“I’m old in age, but young in mind. The zoo is my lifetime’s happiness.” Despite
At the one-man Fenghuang Mountain Zoo, Luo serves
A ticket only costs 10 yuan ( $1.5) per person, and it’s free for children. But the zoo’s appeal to locals is fading. Since the outbreak of the pandemic, the number of visitors
While the world changes
2 . As we all know, Los Angeles has many highways. It’s also a city in the world where big cats wander wild inside the city boundaries. But big cats and highways do not mix. That is why Los Angeles will construct one of the world’s wildlife passages to protect these cats.
The cats mentioned above are mountain lions. They live in the Santa Monica Mountains. Their numbers don’t change much. Their habitat is mostly untouched wilderness, full of deer, the lions’ main food. The ecology of their mountains is healthy, thanks to their existence at the top of the food chain. Yet genetic (基因的) worsening can be just as deadly.
Route 101 cuts the Santa Monica Mountains off from a larger wilderness to the North. The result is a trapped population in the South and genetic worsening. A study in 2016 found that, considering their natural environment, the Santa Monica mountain lions’ chances of extinction in 50 years would be 15-22%, in contrast to 99.7% because of their genetic worsening.
Another study found that the big cats were suffering physical damage: a 90-degree kink (结) in the tail and problems in sexual organs (器官). In the early 1990s biologists found that Florida puma, a closely related animal, had the same genetic weaknesses. The Florida puma escaped extinction only thanks to the introduction of females brought from Texas to refresh the gene pool.
California does not need to go that far like Florida. There are healthy mountain-lion populations north of the Santa Monica Mountains, separated by the road. But hidden cameras show the animals stood at the side of the highway, not daring to cross. And the construction of the passage will largely solve the problem.
The animals become adults at 2.5 to 3 years and have babies every two years. So within ten years of the passage’s completion, the grandchildren of the first mating (交配) beyond the mountains could have babies. Genetically, even a few matings would make a difference. “The passage will definitely save the mountain lion,” thinks Paul Edelman of the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority.
1. What is the major threat to these mountain lions?| A．Habitat loss. | B．Lack of food sources. |
| C．Genetic worsening. | D．Decreased female numbers. |
| A．The emergency of the problem. |
| B．Comparison between the two animals. |
| C．The problems the mountain lions are facing. |
| D．Solution to mountain lions' potential extinction. |
| A．The mountain lions will be free from extinction. |
| B．The problem of genetic worsening can be largely solved. |
| C．Los Angeles will own the only wildlife passage in the world. |
| D．The grandchildren of the first mating will be born within 10 years. |
| A．Positive. | B．Negative. | C．Doubtful. | D．Uninterested. |
3 . Over the centuries, London’s River Thames is home to 180 of these“aits” —an ancient word meaning “small island”.
Eel Pie Island
Most famous of all of these aits is car-free, as is Eel Pie Island, which got its name from a dish on the menu of a 19th century island hotel. The island’s fame was promoted in the “swinging sixties” when, the bands—all great names of the day including Pink Floyd, The Rolling Stones —played there. A 17-year-old youth, Davy Jones, also went along well with the Eel Pie Island crowd. And everyone came to know him better as David Bowie later.
Monkey Island
Monkey Island was an ait for the royal (王室的) family. Princess Margaret and her friends held a big party in the 1960s. Writers including HG wells tended to visit this island too. It is not absolutely certain but generally believed that Monkey Island’s name came from the Old English “Monks Eyot (ait)”, because the first recorded settlers were Augustinian monks (僧侣).
Tagg’s Island
Another royal ait, Tagg’s Island, changed its name in 1872 when Thomas Tagg built the island’s Thames Hotel. The island was also a busy parking site for houseboats. Among those who rented one was the author of Peter Pan, Scotsman JM Barrie. However, it was none of those celebrities (名人) who promoted Tagg’s Island popularity, but the theater manager Frederick Westcott, who discovered Charlie Chaplin.
