1 . Have you ever noticed that sometimes you may be ill suited or perfect for the same thing?     1     Here are ways weather can affect your mood that you never noticed.

You’re more helpful on sunny days. Sun makes you happy!     2     Therefore, on sunny days, you’re more likely to help those in need than on days filled with clouds and gloom. Next time you want to volunteer, try to pick a sunny day— you’ll be more helpful to the people.

    3     Summer sales, here we come! Get ready to open your wallet if you go out to a mall during a nice, sunny day. Research shows that you are more likely to spend money when it’s sunny. My theory is that the sun makes us feel happier and less stressed about our life (including our financial life) -therefore we spend more money! Thus, try not to go shopping on shiny days if you want to save money.

Cold temperatures impact complex physical tasks.     4     It’s like you don’t want to move. Have you ever tried untying (解开) a knot while your hands were cold? Be careful when trying to perform complex physical tasks in the cold weather— too much time in low temperatures can cause hypothermia (体温过低) !

Lack of sunlight makes you eat more. Bears hibernate (冬眠) while humans just start swallowing everything in sight. Well, bears eat much too, before they go to sleep.     5     Your body needs extra fuel to fight off the cold. Unfortunately, often you don’t actually need the extra food because a lack of sun doesn’t necessarily mean you’re cold.

A．Sunlight makes you spend more money.

B．Sunny days make you feel more tired.

C．The secret lies in distinct weather conditions.

D．Being less stressed leads to a poor life.

E．Happy people tend to be more willing to help others.

F．The cold, dark winter months make it much easier to overeat.

G．When you’re cold, your muscles feel slow and dull.

2 . Friday night lights are good for the game, but they may be bad for biodiversity.

According to a study published Friday in the journal Animal Conservation, bright stadium lighting could affect the feeding habits of bats. Insects swarm (涌往) to these lights in large numbers, creating a competitive advantage for bat species who aren’t afraid of humans and human structures. This could impact local ecosystems and reduce biodiversity.

For most humans, there simply isn’t enough daylight hours—we have been developing new ways to light the night since we first controlled and used fire. But researchers say our need for continuous visibility can have serious consequences for neighboring species.

Light pollution has been linked to some ecosystem damage. Baby turtles, for example, naturally use the light of the moon to travel towards the open ocean. But constant and poorly designed artificial lighting can affect their sense of direction, obviously disturbing their life cycles.

“Increasing light pollution is a major feature of global change that’s caused by humans, and it is a potential threat to biodiversity,” co-author M. Corrie Schoeman said in a press release.

Dr Schoeman, a professor of biology at the University of Kwazulu-Natal, conducted field experiments to determine how stadium lighting affected bat behaviors. He found that “urban exploiter” bats were drawn to hunt near bright lights, while “urban avoider” bats were not. Exploiter species are able to take advantage of human resources, such as artificial light. Avoider species, by comparison, tend to avoid humans and human structures.

But it’s hardly survival of the fittest. This man-made, ecological scale-tipping could result in the decline or loss of avoider species. And that, in turn, could threaten the balance of local ecosystems.

Luckily, light pollution is considered an “easy fix” compared to other forms of pollution. Smart lighting design— hooded (带罩的) streetlamps，motion-sensitive residential lights (触控住宅用灯), and better controls to remove unnecessary brightness—can obviously reduce light pollution. As for stadium lights, earlier games could do a lot of good, both for bats and for our ecosystems as a whole.

1. What does the author want to demonstrate with the example of baby turtles?

A．Turtles are good at using human lights.

B．Light pollution has caused ecological damage.

C．Artificial lighting can train turtles’ sense of direction.

D．Human neighboring species have their own way of lighting.

2. What can we learn about the “urban exploiter” bats?

A．They are the fittest of their species.

B．They are fond of artificial lighting.

C．They always defeat “urban avoider” bats.

D．They break the balance of their species.

3. What is the last paragraph mainly about?

A．How to reduce light pollution.	B．How to improve stadium lights.
C．How to balance the ecosystem.	D．How to recognize unnecessary brightness.

4. Which of the following can be the best title for the text?

A．Evolution of Bats	B．Competition Among Bats
C．Stadium Lights Change Bat Behavior	D．The Number of Bats Are Decreasing

3 . With climate change continuing to worsen, our situation is beginning to feel increasingly serious.     1     Is it right? Maybe not.

