1 . Madagascar’s extremely improbable wildlife may be thanks to dozens of dramatic oceanic journeys that would put Robinson Crusoe to shame, says a new research.
“It seems like a far-fetched idea that animals could survive moving across the sea,” says Matthew Borths, a researcher at Duke University. But a comparison of genetic data from modern Malagasy species with the fossil (化石) record of their ancestors from the African mainland has revealed that this is likely what happened for most land animals, according to the research, published in May in the journal Biological Reviews.
Animals from mainland Africa would have been trapped on large rafts (木筏) of vegetation and floated to Madagascar, where they eventually evolved (进化) into the wildlife we know today. Some 95 percent of wildlife are endemic to the country, which means they live nowhere else in the world.
Scientists have three major theories to explain how land animals got to Madagascar: The species were there before Madagascar divided and became an island, they swam and/or rafted across from mainland Africa when currents flowed that way, or they crossed land bridges that might have existed at different periods.
In their study, Jason Ali, the study co-author, and Blair Hedges, a biologist at Temple University, pulled together a large amount of previously published research to test each of these possible origin stories.
The team compared the genes of 28 groups of land animals, including animals from modern-day Madagascar, with the genes of species on mainland Africa that are the closest, relatives. Based on this information, they calculated the likely time when the ancestor of each species group likely arrived in Madagascar, then evolved into something new.
1. What does the research find about the animals in Madagascar?| A．They come from mainland Africa. | B．They are good at swimming. |
| C．They are the same as those in Asia. | D．They tend to live on the coast. |
| A．Friendly. | B．Native. | C．Unknown. | D．Useful. |
| A．By collecting origin stories in the field. | B．By observing wildlife in the forest. |
| C．By comparing the published data. | D．By teaming up with the locals. |
| A．Why Is Madagascar’s Wildlife So Unique? | B．When Did Animals Arrive in Madagascar? |
| C．How Did Scientists Study Fossils in Africa? | D．What Makes Animals in Africa Evolve Slowly? |
2 . While tearing yellow flowers blanketing hillsides in Los Angeles, Max Kingery has been questioned about his purpose for killing flowers.
But the clothing designer who used the plants to dye (染色) his spring and summer lines said he is not accused of stealing the wildflowers in California. Instead, he sees it as an opportunity to raise awareness about a destructive flower that grew rapidly in the state following an unusually wet winter: wild black mustard (芥末). The plant from Eurasia was first brought to California in the 1700s.
Mustard was among the most noticeable of wild flowering plants that appeared unexpectedly everywhere in California this spring. As temperatures warm it is starting to die, making it easy to cause wildfires. Mustard is also a threat to native plants, transforming the landscape. Its leaves and roots prevent the growth of other species.
Kingery is part of a growing group of artists, designers and chefs who are tackling the problem by harvesting the plant to use in everything from dyes to foods.
Kingery’s line features sweatshirts, pants, and other items dyed naturally using mustard. Artist Erin Berkowitz of Berbo Studio makes dyes from the species, including the dye for Kingery’s clothing line. She has offered classes along with a chef who makes food out of the mustard greens and flowers. Berkowitz said her work with Kingery showed the possibilities of what can happen if more people become aware of its uses.
To that end, artist Nadine Allan made a digital magazine, about the uses of black mustard, including to make paper and a face mask.
Allan said she was motivated to act in part because she has friends who lost nearly everything to wildfires. “The species just look so pretty. If you don’t really know what’s happening on a larger scale, you might say they’re just a sea of yellow flowers,” she said.
1. What can we learn about Max Kingery?| A．He brought mustard to California. | B．He was accused of unlawful acts. |
| C．He used mustard to dye clothes. | D．He was ashamed to pick flowers. |
| A．The rising temperature. | B．The history of mustard. | C．The amazing landscape. | D．The harm of mustard. |
| A．Stressful. | B．Long-expected. | C．Creative. | D．Short-sighted. |
| A．To check the spreading of mustard. | B．To protect the endangered plant. |
| C．To make her art available online. | D．To promote a greener lifestyle. |
3 . Levon Biss was looking at insects from his garden through a microscope he bought for his son. For fun, they unintentionally placed an insect under the lens (镜片). “It is amazingly beautiful!” they both screamed.
