1 . Litterati is a company that’s trying to make the world a cleaner place.
Jeff Kirschner is the founder and CEO of Litterati. He came up with the idea while walking in a forest with his then-four-year-old daughter.
kirschner describes these data-driven maps as being like a fingerprint. “That fingerprint provides both the source of the problem and the path to the solution.”
| A．She noticed a plastic container in a river. |
| B．That’s where Kirschner thinks an app can help. |
| C．However, these maps turned out to be a failure. |
| D．We haven’t collected enough amount of data for our litter maps. |
| E．Our database now contains over 8 million pieces, growing at about 20,000 per day. |
| F．There are several examples of how Litterati’s data has already provided a path to a solution. |
| G．It has created an app people can use to upload information about the litter they collect outside. |
2 . Some paper plates can be recycled.
If you’re trying to reduce your impact on the environment, then looking at ways to reuse any paper plates you do have is a good option. If you bought heavy-duty paper plates and they’re only a little dirty after use-if you served dry food on them, for example--you can clean them and use them again.
The most obvious alternative to paper plates is reusable plates. Even though you have to wash them with water, the environmental impact of a reusable plate will still be lower. If you’re looking for a semi-disposable (用数次的) plate,then you can find plates made from natural materials like bamboo. These plates can be used and washed or cleaned a few times.
| A．The short answer is yes and no. |
| B．However, the vast majority usually can’t |
| C．At the end of their life, they will break down naturally |
| D．PLA is a bioplastic that’s used to coat some paper plates. |
| E．So most cities won’t accept used paper plates for recycling. |
| F．There are two main reasons why the majority of paper plates can’t be recycled |
| G．If you have clean paper plates, they can be used for a wide range of other projects. |
1. 水污染的原因描述；
2. 水污染的危害；
3. 你的建议。
注意：
1.词数80左右；2.首句已给出，不计入总词数。
With the development of society, water pollution is getting more and more serious.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________1.受灾情况：如人员伤亡（多达1,500人死亡，成百上千人受伤，约500人下落不明）；数万建筑物损毁；供水、供电中断等；
2.救援情况：如军队，医务人员等；
3.赈灾措施：运送生活物资；人们捐款；
4.希望和决心。
A Terrible Flood
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5 . Margaret is a famous climate activist (气候活动家). When she was thirty- two years old, she created an Egyptian charity organization called the Green Generation Initiative (倡议), which has been planting trees and countering the acts of cutting down the forests at will and climate change in the North African nation since 2013.
GGI’s primary focus is on developing young climate activists through environmental education in schools and addressing food unsafety in the area through planting fruit trees.
Over 120, 000 trees have been planted in Egypt since GGI’s start and they have recorded a survival rate of over 90 percent, while thousands of schoolchildren have chosen to plant trees to make sure that they learn the importance of acting as a guardian over the health of the environment.
Speaking to world leaders at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, Margaret issued a warning on the harm of climate change, “Over 1 million of my fellow Egyptians are facing climate related hunger. In 2024, half of the world’s population will be short of water. By 2030, the climate problem will make about 50 million people in Sub- Saharan Africa homeless.”
Margaret added, “I have been doing what I can. I was inspired by the great Maathai, who called on thousands of women and men to plant tens of millions of trees throughout Kenya. Her approach was practical and deeply ecological (生态的). She was the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize. I started a tree growing initiative that raised the awareness of food safety for young Egyptians. So far, we have grown 30, 000 fruit trees, providing badly needed food for thousands of children. We are the adults on the Earth right now, and it is our responsibility to ensure that the children have food and water.”
1. What does the underlined word “countering” in paragraph l mean?| A．Trying out. | B．Worrying about. |
| C．Passing on. | D．Fighting against. |
| A．To plant useful fruit trees at school. | B．To increase the survival rate of trees. |
| C．To deal with food unsafety in Egypt. | D．To raise enough money for a charity. |
| A．The great waste of water resources. |
| B．The serious impact of climate change. |
| C．The bad results of people’s going hungry. |
| D．The rapid growth of the world population. |
| A．Working for the Nobel Prize. | B．Expressing thanks to Maathai. |
| C．Being responsible for the future. | D．Making more children educated. |
6 . We humans often navigate (导航) using road signs and GPS. But what about elephants? Connie Allen, a behavioural ecologist at the University of Exeter in the U.K., said “the elephants navigate over long distances using their unbelievable memories”, which makes others consider that an elephant will never forget. But it’s also been suggested here and there that maybe olfaction is extremely important for these long-distance movements.
Allen and her colleagues checked that idea by testing African elephants’ ability to identify a very special smell: the smell of pee (尿). You see, an elephant pees a lot — some 12 to 15 gallons a day — and that pee can contain a series of chemical signals.
