Allen was playing in his room. He heard a familiar chirping and rustling from the cage in the bedroom corner. It was his beloved Blue Finch, named Mary. The boy had cared for the bird since he was six, a gift from his mother for graduating from kindergarten and entering primary school. Now, at 12 years old, Allen had just recently celebrated his primary school graduation and was about to take another step in his life journey toward junior high school. For the past six years, Mary was his constant companion and closest friend.
As he grew up, Allen found it difficult to make friends or be close to others. Having had to move around many times and transfer schools due to his father’s work in the military, Allen never felt like he truly belonged in any one place. He always knew it wouldn’t be long before he would have to move yet again. The stress and pressure of a constantly mobile life also led to strain and pressure at home, leading to loud arguments and fights between his mother and father which he could hear from behind closed doors.
But, throughout all of this. Allen’s closest friend and companion-the true source of stability in his life — was Mary, his finch. But Mary was more than just a simple, calm pet: whenever Allen felt sad, the bird would always be singing and chirping, almost as if she sensed how he felt and wanted to lift his spirits. And when Allen fed the bird, Mary always moved across her branch to rest against his finger, never failing to bring a smile to Allen’s face. Yet, one summer day after Allen had come home after a walk at the park he found the window of his bedroom open and the door of Mary’s cage open-the-bird was gone. Suddenly, Allen realized that he must have left the cage open after cleaning it and forgot about the window being open on such a hot day. Upset, Allen fell down to the floor sobbing.
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Upon hearing the noise, Allen’s mother rushed upstairs and asked what had happened.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Filled with anticipation, Allen and his mother went outside to look for Mary.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________2 . Kala has deep ties to her Hawaiian roots. Her ancestors navigated (航行) the oceans for centuries using their knowledge of the stars, the sun, the currents and the wind. It’s not that she does it in a canoe without technology, but rather uses the natural technology around her. It’s called Way finding, and was taught to her by her father.
“My father was my foundation, my rock.” she says of her first voyage with him from Oahu to Lahaina in a traditional canoe. He taught her how to read the stars, the ocean swells and how to use them to hold the course. “Over 200 stars have specific names and purposes when you are Way finding. You have to look at each and determine if they are rising or setting. You know this star and the direction it represents. If you can do that, you can use it as a tool to orient (确定方向).” Kala added.
Kala Tanaka sailed the canoe in the ocean for up to three weeks. During the day, Kala used the sun until it hit a certain height. When she got closer to land, she looked for certain species of land birds and clouds that indicated there was land below. When Kala sailed she felt “I feel very connected to the crew and the canoe. We’re a family.” The longer voyage required Kala to spend hours studying the day and the night skies. It was demanding physical work. But it also had its moments of awe. For Kala, the beauty was in tying together the past and the present to enjoy the moment. So when she was not sailing, she was teaching Way finding skills to school-aged children in hopes of preserving the skills her ancestors relied on.
It’s easy to be lost in the immediacy of the technology of our day, to be consumed by screens and miss the nature that unfolds around us. But if we will take the time to look up, to see the stars and the sun, the way the clouds move, the miracle of life beneath and above us, we will discover something deep inside us, something that will always lead to happiness.
1. How does Kala navigate the ocean in a canoe?| A．By observing the natural elements around. |
| B．By following the course of ocean currents. |
| C．By using hi-technology navigation devices. |
| D．By recalling the first voyage with her father. |
| A．It was a heroic adventure. | B．It brought great joy to her life. |
| C．It was school children’s favorite. | D．It represented a kind of innovation. |
| A．Enjoy the screens. | B．Explore the universe. |
| C．Get close to nature. | D．Keep the earth clean. |
| A．Finding Our Way | B．Navigating the Ocean |
| C．The Wisdom from Ancestors | D．An Unforgettable Journey |
3 . I met the Man of the Trees in summer ten years ago, when I was visiting Uncle Jita.
Those were difficult times. People were cutting down our forest, and there was often flooding. Sometimes our water supply was dirty. When our pump(水泵)did have clean water, we had to wait in line for ages. When the pump wasn’t working, we had to walk five kilometres to the closest stream.
But I was happy. I was going to see my favorite uncle. When the day finally arrived, Dad drove me to Uncle Jita’s house and left. Once he saw me, Uncle Jita announced, “Tomorrow we’re going to explore a magical place. Here is my camera, Amy. You can take photos of what you see.”
