1 . Working Together to Save the Sea Turtles
Florida has some of the best beaches in the world. Thousands of people visit the state to enjoy the sand. But these beaches are also home to five species of sea turtles. A major problem is facing these interesting creatures.
Some volunteers and researchers in Florida take direct action to help the turtles. They look closely at the sand to find the fin (鳍) marks the mother sea turtles left there.
These are not the only Floridians taking action to help protect these creatures. Florida’s government has passed laws to save the turtles. One of these laws is “Florida’s Marine Turtle Protection Act”. This law prohibits anyone from disturbing or destroying marine turtles, nests, or eggs.
Another way Floridians work together to save these creatures is through organizations like the Sea Turtle Conservancy. The Sea Turtle Conservancy helps people take steps that will help reduce the threats that put sea turtles in danger. For instance, bright lights on buildings near the beach can negatively impact sea turtles. Baby sea turtles usually hatch on the sandy beach and head to the ocean. When there are bright lights coming from the other side of the shore far from the ocean, the baby turtles get confused.
| A．Many of them do not make it to the ocean and die. |
| B．Some of these turtle species are in danger of going extinct. |
| C．This helps them to locate where the sea turtles laid their eggs. |
| D．It also helps make sure that sea turtles’ natural habitats are protected. |
| E．Female sea turtles come from the ocean and onto these beaches at night. |
| F．They use their fins to move back across the beach and return to the ocean. |
| G．Every Floridian can do their part to protect sea turtles and their environment. |
2 . Anuar Abdullah has always had a special feeling for the ocean. In the 1980s, he settled in Perhentian as a diving instructor and fell in love with corals. Twice daily, he went out to sea, staying underwater for as long as his oxygen supply allowed. He learned the shapes and textures (纹理) of coral reefs long before he knew their Latin names. He studied the living conditions—the water temperature, the sunshine, the diversity(多样性) of ocean life—and saw how just one of those factors could bring about large-scale death.
Abdullah spent two decades experimenting with how to grow coral reefs in the ocean. He didn’t have a degree in marine (海洋的) biology or a research lab, but he had his own ways. Almost all the materials he used to grow corals came directly from the ocean. He didn’t use steel pipes or bricks—which he couldn’t afford—instead, he gathered rocks from the seafloor, piling them so they wouldn’t be knocked down by tidal waves. While others might depend on a lab to break live coral into pieces that were in turn used for growing, he searched for broken pieces of coral in existing reefs and fixed them to the rocks using animal-friendly glue. When he needed other materials, he started by searching the beach for waste.
Every day, the locals saw him on his knees examining corals in the ocean. Sometimes, he picked up a rock to which he had fixed a piece of coral several weeks earlier, and said very quietly, “My little acropora (鹿角大珊瑚), how are you doing today?” The locals whispered about how he’d spent days in the water speaking to corals as if they were people. “Everyone thought I was stupid,” said Abdullah, “But I knew I was doing the most important thing in the world.”
Actually, Abdullah was right. Now, in a world rapidly losing its coral reefs to climate change and environmental damage, he has become an increasingly influential expert on how to bring them back to life. Thousands have traveled from around the world to learn from Abdullah how to grow corals, with some eventually leaving their jobs to join his projects full time. With his 700 active volunteers, he has already saved about 125 acres of coral reefs.
1. Abdullah went out to sea twice daily to ________.| A．study coral reefs | B．have diving training |
| C．check his oxygen supply | D．share his feelings for the sea |
| A．eco-friendly and practical | B．traditional and indirect |
| C．high-tech and affordable | D．scientific and expensive |
| A．searched for waste to make a living | B．received a degree in marine biology |
| C．talked to everyone about coral reefs | D．became an expert on coral protection |
| A．Anyone with a dream is amazing. | B．Achievement provides true pleasure. |
| C．An individual can make a difference. | D．The strong man is strongest when alone. |
3 . Episodic memory (情景记忆) allows humans to revisit past personal experiences in their minds, and it was once thought to be a special skill of humans. Although there are still arguments about the extent of this type of memory in non-human animals, scientists have proved that creatures like rats and dogs can pass tests that are developed to assess episodic memory over the past two decades. “Curiously, there is a lack of research investigating dolphins’ episodic memory,” University of Cambridge cognitive (认知的) scientist James Davies says. Therefore, this surprising fact encourages him to fill this gap.
