1 . When Richard Oswald was growing up in northwestern Missouri in the 1950s, his dad had a firm rule: Don’t plant corn until mid-May. But that rule has become a relic of the past. In Rock Port, a small farming community near the Nebraska border, the growing season now begins more than a month earlier.
That’s not surprising. Across much of the US, winter is not as cold as it used to be. The four warmest Januaries on record have all occurred since 2016. In Missouri, winters are about 4 degrees hotter on average than in 1970-and farmers are starting to feel the effects.
As the planet continues to warm, cold winter weather will become less common, said Amy Butler, a re-search scientist studying climate variability. “However, less cold does not mean never cold.” Butler said. In the past decade, Liz Graznak’s organic vegetable farm near Columbia, Missouri, has endured increasingly extreme swings in weather. “We don’t get a couple of inches of snow; we get 18 inches of snow all at once and then in five days, it’ s 70 degrees again.” Graznak said. “We don’t get a couple of inches of rain; we get a 12-inch downpour in the span of 24 hours. That’s devastating(毁灭性的)to a vegetable farm.”
To help protect her crops, Graznak has built four large greenhouses on her property in just over a decade. Inside, she’s able to grow delicate, high-value crops, including flowers, lettuce and spinach.
But these greenhouses come at a steep cost. Nearly seven years ago, Graznak spent more than $18,000 to build a greenhouse and since then, the price has more than doubled. “When I think about these costs, in my brain, I say, ‘OK, how many heads of lettuce is that?’” She said. “I know I can sell a head of lettuce for $4, so how many heads of lettuce do I have to sell to be able to pay for that greenhouse? And that’s a lot of lettuce.”
1. What does the author want to show by telling Richard Oswald’s story?| A．New farmers should learn to farm on their own. |
| B．New farmers aren’t as experienced as old ones. |
| C．Following traditional farming rules is essential. |
| D．Climate change is changing farming rules. |
| A．Many extreme weather events. |
| B．A winter without any cold days. |
| C．Less snow and rain on the whole. |
| D．More stable temperature than before. |
| A．The profits of her farm have increased. |
| B．She has lost hope in the future of farming. |
| C．The cost of farming has greatly increased. |
| D．Budgeting is important in modern farming. |
| A．Farmers in the US are troubled by floods |
| B．Farmers are worried about the future of farming |
| C．Farmers are feeling climate change’s effect in the US |
| D．Farmers are turning to greenhouses due to climate change |
2 . Anxious Animals
Our pets can get stressed by many things such as new places, changes in routine, new people, new additions like a baby or another pet to the home, and loud noises such as fireworks.
• Yawning
• Panting—with a curled tongue
• Pacing back and forth
• Licking their lips
• Ears pinned back
• Dilated pupils or red around eyes
• Whites of eyes showing (whale eye)
• Loss of appetite
• Backing away from someone
• Tail tucked between their legs
• Cowering (shrinking or crouching)
• Diarrhoea or more toileting
• Shivering (not cold or excited)
• Growling, flashing teeth, snapping or biting.
HOW TO HELP:
Give your pet time away
Avoiding or removing your dog from a stressful situation will help. Create a space away from children or a bed for them where they won’t get disturbed.
Exercise your dog
Stay nice and calm
Many dogs are very sensitive to their owner’s emotions and react to them. If your dog is stressed, keep calm and don’t panic or raise your voice as this might add to your pet’s stress levels.
This can help keep their mind focused and distracted from things they find stressful.
| A．How to tell if your dog is stressed and what to do |
| B．Keep your dog entertained |
| C．Signs a dog might be feeling stressed or anxious include |
| D．The signs can be easily missed or misunderstood by the animal’s owner |
| E．These mean they urgently want something to stop |
| F．As dogs have a strong sense of smell, changes to the smell of their home can concern them as well. |
| G．Dogs love their walks! |
3 . Mei Xiang, 25, Tian Tian, 26, and their 3-year-old son, Xiao Qi Ji, packed their bamboo and left for China on Wednesday, making D.C. panda-less for the first time in 23 years.
The trio’s departure followed months of goodbyes: a nine-day “Panda Palooza” celebration, final visits by generations of panda fans and one couple’s return to the scene of their 2016 engagement at the zoo’s panda house. And as with many breakups, the longer the relationship, the deeper the heartbreak.
Now all that’s left of those three bears are memories and mementos. Washington Post reporters gathered some of the items that symbolize the connection D.C.’s panda fans have felt to the animals for the past 51 years. They talked to some of the people who are deeply affected by the animals’ departure, and what they’re doing to stash their cherished memories away.
