Plastic pollution at sea is reaching
As plastic breaks down into smaller pieces, it also enters the marine food chain,
While consumers can help reduce plastic pollution by changing their behavior, governments have to step up and accept
2 . Throughout history, many species of animals have been threatened with extinction. When Europeans first arrived in North America, more than 60 million buffalo (水牛) lived on the continent. Yet hunting the buffalo was so popular during the 19th century that by 1900 the animal’s population had fallen to about 400 before the government stepped in to protect the species. In some countries today, the elephant faces a similar challenge, as illegal hunters kill the animals for the ivory in their tusks.
Yet not all animals with commercial value face this threat (威胁).The cow, for example, is a valuable source of food, but no one worries that the cow will soon be extinct. Why does the commercial value of ivory threaten the elephant. while the commercial value of beef protects the cow?
The reason is that elephants are a common resource, while cows are private goods. Elephants wander freely without any owners. The hunter has a strong motivation to kill as many elephants as he can find. Because illegal hunters are numerous, each has only a slight motivation to preserve the elephant population. By contrast, cattle live on farms that are privately owned. Each farmer makes great effort to maintain the cattle population on his farm because he harvests the benefit of these efforts.
Governments have tried to solve the elephant’s problem in two ways. Some countries, such as Kenya and Uganda, have made it illegal to kill elephants and sell their ivory. Yet these laws have been hard to put into effect, and elephant populations have continued to dwindle. By contrast, other countries, such as Malawi and Namibia, have made elephants private goods and allowed people to kill elephants, but only those on their own property.
With private ownership and the profit motive now on its side, the African elephant might someday be as safe from extinction as the cow. The ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle pointed out the problem with common resources: “What is common to many is taken least care of, for all men have greater regard for what is their own than for what they possess in common with others.”
1. Why does the author mention buffalo in paragraph 1?| A．To introduce a similar threat to elephants. |
| B．To provide an example of species extinction. |
| C．To offer an explanation for government policies. |
| D．To present the statistics of the buffalo in America. |
| A．They are under different law protection |
| B．They attract different groups of hunters |
| C．They contain different commercial value |
| D．They represent different ownership types |
| A．Bans on killing elephants for ivory |
| B．Effective laws for elephant protection. |
| C．Methods of making elephants private goods |
| D．Government policies on the elephant’s problem |
| A．People hold little regard for others’ property |
| B．People want to profit from common resources |
| C．People care more about their own possession |
| D．People tend to take what they own for granted |
3 . If you live near a deep forest, you might have come across some wildlife animals hiding in your backyard, but nothing beats the surprise this woman got when she found three baby deer hiding in her house to wait out the storm.
The woman then posted several photos of the baby deer taking refuge (避难) in one of her rooms on her Imgur account “Amscolie”. She wrote that it was a very stormy day and a rainstorm was coming so she left her back door open just in case some animals wanted to take refuge in her house. In the meantime, she went out in the storm to check whether there were any animals that were stuck in the bad weather, especially a number of deer. However, she could not find any of them so she went back to her home.
Surprisingly, she found that the deer had already made their way inside her house!
Like many other animals, deer too can predict stormy weather and know when it is best to find a shelter from the dangerous weather. As the back door was opened, she did not notice when the deer entered her house. The three lovely baby deer made their way inside but there was no sight of their parents. The woman did try to find if there was any deer nearby her house but to no avail. The woman thought that the baby deer might have lost their parents so she welcomed them with open arms.
“I raise orphaned (孤儿的) wildlife. Recently, the back door was open as a storm was coming. The deer were nowhere to be found. I went inside, only to see them next to an end table in the living room. I told them they could sleep in the house for the night because the weather was going to be terrible,” the woman wrote on Little Things. com.
1. How did the baby deer enter the woman's house?| A．The woman invited them in. |
| B．The woman led them in. |
| C．They entered through the back door. |
| D．They entered through the window. |
| A．She raises deer in her own house. |
| B．She lost her deer on a stormy night. |
| C．she is devoted to protecting wildlife. |
| D．She hardly came across wild animals. |
| A．Failed | B．Resigned | C．Missed. | D．Disappeared. |
| A．They were hungry |
| B．Their parents lost them on purpose |
| C．They were being hunted |
| D．Bad weather forced them to find a shelter |
China’s First National Park
China’s first national park in Northwest of China’s Sanjiangyuan area,
Under the national park management, herders and
China’s accumulated experience in reducing food loss and waste is being shared with the world. This knowledge will help many countries improve their ability
About 14 percent of the world’s food is lost during from
According to the FAO, over 155 million people experienced serious food insecurity in 2020, the
Wu Laping,
6 . A study from the University of California, Davis is the first to document personality in golden-mantled ground squirrels, which are common across the western US and parts of Canada, The study found the squirrels show personality for four main aspects: boldness（大胆）, aggressiveness, activity level, and sociability. The findings suggest that understanding how an animal’s personality influences the use of space is important for wildlife conservation.
