1 . As an only child, Renae often felt
When Renae was 14, her father got a new job and the house needed to be free of noise. “Chloe liked barking,” Renae says. “I didn’t want to lose my dog but I didn’t have any
Later, Renae grew up, got married, and had a child. But her family didn’t feel quite
A.anxious | B.embarrassed | C.responsible | D.lonely |
A.reminded | B.attracted | C.surprised | D.pressed |
A.flexible | B.horrible | C.generous | D.inseparable |
A.choice | B.measure | C.benefit | D.loss |
A.conclusion | B.decision | C.tradition | D.inspiration |
A.impressed | B.typical | C.optimistic | D.sensitive |
A.take out | B.find out | C.drop out | D.put out |
A.disappointedly | B.crazily | C.excitedly | D.amazingly |
A.complete | B.original | C.current | D.formal |
A.accomplish | B.attempt | C.experience | D.observe |
A.adapt | B.adopt | C.acquire | D.abuse |
A.instant | B.incident | C.individual | D.instruction |
A.hugging | B.patting | C.licking | D.stressing |
A.motivated | B.astonished | C.alarmed | D.delighted |
A.As long as | B.As well as | C.As with | D.As for |
2 . Born to an adventure-loving mom and a National Geographic’s photographer dad, Alison Teal was already exploring the world as a baby. The family traveled the globe staying not at five-star hotels but in a six-foot-wide tent. From cold mountaintops to hot jungles, they completely involved themselves in local nature and culture.
Between journeys, they would return home to a quiet and faraway part of the Big Island of Hawaii, where they built a solar-powered oceanfront rest center. The front yard was the ocean, and Alison’s friends were dolphins. She would dive into the water and release seaweed. A dolphin would catch it on its nose or fin and throw it to the next player. Over the years, the dolphins grew to trust Alison. They looked for her and came close to her in the water.
After graduating from university, she continued her world travels. Her adventurous childhood and life skills landed her a spot in the reality show Naked and Afraid, in which she and her partner had to live on an unwelcoming island for 21 days. Alison’s deep knowledge of how to live in a wilderness saved the pair, but what shocked her was the amount of trash washed upon the shore.
“After that, I couldn’t ignore our plastic problem. I shifted my focus and started to protect our greatest resource, the ocean,” says Alison. Swimming in familiar waters back home, she also found her dolphin friends were no longer tossing (抛) seaweed to each other, but plastic. “That was distressing,” she says.
Her book, Alison’s Adventures: Your Passport to the World, is fled with travel tales and environmental lessons. She also offers free adventure films to go along with each chapter on her YouTube and TikTok. Alison believes all of us can make changes to protect the Earth and, in turn, those we love. “Whether you’re a lawyer, a gardener, an artist, a teacher or a surfer, we can all help in our own ways,” she says.
1. What can we infer from the first paragraph?A.Alison Teal had a comfortable life when she was young. |
B.Alison Teal was fond of photography when she was young. |
C.Alison Teal’s parents we restrict with her when she was young. |
D.Alison Teal led a life close to nature when she was young. |
A.The amount of trash washed upon the shore. |
B.The unwelcoming island where they had to live. |
C.The lack of resources in the wilderness. |
D.The dangerous situations they encountered. |
A.During a journey with her parents. |
B.After her participation in a show. |
C.Before her graduation from university. |
D.When visiting the Big Island of Hawaii. |
A.Everyone can contribute in their own ways. |
B.Only certain professions can make a difference. |
C.It is impossible to make any significant changes. |
D.It is the responsibility of governments and organizations. |
In China, Tree Planting Day falls on March 12, but more often people plant trees during Qing Ming Festival in early April. Newly-planted trees can survive more
China set March 12
Since 2013, Xi Jinping,
China has seen a
A.The man’s sister. | B.A pet. | C.An accident. |
A.A trip. | B.An umbrella. | C.The weather. |
6 . In Takoma Park, Maryland, in suburban Washington, people, adults or students, lined up at a pay phone outside a restaurant several times a week.
“Once I put the phone out there, it just took off,” said David Schulman, a Takoma Park violinist who created the Bird Calls Phone. Listeners push 1 to hear a yellow-crowned night heron (夜鹭), 7 to hear a pileated (红冠) woodpecker’s call and 9 for the distinct scream of a red-tailed hawk. Instructions about how to use the phone are in three languages: English, Spanish and Amharic — a reflection of Takoma Park’s Ethiopian community. In all, 10 birds native to the Takoma Park area are featured.
