Well-known. |
“I’m going to miss you so much, Poppy,” said the tall, thin teenager. He bent down to hug his old friend goodbye. He stood up, hugged his parents, and smiled, trying not to let his emotions(情绪) get the better of him.
His parents were not quite able to keep theirs under control. They had driven their son several hours out of town to the university where he would soon be living and studying. It was time to say goodbye for now at least. The family hugged and smiled through misty eyes and then laughed.
The boy lifted the last bag onto his shoulder, and flashed a bright smile. “I guess this is it,” he said. “I’ll see you back home in a month, okay?” His parents nodded, and they watched as he walked out of sight into the crowds of hundreds of students and parents. The boy’s mother turned to the dog, “Okay, Poppy, time to go back home.”
The house seemed quiet as a tomb without the boy living there. All that week, Poppy didn’t seem interested in her dinner, her favourite toy, or even in her daily walk. Her owners were sad too, but they knew their son would be back to visit. Poppy didn’t.
They offered the dog some of her favorite peanut butter treats. They even let her sit on the sofa, but the old girl just wasn’t her usual cheerful self. Her owners started to get worried. “What should we do to cheer Poppy up?” asked Dad. “We’ve tried everything.”
“I have an idea, but it might be a little crazy,” smiled Mom. “Without anybody left in the house but us, this place could use a bit of fun. Let’s get a little dog for Poppy.”
It didn’t take long before they walked through the front door carrying a big box. Poppy welcomed them home as usual, but when she saw the box, she stopped. She put her nose on it. Her tail began wagging(摆动)ever so slowly, then faster as she caught the smell.
注意：1. 所续写短文的词数应为150左右;
2. 续写部分分为两段，每段的开头语已为你写好;
Paragraph 1
Dad opened the box and a sweet little dog appeared.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Paragraph 2
A few weeks later, the boy arrived home from the university.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________| A．Sunny. | B．Rainy. | C．Cloudy. |
10 . The climate crisis may lead the human race to decrease in size, as mammals (哺乳动物) with smaller bodies appear better able to deal with rising global temperatures, a leading fossil expert said.
Prof Steve Brusatte, a palaeontologist (古生物学家) at the University of Edinburgh, suggested that the way in which other mammals have previously responded to periods of climate change could offer an insight into humans’ future.
He compared the potential situation of people as similar to that of early horses, which became smaller in body size as temperatures rose around 55m years ago, a period called the Paleocene Eocene Thermal Maximum.
Writing in The Rise and Reign of the Mammals, Brusatte notes that animals in warmer parts of the world today are often smaller than those in colder areas, an ecological principle known as Bergmann’s rule. “The reasons are not entirely understood, but it is probably, in part, because smaller animals have a higher surface area compared to their size than bigger animals and can thus better get rid of extra heat” he writes.
Brusatte said that becoming smaller was “a common way that mammals deal with climate change”. He added, “That’s not to say every species of mammal would get smaller, but it seems to be a common survival trick of mammals when temperatures spike pretty quickly, which does raise the question: if temperatures do spike really quickly, might humans dwarf, might humans get smaller? And I think that’s certainly convincing.”
In a recent study, researchers studying human remains over the past million years have also suggested that temperature is a major predictor of body size variation, while scientists studying red deer have said that warmer winters in northern Europe and Scandinavia may lead to the body size of these animals becoming smaller.
However, not all experts agree that rising temperature causes mammals to decease. Prof Adrian Lister, of the Natural History Museum in London, said the relationship shown by the recent human remains study is weak, while the strong relationship between temperature and mammal body size may often result from the availability of food and resources.
Lister doubts whether humans will shrink as the climate heats. “We are not really controlled by natural selection,” he said. “If that was going to happen, you’d need to find large people dying before they could reproduce because of climate warming. That is not happening in today’s world. We wear clothes, we have got heating, we have got air conditioning if it is too hot.”
1. According to the passage, the early horses got smaller in body size .| A．to keep cool | B．to save food |
| C．to keep warm | D．to avoid being killed |
| A．Rise | B．Drop | C．Balance | D．Change |
| A．Every species of mammal would get smaller as the temperature goes up. |
| B．Animals in warmer areas are definitely smaller than those in colder areas. |
| C．Smaller animals have a higher surface area and so they can cool down quickly. |
| D．The change of Mammals’ body size is closely related to their food and other resources. |
| A．Climate Change Causes Natural Disasters. | B．Climate Change Leads to Heated Discussions. |
| C．Climate Change Causes Changes in Body Size. | D．Climate Change Leads to Changed Lifestyle. |
