1 . A badly-injured fox spent two weeks recovering in a garden tent after attaching itself to a family in Glasgow, Scotland.
Liz Wink said the fox followed her home before they noticed a bad wound on its side. “My son Andrew came running in and said ‘there’s a fox following me’,” Wink said. “We opened the door and it was just standing there.”
“I have three dogs and they were barking (吠叫)but it was still trying to come in —its nose was going through the letterbox. We noticed the wound. We put food in the back garden and it made the back garden its home. There was also a chair in the back.” The fox was fed food including cooked chicken. “We also bought a tent, with an old quit cover in it.”
Wink said antibiotics(抗生素)were given after contacting a vet, and the fox finally left their garden with the wound healed after a fortnight. “It was here day and night,” Wink said. “My daughter Lucy is good with animals and would pat it. It was so quiet.”
“Clearly, when foxes are injured they take a thing called a rescue nap(抢救性小睡)and I think that’s what it has done with us,” Wink said. “They nap for however long it takes , and it completely healed. Then it was up and away and we never saw that fox again. We still have foxes but that one was so friendly, the other ones do run away. Maybe it will come back with babies one day.”
Although it’s great that the fox appeared to make a full recovery, we wouldn’t advise members of the public to attempt to treat sick or injured wild animals themselves. If people find a wounded wild animal in trouble, they should call animal helpline.
1. Why did the fox follow the son Andrew to his home?| A．To make friends with Andrew. | B．To feed its babies. |
| C．To turned to the family for help. | D．To cure its injured back. |
| A．They treated the fox carefully. | B．They fed the dog with chicken. |
| C．They thought the fox was noisy. | D．They put the fox into the letterbox. |
| A．It rested for as long as it would take. | B．It went for a vet to have a check-up. |
| C．It killed animals nearby for food. | D．It went into forests to heal itself. |
| A．Treat them under the guidance of vets. |
| B．Search the wild and look for more of them. |
| C．Contact animal experts for advice and information. |
| D．Learn more about them. and offer proper treatment. |
| A．A Garden Tent and a Kind Fox | B．An Injured Fox and a Kind Family |
| C．A Badly-injured Fox and Its Travel | D．A Family Travel and an Injured Fox |
We met Bailey 5 years ago. He was a standard poodle (髦毛小狗) born on Valentine’s day in 2020, and came to us in a small blue box. His previous owner posted the news online and we adopted him. Our only request was that he behave calmly and be able to put up with the pushing and hugging of our eight-year-old daughter and six-year-old son.
We were a sweet family: me, my husband, our children Angela and Tony. But for years. I’d felt that we wouldn’t be truly whole if we didn’t have a dog. Also, my husband worked for a commercial company and traveled around 200 days a year. and I knew that having a large animal sleeping by the door made me feel safer.
The last piece of our purzle fell into place when we opened the box. With his dark hair and smart eyes, Bailey was beautiful. He was so small that he could fit in the palm of my hand, his big paws (爪子) resting at his sides. He was a little scared, too. As I pulled him close, I felt his heart racing, and 1 wondered if we had done the right thing by taking him away from his mother. But it was too late. Angela and Tony were already arguing about who would carry him and who had the right to bathe him.
Over the following months, we spent countless hours watching Bailey play with his toys or roll around on the living room floor. Like most poodles, he was smart. He quickly mastered house-training and never chewed (咀) on our furniture or shoes. He considered himself one of us.
One night we were sleeping in the bedroom when I heard some strange noise.
At that time, Bailey ran towards me.
