1 . In contrast to the brightly coloured species of birds, most of mammals are browns and greys, but with a small number of exceptions, of which the most famous is the giant panda. We’ve had some initial assumption about why they had their markings, but we need to confirm the reason for its mysterious pattern.
Viewed up close in a zoo, the giant panda is a strikingly notable mix of a white bear with black shoulders and legs, and an extraordinary face with black fur around the eyes and ears. By comparing with other carnivores (食肉动物), we learned that carnivores with white backs are found in snowy environments, and those with dark legs and shoulders are found in shady habitats. This suggested that the fur was an adaptation to be self-protective in different environments.
Nowadays, giant pandas are confined to forests in western China, where they live on their own and there are relatively few predators (捕食者). We are to confirm that the sort of self-protection is effective against giant pandas’ former predators from the days when they ranged right across China into Vietnam.
By comparing the amount of light reflected from the giant panda’s fur with natural objects in the background, it’s clear that their black fur patches (斑纹) match dark shades and tree trunks, whereas their white patches match bright leaves and snow. Also, pale brown, or muddy fur matches the color of the ground. This provides a medium color which bridges the gap between the very dark and very light visual elements in the natural habitat. Besides, a second form of self-protection lies in something termed misorderly colors and patterns-in which highly visible patches break up its outline by mixing with patches in the background.
Giant pandas show this form of defensive outline, especially at longer viewing distances of at least 60 meters away. At these distances, the giant panda becomes hardly identifiable as the black fur patches go with the background, dark rocks and tree trunks.
Although giant pandas in zoos are highly notable to us, it is because we see them up close and surrounded by artificial backgrounds. But when in the wild and at a distance, our research shows that they are beautifully protective to avoid detection.
1. How are giant pandas different from most mammals?| A．They are more brightly colored. |
| B．They are marked with browns and greys. |
| C．They have exceptional colors and patterns. |
| D．Their dark legs match snowy environments. |
| A．Enclosed in. | B．Raised in. | C．Lost in. | D．Trained in. |
| A．To explain the reason for pandas living in the wild. |
| B．To confirm the panda’s color connection to the habitat. |
| C．To compare the differences of pandas’ body parts in color. |
| D．To conclude the relationship between light and pandas’ colors. |
| A．They look darker in the artificial background. |
| B．Their patterns are determined by their whereabouts. |
| C．The effectiveness of defensive colors is related to distance. |
| D．They are more beautifully-colored in the wild than in the zoo. |
2 . Must-See Destinations in 2024
Are you ready to explore the world in 2024? Whether you dream of sailing down famous European rivers or exploring unique places, our list of must-see destinations is here to inspire your travels.
SpainThrow yourself into the rich culture and history of Spain. From the sunny beaches of Tenerife to the Moorish architecture (建筑物) of Andalucía, there’s so much to explore in this lively country. Discover the UNESCO World Heritage (遗产) city of La Laguna and become amazed at the beauty of Cordoba, Seville, and La Alhambra, or relax on a beach holiday to Majorca or Tenerife.
MontenegroDespite its size, Montenegro has beautiful beaches, rich history, and a breathtaking channel. Experience the beauty of the Montenegrin coast — Dalmatia’s jewel (宝石) is the UNESCO World Heritage listed oasis of Dubrovnik, famously praised by Lord Bryon as The Pearl of the Adriatic.
CroatiaDiscover the beauty that is Dubrovnik. Explore the 16th-century city’s defensive walls and red-roofed buildings. Sail along Croatia’s Adriatic Coast, where attractive villages and beautiful towns like Pula, Rovinj, and Poreč are just waiting to be explored...
South AfricaExplore the wonders of South Africa, from the Garden Route’s nature reserves to the thrill of a Safari drive in the Kariega Game Reserve. Discover the different plants and animals while searching for the “Big Five” on an unforgettable South Africa holiday.
With over 25 years of experience creating holidays for the curious, Travel Department ensures that your journey is in good hands. Plus as a trusted Reader’s Digest Travel partner, you can get special deals when you travel with them across lots of different 2024 holidays. If you want to know more information, please click here.
1. What do Spain and Montenegro have in common?| A．They are both praised by tourists. |
| B．They both have world heritage cities. |
| C．They are known for their architectures. |
| D．They both own beaches and rich history. |
| A．Spain. | B．South Africa. |
| C．Montenegro. | D．Croatia. |
| A．A website. | B．A guidebook. |
| C．A novel. | D．A magazine. |
3 . Vast lands of America are dominated by corn, nearly 100macres of it, stretching from Ohio to the Dakotas. What once was forest today produces the corn that feeds people, cattle and, when made into ethanol (乙醇), cars.
