1 . The power of “seeing”
A spoon-billed sandpiper (勺嘴鹬) steps into the frame, heading straight for a small bug placed there. It swallows its food with its spoon-shaped beak.
The performance is for Joel Sartore, founder of Photo Ark, a personal effort to document animals around the world.
The critically endangered bird, of which there are fewer than 1,000 individuals in the wild, is the 13,000th species Sartore has photographed in 16 years. His goal is 20,000.
Before he started Photo Ark, Sartore spent more than a decade working as a photographer for National Geographic, mainly covering conservation stories in the field. He had seen wildlife decreasing firsthand, but felt like the public wasn’t interested.
Sartore thought of a new way to inspire people. He picked up his camera and set about taking shots of wildlife-but rather than recording animals in the wild, he wanted to photograph them outside their natural habitat. He visited zoos, aquariums and rehabilitation (康复) centers and photographed portraits of individual animals against a white or black backdrop (背景幕).
“This allows you to look them in the eye and see that there’s great beauty there and that they are worth saving,” he said. “We are primates and we respond to eye contact above all else.”
The response has indeed been huge. Sartore has more than 1.6 million followers on Instagram and a best-selling series of Photo Ark books. Part of the proceeds (收益) from his books goes to fund on-the-ground conservation efforts.
Gary Ward who works at London Zoo where Sartore has shot before, said, “Seeing is the first step to caring, and caring is the first step to conservation action.”
By choosing animals outside their natural habitat, Sartore admits he will only show a small part of the world’s wildlife. According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, there are more than 2 million described species on the planet, and he plans to photograph just 1% of them. But doing so allows him to spotlight species that are already extinct in the wild, and those that would be difficult to take portraits of in their natural habitat. It also enables him to shoot in a controlled environment, meaning the animal can be kept safe and comfortable, with zookeepers or carers on hand to advise on its behavior.
1. What is Sartore doing at the beginning of the text?| A．He is feeding a bird. | B．He is training a bird. |
| C．He is photographing a bird. | D．He is studying a bird’s behavior. |
| A．Make a record of conservation stories. |
| B．Broaden his experience in saving animals. |
| C．Gather information on endangered species. |
| D．Raise people’s awareness of protecting wildlife. |
| A．Unclear. | B．Approving. | C．Doubtful. | D．Objective. |
| A．Why Sartore focuses on animals in human care. |
| B．Why Sartore can’t cover all animals in the world. |
| C．The benefits of working with zookeepers or carers. |
| D．The difficulties of photographing animals in the wild. |
2 . Kids want to spend their summer vacations having fun in the sun with their friends. Reading may not even be on their list. But if you add a lovely dog, that could make reading a pleasant activity.
Now a new study found that reading to dogs helps to improve reading ability because dogs provide a nonjudgmental and supportive atmosphere(氛围).
Three educators from the college decided to look at new ways to get kids to read more after the Education Ministry expressed concern over a great drop in reading scores in fourth-grade students.
These students had reading difficulties because they did not go through school in person during the last three years. They missed out on reading practice with their peers(同龄人)during the second and third grades.
“We want to find an original way that would encourage students to practice their reading,” Har-Zvi, head of the special-education track and senior lecturer at the college said. “And to create that encouragement, we decided to do experiments with dogs.”
