1 . In a new study, researchers found that invasive insects in the United States could kill approximately 1.4 million urban trees by 2050, which would cost over $900 million to replace, reports Vishwam Sankaran for the Independent.

Hot spots predicted to have the most urban tree mortality (死亡率) were Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Chicago, Illinois; and New York, New York. The study, published in the Journal of Applied Ecology, is the first nationwide forecast of street tree mortality from invasive insects.

The emerald ash borer is an invasive beetle native to Asia. It was first detected in 2002 in southeastern Michigan, and experts suspect it was brought into the United States on wood packing material carried on cargo ships or airplanes traveling from Asia. Since then, the bug has been damaging ash trees. In the last two decades since the insect was first detected, numerous trees have been killed in North America.

Data collected from 30,000 communities across the country was used to estimate tree mortality in the next 30 years. The researchers combined this data with a model that predicted the spread of 57 different invasive insect species. Their results show emerald ash borers alone could cause 90% of the estimated 1.4 million tree deaths. Ash borers are already predicted to “kill virtually all ash trees” in over 6,000 urban areas, according to Newsweek.

Less than 25% of 30,000 urban areas in the U.S. are expected to experience 95% of all street-tree mortality, reports Adam Barnes for the Hill. The areas that will experience the most tree loss include cities in the Midwest and East Coast. These locations are expected to have the most tree loss because large numbers of ash trees occupy the streets and parks in these areas, reported the Independent.

When it comes to how to save urban areas from becoming treeless, study author Emma Hudgins, a biologist at McGill University, says, “These results can hopefully provide a cautionary tale against planting a single species of tree throughout entire cities, as has been done with ash trees in North America. Planting various trees provides resilience against pest infestations (侵扰).”

1. What can we know about the emerald ash borer?

A．It is an invasive beetle in Asia.

B．It was first found by the Michigan people.

C．It has killed numerous trees in America.

D．They definitely enter the U.S. by cargo ships or airplanes.

2. What is the fourth paragraph intended to describe?

A．The purpose of the research.	B．The conclusion of the research.
C．The significance of the research.	D．The process and result of the research.

3. What can be inferred from the fifth paragraph?

A．Pest infestations are taking place across the country.

B．The insect’s invasion won’t spread equally in America.

C．Tree loss is the main cause of environmental problems.

D．Ash trees are being removed from many areas in the U.S.

4. What suggestion does Emma Hudgins provide?

A．Getting different types of trees planted.

B．Replacing foreign trees with local ones.

C．Getting more trees planted in more areas.

D．Planting trees resistant to pest infestations.

2 . 阅读下面短文，在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

Chinese achievements in pollution control, ecological recovery and protection, and green development China     1     (make) in the past decade were highlighted at a Friday press briefing,     2     a senior official pointed out China’s     3     (participate) and leadership in global climate governance.

According to the press briefing, China has been the fastest in improving air quality and the PM 2.5 level in cities at the prefecture level and above dropped by 34.8 percent from that of 2015. Days with good air quality reached 87.5 percent. Pollution of water bodies and the soil is also     4     (effective) tackled. Ecological systems     5     (protect) and restored. National parks are set and more than 300 endangered animal and plant species saw their wild populations recover, marking achievements in protecting ecological diversity.

The country has taken     6     active part in cooperation on climate change. It has done its     7     (good) to help other developing countries to improve their climate response capacity     8     (reduce) the harmful impacts of climate change. It also has distributed over 1.2 billion yuan on climate change and trained about 2,000 officials and experts in the field of climate change     9     more than 120 developing countries.

    10     (head) forward, China will work with all parties to actively participate in the global governance of climate change.

3 . Amphibians are animals that can live both on land and in water. A new global assessment has found that 41% of amphibian species that scientists have studied are threatened with extinction. That’s up from 39% reported in the last assessment in 2004.

