1 . Lay eggs and make noises — that’s it? Anyone involved in chicken farming knows that the animals are capable of much more. Researchers have found evidence that roosters (公鸡) could recognize themselves in a mirror. Whether this is successful, however, depends on the experimental contexts.
Whether animals can recognize themselves and thus have self-awareness is one of the central questions in behavioral research. The mark test, a classic test for self-recognition came to the scientists. In the test, if an animal stands in front of a mirror and begins to explore the colored mark placed on its body, this is considered proof that it recognizes its reflection as itself.
“However, our goal was to conduct the mirror test in an environment that is better adapted to the ecologically relevant behavior of the roosters,” says Sonja, a researcher from the University of Bonn. She came up with the idea of using a natural behavior of roosters for the experiment.
Initially, the researchers set up a test area and placed a net to separate two compartments (隔间), through which the roosters could see each other. Then a picture of a fox was placed onto the ceiling of one compartment. Faced with the predator, the roosters let out 77 alarm calls in the presence of a partner, but only 17 when they were alone. The result shows that most roosters, faced with a fox, do alarm partners, which is the perfect illustration of the animals’ self-awareness. The next step was to place a mirror between the two compartments instead of the net. In all, only 25 alarm calls were let out. “The result indicates that the roosters don’t mistake their reflection for a partner, and possibly recognize themselves in their mirror image,” says Sonja.
For comparison, the team also performed the classic mark test. Here, the roosters didn’t recognize themselves in the mirror. The research team sees clear evidence that the classic mirror-mark test produces more reliable results when the behavior of the particular species is included in an ecologically relevant context. “In the classic situation, a rooster may not show self-recognition,” says Sonja. “But when a fox threatens him, it becomes clear that his reflection is not another rooster, but himself.” Further research on animals’ self-awareness is needed so as to better understand animal rights and animal welfare.
1. What is the purpose of the mark test?| A．To explain why animals show certain behavior. |
| B．To discover what behavioral research focuses on. |
| C．To tell whether animals can identify their mirror image. |
| D．To reveal how animals get used to the natural environment. |
| A．Enemy. | B．Partner. | C．Researcher. | D．Reflection. |
| A．To present the experiment result. | B．To change the experimental condition. |
| C．To replace the experiment subject. | D．To simplify the experimental process. |
| A．Animal behavior draws researchers’ attention. |
| B．Animal welfare deserves more human efforts. |
| C．Roosters’ self-recognition works in classic mark tests. |
| D．Roosters’ self-awareness improves in threatening contexts. |
2 . Have you ever got the feeling that your dog is judging you? Well, you’re in for a surprise because it’s actually your dog who might be viewing you with a critical eye. Eliza Fletcher and her colleagues wondered whether dogs might rate us in terms of our skillfulness, particularly when those skills might come in handy for our four-footed little friends. So they set up a simple experiment.
They showed 60 dogs two persons opening containers. One person is competent. That person was able to pop open the top after just a couple of twists while the other person failed at this task. That person tried to open the lid, but then gave up. The actors repeated the performance on a second container, with the same results. Then the researchers handed both actors a third container. In some trials, this container was empty. In others, it contained a treat. And what they found was that female dogs spent more time staring expectantly at the person who had previously demonstrated container-opening know-how. And they were more likely to approach the competent person, but only when they thought they might get free food. Dogs in the empty condition showed no preferences.
So, why would females be more careful observers of people’s performances than males? Female advantage in the social cognitive domain (认知领域) has been reported across many species including humans. In other words, in many cognitive studies, furry females seem to show a higher social IQ than males. And sex differences have been seen in other dog studies. For example, females look at their owners more frequently and longer than males when facing unsolvable task. Female dogs solve significantly more tasks than males in social learning task.
So, next time Fifi looks at you with those puppy dog eyes, you might be thinking, what a good dog! But she might be thinking, eeem, you could do better.
1. Why did Eliza Fletcher do the experiment?| A．To figure out the rate of human skills. |
| B．To prove dogs have better skills than humans. |
| C．To test whether dogs judge human’s skillfulness. |
| D．To find out whether some human skills are easy for dogs. |
| A．By making comparisons. | B．By making inferences. |
| C．By giving explanation. | D．By analysing figures. |
| A．To remind people of the research result. |
| B．To entertain readers with a vivid picture. |
| C．To prove that dogs are intelligent enough. |
| D．To show close relation between men and dogs. |
3 . Saving the environment might seem like a tall order, but living an environmentally friendly life is actually quite easy.
Recycle
Recycling is a simplest lifestyle to lower the amount of environmental waste. Every resident can get involved by taking advantage of nearby recycling services.
Buy locally-sourced foods
Eating fresh, local food consumes less fuel and packaging materials. Shipping products by truck, rail, flight, or boat creates pollution and goes against an environmentally friendly lifestyle. Instead, shop at local farmers’ markets and grocery stores stocking locally-sourced products.
Cut back on driving
Applying alternate forms of transportation consumes less gasoline.