Now, the nation’s airlines want to power their planes with corn, too. United Airlines signed a deal with a Nebraska ethanol company to buy enough sustainable fuel, to power 50,000 flights a year. The government could decide on its tax incentives (税收激励) for the industry as soon as December. “Mark my words, the next 20 years, corn farmers are going to provide 95% of all the sustainable airline fuel,” President Biden said in July.
The airlines’ ambitious goal would likely require nearly doubling ethanol production, which airlines say, with great expectation, would decrease their greenhouse gas emissions. If they succeed, it could transform America’s Corn Belt, stimulating farmers and ethanol producers, but potentially further damaging one of the nation’s most important resources: groundwater.
Corn requires a lot of water to grow and it can take hundreds of gallons to produce a single gallon of ethanol. But as airlines take the idea of ethanol, the vital groundwater faces serious risks. “We’re on track to massively increase water usage without any real sense of how sensitive our groundwater is,” said Jeffrey Broberg, who is concerned about groundwater in Minnesota, a major corn state.
The Department of Energy said in a statement that “water use is a critical part of the conversation surrounding bio-energy sustainability”. It pointed to a 2022 department study that concluded that the United States could significantly reduce pressure on groundwater by shifting fuel production away from water-intensive crops like corn, instead growing more crops that don’t require irrigation (灌溉), like various types of straw, grasses and trees. Hopefully, a better approach will be soon studied and adopted.
1. What can we learn from the first two paragraphs?| A．Farmers will increase 95% of their ethanol production. |
| B．The sustainable fuel will not be popular in the future. |
| C．Corn will be an influential source in the fuel industry. |
| D．The government stops the new fuel for the groundwater. |
| A．Preventing. | B．Motivating. | C．Destroying. | D．Impressing. |
| A．The shortage of corn production. |
| B．The increase in global warming. |
| C．A rise in clean-energy tax credits. |
| D．Higher stress on the groundwater. |
| A．Expand the corn planting area. |
| B．Use some alternative materials. |
| C．Cut down the daily water usage. |
| D．Turn to the government for help. |
4 . An impressive invention made by a 17-year-old teenager, called Anna Du, is helping to clean up small pieces of plastic from the ocean.
While walking along her local beaches in Massachusetts, the young student began collecting waste plastic bags and bottles. But what she noticed was a large number of tiny pieces of plastic or microplastics that were impossible to pick up. At just 12 years old, Du set out to solve the problem. After testing a few prototypes(原型)in her backyard, she invented a remotely operated vehicle that uses the infrared camera(红外摄像机)to detect microplastics on the ocean floor. More recently, Du has also created a simulation(模拟)model that uses artificial intelligence to predict where microplastics are located.
Du’s robot invention has earned her awards at top science fairs in the US, and she’s now a nationally recognized advocate for microplastic awareness and pollution prevention. “When I first started doing science fairs, I had no idea that a young girl without lots of money and just a little advanced engineering knowledge could make a difference in the world. I’ve learned that I truly love working on a problem that’s so much larger than me,” Du said.
Du has also released a new book to help spread the word not only about the dangers of microplastics but also about the ways to relieve the problem. Titled Microplastics &Me, the book follows Du’s own story of how she went from worrying about the environment to designing award-winning solutions. Writing for kids her own age, the young girl alerts her readers to the threat of microplastic pollution and urges them to care about the environment. The book hopes to encourage young students to get into science, technology, engineering and math(STEM)subjects and to inspire a new generation of inventors and engineers. What’s more, Du has even raised more than $7,000 to distribute the book free to kids and libraries in high-need communities.
1. What inspired Du to make the invention?| A．There was too much rubbish along the beaches. | B．The plastics were too small to collect by hand. |
| C．The sea was polluted seriously. | D．She was interested in AI. |
| A．She has a spirit of challenge. | B．She is too poor to make a difference. |
| C．She doesn’t study hard in engineering. | D．She wins international recognition. |
| A．Innovation. | B．Voice. | C．Culture. | D．Art. |
| A．To inspire readers to share their stories. |
| B．To raise the awareness of microplastics pollution. |
| C．To encourage high schools to offer STEM subjects. |
| D．To collect money for kids in high-need communities. |
5 . Trees in tropical (热带的) forests grow more slowly in years when the nights are warmer than average or dry-season days are unusually hot, according to a 21-year study. This suggests such forests will grow less as the world warms due to climate change -potentially taking in less carbon dioxide from the air and worsening global warming.
“For the first time, we have a window on what a whole tropical forest is doing, ”says Deborah Clark at the University of Missouri-St Louis. “It is very scary. ”
Tropical forests contain a large amount of carbon, because the trees take in CO₂ from the air and use it to grow. Droughts, which are becoming more serious due to climate change, may harm the forests and re- lease (释放) some of the stored carbon.
