1 . Do you know anyone born in the Year of the Tiger? What’s their personality like? Are they brave, strong and sympathetic? If so, then they are a typical “tiger”. In Chinese culture, tigers symbolize power, energy, protection, generosity and unpredictability.
Tigers have an important cultural significance not just in China, but across Asia. In the book Life of Pi, Canadian writer Yann Martel chose a Bengal tiger as the partner for Indian boy Pi on his survival adventure in the Pacific Ocean.
In the West, lions are considered as the king of all beasts. Brave warriors were given the name “the lion”. But tigers are also seen as a very powerful animal.
Just like tigers serve as a symbol of protection in Chinese culture, I do hope my favorite animal will live freely in the eco-friendly environment.
| A．Tigers mostly live in Asia |
| B．They are fearless creatures |
| C．If you want someone to calm down |
| D．One of my favorite animals is tiger |
| E．While you are afraid of this fierce animal |
| F．Another example is French fashion brand KENZO |
| G．I also expect to protect their habitats from further destruction |
2 . Bergl doesn’t consider himself the next Thomas Edison, He’s just a man loving animals, Africa and adventure, Yet, Bergl might have invented a tool as great as the light bulb (灯泡) ―a tool that uses modern-day technology to solve an almost prehistoric (史前) problem.
The tool is called the SMART. It is designed to be waterproof (防水的) , shockproof and poacher (偷猎者) proof. Bergl worked with worldwide wildlife groups to develop it in 2011. Since then it has been seen in more than 55 countries where poachers have forced the best-known but most endangered animals to nearly die out .
SMART works as a very simple smart phone―it lets the user record what they see, like animal sightings. changes in animals and illegal activities If a park ranger (管理员) sees something that is very important, that information can be sent to the cloud (云) and sent out to the base camp so they can take action and stop the killing
Bergl and his workmates travel to African wildlife reserves now and then They teach park rangers in some of the most remote countries how to use SMART. “SMART makes collection of information easier It allows us to pay attention to the things that really important. according to what the information is telling an,”Aid Skim Young, manager of the Etosha National park in Namibia, “thanks to SMART, most of Africa’s endangered animals seem to be coming back.”
Bergl never plans to make money from his small but great invention. SMART is free and doesn’t even have a patents(专利).
1. What can we learn about SMART?| A．It looks like a light bulb. | B．It was invented by Bergl alone. |
| C．It is used to prevent pouching. | D．It can help deal with water problems. |
| A．How SMART was created | B．What SMART is like. |
| C．Why SMART got popular. | D．How SMART works. |
| A．It is very helpful. | B．It is easy to hold |
| C．It doesn’t cost much. | D．I will be used widely. |
| A．He dislikes taking risks in life. | B．He’s determined to succeed in life. |
| C．He’s a creative and giving person | D．He never wants to depend on others. |
3 . Dogs tend to ignore suggestions from people who are lying. This is what Ludwig Huber’s team at the University of Vienna in Austria found in its recent experiment.
In the experiment, Huber and his colleagues first trained 260 dogs of various pure breeds to find hidden food in one of two covered bowls. The dogs learned to follow the suggestion of a person they had never met—the “communicator”—who would touch the food-filled bowl, glance at the dog, and say, “Look, this is very good!” Dogs appeared to trust this new person when they were reliably following the signal, says Huber.
Once that trust was established, the team had the dogs witness another person move the food from the first to the second bowl. The communicators were either in the room, and also witnessed the switch, or were briefly absent and so apparently unaware that the food had been switched. In either case, the communicators would later recommend the first bowl—which was now empty.
In previous versions of this experiment with children under age 5, Japanese macaques or chimpanzees, the participants reacted in particular ways. If a communicator had been absent during the food switch, it would appear that they couldn’t know where the treat really was. As such, the children, chimps or macaques would typically ignore a communicator who gave honest—but misleading—advice on where the food was, says Huber.
However, if the communicator had been in the room and witnessed the switch, but still recommended the first (now empty) bowl, young children and non-human primates (灵长目动物) were actually much more likely to follow the communicator’s knowingly misleading suggestion to approach the empty container. This may be because the children and non-human primates trusted the communicator over the evidence of their own eyes, says Huber.
