1 . Lucy was rescued from a rural farm in New South Wales, Australia, two years ago. She was suffering from chlamydia (衣原体病), a disease widespread among koalas. Today, she is one of “the lucky” living creatures in tree corridors (走廊) that have been created by volunteers to protect koalas and other animals by saving their quickly shrinking habitats, or natural environment.
The corridors, planted by the local conservation group Bangalow Koalas, are made up of large systems of plants. They are intended for koalas and other animals like the glossy black cockatoos, possums, and wallabies. All of them are endangered, or at risk of becoming extinct. The corridors provide a safe path across the koala’s increasingly broken habitat. “Our corridors are actually trying to get them away from humans, from cars and from dogs,” said Linda Sparrow, president of Bangalow Koalas. “They can safely move across the landscapes and don’t have to put up with us humans.”
The koala is predicted to be extinct in the wild in New South Wales by 2050. Some of the biggest dangers include wildfires and habitat loss through land clearing for development. Koalas have already been declared endangered in several Australian states. A recent report by the Australian Koala Foundation said the animal was worth an estimated $3.2 billion per year to the tourism industry.
Founded in 2016, Bangalow Koalas has planted over 936,000 trees on 119 properties, helping koala conservation and improving the local ecosystem. The group, which depends on com munity volunteers, aims to plant 500,000 trees by 2025. Volunteer Lindy Stacker, who has been planting trees for over five years, still remains devoted to the cause. She said the activity is good for mental health and has brought the community together. “I can’t imagine a world where there’s no koalas in the wild. We’re going to do everything we can possibly to. make sure that won’t happen,” Lindy said.
1. Who is Lucy?| A．A farmer. | B．A patient. | C．A volunteer. | D．A koala. |
| A．To shelter koalas from human threat. | B．To test the local natural environment. |
| C．To save koalas suffering from chlamydia. | D．To stop koalas’ habitats from being rebuilt. |
| A．The reason for koalas’ extinction. | B．Koalas’ value in tourism industry. |
| C．The necessity of saving koalas. | D．People’s deep love for koalas. |
| A．Bangalow Koalas: A Group Intended For Koalas |
| B．Tree Corridors: A Lifeline For Endangered Koalas |
| C．Bangalow Koalas: Call On Volunteers For Koalas’ Protection |
| D．Tree Corridors: Responsible For The Loss Of Koalas’ Habitats |
2 . Lightning can strike anyplace on Earth. In fact, there are about 6,000 lightning strikes every minute, which is more than 8 million strikes every day. The risk of being struck by lightning is low, but the consequences of lightning strike injuries are serious. Even though your home is a safe shelter during a lightning storm, you might still be at risk. About one-third of lightning-strike injuries occur indoors.
Avoid water.
Do NOT bathe, shower, wash dishes, or have any other contact with water during a thunderstorm.
Do NOT use anything connected to an electrical outlet (电源插座), such as computers, game systems, washers, or stoves. Lightning can travel through electrical systems, radio and television reception systems, and any metal wires or bars in concrete walls or flooring.
Avoid windows, doors, porches, and concrete.
Don’t use corded (有线的) phones.
Corded phones are NOT safe to use during a thunderstorm. Do NOT use them.
Follow the safety measures above can minimize your risk of being injured indoors on lighting days. Don’t take it for granted that only outdoor activities can put you in a dangerous place. Keep it in mind that inappropriate indoor activities can also be disastrous.
| A．Here are some tips to keep safe and reduce your risk of being struck while indoors. |
| B．In addition, follow up on the latest information about the storm. |
| C．However, it is safe to use cordless or mobile phones during a storm. |
| D．Stay away from windows and doors, and stay off porches. |
| E．Some outdoors measures can keep you safe and prevent you from being attacked. |
| F．Lightning can travel through a building’s water pipe system. |
| G．Don’t touch electronic equipment. |
3 . On Nov 11, an Australian jockey (骑师) got hurt after his horse “broke down” during a horse race in Hong Kong. Though the jockey is safe now, his horse was not so lucky. Since the horse’s leg injury would have led to its death, vets euthanized (实施安乐死) it in front of the audience on the spot. Falling off a horse at high speed has a big risk of injury. You can say it’s the jockey’s choice to take part in the sport. But what about the horses?