Techno-optimism is one of the greatest misconceptions when it comes to solutions to ensure our future. It can be defined as a belief that future technologies will solve all of our current problems. This definition reinforces (强化) the idea that there’s no reason to panic or change our current energy-intensive lifestyle. All society needs to do is look to green technology to work its magic.     2    

One of the best examples of this optimistic misconception is the electric car. Despite being highly regarded as an eco-friendly way to get around, electric cars are not the end for the future of transport. Batteries in electric cars use chemical elements which we could be seeing a shortage of by the midcentury.     3     Techno-optimism has led many to believe that if everyone just switched to driving electric vehicles, we would be making incredible steps towards sustainability. However, the reality is that the amount of resources and energy needed to produce enough electric vehicles for everyone is not even remotely sustainable.

    4     Investing in public transportation and moving away from individually owned vehicles. Producing fewer cars. Improving recycling practices of old batteries. The solutions we seek should not be rooted in new technology, but be about changing the way our society functions.

Techno-optimism puts too much emphasis on technology and not enough on what we can do right this minute. Unfortunately, people seem to like the picture that techno-optimism paints.     5     It is important to understand that the problem begins when we see those technologies as a way to make our current lifestyles eco-friendly. Until we are ready to face the need for a less complex life, we cannot make true progress towards sustainability.

A．So where should we look for answers instead?

B．The modern world’s simple solution is technology.

C．Moreover, they are more energy intensive to produce.

D．Is it a trap that many people have fallen into in recent years?

E．Unfortunately, this is an incredibly dangerous opinion to hold.

F．Despite any technology, we as a whole are not living sustainably.

G．Nevertheless, the truth is, we need a widespread change in our lifestyles.

4 . GREAT BOOKS TO TEACH CHILDREN ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE

Here is a shortened list of books sponsored by the magazines TIME and TIME for Kids that are suitable for primary schoolers. To make the list, we considered how age-appropriate the material was, and whether the tone and story line left the reader feeling engaged and empowered rather than anxious or confused.

Experts recommend the youngest kids to read books that explore the beauty and fragility (脆弱) of nature. When developing an appreciation for the world around them, they can switch to books that show the cause and effect of how humans treat our planet, and why it’s important to respect the environment. For older primary school kids, picture books can illustrate how our use of fossil (化石) fuels contributes to global warming. Most of the books on the list also offer lessons about how children, families, schools, and communities can make a difference.

THANK YOU, EARTH: A LOVE LETTER TO OUR PLANET By April Pulley Sayre This photography book shows to us plants, animals and landscapes in vivid colors and descriptions. From up-close images of insects to pictures of mountain ranges, the pages introduce children to the planets’ diversity in a simple but effective way.	THE LORAX By Dr. Seuss Thanks to its rhyme, and whimsical illustration, this classic tale is suitable for young children who can grasp the scarcity of natural resources, and also older kids who can see a danger in valuing profits over long-term environmental harm.
WE ARE WATER PROTECTORS By Carole Lindstrom A tribute to native tribes that are protecting the planet, this book vividly shows the harms of oil pipelines. Kids will see the value of community action, while adults will recognize the story of the native tribes Standing Rock Sioux’s fight against the Dakota Access Pipeline.	POLAR BEAR, WHY IS YOUR WORLD MELTING? By Robert E. Wells This book introduces the greenhouse effect with illustrations showing how sunlight gets trapped. It then explains fossil-fuel energy, and our reliance on it for electricity and transportation. The pages are full of science.

1. To make the book list for kids, what should be considered first?

A．Confusing story line.	B．The tone of anxiety.
C．The books sponsorship.	D．Age-appropriate content.

2. What can kids learn from the book “WE ARE WATER PROTECTORS”?

A．They can see the value of community action.

B．They can know how to protect the native tribes.

C．They can recognize the story of the native tribes.

D．They can understand the importance of oil pipelines.

3. Which book explains how the greenhouse effect come into existence?

A．THE LORAX

B．WE ARE WATER PROTECTORS

C．POLAR BEAR, WHY IS YOUR WORLD MELTING?

D．THANK YOU, EARTH: A LOVE LETTER TO OUR PLANET

5 . Growing at high speed and absorbing huge amounts of atmospheric carbon dioxide, could seaweeds be the key to fighting climate change? Scientists in Australia think so. In Australia, scientists are taking advantage of the power of seaweeds to absorb CO₂ at a rate that equals to the Amazon rainforest!

Kelp (巨藻) is one of the most common seaweeds. It has many types and grows at great speed. Giant kelp, for example, can grow up to 50 cm per day. Seaweeds use photosynthesis (光合作用) to absorb CO₂, and grow biomass. Seaweeds are thought to absorb nearly 200 million tonnes of our globe’s CO₂ per year.