The dogs in the new experiment, however, weren’t so trusting of lying communicators—much to the researchers’ surprise. Half of the dogs would follow the communicator’s misleading advice if the communicator hadn’t witnessed the food switch. But about two-thirds of dogs ignored a communicator who had witnessed the food switch and still recommended the now-empty bowl. These dogs simply went to the bowl filled with food instead. “They did not rely on the communicator anymore,” says Huber.
“This study reminds us that dogs are watching us closely, are picking up on our social signals, and are learning from us constantly even outside of formal training contexts,” says Monique Udell at Oregon State University.
Besides, the fact that half the dogs trusted the communicator who seemed to have made an honest mistake could reveal a lot about how dogs process social information, says Udell. “There is both genetic and behavioral evidence that dogs are hypersocial, meaning that many dogs have a difficult time ignoring social cues even when another solution might be more advantageous,” she says. “This is a really striking example of just how often this may occur.”
1. What did Huber and his colleagues try to do first?| A．To let dogs trust a stranger. | B．To train dogs to guide humans. |
| C．To communicate more with dogs. | D．To improve dogs’ ability to seek food. |
| A．They would be misled by the communicator. |
| B．They would ignore the communicator’s advice. |
| C．They would teach the communicator a good lesson. |
| D．They would keep a distance from the communicator. |
| A．Dogs tend to follow the communicator’s advice. |
| B．Dogs can be easily confused by the food switch. |
| C．Dogs can identify whether the communicator is lying. |
| D．Dogs can accurately understand humans’ social signals. |
| A．They are much smarter than humans. |
| B．They prefer to stay with honest humans. |
| C．They need to be trained to follow humans. |
| D．They can be easily influenced by social cues. |
4 . Laura encourages her two kids to make crafts and drawings from old bits of packaging. She began
“It’s cheaper and you know that the item will
Any glass container is
The family also grow their own tomatoes, lettuce, and some other vegetables in the garden, and have orange trees outdoors. Laura has also
She said, “We tried to use the minimum
To help educate her kids, Laura takes them out on nature walks to the forest where they
| A．considering | B．reducing | C．analyzing | D．dividing |
| A．pots | B．handles | C．items | D．collections |
| A．continue | B．stop | C．fancy | D．delay |
| A．game | B．lead | C．match | D．role |
| A．original | B．enjoyable | C．cautious | D．normal |
| A．attended to | B．left out | C．washed up | D．taken away |
| A．equipment | B．furniture | C．glass | D．rubbish |
| A．thoroughly | B．delightedly | C．modestly | D．accidentally |
| A．devoted | B．found | C．exposed | D．buried |
| A．share | B．trade | C．discuss | D．clarify |
| A．necessary | B．valuable | C．ordinary | D．possible |
| A．purchase | B．discover | C．approach | D．preserve |
| A．far-away | B．duty-free | C．second-hand | D．life-long |
| A．pull out | B．pick up | C．hold back | D．keep off |
| A．activity | B．idea | C．theme | D．jungle |
5 . Single - use plastic waste is a huge problem, worsened these days by the fact that people cannot go out to many places to eat and have to order takeout. It’s been really hard on those companies that were trying to do something about the waste. Now, many businesses in New York have signed up with a new operation, DeliverZero.
New Yorkers do order a lot of takeout and don’t want to stop doing that since they are too busy to cook on their own. However, takeout consumes countless containers. And the containers — used once and for mere seconds — usually sit in landfills as far as 400 miles away from NYC.
But with DeliverZero, you get your order in reusable containers. There is no deposits (押金); you just return them to the delivery person the next time you order, or you drop them off at any of the restaurants on the platform.
When asked why DeliverZero doesn’t call for deposits, founder Adam Farbiarz explained, “When we started, we were collecting deposits. But that made everyone’s head spin because they had to choose how many containers they needed. It became complex to collect deposits while giving the restaurant the flexibility to pack the food. So now we just let the restaurant use containers as they want. After the restaurant packs the food, the customer gets an email that says, ‘You’re getting X containers with your meal.’ If the customer doesn’t return the containers within 6 weeks, we charge them. And the system works! Restaurants have no problem counting the containers, and customers appreciate that the restaurant has the freedom to use containers in a manner that best packages the food.”
DeliverZero shows that takeout doesn’t have to be related to single - use packaging. It is just starting out and is only in New York for now, but the founder said, “We have plans to march into other cities as quickly as we can. We are hoping to make a contribution to going zero waste and building a truly circular food delivery system.”