The study, published on Wednesday in the journal Nature, found that the loss of habitat from the legal and illegal expansion of farming and ranching (放牧) contributes most to the extinction risk of amphibians worldwide. But a growing percentage of amphibian species are now also pushed to the edge of extinction by novel diseases and climate change, the study found.

Amphibians have distinct life stages that each often require separate habitats, so they can be disturbed by changes in either water or land environments, said University of Texas biologist Michael Ryan, who was not involved in the study. They are also at risk because of their delicate skin. Most amphibians absorb oxygen to breathe through their skin, and so they do not have scales (鳞), feathers or fur to protect them. Chemical pollution, bacteria and fungal (真菌的) infections impact them quickly, as do heightened swings in temperature and dampness levels due to climate change.

For example, frogs are active usually at night. If it’s too hot, they won’t come out even at night because they would lose too much water through their skin, said co-author and researcher Patricia Burrowes. But remaining in sheltered resting places limits frogs’ ability to eat and to produce.

Juan Manuel Guayasamin, a frog biologist at the University San Francisco of Quito, Ecuador, said that advances in technology to track animals and climate variations allowed the new study to use much more precise data than the 2004 assessment. “We have a much better understanding of some risks,” said Guayasamin.

The study identified the greatest concentrations of threatened amphibian species in several biodiversity hot spots, including the Caribbean islands, the tropical Andes, Madagascar and Sri Lanka. Other locations with large numbers of threatened amphibians include Brazil’s Atlantic Forest, southern China and the southeastern United States.

1. What has the new study found?

A．Amphibian populations are now extinct.

B．The number of amphibians is rising slightly.

C．The extinction risk of amphibians has declined.

D．More amphibian species are endangered than before.

2. Which of the following is the single biggest threat to amphibians?

A．Habitat loss.

B．Illegal hunting.

C．Novel diseases.

D．Climate change.

3. What does the author want to show by the example in paragraph 4?

A．The unusual living habits of frogs.	B．The unique features of the frog skin.
C．The effect of climate change on amphibians.	D．The urgency of protecting amphibians’ habitats.

4. What does Guayasamin think of the new study?

A．Its methods are debatable.	B．Its findings are more reliable.
C．It needs to be better organized.	D．It covers wide geographical areas.

4 . 阅读下面短文，在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

A 5,100-year-old dam, capable of flood control and irrigation (灌溉), has been identified as China’s earliest     1     (know) water engineering project. The Xiongjialing Dam is part of the Qujialing relics site in Jingmen, China’s Hubei Province.

The dam was initially built around 5,100 years ago on a branch of the Qingmudang River. The     2     (exist) dam measures 2 meters in height, 13 meters in width and 180 meters in length. It has a water storage area to the east, equal to the size of three West Lakes, and     3     8.5-hectare irrigation area to the west, with the     4     (late) found to have been an expanse of prehistory rice field. A floodway at the northern side of the water storage area allowed for discharge (排放) of extra water during flood seasons. The dam     5     (construct) with local earth, which was mixed with plant roots     6     (increase) the structure’s toughness.

The design of the water project suggests that prehistoric     7     (ancestor) in the area had learned to control water use rather than     8     (simple) defending against floods and droughts. The Qujialing relics site is famous for witnessing the first-ever discovery     9     carbonized rice along the midstream of the Yangtze River. Researchers say the dam further illustrates that, in the Neolithic Age, the area had a mature rice-growing agriculture. That’s     10     this relies heavily on irrigation.

5 . Mutual cooperation in which humans cooperate with wild animals is extremely rare. One such system involves the greater honeyguide, a small African bird that leads humans to sources of honey. Once a nest is found, the human honey hunters break into it to obtain honey and bee worms, and the birds benefit from consuming beeswax in the now-exposed honey comb. Both the birds and the humans use specialized sounds to communicate their availability to participate in this cooperative interaction.

