In southern China, there is a famous road
This road is sure
For the next few months, this road is not above the surface
2 . We’re often told to follow our dreams, and one person in Canada has done just that after building a wonderland for animals. In his own backyard, the eight water features which Robert Perkins dug into the ground are now a shelter for birds, frogs, beavers (河狸) and other animals in the middle of suburban development. But for Perkins, creating habitat for wildlife is not only about doing his part to help the environment. It’s a labor of love for a woman he met when he was 16 years old.
Perkins met Rhonda in 1974 and the two of them hit it off. They both loved animals, and she always wished to have a place where they could live in harmony with the land. Rhonda, whom Perkins stayed with all his life, passed away in 2006. Perkins resolved to build a wonderland where her spirit could stay in peace.
Ignoring planning departments and neighbors alike, Perkins began digging large holes for water to flow. Over the course of nine years his property went from being a neighborly headache to a perfect home for wildlife.
Perkins says he won’t take all the credit for the wetland he built. When Perkins started creating the wildlife habitat in the early 2000s, a family of beavers got wind of it soon and claimed the land. “When we built our subdivisions, we cleared all the trees, dried the hills, drove all the water down to the lakes... In turn, the beavers helped dam (筑坝) and purify the water.”
Wetland habitats not only attract wildlife, but probably offer the most complete package of ecosystem services, including preventing pollution, enriching the soil, and promoting the well-being of wildlife species.
Perkins says he doesn’t need to wonder what Rhonda might think of the place; he feels her presence whenever he walks alone among the trees, the grass, and the ponds, looking at birds or beavers, and listening to the songbirds and frogs. Perkins hopes his project will one day become an educational place that local people can visit to learn about the importance of wetlands.
1. Why did Perkins build the water features?| A．To fulfill his childhood dream. | B．To show his love for his wife. |
| C．To preserve endangered wildlife. | D．To adapt to suburban development. |
| A．Effortless but creative. | B．Discouraging but efficient. |
| C．Painful but influential. | D．Demanding but rewarding. |
| A．Perkins had a strategic plan for it. | B．Human’s role in it was overvalued. |
| C．Nature itself also played a part in it. | D．Beavers were invited to help with it. |
| A．To help spread his story. | B．To be a recreational spot. |
| C．To bring economic value. | D．To serve as an inspiration. |
3 . The conventional wisdom about insects has been that they are unthinking, unfeeling creatures whose behavior is entirely hardwired (天生的). But in the 1990s researchers began making surprising discoveries about insect minds. Some species of wasps (黄蜂) recognize their nest mates’ faces and acquire impressive social skills. For example, they can infer the fighting strengths of other wasps relative to their own just by watching other wasps fight among themselves.
Given the substantial work on the complexity of insect cognition (认知), it might seem surprising that it took scientists so long to ask whether, if they are that smart, could also be sentient, capable of feeling. Since we have no direct window into the inner world of an animal that cannot verbally communicate its thoughts and feelings, the question of whether insects are sentient remained academic.
15 years ago, I performed an experiment in which we asked whether bumblebees could learn about t hreat from their natural enemies. We built a plastic spider model with a mechanism that would briefly trap a bumblebee between two sponges before releasing it. The bumblebees showed a significant change in their behavior after being attacked by the robotic spider. Perhaps unsurprisingly, they learned to avoid flowers with spiders and meticulously scanned every flower before landing. Curiously, however, they some times even fled from imaginary threats, scanning and then abandoning a perfectly safe, spider-free flower. Although this incidental observation did not constitute formal ev idence of an emotionlike state, it did open the door to the idea that such states might exist in insects.
Some research suggested that insects might have positive states of mind. Researchers discovered that bees actively seek out drugs such as nicotin e and caffein e when given the choice and even treat themselves with nicotin e when sick. Male fruit flies stressed by being robbed of mating opportunities prefer food containing alcohol, and bees even show withdrawal symptoms when removed from an alcohol-rich diet.
Why would insects consume mind-altering substances if there isn't a mind to alter? But these suggestive hints of negative and positive mind states still fell short of what was needed to demonstrate that insects are sentient.