1. What problem does takeout usually cause according to the text?| A．Higher cost for many restaurants. | B．Poorer health of most customers. |
| C．Increasing single use plastic waste. | D．Fewer food choices for New Yorkers. |
| A．To test if its monitoring system works. | B．To simplify the whole operation process. |
| C．To relieve businesses’ financial pressure. | D．To help consumers develop a good habit. |
| A．It will be expanded. | B．It is facing many barriers. |
| C．It needs to improve its technology. | D．It has won recognition worldwide. |
| A．A platform allowing ordering food in reusable containers. |
| B．A concept of building a truly circular food delivery system. |
| C．A new operation based on deposit - free single - use packaging. |
| D．A system making food delivery more convenient and simpler. |
6 . Barnaby, the Lawrence family’s cat, had been missing for eight months. On January 11, 2022, Rachel Lawrence was on the phone with her vet (兽医). Her younger cat, Torvi, had just received an operation and she was asking how he was.
During the call, Lawrence heard a meow (喵喵叫). It may have been a standard meow to anyone else’s ears, but to Lawrence, there was something distinct about this sound. She asked the vet if that was Torvi and was told that was just a stray (走失的宠物) that had been brought in a week before.
Lawrence put down the phone and could not stop thinking about that. Could that be long-lost Barnaby? Unable to dismiss that unlikely thought, she called the vet back a few hours later. She asked if that meow came from a black cat and if the cat had a white dot on his back foot. The reply was “Yes”. “That had to be Barnaby,” Lawrence concluded.
When she went to pick up Torvi, she brought photos of Barnaby, nicknamed Fatman by her three kids. When the vet brought Barnaby to her, Lawrence broke down in what she described as tears and cries, but not with sadness.
She couldn’t wait to video-call her three children and said, “Look who I found.”
“Fatman,” they cried out with joy!
Lawrence had previously put a chip into Barnaby, but it did not work and so when he was lost, they had no hope of finding him again. Yet, thanks to the kindness of the person who found Barnaby and took him to the vet, and to the incredible hearing of his pet owner, this cat is back.
Barnaby is safely home with the Lawrence family and Torvi. He returned home thin with little fur and many scars. Barnaby is eating well, and with all the love and attention, the family hopes he will grow back into Fatman.
1. Why did Rachel Lawrence make a second call to the vet?| A．To get more details about the stray cat. |
| B．To check if Torvi was in good condition. |
| C．To confirm the schedule for an operation. |
| D．To seek a way to identify different meows. |
| A．Sad. | B．Frightened. | C．Calm. | D．Thrilled. |
| A．He was safe and sound. | B．He didn’t receive any kindness. |
| C．He became much fatter. | D．He had a really rough time. |
| A．A Kind Vet Took Good Care of a Long-lost Cat |
| B．A Missing Cat’s Meow Led to a Happy Reunion |
| C．A Determined Cat Owner Finally Cured Her Cat |
| D．A Young Cat’s Operation Saved Another Cat's Life |
7 . Peacocks (孔雀) have been troublesome birds of the Palos Verdes Peninsula and the San Gabriel Valley for decades, destroying gardens, blocking traffic, leaving droppings on roofs and making noises. Much to neighbors’ annoyance, some people leave out seeds and bread for the bright-colored feathered birds.
On Tuesday, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors decided that feeding peacocks is a misdemeanor, a slight crime, in unincorporated areas and the 44 cities that contract (签合同) with the county animal control department. Misdemeanors are punishable by up to six months in prison, a fine of up to $1, 000 or both. Contract cities can quit this rule, while unincorporated areas cannot, said Marcia Mayeda, director of the LA County Department of Animal Care and Control.
Some cities, including Pasadena and Arcadia, already ban feeding peacocks. Among the peacock-rich communities covered by the rule are Rancho Palos Verdes and Rolling Hills, as well as Chapman Woods near Pasadena.
“If a city said, We don’t want to adopt this. We have a different way of handling peacocks, we would agree to that, ” Mayeda said. According to him, animal control officers generally leave peacocks alone, as“they’re a difficult bird to catch”. Instead, the county will contract with wildlife expert Mike Maxcy, who worked at the Los Angeles Zoo for 33 years and has resettled peafowl, a kind of peacock, in large farms since 1999.
