1 . Meet Heroes Saving Wildlife from Extinction
Anne Savage
Dr. Savage founded a conservation program to protect Cotton-top Tamarins (棉顶狨猴). She pioneered in the development of new technologies to study the animal in the Colombian forest. She also helped conduct a study that found only 7,500 individuals remained. As a result, the International Union for Conservation of Nature changed the classification of Cotton-top Tamarins from Endangered to Critically Endangered, which brought the species to more people’s attention.
Elena Bykova
Having majored in biology, Bykova has a good knowledge of the Saiga Antelope. As Executive Secretary of the Saiga Conservation Alliance, an international organization, Bykova works to save the antelope. Illegal shooting is the single biggest threat, and Bykova concentrates on raising public awareness of the danger, finding other livelihood opportunities for local communities, and protecting Saiga habitats.
Jeanne Tarrant
A variety of frogs are facing extinction due to habitat loss, climate change, and hunts by their animal enemies. These frogs are amazingly various and beautiful for Dr. Tarrant. So over the years, she has helped put the spotlight on these endangered creatures. No wonder she is called the “Frog Lady” of South Africa!
Marilyn Connell
Living only in the Mary River of Queensland, the Mary River Turtle (龟) takes in oxygen in two ways. Being hunted by other wildlife is the Mary River Turtle’s biggest threat. Connell and her team study the threats to the species and take measures to protect the eggs and newborns from being hunted, ensuring the species has a chance to survive.
1. What made Cotton-top Tamarins get more attention?| A．Dr. Savage’s conservation program. | B．Research into Cotton-top Tamarins. |
| C．The change of their risk classification. | D．The development of new technologies. |
| A．Anne Savage. | B．Elena Bykova. |
| C．Jeanne Tarrant. | D．Marilyn Connell. |
| A．Threats from other species. | B．Loss of their habitats. |
| C．Changes of their living habits. | D．Difficulty in raising newborns. |
2 . A new study has found the amount of antibiotics（抗生素）given to farm animals is expected to increase by two-thirds over the next 15 years. Researchers are linking the growing dependence on the drugs to the increasing need for meat, milk and eggs. However, the drugs could quicken the development of antibiotic-resistant infections（感染）. Such infections are already a major public, health concern in the United States.
The World Health Organization notes when people stop living in poverty（贫困）, the first thing they want to do is eat better, rather than earn more money. For most people, that means their diet should contain more meat. With the rapid development of Asia, people there are eating nearly four times as much meat, milk and other milk products as they did 50 year ago.
To meet the need, farmers have put many animals into smaller spaces. As the animals are crowded together, the easiest way to deal with some of the problems of crowding is to give them antibiotics. It's clear that antibiotics help animals stay healthy in a crowded environment and grow faster. But bacteria can develop resistance to the drugs gradually.
Nowadays, doctors find antibiotics that once worked against the infections no longer work. The bacteria have learned ways to fight against the drugs. The heavy use of antibiotics in animals is responsible for the growth of antibiotic resistance worldwide. In the United States, at least two million people get drug-resistant infections each year and at least 23,000 die from an infection.
Europe has banned the use of antibiotics to increase animal growth. And the United States is hoping to persuade farmers to stop using antibiotics for that purpose.
1. What accounts for the increasing amount of antibiotics given to farm animals?| A．The desire for new drugs. | B．The less effective antibiotics. |
| C．The outdated farm technology. | D．The need for more various foods. |
| A．Making a lot of money. | B．Focusing more on health. |
| C．Having more meat in their diet. | D．Living in a better environment. |
| A．Antibiotics do harm to animals. |
| B．Antibiotics help animals stay healthy. |
| C．Antibiotics are used heavily in Europe. |
| D．Antibiotic-resistant bacteria spread to people. |
| A．A new way of raising farm animals. |
| B．The advantages of using antibiotics. |
| C．The reason for banning the use of antibiotics. |
| D．The negative effect of antibiotics in farm animals. |
3 . I don’t think I can recall a time when I wasn’t aware of the beauty of the ocean. Growing up in Australia, I had the good fortune of having the sea at my side. The first time I went to Halfmoon Bay, I suddenly had the feeling of not being able to feel the ground with my feet anymore.
