Could the Moon Help Fuel the Earth?
Fossil fuels have been powering the earth for over 200 years, but reserves of coal, crude oil (原油) and natural gas may run out one day.
The long-term solution may lie nearly half of a million kilometers away on the moon. It contains large quantities of helium-3 (氦-3), a form of gas that could
“The real
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“Sophie would make a good therapy(治疗) dog.”
The day my dog trainer said those words, I didn’t even know what a therapy dog was. I certainly had no idea what features my little dog had that would make her a candidate. But why not, I thought, if we can help people in need of some cheering up?
Last week, I accompanied Sophie to a hospital for our first day on the job. In the year and a half I had spent getting her certified, I had learned what to expect. I would bring Sophie into a patient’s room to be a pleaser, and then we would move on. Of course, Sophie herself couldn’t understand her purpose in all of this, but she was always happy to meet new people, and that was enough.
We walked through the wide automatic sliding glass doors and into the hall, where we were met by a nurse who ran the therapy dog program at the hospital. “Welcome,” Sophie, she said. “I’ll be taking you two around today.”
I followed the nurse down the hall. Sophie trotted (小跑) along at my side, just as she had been trained. “We’re a care unit,” the nurse explained. “Most of our patients are seniors.” I knew how important it was for Sophie to be her gentlest. “She was trained and ready for this, I reminded myself.
Up ahead was an old lady making her way down the hall with a walker. A nurse walked beside her, holding on to a gait belt (步态训练带)to keep her steady. We caught up with them, but the patient remained focused on her walker. As we were passing by at a safe distance, the lady turned her walker towards a chair against the wall. “Okay, we’ll stop for a rest,” her nurse said. Once the lady was settled, she pointed a finger at Sophie, as if to say “Please bring me that dog.”
注意：
1. 续写词数应为150左右；
2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
I picked up Sophie and placed her in the lady’s lap.
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“It’s a wonder! We had thought the lady lost the ability to speak,” the nurse told me excitedly.
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1．宣传片中城市景点介绍设计；
2．推荐原因及创新点。
注意：1．词数100左右；
2．可适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
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Last week I visited a small village to see the brown bears, what come to the villages at night to look at food. I waited with some tourist. As it grew dark, we see the huge black shapes of the bears. Those clever bears knew where to go for its dinner: the rubbish where there was lots of food people have thrown away. Although it’s wonderful to see the bears in the village, but it can only mean one thing: their habitat is disappearing. They would prefer to stay hiding in the mountain forests, but the trees have cut down for firewood. However, they cannot find enough food any more.
5 . Masses of ocean plastic are providing artificial habitat (栖息地) for otherwise coastal species, according to a new study published in Nature Communications. The study’s authors observed floating water bottles, old toothbrushes and waste fishing nets. The possibility exists that species may be evolving to better adapt to life on plastic.
A decade ago, marine researchers believed coastal species could not survive a trip across the inhospitable open ocean. Yet Japan’s 2011 tsunami (海啸), which sent some 300 species of Asian marine life riding floating plastic garbage onto North American shores, disproved that assumption.
Ocean plastic is “creating opportunities for coastal species’ biogeography to greatly expand beyond what we previously thought was possible”, Linsey Haram, a researcher and co-author of the study, said in a report.
The concept of species-covered plastic may sound like the story of ocean species’ victory in spite of human pollution. But that’s not quite the case, explains Juan José Alava, PhD, an expert at the University of British Columbia. In addition to transporting non-native species to new habitats where they may become invasive and destructive, the plastic is “basically an ecological trap”, says Alava. “That’s because small species on the floating structure may attract bigger animals to come for food. When these creatures enter garbage areas for food, they run a high risk of eating and/or becoming caught in plastic and dying.”
While scientists have found some types of bacteria (细菌) are able to break down plastic, thereby cleaning up garbage, it’s unlikely that the marine animals will have any such effect. “The 2021 UN report was clear that the increasing plastic pollution is putting the health of all the world’s oceans and seas at risk,” says Alava.
1. What does the underlined word “inhospitable” in Paragraph 2 mean?| A．Easy-to-spot. | B．Up-to-standard. |
| C．Down-to-earth. | D．Hard-to-stay. |
| A．Putting them at greater risk. |
| B．Causing them to grow bigger. |
| C．Enabling them to live in new habitats. |
| D．Freeing them from getting endangered. |
| A．It increases some creatures’ curiosity. |
| B．It causes damage to all marine species. |
| C．It creates habitats for larger creatures. |
| D．It leads to the death of some creatures. |
| A．Ocean plastic must be dealt with. |
| B．It’s OK to throw plastic into the ocean. |
| C．Marine life may adapt to ocean plastic. |
| D．Ocean plastic may be cleaned up soon. |
6 . The fishermen of Senegal have joined forces to protect one of the ocean’s most endangered species — the sea turtle, a classic case of “poacher turned gamekeeper”.
The coastal waters of Senegal in West Africa are home to several species of sea turtles which are all beautiful creatures but are affected by pollution, poaching and even fishing nets.
“Once we were the biggest eaters of turtles, now we have become their biggest protectors,” said Abdou Karim Sall, a fisherman who led the Management Committee for the Marine Protected Are (MPA) of Joal-Fadiouth.