1. What does the example of the wasps indicate?| A．Insects show signs of intelligence. |
| B．Insects can do complex calculations. |
| C．Insects can socialize in a skillful way. |
| D．Insects live in highly complex societies. |
| A．Hesitantly. | B．Casually. | C．Eagerly. | D．Carefully. |
| A．They avoided flowers with spiders. |
| B．They settled on flowers despite threats. |
| C．They might abandon spider-free flowers. |
| D．They might get scared away by other insects. |
| A．What insects' various behavior can reveal. |
| B．How insects communicate their thoughts. |
| C．What amazing powers insects possess. |
| D．Whether insects are capable of feeling. |
The Dog Who Saved Our Family
We met Max at the pickup area of Alaska Airlines five years ago. He was a standard poodle(狮子狗)born on Valentine’s Day in 2017， and came to us in a small blue box. We had adopted him from an out-of-state raiser who posted the news on the social network. Our only request was that he have a calm behavior, able to bear the pushing and hugging of our eight-year-old daughter and six-year-old son.
We were a sweet little family:me,my husband, and our children, Sophie and Jake. But for years I’d felt as if we wouldn’t really be complete until we had a dog. Also, my husband worked in a business company and had to travel some 200 days a year for his job, and I knew I’d feel safer with a large animal sleeping by the door.
When we opened the box, the last piece of our puzzle fell into place. With his black hair and intelligent eyes,Max was beautiful. He was so small that he fit into the palm of my hand, his big paws lapping over the sides. He was also a little bit scared. As I pulled him close,I felt his heart pound and wondered if we’d done the right thing, taking him from his mother. But it was too late. Sophie and Jake were already fighting over who would hold him next and who should have the right to take a bath for him.
Over the following months, we spent endless hours watching Max play with his Kong toy or roll around the living room floor. Like most poodles, he was smart. He mastered house-training quickly and never chewed on our furniture or shoes. He considered himself one of us.
注意1. 续写词数应为150左右
2.请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
One night we were sleeping in the bedroom when I heard some strange noise.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________At that time,Max ran towards me.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________5 . 4 Most walkable cities in Europe
Seville, SpainSeville in Spain takes the top spot as Europe’s most walkable city, offering the shortest walking route between the top four tourist attractions.Visitors can explore the impressive Plaza de Espana public square, before wandering over to the UNESCO-listed palace of Real Alcazar and Seville Cathedral. After that, it’s only a short trip on foot to visit the beautiful Barrio Santa Cruz neighbourhood.
Venice, ItalyVenice is well-known as a heaven for pedestrians (行人), so it’s no surprise it ranks as the second best location for walkable city breaks. There are endless alleyways to explore, as well as plenty of beautiful bridges over the crisscrossing canals that the city is famous for. Just under half an hour of walking here will take you on a tour of the impressive Grand Canal, Doge’s Palace, St Mark’s Square, Basilica and bell tower, all in only 1.3 miles.
Porto, PortugalNestled along Portugal’s picturesque coast, Porto comes in third with its top attractions all covered by a 30-minute walking route. Meander along the Dom Luís I Bridge over the Douro River, head to the Clérigos Church Bell Tower and enjoy a riverfront walking place along the Cais da Ribeira. The Stock Exchange Palace is also just a short walk away.
Florence, ItalyFlorence, Italy, secures its place as the fourth most walkable city in Europe thanks to its stunning attractions that can be seamlessly explored on foot. A 1.6 mile route covers the awe-inspiring Piazzale Michelangelo; the famous Uffizi Gallery; the Piazza del Duomo where you will be amazed at the magnificent Florence Cathedral; and the Galleria dell’Accademia, home to Michelangelo’s masterpiece, the statue of David.
1. How long is probably the walking route in Seville?| A．1.1 miles. | B．1.3 meters. | C．1.6 meters. | D．1.8 meters. |
| A．Seville. | B．Venice. | C．Porto. | D．Florence. |
| A．To compare the four cities. |
| B．To show the benefits of walking. |
| C．To stress the importance of traveling. |
| D．To attract visitors to walk in these cities. |
6 . Next time you’re having trouble solving a tricky puzzle, consider asking a nearby bumblebee.
