Hotter weather leads to lower exam results, according to a new study from Harvard University. What’s
The research is in a paper
2 . As each spring passes, fewer and fewer bees are coming back again, buzzing from flower to flower. Their absence might have picnickers celebrating, but it has scientists scratching their heads. The fact is, the world's bees are disappearing at an alarming rate, and scientists have not been able to uncover the reason for this disturbing occurrence.
Although scientists don't yet know the source of CCD, they have theories. Some think that cellphone usage might be the cause. The radiation sent off by phones could be interrupting the bee's internal navigation system (体内导航系统). German research also shows that bee behavior changes when they are near power lines. Other scientists believe that the use of certain pesticides (杀虫剂) might be the reason. Another possible cause could be biological，with bees being affected by a disease that spreads from one to another.
This summer, children jumping through sprinklers (喷泉) in the hot July air may not have noticed the lack of bees. Picnicking families will be happy to have only ants to shoo away.
However, beekeepers and scientists will continue to scratch their heads and sweat in a way that has nothing to do with the heat, but rather with the continuing disappearance of what could be the world's most important creature—the bee.
1. What would be the best title for the passage?| A．The Importance of Bees | B．Bee Trouble |
| C．The Effect of Pesticides | D．Summer Without Bees |
| A．Farmers. | B．Picnickers. | C．Scientists. | D．Ice cream makers. |
| A．have terrible disease | B．get stuck on power lines |
| C．lose their way | D．kill themselves |
| A．Picnickers might have caused the loss of bees. | B．Bees have been greatly affected by the summer heat. |
| C．Many factors contribute to the disappearance of bees. | D．No one knows exactly why bees are disappearing. |
Bird Song
“Let it go!” Caroline yelled. Two boys were bending over a bird, as a third one held the poor creature roughly by its wings. “You’ll hurt it.” Caroline looked fearful for the bird.
“That’s the point.” The boys laughed. The tallest stood up and glared at Caroline. “Here, catch this!” He said as he sailed the now broken-winged bird at Caroline. The poor creature cried in pain, as its wings had been badly damaged. The boys ran off, laughing at their handy work.
Caroline bent down to carefully pick up the bird. The poor feathered soul was wriggling (扭动) about, with a fearful look in its eyes. “Don’t worry,” Caroline whispered softly. She took a handkerchief from her pocket and gently placed the bird on it.
Caroline walked as quickly as she could back to her house, careful not to shake the bird around too much. She found a shoe box, filled it with soft cotton balls and then laid the bird down in its new resting place.
“Let me get you some water and food. That’s the least I can do.” She took a tiny saucer from the kitchen, filled it with water, and placed it in a corner of the box. She managed to find some sunflower seeds, as that was the only bird-friendly food she could think of. Caroline was worried. She didn’t want the bird to die. The poor bird was now fast asleep, no doubt tired out from its earlier suffering. “Please don’t die.” Caroline whispered tearfully.
If there was anyone whom she could turn to, it would be Mr. Roberts. Mr. Roberts was working at the nature museum. He had bird feeders throughout his yard, and sometimes would drop in her science class at school. Caroline never knew there was so much information about birds, until hearing him speak. She figured he would know what to do.
注意：
1. 续写词数应为150词左右；
2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Caroline called Mr. Roberts and hurriedly told him her tale.
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In the morning, the Blackwell Bird Rescue Society called, informing a car would come to pick up the bird at 10 am.
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4 . We were at the top of the mountain when the call came through on the radio.
I was in the Altai Mountains with Biosphere Expeditions(生物圈考察队) as a member of the first team to take part in a survey of snow leopards(雪豹) in this part of the world.
Getting to the base camp had been an expedition in itself. It was getting dark as we arrived. After a very welcome night’s sleep we were up early for a couple of days training on how to fill in the datasheets, identify tracks and prints and what to do with useful animal droppings amongst other things.
The next day four of us set off up one of the mountains to do our first surveying with our guide Oleg. We spent most of the morning climbing the endlessly steep mountain with little communication from Oleg who only became active when we stopped to take on water. By early afternoon we reached what appeared to be the top but was another ridge(山脊). My 47-year-old bones were shaking and I was struggling to breathe. We hadn’t seen a thing except for rocky mountains. Our guide was keeping going but we had very little idea about what we were supposed to be doing. Energy was dropping rapidly.
Then everything changed. The radio came to life. Hardly able to speak through excitement, one of the other groups told us that they had just discovered fresh snow leopard tracks!
On arrival, we found the other group silently looking a gulf(溪谷). A set of very clear paw prints ran from top to bottom. I was filled with a feeling of complete exhilaration. One of the rarest big cats in the world had passed through where I was standing! They were here and what we were going to do would help them survive.
