1 . On September 7, 1991, the costliest hailstorm (雹暴) in Canadian history hit Calgary’s southern suburbs. As a result, since 1996 a group of insurance companies have spent about $2 million per year on the Alberta Hail Suppression Project. Airplanes seed threatening storm cells with a chemical to make small ice crystals fall as rain before they can grow into dangerous hailstones. But farmers in east-central Alberta — downwind of the hail project flights — worry that precious moisture (水分) is being stolen from their thirsty land by the cloud seeding.
Norman Stienwand, who farms in that area, has been addressing public meetings on this issue for years. “Basically, the provincial government is letting the insurance companies protect the Calgary-Edmonton urban area from hail,” Mr. Stienwand says, “but they’re increasing drought risk as far east as Saskatchewan.”
The Alberta hail project is managed by Terry Krauss, a cloud physicist who works for Weather Modification Inc. of Fargo, North Dakota. “We affect only a very small percentage of the total moisture in the air, so we cannot be causing drought.” Dr. Krauss says. “In fact, we may be helping increase the moisture downwind by creating wetter ground.”
One doubter about the safety of cloud seeding is Chuck Doswell, a research scientist who just retired from the University of Oklahoma. “In 1999, I personally saw significant tornadoes form from a seeded storm cell in Kansas,” Dr. Doswell says. “Does cloud seeding create killer storms or reduce moisture downwind? No one really knows, of course, but the seeding goes on.”
Given the degree of doubt, Mr. Stienwand suggests, “It would be wise to stop cloud seeding.” In practice, doubt has had the opposite effect. Due to the lack of scientific proof concerning their impacts, no one has succeeded in winning a lawsuit against cloud-seeding companies. Hence, private climate engineering can proceed in relative legal safety.
1. What does the project aim to do?| A．Conserve moisture in the soil. | B．Forecast disastrous hailstorms. |
| C．Prevent the formation of hailstones. | D．Investigate chemical use in farming. |
| A．Managers of insurance companies. | B．Farmers in east-central Alberta. |
| C．Provincial government officials. | D．Residents of Calgary and Edmonton. |
| A．To compare different kinds of seeding methods. | B．To illustrate the development of big hailstorms. |
| C．To show the link between storms and moisture. | D．To indicate a possible danger of cloud seeding. |
| A．Scientific studies have proved Stienwand right. | B．Cloud-seeding companies will continue to exist. |
| C．The doubt about cloud seeding has disappeared. | D．Private climate engineering is illegal in Canada. |
1. What caused the closure of Pittwater Road?
| A．A fallen tree. | B．A flooded river. | C．A car accident. |
| A．A police officer got hurt. |
| B．A passenger went missing. |
| C．The station roof was broken. |
| A．Drive at low speed. |
| B．Postpone their trips. |
| C．Follow traffic signs. |
3 . All around the world, there are small changes taking place. At the side of roads, behind school playgrounds and on all kinds of unloved pieces of land across towns and cities, tiny forests barely the size of tennis courts are appearing, making a great place for both wildlife and local people who may not normally have easy access to nature. This is the Tiny Forest movement, which aims to prove that the best things in life really do come in small packages.
Tiny forests were first pioneered as a concept in the 1970s by Dr Miyawaki, a Japanese botanist. As he went on to share his concept with others, the idea soon took off in India and other countries before eventually reaching Europe, where it became popular in places like France, Belgium and the Netherlands.
So how does it work? Louise Hartley, who is leading the Tiny Forest project in the UK, explains that the process begins by identifying areas in which a tiny forest could have the biggest influence. “We focus on urban areas where access to nature is often not that easy”, says Hartley. “We see it as a chance to try to break the growing disconnect between people and nature.”
In a Tiny Forest, there must be a minimum of 600 trees, and the trees are planted much closer together and without chemicals or fertilisers (肥料). There are usually around 30 different kinds of all-native tree species (物种). This variety, coupled with the fact that tiny forests grow up to ten times faster than standard forests, means they attract a rich abundance of wildlife. It’s also thought that these places could help reduce the risk of flooding, remove carbon from the atmosphere and fight climate change, as well as improving the mental health of those living locally.
1. What do we know about the Tiny Forest movement?| A．It has achieved notable success. | B．It is led by number of schools. |
| C．It began in Europe in the 1970s. | D．It will spread to the countryside. |
| A．To promote eco-tourism. | B．To improve forestry research. |
| C．To popularise gardening. | D．To get people close to nature. |
| A．They are small in size. | B．They are thickly planted. |
| C．They are foreign species. | D．They are heavily fertilised. |
Kim Cobb, a professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, is one of a small but growing minority of academics
Cobb, for her part, started to ask conference organizers who invited her to speak
5 . Researchers say they have translated the meaning of gestures that wild chimpanzees (黑猩猩) use to communicate. They say wild chimps communicate 19 specific messages to one another with a “vocabulary” of 66 gestures. The scientists discovered this by following and filming groups of chimps in Uganda, and examining more than 5,000 incidents of these meaningful exchanges.