The father had been making a career taking photographs for advertisements. But that experience gave him a new direction. Around the world, insect populations are in decline because of habitat loss and climate change. Biss thought that if people could see what he saw through his son’s microscope, they would care more about protecting insects.
So Biss turned to macrophotography: taking close-up pictures of small things, like flowers or bugs. His work has attracted attention not just for its unusual beauty. It also raises awareness about the need for conservation.
In 2016, Biss showed his first insect project, Microsculpture. The term refers to the features of an insect’s exoskeleton, or outer shell, which develops over time as the bug adapts to its environment.
Biss’s pictures capture the insects in all their microscopic details. Then he blows up the images until the insects become larger than life, some of them eight feet tall. But each image takes weeks to make. He uses a digital camera with a microscope lens. The camera is fixed on a computerized track, which allows Biss to take a shot, then move the camera by seven microns (微米) — a distance equals to about 1/10 the thickness of a human hair — for the next shot. In the end, Biss might take 10,000 shots of a bug. A computer combines these small pictures into a single image.
Biss’s latest exhibition is Extinct and Endangered at the American Museum of Natural History. He selected bugs that were extinct or endangered, hoping his photographs would serve as a better purpose. “I communicate visually,” he says, “The way I work is through pictures. But I think it’s my duty to shake things up and get people to pay attention.”
1. What made Levon Biss turn to macrophotography?| A．Beautiful insects. | B．Attractive environment. |
| C．An expensive microscope. | D．An accidental observation. |
| A．By taking a shot at them twice. |
| B．By adjusting the camera on a track. |
| C．By taking close-up pictures countless times. |
| D．By putting them in order on a computer. |
| A．Get rid of the prejudice. |
| B．Take action to save wildlife. |
| C．Spare no efforts to face difficulties. |
| D．Make people think about nature differently. |
| A．Patient and responsible. | B．Wealthy and ambitious. |
| C．Polite and strong-willed. | D．Curious and easy-going. |
When Zhu Yuanzhang, the first emperor of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), captured Huizhou, a hermit (隐士)
Initially, the wall was built with
5 . At first glance, it’s a scene that plays out daily in cities across America. A US Postal Service carrier steps out of his mail truck and goes across the street, letters in hand. That much is unremarkable. But this postman either doesn’t notice or doesn’t seem to care that a clumsy American black bear is sitting on his haunches a few yards away, vigorously scratching(挠，搔)his shedding winter coat hard.
It’s a phenomenon happening in urban areas across the United States and around the world, and it’s not unique to black bears. Coyotes (丛林狼) look before crossing a street. Black bears know when it’s trash day. Racoons figure out how to pull bungee cords (弹力绳) off trash cans.
However, a number of the city bears died during a study, with vehicle strikes the leading cause. Other studies paint a less optimistic picture. The bears in Asheville weigh more and have more cubs, but their young rarely survive, resulting in net population declines. Neither is it true that humans and bears always live in harmony—even in open-minded Asheville, the bears have killed pets and injured at least one person in recent years.
To learn how residents can safely coexist with their primitive neighbors, Strules, director of the Urban Wildlife Institute at Chicago’s Lincoln Park Zoo, is planning an experiment. Two neighborhoods will be the focus of an educational campaign, which encourages bear-conscious practices such as keeping pets tied, locking the garage, removing bird feeders, and not approaching or feeding the animals.
Strules hopes her effort will offer guidance on the best way to live with the animals—both for them and for us. “Wildlife belongs to everyone,” Strules says, “but we want to keep bears wild.”