All the suffering of the past days fell away. The long walk back to the base camp that night seemed to go by in seconds.
1. Why did the author make his expedition in the Altai Mountains?| A．To become a member of Biosphere Expeditions. |
| B．To enjoy the mountainous scenery. |
| C．To measure the height of the mountains. |
| D．To carry out the research on snow leopards. |
| A．He visited the camp with his partners. | B．He got up late after some extra rest. |
| C．He received some basic training. | D．He organized a welcome party. |
| A．Climbing the endlessly rocky mountains at his age. |
| B．Having good communication with his guide. |
| C．Finding the right way to the mountain top. |
| D．Searching for clean drinking water. |
| A．Freedom. | B．Excitement. | C．Peace. | D．Loss. |
Picking tea leaves is
China has been a big tea producing country since ancient times. According to official data, China’s tea planting area
In spring, local hillsides are often filled with tea pickers as well as farmers
6 . I was suddenly awakened at about 4 a.m. by a strange experience which I did not understand at first. I was
Others too in my house and neighborhood must have
The quakes of the earth caused no damage in Mumbai. For several hours next morning we thought, with
The destruction caused by the earthquake at Latur proved the
| A．attacked | B．comforted | C．rocked | D．sheltered |
| A．pleasant | B．strange | C．fascinating | D．fluent |
| A．coming | B．flashing | C．reflecting | D．tracking |
| A．annoyance | B．joy | C．relief | D．horror |
| A．warned | B．recognized | C．impacted | D．prevented |
| A．jumped | B．walked | C．rushed | D．struggled |
| A．anxious | B．excited | C．curious | D．hopeful |
| A．blown up | B．come out | C．died down | D．gone off |
| A．expected | B．forgiven | C．repeated | D．stopped |
| A．admiration | B．gratitude | C．regret | D．satisfaction |
| A．generous | B．impressive | C．harmless | D．tough |
| A．burned | B．frozen | C．thrown | D．ruined |
| A．lost | B．cured | C．discovered | D．rescued |
| A．power | B．creativity | C．helplessness | D．limit |
| A．fact | B．pity | C．honor | D．wonder |
7 . In 2017, Titli Trust began working with Tehri Forest Division to arm the local community — with knowledge — through a program named Living with Leopards (豹). The forest officials made a study trip to Mumbai to learn from their experiences there.
“Our Mumbai trip has taught us that we need to change the focus from leopards to people,” says Dr Koko Rose from the Tehri Forest Division. This meant reaching out to villagers to share measures they could take to minimize (最小化) the chances of meeting a leopard or being attacked. They include clearing bushes around homes to minimize hiding spaces for leopards, leaving a light on at night, and ensuring people, especially children, did not go out alone at night. The strategies are carefully aimed at a leopard’s known habits: they are shy, tend to avoid human beings, and are more active at night.
Forest officials also went to schools and launched a children’s ambassador program, where children dressed up as leopards and performed for their parents in order to create more understanding of why leopards come near their homes, and how to stay safe.
These efforts seemed effective. In the four years before the program started, there were 45 cases of human-leopard conflict in the Tehri area, among them 10 human deaths. Now, the number went down to 14 and four human deaths. “Our ancestors tell us how they have lived in the forests, grazed (放牧) the animals in the forests, but the leopard has never attacked them,” says Meena, a local villager, “So we too can live with leopards, if we remain watchful and follow the rules.”
1. What did the forest officials learn from the study trip?| A．The community could be armed. |
| B．People were more attractive than leopards. |
| C．What people could do to help mattered more. |
| D．They could reach out to the villagers for help. |
| A．The leopard’s shy nature. | B．The forest officials’ opinion. |
| C．The villagers’ measures. | D．The geographic features. |
| A．They didn’t go out at night. |
| B．They learnt how to stay safe. |
| C．They dressed up to drive leopards away. |
| D．They performed to teach their parents. |
| A．Leopards — Shy Animals |
| B．Learning to Live with Leopards Again |
| C．Cooperating in Protection of Wildlife |
| D．Measures to Reduce Leopard Movements |
8 . Young Komodo dragons move around in a zoo in the city of Surabaya, Indonesia. Some fight over a female while others look for food in a pond, a small body of water. The zoo in Indonesia is breeding Komodo dragons in an effort to save the world’s largest lizards from dying out.
The large lizards are found on the island of Komodo and several neighboring islands in eastern Indonesia. In September, the International Union for Conservation of Nature put them in its Red List of Threatened Species. The international group noted that the dragons were at an increased risk because of the effects of climate change. It warned that rising temperatures and sea levels due to climate change are expected to reduce the Komodo dragon’s living area by at least 30 percent in the next 45 years.
