1 . Do you see a bird right now? Can you hear one chirping? If so, you might be getting a mental health boost. A study recently published in the journal Science found that being in the presence of birds made people feel more positive.
Andrea Mechelli, a psychologist at King’s College London, found himself studying the natural world accidentally. Initially he was searching for answers to why people who lived in cities seemed to tend to suffer mental illness, particularly psychosis. In 2015, he created the smartphone app Urban Mind to search for patterns in users’ environments. “Our first finding is that nature has a very powerful effect,” says Mechelli. He and his colleagues then wondered if some aspects of nature were more beneficial than others. They turned to birds for their ubiquity (普遍存在) in rural and urban environments.
Their latest study included 1,292 participants mainly in the United Kingdom and Europe. For two weeks, participants were prompted to fill out a questionnaire about their surrounding environment and their mental state three times a day. Mechelli performed a statistical analysis that found an obvious improvement in wellbeing when birds were present, even when eliminating other factors like the presence of trees or waterways. The mental health benefit was true both for people who disclosed a depression diagnosis and those without any diagnosed mental health conditions.
Peter James, an environmental health scientist at Harvard, would like to see more data. He found that environmental health studies like these lack diversity. Yet, a psychologist at Trent University in Canada, Lisa Nisbet says, “This kind of study helps us understand how people’s everyday experience with specific elements of nature, such as birds, can be restorative.”
Appreciating birds seems to be a promising avenue for nature-based health and wellbeing interventions. At Mechelli’s clinical practice in London, he focuses on early intervention therapies. He suggests his patients go for walks to observe the trees and plants growing in the city, and the bird fluttering by from branch to branch. “It has no side effects,” he says. “It’s something they could try, and they have nothing to lose.”
1. What can be inferred about Andrea Mechelli’s study?| A．Diverse environments are rewarding only for depressed people. |
| B．The presence of birds is beneficial to mental health. |
| C．Peter James thought highly of Mechelli’s research. |
| D．It was originally targeted at the research on birds. |
| A．Defeating. | B．Identifying. |
| C．Considering. | D．Removing. |
| A．Early intervention shows no significance. |
| B．The access to nature helps people be more confident. |
| C．Nature-based intervention functions well in mental health. |
| D．People’s daily experience is connected with mental problems. |
| A．Use Nature in Supporting Mental Health | B．Get Outside for a Quicker Mental Recovery |
| C．Analyze Data to Make a Good Treatment Plan | D．Turn to Birds for Better Understandings of Humans |
2 . Visitors post photos and videos of themselves getting close to flamingos at several resorts (旅游胜地) in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic on social media. The pink, leggy birds wander the grounds, walking through artificial ponds and eating food dropped by tourists.
“But behind the fantastic social media posts, things are less rosy for the flamingos,” says Fernandez, a Dominican conservationist and photographer.
Some of these flamings have their secondary feathers cut, which prohibits flight. Others have a bone removed from their wings. This grounds the bird for life, which can be up to 60 years.
Fernandez has also witnessed flamingos being given much pet food, which eventually fades the pink color that comes from eating their native diet of shrimp and other small crustaceans. The birds change behaviorally as well, becoming used to people and asking them for food, as Fernandez has seen.
On the other side of the country, Monte Cristi National Park is the natural habitat for Caribbean flamings; it’s also a popular trapping site. And it is here that Paulino works to remove the traps, which are made of wooden sticks attached to fishing wires.
Paulino’s group first noticed the traps in 2009 and has been reporting them to the authorities ever since, but the practice hasn’t stopped. Once, Paulino says, she spotted a trapper carrying nine flamingos in a bag. On a trip early in 2023, the group took 706 traps from three locations.
This method of trapping harms, or even kills the birds, which Paulino has seen firsthand in the field. Flamingos are walking around and all of a sudden their leg falls in the wires and when they pull, they’re caught. They are trapped by the knee or the ankle, and struggle to break free, which exhausts them.