The team used “where” and “who” questions in their research, each on a different test. Each dolphin was first trained to retrieve a ball from the water, and then trained to get a ball by approaching a person holding it in front of them while ignoring an empty-handed person standing at a different spot. During this training, the locations were randomized (使随机化) and the person holding the ball differed each time, so that those details were irrelevant to learning the retrieving behavior. Then, for the tests, the dolphins were asked to retrieve the ball as they had learned to do, but after 10 minutes, something changed-this time, the ball couldn’t be seen, as it was now behind one of the two people’s backs. In the “where” tests, the ball was hidden in the same spot as in the training, but both people had been changed, while in the “who” tests, the locations of the people changed but the ball remained with the person who’d had it previously.
Eight dolphins went through each of the two tests, separated by at least 48 hours. All the dolphins got it right in choosing the correct spot on the “where” experiments, and seven achieved success on the “who” experiments.
Kelly Jaakkola, a psychologist, says that based on their cognitive skills, dolphins are a good candidate for having episodic-like memory, and this study goes really far in showing that. She also says, “The more we look for such capabilities in non-human animals, the more species we’ll likely find them in.” She adds, “An exciting question is therefore ‘Where do we draw that line? Which animals do have it, which animals don’t, and what sort of cognitive or neurological or social characteristics do those animals share? ’ That’s going to be the fun part of the game.”
1. What does the underlined word “retrieve” in Paragraph 2 probably mean?| A．Fetch. | B．Move. | C．Throw. | D．Play. |
| A．The locations of the people involved in the tests. |
| B．The memory tasks that dolphins need to perform. |
| C．The ability of dolphins to communicate with humans. |
| D．The dolphins’ characteristics related to their memory processing. |
| A．Dolphins pass the tests as a result of training. |
| B．It is very likely that dolphins are affected by people during the tests. |
| C．Scientists will probably find episodic memory in all non-human animals. |
| D．The influence of dolphins’ familiarity with a location or a person is avoided. |
| A．Dolphins Are the Most Intelligent Animals |
| B．Dolphins May Remember Personal Experiences |
| C．Episodic Memory Is Important for Humans and Animals |
| D．A Scientific Method Is Used to Study Dolphins’ Memory |
4 . They’re tough breeds and they have complicated names to match. But free-spirited Aussie dogs Tank the Rottweiler-cross and Muck the Staffie-cross instinctively (本能地) knew when a small child was in danger, and their protective
One December afternoon, Georgie Hillier thought her two-year-old son Max was playing in the back garden of their home. But when she went to check, there was no
Then she found Tank with the neighbor’s dog Muck. They were both running around the dams, barking furiously and
“I just panicked. I was running around, checking the sides of the dams,“ Georgie told Sara Hicks.
There was no one there to
For saving the toddler’s life, the daring two dogs received the RSPCA’s Purple Cross award for bravery- plus two very large bones.
1.| A．measures | B．natures | C．skills | D．effects |
| A．response | B．exhibition | C．shadow | D．sign |
| A．approach | B．search | C．guard | D．discover |
| A．stuck | B．covered | C．hidden | D．trapped |
| A．After | B．Though | C．Unless | D．While |
| A．untouched | B．unwrapped | C．unknown | D．unharmed |
| A．prove | B．witness | C．indicate | D．explain |
| A．edge | B．island | C．scene | D．beach |
| A．apparent | B．essential | C．pleasant | D．pitiful |
| A．separated | B．discouraged | C．freed | D．rescued |
| cause global warming, pick up, sharing cars, get stuck in a traffic jam, are addicted to, make excuses, protect the environment, do a lot of harm |
Many people often
Too many cars
6 . Buck’s first day on the beach was a nightmare. Every hour was filled with shock or surprise. He had been suddenly removed from civilization and thrown into the heart of a primitive world. Here there was neither peace nor rest, nor a moment’s safety. It was essential to be constantly alert, for these dogs and men were not town dogs and men. They were savages, all of them, who knew no law but the law of Club and Tooth.
Buck had never seen dogs fight like these, and his first experience taught him an unforgettable lesson. He was fortunate that it was Curly who was the victim, not himself. Curly, in her friendly way, tried to make friends with a husky dog. The dog was the size of a full-grown wolf, but not half as large as Curly was. There was no warning: only a fast jump, a metallic cut of teeth, and a jump back. Curly’s face was ripped open from eye to mouth.
It was wolf fighting, to strike and jump away, but there was more to it than this. Thirty or forty huskies ran to watch. They surrounded the fighters in a silent, watching circle, all licking their lips. Curly rushed at the husky, who struck again and jumped away. He met her next rush with his chest in a strange way that knocked her over. She never got up again. This was what the watching huskies had waited for. They closed in on her, snarling and yelping. Curly was buried, screaming in pain, under the dogs’ bodies.