Pia Winberg, founder of Australia’s first land-based commercial seaweed farm, suggests that growing more seaweeds could be an essential tool in the fight against climate change. “If we used the infrastructure we have in the ocean and created seaweed islands, we would actually remove many climate change issues we have today,” she said.

The Great Southern Reef is an 8,000-km network of reefs in Australia. Golden kelp forms the backbone of the network. With many other species, including giant kelp and bull kelp, growing there, it is a good place for series of relevant projects. The Great Southern Reef project managed by an independent team of seience professionals is working to promote the recognition and management of Australia’s kelp forests. The project estimates that if these kelp forests were cultivated in just 0.001% of the ocean’s surface, the amounts of the CO₂: they absorb could offset (抵消) the carbon emissions of the global aquaculture (水产养殖) industry.

Of seaweeds’ potential, there’s a long chain of wins with this.

1. What is the scientists’ attitude towards growing seaweeds to absorb CO₂?

A．Doubtful.

B．Unclear.

C．Positive.

D．Negative.

2. What can we learn about Giant kelp?

A．It can grow 50 cm per day at most.

B．It is unique to the Great Southern Reef.

C．It is cultivated in commercial seaweed farm.

D．It absorbs nearly 200 million tonnes of CO: every year.

3. Why is the Great Southern Reef suitable for ocean forest project?

A．It is managed by an independent team of science professionals.

B．It has the largest network of reefs in Australia.

C．It is home to many species of seaweeds.

D．It works to protect Australia’s kelp forests.

4. What’s the main idea of the passage?

A．Different species of seaweed absorb CO2 in different ways.

B．Bull kelp forms the backbone of the reefs network in Australia.

C．The Great Southern Reef absorbs as much CO2 as the Amazon rainforest.

D．Seaweed forests could be the key to fighting climate change.

6 . Somalia, Kenya, and now Ethiopia are warning of a serious drought (干旱)that affects millions of people in Eastern Africa. In Ethiopia’s Somali area, people have seen the failures of what should have been three straight rainy seasons. Droughts do come and go over the years. However, the lack of rainfall has led to the driest conditions in 40 years in parts of Somalia and Ethiopia.

UNICEF is the United Nation’s children’s agency. Local Zaynab Wali told a visiting team with UNICEF that she and her seven children had never seen a drought like this. She said the government gave out food for animals during the last drought five years ago. “This time, we even don’t have enough food for our family.”

Children walk among the bodies of dead animals, which died from lack of food and energy. Somalia Consortium works to improve international aid for Somalia. It said in a separate statement that in Somalia, more than 7 million people need emergency help. It is asking international organizations to give much more to the country.

“We are just one month into the long dry season, and I have already lost 25 goats and sheep,” Hafsa Bedel in Ethiopia’s Somali area told UNICEF. She also lost four camels, a large desert animal, as well. She said there was nowhere for her animals to eat. She added that there was not enough food for her own family, including her six children.

UNICEF thinks that more than 150,000 children in such areas of Ethiopia have dropped out of school. They are needed to help find the limited amount of water and help their families with other work.

One young boy was seen supporting an animal, a donkey. The donkey was once important for carrying goods. But now, it had become too weak to walk on its own.

1. Why did Zaynab Wali mention the last drought?

A．To show the need to protect animals.	B．To express her disappointment this time.
C．To prove the high frequency of drought.	D．To praise the government for its timely help.

2. What is Somalia Consortium trying to do now?

A．Get more foreign help.

B．Warn people of the risk of drought.

C．Offer more education to the children there.

D．Make clear the number of people in need.

3. What does the last paragraph mainly want to tell us?

A．The sweet picture of the boy and the animal.

B．The functions of animals in farming.

C．The importance of taking care of the weak animal.

D．The seriousness of the drought.

4. Which is the most suitable title for the text?

A．Drought in Eastern Africa Leaves Animals in Danger

B．Drought Makes People of Eastern Africa Leave Their Home

C．UN Officials Care for Children Affected by Drought

D．Millions Face Risk as Drought Affects Eastern Africa

7 . China’s first cloned police dog, three-month-old Kunxun, has begun training after arriving at a police base in Kunming, southwest China’s Yunnan Province earlier this month.

Kunxun was cloned from a 7-year-old female police dog named Huahuangma, which is considered a great detective (侦探的) dog. A study showed that Kunxun’s DNA is 99. 9 percent similar to Huahuangma’s.

