1 . A five-year-old dog named Kelsey has been praised as a hero for helping to save the life of her owner who slipped in the snow and broke his neck.
The man, Bob, was alone when he left his farmhouse on New Year’s Eve to collect firewood.Expecting a journey of only several meters, Bob was wearing just long johns (衬裤), a shirt and slippers when he went outside, although the temperature was around －4℃.
After the accident, he was unable to move in the snow. Fortunately, Kelsey came to his assistance.
“I was shouting for help, but my nearest neighbor is about 400 meters away, and it was 10:30 p. m.,” Bob explained. “By the next morning, my voice was gone and I couldn’t yell for help, but Kelsey didn’t stop barking.”
Kelsey’s companion kept him warm by lying on top of him. She licked his face and hands to keep him awake. “Kelsey kept barking but never left my side,” Bob recalled. “I knew I couldn’t give up and that it was my choice to stay alive.”
Bob spent 20 hours in the freezing cold. When he finally lost consciousness, his dog kept barking. Finally, hearing the barking, Bob’s neighbor discovered him at 6:30 p. m. on New Year’s Day and called the emergency services at once. When Bob arrived in hospital, his body temperature was below 21℃. However, doctors were surprised to find that he didn’t have any frostbite (冻疮). They believed it was because of Kelsey’s determination to keep him warm. Dr. Chaim Colen, the doctor who treated Bob, said, “His dog really saved him.He was very fortunate.”
Bob said he was very grateful to both Dr. Colen and his Kelsey. “They saved my life. They are truly heroes!”
1. What happened to Bob on New Year’s Eve?| A．He left his dog alone in his farmhouse. |
| B．He was praised for saving a dog owner. |
| C．He broke his neck and couldn’t move. |
| D．He heard his neighbor’s shouting for help. |
| A．To keep warm. |
| B．To stay alive. |
| C．To keep Bob awake. |
| D．To seek help from others. |
| A．Helpful. | B．Fortunate. |
| C．Grateful. | D．Friendly. |
| A．A Neckbreaking Accident |
| B．The Magic Night |
| C．Warmth on a Winter’s Night |
| D．Determination to Keep Alive |
July 2023 was the world’s warmest month on record, with heat waves spreading across North America, Asia and Europe. How to cool the planet
According to Euro news, a European television news network, one idea
However, following the report,
1. What is the conversation mainly about?
| A．Fighting fires. | B．Detecting fires. | C．Using fires. |
| A．Around 50. | B．About 400. | C．Over 8600. |
| A．Size of a car. | B．Size of a plane. | C．Size of a sports field. |
| A．Saving animals. | B．Saving the trees. | C．Saving humans. |
4 . 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. |
5 . What Your Dog Is Really Thinking
Reading a pup’s body language requires experience and expert guidance. Zazie Todd, a dog trainer and founder of the blog Companion Animal Psychology, considers how to figure out the dogs’ behaviour.
If your dog licks their mouth
They’re stressed. Recently, two European studies have highlighted the meaning of this licking. One found that it was a dogs’ response to seeing an angry or aggressive human face on a computer screen.
If there are fireworks and your dog is shaking
The noises are frightening.
They’re anxious. Obvious signs of an unhappy dog include hiding or trying to leave the exam room, but commonly missed signs range from a tucked tail and lowered ears to trembling. If your dog gets stressed at appointments, ask what can be done. Many vets now use food to make the experience more fun.
If your dog leans into you during a petting session.
| A．They hate it |
| B．They like it |
| C．This is a common reaction |
| D．If you’re at the vet and your dog’s tail is down |
| E．If your dog looks guilty when you walk in the door and see a mess |
| F．Preferred spots on their bodies are to either side of the chest and under the chin |
| G．The other determined that dogs lick their mouths—and also look away—in response to a mild threat |
6 . This winter, the U. S. state of California received unusually large amounts of rain and snow. Now, people worry that some areas will flood as the snow in the Sierra Nevada Mountains melts (融化).
Ron Caetano lives about half-way between the cities of Los Angeles and San Francisco. He is preparing to leave in case his community, called the Island District, floods.