Zoo officials hope that their efforts to save the lizards will draw the attention of world leaders who are gathered in Glasgow, Scotland, to discuss climate change. Since launching the breeding (孕育) program, the zoo has built up its Komodo dragon population to 108 adults and 35 young ones. In addition, 40 Komodo dragon eggs are being kept warm for birth.
Zoo keeper Rukin said the temperature and humidity had to be just right for mating. The hope is that dragons bred in the zoo could be returned to the wild, he said. “I hope we can breed them well and correctly,” Rukin added. He said, “I hope the project will make sure that future generations will still be able to see the dragons in real life, not just in pictures.”
1. Why were the dragons at an increased risk?| A．Because of the effects of climate change. |
| B．Because of the loss of the living area. |
| C．Because of the rising temperatures. |
| D．Because of the rising sea levels. |
| A．143 | B．183 | C．75 | D．148 |
| A．To save Komodo dragons. |
| B．To increase the numbers of Komodo dragons. |
| C．To make people take pictures of Komodo dragons. |
| D．To ensure people will be able to see Komodo dragons in real life. |
| A．The large lizards are found on the island of Komodo. |
| B．The world’s largest lizards were in danger of extinction. |
| C．The zoo in Indonesia succeeded in breeding Komodo dragons. |
| D．The zoo in Indonesia took actions to save the world’s largest lizards from dying out. |
9 . Insects have difficulty handling the rising temperature brought on by climate changes. The ability to reproduce is also strongly affected by rising temperatures, even in northern areas of the world, according to a new study from Lund University in Sweden.
Insects cannot change their own body temperature, which is strongly influenced by the temperature in their immediate environment. In the current study, the researchers studied two closely related species of dragonflies in Sweden. The goal was to understand their ability to adapt to changes in temperature.
To study this, the researchers used a combination of field work in southern Sweden and thermography, a technology that makes it possible to measure body temperature in natural conditions. The information was then connected to the survival rates and reproductive success of the dragonflies in their natural populations.
The study shows that the survivorship of the dragonflies is high at relatively low temperatures (15℃~20℃). The reproductive ability is higher at temperatures between 20℃ and 30℃.
“There is therefore a temperature-dependent problem between survival on the one hand and the ability to reproduce on the other hand,” says Erik Svensson, professor at the Department of Biology at Lund University, who led the study.
The study also shows that the dragonflies' ability to handle heat-related stress is limited. Insects are cold-blooded animals, so they rely on outside sources such as the sun or hot stones to raise their body temperature.
“Our results show that cold-blooded animals can suffer from overheating even if they live far up in the northern areas, and that their ability to change their body temperature against rising outside temperature is limited. The results also challenge a popular theory that animals’ plasticity can help them survive under harsher environment, such as during heat waves,” says Erik Svensson.
1. What is the purpose of the study?| A．To find the relationship between survival rate and temperature. |
| B．To figure out the difficulties of northern insects' adaption. |
| C．To show dragonflies’ ability to deal with changes in temperature. |
| D．To prove animals’ plasticity in the hot environment. |
| A．The way of the study. | B．The result of the study. |
| C．The importance of the study. | D．The object of the study. |
| A．Insects’ survival has nothing to do with temperatures. |
| B．Insects show low survival rates at lower temperatures. |
| C．Insects change body temperatures to improve survival rates. |
| D．Insects have higher reproductive ability between 20℃ and 30℃. |
| A．More comfortable. | B．More difficult. | C．More suitable. | D．More pleasant. |
When Ariel rode her bike to Jamaie Bay Wildlife Refuge in Queens, New York, last November, she planned to go hiking and bird-watching. After a one-mile walk, she found a beautiful female swan (天鹅) near the water’s edge. Ariel, 30 , who had worked at the Wild Bird Fund health recovery center, knew that some swans can be aggressive (攻击性的). But as she approached this one, it didn’t move. Ariel found that the swan which buried its neck in its wings seemed to have lost its all energy.
She was certain that the bird needed medical attention. Ariel took off her jacket and covered the bird’s head to keep it calm, carefully picked it up, and carried it in her arms gently. And then a thought struck her: What do I do now?
Her best choice was the recovery center, but that was across the East River and clear on the other side of town. How was she going to transport a 17-pound swan on her bike all that way? Luckily, some warm-hearted strangers driving by offered her, her bike, and the swan a lift to a nearby subway station.
On the subway, no one seemed particularly to focus on the feathered passenger. “One man was sitting right in front of me on his phone. I don’t know if he noticed there was a swan in front of him.” said Ariel. Ariel called the center, and Tristan Higginbotham, an animal-care manager, picked her up at the subway station and drove the bird, the bike, and the rescuer to the center.
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；
There, the staff members along with Ariel gave the swan careful examination.
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Soon Ariel’s story got spread online.
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