The polar bear is found in the Arctic Circle and some big land masses as far south as Newfoundland. While they are rare north of 88°, there is evidence
Modern methods
The Grand Canal is the longest and
The Grand Canal bears witness to a remarkable and early development of hydraulic engineering(水利工程). It is an essential technological achievement
3 . Slowness has been a sweeping trend in sustainability. Slow food celebrates local produce and traditional cooking methods; slow fashion is made with a focus on people and the planet. You may have even heard of the slow city, a campaign to restore local cultures and turn cities back to their natural environments.
Slow design developed from the larger slow movement. Although the term was only recently introduced, the idea of thoughtful design looks back to a time when buildings and furniture were made with great craftsmanship (手艺) and by hand-before the mass-produced throwaway furniture took over. You can think of the term “slow” as a celebration of timelessness: both the timelessness of a piece and the timelessness of the relationship between that piece and its owner.
One example of slow design today is what’s been dubbed the brown furniture revival (复兴). Brown furniture refers to the heavy wooden furnishings that were popular in your grandparents’ day but suddenly fell out of style at the turn of the century. Brown furniture is often associated with dark woods, such as trees like mahogany, walnut, and teak, that take decades to reach maturity and true craftsmanship to transform into functional pieces.
Today’s furniture industry is dominated by the $13.1 billion-and-growing global ready-to-assemble(RTA) furniture market. RTA furniture is usually constructed from low-quality fiberboard, which lasts a small part of traditional furniture’s lifespan (寿命).The weight of furniture landfilled in 2018 was 9. 7 million tons, 4. 5 times what was landfilled in 1960.
In a less direct way, the idea of timelessness also lends itself to a lower environmental impact. Besides their demonstrated physical durability, slow materials and design are meant to outlive trends and never be thrown out simply because they’re out of style.
As second-hand shopping becomes more appealing to today’s young generation-because of its low environmental impact and affordability-the brown furniture of yesteryear is making a comeback.
1. Why is the first paragraph written?| A．To explain a new term. |
| B．To present the topic of the text. |
| C．To provide background information. |
| D．To highlight the importance of slowness. |
| A．Known as. |
| B．Mistaken for. |
| C．Compared to. |
| D．Connected with. |
| A．It is out of date. |
| B．It has a long lifespan. |
| C．It is heavy and expensive. |
| D．It has bad effects on the environment. |
| A．Grandparents are buying new furniture. |
| B．The brown furniture will soon be mass-produced. |
| C．The young generation favors second-hand shopping. |
| D．Materials for slow design furniture are more available. |
4 . Hardscaping refers to non-organic features of a landscape such as pathways, driveways, walls, steps, and other human-made structures. The three Rs, which are common to many sustainability efforts, apply to hardscaping: reduce, reuse, and recycle.
Reduce Runoff
You can reduce rainwater runoff by using permeable (可渗透的) materials that allow rainwater to get into the soil below.
Use Recycled Materials
Consider using materials that are recycled from reclaimed (再生的) concrete, glass, or other construction materials that might otherwise end up in a landfill.
Support Local Wildlife
With careful planning and action, you can enjoy the convenience brought by hardscaping and at the same time be considerate to the environment and local wildlife.
| A．Those materials are seemingly useless. |
| B．All these are essential to a healthy ecosystem. |
| C．They aren’t suitable for all landscapes, however. |
| D．Don’t forget there are creatures living under the top soil. |
| E．You can get such things from many landscaping suppliers. |
| F．Rainwater is an important source of our underground water. |
| G．Add “support local wildlife”, and you’re ready for sustainable hardscaping. |
5 . 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 |
6 . By the time I took Kicker home, I was living in a van (旅居房车), so he was thrown into van life from day one. At this point, I knew how to make him an outgoing and adaptable dog, and my life was far more adventurous than it had been...
Right out of the gate, I took him to ski touring, which is a lot like cross-country skiing but in wilder terrain. At first, Kicker would just stay nestled (依偎) in my jacket, but as he got stronger, he would run on his own for a little while before I carried him again.