Reading to pets encourages kids to acquire confidence and interest in reading, according to the pet food company Purina. That’s not only because the practice of reading to dogs is used in home-schooling to help the kids acquire reading ability, but also because pets are comforting and nonjudgmental. Einat Artzi, whose daughter took part in the experiment, told Ynet that her daughter Michaela ”has loved dogs from a young age. Her experience of reading to dogs greatly increased her desire to read, and in her opinion, it improved her reading abilities. All in all, the experience of introducing dogs into the classroom made her feel comfortable and safe, and she began to enjoy going to school. Michaela is now considered one of the top readers in her class and has a very rich vocabulary. Thanks to this, we also took in a dog.“
1. What led three educators to try to get kids to read more?| A．Kids’ difficulty in making friends. | B．Teachers’ passive teaching methods. |
| C．Their worry about students’ health. | D．Concerns of education leaders. |
| A．The quiet listening of the dogs. | B．The kids’ love for the dogs. |
| C．The parents’ joining them. | D．The guidance from the teachers. |
| A．It made her fall in love with dogs. | B．It bettered her reading ability greatly. |
| C．It improved her relationships with others. | D．It allowed her to take a dog to school. |
| A．Dogs Are Good Friends to Kids | B．Kids’ Reading Scores Are Dropping |
| C．Dogs Help Make Kids Better Readers | D．Kids Studying at Home Brings Problems |
注意：
1. 词数100左右；
2. 书信必须涵盖所有要点；
2. 可以适当使用连词和过渡句，以使行文连贯。
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4 . Every dog should have a loving home, and thanks to a 13-year-old boy named Thiago, many are now closer to finding one.
Thiago is a self-described animal lover hoping to help the homeless dogs in his home city of Antônio Prado. So, he came up with an idea. Maybe if he could make the dogs on the street look more attractive, they’d have more chances to be adopted (收养). So he began giving baths to dogs in his spare time. This great idea is what led Thiago to create a project called “Sou de rua mas to limpinho” at the end of 2020.
With the help of his father, he began looking for dogs who needed a helping hand. “At the end of last year, I decided that I needed to somehow do something for the animals,” Thiago said. “While talking to my father, I told him about my idea of bathing street dogs so they can stay clean and smell good and people may look at them differently.”
Before the effort truly took off, Thiago and his dad had to work out how to win the dogs over. “Catching dogs on the street is difficult, since they are always frightened and many have suffered from ill treatment,” Thiago explained. “So we spent some time without baths until my father spoke to the public service organization and we started to bathe their newly saved dogs.” In addition to bathing them, Thiago started adding little accessories (配饰) to the dogs, such as little hair pins, to really increase their chances of adoption. The boy’s dad also took pictures of the dogs and posted them online, pointing any possible adopters to the nearby shelters (收容所). “I want people to be not afraid to adopt,” Thiago said. “It’s the best thing in the world.”
1. Why did Thiago create “Sou de rua mas to limpinho”?| A．To provide baths for dogs. | B．To raise money for animal shelters. |
| C．To help homeless dogs get adopted. | D．To draw public attention to animal care. |
| A．They were short of bath products. | B．The homeless dogs distrusted them. |
| C．People showed no interest in adoption. | D．Possible adopters preferred young dogs. |
| A．Caring. | B．Confident. | C．Humorous. | D．Serious. |
| A．Boy Adopts Dogs in Bad Conditions | B．Boy Helps Dogs Find a New Home |
| C．Lost Dogs Require Getting Adopted | D．Homeless Dogs Move into Shelters |
5 . Gene-editing has created a generation of musical crops. It has been known for some time that plants can talk to one another.
Many communicate chemically, both through the air and via their root s— warning each other, for example, of the arrival of herbivorous (食草的) insects in order to co-ordinate their responses to these pests. Those responses are also often a form of communication, namely a further release of chemicals that recruit predators and parasites (捕食者和寄生虫) of said herbivores. These then solve their summoners’(召唤者) problems by having lunch.
Plants’ interactions with sound are less well understood, though it is known that flowers such as evening primroses (月见草) can detect the buzzing of bees and respond by producing sweeter nectar(蜜汁). Moreover, a paper published in this week's Cell, by Lilach Hadany of Tel-Aviv University and her colleagues, describes how plants make noises when they are stressed by drought or physical damage.
Dr Hadany and her team do not yet know whether other plants are listening, but suspect that they might be. None of this is news, however, to Paolo Fril, CEO and chief scientist of the Gene Duplication Corporation (GeneDupe), a biotechnology firm in San Melito, California. Observing that gardeners and greenhouse owners, from Britain’s new king, Charles III, downwards, often talk to their plants, and sometimes even play them music, he and his team have been investigating plants’ aural (听觉) and oral activities for several years, and are now adjusting them using crispr-Cas9 gene-editing technology.
