1 . It was our first evening dog-sitting while our teenage daughter Rochelle was on vacation for two weeks. Louie searched the entire house for his “mommy”. Then, that disappointed but determined puppy （小狗） developed a plan.
While my husband Paul and I were watching TV, we heard loud noises. Something heavy was being dragged down the stairs. I looked around and saw this six-month-old puppy laboriously dragging his large, hard-sided carrier down the stairs. The next moment saw him drag his possessions one by one, first his blanket, and then his bowl, bone, ball and sweater. The project took most of the evening but Louie showed no sign of tiredness at all.
After packing all the items into the carrier, he attempted to jump inside. Once inside, he got the zipper between his teeth and, with all the strength, he pulled the zipper closed. Then he lay down and went to sleep in it throughout the night. The message was abundantly clear. He wanted to go see his “mommy”. He had seen her pack her suitcase and go away for her vacation. He must do the same so he could find her. When I unzipped his carrier in the morning, Louie was excited, but his “mommy” was nowhere to be seen.
The puppy surprised us with new undertakings every day. His absolutely favorite activity was going for a car ride. The possibility of stopping at McDonald's was his consideration. But one day, my husband didn't stop at McDonald's. He left Louie in the car with the window slightly open while he went to a drugstore. Louie managed to jump out of the window. He walked two blocks and found Paul, walking around him as if saying, “Can we go to have fried chicken now?”
Louie is an old gray-haired dog now, but he is still up to his old, and new, tricks.
1. Why didn't Louie show any sign of tiredness?| A．He was eager to see Rochelle. | B．He could drag the carrier easily. |
| C．He wanted to delight Paul and me. | D．He enjoyed searching the house. |
| A．He did that as trained. | B．He used his strong teeth. |
| C．He followed his owner. | D．He employed all his strength. |
| A．He could play at McDonald's. |
| B．He could have his favorite food. |
| C．He could walk through the blocks freely. |
| D．He could accompany Paul to the drugstore. |
| A．Clever and well-trained. | B．Brave and proud. |
| C．Strong-minded and smart. | D．Faithful and quiet. |
2 . After spending years competing as a marathon mountain runner and cross-country skier, Gudrun Pflueger devoted herself to tracking wolves as a field biologist in Canada’s backcountry.
And her research and encounters with the Canadian coastal wolves led to the 2010 Smithsonian Channel documentary (纪录片) A Woman Among Wolves.
Less than a month after filming along British Columbia's islands, Pflueger, then 33, was diagnosed with a brain tumor (瘤) and told she might have only 18 months to live.
Surgeons removed a golf ball-size tumor, and Pflueger, now promoting her Smithsonian Channel follow-up, Running With Wolves, credits wolves with helping inspire her recovery.
“I really believe the encounter with the wolves in the wilderness was a powerful medicine. They gave me strength,” says Pflueger, now 37, whose life-threatening encounter with a coastal wolf pack was highlighted in the earlier film.
“Most people see them as bad, as killing machines. But they are part of nature. They have some of the same characteristics as we do—determination, courage, a strong will to live.
Running With Wolves was filmed over parts of 2011-2012, while Pflueger was regaining her physical strength. It tracks her inspirational but hard return to Canada's coast.
“It’s rare for filmmakers to go back, but people can relate to this story on all sorts of levels,” says Smithsonian Channel’s chief programmer, David Royle. “Gudrun was a world-class athlete who is fun and energetic. She’s enthusiastic about a species that's been misrepresented. And you come away feeling inspired by her courage and bravery recovering from cancer.”
“We want to draw attention to women scientists. They’re underrepresented at the top level,” he says. “We also wanted to challenge stereotypes (成见) that women scientists are unimportant.”