1. Why do some flamingos have their secondary feathers cut?| A．To help them live longer. | B．To make them more beautiful. |
| C．To make them fly higher. | D．To destroy their flying ability. |
| A．The change of their food. | B．Suffering from serious diseases. |
| C．Living with other small animals. | D．The influence of eating too much food. |
| A．Clever. | B．Cruel. | C．Creative. | D．Careless. |
| A．The Survival Situation of Flamingos Is Unoptimistic |
| B．Flamingos Live a More Comfortable Life in Resorts |
| C．People Have Raised Awareness of Protecting Animals |
| D．The Methods of Protecting Flamingos Are Inappropriate |
3 . A fisherman from Portland, Maine, the US, caught a very rare bright blue lobster (龙虾) off the coast of Maine but chose to set it free back into the ocean. The photo of the blue lobster was shared by tech enterpriser Lars-Johan Larsson. “This blue lobster was caught off the coast of Portland yesterday and returned to the water to continue to grow. Blue lobsters are one in two million,” he wrote.
While the shells of lobsters are generally red or brown in color, the blue shell is a result of gene mutation (基因突变), which causes the lobster to produce more of a particular protein than other lobsters, leading to the rare blue color, as reported by the Toronto Sun.
Yellow, orange and crystal-colored lobsters are considered even rarer than bright blue ones. According to the Lobster Institute, yellow lobsters account for about one in 30 million of the total population. Two fishermen in Dorset caught a crystal-colored lobster in 2011.
“Whatever the odds of catching different-colored lobsters, there’s no denying that bright blue ones are truly beautiful creatures,” said Rob Bayer, executive director of the University of Maine Lobster Institute. “They might not be the most unusual, but they’re undoubtedly the best to look at.”
It’s become something of a trend for restaurants to spare blue lobsters. Austin Hopley, a chef at “The Hare” in Rochdale, the UK, made the news for sparing a bright blue lobster. He gave it to Sea Life in Manchester, as reported by the BBC.
“Now it’s there for people to enjoy,” said Hopley. “I felt responsible. Something so rare didn’t require a place on the menu. Every species deserves a fair chance at survival.”
Expert Brendan Malone from Sea Life said, “It is certainly an extraordinary find and worth saving to try to educate the public about these amazing creatures in the ecosystem.”
1. What is the root cause for the color of blue lobsters?| A．Gene variation. | B．Adaptation failure. |
| C．A specific protein. | D．A mix of red and brown. |
| A．They are the rarest. | B．They are easy to catch. |
| C．They are delicious to eat. | D．They are most beautiful. |
| A．It wouldn’t make a good dish. |
| B．He wanted to follow the trend. |
| C．He took on responsibility to save it. |
| D．It would bring him fame and profits. |
| A．Blue Lobsters Rebound Suddenly |
| B．Chefs Take Action to Protect Lobsters |
| C．Gene Mutation Has an Effect on Lobsters |
| D．Man Catches a “One in Two Million” Blue Lobster |
1. What has the highest temperature been in Argentina?
| A．About 45 degrees Celsius. |
| B．About 42 degrees Celsius. |
| C．About 31 degrees Celsius. |
| A．By turning on an air conditioning for them. |
| B．By asking them to drink much water. |
| C．By taking them to do a water sport. |
| A．A weather expert. | B．A local leader. | C．A weatherman. |
5 . One long gray ship at the Port of Los Angeles is doing its part to combat climate change. On the ship, which belongs to Captura, a Los Angeles-based startup, is a system that takes into seawater and sucks out CO2, which can be used for various purposes or buried. The decarbonated (不含二氧化碳的) seawater is returned to the ocean, where it absorbs more CO2 from the atmosphere, in a small strike against the massive rise of the greenhouse gas.
After a yearlong experiment, Captura is planning to open a 1000-ton-per-year facility that will bury the captured CO2 in rock formations under the North Sea. Equatic, another Los Angeles-based startup, is launching an even larger 3650-ton-per-year ocean CO2 capture plant this year in Singapore.
