1 . Washington, D.C. Bicycle Tours
Cherry Blossom Bike Tour in Washington, D.C.
Duration: 3 hours
This small group bike tour is a fantastic way to see a world-famous cherry trees with beautiful flowers of Washington, D.C. Your guide will provide a history lesson about the trees and the famous monuments where they blossom. Reserve your spot before availability — the cherry blossoms—disappear!
Washington Capital Monuments Bicycle Tour
Duration: 3 hours (4 miles)
Join a guided bike tour and view some of the most popular monuments in Washington, D.C. Explore the monuments and memorials on the National Mall as your guide shares unique facts and history at each stop. Guided tour includes bike, helmet, cookies and bottled water.
Capital City Bike Tour In Washington, D.C.
Duration: 3 hours
Morning or Afternoon, this bike tour is the perfect tour for D. C. newcomers and locals looking to experience Washington, D.C. in a healthy way with minimum effort. Knowledgeable guides will entertain you with the most, interesting stories about Presidents, Congress, memorials, and parks. Comfortable bikes and a smooth tour route(路线) make cycling between the sites fun and relaxing.
Washington Capital Sites at Night Bicycle Tour
Duration: 3 hours (7miles)
Join a small group bike tour for an evening of exploration in the heart of Washington, D.C. Get up close to the monuments and memorials as you bike the sites of Capitol Hill and the National Mall. Frequent stops are made for photo taking as your guide offers unique facts and history. Tour includes bike, helmet, and bottled water. All riders are equipped with reflective vests and safety lights.
1. Which tour do you need to book in advance?A.Cherry Blossom Bike Tour in Washington, D.C. |
B.Washington Capital Monuments Bicycle Tour. |
C.Capital City Bike Tour in Washington. |
D.Washington Capital Sites at Night Bicycle Tour. |
A.Meet famous people. | B.Go to a national park. |
C.Visit well-known museums. | D.Enjoy interesting stories. |
A.City maps. | B.Cameras. |
C.Meals. | D.Safety lights. |
2 . We may think we're a culture that gets rid of our worn technology at the first sight of something shiny and new, but a new study shows that we keep using our old devices(装置) well after they go out of style. That’s bad news for the environment — and our wallets — as these outdated devices consume much more energy than the newer ones that do the same things.
To figure out how much power these devices are using, Callie Babbitt and her colleagues at the Rochester Institute of Technology in New York tracked the environmental costs for each product throughout its life — from when its minerals are mined to when we stop using the device. This method provided a readout for how home energy use has evolved since the early 1990s. Devices were grouped by generation — Desktop computers, basic mobile phones, and box-set TVs defined 1992. Digital cameras arrived on the scene in 1997. And MP3 players, smart phones, and LCD TVs entered homes in 2002, before tablets and e-readers showed up in 2007.
As we accumulated more devices, however, we didn't throw out our old ones. "The living-room television is replaced and gets planted in the kids' room, and suddenly one day, you have a TV in every room of the house," said one researcher. The average number of electronic devices rose from four per household in 1992 to 13 in 2007. We're not just keeping these old devices — we continue to use them. According to the analysis of Babbitt's team, old desktop monitors and box TVs with cathode ray tubes are the worst devices with their energy consumption and contribution to greenhouse gas emissions(排放)more than doubling during the 1992 to 2007 window.
So what's the solution(解决方案)? The team's data only went up to 2007, but the researchers also explored what would happen if consumers replaced old products with new electronics that serve more than one function, such as a tablet for word processing and TV viewing. They found that more on-demand entertainment viewing on tablets instead of TVs and desktop computers could cut energy consumption by 44%.
1. What does the author think of new devices?A.They are environment-friendly. | B.They are no better than the old. |
C.They cost more to use at home. | D.They go out of style quickly. |
A.To reduce the cost of minerals. |
B.To test the life cycle of a product. |
C.To update consumers on new technology. |
D.To find out electricity consumption of the devices. |
A.The box-set TV. | B.The tablet. |
C.The LCD TV. | D.The desktop computer. |
A.Stop using them. | B.Take them apart. |
C.Upgrade them. | D.Recycle them. |
3 . California has lost half its big trees since the 1930s, according to a study to be published Tuesday and climate change seems to be a major factor(因素).
