Ecotourism is the opposite of mass tourism. People travel to remote areas and visit faraway places without destroying the environment.Ecotourism is intended
Ecotourism makes people recognize how beautiful the land and the countryside are. Local tour guides show
Ecotourism started out in the 1980s as an alternative to mass tourism. Today it is one of the
Middle Island is a dangerous place for Little Penguins (企鹅), the smallest of the penguin species. At low tide (潮汐), it becomes
So, Allan Marsh, a local chicken farmer, advised
Maremmas have been protecting animals for centuries. Unlike most trained animals, Maremmas do not pose a threat to livestock
The City Council approved
More livestock guardian dogs
3 . Chimps use loud calls and gestures to make their feelings known but until now, the exact meaning for individual movements has remained a mystery. Now researchers believe they have translated the key gestures used in the chimp community and identified their intentions for the first time.
From 4,351 gestures, experts were able to identify 66 that are used for 19 specific message meanings, including showing a foot to tell a child they can climb on their back. The researchers were able to narrow down these 66 gestures to 36 that are used intentionally to achieve 15 purposes. The translations were made by Dr Catherine Hobaiter and her colleagues at St Andrews University in Scotland.
Dr Hobaiter used behavior sampling and filmed all recorded cases of gestural communication. Other gestures include stomping their feet to ask another chimp to stop what they are doing, and slapping objects together to ask another to follow them. Of the 19 meanings,17 encouraged interactions to start, or to develop, such as “move closer,” and “change play”. Some of the gestures were found to have more than one meaning. and only 10 of the 66 gestures were used for only a single meaning.
Researchers collected a total of 471 video clips from two social groups of chimps at a shelter near Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo. As well as identifying what the gesture means, they also discovered the technique needed to increase the chances of success.
“Human children use gestures to communicate before they produce their first words, and their earliest gestures typically appear around 10 months of age,” explained the researchers. “In great apes, there is good evidence that language-trained individuals are capable of acquiring and understanding signals, but this is far less clear in their natural communication. ”
1. Chimps slap the objects to____________.| A．tell others to stop what they are doing | B．ask others chimps to join them |
| C．gather other chimps to move closer | D．encourage interactions to start |
| A．Chimps trained in language are good at understanding signals. |
| B．Two social groups of chimps live at a shelter near Kinshasa. |
| C．Language-trained individuals do well in natural communication. |
| D．Chimps’earliest gestures appear around 10 months of age. |
| A．By analyzing causes. | B．By examining differences. |
| C．By making comparisons. | D．By following time order. |
| A．A New Research on Chimps | B．Human Children and Chimps |
| C．Getting the Chimps Trained for Language | D．Translating the Sign Language of Chimps |
4 . If all goes well, a balloon will soon rise from Space Center in Sweden. It will float high into the upper atmosphere, where nothing will happen, and then return to Earth. Nevertheless, a collection of environmental groups is trying to stop it.
The campaigners are against the flight because of what comes next. The balloon is a test flight for a research being run by the University of Harvard. The research aims to test an idea called SAI, in which fine dust is added into the upper atmosphere to boost the amount of sunlight reflected back into space. A future flight will release a small amount of calcium carbonate dust into the upper atmosphere, in order to help researchers learn more about solar geoengineering — an excellent but theoretical idea of deliberately adjusting the Earth's systems to prevent the bad effects of climate change.
Opponents worry about two things. The first is the moral issue. If solar geoengineering works, it could reduce pressure to deal with climate change at its source by cutting greenhouse-gas emissions. Furthermore, in order to keep temperatures low, the reflective particles (颗粒) would have to be topped up continuously. A sudden stop could result in very rapid wanning. Raymond Pierrehumbert, a physicist at the University of Oxford, says solar geoengineering is too risky even to research outside of computer simulations (模拟).
Not all environmentalists are opposed. The world is likely to miss the target, set in the Paris agreement, of keeping warming to 1.5℃."We're not well-served by not understanding what these technologies represent," says Steven Hamburg. Mr Hamburg favours small-scale geoengineering research. Other green organisations have also hesitantly approved of exploring the idea.
Exploration is likely to carry on in any case. Once a taboo, geoengineering is being taken increasingly seriously. A recent report on climate change suggested that SAI could help keep warming below 1.5℃ America has developed a research plan for solar geoengineering. Both China and India have launched research programmes of their own. Activists will continue to oppose experiments. But balloons will likely fly anyway.
1. How does solar geoengineering work?| A．Dust is put into the upper atmosphere to trap more heat. |
| B．Measures are taken intentionally to tackle the climate change. |
| C．Steps are taken deliberately to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions. |
| D．Dust is emptied into the atmosphere to reflect sunlight into Earth. |
| A．It is to be implemented on a large scale. |
| B．It has led to global warming against the original intention. |
| C．It is probably to miss the target of keeping warming to 1.5℃. |
| D．It may cause people to care little about greenhouse-gas emissions. |
| A．Should balloons, flight be banned? |
| B．Should solar geoengineering exploration go ahead? |
| C．How do balloons threaten the earth's climate? |
| D．How has solar geoengineering changed Earth? |
| A．Critical. | B．Positive. | C．Doubtful. | D．Frightened. |
5 . The idea of billions of people going through a few masks a week during this pandemic definitely rings alarm bells, but a team of researchers in Melbourne may have the solution.