This is not the first time that animals have been harmed because of animal entertainment-related sports. For example, about 180,000 bulls (公牛) are killed in bullfights around the world, with many more injured in bullfight events every year, according to Human Society International, an organization promoting the human-animal relationship globally. Hunters shoot more than 800 lions in South Africa, reported World Animal Protection.
To help these animals, animal lovers have started many campaigns , which seem to be taking effect. In June, Churchill Downs, the site of the famous Kentucky Derby in the US, stopped all horse racing, originally set to run until July 3. Circuses using animals have been banned by many countries around the world in recent years due to animal welfare worries, according to the website Four Paws.
Animals play an important part in our lives and are more than tools for sports and entertainment. The human-animal bond can be seen in all kinds of places. Service animals can help people in their jobs and animals are also used to help and care for people with illnesses and who have experienced abuse or mental illness. “We can have our sports, drinks, lively parties, and beautiful hats ‑ but we can leave animals out of it,” reported Vox.
1. Why did the author mention a horse’s death in Hong Kong?| A．To introduce the topic. | B．To describe the game’s details. |
| C．To show his sympathy to the jokey. | D．To illustrate his attitude to the issue. |
| A．By stating an argument. | B．By giving an example. |
| C．By making a comparison. | D．By following time order. |
| A．We should keep away from animals. | B．We can entertain but do not hurt animals. |
| C．We should offer some drinks to animals. | D．We should do some activities with animals. |
| A．A Horse Was Euthanized in A Game | B．Animal Entertainment Should Be Banned |
| C．Death of Horses Raise Concern about Animals | D．Some Campaigns Were Held to Protect Animals |
4 . Improper disposal of electronic devices can lead to negative impacts on the environment. So if you are in possession of an “old electronics” box or merely an old iPhone, consider recycling as an option. Here are some organizations worth checking out.
EcoATM
EcoATM is an automated kiosk that collects your unwanted cellphones and tablets and gives you cash for them. You'll find them by the checkout lines at various grocery store chains. It accepts devices from any era or in any condition, and offers anywhere between a few bucks to a few hundred dollars in return.
Best Buy
Best Buy offers a simple, straightforward recycling program. You can take your old phone to any of its retail stores and it'll take care of the entire recycling process for you. Best Buy will even give you a gift card for the value of the device you give them.
Call2Recycle
Call2Recycle is one of the largest recycling programs in the United States. The company collects used smartphones and batteries and has them either recycled or refurbished (翻新) for future use. It partners with various retailers to provide recycling services in stores like Lowe’s, The Home Depot and other smaller businesses.
Eco Cell
Eco Cell takes a unique approach to recycling phones. The program collects used smartphones and other gadgets for recycling through local zoos and other wildlife organizations. It then gives what it makes from recycling or refurbishing the devices back to those organizations in order to continue their work.
1. What do EcoATM and Best Buy have in common?| A．They are based in grocery stores. |
| B．They offer a reward for recycling. |
| C．They collect various kinds of devices. |
| D．They refurbish recycled items. |
| A．Call2Recycle | B．Eco Cell | C．Best Buy | D．EcoATM |
| A．The variety of items it recycles. |
| B．Its marketing strategies. |
| C．Its pricing policies and structures. |
| D．Its dedication to preserving wildlife. |
5 . Cooler, higher places may not be very welcoming to some hummingbirds trying to escape rising temperatures and other effects of climate change. Anna's hummingbirds live no higher than about 2,600 meters above sea level. If the birds attempt to expand their range to include higher altitudes, they may struggle to fly well in the thinner air, researchers reported in the Journal of Experimental Biology.
These hummingbirds have expanded their range in the past. Once only found in Southern California, the birds now live as far north as Vancouver, says Austin Spence, an ecologist at the University of California, Davis. That expansion is probably due to climate change and people using feeders to attract hummingbirds, he says.
Spence and colleagues collected 26 Anna’s hummingbirds from different elevations (海拔) in the bird’s natural range in California. The team transported the birds to a habitat about 1,200 meters above sea level and measured their metabolic (新陈代谢的) rate when hovering (盘旋). After relocating the hummingbirds to a field station at an altitude of 3,800 meters, the researchers let the birds rest for at least 12 hours and then measured that rate again.
The rate was 37 percent lower, on average, at the higher elevation than the aviary, even though the birds should have been working harder to fly in the thinner air. At higher altitudes, hovering, which takes a lot of energy compared with other forms of flight, is more challenging and requires even more energy, Spence says. The decrease in metabolic rate shows that the birds’ hovering performance was suffering, he says “Low oxygen and low air pressure may be holding them back as they try to move upward.”
