1 . In the animal kingdom, killer whales (虎鲸) are social stars: they travel in varied family groups, care for grandchildren, and even imitate human speech. Now, scientists are adding one more behavior to the list: forming fast friendships. A new study shows killer whales can rival animals such as chimpanzees and macaques (a kind of monkey), and even humans when it comes to the kind of “social touch” that indicates strong bonds.
Some ocean animals maintain social structures — including male dolphins that learn the “names” of their close allies (盟友). But there is little data about wild killer whales. That’s where drone (无人机) technology came in. Michael Weiss, a behavioral ecologist, teamed up with his colleagues to launch drones, flying them 30 to 120 meters above a group of killer whales. That was high enough not to trouble the whales, marking the first time drones have been used to study friendly physical contact in whales.
The researchers recorded over 800 instances of physical contact between individuals. Those included hugs, back-to-back and nose-to-nose touches between pairs of whales. Other whales playfully threw young whales into the air, letting them fall into the water. Besides, the drone images revealed clear preferences among individuals, usually for one “best friend” of the same sex and age. Take J49 and J51 — two distantly related young males aged 9 and 6 — for instance. “Every time you see a group of whales, those two are right there interacting with each other,” Weiss says.
The young led most of these interactions, rather than the older females or males. Older males in particular were less important. “The young individuals really seem to be the glue holding the groups together,” Weiss says. As individuals age, this gradual loss of “centrality” is known in many social mammals, including humans. That finding is “especially appealing” to Stacey Tecot, who wasn’t involved in the study. “Scientists have long observed this social aging trend in animals, but there are still many unanswered questions,” she says. That’s certainly on the researchers’ radar. “We’re already gathering new data, with more advanced equipment,” says Weiss.
1. What does the underlined word “rival” in Paragraph 1 probably mean?| A．Benefit from. | B．Be equal to. | C．Depend on. | D．Be fond of. |
| A．The research method. | B．The variety of species. |
| C．The size of the research team. | D．The time spent on the research. |
| A．They have a stable friendship. | B．Their interactions are more complicated. |
| C．Their communicating ways change frequently. | D．They prefer playing with young female whales. |
| A．More researchers will be involved in the study. |
| B．Other scientists take a negative attitude to the research. |
| C．Researchers will collect more data to study killer whales. |
| D．Researchers will uncover the social aging trend in animals soon. |
2 . The world’s forests may hold more secrets than previously thought: a new global estimate of tree biodiversity suggests that there are about 9,200 tree species remaining undocumented. Most are likely in the tropics, according to the new research.
The new research drew on the efforts of hundreds of contributors, who have categorized trees in two huge data sets: One, the Global Forest Biodiversity Initiative, records every species found in extensively documented forest plots worldwide. The other, TREECHANGE, puts together sightings of individual species. Together they suggest there are approximately 64,100 recorded tree species on the planet — up from previous estimates of around 60,000.
The researchers reached their estimate of an additional 9,200 yet undocumented species on the basis of the number of rare ones already in the databases. Most unknown species are likely to be defined as rare, found in limited numbers in small geographical areas, says the quantitative forest ecologist Jingjing Liang. The team’s result is “a rather conservative estimate,” Liang says, “because scientists know less about the preponderance of uncommon trees in places such as the Amazon, where out-of-the-way spots could host pockets of unusual species found nowhere else.” “If we can focus the resources on those rain forests in the Amazon,” Liang adds, “then we would be able to estimate it with higher confidence.”
Silman, a conservation biologist, who was not involved in the new study agrees that the study result is likely an underestimate. His and his colleagues’ local surveys suggest there are at least 3,000 and possibly more than 6,000 unknown tree species in the Amazon basin alone. Tree species often get grouped together based on appearance, he notes, so new genetic analysis techniques will likely lead to the discovery of even more biodiversity. Sliman wonders how many species will go extinct before scientists describe them. “How many are already known to native peoples in the Amazon — or were known to peoples or cultures who have themselves been made extinct through colonization, disease, or absorption? How many “species” already have dried samples sitting in a cabinet?” he says.
Searching for the new species will inform not only conservation but the basic evolutionary science of how and why species diversify and die out, Silman says. “Just the fact that there are thousands of species of something as common as trees out there that are still left to be discovered,” he adds, “I find pretty inspirational.”