They’ve discovered that adding millions of discarded face masks to road-paving (铺路) mixtures would actually lower the cost of the road, while preventing billions of them from landfills. Just one kilometer of road would need three million masks, and the polypropylene (聚丙烯) plastic used to make single-use surgical face masks also increased the flexibility and durability of the road.
The new material is a mixture of about 2% torn masks, with recycled concrete aggregate (RCA)—a material obtained from waste concrete and other minerals from destroyed buildings. This recycled material was found in the study to be ideal for two of the four layers generally required to create roadways. Paving a kilometer of two-way road with the RCA and three million face masks would result in a change of 93 tons of waste from landfills.
The final product then is more resistant to wear than asphalt (沥青), as well as being cheaper too, provided there was a method for collecting masks. The research team did a cost-analysis and found that, at $26 per ton, the RCA was about half the cost of mining raw materials, and as much as a third of the cost of shipping the used masks to a landfill.
The widespread application would be ideal for large infrastructure (基础设施) projects. For example, Washington has the 11th worst roads in terms of unaddressed repairs in the U.S. If the damaged roads in Washington state were repaired with the RCA/mask mixture, it would reuse nearly 10 billion masks, sparing American landfills hundreds of millions of tons of trash.
It’s said that the team is looking for private industry partners or governments willing to give their plastic mask road an opportunity for a large-scale test.
1. What does the underlined word “discarded” mean in paragraph 2?| A．Recycled. | B．Produced. |
| C．Mixed. | D．Abandoned. |
| A．2% torn masks, concrete and tons of trash. |
| B．Polypropylene plastic and building materials. |
| C．Single-use surgical masks and recycled concrete aggregate. |
| D．Waste concrete and other minerals from destroyed buildings. |
| A．To tell us what the team has found. |
| B．To prove this material is cost-effective in paving roads. |
| C．To explain repairing roads costs a lot of materials. |
| D．To praise the hard work the team has done. |
| A．The material used to pave roads is made of masks. |
| B．Generally speaking, it requires two layers to create roadways. |
| C．It remains to be tested whether the solution is practical. |
| D．The damaged roads in Washington were repaired with the RCA. |
6 . Travel is the only thing that will really make you richer. While it's very valid, there're many times when we are simply unable to travel for certain reasons. However, there's still a great and affordable way to experience new places: books.
Wild
Wild is Cheryl Strayed's beautifully written story of hiking the Pacific Crest Trail for 1,100 miles all by herself. Her journey of self-discovery and facing her painful past is fascinating and will keep you fascinated from the first page up until the last. You will feel like you're hiking alongside Strayed the whole time.
On the Road
Jack Kerouac's classic novel in 1957 is a masterpiece from the Beat Generation, which tells the timeless tale of being young, confused, and just getting on the road to try to figure it all out. The book tells the personal developmental story of Sal, who is strongly based on Kerouac himself, leaving New York City and traveling around the country. The book ensures madness, along with colorful characters and heartbreaking moments.
The Caliph's House
This book is written by author Tahir Shah, whose experience of vacationing in Morocco of Africa during his childhood growing up led him to move with his family from London to Morocco, where he learned a lot. His writing is rich and fascinating and tells an incredible story of their time of living there.
The Great Railway Bazaar
Paul Theroux's book narrates his four-month experience in 1973 traveling by train from London to Europe, the Middle East, the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia, as well as his return trip on the Trans-Siberian Railway, enriching and improving himself. Theroux explored poverty and ignorance throughout the book, which is often considered as a classic in the travel writing world.
1. Which book tells of the author's long journey on foot?| A．Wild. | B．On the Road. |
| C．The Caliph's House. | D．The Great Railway Bazaar. |
| A．The author's rich writing experience. |
| B．The story of British children in Africa. |
| C．The vacation of an African family in London. |
| D．The author's childhood experience in Morocco. |
| A．Madness and sadness. | B．Travel and self-growth. |
| C．Poverty and confusion. | D．Childhood and ignorance. |
7 . Koalas live in the eucalyptus （枝树）forests of southeastern and eastern Australia. They rely on the eucalyptus tree for both habitat and food. In fact, they seldom leave these trees. When not sleeping, they're usually eating. They can eat more than a pound of eucalyptus leaves a day. Eucalyptus is poisonous, so the koala's digestive （消化的）system has to work hard to digest it, breaking down the poisons and taking in the limited nutrients （营养）.That's why koalas sleep for 18 to 22 hours a day — they get very little energy from their diet.
