1 . Directions: Fill in the blank with a proper word chosen from the box: Each word can be used only once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A. dramatic   B. concerns   C. frequently   D. threats   E. revealed F. emerge   G. previously   H. keep   I. deepened   J. native   K. exist

The reason for the mysterious deaths of hundreds of elephants

When hundreds of African savanna elephants dropped dead in Botswana’s Okavango Delta in 2020, conservationists were alarmed. As the death toll rose — from dozens in March to more than 350 animals by July — their     1     increased, especially because nobody knew what was happening. A short time later, the mystery     2     when 34 more individuals of the endangered species died across the border in northwestern Zimbabwe in a three-week period, with one more found in November. “It was very quick,” says Chris Foggin, a vet who examined the elephant carcasses (尸体) in Zimbabwe. “That was so     3    .”

African savanna elephants     4     to this area represent the majority of what’s left of that species. Around 350,000 African savanna elephants remain, and given the already significant     5     to their survival, a new disease could be what tips that last domino towards extinction.

Now, new research published recently in Nature Communications points to a bacterium not     6     found in elephants of any species, called Bisgaard taxon 45, that causes a massive systemic blood infection called septicemia. “It’s a disease we know can kill a reasonable number of elephants in a short space of time,” says Foggin, co-leader of the study. And “it has the potential to kill a lot more given the right circumstances.” What those are, however, remains unknown — yet it’s pressing to find out. Aerial population surveys in KAZA in 2022 found a high number of new elephant carcasses. The examination     7     the elephants had enlarged livers and spleens, as well as internal bleeding in multiple organs — signs of septicemia (败血症).

However, scientists still don’t know how widespread Bisgaard taxon 45 is, or if the bacteria     8     as a normal group of bacteria within elephants and other animals. “We’re assuming it’s probably present more     9     than we’ve known, without causing disease, but we don’t have proof of that,” Foggin says. It’s possible environmental stressors, such as heat and lack of food and water, may have led Bisgaard taxon 45 to multiply and cause the septicemia in the Zimbabwe elephants. With much of Africa predicted to get hotter and drier, the bacterium “could cause much worse mortalities down the line,” says Foggin. That’s why, he says, “it is important to     10     monitoring elephant deaths and see if it’s responsible.”

3 . Directions: Complete the following passage by using the words in the box. Each word can only be used once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A. claimed     B. evacuate     C. fabrics     D. regular     E. significantly     F. sink G. rainstorms     H. similar     I. initially     J. swallowing     K. thought

“It was a wave of water,” says Oulimata Sambe. She points out the still-sodden(湿透的) armchairs, muddy wardrobe and the water stain a metre and a half up the wall in her small house in Ngor, a fishing village within Dakar, the capital of Senegal. “I had two grandkids on my bed, I had to     1     them out of the window,” she adds. Not faraway, underpasses on Dakar’s scenic corniche(滨海路) became car-    2     lakes. Just weeks earlier another downpour had turned quiet streets in Dakar into raging rivers and collapsed a section of motorway.

    3     events regularly occur across the region. Recent flooding and landslides also killed eight people in Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone. In June flooding killed 12 people in Abidjan, the commercial capital of Ivory Coast. Floods in Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial capital,     4     another seven lives. Even when they are not deadly, city floods ruin lives and livelihoods. Storm water recently flooded the biggest textile(纺织业) market in Kano, a city in northern Nigeria, destroying hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of     5    .

Unusually heavy rains have become     6     more common over the past 30 years, leaving huge numbers of people at risk. In places this is partly because of deforestation. A recent study by Christopher Taylor of the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, a research institute, and his coauthors found that afternoon     7     in deforested parts of coastal west Africa happen twice as often compared with 30 years ago. Their frequency went up by only about a third in places that kept their forests.

Yet     8     flooding of cities in west Africa is not only caused by heavier rain. Unplanned urbanization is also to blame. As cities have grown, builders have thrown up concrete walls with little     9     about providing drainage, making it harder for water to find a clear path to the sea. As ever larger areas have been paved over, there has been less exposed soil into which water can gently     10     away. And as cites get more packed with new arrivals, their few functioning drains get overwhelmed or clogged.