The number of trees larger than two feet across has declined by 50 percent on more than 46, 000 square miles of California forests, the new study finds. No area was spared or unaffected, from the foggy northern coast to the Sierra Nevada Mountains to the San Gabriels above Los Angeles. In the Sierra high country, the number of big trees has fallen by more than 55 percent; in parts of southern California the decline was nearly 75 percent.
Many factors contributed to the decline, said Patrick McIntyre, an ecologist who was the lead author of the study. Woodcutters targeted big trees. Housing development pushed into the woods. Aggressive wildfire control has left California forests crowded with small trees that compete with big trees for resources(资源).
But in comparing a study of California forests done in the 1920s and 1930s with another one between 2001 and 2010, McIntyre and his colleagues documented a widespread death of big trees that was evident even in wildlands protected from woodcutting or development.
The loss of big trees was greatest in areas where trees had suffered the greatest water shortage. The researchers figured out water stress with a computer model that calculated how much water trees were getting in comparison with how much they needed, taking into account such things as rainfall, air temperature, dampness of soil, and the timing of snowmelt(融雪).
Since the 1930s, McIntyre said, the biggest factors driving up water stress in the state have been rising temperatures, which cause trees to lose more water to the air, and earlier snowmelt, which reduces the water supply available to trees during the dry season.
1. What is the second paragraph mainly about?A.The seriousness of big-tree loss in California. |
B.The increasing variety of California big trees. |
C.The distribution of big trees in California forests. |
D.The influence of farming on big trees in California. |
A.Ecological studies of forests. |
B.Banning woodcutting. |
C.Limiting housing development. |
D.Fire control measures. |
A.Inadequate snowmelt. | B.A longer dry season. |
C.A warmer climate. | D.Dampness of the air. |
A.California’s Forests: Where Have All the Big Trees Gone? |
B.Cutting of Big Trees to Be Prohibited in California Soon |
C.Why Are the Big Trees Important to California Forests? |
D.Patrick McIntyre: Grow More Big Trees in California |
4 . Koko the gorilla knew over 1,000 signs based on American Sign Language, and used them to do everything from asking for food to joking around. Her trainer and long-term companion, Penny Patterson, thought Koko went further still, signing in novel ways and showing complex emotions. According to Ms Patterson, when a cat that Koko loved was killed in an accident, Koko signed: “Cat, cry, have-sorry, Koko-love.” When Koko died last month, some of her obituaries (讣告) mourned the gorilla who had “mastered American sign language.”
Then came the backlash, from linguists and experts in sign languages. Sign languages have complex grammars, equivalent to spoken tongues in expressiveness. Koko’s ability, it was pointed out, fell well short of a fluent human signer. Moreover, Ms Patterson was her interpreter, a role that invited the question of how much she was inferring what Koko “must have meant,” and explaining away random signs. It was hard to be sure: Ms Patterson preferred speaking to journalists over sharing her video and raw data about Koko with fellow researchers.
There is no doubt that animals communicate. Animals from one region can share sounds that differ from groups in another, leading researchers to talk of animal “dialects.” Then there are the remarkable achievements of Koko and her primate predecessors, including a chimp delightfully named Nim Chimpsky. Yet there is an important distinction between communication and language. Take the misleading term “body language.” It is sometimes claimed that words convey just 7% of meaning, and that body language and tone of voice do the rest. This wildly overstretches an old study which found that most emotional messaging — as opposed to the propositional kind — comes from tone and body language, especially when a neutral word such as “maybe” was used. But try conveying a fact like “It will rain on Tuesday” with your eyebrows, and the difference becomes clear. Language allows for clear statements, questions and commands.
Nim Chimpsky’s near-namesake, Noam Chomsky, has argued that people have a kind of “universal grammar”, and that all humankind’s languages are mere variations on a theme. Mr Chomsky has changed his mind repeatedly on what constitutes the core of human language, but one obvious candidate is syntax — rules, not just words, which allow the construction of a huge variety of meaningful utterances (所说的话). This capacity may even be infinite. Any statement in English, for example, can be made longer by adding “He said that …” at the beginning. This property is called recursion: a simple statement (“It’s cold”) is embedded in a more complicated one (“He said that it’s cold”). Human syntax also allows for hypotheticals (“If she hadn’t arrived …”), talking precisely about events distant from the present, and so much more.