The two areas studied by Spottiswoode and Wood are northern Mozambique, where the honey hunters are from the Yao cultural group, and northern Tanzania, where the honey hunters are from the Hadza culture. The Yao communicate with honeyguides using a short and high-pitched sound followed by a low sound ”brrrrhm“, whereas the Hadza use a melodic whistle. Thus, signal and response both vary geographically.

Spotiswoode and Wood propose that the geographic variation they have identified in this mutualism is the product of cultural codevelopment. To qualify as cultural, the cooperative behaviors would have to be acquired through social learning from individuals of the same species. Social learning, however, is less of a given on the honeyguide side. Instead, what is required of honeyguides is another form of vocal learning - comprehension learning — in which the meaning of a signal is learned. Comprehension learning is common in birds. Whether social learning is involved, however, is not so, obvious.

Honeyguides put in considerable effort helping their human partners find food and are faithfully rewarded by being given food in return. In some human cultures, honey hunters purposefully leave out honeycomb to reward honeyeaters, but in others the hunters go, to great length to deny the birds any reward, by collecting, burying, or burning any honeycomb exposed when they destroy a nest. The reason given for these acts is that keeping the birds hungry causes them to continue guiding.

A promising question for future research is whether geographic differences in human cultural preferences for rewarding or not rewarding honeyguides affect the preferences of individual birds for guiding versus taking advantage of the guiding of others.

1. What is the purpose of mentioning the two areas in Paragraph 2?

A．To show that honey hunting is very popular in their culture.

B．To explain that communication methods differ in geography.

C．To illustrate the differences between the Yao and the Hadza.

D．To show that birds can understand various human cultures.

2. Why do some hunters refuse to give honeyguides any prizes?

A．To let them realize human’s power.

B．To make them keep providing help.

C．To cause them to burn honeycomb.

D．To use the honeycomb themselves.

3. What can be inferred about the relationship between humans and honeyguides?

A．Honeyguides have already had strong skills to learn from society.

B．Honeyguides have a genetic tendency to guide humans for honey.

C．Humans and honeyguides have a mutually beneficial relationship.

D．Human honey hunters will lose their jobs without honeyguides.

4. What is likely to be discussed in the following paragraph?

A．The impact of human cultural preferences on honeyguide behavior.

B．The further study on the cultural differences in human preferences.

C．The ecologically rewarding consequences of honeyguide behavior.

D．The influence of honeyguide behavior on human cultural practices.

6 . 听下面一段独白，回答以下小题。
1. What did the two men plan to do?

A．Attend a sailing race.

B．Travel between two islands.

C．Get away from their country.

2. How did the two men feel about the adventure?

A．Relieved.

B．Optimistic.

C．Upset.

3. How were the two men rescued?

A．They were found by a passing boat.

B．They boated to the nearest shore.

C．They found a floating device.

7 . A grey-headed flying fox is back gliding through the night after life-saving surgery on a broken wing. The female flying fox’s wing was badly injured when it was twisted in a net placed over fruit trees in Geelong, Victoria. It was rescued and taken to Werribee Open Range Zoo’s veterinary hospital where it needed two operations to repair the wing.

Paul Eden, doctor of the hospital, said, “The flying fox was in a very serious condition when it arrived.” Flying foxes are highly dependent on their wings for many purposes. They can fly an astonishing 6,000 km in a year to search for food and pollinate a wide range of plants. They also use their wings to help capture insects, regulate body temperature and attract other flying foxes during mating season, So, it was extremely important that we did everything we could to help this animal make a full recovery. Vets operated to remove some of the flying fox’s damaged wing tissue and also gave it antibiotics (抗生素) and pain relief medication.

Following the successful procedure, the flying fox was transferred to a wildlife carer to prepare it for release back into where it belonged. Dr Eden said, “It is very rewarding to see the flying fox recover fully and safely return home.” According to researchers from Werribee Open Range Zoo, flying foxes played a critical role in Australia’s ecosystem, not only for the survival of other native animals but also humans. Our ecosystem would be dramatically different without flying foxes.

