1 . In the third grade, ten-year-old Jane read a book about poaching (偷猎) the endangered tigers and cutting down forests at will. She told her friend Holt about it and she really wanted to help save the tigers.

Despite being in elementary school, the two girls have organized fundraisers(资金筹集).During their first year, the girls raised $1,500 to save tigers. “We went to a zoo and asked if we could help and it became this huge fun thing. We never expected it to get so big,” the girls said.

When Jane and Holt pitched their ideas in the zoo to ask for funds, their table was packed with zoo guests all afternoon. This year’s goal is $2,500. Whatever they raise will be matched by the Zoological Society and all be donated(捐赠) to the Tiger Protection Fund.

On top of helping the animal, the girls would also be excited about their names to be proudly posted at the zoo’s entrance on a sign with other donors. “If we get our names on it, it’s going to feel like being famous, and it’s going to be like a dream come true for us,” Jane said. They said they were close to their goal and the zoo couldn’t be happier.

“Their awareness of what’s happening to tigers and their wanting to educate people on what’s happening to tigers are unbelievable,” Kassner, an animal expert, said. “Three kinds of tigers have already died out and the remaining six are all endangered. The ‘Tiger Girls’ are bringing a big and positive effect and won’t be stopping anytime soon.”

“I’m so happy that we’ve come this far. We can do this now though we’re only fifth graders and just imagine what we can do in the future,” Holt said.

1. What led Jane to have the idea of saving tigers?

A．The support of her school.	B．Her teacher’s encouragement.
C．The suggestion from her friend.	D．Her personal reading experience.

2. What does the underlined word “pitched” in paragraph 3 mean?

A．Investigated.

B．Accepted.

C．Publicized.

D．Considered.

3. What does Kassner think about the two girls?

A．They have made a great difference.

B．They succeed in stopping people poaching.

C．They enable people to focus on school education.

D．They realized the dream of becoming well-known.

4. Which of the following can best describe the two girls?

A．Proud and traditional.	B．Creative and confident.
C．Serious and humorous.	D．Courageous and curious.

2 . Lufinha has crossed the Atlantic Ocean in a small boat powered only by the sun and wind. He used kites to move the boat and solar power to use lights and equipment on the boat. He expects his trip will earn him a Guinness World Record for Fastest Solo Atlantic Crossing by Kite Boat. He also hopes to help people understand the need to protect the oceans.

The kite-powered boat reached top speeds of over 30 kilometers per hour. Lufinha traveled 6,400 kilometers in 25 days. The 38-year-old set out from Cascais, near Lisbon, Portugal on November 3, 2022, and arrived in Martinique on December 20, Lufinha was not at sea for all that time, however. He made a planned stop at the Canary Islands on November 8. But he had to stay longer than planned because of the powerful storm and he remained there until November 30.

Lufinha made the crossing completely alone in a 7.2-meter-long and 5.6-meter-wide trimaran, a boat which has three long, thin parts, with a small room for sleeping and shelter. Lufinha used a hand pump (抽水机) to produce water for drinking and cooking. He said, “I have two such water makers, which I can pump and every hour I can make around four liters of water.” The water pump has a special filter (过滤器) to remove salt from the sea water. Lufinha used the water to add to dried food he carried with him on the boat.

He called his trip “a big learning experience”. It was a big test of his adaptability. He learned most of all to look at his problems relatively. He had so many problems all of the time, such as kites getting torn and kites exploding (爆炸). And the only way not to suffer was to think, “It could be worse.” He said his way of thinking during the difficult crossing helped him get through it hour by hour, day by day, week by week until he finished this Atlantic crossing.

1. What’s one of the purposes of Lufinha’s trip?

A．To set a new world record.

B．To map out a new sailing route.

C．To check his boat’s performance.

D．To collect money for the local charity.

2. Why did Lufinha stay longer than expected at the Canary Islands?

A．His boat broke down halfway.

B．He took the wrong sailing direction.

C．His water pumps required replacing.

D．He was overtaken by terrible weather.

3. What was Lufinha’s biggest gain from the trip?

A．He developed his own independence.

B．He discovered how to obtain drinkable water.

C．He learned to view problems more positively.

D．He mastered more advanced sailing techniques.

4. Which of the following can best describe Lufinha?

A．Strict and honest.	B．Calm and curious.
C．Determined and brave.	D．Outgoing and generous.

3 . For sharks, the Mesoamerican Reef, which stretches over 600 miles, is a busy highway. Sharks use it to find their way and it provides them with food and habitat.

But as with on-land highways, this superhighway can be dangerous. Overfishing, commercial development and illegal practices are endangering the species. “We’re seeing a continued decline in shark populations. Our goal is to turn that round.” says Rachel Graham, founder of Mar Alliance, a non-profit organization focused on conserving sharks.

By monitoring sharks, Mar Alliance can collect important knowledge on the species to help inform conservation and push for political action. But rather than acting in opposition to the local fishing community, MarAlliance enlists their help.

“They are the ones who are on the sea every single day,” says Graham, “and they’re the ones who decide the species’ future.”

