Antarctica Desert | Antarctica is a continent (大陆) of ice. There is hardly any rain in Antarctica, so the Antarctic Desert becomes the driest desert in the world. It is also the world’s largest desert by area. |
Sahara Desert | The Sahara Desert is the hottest of all the deserts on the earth. It covers most parts of North Africa and is similar in size to the land area of the USA. The word “sahara” in Arabic means “desert”. |
Arabian Desert | The Arabian Desert is in Asia on the Arabian peninsula. It covers almost the entire Arabian Peninsula. The sand here has a red-orange color and the surface of the Arabian Desert is covered mainly by sand hills, some gravel plains( 砾石平原) and rocky plains. |
Mojave Desert | The Mojave Desert is in the USA. It is the driest desert on the North American continent. Death Valley, one of the hottest areas in the world, is in the Mojave Desert. Mojave comes from the Spanish word for “beside the water”. |
| A．The Arabian Desert. | B．The Sahara Desert. |
| C．The Antarctica Desert. | D．The Mojave Desert. |
| A．It is the hottest desert in the world. |
| B．It is the largest desert in the world. |
| C．It is the coldest desert in the world. |
| D．It is the driest desert on the North American continent. |
| A．Red. | B．Orange. | C．Red-yellow. | D．Red-orange. |
THE BEST JOB IN THE WORLD
How would you like to spend six months living on an island and looking after the Great Barrier Reef? The working hours are flexible and accommodation is provided. Key duties include exploring the islands of the reef and finding out what the area has to offer. You’ll need to report back via weekly blogs, photo diaries and video updates. You’ll also be asked to promote the islands through newspapers, magazines and TV interviews.
It was actually a very clever means to highlight the importance of the Great Barrier Reef and the need to protect it.
About the size of Japan, it even can be seen from outer space. More than 25 million years old, the Great Barrier Reef is made up of living coral growing on dead coral. It is host to many species of birds and sea creatures. But this unique and delicate place is now under threat from pollution and climate change.
To get this job, the candidates had to make a short video showing how much they knew about the reef. They also needed to prove why they were the best person to do the job. Out of the thousands of applicants, eleven were selected, including a young woman from China. Eventually, the job was offered to Ben Southall from the UK.
In addition to blogging, taking photos and writing articles about the reef, he made a number of appearances on television to argue in favour of its defence. He also worked as a presenter for the National Geographic Channel, before going on to write a book about his experiences. Ben later joked that the job should have been advertised not as the “best”, but the “busiest job in the world”!
The most important thing was that people all over the world became aware of the beauty of the ocean in the area. What’s more, they came to understand the delicate balance that the environment exists in and what can, and must, be done to protect the reef. That way, it will remain a safe habitat for wildlife, as well as a dream destination for the millions of tourists who visit it each year.
1. What’s the purpose of the job advertisement?| A．To protect the Great Barrier Reef. | B．To build the Great Barrier Reef more beautifully. |
| C．To attract more candidates. | D．To attract more tourists to travel in Australia. |
| A．Lack of tourists. | B．Natural disasters. |
| C．Pollution and climate change. | D．Disappearing of the islands. |
| A．He took photos and wrote articles about the reef. | B．He appeared on television many times. |
| C．He worked as a host for one channel. | D．He told jokes on TV. |
3 . Five Most Beautiful UNESCO World Heritage Sites in the USA
The UNESCO World Heritage Sites are some of the most beautiful places in the world. They represent a unique collection of landmarks, and the five parks in USA really deserve to be treated as such.
Yellowstone National Park, USA
The world’s first national park sits on top of a volcanic hot spot and offers everything from great views to fun activities and wildlife sightings. Home to lush forests, hot springs, alpine rivers, geyers, and more, it’s not hard to see why it’s one of the greatest parks in the USA.
Grand Canyon National Park, USA
Thanks to the erosion from the Colorado River, the Grand Canyon is among the best spectacles on the planet. Stretching almost 300 miles, this magnificent valley is almost a mile deep and the width varies between less than a half mile to almost 19 miles.
Yosemite National Park, USA
Yosemite’s glacial landform secures its spot among the best parks in the USA. This amazing park is also typically recognized because of its huge sequoias (红杉) and granite cliffs. In addition, you’ll find all sorts of picture-worthy meadows, waterfalls, streams, mountains, and a variety of plants and animals.