Additional work is needed to see whether the birds might be able to better adjust if given weeks or months to get used to the conditions at gradually higher altitudes.
1. What factor may have contributed to the expansion of Anna's Hummingbirds' range?| A．A shift in migration patterns. | B．A lack of food sources. |
| C．A decrease in temperature. | D．Human use of feeders. |
| A．By monitoring their feeding behaviors. |
| B．By comparing their different forms of flight. |
| C．By measuring their metabolic rate while hovering. |
| D．By observing their adaptability to a new environment. |
| A．Weakened | B．Enhanced. | C．Unaffected. | D．Dynamic. |
| A．Studying the changes in their hunting methods. |
| B．Recording their numbers over an extended period. |
| C．Examining their ability to accommodate to higher altitudes. |
| D．Investigating the impact of other bird species on their range. |
6 . Many people have long believed that bright lights draw, or attract flying insects. But that is not exactly what is going on, a new study suggests.
Researchers believe that artificial lights at night may cause problems with flying insects’ natural navigation systems. As a result, the creatures fly in confusion around porch lamps, street lights and other artificial lights. “Insects have a navigational problem,” said Tyson Hedrick of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. He added, “They’re accustomed to using light as a cue (提示) to know which way is up.”
Insects do not fly directly toward a light source, but actually “tilt their backs toward the light,” said Sam Fabian of Imperial College London. Fabian was a co-writer of the study that appeared recently in Nature Communications. This tilting action would make sense if the strongest light source was in the sky. But in the presence of artificial lights, the result is midair confusion.
For the study, researchers attached very small sensors to moths and dragonflies in a laboratory. They then filmed “motion-capture” video of flight — similar to how filmmakers attach sensors to actors to follow their movements. Researchers also used high-resolution cameras to film insects flying around lights at a field in Costa Rica. Such films permitted researchers to study in detail how dragonflies circle endlessly around light sources, positioning themselves with their backs facing the light. Researchers also documented that some insects fly upside down — and often crash land — in the presence of lights that shine straight upward like search lights. Insect flight was least disrupted by bright lights that shine straight downward, the researchers found.
“For millions of years, insects oriented themselves by sensing that the sky is light, the ground is dark — until people invented artificial lights”, said Avalon Owens of Harvard University.
1. What can we learn from the study?| A．Insects have a navigational problem. |
| B．Artificial lights will make insects confused. |
| C．Not all insects do fly directly toward a light source. |
| D．Small sensors are used to film an insect documentary. |
| A．Insects are unlikely to fly upside down. |
| B．Insects can position themselves facing the light. |
| C．Insects failed to orient themselves because of artificial lights. |
| D．Insect flight was interrupted by downward-shining bright lights. |
| A．Ambiguous. | B．Objective. | C．Optimistic. | D．Indifferent. |
| A．In an advertisement. | B．In a science textbook. |
| C．In a nature magazine. | D．In a news report. |
7 . “There’s a little black woman walking, spraying (喷洒) stuff on the sidewalks and trees on Elizabeth and Florence...” he told the police. Her neighbor saw her spraying something on the sidewalks and trees and this made him worried. In the call to 911, he described the child as “a little black woman”.
Well, the “little black woman” was actually 9-year-old Bobbi Wilson, a young scientist. The fourth-grader had created her own insecticide (杀虫剂) to fight spotted lanternflies (斑衣蜡蝉). She came across the recipe on TikTok and had recently learned that the harmful species damages trees because they feed on their sap (树液). Bobbi was simply testing out her invention in her neighborhood when the police call was made.
“That’s her thing,” her mother Monique Joseph said. “She’s going to kill the lanternflies, especially if they’re on a tree. That’s what she’s going to do.” Bobbi’s 13-year-old sister, Hayden Wilson, also defended her, noting that Bobbi “was not only doing something amazing for our environment, but she was also doing something that made her feel like a hero”. Luckily, what happened didn’t influence Bobbi’s spirit and has led to some positive experiences for her.
She has since been recognized by several organizations for her environmental efforts. She has also been invited on special tours. One took place at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory. Another was given by the United States Department of Agriculture of New Jersey at a plant where they discussed lanternflies. But that’s not where her recognition ends! The Association of New Jersey Environmental Commissions (ANJEC) honored Bobbi with their Sustainability Award for her work to save trees and fight lanternflies.
