1 . I really enjoy autumn’s display of golden leaves, but as a bird lover in the UK, the real thrill at this time of year is the arrival of migratory birds(侯鸟) from Iceland, Siberia and Canada.
The UK is lucky—in winter, we get a wide variety of birds heading here to escape tough conditions further north. And in summer, we are visited by birds from Africa such as swallows and cuckoos(杜鹃) that make the most of our long, light days for having their young. While the long flights are undoubtedly impressive, there are some species that fly considerably further, spending much of their lives at the extreme ends of Earth.
The Arctic tern(北极燕鸥) has the world’s longest migration: a round-trip of 35,000 kilometers annually. Arctic terns break up their long journeys though, so if you are looking for, he world’s longest non-stop flyer, that record is held by the bar-tailed godwit(斑尾塍鹬).
So why do birds migrate? It makes sense to head somewhere warmer for winter, but it can be harder to explain why some African species then return to Europe for summer when food is still plentiful in their wintering grounds. It could be because there is less competition here, or because our longer, cooler days are useful. Some trips are even harder to explain. For example, the ancient murrelet(海雀) flies almost 8,000 kilometers from Canada to China , despite very similar conditions.
Although there is still much we don’t know, we do know that our changing climate is making birds lose the benefits of such long journeys. Arctic terns survive on sand eels(沙鳗) when they arrive in the Shetland Islands. In 2004, the UK saw a sudden drop in sand eels due to climate change. The islands usually host more than 20,000 pairs of Arctic terns, but didn’t see a single chick survive to adulthood that summer. I have so much admiration for the world’s furthest fliers, and I just hope they can cling on and that we can come to fully understand them.
1. Why do some birds travel to the UK from Africa in summer?| A．To search for more food. | B．To escape the heat in Africa. |
| C．To enjoy the warmth in the UK. | D．To take advantage of the longer days. |
| A．The Arctic tern. | B．The swallow. |
| C．The bar-tailed godwit. | D．The ancient murrelet. |
| A．Puzzling. | B．Relaxing. | C．Impressive. | D．Unnecessary. |
| A．The author’s admiration and pity for Arctic terns. |
| B．The impact of climate change on migratory birds. |
| C．What people should do to protect migratory birds. |
| D．How Arctic terns find food during their migration. |
2 . As cities balloon with growth, access to nature for people living in urban areas is becoming harder to find. If you’re lucky, there might be a pocket park near where you live, but it’s unusual to find places in a city that are relatively wild.
Past research has found health and wellness benefits of nature for humans, but a new study shows that wildness in urban areas is extremely important for human well-being.
The research team focused on a large urban park. They surveyed several hundred park-goers, asking them to submit a written summary online of a meaningful interaction they had with nature in the park. The researchers then examined these submissions, coding (编码) experiences into different categories. For example, one participant’s experience of “We sat and listened to the waves at the beach for a while” was assigned the categories “sitting at beach” and “listening to waves.”
Across the 320 submissions, a pattern of categories the researchers call a “nature language” began to emerge. After the coding of all submissions, half a dozen categories were noted most often as important to visitors. These include encountering wildlife, walking along the edge of water, and following an established trail.
Naming each nature experience creates a usable language, which helps people recognize and take part in the activities that are most satisfying and meaningful to them. For example, the experience of walking along the edge of water might be satisfying for a young professional on a weekend hike in the park. Back downtown during a workday, they can enjoy a more domestic form of this interaction by walking along a fountain on their lunch break.
“We’re trying to generate a language that helps bring the human-nature interactions back into our daily lives. And for that to happen, we also need to protect nature so that we can interact with it,” said Peter Kahn, a senior author of the study.