Peafowl are smart, eating practically anything and everything, Maxcy said. In adulthood, they don’t face many killers, other than humans. Feeding the birds, which are not native to Southern California, causes the population to increase, as they lay more eggs when resources are abundant. LA County’s peacock population has been increased by years of human feeding.
Thus, the problems are posed by their fans. “They’re all in very nice neighborhoods with very nice homes and tall, old pine trees (where they sleep), and dare I say, animal fans that love to feed them, ”Maxcy said.
1. What do we know about the new rule?| A．It is intended to protect peacocks. |
| B．It allows contract cities to drop out. |
| C．It applies to all the cities in Los Angeles. |
| D．It involves either being in prison or a fine. |
| A．To observe the rule strictly. |
| B．To make peacocks lay more eggs. |
| C．To get advice on feeding peacocks. |
| D．To deal with peacocks in another way. |
| A．Caused. | B．Addressed. | C．Discussed. | D．Covered. |
| A．Personal growth , joint efforts |
| B．No balance, no neighborhood |
| C．Feed a peacock , face a crime |
| D．Love a peacock, lose a fan |
There are certain things on the Earth that we must not lose. The great animal migration across the Serengeti Plains or the towering pyramids of Egypt are such examples. Every country is proud of
The incredible splendour of heritage sites is a
It is in heritage sites like this
9 . As Plastic Chokes the Ocean, Technology Can Help
Some 8 million tons of non-recyclable (不可回收的) plastic end up in the ocean each year. At an alarming rate, the seas may have more plastic than fish by the middle of the century.
Require a global solution to a global problem.
Pay more attention to the new studies on plastic and technologies. Some of researchers are aiming to make replacements for plastic.
Expect more responsibility from manufacturers.
The world doesn’t have enough time in trying to solve the problem. The sooner these efforts start, the better.
| A．Strengthen the connection between countries. |
| B．Others are doing more research on new technologies. |
| C．Nearly 200 countries agreed to ban plastic pollution. |
| D．Establish production limits for non-recyclable plastic. |
| E．They should care about different laws on plastic in the poorer countries. |
| F．They are well aware of how to reduce the harms their products cause. |
| G．Thus it’s necessary to take immediate action to stop that. |
10 . If the grass looks greener after the skies have cleared, your eyes aren’t cheating you. “There are several reasons rain helps lawns green up,” said Jennifer Knoepp, a soil research scientist with the USDA Forest Service in Otto, North Carolina.
After it rains, there’s typically more water available in the soil for plants. When plants take up that water, they are also taking up nitrogen (氮) from the organic matter that’s in the soil. “As plants grow, their small roots die and new roots grow,” Knoepp said. When that happens, soil microbes (微生物) cause the dead roots to rot. This process is similar to adding fertilizers to your lawn, but only this action takes place underground and naturally, without your awareness. As rain runs into the soil, it activates the microbes to give off more nitrogen. The grass benefits from the freshly fallen rain because the water allows the roots to take up this “new” nitrogen as well as the nitrogen that the microbes have previously produced. At the same time, “the grass is very active with photosynthesis (光合作用)” when the sun returns, Knoepp explained.
Even though rain increases the nitrogen that’s available to your lawn in several ways, you can’t count on nitrogen from rain to meet all the fertilizer needs of your grass or your vegetable garden. Commercial fertilizers are still needed for a balanced fertilizer program, but Knoepp urges caution in applying them. While nitrogen is vital for good plant growth, be sure to follow package directions. Too much of a good thing can be harmful not only to plants but to nearby ponds, lakes, streams and rivers. After all, it’s not green streams but green lawns that homeowners want to see when the clouds depart and the sun returns.
1. What makes the grass look greener after the rain?| A．The cleanup of the rain. | B．Slower photosynthesis. |
| C．The appearance of new roots. | D．Increased absorption of nitrogen. |
| A．The production of nitrogen. | B．The process of plants’ growth. |
| C．The effects of photosynthesis. | D．The method of natural fertilizing. |
| A．Be careful not to overuse fertilizers. | B．Keep a commercial fertilizer program. |
| C．Collect as much rainwater as possible. | D．Take advantage of nitrogen from rain only. |
| A．Skeptical and critical. | B．Cautious and confident. |
| C．Objective and humorous. | D．Scientific and conservative. |
