1 . The Dead Sea might be the most famous saline body in the world, but it’s by no means the only one. Here, we uncover some other salt lakes around the world.
Dead Sea
The most famous of the lot, the Dead Sea—also known as the Salt Sea—is a natural place to start. It’s technically not a sea at all, but a land salt lake. Its waters are mainly drawn from the Jordan River, and the high salinity (盐度) means no life can survive here, so don’t expect any colorful fish. However, much amusement results from the sea’s buoyancy (浮力): Bring some reading material to the waters and lie back—nature will do the rest.
Lake Assal
Surrounded by black volcano rocks, Lake Assal takes the title of being the lowest point in Africa. Vast salt fields mark its edges; the lake has long been at the centre of the area’s salt trade, on which the region’s African locals still rely. Though the area might not be suitable to live in, the waters are rich in minerals and related to health benefits.
Great Salt Lake
The biggest salt lake in the western hemisphere, and the one that gave Salt Lake City its name, the Great Salt Lake finds its home in northern Utah. What makes the lake well-known is not only the lake’s blue and green waters and white-sand beaches, but also Great Salt Lake State Park and Antelope Island State Park, both offering super hiking and biking trails, and great long views.
Don Juan Pond
Don Juan Pond might not win any prizes for its beauty—at four inches deep, it’s little more than a pond, but it is worth visiting. Its salinity content of almost 40 percent makes it one of the saltiest bodies of water on Earth, meaning it doesn’t freeze even when Antarctic temperatures drop to -50℃. And with suggestions that water in a similar form could exist on Mars, there’s more than one reason for scientists to study this fascinating dry, cold environment.
1. What can visitors probably do in Lake Assal?| A．Read books. | B．Have a hike. |
| C．Enjoy small fishes. | D．Take a bath in the lake. |
| A．Its great parks. | B．Its scientific value. |
| C．Its highest salinity. | D．Its specific location. |
| A．Dead Sea. | B．Lake Assal. |
| C．Don Juan Pond. | D．Great Salt Lake. |
“Sun, sun, sun, here it comes…”
Danny sang while his fingers pressed and pulled skillfully at the guitar strings, delivering a slow and peaceful tune. A circle of audience had formed, nodding and moving slowly to the song.
Lying at the feet of the street performer was his most adoring fan: One-Eyed, a white stray (流浪) dog with pieces of brown. Danny felt the name was suitable considering its physical disability. Usually, One-Eyed would bark loudly as Danny performed. Much to his annoyance, people often mistook the pair as owner and pet. At this time, Danny would reply, “My dog? No!”, eyes rolling at the idea. How he wished the dog would leave him alone instead!
On a snowy night, while Danny was performing, a bird flew downward, landing into the midst of the crowd. It cooed happily as if to harmonize with Danny. Unfortunately, that did not sit well with One-Eyed, which immediately bounced at it and the bird flew away desperately.
The unexpected chaos upturned Danny's hat, which could have been filled with notes and coins from his appreciative audience, leaving it ignored on the ground. "Argh! The hateful dog!” Danny broke down, thinking to himself, “Either the dog goes or I go!”
On the next night, Danny tried to find a new place and chanced upon the park. For a while his earnings were good unsurprisingly as there was a steady flow of visitors. However, that didn't last long. One-Eyed came along and appointed itself as Danny's guardian. "Argh! Here comes the hateful dog again!" That night, Danny hadn't made enough money he should have, all thanks to the troublesome dog.
Danny was almost mad with One-Eyed. “What should I do? Call an animal shelter?” Torn by this problem, he walked aimlessly by the lake of the park. With all his mind focused on how to get rid of the dog, Danny didn't watch his steps. Suddenly, he slipped and fell into the lake accidentally. Struggling in the icy water, he cried for help desperately, almost choking to death. Sensing the approach of death, Danny got into overwhelming panic.
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。
Just then, a familiar barking was heard in the distance.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________“My hero! Thank you for saving me,” Danny said gratefully with watery eyes.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________3 . In the early 1990s, Eric Domb, a highly successful lawyer, came up with the idea of building a bird park. His father-in-law
After the park opened in 1994, his inexperience led to many
Since his childhood he has been fascinated by Chinese
Domb felt
Now, Domb is eager to tell how he
| A．rejected | B．supported | C．doubted | D．raised |
| A．project | B．rule | C．law | D．document |
| A．steal | B．win | C．earn | D．borrow |
| A．rewards | B．wonders | C．mistakes | D．regrets |
| A．missing | B．spreading | C．shaking | D．growing |
| A．extreme | B．unusual | C．irregular | D．essential |
| A．culture | B．food | C．poetry | D．dream |
| A．containing | B．changing | C．adding | D．removing |
| A．embarrassed | B．surprised | C．confused | D．inspired |
| A．willingly | B．enthusiastically | C．automatically | D．confidently |
| A．take charge of | B．pay attention to | C．get hold of | D．gain knowledge of |
| A．grass | B．tea | C．coffee | D．bamboo |
| A．bought | B．protected | C．received | D．tracked |
| A．pride | B．humor | C．security | D．duty |
| A．hide | B．house | C．train | D．save |
| A．The weather. | B．The scenery. | C．The traffic. |
Recently, videos
One theory could link to how bees use the sun's position to guide their way back, so once the sun sets, they immediately stop moving.
