1 . You might remember watching Tweety and Sylvester from the Looney Tunes cartoons while growing up. Every time the cat Sylvester would try to eat the bird Tweety, the latter would call its owner and complain about the cat, just as a human would. In reality, several birds are able to mimic (模仿) speech. The most common bird known to do this is the parrot.

Studies have shown that the young birds learn and memorize species-specific songs by mimicking vocalizations (发声) of their father, starting as early as a week after birth. If separated from the father during this sensitive (感觉敏锐的) period, young birds may develop very strange songs.

It is common sense that a singer with a broader vocal range (范围) will be more successful than one with a smaller vocal range. Similarly, male songbirds with the vocal learning ability to learn broader types of songs enjoy higher chances of attracting attention of female. Therefore, such songbirds started achieving broader song learning skills as time went by. Eventually, they ended up with vocal skills so broad that they could not just learn songs from other males in their species, but songs from different species too.

Parrots have been kept as pets for thousands of years, and are probably the most famous mimics. Vocal mimicry in parrots has often caught human’s attention, since they can mimic the difficult vocalizations of human speech learned from their caretakers. The reason for this is not to attract mates. Parrots raised as pets often mimic humans to establish social connections.

In a study on an African Grey parrot, scientists observed that it could not just mimic human speech, but could also learn several hundreds of words and their meanings, recognize objects by names, and even count! The study has made scientists think that parrots are not simply mimicking, but that their vocal ability is very similar to that of human speech. This is a huge discovery, as humans are the only animals known to be capable of using “language” to date.

1. Why does the author mention the cartoon in Paragraph 1?

A．To introduce the main topic.

B．To find a solution to a problem.

C．To present conflicts between animals.

D．To encourage readers to watch the cartoon.

2. What can be inferred from Paragraph 2?

A．Male birds are born to have the ability to use their language.

B．Animals start learning language one week earlier than humans.

C．Young male birds are more sensitive to vocalizations than female ones.

D．Language learning needs proper language environment at a proper stage.

3. Why do pet parrots mimic humans?

A．To attract mates.	B．To build relations with humans.
C．To show off their vocal abilities.	D．To communicate with other parrots.

4. How does the author feel about the findings of the study in the last paragraph?

A．Confused.

B．Honoured.

C．Amazed.

D．Disappointed.

2 . Wildlife Preservation Volunteer Programs

Elephant Preservation Volunteer Program in Nepal

This program is suitable for active volunteers who love animals and want to care for the well-being of elephants. No experience is needed as you’ll be working closely with placement staff. The elephant shelter takes in elephants that have medical issues and require care.

Volunteers are accommodated in a local hotel. You should expect to share a room with one other volunteer.

Marine (海洋的) Preservation Volunteer Program in Croatia

This program is suitable for physically fit volunteers who are experienced divers (潜水员). You will use your diving skills to collect marine waste from the bottom of the seabed. You will work within a team on sorting waste out and handing it to the recycling centre.

Volunteers will be accommodated in a hotel. Local workers will clean the accommodation throughout the week.

Victoria Falls Wildlife Volunteering in Zimbabwe

This program is suitable for animal-loving volunteers who want to contribute to protecting amazing creatures and their habitats. Activities include animal tracking, camping out on the reserve and supporting other partner organizations.

Volunteers are accommodated within private rooms at the preservation centre. The accommodation has an open-air area where volunteers can socialize.

Amazon Jungle Preservation Volunteer Program in Peru

This program is suitable for volunteers who care about the environment, like working hard and don’t mind getting their hands dirty. It’s a great opportunity if you’re looking to reset your life by getting out of your comfort zone. You’ll also be developing personally and professionally.

Volunteers are accommodated in local people’s houses. There are running showers but you can expect water to he cold.

1. What do the programs in Nepal and Zimbabwe have in common?

A．They need experienced volunteers.

B．They are suitable for animal lovers.

C．They include dirty work in the field.

D．They require camping out on the reserve.

2. What can be known about the volunteers working undersea?

A．They work on the seabed all the time.

B．They help to keep the environment clean.

C．They are taught diving skills after arrival.

D．They lead a team to explore the marine creatures.

3. Which program provides the hardest living conditions?

A．Elephant Preservation Volunteer Program.

B．Marine Preservation Volunteer Program.

C．Victoria Falls Wildlife Volunteering.

D．Amazon Jungle Preservation Volunteer Program.

3 . How Weather Affects Our Mood

The weather supplies many metaphors (隐喻) for our changeable minds. Moods can brighten and darken, futures can be under a cloud, and relationships can be stormy.    1    , but does it also influence our moods?