1. What is the finding of the new research?| A．About nine thousand new tree species have been identified. |
| B．Thousands of tree species remain unknown to science. |
| C．Maintaining tree diversity has become a global challenge. |
| D．Human activities have led to the reduced number of trees. |
| A．The researchers adopted quality method to analyze data. |
| B．The researchers did extensive field study in out-of-the-way spots. |
| C．Inferring from the existing dada is the main research method. |
| D．Doing surveys and interviews is the main research method. |
| A．majority | B．evolution | C．cultivation | D．capability |
| A．genetic analysis technique failed to produce accurate information |
| B．trees of similar sizes in the Amazon basin are grouped together |
| C．too many rare trees were made into dried samples before being documented |
| D．the local peoples or the local cultures are not fully aware of the tree species. |
3 . Coral reefs in Florida have lost an estimated 90% of their corals in the last 40 years. This summer, a marine heat wave hit Florida’s coral reefs. The record high temperatures created an extremely stressful environment for the coral reefs, which are currently also experiencing intense coral bleaching (白化).
A coral is an animal, which has a symbiotic relationship with a microscopic algae (藻类). The algae gets energy from the sun and shares it with the coral internally. The coral builds a rock-like structure, which makes up most of the reef, providing homes and food for many organisms that live there. Coral bleaching is when the symbiotic relationship breaks down. Without the algae, the corals appear white because the rock skeleton becomes visible. If the bleaching continues for an extended period, the corals can starve to death without the energy.
Florida is on the front lines of climate change. It is also on the cutting edge of restoration science. Many labs, institutions and other organizations are working nonstop to protect and maintain the coral reefs. This includes efforts to understand what is troubling the reef, from disease outbreaks to coastal development impacts. It also includes harvesting coral spawn (卵), or growing and planting coral parts. Scientists moved many coral nurseries into deeper water and shore-based facilities during this marine heat wave. They are digging into the DNA of the coral to discover which species will survive best in future.
There are some bright spots in the story, however. Some corals have recovered from the bleaching, and many did not bleach at all. In addition, researchers recorded coral spawning. Although it’s not clear yet whether the larvae (幼虫) will be successful in the wild, it’s a sign of recovery potential. If the baby corals survive, they will be able to regrow the reef. They just have to avoid one big boss: human-induced climate change.
1. What does the underlined word “symbiotic” in paragraph 2 mean?| A．Reliable. | B．Opposite. | C．Harmonious. | D．Contradictory. |
| A．The rock skeleton. | B．The microscopic algae. |
| C．The high temperatures. | D．The symbiotic relationship. |
| A．Transferring coral nurseries. | B．Growing and planting coral spawn. |
| C．Researching the DNA of the coral. | D．Figuring out the reasons for problems. |
| A．Identifiable. | B．Predictable. | C．Far-reaching. | D．Effective. |
4 . They say once you learn to ride a bike, you never forget. Most of us learned to ride when we were kids, and many still wear our helmets, put our feet on the pedals, and shoot off for a ride on the streets. In recent times, cycling has seen an increase in popularity, so many people raise a question:
First, let’s look at the health benefits. Cycling can improve your cardiovascular (心血管的) health and burn extra body fat. Strengthening your muscles in your legs helps increase your potential torque (扭矩) and cadence (节奏).
Cycling can be a great way to go to work or get about town.
So, whether people want to cycle for their health, their wallet, the environment, or a combination of all of them —the popularity of cycling is on the rise.
| A．What makes cycling so convenient? |
| B．But cyclists face neither of these issues. |
| C．And people will choose to go to work by cycling. |
| D．This can save you a lot of money on fuel or public transportation. |
| E．Finally, cycling can also be good for the environment. |
| F．And the benefits from cycling aren’t just physical, but mental as well. |
| G．What makes it so attractive for people to take their bikes once again? |
5 . In nature, octopuses (章鱼) hunt mainly with their sense of touch, using their eight arms to feel out their environment for hidden creatures. Researchers at the University of Minnesota recently studied a different way octopuses hunt—when they identify prey (猎物) based on sight. The study findings show that the marine creatures are quite consistent and methodical in how they approach prey.
Lead researcher Trevor Wardill and his team placed California two-spot octopuses into water tanks, hiding them in caves where they would have one eye looking out. They then placed either fiddler crabs or white shrimp in the tanks to see how the octopuses would try to catch them, capturing the interactions on video. The crabs and shrimp behave differently when trying to escape from predators (捕猎者), so using both species gave the researchers an opportunity to see whether this led the octopuses to use a different arm for hunting depending on the prey.
Wardill’s team found that the octopuses almost always used the same arm to grab their prey. Specifically, the second arm from the middle of the octopuses’ body, on the same side of their body as the eye, caught the prey. If they needed more arms to grab prey, they would use the ones next to the second arm.