The following day, we woke up and left early on a boat. The trip was exciting. But when we got off, there was ... nothing in front of us. “I don’t want to take pictures of this,” I complained.
Uncle laughed,“Start walking, Amy. I promise you’ll be surprised.” After some time, I could see the outline of a forest in the distance. A little closer, there was a man waving to us.
“That’s Kabir. The forest you see is his. He planted every single tree.” As we walked towards Kabir, Uncle explained that thirty years ago, the whole area was a wasteland. But one day Kabir decided to change all that and started planting trees. Thanks to him, part of the wasteland is now a paradise(天堂).
Uncle introduced me to Kabir, who had gray hair and a determined face. “Jita told me you like animals. Are you ready to see some?” he asked. “Of course!” I replied. We continued walking and soon were under the trees. I turned my head and was amazed at the difference between the two places. All because of the efforts of one man.
Like Uncle said, Kabir’s forest was magical. We saw deer, rhinos, and even tigers. During lunchtime, Kabir explained how, by planting trees, it was possible to stop the land from eroding(侵蚀).
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Hearing this, I turned to my uncle, “I think we can plant trees too ”
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________In the years that followed, people in our village worked hard to carry out our plan.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________4 . Baggy has become the first dog in the UK—and potentially the world—to join the fight against air pollution by recording pollutant levels near the ground.
Baggy wears a pollution monitor on her collar so she can take data measurements close to the ground. Her monitor has shown that air pollution levels are higher closer to ground level, which has helped highlight concerns that babies and young kids may be at higher risk of developing lung problems.
Conventional air pollution monitors are normally fixed on lampposts at about nine feet in the air. However, since Baggy stands at about the same height as a child in a pushchair（婴儿车）, she frequently records pollution levels which are much higher than the data gathered by the Environment A gency.
The doggy data research was the idea of Baggy's 13-year-old owner Tom Hunt and his dad Matt. The English youngster noticed that pollution levels are around two-thirds higher close to the ground than they are in the air at the height where they are recorded by the agency. Tom has since reported the shocking findings to the government in an attempt to emphasise that babies are at higher risk of developing asthma（哮喘）.
Matt Hunt said he was "very proud" of his son because “when the boy gets an idea, he keeps his head down and gets on with it, and he really does want to do some good and stop young kids from getting asthma."
“Tom built up a passion for environmental protection at a very early age," Matt added. “He became very interested in gadgets（小装置）. About one year ago, he got this new piece of tech which is like a test tube. One Sunday afternoon, we went out to do some monitoring, and he said, why don't we put it on Baggy's collar and let her monitor the pollution？'So we did it."
Tom said, "Most of the time, Baggy is just like any other dog. But for the rest of the time she is a super dog, and we are all really proud of her."
1. With a monitor on her collar, Baggy can ____________.| A．take pollutant readings | B．record pollutant levels |
| C．process collected data | D．reduce air pollution |
| A．High places are free of air pollution. |
| B．Higher pushchairs are more risky for kids. |
| C．Conventional monitors are more reliable. |
| D．Air is more polluted closer to the ground. |
| A．To warn of a health risk. | B．To find out pollution sources. |
| C．To test his new monitor. | D．To prove Baggy's abilities. |
| A．Modest. | B．Generous. | C．Creative. | D．Outgoing. |
In an age of rapidly growing urbanization, rooftop farming has emerged as a sustainable response
Rooftop farming, also
As urban populations continue to grow, rooftop farming fosters community engagement
6 . When a leafy plant is under attack, it doesn’t sit quietly. Back in 1983, two scientists, Jack Schultz and Ian Baldwin, reported that young maple trees getting bitten by insects send out a particular smell that neighboring plants can get. These chemicals come from the injured parts of the plant and seem to be an alarm. What the plants pump through the air is a mixture of chemicals known as volatile organic compounds, VOCs for short.
Scientists have found that all kinds of plants give out VOCs when being attacked. It’s a plant’s way of crying out. But is anyone listening? Apparently. Because we can watch the neighbours react.
Some plants pump out smelly chemicals to keep insects away. But others do double duty. They pump out perfumes designed to attract different insects who are natural enemies to the attackers. Once they arrive, the tables are turned. The attacker who was lunching now becomes lunch.
In study after study, it appears that these chemical conversations help the neighbors .The damage is usually more serious on the first plant, but the neighbors, relatively speaking, stay safer because they heard the alarm and knew what to do.