Advocacy allows more people to create a positive impact. Spread the word about environmental conservation by sharing some of the lifestyle changes you’ve made on social media and in conversations with people around, calling on everybody to play a role.
| A．Cut back your carbon footprint |
| B．Walk or ride a bike whenever possible |
| C．Encourage others to help save the environment |
| D．Check the regulations to ensure you use them properly |
| E．The topic of preserving natural resources entertains everyone |
| F．With just a few small lifestyle changes, you can make a difference |
| G．Alternatively, use community-supported services to get fresh produce regularly |
4 . Maria Sibylla Merian-drawing from life
In 17th-century Europe, it was unheard of for a woman to travel by herself, but that didn’t stop Maria Sibylla Merian. In 1699, she and her 2l-year-old daughter Dorothea sailed from Amsterdam to Suriname in South America. The three-month voyage was dangerous but she was determined to go. Besides, she was on a bold mission. She would be the first person to go to a foreign country to study and paint insects directly from nature.
When they arrived in Suriname, Maria and Dorothea started working. Day after day, they took their painting materials into the hot and humid rainforest to collect and draw insects and plants. Artists had never done such a thing before. Still life painters drew from dead specimens. But Maria had always been interested in painting living animals and plants, and her favourite subjects were insects.
In the rainforest, she climbed ladders to study and collect insects. She had trees cut down so she could see what lived at the top level of the forest more than a hundred feet overhead. Maria combined both art and science in her work. As a skilled observer, she kept detailed notes.
Maria planned to stay in Suriname for five years, painting and collecting insects and plants that Europeans had never seen. She learnt about the medicinal plants of the area and expanded her interest to spiders, birds, lizards and snakes. She planned to publish a book of her new work on her return to Amsterdam.
After two years, she had to leave Suriname. The heat was unbearable and she was ill with malaria. But she had more than enough material for a book. In June 1701, Maria and Dorothea sailed back to Amsterdam with many paintings and specimens—butterflies preserved in brandy, bottles with crocodiles and snakes, lizards’ eggs and boxes of pressed insects.
Four years later, in 1705, Maria published the book, Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium, for which she is best known. The paintings of insects and plants in their natural habitats revolutionized scientific illustration and advanced the scientific study of insects.
1. Why did Maria make the voyage in 1699?| A．To sail with her daughter. | B．To study and draw life from nature. |
| C．To experience the danger. | D．To show her courage and determination. |
| A．Plants. | B．Samples. | C．Animals. | D．Insects. |
| A．Keen and ambitious. | B．Risky and careless. |
| C．Kind and aggressive. | D．Brave and creative. |
| A．Drawing from dead specimens. |
| B．Studying and collecting enough material. |
| C．Staying in Suriname for five years. |
| D．Learning and working along with her daughter. |
5 . Do Lobsters (龙虾) Feel Pain?
The traditional method for cooking a lobster— boiling it alive— raises the question of whether or not lobsters feel pain.
There is growing evidence that lobsters may feel pain.
The most human e tool for cooking a lobster is the CrustaStun. This device electrocutes a lobster, making it unconscious in less than half a second or killing it in 5 to 10 seconds. And then, it can be cut apart or boiled.
Unfortunately, the CrustaStun is too expensive for most restaurants and people to afford. Some restaurants place a lobster in a plastic bag and place it in the freezer for a couple of hours, during which time it loses consciousness and dies.
| A．This solution is not ideal. |
| B．So it is now becoming illegal to boil lobsters alive or keep them on ice. |
| C．Lobsters are popular food in many countries. |
| D．So most scientists believe that injuring a lobster causes physical pain. |
| E．Scientists disagree over whether or not lobsters feel pain. |
| F．Many restaurants choose more human e methods to cook it. |
| G．This cooking way is used to improve humans’ dining experience. |
Doha’s first-ever Panda House was officially open
“The giant pandas
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Born in the Wolong Panda Base, a natural
7 . The Silk Road is the name of different roads that long ago connected Europe, Africa and Asia. People reached these different places along these roads. Scientists believe people began to travel the Silk Road about 3000 years ago. By the time the Chinese silk trade became important in the world, the Silk Road covered almost 6500 kilometers. It spread from Rome to China, which is from the West to the Far East.
Traders travelling along the Silk Road carried silk, of course. They also carried and traded spices (香料), cloth, valuable stones and gold.
There is a famous old story along the old road. It is said that Roman soldiers travelled through central Asia. They started to live somewhere near the ancient Chinese village of Liqian. Sortie of these Romans married local Chinese women and the story of blue-eyed villages of China was started.
During its busiest period, the Silk Road allowed people from many different cultures and countries to meet each other and mix. The Silk Road allowed the sharing of valuable goods and new ideas. These included people and trading goods from the Mediterranean, Persian, Magyar, Armenian, Bactrian, Indian and Chinese areas. All these peoples travelled the Silk Road, and they shared goods, stories, languages, and cultures.
In modern times, the old Silk Road routes (路线) are still used, but now they are crossed by trains instead of camels and horses. There is even a Silk Route Museum in Jiuquan in China. It has over 35,000, objects from all along the Silk Road. In this way, China protects the history of many countries and peoples.