The octopuses also attacked differently depending on the prey. When faced with crabs, an octopus would move suddenly on top of the crab with its whole body. However, when catching shrimp, the octopuses would take one arm and reach out very slowly toward the shrimp, then grab it and latch (缠住) onto it with its other arms to pull it in.
Wardill and his team hope to do more research. They want to study the octopus’s brain as it attacks pre y to develop a better understanding of what role the creature’s nervous system plays in selecting the arms it uses.
1. What is the recent study mainly about?| A．Octopuses’ ability to hide itself. | B．Octopuses’ way to track prey. |
| C．Octopuses’ hunting mode via eyes. | D．Octopuses’ method of perceiving the environment. |
| A．They adopt different strategies to hunt. | B．They stretch arms slowly to catch crabs. |
| C．They move suddenly to prey on shrimps. | D．They use the second arm to catch prey anytime. |
| A．Whether they’re nervous in hunting. | B．How their nerves work during hunting. |
| C．How they choose their arms in hunting. | D．Whether they use their brain during hunting. |
| A．Octopuses: Skillful Hunters | B．Octopuses: One-armed Predators |
| C．Octopuses: A Sharp-eyed Species | D．Octopuses: A Mysterious Creature |
6 . The cold, wet weather of winter often puts out any wildfires that are still burning, but not in the far North areas, such as Alaska, Canada, and other parts of North America. Some forest fires just don’t die in these places. Think of the fires as “zombies” (僵尸): Scientists do. When summers are warmer than normal, some fires can hide through the winter. They burn dead plant matter and soils under snow. In May 2021, scientists reported their work to a scientific journal. The scientists saw that zombie fires are rare but they could become more common as the world warms, the study warns.
“Some years, new fires were starting very close to the previous year’s fire,” explains Rebecca Scholten. She studies Earth and environmental sciences at Vrije University Amsterdam in the Netherlands. The new fires made scientists wonder how often fires might survive the winter. The scientists started by combing through firefighter reports. Then they compared these with satellite images of Alaska and northern Canada. The scientists looked for fires that began close to fires from the year before. They also focused on blazes starting before the middle of summer. Random lightning or human actions spark most fires in the area, Scholten says. But those fires happen later in the year.
Zombie fires accounted for less than 1 percent of the total area burned by fires from 2002 to 2018. But it changed from year to year. Take 2008, for example. A zombie fire burned Alaska that year. It caused almost one-third of fire damage that year. One clear pattern emerged: Zombie fires were more likely to happen after very warm summers. High temperatures may allow fires to reach more deeply into the soil. Such deep burns are more likely to survive to spring.
The zombie fire threat could grow. The climate is warming. Forests in the far North already are warming faster. “We’re seeing more hot summers and more large fires and intense burning,” Scholten says. Plus, zombie fires could cause more issues. The fires release huge amounts of greenhouse gases. These trap heat in the Earth’s atmosphere. The atmosphere is a layer of gases that surround the Earth. Scholten’s research could help fire management. Firefighters would know to check for them after warm summers.
1. What may lead to zombie fires according to the passage?| A．wet weather | B．hotter summers |
| C．low temperatures | D．cold winters |
| A．Where flames broke out provided the clue. |
| B．Changing climate plays a role in the zombie fire threat. |
| C．Zombie fires are less likely to happen after very warm summers. |
| D．It is of little use comparing firefighter reports with satellite images. |
| A．It is important to understand zombie fires. |
| B．Zombie fires are likely to be under control soon. |
| C．Firefighters cannot do much to stop the zombie fires. |
| D．We still have much to learn about the warming climate. |
| A．“Zombie“ wildfires do great damage to land |
| B．“Zombie” wildfires release greenhouse gases |
| C．“Zombie“ wildfires sparked by human actions |
| D．“Zombie” wildfires reappear after wintering underground |
7 . A team of scientists recently published one of the most comprehensive efforts yet to understand just how much carbon great whales absorb from the ocean, and the value that presents in the fight against climate change.
“Whales are large-bodied animals, and they live for a long time. Many of them migrate over vast distances,” said study leader Heibi Pearson, a marine biologist at the University of Alaska Southeast. “And so they have the potential to have these huge impacts on the ecosystem, including the carbon cycle.”
In their most direct impact, whale bodies hold an enormous amount of carbon that would otherwise be in the ocean or atmosphere. Twelve great whale species hold an estimated 2 million tons of carbon in their bodies, the authors found.
