1 . Listening to birds and water can lower stress and improve mood, study finds. Researchers have long known there are benefits from being in nature. Living around trees can help you live longer. Walking in the woods is good for your mood. Being near water can have positive effects on your well-being.

A new study finds that natural sounds offer health benefits too. There is plenty of evidence that spending time in natural areas is good for our health — but typically this research is done from a visual perspective, but we were curious what the role is of sounds we hear in these spaces.

Some examples they found reported in those studies included decreased pain, lowered stress, improved mood, and better cognitive（认知的）function. With these results in hand, they then listened to audio recordings from 251 sites in 68 national parks across the United States.

The sites with the most natural sounds and the lowest man-made sounds were located in Alaska, Hawaii, and the Pacific Northwest and were far from urban areas. Only three locations with high natural sounds and low noise pollution were within 100 kilometers（62 miles）of urban areas.

However, despite human-made noises being heard most of the time at sites in urban locations, birds were still heard about 60% of the time and geophysical sounds like wind and rain were heard about 19% of the time.

Not all natural sounds deliver the same benefits, the researchers found. For example, they discovered that the sounds of water had the largest impact on improving positive emotions and health outcomes, while bird sounds ease stress and annoyance. And the sounds of both birds and water were heard more than 23% of the time in the national park recording sites.

Interestingly, there was also some evidence that natural sounds have benefits over silence. There was also evidence that more different types of natural sounds — more types of birds singing rather than just one type of bird — have benefits over fewer sounds.

1. What do we know about the ideal sites mentioned in Paragraph 4?

A．They are away from cities.

B．They have no noise pollution.

C．They have bird songs most of the time.

D．They are within 62 miles of urban areas.

2. What sound helps reduce pressure most?

A．Sounds from water.	B．Rain beating.
C．Wind blowing.	D．Bird sounds.

3. Which of the following brings more benefits to us?

A．The silence of nature.	B．The sounds of different birds.
C．The diversity of natural sounds.	D．Natural sounds fixed with noises.

4. Which of the following can be the best title for the text?

A．It Is Beneficial to Live Close to Water

B．We Are Surrounded by All Kinds of Sounds

C．The Sounds of Nature Affect Your Well-being

D．Man-made Noise Pollution Is Harmful to Our Health

2 . In early September, Sally and Jon Watkinson found something unusual on their dog’s back. A baby possum (负鼠) held on to the coat of their dog, Kato. “Kato seemed to barely notice it was there,” Sally posted on Facebook. “It’s most surprising that Kato was not barking madly at it.”

The couple spent the day searching for a safe place to drop off the possum. After looking for wildlife rescue organizations, they eventually brought their dog into the vet with the animal still attached. The vet staff removed the baby, which they determined to be a little girl, to a wildlife career. Although wildlife rescuers are trying to locate the baby’s mother, they have been unsuccessful so far.

Only a day later, it happened again — on the same dog. “UPDATE!!! It happened again!!!” Sally updated on Facebook. “Today I found Kato again with another baby possum, this time on his actual back.” According to Sally, this possum seemed to be digging into Kato more, but again the dog didn’t seem to mind. “This time, the vet nurse nearly fell off her chair when we turned up,” Sally said.

In her post, Sally added that the initial possum was doing well. The second possum was a boy who was also sent to a wildlife shelter. According to the nurse, possums usually deliver babies of two or three, so the Watkinsons need to keep their eyes open for a third possum rider.

In the comments, Sally said that she thinks the possum will be okay. “He’s probably not quite weaned (断奶) yet but seemed well enough and was struggling on for dear life,” she wrote. “I think he found the right dog for that.”

Commenters added that this isn’t the first time a dog adopted a possum. Dog owners told stories of possums “riding” their dogs and following their dogs around. If you own a dog, check its fur for possible riders.

1. Why was the couple surprised at their dog?

A．It mistook a possum as its child	B．It reacted beyond their expectations.
C．It didn’t notice an animal on its back.	D．It looked after a possum as its mother.

2. Which statement suits the nurse's reaction to the second possum?

A．She had expected it.	B．She burst into laughter.
C．She was nearly scared to death.	D．She could hardly believe her eyes.

3. What might happen next according to the nurse?

A．The mother of the possums might appear.

B．The dog might get tired of another possum.

C．The same thing might happen to the dog again.

D．The Watkinsons might turn to the shelter for help.

4. What did the commenters think of this event?

A．Common.	B．Funny.
C．Unusual.	D．Mysterious.

3 . It may come as a shock to owners, but dogs hate being hugged, a study has shown.Ani-mal psychologists say dogs feel stressed and unhappy when they are hugged by their owners, because it stops them to run away.