Either way, such strange behavior of bees is
6 . In the 1990s and 2000s, Costa Rica and Panama experienced a rise in malaria(疟疾) cases. The massive loss of amphibians (两栖动物) in the region from a fungal (真菌的) disease may have contributed to the malaria increase.
The spread of the fungal disease was a slow-motion disaster, leading to a decades-long wave of amphibian declines globally. From the 1980s to the 2000s, the wave moved from northwest to southeast across Costa Rica and Panama. An analysis of ecological surveys, public health records and satellite data suggests a link between the amphibian die-offs and an increase in human malaria cases.
On average, each county had 0.8 to 1.1 additional cases of malaria per 1,000 people per year for about six years, beginning several years after the amphibian losses, Michael Springborn, an environmental economist of the University of California, Davis, and colleagues found.
Springborn and colleagues wondered if the impacts that the fungal disease has on the decline of at least 500 species globally stretched to humans. The team turned to Costa Rica and Panama, where the fungus moved through ecosystems in a somewhat uniform way along the narrow area of land on which the two countries sit, Springborn says. The researchers worked out when the fungus arrived at a given place and then looked at the number of malaria cases in those places before and after the die-offs. Malaria cases rose in the first couple of years after the decline and remained high for six years or so before going down again for unknown reasons.
Studies on the connections between biodiversity loss and health might “help motivate conservation by highlighting the direct benefits of conservation to human well-being,” says Hillary Young, a community ecologist at the University of California, Santa Barbara. “Humans are causing wildlife to be lost at a rate similar to that of other major mass extinction events,” she says. “We are increasingly aware that these losses can have major impacts on human health and well-being- and, in particular, on risk of infectious disease.”
1. What directly brought about the rise in malaria cases?| A．The extinction of fungus. | B．The death of amphibians. |
| C．The spread of a fungal disease. | D．The lack of wildlife conservation. |
| A．The number of amphibians dropped dramatically. |
| B．The fungus has little impact on human well-being. |
| C．The county’s population multiplied after the amphibian decline. |
| D．Malaria cases show relevant changes when amphibians became fewer. |
| A．By studying the features of the fungus. |
| B．By comparing the number of malaria cases. |
| C．By finding out the track of fungus’ movement. |
| D．By working out the reason for the amphibian die-offs. |
| A．Humans should keep wildlife at a distance. |
| B．Humans cause the major mass extinction events. |
| C．Human well-being is closely connected with wildlife. |
| D．Human health has no relationship with conservation. |
7 . Birds’ bodies are becoming smaller in size in response to climate change, even in places like the Amazon rainforest that are relatively untouched by human hands, according to a new study published in the journal Science Advances.
Researchers found that nearly all of the birds’ bodies have become lighter since the 1980s, losing on average about 2% of their body weight every decade. For an average bird species that weighed about 30 grams in the 1980s, the population now averages about 27.6 grams. The study also revealed that wingspan was getting bigger in the Amazon bird species studied.
These birds don’t vary that much in size. When everyone in the population is a couple of grams smaller, it’s significant. This is undoubtedly happening all over and probably not just with birds.
A lower body weight and increasing wing length means that birds use energy more efficiently, the researchers noted. For example, compared with a fighter jet with short wings that needs lots of fuel to fly, a glider plane with a thin body and long wings flies up into the air with much less energy.
The study concluded that a warmer climate was the driving force of these changes. The climate in Brazilian Amazonia, where the birds lived, had gotten hotter and wetter over the study period. Since 1966, rainfall increased by 13% in the wet season and fell by 15% in the dry, with temperatures increasing by 1 degree Celsius in the wet season and 1.65 degrees Celsius in the dry season. The change in climate might have made food or other resources insufficient.
Together, body proportions moved in the direction of more efficient flight and lower metabolic heat production and are consistent with a plastic or genetic adaptation to resource or thermal stress under climate change.
Animals are dealing with climate change in different ways.
1. What is the direct cause of birds’ changes?| A．A warmer climate. | B．A scientific advance. | C．A lack of sufficient food. | D．A lack of drinking water |
| A．To show planes fly with much less fuel. | B．To prove birds need much energy to fly. |
| C．To demonstrate birds’ efficient energy use. | D．To illustrate planes need lots of fuel to fly. |
| A．Animals’ other body part changes. | B．People’s attempts to protect animals. |
| C．Birds’ adaptation to climate change. | D．Animals’ ways to tackle climate change |
| A．Birds Nowadays Also Have to Adapt to Climate Change |
| B．The Climate Crisis Is Influencing Birds’ Body Shapes |
| C．It’s Our Duty to Take Measures to Protect Birds on the Planet |
| D．It’s Time to Raise Human Beings’ Awareness of Climate Crisis |
Greenpeace is not satisfied
“Europe desperately needs to decarbonize transport, but ministers missed a
Greenpeace francized EU national governments for
The Czech Republic, which
European Commission Executive Vice-President Fran’s Timmermans,
9 . Each year, as many as one billion birds are killed in the US from collisions (相撞) with glass windows and buildings every year. Birds that crashed into Philadelphia buildings began to be collected in the 1890s. Nearly 100 species of birds are known to have died out from crashes with buildings and other structures in Philadelphia. Many other species are probably affected in the city.