1. In A Woman Among Wolves, Pflueger is shown as a person who ______.| A．fights against dangerous wolves in the wild |
| B．recovers from cancer by living among wolves |
| C．is a marathon runner and cross-country skier |
| D．studies the behavior of wolves in the wild |
| A．To help to film the documentary. |
| B．To compete as a marathon runner. |
| C．To protect the wolves from being hunted. |
| D．To beat cancer by finding inspiration among wolves. |
| A．seldom go back when making a film |
| B．had great trouble filming the documentary |
| C．filmed another documentary about Pflueger |
| D．have no plan to film another documentary |
| A．Pflueger is brave. | B．Pflueger is energetic. |
| C．Pflueger is outstanding. | D．Pflueger is enthusiastic. |
3 . For 300 years, the Slims River had been flowing through Canada’s Yukon region. But last year, in only four days, the water in the big river reduced sharply, which made the river almost disappear. What happened?
After a year of careful studies, a group of scientists recently said that the sudden change of the river was caused by climate change. The Slims River used to be a big river, reaching up to 150 metres at its widest points. It carried melt water from the huge Kaskawulsh glacier(冰川) into the Kluane River, then into the Yukon River toward the Bering Sea.
But in spring 2016, there was a sharp melting of the Kaskawulsh glacier because of climate change. It made the melt water run in a different direction, and into a second river, the Alsek River, then into the Gulf of Alaska. It is thousands of kilometers away.
In geography, this is called “river piracy”. Although it was not unusual in ancient times, this is the first time it has happened under scientists’ noses in modern times. The Slims River is almost dry now, which also takes away the clean air in the region because strong wind blows up all the dust in the river bed. Fish have already swum to other rivers. And sheep from Kluane National Park are now coming down to eat the fresh plants.
Lonnie Thompson, a scientist from Ohio State University, the US, said that we could hardly feel the effects of climate change in our daily life, but the case of the Slims River shows what will happen when gradual temperature increases.
1. Why did the Slims River almost disappear?| A．Because the air pollution brought more rain to Yukon region. |
| B．Because the climate suddenly became hotter than before. |
| C．Because the human activities destroyed the banks of the river. |
| D．Because the Kaskawulsh glacier did not exist any longer. |
| A．The Slims River has now become part of Kluane National Park. |
| B．The air in the region of the Sli ms Ri ver is still clean. |
| C．Climate change has no effect on our daily life. |
| D．Global warming can bring sudden changes to the environment. |
① the Kaskawulsh glacier ② the Gulf of Alaska
③ the Yukon River ④ the Alsek River
⑤ the Bering Sea ⑥ the Kluane River
| A．①→④→② | B．①→③→⑤ |
| C．③→⑥→⑤ | D．⑥→③→② |
| A．A river suddenly disappears without any reason. |
| B．Two rivers join together to make a bigger one. |
| C．The flow of a river is suddenly taken away into another. |
| D．The water in a river reduces sharply. |
4 . Coffee is probably the world’s least expensive success power tool. Coffee builds better teams and increases your leadership ability. Coffee also increases your immunity. It increases focus and drive and may even increase your lifespan.
Unfortunately, we may not be enjoying the benefits or pleasures of coffee too much longer. According to ecologists, there’s a good chance that in 20 or 30 years, the varieties of coffee that we drink today will be extinct. And we’ll be drinking either a coffee substitute or some almost-coffee hybrid that vaguely resembles the drink we enjoy today.
The problem, of course, is the pace of climate change. Successful coffee cultivation has three preconditions: 1) a warm, highly stable tropical climate with altitudes that keep air temperature between 18 and 20 degrees Celsius, 2) rich soil full of natural nutrients, and 3) an ecological environment that’s pest and disease resistant.
Coffee is a crop that is only grown in a thin band called the “coffee belt” close to the equator. It simply won’t grow anywhere else. Unfortunately, the “coffee belt” is extremely vulnerable to climate change. If the air is too cold or too hot, it prevents the growth of the coffee plant.
Climate change also creates environmental stress, which spreads parasites, pests and plant diseases. All of these increase the fragility of the coffee crop and create the possibility of a species-destroying rot.
Almost all the coffee cultivated in the world today is one of two species, arabica or robusta, either of which might be wiped out in this way. There are other species of coffee, and scientists are hoping that, if worse comes to worst, a different species can be bred into coffee.
