1 . Whether you believe it or not, there is a festival that honors the monkeys. Called “The Monkey Buffet Festival”, it is celebrated in the city of Lopburi. You may find this surprising, but when you ask some locals about the cultural significance of this festival you will find that there is really nothing! The Monkey Buffet Festival is supposed to be for business — a creative and unique way of attracting and increasing tourists in Thailand.
However, you may ask why, of all the animals in Thailand to honor with a festivity, choose monkeys? Interestingly, this is due to ancient folklore (民间传说) that tells the story of Hanuman, a Hindu monkey deity (神) who is believed to have rescued a bride (新娘) from a ten-headed evil spirit. It was said that Hanuman discovered Lopburi, and these monkeys, the ones living in Lopburi receiving a feast every year, are his descendants.
The yearly Monkey Buffet Festival started in 1989 organized by a local businessman. Nowadays, the festival is a major tourist event and travelers from all over the world come here to see these huge numbers of monkeys filling their stomachs.
The Monkey Buffet Festival is a unique event that will give you a new perspective (视角) on how monkeys are treated in Lopburi. It may be a strange festival, but promises a lot of fun especially for people who love animals. These long-tailed monkeys are very used to humans, so tourists have no need to worry that they will go away seeing people getting near them. However, this could be disadvantageous as well. They can be very aggressive (好攻击的) and have been known to take glasses and wallets away from tourists. So keep an eye on monkeys hanging from trees in the area.
Visit Lopburi in Thailand and enjoy the Monkey Buffet. What are you waiting for? Mark your calendar for the last Sunday of November and experience the festivities with the cute little monkeys. Where else can you find a festival where monkeys are fed with jellies, candies, sausages, and a can of Coke to drink!
1. Why is the Monkey Buffet Festival held?| A．To ask people to protect the wild animals. |
| B．To spread Thai cultural significance. |
| C．To develop tourism in Lopburi. |
| D．To show respect to monkeys. |
| A．The reason why monkeys are honored. |
| B．The way the festival is organized. |
| C．The influence of the festival. |
| D．The history of Lopburi. |
| A．Call on people to care about monkeys. |
| B．Encourage people to attend the festival. |
| C．Ask people to reflect on their actions toward nature. |
| D．Discuss the relationship between humans and nature. |
2 . Chemists have spent the past century trying to make plastics that will break down in seawater. As it is, most plastics appear to take centuries to fully degrade in the ocean. But that may change. Scientists have just designed a new plastic that can break down in seawater within weeks, not decades or more.
Back in the 1930s, scientists created a now-popular plastic out of corn and potato starch (淀粉). It’s known as polylactide, or PLA. It’s a polymer (聚合物), which is a molecule made by linking many building blocks — called monomers — into a long string. Scientists had hoped PLA would quickly break down in the environment. And in some places, like compost pits (堆肥坑), it does. But not in seawater. Even after three years in ocean water, PLA remains largely unchanged.
Timo Rheinberger is a PhD student at the University of Twente in the Netherlands. His work on polymers has focused on boosting PLA’s breakdown. As part of that work, he became part of a team that just added some RNA-inspired breaking points to PLA. They put those breaking points in places where monomers in the PLA molecules are linked.
They weakened the links that joined up to 15 percent of a PLA’s monomers. Then, they soaked their samples in artificial seawater and measured how fast these tweaked versions of PLA broke down. The expected final product of PLA’s breakdown was a small molecule called lactic acid. So, they tested for that too.
As the team had hoped, seawater attacked the weakened links between monomers, splitting the polymer chain apart. The more breaking points the researchers added to the polymer, the faster the PLA broke down.
When they weakened 15 percent of PLA’s monomer links, the polymer broke down entirely within just two weeks. When they weakened only 3 percent of the links, the breakdown took about 2 years. This suggests the team can design how quickly PLA will break down in water by adjusting how many weakened links it has.
Mehlika Karamanlioglu teaches biomedical engineering at Istanbul Gelisim University. She, too, has studied environmental breakdown of PLA. “It’s a new approach,” she says of the Dutch technique. Theirs is also “a preliminary study,” Karamanlioglu says. So, more testing must follow. Scientists want to know how the strength of the new PLA compares to old PLA.
Rheinberger agrees. “You need a lot of material to start those studies,” he adds. And so far, his team has made only small amounts of the modified PLA.
