1 . All over the world, animals and plants are in trouble. People are trying their best to help them.
Donate some money.
Many zoos and wildlife organizations have programs that let kids donate money to help a specific endangered animal.
Don’t release fish or pets onto the wild.
Chemicals used to kill garden weeds and bugs are a big problem for animals. Maybe if you offered to pull up the weeds instead, you could help people to use fewer poisons.
Speak up!
Share what you know and speak up for the animals. Write letters! Powerful people need to know that you care and that you’re keeping an eye on them to make sure they do their jobs right and protect the planet.
Make less trash.
Pollution and plastic trash are bad for animals and nature. How can you help?
Bring drinks from home in a refillable bottle.
| A．Pull weeds. |
| B．People have no choice but to worry. |
| C．It might seem kind to set pets free, but it isn’t. |
| D．Take your lunch in a lunchbox or reusable bag. |
| E．Pulling weeds is a chore — but you said you want to help! |
| F．Here are some useful ways to help plants and animals in our daily life. |
| G．For your next birthday, why don’t you donate your pocket money? |
2 . David Willard has been checking the grounds of Chicago’s lakefront exhibition center for dead birds for 40 years. One morning this year he found something horrible; Hundreds of dead songbirds, so thick they looked like a carpet. Nearly 1,000 songbirds died during the night after crashing into the center’s windows. According to bird experts, the result was caused by a combination of migration conditions, rain, and the exhibition hall's low lights and walls with windows.
Birds don’t see clear glass and don’t understand it’s a deadly barrier. When they see plants or bushes through windows, they head for them, killing themselves in the process. Birds that migrate at night, like sparrows, rely on the stars to navigate. Bright lights from buildings both attract and confuse them, leading to window strikes or birds flying around the lights until they die from tiredness—a phenomenon known as deadly light attraction.
But even in the best of circumstances, spring and fall are dangerous times for migrating birds. When they migrate over major cities, the risks increase. Hundreds or thousands of dead birds may appear on city streets after a wave of migrants has passed through. In all, about 100 million to 1 billion birds die each year in North America from crashing buildings.
The good news is that people can greatly reduce the danger with some simple methods. Window strikes are easily preventable, said Anna Pidgeon, an expert at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Architects can design windows with markings in the glass that birds can easily recognize, she said. People can paint their windows as well.
1. What caused songbirds to die according to Paragraph 1?| A．Bad migration conditions. | B．Human behaviors. |
| C．Crashing into plants. | D．A combination of external factors. |
| A．Birds dying due to being attracted by strong lights. |
| B．Birds getting attracted to bright lights and then getting lost. |
| C．Birds getting attracted to lights and then attacking each other. |
| D．Birds flying around the dim lights until they die from exhaustion. |
| A．Puzzled and unbiased. | B．Negative and suspicious. |
| C．Approving and supportive. | D．Compromising and critical. |
| A．To promote the use of dim lights in buildings. |
| B．To inform readers about bird migration patterns. |
| C．To explain the dangers birds face during migration. |
| D．To discuss the work of David Willard at the exhibition center. |
1. Where did the group plan to camp?
| A．On the top of Ben Nevis. | B．Beside the Tower Ridge. | C．In the Corries. |
| A．Snowy. | B．Windy. | C．Sunny. |
| A．He hurt his legs. |
| B．He slowed the group down. |
| C．He was too weak to reach the top. |
| A．Challenging. | B．Disappointing. | C．Enjoyable. |
4 . A recent report revealed that, in the US alone, 27 million tons of plastic ended up in landfills in 2018, but only 3. 1 million tons were recycled. Worldwide the numbers are similarly bad, with just 9% of plastic being recycled. The statistics are even worse for certain types of plastic. For example, out of 80,000 tons of polystyrene(聚苯乙烯) containers generated in the United States, only a small amount (less than 5,000 tons) was recycled.
Now, researchers at The University of Queensland have found a species of worm with an appetite for polystyrene could be the key to plastic recycling on a mass scale. The superworm can eat through polystyrene, thanks to a bacterial enzyme(酶) in their gut. To study how superworms react to purely plastic food, researchers broke up 135 of the creatures into three teams: one was fed only wheat bran(麸皮), another was fed only plastics, and the third was given nothing.
“We found the bran-fed worms have been significantly healthier than the plastic-fed or starved worms, more than doubling their weight over the three weeks they have been monitored. Though the plastic-fed worms made less impressive gains, they still put on more weight than the starved worms,” Dr. Rinke said.“This suggests the worms can get energy from plastics, most likely with the help of their gut microbes.”
Researchers used a technique called metagenomics to find several encoded enzymes with the ability to degrade(降低) polystyrene. The long-term goal is to engineer enzymes to degrade plastic waste in recycling plants.
“Superworms are like mini recycling plants, eating the polystyrene and then feeding it to the bacteria in their gut,”Dr. Rink e said. It’s hoped this bio-upcycling will promote plastic waste recycling and reduce landfills. Researchers said they aim to grow the gut bacteria in the lab and further test its ability to degrade polystyrene. Then they can look into how to upscale this process to a level required for an entire recycling plant.
