1 . Volunteer at the EcoTarium! We simply could not offer the programs and special events that make the EcoTarium a unique resource to our community without our diverse and dedicated corps of volunteers. To be considered for a more specific position, look through the volunteer listings below, and submit an application.
Zoo Ambassador Volunteer
Our zoo ambassador volunteers will assist the Zoology Department to connect with guests through engaging educational experiences about our animal residents. We are looking for volunteers who are passionate about animals and excited to interact with guests of all ages. Volunteers may also complete behavioral studies on numerous animals within the care of the EcoTarium to help enhance the welfare for our animals!
Animal Care Volunteer
Animal care volunteers will aid in all areas of husbandry (农牧业), including feeding, cleaning, record keeping, training animals, and behavioral observations. They will work with a variety of animals under our care, including mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and insects. The position is physically demanding and requires working in all weather conditions.
Education Program Volunteer
Through conversations and hands-on activities, education program volunteers help visitors make meaningful connections to our exhibits, encourage curiosity and scientific inquiry, and challenge visitors to dive deeper into the concepts explored at our museum.
Collections Volunteer
The EcoTarium seeks volunteers who are interested in making a contribution to science by uncovering lost specimens (标本) in the EcoTarium collection! Photograph, measure, and take notes on birds, eggs, seashells, or pressed flowers. This is an excellent position for a high school or college student considering a career in biology or lab science. It is also appropriate for citizen scientists of any age. It offers an opportunity to see examples of rare or extinct plants and animals.
1. What can an animal care volunteer do?| A．Collect lost specimens. |
| B．Learn to feed and clean animals. |
| C．Finish some studies on the exhibits. |
| D．Help elderly visitors interact with animals. |
| A．Collections Volunteer. | B．Animal Care Volunteer. |
| C．Education Program Volunteer. | D．Zoo Ambassador Volunteer. |
| A．To list the advantages of volunteers. |
| B．To spread knowledge about volunteers. |
| C．To train more people to become volunteers. |
| D．To introduce some positions about volunteers. |
2 . Catherine Krestyn furnished (布置家具)her home mainly with hard rubbish, such as the chairs, doors and lamps, which have been collected from the street where she lives. And it’s a way of life she’s sharing with her community in the hope of making a difference.
Catherine leads a 6,000-strong online group called Boroondara Hard Rubbish Rehome, where members upload pictures of their hard rubbish piles for eager locals to find. She started the group in 2022 with her childhood friend Jennie Irving, hoping to build a community of thrift (节俭)where they lived. The pair have stopped more than 7,000 kg of hard rubbish going to landfill since they founded the group.
Some items are ready as they are, like chairs and lamps, and others take a bit of effort to clean up, like the old, wooden doors.
Local teacher Ruth Polgar discovered the group while surfing the Internet and has since decorated her classroom with second-hand items, including artwork she has rehomed from a neighbour. “We regularly take unneeded items from the group and use them for our school projects,” she says.
Running the group can be really challenging for Catherine. But she doesn’t resent those who have to let go of their possessions because of stressful circumstances. “If you’re downsizing or if you’re clearing an old house, quite often you’re desperate for access to easy options,” she says. “Hard rubbish piles are often that option.”
All Catherine wants to do is give her community a way to reduce their waste, and to send a message to those in charge that things need to urgently change.
“The government has big targets around sustainable development leading into 2030. We want to start speeding that up even sooner,” she says. “We’re suffering from our own waste really, so anything that we can all do on a practical level helps. We should first make lifestyle choices and be prepared to go second-hand.”