A new study in the journal PLOS Biology finds that bumblebees can learn certain behaviors from each other, suggesting these social insects have a capacity for what we humans call “culture.”
In the past couple of decades, a growing body of evidence has shown that animals like chimps and birds show behaviors of learning. If what they learn lasts for a long time, it turns into a tradition. And culture is made up of multiple traditions. “Bumblebees, though, have some of the most complex behavioral abilities, nobody’s really thought to look at culture in such insects and generally assume they’re mostly driven by inborn factors instead,” says Alice Bridges, a behavioral ecologist at Anglia Ruskin University in England.
To prove them wrong, Bridges built a puzzle box, whose base held the reward: a drop of super sweet sugar water. The box was designed with a rotating (旋转) top that can be rotated by pushing either on a red tab clockwise or a blue tab anti-clockwise. Some bees were trained to push the red tab to get the sugar water while others pushed the blue one. Then, these tutor bees were placed inside different colonies (蜂群), along with the puzzle boxes.
The experiment ultimately played itself out. In colonies where the tutor bee had originally learned to push the red tab, the other bees in the colony usually pushed the red tab. In colonies where the tutor bee was trained to push the blue tab, their fellow bees also tended to do the same. In contrast, in the control groups without tutors, the bees sometimes learned how to open the boxes, but most of them would do it once or twice and then never again. “They perhaps hadn’t quite made the link between their behavior and the reward,” Bridges supposes.
“Many of us consider ourselves to be rather special…because we have culture, we can learn and we’re social,” Bridges says. “But now it turns out that even the bee also has culture, which is an uncomfortable truth: human culture, once thought unique, does not emerge ‘out of the blue’ but has obviously built on deep evolutionary foundations.
1. What is people’s common attitude to bumblebees having culture?| A．Positive. | B．Indifferent. | C．Interested. | D．Doubtful. |
| A．To test their learning capability in new settings. |
| B．To see if they will spread the secret of the boxes. |
| C．To evaluate their ruling power in various groups. |
| D．To observe if they will share their food with peers. |
| A．Its appeal to the public. | B．Implications on cultural origins. |
| C．Its practical application. | D．Suggestions for future directions. |
| A．Human Culture Is Losing Its Uniqueness |
| B．Bee’s Behavior Builds on Biological Factors |
| C．Culture May Be Present Among Bumblebees |
| D．Animals’ Evolution May Start From Colonies |
7 . East China’s port city of Quanzhou was added to UNESCO World Heritage (遗产) List on July 25, 2021, bringing the total number of the country’s UNESCO World Heritage sites to 56. The following are four of them, which fall into two categories — three cultural sites and one natural site.
＊Classical Gardens of Suzhou
Classical Chinese garden design, which seeks to recreate natural scenery, is nowhere better shown than in the nine gardens in Suzhou. They are generally acknowledged to be masterpieces of the style. Dating from the 11th — 19th century, the gardens reflect the importance of natural beauty in Chinese culture in their design.
＊Hubei Shennongjia
This natural site protects the largest primary forests remaining in Central China and provides living space for many rare animals. It is one of three centers of biodiversity in China. The site is important in the history of botanical research and was the object of international plant collecting trips in the 19th and 20th centuries.
＊Ancient City of Pingyao
Founded in the 14th century, Pingyao is a well-preserved example of a traditional Han Chinese city. It shows the changes of architectural styles and town planning in China over five centuries. Of special interest are the grand buildings associated with banking, for which Pingyao was the major centre for the whole of China in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
＊Ancient Villages in Southern Anhui — Xidi and Hongcun
The two traditional villages of Xidi and Hongcun preserve the appearance of non-urban settlements of a type that largely disappeared or was transformed during the last century. Their street plan, their architecture and decoration, and the harmony of houses with water systems are unique surviving examples.