The plan is to create a range of products which Dr Fril hopes will please his firm’s shareholders — which he needs to do after an awkward run-in the company had a few years ago with some animal-rights activists over its previous product, Print-a-pet.
1. How do plants convey information?| A．Through their leaves. |
| B．Through their branches. |
| C．Through the soil. |
| D．Through the chemicals they release. |
| A．The release of the chemicals can also help to protect the plants themselves. |
| B．The example of evening primroses proves crops’ hearing has been well understood |
| C．Herbivores can be killed directly by the chemicals |
| D．Lilach Hadany wrote a paper alone. |
| A．Dr Hadany has known that all the plants can hear |
| B．Britain's new king, Charles III, joined in the research |
| C．that plants can sense sound is not a new story for Dr Fril |
| D．Dr Hadany is considering using crispr-Cas9 gene-editing technology |
| A．To set up his reputation as a scientist. |
| B．To make the company’s shareholders happy. |
| C．To produce a special product to make money. |
| D．To help Tel-Aviv University research the hearing of the plants. |
6 . Why the East Coast has had such a weak winter
Overall, winter across the East Coast this year has been pretty weak. “I was in shorts and a T-shirt,” said Jeff Weber, a research meteorologist (气象学家) at the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research. Meteorologists descended upon Boston in mid-January for the annual meeting of the American Meteorological Society. January is Boston's coldest month, but during the weather conference, meteorologists experienced 75 degrees Fahrenheit temperatures.
A major reason is that the polar vortex (极地涡旋) — which is a circulating stream of air that forms over the Arctic during winter — has stayed rigid and in place, keeping its cold air mostly locked up north. Consequently, little of this exceptionally chilly air has got into the U.S. this winter.
Arctic blasts (北极寒流), like those in January 2019, happen when the polar vortex becomes unstable, allowing frigid air to spill south. “But this winter, instead of a weak polar vortex, we’ve had strong polar vortex conditions,” said Andrea Lang, an atmospheric scientist at the University of Albany who researches changes in seasonal winter weather.
The polar vortex has stayed strong because other weather systems, sometimes originating from the Pacific. Ocean, haven’t come along and knocked the spinning vortex out of place.
A frequent culprit (问题的起因) in disturbing the polar vortex is a powerful stream of air traveling some 30,000 to 35,000 miles up in the atmosphere (where jets fly) which we commonly call the jet stream. The jet stream shoots from west to east around Earth at speeds of 120 to 250 miles per hour, but can become dramatically wavier when it’s disturbed by strong storm activity or encounters masses of hot or cold air.
But this winter season, the meandering (蜿蜒前进的) jet stream has not knocked the polar vortex off its pole, explained Lang. Instead, the jet stream has bent dramatically south, right through the heart of the central U. S.
Atmospheric scientists are deeply interested in why a perturbed polar vortex has become more frequent. There’s evidence that the incessantly warming Arctic — the fastest-warming place on Earth — has led to a weaker and less stable polar vortex, which means more outbreaks of freezing Arctic air. Just not this winter — so far, anyway.
1. What does Jeff Weber mean by saying what he wore?| A．To introduce his dressing style. | B．To express his feeling then. |
| C．To prove the abnormal weather. | D．To show his love of winter. |
| A．It was as warm as that of this year. |
| B．It was very cold owing to the arctic blast. |
| C．The polar vortex stayed rigid and in place. |
| D．The polar vortex was weak and unstable. |
| A．Fixed. | B．Frozen. | C．Heated. | D．Disturbed. |
| A．By bending north and knocking it off. |
| B．By moving from east to west around Earth. |
| C．By waving and meandering powerfully. |
| D．By turning to the south dramatically. |
7 . Known as the birthplace of hip-hop, the South Bronx in New York City is a global center for music and art. However, it also suffers from poverty and pollution. Heavy trucks deliver unwanted construction waste to sorting stations, which then transfer waste to distant landfills.
