1 . Time to load up some popular games: new research indicates pigs possess the mental capability to play video games. The study, published in Frontiers in Psychology, tested the ability of four pigs (Hamlet, Omelette, Ebony and Ivory) to play a simple joystick (操纵杆) game with their noses, moving a cursor (光标) to four targets on the screen. Although the animals didn’t demonstrate the skills to win a round any time, they did show an understanding of some elementary games. Performing well not by chance, the pigs appeared to recognize the movement of the cursor was controlled by the joystick. The fact that they did so well despite a lack of flexible fingers is “extraordinary”, according to the researchers.
“It is no small achievement for an animal to grasp the concept that the behaviour they are performing is having an effect elsewhere. That pigs can do this to any degree should give us pause as to what else they are capable of learning and how such learning may impact them, “said Purdue University’s Dr Candace Croney, the study’s lead author.
Researchers also noted that while the pigs could be taught to play the game using food as positive motivation, they also responded well to social interaction. In fact, when the game was made more challenging and the pigs became unwilling to participate in it, “only oral encouragement by the experimenter” would see training continue.
These findings are the latest to highlight the intelligence of pigs. Not only have they been shown to use mirrors to find hidden food, but studies have also demonstrated how pigs can be taught to “come” and “sit” after oral commands.
As with any sentient (有感觉力的) beings, how we interact with pigs and what we do to them impacts and matters to them. We therefore have a moral duty to understand how pigs acquire information, and what they are capable of learning and remembering, because it ultimately offers the potential for how they understand their interactions with us and their environments.
1. What can be learned from Paragraph 1?| A．The pigs sometimes won the video games. |
| B．The pigs operated joysticks with their noses. |
| C．The pigs competed with each other in the games. |
| D．The pigs sometimes performed well accidentally. |
| A．Stop us from advancing. | B．Affect us in learning. |
| C．Make us think seriously. | D．Force us to train pigs better. |
| A．Their being inspired by human words. | B．Their being driven by food. |
| C．Their being willing to keep trying. | D．Their being motivated by challenges. |
| A．Smart Pigs: Best Animal Players | B．Flexible Noses: Fun Games |
| C．Oral Commands: Pig Learners | D．Pig Players: Learning Potential |
Nike was a wheel dog who was directly in front of the sled (雪橇) and take most of the force. Whether little Nike had been named after the athletic shoe or the Greek goddess of victory, I would never know. He came into my life due to an injury in one of his legs which prevented him from making the team for the Trail Sled Dog Race.
My lifelong dream was to become a mountain man. So this winter, my wife Cheryl and I headed into the mountains with supplies to live for five months. In January, we had begun pushing east toward an untraveled area of the Yukon River. The trapping prospects there looked promising. We returned to our main cabin and made plans for me to use Cheryl’s dogs, hooking (钩) them together to form a large team. The idea was to bring supplies several miles down the river and establish a permanent camp.
That meant I’d be traveling alone and driving a sled loaded with around 300 pounds of goods, which meant extra hard work for my wheeler, Nike. The first serious challenge in our trip came where the path went down a steep valley that led to the river. As we started down, I stood on the brake with all of my weight in an attempt to keep balance. But the heavy sled began overtaking the dogs, and they picked up their pace to stay ahead of it. The sled became faster and faster until we came to a sharp turn at the bottom of the hill.
Eventually, the dogs got entangled (缠结) with each other and the sled got stuck in a crack in the river ice. I emerged from a large snowdrift and assessed the damage. I expected to find my dogs and a broken sled. But the sled was fine, and the dogs had jumped over each other, freeing themselves from the tangled ropes. Nike emerged from’ the snow, shook himself off, looked at me with encouraging eyes and made me smile.
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。
Now I have to save myself from the icy river.
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I had begun to accept that this was how I was going to die, but Nike wouldn’t have it.
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3 . The moment the ground stops shaking after an earthquake, some people may wonder whether their pets — or wild animals for that matter — knew the disaster was coming.
To get to the bottom of this question, Heiko Woith, a scientist at the German Research Centre for Geosciences, and his colleagues evaluated more than 700 published reports of unusual behavior among 130 species, including insects, birds, fish, cats, dogs and cattle from 160 earthquakes. The records included all kinds of behaviors, including a tiger that reportedly got depressed before an earthquake.
The researchers found that 90 percent of all reported cases happened within 62 miles of the epicenter (震中) and within 60 days of an earthquake. Then, they examined when and where foreshocks had happened in the region and concluded that it was hard to say these animals could predict the earthquake itself. They were just responding to foreshocks.
