1 . Crows (乌鸦) are undeniably intelligent. From making tools to holding hatred, crows have been surprising the scientific community with their skillset. In fact, a study once published in the journal Current Biology found “the crow brain is the same relative size as the chimpanzee (大猩猩) brain”.

Now, a study published in Science Advances finds crows understand what is known as recursion (递归). Prior to this study, recursion was believed to be unique to humans.

“We were interested in the ability to represent recursive structures—defined here as having elements be put within other similar elements,” Diana Liao said, who is the study’s first author. Liao says it was surprising to discover crows “were able to know the underlying recursive structure of the orders” upon first exposure. This makes the birds similar to humans, who are able to extract patterns with little experience. “Recursion is thought to be a key feature of human symbolic systems such as language or mathematics—and since these are thought to be unique to humans—there’s been interest in whether non-human animals can grasp and generate recursive structures,” says Liao.

What exactly is recursion? Liao explains: “A classic example sentence is ‘the mouse the cat caught ran’ where the clause the cat caught’ is within the clause’ the mouse who ran’. These complex structures are found in human languages but not in animal communication systems which suggest that recursion might be what separates them.”

The findings of this study are significant since they show recursive ability in animals that are not closely related to chimpanzees. “This suggests that this ability is either very evolutionarily (进化) ancient or that is a product of convergent evolution,” says Liao. “Also, it would propose that certain brain structures are not necessary to support this ability since birds have a dramatically different neural architecture.”

Liao says scientists know crows are smart but the extent of their intelligence is really unexpected. “Everyone has the impression that crows are super smart but I simply didn’t know just how intelligent they are.”

1. What is the finding of the new study?

A．Crows can make tools.

B．Crows understand recursion.

C．Crows can create special patterns.

D．Crows and chimpanzees are of a brain size.

2. Which structure can show Crows’ special ability?

A．I bought a book	B．My book was missing.
C．The book I bought was missing.	D．My book was missing and I bought one.

3. What impressed Diana Liao?

A．Crows’ intelligence level.	B．Crows’ body structure.
C．The reason for Crows’s martness.	D．people’s impression of crows.

4. What can be the best title for the text?

A．Crows Are Humans’ close Relatives

B．Crows Are Found the cleverest Bird

C．Crows Have the Ability to Learn to speak

D．Crows Have a Human-like Grammar skill

2 . After years of severe drought combined with climate change, the water level in Lake Powell, the second largest reservoir on the Colorado River, has dropped to just 24% of capacity. It is continuing to decline to levels not seen since the reservoir was first filled in the 1960s.

In an effort to improve the shrinking reservoir, the federal government announced that it will hold back a large quantity of water this year to reduce risks of the lake falling below a point at which Glen Canyon Dam would no longer generate electricity.

“Today’s decision reflects the truly unexpected challenges facing the Colorado River Basin and will provide operational certainty for communities and businesses that rely on the Colorado River,” Tanya Trujillo, the federal Interior Department’s assistant secretary for water and science, said in a statement announcing the measures.

It is the first time the U. S. Bureau of Reclamation has called its authority to change its operations in this way at Glen Canyon Dam on the Arizona-Utah border. The agency said the plan is intended to protect infrastructure at the dam and its ability to generate hydropower. It will ensure that water supplies continue to be available for the nearby city of Page, Arizona, and the Navajo Nation.

The plan is supposed to reduce the risks of Lake Powell falling to extremely low levels. The measures will include releasing about 500,000 acre-feet of water from Flaming Gorge Reservoir, which is located upstream, and leaving an additional 480,000 acre-feet in Lake Powell by reducing the volume of water released from Glen Canyon Dam.

“What’s needed now, urgently, is for federal and state water managers to work in partnership with other related parties, to take the steps necessary to build confidence in the long-lasting management of the Colorado River,” Pitt said. “This will require intensive and dedicated resources to develop and implement plans that put water demands into balance with supplies.”

1. What effect would the shrinking of Lake Powell bring?

A．A water shortage across America.	B．Reduced electricity generation.
C．A decline in tourism in the region.	D．Increased extreme natural disasters.

2. What is the fourth paragraph mainly about?

A．The purpose of the government’s plan.