1. What phenomenon does the author describe at the beginning of the text?| A．Pocket parks are now popular. | B．Wild nature is hard to find in cities. |
| C．Many cities are overpopulated. | D．People enjoy living close to nature. |
| A．To compare different types of park-goers. | B．To explain why the park attracts tourists. |
| C．To analyze the main features of the park. | D．To find patterns in the visitors’ summaries. |
| A．Walking is the best way to gain access to nature. |
| B．Young people are too busy to interact with nature. |
| C．The same nature experience takes different forms. |
| D．The nature language enhances work performance. |
| A．Language study. | B．Environmental conservation. |
| C．Public education. | D．Intercultural communication. |
3 . Antarctica is the highest, driest, and coldest place on Earth. It is also the remotest, a fact which demystifies its unspoiled environment. It is difficult for people to get there, and not a comfortable place for people to stay once they arrive. It is widely described as the last true wilderness on our planet.
The cold climate is responsible for maintaining the continent’s year-round ice fields: They never melt. Even though Antarctica receives more sunlight than the equator, the temperatures are lower because the ice sheet reflects the heat back into space. Thus, the coldest temperature ever recorded on Earth was in Antarctica in July, 1983. Soviet scientists shivered (瑟瑟发抖) through temperatures that fell to minus 89.2 degrees Celsius.
Once completely inaccessible, Antarctica has more recently been playing host to adventurers seeking excitement, scientists interested in experimenting, and companies looking to exploit this wild zone for profit: gold, uranium and oil are just some of the valuable resources which lie beneath the continent’s icy covering.
For centuries, Europeans wondered about the existence of a South-pole continent, but no one actually knew for certain Antactica was there until 1820 when European explorers “discover” it. Since then, men have gone to Antarctica in search of adventure. Testing their abilities, several teams of explorers set out in 1911 to be the first men to stand at the South Pole.
Yet, Antarctica’s fragile and complicated ecosystem is threatened by its human visitors. Damage to the environment occurs as people come looking for resources beneath the ice, or carelessly leave their garbage behind. Currently, countries are working to ensure that the damage to Antarctica’s environment is minimized, and that the last wilderness on Earth will remain an unspoiled place.
1. What does the underlined word “demystifies” in Paragraph 1 probably mean?| A．Does harm to. | B．Lies in. | C．Accounts for. | D．Stays away from. |
| A．To make a comparison with other places. | B．To show Soviet scientists’ fearless spirits. |
| C．To stress the freezing weather of Antarctica. | D．To explain the reason for Antarctica’s cold climate. |
| A．In the late eighteenth century. | B．In the early eighteenth century. |
| C．In the early nineteenth century. | D．In the late twentieth century. |
| A．Measures are being taken to protect Antarctica. |
| B．Antarctica’s eco-system has been destroyed by men. |
| C．People visiting Antarctica leave garbage on purpose. |
| D．In the icy covering are buried few precious resources. |
4 . Top universities for employability 2021 in USA
California Institute of Technology
The California Institute of Technology, founded in 1891, is one of the best private universities in the world, ranking 9 in National Universities. Its setting is suburban and the campus size is 124 acres. The student population is tiny compared with other colleges with just over 1,000 undergraduates and 1,200 postgraduates (2021 ). Students are admitted on the basis of strong maths, science and engineering skills and interest. Some of them may get high scholarship.
Tuition and fees: $58,680(2020-2021)
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private research university that was founded in 1740 in Pennsylvania, USA. It has a total undergraduate enrollment of 9,872(fall 2021). Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, and is one of several institutions that claim to have been the first university in America. University of Pennsylvania is ranked number 4 in National Universities.
Tuition and Fees: $ 57,770(2020-2021)
Columbia University
For more than 260 years, Columbia university has been a leader in higher education in the nation and around the world. The oldest private institution recognizes the importance of its location in New York City and seeks to link its research and teaching to the vast resources of a great metropolis. It has a total undergraduate enrollment of 6,170(fall 2021) and is the 5th oldest in the United States. It is ranked number 11 in National Universities.
Tuition and Fees: $53,000(2020-2021)
University of Chicago
University of Chicago is a private institution that was founded in 1890. It has a total undergraduate enrollment of 6,989(fall 2021). In an urban setting, the campus size is 217 acres. University of Chicago has a reputation for devotion to academic scholarship and its ranking is number 6 in National Universities.
