1. Which pet may an outgoing person prefer?
A.A bird. | B.A dog. | C.A cat. |
A.Clever. | B.Sociable. | C.Careful. |
A.Pet people’s personalities. | B.More outgoing dog people. | C.Less sociable cat people. |
Nearly one billion animals died in the Australian bushfires. That number would have been even
Wombats are small, furry mammals native to Australia. There are three wombat species. Northern and southern wombats have furry noses,
Now there are only about 500 northern wombats
3 . Scientists say a huge percentage of bird species are in danger because their habitats, or homelands, are disappearing.
Traditional migration paths take birds through countries that are not protecting the places for birds to stop, rest and feed. The scientists studied the migration or flight paths of almost 1,500 species. They decided that 91 percent of them passed through dangerous areas.
The major danger for migratory birds is development. Buildings and pavements have covered the places where birds stop and feed as they move from one part of the world to another. One of the scientists who worked on the study says “Many of these important places have been lost to land reclamation because of urban, industrial and agricultural land expansion”.
The problem, according to scientists, is that many of these small birds die along their migration paths because they don’t have a safe place to feed and rest. There is no place to restore their energy for the next part of their journey. Countries in North Africa, Central Asia and those along the coasts of East Asia are having the most difficult time in protecting land. The scientists say these countries do not have enough areas that are safe for birds. One species that doesn’t exist now is the Eskimo curlew. “Our world gets poorer every time we lose a species,” one of the scientists says.
The researchers say countries need to work together and come up with safe stopping areas for birds that pass through their boundaries. For example, one country might have preserved safe zones for migrating birds. But a neighbor country might not. A bird might die.
One scientist who is not connected with the report tells Los Angeles Times that while some habitats are changing, more work can be done to make urban areas safe for birds.
He says small changes, like planting more native plants or keeping cats out of the areas birds would be likely to use, could make a big difference.
1. What mainly caused the disappearing of birds’ habitats?A.The decrease of awareness to protect birds. | B.Natural disasters. |
C.Overuse of land by human beings. | D.The rising sea level. |
A.Tiredness and hunger. | B.Beast attack on the ground. |
C.Hunting of humans. | D.The long journey. |
A.By keeping fewer cats or dogs. |
B.By restoring their destroyed habitats. |
C.By helping change the birds’ migration paths. |
D.By preserving the ecological environments on their migration paths. |
A.To call on people to protect the birds’ habitats. |
B.To analyze the reasons for disappearing of birds’ habitats. |
C.To offer some solutions to the problem of birds’ habitats. |
D.To tell us a huge percentage of bird species are in danger. |
4 . It was the third day after the quake already.
The rescue workers were still looking for
But they were still looking for survivors.
“Come here! There is a body!”
The woman was not responsive to any call.
Not really. She was breathless, and her body cold. Praying or not, it did not
When the team reached the
“There is a baby! And he is alive!” He cried out.
It was a newly-born, neatly wrapped in a
The nurse took the baby and started doing routine
“My dear baby, if you can survive, please remember mom loves you.”
