1 .

Panda Ya Ya returns home

Ya Ya the giant panda has just arrived in Shanghai, east China on Thursday after 20 years of stay at the Memphis Zoo in the U.S. The flight was around 15.5 hours. Both Chinese and American vets are with Ya Ya.

Ya Ya was born at Beijing Zoo on August 3, 2000. She arrived at Memphis Zoo in April, 2003. Ya Ya has become a bridge of friendship between Chinese and foreign people. She will spend a month in Shanghai before returning to her birthplace, Beijing Zoo.

We do hope all pandas that are in foreign countries can be healthy and happy.

Did you know…?

Baby pandas are born pink and measure about 15cm-that’s about the size of a pencil

Giant pandas spend up to 12 hours a day eating bamboo.

Pandas live for about 20 years in the wild, but in the zoos they can live for up to 35 years.

1. Ya Ya was born in _______.

A．Beijing

B．Chengdu

C．Shanghai `

D．Guangzhou

2. What color are new-born pandas?

A．Black and white.

B．Pink.

C．Yellow.

D．Gray.

3. Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

A．Ya Ya spend up to 10 hours a day eating bamboo.	B．Shanghai Zoo is Ya Ya’s final home.
C．Ya Ya had a short flight coming back home.	D．Ya Ya helps foreigners know more about China.

4. This passage is _______.

A．a piece of news

B．an ad

C．a diary

D．a letter

2 . I was mostly based in Samburu National Reserve, recording details of the population and leading collar (颈圈) operations. We put trackers (跟踪仪) around wild elephants’necks, so we can learn about their activities.

In May 2009, in the middle of the wet season, Rommel appeared again. And it was histurn to be placed a collar. We sent three cars out to search for him. There’s a river running through the park where many elephants gather in the mornings. At 10:30 am, one of my partners clocked Rommel.

A tranquillizer (镇静剂) was carefully shot into his body so we could safely place a collaron him, but for a bull of Rommel’s size it could take longer. After that, he turned away, heading in an unexpected direction and seemed to be near danger by killing himself in thewater. It would be a bad accident. Only by pulling his trunk (象鼻) from the river, could weensure his survival. The problem was that the river was a little bit changeable. Immediately, I decided to act. I jumped in and lifted his heavy, twitching trunk from the water with the help of lifeguards. The team tried to fit him with a collar, but we discovered that we didn’t have one big enough.

We couldn’t risk keeping him there while we created a bigger collar. So I struggled on, holding his trunk high with all my strength. And medicine that took away the efforts of the tranquillizer was delivered.

As soon as his ears started to move, a sign of coming to life, I dropped his trunk and moved to safety. Within a couple of minutes, he was back to life. That was one of my proudest moments

1. What is the purpose of putting trackers around wild elephants’necks?

A．To record their sizes.	B．To know their activities.
C．To control and train them.	D．To save them from danger.

2. Why was it necessary to shoot tranquilizer into Rommel’s body?

A．To sent him to a zoo.	B．To treat his wounds.
C．To place a collar on him safely.	D．To check his health.

3. What did the author do to ensure Rommel’s survival?

A．He gave him certain medicine.	B．He lifted his trunk out of water.
C．He performed an operation on him.	D．He called other members for help.

4. What kind of feeling did the author have after Rommel’s coming to life?

A．Pride.

B．Surprise.

C．Anger.

D．Worry.

3 . A volcanic eruption (火山喷发) created a new but possibly changeable island in the middle of the South Pacific Ocean. An underwater volcano next to the Kingdom of Tonga erupted in early September, causing lava (岩浆) to rise to the surface. The steam (蒸汽) and water out of it then formed into a new land mass, measuring at over eight acres.

The Home Reef seamount is the place where the volcano erupted on September 10th, 2022. NASA’s Earth Observatory noted that it took about eleven hours for the land mass torise out of the water. The agency published an image that has spread on social media that shows the size of the new unnamed island.

Over the weekend, the Tonga Geological Services stated the island was about 8.6 acresand measured about 50 feet above sea level. While volcanic activities continued to plague the Home Reef, only a couple of neighboring the Tonga islands were at low risk. “All sailors are, however, advised to sail beyond 4 kilometers away from Home Reef until further notice,” officials with the Tonga Geological Services noted in a statement.

Underwater volcanic eruptions near Tonga that led to new islands,although uncommon, have happened a few times over the last two centuries, including in 1852, 1857, 1984 and 2006. However, NASA’s Earth Observatory showed that many of these volcanic islands existed only for a few months or years.

“Islands created by undersea volcanoes often last only for a short time, though very few sometimes last for years. Home Reef has had four recorded periods of eruptions, including events in 1852 and 1857,” the agency noted. “An island created by a 12-day eruption from nearby Late’iki volcano in 2020 was washed away after two months, while an earlier island created in 1995 by the same volcano remained for 25 years.”

1. What’s the main idea of paragraph 1?

A．How the lava rose to the surface.	B．How an unnamed island formed.
C．Why an unnamed island disappeared.	D．Why an underwater volcano erupted.