“We were excited that she was doing that,” Ann Marchioni of the ANJEC said. Ann added that the organization praises volunteers for being “hands-on” in their community. In addition to the award, she and her family got to visit with a group of black female scientists at Yale University. They showed her various labs and even invited her to donate lanternfly specimens (标本) for the university’s work.
1. What made the neighbor call the police?| A．A girl climbing trees. | B．A girl spraying something. |
| C．A girl littering the sidewalks. | D．A girl testing something dangerous. |
| A．Ashamed. | B．Proud. | C．Shocked. | D．Relieved. |
| A．Those whose donations help ANJEC. |
| B．Those who can do something creative in their university. |
| C．Those whose environmental awareness is quite impressive. |
| D．Those who can do something practical in their community. |
| A．Creative and determined. | B．Watchful and serious. |
| C．Friendly and generous. | D．Talkative and strict. |
8 . The Japanese government said it planned to begin the discharge (排放) of slightly radioactive wastewater from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant on Thursday, rejecting calls for a delay from some people in neighboring countries.
An earthquake and tsunami knocked out power at the Fukushima nuclear plant on March 11, 2011, causing meltdowns at three reactors. Tritium (氚) and carbon-14 are, respectively, radioactive forms of hydrogen (氢) and carbon, and are difficult to separate from water. They are widely present in the natural environment, water and even in humans, as they are formed in the Earth’s atmosphere and can enter the water cycle. Both emit very low levels of radiation but can pose a risk if absorbed in large quantities. Water which was used to cool reactor cores as well as rainwater and groundwater that flowed into or near the plant have been contaminated with radioactive substances. Plant operator Tokyo Electric Power, or Tepco, has stored the water in more than 1,000 tanks at the facility but says it is running out of room.
Tepco says it will reduce the concentration (浓度) of nearly all radioactive substances in the wastewater to a safe level with the exception of tritium, an isotope (同位素) of hydrogen. The water will then get diluted (稀释) with seawater so the concentration of tritium is reduced to a safe level before the discharge, according to Tepco. As the water is diluted further in the ocean, the concentration of tritium will almost equal the natural level by 6 miles from the discharge point, which is at the end of an undersea tunnel about six-tenths of a mile from the shoreline, a Tepco official said.
But that hasn’t reassured many of Japan’s neighbors, with officials from China and the Pacific Islands voicing alarm and opposition to the plan. Beijing will take “necessary measures” to safeguard food safety and its people’s health, said Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin on Tuesday, adding they “strongly urge the Japanese side to correct its wrongful decision”. Meanwhile, fishing communities in Japan and South Korea worry the wastewater release could mean the end of their livelihoods — with consumers across the region already beginning to quit seafood from Japan and its nearby waters, and some governments even banning imported food from parts of Japan, including Fukushima.
1. The meltdowns at three reactors were caused by ________.| A．the greenhouse effect | B．human behaviour |
| C．climate change | D．natural disasters |
| A．purified | B．reduced | C．polluted | D．operated |
| A．More than 1,000 tanks at the facility can store all the radioactive wastewater. |
| B．The concentration of all radioactive substances will be reduced to a safe level. |
| C．The discharge won’t affect the coastal residents since the discharge point is about 0.6 miles offshore. |
| D．The concentration of tritium will be nearly at the natural level after being diluted further in the ocean. |
| A．people in these areas couldn’t make a profit in the future |
| B．it would threaten people’s physical health and livelihoods |
| C．it would be more difficult to import food from parts of Japan |
| D．the local seafood would be unaffordable for people in these areas |
1. What will the weather be like on Christmas day?
| A．Dry. | B．Rainy. | C．Snowy. |
| A．On Christmas Eve. | B．On Christmas Day. | C．On Boxing Day. |
| A．Watch the roads when driving. |
| B．Wear warm clothes when going out. |
| C．Stay indoors and drink hot chocolate. |
| A．The weather condition during Christmas period. |
| B．The plan on celebrating the New Year. |
| C．The arrangement on Boxing Day. |
1. What happened to the speakers?
| A．They lost their computers. |
| B．They suffered from a big storm. |
| C．They failed to graduate. |
| A．Amy’s neighbour. | B．Amy’s mother. | C．Jack’s neighbor |
| A．By posting online. |
| B．By calling the police. |
| C．By going to the insurance company. |
| A．In July. | B．In August. | C．In September. |