1. What problem do the statistics in paragraph 1 indicate?| A．Landfills are poorly managed. |
| B．It takes a long time for plastic waste to break up. |
| C．Many plastic containers are of poor quality. |
| D．The rate of recycled plastics are very low. |
| A．By making a comparison. | B．By collecting data. |
| C．By introducing a concept. | D．By referring to a previous study. |
| A．Superworms could survive on only eating polystyrene. |
| B．Superworms showed little interest in wheat bran. |
| C．Plastic-fed worms had an obvious increase in weight. |
| D．Bran-fed worms had a longer lifespan than plastic-fed worms. |
| A．Conduct experiments on other worm species. |
| B．Improve gut bacteria's ability to degrade plastics. |
| C．Raise superworms on a mass scale to solve plastic pollution. |
| D．Apply the bio-upcycling technology to recycling plants. |
5 . If you think of a game of fetch, you might picture a dog running back and forth, eagerly recovering a ball. But a new study shows that they’re not the only pets that like the game: Cats play fetch, too, just on their own unique terms.
The researchers discovered almost 1,000 owners of 1,154 cats to find out if and why. According to their findings, nearly 95% of the cat owners reported that their cats fetched items naturally. One respondent said his cat returned the toy completely for no reason.
Fetching was mainly first noticed when cats were under I year old. What’s more, “cats who fetch largely determine when they engage in fetching activities and actively influence the play behavior of their owners,” according to the study. “So, it can say a bit about cats being in control of their interactions and being in control of their environments, even being in control of us. You might even go so far to say,” says Jemma Forman, the co-author of the study.
But the motivation for cats to fetch objects seems to be different from that for dogs. Cats are more likely to play on their own with objects similar to prey (猎物). For dogs, play is more social, involving either another dog or human.
In general, play has major advantages for both the pet and the owner, as it not only helps to prevent attack towards, the owner, but also models the act of preying on real animals, an important kind of play behavior. “So even if your cat doesn’t play fetch, obviously it’s a really good idea to try and engage them in any sort of play. Play does have a lot of benefits,” says Forman. “It’s about owner acceptance to your fur baby,” she says.
1. Why does the author mention dogs in Paragraph 1?| A．To offer basic information of dogs. |
| B．To make an outline for the passage. |
| C．To introduce the topic of the passage. |
| D．To conclude the meaning of the topic. |
| A．By raising questions. | B．By listing data. |
| C．By making a comparison. | D．By offering an example. |
| A．A social action. | B．A learning process. |
| C．A serious task. | D．A preying activity. |
| A．Cats Play Fetch, Too | B．Train Cats to Fetch |
| C．New Findings on Dogs | D．Dogs Play Fetch, Too |
6 . The tickbird and the giraffe have a connection relationship that some scientists describe as win-win relationship and some as parasitism (寄生). This interspecies partnership is imbalanced in favor of the giraffe because it can live without the tickbird, while the tickbird is dependent on the giraffe for food resource.
The giraffe is a large mammal that lives in Africa along with other large grass-eaters. All these and many others host the tickbird. This bird has long been thought to remove ticks (扁虱) from its host, to the benefit of both—the bird eats the ticks, and the host is relieved of blood-sucking, disease-carrying insects—but recent studies reveal that this process is less than good. A secondary benefit to a host from the tickbirds’ presence is a sort of early warning system, since the birds make a loud sound if they sight an enemy. This is of less benefit to the giraffe than to other hosts because the giraffe has the advantage of great height and keen eyesight and is fully capable of spotting predators without the bird’s assistance. The tickbird is likely of greater benefit in this capacity to the nearsighted rhino.
They cross through the host’s hair looking for insects as their food. According to the researcher Paul Weeks, reporting in the journal Behavioral Ecology, tickbirds can and do enlarge tick bites and other wounds on their host body to seek for food resource, making the host-tickbird relationship unfair. The host, like the giraffe, however, would have a hard time keeping tickbirds off itself. So they tolerate the birds who cling to their bodies and chow down selectively at the buffet on the giraffe’s body.
1. Which statement about the tickbird is TRUE?| A．It doesn’t rely on the giraffe for food. |
| B．It removes ticks from its hosts. |
| C．It makes gentle sounds when it spots an enemy. |
| D．It brings more benefit to its hosts than it gets from them. |
| A．Because the giraffe has no tick on its body. |
| B．Because the giraffe has its own warning system. |
| C．Because the giraffe is tall and has sharp eyesight. |
| D．Because the giraffe is strong enough to protect itself. |
| A．stick to | B．lead to | C．keep away | D．hold back |
| A．Tickbird and Giraffe: Unequal Relationship | B．Tickbird and Giraffe: Friendly Relationship |
| C．Tickbird and Giraffe: Mysterious Relationship | D．Tickbird and Giraffe: Conflicting Relationship |
In the 1950s, Liu Wenbin’s father left his hometown in Hebei Province and settled near Ulansuhai Nur, one of the most famous
For years, the fishing industry was a
Now, with a treatment campaign that follows the philosophy of “mountains, rivers, forests, farmland, lakes, grassland
8 . In recent years, extreme weather has been on the rise. From wildfires in California, US to record-breaking rainfall in northern China this summer and most recently the flood in Libya which claimed thousands of lives, Earth seems to be whipped by extreme climate and weather patterns.