1. Why did Buck have to be ‘constantly alert’?| A．He couldn’t fall asleep | B．He was worried about Curly |
| C．He had to make sure he was always safe | D．He was in a lot of pain |
| A．You must have a tooth and club in the wild | B．The strongest make the rules |
| C．The weakest must survive in the wild | D．The tooth must fight the club |
| A．Run at the enemy non-stop | B．First to strike wins |
| C．Attack and step back | D．Wolves only use their paws to fight |
| A．Dogs will always fight other dogs for food |
| B．Buck wanted to help Curly, but he was afraid of the huskies |
| C．The only way dogs can survive is by eating other dogs |
| D．Only the strongest shall survive in the wild |
7 . You may think your dog likes you more than it does. Dog owners tend to overestimate the bond they have with their pets, which could have implications for preventing dogs from roaming (walking) far from home or attacking other animals.
“As caregivers, we need to develop better bonds with our dogs, not only for our own well-being and the dogs’ well-being, but also for nature,” says Lorena Saavedra-Aracena at the University of Magallanes, Chile.
Previous research has shown that unsterilized (未杀菌的) male dogs and undernourished dogs tend to roam longer distances, but it isn’t always the case. Saavedra-Aracena wondered if the dogs’ attachment to their caregivers also played a role, so she and her colleagues equipped 41 free-roaming pet dogs with GPS collars, tracking their journeys on Navarino Island in southern Chile for about 3 weeks.
Although most of the dogs stayed within a 200-meter radius (半径) of home, Some travelled up to 28 kilometres away. One even swam in a near-freezing canal for an hour while chasing native water birds, says Saavedra-Aracena. The dogs regularly brought home carcasses (动物的尸体) of native birds, and 80 per cent of them harassed other animals, mainly local cattle and sheep.
The researchers asked owners to complete a standard survey about the dog-human bond. Then, to get the “dog’s point of view”, they ran a behaviour test adapted from evaluations of children’s bonds with their parents.Each dog was reunited with its owner in a new place addressed by strangers, left alone in an unfamiliar room and given free access to a second, empty room. The team found that lower scores on the bonding test correlated with greater roaming distances.The owners of these dogs had assessed their pets’ attachment to them as much stronger than the bonding tests suggested, says Saavedra-Aracena. Is it possible that people place too much weight on their dog’s enthusiastic greetings as a sign of bonding, she says. Dogs that roamed the most often showed the most exuberant (energetic and excited) responses to seeing their owners again. They may have simply become accustomed to carrying out an “evolutionary” ritual (仪式) of bond re-establishment that is typical among pack members after long absences, says Saavedra-Aracena.
Relationships with other humans may have weakened the dog-owner bond in far-roaming dogs, she says. Neighbours sometimes give them food, and tourists hiking on the island offer walks and companionship, potentially reinforcing the roaming problem.
Outside opportunities for food, exercise and socialisation could all affect bonding, says Paul McGreevy at the University of New England in Australia. These aspects are critical to dog welfare and represent needs that must be met by its caregiver, both for building attachment and for controlling roaming behaviour. “If any one of those three key resources is lacking, then the dog can be justified in going elsewhere.” he says.
Although it has become less common to see roaming dogs in industrialised nations, they continue to roam freely in most societies, says Saavedra-Aracena. Even when owners restrain their pets, some dogs can escape their ropes.
“Unlike children who loosen bonds with their parents as they grow older, dogs can become more attached to their caregivers throughout their lives,” she says. “So, it’s never too late to work on building that bond, playing with your dog and just spending time with him, getting to know him better, just like you would with a human partner.”
1. From the research done by Saavedra-Aracena and her colleagues, we can learn that .| A．almost all the dogs were mistreated or didn’t have the ability to breed |
| B．the healthier the dog is, the farther it can escape |
| C．most of the dogs didn’t travel very far away |
| D．the researchers follow the wandering dogs in the flesh |
| A．threatened | B．generated | C．sheltered | D．avoided |
| A．food, sport and company are the three key factors when forming a bond with your dog |
| B．dog owners are more likely to consider their relationship with their dogs as close |
| C．the more energetically a dog responds to you, the closer the relationship you have with it is |
| D．dogs can become attracted by other people, which can result in them raveling farther than they otherwise would |
| A．inform us of the potential risks between dogs and their owners |
| B．remind dog owners to give more attention and time to their pet dogs |
| C．warn us to restrict the activities of dogs |
| D．present us with a piece of research that discuses how a relationship is formed between a dog and its owner |
There
Earth is home to millions of different species. Some can be very small, like bacteria and viruses, which are so small that we cannot see
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Air pollution readings rose to the upper limit of 500 at 8 a.m., according to data from the city's environmental monitory center, as visibility was reduced to
The city's weather bureau advised residents to stay indoors as much as possible, while experts are working to find out
