More than 500 years ago, explorers sailed to the Americas. They
Boars can cause a lot of damage to crops and soccer fields.They eat baby birds and turtle eggs. Every year, they cause $1.5 billion in damage. People do all they could to stop them,
Texas is home to half of the country’s boar population. Some
But boars are smart. They’ve learned ways to avoid getting
2 . In the third grade, ten-year-old Jane read a book about poaching (偷猎) the endangered tigers and cutting down forests at will. She told her friend Holt about it and she really wanted to help save the tigers.
Despite being in elementary school, the two girls have organized fundraisers(资金筹集).During their first year, the girls raised $1,500 to save tigers. “We went to a zoo and asked if we could help and it became this huge fun thing. We never expected it to get so big,” the girls said.
When Jane and Holt pitched their ideas in the zoo to ask for funds, their table was packed with zoo guests all afternoon. This year’s goal is $2,500. Whatever they raise will be matched by the Zoological Society and all be donated(捐赠) to the Tiger Protection Fund.
On top of helping the animal, the girls would also be excited about their names to be proudly posted at the zoo’s entrance on a sign with other donors. “If we get our names on it, it’s going to feel like being famous, and it’s going to be like a dream come true for us,” Jane said. They said they were close to their goal and the zoo couldn’t be happier.
“Their awareness of what’s happening to tigers and their wanting to educate people on what’s happening to tigers are unbelievable,” Kassner, an animal expert, said. “Three kinds of tigers have already died out and the remaining six are all endangered. The ‘Tiger Girls’ are bringing a big and positive effect and won’t be stopping anytime soon.”
“I’m so happy that we’ve come this far. We can do this now though we’re only fifth graders and just imagine what we can do in the future,” Holt said.
1. What led Jane to have the idea of saving tigers?| A．The support of her school. | B．Her teacher’s encouragement. |
| C．The suggestion from her friend. | D．Her personal reading experience. |
| A．Investigated. | B．Accepted. | C．Publicized. | D．Considered. |
| A．They have made a great difference. |
| B．They succeed in stopping people poaching. |
| C．They enable people to focus on school education. |
| D．They realized the dream of becoming well-known. |
| A．Proud and traditional. | B．Creative and confident. |
| C．Serious and humorous. | D．Courageous and curious. |
3 . Sharks are among the best swimmers on the planet, but a new research suggests that even they sometimes “hold their breath” while diving deep underwater. The reason is that sharks are cold-blooded and their body temperature matches the waters they swim in. To do deep dives, they must maintain body heat, and the best way to do that is to close their gills (鳃).
Royer, a leading researcher at the University of Hawaii, set out to study the diving habits of hammerheads sharks. They’re known for swimming in warmer coastal waters, but earlier studies showed they can also dive to over 800 meters below the surface. At those cold depths, the water temperature falls to as low as 5℃.
For these sharks, the fall in temperature is a matter of life and death. Because a shark can’t produce its own body heat, it begins to freeze the deeper it goes. Its muscles, eyes and brain become sluggish (迟钝). If it gets too cold, it can’t swim. And if it stops swimming, water doesn’t go across its gills. It can’t breathe and will eventually drown (溺亡).
How is it that hammerheads are able to go down into these deep depths and survive? To find out, Royer and his colleagues caught the fish and attached an electronic sensor to each shark. The sensor would release itself from the shark’s body after several weeks. The data they found amazed them: The sharks dived, spent just a few minutes at depths and then they shot towards the surface. They closed their gills and kept water out of their gills so that their body wouldn’t cool down.
“Unlike animals with lungs, the sharks don’t return to the surface to breathe. Instead, they simply go to a depth where it’s warm enough for them to feel comfortable and reopen their gills. Hammerheads are probably not the only species doing so. Our work is another example of how new electronic sensors help to explain the extraordinary ability of these animals across 400 million years of changing ocean environments,” Royer said.