And that’s just the living members of the whale family. Another 62,000 tons of carbon is kept under the sea every year in the form of whale falls. When a whale dies in open water and sinks into the deep, a lifetime of collected carbon goes with it. It can take up to 1,000 years for water and elements at the bottom of the sea to cycle back up to the surface, which means that carbon is effectively sequestered for that long.
In addition, whales’ waste facilitates the growth of organisms at the base of the marine food chain, promoting the growth of carbon-consuming life throughout the ecosystem.
However, whale populations still haven’t recovered from the destructive effects of industrial whaling. Commercial hunting in the 19th and 20th centuries decreased the total mass of whales on the planet by 81%, according to the authors.
“Whales alone are not going to solve climate change, but thinking about whales as playing a role in the carbon cycle can help motivate whale conservation,” said Andrew Pershing, a co-author of the study. “There are a lot of win-wins there, and I think that’s very true of a lot of natural climate solutions.”
1. How do whales influence the climate change?| A．By storing carbon in their bodies. | B．By speeding the carbon cycle. |
| C．By absorbing carbon from the air. | D．By consuming carbon on their migration. |
| A．Employed. | B．Trapped. | C．Monitored. | D．Measured. |
| A．Their population has risen by 81%. |
| B．Their waste contributes to the ecosystem. |
| C．Whale hunting has been banned altogether. |
| D．Their death will break the marine food chain. |
| A．We can rely on whales to change climate. |
| B．Whale protection still has a long way to go. |
| C．We’ll soon win the battle against climate change. |
| D．Whale protection is beneficial to solving climate issues. |
8 . Each year, the world produces more than 300 million tons of plastic waste, which can take a longtime to breakdown. Almost a third of the world’s plastic waste is polypropylene, a hard plastic used to make bottle: caps and food containers that typically take hundreds of years to degrade.
Now, a group of scientists at the University of Sydney, in Australia have developed a solution: using fungi (真菌) found in soils to devour lab samples of polypropylene.
In the experiment, the scientists first weakened pieces of polypropylene plastic by exposing them to heat, chemicals, or ultraviolet (UV) light so the fungi can do their job quickly. Fungi degrade materials like plastic into simpler molecules that they can then get rid of. The usually smooth plastic become full of marks as the fungi carryout their dirty work.
The two fungi, Aspergillus terreus and Engyodontium album, made a meal of the plastic in the lab experiments. As the researchers reported, between 25 and 27 percent of samples were digested after 90 days, and the plastic was completely broken down after 140 days.
More than 400 microorganisms have so far been found to degrade plastic naturally, with fungi attracting a fair bit of attention for their ability to degrade all sorts of man-made materials. “Recent studies suggest some fungi may even degrade some of the ‘forever chemicals’ like PFAS, but the process is slow and not yet well understood,” explains microbiologist Dee Carter of the University of Sydney.
Currently, the team is testing ways to speed up the degradation process, and assessing the economic and environmental factors of potential commercial use. If the team can transform their laboratory solution into a commercial-scale plastic waste management system, the world will finally have a promising solution to one of our most pressing environmental issues.
1. What does the underlined word “devour” probably mean in paragraph 2?| A．Produce. | B．Consume. | C．Analyse. | D．Recycle. |
| A．To leave marks on the sample. |
| B．To reduce plastic waste globally. |
| C．To change the shape of the plastic. |
| D．To quicken the degradation process. |
| A．Putting the solution into commercial use. |
| B．Establishing a system for rubbish sorting. |
| C．Maintaining a steady speed in the process. |
| D．Tackling the issue of pollution completely. |
| A．Scientists cutting down on waste |
| B．A solution used on a large scale |
| C．Plastic-eating fungi doing the trick |
| D．Severe plastic pollution reduced |
9 . Scientists have discovered more than 5,000 new species living on the seabed in an untouched area of the Pacific Ocean that has been identified as a future hotspot for deep-sea mining, according to a review of the environmental surveys carried out in the area.
It is the first time the previously unknown biodiversity of the Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ), a mineral-rich area of the ocean floor that spans 1.7m sq miles between Hawaii and Mexico in the Pacific, has been comprehensively documented. The research will be critical to assessing the risk of extinction of the species, given contracts for deep-sea mining in the near-pristine area appear imminent.
Most of the animals identified by researchers exploring the zone are new to science, and almost all are unique to the region: only six, including a carnivorous sponge and a sea cucumber, have been seen elsewhere.
Contracts for mining exploration in the CCZ have been granted to 17 deep-sea mining contractors in an area covering 745,000 sq miles. The companies, which are backed by countries including Britain, the US and China, want to dig for minerals including cobalt manganese and nickel in part to sell to the alternative energy sector.
