1 . When Yang Fan was taking a walk around the Yuliang Island, she saw a black swan (天鹅) in the grass. Yang Fan knew that swans could be fierce (凶猛的). But as she got close to this one, it didn’t move.
She was sure that the swan needed help. So Yang covered the bird’s head with her jacket to keep its cool, picked it up carefully, and held it in her arms. She decided to send it to the Animal Care Center, but the center was across the Han River, far from the park. She didn’t know how to carry the swan there. Luckily, some strangers driving by gave her and the swan a lift to a nearby bus stop.
On the bus, no one seemed surprised by “the unusual passenger”. Instead they were worried. Someone helped Yang Fan call the center on the way. And Li Tao, an animal-care manager, picked her up at the bus stop and drove them to the center. There, the animal doctors found that the swan was poisoned, caused by eating something used to kill mice. The swan was well looked after at the center. She even made a friend—a little dog. Thanks to people’s love and care, luckily, she was cured (治愈) two months later.
“It’s a moving story. Yang Fan travelled about two hours and it was really a long way.” Says Li Tao. “And all the strangers wanted to give her and the swan a hand.” He adds, “I am happy to see that more and more people have realized the importance of protecting the wild life since Xiangyang began to build the civilized (文明) city.”
1. Which is the correct order of the things that happened to the swan?①She was found by Yang Fan.
②She ate something wrong.
③She was cured.
④She made friends with a dog.
⑤She was sent to the Animal Care Center.
| A．①②⑤③④ | B．①⑤②④③ |
| C．②①⑤④③ | D．⑤②①③④ |
| A．困住 | B．中毒 | C．射伤 | D．掉队 |
| A．Yang Fan didn’t try her best to save the swan. |
| B．The swan could be helped in a much better way. |
| C．Li Tao cared more about the swan than Yang Fan. |
| D．People went out of their way to protect the wild life. |
| A．Ways to Protect the Animals |
| B．More Animal Care Centers Are Needed |
| C．A Swan Meets a City Full of Love |
| D．Efforts the Animal Doctors Have Made |
2 . Scientists have shown that bees have some surprising math skills. Now, new study shows that bees can even be trained to tell the difference between odd and even numbers. Before this, humans were the only animals known to have this ability.
In 2018, researchers in Australia discovered that bees could understand the idea of “zero”. The researchers were perplexed, since only a few animals, like dolphins, monkeys, and some birds, had shown that they understood zero. Later, the same scientists showed that bees could be trained to add and subtract (减).
In the study, researchers divided honeybees into two control groups. They showed bees cards containing printed shapes that numbered from one to ten. One group was trained to fly to even-numbered cards, which earned them a sugar water treat if they successfully completed the task. If they flew to an odd-numbered card, they received a sour liquid. The second group had a similar approach, but the numbers were reversed(相反的). An odd card would earn them a sweet treat and an even card would give them a sour liquid. Researchers continued this lesson until the bees succeeded at least 80% of the time.
Then, they added a new challenge. They had the bees choose between cards with 11 and 12 shapes on them. The bees had never seen these numbers in their training. Even so, they succeeded 70% of the time.
The reason for this study is that the scientists believe that studying bee brains might help us learn how to build better and faster computers. After all, a bee’s brain is about 86,000 times smaller than a human brain. How does it handle such complicated ideas? Unless the brain structures for processing numbers aren’t so complicated. Then, the scientists built an extremely simple computer system with just five connections called neurons(神经元) , and they were able to train it to tell the difference between even and odd numbers up to 40.
1. What does the underlined word ‘‘perplexed’’ in Paragraph 2 mean?| A．Tolerant | B．Creative | C．Puzzled | D．Discouraged |
| A．By mixing the two drinks. | B．By drawing the right shapes. |
| C．By removing correct numbers. | D．By landing on specified cards. |
| A．Finding potential technology innovations. |
| B．Teaching bees different means of learning. |
| C．Speeding the learning behavior of humans. |
| D．Training bees to serve mankind more easily. |
| A．Bees Calculate Numbers like Humans | B．Scientists Train Bees to Count Numbers |
| C．Odds and Evens Are Significant to Bees | D．Bees Can Learn Odd and Even Numbers |
While some
The start of the release
Japan has argued throughout the building controversy (争论) that discharging the treated water is safe and
4 . Sputnik, the world’s first satellite, was sent up in October 1957. About 100 trillion human-made objects are circling the planet now! The jaw-dropping number was provided by an international team of researchers writing in the journal Science. There are 9,000 active satellites in space, the scientists report. That could grow to more than 60,000 by 2030.The rest of that 100 trillion figure includes everything from used-up rockets and stray bolts(螺栓) to metal pieces and paint chips.