1. Why did Catherine set up Boroondara Hard Rubbish Rehome?| A．To create a community of thrift. | B．To donate her collection to charity. |
| C．To collect hard rubbish for locals. | D．To decorate the houses for the homeless. |
| A．She prefers second-hand items. | B．She buys items on the Internet. |
| C．She supports Catherine’s cause. | D．She teaches art at a local school. |
| A．Feel angry about. | B．Feel pleased with. |
| C．Show sympathy for. | D．Show interest in. |
| A．Setting ourselves a big goal. | B．Giving throwaways a second life. |
| C．Meeting the government’s requirements. | D．Replacing old furniture regularly. |
South Koreans have enjoyed their first close-up look of new baby giant pandas at a name-revealing ceremony that is also
What to name the twin sisters was widely discussed among netizens after they were born on July 7 in theme park Everland. The names were
The baby pandas,
Everland said it would monitor the twins’ health
4 . Scientists have been experimenting with playing sounds to plants since at least the 1960s, during which time they have been exposed to everything from Beethoven to Michael Jackson. Over the years, evidence that this sort of thing can have an effect has been growing. One paper, published in 2018, claimed that an Asian shrub known as the telegraph plant grew substantially larger leaves when exposed to 56 days of Buddhist music — but not if it was exposed to Western pop music or silence. Another, published last year, found that marigolds and sage plants exposed to the noise of traffic from a busy motorway suffered growth difficulty.
Plants have been evolving (进化) alongside the insects that eat them for hundreds of millions of years. With that in mind, Heidi Appel, a botanist now at the University of Houston, and Reginald Cocroft, a biologist at the University of Missouri, wondered if plants might be sensitive to the sounds made by the animals with which they most often interact. They recorded the vibrations made by certain species of caterpillars (毛毛虫) as they chewed on leaves. These vibrations are not powerful enough to produce sound waves in the air. But they are able to travel across leaves and branches, and even to neighbouring plants if their leaves touch.
They then exposed tobacco plant — the plant biologist’s version of the laboratory mouse — to the recorded vibrations while no caterpillars were actually present. Later, they put real caterpillars on the plants to see if exposure had led them to prepare for an insect attack. The results were striking. Leaves that had been exposed had significantly higher levels of defensive chemicals, making them much harder for the caterpillars to eat. Leaves that had not been exposed to vibrations showed no such response. Other sorts of vibration — caused by the wind, for instance, or other insects that do not eat leaves — had no effect.
“Now speakers with the right audio files are more often being used to warn crops to act when insects are detected but not yet widespread,” says Dr. Cocroft. “Unlike chemical pesticides, sound waves leave no dangerous chemicals.”
1. What can we learn about plants from the first paragraph?| A．They may enjoy Western music. | B．They can’t stand Buddhist music. |
| C．They can react to different sounds. | D．They can make different sounds. |
| A．Plants can make a cry for help. | B．Plants evolve alongside insects. |
| C．Plants are sensitive to the sounds. | D．Plants have been studied for years. |
| A．They can recongnize harmful vibrations. | B．They look like laboratory mice. |
| C．They can threaten the caterpillars. | D．They can release poisonous chemicals. |
| A．Disadvantages of chemical pesticides. | B．Application of the experimental results. |
| C．Interaction between plants and insects. | D．Warning system of widespread insects. |
5 . Remember boiling tap water for drinking? Who has the time now? Instead, bottled water is everywhere, in offices, airplanes, stores, homes and restaurants. But what’s in that bottle? Beautiful names and labels depicting romantic scenes have convinced us that the liquid is the purest drink around. But given the lack of labeling requirements for bottled water, how much do consumers really know about what’s in the bottle? “The public should not assume that water purchased in a bottle, is better regulated purer, or safer than most tap water. Water utilities are required to tell the public more about the tap water than bottled water companies are,” says Mae Wu, a bottled water (expert at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), a nonprofit organization in the US devoted to protecting health and the environment. Sure, some bottled water comes from sparkling springs and other, sources. But in the US, alone, more than 25 percent of it comes from a municipal (市政的) supply. The water is treated, purified and sold to us, often at a thousand fold increase in price. Most people are surprised to learn that they are drinking glorified tap water, but bottlers aren’t required to list the source on the label.
