I must admit, I haven’t always liked animals. In fact, I distrusted them greatly while growing up, and I still fear the ones I don’t know personally. What set my beliefs in stone was being attacked—not once but many times, including the summer after second grade when I was bitten by a rabbit. Then, when I was nine and riding my dirt bike down the road, a large dog charged me and tried to bite my ankle. After all those negative experiences, there was one thing I knew for sure: All creatures, great and small, were no friends of mine.
After college in California, I returned to live the single life in Las Vega. Then I met Lisa. In no time at all, we fell in love, married and moved into a new house. Despite my avoidance of animals, Lisa had a dog called Bailey. Bailey didn’t like me, but he tolerated my existence once he realized I wasn’t going anywhere.
Things changed as spring came. We welcomed a new member of our family: our son Evan. One evening Evan grabbed hold of the dog’s tail. The irritated dog paused and turned to look at his stuck tail but waited patiently until being released. Still the stories I’d heard of animals attacking babies worries me.
Then my worst fear occurred. I sat on the couch (沙发) reading after a long day while my wife worked at the dining-room table paying the bills. I saw Evan crawl across the family-room carpet as he made his way behind the couch. One minute, all was quiet and then Bailey entered the room and headed to where Evan had crawled. I nearly jumped out of my skin when I heard the dog start a fearful barking behind me.
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Throwing the book away, I rushed around the couch with great fear.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Having witnessed our dog killing a scorpion (蝎子) and saving my son, I was speechless.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________2 . Soaring to 29, 035 feet, the famous Mount Everest had long been considered unclimbable due to the freezing weather, the obvious potential fall from cliffs and the effects of the extreme high altitude, often called “mountain sickness.” But that was to be changed by Edmund Hillary.
When he was invited to join the British Everest expedition in 1953, Edmund Hillary was a highly capable climber. The glacier-covered peaks in his hometown in New Zealand proved a perfect training ground for the Himalaya. It was his fourth Himalayan expedition in just over two years and he was at the peak of fitness.
On May 28, 1953, Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay, an experienced Sherpa (夏尔巴人) set out and reached the South Summit by 9 a. m. next day. But after that, the ridge (山脊) slightly fell before rising suddenly in a rocky spur (尖坡) about 17 meters high just before the true summit. The formation is difficult to climb due to its extreme pitch because a mistake would be deadly. Scratching at the snow with his ax, Hillary managed to overcome this enormous obstacle, later to be known as the Hillary Step.
At 11:30 a. m, the two men found themselves standing at the top of the world. “Not until we were about 50 feet of the top was I ever completely convinced that we were actually going to reach the summit.” Hillary later recounted, “Of course I was very, very pleased to be on the summit, but my first thought was a little bit of surprise. After all, this is the ambition of all mountaineers.”
Emerging as the first to summit Mount Everest, Hillary Hillary continued by helping explore Antarctica, and establishing the Himalayan Trust (信托基金), through which he provided a number of beneficial services to the Himalayan peoples. He also a sizeable legacy that mountain climbers have chased ever since. As a young climber said, “It was not just Hillary and Tenzing that reached the summit of Mount Everest. It was all of humanity. Suddenly, all of us could go.”
1. What made Edmund Hillary a capable climber on the 1953 expedition?| A．His undisputed reputation. | B．His remarkable physical condition. |
| C．His previous training on Mount Everest. | D．His exceptional ability to adapt to the cold. |
| A．A mistake Hillary avoided making. | B．A steep spur of rock Hillary conquered. |
| C．An ax Hillary used to scratch snow. | D．A sudden fall of a ridge Hillary skipped. |
| A．Overwhelming joy. | B．Enormous pride. |
| C．Complete disbelief. | D．A touch of astonishment. |
| A．It opens up possibilities for other climbers. |
| B．It enabled him to give back to his hometown. |
| C．It left financial benefits for climbers to pursue. |
| D．It led to friendly regulations for mountaineering. |
Allen was playing in his room. He heard a familiar chirping and rustling from the cage in the bedroom corner. It was his beloved Blue Finch, named Mary. The boy had cared for the bird since he was six, a gift from his mother for graduating from kindergarten and entering primary school. Now, at 12 years old, Allen had just recently celebrated his primary school graduation and was about to take another step in his life journey toward junior high school. For the past six years, Mary was his constant companion and closest friend.
As he grew up, Allen found it difficult to make friends or be close to others. Having had to move around many times and transfer schools due to his father’s work in the military, Allen never felt like he truly belonged in any one place. He always knew it wouldn’t be long before he would have to move yet again. The stress and pressure of a constantly mobile life also led to strain and pressure at home, leading to loud arguments and fights between his mother and father which he could hear from behind closed doors.