More than 100 years ago, the Island District area was under a large lake named Tulare Lake. At one time, Tulare Lake was the largest freshwater lake west of the Mississippi River. But reservoirs (水库) and watering systems for agriculture caused it to disappear. However, in very rainy years, farmland can still get covered with water.
Experts say reservoirs near the area will likely receive three times more water than they can hold this year. That means officials must increase the amount of water they release (释放) from the reservoirs. If too much water is released, the area might flood.
The Island District has organized a community network to help prepare for floods. People are placing sandbags close to elderly neighbors’ houses to block possible flooding. And they are looking at reports from water officials, county officials, and from each other.
California has had very dry weather in recent years. Both cities and farm communities acclaimed this year’s winter rains. If the weather gets warmer slowly, the snow will not melt quickly and there may be little or no flooding. But if the weather gets hot quickly, that will bring trouble from too much melting snow.
Officials announced plans to close parts of Yosemite National Park because of threats of flooding. The park is about 270 kilometers east of San Francisco in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
Nicholas Pinter is with the University of California, Davis Center for Watershed Sciences. He said the lake’s size has always changed because of California’s weather. He described the surrounding area this way. “It has been an engineering problem all along,” he said. “This is a bathtub (浴缸) with no way out.”
1. What made Tulare Lake disappear?| A．Lack of rainfall. | B．Natural disasters. |
| C．Human behaviors. | D．Climate warming. |
| A．Feared. | B．Prevented. | C．Stored. | D．Welcomed. |
| A．The government can help them escape. | B．The weather will gradually get warm. |
| C．There will be more rain there. | D．Officials won’t let off water. |
| A．It is difficult to deal with the flood. | B．It is easy to keep the snow water. |
| C．The surrounding area is unfit to live. | D．The lake is already overflowing. |
7 . Growing up in Canterbury, Scartozzi recalls swimming in rivers as part of her childhood. When she returned many years later, however, she noticed things had changed. “Some of the places where I could swim before now have signs saying ‘polluted water, do not swim’,” she says. “I wanted to take my kids to places to swim but we couldn’t because these signs were up.”
Although the experience was sad and surprising, it has also served as fuel for Scartozzi, who’s now focusing on restoring the health of waterways. Her company called eCleanEnvirotech is developing technology to remove pollutants from waterways such as rivers, ponds and streams. It involves feeding polluted water into a system housing microbes (微生物) that eat or break up the pollutants.
The “engineered” nature of the technology, Scartozzi explains, means it’s adaptable for different environment conditions. Each system can be personalized with its own unique “soup” of microbes to remove the pollutants in any waterway where it is installed (安装).
Other advantages of the technology, she says, are that it can process water relatively quickly and that it can be used to treat waterways in a variety of sizes and locations.
She says she hopes to create cleaner water for the benefit of future generations. “My passion is around restoring the health of these waterways. And my purpose is to do anything that I can to return them to their former condition. That’s what drives me every day. If I can do anything, it is so that in the future, my kids and grandchildren have somewhere where they can go swimming and fishing.”
1. What can we learn from the first two paragraphs?| A．Scartozzi and her kids were fond of swimming. |
| B．The experience inspired Scartozzi to clean up waterways. |
| C．Waterways in the world were unsuitable for swimming. |
| D．The company focuses on the development of the technology. |
| A．It is convenient and economic. | B．It can be used in limited waterways. |
| C．It functions slowly but effectively. | D．Its system is flexible and efficient. |
| A．To introduce her company. | B．To swim and fish in the river. |
| C．To regain healthy waterways. | D．To educate future generations. |
| A．Energetic | B．Curious. | C．Outgoing. | D．Responsible. |
8 . Though fireworks (烟花) on bonfire night bring joy to many people, it is likely to be a night of fright and pain for the UK’s geese (鹅).
Research by Anglia Ruskin University has found that fireworks displays (表演) cause wild birds to suffer significant pain, and researchers have recommended that displays should not take place in areas with large wildlife populations. A study, published in the journal Conservation Physiology, is one of the first carried out into the effects of fireworks on wildlife. It found that the heart rate (率) of geese increases by 96% when they are influenced by fireworks displays.