1. What is stressed in the design of Suzhou Gardens?| A．The tradition. | B．The natural beauty. |
| C．The biodiversity. | D．The Chinese history. |
| A．It belongs to natural sites. | B．It has the largest forest in China. |
| C．It attracts objective collectors. | D．It owns a biodiversity research center. |
| A．Quanzhou. | B．Suzhou. | C．Pingyao. | D．Xidi. |
8 . In our human-centric view, the ability to shoot ink or change colors may seem odd, but you know what’s really odd? Menopause (更年期). You can count species other than humans known to experience and outlive menopause on one hand. Only Oracs (虎鲸) and some whale populations have females that live long past their reproductive years to become grandmothers. But a new, landmark study confirms that at least one population of chimpanzees can now be added to the list.
The discovery comes as the result of 21 years’ worth of observing the Ngogo community of wild chimpanzees in Kibale National Park, Uganda. Studying urine from 66 Ngogo females, aged 14 to 67, showed that their hormone levels changed after approaching 50, confirming they were in menopause. Interestingly, 50 is also the age when many people begin to experience menopause. “It’s really cool to finally have that piece of the puzzle come into place,” says Catherine Hobaiter, a primatologist who was not part of the new study.
But Catherine points out that the Ngogo community lives in a chimp paradise: the resource-rich, well-protected Kibale National Park that also lacks leopards, their main predator. And because the Noggo community is found in the heart of the park, its only neighbors are other chimps — not humans who can expose chimpanzees to viruses that have devastated other communities. “The Ngogo population may be an outlier (局外人) when it comes to the rest of the species,” she cautions.
And there is a question concerning “the grandmother effect”, according to which a grandmother has a decidedly beneficial effect on her children and grandchildren. Chimpanzees do not form long-term pair-bonds and females leave in search of new communities when they reach maturity, which means grandmother chimpanzees likely don’t know who their grandchildren are in the same way humans or even orcas do. What they do after the menopause remains a question of interest. “And that’s all future work to be done.” said Catherine.
1. What can be learned about menopause?| A．It is rare among animals. | B．It is unique to human beings. |
| C．It just occurs at the age of 50. | D．It is experienced only by females. |
| A．Scientist have found the solution to menopause. |
| B．What happens to the 66 Ngogo females remains a puzzle. |
| C．There is a puzzle whether chimpanzee females experience menopause. |
| D．The latest discovery casts new light on the puzzle of animal menopause. |
| A．To stress the importance of protecting chimpanzees from viruses. |
| B．To remind researchers of the potential limitation of the new study. |
| C．To prove that Ngogo chimpanzees are perfect subjects of the study. |
| D．To argue that the discovery of the new study is completely groundless. |
| A．By offering a definition. | B．By drawing a conclusion. |
| C．By presenting relevant facts. | D．By giving examples and opinions. |
It’ s reported that China on Tuesday
Home to various key wildlife species in China, the Wuyishan National Park appeals
10 . A future where insects make up a large part of the world’s diet is on the horizon. Despite the unpleasant nature of such cuisine, insects have been considered a delicacy in some parts of world for centuries. Their being low-fat and high-protein makes them a perfect choice for reducing hunger.
Animal protein from livestock (家畜), such as cows, chicken and pigs, takes up 80 percent of the entire world’s farmland, despite only making up less than one-fifth of calories consumed globally.
Insects such as grasshoppers, meal worms and crickets are packed full of protein with much higher vitamin levels than pork or beef.
It seems that insects are an ideal solution for many issues the world today is faced with.
Times are changing. The European Union last year declared that meal worms were safe for human consumption. Cricket protein powder is also increasing greatly in popularity, with Canada rapidly becoming the largest market for the product.
| A．They also have a host of environmental benefits. |
| B．Insects reproduce quickly and have high growth rates. |
| C．Unlike agriculture, insects produce far fewer greenhouse gases. |
| D．They require little space, water and technology to raise compared to livestock. |
| E．However, making them a delicious cuisine can be a challenge in several cultures. |
| F．By freeing up livestock space, huge expanses of land could be returned to nature. |
| G．A future where insects will become invaluable to space exploration is also upcoming. |