Tuition and Fees: $49,298(2020-2021)
1. What is special about California Institute of Technology?| A．It is the oldest university in America. |
| B．It is a small but well-known university. |
| C．It offers the highest academic scholarship. |
| D．It only admits international talented students. |
| A．University of Chicago. | B．Columbia University. |
| C．University of Pennsylvania. | D．California Institute of Technology. |
| A．They are all built in urban areas. | B．They are all small schools in size. |
| C．They are all private universities. | D．They are all ranked top 10 in the USA. |
5 . What were you doing when you were nine years old? Making crafts from a Klutz book? Kicking around a soccer ball? Designing a business plan to deal with plastic pollution and relieve childhood poverty? Zymal Umar showed us the latter. The Pakistan’s youngest businesswoman has started a project entitled Zee Bags, which aims to reduce plastic pollution by providing an environmentally-friendly alternative to plastic grocery bags.
When Zymal was on a shopping trip with her parents three years ago, she was shocked by the number of plastic bags on the streets. Depressed by the plastic pollution, she was reminded of the severe consequences our habits have on the environment. Then, she noticed a shopkeeper handing out newspaper bags. And at that moment, Zymal knew she had to act. Since then she has created beautiful, unique reusable newspaper bags for hundreds of customers.
It’s amazing to see this youngster using her brains and business skills for good. And she should certainly feel proud of the work she is doing. After all, plastic grocery bags are killing thousands of marine animals every year through their contribution to plastic waste. According to The Earth Institute, over one trillion plastic bags are used worldwide annually—that’s about two million bags used per minute around the world.
And those bags certainly don’t disappear into thin air. Instead, they end up in our oceans, putting approximately 700 marine species in danger of extinction due to the threat from pollution. And plastic bags are just one of the many forms of plastic trash that ends up in the oceans—in fact, an astonishing 8. 8 million tons of this material make their way from land to the oceans every single year.
But with Zee Bags, we’re all empowered to make more thoughtful choices about our trash production. And Zymal’s amazingness doesn’t stop there—the profits from her sales go towards helping poor children.
1. What is the second paragraph mainly about?| A．How Zymal felt about her shopping trip. |
| B．How Zymal learned about plastic pollution. |
| C．How Zymal was received by the shopkeeper. |
| D．How Zymal was inspired to create her bags. |
| A．To praise Zymal for her great efforts. |
| B．To urge readers to stop using plastics. |
| C．To stress the seriousness of plastic pollution. |
| D．To show the rich knowledge of the author. |
| A．She is amazing in every aspect of her life. |
| B．She has concern for the disadvantaged. |
| C．She urges everyone to be eco-friendly. |
| D．She earns a lot of money from her business. |
| A．Caring. | B．Determined. |
| C．Confident. | D．Optimistic. |
6 . Whether you’re interested in green agriculture and rainforest conservation or supporting sustainable sources, organizations worldwide are investing time and effort into various environmental protection projects. Volunteers are always needed to help with the different initiatives to protect the environment.
The past years have been bothered by an endless report of natural disasters occurring in geographically weak locations. Floods are affecting the places that previously never faced this problem while heat waves, droughts and earthquakes are becoming the norm (常态). Important wildlife and plant species are disappearing and threatening the planet’s biodiversity. According to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), there are other problems: deforestation (毁林), pollution, water scarcity, illegal fishing and wildlife trade.
The ongoing industrialization and the lack of awareness are taking its toll (毁坏) and it’s time for that to change. Most people remain inactive, believing small changes won’t make a difference. However, there are many ways to help. Small changes carried out by some people do make a difference.
Excellent examples of this are organizations that believe small initiatives have a significant impact. These projects are growing steadily and positively affecting the environmental conservation and influencing the local community. They are creating awareness among others and helping them understand the importance of environmental conservation while creating volunteer opportunities to help the environment.
The organizations will learn valuable skills about environmental conservation but most importantly, they are moving towards change. There are enough environmental volunteer opportunities that need your help and there’s no time to waste! Continue reading about environmental volunteer programs abroad and take steps toward environmental conservation.