| A．I thought it was Bailey running and hitting something, so I kept lying in the bed and made an attempt to fall asleep again. However, the noise became louder and louder, which had already annoyed me. Quickly l got up from my bed. I opened the door and found Bailey running around the living room, trying to let all the things fall down. These abnormal behaviors really made me confused and a little afraid. |
| B．He firmly grabbed my trousers and pulled me to the kitchen. As I approached the kitchen could obviously smell a strong burning smell and immediately knew what had happened. When¹ aw the fierce fire in the kitchen, I dashed into my children’s room like an arrow(前), waking them up at my maximum voice. Rushing out of the house together with my family. I called 911 and asked our neighbors for help at the same time. Fortunately both my family and my house were saved Thanks to our smart Bailey, we did escape from death. |
| C．Angela and Tony completed the delicious breakfast and they could not wait to bring it to me who slept in the room. Their father praised their hard-earned work with his thumb up, informing them that I was sleeping on the second floor. To my surprise, their hand-made food was so delicious that l would never forget it. Obviously. what they had done for me would be rooted in memory. |
| D．I nodded with a smile and encouraged the children to get started. Quickly. Angela volunteered to get the big box of com and prepared to make popcorn. At the same time, Tony. my smart boy. went to buy some paper bags. I ran to Bailey’s home to invite him. Not surprisingly. Bailey was amazed at this great project and couldn’t wait to come. To our delight, the popcorn they made looked great and tasted delicious. Finally. they packed the sweet popcorn in the paper bags together. Laughter and happiness filled this house. |
3 . When 62-year-old fisherman Kpana Charlie finished the day’s catch, he liked to settle into a wooden chair, thinking about his childhood. Back then, his life on Sierra Leone’s Nyangai Island seemed excellent. He spent endless hours playing with his friends on the island’s white beaches. Whenever he wanted to avoid having to do his housework, he could simply disappear into the forest that covered much of the island. He remembers as recently as ten years ago, it still measured some 2, 300 feet from end to end.
Today, Nyangai is disappearing before his very eyes, covered by the endless sea. The forests are gone. And the land on which Charlie’s family home once stood, has long since disappeared beneath the waves.
In fact, the local government has responded to the sharp increase of sea level by building a concrete (混凝土制的) seawall along the length of the town. But in the many smaller coastal towns and villages in the area, there simply aren’t the resources. Then, the government made a project to protect some of the settlements by planting trees, but this has had limited success. With the population relying on woods for building and smoking-fish, few trees lived longer than the project, which ended in 2021.
Sierra Leone has been identified as one of the world’s most weak countries to the effects of climate change, despite having little influence on global CO2 emissions (排放). “Weak countries should be getting some support from wealthy nations to strengthen their climate defenses (防御),” says Gabriel Kpaka, the head of the country’s Meteorological Agency. “But we’re not really seeing that.”
With global sea level expected to rise by anywhere between 1 and 3 feet by the end of the century, along with an increase in extreme weather events, the experience of this West African island offers an understanding of the possible future of countless other low-lying areas around the world.
1. Why does the author tell Charlie’s story in paragraph 1?| A．To describe his wonderful life at present. | B．To offer-readers-background information |
| C．To call on local people to protect the seen | D．To attract more visitors to Nyangai Island. |
| A．The reasons for the changes on the island. | B．The rich natural species in coastal areas. |
| C．The measures taken to deal with rising sea level. | D．The way to build a concrete seawall on the island. |
| A．Local government should build a stronger seawall. |
| B．Local people on the island limit their CO2 emissions. |
| C．Countries in low-lying areas work together for their rights. |
| D．Rich countries should offer support about climate defenses. |
| A．Concerned. | B．Doubtful. | C．Uncertain. | D．Positive. |
4 . New research from the University of Portsmouth has shown a marked increase in shipping in the North East Atlantic. Scientists now warn that more monitoring is required to help protect sea life.
Researchers at the University of Ponsmouth have discovered that rates (率) of shipping in the North East Atlantic area rose by 34 per cent in a five-year period. The research is the first detailed survey of shipping activity in the North East Atlantic. Researchers used data from over 530 million vessel (船) positions recorded by Automatic Identification System(AIS). They looked at the change in shipping between 2013 and 2017 across ten different vessel types. In total the study area covered 1.1 million km², including waters off Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany,Iceland, Ireland, The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal. Spain, and the UK.
Lead author, James Robbins said: “This change is likely to put more pressure on the marine (海洋的) environment, and may influence the protection of at-risk species. Renewed monitoring effort is needed to make sure that protective measures are enough to save species under threat in a changing environment.”
Some of the greatest shipping increases were found in areas close to the Spanish coast. The Espacio Marino de la Costa da Morte saw a rise of 413 percent in vessel activity. It is an area used to protect seabirds.
Dr. Sarah Marley, Visiting Researcher at the University of Portsmouth, said: “Shipping is the most widespread human activity in our oceans, carrying a set of threats-from unnoticeable effects like underwater noise pollution to serious results when ships hit whales.”
Professor Alex Ford. from the University’s Institute of Marine Sciences, said: “Given the well-documented effects that shipping can have on the marine environment, it is necessary that this situation continues to be monitored-particularly in areas used to protect vulnerable (脆弱的) species which may already be under pressure.”