Of the many aspects of weather, sunshine is the most closely tied to mood. Although the link is weaker than many people imagine, sunlight has repeatedly been found to increase positive moods and reduce tiredness.    2    . Happy people tend to be more favorable toward one another, and people are more helpful when the sun is shining. One study even found that diners in Minnesota, US, tipped more generously on sunny days.

    3    . A study showed that university admissions officers stressed the academic qualifications of applicants more on cloudy days, and their non-academic qualities more on sunny ones.

    4    . The more it departs (偏离) from an ideal of around 20C, the more discomfort we feel. One study found that rates of helping others decreased as temperatures dropped below or rose above this value.

Indeed, the effects of weather on mood depend on our behavior and on how we think.     5    . A study by US psychology researcher Matthew Keller and his colleagues showed that beneficial effects of warm and sunny conditions on mood were only seen in people who had spent more than 30 minutes outdoors that day. Good weather even had negative effects on mood for people confined (限制) indoors, who perhaps looked enviously (嫉妒地) outside at the solar fun they were missing.

A．Similarly, grey weather may encourage serious and calm thinking

B．Aspects of weather beyond heat and sunshine have also been shown to affect mood

C．Weather provides a vivid language for describing our emotional atmosphere

D．Temperature can also affect our mind and behavior

E．But the effects of weather on mood are not entirely biological

F．Anything that changes our moods can affect our behavior

G．Basically, weather will only influence us if we are outdoors experiencing it

5 . Long ago, Mexican wolves were common all through the Southwestern US and Northern Mexico. But as more human activities appeared in the areas, the wolves were hunted until they almost died out. The Mexican wolf is the rarest kind of gray wolf in North America. In the1970s, the US government began a program of raising Mexican wolves and releasing (放出) them back into nature. The program hoped to make the wolves spread back across the area they had once lived in for they are an important part of the balance of nature in the area.

The result of the latest count of Mexican wolves was reported by the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). A total of 42 wolf packs were found in the wild, and half of them had baby wolves last spring. Around 90 baby wolves were born in all, and 58% of them survived. The count reported a total of 163 wolves, which is nearly 25% more than last year. Over the last 10 years, the number of wolves has been increasing by about 15% a year.

One change wildlife managers have made recently is placing little wolves into groups of wild wolves. The wolves that are returned to nature when they are young seem to be far more adaptable than wolves that go into the wild for the first time as adults. Besides, new wolves from outside the packs also improve the overall long-term health of the wolves as a group.

However, not everyone is excited about the news. For farmers, who must protect their cattle from wolves, the increase is likely to mean more lost animals on their farms. Last year, 184 farm animals were killed in all. That’s the largest number since 1998.

Now, the USFWS and others are studying the increase in cattle killings, and trying to figure out solutions to protecting both Mexican wolves and farm animals. Bryan Bird, speaking for a group called Defenders of Wildlife, says, “Ensuring that wolves and people can get along is a necessary part of long-term success.”

1. What is the aim of the US program?

A．To call on people to fight against hunting.

B．To reduce the natural areas for human activities.

C．To make sure the Mexican wolf population recovers.

D．To improve the living conditions of Mexican wolves.

2. What do the numbers reported by the USFWS show?

A．The US program has achieved great success.

B．The baby wolves have faced some difficulties.

C．The number of wolves has been out of control.

D．The Mexican wolves have trouble fitting into the wild.

3. What can be learned from paragraph 3?

A．Most young wolves are healthier than adult wolves.

B．Wildlife managers should take measures to manage wolves.

C．Releasing wolves in the wild causes some environmental problems.

D．Mixing human-raised baby wolves with wild wolves benefits them all.

4. What problem is mentioned in paragraph 4?

A．Wild Mexican wolves are short of food.

B．Farmers suffer losses due to increasing wolves.

C．Farmers fail to know how to drive away wild wolves.

D．Wild Mexican wolves are still in danger of dying out.

6 . 阅读下面材料，根据其内容和所给段落开头语续写两段，使之构成一篇完整的短文。

For many years, my only companion was our dog, Sno. A small but mighty Bichon Frise, our dog may have looked ordinary, but he was smart, creative, and always ready for ice cream and rolling at my request. While I worked, he slept, waking to chase the red cat from next door, greet a delivery person, or sit in the sunshine.

We didn’t agree on everything, especially when to get up and when to go to bed. He sighed with boredom when a project was due and I didn’t have time to play. He didn’t understand weekends, deadlines, and visitors who left him. However, we both agreed on walking.

At least once a week, we took a long walk to the beach. For him, there were tall grasses and exciting smells. For me, there were other dog walkers and neighbors to catch up with. We returned tired, thirsty, and very happy.

Being a dog with huge ambition and short legs, Sno needed several breaks along the way. The one at the entrance to the beach was his favorite, possibly because he knew we were circling back home. There, on a windy summer day, he looked up at me just as I was looking down at him. We both grinned (咧嘴笑). This was the best walk ever.

