1 . Two high school students have identified four new planets in distant space about 200-light-years from Earth, making them “the youngest astronomers” to make such a discovery.
Kartik Pingle, 16, and Jasmine Wright. 18, who both attend schools in Massachusetts, participated in the Student Research Mentoring Program (SRMP). With the help of Tansu Daylan, an MIT doctor for Astrophysics and Space Research, the students studied and analyzed data from the Transiting Exoplanct Survey Satellite (TESS). Together they focused on Tess Object of Interest (TOI) 1233, a nearby, bright sun-like star and here they found four planets rotating（旋转）around the star. “We were looking to see changes in light over time,” Pingle explained, “the idea is that if the planet transits the star, or passes in front of it, it would periodically cover up the star and decrease its brightness.”
While studying 1233, Pingle and Wright had at least hoped to find one planet but were overwhelmed with joy when a total of four were spotted. “I was very excited and very shocked.” Wright said. “We knew this was the goal of Daylan’s research, but to actually find a multi-planetary system, and be part of the discovering team, was really cool.” Three of the newly discovered planets are considered as “sub-Neptunes”, which are gaseous, but smaller than the Neptune that lives in our solar system. While observing the planets, the team determined each one completes their orbit around 1233 every six to 19.5 days. However, the fourth planet is called a “super-Earth” for its large size and rockiness this one orbits around the star in just under four days.
“We have long been studying planets beyond our solar system and with multi-planetary systems, the two young students are kind of hitting the jackpot. They are really blessed.” Daylan said. “The planets originated from the same disk of matter around the same star, but they ended up being different planets with different atmospheres and different climates due to their different orbits. So, we would like to understand the basic processes of planet formation and evolution using this planetary system.”
Daylan added that it was a “win-win” to work with Pingle and Wright on the study. “As a researcher, I really enjoy interacting with young brains that are open to experimentation and learning and have slightest bias（偏见）.”he said, “I also think it is very beneficial to high school students, since they get exposure to cutting-edge research, and this prepares them quickly for a research career.”
1. How did the two students identify the four planets？| A．By helping professor Tansu Daylan with the data. |
| B．By analyzing the change of brightness of star 1233. |
| C．By studying Neptune that lives in our solar system. |
| D．By interacting with other young talented brains. |
| A．It was made by two high school students. |
| B．It was made with an innovative approach. |
| C．It was meant to be made by Tansu Daylan. |
| D．It found the largest number of planets at a time. |
| A．Making a discovery difficultly. | B．Achieving the goal easily. |
| C．Succeeding in something luckily. | D．Performing a task carefully. |
| A．It allows the scientists to work with young people without prejudice. |
| B．It equips future astronomers with better researching abilities. |
| C．It provides more perspectives and thus boosts more discoveries. |
| D．It arouses students’ interest in exploring the unknown universe. |
2 . If Mars were the popular kid in school, Venus (金星) would be the unwelcome one sitting in the corner, largely ignored. Venus has nearly the same mass and size as Earth, but being closer to the sun, it gets nearly twice as much heat from the sun.
However, instead of having a climate that is just a warmer version of Earth’s, Venus’s surface and atmosphere are unbearable: clouds of sulphuric acid (硫酸) blanket the planet, while at ground level, it is hot enough to melt lead. Despite this, there is now a sign that Venus may harbour life. Jane Greaves at Cardiff University, UK, and her colleagues recently detected (发现) phosphine (磷化氢) in Venus’s atmosphere, with one potential explanation that it is the by-product of biology. That is because the only way this gas is made on Earth is in laboratories or by microbes (微生物). Though this doesn’t mean it was produced by life on Venus, attempts to find non-biological explanations for its presence have so far failed. Our best way of confirming or rejecting the possibility of life on Venus is to go and have a proper look. While Mars has been the focus of interplanetary (行星间的) exploration efforts lately, the phosphine discovery lets people look at Venus in a new light. As NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine tweeted: “It’s time to prioritize Venus.”