But, throughout all of this. Allen’s closest friend and companion-the true source of stability in his life — was Mary, his finch. But Mary was more than just a simple, calm pet: whenever Allen felt sad, the bird would always be singing and chirping, almost as if she sensed how he felt and wanted to lift his spirits. And when Allen fed the bird, Mary always moved across her branch to rest against his finger, never failing to bring a smile to Allen’s face. Yet, one summer day after Allen had come home after a walk at the park he found the window of his bedroom open and the door of Mary’s cage open-the-bird was gone. Suddenly, Allen realized that he must have left the cage open after cleaning it and forgot about the window being open on such a hot day. Upset, Allen fell down to the floor sobbing.
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Upon hearing the noise, Allen’s mother rushed upstairs and asked what had happened.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Filled with anticipation, Allen and his mother went outside to look for Mary.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________4 . I met the Man of the Trees in summer ten years ago, when I was visiting Uncle Jita.
Those were difficult times. People were cutting down our forest, and there was often flooding. Sometimes our water supply was dirty. When our pump(水泵)did have clean water, we had to wait in line for ages. When the pump wasn’t working, we had to walk five kilometres to the closest stream.
But I was happy. I was going to see my favorite uncle. When the day finally arrived, Dad drove me to Uncle Jita’s house and left. Once he saw me, Uncle Jita announced, “Tomorrow we’re going to explore a magical place. Here is my camera, Amy. You can take photos of what you see.”
The following day, we woke up and left early on a boat. The trip was exciting. But when we got off, there was ... nothing in front of us. “I don’t want to take pictures of this,” I complained.
Uncle laughed,“Start walking, Amy. I promise you’ll be surprised.” After some time, I could see the outline of a forest in the distance. A little closer, there was a man waving to us.
“That’s Kabir. The forest you see is his. He planted every single tree.” As we walked towards Kabir, Uncle explained that thirty years ago, the whole area was a wasteland. But one day Kabir decided to change all that and started planting trees. Thanks to him, part of the wasteland is now a paradise(天堂).
Uncle introduced me to Kabir, who had gray hair and a determined face. “Jita told me you like animals. Are you ready to see some?” he asked. “Of course!” I replied. We continued walking and soon were under the trees. I turned my head and was amazed at the difference between the two places. All because of the efforts of one man.
Like Uncle said, Kabir’s forest was magical. We saw deer, rhinos, and even tigers. During lunchtime, Kabir explained how, by planting trees, it was possible to stop the land from eroding(侵蚀).
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Hearing this, I turned to my uncle, “I think we can plant trees too ”
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________In the years that followed, people in our village worked hard to carry out our plan.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________5 . Science reporting on climate change does lead Americans to adopt more accurate beliefs and support government action on the issue, but these gains are fragile, a new study suggests. Researchers found that these accurate beliefs fade quickly when people are exposed to coverage skeptical of climate change.
“It is not the case that the American public does not respond to scientifically informed reporting when they are exposed to it,” said Thomas Wood, associate professor of political science at the Ohio State University. “But even truly accurate science reporting recedes from people’s frame of reference very quickly.”
Results showed that accurate science reporting didn’t persuade only politicians and people who initially rejected human-caused climate change also had their opinions shifted by reading accurate articles. The study involved 2,898 online participants who participated in four waves of the experiment during the fall of 2020.
In the first wave, they all read authentic articles in the popular media that provided information reflecting the seientifie views on climate change. In the second and third waves, they read either another scientific article, an opinion article that was skeptical of climate science, or an article on an unrelated subjeet. In the fourth wave, the participants simply were asked their beliefs about the science of climate change and their policy attitudes.
To rate participants’ scientific understanding. the researchers asked after each wave if they believed that climate change is happening and has a human cause. To measure their attitudes, researchers asked participants if they favored government action on climate change and if they favored renewable energy.
“What we found suggests that people need to hear the same accurate messages about climate change again and again. If they only hear it once, it recedes very quickly,” Wood said. It was significant that accurate reporting had positive effects on all groups, including those who originally rejected climate change. But it was even more encouraging that it affected attitudes.
1. What does the underlined word “recedes” in paragraph 2 mean?| A．Increases. | B．Graduates. | C．Disappears. | D．Strikes. |
| A．The research object. | B．The research result. |
| C．The research purpose. | D．The research procedure. |
| A．To survey the government’s satisfaction rate. |
| B．To make an assessment on their attitudes. |
| C．To teach them scientific understanding. |
| D．To measure action on climate change. |
| A．Science Report Of Climate Change Can Affect Minds |
| B．Online Participants Joined In A Four-Wave Experiment |
| C．Accurate Science Reporting Don’t Persuade Only Politicians |
| D．People Should Hear Accurate Messages About Climate Change |
6 . In southeastern Brazil, local fishers walk into dark waters in search of mullet (鲻鱼) On their own, it would be tricky to find the silvery fish. But the humans get help from an unusual partner: wild bottlenose dolphins.