In addition to being fun, listening to Bird songs can reduce stress and anxiety, studies show. Even hearing recordings of birds can relieve negative emotions.
After noticing an abandoned, nonworking pay phone in town, Schulman wondered if he could turn it into something appealing. He said, “I really like the old technology of just picking up a receiver, pressing one button and having something happen.” Schulman thought bringing birds sounds to the abandoned phone was a way to add a bit of nature to the neighborhood.
Takoma Park city officials agreed, and they budgeted $5, 000 to complete the project. Schulman reached out to The McCaulay Library in Ithaca, New York, which agreed to send him a few dozen recordings of native birds. He then managed to gain the help of software engineer and artist Branden Hall to rewire the phone to play different bird calls. Schulman said he persuaded several of his friends to record short descriptions of each bird to go with the calls.
“One thing I like about the Bird Calls Phone is that it’s the opposite of a loud broadcast,” Schulman said. “Only one person can listen at a time, and each person will take away their own unique experience.”
1. What will listeners hear if they press buttons on the pay phone?A.The calls of native birds. | B.Songs in different languages. |
C.Descriptions of local creatures. | D.Instructions on reducing stress. |
A.Observant and nature-loving. | B.Diligent and easy-going. |
C.Serious and public-spirited. | D.Ambitious and kind-hearted. |
A.It encourages art appreciation. | B.It presents the harmony among birds. |
C.It turns loud broadcasts into private phones. | D.It receives broad support from the community. |
A.A Violinist Specializes in Ecology | B.Pick up the Phone, Hear Bird songs |
C.Close to Nature, Far From Depression | D.Turn Trash into Treasure in Washington |
7 . Bumblebees are vanishing at a rate consistent with widespread extinction, and climate change is playing a big role. The analysis comes from a new study published in the journal Science today.
The authors found that the likelihood of a bumblebee population surviving in any given place within North America and Europe has dropped by an average of 30 percent as temperatures have risen.
Pesticides, habitat loss, and pathogens(病原体) have already hit bumblebee populations hard. The new study, however, is able to isolate the effect that hotter temperatures are having on bumblebees. Sadly, bees are having a hard time adapting to a warming world. “If things continue along the path without any change, then we can really quickly start to see a lot of these species being lost forever,” lead author of the study Peter Soroye tells The Verge.
That’s not just a tragedy for the bees. It’s also bad news for all the plants that they pollinate and for humans who eat the fruits (and vegetables) of their labor. “We also lose out on a lot of color on our plates,” Soroye says. “Tomatoes, squash, and berries are just some of the crops we can thank bees for pollinating. Animal pollinators like bees, birds, and butterflies could be responsible for up to 1 out of every 3 bites of food we eat,” the US Department of Agriculture says.
For this study, Soroye and colleagues examined data from 1900 to 2015 on 66 species of bumblebees across North America and Europe. They mapped the places bees called home and how their distribution changed over time. They found that bees were vanishing in the areas that had heated up beyond the limit in which the bumblebees had historically been able to survive.
Some bee populations are colonizing new territories that were previously too cold. But those gains are overshadowed by losses in areas where the bees once thrived but are now too hot.
1. What is bumblebees’ main struggle?A.Habitat loss | B.Climate change | C.Human activities | D.Virus treat |
A.Humans can barely strive to save bumblebees from extinction. |
B.Bumblebees will inevitably die out some day. |
C.Bumblebees serve as a delicacy on our plates. |
D.Human’s lives are tightly linked to bumblebees’. |
A.Animal pollinators eat up 1 out of 3 of our food. |
B.Peter Soroye’s study started from 1900 and lasted 25 years. |
C.Bumblebees can not be accustomed to the places they used to live in. |
D.Bumblebees are more used to colder weather. |
A.The negative effects outweigh the positive ones. | B.No cold areas are left for Bumblebees. |
C.The losses are beyond estimation. | D.Bumblebees will have a rather bright future. |
8 . The Maasai people are the most easily identifiable in Kenya with their very colorful clothing and ornaments on the body. They live a nomadic life, raising and hunting animals near some of Kenya’s most visited wildlife parks.
It is a tradition for a young Maasai man, called a moran in the Maasai language, to kill a lion alone with a spear to show that he is a man. With the kill, a moran would be able to win a “lion name” and admiration among young women.
