1 . Have you ever noticed that sometimes you may be ill suited or perfect for the same thing?     1     Here are ways weather can affect your mood that you never noticed.

You’re more helpful on sunny days. Sun makes you happy!     2     Therefore, on sunny days, you’re more likely to help those in need than on days filled with clouds and gloom. Next time you want to volunteer, try to pick a sunny day— you’ll be more helpful to the people.

    3     Summer sales, here we come! Get ready to open your wallet if you go out to a mall during a nice, sunny day. Research shows that you are more likely to spend money when it’s sunny. My theory is that the sun makes us feel happier and less stressed about our life (including our financial life) -therefore we spend more money! Thus, try not to go shopping on shiny days if you want to save money.

Cold temperatures impact complex physical tasks.     4     It’s like you don’t want to move. Have you ever tried untying (解开) a knot while your hands were cold? Be careful when trying to perform complex physical tasks in the cold weather— too much time in low temperatures can cause hypothermia (体温过低) !

Lack of sunlight makes you eat more. Bears hibernate (冬眠) while humans just start swallowing everything in sight. Well, bears eat much too, before they go to sleep.     5     Your body needs extra fuel to fight off the cold. Unfortunately, often you don’t actually need the extra food because a lack of sun doesn’t necessarily mean you’re cold.

A．Sunlight makes you spend more money.

B．Sunny days make you feel more tired.

C．The secret lies in distinct weather conditions.

D．Being less stressed leads to a poor life.

E．Happy people tend to be more willing to help others.

F．The cold, dark winter months make it much easier to overeat.

G．When you’re cold, your muscles feel slow and dull.

2 . A new study has found that light pollution is making the night sky brighter and the stars dimmer (暗淡的). The study examined data from more than 50, 000 citizen star watchers across the world, It found that man-made, or artificial lighting is making the night sky about 10 percent brighter each year. Data for the study was collected from 2011 to 2022.

The result was a much faster rate of change than scientists had estimated in the past. As cities expand and put up more lights, a “skyglow” is created in the sky. Skyglow is a term scientists use to describe light that becomes more intense. The research team gave an example to explain the result. If a child is born where 250 stars can be seen on a clear night, by the time that child turns 18, only 100 stars will be seen.

Past studies involving artificial lighting used satellite images of the Earth at night. They had estimated the yearly increase in sky brightness to be about 2 percent a year. But the satellites used are not able to identify light with wavelengths toward the blue end of the spectrum (光谱) — including light given off by energy-effective LED bulbs. The researchers noted that more than half the new outdoor lights put in across the United States during the past 10 years have been LED lights. The satellites are also better at finding light that gets spread upward like a spotlight than light that spreads out from side to side, Kyba said.

“Migratory songbirds normally use starlight to orient (确定方向) where they are in the sky at night,” said Georgetown University biologist Emily Williams. She was not part of the study. And when sea turtle babies hatch, they use light to orient toward the ocean — light pollution is a huge deal for them.

Falchi, the physicist at the University of Santiago de Compostela, said part of what is being lost is a universal human experience. “The night sky caused the generations before ours to have exciting new ideas or made them want to create something, especially in art, music, science and literature,” he added.

1. What does the new study find according to Paragraph 1?

A．Stars are observed by more citizens.

B．Stars are much brighter than in the past.

C．Light pollution continues to darken stars.

D．Light makes the night sky more beautiful.

2. Why did the research team give an example of a child?

A．To highlight an experiment.

B．To present an assumption.

C．To clarify a concept.

D．To explain the result of artificial light.

3. How do baby turtles orient toward the ocean?

A．By the moonlight.	B．By the starlight.
C．By the sunlight.	D．By the spotlight.

4. What might the generations before ours think of the night sky according to Falchi?

A．Inspirational.

B．Mysterious.

C．Awesome.

D．Scared.

3 . It’s a common belief that cats hate water. They don’t beg to play with water or jump in a pond or pool like dogs do. But what makes them hate one of the most plentiful substances on Earth? They have to drink it to survive, so what’s the big deal?

The easy answer is that they’re just not used to being wet. Cats clean themselves by licking (舔), so humans don’t usually bother to introduce them to bathing in water the way we do with dogs. Show cats, for example, to learn very early on to take baths and they don’t have that typical fear of water. If you want a cat that likes water, introduce it as a kitten to the idea that water is nice. Ideally, you start introducing them to water during their socialization period before they reach l6 weeks old.

