1 . If you have ever found yourself concluding that intelligence is in short supply in the modern world, perhaps you are looking in the wrong place. There are still plenty of smarts to be found elsewhere.
You will be familiar with the cleverness of dolphins and chimpanzees. But what about wasps (黄蜂)? They can recognize human faces. Or mosquitoes? They can learn to avoid being killed by chemicals after a single taste.
Such an astonishing group of talent is rather unsettling, which raises fundamental questions like what actually is intelligence, how did it develop and how do the abilities of various organisms (生物) compare? Evaluating intelligence in nature is tricky, particularly in life forms that are very different from us. Now a group of neuroscientists, AI researchers and philosophers want to create a periodic table of intelligence similar to the one used to categorize the chemical elements. The chemical version sorts elements by their atomic (原子的) number or atomic mass. For intelligence, researchers are still looking for a criterion that is equally straightforward. But where to begin?
It certainly isn’t brain size, as was long thought. Behavior might be a better way to categorize cleverness. But testing for intelligence through behavior is difficult. Recognizing oneself in a mirror is seen as a sign of advanced cognition (认知). Dolphins and bats can do it — but dogs typically can’t. Does this reflect a lack of intelligence in dogs or perhaps something else, such as their reliance more on smell than vision. Likewise, many organisms live in environments that are obviously different from ours and so might use senses that we don’t even possess.
Nevertheless, the researchers behind the initiative think intelligence might become clearer through a combination of behavioral and neuroanatomical (神经解剖学的) features. “We’re going to ask, are there kinds of intelligence, and can we identify structural features that are organizational of those kinds of intelligence?” says Andrew Barron at Macquarie University. “If we can, then we are starting to identify things that can be thought of as possible dimensions of intelligence.”
1. Why are wasps and mosquitoes mentioned in paragraph 2?| A．To make comparisons between them. |
| B．To prove smarts are in short supply. |
| C．To show there are other forms of intelligence. |
| D．To illustrate their similarities with humans. |
| A．It is upsetting to see different talents in natural settings. |
| B．It is hard to compare the abilities of different species. |
| C．Life forms in the natural world are different from humans. |
| D．It requires us to answer some basic questions about intelligence. |
| A．Factors like brain size matter more. |
| B．Other features need to be considered. |
| C．Some organisms possess similar senses. |
| D．All animals show signs of advanced cognition. |
| A．Different Minds | B．Surprising Behaviors |
| C．Unique Senses | D．Diverse Species |
2 . Eating insects is one of those ideas that never quite seem to catch on. The United Nations spread the idea a decade ago, but, in the West at least, insects remain mostly absent from supermarket shelves. Faced with an unsatisfied public, scientists have been exploring other options. One is to feed the insects instead to farm animals, which are not so picky.
Of course, the insects need to eat, too. To date, they have mostly reared (饲养) on leftover chicken feed. But the supply of that is limited, and if insect-reared meat is to take off, new sources will be needed. Niels Eriksen, a biochemist at Aalborg University, suggests feeding them on the waste products of the beer industry.
The world knocks back around 185bn litres of beer every year. Each litre produces between three and ten litres of wastewater full of thrown-away grains. The mix is rich in protein but lacking in carbohydrates (碳水化合物), especially compared with chicken feed.
Most insects grown for feed depend, in the wild, on the carbohydrates found in bad fruit. Whether insects would actually consider beer waste a square meal was, therefore, unclear.
The researchers used the baby insects of the black soldier fly. The young insects were divided into three groups, which were offered beer waste, chicken feed or a mixture of both. The researchers monitored both their weight gain and the amount of CO, they produced. They found the baby insects happily consumed both beer waste and chicken feed, and grew equally well on either food source. Dr Eriksen found few differences in how nutritious the insects would be to farm animals.
The experiment may have implications beyond the beer business, too. Bone meal from farms, and waste from other food industries are all likewise plentiful and protein-rich.
All now look to be reasonable targets for nutrient recycling by insects. Whether consumers will be willing to eat insect-reared beef, though, remains to be seen.