Don’t think a tiny piece of debris(碎片) is harmless. Traveling at 17,500 miles per hour, it can strike a spacecraft hard. The International Space Station is dotted with dents(凹陷) and holes. Astronauts often take shelter in an attached spacecraft to wait out a passing group of space pieces. That way, if the station is severely damaged, they can escape out in a hurry.
For years, this waste has formed an ever-growing mass near Earth. All of these pieces will eventually fall to Earth and burn up in the atmosphere. But we’re replacing the waste more quickly than it’s falling.
The mess we’ve made in space is like the mess we’ve made in the oceans. We’ve had centuries to pollute the oceans. But it has taken just decades for us to do the same in space. That’s why the Science authors include experts in satellite technology and in ocean plastic pollution. Cleaning up space has a lot in common with the challenges of dealing with environmental issues in the oceans.
In March 2022,170 countries signed a global plastics treaty(条约) in the United Nations. This is an agreement to throw away less plastic in the oceans and get rid of what’s already there. There could be similar rules for how many pieces a launch can create. Old satellites could be taken out of space. And technologies could be developed for cleaning up the waste.
1. Why are small space pieces harmful to spaceships in space?| A．They travel at a high speed. | B．They can be attached to spacecraft. |
| C．They carry damaging weapons. | D．They contain poisonous matter. |
| A．It flies over the earth forever. | B．It is removed faster than produced. |
| C．It can be reduced in the existing ways. | D．It can cause serious pollution to the oceans. |
| A．A global plastics treaty. |
| B．Possible effort to clean up the space. |
| C．Satellites collecting the space waste. |
| D．Technologies developed for cleaning up the waste. |
| A．Space Debris | B．Ocean Pollution |
| C．Space Challenges | D．Man-made Spacecraft |
5 . The dodo, a Mauritian bird last seen in the 17th century, will be brought back to a semblance (外观) of life if attempts by a gene-editing company are successful. Gene-editing techniques now exist that allow scientists to extract the dodo genome (基因组) that they believe they can then effectively recreate within the body of a living relative.
The scientists in question said their work, beyond providing an insight into the extinct dodo’s existence, could help inform the conservation of rare species that are not yet extinct. However, there is a fierce debate among biologists over whether this sort of research should be pursued.
Beth Shapiro, the lead paleo-geneticist (古遗传学家) at Colossal, told the Guardian she tried to persuade a museum to let her extract DNA from a preserved dodo exhibited there. She said there were hundreds of dodos in collections around the world, so it had been possible to sequence the dead bird’s genome. But she warned that the revived dodo could never replace what has been made extinct. “It would be crazy to think the solution to the world’s biodiversity crisis was to bring back a proxy.” she said.
Ben Lamm, the chief executive of the company, said they were raising a further 150 million dollars to pursue the research on the dodo. He pointed out that it could assist conservation efforts for many other threatened species around the world, as it would develop techniques that could allow scientists to detect and preserve key features in those existing species that could help them adapt in a changing climate.
Prof. Ewan Birney from European Molecular Biology Laboratory, who was not involved with Colossal’s work, said it would be “very, very challenging” to recreate the dodo genome. He added, “I’ve no idea whether the project will work as they claim, but the question is not just ‘can you do this’, but ‘should you do it?’ … I’m not sure what purpose it serves, and whether this is really the best distribution of resources. We should be saving the species that we have before they go extinct.”
1. What can we learn about dodo from the text?| A．It is a bird that is only unique to Mauritius. |
| B．The research on it has raised conflicting opinions. |
| C．It has been successfully brought back to life. |
| D．It could be recreated within the remains of a relative. |
| A．fake | B．creature | C．model | D．replacement |
| A．Critical | B．Indifferent | C．Supportive | D．Conservative |
| A．Pros and Cons of Reviving Dodo |
| B．Gene-editing Techniques in Effect |
| C．Scientists Trying Hard to Recreate Dodo |
| D．A Vain Attempt to Bring Dodo Back to Life |
6 . When Sarah Lee was a child, she loved to watch the birds in her backyard and wonder how they could fly so effortlessly. As she grew older, Sarah became interested in the science behind flight and decided to study aerospace engineering in college.