Dr Catherine Hobaiter, who led the research, said that this was the only form of intentional communication to be recorded in the animal kingdom. Only humans and chimps, she said, had a system of communication where they deliberately sent a message to another group member.
“That’s what’s so amazing about chimp gestures,” she said. “They’re the only thing that looks like human language in that respect.”
Although previous research has shown that apes and monkeys can understand complex information from another animal’s call, the animals do not appear to use their voices intentionally to communicate messages. This was a significant difference between calls and gestures, Dr Hobaiter said.
Chimps will check to see if they have the attention of the animal with which they wish to communicate. In one case, a mother presents her foot to her crying baby, signaling: “Climb on me.” The youngster immediately jumps on to its mothers back and they travel off together. “The big message from this study is that there is another species (物种) out there. that is meaningful in its communication, so that’s not unique to humans,” said Dr Hobaiter.
Dr Susanne Shultz, an evolutionary biologist from the University of Manchester, said the study was praiseworthy in seeking to enrich our knowledge of the evolution of human language. But, she added, the results were “a little disappointing”.
“The vagueness of the gesture meanings suggests either that the chimps have little to communicate, or we are still missing a lot of the information contained in their gestures and actions,” she said. “Moreover, the meanings seem to not go beyond what other animal convey with non-verbal communication. So, it seems the gulf remains. ”
1. What do chimps and humans have in common according to Dr Hobaiter?| A．Memorizing specific words. | B．Understanding complex information. |
| C．Using voices to communicate. | D．Communicating messages on purpose. |
| A．It was well designed but poorly conducted. |
| B．It was a good try but the findings were limited. |
| C．It was inspiring but the evidence was unreliable. |
| D．It was a failure but the methods deserved praise. |
| A．Difference. | B．Conflict. | C．Balance. | D．Connection. |
| A．Chimpanzee behaviour study achieved a breakthrough |
| B．Chimpanzees developed specific communication skills |
| C．Chimpanzees: the smartest species in the animal kingdom |
| D．Chimpanzee language: communication gestures translated |
“I'm going to miss you so much, Poppy, "said the tall, thin teenager. He bent down to hug his old friend goodbye. He stood up, hugged his parents, and smiled, trying not to let his emotions(情绪)get the better of him.
His parents were not quite able to keep theirs under control. They had driven their son several hours out of town to the university where he would soon be living and studying. It was time to say goodbye for now at least. The family hugged and smiled through misty eyes and then laughed.
The boy lifted the last bag onto his shoulder, and flashed a bright smile.” I guess this is it, “he said.” I'll see you back home in a month, okay？"His parents nodded, and they watched as he walked out of sight into the crowds of hundreds of students and parents. The boy's mother turned to the dog, “Okay, Poppy, time to go back home.”
The house seemed quiet as a tomb without the boy living there. All that week, Poppy didn't seem interested in her dinner, her favorite toy, or even in her daily walk. Her owners were sad too, but they knew their son would be back to visit. Poppy didn't.
They offered the dog some of her favorite peanut butter treats. They even let her sit on the sofa, but the old girl just wasn't her usual cheerful self. Her owners started to get worried. "What should we do to cheer Poppy up？"asked Dad. “We've tried everything.”
“I have an idea, but it might be a little crazy, “smiled Mom.” Without anybody left in the house but us, this place could use a bit of fun. Let's get a little dog for Poppy."
It didn't take long before they walked through the front door carrying a big box. Poppy welcomed them home as usual, but when she saw the box, she stopped. She put her nose on it. Her tail began wagging(摆动)ever so slowly, then faster as she caught the smell.
注意:
1. 所续写短文的词数应为150左右；
2. 至少使用5个短文中标有下划线的关键词语；
3. 续写部分分为两段，每段的开头语已为你写好；
4. 续写完成后，请用下划线标出你所使用的关键词语。
Para 1. Dad opened the box and a sweet little dog appeared.
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Para 2. A few weeks later, the boy arrived home from university.
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7 . Let's take a minute to think about the water we use. The human body is 60% water and we need to drink lots of water to be healthy. When we are thirsty we just go to the kitchen and fill a glass with clean water.