B．The way to protect infrastructure at the dam.

C．The importance of ensuring water volume in the city.

D．The difficulties of controlling the water level of the lake.

3. How will the government stop Lake Powell falling to extremely low levels?

A．By restricting the generation of hydropower.

B．By releasing water to Flaming Gorge Reservoir.

C．By broadening sources of income and reducing output.

D．By building additional dams to increase the storage capacity.

4. What does the passage focus on?

A．The need for sustainable water management.

B．The impact of climate change on water sources.

C．The effort to address the water crisis in Lake Powell.

D．The imbalance between water demands and supplies.

3 . On Earth, diamonds are considered precious partly because they’re fairly rare: the planet’s diamond content is about 0.001%. But on other planets in the universe, diamonds may be as common as ordinary rocks. According to new research, planets with high carbon-to-oxygen ratios could form large quantities of diamonds if those planets also contain water.

The researchers behind the finding, a team from Arizona State University and the University of Chicago, found that under high-heat, high-pressure conditions like those found inside the Earth, certain planets may be making vast quantities of diamonds beneath their surfaces.

“In the universe, there are about 100 billion planets in our galaxy (星系) and 100 billion galaxies in the universe,” said Harrison Allen-Sutter, the study’s lead author. “Even if diamond planets are only one in a billion, the vast size of the universe means there could still be trillions of diamond planets in the universe.”

These worlds contain far more carbon than Earth. Near their cores, the planets are also believed to contain liquid silicon carbide (碳化硅), a substance made up of silicon and carbon. By reproducing the conditions on such a planet in the lab, the researchers confirmed that if heat and pressure get extreme enough—and if a planet has water—silicon carbide can be transformed into diamonds.

In a lab, the researchers found out what this chemical reaction would look like on a carbon-rich planet by first putting silicon carbide in water. Then they placed samples of the material into a device which can compress (压缩) small bits of material using extreme pressure. The scientists then superheated the samples. At the end of the process, the samples had indeed turned into diamonds—just as the researchers had predicted. It was confirmation that, yes, it’s possible that diamond planets exist.

Diamond planets, assuming they exist, would have harsh environments: the researchers predicted that their atmospheres would have to be rich in gases that are low in oxygen. Plus, the planets would be too hard to be geologically active—a characteristic that keeps temperatures stable. For these and other reasons, diamond planets aren’t likely to support life.

1. What do we know about diamond planets from the passage?

A．Diamond planets are rich in oxygen and water.

B．There are about one trillion diamond planets in the universe.

C．There is much more carbon on diamond planets than on Earth.

D．Temperatures on diamond planets are lower than those on Earth.

2. In what order did the researchers take the following steps to prove their prediction?
a. Superheated the silicon carbide.
b. Put the silicon carbide into water.
c. Put the silicon carbide into a compressing device.
d. Produced the environment of diamond planets in the lab.

A．abcd

B．dacb

C．dbca

D．dcab

3. What can we infer from the last paragraph?

A．Diamond planets would be geologically active.

B．There could be only a few creatures on diamond planets.

C．Life on diamond planets would be similar to that on Earth.

D．Temperatures on diamond planets could be very variable.

4. What would be the suitable title for this passage?

A．What Are Diamond Planets Like?

B．Why Are Diamonds on Earth So Valuable?

C．Places Where Diamonds Are As Common As Rocks

D．The Universe Maybe Has Planets Made of Diamonds

4 . 阅读下面短文，在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

The Dujiangyan Irrigation System is located on the Minjiang River, in the western part of the Chengdu Plain. Constructed around 256 BCE, it remains the world’s     1     (old) irrigation system still in use today.

When the annual floods of the Minjiang River caused enormous suffering, the governor Li Bing was so concerned that he made a     2     (decide) to solve the problem. Li Bing and his son carefully studied the flow of the river and the terrain (地形,地势) of the plain.     3     (Draw) on the water management experience of previous generations, they led the local people to construct an irrigation system. Instead of building a dam,     4     would have blocked boat traffic, they decided to make full use of the terrain and split the river     5     (spread)out the flow of water. Since there was no     6     (advance) machinery, tens of thousands of workers used rocks to alter the course of the river. When the water needed to be diverted (使绕道) through a mountain, they employed a creative technique: exploding the rocks     7     heating them with fire and cooling them down quickly.

