1 . Earthquakes are a terrible natural disaster that will cause lots of danger and damage. In the last few years, we have seen some of the worst earthquakes in history.
Dogs have been known to warm their owners that dangerous weather was coming. We can take the ways our dog reacts (反应) in certain situations to give us a hand in predicting when something like an earthquake may be about to happen.
Although the signs of a dog sensing an earthquake aren’t very clear, dogs who sense earthquakes will show certain signs before the event actually happens.
On the other hand, dogs will instinctively look for shelter when they sense bad weather or they feel like they are in danger.
| A．Many dogs can tell smelly gas. |
| B．Your dog may run off or hide under a bed. |
| C．Using dogs to predict earthquakes is not new |
| D．If there is a coming earthquake, your dog will act strangely. |
| E．They will also often bark for what seems to be no right reason. |
| F．Earthquakes generally come with no warning and are hard to predict. |
| G．There may be other reasons dogs may act this way or appear afraid for seemingly no reason. |
2 . Reducing the use of plastic is a balance between what you can afford and what you can get. I’ve
I’ve found that living plastic free is a great way to
Besides, I’ve slowly
Of course, there are certain situations where plastic is the most
Life without plastic doesn’t take place overnight. Devote yourself to making a few
| A．heard | B．benefited | C．received | D．suffered |
| A．record | B．rebuild | C．reduce | D．recall |
| A．promote | B．consider | C．prevent | D．experience |
| A．hardly | B．disappointedly | C．unfortunately | D．carefully |
| A．purchase | B．print | C．repeat | D．power |
| A．repurpose | B．abandon | C．reward | D．remember |
| A．abroad | B．indoors | C．online | D．locally |
| A．sold | B．offered | C．developed | D．donated |
| A．eager | B．embarrassed | C．annoyed | D．sad |
| A．smaller-sized | B．faster-moving | C．better-shaped | D．longer-lasting |
| A．strange | B．suitable | C．dangerous | D．difficult |
| A．discovered | B．designed | C．ruined | D．needed |
| A．solutions | B．visits | C．roads | D．exceptions |
| A．fit | B．pay | C．cut | D．sent |
| A．comments | B．notes | C．changes | D．stops |
3 . The Banaue Rice Terraces (梯田) in Ifugao Province in the Philippines offer a great sight. This UNESCO World Heritage Site is also rich in history and features how human creativity can produce amazing outcomes. Through hard work, the Ifugao native managed to survive by flattening the mountain’s surface layer by layer and using them as farmlands. This practice of more than two thousand years has put together a well-known wonder.
There are several rice terraces in the Ifugao region but the Banaue Rice Terraces are the most popular tourist spot. The photos of this area are often used in printed materials like textbooks magazines and postcards. After getting a good look at the rice terraces, I was reminded of the first time that I saw their pictures in our textbook during my elementary days. I already found them amusing as a kid and seeing their beauty as an adult got me more amazed.
The tourism officer told us that we were lucky to catch them in their greenest form. If you plan to visit this tourist spot as well, you should take note that we got there last June 1. You can also take into consideration that the rice planting cycle is typically 3 to 6 months.
Unlike the other terraces, the local government created a platform that makes it easy for everyone to get a closer look at the rice terraces. The platform has four stone statues that they refer to as rice protectors.
It’s sad that the younger generation of Ifugaos are slowly abandoning the rice terraces. According to tour guide Alvin, the part of the rice terraces where people can see thick bushes and trees were former rice fields. But the children who inherited (继承) those decided to give up farming and work in big cities instead. I hope that a new farming method with modern equipment will encourage the Ifugaos to continue their rice terraces farming tradition to protect this cultural treasure.
1. What can be learned about the Banaue RiceTerraces?| A．They are most known for their history. |
| B．They were made to mainly draw tourists. |
| C．The locals created them with great wisdom and effort. |
| D．Many mountains and lakes were turned into farmlands. |
| A．To show the Banaue Rice Terraces are really attractive. |
| B．To show Ifugao Province is heavily dependent on tourism. |
| C．To show the Banaue Rice Terraces are more suitable for kids to visit. |
| D．To show advertisements for the Banaue Rice Terraces spread rapidly. |
| A．Tell us some facts about rice planting. |
| B．Encourage more people to go to Ifugao. |
| C．Raise public awareness of local traditions. |
| D．Share the proper time to visit the Banaue Rice Terraces. |
| A．Worried. |
| B．Positive. |
| C．Confused. |
| D．Curious. |
4 . Cities have been described as essential to climate change solutions, but they can also raise the kinds of ecologists that will bring us into a more comprehensive biological future.
As a black wildlife biologist from Philadelphia, I stood out among my coworkers. My presence in ecology has challenged assumptions about not only what a biologist looks like, but also where a biologist comes from. In the U.S., ecology was and is mainly white and conducted in rural landscapes, but I had no history of camping, fishing, hunting or hiking. I had yet to recognize that Philadelphia, with its four seasons and richness of squirrels (松鼠), row homes and festivals, was actually my first ecological classroom. There I witnessed wild cats eating birds and rats, people shooting bats from their homes and snakes being killed by lawn mowers (割草机). This is as much ecology in action as anything we witness in fields and forests.
Urban wild animals exhibit many features and behaviors that set them apart from their rural twins: they may be bigger, eat more diverse food sources, are active at different times of the day, move differently and have different personalities. Some biologists argue they are even “smarter”. Besides, urban wildlife balances more risks—such as road chemical poisons and diseases from domestic animals—with rewards. Some of those rewards come from humans providing food and some from the distribution of our parks and water bodies.