The Joal-Fadiouth MPA, covering about 174 square kilometers, was founded in 2004, and it’s backed by the government, local authorities and several associations. It is an area aimed at protecting marine ecosystem, habitats and species, including endangered species like the sea turtle. Its benefits are obvious: maintaining biodiversity, increasing fish catches on fishing grounds, as well as economic development.
For a long time, Sall has been working to raise local awareness of sea turtle protection. “Even former turtle sellers have been ‘changed’ by receiving three small boats to take tourists to sea,” he said. Instead of strict restrictions, the Joal-Fadiouth MPA has been trying to educate local communities about the economic benefits so that they would join the project. “It’s after they are told: ‘It’s an endangered species’,” Sall said.
Local residents have also set out to protect the nests. During summer and fall, a few dozen turtles may stop to lay eggs on the beaches of Joal-Fadiouth. MPA agents and village volunteers protest their nests with fences. “People come at 6 a. m. so that other animals do not take the young.” said Sall.
Sall added the number of turtles had decreased by about 30% in the past 20 years, and chances of survival of a young turtle were no higher than one in a thousand. But the fisherman-conservator agreed, “Awareness has not worked 100%.”
1. What do the underlined words “poacher turned gamekeeper” in Paragraph 1 probably refer to?| A．A person beginning to hunt animals illegally. |
| B．A person switching from a hunter to a protector. |
| C．A person changing completely from good to bad. |
| D．A person continuing to protect endangered species. |
| A．Building more nests for turtles to lay eggs. |
| B．Publicizing the economic benefits of the project. |
| C．Placing strict restrictions to educate the communities. |
| D．Providing different means of transportation for turtle sellers. |
| A．The measures the MPA will take in the future. |
| B．The argument about the Marine Protected Area. |
| C．The danger sea turtles still face from fishermen. |
| D．The benefits brought by the Marine Protected Area. |
| A．Fishermen of Senegal have joined together to protect sea turtles. |
| B．Sea turtles in Senegal are endangered because of human activities. |
| C．The situation of sea turtles in Senegal has been improves significantly. |
| D．The Marine Protected Area has played an important role in protecting sea turtles. |
7 . One bird may not make a summer but seeing or hearing birds does improve mental wellbeing, a ground-breaking study in the journal Scientific Reports has found.
Researchers tracked 1, 292 participants’ everyday encounters with birds last year via a smartphone app called Urban Mind. Over the course of two weeks, the participants, from the UK, Europe, the US, China and Australia, were asked every two hours to document how they were feeling, including whether they were happy or stressed.
The researchers found that participants’ average mental wellbeing scores increased when they saw or heard birds, including among those who said they had been diagnosed (诊断) with depression.
Andrea Mechelli, professor of early intervention (干涉) in mental health at King’s College London, said that the positive effect of bird encounters on people with depression was significant because many “interventions that help so-called ‘healthy people’ don’t work for individuals with mental health issues”. Mechelli said, “We know exercise makes everyone feel better. But it’s so challenging to motivate someone with depression to exercise, while contact with bird life is something that, perhaps, is feasible.”
Adrian Thomas, the author of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds’ Guide to Birdsong, said the report’s findings came as no surprise as most people described their reaction to birdsong as joy. He added, “Birdsong would have once been the natural soundtrack to all human lives, and I do think that it is rooted somewhere deep within us. It is related with spring and good times coming, which is just one of the reasons why we need to appreciate the role of birds in our life and ensure that nature.”
1. What were the participants asked to do?| A．To keep track of birds. | B．To keep record of moods. |
| C．To report health issues. | D．To analyze feeling changes. |
| A．Practicable. | B．Inspiring. | C．Measurable. | D．Effective. |
| A．Potential application of the research results. | B．A reasonable doubt to the research question. |
| C．Detailed descriptions of the research process. | D．A further explanation of the research findings. |
| A．Bird watching activity. | B．Stress relief methods. |
| C．Bird protection campaign. | D．Mental health treatment. |
1. What is the conversation mainly about?
| A．Fighting fires. | B．Detecting fires. | C．Using fires. |
| A．Around 50. | B．About 400. | C．Over 8600. |
| A．Size of a car. | B．Size of a plane. | C．Size of a sports field. |
| A．Saving animals. | B．Saving the trees. | C．Saving humans. |
10 . Our planet is an amazing place, but it needs our help to thrive! That’s why each year on April 22, more than a billion people celebrate Earth Day to protect the planet from things like pollution and deforestation. You can celebrate and protect the planet at the same time.
Become a waste warrior
The number of garbage trucks Americans fill each year would stretch halfway to the moon. Toilet paper tubes, made from cardboard, take two months to decompose in a landfill. A plastic bottle sticks around for way longer and
Plant a tree
It might seem like it’s everywhere, but clean, drinkable water is a limited resource. In fact, less than one percent of the water on Earth can be used by humans. (The rest is either too salt y or too difficult to access. ) Turning off the faucet when you brush your teeth can conserve up to eight gallons of water a day.
Offer your time
With a parent’s permission, volunteer to pick up trash at a nearby park, start a collection drive for recyclable items, or organize a screening of an environmentally themed movie.
The more people do, the better off our planet will be!
| A．Turn off the light |
| B．By getting involved and working with others |
| C．it can take over 450 years to break down |
| D．Limit your water usage |
| E．To help save even more water, challenge yourself to take a shorter shower |
| F．Check out these Earth Day ideas to help save the planet any time of year |
| G．Researchers estimate roughly 15 billion trees in the world are cut down each year |