2. What does the underlined word “plague” mean in paragraph 3?

A．Change.

B．Trouble.

C．Control.

D．Measure.

3. Which of the following best describes the islands created by undersea volcanoes?

A．Short-lived.

B．Common.

C．Fast-growing.

D．Huge.

4. What is the best title for the text?

A．Tonga Islands Are At Risk

B．Underwater Volcano Creates New Island In The Pacific

C．NASA Made New Discoveries In The Pacific

D．Volcanic Eruption Ruins Neighboring Tonga Islands

4 . My mom is one of the least wasteful people I know. She often brings her basket to the market to carry food.     1    . The key is to be creative about redesigning your behavior to cut plastic and other waste. Here are a few simple ways.

Reuse your containers

A lot of low-waste solutions require buying special containers. But you don’t need to spend money on them.     2    . Maybe you can use a cola bottle to water flowers. Or maybe you can use empty boxes and other food containers to store leftovers or organize other small things.

Save what you can

There are many things in your household you can save before dropping them. Maybe you can repair an old pair of jeans instead of buying a new pair. Or maybe you can cut up old T-shirts into rags (抹布).     3    .

Depend less on pre-packaged (包装) foods

    4    . Tomatoes come in plastic containers, and some drinks come in plastic bottles. So try to source your food in ways that don’t require you to get it from a package. Instead of buying vegetables in a non-recyclable container at the store, you can try to plant a vegetable garden in your community.

    5    

Once you start noticing how much rubbish you produce at home, you can start to see places to cut down on rubbish elsewhere. Bring your own reusable fork to a restaurant that uses single-use plastic utensils (餐具). Or ask your local waiter to fill up your glass coffee cup instead of a paper one.

A．You can do much cooking at home

B．Save part of your meal for the next day

C．Often, food comes in wasteful packaging

D．Look for ways to cut waste outside the home

E．You can also live a low-waste lifestyle like this

F．You’ll save as much as you can in such a creative way

G．Instead, figure out a way to reuse the waste you have produced

5 . 听下面一段对话，回答以下小题。
1. What is the man going to do?

A．Buy some bird food.

B．Feed birds in the garden.

C．Catch an unusual-color bird.

2. What does the man ask the woman to do?

A．Join the organization.

B．Find the habitats of some species.

C．Help him recognize birds.

6 . 阅读下面短文，在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

The red panda, also called red cat-bear, has soft and thick fur with a red-brown stripe (条纹) from each eye to the corners of the mouth. Its body     1     (long) is about 50—65cm and its front legs are slightly     2     (short) than the back legs, which gives it a bit of a waddle (摇晃) when it walks.

The red panda lives in an area     3     rocks and trees can be found. It seems to do most of its feeding on the ground. It is gentle and can easily     4     (keep) in the zoo.

About two     5     (three) of the red panda’s diet is made up of bamboo. Red pandas do a lot of eating so providing plenty of food is important. There must be plenty of trees for them     6     (climb) and sleep too.

The red panda can live together     7     (peace) with other pandas. Most of their activity happens at night, during sunrise or sunset.

Now red pandas are     8     danger. Their main threat (威胁) is the disappearance of the forests and habitat loss. These     9     (animal) are also illegally hunted, and the number of them     10     (drop) by 50% in the past forty years.

7 . Tall, long-necked giraffes are famous for their spots which are believed to help the animals hide from their enemies. Just like no two humans have the same fingerprints, each giraffe has its own special pattern of spots. However, a Tennessee zoo made headlines recently after it welcomed one of the world’s most uncommon giraffes.

On July 31, a baby giraffe was born at Brights Zoo with light brown fur which is a reticulated (网状的) giraffe, one of the four different kinds of giraffes. Unlike most giraffes, she was born without spots, a unique feature of the reticulated giraffe. At six feet tall, this baby giraffe is growing well under her mother’s care. She shows typical baby giraffe behavior, such as eating rocks.

Experts said the young giraffe was the only single-colored reticulated giraffe living anywhere on the planet. The last time this happened was 1972 in Japan. A giraffe’s pattern of spots is created when the animal is still growing inside its mother. That means that this giraffe will never have spots.

“The new giraffe might not have survived if she had been born in the wild. Being single-colored, she may not be able to hide quite as well,” said Mr. David Bright, who runs the zoo, “It will easily be a key target for poachers (偷猎者) because she’s so unusual.”

Brights Zoo stressed that reticulated giraffes had already become imperiled. In 2018, they were officially listed as “threatened”. Thirty-five years ago, there were 36,000 reticulated giraffes. Now, the number has been cut by more than 50%. Only about 16,000 reticulated giraffes remain.

This brown giraffe’s birth is not only a rare and fascinating event, but also an opportunity to raise awareness about the challenges faced by giraffes in the wild. By supporting efforts like this, we can contribute to the conservation of these large creatures and ensure their survival for generations to come.

