1 . The high intelligence levels of orangutans (红毛猩猩) have long been recognised, partly due to their practical skills such as using tools to crack nuts and search for insects. But new research suggests the primate (灵长动物) has another handy skill: applying medicinal herbs intentionally to an open wound.
A male Sumatran orangutan known as Rakus was observed by the research team with a fresh facial wound in June 2022. Three days later, Rakus was witnessed feeding on the stem and leaves of a plant. Thirteen minutes after Rakus had started feeding on it, he began chewing the leaves without swallowing them, then used his fingers to apply the resulting juice directly on to his facial wound. He repeated this behavior for seven minutes and at last fully covered the wound with the chewed leaves. He then continued feeding on the plant for 30 minutes. Over the following days, there were no signs of infection. The wound closed within five days and was healed, with only a faint scar remaining after one month.
It is not the first time wild primate species have been spotted self-medicating: among other examples, Bornean orangutans have been seen rubbing their arms and legs with chewed leaves from a plant used by humans to treat sore muscles, while chimpanzees have been recorded chewing plants known to treat worm infections and applying insects to wounds. However, the new discovery is the first time a wild animal has been observed treating open wounds with a substance known to have medicinal properties. “In the chimpanzee case they used insects and unfortunately it was never found out whether these insects really promote wound healing. Whereas in our case, the orangutan used the plant, and this plant has known medical properties,” said Dr Caroline Schuppli, senior author of the research.
Rakus’s goal-oriented behavior and the medicinal properties of his chosen treatment offer insight into the origins of human wound care-the treatment of which was first mentioned in a medical manuscript dating to 2200BC. “It definitely shows that these basic cognitive capacities that you need to come up with a behaviour like this were present at the time of our last common ancestor most likely,” said Schuppli.
It remains unclear whether Rakus figured the process out for himself or learned it from another orangutan, although it has not been seen in any other individual.
1. How did the team conduct their research?| A．By analyzing previous records. | B．By tracking the research object. |
| C．By quoting others’ findings. | D．By categorizing qualities of primates. |
| A．The primate’s awareness of herb selection. | B．The locations of the wild primates. |
| C．The sizes of the application range. | D．The outcome of the treatment. |
| A．Supporting evidence for the research results. |
| B．Potential significance of the research findings. |
| C．A further explanation of the research summary. |
| D．A reasonable doubt about the research process. |
| A．The origin of Rakus’ intentional self-medication. |
| B．Different medicinal plants used by wild primates. |
| C．Active wound treatment s shared by humans and primates |
| D．The possible influence from Rakus’ family. |
1. What is the Geocaching?
| A．A treasure hunt. | B．A GPS device. | C．A fitness coach. |
| A．They are controlled remotely. |
| B．They contain varieties of goods. |
| C．They are placed in the neighborhood. |
| A．It develops their social skills. |
| B．It exposes them to traditions. |
| C．It makes them willing to walk. |
1. Why does Sarah feel sad?
| A．She has lost her cat. |
| B．She has quarreled with her friend. |
| C．The schoolwork is so hard for her. |
| A．Get a new cat. | B．Look for Tony. | C．Read a book. |
| A．Get home early. | B．Focus on her lessons. | C．Talk to Miss Lennon. |
4 . On one side of the room sits the cutest life-size stuffed animal (填充玩具) you’ve ever seen. On the other side rests a real dog — the same size, shape and even the same name as the stuffed version. You get to sit next to both of these furry friends and pet their fur. Guess which one will make your brain light up?
If you guessed the real dog, you’re right. Stuffed animals, as cute and lovely as they may be, just don’t effectively activate our frontal cortex (额叶皮层), the part of the brain overseeing how we think and feel, according to a new study published in the journal PLOSONE. The study found an even stronger rise in brain activity when the person petted the fur of a real dog versus a stuffed animal.
“We chose to research the frontal cortex because this brain area is involved in several executive (执行) functions, such as attention, working memory, and problem-solving. But it is also involved in social and emotional processes,” said study lead author Rahel Marti, a doctoral student in the division of clinical psychology at the University of Basel in Switzerland.
Why is this finding important? It provides additional evidence that live human-animal interaction therapy (疗法) may promote cognitive and emotional activity in the brain. Marti said, “If patients with deficits in motivation, attention, and socioemotional functioning show higher emotional involvement in activities connected to a real dog, then such activities could increase the chance of learning and of achieving treatment aims.”
“This is an interesting, seriously conducted study that provides new insight into associations between human-animal interaction and regional prefrontal brain activity in healthy adults. We found that brain activity increased when the contact with a real dog or a stuffed animal became closer. This confirms previous studies relating closer contact with animals to increased brain activity,” Marti said.