Koala numbers decreased in the late 19th and early 20th century from hunting for their fur. Now they face serious threats from habitat loss. Land clearing and bush fires-especially the 2019-2020 Australia Bushfire Season-have destroyed much of the forest they live in. Koalas are easy to be affected by climate change. Increasing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is decreasing the nutritional quality of eucalyptus leaves and causing longer, more serious droughts and wildfires. In response to drought, koalas are forced to stop sleeping and come down from the trees to find water, putting them at a higher risk of being killed.
Koalas have been identified by the Australian government as one of the 113 animals requiring urgent （紧急的）help. Ensuring there's the right kind of forest for them to return to is extremely urgent. State governments should create new koala reserves and persuade landowners not to cut down eucalyptus trees. Meanwhile, getting the public to understand koalas' living habits and their health will throw light on koala biology, which helps to develop plans to better protect the species.
1. What can we learn about koalas?| A．They like moving around very much. |
| B．They have developed smart survival skills. |
| C．They can be found everywhere in Australia. |
| D．They often got ill while eating eucalyptus leaves. |
| A．Koalas' newly-formed habits. | B．Koalas' decreasing population. |
| C．The potential threats to Koalas. | D．The outcomes of increased carbon dioxide. |
| A．Conduct the research on their living habits. |
| B．Make sure they can have their habitat back. |
| C．Realize that they are sensitive to climate change. |
| D．Educate people about the awareness of protecting them. |
| A．A nature magazine. | B．A travel brochure. |
| C．A sports newspaper. | D．A health magazine. |
8 . Open an app at your smart phone and scan the code bar on the garbage can. When you throw garbage into the garbage can, it will show the weight of the garbage and the points you can get from doing so.
In some cities, a variety of multifunctional smart garbage cans are being put into use. In Beijing, for example, a smart garbage can is equipped with an LED screen, which not only shows national policies on garbage classification but also shows the correct steps for garbage sorting. It can also calculate the weight of the garbage and the accumulated points one can get. They can be traded for some articles of daily use.
Garbage disposal is a small issue that involves everybody each day. However, it is also a big issue.
| A．Garbage sorting has been a new fashion. |
| B．Another kind of garbage can is even smarter. |
| C．It is no wonder that residents cheered for their presence. |
| D．Such a way of handling garbage has appeared in some cities. |
| E．It will affect China’s transformation towards green development. |
| F．Over 200 million tons of garbage is produced each year in some cities. |
| G．The good habit of garbage classification can improve the living environment. |
Starbucks will eliminate plastic
Starbucks’ pushback against plastic has drawn a mixed
10 . Ever wondered if dogs can learn new words? Yes, say researchers as they have found that talented dogs may have the ability to grasp new words after hearing them only four times.
While previous evidence seems to show that most dogs do not learn words, unless eventually very well trained, a few individuals have shown some extraordinary abilities, according to a study published in the journal Scientific Reports.
“We wanted to know under which conditions the gifted dogs may learn novel words,” said researcher xuekw Claudia Fugazza from the Eötvös Loránd University in Hungary. For the study, the team involved two gifted dogs, Whisky and Vicky Nina. The team exposed the dogs to the new words in two different conditions.
In the exclusion-based task, presented with seven known toys and one new toy, the dogs were able to select the new toy when presented with a new name. Researchers say this proves that dogs can choose by exclusion when faced with a new word, they selected the only toy which did not have a known name.
However, this was not the way they would learn the name of the toy. In fact, when they were presented with one more equally new name to test their ability to recognize the toy by its name, the dogs got totally confused and failed.
The other condition, the social one, where the dogs played with their owners who pronounced the name of the toy while playing with the dog, proved to be the successful way to learn the name of the toy, even after hearing it only 4 times. “The rapid learning that we observed seems to equal children’s ability to learn many new words at a fast rate around the age of 18 months,” Fugazza says. “But we do not know whether the learning mechanisms(机制) behind this learning are the same for humans and dogs. ”
To test whether most dogs would learn words this way, 20 other dogs were tested in the same condition, but none of them showed any evidence of learning the toy names, confirming that the ability to learn words rapidly in the absence of formal training is very rare and is only present in a few gifted dogs.
1. What was the purpose of the study published in Scientific Reports?| A．To better train dogs’ ability to learn new words. |
| B．To further confirm previous evidence about dogs. |
| C．To prove extraordinary memory abilities of gifted dogs. |
| D．To explore favorable conditions for gifted dogs’ new-word learning. |
| A．Slow to understand. | B．Quick to learn. | C．At a loss. | D．In a panic. |
| A．Learning through playing applied to most dogs. |
| B．The social condition helped dogs learn new words. |
| C．Dogs’ new-word learning turned out to be less effective. |
| D．Dogs shared similar learning mechanisms with children. |
| A．Gifted Dogs Can Learn New Words Rapidly. |
| B．Dogs Identify Newly-named Toys by Exclusion. |
| C．Dogs Can Acquire Vocabulary through Tons of Training. |
| D．Gifted Dogs Have Similar Learning Abilities to Humans. |