Just graduating from college and working for an environmental group, Omar started to think about redirecting waste to those in need. He wondered, “Instead of destroying things like old doors, why not make this business a ‘cooperative’, which means people who work in the business own it and share the profits?”
Omar decided to start his business. He handed out flyers (小传单) along the truck-jammed, waste-filled streets to find individuals with similar ideas and interests to join him. Eventually, Omar found four workers and secured a warehouse. They reached out to relevant people, offering to remove items from construction sites for free. Soon, their warehouse was filled with donated materials, including 80 new toilets, unwanted doors, theater seats, and even a giant popcorn machine.
A few years ago, Omar started his first cooperative devoted to reusing construction waste. The cooperative began selling construction supplies at reasonable prices to neighborhood builders and home owners. With support from city officials, Omar began developing a new training program to equip local residents with the necessary skills for environmentally impact jobs.
Omar said, “Think about a wooden door that you’ve just bought. In order to produce that, someone had to cut down trees. In order to ship it across the country, someone had to pump oil out of the ground. You can avoid all that if you buy a good used door. And at the same time, you can reduce pollution, save money, and create jobs in communities like the South Bronx.”
Omar even had the image of a future with a whole network of green cooperative businesses in the area, which would work together to reuse different kinds of construction materials. “If you have a use for something,” Omar said, “it’s no longer waste.”
1. What do we know about the South Bronx in paragraph 1?| A．It is free from poverty. |
| B．It pays little attention to art. |
| C．It suffers from a lack of landfills. |
| D．It faces the problem of waste pollution. |
| A．To seek for minds alike. |
| B．To search for new materials. |
| C．To build a warehouse for waste. |
| D．To find repairmen for old doors. |
| A．Modest and cautious. | B．Wealthy and intelligent. |
| C．Humorous and generous. | D．Creative and hardworking. |
| A．Omar — A Successful Builder |
| B．Waste — A Way to Get Business |
| C．Old Doors — Useful Recyclable Resources |
| D．The South Bronx — The Best-known Construction Site |
8 . At Sho Farm in northern Vermont, farmers Melissa Hoffman and Shawn Smith work hand in hand with the land and its inhabitants, and among them are hundreds of ducks. The ducks at Sho Farm are not being raised to be killed for food. Rather, they are naturally involved in farming operations, helping to manage pests and add fertilizer (肥料) to the soil.
In the beginning, Hoffman, who has a background in organic farming and ecology action, worked with ecologists and biologists to survey the plants and wildlife all around the area. This was “to understand who was living here, so that everything we did was in relationship to the life already here,” he says.
So, at Sho Farm, focus is placed on living harmoniously alongside other life and working with traditional ecological knowledge. Food is seen not as a commodity (商品) but as a relationship with land and life.
The methods of food production at Sho Farm, as well as the farmers’ philosophy of working with rather than against nature, are in sharp contrast to most modern agricultural systems. And that’s the point. “We’ve been talking a lot about the broken food system and the consequences of it to the environment, to wildlife, to the animals in animal agriculture and to human health,” says Hoffman, adding that it’s not just the food system that’s broken. “It’s the relationship between humans, non-human animals, land and nature.”
The ducks play a vital, integrated role on the farm, explains Hoffman, by naturally providing pest control, fertilizer and (fuel-free) land maintenance (维护), just as by-products of their existence. “We noticed where we summered groups of ducks and parts of the food system that were not doing very well. The following year, the food system was efficiently improved,” he says.
It’s a symbiotic relationship that works well. “Animals don’t have to be part of a farm in a commodity sense. They can be part of the farm as a partner,” Hoffman says. “They are wonderful partners.”