The Dujiangyan Irrigation System took almost a generation to complete. Since then, it     8     (manage) the waters of the Minjiang River and allowed local agriculture to develop, ensuring     9     plentiful supply of food. This milestone in the history of water management is the living proof     10     with innovation and determination ancient Chinese people made nature work to their advantage.

5 . El Nino is a weather pattern that brings hotter temperatures and less rainfall than usual. It is caused by warmer surface temperatures in the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean leading to a change in wind movements. Warmer ocean temperatures lead to more rainfall over that part of the ocean and less rain over Northern Australia.

An El Nino weather pattern has been declared in Australia for the first time in seven years and experts say people should get ready for extreme heat. The Bureau of Meteorology（欧洲气象局） said the country would sweat through hot and dry weather for the rest of 2023 thanks to El Nino and another weather pattern called a positive Indian Ocean Dipole, or IOD, which relates to ocean temperatures.

Both weather patterns have already brought hotter and drier weather to southern and eastern Australia while making heatwaves, droughts, bushfires and having effects on coral reefs much more likely.

Australia’s last El Nino was in the summer of 2015 before cooler, wetter La Nina weather took over. The Bureau said it was very likely El Nino would last the whole Australian summer.

“When a positive IOD and El Nino occur together, their drying effect is typically stronger and more widespread across Australia,” the Bureau warned.

The news comes after an unusually long period of warm spring weather, with some places recording temperatures 15°C higher than the average. A disastrous fire warning was announced for the NSW south coast on Tuesday as firefighters battled against the fire in the Northern Territory, Queensland and New South Wales.

Senior Leeturer in Climate Science at the University of Melbourne Dr Andrew King said the recent hot weather “is a warning of the kind of extremes we’re likely to see more of over the next few months”.

1. What information can we get from Paragraph 1?

A．Something about El Nino.	B．Ways to avoid El Nino.
C．Reasons of global warming.	D．Areas tending to have El Nino.

2. From Paragraph 2 we can learn that El Nino ____________.

A．happens every 7 years	B．occurs only in Australia
C．causes extreme weather	D．is often accompanied by IOD

3. What is one of the predictions of the Bureau of Meteorology?

A．Southern Australia will suffer the most.	B．More places of Australia will be affected.
C．This El Nino will last for the whole year.	D．It will become wetter and cooler next year.

4. What does Dr Andrew King mean in the last paragraph?

A．Things could be worse.	B．People have got prepared.
C．Extreme weather will pass.	D．El Nino will become weak.

6 . From coast to coast, Canada is a beautiful country filled with an endless variety of landscapes and many well-known jewels to explore, which offers a perfect getaway option sure to suit everyone.

VANCOUVER ISLAND, BC

Vancouver Island is the largest island on the Pacific Coast of North America. This spectacular island offers some awesome adventures, including hiking, diving, surfing and camping. Your weekend getaway to Vancouver Island kicks off with a beautiful ferry ride. The Tsawwassen to Swartz Bay ferry passes close to the beautiful Gulf Islands and rocky coves, so keep an eye out for seals and whales! The trip by car and ferry, or bus and ferry, takes about four hours from downtown Vancouver.

WHISTLER, BC

Whistler, one of the largest ski resorts in North America, is a paradise for outdoor enthusiasts all year round. From powder hounds (粉雪滑雪) in winter to water sports, biking, and hiking during the summer, there is plenty to explore. In addition, Whistler was a major part of the 2010 Winter Olympics.

KELOWNA, BC

Kelowna is popular with tourists as it is the premier wine destination in British Columbia. Spending the day tasting the local wines and eating at some of the winery restaurants is a perfect way to enjoy a summer’s day here. Golf, hiking, biking, and boating on the lake are all popular summer activities here as well.

1. What do we know about VANCOUVER ISLAND, BC?

A．It is the largest island of North America.	B．It can be reached by train.
C．It is a good place for visitors to camp.	D．It was a major part of the 2010 Winter Olympics.