After graduation, Sarah began working for a company that designed airplanes. However, she soon realized that the traditional methods of airplane design were not always efficient or sustainable. She began to wonder if there was a way to design airplanes that mimicked the natural world.
Sarah started to study birds and insects, observing how they were able to fly with such grace and efficiency. She asked questions like: How do birds adjust their wings to different wind conditions? How do insects use their wings to hover in place?
With this knowledge, Sarah began to design airplanes that incorporated biomimicry, or the imitation of nature. She created wings that could adjust their shape based on wind conditions, just like a bird’s wings. She also designed planes that could hover in place, like a dragonfly.
Sarah’s designs were a hit. Her company began to produce airplanes that were more efficient and sustainable than ever before. They used less fuel and emitted fewer pollutants into the air.
Sarah now travels around the world, giving talks on the benefits of biomimicry in engineering. “Nature has been solving problems for millions of years,” she says. “We can learn a lot from the natural world if we just take the time to observe and ask questions.”
1. What made Sarah Lee’s interest in aerospace engineering?| A．Her fascination with airplanes. |
| B．Her desire to study flight science. |
| C．Her childhood dream of becoming a pilot. |
| D．Her love for watching birds in her backyard. |
| A．Wings that adjust their shape based on wind conditions. |
| B．Engines that run on renewable energy sources. |
| C．Cockpits that mimic the structure of a bird’s nest. |
| D．Landing device that resembles insect legs. |
| A．She wants to become a pilot. |
| B．She aspires to be an aerospace engineer. |
| C．She plans to study birds and insects. |
| D．She aims to design efficient airplanes. |
| A．Violated. | B．Imitated. | C．Resembled. | D．Pretended. |
7 . When micro-plastics end up in farm fields, the pollution can damage plant growth. But two young researchers now report that combining fungi (真菌) with certain farm wastes can partly overcome that problem.
May Shin, 20, and Jiwon Choi, 18, met in a research design class at the Fryeburg Academy, a high school in Maine. May had desired to explore how micro-plastics might affect the ecosystem. Jiwon was crazy about plants and fungi. The young scientists cooperated to test how long-lived plastics might affect farm crops.
Scientists have shown certain fungi can aid root growth and a plant’s nutrient uptake. Those organisms are named arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF). Certain farm wastes, like straw, can provide nutrients to plants and help stabilize their roots. Such wastes are also known as mushroom substrate (基质) and people often grow mushrooms in them.
May and Jiwon planted over 2,000 scallion (大葱) seeds in pots of soil. Half the seeds got soil polluted with micro-plastics. The rest grew in plastic-free soil. The plants then were further divided into four groups. The young scientists added AMF to the soil in one group. Another group had a top layer of mushroom substrate. A third group got both treatments. The last group got none. For three weeks, the pair tracked how many scallions sprouted (发芽) in each group and measured the plants’ height once each week.
About twice as many scallions sprouted in clean soil compared to that containing plastic bits. But among plants surviving in the polluted soil, a combination of AMF and mushroom substrate helped them out. Those getting both treatments grew 5.4 centimeters per week. That was faster than either of the treatments alone or those getting none.
Jiwon and May then looked at the plant roots with a microscope. Where AMF had been added, it grew into those roots. That increased the scallion roots’ surface area, May said, which should promote their uptake of nutrients. So “I see this project as coming up with a sustainable solution for plant growth in polluted soils,” said May.
1. Why did May and Jiwon work together?| A．To see the effects of long-lived plastics on farm crops. |
| B．To find the relationship between plants and fungi. |
| C．To design a research on the growth of plants. |
| D．To explore the way that the ecosystem works. |
| A．To prove the existence of micro-plastics. | B．To compare fungi with farm wastes. |
| C．To tell the advantages of farm wastes. | D．To provide some related information. |
| A．Its purpose. | B．Its design. | C．Its findings. | D．Its reasons. |
| A．By keeping the plants more resistant to pollution. | B．By allowing the plants’ deep area more freedom. |
| C．By making nutrients more available to the plants. | D．By exposing the roots to a larger surface area. |
8 . Have you ever seen an “ugly” oyster(牡蛎)? That is the term oyster farmers use for the sea animals whose shells get too large to sell to seafood restaurants. Each year, farmers grow oysters to just the right size so people at restaurants will enjoy eating them. If they get too big, restaurants no longer want to buy them.