Oliver’s Island
Masses of birds call this island home, everything from Canadian geese to cormorants and herons. There’s an unsolved puzzle connected to Oliver’s Island. The story goes that a secret tunnel leads from the island to the Bull’s Head pub in Chiswick as an escape route. Maybe it’s true, though plenty have tried to find it without success. Ah, and the island’s name? That’s down to Oliver Cromwell, the great England leader, who supposedly took refuge (难民) there.
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1. What do we know about Eel Pie Island?| A．It can be reached by car. |
| B．The “Swinging sixties” raised its fame. |
| C．Its popularity came from its name. |
| D．David Bowie became famous there. |
| A．Eel Pie Island. | B．Monkey Island. |
| C．Tagg’s Island. | D．Oliver’s Island. |
| A．A textbook. | B．A website. |
| C．A news report. | D．A brochure. |
1. When was the World Wildlife Fund founded?
| A．In 1916. | B．In 1961. | C．In 1969. |
| A．A picture of a panda. | B．A picture of a dolphin. | C．A picture of a whale. |
| A．The protection of birds. |
| B．The protection of forests. |
| C．The protection of ocean animals. |
| A．It is named after an American wildlife painter. |
| B．It has eighteen branches in the United States. |
| C．Its head office is in Washington, D.C. |
5 . Jane Goodall was born in England in 1934. As a child, she liked to learn about animals and watch how they behaved, and dreamed of working with wild animals.
At 11, she decided that she wanted to go to Africa to live with and write about animals. But this was not the kind of thing young women growing up in the 1940s usually did. In 1957, Jane Goodall traveled to Africa. She soon met the well-known scientist Louis Leakey and began working for him as an assistant. Doctor Leakey saw that Jane had a lot of energy and loved animals. He asked her if she wanted to study the chimpanzees living by a lake in Tanzania. Certainly she agreed to take the job.
Observing chimps was not easy work. She learned to watch them from far away using binoculars. Over time, she slowly gained their trust. She gave the chimps human names such as David, Flo and Fifi. This unusual method upset many scientists. Most researchers would have identified the animals using numbers instead of names. But Jane defended naming them. She said that the chimpanzees had emotions, minds and different personalities, with complex family and social relationships. She observed they were meat eaters and skilled hunters. Later, she made an even more surprising discovery. She saw chimps making and using tools to help them trap insects. Her reports also upset many old beliefs. When she wrote to Louis Leakey to tell him about her discovery, he responded by saying: “Now we must redefine ‘tool’, redefine ‘man’, or accept chimpanzees as human.”
Jane Goodall spent many years studying chimps and reported chimp behavior that no one else had ever seen before. She has written many books for adults and children about wild chimpanzees. However, the destruction of the chimp’s natural environment led Jane Goodall to give her full attention to protection efforts. She spends about 300 days out of the year traveling around the world to discuss her many projects and goals. And Jane Goodall’s most recent book is called Hope for Animals and Their World.
1. It can be inferred from the text that __________.| A．Jane Goodall’s love for animals began with the journey to Africa |
| B．Jane Goodall’s work in Tanzania went along smoothly |
| C．Jane Goodall is the pioneer in researching chimpanzees |
| D．Jane Goodall has traveled around the world to do research |
| A．Her method was not agreed with by many scientists. |
| B．Her method seemed impossible to many scientists. |
| C．Her method cheered the achievements of many scientists. |
| D．Her method inspired many scientists to make further discoveries. |
| A．Chimps eat meat. |
| B．Chimps have feelings. |
| C．Chimps use tools to get food. |
| D．Chimps have close family relationships. |
| A．Challenging others is a must in gaining fame. |
| B．Bravery is the key to making important discoveries. |
| C．High energy plays an important role in achieving great success. |
| D．Passion and hard work can make a difference in scientific research. |
6 . Recently, a design student has developed an auto-mini robot — “A” seedbot that can search through vast deserts, sowing seeds when it finds a suitable area to plant a tree.