Unfortunately, almost all of these species exist only in Ethiopia, a country that climate change is already hammering. As the environmental nonprofit USAID points out:
“Ethiopia is one of the world’s most drought-prone countries. The country is confronted with numerous development challenges that exacerbate its weakness facing climate change including increases in temperature, unstable rainfall and unpredictability of seasonal rain, and increased incidences of drought and other extreme events.”
In other words, even as climate change threatens coffee as it exists today, climate change is also eating away at the root source to which we might turn to for replacement species.
What to do? Well, take the time to savor each cup of coffee you drink. Beyond that, stop electing and enabling climate change deniers.
1. What is the author’s feeling about the future of coffee?| A．Helpless. | B．Bored. | C．Happy. | D．Worried. |
| A．A tropical climate. | B．Rich soil. |
| C．Increasing temperature. | D．Stable rainfall. |
| A．remove | B．worsen | C．decrease | D．accept |
| A．Change Climate for Coffee |
| B．Enjoy Coffee While You Can |
| C．Benefits from Coffee Drinking |
| D．Conditions for Coffee Planting |
5 . Craig grew up on “a gentleman's farm” in Colorado with horses, cows, and chickens. When he was 18, Craig was already running some of the businesses. He planned to earn a business degree in college, but on a fateful trip to Florida, he visited a friend who worked as a grounds-keeper at a zoo. “I just wanted to say hi, but he showed me around, and in the back, I saw lions and tigers in these cages that were so small that you 'wouldn't want to keep a dog in them,” he says. The animals were surplus(过剩)and would likely be euthanized(使安乐死).
When a sad Craig returned to Colorado, he called the Denver Zoo about taking the animals, but Denver's zookeepers also had a surplus. Then it occurred to him: Perhaps he could bring the animals to the family farm. He was only 19, but he studied local regulations and formed a nonprofit organization. He next wrote zoos nationwide offering to help if they planned to euthanize animals.
After about five years, he bought a second, larger property before moving to the shelter's current location northeast of Denver. The goal, he says, is to provide the animals with plentiful space and to treat them with dignity and respect. “We have prides of lions that live together, just like they would in the wild,” he says. “They're wandering free and playing and doing what they want. We just give them medical care and food.”
Craig opened the shelter to visitors in 2002. Although he was originally unwilling, Craig now sees it as an opportunity to educate more people. “We want the public to know, if they hear about some guy driving around in his Ferrari with a tiger or a lion, they should say, What are you doing? That animal is going to end up dead or in some dirty roadside zoo.” The shelter receives 150,000 guests a year. Given his goal of treating the animals with respect-the shelter prohibits feeding and hands-on human contact -visitors observe the animals from a 30-foot-high, 1.5-mile-long elevated walkway.
1. What made Craig decide to help animals?| A．The need to run his farm. |
| B．The influence from his friend. |
| C．The concern for animals to be euthanized |
| D．The plan to earn a business degree from a college. |
| A．To draw visitors. |
| B．To play with animals. |
| C．To live a comfortable life. |
| D．To offer animals more space. |
| A．By riding a car. |
| B．By taking an elevator. |
| C．Through contact with animals. |
| D．From the passage above the ground. |
| A．Admirable. | B．Well-paid. | C．Boring. | D．Appealing. |
6 . Coral reefs are some of the most diverse and valuable ecosystems on Earth. Coral reefs support more species per unit area than any other marine (海洋的) environment, including about 4,000 species of fish, 800 species of hard corals and hundreds of other species. Scientists estimate that there may be millions of undiscovered species living in and around reefs. This biodiversity is considered the key to finding new medicines for the 21st century. Many drugs are now being developed from coral reef animals and plants as possible cures for cancer, viruses, and other diseases.
Healthy coral reefs support fisheries as well as jobs and businesses through tourism and recreation. About half of all managed fisheries depend on coral reefs and related habitats for a part of their life cycles. The National Marine Fisheries Service estimates the commercial value of U. S. fisheries from coral reefs is over $ 100 million, Local economies receive billions of dollars from visitors to reefs through diving tours, recreational fishing trips, hotels, restaurants, and other businesses based near reef ecosystems.