“The space-time pattern of animal precursors (预兆) and foreshocks is strikingly similar,” Woith said. “From this, we concluded that the abnormal animal behavior might simply be related to foreshocks. These animals are just responding to foreshocks rather than predicting the earthquake. They don’t have super power.”
Despite the vast number of incidences, good information was little and scientific evidence is lacking. “A major surprise for us was that the large majority of the published claims were built on poor observational data, which did not stand as statistical scientific proof,” Woith said.
To better study whether animals can predict earthquakes, Woith and his colleagues suggested that researchers ask a number of yes-or-no questions in any upcoming experiments, including “Is the experimental setup and monitoring procedure clearly described and reproducible?” and “Is it proven that the animal behavior is really unusual?”
Meanwhile, humans are working on technologies that can detect earthquakes seconds before they hit. Hopefully, we will have such devices to warn people that the earthquake is coming.
1. How did Woith conduct the study?| A．By analyzing former reports. |
| B．By observing animals’ behavior. |
| C．By collecting data in the earthquake. |
| D．By comparing animals’ different responses. |
| A．Tigers become depressed easily. | B．Certain animals have super power. |
| C．Some animals can react to foreshocks. | D．Animals in the same area act similarly. |
| A．All reported cases took place in the same area. |
| B．There were too many reports about foreshocks. |
| C．Some animals act strangely before earthquakes. |
| D．The previous reports lack accurate data support. |
| A．How animals behave in earthquakes. |
| B．Whether animals can predict earthquakes. |
| C．What is the link between animals and earthquakes. |
| D．Why people study animals’ behavior in earthquakes. |
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5 . Throughout history, many species of animals have been threatened with extinction. When Europeans first arrived in North America, more than 60 million buffalo (水牛) lived on the continent. Yet hunting the buffalo was so popular during the 19th century that by 1900 the animal’s population had fallen to about 400 before the government stepped in to protect the species. In some countries today, the elephant faces a similar challenge, as illegal hunters kill the animals for the ivory in their tusks.
Yet not all animals with commercial value face this threat (威胁).The cow, for example, is a valuable source of food, but no one worries that the cow will soon be extinct. Why does the commercial value of ivory threaten the elephant. while the commercial value of beef protects the cow?
The reason is that elephants are a common resource, while cows are private goods. Elephants wander freely without any owners. The hunter has a strong motivation to kill as many elephants as he can find. Because illegal hunters are numerous, each has only a slight motivation to preserve the elephant population. By contrast, cattle live on farms that are privately owned. Each farmer makes great effort to maintain the cattle population on his farm because he harvests the benefit of these efforts.
Governments have tried to solve the elephant’s problem in two ways. Some countries, such as Kenya and Uganda, have made it illegal to kill elephants and sell their ivory. Yet these laws have been hard to put into effect, and elephant populations have continued to dwindle. By contrast, other countries, such as Malawi and Namibia, have made elephants private goods and allowed people to kill elephants, but only those on their own property.
With private ownership and the profit motive now on its side, the African elephant might someday be as safe from extinction as the cow. The ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle pointed out the problem with common resources: “What is common to many is taken least care of, for all men have greater regard for what is their own than for what they possess in common with others.”
1. Why does the author mention buffalo in paragraph 1?| A．To introduce a similar threat to elephants. |
| B．To provide an example of species extinction. |
| C．To offer an explanation for government policies. |
| D．To present the statistics of the buffalo in America. |
| A．They are under different law protection |
| B．They attract different groups of hunters |
| C．They contain different commercial value |
| D．They represent different ownership types |
| A．Bans on killing elephants for ivory |
| B．Effective laws for elephant protection. |
| C．Methods of making elephants private goods |
| D．Government policies on the elephant’s problem |
| A．People hold little regard for others’ property |
| B．People want to profit from common resources |
| C．People care more about their own possession |
| D．People tend to take what they own for granted |
6 . When clouds of radiation began streaming into the air around the Fukushima nuclear plant, 160, 000 residents were told to simply cut and run. However, it seems only 159, 998 residents listened. The other two — Naoto Matsumura and Sakae Kato — remained. The two men would give up everything rather than let other beings starve.
Living within the 12.5-mile exclusion zone around the damaged reactor, the two men, unrelated to one another, both live alone while taking care of dozens of animals that were left behind when the evacuation order was given.