Kunxun will begin training in drug detection, and is to be a grown-up police dog at 10 months. But it would take four to five years to train a dog like Huahuangma. The birth of Kunxun provides the possibility of extending animal clone technology to police dogs, and will significantly reduce the time to train one, Zhao Jianping, Sinogene deputy general manager, told the Global Times on Tuesday. He also noted that the cost of cloning remains a bottleneck for mass production.

Wan Jiusheng, a lead researcher at the Kunming Dog Base of Public Security, told the Science and Technology Daily that Kunxun shows a better potential than the regularly bred Kunming wolfdogs in a series of tests. Wan said Kunxun will be able to become a police dog when it is about 10 months old.

A police officer told the Global Times on Tuesday that preserving the police dog blood has always been a challenge, as traditional breeding methods would dilute (稀释) the original, and the next generation’s genes will be largely beyond control. The successful police dog clone technology would address those problems and lower the elimination (淘汰) rate of police dogs at the puppy training stage, he said.

However, such technology does not mean that the mass production of police dogs has already arrived, as factors like the surroundings and trainers’ skill also play an important role, Wan noted.

Kunxun is not the first cloned police dog. In South Korea, six cloned police dogs first appeared and began patrolling (巡逻) the streets in 2008. The world’s first cloned animal, Dolly the sheep, was born in Scotland in 1996.

1. What is the benefit of cloning police dogs according to paragraph 3?

A．Living longer.	B．Costing less money.
C．Reducing training time.	D．Completing harder tasks.

2. What do Zhao Jianping’s and Wan Jiusheng’s opinions have in common?

A．Clone technology will be used on humans.

B．Cloned animals can help people in some ways.

C．Cloning police dogs hasn’t yet reached mass production.

D．The cloned police dog trainers’ skill is very important.

3. Where was the world’s first cloned police dog born?

A．In Scotland.

B．In China.

C．In the US.

D．In South Korea.

4. Where is this text most likely from?

A．A diary.

B．A magazine.

C．A novel.

D．A guidebook.

8 . There is hot, and then there is hot! Extreme heat is a period of high heat and humidity with temperatures above 90 degrees Fahrenheit for at least two to three days. Extreme heat is responsible for the highest number of annual deaths among all weather-related hazards (危害).

It’s not your imagination. Summers have been getting hotter and hotter with extreme heatwaves occurring earlier and more frequently. But why is this happening and can we better predict heatwaves in advance to give people time to prepare?

“Climate change is here and it’s already been changing human behavior and causing significant influence in the society. As global temperatures rise, historically excessive (过高的) temperatures are more likely to occur.” says Craig Ramseyer, an assistant professor who studies climate modeling in the department of geography at Virginia Tech.

Ramseyer says heatwaves are the most concerning because of the lack of attention they normally receive. “Hurricanes, tornadoes, and flash floods drive more media attention because of the natural attraction with the visual impact of those types of hazards. However, heat does not tend to be as attractive and it becomes very difficult to communicate the danger to the public,” said Ramseyer. “Around the world, more deaths occur due to extreme heat than from hurricanes, flooding, and drought combined. It impacts the most helpless of our citizens who do not have enough access to air conditioning, water, and other important resources.”

Since the Earth is running warmer than it used to, Ramseyer says that when these heatwave-related weather patterns take place, it results in higher extreme temperatures than we used to experience 30 years ago.

“As a global community, we need to decrease carbon emissions as soon as possible. We have rapidly developing technologies that are going to help advance the process, but the faster the better, there is no time to waste.”

1. What can we learn from the article?

A．Extreme heat is a No.1 death cause.

B．People are suffering more extreme heat.

C．A 100-degree heat is an extreme heat.

D．Extreme heat is getting better over the years.

2. What will Ramseyer possibly agree with?

A．Climate change will soon affect human behaviors.

B．High temperatures happened frequently in history.

C．Air conditioning and water can stop the extreme heat.

D．Garbage sorting can less advance the climate change.

3. Why is extreme heat lack of attention?

A．Extreme heat can be stopped by technology.

B．People have enough time to solve the climate problems.

C．The danger of extreme heat is not easily transferred to the public.

D．Heatwave-related weather patterns will decrease in the future.

4. What’s the article mainly about?

A．Complaints about extreme heat.	B．Prevention of extreme heat.
C．Characters of extreme heat.	D．Technologies behind extreme heat.