We also went on some winter camping adventures in the high peaks of the Uinta Mountains, and we tried snow kiting. He ran around while I skied. He learned to speed-fly and kiteboard. One time he vomited (呕吐) all over the new cushions on my bed. Boy, did that stay smelly for days! Still, living in a van with a dog was great. With each new day, he got stronger and more independent.
I had dreamed of visiting Alaska since I was a child, so being able to share that trip with Kicker felt incredible. There’s something to be said about shared experiences and how they help develop a strong bond. Together we kayaked, snowmobiled, and even ended up exploring deep blue ice caves in Worthington Glacier. Kicker learned to come snowboarding with me in the mountains of Alaska. He would hike part of the way, and I would carry him the rest. I would always let him run next to me as I boarded, but I usually ended up putting him on my shoulders for the rest of the ride down—he had grown far too big to fit in my jacket.
Having a dog has been one of the most rewarding things in my life. For me, it’s about the time spent together exploring, sharing experiences, working through challenging situations, snuggling, and ultimately taking care of one another.
1. What was Kicker like when he was first taken home by the author?| A．Sick and pitiful. | B．Small and weak. |
| C．Happy and active. | D．Outgoing and adventurous. |
| A．To illustrate how hard life is in a van. |
| B．To indicate that raising Kicker was not all roses. |
| C．To show the importance of taking good care of a pet. |
| D．To warn us of the trouble a pet can bring to us on a trip. |
| A．What tricks Kicker learned in Alaska. |
| B．What great experiences the author had. |
| C．How the author realized his childhood dream. |
| D．How much the author enjoyed Kicker's company. |
| A．They bond through shared adventures. |
| B．They help each other to become stronger. |
| C．They bond through giving each other rewards. |
| D．They depend on each other in life’s hardest times. |
7 . Should We Create More National Parks to Save Endangered Animals?
Don’t you find it worrying that more and more species of animals are in real danger of becoming extinct?
In addition, national parks protect animals from the danger of being hunted. A major reason why many species are endangered is that these animals are killed by hunters. They hunt animals to make money.
On the other hand, some people fight against the creation of national parks because they consider it is wrong to interfere with nature. They believe that wild animals are happier living in their natural environment.
All in all, these disadvantages are far less important than the benefits of national parks.
| A．To begin with, animals are important to humans. |
| B．Some hunters even hunt animals simply for sport. |
| C．I personally believe that we must save these animals. |
| D．These parks allow animals to live in a safe environment. |
| E．Firstly, national parks protect these animals’ natural environment. |
| F．They say though the animals may face danger, they enjoy a free life. |
| G．There is a heated discussion about whether to create more national parks. |
8 . Honeybees understand that “nothing” can be “something” that has numerical meaning, showing that they have a primitive grasp of the concept of zero, according to a newly-published study in Science.
Previous experiments have shown that honeybees have some facility for numbers, because they were able to count landmarks (地标) as they searched around for a sweet reward. But in these tests, the insects couldn’t count very high-only to about four. Still, that made researchers in Australia and France want to explore what else the bees could do with numbers.
Scarlett Howard at RMIT University in Melbourne attracted bees to a wall where they were presented with two square cards. Each card had a different number of black symbols, such as dots or triangles. Howard trained one group of bees to understand that sugar water would always be located under the card with the least number of symbols. “They could come and see two circles versus (与. . . 相对) three circles, or four triangles versus one triangle,” she explains. The bees quickly learned to fly to the card with the fewest symbols,
But then they got another test, The researchers presented the bees with a card that had a single symbol and a blank card that had nothing on it. The bees seemed to understand that “zero” was less than one, because they flew toward the blank card more often than you’d expect if they were choosing at random. “When we showed them zero-versus six, they did that at a much higher level than zero versus one,” Howard says. “So what tells us is that they consider zero as an actual quantity along the number line.”
Aurore Avargues-Weber, a researcher with the University of Toulouse, points out even very young children have trouble understanding that zero is a number. “It’s easy for them to count ‘one, two, three, four,’ but zero, it’s not something to count,” she explains. What’s more, the brains of bees are incredibly tiny brains compared with the brains of humans. Even so, the bees can understand the abstract concept of an empty set and she says she found that very surprising.