The fact that ground squirrels have personalities may not seem surprising. But the scientific field of animal personality is relatively young, as is the recognition that there are ecological consequences of animal personalities. For instance, bolder, more aggressive squirrels may find more food or defend a larger area, but their risky behavior may also make them easily hurt by predators（捕食者）or accidents. Lead author Jaclyn Aliperti conducted the study while earning her PhD in ecology at UC Davis.
Scientists have been studying golden-mantled ground squirrels at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory in Gothic, Colorado for decades. It was established as a long-term study site more than 30 years ago by Aliperti’s advisor, Dirk Van Vuren. Aliperti drew from this powerful data set for her study, while also starting a series of experiments there over the course of three summers to observe and quantify the squirrels’ personalities. Overall, the study, published in the journal Animal Behaviour, found that bolder squirrels had larger core areas where they concentrated their activities. Bold, active squirrels moved faster. Also, squirrels that were bolder, more aggressive and more active had greater access to habitats, such as rocks. The location of the habitat is important because it can provide a belter point for observing and evading predators. Interestingly, habitat is also associated with sociability.
“Animal personality is a hard science, but if it makes you relate to animals more, maybe people will be more interested in conserving them,” said Alipcrti.
1. What’s the significance of the findings in paragraph 1?| A．To better protect wildlife. |
| B．To know more about space. |
| C．To observe squirrels’ behavior. |
| D．To explore squirrels’ personalities. |
| A．Hunt for more food. | B．Work against each other. |
| C．Show their personalities. | D．Attract less predators. |
| A．Keeping. | B．Refusing. |
| C．Killing. | D．Avoiding. |
| A．Skeptical. | B．Supportive. |
| C．Worried. | D．Tolerant. |
7 . Without sharp reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, climate change threatens future Winter Olympic Games because their locations would be too warm to host the events, a new study has found.
If the world’s high emissions continue their trend, by the 2080s all but one of the 21 cities that previously hosted the Winter Games - Sapporo, Japan - would not be able to do so again. Among them, 6 cities would be considered “marginal” while 14 would even be seen “unreliable”— meaning the right conditions for snow and athlete safety cannot be met.
But that won’t necessarily happen if the world takes urgent action and follows the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement, according to Daniel Scott, the lead researcher for the University of Waterloo’s report. Under that deal, nearly 200 countries agreed to greatly cut their collective greenhouse emissions.
Athletes and coaches surveyed by the researchers said they re already seeing the effect climate change has on their sports. “Some of the coaches that did the survey have been coaches in the sport for 30 years,” Scott said. “They’ve traveled the world, back to the same competitions, and they’ve seen that certain competitions don’t happen, as regularly or uninterruptedly as they used to because of warmer temperatures.”
The Summer Olympics are also feeling the effects of climate change. Tokyo’s Olympic and Paralympic Games are likely one of—if not—the hottest and most humid Games on record. Daily temperatures reached 80F high with high humidity (湿度) that could make it feel like 100°F.
But winter sports seem more strongly influenced by the impact of a warmer world. During the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, skiers were overheating in the same way a marathon runner would at nearly 90F weather. Due to the great impact, the study makes us worry that outdoor games may have to move indoors or be held at a different time of year altogether in order to accommodate higher temperatures.
1. What does the underlined word “marginal” in Paragraph 2 probably mean?| A．Almost unqualified. |
| B．Pretty satisfactory. |
| C．Rather unpopular. |
| D．Quite suitable. |
| A．To show the spirit of the Olympics. |
| B．To stress the impact of climate change. |
| C．To reveal the cause of warmer climate. |
| D．To compare summer and winter Olympics |
| A．Conservative. |
| B．Tolerant. |
| C．Optimistic. |
| D．Concerned. |
| A．Global climate changes. |
| B．Greenhouse gas emissions. |
| C．The Winter Olympics crisis. |
| D．The future Olympic Games. |
8 . When you throw something in the recycling bin, do you think about what it could become? And when you do, does it make you more likely to use that recycling bin? Recently, a study was conducted in an effort to decide whether or not explaining to people what their recyclables are transformed into would help increase recycling rates.
The researchers started with a group of 111 college students, asked to draw on paper before watching one of three ads.One was a public service message that showed paper going into recycling bins.The other two also showed the paper either being transformed into new paper or a guitar.After completing a survey, the students were asked to deal with the paper when they left. Half of those who saw the first ad recycled their paper, while the recycling rate jumped to 80% for those who'd seen the other ads.
After doing a few more lab experiments, the researchers headed into the real world.At a party, volunteers spoke with attendees (出席者) about recycling, with half mentioning transformed products and half keeping it general.They discovered the subject of the talks came into play.After the game, the recycling and trash bags were weighed.Those who received a message recycled over half of their waste, while those who did not recycled less than a fifth.
All this is to say that details matter.People want to know what treasures their trash can become, and when that's laid out clearly, they' re more likely to do it.Perhaps recycling companies should redesign signs to describe the items being created.Recycling is far from a perfect solution,but it doesn't hurt to manage to improve its rates.