Karamanlioglu notes the Dutch team also tested the breakdown of its PLA in artificial seawater. “I wonder if they checked [the water] for pollution,” she adds. If there were microbes (微生物), those microbes may have produced molecules called enzymes that sped up the PLA’s degradation.
1. What can we learn about PLA from the passage?| A．Lactic acid prevents the breakdown of PLA. |
| B．PLA breaks down faster in artificial seawater. |
| C．PLA’s breakdown relies on that of monomers. |
| D．Compost pits are the best places for PLA’s breakdown. |
| A．Systematic. | B．Comparative. | C．In-depth. | D．Early-stage. |
| A．Supportive. | B．Doubtful. | C．Optimistic. | D．Cautious. |
| A．Mehlika is confident about the application of the new PLA. |
| B．The cleanness of water also affects the breakdown of PLA. |
| C．The new PLA has better strength than the old PLA. |
| D．The new PLA have been produced in large amounts. |
One day, my two brothers and I were coming back from the islands
During the polar time of 1910-1911, both teams organized food bases in preparation
Amundsen was the first to leave on 8 September, 1911. He had teams of dogs
5 . Afroz Shah, a lawyer in Mumbai, hasn’t had a weekend off in four years. But he hasn’t spent this time preparing for court. His mission is to save the world’s oceans from plastic pollution.
It’s a calling he found in 2015 after moving to a community in Mumbai called Versova Beach. He had played there as a child and was upset to see how much it had changed. The sand was no longer visible because it was covered by a layer of garbage more than five feet thick — most of it was plastic waste. The unsightly(难看的)mess Shah had stumbled upon is part of a global environmental crisis. It’s predicted that by 2050, there will be more plastic than fish in the ocean.
In October 2015, Shah began picking up trash from the beach every Sunday morning. At first, it was just him and a neighbor, and then he began recruiting others to join in. Word spread and with the help from social media, more volunteers got involved. He’s now spent 209 weekends dedicated to this mission, inspiring more than 200,000 volunteers to join him in what’s been called the world’s biggest beach clean-up. By October 2018, Versova Beach was finally clean and Shah’s clean-up expanded to another beach, as well as a stretch of the Mithi River and other regions of India. So far, the movement has cleared more than 60 million pounds of garbage — mostly plastic waste — from Mumbai’s beaches and waterways.
While he continues to work as a lawyer during the week, Shah now devotes nearly all of his free time to this cause. He also works with coastal communities to tackle plastic pollution at one of the sources. In areas lacking sufficient waste management systems, Shah and his volunteers educate and assist villagers in reducing, managing, and recycling their plastic waste.
1. What has kept Shah busy at weekends over the four years?| A．Handling legal cases. | B．Cleaning up the beach. |
| C．Swimming in the ocean. | D．Fishing on the coast. |
| A．The beach no longer existed. |
| B．The community was in a mess. |
| C．Many fish in the ocean were killed. |
| D．There was severe plastic pollution. |
| A．By raising money to recycle plastic waste. |
| B．By encouraging others to join his clean-up. |
| C．By appealing to people not to throw garbage. |
| D．By devoting all his time to collecting garbage. |
| A．Report. | B．Predict. | C．Deal with. | D．Cover up. |
6 . A researcher with the Australian Antarctic Division left a camera near a large group of emperor penguins. Then two of the birds walked over to check the camera out. The camera was rolling when the penguins started to look into its lens (镜头), resulting in a very cute penguin "selfie (自拍)". That's according to Amy B. Wang of the Washington Post.
Explorer Eddie Gault placed the camera near the Auster Rookery during his visit to Australia's Mawson research station. The Australian Antarctic Division posted a short video from the camera—happy penguins on its social media pages. They wrote that it offered a "bird's eye view of life in Antarctica"!
At the start of the video, we can only see the feet of a penguin. It appears to kick the camera over so its lens faces the sky. As the penguin looks into the camera, another comes into view. The buddies come towards the lens and cock their heads. Then they straighten up and shake their heads. It is as though they have decided that this strange object is not worth their time.
Penguins are "naturally curious" animals, the Australian Antarctic Division writes on its Facebook page.