Carlsbad Caverns National Park, USA
A karst landscape defines Carlsbad Caverns National Park which houses more than 119 caves. Its two main standouts are the namesake Carlsbad Cavern and Lechuguilla Cave. Both are known for their natural beauty, reef formations, and geologic features, but Carlsbad Cavern is famous for having one of the largest limestone cave chambers in the country at 4,000 feet long while Lechuguilla Cave owes its fame to its rare speleothems, or secondary mineral deposits, that provide a natural laboratory to study biological and geological processes.
Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, USA
Home to two of the most active volcanoes in the world, Mauna Loa and Kilauea, Hawaii Volcanoes National Park was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1987 in recognition of its outstanding natural values. The park is one of the biggest attractions in Hawaii as it offers visitors dramatic volcanic landscapes and glimpses of rare flora and fauna.
1. Which fame do Yellowstone National Park and Hawaii Volcanoes National Park share?| A．Volcanoes. | B．Snow-covered landscapes. |
| C．Rare flora. | D．Home to lush forests. |
| A．Caves | B．erosion |
| C．Rare plants. | D．Hot springs. |
| A．Yellowstone National Park |
| B．Grand Canyon National Park |
| C．Yosemite National Park |
| D．Carlsbad Caverns National Park |
4 . Osedax worms have been found in oceans all over the world. They’ve only ever been spotted on bones, which makes some scientists think that the bone-eaters are specialized to live in odd ecosystems, such as whale falls. “Those kinds of animals are definitely uniquely adapted to the environment in which you find them, ”says marine biologist River Dixon. She is a graduate student at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.
But as recent experiments show, the bone-eaters may not be picky about what type of bones they devour(吞食). Last year, biologists spotted Osedax worms in the Gulf of Mexico for the first time. And not on whale bones. Dixon was part of a research team that made the discovery. In early 2019, her group put the dead bodies of three alligators(短吻鳄)in water about 2 kilometers deep. Over the next few months, they sent a remote-controlled vehicle a few times to spy on what were essentially “alligator falls”.
51 days after the alligators were placed in the seawater, scientists revisited. “The flesh was gone”, Dixon says. . “It had been reduced to just the skeleton(骨骼).” And just as at whale falls, it hosted a carpet of bone-eating Osedax worms. These worms were similar to other bone-eaters but represented a never-before observed species. That means the scientists who found them get to name it (although Dixon says they haven’t settled on a name yet).
The lab where Dixon works studies food systems in the deep ocean. Algae and plants use photosynthesis(光合作用)to turn sunlight into food. Animals eat those plants and algae to survive. Then larger animals may eat those animals. But sunlight doesn’t reach the deep ocean’s bottom. So other pathways are essential. These pathways include whale falls and other dead bodies. The scientists wondered how alligator falls fit into a larger food web. To find out, they submerged them.
Studying alligator falls, Dixon says, could help show how life evolved(进化)in the deep sea. It’s possible that the creatures found on whale falls and other falls today, Dixon says, evolved from creatures that hundreds of millions of years ago would have devoured plesiosaur (蛇颈龙) falls.
1. What do we know about Osedax worms?| A．They depend on bones for survival. | B．They are newly evolved creatures. |
| C．They are used to clean the ocean. | D．They prefer to live with whale falls. |
| A．To analyze the ocean food chain. | B．To observe how deep they would fall. |
| C．To research on the structure of alligators. | D．To learn what would feed on their bones. |
| A．Considered. | B．Required. | C．Sank. | D．Buried. |
| A．The pressure on creatures to have food. |
| B．The importance of studying falls in the ocean. |
| C．The consequence of consuming plesiosaur falls. |
| D．The influence of plesiosaur falls on the ecosystem. |
5 . At Mia's “Reuse-a-Palooza” party, eight colored bins contained items of matching colors. Staff arranged them in rainbow order. Materials included pipe cleaners, buttons, rings, funnels and tubes.
Imagine the possibilities
Jewelry, sewing, instrument making, and Reuse-a-Palooza have been the most popular themes so far.
