1 . Over 7,000 species around the world are considered endangered. That number doesn’t even include the plants, animals, and other lifeforms that are listed by some scientists as vulnerable, critically endangered, or extinct in the wild.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) maintains the most-comprehensive list of endangered species around the world. The Red List of Threatened Species, as it’s called, judges each species on five different standards for an in-depth scientific approach. According to the IUCN, an endangered species is one that meets any one of the following criteria (标准): a 50%-70% population decrease over 10 years, a total geographic area less than 5,000 square kilometers, a population size less than 2,500 adults, a restricted population of 250 adults, or a statistical prediction that it will go extinct within the next 20 years.
Though the IUCN’s Red List covers a wide range of what qualifies as an endangered species, it doesn’t quite say how a species reaches those low points. Prepare to feel guilty: the most common factor when it comes to species decline is human intervention. Loss of habitat, the introduction of a foreign species into the environment, hunting, pollution, disease, and loss of genetic variation (基因变异) are all causes of species decline and most often are a result of human activities. Take the bald eagle for example: the rise in human population and urban development of North America limited the animal’s habitat; an increase in hunting the eagles for sport lowered their population size; and the use of the pesticide DDT on farms harmed the animal’s reproductive capabilities.
But even though humans are the number one cause of species decline, classifying species as endangered encourages action to reverse the effects of human intervention. Conservation efforts by the US Fish and Wildlife Service criminalized (使非法) the hunting of bald eagles and the use of the pesticide DDT in the mid- to late 20th century. The effect was positive, as bald eagles have been on the rise and were taken off the endangered species list in 1995.
1. Which of the following species can be considered endangered?| A．One that will go extinct within the next 50 years. |
| B．One whose population size is less than 5,000 adults. |
| C．One whose habitat is less than 2,500 square kilometers. |
| D．One whose population decreases 20% over twenty years. |
| A．The causes of species decline. |
| B．The disadvantages of the pesticide. |
| C．A list of worldwide endangered species. |
| D．Common features of endangered species. |
| A．To show its rareness. |
| B．To blame humans for its decline. |
| C．To stress its importance in nature. |
| D．To show the meaning of ranking it endangered. |
| A．Entertainment. | B．Health. | C．Science. | D．Education. |
2 . It was his final climb to reach the highest summit on all seven continents. When Christopher Kulish finally reached Mount Everest’s 29,035-foot peak, he joined a group known as the “Seven Summits Club”. But the 62-year-old Colorado lawyer died suddenly Monday after returning to the first camp below the mountain’s summit. He’s the second American to die in the past week after reaching Everest’s highest point. His family believes the cause was a heart attack.
Last week, 55-year-old Donald Cash died just after reaching the Everest peak. He also had reached the highest point on all seven continents. Including Christopher and Cash, at least 11 people have died on Mount Everest this year.
The deaths come among reports of overcrowding on the popular mountain. The Nepali government granted a total of 381 permits to climb Everest this year, a number that doesn’t include guides who are on the mountain as well. For some climbers, that traffic has meant longer wait time—some told the Himalayan Times the wait has exceeded two hours between the last camp and the peak. “When there’s a crowd, being a more experienced climber won’t help you,” Mountaineer O’Brien, who has also climbed the seven summits, said. “When a climber is stuck in that traffic, their body is starting to deteriorate (恶化) and the descent is often harder than the climb.”
“There’s no simple explanation for the string of deaths,” climbing expert Alan Arnette said. “Weather is one factor causing overcrowding. Meanwhile, the cost to climb Mount Everest has decreased, which means more people are making the journey.”
Still, Christopher was no beginner. His family said he’d been mountain climbing for five decades. He arrived at the base camp nearly two months before his climb so he could give himself time to adapt to the conditions.
His brother, Mark Kulish, described being a lawyer as a “day job” for Christopher. Climbing was his passion.
1. What made longer wait time on Mount Everest?| A．Lacking guides. | B．Overcrowding. |
| C．Bad weather. | D．Getting Government’s permission. |
| A．To wait for his friends. | B．To learn about the mountain. |
| C．To clear the traffic jam. | D．To adapt to conditions earlier. |
| A．He joined the “Seven Summits Club” at the base camp. |
| B．He has reached the highest point on all seven continents. |
| C．He died from a heart attack below the Mount Everest’s peak. |
| D．11 people following him died after reaching the Everest peak this year. |
3 . When Kurt Benirschke started collecting skin samples from endangered animals in 1972, he didn’t have a firm plan on what to do with them. As a researcher at the University of California San Diego, he believed that one day these samples would be used to save these animals. A few years later, he moved his collection to the San Diego Zoo, and called it the Frozen Zoo.