According to the Asian Bottled Water Association, water from municipal supply does not have to state on its label that it is from a community water system. However, there are some brands like Nestle Pure Life that indicate whether the water comes from public, private or deep well sources. Advertising can be misleading at best and deceptive at worst. In a recent case, a food and drink manufacturer boasted in a TV commercial that its mineral water came from a “high-quality water source” but it turned out that, that was no more than plain tap water.
The potential health risks are important to understand, but bottled water also affects the health of the planet. While we struggle to, cut down on our consumption of fossil fuels, bottled water increases it. Virgin petroleum (石油) is used to make PET, and the more bottles we use, the more virgin petroleum will be needed to create new bottles. Fossil fuels are burned to fill the bottles and distribute them. Some brands of water come from islands and countries thousands of kilometers away, and shipping bottles can cause carbon pollution to spill into the water and spew into the air.
1. Compared to the tap water, bottled water .| A．is much better, than the tap water |
| B．is better regulated, purer and safer |
| C．spends more money on advertisement |
| D．is required to list the source on the label |
| A．We can never trust the TV commercials. |
| B．Advertisements on bottled water always cheat the audiences. |
| C．Some companies choose to state where the water comes from. |
| D．The government asks the company not to state the source of water. |
| A．Through listing, figures. |
| B．Through making comparisons. |
| C．Through adding background information. |
| D．Through cause and effect argumentation. |
| A．Indifferent. | B．Negative. | C．Favorable. | D．Ambiguous. |
6 . The country’s first national park, Yellowstone, is renaming one of its largest mountains to honor indigenous people after research revealed the man it had been named after helped lead a massacre (屠杀) against local tribes. As part of the park’s 150th anniversary, officials announced the 10,551-foot high peak formerly called Mount Doane is now First Peoples Mountain.
“It is a victory, yes. Is history being rewritten and retold truthfully? I hope so,” William Snell, executive director of the Rocky Mountain Tribal Leaders Council, told NPR. His group helped advise federal officials on the name change. In an email, Snell said the change to First Peoples Mountain couldn't have come at a better time as Yellowstone officials prepare for the park’s anniversary in August.
The peak—along a range on the eastern side of Yellowstone Lake—had been named after Gustavus Doane, who helped lead the Washburn-Langford-Doane exploration in 1870 that eventually led to the park getting federal protection.
But recently, historians uncovered Doane’s role in an attack that left at least 173 Native Americans dead. Known as the Marias Massacre, Doane carried out the attack over the killing of a white fur trader. In writings, Doane cast a favorable light on the attack and even showed off about it for the rest of his life, the National Park Service said last week.
The renaming to First Peoples Mountain is part of a trend to better recognize the roles and contributions of Native Americans. It has also become a priority of the nation’s first indigenous cabinet secretary—the Interior Department’s Deb Haaland, who oversees the National Park Service—and Charles SamsⅢ, the first Native American to serve as that agency’s director.
Across the American West, many iconic representative mountains and other environmental places were named after early white settlers, mostly men and some with terrible pasts.
In Yellowstone, park officials say they may consider further changes to derogatory (贬损的) or inappropriate geographical names in the months ahead.
1. Why does Yellowstone decide to rename one of its largest mountains?| A．To gain more profits. | B．To uncover the history of 1870s. |
| C．To be in honour of Native Americans. | D．To change people's attitude towards the park. |
| A．The terrible pasts of Doane. | B．The effort historians made. |
| C．The contributions Doane made. | D．The conclusion National Park Service drew. |
| A．Improve the service qualities. | B．Learn from history events and characters. |
| C．Protect the environment of Yellowstone Park. | D．Consider renaming improper geographical names. |
| A．Doane regarded his deeds as a shame. | B．Doane was once mistaken for a hero. |
| C．Americans reacted to the renaming negatively. | D．The government thought little of the renaming work. |
7 . Balmoral Castle
Balmoral Castle, which started in the late 1300s. is the private residence of the Queen. It has remained a favourite residence for the Queen and her family during August and September.