1. How does the author introduce the subject of the text?| A．By listing some figures. | B．By giving an example. |
| C．By setting a situation. | D．By analyzing a phenomenon. |
| A．It is involved in several body parts. |
| B．It is the most important part of the brain. |
| C．It plays a key part in performing functions. |
| D．It provides evidence for live human-animal therapy. |
| A．Styles. | B．Faults. | C．Adventures. | D．Sources. |
| A．What Petting A Dog Can Do For Your Brain? |
| B．Why A Pet Dog Is Important To A Person? |
| C．Which Part Of The Brain Is Involved In Emotion? |
| D．How Can A Patient Benefit From Petting A Dog? |
5 . Summer sea ice in the Arctic could melt almost completely by the 2030s — roughly a decade earlier than projected — even if humans cut back drastically on greenhouse gas emissions, new research suggests.
An ice-free summer, also called a “blue ocean event”, will happen when the sea ice drops below one million square kilometers, writes Jonathan Bamber, a professor of physical geography at the University of Bristol, in the Conversation.
Previous assessments using models have estimated an ice-free summer under high and intermediate emissions scenarios by 2050. But researchers noticed differences between what climate models predicted about what would happen to sea ice and what they’ve actually seen through observations. “The models, on average, underestimate sea ice decline compared with observations,” says Nathan Gillett, an Environment and Climate Change Canada scientist.
Now, in a new study published in Nature Communications, Gillett and his teammates changed these models to more closely fit satellite data collected over the past 40 years. Using these adapted models, the researchers projected ice changes under different possible levels of greenhouse gas emissions. Their paper suggests that regardless of the emissions scenario, “we may experience an unprecedented ice-free Arctic climate in the next decade or two.”
While sea ice naturally decreases in the summer and refreezes during the winter, summer ice coverage has steadily been declining over the past few decades because of climate change. And Arctic ice melting happens faster itself — as ice disappears, it exposes more of the dark blue ocean, which absorbs more heat and leads to more melting. This process has led to the region warming nearly four times faster than the rest of the globe since 1979.
Sea ice decline could have disastrous consequences that extend to the rest of the planet, including sea level rise and disturbance to weather patterns and ecosystems. Animals like polar bears and seals that rely on Arctic ice to survive could be placed at risk.
1. According to the new research, what will happen concerning summer sea ice in the Arctic?| A．Its complete melting may occur earlier than expected. |
| B．Its vanishing once and for all will be in less than 10 years. |
| C．Its dropping will give rise to so-called “blue ocean event”. |
| D．Its melting can be prevented in greenhouse gas emissions. |
| A．They abandoned the attempt to use models. |
| B．They collected satellite data over the past 40 years. |
| C．They adapted the models to be consistent with the actual cases. |
| D．They predicted accurately ice changes in regions of the Arctic. |
| A．By listing statistics. | B．By giving definitions. |
| C．By making a comparison. | D．By analyzing cause and effect. |
| A．Pride comes before a fall. | B．Man proposes, god disposes. |
| C．A good beginning is half done. | D．If the lips are gone, the teeth will be cold. |
6 . Bees are known to tell time by light and social clues. Now, researchers have shown that the biological clocks of bees can be changed by another surprising factor: temperature cycles inside the hive (蜂巢).
The researchers tried to better understand how bees lived in areas beyond where light entered the hive.They were surprised to find clear temperature fluctuations across the day throughout the hive, which was caused by daylight.
To understand how important this temperature cycle was to a bee's activity, the researchers put bees in total darkness all the time while exposing them to the temperature cycles they observed within the hive. Six days later, the scientists moved the temperature cycle back by six hours. “We saw that the bees changed their activity with the temperature, meaning their daily routines were reactive to temperature,” a researcher said.
The discovery that bees can tell exact time from temperature cycles inside the hive shows that on a cloudy day or when bees aren't going outdoors, they have other means to tell time exactly. This will affect the way that researchers understand, explain and combine what they know of bee behavior.
More broadly, as more extreme weather events occur around the world, bees will face challenges to continuing the activities that keep them and the agriculture they support healthy and energetic. If part of the southern U.S. is hit with an unexpected snowstorm, bees getting ready to search for food might not realize they need to save energy and heat the hive. In the event of a 100-degree day, bees will have to spend a lot of energy keeping the hive co. It is those considerations that will influence hive health or possible hive breakdown.
"We want to see how important this research is this winter in Tennessee，when bees aren't leaving the hive as much," researchers said. "We will be interested to see how our findings apply to zones where temperature varies more greatly across the year." This research will also reshape how researchers think about bees' biological rhythms.