That gorillas lack syntax should not blind humans to their magnificence. But the fact that Koko could communicate should not mislead observers into thinking she possessed language.
1. Which statement about KOKO the gorilla is true?A.Koko’s ability was similar to a fluent human signer. |
B.Koko could ask for food using sign language. |
C.Koko was able to show complex feelings using sign language. |
D.Koko was killed in an accident. |
A.approval | B.bias | C.opposition | D.evidence |
A.Koko was not as expressive as a human signer |
B.Koko seldom needed an interpreter |
C.Koko was able to communicate with journalists |
D.Koko failed to speak several animal “dialects” |
A.Humans can express past events using language while apes cannot. |
B.Tone and body language play a dominant role in human communication. |
C.Words enable humans to convey clear meanings. |
D.Gorillas are still magnificent in terms of their ability to communicate. |
A.Nim Chimpsky and Noam Chomsky — Who Has the Upper Hand? |
B.Syntax — What Separates Humans and Apes. |
C.Koko the Gorilla — A Magnificent Communicator. |
D.Great Apes — Language and Communication Are Not the Same Thing. |
5 . By the end of the century, if not sooner, the world’s oceans will be bluer and greener thanks to a warming climate, according to a new study.
At the heart of the phenomenon lie tiny marine microorganisms(海洋微生物) called phytoplankton. Because of the way light reflects off the organisms, these phytoplankton create colourful patterns at the ocean surface. Ocean colour varies from green to blue, depending on the type and concentration of phytoplankton. Climate change will fuel the growth of phytoplankton in some areas, while reducing it in other spots, leading to changes in the ocean’s appearance.
Phytoplankton live at the ocean surface, where they pull carbon dioxide(二氧化碳) into the ocean while giving off oxygen. When these organisms die, they bury carbon in the deep ocean, an important process that helps to regulate the global climate. But phytoplankton are vulnerable to the ocean’s warming trend. Warming changes key characteristics of the ocean and can affect phytoplankton growth, since they need not only sunlight and carbon dioxide to grow, but also nutrients.
Stephanie Dutkiewicz, a scientist in MIT’s Center for Global Change Science, built a climate model that projects changes to the oceans throughout the century. In a world that warms up by 3℃, it found that multiple changes to the colour of the oceans would occur. The model projects that currently blue areas with little phytoplankton could become even bluer. But in some waters, such as those of the Arctic, a warming will make conditions riper for phytoplankton, and these areas will turn greener. “Not only are the quantities of phytoplankton in the ocean changing. ” she said, “but the type of phytoplankton is changing.”
And why does that matter? Phytoplankton are the base of the food web. If certain kinds begin to disappear from the ocean, Dutkiewicz said, “it will change the type of fish that will be able to survive.” Those kinds of changes could affect the food chain.
Whatever colour changes the ocean experiences in the coming decades will probably be too gradual and unnoticeable, but they could mean significant changes. “It’ll be a while before we can statistically show that the changes are happening because of climate change,” Dutkiewicz said, “but the change in the colour of the ocean will be one of the early warning signals that we really have changed our planet.”
1. What are the first two paragraphs mainly about?A.The various patterns at the ocean surface. |
B.The cause of the changes in ocean colour. |
C.The way light reflects off marine organisms. |
D.The efforts to fuel the growth of phytoplankton. |
A.Sensitive. | B.Beneficial. | C.Significant. | D.Unnoticeable. |
A.Phytoplankton play a declining role in the marine ecosystem. |
B.Dutkiewicz’s model aims to project phytoplankton changes. |
C.Phytoplankton have been used to control global climate. |
D.Oceans with more phytoplankton may appear greener. |
A.To assess the consequences of ocean colour changes. |
B.To analyse the composition of the ocean food chain. |
C.To explain the effects of climate change on oceans. |
D.To introduce a new method to study phytoplankton. |
6 . Steven Stein likes to follow garbage trucks. His strange habit makes sense when you consider that he’s an environmental scientist who studies how to reduce litter, including things that fall off garbage trucks as they drive down the road. What is even more interesting is that one of Stein’s jobs is defending an industry behind the plastic shopping bags.
Americans use more than 100 billion thin film plastic bags every year. So many end up in tree branches or along highways that a growing number of cities do not allow them at checkouts(收银台). The bags are prohibited in some 90 cities in California, including Los Angeles. Eyeing these headwinds, plastic-bag makers are hiring scientists like Stein to make the case that their products are not as bad for the planet as most people assume.