In a study which analyzed (分析) 250 pictures of dogs as they were being hugged, eight out of 10 animals looked clearly uncomfortable.Experts at The Kennel Club, and Battersea Dogs & Cats Home, also agreed that owners should not treat their dogs like children, because most pets did not like to be hugged.

The new study was carried out by Dr Stanley Coren, a professor of psychology at the University of British Columbia.He analyzed images of dogs being hugged by adults and children he found on the Internet, looking for signs of stress.At an extreme end, when a dog is especially anxious, it shows its teeth or may bite, but Dr Coren said there are small signs that it may be uncomfortable.Signs of stress include the dog folding its ears down, half-moon eyes or turning its head away to stop eye contact.If the dog has its eyes closed it could also be a sign of anxiety.Opening its mouth or raising one paw (爪子) is another warning sign.

"It is clearly better from the dog's point of view if you express your fondness for your pet with a pat, a kind word, and maybe a treat."

"Some people think that giving their dog a hug is a nice thing to do, but the reality is that a family pet will often stand a hug but doesn't like it."

"On the whole dogs are sociable animals and love interacting with people, but any action that restricts a dog's movement could make it uncomfortable and it is important for an owner to recognize the signs of stress or anxiety."

1. What is a common misunderstanding about dogs?

A．Dogs can be stressed when hugged.

B．Dogs feel unhappy when they are hugged.

C．Dogs like to be hugged by their owners.

D．Hugging dogs stops them to run away.

2. Which of the following statements is not correct?

A．Owners should not treat their dogs like children.

B．All the dogs don't like to he hugged.

C．Dogs may bite you if they are anxious.

D．Dogs are stressed if they close their eyes.

3. What is the function of the last three paragraphs?

A．To advise readers to hug dogs as often as possible.

B．To call on readers to keep dogs as their pets.

C．To persuade readers not to hug dogs.

D．To warn readers to stay away from dogs.

4. Who is the text probably given to?

A．Dog doctors.

B．Dog experts.

C．Dog owners.

D．Dog trainers.

4 . A group of wandering wild elephants suddenly left their home in the Xishuangbanna National Nature Reserve, which have become a hit in China and globally.

Since leaving the reserve, the elephants have walked over 310 miles. Along the way, they have got into farms for food and water, walked through urban streets, and even paid a visit to a car shop and a retirement home. However, they have destroyed more than $1 million worth of crops.

Researchers are not sure why the elephants decided to leave or where they are headed. While elephants are known to leave their habitats (栖息地) in search of food, this is the longest moving of wild elephants recorded in China. Because of the extreme distance traveled, some doubt that the elephants   ay be lost. However, other scientists think the elephants were forced to move due to deforestation.

Successful protection efforts have almost doubled the elephant population in the Xishuangbanna National Nature Reserve and the surrounding regions. However, their natural habitat has been continuously reduced to make room for agricultural development.

“We’ve seen elephants swelling their range for decades now, as their populations increase, and they search for more food for the growing group,” Becky Shu Chen, a scientist at the Zoological Society of London, told The Washington Post.

The wandering elephants’ search for a suitable home has not gone unnoticed by the millions of locals that eagerly follow their daily movements on social media. Adam Chang, assigned to deliver food to the elephants, says, “Before this meeting, I just felt curious about animals. Now, I think I would volunteer in animal rights groups to preserve those giant creatures.”

1. Where is this passage probably from?

A．A book.

B．A report.

C．A brochure.

D．A review.

2. What might have caused the elephants wandering out of their habitats?

A．They had no sense of direction.

B．They didn’t have enough food.

C．People grew crops to attract the elephants.

D．The leader of the group led the wrong way.

3. What does the underlined word “swelling” in Paragraph 5 mean?

A．Shrinking.

B．Decreasing.

C．Expanding.

D．Exploding.

4. What is the main idea of the text?

A．Some wild elephants went northward.

B．China made great progress in protecting elephants.

C．Agricultural development is good for animal protection.

D．China’s wandering elephant group attracts the world’s attention.

5 . A thirty-year-old environmental puzzle has finally been solved. Since the 1990s, pieces of plastic telephones that look like Garfield—the lazy cartoon cat—have been ______ up on beaches in France. But for three ______, no one knew where the phones were coming from. On March 22, a group of volunteers from a coastal clean-up organization, along with two journalists finally found out the ______ to their puzzle. They discovered a(n) ______ shipping container and ______ of several Garfield phones inside a rocky sea cave. The cave is hard to find, and can only be ______ when the tide (sea) is low.

Shipping containers are used to move things like food, clothing and other items ______ the sea. Cargo ships ______ hundreds of the huge steel containers from the countries where the goods are made or grown, to the countries where they will be ______. However, ______ knows for sure how the shipping container full of Garfield phones ended up in the ______.