But first, they needed some pee. So they headed for a spot along Botswana’s Boteti River and waited. They waited for elephants to pee and, within 20 minutes, went and collected these fresh pee samples. Then they set up cameras on seven paths which the elephants usually walked along. After observing the elephants’ natural behaviour on the paths, they noticed that the majority of the elephants checked smells along the paths — especially elephants travelling alone, which is an indication, the researchers said, that smells may serve as signposts along the paths.
Next, they placed those pee samples along the paths. And they found that for at least two days, passing elephants trained their trunks on the samples, especially samples from mature adults, which is another indication that smells might be an effective navigational signal. Their findings appeared in the journal Animal Behaviour.
Based on these results, they hope conservationists might be able to use elephant pee as a decoy (诱饵). If we can trick elephants into thinking other elephants are going this way, maybe we can redirect them away from where they are coming into conflict with humans at the moment.
1. What does the underlined word “olfaction” in paragraph 1 mean?| A．The roadside signpost. | B．The sense of smell. |
| C．The long-term memory. | D．The sense of direction. |
| A．By doing field research. | B．By analyzing causes and effects. |
| C．By making comparisons. | D．By doing laboratory experiments. |
| A．Helping elephants to find other companions. |
| B．Inspiring new research directions in elephants. |
| C．Raising public awareness of elephant protection. |
| D．Making elephants and humans coexist peacefully. |
| A．African Elephants Show Personality-based Movements |
| B．Elephants Are Born With Excellent Ability to Navigate |
| C．African Elephants May Use Pee as a Road Sign |
| D．Elephants Have a Good Memory for Roads |
7 . Peruvian firefighters were fighting to control a forest fire near Machu Picchu on Thursday, as the flames threatened to close in on the ancient city high in the Andean mountains.
Machu Picchu, a site of Inca ruins sitting on top of a mountain, was built in the mid-15th century by the Incas, whose empire controlled large areas of South America from what is today southern Ecuador to central Chile. Considered as one of the new seven wonders of the world, it is a top tourist attraction in Cusco, Peru.
The fire, which had damaged an area about half the size of Vatican City, was started on June 28, 2022 by farmers burning grass to prepare to plant new seeds. Since Tuesday, about 20 hectares (49 acres) had been affected by the fire, the mayor of the nearby city of Cusco said.
The fire’s remoteness has greatly influenced firefighting efforts. “We have already been fighting the forest fire for two days and it has not been possible to get it under control, for the area is quite far away and hard to reach,” said Roberto Abarca, director of the Cusco Risk Management and Security Office.
Some 600 firefighters and volunteers battled the fire, and helicopters dropped retardants (阻燃剂) in front of the flames to prevent them from spreading to archaeological (考古学的) sites. “The fire has left the critical zone where there are archaeological monuments, but is still burning fiercely,” the government said.
While South America’s top archaeological treasure was safe from the fire, experts feared the destruction of thousands of acres of nearby forest would damage Machu Picchu’s attraction to tourists.
1. What can be learned about Machu Picchu?| A．it has a history of a thousand years. |
| B．How and why it was built remains unknown. |
| C．It covers an area from southern Ecuador to central Chile. |
| D．It is regarded as one of the new seven wonders of the world. |
| A．It was put out before it reached archaeological sites. |
| B．Its remoteness added to the difficulty of firefighting. |
| C．It was started when farmers were planting new seeds. |
| D．It affected about 49 acres of Machu Picchu altogether. |
| A．By using numbers. | B．By giving definitions. |
| C．By providing examples. | D．By making comparison. |
| A．A story collection. | B．A tourist brochure. |
| C．A weekly newspaper. | D．A geography magazine. |
Alex rode his bike on his way home, and Johnson’s Pond came into view.
Sometimes his dad took him canoeing (划独木舟) there, and Alex loved it. The pond was always alive with activity, and sometimes Alex discovered turtles (乌龟) sunbathing on suing rocks Alex as curious about turtles. When it was too rainy to go canoeing, he often went to the library to check out books on turtles,
Now it looked like tomorrow might be another sunny day. He decided to ask Dad if they could go canoeing and look for turtles again. Suddenly Alex saw something in the road up ahead. It looked like a big gray rock. But it was a funny place for a rock to be. He jumped off to have a look.
And then, the rock started to move! It was actually a large turtle slowly making its way across the road! Alex knew right away it was a snapping turtle.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a car approaching The turtle was still only halfway across the road Alex knew he couldn’t pick it up because snapping turtles have a powerful bite and they could even bite off someone’s finger! What could he do?
Thinking fast, he started waving both hands wildly. “Stop! Stop!” he cried. The car slowed to a stop.
“Are you alight, Alex?” It was his neighbor, Mrs. Ramos.
“I’m fine, Mrs. Ram’s.” said Alex. “I’m just trying to save a turtle. It’s probably going to lay egg.”
“Oh, yeah. It’s spring.” said Mrs. Ram’s. “So, I guess a lot of turtles need to lay their eggs in the grass across the road.” Then she waved goodbye and drove off.