Soon after Yael Krigman moved her bakery, Baked by Yael, into a space across from the National Zoo’s entrance in 2015, people began to ask her for panda-related treats. Thus the panda cake pop was born. As time went on, the cake pops became a pillar (支柱) of her brand. Even with the pandas gone, Krigman said, the cake pops will remain.“The pandas are super cute, but their departure is not going to put us out of business,” she said.
Still, it’s possible fewer people will visit the zoo — and surrounding shops — after the pandas’ departure, said Robert Meins, executive director of Woodley Park Main Street.“You know, the more diverse and the more interesting the offerings that the zoo has, the more people will come — it’s that simple,” he said.
LiLLiES has been making “panda pancakes” since the restaurant opened in 2011, said Ryan Raihan, a manager there. When it opened, kids in panda hats and T-shirts would run in and order the pancakes.But splitting up with the pandas affects more than the restaurant’s brunch orders.“This hurts,” Raihan said. “They’re a huge part of our culture and our neighborhood. It’s not even about the financial gain or loss that is going to happen because of their leaving.”
1. What is NOT offered in the surrounding shops and restaurants of the National Zoo?| A．panda pancakes | B．panda cake pops | C．panda mementos | D．Bamboo-related treats |
| A．books | B．movies | C．treats | D．souvenirs |
| A．indifferent | B．delighted | C．heartbroken | D．outraged |
| A．Packing away our panda memories | B．A panda-less Woodley Park |
| C．Champions of conservation | D．Business depression in the National Park |
4 . Amsterdam, with its scenic canals lined with picturesque, 17th-and 18th-century buildings, a major European tourist destination, is slowly collapsing.
Sinkholes are appearing in small streets, and nearly half its 1,700 bridges are unstable and need repairs. The fundamental problem is the state of the canal walls: about 125 miles of them are so broken that they are in danger of collapsing into the canals, potentially taking buildings and people with them. As a huge project to shore up the canal walls gets underway, the city is beginning to look like one huge construction site.
Like much of the Netherlands, Amsterdam lies below sea level. Built on a swamp and heavily expanded in the 17th century, the city sits on millions of wooden piles that serve as foundations. As modern life changed the city, many houses were strengthened with concrete, but the foundations of streets and canal walls were ignored. Many of the wooden piles have shifted, cracked or collapsed under the pressure, causing bridges and can al side walls to sink and crack. Water then seeps in, washing away mortar(砂浆), further hollowing out the infrastructure and creating sinkholes.
The alderman, Mr. De Vries, said that if the city had continued to ignore the problem, it would have headed straight for a catastrophe. The reconstruction will take at least 20 years and will cost 2 billion euros, perhaps even more. “These are big numbers, and work needs to take place in a very busy, closely-populated area,” Mr. De Vries said. “People live here and work here, and we usually have many tourists.”
He acknowledged that Amsterdam in the coming years would look different from its usual postcard self. Still, he insisted that tourists should not be discouraged from visiting. “We invite everyone to come and see what we are doing,” he said. “We want visitors to realize that such a magnificent city needs maintenance.”
1. What problem does Amsterdam face?| A．Collapsed buildings pose a threat to tourists. |
| B．Bridges under construction disturb citizens’ life. |
| C．The canal walls are in danger of falling down. |
| D．Many old streets are in badly need of being widened. |
| A．Ways of building canal walls. |
| B．Causes of sinkholes in Amsterdam. |
| C．The effects of broken bridges on the city. |
| D．The geographical features of Amsterdam. |
| A．It is costly. |
| B．It demands more than three decades. |
| C．It is a huge and dangerous task. |
| D．It will promote local employment. |
| A．The city will no longer be as magnificent as it used to be. |
| B．Modernity is usually achieved at a cost of the environment. |
| C．Maintenance and tourism should continue at the same time. |
| D．Repairs have become a serious obstacle to the city’s growth. |
5 . A new study has found that light pollution is making the night sky brighter and the stars dimmer (暗淡的). The study examined data from more than 50, 000 citizen star watchers across the world, It found that man-made, or artificial lighting is making the night sky about 10 percent brighter each year. Data for the study was collected from 2011 to 2022.
The result was a much faster rate of change than scientists had estimated in the past. As cities expand and put up more lights, a “skyglow” is created in the sky. Skyglow is a term scientists use to describe light that becomes more intense. The research team gave an example to explain the result. If a child is born where 250 stars can be seen on a clear night, by the time that child turns 18, only 100 stars will be seen.
Past studies involving artificial lighting used satellite images of the Earth at night. They had estimated the yearly increase in sky brightness to be about 2 percent a year. But the satellites used are not able to identify light with wavelengths toward the blue end of the spectrum (光谱) — including light given off by energy-effective LED bulbs. The researchers noted that more than half the new outdoor lights put in across the United States during the past 10 years have been LED lights. The satellites are also better at finding light that gets spread upward like a spotlight than light that spreads out from side to side, Kyba said.