The cat’s preference for bathing itself without any help from humans is another factor in its dislike of water. All that licking means cats have little oil buildup on their fur. Oil helps avoid water, so when cats do get wet, the water soaks all the way down to their skin. It makes their fur feel heavy and they can feel less quick and flexible.

We also use water for punishment. When they jump on the counter or lick our bowl of yogurt, or scratch (抓) the arm of the couch, we often spray (喷洒) them with water. It works because it’s an unpleasant surprise. It’s cold and uncomfortable, so they stop the behavior we don’t want them to do and run off to stare at us from a distance.

But not all cats hate all water. Big cats — like tigers — often even go for a dip. Even house cats like to drink from running water or play at the edge of a filled bathtub. They seem to enjoy the splashy noise and the sparkle of light on the water’s surface. Some breeds of pet cats even like to swim!

1. Why do cats hate water according to the text?

A．They don’t need any water.

B．Water is harmful to their health.

C．Being wet makes them uncomfortable.

D．Their masters forbid their playing with water.

2. What can we do to make cats like water?

A．Introduce water to cats when they are young.

B．Stop cats cleaning themselves by licking.

C．Let cats take baths with water like dogs.

D．Try to spray them with water.

3. What can be known about the cat after being sprayed with water?

A．It would wander about looking for food.

B．It would expect love and care from its master.

C．It would enjoy the cool feeling of being wet and cold.

D．It would feel angry about being sprayed.

4. What does the text mainly talk about?

A．How do people punish cats?

B．Why do most cats hate water?

C．When is the best time for cats to bathe?

D．What is the difference between cats and dogs?

4 . Every week, Angela looked at her recycling bin, filled with shampoo bottles and plastic containers, with mixed feelings. Sure, it was a lot of plastic, but it was going to be recycled. Or so she thought. Then, her husband sent her some articles revealing that less than 6% of the country’s plastic gets recycled. She was shocked.

Determined to cut back on her plastic consumption, Angela got a starter kit from a company selling refillable household cleaners (家用清洁器). In it were tablets, containing concentrated hand soap as well as glass and bathroom cleaners, and four empty containers. She filled each one with tap water, then dropped in a tablet and watched it dissolve. If she was happy with the cleaners, she would order more tablets but reuse the containers. No new plastic required.

Given plastic’s harmful effects on the environment, nearly three quarters of Americans say they are trying to reduce their reliance on single-use plastic, according to Pew Research Center. Since plastic is everywhere and avoiding it altogether is extraordinarily difficult, some, like Angela, have revived a once-customary practice: refilling containers. Household cleaners seem particularly prepared for a refill revolution, for many can be easily concentrated and reconstituted (with water. If just 10% to 20% of plastic packaging are reused, a report from the World Economic Forum estimates, the amount of plastic waste entering the ocean will be cut in half.

Not everyone is as enthusiastic, though. Jan Dell, a chemical engineer, noted that many cleaning products are packaged in PET or HDPE, two types of plastic with relatively high recycling rates. So she is less concerned about them but far more concerned about the packaging of other products. “What companies should be focusing on is everything else that isn’t recyclable, that is single use and that often becomes plastic pollution,” she said, pointing to plastic bags and cups. “This is just a classic example of big corporations doing something to attract people’s attention over here on something that’s not the main issue to distract from all the single-use plastic they’re pushing out.”

1. Why is Angela mentioned?

A．To promote a tablet.	B．To lead in the topic.
C．To clarify a concept.	D．To recommend a kit.

2. What does the underlined word “dissolve” in paragraph 2 mean?

A．Float over water.	B．Turn over in water.
C．Change color in water.	D．Mix with water.

3. What’s Jan Dell’s attitude towards the deeds of big corporations?

A．Critical.	B．Favourable.
C．Conservative.	D．Unconcerned.

4. Where is the text probably taken from?

A．A chemistry paper.	B．An academic report.
C．A lifestyle magazine.	D．A cleaner advertisement.

5 . This summer, daytime temperatures topped 100 degrees for a full month in northwest China. Southern Europe experienced waves of 100-plus degree days. Heat waves show a serious reality: human-driven climate change is making extreme heat worse worldwide. But health-threatening heat isn’t the only result of record-breaking weather: air pollution happens when the temperatures rise according to a new report from the World Meteorological Organization.

The new report, which focuses on 2022, shows the growing risk of air pollution connected to wildfires. Hotter temperatures increase the risk of large the risk of large, hot-burning fires, which can pump enormous plumes of smoke into the air. That smoke causes health problems near the fire but also for people thousands of miles downwind.

