1. Where does Richard work?
| A．In New York. | B．In Washington D． | C．C．In San Francisco. |
| A．Sleeping. | B．Working | C．Watching TV. |
| A．Some books fell off the bookshelf. |
| B．The windows were broken. |
| C．Some chairs fell over. |
| A．Hand in the report. | B．Continue with his work. | C．Go back home quickly. |
2 . Recently Chinese scientists have solved a food challenge of the ages! They cultivated (培育) the world’s first crucian carp (鲫鱼) without intermuscular (肌间的) fish bones.
The new fish ends a world-wide debate which has lasted for more than 50 years on whether intermuscular fish bones can be reproduced.
Crucian carp is a popular freshwater fish with tender meat and a fresh flavor, but its many tiny bones can easily get stuck in people’s throats when the fish is eaten. A research team from Heilongjiang Province started a project to solve the problem in 2009 and chose the key gene from about 1,600 fishes, in order to control the growth of the fish’s intermuscular bones. Researchers knocked out the bmp6 gene without influencing the fish’s growth.
“In 2020, we successfully cultivated the first generation of crucian carp without intermuscular fish bones with a success rate of 12.96 percent and the second generation at the rate of 19 percent in 2021,” said a researcher from the team. “At the beginning of 2022, we set free around 20,000 fish of the third generation at the test base in Harbin. The fish grew well and is quite different from normal crucian carp. The results of an examination in August showed that we succeeded completely.”
Experts said, “People will no longer have to pick out tiny fish bones. It could greatly change the fish diet of the world in the future.” In addition, the research can help promote industrial processing of the fish, marking a great breakthrough in the field of aquaculture (水产养殖) breeding in China.
1. What challenge have Chinese scientists solved?| A．They’ve found a wild fish. |
| B．They’ve created a fish with a fresh flavor. |
| C．They’ve cultivated a fish with tender meat. |
| D．They’ve produced a fish with no small bones. |
| A．The fish can’t live in the sea. |
| B．The fish grow very slowly in freshwater. |
| C．The fish’s intermuscular bones are long and thin. |
| D．The fish’s tiny bones are stuck in people’s throats easily. |
| A．100% | B．50% | C．19% | D．12.96% |
| A．The fish diet in the future. |
| B．The problem of tiny fish bones. |
| C．The importance of the research. |
| D．The aquaculture breeding in China. |
3 . Cloud “engineering” could be more effective for climate cooling than previously thought, because of the increased cloud cover produced, new research shows.
In a study published in Nature Geoscience, researchers at the University of Birmingham found that marine cloud brightening (MCB), also known as marine cloud engineering, works primarily by increasing the amount of cloud cover, accounting for 60% — 90% of the cooling effect.
The practice of MCB has attracted much attention in recent years as a way of offsetting the global warming effects caused by humans and buying some time while the global economy decarbonizes (脱碳). It works by spraying tiny particles, or aerosols (气溶胶), into the atmosphere where they mix with clouds and with the primary aim of increasing the amount of sunlight that clouds can reflect.
However, the ways in which MCB creates a cooling effect, and the ways in which clouds will respond to aerosols, are still poorly understood. To investigate the phenomenon, the researchers created a “natural experiment”, using aerosol injection from the effusive eruption of Kilauea volcano in Hawaii to study the interactions between these natural aerosols, clouds, and climate.
Using machine learning and historic satellite and meteorological (气象学的) data, the team created a predictor to show how the cloud would behave during periods when the volcano was inactive. This predictor enabled them to identify clearly the impacts on the clouds that had been directly caused by the volcanic aerosols.
They were able to show that the cloud cover relatively increased by up to 50% during the periods of volcanic activity, producing a cooling effect of up to — 10 W/m² regionally.
Lead author, Dr Ying Chen, of the University of Birmingham, said, “Our findings show that marine cloud brightening could be more effective as a climate intervention than climate models have suggested previously. Of course, while it could be useful, MCB does not address the underlying causes of global warming from greenhouse gases produced by human activities. It should therefore be regarded as a ‘painkiller’, rather than a solution.”