Climate whiplash (气候鞭打), or weather whiplash, refers to a quick change from one extreme weather pattern to another. It is caused by global warming. A warmer atmosphere can hold more steam. As the Earth gets warmer, more water is contained in the atmosphere. Once the temperature gets colder, it often rains more heavily. This explains why a drought is often followed by extremely heavy rain.
The region hit hardest by climate whiplash is California. Over the past decade, California has experienced lasting droughts, wildfires, heavy rainfalls, and floods. It seems that the state is either on fire or in flooding with little in between. Researchers estimate that by the end of this century, the frequency of climate whiplash will jump by 25 percent in northern California as Earth continues to become warmer.
Apart from wildfires and floods, studies showed that climate whiplash also has an impact on water quality. During dry days, the fertilizer (肥料) farmers use for plants cannot be absorbed by thirsty and dying plants. Then the following heavy rain washes the remaining fertilizer into rivers, polluting the water.
How can we deal with climate whiplash? The key lies in fighting global warming. That is to say, humans have to largely reduce the use of fossil fuels (化石燃料). Climate whiplash would happen more frequently in the future, should we fail to fight global warming effectively. Therefore, it is urgent that nations around the world double down on efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
1. What is Paragraph 2 mainly about?| A．The effects of global warming. | B．The causes of global warming. |
| C．The results of climate whiplash. | D．The principle behind climate whiplash. |
| A．It has resulted in reduced droughts. |
| B．It is expected to occur more frequently. |
| C．It has primarily affected northern California. |
| D．It causes more floods here than in other US states. |
| A．Unabsorbed plant fertilizer is washed into the water. |
| B．More plastic waste is brought into the water by floods. |
| C．Dry weather affects pollutant concentrations in water. |
| D．Heavy rains carry more industrial waste into the water. |
| A．It is not as serious as commonly believed. |
| B．It can be solved by reducing fossil fuel usage. |
| C．It is linked with our efforts to fight global warming. |
| D．It will cause the global temperature to rise annually. |
From the adorable pandas in Sichuan to the playful Pallas’s cats in Inner Mongolia, from the snub-nosed monkeys in Hubei to the majestic Siberian tigers in Heilongjiang, photographer Xie Jianguo has dedicated himself to documenting the country’s rare and
Since 2015, Xie Jianguo has redirected his lens toward his homeland,
He said, “I want to showcase the beautiful and dynamic moments of wildlife, to not only record their living conditions but also to express
In 2020, Xie joined forces with Chen Jianwei to launch the “Nature Image China” project. So far, the project
10 . Britain has a stubborn enemy called the “devil plant”, the Japanese knotweed (虎杖). The name originated in Japan, but it became a promoter behind a plant disaster in Britain. Initially it was introduced to England as a landscape plant. However, over time it has evolved into a harsh plant difficult to control.
The plant is disreputable (坏名声的) mainly because of its strong ability to survive. The Japanese knotweed can grow at an amazing speed. What’s more, Japan’s knotweed is penetrating. As long as you give it a small gap, it can follow it and make rapid growth. This gap may be a crack in the road, or a wall crack in the house, and even some Japanese knotweed will start to grow from the foundation of the house, gradually “destroy” the whole house. Such an invasion (入侵) is a nightmare for the British. The British simply love and hate the plant, but so far, they are still unable to find an effective way to remove it.
Fortunately, China’s knotweed is not identical to Japan’s, and in the China’s ecosystem, there are many natural enemies against it. As a result, China has not experienced a knotweed invasion as severe as Britain. Additionally, its tender stem can be made into delicious food. The root of knotweed is a very good Chinese medicine. Therefore, in some places there’s also a need to plant knotweed, to obtain economic benefits.
This case gives us a profound inspiration that it is important to be careful when introducing alien species and to fully understand the characteristics of plants or animals and the effects they may cause in a new environment, otherwise it may be easy to spend a huge amount of money every year to clean up the Japanese knotweed, as in the UK.
1. Why did Britain bring in Japanese knotweed at first?| A．To make profits. | B．For decoration. |
| C．For scientific research. | D．To promote biodiversity. |
| A．Fading away. | B．Dying out. |
| C．Multiplying rapidly. | D．Growing steadily. |
| A．China’s ecosystem is not damaged by knotweed. |
| B．Knotweed is in great demand in the whole China. |
| C．Knotweed has made most of the Chinese people rich. |
| D．Chinese medicine includes knotweed’s stems and roots. |
| A．A Natural Phenomenon We Know |
| B．A Plant That People Love and Hate |
| C．Alien Species’ Effect on the Local Economy |
| D．The Fight Against Invasive Plants and Animals |