Supporters say capturing CO2 from the ocean should be easier and cheaper than a seemingly more direct approach: extracting it directly from the air. Direct air capture, which relies on fans to sweep air past absorbent chemicals, currently costs between $600 to $1000 per ton of CO2 removed, largely because atmospheric CO2 is so thin, making up less than 0.05% of the air. Earth’s oceans, in contrast, hold the gas at a concentration nearly 150 times higher, and absorb roughly 30% of all CO2 emissions each year. Companies say they should ultimately be able to capture CO2 at $100 per ton, or less.
Ocean capture advocates are seeking government support. In the US, direct air capture plants earn a $180 tax credit per ton of removed CO2, but Ocean efforts currently don’t qualify. “A similar tax incentive (激励政策) for water-based CO2 removal is absolutely needed,” says Ruben Brands, CEO of Equatic.
Even if the technology takes off, it will have to scale up massively to make a meaning contribution in offsetting (抵消) global emissions. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, by 2050 we will need to remove some 5 billion tons of CO2 every year to limit the global temperature increase to 1.5℃. So far, the ocean capture companies are pulling out only thousands of tons. Matthew Eisaman, a chief scientist at Captura, says, “We have an enormous challenge ahead of us.”
1. How does the system in para. 1 work?| A．It converts seawater into CO2. |
| B．It releases CO2 into the atmosphere. |
| C．It absorbs seawater and extracts CO2. |
| D．It stores decarbonated seawater on the ship. |
| A．CO2 in seawater is more absorbent. |
| B．CO2 is stored in solid form in seawater. |
| C．CO2 in the ocean is more readily accessible. |
| D．CO2 is naturally more concentrated in seawater. |
| A．Doubtful. | B．Objective. | C．Supportive. | D．Indifferent. |
| A．Combining Ocean CO2 Capture with Air Capture |
| B．Setting a New Example of Climate Change Solution |
| C．Analyzing Ocean CO2 Capture against Climate Change |
| D．Exploring Oceanic Solutions for Reducing CO2 Emissions |
6 . Chaudhary quietly weaves together lengths of ropes, binding them with grass collected from the riverbank. She skillfully shapes the materials into a jewelry box. Meanwhile, she’s instructing a group of women to work out the materials. The ropes used were once the lifeline for climbers tackling Nepal’s mountains and were then discarded (扔掉). They are now finding new life, transformed by skilled hands into items to sell.
Acharya, working with the cleaning campaign, owns a waste processing business in Kathmandu, also an advocate for sustainable waste management. “Aluminum and other metal waste go through the recycling process, but we found no way to recycle ropes and gas cans,” she says. It struck her that the non-recyclable waste could be reused, but it wasn’t until she met Maya Rai that a solution emerged. Rai, leading Nepal Knotcraft Centre, helped connect Acharya with Chaudhary’s team of craftswomen in hopes of turning the mountain waste into economic opportunity. “While this seems insignificant compared to waste in the mountains, it’s a start. We aim to connect local expertise, mountain waste and local economy,” says Acharya, proudly displaying a mat made from ropes left on Mt. Qomolangma by climbers. Her goal is to ensure that no waste collected from mountains ends up in a landfill again.
Finished crafts are sold at outlets and exhibitions. The craftswomen are paid according to how many items they make and sell. With flexible hours, the project gives women an opportunity to earn money even as they maintain household responsibilities.
Eventually, Acharya hopes to expand the program to involve more women and process more waste. But progress has been slow. “We still have not found a sustainable business plan to make crafts in large quantities, ”she says. Now, she is searching for cooperators to make a model that serves not only the mountain but the communities. “After all, we are trying to craft a sustainable future.”
Each rope turned into a decorative item is a way to help local women earn a living and keep mountains clean.