Coral reef structures also buffer (缓冲) shorelines against 97 percent of the energy from waves, storms, and floods, helping to prevent loss of life, and property damage. When reefs are damaged or destroyed, the absence of this natural barrier can increase the damage to coastal communities from normal wave action and violent storms. Several million people live in U. S. coastal areas near coral reefs. Some coastal development is required to provide necessary infrastructure (基础设施) for coastal residents and the growing coastal tourism industry.
Despite their great economic and recreational value, coral reefs are severely threatened by pollution, disease, and habitat destruction. Once coral reefs are damaged, they are less able to support the many creatures that live on them and the communities near them. When a coral reef supports fewer fish, plants, and animals, it also loses value as a tourist destination.
1. Why is biodiversity important to medicines?| A．It can reduce the prices of new medicines. | B．It can help make new medicines. |
| C．It can be used for medicines. | D．It can be used to cure diseases. |
| A．They protect people against sharks. | B．They completely avoid serious flooding. |
| C．They prevent people from being drowned. | D．They weaken most of the energy from waves. |
| A．Most fish will die out. | B．Coastal cities will attract fewer tourists. |
| C．There will be no large fish. | D．The sea will be polluted. |
| A．The Importance of Diverse Ecosystems | B．The Environments of Coral Reefs |
| C．The Importance of Coral Reefs | D．The Value of Biodiversity |
“Animals are a who, not a what,” animal advocates say. Animal rights activists, including Jane Goodall, want writers —
Animals are a part of some of the most important
Jane Goodall points out that when she
“But we know that animals feel joy, pain
8 . Researchers in Australia have confirmed the discovery of Australia’s largest dinosaur species ever found. Australotitan cooperensis was about 80 to 100 feet long and 16 to 21 feet tall at its bottom. It weighed somewhere between 25 and 81 tons.
The first of the creature’ bones were dug out back in 2006 and 2007, but only now, after years of analysis, have researchers been able to confirm that the bones are from the largest dinosaur in Australia. “It’s taken this long because it’s such a complex piece of work. You have to take the bones out of the ground and prepare the fossils arid then you study them and compare them against all other species of dinosaurs worldwide,” says Scott Hocknull, a paleontologist (古生物学者) at the Queensland Museum.
Diego Pol, head of paleontology in Argentina, says these large dinosaurs were probably living in vast spaces across a connected land including what is now South America, Antarctica and Australia. “This means that if we go to Antarctica and dig into the right rocks, most likely we will find supergiant dinosaurs too. So I found that super exciting.”
As part of its research, the Australian team used new 3D-scanning technology to scan the bones from Australotitan and compare them with those of similar species. Both Australian and Argentine researchers agree that the new technology has opened doors for sharing information. Previously, paleontologists might have needed to fly across the world to look at fossils in person, Pol says the super-high resolution (分辨率) that now exists is “like having the real bone in your computer.”
“Discoveries like this are just the tip of the iceberg,” Hocknull said in the statement “Our ultimate goal is to find more evidence that tells the changing story of Queensland, hundreds of millions of years in the making. A grand story all scientists, museums and tourists will be interested in.”
1. Why has it taken long to confirm the bones?| A．There are lots of bone fossils to study. |
| B．It’s complicated to finish the whole process. |
| C．It’s difficult to take the bones out of the ground. |
| D．There are many species of dinosaurs to discover. |
| A．Right rocks found in Antarctic. |
| B．Large dinosaurs living in vast spaces. |
| C．Continents once connected with each other. |
| D．Possibility of finding supergiant dinosaurs in Antarctic. |
| A．Positive. | B．Neutral | C．Cautious. | D．Negative. |
| A．Queensland is changing too quickly. |
| B．Tourists will participate in discoveries. |
| C．More discoveries will possibly be made. |
| D．The whole story of Queensland is revealed. |
9 . Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (麻省理工学院) have turned spider webs into music——creating an strange soundtrack that could help them better understand how the spiders output their complex creations and even how they communicate.
The MIT team worked with Berlin-based artist Tomas Saraceno to take 2D (two- dimensional) laser (激光) scans of a spider web, which were linked together and made into a mathematical model that could recreate the web in 3D in VR (virtual reality). They also worked with MIT’s music department to create the virtual instrument.