MarAlliance employs up to 60 fishermen across its range, mostly on a project basis, training them to collect data, record and release fish. Not only does this provide an alternative income to fishing communities, making them less dependent on natural resources, but it also teaches them about the benefits of a healthy ocean ecosystem and how to fish sustainably.

Among them, Ivan Torres, who used to catch sharks to sell locally as food, has learned how critical they’re to the whole ecosystem, saying he’d never fish sharks any more.

If this attitude change continues to spread throughout fishing communities, Graham has hope for the shark populations. “The primary threat to sharks is unquestionably overfishing,” she says, “By reforming the industry, populations can bounce back.”

In 2020, Belize outlawed the use of gillnets, large panels of netting of trapping large sealife. The ban’s impact is already noticeable with a recorded 10-fold increase in shark populations.

But such regulations need to be copied along the whole superhighway for long-lasting impact, and countries need to find a sustainable balance between fishers and the fished. “We need to find a win-win strategy between fisher livelihoods and shark survival,” Graham emphasizes. “I hope that through education and providing an economic alternative for fishing communities, MarAlliance will help ensure safe passage for sharks along the reef”.

1. Which of the following best describes the Mesoamerican Reef for sharks?

A．Romantic but messy.	B．Vital but insecure.
C．Adventurous but beautiful.	D．Unfamiliar but reliable.

2. What does the underlined “they” in paragraph 4 refer to?

A．MarAlliance.	B．The fishers.
C．Monitoring authorities.	D．The sharks.

3. What contributed to Ivan’s attitude shift apart from education?

A．A stricter fishing ban.	B．The insurance payout he earned.
C．An offer of extra work.	D．The fishing communities’ intervention.

4. What is mainly stressed in the last paragraph?

A．Solution to overfishing.	B．Difficulties facing MarAlliance.
C．Impact of existing regulations.	D．Features of international cooperation.

4 . A method to transform a commonly thrown-away plastic to a resin (树脂) used in 3D- printing could allow for making better use of plastic waste.

A team of Washington State University researchers developed a simple and efficient way to transform polylactic acid(PLA), a bio-based plastic used in products such as plastic tableware and food packing to a high-quality resin. Yu-Chung Chang, a postdoctoral researcher on the work said they made stronger materials just straight out of waste, and they hoped that would provide people with the stimulation to upcycle this stuff instead of just throwing it away.

PLA is rarely recycled because like most plastics, when it’s melted down and reformed, it doesn’t perform as well as the original version and becomes less valuable.

“But once you look into it, it turns out that it can take up to 100 years for it to break down in a landfill,” Chang said. “In reality, it still creates a lot of pollution. We want to make sure that when we start producing PLA millions of tons, we will know how to deal with it. ”

In their study, the researchers developed a fast method to recycle PLA breaking the long chain of molecules (分子) down into simple monomers (单体)-the building blocks for many plastics. The entire chemical process can be done at mild temperatures in about two days. The chemical they used to break down PLA, aminoethanol, is also inexpensive.

“If you want to rebuild a Lego castle into a car, you have to take it apart brick by brick, Chang said. “That’s what we did.” Once PLA was broken down to its basic building blocks, the researchers rebuilt the plastic and created a type of liquid resin that is commonly used as printing “ink” for 3D printers. When used in a 3D printer and cured into plastic pieces the product was equal or better than commercially available resins.

The researchers have applied for a temporary patent and are working to further improve the process. They are also looking into other applications for the upncycling method.

1. What’s the main purpose of the researchers work?

A．To expand the use of 3D printing	B．To make better use of plastic waste.
C．To call on people not to throw away plastic.	D．To show off their high-technology methods.

2. What does the underlined phrase “this stuff” in paragraph 2 refer to?

A．The high-quality resin.	B．Polylactic acid.
C．The upcycling method.	D．Plastic food packing

3. Why does the author mention “a Lego castle” in the last but one paragraph?

A．To illustrate the process of remodeling	B．To explain how to deal with Lego bricks
C．To show the difficulties of their research.	D．To offer a model for the better improvement

4. What might be the best title of the text?

A．The Inexpensive Chemical Used to Break Down the PLA

B．Newly-developed 3D Printer for More Plastic Applications

C．New Way Found to Turn Plastic Waste Into Valuable Products

D．The Upcoming Age of New Plastic Without Pollution to the Environment

7 . 阅读下面短文，在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

Dongying city in China’s Shandong Province has witnessed(目睹) ecological improvements in the Yellow River Delta, thanks to various    1    (effect) measures to improve wetland restoration and protection.

Years ago, the wetlands there    2    (threaten) due to less water from the river and other factors.    3    (protect) the wetlands ecosystem, the Yellow River Delta National Nature Reserve was established in 1992. Since then, the city    4    (carry) out several management projects and restored the biotic(生物) population in the zone.

Dongying has been adopting a comprehensive wetlands restoration model by giving high     5    (prior) to protecting the nature reserve and letting nature restore     6    (it). Over the past three years, it’s transferred(转运) 469 million cubic meters of water to the nature reserve,    7    has recovered the ecological functions of the wetlands there.