1. What is the author’s purpose in mentioning Chaudhary in paragraph 1?| A．To lead in the topic with her example. |
| B．To spread her environmental consciousness. |
| C．To show her patient instructions to the women. |
| D．To speak highly of her outstanding weaving skills. |
| A．A business involving waste processing. |
| B．A team transforming waste into treasure. |
| C．A campaign advocating sustainable management. |
| D．A solution connecting expertise, waste and economy. |
| A．Selling crafts at outlets can earn more money. |
| B．Removing mountain waste generates a sense of pride. |
| C．Cooperating with local experts helps promote skills. |
| D．Work-life balance can be achieved due to flexible hours. |
| A．Hesitant. | B．Positive. | C．Suspicious. | D．Disapproving. |
1. What did the man do just now?
| A．He took some photos. | B．He did some reading. | C．He shared an article online. |
| A．Seafood will be polluted. |
| B．Ships won’t sail properly. |
| C．The beauty of the ocean will be damaged. |
| A．A reusable bag. | B．A metal straw. | C．A glass bottle. |
| A．Stop buying bottled water. |
| B．Organize beach cleanup events. |
| C．Participate in club activities every month. |
8 . The ocean is home to more than 200,000 known species and as many as 2 million that we have yet to discover. And, it is also home to 24.4 trillion pieces of microplastics. In 2022, researchers spotlighted how bad marine microplastic pollution, is getting: The total amount of microplastics on the bottom of oceans has greatly increased. in the past two decades.
Microplastic particles don’t just end up at the bottom of the ocean. Animals are eating them — at least 1,500 species have been reported to ingest plastic. And a lot of it. For example, whales in New Zealand’s Hauraki Gulf consume roughly three million microplastics daily, according to research published in Science of the Total Environment, which analyzed whale waste to see how much microplastics were present.
“Other research has shown that if plastics are small enough, they can cross the gut(肠道) wall and get into internal organs though the long-term effects are still unclear. Plastics can also release chemicals that are harmful to digestive system,” says Kahane-Rapport. “This is concerning, and while we do not yet understand the long-term health-effects, it is likely not a good sign for whales and their prey(猎物) to eat a man-made material like plastic.”
This is obviously bad for whales, but it also has effects on humans and the ocean at large. We are also part of these food chains and are consuming microplastics regularly. They are in our bottled water, in our table salt — they are even in our house dust and in the air we breathe. And we still don’t know what the health effects are. Meanwhile, the impact on whales — and what it indicates — is troubling on many fronts. “Whales are ecosystem engineers,” says Kahane-Rapport. “They can spread the nutrients that they consumed and serve as ecosystem guards — when whales are not healthy, other parts of the system will suffer.”
Kahane-Rapport says more research is needed. “The next research step will be to determine how much plastic the whales excrete(排出) and how much is left in their bodies. Following that, we would be able to determine the direct health effects on their tissues.”
1. What does the underlined word “ingest” in paragraph 2 probably mean?| A．Deal with. | B．Bring up. | C．Take in. | D．Spread out. |
| A．Researches show contradictory results. |
| B．Digestive system is the most affected part. |
| C．Small plastics are more harmful than big ones. |
| D．Much about microplastics’ harm remains unclear. |
| A．The various sources of pollution. |
| B．Tab chain reaction of microplastics. |
| C．Possible solutions to plastic pollution. |
| D．Growing awareness of ocean protection |
| A．Microplastic pollution to the ocean bottom |
| B．The sufferings of other ocean creatures. |
| C．Whales’ contributions to the ecosystem. |
| D．The amount of plastic in whales bodies. |
9 . The Amazon
The Amazon River, the basin of which covers 2.3 million square miles, is incredibly biodiverse with over 30,000 species of plants and 1,800 species of birds. It plays an important role in adjusting the climate in North and South America. The River and its forests are threatened by human activity, primary pollution and rapid resource depletion (损耗). The Office of the American States Department of Sustainable Development is working to manage the threats.