For a long time, it was the only project of its kind; however, in recent years, similar conservation efforts have spread globally, and tools that Benirschke didn’t yet have are now available. Today, the Frozen Zoo is the world’s largest animal cryobank(生物冷冻库), holding samples from over 10,500 individual animals from 1,220 species, in the hope that one day science can bring them back as a species.
The Frozen Zoo’s advanced technology is the key to its success in saving species from extinction. By using cryopreservation techniques, the zoo can store cells and tissues from endangered animals. The stored genetic material can be used for research, breeding(繁殖) programs, and potentially even cloning or genetic engineering to restore endangered species.
By protecting the genetic heritage of endangered animals, the Frozen Zoo provides hope for the survival of species that would otherwise be at risk of dying out, and the preservation of Earth’s precious biodiversity. It has inspired the establishment of similar cryobanks worldwide, expanding efforts to conserve endangered species. These cryobanks contribute to the global network of genetic resources, improving cooperation and knowledge exchange. By demonstrating the potential of technology in the preservation of biodiversity, the frozen zoo serves as a powerful tool in raising awareness and driving change.
The Frozen Zoo is like a time capsule, preserving the genetic heritage of endangered species for future generations. It reminds us about the importance of conservation and offers a window into a world that could otherwise be lost forever.
1. What do we know about the Frozen Zoo?| A．It is the world’s oldest and largest animal cryobank. |
| B．It started with a detailed plan led by Kurt Benirschke. |
| C．It is a project to explore the evolution of animal species. |
| D．It was established to protect animals in the San Diego Zoo. |
| A．By expanding their natural habitats. |
| B．By raising their survival rate with genetic technology. |
| C．By preserving their genetic material for further research. |
| D．By innovating breeding techniques to increase their population. |
| A．To stress the importance of the Frozen Zoo. |
| B．To explain the urgency of saving endangered species. |
| C．To prove the potential value of preserving biodiversity. |
| D．To show the necessity of cooperative conservation efforts. |
| A．Costly and controversial. | B．Profitable and instructive. |
| C．Conservative and effective. | D．Pioneering and significant. |
4 . Flood (洪水) Safety Guidelines (指南)
Flood (洪水) is one of the most dangerous natural disasters. It may come suddenly and sweep away (冲走) everything. It is important to learn some safety guidelines and get prepared for a flood, especially for those living near a river.
Things to do before a flood
●Move to a safe place immediately if there is an order. Prepare enough food and clean water.
Remember to prepare a first aid kit (急救箱).
Try to move to a place high enough to keep clear of floodwater. Hold to a tree or a woodblock if you are in water. Keep away from electricity.
Things not to do during a flood
Do not take too many personal things with you.
Although flood is dangerous,
| A．never give up hope |
| B．Things to do during a flood |
| C．Here are some tips on flood safety |
| D．Do not drink floodwater because it is not clean |
| E．Listen to the weather warnings (警告) firstly |
5 . Endangered polar bears are breeding (繁殖) with grizzly bears (灰熊), creating “pizzly” bears, which is being driven by climate change, scientists say.
As the world warms and Arctic sea ice thins, starving polar bears are being forced ever further south, where they meet grizzlies, whose ranges are expanding northwards. And with that growing contact between the two come increasing hybrids (杂交种).
With characteristics that could give the hybrids an advantage in warming northern habitats, some scientists guess that they could be here to stay. “Usually, hybrids aren’t better suited to their environments than their parents, but these hybrids are able to search for a broader range of food sources,” Larisa DeSantis, an associate professor of biological sciences at Vanderbilt University, told Live Science.
The rise of “pizzly” bears appears with polar bears’ decline: their numbers are estimated to decrease by more than 30% in the next 30 years. This sudden fall is linked partly to “pizzly” bears taking up polar bears’ ranges, where they outcompete them, but also to polar bears’ highly specialized diets.