So last year, when many seafood restaurants in the U.S. closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic(流行病), oyster farmers lost the chance to sell their products. Eventually, they had a lot of “uglies” and didn’t know what to do with them.
That was a big problem until a conservation program came to the rescue. The program is called Supporting Oyster Aquaculture and Restoration, or SOAR. It is buying more than 5 million oysters at the cost of about $2 million from farmers on the east coast of the U.S. and in Washington State.
Farmers take living oysters that are too big to sell and send them to places like the Great Bay in the northeastern state of New Hampshire. Oysters are placed in special locations called reefs(暗礁). Once they attach to the structures in the water, they can live for a number of years. They help create a good environment for other sea life. The hope is that the oysters will help clean the water and also have babies.
Lisa Calvo runs Sweet Amalia Oyster Farm in southern New Jersey. She said the program helped her business get through the pandemic and “stay afloat”.
Calvo started her farm about 20 years ago. She sells her oysters to restaurants close to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and those in the towns along the ocean in New Jersey. Oysters are ready to sell when they are about two years old. When all the restaurants started closing, she said she was “in a panic”.
She was able to earn about half the usual amount of money by selling her oysters to the program. That was better than nothing.
1. What is the problem with an “ugly” oyster?| A．It is too small. | B．It looks strange. |
| C．It is overgrown. | D．It is too large to catch. |
| A．To save their lives. | B．To attract other sea life. |
| C．To produce more oysters. | D．To create a belter eco-environment. |
| A．Take off. | B．Keep up. |
| C．Break up. | D．Fall down. |
| A．All roads lead to Rome. | B．There are two sidles to everything. |
| C．Half a loaf is better than no bread. | D．Where there is a will, there is a way. |
1. What is the weather like in the southeast of the country?
| A．Rainy. | B．Sunny. | C．Dry. |
| A．26℃. | B．23℃. | C．20℃. |
| A．The north. | B．The south. | C．The southeast. |
| A．Sunny. | B．Rainy. | C．Foggy. |
10 . GET A BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF THE WORLD’S MOST ATTRACTIVE FEATHERED ANIMALS WITH THESE BOOKS
Flamingo (火烈鸟)
Biologist and photographer Claudio Contreras Koob spent 20 years travelling deep into the wet lands and forests of his native Mexico—and beyond—to feed his flamingo attraction. This book offers a unique window into the behavior and life of red-feathered birds, with more than 120 show-stopping shots displaying their beauty. teNeues, £35.
Around the World in 80 Birds
Inspiring secrets, national pride or scientific discoveries, every bird has a story to tell, from the weaver bird building multi-nest “apartment blocks” in Namibia to the bar-headed goose taking on a twice-yearly trans-Himalayan journey at an extreme altitude. Mike Unwin’s tour is accompanied by beautiful illustrations from Ryuto Miyake. Laurence King Publishing, £22.
A World on the Wing
Pulitzer-shortlisted Weidensaul, who’s at the forefront of research into bird migration, here tracks some of nature’s most remarkable journeys. He sails through the stormy Bering Sea, encounters trappers in the Mediterranean and visits former headhunters in northeast India, where a bird migration crisis has become a conservation success story. Pan Macmillan, £9.99.
Galapagos Crusoes: A Year Alone with the Birds
Explore this updated version of the 1968 title, Galapagos: Islands of Birds, by late bird expert Bryan Nelson, with previously unpublished material from his wife, June. The couple spent a year living on two Galapagos islands, studying birds, including the Galapagos albatross (信天翁). This is their clever and amusing account. Bradt Guides, £11.99.
1. By whom is the second costliest book illustrated?| A．Claudio Contreras Koob. | B．Mike Unwin. |
| C．Ryuto Miyake. | D．Weidensaul. |
| A．Flamingo. | B．Around the World in 80 Birds. |
| C．A World on the Wing. | D．Galapagos: Island of Birds. |
| A．Its humorous description. | B．Its romantic style. |
| C．Its vivid imagination. | D．Its moving plot. |