To better understand the impact of mining this fragile ecosystem and its newly discovered inhabitants, an international team of scientists has built the first “CCZ checklist” by compiling all the records from expeditions to the region. Published in the journal Current Biology, it includes 5,578 different species, of which an estimated 88% to 92% had never before been seen.
To study and collect specimens (样品) from the ocean floor, biologists have joined research cruises in the Pacific that send remote-controlled vehicles to traverse (穿越) the seabed 4,000 to 6,000 meters below. Adrian Glover, a deep-sea biologist at the NHM and senior author of the study described it as an “incredible privilege”. The expedition, funded through the Natural Environment Research Council and others, is backed by UK Seabed Resources (UKSR), a deep-sea mining company that operates the UK’s exploration area. The scientists watch operations by video link direct from the boat as new species are gathered by remote control vehicles in the darkness below.
The seabed, Glover said, is an “amazing place” where, despite the extreme cold and dark, life thrives. “One of the characteristics of the abyssal plain is the lack of food, but life has a way of persisting down there,” he said, “It’s a mystery.” One of the deep-sea animals discovered was nicknamed the “gummy squirrel”, because of its huge tail and jelly-like appearance, he said. There are also glass sponges, some of which look like vases.
With approval for deep-sea mining looming, Glover said he believed it was “imperative that we work with the companies looking to mine these resources to ensure any such activity is done in a way that limits its impact upon the natural world”.
1. What’s the meaning of the underlined word “imminent”?| A．Easy to carry out. | B．Ready to take place. |
| C．Hard to cope with. | D．Important to look over. |
| A．Identifying new species living on the seabed. | B．Assessing the risk of extinction of species. |
| C．Documenting the biodiversity of the area. | D．Exploring the potential for deep-sea mining. |
| A．Abundance of food. | B．Extreme lifeless environment. |
| C．Presence of glass sponges. | D．Prosperous life despite challenging conditions. |
| A．A magic zone:available to mining companies |
| B．A mineral-rich area: Clarion-Clipperton Zone |
| C．An “amazing place”: new species booming |
| D．Deep-sea wonders: the new species found in a Pacific mining hotspot |
10 . It could be said that trees naturally call for attention as they climb toward the sky with their arms outstretched. Yet, it’s still easy for us to ignore them. As we rush through our own day-to-day lives, trees seem to play the role of an insignificant backdrop.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Rooted to a single spot, trees appear sill.But that stillness is not associated with laziness. In fact, trees are guards of the planet as the impact of their hard work carries miles farther than the ground in which they stand.
Globally, trees are the most cost-effective tool in promoting biodiversity. They support the survival of a significant number of animals. For example, a big reason why ring-tailed lemurs (狐猴) are endangered is that half of the forests they depend on in Madagascar off the East coast of Africa were cut down.
Not only do animals depend on trees for shelter, trees are significant to the health of humans as well. In fact, doctors in Canada are so convinced of trees’ benefits for the mind and body that they recommend patients visit national parks. Trees help a lot in tackling climate change too. They absorb and store carbon dioxide(CO2) — the key greenhouse gas emitted by our cars and power plants — before it has a chance to reach the upper atmosphere and trap heat around the Earth’s surface.
So it’s time to put trees in the spotlight. The Arbor Day Foundation, the world’s largest nonprofit, is devoted to this exact mission: inspiring people to plant,protect, and honor trees. We know there’s never been a more important time for trees. And we know there’s never been a more important time for mankind to engage in its role as environmental guards. This isn’t a one-sided relationship. What we give to nature we will receive in return, tenfold (十倍地). So as springtime arrives once again, take a moment and appreciate what a tree can be.
1. What does the author mainly want to tell us by giving the example of ring-tailed lemurs?| A．Trees are insignificant for their stillness. |
| B．Trees play a vital role in cleaning the air. |
| C．Trees provide critical habitats for creatures. |
| D．Half of the forests in Madagascar were cut down. |
| A．To provide advice on planting trees. |
| B．To call for human attention to trees. |
| C．To show the best time of planting trees. |
| D．To stress the impact of trees on humans. |
1=Paragraph One 2= Paragraph Two 3= Paragraph Three 4= Paragraph Four 5=Paragraph Five
A． | B． | C． | D． |
| A．Trees: Cleaners of the Environment | B．Trees: Shelters for Creatures |
| C．Trees: Defenders of Human Health | D．Trees: Guards of the Planet |