The study involved 20 wild grey lag geese fitted with recorders to record their heart rate and body temperature, which are measures of physiological stress. Claudia Wascher, who led the research, found that the average heart rate increased from 63 to 124 beats per minute, and their average body temperature increased from 38℃ to 39℃, in the first hour of fireworks displays. It took the geese about five hours before the birds displayed normal body temperatures, with average readings returning by 5 am.
“Ours is one of the first scientific studies to examine whether fireworks disturb wildlife. There have been previous studies showing that fireworks can cause anxiety in pets, for example in dogs, but little research has been done into how animals in the wild react. We need to carry out further research to conclusively tell whether the geese are reacting to the noise or the light pollution from the fireworks, or a combination of both. Many people get a lot of enjoyment from fireworks but it’s important that we consider animals both pets and wildlife — whenever planning a display,” Wascher said.
1. What advice do researchers give according to the findings of the study?| A．Geese should be protected especially at night. |
| B．Great attention should be paid to the UK’s geese. |
| C．Fireworks displays should be held without harming wildlife. |
| D．Fireworks displays should take place to bring joy to people. |
| A．To compare the heart rates between them. |
| B．To make them safe and sound in the wild. |
| C．To keep their body temperature normal. |
| D．To measure their physiological stress. |
| A．About five hours. | B．About four hours. |
| C．About two hours. | D．About one hour. |
| A．The relations between light pollution from fireworks and geese. |
| B．The effects of noise and light pollution from fireworks on geese. |
| C．Whether fireworks influence other wild animals. |
| D．The influence of a display on pets and wildlife. |
9 . You must have heard about animal migration (迁徙),such as Wildebeests dash across Africa; Monarch butterflies fly across the Americas... But did you know that forests migrate, too?
In his new book The Journeys of Trees, science writer Zach St. George explores an extremely slow migration, as forests creep inch by inch to more pleasant places.
“The migration of a forest is just many trees sprouting (发芽) in the same direction,” St. George writes. “Through the fossils that ancient forests left behind, scientists can track their movement over thousands of years. They move back and forth across continents, sometimes following the same route more than once, like migrating birds or whales.” This has happened over thousands of years, and climate change tends to be the driving force.
Of course, today, climate change is speeding up, and trees can’ t keep pace. Take California for example: It’s getting hotter and drier and scientists estimate that before too long, Sequoia National Park may not be able to keep giant sequoias (巨杉).
“The scientists there had never seen anything like it” St. George says. “They worried, and I think at some point we will lose these ancient trees and that we will have to think about what we do with the places, and whether we should plant new groves where they are easy to grow.”
This is known as “assisted migration” —humans planting trees in other places where they’ re more likely to flourish. But this process carries risks—people can accidentally introduce insects and diseases to new places, where they may wipe out entire native populations. So, St. George writes, there’ s a debate among conservationists and foresters today: Should humans help the trees escape?
“There may be cases where people are probably going to step in and help species move to places where they’ll be more suitable in the future,”St. George says.“So far, there are no huge movements of citizen groups moving trees north. But that is kind of one vision of the future that the people I interview hope to see.”
1. What can be learned about the forest migration?| A．It is very difficult to track the migration. |
| B．It takes several decades to complete it. |
| C．It is mainly the result of climate change. |
| D．It often follows certain migrating species. |
| A．To prove the assisted migration carries risks. |
| B．To stress the park is able to keep giant sequoias. |
| C．To state scientists are hopeful about the environment. |
| D．To show trees fail to adapt to climate change. |
| A．Grow well. | B．Become valuable. |
| C．Develop rapidly. | D．Escape diseases. |
| A．Supportive. | B．Objective. |
| C．Skeptical. | D．Disapproving. |
More than 11,000 scientists from 153 countries have sounded the alarm on climate change. In a paper
The scientists also gave some instructions to fight against global warming,
The scientists say the climate crisis is