1. Why did Hoffman do a survey in the beginning?| A．To get familiar with the surroundings. |
| B．To have a good relationship with other people. |
| C．To live in harmony with other life on the farm. |
| D．To have a good understanding of organic farming. |
| A．The causes of the broken food system. |
| B．The reasons for Hoffman’s farming methods. |
| C．The changes in modern agricultural systems. |
| D．The process of food production at Sho Farm. |
| A．Animals are treated well at Sho Farm. |
| B．Animals are not to be sold for money. |
| C．People and animals play the same role in organic farming. |
| D．People and animals work together and benefit each other. |
| A．Efficient. | B．Modern. | C．Natural. | D．Economical. |
9 . Heat waves are becoming more common in parts of the United States — and that means more people running their air conditioners for longer. But those air conditioners can make the problem worse, giving off greenhouse gases as they work that contribute heavily to climate change.
SkyCool Systems is trying to break that cycle, using technology that promises to offer buildings an alternative means to cool down in a similar way to how the planet cools itself. “Our planet naturally cools itself by sending heat out in the form of infrared light (红外线) or radiation,” said Eli Goldstein, SkyCool’s cofounder and CEO. “We do this through rooftop panels, which look like solar panels but actually do the opposite, reflecting 97% of the sunlight that hits them and cooling the surface below,” said Goldstein.
SkyCool’s model involves fixing a network of pipes below those panels. These pipes are filled with water, which is kept cool by the panels and then flows into an air conditioning system. This process is designed to take pressure off the system’s cooling mechanism. And because the panels cool naturally and don’t need external power to function, it helps the entire system use less electricity.
A Grocery Outlet store in California, which has been using SkyCool’s system since last year, says it saw a marked drop in its electrical bills. Jesus Valenzuela, the store manager, estimates that the panels have saved his store roughly $3,000 a month.
But perhaps the biggest barrier to making the technology ubiquitous (无处不在的) is its relatively high cost. Increasing production could help bring the cost down, Goldstein said, particularly for developing countries in Asia and Africa where SkyCool hopes to eventually expand. For now, the company is focused on commercial applications of the technology, though it hopes to start setting up panels on the roofs of individual homes. “We’re just excited to be able to use this new technology for good,” Goldstein said.
1. How did Goldstein explain the way their rooftop panels work?| A．By citing an expert’s words. | B．By making comparisons. |
| C．By analyzing cause and effect. | D．By describing the process in detail. |
| A．To store cold water to help cool the panels. |
| B．To help ease the water pressure of the air conditioning. |
| C．To power the panels by making use of flowing water. |
| D．To feed cold water into the air conditioning system. |
| A．It’s pretty effective. | B．It has increased sales for his store. |
| C．It will go out of style quickly. | D．It will cost too much to set up. |
| A．It’ll bring in a good profit for the company. | B．It’ll gain popularity in developed countries. |
| C．It’ll take the place of air conditioners. | D．It’ll be accessible to common households. |
10 . At around 3 p.m. on Monday, Erin Wilson stopped at a picnic area along Highway 299. She began walking her two-year-old sheepdog, Eva, along a path when a mountain lion
Sharon Houston, who was driving by, saw Wilson and
Eva eventually
| A．fed | B．withdrew | C．reacted | D．approached |
| A．recreation | B．attention | C．acknowledgement | D．recognition |
| A．welcome | B．follow | C．defend | D．disturb |
| A．turned on | B．turned down | C．turned over | D．turned into |
| A．managed | B．attempted | C．escaped | D．tended |
| A．pulled out | B．pulled down | C．pulled up | D．pulled on |
| A．hesitation | B．permission | C．confidence | D．comparison |
| A．adapted | B．responded | C．hurried | D．referred |
| A．insisting | B．agreeing | C．submitting | D．refusing |
| A．as | B．until | C．when | D．while |
| A．woke | B．performed | C．died | D．escaped |
| A．showed interest | B．restored power | C．lost control | D．took flight |
| A．peacefully | B．patiently | C．urgently | D．secretly |
| A．released | B．adopted | C．restored | D．infected |
| A．freedom | B．recovery | C．happiness | D．safety |