2. Which of the following activities is mentioned most frequently?

A．Hiking.

B．Biking.

C．Diving.

D．Skiing.

3. From which is the text probably taken?

A．Research paper.

B．Travel brochure.

C．Geography textbook.

D．Travel journal.

7 . If you already got the dog only to find out that your husband is not a pet lover, it’s either you keep your puppy and risk having problems in your marriage or let it go. I honestly do not think anybody should be asked to choose between a pet and a husband.     1    

Talk things through with your husband. It could be that your partner is not naturally fond of dogs.     2     Where you see a sweet puppy, he sees something else. Talking solves many problems in more ways than one. Before you consider any other course of action, try talking to your partner. Engage him in a heartfelt conversation that will give him some perspective into how you feel.

Find out his reservations. Not everybody is fond of having domestic animals around.     3     There’s an underlying reason behind the hate and resentment towards the dog. For instance, your partner may be allergic to dogs. You wouldn’t know why your husband hates pets until you find out.

    4     Encourage your partner to spend more time playing with the dog. You can go on walks together, allow him to hand treats, or give commands to your dog. These canine creatures tend to pay more attention to the things we do, so teach your husband to communicate clearly with your dog.

Learn to accept your differences.     5     While you may enjoy getting dog hair in your mouth, your partner may not. Since you are the one that brought the dog into the marriage, you have to find ways of dealing with it.

A．We’ve come up with some possible solutions to your problem.

B．Your partner doesn’t have to love pets because you do.

C．So, clearly, he won’t love the dog as much as you do.

D．Chances are, your husband falls in that category.

E．You can help him form a bond with your dog.

F．Then should you keep the dog or not?

G．You can get him to change his mind.

8 . Have you ever wondered what your dog sees when they stare at you, or at least the treat in your hand?

Well, now you can find out, as a new interactive tool shows you how your dog and other animals see the world.

Dogs, cats, birds and rabbits all have a different field of vision and access to a different color spectrum (色谱). The new tool allows you to upload or take a photo, and then place a filter (滤光器) over the top to transform it into what your animal of choice would see.

At the back of the human eye are photoreceptors—cells that respond to the light shining in. These come in two types, “rods” or “cones”, and while rods are sensitive to motion and night vision, the cones are able to detect color.

Humans have three types of con e cells, and each of these are most sensitive to a particular color, either red, green or blue. Dogs only have two types of cones which are sensitive to blue and yellow, meaning they can only see these colors as well as shades of grey. This is comparable to the roughly nine per cent of people with red-green color blindness, which makes green look more red.

However, dog retinas (视网膜) are rod-heavy, which is why they can see better in the dark and can detect motion a lot better than humans. Dogs’ eyes are also positioned at a 20° angle and are a lot further apart than ours, which increases their surrounding vision. This gives them a 240° field of vision-larger than a human’s 180°.

Dogs can make up for what they lack in vision with their other senses, like their sense of smell. Their “olfaction”(嗅觉) is between 10,000 to 100,000 times more acute than ours, so they are still able to cope well if their vision fails.

1. What do you need to find out how you look like in your dog’s eyes?

A．a photo of your dog, a photo of yourself and the new tool.

B．a photo of your dog and the new tool.

C．the new tool and a photo of you and your dog.

D．a photo of yourself and the new tool.

2. What does the underlined word “These” refer to in Paragraph 4?

A．Different types of light.

B．Photoreceptors.

C．Dog eyes.

D．Human eyes.

3. Why do dogs see better at night than humans?

A．They are more sensitive to blue and yellow.	B．They have more “cones” in their retinas.
C．They have more “rods” in their retinas.	D．They have better sense of smell.

4. How does the author organize the whole passage?

A．By giving examples.	B．By making comparison.
C．By presenting data.	D．By putting forward questions.

9 . “WHAT KIND OF BIRD is this?” the text from my wildlife protector friend had asked. I had to look closely at the photo. It was an owl (猫头鹰), found dragged and dropped on someone’s backyard. I figured that she was about two weeks from being old enough to fly.