The truth is that we are lucky enough to have clean water whenever we want，but this is not the case for many people around the world.
| A．We use water indirectly too. |
| B．Every system in our body depends on water to function. |
| C．It is to inspire people to learn more about water-related problems |
| D．If children walk many hours a day to get water，they can't go to school. |
| E．Did you know that around 750 million people do not have clean water to drink？ |
| F．In 1993 the United Nations decided that March 22nd is the World Day for Water. |
| G．In this way，they know how it feels to walk a long distance carrying heavy bottles. |
8 . Milwaukee, Wisconsin, is road testing a new way to keep winter roads ice-free – by spreading on them cheese brine, the salty liquid used to make soft cheese, like mozzarella.
Wisconsin, also called "America's Dairyland," is famous for its cheese. The state produced 2.8 billion pounds of cheese last year! a result, there was a lot of leftover cheese brine. Disposing of(处置)the brine can be expensive. So what should cheese makers do with the waste?
Normally, towns use rock salt to de-ice streets. The salt lowers waters' freezing point, causing ice to melt(融化). But using cheese brine could help both cheese producers and cities save money, while keeping roads safe. Cheese brine has salt in it, which, like the rock salt, helps lower water's freezing point.
In addition to saving money, cheese brine could also be a more environment-friendly option. Many people suspect that all the rock salt used every winter is harming the environment.
Rock salt is made of sodium chloride, the sane con-pound (化合物)in ordinary table salt. Sounds harmless, right? But while you probably add only a small amount of salt to your food, road crews spread about 20 million tons of salt on U.S. Roads every year!
The chemical washes off roads and goes into the ground. There it can pollute drinking water, harm plants. and eat away soil. By spreading cheese brine on streets before adding a layer of rock salt, Milwaukee may be able to cut its rock salt use by 30 percent.
Cheese brine has a downside too – a shell similar to that of bad milk. "I don't really mind it," Emil Norby told Modern Farmer magazine. He works for one of Wisconsin's county highway commissions and came up with the idea of using cheese brine. "Our roads smell like Wisconsin!" he said.
1. Why can cheese brine help keep winter roads ice-free?| A．It is soft. | B．It contains salt. | C．It is warm. | D．It has milk in it. |
| A．Improving air quality. | B．Increasing sales of rock salt. |
| C．Reducing water pollution. | D．Saving the cheese industry. |
| A．barking up the wrong tree | B．putting the cart before the horse |
| C．robbing Peter to pay Paul | D．killing two birds with one stone |
| A．The weather. | B．The scenery. | C．The traffic. |
10 . California has lost half its big trees since the 1930s, according to a study to be published Tuesday and climate change seems to be a major factor(因素).
The number of trees larger than two feet across has declined by 50 percent on more than 46, 000 square miles of California forests, the new study finds. No area was spared or unaffected, from the foggy northern coast to the Sierra Nevada Mountains to the San Gabriels above Los Angeles. In the Sierra high country, the number of big trees has fallen by more than 55 percent; in parts of southern California the decline was nearly 75 percent.
Many factors contributed to the decline, said Patrick McIntyre, an ecologist who was the lead author of the study. Woodcutters targeted big trees. Housing development pushed into the woods. Aggressive wildfire control has left California forests crowded with small trees that compete with big trees for resources(资源).
But in comparing a study of California forests done in the 1920s and 1930s with another one between 2001 and 2010, McIntyre and his colleagues documented a widespread death of big trees that was evident even in wildlands protected from woodcutting or development.
The loss of big trees was greatest in areas where trees had suffered the greatest water shortage. The researchers figured out water stress with a computer model that calculated how much water trees were getting in comparison with how much they needed, taking into account such things as rainfall, air temperature, dampness of soil, and the timing of snowmelt(融雪).
Since the 1930s, McIntyre said, the biggest factors driving up water stress in the state have been rising temperatures, which cause trees to lose more water to the air, and earlier snowmelt, which reduces the water supply available to trees during the dry season.
1. What is the second paragraph mainly about?| A．The seriousness of big-tree loss in California. |
| B．The increasing variety of California big trees. |
| C．The distribution of big trees in California forests. |
| D．The influence of farming on big trees in California. |
| A．Ecological studies of forests. |
| B．Banning woodcutting. |
| C．Limiting housing development. |
| D．Fire control measures. |
| A．Inadequate snowmelt. | B．A longer dry season. |
| C．A warmer climate. | D．Dampness of the air. |
| A．California’s Forests: Where Have All the Big Trees Gone? |
| B．Cutting of Big Trees to Be Prohibited in California Soon |
| C．Why Are the Big Trees Important to California Forests? |
| D．Patrick McIntyre: Grow More Big Trees in California |