Called Lights Out Philly, the voluntary program in Philadelphia encourages buildings to turn out or dim unnecessary external and internal lights between midnight and six o’clock early in the morning to protect birds as they pass through during migration seasons.
Bird migration seasons are from April l to May 31 in spring and from August 15 to November 15 in fall. Each year, millions of birds pass through Philadelphia along a migration route known as the Atlantic Flyway. Bird-glass crashes are very common for migrating birds, most of which travel at night. Glass is difficult for them to recognize as hard surfaces, and artificial light can fool them into crashing with buildings and outdoor structures. Turning off lights between midnight and sunrise helps minimize the effect of artificial light when most birds are migrating.
On Oct. 2, 2020, a stormy and foggy day, Philadelphia had its largest mass collision event in more than 70 years with an estimated 1,000 birds crashing with buildings in one 3.5-square block area in just one day. Paired with a terrible storm of weather and fog conditions, the bright city and building lights attracted and confused the migrating birds, causing them to crash with buildings and outdoor structures.
Even if you don’t play a part in managing the lights of a big building, you can help birds avoid crashes by making the glass opaque to reduce the amount and intensity of artificial light at night, changing the color of lighting to blue or green, shortening the duration lights are on, directing the lighting downward or screening lighting.
1. What is the first paragraph mainly about?| A．The rich biological diversity in Philadelphia. |
| B．Great efforts to protect migrating birds in Philadelphia. |
| C．The present and the past of the bird conservation in America. |
| D．The serious consequence of bird-glass crashes in Philadelphia. |
| A．Bad weather conditions. | B．Traveling in the day. |
| C．The mistaken route. | D．Too many buildings. |
| A．Light-reflecting. | B．Delicate. | C．Lightproof. | D．Clean. |
| A．It Is Difficult to Save the Migrating Birds |
| B．Philadelphia Turns out Lights to Save Migrating Birds |
| C．External and Internal Lights Affect the Bird Migration |
| D．Lights Out Philly Program Helps Save Endangered Birds |
10 . Wildlife crossings don’t just protect animals. They can also mitigate problems related to wildlife-vehicle collisions (碰撞) and save significant money for a community.
Wildlife crossings are man-made structures that help animals move safely around their habitat. They are often paths under or over another existing road or railway, or underground passages for animals to get past for food or avoiding attacks.
Some animals are unable to migrate to survive. People still rely on highways for business and travel, and animals continue to have mobility needs for survival, though. When new roads are built, animals living in a part of their habitat can greatly increase the number of wildlife vehicle collisions while trying to cross the new barriers.
In a new study, Wisnu Sugiarto, a Washington State University economics doctoral student, examined data for 13 of the 22 wildlife crossings, including bridges and underpasses, in the Washington State. He compared the number of wildlife-vehicle collisions each year before and after the construction of a wildlife crossing. He considered the area within 10 miles of a crossing.
Then he compared his analysis to a separate area in the state with no crossings at all. “The findings reported that wildlife crossing structures reduced the number of wildlife-vehicle collisions by one to three accidents on average per mile per year,” Sugiarto said. “Therefore, building wildlife crossing structures is typically an essential and effective strategy to reduce wildlife-vehicle collisions.”
“Trior to working on this research, I wasn’t aware of any strategies to reduce wildlife vehicle collisions. I also thought we couldn’t do much about it, partly because we wouldn’t be able to communicate with wildlife and control their movement,” Sugiarto added. “However, it turns out that there are multiple strategies to deal with issues related to wildlife-vehicle collisions and we can do something about them. ”
It is reported that the government has invested $ 350 million over five years for the construction of wildlife crossings. Every wildlife crossing offers a mean benefit of between $235,000 and $443,000 each year.
1. What does the underlined word “mitigate” in paragraph 1 mean?| A．Analyze. | B．Reduce. | C．Study. | D．Discover. |
| A．How the wildlife crossings are built. |
| B．Why wildlife crossings are necessary. |
| C．What should be done to cross the roads. |
| D．When wildlife-vehicle collisions happen. |
| A．Tolerant. | B．Skeptical. |
| C．Favorable. | D．Conservative. |
| A．Wildlife crossings save wild animals and money |
| B．The size of wildlife crossings affects animals greatly |
| C．Every wildlife crossing has a great effect on road safety |
| D．Wildlife crossings manage to help animals move safely |