1. What can we say about the new research?| A．It started in 2013. | B．It is the first of its kind. |
| C．It was carried out by AIS. | D．It covers the whole Atlantic. |
| A．Rapid population growth. |
| B．Rising global temperatures. |
| C．The huge increase in shipping. |
| D．The disappearance of marine life. |
| A．Shipping plays an important role in the local economy. |
| B．Shipping can be a danger to the marine environment. |
| C．Noise pollution is closely related to human activity. |
| D．Marine areas should be monitored more carefully. |
| A．New waterways across the Atlantic |
| B．The shipping industry in the North East Atlantic |
| C．New research opens windows into life under the water |
| D．Sea life needs better protection from an increase in shipping |
A Four-legged Guardian Angel
I just finished cleaning up the snow in the pool in preparation for selling the house. The year before, I had lost my job with the provincial government, and now we almost ran out of all of our savings,
Deep in sadness, I sat typing up resumes for job. Out of the corner of my eye I could see my thirteen-month-old son Forrest playing near our big, gentle, intelligent dog Brigitte. And I recalled this family. the scene of adopting him on a cold winter night. It seemed as if Brigitte was always meant to be in this family.
Thinking of these, I couldn’t help letting out a sigh and continued working. Suddenly, Brigitte began barking furiously and running back and forth to the glass door overlooking our pool. I raced to see what was happening.
Finally, we arrived home, safe and sound. On seeing us, Brigitte began barking excitedly and turning in circles cheerfully Since then, Brigitte never left my son an inch.
The swimming pool witnessed the close bond formed between my families and Brigitte.
参考词汇/结构：
①companion; ②frightened; ③immediately, lift. . . up; ④despite;⑤it was. . . who
6 . Not all birds sing, but those that do—some several thousand species—do it a lot.
Iris Adam, a scientist at the University of Southern Denmark says, birds have “a drive to sing”. This means hours every day for some species, and that takes a lot of energy. However, singing can be dangerous. “As soon as you sing, you show yourself, for example, where you are and that you even exist—all of that immediately is out in the open for predators (捕食性动物) , for everybody,” she says.
In a new study published in the journal Nature Communications, Adam and her colleagues offer a new explanation for why birds take that risk and whether the muscles (肌肉) that produce birdsong require daily exercise. Adam designed an experiment on zebra finches—little Australian songbirds. Her experiment included keeping male birds in the dark to sever the connection between their brains and-their singing muscles, which prevented them from singing.
After a week, the birds’ singing muscles lost half of their strength. Three weeks later, they were back to the same level when they were juveniles (幼鸟) and never had sung before. When Adam played one of the male’s songs for: a group of female birds, six out of nine preferred the song that came from a male who had been using his singing muscles daily.
Adam’s conclusion (结论) is that songbirds need to exercise their singing muscles to produce top-performance song. If they don’t sing, they lose performance, and their songs get less attractive to females, which is bad.
“What they stress is that you need a lot of practice to improve what you’re doing,” says Ana Amador, a scientist at the University of Buenos Aires. It’s a good rule to live by, whether you’re a bird or a human—practice makes perfect, at least when it comes to singing one’s heart out.
1. Why can singing be dangerous for birds?| A．They can drive predators to sing. | B．They never protect their areas. |
| C．Their singing can attract predators. | D．Singing does damage to their muscles. |
| A．Remember. | B．End. | C．Risk. | D．Keep. |
| A．It mainly focused on male birds and juveniles. |
| B．It aimed to protect zebra finches from possible risks. |
| C．It strengthened birds’ singing muscles in four weeks. |
| D．It proved exercising singing muscles matters to birds. |
| A．Iris Adam’s work is a big success | B．Singing can be dangerous for birds |
| C．Birds sing to keep muscles in shape | D．Birds and human beings need practice |
7 . Zebby beat thousands of others and won the title of National Cat of the Year, an award given by Cats Protection, a charity that rescues and rehomes cats. To win the award, Zebby first won the Family Fur-ever category, which honors cats that “make a family complete”.
Zebby’s owner, 66-year-old Genevieve Moss, lives alone in the UK, aside from her animal friend, of course. Living alone can be troublesome and her problems were further worsened by the fact that she can’t hear anything without her hearing aid. Once, she was robbed in the middle of the night. “I used to be scared to go to sleep, and I used to lie awake. But now, with Zebby, I can rest easily,” said Moss.