Among the bag makers’ argument: many cities with bans still allow shoppers to purchase paper bags, which are easily recycled but require more energy to produce and transport. And while plastic bags may be ugly to look at, they represent a small percentage of all garbage on the ground today.
The industry has also taken aim at the product that has appeared as its replacement: reusable shopping bags. The stronger a reusable bag is, the longer its life and the more plastic-bag use it cancels out. However, longer-lasting reusable bags often require more energy to make. One study found that a cotton bag must be used at least 131 times to be better for the planet than plastic.
Environmentalists don’t dispute(质疑) these points. They hope paper bags will be banned someday too and want shoppers to use the same reusable bags for years.
1. What has Steven Stein been hired to do?A.Help increase grocery sales. |
B.Recycle the waste material. |
C.Stop things falling off trucks. |
D.Argue for the use of plastic bags. |
A.Bans on plastic bags. |
B.Effects of city development. |
C.Headaches caused by garbage. |
D.Plastic bags hung in trees. |
A.They are quite expensive. |
B.Replacing them can be difficult. |
C.They are less strong than plastic bags. |
D.Producing them requires more energy. |
A.Plastic, Paper or Neither |
B.Industry, Pollution and Environment |
C.Recycle or Throw Away |
D.Garbage Collection and Waste Control |
7 . Biodiversity is a concept that's commonly referenced, yet regularly misunderstood. The complex
“If biodiversity disappears, so do people,” says Dr. Stephen Woodley, field ecologist and bio-diversity expert with the International Union for Conservation of Nature. “We are part of the
Preventing such a catastrophe, says Woodley, begins with understanding why biodiversity is declining, and then taking action to
“The two greatest
That's the mission of the global Campaign for Nature, a partnership of the Wyss Foundation and the National Geographic Society. Instead of simply protecting 30 percent of the Earth, the
The campaign also recognizes the importance of
“Biodiversity is stability,” says Sala. “Trees, wetlands, grasslands, peat bogs(泥炭沼泽), salt marshes(盐沼), healthy ocean ecosystems, mangroves(红树林), and plants
A.argument | B.term | C.structure | D.problem |
A.altering | B.developing | C.stabilizing | D.worsening |
A.ecosystem | B.threat | C.cycle | D.procedure |
A.affect | B.change | C.reverse | D.continue |
A.aspects | B.causes | C.consequences | D.occasions |
A.acquiring | B.protecting | C.exploiting | D.possessing |
A.management | B.announcement | C.campaign | D.competition |
A.consume | B.destroy | C.lose | D.contain |
A.denying | B.enjoying | C.ignoring | D.respecting |
A.essential | B.simple | C.temporary | D.profitable |
A.Besides | B.However | C.Thus | D.Otherwise |
A.witness | B.detect | C.confirm | D.avoid |
A.measure | B.absorb | C.survive | D.prevent |
A.mission | B.decision | C.option | D.exploration |
A.worried about | B.confident in | C.responsible for | D.good at |
8 . As humanity has got richer, animal’s roles have changed. People need their services less than before. Fewer wolves and thieves meant less demand for dogs for protection; the internal combustion engine(内燃机)made horses unneeded; modern sanitation(卫生设备)kept rats in check and made cats less useful. No longer necessities, domestic animals became luxuries. Pet-keeping seems to kick in when household incomes rise above roughly $5,000. It is booming.
The trend is not a new one. Archaeologists(考古学家)have found 10,000-year-old graves in which dogs and people are buried together. Some cultures -- such as in Scandinavia, where dogs have long been both working dogs and companions -- have kept pets for thousands of years. But these days the pet-keeping urge has spread even to parts of the world which have no tradition of sinking into a comfortable chair with a furry creature.
The pet business is growing even faster than pet numbers, because people are spending more and more money on them. No longer are they food - waste - recyclers, fed with the remains that fall from their masters’ tables. Pet - food shelves are full of delicacies crafted to satisfy a range of appetites, including ice cream for dogs and foods for pets that are old, diabetic or suffer from sensitive digestion; a number of internet services offer food, tailored to the pet’s individual tastes.