Get this party started
Every Creative Reuse party helps our planet. It is estimated that each participant uses between half a pound and one pound of materials. Creative Reuse's executive director Ash Andrews says, “
The results are in
| A．The small shop has no windows facing the street. |
| B．The inspired kids created one-of-a-kind masterpieces. |
| C．Creative Reuse's birthday parties have helped the environment. |
| D．Creative Reuse officially began offering birthday parties in 2018. |
| E．That is important to us as an environmentally focused organization. |
| F．But there are several other themes Creative Reuse offers for parties. |
| G．Teaching artists from Creative Reuse came to Mia's home for her party. |
6 . This beautiful, quiet place is covered in sunshine and has mountains all around it. Its name is Machu Picchu. It lies on top of a mountain, 8,000 feet in the tropical forest. Even in the rain and fog, it’s wonderful to walk through the ruins (废墟).
Machu Picchu is more than 500 years old. According to scholars, Machu Picchu was built for the Inca king around 1450. In the late 1800s, explorers like Antonio crossed the grounds of the ruins without knowing where he was. Machu Picchu became known to the world upon the 1911 arrival of Hiram Bingham. In 1983, Machu Picchu was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Machu Picchu is considered by many to be the most wonderful creation of the Inca Empire. It’s also full of cultural significance (意义). Its various sites and castles are connected with each other and with their environment. This is a great artistic achievement and also masterpiece of architecture. Everything is cultural and is related to each other, including the natural environment in which it is built.
Currently, Machu Picchu is considered one of the Seven Wonders of the New World; this promotes increased tourism in the area. Tourists of all nationalities travel to Peru with the intention of visiting the Lost City of the Incas. Machu Picchu is no longer quiet.
Some people in Peru hope that more tourists will come here. They think it will mean more business and money for the country. However, some worry that more visitors won’t be good for the environment. The truth is that parts of Peru are very poor, and tourists bring money to these communities. The lost city is no longer lost. The modern world is coming closer to this ancient world every day.
1. What is Machu Picchua like?| A．It sits high with mountains around. |
| B．It’s sunny all through the year. |
| C．It’s an ancient city covered with fog. |
| D．It sits at the bottom of the mountain. |
| A．In 1450. | B．In the late 1800s. | C．In 1911. | D．In 1983. |
| A．Its history. | B．Its design. | C．Its development. | D．Its value. |
| A．He is strongly against it. | B．He thinks it’s beneficial. |
| C．He is confident of its future. | D．He thinks it’s harmful. |
7 . Apart from a simple“hot”, what other ways are there to describe the summer heat? There are many interesting expressions that relate to unbearably hot weather and offer a glimpse into foreign culture.
Dog days of summer
In books and newspaper articles, the period from early July to mid－August is often referred to as the “dog days of summer”. Some think the expression means the weather is so hot that dogs go wild. But in fact, the expression comes from 16th century astrology and refers to the days on which Sirius－the Dog Star, the brightest star in the summer sky and part of the Great Dog constellation－rises at the same time as the sun.
Hotter than a two－dollar pistol
The reason for the expression is that no pistol could cost 2 dollars unless it had been stolen. In English slang, stolen goods are often said to be “hot” and anyone in possession of hot goods is likely to get their fingers burned, in other words, to be arrested.
So hot you can fry an egg on the sidewalk
Thousands of curious tourists feel like testing if the saying is true, with the result that sidewalks in Death Valley, California, the hottest place in the U. S. , are now littered with broken eggshells. As long as you use a frying pan with a lid and the temperature is at least 49℃ , it is actually possible to fry an egg on the sidewalk.
Hinges of Hades
For those who believe it exists, hell is undoubtedly the hottest place on earth, so unsurprisingly there are several expressions that refer to hell or Hades, or even the devil himself. “Hotter than the hinges or gates of Hades” is the oldest version , but more amusing variations have become popular, such as “hotter than the devil's underwear”.
1. Which expression relates to the study of stars?| A．Dog days of summer. | B．Hotter than a two－dollar pistol. |
| C．So hot you can fry an egg on the sidewalk. | D．Hinges of Hades. |
| A．Popular. | B．Difficult. | C．Illegal. | D．Angry. |
| A．55℃. | B．40℃. | C．39℃. | D．29℃. |
8 . Feeding bread to the ducks is a fond pastime for many of us, reminding us of happy childhood trips to the local park.