In the months and years to come, computer simulations(模拟) will be used to further study the possible chemistries of the atmosphere on Venus. More laboratory experiments will be conducted to try to identify other ways the phosphine there could be produced. However, there is no guarantee that these efforts will reveal the true nature of this substance on Venus. A newly-proposed strategy is to directly sample the atmosphere and surface of Venus. By doing so, we would be able to take direct measurements of phosphine.
The discovery of phosphine in Venus’s atmosphere is a great accomplishment. The scientific efforts may be just what we need to finally refocus on this neglected world. Possibly, the quiet kid in the corner may get the last laugh
1. Which description about Venus is NOT true?| A．It has the unbearable surface and atmosphere. |
| B．It has nearly the same mass as Earth. |
| C．It is almost as large as Earth. |
| D．It has a warmer Earth-like climate. |
| A．This kind of gas is very common. | B．There might exist signs of life. |
| C．Many products can be made with it. | D．Experiments were once conducted there. |
| A．The necessity to analyse phosphine. |
| B．The power of computer simulations |
| C．The importance of observations. |
| D．The approaches to exploring phosphine |
| A．Casual | B．Doubtful. | C．Supportive. | D．Unclear. |
3 . An unusual experiment in Botswana suggests that painting eyes on the rear ends (臀部) of cows may help protect them from large predators (食肉动物)like lions. Protecting cows could also end up protecting the lions from angry farmers.
Large predators like lions are under pressure. Much of the land they used to roam (漫步) has been taken over by humans. Many are hunted illegally. One serious threat to large predators comes from farmers, who often shoot or poison them after losing farm animals for their attacks.
This has long been a problem in the Okavango Delta. Some parts of the Okavango are protected, but there are also many small farms in the area, with between 6 and 100 cows. Lions are the biggest threat to cattle in the area. At night, farmers normally keep their animals in closed areas protected from predators. But in the daytime, when many predators are most active, the cattle are allowed out to eat grass.
Scientists from the University of New South Wales wondered if painting pictures of eyes on the cows’ rear ends might protect them. The idea isn’t as strange as it may sound. There are many examples of animals such as butterflies or fish using fake (假的) “eyes”to protect themselves.
Working with over 2, 000 cows on 14 different farms in the Okavango area, the scientists tested their ideas in a four-year study. The researchers separated the cows into three different groups. They painted large eyes on the rear ends of one group of cows. The second group got simple Xs. The final group got nothing.
The eyes worked very well. Of the 683 cows with eyes painted on them, none were killed in the four-year period. Cows with nothing on their rear ends didn't do so well. Fifteen of the 835 cows with bare backsides were killed. The scientists were surprised to learn that even Xs seemed to give the cows some protection. Only 4 of the 543 cows with Xs were killed.
1. Why do famers become a big threat to large predators?| A．They poison them to defend themselves. |
| B．They hunt them for their meat and fur. |
| C．They shoot them just for pleasure. |
| D．They kill them to protect farm animals. |
| A．They have beautiful eyes. | B．Their fake “eyes” work. |
| C．They get close to nature. | D．Their fake “eyes” vary. |
| A．By sharing the reasons for tests. | B．By listing the number of cows. |
| C．By presenting the facts of tests. | D．By comparing the results of tests. |
| A．Lions are in danger of being hunted illegally. | B．Farmers become enemies of lions. |
| C．Protecting cows proves to be ineffective. | D．Fake eyes protect cows from lions. |
Officials are seeking to protect a small environment on Java island
5 . The Sahara Desert
Location
Filling nearly all of northern Africa, the Sahara Desert measures approximately 3, 000 miles from east to west and between 800 and 1, 200 miles from north to south.
Landscape
The Sahara Desert features iconic sand dune (沙丘) fields, which cover about 15 percent of the entire desert’s surface and lie primarily in the north-central region.