1. What do we know about the spots of giraffes?

A．They help protect giraffes.	B．They are the same pattern.
C．They look like giraffes’ footprints.	D．They appear on giraffes occasionally.

2. What makes the young giraffe born at Brights Zoo special?

A．Its extremely large size.	B．Its light brown fur.
C．Its unusual eating habit.	D．Its absence of spots.

3. What does the underlined word “imperiled” mean in paragraph 5?

A．Recognized.

B．Endangered.

C．Doubled.

D．Balanced.

4. Which word can best describe the birth of the young giraffe?

A．Awkward.

B．Worrying.

C．Meaningful.

D．Foreseeable.

8 . For the past four years I had been having up to 30 seizures (癫痫发作) a day. It made me _________ a lot.

Despite _________ visits to hospitals, no doctor could tell me the cause of it. At night, my family had to check on me just in case I wasn’t _________. So I could never be in a room alone and as a 21-year-old young man, I was finding the lack of _________ getting me down.

One day, my friend Kerri asked if I wanted an assistance dog. I knew there were guide dogs for the _________, but I wasn’t sure how a dog could help me. A few days later, Kerri told me she’d done some search and found a company “Dogs For Life”. From the website of the company, I _________ that they teach dogs to smell a chemical change in the body and _________ people when a seizure is about to _________.

Soon after, I _________ Baloo, a dog trained by Dogs For Life. It sat silently in the corner. As I sat down, Baloo suddenly __________ and jumped on me. Minutes later, I had a seizure. It had __________ the chemical changes in my body and tried to warn me. It was by my side until the __________ came. Instantly, I knew it was a good __________ for me, and I took her back home.

It’s __________ my life more than a handful of times and I couldn’t be more __________ for it.

1.

A．think

B．hide

C．suffer

D．learn

2.

A．personal

B．countless

C．formal

D．impressive

3.

A．sleeping

B．working

C．replying

D．breathing

4.

A．warmth

B．fun

C．safety

D．independence

5.

A．deaf

B．blind

C．injured

D．elderly

6.

A．wrote

B．learnt

C．overheard

D．planned

7.

A．warn

B．attract

C．follow

D．hit

8.

A．burn out

B．break in

C．come on

D．drop by

9.

A．saved

B．addressed

C．met

D．invited

10.

A．rose

B．lay

C．struggled

D．played

11.

A．sensed

B．caused

C．touched

D．cried

12.

A．action

B．attack

C．guide

D．help

13.

A．boss

B．teacher

C．partner

D．listener

14.

A．risked

B．stopped

C．kept

D．saved

15.

A．thankful

B．anxious

C．excited

D．patient

9 . 听下面一段独白，回答小题。
1. What was the advantage of the clothes made of plastic?

A．They didn’t wear out easily.

B．They were easy to wash.

C．They were comfortable.

2. Why were the plastic toys a good idea for some mothers?

A．They were colorful.

B．Kids preferred them.

C．They were cheap.

3. What is talked about at the end of the speech?

A．The excitement caused by plastic.

B．The harmful side of plastic.

C．Different uses of plastic.

10 . It happens in every disaster (灾难): For those in need, people often donate (捐赠) things that turn out to be more of a trouble.

Juanita Rilling remembers it happened in 1988 when she was a disaster expert trying to help people suffering from a hurricane (飓风) in Honduras. “One morning I received a call from one of our logistic operators (物流运营商), and he explained to me that there was a plane carrying medical supplies that needed to land,” says Rilling. “But the ground was full, with lots of donations that no one had required. The plane—full of needed supplies—had to find someplace else to go. And it ended up stopping everyone’s plans by about 48 hours, which is important time in a disaster.”

Rilling now runs the Center for International Disaster Information, which is trying to make sure things like that don’t happen again. So when Superstorm Sandy hit, Rilling’s group started a project to encourage money donation. “Even a small donation can make a big difference and can quickly become exactly what people affected by a disaster need most,” Rilling says. But despite this, donators do that over and over. About 60% of the things donated after a disaster couldn’t be used. Often it’s old clothing or food.

Meghan Hara, who deals with kind donations for the American Red Cross, says she knows that some people are careful with giving money. And she doesn’t think that the need to give something concrete (实物) should be completely stopped.

“Part of what people are doing is that they’re helping, and they’re trying to help. What we need to work out is how to effectively deal with that,” Hara says.

1. What caused needed supplies to be put off after the hurricane in 1988?

A．Workers on the plane.	B．A weather report.
C．Useless donations on the ground.	D．The call from the operator.

2. What did Rilling’s group suggest donating when Superstorm Sandy hit?

A．Clothing.

B．Money.

C．Medicine.

D．Food.

3. What is Meghan Hara’s attitude towards donating concrete things?

A．Supportive.

B．Doubtful.

C．Uncaring.

D．Worried.

4. What might the author continue talking about?

A．Studies on natural disasters.

B．The benefits of helping others.

C．Tips on choosing useful donations.

D．The ways of managing people’s donations.