1. What did the earlier studies find about bees?| A．They could fly higher than expected. |
| B．They could understand some numbers. |
| C．They could remember a reward well. |
| D．They could explore local landmarks. |
| A．Distinguish circles from triangles. |
| B．Draw various symbols on the cards. |
| C．Identify the smaller of the two numbers. |
| D．Locate sugar water with symbol shapes. |
| A．They were told the location of the reward. |
| B．They chose to do it thoroughly by chance. |
| C．They preferred the card with nothing on it. |
| D．They thought of zero as an actual number. |
| A．To argue that bees have a surprising memory. |
| B．To show that bees’ gift for numbers is amazing. |
| C．To explain that bees learn as well as young children. |
| D．To confirm that bees are smarter than young children. |
9 . Shop Sustainably
If you have to name one thing that contributes most to your ecological footprints, you may say the energy you use at home, or your car’s emissions.
●
●Avoid unnecessary packing. Buy loose fruit and vegetables instead of pre-packaged produce, and avoid products that contain multiple single packages or double packaging, like grain in a box and a bag. Consider switching from tea bags and coffee pods to tea leaves and ground coffee.
●Go organic when you can. In addition to the benefit organic farming has to insect biodiversity, it’s also considered more sustainable and better for the environment.
●Buy seasonal and native products.
| A．Take reusable grocery bags. |
| B．Select single-use plastic bags. |
| C．It supports local farmers and food producers. |
| D．You can also refill your own containers with loose-packed food. |
| E．When buying organic products, look for those officially certified. |
| F．But it’s what we eat that accounts for up to 60% of our personal demand. |
| G．You’ll find it convenient whenever you buy tea or coffee in the supermarket. |
10 . Sulphur-crested cockatoos (葵花凤头鹦鹉) are common in western Australia, where they normally live in wooded areas. But as forests have been cut down, cockatoos have gotten used to living near people. Scientists report that people in Sydney, Australia are in a battle with these birds.
Last year, scientists at the Max Planck Institute reported that the cockatoos had learned how to open the covers of trash bins. That’s not an easy job. The cockatoos must lift the heavy cover with their beaks (喙) and then walk along, pushing the cover up until it falls over.
When scientists first began studying the cockatoos in 2018, only three areas near Sydney had cover-opening cockatoos. A year and a half later, cockatoos in 44 different areas knew the trick. This time the scientists weren’t just studying cockatoos. They were also studying humans.
The scientists spent weeks studying more than 3,200 trash bins in four different areas of Sydney. They wanted to see how many bins were protected and what methods were used.
In one area, over half the bins were protected. The most common way of protecting the bins was to put a brick or some other heavy objects on the cover. Some people put things like rubber snakes on the top of their bins. The scientists discovered that the humans were teaching each other tricks, too. In most neighborhoods, many people used the same cockatoo-stopping methods as their neighbors.
The researchers say it’s like a race between humans and cockatoos to learn new ways of doing things. Now many cockatoos have learned how to push heavy items off the bins. As a result, humans have figured out ways to attach the items to the top of their bins. The scientists describe the situation as a “human-wildlife conflict”. They expect these conflicts will become more common as humans take over more areas that used to be wild.
1. What can we infer about the cockatoos from the text?| A．They like copying humans’ behavior. |
| B．They are newly found in Australia. |
| C．They don’t like living with people. |
| D．They are very clever birds. |
| A．How the cockatoos learned the trick. |
| B．Why the birds in more areas did the trick. |
| C．How humans responded to the birds’ trick. |
| D．Why humans taught the birds to do the trick. |
| A．They wanted their habitat back. |
| B．They intended to make humans angry. |
| C．They could adopt new ways to open bins. |
| D．They disliked looking for food themselves. |
| A．A battle over trash bins between cockatoos and humans |
| B．A human-wildlife conflict all over Australia |
| C．A problem caused by cockatoos to humans |
| D．A big problem of “homeless” cockatoos |