Last year, Dongying built a real-time monitoring network for bird species at the nature reserve, which helps ensure that birds are free    8    disturbance of human activity and puts the habitats of cranes and other species under key protection. As a result, the nature reserve has seen    9    obvious increase in the variety and number of bird species. Home to 371 bird species, it’s become an important stop, wintering ground and breeding place for migratory birds. Dongying is currently working to build the Yellow River Estuary National Park, which will cover 3,523 square kilometers,    10    (include) land area and sea area, to explore pathways for the protection of Delta ecology.

8 . Plastic mobile phones cases and sweet wrappers, some more than 50 years old, have recently been pulled from the sea off the coast of East Yorkshire. The finds lead to growing concern among scientists about the long-term impact of plastic waste on our seas, with research suggesting it takes over 400 years for a drinks bottle to breakdown in the sea.

Notpla, a London-based startup company, is currently designing a seaweed-based replacement for single-use plastic packaging. Founded in 2014, the company has been sparing no efforts to further develop its product line.

The firm initially looked to seaweed as the solution to the world’s white pollution, because it is plentiful, grows quickly, doesn’t compete with land crops and doesn’t use chemicals, but absorbs carbon from the air. Design director Karlijn Sibbel says, “It can grow into the sea, where it actually has many positive benefits so it can create new ecosystems for other organisms to grow in.”

Sibbel says they look to nature as inspiration “for the ideal packaging” like the skin on a fruit. “A peel (果皮) will eventually be used as nutrients by nature, disappear and become part of the cycle.”

“The exciting thing is that this is a film that can replace most of the flexible packaging you see around,” Sibbel says. The potential contents could include coffee grounds or toilet paper. For food items, such as noodles, they have even experimented with adding flavors to the packaging, so that dissolving the bag could add seasoning to the food. “You can cook with it. And you can really start to rethink what we can do with these materials,” she explained.

The approach feels especially relevant as the world is coming to terms with the effects of decades of uncontrolled plastic production. Co-CEO Paslier says, “We’re excited to see our power in the foodservice industry and looking forward to moving into the fashion markets very soon.

1. What problem is mainly referred to in Paragraph 1?

A．Energy crisis.	B．Food waste.
C．Ecological disaster.	D．White pollution.

2. What is Paragraph 3 mainly about?

A．How seaweed grows in the sea.

B．How seaweed absorbs carbon from the air.

C．Why seaweed can create more new ecosystems.

D．Why seaweed was chosen as a plastic alternative.

3. What is the ideal packaging according to Sibbel?

A．It can be digested by nature.	B．It’s as thin as a peel.
C．It can transform into chemicals.	D．It bears a flavor enhancer.

4. Which word can best describe the prospects of Notpla?

A．Doubtful.

B．Uncertain.

C．Promising.

D．Darkening.

10 . Mosquito bites are unavoidable in summer—or is that so? Scientists recently found that mosquitoes are more attracted to some colors than others, which could possibly prove useful to those trying to avoid the annoying bites.

The study found that after a common type of mosquitoes smelled CO₂ the gas humans breathe out—they decided to land on some colored dots (色点) but ignored others.

“Imagine you’re on a sidewalk and you smell toasty,” the lead researcher said in a press release announcing the study’s findings. “That’s probably a sign that there’s a bakery nearby and you might start looking around for it. Here, we started to learn what visual elements that mosquitoes are looking for after smelling their own version of a bakery.”

The research team put different colored dots at the bottom of a box and sprayed (喷洒) them with CO₂. They found that mosquitoes were drawn most to red, orange and black. They also found that mosquitoes ignored green, blue and white. When a researcher reached his hand into the box wearing a green glove, mosquitoes ignored it, even when it was sprayed with CO₂.

Unfortunately, avoiding mosquitoes isn’t as easy as choosing the right color of clothes. Human skin delivers a vivid red-orange “signal” to mosquitoes, the researchers said, making it hard to hide completely

“We previously discovered there are three major hints that attract mosquitoes: your breath, your sweat and the temperature of your skin,” the lead researcher said. “Now we have found a fourth hint: the color red, which can not only be found on your clothes, but is also found in everyone’s skin. The shade of your skin doesn’t matter. We are all giving off a strong red feature.”

While the research found that the mosquitoes appeared to prefer certain colors, it did not measure whether wearing colors like green or blue would help keep away from the mosquitoes. The researchers hope that their findings can help find other methods to drive back the biting insects.

1. Why did the researchers spray the dots with CO₂?

A．It drives mosquitoes away.

B．It is attractive to mosquitoes.

C．It prevents mosquitoes finding targets.

D．It’s a practical material to catch mosquitoes.

2. Which of the following colors causes the least attention from mosquitoes?

A．Red.

B．Black

C．Orange.

D．Blue.

3. What does paragraph 6 focus on?

A．The features of human skin.

B．Factors that attract mosquitoes.

C．What elements mosquitoes ignore.

D．How to choose the color of clothes.

4. What may be the hopeful result of the study?

A．Mosquitoes will disappear someday.

B．Most people will wear colorful clothes.

C．The survival rate of mosquitoes will be affected.

D．More ways will be found to keep mosquitoes off.