Does this mean that plants talk to each other? Scientists don’t know. Maybe the first plant just made a cry of pain or was sending a message to its own branches, and so, in effect, was talking to itself. Perhaps the neighbors just happened to “overhear” the cry. So information was exchanged, but it wasn’t a true, intentional back and forth. Charles Darwin, over 150 years ago, imagined a world far busier, noisier and more intimate (亲密的) than the world we can see and hear. Our senses are weak. There’s a whole lot going on.
1. What does a plant do when it is under attack?| A．It makes noises. | B．It gets help from other plants. |
| C．It stands quietly | D．It sends out certain chemicals. |
| A．The attackers get attacked. |
| B．The insects gather under the table. |
| C．The plants get ready to fight back. |
| D．The perfumes attract natural enemies. |
| A．predict natural disasters |
| B．protect themselves against insects |
| C．talk to one another intentionally |
| D．help their neighbors when necessary |
| A．The world is changing faster than ever. |
| B．People have stronger senses than before |
| C．The world is more complex than it seems |
| D．People in Darwin’s time were imaginative. |
7 . Bobbi Wilson is a 9-year-old New Jersey girl. She had recently learned that spotted lantern flies
It turned out that a man
Bobbi was very confused and
| A．decorate | B．damage | C．recognize | D．abandon |
| A．created | B．restored | C．purchased | D．exhibited |
| A．got over | B．brought about | C．pointed out | D．come across |
| A．testing out | B．mixing up | C．posting | D．improving |
| A．heard | B．suggested | C．spotted | D．left |
| A．beautiful | B．curious | C．hidden | D．lost |
| A．excited | B．worried | C．relieved | D．stressed |
| A．calm | B．hopeful | C．upset | D．anxious |
| A．amazing | B．interesting | C．disturbing | D．annoying |
| A．actress | B．adult | C．stranger | D．hero |
| A．misguidance | B．misfortune | C．misunderstanding | D．mismatching |
| A．Luckily | B．Particularly | C．Generally | D．Honestly |
| A．attitude | B．answers | C．wealth | D．experiences |
| A．sent | B．referred | C．invited | D．carried |
| A．transport | B．provide | C．taste | D．keep |
8 . Across the world, humans purchase around 1.3 billion single-use plastic water bottles a day. Because only about 9% of plastic is recycled, the vast majority of those bottles wind up in landfills, the ocean, or elsewhere in nature.
When beach-loving Madison noticed those plastic bottles during her family’s trips to California, the 12-year-old “just felt like this needed to change,” she told Smithsonian Magazine.
So as she began thinking about what to do for her school science fair back in 2021, the idea of a project centered on reducing plastic pollution quickly came to her mind: she would design an eatable water bottle called the Eco-Hero.
“One of my biggest ambitions for my project was wanting to help the world,” the confident young inventor said in a video on the website.
To bring her idea to life, Madison built upon the already established method by experimenting with common food materials. She also took inspiration from previous versions of eatable water bottles, though she focused on making hers bigger and more durable. She found that the combination of water, lemon juice, natural gum, and Alginic acid (褐藻酸) resulted in a gel pouch that wouldn’t break, could hold up to 3/4 cup of water, and would last in the fridge for three weeks.
Though she’d like to improve the Eco-Hero by making it able to hold more water, she believes her current version would work well as a replacement for the paper cups used by runners in races. All one needs to do is bite a hole in the water ball, drink the water, and then eat the pouch or throw it away to biodegrade.
Madison hopes the Eco-Hero inspires others to take better care of the planet. “It doesn’t necessarily have to be in a big way,” she told Smithsonian. “People can still make a difference in the world, even if it’s just in a small way.”
1. What inspired Madison’s design of an eatable water bottle?| A．Her school’s task. | B．Her family’s urge. |
| C．Her love for nature. | D．Her trips to the beach. |
| A．It is a copy of the previous versions. |
| B．It is made from unbreakable materials. |
| C．It is an improvement in size and durability. |
| D．It has a hole and should be disposed once used. |
| A．Ambitious and creative. | B．Talented and determined. |
| C．Courageous and confident. | D．Cooperative and committed. |
| A．A good beginning is half done. | B．Small people make big moves. |
| C．Where there is a will, there is a way. | D．God helps those who help themselves. |
9 . As an intense heat wave sweeps through China, residents are seeking relief in air raid shelters and swimming pools to stay cool, and dozens of cities, including Shanghai, Chongqing and Hangzhou, have issued their highest-level red alert warnings. Shanghai has issued three red alerts this year, with the temperature hitting 40.9 Celsius on July 13, matching the record set in 2017 since 1873. The fact that Shanghai has experienced only 16 days of 40°C-plus temperatures since the city began keeping records in 1873 should give us an idea about the seriousness of the situation.