1. What is the purpose of Niels Eriksen’s research?| A．To find alternatives to chicken feed. |
| B．To recycle the wastewater in beer industry. |
| C．To change public’s attitude toward insects. |
| D．To reduce the consumption of waste products. |
| A．The future application of the research. | B．The importance of protein in the cycle. |
| C．The extended influence of the research. | D．The contribution of the beer industry. |
| A．chickens-insects-cows-humans | B．humans-beer waste-insects-cows |
| C．beer waste-insects-cows-humans | D．cows-chickens-insects-beer waste |
| A．Waste recycling will be taking off soon |
| B．Eating insects is the new option for people |
| C．Insects could help turn beer waste into beef |
| D．Insects could gain popularity in supermarket |
3 . Hummingbirds (蜂鸟) are a very important part of Mexico’s ecosystem, but because of the ever-spreading city landscape, they face all sorts of serious dangers. That’s where 73-year-old Catia Lattouf de Arida comes in. As a self-taught hummingbird care-taker, she devotes most of her free time and resources to nursing the tiny birds back to health. Her home in Mexico City has become known as a hummingbird hospital
Catia’s story as a hummingbird nurse began in 2011, at a very dificult moment in her life. At that time, she focused on her battle with cancer and fell into a depression (抑郁) . She was walking on the strect one day when she noticed a hummingbird that had suffered a serious eye injury. The kindhearted woman took it home and named it Gucci. She managed to nurse Gucci back to health, but she said it was Gucci that saved her. Why? Because the hummingbird managed to pull her out of the sadness and loneliness that had taken over her life.
Word of her success spread among Catia’s friends, and before long some of them began bringing her injured hummingbirds. She didn’t repulse them at all. She began to study the bird and their habits in order to better take care of them, and after 11 years of experience, the 73-year-old woman is considered an expert on hummingbirds.
In order to raise awareness of the difficult situation of hummingbirds in Mexico, Catia Lattouf de Arida started posting videos of the patients in her Mexico City apartment on social media, and many of them became popular. That’s when the need for her nursing services really blew up. She has cared for hundreds of hummingbirds in her 11-year career, when she has had as many as 50 of them in her apartment at any one time. She spends pretty much all her time looking after the tiny birds.
1. Which saying can best show the main idea of the first two paragraphs?| A．It is better to give than to take. |
| B．Actions speak louder than words. |
| C．Helping others is helping ourselves. |
| D．A bird in hand is worth two in the bush. |
| A．Expect. | B．Refuse. | C．Accept. | D．Recognize |
| A．When her friends heard about her success. |
| B．When she was considered as a bird expert. |
| C．After she shared the birds’ videos on the media. |
| D．After she looked after a large number of the birds. |
| A．honest and kind | B．generous and creative |
| C．devoted and strict | D．caring and responsible |
4 . The world’s longest cave system is an enormous network of 420 miles of twists and turns, with limestone (石灰岩) falling from the ceilings in drops.
Mammoth Cave National Park preserves this unique and historical natural wonder. As large as the limestone cave system is, park officials, estimate there may be another 600 miles of cave passageways that have yet to be explored. The incredible rock formations have resulted in the park being recognized as a World Heritage Site, thanks to its extraordinary size and scientific importance –– making it one of only 13 natural US sites with that title.
The caves were created naturally by the process of limestone wearing away. Rain and rivers slowly break down and shape soft limestone, which creates the vast underground network. Not only are they an amazing destination to visit, but the system also provides drinking water for roughly 40% of the US population, and they’re of historical significance too.
The caves act as a time capsule that preserves over 5,000 years of human history — and the caves’ first explorers were Native Americans, who mined the upper levels of Mammoth Cave. Thanks to the cave system’s atmosphere and natural protection from any kind of human disturbance, the archaeological (考古的) sites have been left in great shape.
Mammoth Cave was established as a national park thanks to strong local support. Back in the 1920s, Secretary of the Interior Hubert Work created the Southern Appalachian National Park Commission in 1925 to survey proposed park sites, including the caves. After years of work acquiring the land for the park, as well as building roads, trails (小径), and public facilities, Mammoth Cave National Park was established on July 1, 1941. The park now receives around 2 million visitors a year, with roughly a quarter taking a tour of the caves –– everything from a cultural tour to the more adventurous climbing tours on offer. The cave supports more than 130 wildlife species, such as the eyeless cavefish, which has adapted to the lightless environment by no longer growing eyes, and the cave crayfish.