There are plenty of options once you decide to become an environmental volunteer. The tasks will depend on the project you have decided to volunteer with and can vary greatly. With over 130 projects focused on the environment, you’ll find projects that match both your skill set and travel preference.
1. What does paragraph 2 mainly talk about?| A．The threats the earth is facing. |
| B．The influence of natural disasters. |
| C．The need to know natural disasters. |
| D．The difficulty in protecting the earth. |
| A．They make small changes. | B．They help each other. |
| C．They keep sitting by. | D．They try to find ways. |
| A．It’s easier said than done. | B．It’ll be all right on the night. |
| C．Where there’s life, there’s hope. | D．There is no time like the present. |
| A．To call on people to be environmental volunteers. |
| B．To show the serious problems of the environment. |
| C．To discuss the ways of environmental conservation. |
| D．To explain the reasons for protecting the environment. |
7 . Today, methane(甲烷) is a central but under-appreciated part of the fight against climate change. Human activity releases far less methane than carbon dioxide, but methane packs a heavier punch. Over the course of 20 years, a ton of the gas will warm the atmosphere about 86 times more than a ton of carbon dioxide. Chief among the reasons for methane emissions(排放) are the gassy output of raising farm animals (cows release it most), rice production (certain environments involve micro-organisms that make it) and the fossil fuel industry(pipelines leak it) .
Carbon dioxide remains in the atmosphere for centuries, making it hard to reduce its concentrations. By contrast, methane has a half-life of roughly ten years. If new emissions can be cut to below the rate at which old emissions reduce, the concentration of methane remaining in the atmosphere will soon fall, slowing global warming.
A big step would be to stop millions of tons of methane from leaking out of fossil fuel industry each year. Natural gas operators will be able to sell more gas in exchange for an acceptable investment so as to monitor and repair leaks. The International Energy Agency estimates that 40% of methane emissions from fossil fuels can be cut at no cost for firms.
The harder task is to reduce emissions from agriculture, but even here farmers can draw on new ideas, including developing new forms of feed for farm animals, and changing how rice field is irrigated.
However, politicians and the public tend to ignore the effects of cutting methane emission. But dealing with the gas with the efforts of the ordinary people would have a large effect at a relatively low cost.
1. What do we know about methane from the first two paragraphs?| A．Raising farm animals releases most methane. |
| B．A ton of methane will warm 86% of the atmosphere. |
| C．It drops faster than carbon dioxide if its emission cuts. |
| D．Fossil fuel is the fundamental cause of methane emission. |
| A．By selling more gas. | B．By turning to fossil fuels. |
| C．By repairing the leaks. | D．By exchanging for investment. |
| A．Why politicians ignore the effects of cutting methane. |
| B．What ordinary people can do to cut methane emission. |
| C．Which method of cutting methane is at the lowest cost. |
| D．How we can reduce emissions from the agriculture industry. |
| A．Banning the Use of Methane |
| B．Cut Methane Emission, Now |
| C．Methane — Solution to Clear Air |
| D．The Relation of Methane and Carbon Dioxide |
8 . One day, I was eating an apple when suddenly, I felt an apple seed in my mouth. I wanted to throw it away. But
I realized I was
It is a（n）
Then it occurred to me that it's quite often so with people's
I picked up the apple seed again -but instead of
| A．still | B．instead | C．also | D．rather |
| A．warned | B．convinced | C．reminded | D．informed |
| A．catching | B．expecting | C．imagining. | D．holding |
| A．potential | B．courage | C．intention | D．patience |
| A．raise | B．bear | C．gain | D．eat |
| A．When | B．How | C．What | D．Why |
| A．rule | B．step | C．order | D．game |
| A．nearly | B．just | C．never | D．always |
| A．prove | B．see | C．show | D．guess |
| A．bury | B．collect | C．produce | D．save |
| A．money | B．earth | C．work | D．water |
| A．conditions | B．dreams | C．chances | D．faiths |
| A．increase | B．change | C．die | D．appear |
| A．explain | B．doubt | C．decide | D．wonder |
| A．grow | B．develop | C．live | D．destroy |
| A．choices | B．goals | C．tries | D．challenges |
| A．or | B．yet | C．So | D．as |
| A．kept | B．helped | C．noticed | D．found |
| A．putting | B．throwing | C．taking | D．giving |
| A．used | B．removed | C．studied | D．planted |
9 . When we look at Earth from space, we see a blue, watery world. It is no coincidence that three quarters of the surface is covered by oceans. Water is very common in the universe and is essential for lives. But life needs water in the form of liquid, not ice, and not vapor and that is a little bit less common.