“Even though the web looks really random (随机)，there actually are a lot of inside structures and you can visualize (可视化) them and you can look at them, but it’s really hard to grasp for the human imagination or human brain to understand all these structural details,” said MIT engineering professor Markus Buehler, who presented the work on Monday at a virtual meeting of the American Chemical Society.
Listening to the music while moving through the VR spider web lets you see and hear these structural changes and gives a better idea of how spiders see the world, he told CNN. “Spiders use vibrations (振动) as a way to locate themselves, to communicate with other spiders and so the idea of thinking really like a spider would experience the world was something that was very important to us as spider material scientists,” Buehler said.
Spiders are able to build their webs without shelves or supports, so having a better idea of how they work could lead to the development of advanced new 3D printing techniques. “The reason why I did that is I wanted to be able to get information really from the spider world, which is very weird and mysterious,” Buehler explained. In addition to the scientific value, Buehler said the webs are musically interesting and that you can hear the sounds the spider creates during construction. “It’s unusual and eerie and scary, but finally beautiful.” he described.
1. What have MIT scientists done according to the passage?| A．They have translated spider webs into sounds. |
| B．They have made a mathematical model to produce webs. |
| C．They have created a soundtrack to catch spiders. |
| D．They have known how spiders communicate. |
| A．Their structures are beautiful and clear. |
| B．Professor Markus Buehler knows them well. |
| C．The American Chemical Society presents the result. |
| D．They are complex for people to figure it out. |
| A．virtual reality | B．printing |
| C．painting | D．film-making |
| A．It tells us that the music created by spiders is scary. |
| B．It shows how the researchers carry out the experiment. |
| C．It presents a new and creative way to study spiders. |
| D．It explains why scientists did the experiment. |
10 . The desert locust (蝗虫) is the most dangerous migratory pest with a huge appetite unmatched in the insect world. In just one day, a swarm of locusts the size of Paris could consume the same amount of food as half the population of France. They annually reproduce, concentrate and then form swarms that can move up to 150 kilometers per day.
To control these swarms, some experts think drone (无人机) technology could provide survey and control teams with an inexpensive and efficient method of searching for these destructive insects.
Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) — also known as drones — could be used to automatically collect high-resolution imagery of green, vegetated areas potentially affected by locusts.
Controlled by a hand-held tablet, the UAV would follow a pre-programmed flight path, covering a 100 kilometer survey radius to collect data. Then the survey teams use the data to identify areas that seem most likely to harbor locusts and travel directly to suspicious locations. Once the team reaches such an area, the UAV could be launched to fly overhead and identify other nearby areas affected by locusts that may require treatment. A separately controlled UAV could then be used to administer pesticides directly onto the locust concentrations. UAVs could also be used to check for locusts in areas that are insecure or cannot be accessed by ground teams.
Pest control operations would become safer, as human operators would no longer be exposed to potentially dangerous pesticides while getting rid of the insects. They would also become more effective, since drones would be able to spray pesticides precisely.
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations is currently working with university researchers and private sector partners in Europe to address challenges of drone technology concerning design, endurance, power, and detection of green vegetation and locusts. The FAO remains hopeful that within five years, UAVs will play an essential role in protecting food supplies and livelihoods from the desert locust, as part of the fight against global hunger and poverty.
1. What does the author try to express by mentioning France in Paragraph 1?| A．Desert locusts are a great threat to food supply. |
| B．France is one of the disaster areas affected by desert locusts. |
| C．It’s hard to deal with the problems caused by desert locusts. |
| D．Desert locusts are a migratory pest that can travel extremely fast. |
| A．To detect desert locusts. | B．To locate the affected locations. |
| C．To kill desert locusts effectively. | D．To free operators from chemicals. |
| A．They are convenient but expensive. | B．They are creative but time-consuming. |
| C．They are safe but hard to operate. | D．They are smart but still need improving. |
| A．Preventing the Spread of Desert Locusts |
| B．FAO Continues Fighting Against Locusts |
| C．Massive Locusts Threaten Millions of People |
| D．Locust Control Throug hout History |