Dr Eden noted that there were some simple actions people could take to keep flying foxes safe, including reducing the risk of twisting by using nets with a size no bigger than 5 mm×5 mm when fully stretched over vegetable gardens or fruit trees. “If you encounter a flying fox that is sick or in distress, for the safety of everyone, don’t attempt to rescue the animal yourself. Instead, contact Wildlife Victoria who will send a trained officer to rescue the animal,” Dr Eden said.

1. How did the flying fox get injured in the wing?

A．It was stuck in the net.	B．It was hit by the fruits.
C．It was hunted while flying.	D．It was twisted in the branches.

2. What is paragraph 2 intended to do?

A．Analyse the reason.	B．Draw a conclusion.
C．Present a problem.	D．Add some backgrounds.

3. How will the flying fox be dealt with after recovery?

A．It will be raised in a reserve.	B．It will be adopted by D Eden.
C．It will be set free back to nature.	D．It will be tended in a wildlife carer.

4. What did Dr Eden advise us to do while coming across an injured flying fox?

A．Rescue it on the spot.	B．Seek professional aid.
C．Send it to Wildlife Victoria in person.	D．Drive it to hospital as soon as possible

8 . A shark was spotted off the shore of LeCount Hollow Beach, in Wellfleet, Massachusetts. The sighting was immediately reported to the Sharktivity app that's a public-safety tool created by the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy （AWSC）.

John Chisholm is a biologist who studies sharks. He monitors reports made to the Sharktivity app. When he gets a message, he contacts the person who spotted the shark. “Hopefully, you have a photo or a video,” he says. “If you don't, then I have to try to study what you saw, based on your description and the location. ”Some sightings are false alarms, but when Chisholm is able to confirm a sighting, it's labeled as confirmed on the app. “Lifeguards can use that data and close beaches if they have to,” he says.

Cape Cod（CC） is a hot spot for sharks. That part of Massachusetts is known for its beaches. In 2021, there were more than 150,000 shark detections in CC waters. Sharks have always been a natural part of the CC ecosystem. But since the 1970s, their numbers have dropped by more than 70% worldwide. Since 1972, America has banned hunting seals（海豹）. Over time, their numbers have gone up. Today, there're an estimated 50,000 gray seals around the Massachusetts coast. More gray seals mean more food for sharks. Seals often swim and gather near the shoreline. That's one reason why great sharks are showing up near CC beaches.

Sharks might mistake people or objects for food. So the AWSC's Shark Smart Beach Program takes information directly to the public. It has workers on CC beaches ready to teach people about shark behavior. “A big thing for folks to remember, if they're going to the beach, is that they're going to an environment where there're wild animals,” says Marianne Walsh, AWSC's education director. “By paying attention to lifeguards, not going out past waist-deep water, and not swimming alone, people can easily coexist with sharks,” Chisholm says.

1. What does Chisholm advise you to do for him when you report a shark sighting?

A．Delete the false information in person.	B．Inform lifeguards immediately.
C．Label the location on the Sharktivity app.	D．Take pictures or make a video.

2. What is paragraph 3 mainly about?

A． A conservation success story.	B．The reasons for protecting sharks.
C．The disasters caused by sharks.	D．A prediction of the CC ecosystem.

3. What is the purpose of the AWSC's Shark Smart Beach Program?

A．To collect information about sharks.	B．To teach how to avoid sharks' attack.
C．To sharpen beach goers' swimming skills.	D．To strengthen animal-human relationships.

4. Where is the text probably taken from?

A．A travel brochure.	B．A research paper.
C．A biology textbook.	D．An animal magazine.

9 . A major limitation in behavioral research is that scientists can either study animals under highly-controlled, yet often unrealistically simplified and small, environments in the lab, or in largely uncontrolled conditions in the wild. This has limited our ability to study many aspects of behavior, including collective behavior—the movements and interactions among animals that underlie their complex social lives. What is needed to address this?