“Migratory songbirds normally use starlight to orient (确定方向) where they are in the sky at night,” said Georgetown University biologist Emily Williams. She was not part of the study. And when sea turtle babies hatch, they use light to orient toward the ocean — light pollution is a huge deal for them.
Falchi, the physicist at the University of Santiago de Compostela, said part of what is being lost is a universal human experience. “The night sky caused the generations before ours to have exciting new ideas or made them want to create something, especially in art, music, science and literature,” he added.
1. What does the new study find according to Paragraph 1?| A．Stars are observed by more citizens. |
| B．Stars are much brighter than in the past. |
| C．Light pollution continues to darken stars. |
| D．Light makes the night sky more beautiful. |
| A．To highlight an experiment. |
| B．To present an assumption. |
| C．To clarify a concept. |
| D．To explain the result of artificial light. |
| A．By the moonlight. | B．By the starlight. |
| C．By the sunlight. | D．By the spotlight. |
| A．Inspirational. | B．Mysterious. | C．Awesome. | D．Scared. |
6 . It’s a common belief that cats hate water. They don’t beg to play with water or jump in a pond or pool like dogs do. But what makes them hate one of the most plentiful substances on Earth? They have to drink it to survive, so what’s the big deal?
The easy answer is that they’re just not used to being wet. Cats clean themselves by licking (舔), so humans don’t usually bother to introduce them to bathing in water the way we do with dogs. Show cats, for example, to learn very early on to take baths and they don’t have that typical fear of water. If you want a cat that likes water, introduce it as a kitten to the idea that water is nice. Ideally, you start introducing them to water during their socialization period before they reach l6 weeks old.
The cat’s preference for bathing itself without any help from humans is another factor in its dislike of water. All that licking means cats have little oil buildup on their fur. Oil helps avoid water, so when cats do get wet, the water soaks all the way down to their skin. It makes their fur feel heavy and they can feel less quick and flexible.
We also use water for punishment. When they jump on the counter or lick our bowl of yogurt, or scratch (抓) the arm of the couch, we often spray (喷洒) them with water. It works because it’s an unpleasant surprise. It’s cold and uncomfortable, so they stop the behavior we don’t want them to do and run off to stare at us from a distance.
But not all cats hate all water. Big cats — like tigers — often even go for a dip. Even house cats like to drink from running water or play at the edge of a filled bathtub. They seem to enjoy the splashy noise and the sparkle of light on the water’s surface. Some breeds of pet cats even like to swim!
1. Why do cats hate water according to the text?| A．They don’t need any water. |
| B．Water is harmful to their health. |
| C．Being wet makes them uncomfortable. |
| D．Their masters forbid their playing with water. |
| A．Introduce water to cats when they are young. |
| B．Stop cats cleaning themselves by licking. |
| C．Let cats take baths with water like dogs. |
| D．Try to spray them with water. |
| A．It would wander about looking for food. |
| B．It would expect love and care from its master. |
| C．It would enjoy the cool feeling of being wet and cold. |
| D．It would feel angry about being sprayed. |
| A．How do people punish cats? |
| B．Why do most cats hate water? |
| C．When is the best time for cats to bathe? |
| D．What is the difference between cats and dogs? |
7 . A dinosaur footprint found by a four-year-old girl on a Welsh beach has been regarded as the “finest find in a decade” by experts.
Lily Wilder was walking her dog with her family at Bendricks Beach in Barry when she spotted the fossilized (石化的) footprint in the rocks. Her mother said that after making the find, she uploaded a picture to Facebook and was shocked to receive a “huge response” from fossil hunters. Mrs. Wilder then contacted National Museum Wales, who advised her to take down the post to avoid a wild rush of fossil fans towards the protected section of land.
The 110-mm footprint fossil has now been legally detached, after permission was given by the landowners and Natural Resources Wales, and is currently in safekeeping. The footprint fossil, believed to be around 220 million years old, will be taken to National Museum Wales, on a temporary or permanent basis.
Cindy Howells, who arranged for the legal removal of the footprint, said: “This is an amazing discovery. It’s the best-preserved footprint fossil that’s ever been found in South Wales-normally they’re hollow (中空的) or less well-defined, but on this one you can see the claws (爪子) and the points at the end. This discovery is unique and worth protecting — we will be studying the footprint and it will teach us a lot more about dinosaur feet and their bone and muscle structure.”
The footprint is believed to be that of a meat-eating dinosaur from the early days when dinosaurs were first starting to evolve (进化), around 10 million years after dinosaurs first emerged on Earth.