Other animals have also been known to get involved in the art of the selfie. An eagle in Western Australia once picked up a camera that was supposed to be recording fresh-water crocodiles. It filmed itself flying and touching at the lens.
Then there is a monkey that accidentally started a year-long lawsuit (诉讼) when it took a funny photo of itself with a camera owned by David Slater. He is a British wildlife photographer. Slater published the image of the monkey in a book, which caused People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals to take him to court for breaking the copyright of the so-called "selfie monkey".
Slater said himself that the monkey had pressed the shutter on his camera, which proved to be the heart of the case against him.
As for the Antarctic penguins, the camera was already rolling when they decided to "strike a pose", so the Australian Antarctic Division should be able to avoid a possible lawsuit. But if you happen to be in the Antarctic and see two penguins taking top-down Instagram shots of their latest meal, you know who is responsible.
1. The underlined word "rolling" in Paragraph 1 probably means _____.| A．flashing | B．moving | C．recording | D．turning |
A． | B． |
C． | D． |
| A．he used the monkey's selfie in a book |
| B．the monkey pressed the button on his camera |
| C．the monkey took a photo of him with his camera |
| D．he published a photo of the monkey on the Internet |
| A．In a law book. | B．In a research report. |
| C．In a photographer's diary. | D．In a wildlife magazine. |
In ancient China, many people built walls around their states to protect their land. It was Emperor Qin Shihuang who had the walls
I’m a new senior secondary school student. I feel excited because this school
In Tibet, she saw an antelope that told her they were being killed
8 . Hundreds of scientists, writers and academics sounded a warning to humanity in an open letter published last December: Policymakers and the rest of us must engage openly with the risk of global collapse. Researchers in many areas have projected the widespread collapse as “a credible scenario(情景) this century”.
A survey of scientists found that extreme weather events, food insecurity, and freshwater shortages might create global collapse. Of course, if you are a non-human species, collapse is well underway.
The call for public engagement with the unthinkable is especially germane in this moment of still-uncontrolled pandemic and economic crises in the world's most technologically advanced nations. Not very long ago, it was also unthinkable that a virus would shut down nations and that safety nets would be proven so disastrously lacking in flexibility.
The international scholars’ warning letter doesn't say exactly what collapse will look like or when it might happen. Collapseology, the study of collapse, is more concerned with identifying trends and with them the dangers of everyday civilization. Among the signatories(签署者) of the warning was Bob Johnson, the originator of the “ecological footprint” concept, which measures the total amount of environmental input needed to maintain a given lifestyle. With the current footprint of humanity, “it seems that global collapse is certain to happen in some form, possibly within a decade, certainly within this century,” Johnson said in an email.
“Only if we discuss the consequences of our biophysical limits,” the December warning letter says, “can we have the hope to reduce their speed, severity and harm”. And yet messengers of the coming disturbance are likely to be ignored. We all want to hope things will turn out fine. As a poet wrote,
Man is a victim of dope(麻醉品)
In the incurable form of hope.
The hundreds of scholars who signed the letter are intent(执着) on quieting hope that ignores preparedness. “Let's look directly into the issue of collapse,” they say, “and deal with the terrible possibilities of what we see there to make the best of a troubling future.”
1. What does the underlined word “germane” in Paragraph 3 probably mean?| A．Scientific. | B．Credible. |
| C．Original. | D．Relevant. |
| A．worried | B．puzzled |
| C．surprised | D．scared |
| A．The signatories may change the biophysical limits. |
| B．The author agrees with the message of the poem. |
| C．The issue of collapse is being prioritized. |
| D．The global collapse is well underway. |
9 . Guanmei, a 65-year-old woman of the Dong ethnic group, is the inheritor of the Grand Song of Dong (侗族大歌), a national intangible cultural heritage in China. Her hometown Zaidai Village in Guizhou, southwestern China, is home to the Grand Song of the Dong ethnic group.
The Grand Song of Dong dates from more than 2,500 years ago. The way Dong singers use their vocal cords (声带) is different from how formally trained singers do. It is a folk chorus with multi-parts, no conductor, and no accompaniment. Organically growing from their natural surroundings, it is recognized internationally as “the sound of Nature.”
Before the Dong people had a writing system in 1958, the Dong culture, their history and stories were all recorded by means of songs. As a Dong saying goes, “Rice feeds the body and songs enrich the soul”. The Dong people sing right from their childhood. While not singing, they all work in their rice field.