Extreme heat, also drives up the likelihood of drought, which in turn makes big dust storms more likely. Great clouds of fine dust blew off major deserts last year, particularly affecting the Arabian Peninsula region. Southern Europe also got hit by a major dust storm after a heat wave baked the deserts of northern Africa in the summer.

“That’s a very bad combination of conditions,” says Julie Nicely, an atmospheric chemist at the University of Maryland, who worked on the report. That mix is particularly dangerous for elderly people, or people with breathing sensitivities. “That is very bad for the lungs and the cardiovascular (心血管),” she says.

Air pollution levels have dropped in the past few decades in response to environmental regulations like the Clean Air Act in the United States. Ozone pollution (臭氧污染), however, remains a problem. The report authors point out that the extra heat in the atmosphere driven by climate change overpowers even the gains made by strict environmental protections. The authors suggested focusing on the importance of slowing or changing human-caused climate change as quickly as possible.

“Climate change and air quality cannot be treated separately. They go hand in hand and must be solved together to break this cycle,” WMO Secretary General Petteri Taalas said in a press release.

1. Why is the extreme weather in northwest China and southern Europe mentioned in Para l?

A．To introduce the topic.

B．To show the serious situation.

C．To warn people of the bad weather.

D．To compare two countries’ weather.

2. What can we learn from the last two paragraphs?

A．Air pollution is likely to be solved in the future.

B．Climate change and air quality are closely connected.

C．It’s no use slowing or changing human-caused climate change.

D．People’s efforts to protect the environment make no difference.

3. What’s the result of environmental regulation like the Clean Air Act?

A．It deals with the air pollution completely.

B．It makes a big difference to the air problem.

C．It has made the problem of air pollution worse.

D．It is partly effective in dealing with air pollution.

4. Where is the text most probably taken from?

A．A science magazine.

B．A travel brochure.

C．A research paper.

D．An encyclopedia.

6 . Researchers have known for decades that orcas (逆戟鲸) across the North Pacific have harmful pollutants in their system.

Now, a new study reveals orcas in the western North Atlantic, including those in the Arctic, are significantly more polluted than animals in the east — a finding that “shocked” study leader Anaïs Remili, a postdoctoral researcher at McGill University in Montreal. The research strongly points to their diet playing a major role in the level of pollutants, rather than their location.

The study looked at the presence of persistent organic pollutants, or toxic chemicals that degrade slowly and accumulate in the body, in the blubber (鲸脂) of orcas across the North Atlantic. These pollutants, relics of industrial and agricultural processes, “have a tendency to bind to fat,” says Remili, whose study was published in October in the journal Environmental Science & Technology. These chemicals weaken orcas’ immune systems, disrupt their endocrine (内分泌) function, prevent growth and brain development, and even interfere with reproduction.

Pollutants increase as they move up through the food chain, and the orcas that consume top predators — for example, those that primarily eat other marine mammals rather than fish—are most polluted. Thanks to their high body fat and position as apex (最高点) predators, orcas are some of “the most contaminated animals on the planet,” Remili says.

Her earlier research showed that eastern North Atlantic orcas primarily feed on herring (鲱鱼); mid-North Atlantic orcas feed on seals and mackerel (鲭鱼); and western North Atlantic orcas feed on baleen whales, porpoises (海豚) and seals.

It makes sense that western North Atlantic orcas would have higher pollutants, due to their diet, but “you would expect less contaminants overall in the Arctic compared to industrialized areas,” such as off the east coast of North America, Remili says.

“We’ve really come to learn that you are what you eat,” says Peter Ross, senior scientist and healthy waters program director at the Raincoast Conservation Foundation in British Columbia, who wasn’t involved in the study. “The top of the food chain, as illustrated by these long-lived killer whales, is extremely easy to hurt.”

1. What can we know according to Anaïs Remili’s study?

A．The polluted orcas in the Eastern Atlantic are in the lead.

B．The orcas’ immune system is influenced negatively by chemicals.

C．The blubber of orcas is easy to break down and accumulate in the body.

D．Orcas’ location is more important than their diet in the level of pollutants.

2. In paragraph 4, who is the most polluted animals on the Earth?

A．Those feeding on fish.	B．Those feeding on marine plants.
C．Those feeding on predators.	D．Those feeding on marine mammals.

3. What is the paragraph 5 mainly about?

A．Orcas’ tastes vary from place to place.	B．Orcas can be particular about food.
C．Orcas are fond of fish and shrimps.	D．Orcas can only be found in the Atlantic.