Lily, who now plans to get more dinosaur toys, will forever be named as the footprint fossil’s finder and will be invited into the museum once it reopens.
1. Why was Mrs. Wilder advised to take down her post?| A．To avoid misleading fossil hunters. | B．To block out negative responses online. |
| C．To keep her daughter from being exposed. | D．To protect the footprint from fossil fans. |
| A．Named. | B．Purchased. | C．Removed. | D．Recognized. |
| A．It is complete and clear. | B．It will end up in a museum. |
| C．It is around 110 million years old. | D．It belongs to a grass-eating dinosaur. |
| A．The significance of dinosaur footprints | B．The finest find in the fossil world |
| C．Little girl’s love for dinosaurs | D．Little girl’s big discovery |
First-time visitors to Chengdu may find it to be a city with rich cultural heritage. The emblem(标志) of a gold leaf,
After the discovery of the Sanxingdui Ruins in the city of Guanghan in 1929,
Chengdu’s
9 . Goldfish may seem like simple creatures swimming in a glass tank, but they possess a rather complicated navigation system, as discovered by researchers at the University of Oxford Led by Dr. Adelaide Sibeaux, the study aims to shed light on our understanding of how fish, and potentially humans, estimate distances using what could be described as an internal GPS.
Writing in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, Sibeaux and colleagues report how they created a tank in their experiment with 2cm-wide black and white vertical stripes (条纹) on the walls, connected by similar stripes across the floor. The team trained nine goldfish to swim a set distance of 70cm and then return to their starting point when waved at. The experiment aimed to investigate how the fish would estimate this distance without any gestures, under different patterns.
Over multiple trials, the goldfish averaged a swim distance of 74cm, give or take 17cm, when presented with the vertical 2cm-wide stripes. However, when the stripe pattern was altered to either narrower vertical stripes, checked patterns, or horizontal stripes, the fish’s behavior changed significantly. Narrower vertical stripes led them to overestimating the distance by 36%, while horizontal stripes resulted in highly inconsistent estimations.
According to the researchers, the goldfish appeared to be using an “optic (光学的) flow mechanism” based on the visual density of their environment. They kept track of how frequently the vertical pattern switched between black and white to estimate how far they had traveled. The study suggests that different optic flow mechanisms are used by mammals, including humans, based on angular (有角度的) motion of visual features. The study implies that the use of visually based distance information could have emerged early in the evolutionary timeline.
“This study is novel because, despite knowing that fish respond to geometric information regarding direction and distance, we don’t know how they estimate distances,” Professor Colin Lever, although not involved in the study, said, “it’s exciting to explore fish spatial mapping because fish navigation evolved earlier and better than most mammals.”
1. Why did Dr. Adelaide Sibeaux conduct the study on goldfish?| A．To test the accuracy of goldfish’s internal GPS. |
| B．To create an advanced navigation system for humans |
| C．To uncover how an inbuilt GPS helps calculate distances. |
| D．To explore the relationships between goldfish and humans |
| A．People gestured the goldfish throughout the experiment |
| B．The tank was decorated with colorful background patterns |
| C．Goldfish tended to underestimate distances with horizontal stripes. |
| D．The change in the tank setting led to the goldfish's incorrect judgment. |
| A．optic flow mechanism is unique to humans |
| B．mammals developed flow mechanism long before goldfish |
| C．goldfish evaluated the distance with multidimensional visual information |
| D．visual density of the environment strengthened the locating ability of goldfish |
| A．Neutral. | B．Ambiguous. | C．Disapproving. | D．Favorable. |
10 . Mary thought she had seen it all when it came to horse behavior, but Stardust made her
After a brief
As Jason sat there,
A doctor rushed back into the room out of breath. Jason shot Mary a
| A．confused | B．bored | C．addicted | D．excited |
| A．bother | B．quit | C．run | D．struggle |
| A．lost interest in | B．thought little of | C．got used to | D．put an end to |
| A．backside | B．forehead | C．shoulders | D．hands |
| A．Out of control | B．By chance | C．Without hesitation | D．For no reason |
| A．handshake | B．encounter | C．stay | D．talk |
| A．in | B．with | C．for | D．on |
| A．sincerely | B．anxiously | C．awkwardly | D．desperately |
| A．since | B．when | C．if | D．although |
| A．tight-lipped | B．short-sighted | C．cold-blooded | D．absent-minded |
| A．truth | B．trick | C．story | D．news |
| A．questioning | B．knowing | C．threatening | D．disapproving |
| A．barely | B．totally | C．immediately | D．unexpectedly |
| A．help | B．accept | C．believe | D．make |
| A．adorable | B．generous | C．complicated | D．extraordinary |