1. How many kilometers did the Silk Road cover?| A．About 3000. | B．Nearly 6500. | C．Almost 2000. | D．Over 35,000. |
| A．Silk. | B．Cloth. | C．Gold. | D．Tea. |
| A．Valuable things could not be sold along the Silk Road. |
| B．The Silk Road allowed people from different countries to mix. |
| C．Ancient Chinese along the Silk Road maybe able to speak different languages. |
| D．The objects in the museum in Jiuquan in China are from all along the Silk Road. |
| A．History and Geography. | B．Sports World. |
| C．Man and Animals. | D．Popular Science. |
8 . Zhu Dejun’s first job after graduating from college was as a road design engineer in his hometown, Alshaa League, North Chin’s Inner Mongolia autonomous region(内蒙古自治区). In 2011, when Zhu was conducting a road survey along with his colleagues, he saw a plant that he didn’t recognize. Later, Zhu learned that the plant was a saxaul (灌木梭梭) tree which is an excellent tree species for sand fixation and afforestation (造林) in desert areas. Known as a desert guardian, a fully grown saxaul tree can hold together a 10-square-meter patch of desert land, according to Zhu.
Zhu quit (辞去) his job at the design institute in 2014 and joined a nonprofit organization, the Society of Entrepreneurs and Ecology Conservation, or SEE, in the same year, concentrating on dealing with desertification (沙漠化) .During the past eight years, Zhu has been leading a team from SEE to plant saxaul trees in sandy areas in Alshaa League and other places of Inner Mongolia.
In 2014, the SEE launched a project titled “one million saxaul trees”, aiming to reach that number from 2014 to 2023, turning the desert of more than 133, 330 hectares (公顷) back into a satisfying ecosystem. By the end of 2018, half of the organization’s goal had been achieved. In 2016, Ant Finance cooperated with SEE to introduce the Ant Forest platform, not only encouraging people to choose “a low-carbon way” of shopping, traveling and living, but also to help control desertification.
Through the participation of a greater number of online users, who grow virtual trees, the SEE Foundation, set up in 2008, has been providing subsidies (补助金) for local herdsmen and farmers while also offering technological support to plant saxaul trees in desert areas. Now, Zhu is the head of the foundation’s project to fight desertification. He also gives lectures about saxaul trees and the fight against desertification at schools, hoping to raise awareness among young people.
1. What did Zhu Dejun do first after graduation?| A．Here searched on saxaul trees. |
| B．He joined a nonprofit organization. |
| C．He found ways to fight desertification. |
| D．He focused on road design engineering. |
| A．They are easily taken care of. |
| B．They can grow fast in deserts. |
| C．They are perfect for holding water. |
| D．They can fight desertification effectively. |
| A．They teamed up with Ant Finance. |
| B．They planted one million saxaul trees. |
| C．They held online lectures on desertification. |
| D．They encouraged donation from online users. |
| A．By providing subsidies. | B．By raising awareness. |
| C．By planting trees online. | D．By offering technological support. |
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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10 . Animals were the real pioneers of space flight. Let us learn about some animals that have been to space.
A. Fruit flies
On February 20, 1947, the United States sent some fruit flies into space to study the impact that cosmic radiation (宇宙辐射) might potentially have on astronauts in the future. They chose flies because they are genetically similar to humans.
When they returned to Earth, the scientists found the flies alive, with no evidence of the effects of radiation.
B. Mice
Mice have long been used to find out more about how space travel will affect the human body. In fact, NASA has recently published a study of mice housed at the International Space Station. It shows that mice quickly adapt to microgravity (微重力) conditions.
The very first mouse went into space in 1950, reaching an altitude of 137km. However, unlike the fruit flies, the mouse died when the rocket broke into parts due to a parachute (降落伞) failure.
C. Dogs
Laika, a Russian homeless dog, went to space on November 3, 1957. She was picked up on the streets and was thought suitable because she had a gentle temperament (性情) and behaved well. The scientists also believed a homeless dog would be better at dealing with difficult conditions like microgravity than a pet dog.
Laika is famous for being the first animal to orbit (环绕……运行) the Earth. However, she never returned.
D. Spiders
In 1973, two garden spiders called Anita and Arabella were used in an experiment to see if they could still build webs in space.
Both spiders managed to build webs, even though the webs were slightly finer than on Earth. The study showed a great deal about the effects of microgravity on motor response (运动反应).
1. What can we learn about the mouse astronaut?| A．It failed to come back alive. |
| B．It couldn’t survive in microgravity conditions. |
| C．Its genes were similar to humans’. |
| D．It was the first animal to be sent to space. |
| A．her good temperament | B．her identity as a pet dog |
| C．her ability to deal with microgravity | D．her good behavior |
| A．To compare the quality of webs they made on Earth and in space. |
| B．To study the impact of cosmic radiation on their survival. |
| C．To see how fast they could build webs in space. |
| D．To see whether they could build webs in space. |