When he was old and dying, our walks were shorter and closer to home. I’d take him for a walk and then go out for my own walk, wandering around the beach like we used to do. I always grinned when I got to the entrance to the beach, remembering that summer day when he was young and energetic.

In his final days, Sno still insisted on walking. It took twice as long to take even the shortest walk, but we enjoyed every step. Then came that Sunday when he leaned hard toward the beach walk. How could I refuse his last-walk wish?

注意：1．续写词数应为150左右；
2．请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。

We took the walk.

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After he died, I went for the long walk.

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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。

Wetlands are the link between the land and the water. They are transition zones where the flow of water, the cycling of nutrients and the energy of the sun meet to produce     1     unique and special ecosystem     2     (characterize) by hydrology, soils and vegetation—making these areas very important features of a watershed. The water is often groundwater,     3     (spill) up from an aquifer or spring. A wetland’s water can also come from a nearby river or lake. Seawater can also create wetlands, especially in coastal areas that experience strong tides. Here is one in China.

The National Nature Reserve of Guangdong Nanpeng Islands in Guangdong Province was established in 2003. It     4     (cover) a total area of 35,679 hectares. It became the fifth national-level marine nature reserve in Guangdong, as well as the first one in the eastern region of Guangdong, in 2012. In 2015, it     5     (recognize) and included in the International Important Wetlands Directory.

The main focus of the reserve is to protect the unique underwater natural landscapes, the ecosystems of the nearby     6     (coast) waters, the rare and endangered marine animals, the various fish species and their habitats, as well as the marine biodiversity.

Researchers have discovered 1,308 marine species in the area, including 772     7     (economic) significant fish, shrimp, crab, mollusk, and algae species. The reserve is home     8     more than 21 identified rare and endangered wildlife species in water, among     9     nine species such as the Chinese white dolphin and the nautilus are classified as first-class protected animals at the national level, while     10     (variety) of other 27 species, such as the common bottlenose dolphin is classified as second-class protected animals.

8 . Over 7,000 species around the world are considered endangered. That number doesn’t even include the plants, animals, and other lifeforms that are listed by some scientists as vulnerable, critically endangered, or extinct in the wild.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) maintains the most-comprehensive list of endangered species around the world. The Red List of Threatened Species, as it’s called, judges each species on five different standards for an in-depth scientific approach. According to the IUCN, an endangered species is one that meets any one of the following criteria (标准): a 50%-70% population decrease over 10 years, a total geographic area less than 5,000 square kilometers, a population size less than 2,500 adults, a restricted population of 250 adults, or a statistical prediction that it will go extinct within the next 20 years.

Though the IUCN’s Red List covers a wide range of what qualifies as an endangered species, it doesn’t quite say how a species reaches those low points. Prepare to feel guilty: the most common factor when it comes to species decline is human intervention. Loss of habitat, the introduction of a foreign species into the environment, hunting, pollution, disease, and loss of genetic variation (基因变异) are all causes of species decline and most often are a result of human activities. Take the bald eagle for example: the rise in human population and urban development of North America limited the animal’s habitat; an increase in hunting the eagles for sport lowered their population size; and the use of the pesticide DDT on farms harmed the animal’s reproductive capabilities.

But even though humans are the number one cause of species decline, classifying species as endangered encourages action to reverse the effects of human intervention. Conservation efforts by the US Fish and Wildlife Service criminalized (使非法) the hunting of bald eagles and the use of the pesticide DDT in the mid- to late 20th century. The effect was positive, as bald eagles have been on the rise and were taken off the endangered species list in 1995.

1. Which of the following species can be considered endangered?

A．One that will go extinct within the next 50 years.

B．One whose population size is less than 5,000 adults.

C．One whose habitat is less than 2,500 square kilometers.

D．One whose population decreases 20% over twenty years.

2. What does paragraph 3 focus on?

A．The causes of species decline.

B．The disadvantages of the pesticide.

C．A list of worldwide endangered species.

D．Common features of endangered species.

3. Why is the bald eagle mentioned as an example in the last paragraph?

A．To show its rareness.

B．To blame humans for its decline.

C．To stress its importance in nature.

D．To show the meaning of ranking it endangered.

4. In which section of a newspaper may this text appear?

A．Entertainment.

B．Health.

C．Science.

D．Education.

9 . 听下面一段独白, 回答以下小题。
1. What did the scientists do to the road?

A．They repaired it.

B．They painted it.

C．They blocked it.

2. Why are young birds drawn to the road surface?

A．It’s warm.

B．It’s brown.

C．It’s smooth.

3. What is the purpose of the scientists’ experiment?

A．To keep the birds there for a whole year.

B．To help students study the birds well.

C．To prevent the birds from being killed.