For my 10th birthday, my sister and I were taken out to the Great Barrier Reef. There were fish in different colors, caves and layers of coral (珊瑚). They made such an impression on me. When I learned that only one percent of Australia’s Coral Sea was protected, I was shocked. Australian marine (海洋的) life is particularly important because the reefs (暗礁) have more marine species than any other country on earth. But sadly, only 45% of the world’s reefs are considered healthy.
This statistic (数据) is depressing, so it’s important for us to do everything to protect them. The hope that the Coral Sea remains a complete ecosystem has led me to take action. I’ve become involved with the Protect Our Coral Sea activity, which aims to create the largest marine park in the world. It would serve as a place where the ocean’s species will all have a safe place forever.
Together, Angus and I created a little video and we hope it will inspire people to be part of the movement. Angus also shares many beautiful childhood memories of the ocean as a young boy, who grew up sailing, admiring the beauty of the ocean, and trying to find the secrets of ocean species.
1. What can we learn about the author from the underlined sentence in Paragraph 1?| A．He seldom went sailing at the sea. |
| B．He forgot his experiences about the ocean. |
| C．He never went back to his hometown. |
| D．He had a wonderful impression of Halfmoon Bay. |
| A．It is escaping from the Coral Sea gradually. |
| B．It depends on reefs for living greatly. |
| C．It may be faced with danger. |
| D．It is protected better than that in other oceans. |
| A．To contribute to a complete ecosystem. |
| B．To prevent more marine species being endangered. |
| C．To set up a large nature reserve for reefs. |
| D．To raise more teenagers’ environmental awareness. |
| A．To ask more people to take action to protect the marine species. |
| B．To inspire more people to study the secret of the ocean. |
| C．To share their childhood experiences about the ocean. |
| D．To bring back to people their memory of ocean species. |
4 . I enjoyed this trip for the opportunity to witness the Cranes (鹤) returning from Wood Buffalo National Park, some with their young of the year. I wondered, at the changing skies of Saskatchewan, often the vivid oranges and pinks of a sunset made me pause, but it was the clouds of feathers as ducks, geese, and cranes lifted off fields and lakes in numbers so numerous, they blocked out the sky at times, that blew my mind.
The desire to travel and explore is strong within the human condition. We might think we must journey “away” to enjoy a holiday, and sometimes we do. But other times, a simpler exploration, digging deeply into landscapes and cultures that we think we know, reveals the best sights.
I grew up in Saskachewan when cranes were fighting back from extinction, and I wasn’t a birdwatcher. But, returning with Eagle-Eye Tours as a bird-loving RCGS Travel Ambassador, I wondered at the conservation successes that allowed us to find these rare birds reliably.
My favourite memory from the trip is of an old farmer driving a large truck who slowed down for our group, standing in the middle of a road, excitedly watching a flock of cranes. Rather than scolding us for blocking traffic, he invited us into his backyard for a better view! He explained how he’s been providing quiet reserves for many years as the birds stop to rest and feed before flying south to Texas. It’s moments like this that make the travel special, and companies like Eagle-Eye Tours craft itineraries (行程) that allow these unexpected discoveries.
I enjoyed sharing these experiences with other nature lovers on the Royal Canadian Geographical Society branded trip and look forward to doing it again in October 2024.