9 . Antarctic blue whales have been perceived again in the sub-Antarctic island of South Georgia. An international-team of researchers discovered the animals five decades after whaling (捕鲸业) nearly caused them to disappear forever. “The ocean resources at South Georgia were heavily developed during the early 20th-century industrial whaling,” says lead author Susannah Calderan, an ecologist with the Scottish Association for Marine Science.

Antarctic blue whales were plentiful in the area until whaling began there in 1904, kicking off the beginning of industrial whaling in the Southern Ocean. While hunters originally focused on species that could be easily caught, like the humpback whale, the focus quickly moved to the blue whale. Between 1904 and 1973, 345,775 Antarctic blue whales were killed in the Southern hemisphere (半球）and in the northern Indian Ocean. Around South Georgia, blue whale catches were reported year-round without stopping. Between 1904 and 1971, industrial whaling caused 42, 698 blue whales’ death, Blue whales almost disappeared in these areas.

Researchers studied all Antarctic blue whale data from the last three decades. They examined sightings (目睹)from scientific surveys collected by observers on ships, as well as opportunistic sightings reported by seamen and ship passengers to the South Georgia. They also examined acoustic(声音的）recordings of blue whale.

They found that whale surveys from ships off South Georgia resulted in just one blue whale sighting between 1998 and 2018. But more recent surveys suggest better news. A survey in February of 2020 found nearly 60 blue whale sightings, and several acoustic detections (探测).A total of 41 blue whales have been recognized through photos from South Georgia between 2011 and 2020.

“Their return is very meaningful, as it was widely thought that blue whales at South Georgia might have been hunted beyond a point where they could recover, and might never be seen again in great numbers at South Georgia,” Calderan says. “Our research shows that, populations can recover even from very low levels if they’re given enough protection.”

1. What does the underlined word “perceived” in paragraph 1 mean?

A．Kept.

B．Found.

C．Hunted.

D．Destroyed.

2. What does paragraph 2 mainly want to tell us?

A．The development of industrial whaling.

B．The cause of blue whales’ disappearance.

C．The wide spread of blue whales in the past.

D．The tricks of catching blue whales easily.

3. What did the researchers find through their surveys in South Georgia?

A．There is an increasing return of blue whales.

B．Blue whales are in a more dangerous situation.

C．More and more people like watching blue whales.

D．South Georgia is a good place to watch blue whales.

4. What might be discussed in the following paragraph?

A．The risk of killing whales at higher rates.

B．The sign of Antarctic blue whales’ return.

C．The way of protecting Antarctic blue whales.

D．The effect of the great loss of ocean resources.

10 . Don't undervalue the Rio pearlfish, which is roughly 3 inches long and ages quickly with a very short life cycle. This fish can produce eggs that can survive being completely dry for months at a time. That’s the reason Michigan State University scientists have sequenced (排序) the first complete genome (基因组) of the fish. With that genome, researchers can better understand the species' survival skills.

The team also captured the full 3-D structure of the genome, which helps show how and when genes turn on and interact with each other. All of this new information strengthens the Rio pearlfish's potential as a model organism that can further the understanding of human health.

Rio pearlfish are a type of fish that live in pools that form in and around Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, during the region's two rainy seasons. Those are followed by dry seasons that run from February to March and July into August when the pools dry up and the grown pearlfish populations are wiped out. Their eggs, however, survive such unfavorable conditions.

The eggs' adaptation to dry conditions offers practical advantages for establishing them as a model organism. The dried-out eggs are exceptionally hardy, making them easy to store and transport.

On the other hand, their survival mechanism has made Rio pearlfish perfectly suited for exactly one environment under growing stress. Longer wet or dry seasons can threaten generations of fish and, as the city of Riode Janeiro expands, the pools where these fish live disappear. This provides researchers with another important reason to'raise these fish. “They can't stay in dry seasons forever,” Thompson said. “If their habitats get destroyed or permanently flooded, they could go extinct.”

1. Why did researchers sequence the genome of the Rio pearlfish?

A．To change their genes.	B．To extend their lifetime.
C．To learn how they go through dry seasons.	D．To look for a cure for human disease.

2. What does the underlined phrase “wiped out” in paragraph 3 probably mean?

A．Removed.

B．Killed.

C．Ruined.

D．Consumed.

3. What can be inferred from the last paragraph?

A．The natural habitat of the Rio pearlfish is being threatened.

B．Stress prevents the Rio pearlfish from growing well.

C．The Rio pearlfish only live in mild climates.

D．The Rio pearlfish will die out very soon.

4. Where is the passage most likely to have been taken from?

A．An official report.	B．A realistic novel.
C．A scientific magazine.	D．A tourist guidebook.