1 . Spearmint the seal has an addiction. Being too overly friendly to humans around Plymouth, England, she’s been sent to kick her human habits.
Spearmint was first seen in Caws and Bay, Cornwall, almost seven months ago, and was found hanging out with tourists and swimmers, as well as paddlers. She was even known to have visited a local outdoor pub.
The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) put the North Atlantic gray seal into a treatment program, where rescuers were “working around the clock to get her fit and healthy” enough to be released.
After rehab, the organization hopes to release her into a remote area of Scotland where she won’t be so tempted by people. The Rame Wildlife Rescue Network has also provided assistance, raising more than $6,500 for the seal’s relocation.
Jessica Collins, a medical worker at British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR), initiated the rescue. She says Spearmint is an endangered seal that has become used to human contact. “Despite receiving treatment at a young age, to change her human-related behavior is far from easy. Spearmint’s interest in humans grew once released as she was fed regularly by tourists,” Collin s explained. “After multiple relocations we found Cawsand Bay, where we were able to control the situation better and keep people away.”
The RSPCA plans to either reintroduce Spearmint to the wild or place her in permanent care in a shelter intended for seals. “Give wild animals space and avoid feeding them. We hope the message carries through beyond Spearmint’s story,” the RSPCA said in a statement.
1. What is Spearmint’s addiction according to the passage?| A．Visiting local pubs. | B．Swimming in Cawsand Bay. |
| C．Hanging out with swimmers. | D．Enjoying being with humans. |
| A．Relocating the seal. | B．Changing the seal’s personality. |
| C．Treating the seal’s human habits. | D．Helping the seal grow stronger. |
| A．Tourists’ constant feeding. |
| B．The seal’s need for medical attention. |
| C．Absence of early treatment for the seal. |
| D．Spearmint’s constant moving when released. |
| A．Build shelters for seals. | B．Leave wild animals on their own. |
| C．Keep seals in permanent care. | D．Avoid taking wild animals’ land. |
2 . Every week, Angela looked at her recycling bin, filled with shampoo bottles and plastic containers, with mixed feelings. Sure, it was a lot of plastic, but it was going to be recycled. Or so she thought. Then, her husband sent her some articles revealing that less than 6% of the country’s plastic gets recycled. She was shocked.
Determined to cut back on her plastic consumption, Angela got a starter kit from a company selling refillable household cleaners (家用清洁器). In it were tablets, containing concentrated hand soap as well as glass and bathroom cleaners, and four empty containers. She filled each one with tap water, then dropped in a tablet and watched it dissolve. If she was happy with the cleaners, she would order more tablets but reuse the containers. No new plastic required.
Given plastic’s harmful effects on the environment, nearly three quarters of Americans say they are trying to reduce their reliance on single-use plastic, according to Pew Research Center. Since plastic is everywhere and avoiding it altogether is extraordinarily difficult, some, like Angela, have revived a once-customary practice: refilling containers. Household cleaners seem particularly prepared for a refill revolution, for many can be easily concentrated and reconstituted (with water. If just 10% to 20% of plastic packaging are reused, a report from the World Economic Forum estimates, the amount of plastic waste entering the ocean will be cut in half.
Not everyone is as enthusiastic, though. Jan Dell, a chemical engineer, noted that many cleaning products are packaged in PET or HDPE, two types of plastic with relatively high recycling rates. So she is less concerned about them but far more concerned about the packaging of other products. “What companies should be focusing on is everything else that isn’t recyclable, that is single use and that often becomes plastic pollution,” she said, pointing to plastic bags and cups. “This is just a classic example of big corporations doing something to attract people’s attention over here on something that’s not the main issue to distract from all the single-use plastic they’re pushing out.”
1. Why is Angela mentioned?| A．To promote a tablet. | B．To lead in the topic. |
| C．To clarify a concept. | D．To recommend a kit. |
| A．Float over water. | B．Turn over in water. |
| C．Change color in water. | D．Mix with water. |
| A．Critical. | B．Favourable. |
| C．Conservative. | D．Unconcerned. |
| A．A chemistry paper. | B．An academic report. |
| C．A lifestyle magazine. | D．A cleaner advertisement. |
3 . Researchers have known for decades that orcas (逆戟鲸) across the North Pacific have harmful pollutants in their system.
Now, a new study reveals orcas in the western North Atlantic, including those in the Arctic, are significantly more polluted than animals in the east — a finding that “shocked” study leader Anaïs Remili, a postdoctoral researcher at McGill University in Montreal. The research strongly points to their diet playing a major role in the level of pollutants, rather than their location.