1. What's the function of the first paragraph?| A．To lead to the main topic. |
| B．To reflect the author's attitude. |
| C．To introduce a new recycling bin. |
| D．1 To emphasize the benefits of recycling. |
| A．Took effect. |
| B．Broke down. |
| C．Took off. |
| D．Came to mind. |
| A．Sign the names on the items. |
| B．Find perfect ways of recycling. |
| C．Examine the details of items. |
| D．Show the transformation of waste. |
| A．Sports and games. |
| B．Travel and tourism. |
| C．Entertainment and recreation. |
| D．Science and human life. |
9 . Many of us think of sharks as powerful, mysterious, and lonely as they move through the deep. And nowonder the fish have long been portrayed in popular media as lone predators, appearing out of nowhere to attack. But that image has come under inspection in recent years, as shark researchers around the world have discovered the fish gathering in large numbers and interacting with others of their own species in ways that are obviously friendly.
Yannis Papastamatiou, a marine scientist at Florida International University, and his team used acoustic transmitters to record the interactions over four years of about 40 reef sharks around Hawaii. Their study found that reef sharks return to the same communities year after year, forming clear preferences for sharks with some friendships that endured throughout the study. In his 2016 study, he found that individual sharks tagged with recording devices had thousands of interactions with their peers, with some pairs spending up to four straight days together. The study also found certain sharks were unmistakably companions. “These weren’t random associations,” he says.
Finding out why sharks socialize — and how much of their behavior is cooperative — is a challenge, but there are some clues, such as food availability and warmer waters. Great white sharks, are showing up in record numbers along southern California beaches as the population has doubled since 1994. While great white sharks typically maintain distances of about 30 feet from each other and don’t seem too close, they are clearly drawn together by a preference for the area. In some cases, there may not be an obvious purpose for shark’s friendship. At the Bimini Shark Lab, Smukall and his colleagues found that young lemon sharks sought out companionship of other sharks for no clear reason. There’s growing evidence that lemon sharks have their own personalities, which may influence whether they spend time with other sharks, he adds.
More would be known about the intimate lives of sharks if the field weren’t so new, due in part to a lack of funding and sharks’ negative reputation. “We’ve only had about 20 years to really start studying sharks,” says Smukall.
1. Why do the reef sharks return to the same groups every year?| A．To move to other places together. | B．To find a better place to lay eggs. |
| C．To change the food chain of the sea. | D．To search for the company of other fish. |
| A．Global Warming. | B．Preference for an area. |
| C．Sharks’ personalities. | D．Food availability. |
| A．Sharks usually spend four days with their peers. |
| B．The relationship between some sharks is steady. |
| C．All the sharks were attached to recording devices. |
| D．Sharks have thousands of interactions every day. |
| A．Sharks always have a bad reputation. |
| B．Scientist will begin studying sharks in 20 years. |
| C．There will be a long way to go before knowing sharks completely. |
| D．It is unnecessary to put money into the research of the sharks. |
10 . There are 156 known species of glass frogs living throughout the neotropics. Recent advancements in genetics are giving researchers a revealing look into the lives of these one-inch-long tree dwellers, some of which are the size of a paper clip.
Scientists have discovered, for example, that male glass frogs in some species are stellar parents — a rare trait among vertebrates (脊椎动物). Males of at least 24 species not only protect their eggs from predators but also actively care for them. While the embryos (胚胎) develop, males of some species, such as the sun glass frog sit atop their egg clutch "like a chicken," keeping the eggs hydrated until they hatch into tadpoles (蝌蚪).
New research is also discovering how the glass frog's transparent belly forms. It's suspected that young glass frogs physically rearrange the insides of their cells and tissues to become transparent adults. Fluid between the tissue cells may also contain a substance that allows light to travel through.
Another mechanism that may allow glass frogs to blend into the green leaves on which they doze during the day is called "a biological mirror", a kind of shield or covering of crystals in many of their tissues, which reflects up to 30 percent of the light that normally reaches them. Those crystals amplify the light signal, and the frog's green looks brighter.
Many scientists studying glass frogs arc motivated by the fact that some of their subjects are disappearing—and fast. Agriculture, cattle grazing, and mining projects in the Andes are taking over the frogs' already fractured forest homes.
"As soon as they are discovered, many species are declared endangered," Guayasamin, a biologist in Ecuador, says "yet there could be an advantage in conserving such isolated ponulanons." All could be inspired to work together to set aside frog-rich patches of land as reserves, ensuring that these delicate creatures have a solid chance at survival.
1. What can we know about glass frogs?| A．They are regarded dangerous. | B．They are small animals. |
| C．They are of different colors. | D．They live in the water. |
| A．Strange. | B．Ambitious. |
| C．Excellent. | D．Different. |
| A．They physically change their cells. | B．They contain transparent fluid. |
| C．Crystals in their tissues reflect light. | D．Light signal makes them greener. |
| A．Stopping cattle grazing. | B．Building frog reserves. |
| C．Improving frog popularity. | D．Planting more forest trees. |