With nets in hand, the fishers patiently wait as their cetacean (鲸类的) partners drive the fish toward the shore. A signal from the dolphins—usually a deep dive—indicates when they should cast their nets. This fishing partnership has passed down through the generations, lasting for more than a century.
While researchers knew humans profited from this pairing, they couldn't confirm whether it benefited the dolphins. Now, in a new study in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers suggest cetaceans that hunt with humans have more chances to live than those that don't.
“Human-wildlife cooperation in general is a rare phenomenon at a global scale.” says Mauricio Cantor, a biologist at Oregon State University and leader of the study. “Usually humans gain the benefit, and nature pays the cost. But this interaction has been happening for over 150 years.”
Fishers were more successful when they worked with the dolphins. When dolphins were present, the fishers were 17 times more likely to catch prey (猎物) and netted nearly four times more mullet when they timed their casting with the cetaceans' signals. Eighty-six percent of all 4.955 mullet caught during the study period came from “synchronous (同时的) interactions”—when the allies organized their actions perfectly with one another.
The study also revealed dolphins hunting with humans had a 13 percent increase in survival rate over other dolphins. These cooperative dolphins are more likely to stay near the shore, reducing their chance of entanglement (缠绕) in illegal fishing equipment. Besides, the dolphins can take some fish directly from the fishers’ harvest.
1. What do the first two paragraphs talk about concerning Brazilian fishers?| A．They trick dolphins into fishing for them. |
| B．They harvest more fish with dolphins' help. |
| C．They have been training dolphins over a century. |
| D．They cast the fishing nets when dolphins surface. |
| A．Nature favors human beings at a huge cost. |
| B．Fishers benefit from cooperating with cetaceans. |
| C．Human-wildlife interaction is a new global trend. |
| D．Dolphins working with man have higher survival rate. |
| A．Prey. | B．Mullet. | C．Partners. | D．Researchers. |
| A．To appeal for the protection of sea creatures. |
| B．To show a unique human-dolphin relationship. |
| C．To applaud for development in fishing research. |
| D．To encourage fishers to better draw on dolphins. |
7 . During World War II, Duchess Nina Douglas-Hamilton played a vital role in looking after animals.
As the war broke out, the government issued orders for the mass killing livestock (家畜) to prevent them from being captured or destroyed by the enemy. Duchess Nina launched a campaign to save as many animals as possible, and soon became known as the “animal heroine” for her efforts.
Duchess Nina worked with local farmers and animal owners to relocate animals to safer areas, such as the Scottish Highlands. She also established a network of volunteers who helped to care for animals during the war. She organized feeding programs, medical care and transportation, ensuring that animals were well looked after even during the most difficult times. The most challenging aspect of her work was the shortage of food during the war. So she established a vegetable garden and used leftovers to create nutritious meals for animals. She also reached out to the public for donations of food and supplies, and was able to secure enough resources to keep animals healthy and fed.
In addition to her work with domestic animals, Duchess Nina was also a strong advocate for wildlife conservation. She established a center for wild animals Scotland, where she provided a safe place for deer, foxes and other animals that were threatened by the war. She also worked with local protection groups to protect natural habitats.
Duchess Nina’s work during World War II was not without its risks. She frequently risked her life to save animals, often driving through perilous areas.
Sadly, some people saw her efforts as a distraction from the war effort. However, she continued to work tirelessly for animals. After the war, Duchess Nina’s work was recognized by the government and she got an important award for her services to animals.
1. How did Duchess Nina probably feel when she heard the government’s orders?| A．Calm. | B．Worried. | C．Excited. | D．Encouraged. |
| A．Nobody gave her any donations. |
| B．She couldn’t find enough volunteers. |
| C．The animals didn’t have enough food to eat. |
| D．Local farmers didn’t give her enough support. |
| A．To keep domestic animals there. |
| B．To attract local protection groups. |
| C．To provide a home for wild animals. |
| D．To offer a safe place to animal owners. |
| A．Dangerous. | B．Urban. | C．Faraway. | D．Poor. |
8 . Research led by ecologist Bart Hoekstra of the University of Amsterdam shows that birds are affected by the mass use of fireworks on New Year’s Eve up to a distance of 10 km (6 miles) away.