4 . Directions: Complete the following passage by using the words in the box. Each word can only be used once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A. dated B. unlikely C. set D. fossils E. estimate F. delicate G. takes H. finds I. exactly J. advocated K. tracked

Haul of Fossil Fish Pushes Back the Origin of Teeth and Jaws

Our teeth and jaws are incredibly ancient. They’re older than dinosaurs, older than arms and legs, older than trees adaptations that paleontologists (古生物学家) have     1     to our distant, fishy relatives that thrived in the seas around 425 million years ago. But a collection of carefully-preserved vertebrates (脊椎动物) found in China has     2     a new date for the earliest record of jaws and teeth. The early vertebrates include some of the earliest fish, one of the earliest relatives of sharks, and, at about 436 million years old, the most ancient     3     yet found of fish with teeth and jaws.

Researchers have disagreed about     4     when the earliest bites evolved. Molecular (分子的) studies based upon estimations of genetic changes have     5     that the first jaws and teeth evolved about 450 million years ago. Until now, the oldest fossil of jawed vertebrates — or gnathostomes —     6     to about 425 million years ago, a significant gap. As Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology researcher Min Zhu and his colleagues describe in a series of Nature papers published today, the new     7    from South China sit in the middle of this gap and offer a startling look at a critical moment in evolutionary history.

Zhu and coauthors note in their research, the fish they uncovered were small and had     8     bones. That means these fish were generally     9     to become fossils except in truly outstanding circumstances where they could be buried quickly and shielded from scavengers (食腐动物) that would otherwise eat them. That an exceptional stroke of luck was required to preserve such fish likely explains the difference between the molecular     10     and fossil record.

5 . Directions: Fill in each blank with a proper word chosen from the box. Each word can be used only once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A. alarming B. carbon-intensive C. durability D. glued E. labels F. man-made G. manufacturing H. recycle I. redefine J. samples K. share

How sustainable are your sneakers?

Over the last five years the sneaker industry has grown rapidly and shows no sign of slowing down. The global athletic footwear market is expected to exceed 95 billion (USD) by 2025. According to the World Footwear Yearbook, over 24 billion pairs of shoes are produced annually. Among them sneakers account for the largest     1    . What are the environmental impacts of the rapidly growing sneaker industry?

Sneaker production is very     2    . A typical pair of running shoes produces about 13.6 kilograms of CO₂ emissions which is unusually high for a product that does not use electricity or require power-driving components.

These emissions mainly come from     3    . The majority of sneakers are made from plastic and/or plastic-like materials. All these petroleum-derived plastics produce a(n)     4     number of carbon dioxide.

Then why don’t we move away from the use of plastic? Since sneakers have to endure much more than a regular pair of shoes, the aspect of their     5     is very important when it comes to their overall performance. Unfortunately,     6     materials hold up better than natural ones. Plastic has made shoes better, lighter, faster, more comfortable, and more accessible to everyone worldwide. Another issue with sneakers today is that most of them are made by using a combination of different plastics     7     in a very complicated way, making them very hard to     8    .

The footwear industry is at least 10 years behind the rest of fashion in terms of environmental standards. Seven out of ten brands are having discussions on sustainability, yet only 40% of companies have a sustainability program in place. Big industry players (such as Adidas and Nike) and some smaller     9     are trying to reduce their carbon footprint in different ways.

Considering that close to 25 billion pairs of shoes were produced worldwide in the last year, it is clear that immediate action is very important. It is my hope that we consumers will     10     our relationship with fashion and think about the environmental impact of our shopping habits.

6 . Directions: After reading the passage below, fill in each blank with a proper word given in the box. Each word can only be used once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A. applications	B. connections	C. emotions	D. identify	E. intervene	F. notifications
G. sacred	H. shared	I. specialize	J. stressed	K. technological

Animal Communication

Many pet owners long to talk with their animals. After all, if pets were able to talk, people could take care of them more easily and have closer emotional     1     to them, so a number of companies are working on devices and apps that could translate what animals say.

One such app is called MeowTalk. Using voice recognition software, this app recognizes different sounds a cat makes and offers English translations of them. For example, one type of sound might mean “feed me” while another could be translated “let me outside.” The app can use machine learning to assess its translations and improve at recognizing one particular cat’s voice. In other words, it can     2     in understanding your cat in particular. This is important because cats do not all have a(n)     3     language, but individual cats frequently use particular sounds to mean certain things.

In the future, MeowTalk could connect to a smart collar that would hear the cat meow and play the translation out loud. Perhaps if the cat is outside and needs to be let in, it could even send     4     to the owner’s phone.