The study looked at the presence of persistent organic pollutants, or toxic chemicals that degrade slowly and accumulate in the body, in the blubber (鲸脂) of orcas across the North Atlantic. These pollutants, relics of industrial and agricultural processes, “have a tendency to bind to fat,” says Remili, whose study was published in October in the journal Environmental Science & Technology. These chemicals weaken orcas’ immune systems, disrupt their endocrine (内分泌) function, prevent growth and brain development, and even interfere with reproduction.
Pollutants increase as they move up through the food chain, and the orcas that consume top predators — for example, those that primarily eat other marine mammals rather than fish—are most polluted. Thanks to their high body fat and position as apex (最高点) predators, orcas are some of “the most contaminated animals on the planet,” Remili says.
Her earlier research showed that eastern North Atlantic orcas primarily feed on herring (鲱鱼); mid-North Atlantic orcas feed on seals and mackerel (鲭鱼); and western North Atlantic orcas feed on baleen whales, porpoises (海豚) and seals.
It makes sense that western North Atlantic orcas would have higher pollutants, due to their diet, but “you would expect less contaminants overall in the Arctic compared to industrialized areas,” such as off the east coast of North America, Remili says.
“We’ve really come to learn that you are what you eat,” says Peter Ross, senior scientist and healthy waters program director at the Raincoast Conservation Foundation in British Columbia, who wasn’t involved in the study. “The top of the food chain, as illustrated by these long-lived killer whales, is extremely easy to hurt.”
1. What can we know according to Anaïs Remili’s study?| A．The polluted orcas in the Eastern Atlantic are in the lead. |
| B．The orcas’ immune system is influenced negatively by chemicals. |
| C．The blubber of orcas is easy to break down and accumulate in the body. |
| D．Orcas’ location is more important than their diet in the level of pollutants. |
| A．Those feeding on fish. | B．Those feeding on marine plants. |
| C．Those feeding on predators. | D．Those feeding on marine mammals. |
| A．Orcas’ tastes vary from place to place. | B．Orcas can be particular about food. |
| C．Orcas are fond of fish and shrimps. | D．Orcas can only be found in the Atlantic. |
| A．Orcas’ diet resulted in more pollutants. | B．The marine food chain needs to be protected. |
| C．Peter Ross participated in the study unwillingly. | D．Pollutants found in the Arctic orcas are not the most. |
4 . According to a new study, human noise is a “major global pollutant” that harms a wider range of animal life than we tend to think. Published in the journal Biology Letters, the study suggests noise pollution not only harms lots of animals, but also threatens the survival of more than 100 different species.
Lots of species rely on sound for communication, for example, including many amphibians, birds, insects and mammals which use sound for vital business like finding mates or warning about predators (捕猎者). If noise pollution drowns out enough of these messages. it can threaten survival and the stability of their populations.
On the other hand, noise pollution can make it harder for some predators to find food Bats and owls rely on sound to hunt, for instance, which may not work if noise pollution drowns out the sounds of their prey like insects and mice. Even if noise pollution is mild, it might still force them to spend more time and energy searching for food, which could be enough to cause a decline.
Noise pollution is a well-known risk for whales and dolphins, but it threatens other sea animals, too. The researchers cite fish larvae, which are easily drawn to the sounds of coral reefs (珊瑚礁). This is how they find suitable habitats, but if their journey features too much noise from ships and other human sources, more fish larvae may get lost or move into wrong reefs, potentially reducing their lifespan.
Similarly, noise pollution influences the way animals migrate (迁徙), which in turn can have chain effects for ecosystems along migration routes. Some migrating birds avoid areas with noise pollution, the researchers note, which may change not only where they travel, but also where they establish long-term homes and raise their young. Many ecosystems and non-migrating species have come to depend on the arrival of migrating birds, and many others may be unprepared for their sudden absence, so this could cause a series of ecological changes.
“Noise must be considered as a global pollutant and we need to develop strategies to protect animals from noise for their livelihoods,” says Kunc, the lead author of the study.
1. What is the new study mainly about?| A．The sources of noise pollution. | B．The dangers of noise pollution to animals. |
| C．Why people should lower noise levels. | D．How animals deal with noise pollution. |
| A．They are very sensitive to sound. | B．Their hunting abilities are weakening. |
| C．They are easily attracted by sounds. | D．Their populations are sharply declining. |
| A．They may abandon their young. | B．They may give up their migration. |
| C．They may change their migration routes. | D．They may develop new eating habits. |
| A．Measures must be taken to reduce noise pollution. |
| B．Noise pollution affects the way animals reproduce. |
| C．Migrating animals will die out due to noise pollution. |
| D．Nature reserves should be built to stop the loss of habitats. |
5 . Here are four beautiful lakes in the world, each of which can be your next destination.