1. What is happening according to paragraph 2?| A．Humans are teaching animals survival skills. |
| B．Humans and animals are living in harmony. |
| C．Some wild animals are fitting into city life. |
| D．Many species are tired of their habitats. |
| A．Food shortage. | B．Loss of habitat. |
| C．Gain in weight. | D．Road accidents. |
| A．Rome was not built in a day. | B．It is never too late to mend. |
| C．Bad luck always comes in threes. | D．A work ill done must be twice done. |
| A．Wild Animals: Our New Neighbors |
| B．Protection of the Endangered Wildlife |
| C．Black Bears: a Dangerous Species |
| D．A New Landscape in Our Community |
注意:
1.词数80左右,文章开头已给出,不计入总词数;
2.短文中不得出现真实的人名、学校等相关信息。
In recent years there have been many natural disasters caused by human activities,such as
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________7 . Many kinds of turtles (海龟) found in the Philippines are endangered. But now, the turtles have one less threat. Many people who used to collect their eggs to eat or to sell are now working to keep turtles safe.
Those people are called poachers (偷猎者). Now, however, protection organizations are teaching former poachers how to safely collect the eggs and protect them before they hatch (孵化). The people who do this are paid about 37 cents per egg. That is four times more than they would earn from selling them illegally.
One of the former poachers is Johnny Manlugay. “I’ve learned to love this work,” he said, adding that he did not know it was illegal to eat turtle eggs and their meat. He now collects the eggs carefully and brings them to a group called Coastal Underwater Resource Management Actions (CURMA), which takes the eggs and puts them under the sand in a safe place. When the baby turtles hatch, they are directed to the water.
The turtles are called “pawikan” in the local language. They are at risk not only from poachers, but also climate change and habitat loss.
Carlos Tamayo is one of CURMA’s leaders. “We talked to the poachers, and it turned out poaching was just another means for them to earn a living,” he said. “They had no choice.”
Cabagbag is over 40 years old. His wife and seven-year-old son sometimes help him collect turtle eggs. Since October, they have taken over 1,000 eggs to CURMA. Cabagbag said that once he received training and learned that the turtles were endangered, he stopped poaching.
When the baby turtles hatch, many visitors come to watch them run down the beach and into the water. Cabagbag said seeing the turtles get safely into the water brings him a feeling of joy.
1. What is one of the ways of the organizations to protect turtles?| A．Teaching former poachers to collect and protect turtle eggs. |
| B．Getting the locals to receive more education. |
| C．Encouraging the locals to develop tourism. |
| D．Helping raise the locals’ earnings. |
| A．He helps place the eggs under the sand. |
| B．He encouraged his family to collect the eggs. |
| C．He has taken more than 1,000 eggs from CURMA. |
| D．He once lacked the awareness of protecting turtles. |
| A．Poachers. | B．Climate change. | C．Ocean pollution. | D．Habitat loss. |
| A．Turtles Are at Risk from Climate Change |
| B．Former Turtle Poachers Are Now Protectors |
| C．Turtle Population in the Philippines Is Changing |
| D．CURMA Is Offering Training of Turtle Protection to Farmers |
8 . Night light from street lamps and phones change the body clock, therefore weakening the body’s ability to control blood sugar levels and raising the risk of diabetes (糖尿病) by more than a quarter, new research has found.
The research was based on almost 100,000 men and women in China who were exposed to artificial light while it was dark outside. Those exposed the most were 28 per cent more likely to develop this condition because of the interference (干预) the light had on the body’s production of melatonin (褪黑激素) which affects our sleep patterns.
Evidence is growing that 24/7 lifestyles are seriously damaging our health by interfering with the production of melatonin. Long-time exposure to residential outdoor artificial light was linked to a rise in blood sugar levels. It was also associated with poorer function of the cells which control blood sugar.
Lead author Dr. Yu Xu, of Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai, said, “Despite over 80 per cent of the world’s population being exposed to light pollution at night, this problem has gained limited attention from scientists until recent years.”
The study estimated more than nine million cases of diabetes in Chinese adults can be attributed to it. A total of 98,658 participants underwent interviews to provide medical, household income, education, way of life, and family history information. Body weight and height were measured to calculate BMI, and blood samples were taken to obtain levels of both fasting and after-meal glucose (葡萄糖).