4. What can we infer from Paragraph 6—7?

A．Orcas’ diet resulted in more pollutants.	B．The marine food chain needs to be protected.
C．Peter Ross participated in the study unwillingly.	D．Pollutants found in the Arctic orcas are not the most.

7 . According to a new study, human noise is a “major global pollutant” that harms a wider range of animal life than we tend to think. Published in the journal Biology Letters, the study suggests noise pollution not only harms lots of animals, but also threatens the survival of more than 100 different species.

Lots of species rely on sound for communication, for example, including many amphibians, birds, insects and mammals which use sound for vital business like finding mates or warning about predators (捕猎者). If noise pollution drowns out enough of these messages. it can threaten survival and the stability of their populations.

On the other hand, noise pollution can make it harder for some predators to find food Bats and owls rely on sound to hunt, for instance, which may not work if noise pollution drowns out the sounds of their prey like insects and mice. Even if noise pollution is mild, it might still force them to spend more time and energy searching for food, which could be enough to cause a decline.

Noise pollution is a well-known risk for whales and dolphins, but it threatens other sea animals, too. The researchers cite fish larvae, which are easily drawn to the sounds of coral reefs (珊瑚礁). This is how they find suitable habitats, but if their journey features too much noise from ships and other human sources, more fish larvae may get lost or move into wrong reefs, potentially reducing their lifespan.

Similarly, noise pollution influences the way animals migrate (迁徙), which in turn can have chain effects for ecosystems along migration routes. Some migrating birds avoid areas with noise pollution, the researchers note, which may change not only where they travel, but also where they establish long-term homes and raise their young. Many ecosystems and non-migrating species have come to depend on the arrival of migrating birds, and many others may be unprepared for their sudden absence, so this could cause a series of ecological changes.

“Noise must be considered as a global pollutant and we need to develop strategies to protect animals from noise for their livelihoods,” says Kunc, the lead author of the study.

1. What is the new study mainly about?

A．The sources of noise pollution.	B．The dangers of noise pollution to animals.
C．Why people should lower noise levels.	D．How animals deal with noise pollution.

2. What can we infer about bats and owls from paragraph 3?

A．They are very sensitive to sound.	B．Their hunting abilities are weakening.
C．They are easily attracted by sounds.	D．Their populations are sharply declining.

3. How may noise pollution affect migrating animals?

A．They may abandon their young.	B．They may give up their migration.
C．They may change their migration routes.	D．They may develop new eating habits.

4. Which of the following may Kunc agree with?

A．Measures must be taken to reduce noise pollution.

B．Noise pollution affects the way animals reproduce.

C．Migrating animals will die out due to noise pollution.

D．Nature reserves should be built to stop the loss of habitats.

8 . This Bali Motorbike City Tour is very interesting and you can see closely the real Balinese urban with their social life and traditional cultures. You can experience the best places of interest in Denpasar Bali.

Kumbasari Market

Kumbasari Market and Badung Market can be seen as one unit. Kumbasari Market is just a stone’s throw away from Pasar Badung. Kumbasari Market is the perfect complement (补充) to Badung Market as it is a pure art market. Paintings, or woodcarvings, just to name a few, can be bought at Pasar Kumbasari for very local prices.

Jalan Legian

In this street, we will find so many shops along the street selling trinkets and stuff. It is one of the most happening places to shop in Kuta. We can buy a variety of goods from here. There are also luxury dress shops on Legian street. We will also notice a 2002 bombing memorial (纪念碑) on the street.

Krisna Sunset Road

Here, we will find Bali souvenirs at a perfect price. Find bags, necklaces, sarongs, fabrics, wooden craft, and even local food items. It is a perfect place for last-day shopping and buy all things on your shopping list from here.

Balinese Cuisine class at The Amala

Balinese Cuisine is one of the most complex, varied and delicious cuisines in the world. Eating real Balinese food is an unforgettable cultural experience. You will get to be guest sous chef for the day, starting in the morning picking the best produce at market, then discussing recipes and finally preparing, cooking and sampling your own delicious creations.

1. What do we know about Badung Market?

A．It only deals in artworks.	B．It sells goods at a very high price.
C．It is the best place to visit in Bali	D．It is a perfect choice for last-day shopping.

2. What can you do at Jalan Legian?

A．Learn painting.	B．Taste local food
C．Purchase top-end clothes.	D．Visit a war museum.

3. Where can you experience cooking?

A．Kumbasari Market.

B．Jalan Legian.

C．Krisna Sunset Road.

D．The Amala.