Mingati Samanya, at the age of 69, is one of the Maasai elders. During his youth, Samanya killed two lions to show he was a man.
A.It can help provide for their families. |
B.Quite often women also join in the events. |
C.That is how he had the “lion name” Mingati. |
D.Here comes how they protect the rights of the Maasai. |
E.But the Maasai seem to be ending the tradition. |
F.However, their hunting has often been taken as a threat to the lions. |
G.On a Saturday, the morans near Kimana will compete for rewards. |
9 . Brazilian scientists think they might have found a way to undo the damage caused by the cutting down of trees and turn farmland back into forest. The secret lies in ancient local knowledge of soil.
Amazonian Dark Earth (ADE) is a thick, black soil found deep in the Amazon rainforest, and it could help restore forests around the world. ADE is a kind of compost (soil made from dead plants and animals). Various kinds of compost are sold in gardening centers around the world, but ADE is unique. It was created by indigenous people from the Amazon between 2,000 and 2,500 years ago. The Amazonian people, today known as Amerindians, created ADE using charcoal from fires, animal bones, food waste and poo. It contains microbes (微生物) that help to turn chemicals in the soil into useful nutrients that feed plants and trees.
Vast areas of the Amazon have been cut down, mostly to make way for grassland for raising cattle. Scientists are looking for a way to turn grassland back into rainforest and revive forest ecosystems. These support thousands of animal and plant species, many of which are unique to the area. Forests also absorb lots of carbon dioxide.
To see if the Amazon’s special soil could help, the scientists grew grasses and trees in ADE, regular earth and a mixture of both. Trees grown in ADE were up to six times taller than those in regular soil. ADE takes hundreds of years to create, so the scientists can’t simply make more. Team member, Dr Siu Mui Tsai, said that instead they want to try and “copy its characteristics”, especially its helpful microbes, and see if it could help to restore natural habitats.
1. What makes ADE valuable?A.Its history of thousands of years. | B.Its potential to enhance reforestation. |
C.Its medical properties for plants and animals. | D.Its being discovered by the Amazonian people. |
A.The necessity of restoring forests. |
B.The serious situation of endangered animals. |
C.The positive effects of ADE on forest ecosystems. |
D.The adaptation of grasslands to the changing climate. |
A.An alternative is bound to replace ADE. |
B.Soil with similar features is in development. |
C.ADE works better when mixed with regular soil. |
D.ADE has been proved effective in growing trees. |
A.A biology textbook. | B.An archeology journal. |
C.A science magazine. | D.A literary collection. |
10 . Whether it be a person, an animal, or even an insect, a mother’s instincts (本能) are never wrong. This idea rings true for a mother cat who acted fast and sought out help when her kittens were in trouble. This mother cat’s quick thinking may have just saved her babies.
In the urban district of Izmir in western Turkey, a cat walked into a regular hospital holding a kitten in her mouth. As the mother cat moved through the hospital, people were surprised to see such a sight, but let her pass. The mother cat asked for help, crying for a long time. She was familiar to the hospital staff, who had been leaving her food and water outside, but they were unaware that she had given birth to kittens.
The mother cat was concerned for her young because they weren’t able to open their eyes. After the doctors looked at the kittens, they noticed that they were suffering from eye infections, one of the doctors recalled, “We consulted with vets (兽医) and gave medicine as described. When the kittens opened their eyes a short time later, we were excited.” Later, they were sent to an animal hospital for further care. The cats are now up for adoption and will hopefully find loving forever homes.
When it comes to mother cats and kittens, kittens completely depend on mothers for the first few months of their lives. Because they are blind and almost deaf until about two or three weeks old, the mother cat must protect them from any threat or danger. Without the mother cat’s help, the kittens may not make it to adulthood.
As shown by the mother cat in Turkey, a mother’s love and protection knows no bounds. Whether the mum is a human or a cat, mothers will always look out for their babies and make sure they are safe and healthy.
1. Why did the mother cat show up in the hospital?A.To beg for food. | B.To get her babies treated. |
C.To ask the patients for help. | D.To give birth to her babies. |
A.They built them a home. | B.They adopted all of them. |
C.They operated on them immediately. | D.They gave them the right medicine. |
A.Their physical state. | B.Their eating habit. |
C.Their appearance. | D.Their behavior. |
A.Cat has nine lives. | B.One good turn deserves another. |
C.Love makes a difference. | D.Mothers know their kindness only when they raise their children |