1.A.survivors | B.bodies | C.victims | D.patients |
A.overdrunk | B.overslept | C.overworked | D.overcrowded |
A.whom | B.them | C.which | D.that |
A.highways | B.motorways | C.roads | D.railways |
A.machinery | B.helpers | C.goals | D.leaders |
A.screamed | B.laughed | C.said | D.shouted |
A.girl | B.woman | C.baby | D.student |
A.kneeled | B.sat | C.lay | D.fell |
A.even if | B.as if | C.although | D.so |
A.Moreover | B.Meanwhile | C.However | D.Otherwise |
A.pulse | B.temperature | C.blood pressure | D.breath |
A.matter | B.help | C.count | D.mind |
A.last | B.other | C.former | D.next |
A.realizing | B.recognizing | C.imaging | D.understanding |
A.above | B.under | C.beside | D.opposite |
A.overcoat | B.sheet | C.blanket | D.quilt |
A.in | B.down | C.out | D.up |
A.exams | B.quizs | C.competitions | D.tests |
A.They | B.He | C.We | D.It |
A.speaking | B.reading | C.telling | D.annoucing |
5 . It was snowing in the midwinter, in a rural highway outside of town. Pepper and Cooper, a pair of beagles (小猎犬) walked with great difficulty through the
That December night, Gus Kiebel was driving home from work when he
Without enough
A.freezing | B.dark | C.wonderful | D.unforgettable |
A.noticed | B.scanned | C.witnessed | D.watched |
A.longer | B.fitter | C.heavier | D.stronger |
A.quiet | B.clean | C.crowded | D.warm |
A.spotted | B.trained | C.dropped | D.crashed |
A.thrilled | B.disappointed | C.concerned | D.delighted |
A.caught | B.chased | C.approached | D.freed |
A.bent | B.sat | C.lay | D.fell |
A.jump | B.bark | C.leave | D.escape |
A.locked | B.placed | C.threw | D.hid |
A.put out | B.pulled out | C.handed out | D.gave out |
A.positive | B.objective | C.supportive | D.defensive |
A.Fortunately | B.Unsurprisingly | C.Hopefully | D.Interestingly |
A.declare | B.consider | C.claim | D.discuss |
A.abandoned | B.discovered | C.ignored | D.kept |
A.rain | B.storm | C.snow | D.sun |
A.water | B.food | C.time | D.room |
A.calmly | B.casually | C.temporarily | D.repeatedly |
A.adopted | B.adapted | C.adjusted | D.admitted |
A.impatience | B.cruelty | C.anxiety | D.fear |
6 . In the late 1970s, archaeologists (考古学家) uncovered the remains of a woman and a young dog, her hand resting on the puppy’s chest in a 12,000-year-old village.
The find is some of the earliest evidence of the bond between humans and dogs. But even after years of study researchers are divided on how this bond began. Did it arise over thousands of years, as early dogs became tamer (驯服的) and more accustomed to human behaviors? Or was this fire already burning in the ancestors of dogs: the gray wolf?
Christina Hansen Wheat, a behavioral ecologist at Stockholm University, and workmates hand-raised 10 gray wolves from the time they were 10 days old. When the animals were 23 weeks old, a caregiver led them one at a time into a mostly empty room. Over the course of several minutes, the caregiver exited and entered the room, sometimes leaving the wolf alone, sometimes leaving it with a complete stranger. The team repeated the experiment with 12 23-week-old Alaskan huskies (哈士奇), which they’d raised similarly since puppyhood.
For the most part, the scientists saw few differences between the wolves and the dogs. When their caregiver entered the room, both species scored 4.6 on a five-point scale of “greeting behavior”—a desire to be around the human. When the stranger entered, dog greeting behavior dropped to 4.2 and wolf to 3.5, on average, suggesting both animals made a distinction between the person they knew and the one they didn’t. It’s this distinction that the team counts as a sign of attachment.
In addition, dogs barely paced—a sign of stress—during the test, while wolves paced at least part of the time. However, the wolves stopped pacing almost entirely when a stranger left the room and their caretaker returned. Hansen Wheat says that’s never been seen before in wolves. It could be a sign, she says, that the animals view the humans who raised them as a “social buffer”.
For her, that’s the most interesting part of the study. “If this is true, this sort of attachment is not what separates dogs from wolves,” she says. In other words, it didn’t have to be bred into them by humans, but could have been the seed we selected for, and then strengthened over thousands of years.
