Xixi, located less than five kilometers from the West Lake in the west of Hangzhou, is China’s first national wetland park. The area covers about 10 square kilometers and it
Wetlands themselves are one of the most biologically diverse ecosystems,
Xixi’s native vegetation,
2 . When scientists and the public worry about sea level rise, they mostly focus on when and where communities will be permanently flooded. But there’s another consequence of rising seas that will affect many more people much sooner: getting cut off from roads and other critical infrastructure (基础设施). It’s a threat that society has not paid nearly enough attention to, says Allison Reilly, a civil engineer at the University of Maryland.
In a new paper, Reilly and her colleagues show the width and pace of the isolation (隔离) threat. Inspired by her work on the eastern shore of Maryland, where people already need to adjust their travel and work schedules to account for tides that frequently flood roads, Reilly and her colleagues calculated that, with one meter of sea level rise, twice as many people across the coastal United States will be isolated than will be fully flooded.
Worse still, many places currently considered at low risk of sea level rise suddenly become much riskier when isolation is taken into account, Reilly says. While planners know that low-lying Florida will be severely flooded, Maine, with its high rocky coasts, is generally thought to be at low risk. But Reilly’s work shows many Mainers are in great danger of being cut off by flooding in coastal communities and river valleys.
This far more immediate effect of rising seas needs to become part of the broader planning process. That kind of planning is starting to happen around the Chignecto Isthmus, an interprovincial land bridge in Canada, connecting New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. The New Brunswick and Nova Scotia governments are considering a variety of plans to raise or replace the dikes (坝). For Ollerhead, a Nova Scotian, that work can’t start soon enough. “It will take a lot of sea level rise before Nova Scotia becomes an island, but you could have a storm that cuts off the major transportation links for days, weeks, or months,” he says. “It’s nearly impossible to predict when, but it will happen eventually.”
1. What is the threat Allison Reilly mentioned in paragraph 1?| A．The rising sea level. | B．Flood-related isolation. |
| C．Permanent flooded areas. | D．Irreparable infrastructure. |
| A．Conclusions of a new paper. | B．Calculations of collected data. |
| C．Situations of Eastern Maryland. | D．Influences on coastal United States. |
| A．To clarify a point. | B．To offer a solution. |
| C．To present an assumption. | D．To illustrate a reason. |
| A．Dismissive. | B．Doubtful. | C．Favorable. | D．Unclear. |
3 . A new study by researchers at the University of British Columbia (UBC) and the University of Victoria has shown that common levels of traffic pollution can damage human brain function in only a matter of hours.
“For many decades, scientists thought the brain may be protected from the harmful effects of air pollution,” said senior study author Dr. Chris Carlsten. “This study, which is the first of its kind in the world, provides fresh evidence supporting a connection between air pollution and cognition.”
For the study, the researchers briefly exposed 25 healthy adults to diesel exhaust (柴油废气) and filtered air at different times in a laboratory setting. Brain activity was measured before and after each exposure using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).
The researchers analyzed changes in the brain’s default mode network (DMN), a set of inter-connected brain regions that play an important role in memory and internal thought. The fMRI revealed that participants had decreased functional connectivity in widespread regions of the DMN after exposure to diesel exhaust, compared to filtered air.
“We know that altered functional connectivity in the DMN has been associated with reduced cognitive performance and symptoms of depression, so it’s concerning to see traffic pollution interrupting these same networks,” said Dr. Jodie Gawryluk, a psychology professor at the University of Victoria and the study’s first author. “While more research is needed to fully understand the functional impacts of these changes, it’s possible that they may impair (损害) people’s thinking or ability to work.”
Notably, the changes in the brain were temporary and participants’ connectivity returned to normal after the exposure. Dr. Carlsten assumed that the effects could be long lasting where exposure is continuous. He said that people should be mindful of the air they’re breathing and take appropriate steps to minimize their exposure to potentially harmful air pollutants like car exhaust.