Lake Bled, Slovenia
Few lakes in Europe come as postcard-ready as Slovenia’s Lake Bled. Located in the snow-capped Julian Alps about a 45-minute drive outside of the capital city of Ljubljana, it’s best known for the fairytale-like Church of the Assumption, which sits on a pocket-sized island in the lake and has been attracting visitors for centuries.
Lake Annecy, France
Thanks to strict environmental rules set in place in the 1960s, Lake Annecy is an undamaged body of water that’s often called the cleanest lake in Europe. As a home base, you can't beat Annecy, which has been called the Venice of the Alps for its series of canals, and the Imperial Palace, which has more than 100 years.
Lake Vattern, Sweden
During a Swedish summer, there are few better places to enjoy the endless summer nights than sitting by the nation’s lakes. Among the lakes, the most charming is this finger-shaped lake about a 3-hour drive southwest of Stockholm, surrounded by historic settlements like Hjo, a beautifully preserved town on the lake's western shore.
Qinghai Lake, China
Located in northwest China, Qinghai Lake enjoys a climate with low rainfalls. When looking into the distance from a high place, you can enjoy a photographic view of the revolving evergreen mountains, clear and glittering water, beautiful grassland and groups of sheep.
1. What can we learn about Lake Annecy?| A．It is under good protection. |
| B．It is located on an island. |
| C．It’s the cleanest globally. |
| D．It is known for an old church. |
| A．A circle. | B．A pocket. | C．A finger. | D．a foot. |
| A．Lake Bled. | B．Lake Annecy. |
| C．Lake Vättern. | D．Qinghai Lake. |
A. The main cause for animals and disappearing is often a disruption (扰乱) to die food chain due to hunting, habitat loss or even the introduction of invasive species.
B. With rising awareness of how we affect the natural environment, hopefully we can learn to protect these food chains and help them to thrive.
C. Nowadays, there are strict rules controlling the movement of animals and plants between countries but some parts of the world are still experiencing problems with invasive species introduced hundreds of years ago.
D. When people first explored the world, they took animal and plant species from their home countries to the places they settled in but they did not realize they were disrupting the natural food chains of the area they explored.
E. Many animals and plants are endangered in the world today, these endangered species are threatened with becoming extinct, meaning they will no longer exist on earth.
China has scaled up policy to protect and restore the environment around the Yangtze River, putting
A policy document
Despite improvements to the Yangtze’s water quality, the rise of non-point source pollution
The treatment of pollution is another priority, as the government looks to install tighter controls over pollutants discharged by chemical factories and promote
8 . One of the ocean’s noisiest creatures is smaller than you’d expect — snapping shrimp (鼓虾). They create a widespread background noise in the underwater environment, which helps them communicate, protect their homes and hunt for food. When enough shrimp snap (发出噼啪声) at once, the noise can be deafening.
Aran Mooney, a biologist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, suggested that with increased ocean temperatures, snapping shrimp will snap more often and louder than before. This could raise the background noise of the global ocean. “They make a sound by closing a claw so fast. This makes a bubble (泡泡) and when that bubble bursts, it makes that snapping sound,” said Mooney.
Mooney discovered a strong relationship between warmer waters and more frequent snapping shrimp sounds after experimenting with the shrimp in tanks in the lab and by listening to the shrimp in the ocean at various water temperatures. “As the temperature rises, the snap rate increases,” he said. This makes sense because shrimp are essentially cold-blooded animals, meaning their body temperature and activity levels are largely controlled by their living environment. “We can actually show in the field that not only do snap rates increase, but the sound levels increase as well.”
How the louder snapping shrimp would affect or benefit the surroundings remained to be seen. “We know that fish use sound to communicate,” Mooney said. “If the environment gets noisy, it has the possibility to influence that communication. That’s something we have to follow up on.” There is also the possibility that the change of snapping shrimp affects machines humans use to discover mines, which could lead to unpleasant results.