In the business this is called “pet humanisation” -- the tendency of pet owners to treat their pets as part of the family. This is evident in the names given to dogs, which have evolved from Fido, Rex and Spot to -- in America -- Bella, Lucy and Max. It is evident in the growing market for pet clothing, pet grooming and pet hotels.
People still assume that pets must be working for humanity in some way, perhaps making people healthier or less anxious. But the evidence for that is weak. Rather, new research suggests that dogs have evolved those irresistible “puppy - dog eyes” precisely to affect human emotions. It has worked. The species that once enslaved others now works very hard to pay for the care of its pets. Sentimental(多愁善感的)Americans often refer to themselves not as cat-owners but as the cat’s “mommy” or “daddy”. South Koreans go one further, describing themselves as cat “butlers”. Watch an unlucky dog-walker trailing “his” hound(猎犬), plastic bag in hand to pick up its mess, and you have to wonder: who’s in charge now?
1. Which of the following trends is NOT TRUE according to the passage?A.People’s needs for animal services are decreasing. |
B.Both the pet number and the pet business are growing. |
C.Pets are increasingly making their owners less anxious. |
D.Pet foods are more various and customized than before. |
A.The names given to pets in American families nowadays. |
B.Pet’s inbuilt ability to affect emotions of their owners. |
C.Human beings ever rising urge for pet-keeping. |
D.Pet’s roles as both working staff and companions. |
A.Pets should be treated as equals of their human masters. |
B.Human beings are getting much benefit from their pets. |
C.Pet-keeping is still restricted within certain parts of the world. |
D.Some pet owners spend too much money on their pets. |
A.The Changing Roles of Animals | B.The Urge for Pet-keeping |
C.Who Owns Whom | D.Love Me, Love My Dog |
Iceland shows off nature
Found just south of the Arctic Circle, it’s far from the northernmost country on Earth. But as a travel destinations, Iceland is on top of the world.
Known as‚ “the land of fire and ice”, the country has many natural wonders. As the Today website put it, “It is
As the world was reminded when the Eyjafjallajokull volcano erupted six years ago, Iceland is a country “still in the making, and few other places offer the same opportunities to see the earth
Ice is Iceland’s other big attraction-to be exact, the huge glaciers which travel toward the coast,
On Sept 28, the country’s capital Reykjavik decided to turn off all streetlights for an hour at night to give people a unique chance to enjoy the northern lights. Thanks to the glaciers and the dark sky, the bright, colourful
And
“The beast in Iceland, with its harsh(严酷的) nature and bitter, ever-changing weather. We cannot escape it,” Haraldur Jonsson, an Icelandic artists, told the Observer newspaper while describing his inspiration. “So we find ways to live with it. We
10 . Dogs are often said to look like their owners, but the breed someone chooses could also reveal key aspects of their personality, psychologists claim.
They found that people
Corgi owners, such as the Queen, tend to be extroverted,
This could be because, like in a romantic relationship, we tend to
It could also
Dr. Lance Workman and Jo Fearon surveyed 1,000 dog owners via an online questionnaire on behalf of the Kennel Club.
The questions were designed to test the so-called “Big Five” traits that
Dr. Workman said there was a definite link between a dog’s
But it also has to suit your lifestyle, he added. If you’re going to get a(n)
Someone’s choice of dog could also reveal
The Queen’s
He said, “It takes a lot to get up and stand up in front of the number of people she does as often as she does, and give a good talk, and at the same time she has to be controlled as the head of state.
A.are aware of | B.are drawn towards | C.are compared to | D.are disrespectful to |
A.if | B.while | C.as if | D.because |
A.confess | B.propose | C.reflect | D.announce |
A.match | B.contrast | C.confuse | D.provide |
A.change | B.result in | C.be down to | D.interact with |
A.working | B.planning | C.indoors | D.outdoors |
A.combine | B.govern | C.outweigh | D.examine |
A.size | B.breed | C.temperament | D.origin |
A.subconsciously | B.knowingly | C.indifferently | D.distinctively |
A.figure out | B.team up | C.break down | D.fit in |
A.in common | B.to offer | C.at hand | D.on hold |
A.fashionable | B.luxurious | C.energetic | D.glamorous |
A.hidden | B.positive | C.negative | D.evident |
A.tolerance | B.capacity | C.talent | D.fondness |
A.Since | B.Whereas | C.For | D.As long as |