Medical experts say extreme heat could cause nausea (恶心), fatigue, sunstroke and even death, with senior citizens and people with long-term illnesses particularly vulnerable to heat waves.
Extreme heat events, which began a month ago, have affected the lives of more than 900 million people in China. Between June 1 and July 12, the average number of days with temperatures above 35°Cwas 5.3, up 2.4 days over normal years, breaking the national record set in 1961, according to the National Climate Center.
Parts of Europe are also in the grip of heat waves and experiencing extreme weather events after the western part of North America faced extreme heat waves last year. In response to the exceptionally high temperatures, the United Kingdom has declared a national emergency and issued the highest-level red alert warning for Monday and Tuesday for the first time. More alarmingly, the average global temperature in June this year was 0.4°C higher than normal years and the highest since 1979, with temperatures in countries such as Spain, France and Italy exceeding 40°C.
Unfortunately, extreme heat, which is directly related to climate change, will become more frequent and intense in the next 30 years, setting new records for high temperatures. As global warming intensifies, losses and devastation will increase, forcing natural and human systems to raise their adaptation limits.
1. What can we know about the heat waves this year?| A．It may cause more harm to the old and people with long-term illnesses. |
| B．The number of days above 35°Cin June breaks the national record. |
| C．Shanghai has experienced a higher temperature than that in 2017. |
| D．The whole Europe as well as America are suffering from the heat waves. |
| A．By analyzing and concluding. | B．By explaining and contrasting. |
| C．By giving examples and quoting. | D．By giving figures and comparing. |
| A．Becoming more serious. | B．Remaining stable. |
| C．Staying unpredictable. | D．Getting controllable. |
| A．The solutions to the climate change. | B．The economic losses from heat waves. |
| C．The increase of severe heat waves. | D．The destructive effect of global warming. |
10 . Poison frogs across Central and South America display some of the brightest colors in the animal kingdom. The way such creatures evolved to be just colorful enough to signal their toxic (有毒的) defense-but not so colorful that they become vulnerable to predators (捕食者) — has long been a grey area for scientists. Initially, predators would not have known that bright colors signal toxicity, and therefore would have eaten, and then become ill-these easily-spotted few members of a species with the colorful mutation (突变). In theory, this should make it virtually impossible for the aposematic (防护色的) pioneers to pass on their genes to their offspring, allowing for the mutation to take hold in the population.
To get to the bottom of this dilemma, Karl Loeffler Henry, a researcher at Carleton University launched the new study. Loeffler Henry’s team pored over data from the family trees of 1,100 species of frogs, newts and salamanders, and categorized them into one of five groups. On one end of range are the creatures with bright blues, yellows and reds. On the other are species that blend in perfectly with their surroundings. Between these poles, the scientists place species with camouflaged (伪装的) tops and colorful bottoms in various degrees. These tend to display their dramatic halves only when trying to defend themselves from predators.
The team used nine different computer models to test the potential evolutionary routes the species in the bright aposematic group might have taken to evolve this way. In the end, the researchers realized that they all kind of followed a similar pattern, evolving from species in the middle of that range, those whose colors are hidden unless in danger.
There have also been other theories proposed, but this new theory presents a mechanism that is likely to play a role in the evolution of anti-predator defense in various prey groups and a wide range of different predators. Possibly, it might inspire the exploration of evolution of warning coloration in other animal groups as well.
1. What remained unclear to scientists in the past?| A．How the proper shades of the colors are evolved. |
| B．How these creatures signal their toxic defence. |
| C．Which colors are better at scaring predators away. |
| D．Which creatures are at higher risk of being eaten. |
| A．The predators clearly knew about the toxicity but still feed on them. |
| B．The first colorful members have bright colors but can avoid predators. |
| C．The first colorful members were eaten but the mutation was passed on. |
| D．The predators became seriously ill but their population continued to boom. |
| A．The colors of all those species were either bright or grey. |
| B．The aposematic group evolved by following nine routes. |
| C．The researchers observed these different species in the wild. |
| D．The origin of the evolution turned out to be the hidden colors. |
| A．Other theories of the evolution. | B．Other animals’ evolution routes. |
| C．The drawbacks of the study. | D．The significance of the study. |