“Angel Wing can be cured if we reach birds before it has developed too severely,” says Caroline Simpson, a trustee of UK charity Swan Lifeline. “
| A．So we must stop feeding the ducks. |
| B．But did you know that bread actually puts birds in danger? |
| C．This doesn’t mean we have to stop fun trips to feed the ducks. |
| D．Bread can also cause harmful changes to the natural ecosystem (生态系统). |
| E．What a scene it is to watch ducks eating bread loating on the river. |
| F．Otherwise the results can be serious — such as the loss of the wing. |
| G．So next time take a healthier alternative and do your bit to protect our precious wildlife. |
9 . Scientists have long known that a crow （乌鸦）native to New Caledonia is able to use tools. The birds use them to remove food from deep holes. Now, American researchers have discovered a second species of crow with the same ability. They reported on their experiments with Alala crows, which are from the Hawaiian Islands.
In the experiment, the researchers placed pieces of food in holes inside the wood. The holes were too deep for the crows to reach with their beaks(鸟喙). But, by using small pieces of wood held in their beaks, Alala crows quickly got the food. They used small objects as tools, sometimes changing them by shortening too-long sticks. They also made tools from plant materials.
“The crows use their beaks as people use thumbs on their hands. Tool use is rare in the animal kingdom. ” said Chritian Rutz of University of St. Andrews. “Current evidence strongly suggests that tool use is part of the species’ natural behavioral pattern(行为模式). These birds had no special training in the study, yet most of them were skilled at handling stick tools. ”
Bird experts claim finding out that the crows use tools is important discovery. “It makes us rethink how to look at the whole tool-use idea now and encourages us to go out and look for things that we may have ignored before. ”
All the Alala crows left in the world live in Hawaii. There were less than 20 Alalas left in the late 1990s when scientists decided to bring them into a protected area. Now, it is reported that there are over 100 birds living there. Scientists plan to release a small number of the birds back into the wild later.
1. What are the findings of American researchers?| A．Alala crows can also use tools. |
| B．It’s difficult for birds to look for food. |
| C．New Caledonia is home to some crows. |
| D．The Hawaiian Islands are full of rare birds. |
| A．The holes were very big and wide. |
| B．Alala crows could only use short sticks. |
| C．Alala crows got the food by working together. |
| D．Alala crows would deal with tools if necessary. |
| A．Using tools comes naturally to Alala crows. |
| B．Using stick tools is not easy for Alala crows. |
| C．Alala crows’ beaks look like people’s hands. |
| D．Alala crows won’t use tools without being trained. |
| A．Move all of them out of Hawaii. | B．Increase the population of them. |
| C．Set some of them free in nature. | D．Build more protected areas for them. |
10 . A 67-year-old man tried to rescue his dog from a cliff in California and died tragically. Actually,he is not the only pet owner who has risked his life saving an animal. There are many equally brave pet owners whose names are on the same list.
It's a scene from a famous TV series, when at a very important moment the 67-year-old Jack ran back into the family's burning house to save his daughter's dog He later died from cardiac arrest(心脏停搏) caused by taking in too much smoke.
After all that is not real, some might think. But similar stories are not difficult to find, in which the pet owners paid the ultimate price for saving their pets.
Recently, a 61-year-old Florida man was hit by a train with his dog after running out to save it from the railway. One month earlier, a woman in California died in the flames of a wildfire while trying to rescue her dog from a car. And in Texas after a hurricane, a 25-year-old man died from an electric shock after trying to save his sister's cat from her flooded home.
There have been many studies on humans attachment to pets, and there have been results associating health benefits with caring for animals. According to those studies, owning a pet can help lower blood pressure, reduce stress and relieve anxiety or depression.
According to one survey of American Pet Products Association, about 68 percent of the US families own a pet. And of all the pet owners, about 95 percent consider their pets part of the family.
1. What happened to the old man in paragraph 1?| A．He saw a tragedy last week. |
| B．He climbed a cliff. |
| C．He lost his life as a result of saving his dog. |
| D．He joined a growing list of courageous pet owners in an activity. |
| A．comparing | B．giving examples | C．analyzing | D．giving a definition |
| A．Jack's death was a result of heat in the smoke. |
| B．There aren't other pet owners who choose to do the same as Jack in real life. |
| C．Humans shouldn't take the risk of saving their pets. |
| D．There is scientific evidence that having a pet is good for people's health. |