For dogs, a Japanese company called Inupathy has developed a harness (保护带) with a heart rate monitor and an app. The heart rate monitor is used to assess a dog’s     5    . This is possible because, like humans, dogs’ heart rates go up when they are excited or     6    . The harness also has a light that turns red when the dog is excited, but when the dog is relaxed, the light is blue.

The most obvious use of this technology is to help pet owners     7     with and provide for their pets better. The more owners know about their pets, the easier it is to meet their needs.

There are other     8     of technology that help us understand animals. For example, some sheep farmers are using artificial intelligence to scan and determine if they are in pain, which helps them find out sick animals. As a result, they can     9     more quickly to treat the animal.

Anyone who interacts regularly with animals could benefit from understanding their animals better. Thus these     10     developments might transform the way we interact with the creatures around us.

8 . Directions: Fill in each blank with a proper word chosen from the box. Each word can be used only once. Note that there is ONE WORD MORE than you need.

A. voyaged     B. barely     C. renowned     D. abnormality     E. discipline     F. navigable G. unprecedented     H. eyed     I. Fortunately     J. accessible     K. degradation

For voyager and green promoter Zhai Mo, the 504-day non-stop voyage to the Arctic Ocean has stimulated his concern about the climate and awareness of his responsibilities.

Navigating more than 28,000 nautical miles (51,856 kilometers) in harsh conditions, Zhai, a (n)     1     Chinese explorer, returned to Shanghai on his aluminum sailboat on Nov 17, along with two crew members, becoming the first man to successfully circle, both ways, the Arctic Ocean without stop. “This non-stop Arctic Ocean circle route can be said to be     2    . We     3     both the northeast and northwest routes while previous explorers only chose one route. This is a self-challenge and transcendence in the history of human navigation,” the 54-year-old says.

Zhai undertook this task as an ambassador of the Chinese navigation science and marine public welfare, and also the ForNature Campaign of the United Nations Development Program. He set sail on June 30 last year to raise public awareness of global warming, climate change and land     4    . During the trip, he crossed the East China Sea, the Western Pacific, the Bering Strait, the Chukchi Sea, the East Siberian Sea and the Beaufort Sea. He saw dolphins, whales, walruses, sea lions and seals, as well as shoals of cod and wolf fishes.

“When we passed through the Northwest Pacific Ocean on our way back, we encountered three typhoons within a week, which     5     happened in the past,” Zhai recalls.

Zhai didn’t see any floating ice during his one-week voyage in the Kara Sea while the previous meteorological data showed ice there.

“My own experience tells me that climate     6     is obvious now,” Zhai says.

The voyage, to enter the Arctic Ocean from the Bering Strait before making a round trip returning to Shanghai, was planned to take four months, but the return schedule was delayed for more than a year. “As soon as we entered the Bering Strait, we encountered a polar cyclone. A large number of ice floes and icebergs were blown to the coast. However, the Arctic Ocean can only be     7     near land, so we had been carefully crossing between ice floes and icebergs for a long time and the speed was only 1 to 3 knots,” Zhai says. But for Zhai, the most difficult part of the whole voyage was around 75 degrees north. The Arctic Ocean is known as the “dead channel”, Zhai says, adding that the location where the Titanic went down was on his route and dotted with countless icebergs. After entering the iceberg region, Zhai navigated the sailboat while the two crew members went on watch to report on the menacing ice. Despite the precaution, the boat hit an iceberg near Greenland, causing water seepage below the waterline that had to be dealt with. Meanwhile, compasses and electronic goods on the boat failed because of the magnetic field. “I had never encountered this situation in sailing before,” says Zhai.     8    , he took a fiber optic compass specially used for high latitude navigation, and managed to leave this area with visual aids. In addition to ice floes and icebergs, Zhai and his team also faced severe tests such as heavy fog, strong winds and huge waves. When sailing through the Chukchi Sea, the boat navigated around a large area of ice floes and heavy fog resulting in visibility of no more than 10 meters. They spent nearly 11 hours to get just 50 nautical miles. “We tried to leave as soon as possible during our voyage in the Arctic Ocean,” he says, adding that there was a constant danger of being trapped by the ice.

Zhai was attracted by sailing when holding an art exhibition abroad in 2000. In 2007, he got a second-hand sailboat with simple supplies, such as instant noodles, pancakes and potatoes, and started his voyage trip around the world.