1. What has made Mammoth Cave National Park a World Heritage Site?| A．The wildlife species. | B．The rock formations. |
| C．The cave passageways. | D．The scientific discovery. |
| A．They are an amazing destination to visit. |
| B．They were first explored by Native Americans. |
| C．They provide drinking water for the Americans. |
| D．They preserve human history over 5000 years. |
| A．It took a lot of work to establish the park. |
| B．Local people donated the land for the park. |
| C．Around 2 million people visit the caves annually. |
| D．The site of the park was decided by the secretary. |
| A．Taking cultural and adventurous tours |
| B．Preserving a unique and historical wonder |
| C．Exploring the world’s longest cave system |
| D．Establishing Mammoth Cave National Park |
5 . So many well-fed cats have achieved fame in today’s world of social media that it is difficult to imagine a time when the funny behavior of cats went largely unrecorded. Fortunately, creative types have long seemed to enjoy their company and some past literary greats were only too happy to put pen to paper in celebration of their favourite cats.
Dr Samuel Johnson, is best remembered today for compiling (编纂) the first modern English Dictionary. The entry for cats is hardly flattering: “A domestic animal that catches mice, commonly considered by naturalists the lowest order of the lionlike species.” Yet, Johnson is known to have been devoted to his own pets, particularly Hodge, whom he once famously described as “a very fine cat indeed”.
During the Bronte sisters’ childhood, the three famous 19th-century novelists enjoyed the company of a black cat, named Tom. Charlotte included a description of a pet in Jane Eyre, while Emily wrote an essay in French in praise of cats entitled Le Chat. The title character of Anne’s first novel, Agnes Grey, decides her future husband is the man for her when he rescues a cat.
Edgar Allan Poe’s story, The Black Cat, is so vivid in its description of animal cruelty that it is difficult to imagine its author as an animal lover. Yet, in real life Allan and his cat Catterina were so obviously devoted to each other that, in 1849, they passed away at the exact same moment even though they were many miles apart.
Cats appear in some of the US humorist and novelist’s best-known works such as The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Twain’s favourite cat was Bambino, whom he taught to switch off the lamp at night and took great delight in having it show off this party trick when visitors came to the house.
In the early 1940s, Hemingway moved to Cuba. Boise became the author’s constant companion. Hemingway later featured a cat of the same name in his novel, Islands in the Stream, which shared many characteristics of his real-life cat including a fondness for hunting fruit rats.
1. What is Paragraph 1 mainly about?| A．The majority of people recorded their pet cats. |
| B．Some past creative people liked cats and wrote about them. |
| C．Most of the funny behavior of cats was not recorded. |
| D．Modern people like to show off their cats on social media. |
| A．The cat in the entry is vividly described. |
| B．The description makes the cat attractive. |
| C．The definition of the cat is objective. |
| D．The entry for the cat is eye-catching. |
| A．Devoted. | B．Adorable. | C．Merciless. | D．Reliable. |
| A．They enjoyed the company of their pet cats. |
| B．They took great delight in showing off their cats. |
| C．They named the cats in their works after their pet cats. |
| D．They achieved fame because of the cats they wrote about. |
| A．In the kitchen. | B．In the bathroom. | C．In the living room. |
7 . Every day as the sun rises, Ma Hongyi, a 66-year-old farmer, can be seen patrolling (巡逻) Yuncheng Salt Lake with his dog in Yuncheng city, North China’s Shanxi province.
Ma still remembers the day when he first saw two big pink birds wandering through the water. “I had never seen such pretty birds. They were even taller than me, with long wings,” Ma recalls. He was later informed that birds were flamingos, a rare sight in China, which were listed on the International Union for Protection of Nature’s red list of endangered species in 2013. From that day on, Ma started his second career as a volunteer to prevent human beings from interfering with the wildlife. “The birds are attracted by the good environment,” Ma says. “I will do my best to protect the lake so that birds can come here every year.”