1. How does traffic pollution affect people according to the study?| A．Exhausting their body. | B．Decreasing their income. |
| C．Endangering their safety. | D．Harming their brain function. |
| A．Growth. | B．Sport. | C．Memory. | D．Behaviour. |
| A．Avoid being exposed to the polluted air constantly. |
| B．Be mindful of the air quality in a new city. |
| C．Measure the brain activity in laboratories. |
| D．Stay inside a house as often as possible. |
| A．A Role Of Brain Will Be Ruined |
| B．Traffic Pollution May Impair Brain Function |
| C．A Famous UK University Did A Vital Study |
| D．A Source Of Pollution Has Drawn People’s Attention |
Zhangye Danxia National Geological Park in Gansu is the best representative of China’s colorful Danxia landform. With a wide
The site is characterized by amazing landforms, including
The most representative spots in the park such as the Seven-color Screen and the Colorful Sunset look like a rainbow hanging in the distance. However, scenes are totally different on the edge of the hills. The colors there turn into yellow and grey like shells in the sun. Scenes are even more breathtaking
Shennongjia is
Between 1976 and 1981, the Chinese Academy of Sciences organized three large-scale
Nowadays, Shennongjia’s attraction is not
The “wild man” legend has been passed on for generations by word-of-mouth. In 2016, the legend of “wild man” in Shennongjia
6 . Raising a litter of teething wolf pups (幼崽) is not easy, but the wolves living in Yellowstone National Park are parenting experts. This spring, the park’s biologists shot a video of adult wolves repeatedly returning to their den (窝) with so-called “toys”—in the form of bones and sticks—to keep their little ones happy between meals.
Once they stop eating their mother’s milk, pups rely on adults to go out, hunt, and then bring back food to the den. But when that’s not possible, the adults instead retrieve odd items for the wolf pups to play with.
“Pups wait for food deliveries from successful hunts, but in the absence of food, adults bring ‘toys’,” the park wrote on Facebook. “The behavior of bringing items back to the den may be enhanced from generation to generation and probably helps keep adults from being surrounded by sharp puppy teeth.”
The adult wolves are part of “Mollie’s Pack”, one of ten known wolf packs living within Yellowstone as of January 2023. This particular pack is named after Mollie Beattie, who in 1993 became the first woman to serve as director of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service.
Beattie, who died in 1996, advocated for the reintroduction of wolves into Yellowstone National Park to help rebalance the ecosystem after the animals were systematically killed within the park Wolf reintroduction was a highly controversial initiative that many people opposed. And yet, Beattie and other wildlife managers ultimately achieved their vision and successfully relocated 41 wolves from western Canada to the park between 1995 and 1997. Today, that number has blossomed to at least 108 wolves living in Yellowstone.
Today, gray wolves are protected under the Endangered Species Act in many states. In late 2020, the administration removed the animals from the endangered list. But in February 2022, they were re-listed as endangered after a judge reversed the decision.
1. What does the underlined word “retrieve” in paragraph 2 probably mean?| A．Hide. | B．Fetch. | C．Decorate. | D．Design. |
| A．Pups of any kind are playful by nature. |
| B．Wolves are intelligent enough to make toys. |
| C．Finding food is becoming harder and harder. |
| D．Wolves’ “toy-delivery” behavior may be more obvious in later generations. |
| A．She helped rebalance the ecosystem in Yellowstone. |
| B．She got involved in drawing up the Endangered Species Act. |
| C．She succeeded in reintroducing 108 wolves to Yellowstone. |
| D．She established the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. |
| A．The reason why gray wolves were considered as endangered again. |
| B．The factors that contribute to the wolves’ behavior. |
| C．People’s response to the Endangered Species Act. |
| D．The change in gray wolves’ population. |
1．古树保护的意义；2．古树保护面临的问题；3．你的建议。
注意：1．词数100左右；2．可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
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8 . When hurricanes left a path of destruction in Puerto Rico, Pennsylvania College of Technology student Natascha G. Santaella felt a variety of painful emotions.
“I spent around six days stressing and having a very hard time with me having all the luxuries I currently do and my family not having any,” the Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, resident said. Santaella said that her hometown is without power and water, and people there are scared of what is to come.
To reduce her stress, Santaella, who is studying for an associate degree in baking and pastry arts, immersed (沉浸) herself in what she knows best: baking. “It started out as just baking bread and shipping it to the island to then be dispersed to the people, but I found that was very expensive for me to do alone, so I spoke with Chef Charles Niedermyer, our instructor of baking and pastry arts about a sale of baked goods in the college’s Bush Campus Center.”