After that 35,000-nautical-mile voyage, Zhai     9     an Arctic Ocean journey. “Navigation is a comprehensive     10    . You should know not only astronomy but also geography. You also need to be a carpenter, fitter, hammerer and painter, and should be able to survive in a harsh, outdoor environment,” Zhai says.

He adds that he hopes more young people would participate in navigation, to promote and publicize the ocean awareness and navigation spirit. He is preparing for the third voyage trip around the world next year or the year after that. “Antarctica is also a very big challenge. I hope to explore more unknowns, and I also want to launch a transoceanic sailing competition.”

9 . Directions: Fill in each blank with a proper word chosen from the box. Each word can be used only once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A. qualities     B. continued     C. bodies     D. essential     E. transformations F. described     G. geological     H. shaped     I. estimated     J. cultivated     K. evolved

For the first time, scientists have mapped the whole surface of Titan, the largest moon around Saturn. The map confirms existing data showing that Titan has many Earth-like     1     that might be able to support life.

The data was collected by Cassini, a spacecraft operated by the U.S. space agency NASA. The spacecraft studied Saturn and its moons from 2004 to 2017. Astronomers used images and radar measurements from Cassini to create the     2     map of Titan.

The map shows Titan as a mixture of flat plains, hills and mountains, windblown sand areas, valleys and lakes. The mapping operation is     3     in a report published in Nature Astronomy.

Rosaly Lopes led the project. She is a planetary scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. Lopes told the publication that the many similarities between Earth and Titan make the Saturn moon a great choice for     4     exploration.

“Titan has an atmosphere like Earth's. It has wind; it has rain; it has mountains,” Lopes said.

Titan is the only planet in our solar system besides Earth to have known     5     of liquid on its surface. But Titan's seas and lakes are filled with liquid methane (甲烷) rather than water.

At cold temperatures, methane goes through similar     6     as rain does on Earth. It falls to the surface across the planet to form rivers and lakes and can then evaporate (挥发) to form clouds again.

The map found that nearly two-thirds of Titan's surface is made up of flat plains, Nature reported. About 17 percent is covered in sandy hills     7     by the wind, mostly around the equator.

Unlike Earth, Titan's sand is made up of carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen and oxygen. Around 14 percent of the surface is considered hilly or mountainous. Seas and lakes filled with liquid methane cover a(n)     8     1.5 percent of Titan. The liquid exists mainly closer to the planet's poles, while the equatorial areas remain drier.

Rosaly Lopes says organic materials --- those containing carbon --- in Titan's atmosphere are     9     for the growth of living organisms. “Organics are very important for the possibility of lifeon Titan, which many of us think likely would have     10     in the liquid water ocean under Titan's icy crust (硬的表面),”she said.

10 . Directions: Complete the following passage by using the words in the box. Each word can only be used once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A. abandoned B. challenge C. colored D. demonstrate E. ensures F. initiatives G. innovation H. pilot I. purchased J. recycled K. tailors

Lego: One Step Closer to Being Sustainable

The Lego Group is one step closer to reaching its goal of making all its products from sustainable materials by 2030.

The Danish toymaker revealed a prototype (雏形) brick made from     1     plastic. In a news release, Lego said the PET plastic from     2     bottles makes up the first brick to meet the company’s “strict quality and safety requirements.” One way the company     3     safety is by sourcing materials from suppliers that use processes approved by the US Food & Drug Administration and European Food Safety Authority.

“The biggest     4     on our sustainability journey is rethinking and innovating new materials that are as long-lasting, strong and high quality as our existing bricks—and fit with LEGO elements made over the past 60 years,” Lego Group Vice President of Environmental Responsibility Tim Brooks said. “With this prototype we’re able to    5     the progress we’re making to the public.”

It will be “some time” before bricks made from used materials can be     6    , Lego said. The company will continue to test and develop the PET formulation (配方) and decide whether to move to the     7     production phase, which is expected to take at least a year. One factor the company is testing is how the material can be     8    .

“Experimentation and failing is an important part of learning and     9    . Just as kids build, unbuild and rebuild with LEGO bricks at home, we’re doing the same in our lab,” Brooks said.

The move follows last year’s announcement that the company was making a $400 million investment over three years into sustainability     10    . It included phasing out the single-use plastic bags from its boxes and instead using recyclable paper for its packaging.