Reports from Reuters and DW state that 57-year-old Kato has 41 cats who live with him in his home in the mountains—along with a dog he adopted named Pochi. Kato says he will stay with his cats and ensure they are comfortable all through their lives.
Matsumura left the city at first, but returned shortly after for his own animals. Once returned, the now 55-year-old realized that everyone else's pets and livestock were still there, so he began taking care of a broad community of animals including pigs, cats, dogs, ponies, ostriches, and cows.
GNN reported that he went back inside the exclusion zone and realized local pet dogs had not eaten in several days. After it became clear that no-one was coming back to the neighborhood, he went around unchaining dogs from trees, letting cows out of their barns, and feeding anything in need, earning him the nickname the “Guardian of Fukushima's Animals”.
Everything both Kato and Matsumura are doing is risky. Though proud of what Kato and Matsumura have done, their friends and families hope that they can leave the dangerous area. Yet they seem to be determined in what they are doing and both plan to stay there with their animals, come what may.
1. What does the phrase “other beings” in paragraph 1 probably refer to?| A．Animals. | B．People. | C．Plants. | D．Residents. |
| A．Curious. | B．Caring. | C．Ambitious. | D．Lonely. |
| A．He is 57 years old. | B．He knows Kato very well. |
| C．He has dozens of animals to look after. | D．He lives 12. 5 miles from the exclusion zone. |
| A．They will follow the advice of their families. | B．They will call on more people to protect animals. |
| C．They stay in the mountains to enjoy loneliness. | D．They have no regard for their own safety. |
7 . There are few places on Earth that humans haven’t messed up. Now even Antarctica, the only continent with no permanent human inhabitants, is being altered by us. A study found that the increasing human presence in Antarctica is causing more snow melt-bad news for a frozen world already battling the effects of human-caused global warming.
Black carbon, the dark, dusty pollution that comes from burning fossil fuels has settled in locations where tourists and researchers spend a lot of time, scientists found. Even the smallest amount of the dark pollutant can have a significant impact on melting because of its very low reflectiveness: things that are light in color, like snow, reflect the sun's energy and stay cool; things that are dark, like black carbon, absorb the sun's energy and warm up.
“The snow albedo (反射率) effect is one of the largest uncertainties in regional and global climate modeling right now,” Alia Khan, a snow and ice scientist at Western Washington University, told CNN. “That’s one of the motivations for the study, to quantify the impact of black carbon on regional snowmelt, which is important for quantifying the role of black carbon in the global loss of snow and ice.”
“Antarctica is sitting there pretty much silently all year. But, if it weren’t there, in the state that it is meant to be, the balance that we have in the climate system will no longer be,” Marilyn Raphael, a geography professor said. “Antarctica’s sea ice is also important to maintain a balance in atmospheric circulation,” he added. As waters get warmer, some Antarctic creatures are finding their homes more and more unlivable.
“Everything we do has consequences,” Raphael said. “We need to educate ourselves about those consequences, especially in systems that we know relatively little about. We have to be careful that we don’t upset the climate balance.”
1. Why can the smallest amount of black carbon have huge impact on melting?| A．It is highly reflective. | B．Its dark colour absorbs heat. |
| C．It produces vast energy. | D．It causes much pollution. |
| A．To measure the impact of black carbon on melting. |
| B．To quantify the cost of battling against climate change. |
| C．To remove the uncertainties of global warming effects. |
| D．To urge people to pay more attention to melting problem. |
| A．The change caused by Antarctic melting. | B．The methods to stop Antarctic ice melting. |
| C．The significance of Antarctic being in its state. | D．The sufferings Antarctic creatures are experiencing. |
| A．Reduce tourist numbers. | B．Face the consequences. |
| C．Acquire professional education. | D．Stop disturbing the climate. |
8 . Wildlife workers in Florida are feeding manatees to keep them from starving.
Manatees are huge sea mammals that can be as long as 4 meters when grown.
But Florida’s manatees have been on the US government’s list of endangered animals since 1967. Most threats to manatees come from humans. One of the biggest problems facing the creatures are boats.
But now manatees are facing a new challenge: they can't get enough to eat. Many of the beds of sea grass that manatees depend upon have been killed by human-caused pollution. Sea grass began to disappear around 2011. Warming seas, combined with polluted water and fertilizers that have washed off of farmlands, have created huge growths of algae on the ocean’s surface.
Last year, 1,101 manatees died from starving.