Some 85,000 people visit Balmoral each year, and the estate maintains and restores footpaths throughout the property for visiting hikers.
Windsor Castle
Windsor Castle is an official residence of The Queen and the largest occupied castle in the world. The castle was the inspiration for the Royal family’s surname.
William the Conqueror built the castle in 1080 and it has remained a royal palace for over 900 years. Windsor is the oldest royal home in Britain and, covering 13 acres, it’s the largest castle in the world that is still lived in.
Each year, the Order of the Garter ceremony is held at Windsor Castle, and the Queen occasionally hosts a “dine and sleeps”, for politicians and public figures.
The Palace of Holyroodhouse
Founded as a monastery (修道院）in 1128, the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh is The Queen’s official residence in Scotland. It was also the home of many Scottish royals.
The Queen holds receptions, state functions, and investitures(授职仪式）within its walls, and each year during Holyrood Week Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip invite 8» 000 Scottish guests to the Garden Party.
St. James Palace
St. James’s Palace was built between 1531 and 1536 and was home of kings and queens of England for over 300 years. The palace was built by Henry VU on the site of the Hospital of St. James, Westminster. After the destruction by fire of the Palace of Whitehall in 1698, all monarchs until William W lived at St. James's for part of the time.
1. Where do the Queen and her family like to stay during the summer holiday period?| A．Windsor Castle. |
| B．Balmoral Castle. |
| C．The Palace of Holyroodhouse. |
| D．St. James Palace. |
| A．is visited by the largest number of tourists |
| B．is intended for officials |
| C．has the longest history |
| D．is the most beautiful |
| A．was rebuilt by Henry Ⅶ |
| B．was built on the site where a hospital used to be |
| C．was pulled down by King IV |
| D．was destroyed by fire |
8 . In south Africa’s Limpopo province, a baobab tree (猴面包树) once grew so large and stood so strong that its human neighbors decided to build a pub inside the living tree’s thousand-year-old hollow trunk(树干). For 20 years, “The Big Baobab Pub” attracted tourists all over the world. But in August 2016, one of “the walls” broke. Eight months later, another huge piece broke, too. Now, five of the giant stems have collapsed and died, leaving only half of the tree standing.
Though it could sound like a result of human visitation, it's part of an alarming trend: many of the oldest, largest baobab trees in Africa have died within the last 12 years.
Stephan Woodbourne, an African scientist, said: “Of the oldest trees that we’ve looked at in Southern Africa, the three trees that are older than 2,000 years have all died in the past 10 years. Of the 11 trees that are 1,000 to 2,000 years old, six of them have died.”
A report published in the journal Nature Plants claims scores of the ancient baobab trees, some of which are up to 3,000 years old, are now dying because of rising global temperatures.
Researchers believe it is impossible that such a high number of old baobab trees die in such a short time due to natural causes. They think it may be associated with huge change of climate conditions that affect southern Africa in particular.
1. What has happened to The Big Baobab Pub?| A．The pub has largely been destroyed. |
| B．More tourists from the world visit it. |
| C．The pub has a long history of 2,000 years. |
| D．The Baobab Tree grows larger and stronger. |
| A．all the oldest baobab trees have been dead |
| B．the oldest baobab trees will die out soon |
| C．ancient baobab trees are in the face of danger |
| D．Human’s visits lead to ancient baobab trees’ deaths |
| A．Many pubs’ foundation. | B．Global climate changes. |
| C．Human visitation. | D．Natural causes. |
| A．Research on Baobab Tree. | B．Facts about Baobab Tree. |
| C．Baobab Tree in Africa. | D．Tree of Life is Dying. |
The Xi’an City Wall is the most complete city wall that has survived China’s long history. It
We accessed the wall through the South Gate. The wall is 12 meters high and from here you can see streams of people moving inside and outside the City Wall.
After
We