Cleaned and warmed, the tiny owl survived. Together we planned a “soft release”. “The idea was that as she gained the ability to fly, we would let the young owl wander off rather naturally, on her own schedule, into the very suitable woodland behind our home.”

Her care came to us for what we thought would be a few weeks at most. We called her Alfie. But the recovery took longer than expected. When she should have been able to fly, Alfie could only walk on the ground. Winter was in the air, making easy food much less available, and she had never learned to hunt. I would not risk letting her loose and having her starve. When summer was again at its fullest, I left the door open. Alfie disappeared one day. A week later, my wife texted me: “Guess who’s back.” After that, Alfie centered her territory around our backyard, and before long, we started seeing another owl.

Alfie became the owl she was born to be when she left our protection for the risks and rewards of free agency. She and her mate raised three baby birds that first year, building new links in the great chain that has gone unbroken — so far — for millions of owl generations.

Alfie lives in relationship, and our surprising capacity to relate to one another expanded my perspective on her life and mine. Birds and humans have not had a common ancestor for more than 300 million years, yet Alfie always enjoyed a little head scratch that we enjoyed giving. Our nervous systems still relate, allowing us to share such pleasures. People for thousands of years lived in relationship with nature and with their communities. If there is one lesson from Alfie, it is that to live in relationship is how we might heal.

1. According to the article, which is TRUE when Alfie the owl was initially found?

A．It was found from a photo in a magazine.	B．It was tiny and in poor condition.
C．It was found in the author’s backyard.	D．It was found by the author’s fellow staff.

2. What is their attitude toward the release of Alfie?

A．They want to release Alfie when she is ready.

B．Alfie should be released softly in summer.

C．They want to adopt Alfie when she is old enough.

D．They want Alfie to wander when food is sufficient.

3. Which of the following is TRUE according to paragraph 3 and 4?

A．Alfie was struggling in winter during the recovery.

B．Alfie contributed to the ongoing chain of owl generations.

C．Alfie was rewarded by a free agency after it disappeared.

D．Alfie went back to establish her territory to thank the author.

4. What is the author’s purpose in writing this article?

A．To teach readers how to find and help injured animals.

B．To remind readers to protect and value the beauty of nature.

C．To encourage readers to strengthen their bond with wildlife.

D．To remind readers to rethink our relationship with wildlife and the environment.

10 . 阅读下面材料，根据其内容和所给段落开头语续写两段，使之构成一篇完整的短文。

I have a passion for fishing and animal protection, which can date back to my childhood. When I was young, my father was a fish and wildlife officer, so he traveled all over the province in the spring and fall. He loved his job, especially the part where he protected nature from human.

He’d taught me to fish alone, in silence, lost in my own thoughts.

I still remembered that special day. Midweek, even in late August, no one was around. Police Outpost Lake is as far as you can go and still be in Canada. Songbirds, ducks, and Canada geese glided (滑翔) by on the breeze, touching down briefly on the water’s surface before flapping and quacking their way back up into the sky, passing in front of the sun, temporarily blocking its warming rays.

“How can I get the fish with these birds making noise?” I complained, rod (鱼竿) in my hand.

“Be patient, Jacob. Birds won’t disturb you.”

Out of the corner of my eyes, I suddenly caught a glimpse of a few great northern loons (潜鸟) stayed together not far from the shoreline. Dad once told me loon usually travel alone, but here were five of them in a group. Maybe it was a family? One loon, making odd sounds, swam away from the group, towards me.

This is unusual.

“Dad! Come here! Take a look at this loon!”

Hearing this, dad laid his rod down on the dirty sand, walking quickly towards me.

The loon rested in the shallow water near shore, not ten feet away from us. It was so close, we could see its red eyes.

“Look at that beak (喙)!”I said. “It could easily hurt us to death with that thing! It could tear our faces! Blind our eyes!”

Walking into the water, getting closer to the loon, we both saw thin wire wrapped around its neck. Fishing line maybe? Was there a hook(钩子)on the line, too? Was the loon asking us for help?

注意：
1.续写词数应为150左右;
2.请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Paragraph 1: Reaching down, I touched its feather, my heart racing.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Paragraph 2: “Hurry, Dad! I can’t hold this bird forever, you know!” I said.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________