People who live in the area say that the ______ first showed up on beaches ______ a big storm in the early 1990s. The container ______ fell off a ship during the storm, but nobody ever reported that it was ______.

The Garfield phones have become a symbol of the problem of ocean ______ Fabien Boileau is the director of Iroise Marine Natural Park, where the cave with the phones is ______. He said the Garfield phones help people to ______ that plastic trash doesn't ______ in the ocean. Some of the colourful plastic pieces still look almost ______, even though they were washed overboard more than 30 years ago.

1.

A．built

B．washed

C．given

D．blown

2.

A．decades

B．years

C．centuries

D．months

3.

A．theory

B．evidence

C．belief

D．answer

4.

A．ordinary

B．emptied

C．strange

D．broken

5.

A．pictures

B．films

C．calls

D．parts

6.

A．reached

B．founded

C．protected

D．used

7.

A．by

B．on

C．across

D．around

8.

A．provide

B．carry

C．possess

D．include

9.

A．stored

B．exported

C．sold

D．destroyed

10.

A．everybody

B．the group

C．the organization

D．nobody

11.

A．country

B．sea

C．cave

D．ship

12.

A．phones

B．cats

C．bodies

D．wastes

13.

A．before

B．after

C．until

D．despite

14.

A．immediately

B．probably

C．secretly

D．eventually

15.

A．stolen

B．hidden

C．missing

D．sinking

16.

A．voyage

B．exploration

C．protection

D．pollution

17.

A．located

B．watched

C．separated

D．repaired

18.

A．explain

B．observe

C．understand

D．conclude

19.

A．break down

B．die down

C．go down

D．slow down

20.

A．normal

B．new

C．real

D．cool

6 . 阅读下面材料，在空白处填入适当的内容（1个单词）或括号内单词的正确形式。

Beautiful and fragile coral reefs (珊瑚礁) in tropical oceans worldwide are threatened     1     climate change and storms. Now     2     (traveler) can help restore them by supporting coral replanting programs.

National Geographic Explorer Paola Rodríguez-Troncoso     3     (work) on a Mexican program for six years that sustainably replanted more than 6,000 coral fragments (碎片). In this project, divers collect fragments from the ocean floor     4    have been washed away by storms or waves. Then they fasten     5     (health) pieces to the substrata (底土层) of reefs at the same or nearby sites. It’s     6     process that can vary by location. For example, in some areas, such as French Polynesia, the coral fragments     7     (place) in underwater nurseries to recover before replanting.

Conservation groups are starting to educate and involve visitors in these efforts.     8     (avoid) programs that may do more harm than good, Rodriguez-Troncoso cautions the persons who break off fragments from healthy corals on purpose or fail to get the     9     (require) permits. Though replanted fragments grow     10     (slow)，each one can be part of a reef’s centuries-long life span. Rodriguez-Troncoso says, “That will really help.”

7 . Researchers at the DogStudies lab at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History have shown that dogs may possess some metacognitive (元认知) abilities. Specifically, when they do not have enough information to solve a problem, they will actively look for more information, similarly to primates (灵长类).

In a recent study, project leader Julia Belger explored whether dogs have metacognitive abilities. To test this, the researchers designed a device involving two V-shaped fences. A reward, either food or a toy, would be placed by one researcher behind one of the two fences while another researcher held the dogs. In some cases, the dogs could see where the reward was placed, while in others, the dogs could not. The researchers then analyzed how frequently the dogs looked through the gap in the fence before choosing an option.

The researchers found that the dogs did check significantly more often for the reward when they had not seen where it was placed. These results show that dogs do tend to actively seek extra information when they have not seen where the reward is concealed.

The results did not allow the researchers to say definitively whether dogs possess meta-cognition, though they displayed some evidence for it. Julia said, “For humans, vision is an important information gathering sense. In this case, our experiment was based on a checking action relying on sight, but the dogs probably also used their sense of smell when checking through the gap. We know that smell is very important to dogs and we could see that they were using it.”

Julia added, “In future, we would like to develop an experiment to investigate under what circumstances dogs decide to use their sense of smell versus sight. This may give us additional insights into their information seeking abilities.”

1. What ability may dogs have according to the study?

A．To offer information like primates.	B．To use their skills to find more food.
C．To seek information to solve a problem.	D．To ask for help before choosing an option.

2. What does the underlined word “concealed” in paragraph 3 mean?

A．Decorated.

B．Hidden.

C．Produced.

D．Purchased.

3. What attitude did the researchers have to the finding?

A．Uncertain.

B．Friendly.

C．Negative.

D．Critical.

4. In which section of a newspaper can you probably read the text?

A．Environment and technology.	B．Humans and nature.
C．Literature and culture.	D．Society and life.