For over two decades, Clark and her husband David Clark, also at the University of Missouri-St Louis, lived at La Selva Biological Station in Costa Rica. From1997 to 2018, they took detailed measurements of the surrounding tropical forest, tracking the wood production as well as the amount of litter that fell from the trees.
The pair, with Steven Oberbauer at Florida International University, discovered that wood production fell in years with warmer nights -something studies had already suggested before. The team also found that the trees produced less wood in years when temperatures in the dry season rose more than 28°C.
While this hadn’t been shown before, Deborah Clark says it was expected because photosynthesis (光合作用) slows above this temperature.
The study adds to growing proof of climate effects on tropical forests, says lain Hartley at the University of Exeter in the UK. “It looks like, as you warm the climate, you put pressure on the plants, leading to reduced productivity. Coupled with droughts, tropical forests may have less ability to help us in the fight against climate change in the future.”
1. What causes the forests to grow less according to paragraph 1?| A．Warmer temperature. | B．More carbon dioxide. |
| C．Less daylight | D．Worse air condition. |
| A．By gathering wood. | B．By giving example. |
| C．By collecting data. | D．By tracking former study. |
| A．The trees took in more CO, in the drought season. |
| B．The wood production decreased in the warmer days. |
| C．Droughts help increase the carbon storage. |
| D．Tropical forests grow faster at warmer nights. |
| A．Helpful. | B．Negative. | C．Unclear. | D．Necessary. |
6 . Parrots are prey animals, which means that other predators (捕食者) in the wild, such as hawks or snakes, are looking to make them into a meal. This one factor influences parrots’ behavior in your house more than any other.
Parrots are most easily hurt when feeding on the ground. Membership in a group plays an important function in ensuring their safety and improving their chances of survival from attacks by predators. The most common predators of parrots include hawks, snakes, cats, monkeys, and bats. Some predators make attacks only during the day while others hunt in the night.
As prey animals, parrots are constantly watching out for danger and they instinctively (本能地) react to risks. Their first choice is to take flight. However, if this is not possible, they will fight with their powerful beaks to defend themselves.
Because their biggest enemy is the hawk, parrots are especially reactive to quick movements from above and behind. For this reason, it is wise to avoid quick, sudden movements near your bird. This is a built-in reaction not subject to logic or reason. Simple and relatively harmless household objects can draw extreme fear responses from a bird. For example, a balloon may represent a hawk or a vacuum hose (吸尘器软管) may be the same as a snake in your bird’s mind.
As prey animals, parrots are often frightened by exposure to new household items or strangers. It is important to expose your bird to safe experiences and changes starting at a very young age to build flexibility and improve their adaptability. Variety in diet and toys, travel, and exposure to new people and places all help to make your bird more flexible and adaptable to change.
1. What is important for parrots to better survive from attacks in the wild?| A．Living in a group. | B．Growing beautiful feathers. |
| C．Feeding on the ground. | D．Avoiding coming out at night. |
| A．To attack back. | B．To get away. |
| C．To protect the young. | D．To play dead. |
| A．It may explode suddenly. | B．It may be in a strange shape. |
| C．It may have a strong color. | D．It may move around quickly. |
| A．To explain wild parrots’ behavior. | B．To give advice on raising a parrot. |
| C．To call for action to protect animals. | D．To introduce a study on bird ecology. |
7 . When most kids go to the beach, they’re too focused on making sandcastles and splashing around to notice litter, but several years ago, for 7-year-old Cash Daniels, noticing a plastic straw sparked a lifelong passion for saving the planet.
Cash, who is now known as the “conservation kid”, has always loved nature. He grew up fishing along the Chattanooga River, after all! But once he learned that 80 percent of all trash from land and rivers ends up in the ocean, he couldn’t sit back.
He started with cleanups along the river, something that quickly went from a family affair to a community effort with volunteers and neighbors. In 2019, Cash, together with a Canadian conservationist, Ella Galaski-Rossen, started a nonprofit called the Cleanup Kids. Despite living in different countries, they managed to create educational videos on their YouTube channel. “We hope to be a really big nonprofit that eliminates plastic in the U. S. and Canada,” Cash said. “We want to inform kids and adults in the landlocked states of how their actions are connected to the water and the ocean,” Cash said.
Cash was selected as one of America’s top 10 youth volunteers of 2021 by the Prudential Spirit of Community Awards. He also earned the title of National Honoree, where he received a$5,000 grant to go to a nonprofit of his choice, and he became the first person to win the Youth Conservationist Award two years in a row from the Tennessee Wildlife Federation.
“I want to travel the world, teach others, and help them feel connected to the ocean. Because if you are connected to the ocean-if you love it and what lives in it—you’ll want to protect it,” he said. “This is my fun, and it becomes more fun with every new discovery.”