1. How does MCB help global cooling according to the study?| A．By decreasing the amount of sunlight. |
| B．By boosting the volume of cloud cover. |
| C．By reducing the amount of cloud cover. |
| D．By removing greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. |
| A．Weakening. | B．Destroying. | C．Ignoring. | D．Suspending. |
| A．Perfect. | B．Ineffective. | C．Valueless. | D．Fruitful. |
| A．The Mechanism Behind Marine Cloud Brightening |
| B．Understanding The Impact Of Aerosols On Clouds And Climate |
| C．Enhancing Climate Cooling Through Marine Cloud Brightening |
| D．Marine Cloud Brightening: A Solution To Climate Cooling Strategy |
As I approached my fortieth birthday, I realized that my life was quite meaningless in the larger scheme of things. I had friends and a loving husband and yet something was missing. With no children, I felt that I hadn’t done anything that would help mankind or change the world. I would have no legacy to leave.
One day I was watching TV and I thought of my desire. It was to be someone who mattered. I wanted to make a difference in the lives of people and in the lives of animals. After all, dogs had always been a large part of my life, from the time when I was a little girl growing up in central Oklahoma. I thought that my “purpose” would somehow include my love of singing, writing, travel, and of course, working with animals.
Then, something happened that shook my entire core. The “love of my life” dog, my Nicholas, was diagnosed with terminal cancer. He died thirteen months later. I became quite concerned for Bear, our remaining dog, who was six years old. Bear had been Nicholas’s shadow and now that Nicholas was gone, Bear wouldn’t even eat. Our vet suggested that we get another dog to see if that would encourage Bear to eat.
I found an online advertisement for a Bichon Frise （卷毛比熊犬） and when we arrived at the place, it was a nightmare, like one of those puppy mills （工厂） you read about or see on the television news. I decided to delay my search for my “purpose” as I needed to tell the world about the horror I had discovered right in my own backyard.
I had even a bigger fight ahead of me than Nicholas’s cancer. This was a fight that would take years. I did research and then I spread the word on the Internet. People began to listen and we formed a small group of Bichon Frise lovers called Small Paws Rescue.
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 started out sending the latest news on our rescue efforts to about twenty-five people.\
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________My achievement made me reflect on the past.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________1. When did the earthquake happen?
| A．On Thursday afternoon. | B．On Thursday morning. | C．On Wednesday night. |
| A．Forty people lost their lives. |
| B．At least 140 people were injured. |
| C．A railway was nearly destroyed. |
| A．Help the victims. | B．Check the highways. | C．Tell the woman some survival skills. |
China has been working quietly to address air pollution. In addition to observing, I also communicated with locals and foreigners
According to Cui Xiaoyi, a resident of Beijing, due to serious air pollution the local administration (行政部门) sometimes warned
Muhammad Asghar, a representative of the Associated Press of Pakistan in China
Asghar added that China has not only done good work to address air pollution, but has also made contributions
The ideas
1. What’s the conversation mainly about?
| A．Fighting fire. | B．Detecting fire. | C．Preventing fire. |
| A．Australia lost 4% of its trees. |
| B．The system is used in America. |
| C．The system will use heat cameras. |
| A．The size of a football field. |
| B．The size of a plane. |
| C．The size of a car. |
| A．Protecting humans. |
| B．Purifying the air. |
| C．Saving animals. |
8 . The high intelligence levels of orangutans (红毛猩猩) have long been recognised, partly due to their practical skills such as using tools to crack nuts and search for insects. But new research suggests the primate (灵长动物) has another handy skill: applying medicinal herbs intentionally to an open wound.
A male Sumatran orangutan known as Rakus was observed by the research team with a fresh facial wound in June 2022. Three days later, Rakus was witnessed feeding on the stem and leaves of a plant. Thirteen minutes after Rakus had started feeding on it, he began chewing the leaves without swallowing them, then used his fingers to apply the resulting juice directly on to his facial wound. He repeated this behavior for seven minutes and at last fully covered the wound with the chewed leaves. He then continued feeding on the plant for 30 minutes. Over the following days, there were no signs of infection. The wound closed within five days and was healed, with only a faint scar remaining after one month.
It is not the first time wild primate species have been spotted self-medicating: among other examples, Bornean orangutans have been seen rubbing their arms and legs with chewed leaves from a plant used by humans to treat sore muscles, while chimpanzees have been recorded chewing plants known to treat worm infections and applying insects to wounds. However, the new discovery is the first time a wild animal has been observed treating open wounds with a substance known to have medicinal properties. “In the chimpanzee case they used insects and unfortunately it was never found out whether these insects really promote wound healing. Whereas in our case, the orangutan used the plant, and this plant has known medical properties,” said Dr Caroline Schuppli, senior author of the research.