So last December, wildlife experts came up with a plan to get emergency food to the manatees. They decided to feed them green vegetables like lettuce and cabbage. Long term, Florida is working to help restore sea grass beds. But that will take time.
| A．That was a record. |
| B．They can weigh up to 590 kilograms. |
| C．The feeding station has been very successful. |
| D．With protection, manatees managed to bounce back. |
| E．It blocks the sunlight that allows the sea grass to grow. |
| F．But feeding these massive sea creatures takes a lot of food. |
| G．Research needs to be done to determine what food would be best. |
9 . In 2010, Barack Obama was to pay a visit to Mumbai’s Gandhi Museum, where palm(棕榈)trees full of me dotted the grounds. The president knew me well-coconuts (椰子)are a part of life in Indonesia, where he spent his boyhood. Before his visit, Indian authorities, however, removed every last sign of me around the museum. They were afraid the president of the United States would be taken out by one of me falling on his head.
Let’s get this out of the way: My reputation as the “killer fruit” of countless innocents was then and still is a misbelief. A repeatedly misinterpreted 1984 study overstated the number of deaths I caused by hitting people on the head, and the word spread. Today, the only things about me “to die for” are the sometimes too-delicious foods you humans make with me, such as cookies and pies. A decade ago, health experts briefly gave me a halo because some of my fats may raise beneficial cholesterol (胆固醇). But ask a heart doctor today and they’ll tell you that coconut oil will raise your bad cholesterol as much. Death by coconut, indeed!
People have other wrong ideas about me. But allow me to leave you with a sweet presidential tale. A World War II boat commanded by one John F.Kennedy was destroyed in 1943 by a Japanese warship. Kennedy and his surviving crew were stuck on an island. They were suffering from hunger, thirst and injuries when they met two friendly native coast-watchers. Kennedy scratched a message into a coconut shell: “NAURO ISL...COMMANDER...11 ALIVE...NEED SMALL BOAT...KENNEDY.”
The coast-watchers delivered this successfully and all the crew were saved. Years later, the coconut shell was given to the newly elected president. It sat on his office desk throughout his presidency and now is a center-piece of the John F.Kennedy Library in Boston-as the proof that we coconuts don’t take lives, we save them.
1. Why did Indian officials get rid of “me”?| A．To reduce Obama’s fear. | B．To avoid unexpected injuries. |
| C．To show their welcome tradition. | D．To follow the request from the US. |
| A．thought little of me | B．did great damage to me |
| C．made me well-known | D．brought me a good name |
| A．Amusing. | B．Anxious. |
| C．Concerned. | D．Romantic. |
| A．To show a new discovery. | B．To correct people’s misbelief. |
| C．To tell the history of coconuts. | D．To describe a successful rescue. |
10 . In British Bristol, 70 English women at once entered into legal "marriage" with dozens of trees in protest (反对，抗议) against their being cut down. They "married" the trees in an attempt (试图) to prevent them from being cleared for construction (建造) of residential buildings worth £55 million in the forest. The British construction company has applied for the construction of 166 houses in Bristol, including luxury (奢华的) cottages. At the same time, the townspeople were especially angry at the fact that the application did not show the exact number of trees that are planned to be cut down. So, in order to attract the attention of the government, the activists organized an unusual wedding ceremony to save the forest.
The event took place at a park on Spike Island. The women who went there, dressed in wedding dresses, held photographs of the "suitors" in their hands. The celebration itself took place according to the classic storyline—with groomsmen and wedding vows (誓词). The organizer was John Tarleton, a professor at the Bristol Veterinary School, According to him, this action was supposed to suggest that tees are partners of people throughout their life.
The idea to hold such a ceremony came from Siobhan Kierans, who admitted that she came up with it by the story of women from the environmental movement Chipko, who chained (链在一起) themselves to trees in the 1970s to save them from destruction by logging companies.
The protesters said that Bristol needs trees more than luxury private housing. One of the "brides", Suzan Hackett, said, "To get married to a tree is a real honor. It's not a show. It's highly significant (important) and symbolic."
1. Why did the women marry trees?| A．To protect the trees from going extinct (dying out). |
| B．To appeal to (呼吁) people to plant more trees. |
| C．To draw the government's attention to save the forest. |
| D．To blame the company for damaging trees. |
| A．The men to marry. | B．The companies to build houses. |
| C．The buildings to be pulled down. | D．The trees to be saved. |
| A．A previous (以前的) environmental campaign. |
| B．Cruel behavior of logging companies. |
| C．Movements of women fighting for rights. |
| D．Women chained to trees for their faults. |
| A．Interesting. | B．Meaningful. |
| C．Pioneering. | D．Emotional. |