In our professional lives as biologists, living with such wild animals can make us more tolerant of species diversity, which can benefit the natural world. Nature is no longer only primitive wilderness but includes sounds of human laughter and garbage trucks. We expect more biologists from urban settings because urban environments naturally train keen observers who are the future of ecology.
1. Which makes the author stand out among his coworkers?| A．His nationality. | B．His city background. |
| C．His interest in outdoor activities. | D．His love for animals. |
| A．Urban wild animals. | B．Rural animals. |
| C．Domestic animals. | D．Wildlife biologists. |
| A．They have trouble in getting food. | B．They enjoy safer living conditions. |
| C．They do better in fighting diseases. | D．They are more adaptable to environment. |
| A．Urban Wild Animals Survive. | B．Benefits of City Conservation. |
| C．Cities Build Better Biologists. | D．A Black Biologist from Philadelphia. |
The terrifying flooding of Venice could and should have been avoided. It hasn’t been this bad since 1966, when the water reached 6 feet, 4 inches. Back then,
“Meanwhile, Venice is disappearing beneath the water,” said Jacopo Giliberto. “Climate change and rising sea levels are
“The project is a disaster, and Italians just aren’t good at long-term planning,” said Maurizio Ferrera. “Look at our booming national debt,
6 . He’s as big as a small golden dog and covered with scales (鳞片). He is the pangolin (穿山甲), an endangered animal.
According to the wildlife trade monitoring organization Traffic, about one million pangolins were killed from 2000 through 2013, mainly for their scales, which are used in medicine. Pangolins are sensitive creatures and picky eaters that only eat certain species of ants, a diet that’s very difficult to copy in the food chain.
“In the last decade, there’s been a huge growth trade in pangolins between continents, especially their scales,” says Dan Challender, chair of the pangolin specialist group. Previously, most pangolin killing happened within Asia, he says. This shift means that Asian pangolins are becoming difficult to find but that the value of the scales makes it worth the extra cost to take pangolins from Africa to Asia secretly.
All eight species of pangolins, four in Africa and four in Asia, are in danger of extinction due to the illegal trade. International trade in the four species of Asian pangolins has been banned since 2000. In the past few years, a ban on international commercial trade in all eight species has gone into effect. It was voted by 183 governments that are parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), which is in charge of cross-border trade in wild animals and their parts.
Pangolins are eaten as bushmeat in western and central Africa and by some local groups in South and Southeast Asia. Their parts also are used in Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa, and elsewhere in sub-Saharan Africa as traditional medicine. Typically dried, ground into powder, and put into pills, pangolin scales are used in a range of traditional medicines to help mothers who have given birth to babies to recover. But they are now endangered. Perhaps no pangolins can be seen when our next generation grow up.
1. What do you know about pangolins from Paragraph 2?| A．Their meat is very delicious. |
| B．Their scales are of great value. |
| C．They are smaller than young dogs. |
| D．They are on the top of the food chain. |
| A．Pangolins are cheaper in Africa. |
| B．No laws protect pangolins in Africa. |
| C．People in Asia can really save pangolins. |
| D．Pangolins have sharply decreased in numbers in Asia. |
| A．Pangolins have many different species. |
| B．The bans on pangolin trade are ineffective. |
| C．People used to take advantage of pangolins in different ways. |
| D．Governments have tried to contribute to the protection of pangolins. |
| A．Positive. | B．Uncaring. | C．Concerned. | D．Confident. |
7 . Plants don’t have ears or a central nervous system, but new research out of the University of Missouri has demonstrated that they might still have the ability to “hear”. More specifically, plants have been shown to exhibit an immune (免疫) response to the mere sound of a hungry insect.
For the study, researchers played the sound of a caterpillar chewing to a group of plants, which caused slight vibrations (振动) on the plants’ leaves. The plants were able to recognize these vibration patterns as danger, and responded by mounting the appropriate immune response. In other words, it appears that plants can “hear” themselves being chewed on.
Researchers assume that plants achieve this remarkable ability thanks to proteins that respond to pressure found within their cell membranes. Vibrations cause pressure changes within the cell, which can change the behavior of the proteins; however, additional study will be required to confirm or deny this theory.
Once researchers identify the exact mechanisms at play in this process, it could lead to advances in crop protection. Farmers could potentially learn to use sound to cause a plant’s natural chemical defenses against insect threats, rather than turning to poisonous chemicals.
“We can imagine applications of this where plants could be treated with sound or genetically engineered to respond to certain sounds that would be useful for agriculture,” said study author Heidi Appel.
The study adds to the growing list of ways that plants have been shown to sense their environments. They are not the boring organisms that many people assume they are. For instance, some plants are able to communicate with each other and signal upcoming danger to their neighbors by releasing chemicals into the air. Plants can respond to light (think about sunflowers) and temperature. Some can even respond to touch, such as the Venus flytrap (捕蝇草), which snaps shut when an insect stimulates its hairs.
1. Why did researchers carry out the study?| A．To find out if plants can react to sounds. |
| B．To learn how plants recognize dangers. |
| C．To discover if plants can shake their leaves. |
| D．To see how plants improve immune systems. |
| A．To remove insects. | B．To protect crops. |
| C．To treat plant diseases. | D．To produce chemicals. |
| A．There are more plants than we know. |
| B．Plants are more active than we think. |
| C．Plants fit in well with their environments. |
| D．Lots of secrets about plants remain unclear. |
| A．Can plants “talk” with each other? |
| B．How do plants make use of sounds? |
| C．Can plants “hear” themselves being eaten? |
| D．How do plants defend themselves against attacks? |