9 . Solar stills (蒸馏器) provide a clever and simple means of purifying dirty or salty water, but they work at a rather slow rate. A new material has been shown to boost their performance, and it’s made from fruit waste which would otherwise be thrown away.

In its most basic form, a conventional solar still consists of a basin of undrinkable water that is set beneath a cover. The water evaporates (蒸发) as it’s heated by the sun, condensing (凝结) on the inside surface of the cover. That condensation—which is pure, clean water-drops down the cover and is collected in a separate container for drinking. In order to warm the dirty/salty water at a faster rate, scientists have developed materials that float on its surface, transforming sunlight into heat. They commonly use carbon obtained from coal.

To seek a less costly and more environmentally-friendly alternative, Prof. Edison and colleagues at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University looked to something that is free for the taking—fruit waste. More specifically, the scientists tried out coconut peels, orange peels and banana peels.

In a simple carbonization process, the fruit waste was heated at 850℃for a few hours, and mixed with a kind of chemical substance. Doing so transformed the fruit waste into a new material which has a very highlight-to-heat transforming efficiency.

When tested in a small solar still, this new material proved to be very effective at transforming sunlight into heat, causing the dirty/salty water to evaporate much more rapidly. And because the material is full of holes, the waters team is able to rise right through it, subsequently condensing on the inside of the still’s cover.

Prof. Edison and his team found material obtained from the coconut peels worked best, as it transformed sunlight to heat with an efficiency rate of 94%. They are now developing the technology further, and are seeking industry partners to help with its commercialization.

1. What is the paragraph 2 mainly about?

A．The working principle of solar stills.

B．The advantages of conventional solar stills.

C．The new materials of building a solar still.

D．The different ways of purifying dirty water.

2. Why did Prof. Edison and his colleagues tryout fruit waste as an alternative?

A．To solve the problem of environmental pollution.

B．To find out more eco-friendly materials.

C．To expand the applied range of the solar still.

D．To make solar stills much easier and less costly.

3. What did the scientists do in the carbonization process?

A．Get more wastewater from the solar still.

B．Test chemical substances in the solar still.

C．Obtain an efficient water-purifying material.

D．Take measures to improve water quality.

4. What is the best title of the text?

A．Scientists are transforming sunlight into heat

B．Simple process turns fruit waste into new material

C．Solar still s are the best way to get drinking water

D．New technology helps, solar stills reach the customers

10 . A new study shows homing pigeons (鸽子) combine precise internal compasses and memorized landmarks to retrace a path back to their home—even four years after the previous time when they made the trip.

Testing nonhuman memory keeping is challenging in research studies. “It’s rare that there is a gap of several years between when an animal stores the information and when it is next required to get it back,” says Dora Biro, a zoologist at the University of Oxford. In a recent study, Biro and her colleagues compared domestic homing pigeons’ paths three or four years after the birds established routes back to their home from a farm 8.6 kilometers away. The study built on data from a 2016 experiment in which pigeons learned routes in different social contexts during several flights-on their own or with peers that did or did not know the way.

Using data from GPS devices temporarily attached to the birds’ backs, the researchers compared the flight paths a group of pigeons took in 2016 with many of the same birds’ routes in 2019 or 2020, without the birds visiting the release site in between. Some birds missed a handful of landmarks along the way, but many others took “strikingly similar” routes to those they used in 2016, “It was as if the last time they flew there was just the day before, not four years ago,” says Oxford zoologist and study co-author Julien Collet.

The team found that the pigeons remembered a route just as well if they first flew it alone or with others and performed much better than those that had not made the journey in 2016. “The result is not surprising, but it provides new confirmation of homing pigeons’ remarkable memory. It closes the distance a little bit between our overconfident human cognitive (认知的) abilities and what animals can do,” says Verner Bingman, who studies animal navigation at Bowling Green State University and was not involved in the study.

1. What does paragraph 1 mention about homing pigeons?

A．The time of leaving home.	B．The location of their birth.
C．The ways they navigate home.	D．The reasons for their taking trips.

2. How did Biro and her colleagues conduct the study?

A．Through questionnaires.	B．Through information assumptions.
C．Through lab experiments on animals.	D．Through comparative analysis of data.

3. What did the researchers use to get the pigeons’ flight routes according to paragraph 3?

A．Prediction method.	B．Tracking method.
C．Expert consultation.	D．Literature consultation.

4. What can we learn about animal cognitive abilities from Verner Bingman’s words?

A．They are underestimated.	B．They have been declining.
C．They are much lower than humans’.	D．They have never been confirmed.