1. What does the new research focus on concerning the sharks?| A．Their hunting habits. | B．Their basic types. |
| C．Their special behaviors. | D．Their body structures. |
| A．Keeping body heat. | B．Holding their breath. |
| C．Swimming on the surface. | D．Diving deep in the sea. |
| A．How their gills work in the sea. |
| B．How the temperature drop affects them. |
| C．Why they can survive the terrible environment. |
| D．Why they can protect themselves from the cold. |
| A．Hammerheads depend on their lungs to breathe. |
| B．The diving strategy may not be unique to hammerheads. |
| C．It’s hard for hammerheads to adapt to the cold conditions. |
| D．It’s common for hammerheads to stay long at great depths. |
4 . John “Charlie” Veron-widely known as “the Godfather of Coral Reef (珊瑚礁)”-is a celebrated expert who has personally discovered nearly a quarter of the world’s coral species and has spent the past 45 years diving Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. But now the 73-year-old is raising the alarm about its future. The Great Barrier Reef, one of the natural wonders, is 2, 300 kilometers long and is the only living organism that can be seen from space. It is considered a World Treasure Site due to its biodiversity (生物多样性)with 30 species of whales, dolphins and sharks. Within the reef itself, there are also a number of tiny organisms and fishes.
However, its health is threatened. After the recent mass bleaching (白化)events, Veron dived in many areas of the Great Barrier Reef to see the damage for himself. “I was seeing and feeling it and it was absolutely shocking, ” he says.
Veron says the mass bleaching events in the past few years-and the possibility of losing one of nature’s greatest treasures-were a wake-up call for the world in the wider battle against climate change, which, together with the rising sea temperature, is considered the greatest threats to the reef.
Fortunately, earlier this year, the Australian government announced nearly 400 million dollars in new funding towards scientific projects designed to help the reef.
There has been criticism in Australia about the slow process for the funding. “It won’t be wasted, though,”Veron says. “As scientists will be able to create a sort of seed bank to protect the species until the climate is good enough to rebuild the reef. What the scientists hope to do is to help nature along a bit after the big carbon dioxide increase is over and it starts to come down.”
1. Why is the Great Barrier Reef considered a treasure site?| A．It is a natural wonder. |
| B．It can be seen from space. |
| C．It has a rich variety of species. |
| D．It is home to a great many fishes. |
| A．Climate change is threatening biodiversity. |
| B．The Great Barrier Reef is in danger of extinction. |
| C．Scientists have found major factors in the reef’s blenching. |
| D．Veron has made great contributions to environmental protection. |
| A．Uncaring. | B．Doubtful. | C．Uncertain. | D．Positive. |
| A．A news report. | B．A travel guide. |
| C．A research plan. | D．A journal entry. |
要点∶
1）参加活动时间、地点及原因；
2）活动的具体内容是什么：主题演讲，美化公园等。
3）活动后你的感受。
要求1. 须包括所有要点提示，并适当补充，语句通顺，意思连贯；
2. 词数：100词左右；
3. 文中不得出现个人真实姓名和校名。
A meaningful environmental protection activity
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
A river is a flowing (流动的), moving stream of water. Usually a river feeds water into an ocean, lake, pond, or even another river. Rivers can vary in size and there is no hard rule on how big a flow of water must be to be called as a river. Here are five famous rivers in the world.
_______①______
It is about 4144 miles (1 mile = 1609.44 meters) long. It is located in the continent of Africa, mostly in the countries of Egypt and Sudan. It flows north into the Mediterranean Sea.
_______②______
It is about 4026 miles long. It is located in the continent of South America and flows through several countries including Brazil, Venezuela, Bolivia, and Ecuador. It ends at the Atlantic Ocean.
_______③______
Located in China, it is about 3975 miles long and flows into the East China Sea.
The Mississippi River and the Missouri River
The river system of the Mississippi River and the Missouri River is the longest river system in North America at about 3891 miles. It flows south into the Gulf of Mexico.
_______④______
It starts in Mongolia and flows through Russia to the Kara Sea in the Arctic Ocean(北冰洋). It is about 3445 miles long.
There are 76 rivers in the world. A lot of people think that rivers always flow south, but four of the ten longest rivers in the world flow north. The United States alone has around 3.5 million miles of rivers. Four of the top ten longest rivers flow through China at some point.
1. Please choose the correct one to fill in the four blanks in the passage.a. The Yenisei River (叶尼塞河) b. The Yangtze River (长江) c. The Amazon River (亚马孙河) d. The Nile River (尼罗河)
①:
2. The Nile River is
3. The Mississippi River ends at
4. How many kilometers is the Yangtze River?
5. Please translate the underlined sentence into Chinese.
7 . Harvey Sutton spent nearly seven months hiking (徒步旅行) with his parents, walking the thousands of miles that make up the complete Appalachian Trail (阿巴拉契亚山道), which is simply called the “AT”. Harvey was just 4 years old when he started, and celebrated his 5th birthday on the trail.
To build up their child’s physical health and develop his personal qualities, Josh and Mary Sutton have been hiking with Harvey since he was two years old. They prepared him for hiking the “AT” by starting out with lots of shorter walks and hikes.