Yuncheng Salt Lake covers an area of 132 square kilometers and used to serve as a salt production base. As the country began attaching greater importance to environmental protection, an ecological (生态的) protection and development center was set up in 2012 to carry out regular ecological protection and restoration (修复) of the lake. “The greatest value of the Salt Lake lies in its ecology, which should be properly restored and protected,” says Chu Xianghao, mayor of the city. The lake area hosts 292 types of wild animals, along with 782 plant varieties, some of which are newly recorded species in the country.
After patrolling the lake as volunteer for over four years, Ma was employed by the local government to help with wildlife protection in 2019. “The lake’s ecology is getting better,” Ma says, adding that he looks forward to the arrival of the flamingos every year. “Some of them are my old friends,” he says.
1. Why does Ma patrol Yuncheng Salt Lake every day?| A．To serve as a keeper of the lake. | B．To observe the rare flamingos closely. |
| C．To admire the scenery around the lake. | D．To come across the flamingos again |
| A．bringing benefits to | B．losing control of |
| C．sharing space with | D．causing problems to |
| A．It is still used as a salt production base | B．The restoration of it will be carried out soon. |
| C．It’s home to 292 types of endangered wildlife | D．The protection of its ecology is of great importance |
| A．Ambitious. | B．Responsible. | C．Generous. | D．Humorous. |
8 . Cuckoos (布谷鸟) are masters of cheating. When it comes to raising young, they don’t spend the energy building a nest, protecting eggs or feeding children. Instead the female passes these roles on to other birds. They don’t raise their own young. Usually, they lay their eggs in the nests of other birds, fooling other birds into thinking the cuckoo eggs are theirs.
To succeed in doing this, a female cuckoo watches over her chosen nest to observe feeding times. When the host parent leaves its nest in search of food, the cuckoo quickly lays her eggs among those already in the nest. Sometimes, she will even destroy and remove one of the host’s eggs to make room for her own.
Cuckoos are medium-sized birds with long tails, and often have gray or brown backs. When they hatch (孵化) and begin to grow in a host’s nest, the difference between the two can be obvious to an onlooker. Often the cuckoo is twice the size of its foster (收养的) parents, but still continues to receive food from them.
The cuckoo imposter (冒名顶替者) is usually the only baby bird that the host parent has to care for. This is because when the cuckoo hatches after around 11 days, it gets rid of all the other eggs in the nest. It will lift each egg onto its back before throwing them one by one over the edge of the nest. Even then, the non-biological parent will continue to treat it as one of its own.
Also, cuckoos have developed to produce eggs that are similar in color to their main hosts’. This reduces the chances of eggs being attacked. Female cuckoos have been known to take host birds’ attention away after laying their eggs by producing a noise similar to Eurasian sparrowhawks, scaring birds away from returning to the nest and allowing time for the cuckoo to make her escape unnoticed.
1. What do mother cuckoos usually do when it comes to raising their young?| A．Attend to eggs. | B．Build a new nest. | C．Depend on other birds. | D．Learn feeding skills. |
| A．Other cuckoos. | B．Baby cuckoos. | C．Birth parents. | D．Host parents. |
| A．It usually hatches out earlier than the other eggs in the nest. |
| B．It throws all the other eggs out of nest with its mother’s help. |
| C．It often makes a noise to scare other birds away from the nest. |
| D．It looks much larger than other eggs in the nest before hatching. |
| A．How cuckoos fool other birds. | B．How cuckoos protect their children. |
| C．How cuckoos destroy others’ nests. | D．How cuckoos produce eggs in host nests. |
1. Why did Tracy bring dogs to the children?
| A．To teach them to love animals. |
| B．To help them gain confidence. |
| C．To protect them from dangers. |
| A．They may misbehave. | B．They may get hurt. | C．They may carry diseases. |
| A．Give a talk. | B．Meet the children. | C．Take some photos. |
Illegal ivory (象牙) hunting once posed a significant threat to Kenya’s elephants. But now the giants of the animal kingdom
In the past years, Kenyan
In the last year, at least 179 elephants have died of thirst, while hunting has claimed the lives of fewer than 10, Kenyan Tourism and Wildlife Secretary Najib Balala told the BBC. “It is a red alarm.” he said of the crisis. Balala suggested that