The “A” seedbot, created by Mazyar Etehadi from the Dubai Institute of Design and Innovation, could be a new and creative way to transform deserts into greenery. “Planting trees in the desert area can keep the sand and protect the environment,” said Etehadi. It was launched at the Global Grad Show (GGS), an event that has designers come together to showcase innovations that could solve today’s environmental issues.
In an area where high temperatures are limiting to life, the importance of growing plants is crucial. Just eight inches long, the tiny robot is equipped with its own solar panels (太阳能板), allowing it to charge during the day and continue working through the night. It can operate all on its own, using its 3D-printed legs to search for viable spots to plant a seed. In doing so, designers seek to understand how roots work and also to design sensors that might monitor soil pollution, prospect for minerals and look for water.
The robot has a distance sensor that it uses to send reports back to its controller. The only time human needs to step in is to refill the robot with more seeds. “I think it was an easy solution to come up with, but no one had made it, and here comes my idea! It means a lot to the people who have been fighting against the deserts for generations,” said Etehadi. Going forward, he hopes his idea can be adopted by the government, the farming industry, and private individuals as a more efficient way to grow plants.
1. Why did Etehadi develop the “A” seedbot?| A．To lower the temperature. | B．To protect the trees. |
| C．To turn the desert into greenery. | D．To win the prize in the GGS. |
| A．It can work around the clock. | B．It is powered by electricity. |
| C．It monitors minerals and water. | D．It can refill itself with seeds. |
| A．Distant. | B．Empty. | C．Dry. | D．Suitable. |
| A．A project for creation. | B．A robot for sowing seeds. |
| C．A student gifted in design. | D．A proposal for environmental protection. |
1. What natural disaster is mentioned in the conversation?
| A．An earthquake. | B．A fire. | C．A flood. |
| A．Europe. | B．America. | C．Australia. |
| A．It has sent planes and soldiers to provide help. |
| B．It has set up some camps in the whole world. |
| C．It has accepted millions of hungry people. |
| A．Only six. | B．Less than twenty. | C．Over one hundred. |
8 . Across vast areas of the tropics (热带地区) from Southeast Asia to Africa, forests have been cut down in recent decades, but at least in some areas reforestation efforts have been made to take in carbon (碳).
It remains to be seen, however, whether these newly planted forests will manage to survive in the face of changing climate, which will bring more intense heat, lengthened droughts, and occasional wildfires.
To find out, scientists from the University of Hong Kong decided to run hundreds of computer models to explore various results under different conditions. The key aim of the study was to see if carbon stored in these regrown forests would remain locked up, and they have found this will likely be the case even under the most severe climate conditions.
“Our computer models show in many parts of the tropics reforestation is worth it, because these new forests should be able to survive until the end of the century and continue to store extra carbon from the atmosphere in the process,” explains Jed Kaplan, a professor at the university.
However, the role of newly planted forests as a carbon collector in the tropics will have only a limited effect on climate change, especially because many existing forests in the tropics will struggle in the face of rising temperatures and are already losing their ability to store carbon, “Massive tree planting won’t be enough to avoid climate disaster, but it can play a role. And if done with biodiversity and the people who call these forests home, reforestation can have many benefits,” says Alexander Koch, the other author of the study.
“So far we have only been able to look at carbon, but other aspects such as biodiversity in restored forests are also impacted by climate change. Assessing those impacts will be the next step,” he adds.
1. What is the discovery of the study?| A．Changing climate will bring about many natural disasters. |
| B．Reforestation is of great benefit to biodiversity in the tropics. |
| C．Regrown forests will store carbon even in the face of climate change. |
| D．The chance of newly planted forests surviving tough conditions is slim. |
| A．Worried. | B．Doubtful. | C．Disappointed. | D．Favourable. |
| A．Reforestation is useless in stopping climate change. |
| B．More measures should be taken as well as reforestation. |
| C．The carbon in the atmosphere will increase in the future. |
| D．Existing forests can no longer take in carbon from the air. |
| A．It takes all the factors into account. | B．It still needs to be further improved. |
| C．It fails to achieve the expected result. | D．It provides a way to avoid climate change. |
9 . Humans sweat to keep cool. But did you know that besides them, only a small percentage of the world’s animals keep cool by sweating? In fact, animals have a variety of ways to beat the cruel heat, some of which you might say are even a little bit strange.