1. Which can replace the underlined words “sit back” in paragraph 2?| A．Fall asleep. | B．Lose heart. |
| C．Turn a blind eye. | D．Lend a hand. |
| A．To recycle waste plastics. |
| B．To make instructive videos. |
| C．To spread marine knowledge. |
| D．To appeal for ocean protection. |
| A．Sympathetic and devoted. | B．Initiative and talented. |
| C．Ambitious and humorous. | D．Determined and modest. |
| A．Passion fuels dreams. |
| B．Great minds think alike. |
| C．Helping others is of great fun. |
| D．Actions speak louder than words. |
I woke up to the sound of rumbling (隆隆声). At first, I thought it was thunder, but then I felt the ground shake beneath me. I sat up in bed, my heart pounding in my chest. It took a few moments for me to realize what was happening — an earthquake. I had always heard stories about earthquakes, but I had never experienced one myself. I knew that I needed to act fast to ensure my survival.
The room was shaking violently, and I struggled to keep my balance. I quickly got out of bed and tried to make my way to the door. I stumbled and fell a few times, but I managed to make it to the door and open it.
As I stepped outside, I met with chaos. The ground was still shaking, and I could hear the sound of buildings collapsing in the distance. People were running in all directions, screaming and crying. I knew that I needed to find a safe place to take cover.
I remembered reading that doorways were one of the safest places during an earthquake, so I made my way to the nearest doorway and waited there. The ground continued to shake, and I had never felt so scared in my life.
After what seemed like an eternity (永恒), the shaking finally stopped. I cautiously stepped out of the doorway, looking around at the destruction that the earthquake had caused.Buildings had crumbled to the ground, and fires were burning in the distance. I remembered that I had a survival kit in my car, so I made my way to the parking lot.
When I got there, I saw that my car had been crushed by debris (碎片) from a nearby building. I realized that I was on my own. I knew that I needed to stay calm and think rationally. I looked around and saw a group of people huddled together across the street. I made my way over to them, and they welcomed me into their group.
注意：
1．续写词数应为150个左右；
2．请按如下格式在相应位置作答。
Together, we worked to find a safe place to take shelter.
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Eventually, after a few days, help arrived, and we were brought to safety.
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| 首府：乌鲁木齐(Urumqi) 位置：中国西北 面积：160多万 平方千米 历史：6000 多年 | 人口：约23,000,000 气候：四季分明 旅游景点：可可托海国家地质公园(Keketuohai National Geological Park)，伊犁的那拉提草原(Nalati Grassland in Yili)和吐鲁番的坎儿井(Karez Well System in Turpan) 美食：大盘鸡(Spicy Chicken with Potatoes )和羊肉串(Lamb Skewers) |
2. 可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯;
Dear Tom,
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Yours,
Li Hua
10 . The sound of leaves underfoot is usually associated with autumn. But this year, it was the soundtrack to summer walks across Europe, as maximum temperature records fell and the continent suffered its worst drought in 500 years.
The drought had been building for months after a dry winter and spring, but it was worse by a series of fierce heatwaves over the summer, says Sim on Parry at the UK Centre for Ecology &Hydrology. In France, nuclear power plants were forced to reduce their output as low river flows meant there wasn’t enough water to cool their reactors. Water levels on the Rhine river dropped so far that ships loaded with goods in Germany and the Netherlands, including coal and petrol, were unable to travel. Besides, farmers saw crops wither(枯萎). Harvests of soya-beans and sunflower seeds were predicted to fall by between12 and 16 percent.
This was a crisis caused in large part by climate change, says Richard Allan, who is also at the University of Reading. “Warming due to human-caused climate change made this event much more extreme,” he says. Studies suggest that the drought was made at least 20 times more likely by global warming.
However, that missing rainfall ends up somewhere, says Peter Gleick at the Pacific Institute in California. This year’s disastrous floods in countries including Australia and Pakistan are the “flip side” of the droughts, he says. “The droughts and the extreme floods that we are seeing are tied together, and are part and parcel of the broader challenge of climate change,” says Gleick.
In the wake of a drought, it is critical that nature gets time to recover. But for Europe, this was the second severe drought in four years. “My grass has already recovered from this summer... but if I had a tree that survived it, that would take 10 years or more to get back to a normal state,” says Niko Wanders at Utrecht University in the Netherlands.
1. What is the author’s purpose in mentioning the sound?| A．To show the seasonal cycle. | B．To describe the beauty of autumn. |
| C．To emphasize the dry weather. | D．To clarify trees’ survival mode. |
| A．The reduction of river water. | B．The duration(持续)of the drought. |
| C．The causes of various losses. | D．The consequences of the disaster. |
| A．Expanding climate monitoring. | B．Improving human behavior. |
| C．Promoting natural restoration. | D．Balancing water distribution. |
| A．Conservative. | B．Unclear. | C．Concerned. | D．Hopeful. |