1. What does the underlined word "fluctuations" in paragraph 2 probably mean?| A．Measures. | B．Changes. | C．Approaches. | D．Functions. |
| A．It was carried out at night. | B．It was based on a previous study. |
| C．It analyzed bees' daily routines. | D．It studied how bees react to challenges. |
| A．Significance | B．result | C．process | D．background |
| A．Lights Affect Bees' Biological Clocks | B．Bee Behavior Surprises Researchers |
| C．Bees React Smartly to Extreme Weather | D．Bees Can Tell Time by Temperature |
7 . 听下面一段独白，回答以下小题。
1. What does the speaker usually do?| A．She cares for wildlife. |
| B．She trains animals for fun. |
| C．She does research on wildlife. |
| A．A lion. | B．A giraffe. | C．An elephant. |
| A．They are friendly to visitors. |
| B．They can’t adapt to the environment. |
| C．None of them are open to the public. |
8 . 听下面一段较长对话，回答以下小题。
1. What does the man say about the winter in New Work?| A．It’s cold and wet. | B．The wind is strong. | C．The air is heavy. |
| A．He is leaving New York. |
| B．He doesn’t know New York well. |
| C．He likes the autumn in New York. |
| A．It’s hot in summer. | B．It’s very changeable. | C．It rains all year round. |
9 . For future humans to survive long periods on Mars, growing food on the planet is a must. It would be too costly and risky to rely upon rocket deliveries to meet the food needs of settlers. With this in mind, scientists are exploring ways to improve space farming.
Researchers work in a controlled greenhouse. They have identified a way that could improve crop production in simulated (模拟的) Martian soil, with different crops grown together. The method is called “intercropping”, invented by ancient Maya farmers in what is now Central America.
In their experiments, the researchers grew cherry tomatoes, peas and carrots together in small, round containers. Tomatoes grown in this way produced about double the amount of tomatoes grown alone — or “monocropped” — in the same simulated Martian soil. The tomatoes were also bigger. They flowered and matured earlier, gave more fruit per plant and had thicker stems. The amounts of peas and carrots did not increase with intercropping.
Rebeca Goncalves, an astrobiologist and lead writer of the study, said the research is the first time the intercropping technique was used in space soil, and that it was a big find — one that they could now build further research on. The crops were grown in simulated Martian regolith, a soil with no organic matter — a near-perfect physical and chemical match to real Martian soil.
The researchers added useful bacteria and nutrients. They also controlled the gases, temperature and humidity inside the greenhouse to match conditions expected in a Martian greenhouse. Intercropping involves growing plants with properties that could help each other grow. The method makes the best use of resources including water and nutrients.
The researchers said the tomato plants in intercropping may have benefited from being close to the pea plants. That is because the peas are good at turning nitrogen from the air, with the help of bacteria introduced into the soil, into an important nutrient. Overall, the tomatoes, peas and carrots grew well, though not as well as in Earth soil in the same greenhouse.
1. What is the benefit of intercropping mentioned in the article?| A．Increasing crop yield. | B．Preventing soil pollution. |
| C．Decreasing sunlight exposure. | D．Reducing water consumption. |
| A．Enhancing growth of carrots. |
| B．Increasing fruit production in tomatoes. |
| C．Transforming nitrogen into a crucial nutrient. |
| D．Improving the variety of bacteria introduced into the soil. |
| A．Carrots benefited the most from intercropping. |
| B．The crops grew as well as they would in Earth soil. |
| C．The presence of peas helped tomatoes produce more fruit. |
| D．Peas and carrots showed significant growth improvement in intercropping. |
| A．Intercropping is developed for growing crops in space. |
| B．The study found Intercropping resulted in higher tomato yields. |
| C．Scientists are struggling to find ways to improve crop production in space. |
| D．Researchers successfully grew some plants in imitated Martian soil using intercropping. |
10 . A Sweet Soul
Hopie was a beautiful black and white dog. She was such a gentle soul. She was let out of the house in extreme heat and attacked by another dog. I tried to save her but it was too late. My heart breaks every day missing her.
Hopie used to follow me around the yard when I was mowing (割) the grass; even if it was hot. She’d take a break and go back in the shade for a while, but always felt like she had to stay near me and she’d come back and walk along behind me.
After I lost her I couldn’t even bear to go out and mow the grass. One day I finally realized I had better get out there and do it because it was looking like a field. As l walked along slowly thinking of her and missing her, a black and white dragonfly (蜻蜓) started following me and then flying in front of me. It finally landed on the handle of the mower right near my hands and just sat there looking at me. I said out loud, “Hopie, is that you?” and the dragonfly just sat there and continued to look straight at me.
I have not ever seen a dragonfly with those colors: black body, white eyes and black and white wings. I knew in my heart that it was my Hopie coming to tell me. She was still there watching over me and tears came to my eyes. 1 told her I loved her and she flew away up into the sky as free as she could be. I still miss her every day and every time I see a dragonfly, I think of her.
1. According to paragraph one, what happened to Hopie?| A．She was saved by the author. | B．She was killed by another dog. |
| C．She saved another dog’s life. | D．She was lost on a hot day. |
| A．To make us know his dog got used to hot weather. |
| B．To show us that he had a beautifully managed yard. |
| C．To tell us the sweet memories shared with Hopie. |
| D．To tell us how annoying it was to be followed by Hopie. |
| A．It was very hot out there in the yard. |
| B．He couldn’t help missing his dog, Hopie. |
| C．His yard had no grass at all. |
| D．There were so many annoying dragonflies. |
| A．The dragonfly behaved like his dog. |
| B．He was lacking in the common sense. |
| C．The dragonfly looked the same as Hopie. |
| D．How happy he was to see Hopie again. |