Zebby warns her of different sounds in their home. He also fetches the mail for Moss and drops it into the bedroom. He even takes her slippers (拖鞋) to her. “He seems to know that when the phone rings, he needs to tell me. At nighttime, if my security light goes on, he will wake me up by hitting my face gently. Sometimes to protect me, Zebby takes up his position at the front door to tell me it’s not happening when I try to leave the house,” Moss said.
“I am so proud of Zebby for showing the world how caring cats can be, and what a positive effect they can have on people’s lives,” she said. “I can’t imagine life without Zebby and I’m over the moon about his being honored with the National Cat Awards.”
Cats Protection’s National Cat Awards organizer Ashley Fryer said, “From the moment we read his entry form, we knew Zebby was something special. He is clearly devoted to Moss and their story highlights the powerful bond that exists between people and their cats. He shows a shining example of the joy and comfort a cat can bring.”
1. What can we infer about Zebby?| A．He was once a homeless cat. |
| B．He helped prevent a robbery. |
| C．He is highly sensitive to sounds. |
| D．He gives Moss a feeling of security. |
| A．a cleaner | B．a watchman | C．a companion | D．a postman |
| A．Inspired. | B．Astonished. | C．Moved. | D．Excited. |
| A．Amazing Cat Making a Family Complete |
| B．Award-winning Cat Listening for His Owner |
| C．National Title Awarded to a Rehomed Cat |
| D．Special Bond Formed Between Cat and Human |
1. How much snow can people see this morning?
| A．A lot. | B．A little. | C．None. |
| A．About five degrees. | B．About two degrees. | C．About zero degree. |
| A．Tomorrow. | B．This weekend. | C．Next Monday. |
| A．A sports report. | B．Another weather report. | C．A speech by the president. |
1.活动目的；
2.活动过程；
3.活动反响。
注意：可适当增加细节，使行文连贯；字数100左右。
Plogging — A Win-Win Activity
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________10 . An international team of researchers, led by Dr Christine Batchelor of Newcastle University, UK, used clear pictures of the seafloor to show just how quickly a former ice cover retreated (退去) at the end of the last Ice Age, about 20,000 years ago.
The team mapped more than 7,600 small-scale landforms across the seafloor. The ridges (山脊) are less than 2.5m high and are spaced between about 25 and 300 metres apart. These landforms are understood to have formed when the ice cover’s retreating edge moved up and down with the tides (潮汐), pushing seafloor into a ridge every low tide. Given that two ridges would have been produced each day, the researchers were able to work out how quickly the ice cover retreated. Their results, reported in the journal Nature, show the former ice cover rapidly retreats at a speed of 50 to 600 metres per day.
The seafloor landforms also give light into the way in which such rapid retreat can happen. Dr Batchelor and co-workers noted that the former ice cover had retreated fastest across the flattest parts of its bed.
“An ice can go away from the seafloor and retreat quickly when it becomes buoyant (有浮力的),” explained co-author Dr Frazer Christie. “This retreat only happens across relatively flat beds, where less melting (融化) is required to thin the overlying ice to the point where it starts to float (漂浮).”
The researchers believe that the quick retreat could soon be observed in parts of Antarctica. This includes at West Antarctica’s vast Thwaites Glacier. The authors of this new study suggest that it could go through quick retreat because it has recently retreated close to a flat area of its bed.
“Our findings suggest that present-day rates of melting are enough to cause quick short retreat across flat-bedded areas of the Antarctic Ice Sheet, including at Thwaites,” said Dr Batchelor. “Satellites (卫星) may well know this ice-cover retreat in the near future, especially if we continue our climate warming.”
1. What is the purpose of Paragraph 1?| A．To provide some advice for the readers. |
| B．To add some background information. |
| C．To make the story interesting. |
| D．To bring in the topic. |
| A．Where the ice cover’s retreating lies. |
| B．Why the ice cover’s retreating is formed. |
| C．What the result of ice cover’s retreating is. |
| D．How the speed of ice cover’s retreating is worked out. |
| A．To give an example of quick retreat. |
| B．To tell where it is located. |
| C．To compare different types of retreat. |
| D．To explain why it is important. |
| A．Unclear. | B．Anxious. |
| C．Positive. | D．Doubtful. |