To do so in a multidimensional way, researchers have developed a tool called SMART-BARN. “It’s a new tool that allows studying complex behavior characteristics of an individual or interactions between groups of animals like insects, birds, or mammals (哺乳动物),” says Hemal Naik. Together with Máté Nagy, co-speaker of the Cluster, Iain Couzin, and colleagues developed SMART-BARN. Biologists, physicists, engineers and computer scientists developed it together.

“SMART-BARN is designed to enhance the scale of typical indoor behavioral experiments in terms of experimental volume and measured behavior characteristics and group sizes,” computer scientist Hemal Naik says. The facility can—depending on the size of the animals—host hundreds of animals simultaneously and extend the possibility of experiments to novel species typically not studied in indoor environments. “In fact, we have now scaled this to work with many thousands of animals,” adds Couzin. “We recently conducted a study in the Imaging Hangar where we tracked 10,000 plague locusts. This would have been impossible without our SMART-BARN technology. ”

So far, SMART-BARN has been used within different experimental use cases involving subjects as diverse as pigeons, moths, bats, and humans. Naik says, “SMART-BARN offers the ability to track 3D stare and posture of birds in a group of ten or more while maintaining their identity. This technique is being used by researchers to explore the role of stare in decision making.”

The team imagines the facility to be a cooperative space where researchers from all over the globe can contribute to the exploration of behavioral questions. Therefore, the team invites researchers across the world to connect with them and plan experiments.

1. What is the first paragraph mainly about concerning SMART-BARN?

A．Its limitation.

B．Its necessity.

C．Its popularity.

D．Its feature.

2. What can we learn about the research team?

A．They engage in different areas of knowledge.	B．They are expert at studying biodiversity.
C．They have the same social background.	D．They base their study on previous data.

3. What is SMART-BARN used to do according to the text?

A．To rescue the endangered.	B．To protect the environment.
C．To study animal groups.	D．To keep track of birds.

4. What does paragraph 4 want to tell us about SMART-BARN?

A．How it will be tested.	B．What it will be used for.
C．Why it is so popular.	D．Where it can be used.

10 . In today’s world, where the consequences of climate change are becoming increasingly evident, the need for energy conservation has never been more pressing.     1    .

Use your laptop more than your desktop

Laptops use an average of 20 to 50 watts of electricity to run, whereas desktop computers use an average of 60 to 200 watts of electricity to run. The reason for this is that laptops run off of battery power and desktops are continuously plugged into a power source that drains energy.

    2    . Not only does this help reduce your energy usage, but it also optimizes your laptop’s battery life to last longer.

Charge your phone in airplane mode and before bedtime

While charging, switch your phone to airplane mode, so that the phone does not slow down the charging process by continually burning energy trying to connect with cell phone towers and plot your location with its GPS function. When you switch to airplane mode your phone charges more quickly.

The brighter the screen setting, the more power it uses and vibration uses more energy than a ringtone.     3    , therefore less energy consumption. And remember-unplug your charger if not in use!

Unplug mobile phone and laptop chargers

Always unplug electronics and appliances when not in use.     4    . When the power strip is left on, the devices plugged into it continue to use energy and actually increase your energy usage. The Northern Resources Defense Council found that devices in sleep or standby mode account for about one- quarter of all residential energy consumption.

    5    

Reduce your carbon footprint by organizing your files and eliminating unnecessary data from cloud storage! Companies offering cloud data storage need warehouses filled with servers running nonstop. These data centers consume massive amounts of energy since they require AC systems to avoid overheating.

A．Low Power Mode also saves battery life

B．Delete unwanted files from cloud storage

C．Saving energy is now easier with these tips from UNICEF

D．Therefore, energy conservation has never been more pressing

E．Unused electronic appliances may produce harm to the environment

F．Deenergization will save you energy, money, and can prevent electrical fires

G．Make sure to unplug your laptop from the power source once it’s fully charged