1. What can we know about the snapping shrimp’s sound?| A．It aims to protect the shrimp. | B．It is important to the ecosystem. |
| C．It has different uses for the shrimp. | D．It is hard to be discovered by other creatures. |
| A．By observing snapping shrimp in the field. | B．By recording the snap rates in the lab. |
| C．By analyzing the way shrimp make noise. | D．By comparing shrimp’s sound in different places. |
| A．Other uses of shrimp’s sound. | B．Influences of the noise on other creatures. |
| C．Means of communication among fish. | D．Methods of stopping shrimp’s snapping. |
| A．Underwater World Is No Longer Quiet | B．Small Animals Make a Big Difference |
| C．Warming Oceans Are Getting Louder | D．Snapping Shrimp’s Noise Speaks Much |
I was an extremely shy girl in primary school and couldn’t make friends easily. My teacher, Mr. Doocy, called my mother and explained that I hadn’t spoken a single word in class. And we were more than half way through the school year. Even as a little girl, I knew this was unusual. I watched the free and happy interaction of my classmates with envy.
Mom tried to excuse my behavior as something that I would outgrow. But Mr. Doocy was still quite concerned about me. He asked Mom if I had something at home that I liked. He said he would arrange a show-and-tell activity for the class if I brought it to school. My mom told him about my cat who had given birth to several baby cats about three weeks earlier. I was crazy about those baby cats.
Then Mr. Doocy suggested I bring the baby cats to school the next day and introduce them to my classmates. It seemed that Mom didn’t think this show-and-tell activity would help me and hoped to discourage Mr. Doocy. She explained that I would have to bring the mother cat along with the six baby cats because they were too young to be separated from their mother. She probably thought this would put an end to the plan. But Mr. Doocy said that was fine.
I normally walked to school, but my mother drove me the next morning along with a big brown cardboard box. I struggled to walk toward the classroom with the heavy load. In no time, the group of baby cats caught the attention of my classmates. Their eyes lit up in wonder when they caught sight of my tiny treasures. My heart beat quickly against my chest as pride swelled within me. I had never felt so important in my entire nine years of life!
Mr. Doocy instructed me to sit on the steps outside the classroom so everyone could get a good look inside the container. “Can I hold one?” a little girl asked aloud with excitement. Then all the other children chimed in like a choir, begging to hold one of the baby cats.
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。
I nodded and said, “Yes.”
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With everyone sitting in the classroom, Mr. Doocy invited me to say something about my cats.
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10 . For the past 13 years, Martin Burrows has been working as a long-distance truck driver. Spending up to five nights a week on the road can be a lonely business, leaving him with plenty of time to notice his surroundings. “I kept seeing more rubbish everywhere and it was getting on my nerves. I decided I had to do something about it,” he says. One day, he stopped his vehicle, took out a trash bag and started picking up the garbage. The satisfaction after clearing a small area was remarkable.
Before his time on the road, Burrows spent over two decades in the military as a vehicle driver. His service saw him stationed throughout Europe and also on tours in Afghanistan. After returning to civilian life, he was diagnosed with PTSD (创伤后应激障碍) and had a mental health crisis in 2017. His involvement in fundraising for Help for Heroes led him to meet a man who used model-building as a distraction from PTSD. Burrows realized that his act of roadside cleanup had a similar calming effect on his mental well-being.
By 2019, Burrows had begun using his free time on the road to regularly clean up garbage. A passerby encouraged him to set up a Facebook group, which he called Truckers Cleaning Up Britain. “I was worried I’d be the laughing stock of my town for putting videos and photos up of me cleaning but people started to join,” he says. “I was amazed. The local council stepped in and gave me litter-picking supplies and we’re up to almost 3,000 members now.”
Since truckers are so often on the move, the Facebook page acts as a means of raising awareness rather than a platform for organizing cleanups. Burrows expressed his intention to continue the cleanup efforts as long as his physical condition allowed, as he still found joy in the process.
1. What initially caused Burrows to pick up roadside garbage?| A．He wanted to kill time by picking up litter. |
| B．He aimed to raise fund for soldiers with PTSD. |
| C．He felt annoyed to see the increasing rubbish. |
| D．He received the assignment from his employer. |
| A．It resulted in his embarrassment. | B．It increased his sense of isolation. |
| C．It worsened his stress and anxiety. | D．It brought him comfort and relief. |
| A．He feared being teased for his action. |
| B．He was lacking in advanced cleanup tools. |
| C．He was unsure about the group’s development. |
| D．He worried about the local council’s disapproval. |
| A．A Joyful Volunteer Experience | B．A Trucker’s Cleanup Initiative |
| C．A Fighting Hero against PTSD | D．A Platform for Environmentalists |