With data from weather radars and bird counts an international team of researchers revealed how many birds take off immediately after the start of the fireworks, at what distance from fireworks this occurs and which species groups mainly react. “Birds take off as a result of an acute flight response due to sudden noise and light. We already knew that many water birds react strongly, but now we also see the effect on other birds throughout the Netherlands, ”says ecologist Bart Hoekstra of the University of Amsterdam. In the scientific journal Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, the researchers therefore argue for large fireworks-free zones.
Last year, other researchers at IBED discovered that geese are so affected by fireworks that they spend an average of 10% longer looking for food than normal during at least the next 11 days. They apparently need that time to restore their energy to their former condition, after fleeing from the fireworks.
Because 62% of all birds in the Netherlands live within a radius of 2. 5 km of inhabited areas, the consequences of fireworks are high for all birds throughout the country. “Flying requires a lot of energy, so ideally birds should be disturbed as little as possible during the cold winter months. Measures to ensure this are especially important in open areas such as grasslands, where many larger birds spend the winter. The effects of fireworks on birds are less pronounced near forests and semi-open habitats. In addition, smaller birds such as tits and finches live there, which are less likely to fly away from disturbance.”
The authors argue for fireworks-free zones in areas where large birds live. Hoekstra: “These buffer zones could be smaller in areas where light and sound travel less far, such as near forests. Furthermore, fireworks should mainly be lit at central locations in built-up areas, as far away from birds as possible. It would be best for birds if we moved towards light shows without sound, such as drone shows or decorative fireworks without very loud bangs.”
1. What can we learn about the research?| A．It’s the first one about fireworks’ effects on birds. |
| B．It’s conducted by collecting data from weather radars. |
| C．It shows the extent of the fireworks’ influence on birds. |
| D．It keeps track of birds throughout Netherlands and beyond. |
| A．To make up for the lost energy. | B．To store more food in case. |
| C．To find a new source of energy. | D．To find a place without fireworks. |
| A．Predictable. | B．Noticeable. |
| C．Admirable. | D．Avoidable. |
| A．Panic in the air | B．Fireworks-free zones |
| C．Fireworks in the world | D．Birds throughout the country |
The total floor area of Chain’s green buildings has been over 6. 6 billion square meters with the country’s efforts to promote high-quality development in urban and rural areas.
The ministry will make continuous efforts
China issued a guideline
The ministry will state a 14th five-year plan on urban and rural living environment planning and take
10 . Throughout history, many species of animals have been threatened with extinction. When Europeans first arrived in North America, more than 60 million buffalo (水牛) lived on the continent. Yet hunting the buffalo was so popular during the 19th century that by 1900 the animal’s population had fallen to about 400 before the government stepped in to protect the species. In some countries today, the elephant faces a similar challenge, as illegal hunters kill the animals for the ivory in their tusks.
Yet not all animals with commercial value face this threat (威胁).The cow, for example, is a valuable source of food, but no one worries that the cow will soon be extinct. Why does the commercial value of ivory threaten the elephant. while the commercial value of beef protects the cow?
The reason is that elephants are a common resource, while cows are private goods. Elephants wander freely without any owners. The hunter has a strong motivation to kill as many elephants as he can find. Because illegal hunters are numerous, each has only a slight motivation to preserve the elephant population. By contrast, cattle live on farms that are privately owned. Each farmer makes great effort to maintain the cattle population on his farm because he harvests the benefit of these efforts.
Governments have tried to solve the elephant’s problem in two ways. Some countries, such as Kenya and Uganda, have made it illegal to kill elephants and sell their ivory. Yet these laws have been hard to put into effect, and elephant populations have continued to dwindle. By contrast, other countries, such as Malawi and Namibia, have made elephants private goods and allowed people to kill elephants, but only those on their own property.
With private ownership and the profit motive now on its side, the African elephant might someday be as safe from extinction as the cow. The ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle pointed out the problem with common resources: “What is common to many is taken least care of, for all men have greater regard for what is their own than for what they possess in common with others.”
1. Why does the author mention buffalo in paragraph 1?| A．To introduce a similar threat to elephants. |
| B．To provide an example of species extinction. |
| C．To offer an explanation for government policies. |
| D．To present the statistics of the buffalo in America. |
| A．They are under different law protection |
| B．They attract different groups of hunters |
| C．They contain different commercial value |
| D．They represent different ownership types |
| A．Bans on killing elephants for ivory |
| B．Effective laws for elephant protection. |
| C．Methods of making elephants private goods |
| D．Government policies on the elephant’s problem |
| A．People hold little regard for others’ property |
| B．People want to profit from common resources |
| C．People care more about their own possession |
| D．People tend to take what they own for granted |