Giraffes
We know that giraffes live in a particularly dry, hot environment, but they don’t sweat. How do they stay cool? The answer lies in their beautiful skin pattern, which is like a large network with a very complex vascular (血管) system under each patch (斑块). A giraffe’s special blood flow can force heat out of its body. Because of their rather large skin surface, this is a more-than-effective way to escape the heat.
Elephants
As the largest land animal on earth, elephants rely on their huge pair of ears. Simply by tapping their ears, elephants can lower their body temperature by 12℃ or more. Moreover, elephants often open their ears when facing the wind to reach this cooling effect.
Dogs
The dog’s way of escaping the heat is probably the most common in our daily lives--sticking their tongues out. By breathing heavily, dogs quickly force the heat from their body and breathe cooler air in, which enters their lungs and cools their entire body.
Koalas
Koalas are well-known for their “laziness”, so it’s natural to see one lying on a branch and think it’s just being its lazy self, but that’s not the case. Researchers say that the koalas select their trees very carefully, looking in hot weather for tree bark that is cooler than the air temperature. By getting into the cool surface of the bark, koalas can stay relatively comfortable during Australia’s powerful heat waves.
1. How do dogs beat the heat?| A．By choosing the suitable tree skin. | B．By putting their tongues out. |
| C．By moving their ears. | D．By flowing blood. |
| A．Giraffe. | B．Elephants. | C．Dogs. | D．Koalas. |
| A．They live lazily. | B．They don’t sweat. |
| C．They don’t stay cool. | D．They live comfortably. |
China is removing one of the world’s most trafficked(非法买卖) animals, the pangolin, from its list of animals used for traditional medicine.
Pangolins, despite being covered in scales(鳞片), grow to around the size of a house cat. Their scales are made of keratin——the same material found in fingernails. They use those scales to protect themselves from enemies in the wild, but in Asia, these same scales are traded for medicine. Tens of thousands are killed every year, and one million pangolins are believed to have been trafficked between 2000 and 2013. Last year, authorities seized more than 130 tons of pangolin-related products, a figure believed to represent as many as 400, 000 of the animals, according to WildAid conservation group.
There are eight species of pangolin found across Asia and Africa. Three of those are listed as seriously endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature(IUCN): the Chinese pangolin, the Philippine pangolin and the Sunda pangolin. The remaining five are listed as either vulnerable or endangered.
Now, three species——the Chinese, Sunda and Indian pangolin——have been afforded the same protection in China as the Giant Panda and have been upgraded from Class II to the highest Class I protection. There’s a punishment of 10 years of imprisonment for anyone caught hunting, killing or trading them.
The announcement was made in June. The Chinese government has also announced plans to recover the diminishing populations by improving field patrols (巡逻) and pushing habitat recovery efforts.
“It is great news that China has moved very quickly to close live wildlife markets,” said WildAid CEO Peter Knights. “We hope this brings an end to legal sales of pangolin scales as soon as possible.”
1. Why are pangolins seriously trafficked?| A．For medicine. | B．For food. | C．For clothes. | D．For pets. |
| A．They are like an adult dog in size. |
| B．400, 000 of them were killed last year. |
| C．They have got Class I protection in China. |
| D．They are listed as seriously endangered by IUCN. |
| A．Frightening. | B．Encouraging. | C．Rising. | D．Falling. |
| A．Serious Pangolin Trade in the World |
| B．China Has Started Protecting Pangolins |
| C．Pangolins——the Most Endangered Animals |
| D．China Has Closed Live Wildlife Markets |