1. What do the changing skies indicate?| A．The worsening environment. | B．The coming change of the weather. |
| C．The imbalance of nature. | D．The success of protecting cranes. |
| A．A trip of relaxation. | B．A trip of exploration. |
| C．A trip of friendship. | D．A trip of protection. |
| A．To explain why the protection goes well. |
| B．To describe how local people live their life. |
| C．To show that farmers are friendly to tourists. |
| D．To prove that everyone is a true bird lover. |
5 . Fire ants dig tunnels efficiently by only a small percentage of the group doing most of the work. Free-loaders just sit around while their hard-working colleagues get things done. But might freeloaders actually be necessary for society to function efficiently? The answer could be yes.
Fire ants are highly social organisms. So, Goldman, a physicist at Georgia Tech, and his colleagues wanted to know how individual ants knew what to do without a central leader issuing orders. To find out, Goldman's team labeled individual fire ants with paint and then watched them dig their narrow tunnels —barely wide enough for two workers. Turns out, just 30 percent of the ants did 70 percent of the labor. “I was surprised that we ended up with so few workers actually doing the work at any one time.” A quarter of the ants never even entered the tunnel. Others crawled inside, but left without digging single grain of dirt. These idling behaviors ensured the tunnels did not get clogged with insect traffic, which would make the construction process stop.
And when the scientists removed the five hardest working ants from the colony, others immediately jumped in to compensate (补偿) — with no reduction in the group’s productivity. It seems that it doesn’t matter which ants are working or freeloading at a given time, as long as there is some division of labor to keep the tunnels flowing smoothly. The findings are in the journal Science.
The study could have implications for robotics. Imagine groups of robots sent to search rubble (碎石) for disaster survivors. Or nanobots (纳米机器人) coursing through our bodies to diagnose illness and deliver targeted medical treatment. Such robot groups will need to avoid getting jammed up in tight spaces. It might be necessary to program them so some just sit back and watch their comrades work.
1. How do fire ants get the work done when digging tunnels?| A．Only the leaders do most of the work. |
| B．They all work under the order of one leader. |
| C．They all cooperate together to do the work efficiently. |
| D．Individual fire ants know their tasks and work efficiently. |
| A．crowded | B．blogged | C．clouded | D．covered |
| A．fire ants are the most diligent insects as they carry on tasks in groups. |
| B．scientists can deal with robotics better when coming to specific programs. |
| C．people may feel happy when they watch their colleagues do nothing but work. |
| D．scientists may diagnose illness more easily with easy access to advanced robotics. |
6 . Known as “wolf girl” at her West Warwick, R.I., school, Alyssa Grayson has spent much of her young life teaching others to protect and respect animals. After starting a wolf club in second grade, Alyssa learned all she could about her favorite animals. Today, she gives presentations about protecting wolves at libraries and schools — she’s even spoken at a university. In fact, she’s become such a wolf expert that she was appointed as the first junior advisor to the National Wolfwatcher Coalition.
When she’s not teaching others about wolves, Alyssa can be found volunteering at her local animal shelter, taking care of dogs and cats. She’s also trained as a citizen scientist for Frog Watch USA. In short, Alyssa Grayson proves that you are never too young to make a difference for animals.
When asked how she got interested in saving wolves, Alyssa says, “I’ve loved wolves since I saw them in a movie when I was 2 or 3 years old. Then one day I saw a commercial about wolf hunting. I asked my mother why people do this, and she told me because people don’t like wolves. I decided from then that I wanted to save wolves.”
Today, wolves are hunted, trapped, or poisoned. Hunters chase wolves for miles in an airplane until the wolves are too exhausted to run any more. Then they shoot them. The animal doesn’t have a chance to escape. Animals are also trapped for their fur. They are left to suffer in a trap with no food, water, or shelter. Alyssa thinks the fur looks better on the animal in the wild, where it’s meant to be, than on a human.
Alyssa believes wolves are important to our worlds. She says, “Wolves are an apex predator, which means they are at the top of the food chain. Removing them from the ecosystem is a big mistake. The ecosystem is like a chain of dominoes (多米诺骨牌) — with the apex predator as the one in front. If you were to knock down that domino, the rest of the chain would go down too.”