Alex thought about what Mrs. Ram’s had said. “There would probably be more turtles trying to cross the road at this spot!” he realized. But he couldn’t stand there all day trying to stop cars. He looked around and a road sign caught his eye. And then his face brightened.
He jumped on his bike and raced home to find Dad.___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The next morning, Dad and Alex drove to the pond with the wooden sign in the car.
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9 . Lots of animals live and move in groups--elephants in herds, wolves in packs, birds in flocks, and fish in schools. Research has shown that where an individual is located in the group can affect the benefits it gets from hanging out in a crowd. However, Shaun Killen, an ecophysiologist at the University of Glasgow in the UK says, researchers haven’t yet fully explored the role of physiological processes such as digestion in driving animals’ collective behavior.
Killen and his colleagues recently studied schools of Eurasian minnows (修鱼) swimming in a tank against a current. Pieces of food were constantly moving past the fish, and the team recorded how many each minnow ate and the fishes’ positions before and after eating. After calculating the metabolic (新陈代谢的) costs of digesting each fish’s meal and comparing it to the fish’s position ,the team observed a trend: fish that had just gulped down a big meal moved to the back of the school, even when they’d swum at the front at most other times.
“It makes sense that feeding would influence individuals’ positions in a group,” says DamienFarine, who studies collective behavior in birds at the University of Konstanz in Germany, “If a fish is hungry, it’s competing with others in the school to eat, and being at the front gives it access to more food. But once the fish is full, it doesn’t necessarily need to be at the front.” In addition,“being at the back of the group is less energetically costly for a range of reasons,” Farine notes.” An individual at the back doesn’t have to contribute to navigating, and by relaxing the brain load it saves more energy.”
Killen says he’s been thinking about the pros and cons of being at the back of the pack, such as protection from attackers and a boost from schoolmates’ slipstream. Changes in position, especially during the basic trade -off between feeding and movement, appear to influence group leadership ,information transfer, and group decision making. But the consequences of the trade-offs for group power and survival are not yet understood.
1. What does Killen and his colleagues’ study focus on?| A．How behavioral traits influence position change of individuals in fish schools. |
| B．How location influences nutrition states of individuals in fish schools. |
| C．How digestion influences distribution of individuals in fish schools. |
| D．How location influences benefits of individuals in fish schools. |
| A．Swallowed. | B．Located. | C．Witnessed. | D．Missed. |
| A．A full fish competes to eat at the back. |
| B．A hungry fish has easier access to more food. |
| C．Being at the back saves the energy of a full fish. |
| D．Being at the front costs a hungry fish less energy. |
| A．Cautious. | B．Confident. | C．Positive. | D．Disappointed. |
10 . Fifty-five public schools in New York City have recently invited furry friends to their classrooms. The Comfort Dog Program has been around for five years.
Comfort dogs have been found to augment levels of oxytocin, serotonin and dopamine in our Brain, hormones (激素) promoting positive feelings and a happy mood (心情). But how are these pets helpful in the classroom?
For some students, the comfort pet provides the emotional support they need, which then allows the child to be engaged and successful in their studies. A struggling student can hold the pet in the arms and get the support he or she needs at the time, which also develops their self-awareness and ability to regulate their emotions. In other cases, teachers use the pet as part of the lesson. Meredith Loftus, a teacher in New York, brought a dog named Chip to help out with a phonics game in the classroom.
Dog training isn’t necessarily a walk in the park, although it can definitely include that. It takes time, effort and consistency to train pets, and this is the case for this program, too.
To be a part of the program, an educator and their dog must participate in a six-hour training session by The Good Dog Foundation. This training teaches the educator what to do if students scared of pets. It also trains dogs on the differences they’ll experience in a school environment, such as the school bell, fire alarms, loud announcements and other possible distractions. The dog is also trained at being friendly with strangers and the handler, in this case the educator, who need to be very in tune with the pet and know how to look out for its stress signals.
The program has been a genuine success so far, and a helpful addition to the education and well-being of many students in New York. In fact, hundreds of other schools have expressed be including it in their curriculum in the near
The program has been a genuine success so far, and a helpful addition to the education and well-being of many students in New York. In fact, hundreds of other schools have expressed their interest in joining the program and may be including it in their curriculum in the near future.
1. The underlined word “augment” in paragraph 2 most probably means ________.| A．reach | B．stabilize | C．increase | D．balance |
| A．succeed academically | B．develop in an all-round way |
| C．become more supportive | D．have richer feelings |
| A．How to be friendly with dogs. | B．How to keep dogs away from stress. |
| C．How to adapt to a school environment. | D．How to respond to students’ fear of pets. |
| A．It’s still on trial in New York. | B．It’s promoted across New York. |
| C．It’s gaining greater popularity. | D．It’s part of New York curriculum. |