Water
Climate
Across the Sahara Desert, the annual average rainfall equals no more than a few inches or fewer. In the summer, daytime air temperatures often soar to over 100 degrees Fahrenheit, with the hottest air temperature meteorologists have ever recorded — 136 degrees — occurring at EL Azizia, Libya, on September 13, 1922.
| A．No rain at all may fall for several more years. |
| B．It has a total area of some 3,320,000 square miles. |
| C．The dunes usually take on varied and complex forms. |
| D．Star dunes form under winds that blow from several directions. |
| E．The Sahara Desert has some lakes, but only one with drinkable water. |
| F．The Sahara Desert has only two permanent rivers and a handful of lakes. |
| G．Under the clear skies, the temperature may fall 40 degrees or more during an evening. |
1. What is the main purpose of the talk?
| A．To criticize British for creating so much rubbish. |
| B．To call on people to solve the rubbish problem. |
| C．To explain why people pay little attention to the rubbish. |
| A．It’s studied by a person who comes from a university. |
| B．People who live on their own create more rubbish. |
| C．The rubbish situation is not so serious as the scientists thought. |
| A．416 million tons. | B．384 million tons. | C．400 million tons. |
| A．People don’t like to use rubbish bags. |
| B．The rubbish always creates a bad smell. |
| C．People’s wrong behavior makes it hard to recycle rubbish. |
7 . Female birds sing, too, but scientists tend to tune in to male birdsong and ignore female songs. It highlights a long-standing bias (偏见) and helps us think about why that bias persists (持续).
Since the beginning of modern birdsong research, the field has focused on male songbirds. Any serious birder could tell you that females do sing, sometimes as frequently as males. However, early birdsong researchers tended to be men. Men are significantly less likely than women to lead research projects studying female songs. Thus, we are missing key behaviors as a result of historical biases caused by a lack of diverse participation in science.
So how do we make science welcoming and accessible for all? We need to communicate better with nonscientists. Engaging the public in science is essential for basic science findings that influence how we perceive the world around us.
For example, understanding that female birds do sing matters not only to scientists but also to the billions of people who hear the sounds of wild birds every day. In many species, males and females look similar from a distance, but can be distinguished by ear. Paying close attention to which sounds each sex makes and thinking about why they might be producing them opens up a richer window into the environment around us. It turns out female birds use songs for all the same reasons male birds do: to signal individual identity, defend valuable territories and attract potential mates.
Public awareness of female birdsong has the potential to change the science itself. Apps like eBird collect millions of public observations and audio recordings of birds every year. Increasing public engagement and involvement with research promises to benefit the scientific community and society more broadly. In many cases, scientists and experts already have strongly held biases about the way the world works, and these biases allow mistaken conclusions to persist. Public observers often make better observers of the world around them because they lack preconceived ideas.
Female birds sing! We welcome a future where research and communication combine to improve our understanding of the world around us and deepen our connections to each other and the natural world.
1. What does the second paragraph mainly talk about?| A．Who is to blame for the long-standing bias. |
| B．Why female birdsong is long ignored by scientists. |
| C．What contributes to diverse participation in science. |
| D．How men have conducted modern birdsong research. |
| A．It will enable us to become real scientists. |
| B．It will help us distinguish bird species by ear. |
| C．It will expand our understanding of the world. |
| D．It will make advanced science accessible for all. |
| A．Biased. | B．Creative. |
| C．Mistaken. | D．Varied. |
| A．Why we Didn't Know That Female Birds Sing? |
| B．Advancing Science: How Bias Leads Us Forward |
| C．New Research Has Found Female Birds Sing Too! |
| D．A Case Study of Gender Bias in Science Reporting |
8 . On a bright August morning, Bas Huijbregts found himself somewhere he never expected to be: in a helicopter surveying a small number of black rhinos in Namibia's Etosha National Park. As the chopper drew closer to the ground, Huijbregts focused on the task at hand: to mark each of the large mammals with a bright paintball splash.