People usually think of “the Big Bad Wolf” when they hear about wolves. However, Alyssa says, “If they would base their thoughts on facts, not fairy tales, we wouldn’t have people wanting to kill wolves.”
1. Alyssa is known as “wolf girl” at her school because .| A．she keeps wolves as pets |
| B．she was raised by wolves |
| C．she does a lot to protect wolves |
| D．she started a wolf club at her school |
| A．gained knowledge about wolves at libraries |
| B．cares about other animals besides wolves |
| C．started to give presentations since second grade |
| D．is the first junior citizen scientist for Frog Watch USA |
| A．why wolves are killed |
| B．why wolves are trapped |
| C．the tools used to hunt wolves |
| D．how wolves are treated |
| A．doesn’t need fairy tales |
| B．doesn’t believe in fairy tales |
| C．encourages people to find out the facts about wolves |
| D．believes that more people will work to save wolves |
African elephants | |
| Size | The largest land animals on earth. |
| Habits | ● Do not ● Eat plants, from grass to ● Live near rivers and lakes. |
| Social behaviors | ● Produce a baby every ● Family ● Communicate with each other by using |
I’ve been fascinated by elephants
Walking along the Mekong River on the way to the Anantara Golden Triangle Resort was a fantastic adventure in
9 . An elephant and a crocodile were once standing beside river. They were disputing which was the better animal.
“Look at my strength,” said the elephant. “I can pull up a tree, roots and all with my trunk”
“Ah! But your skin is not nearly so thick as mine,” replied the crocodile. “No knife or tooth can cut through it.”
Just as they were coming to blows, a lion happened to pass.
“My dear friends!” said the King of all animals, going up to them. “Let me know the cause of your disagreement.”
“Will you kindly tell us which is the better animal?” cried both at once.
“Certainly”, said the lion, pointing across the river. “Do you see the soldiers’ metal hat on that wall?”
“Yes!” replied the beasts.
“Well, then,” continued the lion, “go and get it, and bring it to me, and I shall be able then to decide between you.”
Upon hearing this, off they started. The crocodile, being used to the water, reached the opposite side of the river first, and was soon standing beside the wall.
Here he waited till the elephant came up. The elephant, seeing that the crocodile had no way of reaching their goal, raised his long trunk, and took down the hat quite easily.
They then made their way together back again across the river. The elephant was trying to keep up with the fast-moving crocodile in the water and became careless. When he was forced to turn sharply to avoid a floating tree branch, the elephant dropped the hat and it fell to the river bottom. The crocodile noticed the accident, so down he dived, and brought it up in his huge mouth. They then returned, and the crocodile laid the metal hat at the lion's feet. The King took it up, and turning to the elephant, said: “You, because of your size and trunk, were able to reach the hat on the wall but, having lost it, you were unable to get it back. And you,” said the lion to the crocodile, “although unable to reach the hat, were able to dive for it and save it. You are both wise and able in your own ways. One is no better than the other.”
1. The underlined word "disputing" in Paragraph 1 means____.| A．playing | B．quarrelling | C．complaining | D．deciding |
| A．His big mouth | B．His strong skin | C．His swimming skill | D．His dangerous teeth |
| A．He ordered them to fight. | B．He made a quick decision. |
| C．He suggested a competition | D．He asked them to describe themselves |
| A．The hat got wet in the river. | B．He hit a floating tree |
| C．He was trying to swim too fast | D．He wanted to fight the crocodile |
| A．By working together | B．planning carefully |
| C．By sharing their ideas | D．By listening to the lion |
Scientists found a prehistoric ancestor of an arrow worm (箭虫)among a group of fossils (化石)at two national parks in Canada. The fossils
The sea worm was 10 centimeters long and had 50 spines (刺)on
The scientists say it lived 500 million years ago and is very different
Briggs said the worm was
Researchers were able to make a