The Mississippi
The Mississippi rises in western Minnesota and flows south for 2,530 miles into the Gulf of Mexico. Millions of people in over 50 cities use water from the Mississippi, and the river is also used for shipping and agriculture. Hundreds of animal species, including 60% of North America’s birds, call the area around the Mississippi River home, but river pollution and shoreline habitat destruction threaten to displace them. Fortunately, many projects and organizations are devoted to its conservation.
The Danube
The Danube River begins in western Germany, flowing over 1,775 miles into the Black Sea. It spans 19 countries. The Danube features a richly diverse ecosystem, hosting 55 different species of fish. Cities across Europe use the Danube for power generation and agriculture, and there are more than 700 dams in total. Unfortunately, this river is overfished and heavily polluted. The International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River was established in 1998 to manage its conservation.
The Mekong
The Mekong River is a necessary part of Southeast Asia’s landscape, culture, and economy. Also called the Lancang River, it starts in China, stretching over 2,850 miles through Burma, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam. Its basin provides more than 65 million people with food, drinking water, power, and transportation. Dams and power plants are harming Mekong’s ecosystems. Organizations such as Conservation International are working to protect the river by advocating for its sustainable development.
1. Birds are affected most around________.| A．The Amazon | B．The Mississippi | C．The Danube | D．The Mekong |
| A．70. | B．65. | C．55. | D．50. |
| A．They contribute to power production. |
| B．They How through multiple countries. |
| C．They are troubled by dam constructions. |
| D．They are under protection of organizations. |
10 . Off Australia’s northern coast, the remains of ancient coral reefs (珊瑚礁) form the bedrock of wooded islands, which are home to diverse animals and plants, including mangrove (红树林) forests that blanket their coasts and serve as vital habitats and carbon storers. A recent survey shows that expanding seas might have led to a massive mangrove increase, researchers report November 1 in Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
Mangroves absorb carbon dioxide and store it as “blue carbon”, a term for carbon that is hidden away in ocean environments. “There’s a lot of interest in using mangrove blue carbon to lessen climate change,” says Kerrylee Rogers, an environmental scientist at the University of Wollongong in Australia. But there remain a lot of questions around their capacity to adapt to sea level rise.
In 2021,a team led by Wollongong environmental scientist Sarah Hamylton visited the Howick Islands to do a related research. They walked through the seawater to assess the plant diversity and measure individual trees. Using the measured widths and heights of several mangroves, the team calculated tree widths for the rest of the forest from the data to estimate the total mangrove quantity. The islands host nearly 54,000 metric tons of mangroves, the team estimates, which is roughly 10,000 more metric tons than there was in 1973.
The Howick Islands are uniquely suited to supporting mangroves as the ocean rises. At the end of the Last Glacial Maximum, around 12,000 years ago, water levels rose around northern Australia, and coral reefs grew upward to fill the space that had opened for them.
When sea levels fell thousands of years later, the exposed reefs became sediment (沉积物). With sea levels now rising again, the mixture of saltwater and sediment makes a perfect home for the salt-tolerant mangroves.
Rogers and Hamylton are now working on a bigger effort to study mangoves around Australia. “If we’re going to invest in mangroves to provide us blue carbon and to protect shorelines, we need to understand how dynamic they are,” Rogers says.
1. What can be known about blue carbon?| A．It is produced by ocean water. | B．It is massively present in the air. |
| C．It is friendly environment. | D．It is nutritious for mangroves. |
| A．To measure the size of mangroves. |
| B．To figure out where to plant mangroves. |
| C．To confirm whether local natural environment is polluted. |
| D．To see how the mangroves respond to sea level rise. |
| A．The diversity of ocean life. |
| B．The increase of coral reefs. |
| C．The combination of salt water and sediment. |
| D．The formation of the bedrock of wooded islands. |
| A．Climate Change Causes Sea Level Rise |
| B．Sea Level Rise Helps Mangroves Boost |
| C．Environment on Australia Islands Is Improving |
| D．Climate Warming Poses Dangers To Mangroves |