Guanmei has been singing the Grand Song of Dong all her life, making her a famous singing teacher in her hometown and nearby areas. “The songs are our means of passing on wisdom, knowledge and life experiences to others. I will not exist in this world 100 years later, but Grand songs will. I’m honored to do this job, ” Guanmei said.
Kind-hearted, Guanmei has been volunteering to teach the Grand Song of Dong to the Dong children for over 30 years. Now she has more than 300 students. Guanmei is pleased to see the village children come to her house willingly when they have free time.
“Nowadays, more and more young people leave the village and settle in cities. Decades later, the Dong children out of the village might know nothing about Grand songs. We should do something just now. It’s our mission. What is once lost might be lost forever,” added Guanmei.
1. What makes the Grand Song of Dong known as “the sound of Nature”?| A．The outstanding conductor. |
| B．The special musical instrument. |
| C．The attractive natural environment. |
| D．The inspiration from nature. |
| A．The Dong singers are professionals. |
| B．The Dong culture before 1958 has been largely lost. |
| C．Singing is of vital importance to the Dong people. |
| D．They have a written language with a history of over 2,500 years. |
| A．Concerned. | B．Sympathetic. |
| C．Optimistic. | D．Satisfied. |
| A．To call on young people to return to the Dong village. |
| B．To guide the Dong children to learn the Grand Song of Dong. |
| C．To show a woman’s efforts to keep the Dong culture alive. |
| D．To instruct people to appreciate the Grand Song of Dong. |
10 . Human activity is changing the surface and temperature of the planet. But new research shows it is also changing the sound of the Earth’s oceans and seas.
Scientists say the changes in the sounds of our oceans and seas affect many marine(海洋) animals—from very small fish to huge whales. Sound travels “very far underwater,” Francis Juanes told the reporter. Juanes is an ecologist at the University of Victoria and co-writer of the recent research published in a magazine. “For fish,” he explained, “sound is probably a better way to sense their environment than light.”
Sounds help fish and other marine animals survive. They use sounds to communicate with each other. Sounds also help some ocean animals find food and avoid their hunters. Many ocean animals use sounds to find good places to give birth. However, increased noise from humans is making it harder for these animals to hear each other. The noise comes from shipping traffic, underwater oil and gas exploration, offshore construction, and other noisy human activity.
“For many marine species, their attempts to communicate are being masked by sounds that humans have produced,” said Duarte. The marine ecologist at the Red Sea Research Center co-wrote the paper with Juanes. The Red Sea, Duarte said, is one of the world’s most important shipping passages. It is full of large ships traveling to Asia, Europe, and Africa. Some fish and other animals, he said, now avoid the noisiest areas. Also, the overall number of marine animals has gone down by about half since 1970. In some parts of the ocean, scientists now record “fewer animals singing and calling than in the past—those voices are gone,” said Duarte.
Juanes and Duarte examined studies and research articles about changes in noise volume(音量) and frequency in the world’s oceans. Then they put together a detailed picture of how the ocean soundscape is changing and how marine life is affected.
Climate change, the researchers found, also affects physical processes that shape ocean sounds. These include such things as wind, waves, and melting ice.
Some studies suggest that noise may cause hearing loss of marine animals. Besides, many marine animals are showing higher levels of stress due to noise, which might also affect the immune(免疫) system.
Scientist Juanes says sound pollution may be easier to deal with than other ocean threats. “In theory,” he said, “you can turn down or turn off the sound immediately. It’s not like plastics or climate change, which are much harder to undo.”
1. What can we learn from the passage?| A．Sound noise may result in hearing loss of human beings. |
| B．Sound pollution killed most of the marine animals in the Red Sea. |
| C．Sound noise can influence the communication of marine animals. |
| D．Sound is unlikely to be a better way to sense their environment than light. |
| A．Channel. | B．Address. |
| C．Industry | D．Company. |
| A．what is the main cause of climate change |
| B．what should be done to reduce sound pollution |
| C．how to record changes in noise volume and frequency |
| D．how to enhance the immune system of marine animals |
| A．The Future of Oceans Exploration |
| B．The Changes in the Sounds of Oceans |
| C．Sounds Help Marine Animals Survive |
| D．Humans are Making Oceans Too noisy |