Every year, during the dry season, park management and Namibia's government undertake a weeks-long operation to count all the park's rhinos. Given the vastness of the area, the count is done by air, and the animals are marked with paint to keep track of those that have already been counted.
Huijbregts, then the newly appointed manager of African species conservation at WWF, was passing through the park when he received an impromptu invitation to join in the count. Over the dinner, chief warden Pierre Du Preez asked Huijbregts if he knew how to play paintball.
“My answer was no!” recalls Huijbregts with a laugh. “I was so nervous. But it was the most amazing experience I've had with rhinos. It was sort of a boy's dream, a cowboy thing to do.”
Huijbregts's experience was all the more remarkable given that just 20 years earlier encountering a black rhino was incredibly rare—fewer than 2,500 individuals remained in eastern and southern Africa. Due to intense poaching, 96% of the population was wiped out between 1970 and 1990.
Today, black rhino numbers have more than doubled, thanks to concerted conservation efforts by the government, local nonprofits, and the communities who manage the land. Today, Namibia is home to the largest black rhino population, with Etosha being “the biggest stronghold in the country,” says Huijbregts. “They are a huge success story for the world.”
But rhinos in other parts of the world, are still critically endangered. That's why WWF, together with governments, communities, and other partners, is working hard to safeguard the remaining rhinos, expand their populations, and protect their habitats.
1. Why did Bas Huijbregts fly in a helicopter?| A．To do a survey on a small rhino. | B．To enjoy the beautiful scenery of the park. |
| C．To keep track of all the mammals in the park. | D．To help figure out the number of rhinos in the park. |
| A．unplanned | B．traditional | C．formal | D．final |
| A．Why Namibia has so many rhinos. | B．The importance of conserving rhinos. |
| C．How to improve the rhino population. | D．The result of rhino protection in Namibia. |
| A．In a nature magazine. | B．In a story book. |
| C．On a travel website. | D．In a biology textbook. |
| A．It was cool. | B．It was sunny. | C．It was rainy. |
10 . Humankind’s growing need for food is in conflict with thousands of other species’ need for space. By 2050, humans may need to clear an additional 3.35 million square kilometers of land for agriculture. Changing the largely natural habitat would remove more than 17,000 species from the land, researchers report in Nature Sustainability.
“But changing how, where and what food is grown can reduce the effect,” says scientist David Williams of the University of Leeds. “We can feed the planet without making it too bad.”
To figure out how, Williams and his colleagues first identified habitat most likely to be cleared for cropland. The team then calculated how much food 152 countries would need to feed their growing population and mapped where crops would likely be grown in each, based on past land use changes. By 2050, the world’s 13 million square kilometers of cropland would need to increase by 26 percent, the team found. That growth is largely concentrated in Sub-Saharan Africa, South and Southeast Asia.
The researchers then put these estimates (估计) on distribution (分布) maps of nearly 20,000 species. While almost all of these species would lose some habitat, the team estimated 1,280 species would lose at least 25 percent of their range and that 96 species would lose at least 75 percent.
“Changing the global food system could cut these losses,” the team says. Among the changes are improving crop output and increasing food imports for food-poor countries. Adopting these measures would actually reduce the world’s cropland area by 3.4 million square kilometers by 2050 and result in just 33 species losing more than a quarter of their natural range, the team found. “Achieving that may be difficult and needs governments’ effort,” Williams says, “but emptying our plates at the family dinner tables could still have big effects.” “The world needs to feed a growing population, but it can be done more sustainably (可持续地),” he says.
1. What will cause danger for species’ natural habitat in the future?| A．Growing human population. | B．Reduction in cropland. |
| C．Agricultural revolution. | D．Change in food planting. |
| A．Scientific tests. | B．Accurate data calculation. |
| C．Reasonable estimates. | D．Previous research results. |
| A．Export more food. | B．Reduce food waste. |
| C．Improve crop output. | D．Protect wild animals. |
| A．To describe a natural law. | B．To state a scientific discovery. |
| C．To introduce a biological opinion. | D．To discuss an environmental problem. |