For a planet to have liquid water at its surface, three things are important. First, the planet needs to be large enough that the force of gravity keeps the water molecules （分子）from flying off into space. For example, Mars is smaller than Earth, so it has less gravity, and that is one important reason that Mars has a very thin atmosphere. Second, the planet needs to have an atmosphere. Without an atmosphere, the planet is in a vacuum （真空）,and liquid water isn't stable in a vacuum. For example, our moon has no atmosphere, so if you spill some water on the moon, it will either boil away as vapor, or freeze solid to make ice. Third, the planet needs to be at the right distance from its star.
If you were an alien astronomer, you'd think Venus is a pretty good bet for life. It is the right size. It has an atmosphere and it is in the habitable zone of our sun. But Venus is not habitable, at least not at its surface. It is too hot, because Venus' atmosphere is full of carbon dioxide, an important greenhouse gas. In fact, its atmosphere is almost entirely carbon dioxide, and almost 100 times thicker than our own. As a result, the temperature on Venus is hot enough to melt lead, and the planet is dry as a bone.
So finding a suitable planet for humans to live on is only a beginning. Don't expect much.
1. What do we know about water from the text?| A．Water has two forms. |
| B．Water is a necessity for humans. |
| C．It is common to see liquid water on the moon. |
| D．Water flies into space easily with the help of gravity. |
| A．It is very hot | B．It has no atmosphere |
| C．It is far from the Sun | D．It is smaller than Earth |
| A．Positive. | B．Passive. |
| C．Hopeful. | D．Desperate. |
| A．Water changes its forms. |
| B．A living problem on Venus. |
| C．The research of an alien astronomer. |
| D．Conditions for a habitable globe for humans. |
10 . Our open-top tours enable you to fully appreciate vibrant （充满生机的）Brighton and its renowned seafront, its best shopping areas, and the top-class restaurants at Brighton. Discover the city across 15 stops located to get you to visit it all!
Places of interest
Brighton City Sightseeing Tour takes you to visit one of the south-coast's most popular resorts. This city offers many things to do and places to go, from the striking Royal Pavilion, Regency architecture, and Victorian aquariums, to the famous Brighton Pier, Sea Life Centre, and pebble beach.
Tours
Buy your 24h ticket online and hop on and off our comfortable double-deckers as much as you like, to get to know the city at your own pace . You can also buy a Tour Plus ticket which includes all day travel on the local Brighton & Hove buses.
The hop-on and hop-off tours start just west of Brighton Pier. Further information including a lull timetable and map of the route is available at www. city-sightseeing, com.
Accommodation
If you need to stay, Brighton & Hove has a wide variety of options to suit all tastes and budgets. There are guest houses and bed and breakfasts in Brighton & Hove. This is a bustling （热闹的）area of the city with independent restaurants, antique shops and a lively village atmosphere and just a stone's throw from the beach. Pub Entertainment
If you are looking for some entertainment to go with your drinks then there are plenty of options at pubs in Brighton. Mrs. Fitzherbert's regularly has live bands playing and the Ladies' Mile host swing & jazz nights. Above the Grand Central you'll find the Nightingale Room with a regular program of events including theatre and comedy.
1. Where will you choose to visit if you are interested in ocean animal?| A．Royal Pavilion. | B．Brighton Pier. |
| C．Regency architecture. | D．Sea Life Centre. |
| A．It used to be a village. | B．It has many old shops. |
| C．It is very peaceful area. | D．It is not far from the beach. |
| A．Having drinks. | B．Watching comedies. |
| C．Performing with actors. | D．Enjoying a live play. |