1. What’s the purpose of Hansen Wheat’s experiment?A.To find out what makes gray wolves and dogs different. |
B.To explain the reasons why humans raised dogs from ancient times. |
C.To argue gray wolves after being tamed are easier to keep than dogs. |
D.To prove whether gray wolves can make doglike attachment to people. |
A.Researchers began to raise gray wolves from their birth. |
B.Researchers used equal numbers of gray wolves and dogs. |
C.Gray wolves felt more stressful than dogs when a stranger came. |
D.“Greeting behavior” of the two animals was significantly different. |
A.A reminder of feeding. | B.A sign of social attachment. |
C.A source of comfort and support. | D.A warning of stopping pace. |
A.Dogs are more attached to humans than gray wolves. |
B.It is the attachment to humans that sets gray wolves apart from dogs. |
C.The attachment between dogs and humans is the result of being tamed. |
D.The attachment to humans plays a role in the choice of dogs or gray wolves. |
1. What is the relationship between the speakers?
A.Neighbors. | B.Roommates. | C.Host and guest. |
A.Go outside. | B.Run past her quickly. | C.Get behind the bookcase. |
A.In the bedroom. | B.In the living room. | C.In the laundry room. |
A.She never tries to go outside. |
B.She is afraid of the outside world. |
C.She always comes back by herself. |
1. What are the summers like in Alaska?
A.They are very dark. | B.They are pretty cold. | C.They are quite bright. |
A.In Oregon. | B.In California. | C.In Washington. |
A.She doesn’t mind them at all. |
B.She thinks they have gotten worse. |
C.She couldn’t stand them for very long. |
9 . In the deepest dive in a manned submersible(潜水器), US explorer Victor Vescovo spotted and video-recorded a plastic bag and a pile of candy wrappers on the seabed.
His
Since the patent(专利) for plastics was
Most of the discarded(丢弃) plastic products
Every year, about 8 million tons of plastic waste flow into the ocean. It is
This plastic waste
We must do something to
But that’s so much
A.report | B.discovery | C.record | D.accumulation |
A.everywhere | B.anywhere | C.somewhere | D.nowhere |
A.as | B.although | C.but | D.so |
A.abolished | B.acquired | C.registered | D.advertised |
A.with | B.without | C.off | D.above |
A.end up | B.wake up | C.grow up | D.walk up |
A.continent | B.park | C.island | D.garden |
A.suggested | B.estimated | C.weighed | D.congratulated |
A.thousand | B.hundred | C.million | D.billion |
A.feeds | B.saves | C.cares | D.kills |
A.looking | B.winding | C.floating | D.jumping |
A.earth | B.air | C.water | D.environment |
A.pollution | B.existence | C.temperature | D.cycle |
A.production | B.supply | C.pyramid | D.trade |
A.change | B.clean | C.satisfy | D.realize |
A.otherwise | B.instead | C.therefore | D.meanwhile |
A.exercise | B.activity | C.fact | D.habit |
A.harder | B.more effective | C.more courageous | D.easier |
A.calling for | B.looking for | C.sending for | D.waiting for |
A.start | B.refuse | C.continue | D.hope |
10 . Baby giraffes inherit(经遗传获得) aspects of their mothers’ patterning — which could give them a survival advantage if good camouflage(保护色) runs in the family. Just like humans have unique sets of fingerprints, every giraffe has a unique set of spots.
Derek Lee is a wildlife biologist and population ecologist at Penn State, and with the Wild Nature Institute, a research consulting group. He and his colleagues have been tracking giraffes for seven years, throughout 1,500 square miles in Tanzania.
Now, they’ve used image analysis software to study the spots of mothers and their babies. And they found that baby giraffes inherit at least some particular elements of their patterning from their mothers, like how circular the spots are. They also found that baby giraffes with larger spots have better chance to survive their first months, because the spots are more like the dappled(斑驳的) sunlight in the bushes where baby giraffes like to hide from hungry lions and hyenas (wild animals like dogs).
The results — and a lot of giraffe patterns — are recorded and explained in the journal PeerJ. [Lee et al., Seeing spots: quantifying mother-offspring similarity and assessing fitness consequences of coat pattern traits in a wild population of giraffes (Giraffa camelopardalis)]
It’s perhaps not surprising that a physical characteristic that protects an individual from being eaten passes the test of Darwinian natural selection — and get passed along to later generations. “The fact that these things are inheritable and they did affect survival of baby animals makes us feel like evolution is embodied exactly by these spot features.” So if a mom’s camouflage is good, her babies, too, might have the spots that keep them safer.
1. Why are baby giraffes with larger spots more likely to survive?A.Their spots match surroundings better. | B.They keep away from lions and hyenas. |
C.Their mothers tend to protect them more. | D.They barely move around in the bushes. |
A.Summarize the previous paragraphs. | B.Add some background information. |
C.Provide evidence for the findings. | D.Introduce a new topic for discussion. |
A.Promoted. | B.Represented. | C.Questioned. | D.Prevented. |
A.Animals have their unique sets of patterning | B.Mom’s genes make some giraffes hard to spot |
C.Derek Lee has been studying animal patterning | D.Animal physical characteristics are similar to family’s |