“Natascha is a bright, energetic young lady with a big heart,” Niedermyer said. “I was not surprised to find her in my office, looking for ways to help the people of Puerto Rico.”
To prepare, Santaella had multiple meetings with Niedermyer, spent hours finalizing recipes, designed signage (标志) and decorations, and got friends to staff the sale table with her. And then there was the baking: Santaella and two friends in the baking and pastry arts major spent six hours baking 90 loaves of bread, 24 dozen dinner rolls and 30 cheesecakes in a variety of flavors.
During the six-hour sale, Santaella and her friends raised more than $1,000 for United for Puerto Rico, an initiative designed to provide aid and support to those affected in Puerto Rico by the passage of Hurricane Irma and Hurricane Maria.
“I hope to mainly increase awareness of what has happened, and to show people that there are Puerto Rican students at this school,” Santaella said. “I hope that others had the great experience I had with all my teachers and how understanding they were with me.”
1. Why did Santaella feel very stressed?| A．Because a big hurricane was approaching. |
| B．Because she was left without power and water. |
| C．Because her folks were suffering due to hurricanes. |
| D．Because she lost all her belongings in the hurricane. |
| A．Exposed. | B．Connected. | C．Distributed. | D．Contributed. |
| A．Puerto Rico might be stricken by hurricanes frequently. |
| B．Niedermyer responded to Santaella’s ideas coldly. |
| C．Santaella organized the sale at her college all alone. |
| D．Pennsylvania College has few students from Puerto Rico. |
| A．Hurricane Causes Huge Losses to Puerto Rico |
| B．Student Puts Skills to Use to Help Her Hometown |
| C．College Student Shows Baking Skills Through Sales |
| D．Teacher and Students Work Together in Fund Raising |
China has made
The officer made the remarks while addressing a video conference,
China has put environmental protection high
China is a world leader in using renewable energy resources, with installed capacity of hydropower, wind power, photovoltaic (光伏) power and other non-fossil energy
He also underlined continuous improvements in China's ecological environment. In 2021,
So far, China
10 . Scientists recently conducted a study that involved giving pet parrots (鹦鹉) a tablet. They could use the tablets to make video calls to other parrots. It turned out that the birds showed signs of feeling less isolated (孤独的). They also began to engage in more social behaviors, including cleaning their feathers, as well as singing and playing.
Ilyena Hirskyj-Douglas, a co-author of the study, works at the University of Glasgow, Scotland. She said that video calls had helped many people feel less isolated. “There are 20 million parrots living in people’s homes in the U. S., and we wanted to explore whether those birds might benefit from video calling, too,” Hirskyj-Douglas saíd. “If we gave them the opportunity to call other parrots, would they choose to do so, and would the experience benefit the parrots?”
In order for the parrots to use their tablets, the birds first had to learn to ring a bell. They could then touch a photo of another bird on the screen to call that bird. The birds were also given a choice of which “friend” to call. In total the birds made 147 deliberate calls to each other during the study. Scientists took detailed notes on the birds’ behavior and later reviewed the video footage (片段).
Their analysis suggested that there were, indeed, benefits for the birds. In the wild, many parrots live in large groups. As pets, they tend to be kept alone or in a small group. Isolation and boredom can cause birds to develop psychological problems. These are problems related to the mind and behavior. These problems can look like rocking, pacing back and forth, or self-harming behaviors such as feather-plucking.
Rébecca Kleinberger, who works at Northeastern University in Massachusetts, also helped with the study. She said video calling could reproduce some of the social benefits of living in a larger group.
1. Why did scientists conduct the research?| A．To see if parrots can use tablets. |
| B．To see if video calls benefit parrots. |
| C．To evaluate the mental health of parrots. |
| D．To study the living conditions of parrots. |
| A．Its process. | B．Its findings. | C．Its application. | D．Its influences. |
| A．It helps with their reproduction. | B．It contributes to their misbehavior. |
| C．It improves their physical health. | D．It widens their social circle. |
| A．Parrots living in the wild tend to be socially active. |
| B．Parrots living alone may develop mental problems. |
| C．Parrots taught to make video calls become less lonely. |
| D．Parrots learn to behave properly by calling each other. |