Rakus’s goal-oriented behavior and the medicinal properties of his chosen treatment offer insight into the origins of human wound care-the treatment of which was first mentioned in a medical manuscript dating to 2200BC. “It definitely shows that these basic cognitive capacities that you need to come up with a behaviour like this were present at the time of our last common ancestor most likely,” said Schuppli.
It remains unclear whether Rakus figured the process out for himself or learned it from another orangutan, although it has not been seen in any other individual.
1. How did the team conduct their research?| A．By analyzing previous records. | B．By tracking the research object. |
| C．By quoting others’ findings. | D．By categorizing qualities of primates. |
| A．The primate’s awareness of herb selection. | B．The locations of the wild primates. |
| C．The sizes of the application range. | D．The outcome of the treatment. |
| A．Supporting evidence for the research results. |
| B．Potential significance of the research findings. |
| C．A further explanation of the research summary. |
| D．A reasonable doubt about the research process. |
| A．The origin of Rakus’ intentional self-medication. |
| B．Different medicinal plants used by wild primates. |
| C．Active wound treatment s shared by humans and primates |
| D．The possible influence from Rakus’ family. |
9 . “Palace, Mountain, Moon?” has been selected by NASA as the Astronomical Picture of the Day for December 25, 2023.
The photo was taken by Valerio, a young photographer of Turin, Italy. It was shot on the evening of December 15, 2023. While he knew about NASA’s competition, he hadn’t considered participating until receiving much encouragement from his social media followers. Soon after, he received the message, “Your image has been chosen as the astronomical photo of the day.” It was incredible!
In a photo like this, nothing is left to luck. The concept came to him back in 2017. Walking on the hills north of Turin, he found several spots perfect for including both the Basilica of Superga Palace and Mountain Monviso. After numerous visits over several months, he identified four spots where Superga and Monviso line up just right.
After pinpointing these locations, he experimented with shooting them at different times. “I knew I needed something special to perfect the photo. The Sun was a no-go, so I turned to the Moon. Its various phases and position s reach an azimuth angle (方位角) of 230 degrees,” Valerio said. With this in mind, he researched the Moon’s phases, marked potential dates on the calendar, and planned the exact moments when the moon could join the queue.
It was very successful, especially because the Moon was in a waxing phase. This meant that in the photo, not only was its crescent (新月) lit up, but so was the left part, its shadowed side. That part is lit by reflected light, also known as Da Vinci’s glow, named after him because he was the one who theorized about why the Moon’s shadowed side is brightened. During the early days of the waxing Moon phases, the shadowed part is visible because the Sun’s light reflects off the Earth and hits the Moon’s shadowed side, giving it a greyish, silvery color. This allowed the light to outline Monviso on the left as well.
1. Why did Valerio send the photo to NASA?| A．He took an interest in astronomical advances. |
| B．He expected to create an impact on social media. |
| C．He received broad support from enthusiastic fans. |
| D．He wished to make his hometown a tourist hot spot. |
| A．shine light on each other | B．stand in a straight line |
| C．fit each other in size | D．vary from usual in color |
| A．Studying how the Moon phase changes. | B．Calculating the Superga-Monviso distance. |
| C．Analyzing when to adjust the camera angle. | D．Measuring the height of the observation point. |
| A．The outline of the crescent. | B．The outline of Superga. |
| C．The dark side of the Moon. | D．The shadowed side of the Earth. |
10 . On February 17th, the Clermont County Animal Shelter, Ohio, shared a story. A woman met with her missing dog Will again.
While
Hannah explained in her Facebook post that Will, a six-year-old went missing from her home in 2019. Although her family looked everywhere, they couldn’t
A shelter volunteer said, “Just yesterday we
It was nothing short of a
| A．commenting on | B．checking out | C．speaking of | D．looking for |
| A．celebration | B．adoption | C．demonstration | D．recommendation |
| A．dynamic | B．lovely | C．familiar | D．friendly |
| A．shelter | B．describe | C．forget | D．locate |
| A．received | B．forwarded | C．left | D．delivered |
| A．duties | B．achievements | C．owner | D．appearance |
| A．possibly | B．obviously | C．actually | D．typically |
| A．hesitation | B．guilt | C．anger | D．panic |
| A．popular | B．thankful | C．supported | D．reunited |
| A．guess | B．know | C．discuss | D．doubt |
| A．heartwarming | B．mind-bending | C．convincing | D．entertaining |
| A．danger | B．need | C．happiness | D．uncertainty |
| A．sharing | B．reading | C．revising | D．saving |
| A．connection | B．treasure | C．wonder | D．success |
| A．excited | B．motivated | C．amused | D．urged |