The “AT” is a 3,530-kilometer hiking trail that runs through the forests of the Appalachian Mountains, from Georgia to Maine, passing through 14 states in all. The amount of up and down on the trail is about the same as climbing up and down Mount Everest (the world’s tallest mountain) 16 times. So only one out of every 4 hikers completes all the sections of the trail. But that didn’t stop Harvey and his family.
It took Harvey and his family 209 days — about seven months—to complete the entire AT. Every day the family would wake up around 5:30 in the morning. They would have breakfast and pack up their tent (帐篷) and sleeping bags before setting off through the woods. In general, the family hiked about 16 kilometers a day before stopping to set up camp again.
During his days on the AT, Harvey liked to use his imagination, which helped him walk more quickly and have fun. Harvey and his family made friends with other hikers on the trail. Harvey didn’t seem to get tired and enjoyed the hard work of hiking. “My favorite part was the rock climbing,” he says, “because it was so fun and hard.”
Completing the AT taught Harvey and his parents how to work as a team and how to take on challenges together. “We’re closer than ever before because of the experience,” Harvey’s mom said. “If possible, I want to hike the AT again at some point in the future,” Harvey added.
1. For what purpose did the Suttons hike the “AT”?| A．To see the fantastic natural scenery together. |
| B．To prepared Harvey to climb Mount Everest. |
| C．To make Harvey strong both in body and in mind. |
| D．To celebrate Harvey’s 5th birthday in a special way. |
| A．The main features of the AT. |
| B．The difficulty of hiking the AT. |
| C．The popularity of climbing the AT. |
| D．The significance of crossing the AT. |
| A．Brave, curious and talkative. | B．Honest, easy-going and creative. |
| C．Challengeable, proud and humorous. | D．Adventurous, positive and strong-willed. |
| A．Harvey is going to hike the AT again. |
| B．It’s important to meet challenges on one’s own. |
| C．The Suttons have benefited greatly from the hike. |
| D．Hiking is sure to make family relationship stronger. |
8 . British sculptor Taylor has made it his mission to protect our ecosystems (生态系统) by creating underwater museums. He's made over 850 artworks worldwide. On February 1, 2021, Taylor presented his latest work — the Underwater Museum of Cannes.
Located half a mile off the coast of Cannes, France — the permanent museum is the artist's first attempt into the Mediterranean Sea. "The main goal is to draw more people underwater to see the fact that our oceans need our help," the sculptor said. "Ocean ecosystems have been badly damaged by human activity, and it's not obvious what is happening when observing the sea from apart."
The museum is made up of 6 huge face sculptures, featuring local residents of various ages, ranging from Maurice, an 80—year—old fisherman, to Anouk, a 9—year—old student." Being directly linked to the sculptures encourages communities to get involved in the protection of our oceans," explained Taylor. Each face sculpture is divided into two different—sized parts, showing the state of the world's oceans: powerful on the outside but weak below the surface.
To make the museum easily approachable to divers, the sculptures have been positioned at shallow depths of between 6 to 10 feet. They are placed in the pockets of white sand between the seagrass, preventing boats from stopping close.
Though the waters surrounding the sculptures now appear blue, the seabed was filled with old boat engines, pipes and other rubbish: when the project began four years ago. "This is happening every day in our surrounding waters but it largely goes unnoticed. I like the idea of replacing the rubbish with artworks and achieving two goals at the same time," Taylor said. He also wants to restore the area's seagrass: the lungs of the Mediterranean. Just one square meter of the seagrass can produce up to 10 liters of oxygen daily. At the same time, the folds (褶皱) of the sculptures can provide perfect places for fishes and other creatures to avoid attacks.
1. What is special about the sculptures in the Underwater Museum of Cannes?| A．Each of them has two different faces. |
| B．They are modeled on the local people. |
| C．They will be moved away before long. |
| D．They are Taylor's first underwater artworks. |
| A．It serves as a warning mark for boats. |
| B．It breaks down the waste on the seabed. |
| C．It offers ideal shelter for the sea animals. |
| D．It makes the seagrass produce more oxygen. |
| A．To present unique artworks and to gain widespread recognition. |
| B．To show the artist's talent and to attract more tourists underwater. |
| C．To clean the surrounding waters and to criticize irresponsible human activity. |
| D．To entertain people with artworks and to raise their awareness of sea protection. |
| A．Environment. | B．Technology. | C．Geography. | D．Discovery. |