Participants were assigned an average artificial outdoor light exposure level for the location using satellite images. They were divided into five groups based on highest to lowest exposure. On average, for every 42 people living in regions with the most light pollution, there was one more case of diabetes.
Dr. Xu said, “Exposure to artificial light at night is a common environmental risk factor in modern societies.” More than 99 per cent of people in the US and Europe live under light-polluted skies. Earth’s 24-hour day-night cycle has resulted in most organisms, including humans, having an inbuilt circadian (昼夜的) timing system, but light pollution has been found to change the circadian rhythm of insects, birds and other animals, resulting in early death and loss of biodiversity.
1. How can artificial light affect people’s health?| A．It can harm people’s eyesight. |
| B．It can affect people’s sleep patterns. |
| C．It can weaken the function of brain cells. |
| D．It can increase the production of melatonin. |
| A．Work. | B．Sleep. | C．Lifestyle. | D．Marriage. |
| A．Previous findings. | B．High technology. |
| C．International assistance. | D．Artificial chemicals. |
| A．Artificial light is harming the world. |
| B．People are fighting against pollution. |
| C．The waste of electricity is the primary issue. |
| D．Most light pollution is from the US and Europe. |
9 . On one October morning in 2021, Mark A. Michaels was observing a tree in a forest when he spotted a bird flying below the branches about 50 yards away. Based on the bird’s size and long neck, Michaels first assumed he was looking at a duck. But then he noticed it occasionally folding its wings during flight, something he says that ducks don’t do — but woodpeckers do. “Ivory-bill!” he recalls shouting, now certain that the bird was an ivory-billed woodpecker (象牙喙啄木鸟), a species that hasn’t been identified in the wild since 1944.
Despite his certainty, not everyone agrees this woodpecker remains in the wild. In September 2021, the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) claimed that the ivory-billed woodpecker, along with 22 other species, is extinct. However, the data supporting the idea are debated. Debatable evidence presented at a meeting in January 2022 convinced USFWS that disagreement among scientists as to the ivory-billed woodpecker’s existence was considerable enough. As a result, on July 6, the agency issued a pause of extinction.
The ongoing case highlights some of the challenges researchers face in determining whether a species has actually gone extinct. According to guidelines issued by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), an organization that tracks species’ protection statuses, a species is extinct when there is no reasonable doubt that the last individual has died. “But researchers typically don’t know when or if that last death has occurred,” says H. Resit Akcakaya, an ecologist at Stony Brook University.
Moreover, there are costs to making the wrong call about a species’ existence in the wild, he adds. Continuing to regard an actually extinct species as endangered can lead to undervalued extinction rates, and confuse the bigger protection picture, as well as misdirect financial resources away from protecting endangered species to searching for ones that no longer exist. On the other hand, declaring something extinct when it really isn’t can lead to further harm on a struggling species.
1. What convinced Mark that the bird was an ivory-billed woodpecker?| A．Its unique way of flight. | B．Its special living conditions. |
| C．Its similar appearance to ducks. | D．Its disappearance from the wild. |
| A．USFWS is heatedly debating with the public. |
| B．The ivory-billed woodpecker has a high status |
| C．Mark is certain about his discovery of the ivory-billed woodpecker. |
| D．Disagreement about the ivory-billed woodpecker’s existence is huge. |
| A．IUCN’s guidelines are practical and reasonable. |
| B．Researchers should track species’ conservation statuses. |
| C．The last death of an ivory-billed woodpecker has occurred. |
| D．It’s difficult to determine whether a species is extinct or not. |
| A．Determining a species’s existence will cost lots of money. |
| B．Numerous pictures of endangered species have been taken |
| C．Determining a species’s existence without mistakes is important. |
| D．Financial resources are removed from protecting endangered species. |
Community planners and decision makers now have an application guide to help them plan for the significant sea level rise that the United States
The application guide is a
For each community, and for each project, there are many
The application guide is national and