“Polar bears mainly consumed soft foods even during the Medieval Warm Period, a previous period of rapid warming,” DeSantis said, referring to fat meals such as seals. “Although all of these starving polar bears are trying to find alternative food sources, like seabird eggs, it could be a tipping point for their survival.” Actually, the calories they gain from these sources do not balance out those they burn from searching for them. This could result in a habitat ready for the hybrids to move in and take over, leading to a loss in biodiversity if polar bears are replaced.
“We’re having massive impacts with climate change on species,” DeSantis said. “The polar bear is telling us how bad things are. In some sense, “pizzly” bears could be a sad but necessary compromise given current warming trends.”
1. Why do polar bears move further south?| A．To create hybrids. | B．To expand territory. |
| C．To relieve hunger. | D．To contact grizzlies. |
| A．Broader habitats. | B．More food options. |
| C．Climate preference. | D．Improved breeding ability. |
| A．A rare chance. | B．A critical stage. |
| C．A positive factor. | D．A constant change. |
| A．Polar bears are changing diets for climate change. |
| B．Polar bears have already adjusted to climate change. |
| C．“Pizzly” bears are on the rise because of global warming. |
| D．“Pizzly”bears have replaced polar bears for global warming. |
Once upon a time, in a land far away, there was a small village. The village was located in the heart of a big jungle(丛林). Surrounded by the high mountains and in the shade of green trees, the villagers happily lived a life of happiness.
All of them were used to their robotic daily tasks and none of them had the imagination or the will to try something new, except for one girl named Hannah. Very few people in the village could read, let alone write, and Hannah was one of them. Her parents had made sure that their only child got everything possible.
Hannah was an adventurous spirit with an imagination far beyond her time. She loved to explore and would spend hours in the woods looking for new things. She loved to create stories in her head and used to imagine herself as one of her characters. Sometimes, she even told stories to her friends, adding her own touch of curiosity every now and then to different stories, making them more interesting. She wanted to inspire the sparks of curiosity and imagination in them.
One afternoon, when Hannah was on one of her adventurous searches, she came upon an abandoned cottage(遗弃的小屋). The cottage looked very old in its condition. The door was hardly hanging and the wood was about to break apart into pieces. Even though Hannah’s mother had strictly warned her not to go wandering in abandoned places, her curiosity drove her to approach it.
注意：
1. 续写词数应为150左右；
2. 请按如下格式作答。
Opening the door, she was left shocked by a room full of books!
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To her disappointment, her friends showed no interest in the tales she told.
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July 2023 was the world’s warmest month on record, with heat waves spreading across North America, Asia and Europe. How to cool the planet
According to Euro news, a European television news network, one idea
However, following the report,
8 . The world’s forests may hold more secrets than previously thought: a new global estimate of tree biodiversity suggests that there are about 9,200 tree species remaining undocumented. Most are likely in the tropics, according to the new research.
The new research drew on the efforts of hundreds of contributors, who have categorized trees in two huge data sets: One, the Global Forest Biodiversity Initiative, records every species found in extensively documented forest plots worldwide. The other, TREECHANGE, puts together sightings of individual species. Together they suggest there are approximately 64,100 recorded tree species on the planet — up from previous estimates of around 60,000.
The researchers reached their estimate of an additional 9,200 yet undocumented species on the basis of the number of rare ones already in the databases. Most unknown species are likely to be defined as rare, found in limited numbers in small geographical areas, says the quantitative forest ecologist Jingjing Liang. The team’s result is “a rather conservative estimate,” Liang says, “because scientists know less about the preponderance of uncommon trees in places such as the Amazon, where out-of-the-way spots could host pockets of unusual species found nowhere else.” “If we can focus the resources on those rain forests in the Amazon,” Liang adds, “then we would be able to estimate it with higher confidence.”
Silman, a conservation biologist, who was not involved in the new study agrees that the study result is likely an underestimate. His and his colleagues’ local surveys suggest there are at least 3,000 and possibly more than 6,000 unknown tree species in the Amazon basin alone. Tree species often get grouped together based on appearance, he notes, so new genetic analysis techniques will likely lead to the discovery of even more biodiversity. Sliman wonders how many species will go extinct before scientists describe them. “How many are already known to native peoples in the Amazon — or were known to peoples or cultures who have themselves been made extinct through colonization, disease, or absorption? How many “species” already have dried samples sitting in a cabinet?” he says.
Searching for the new species will inform not only conservation but the basic evolutionary science of how and why species diversify and die out, Silman says. “Just the fact that there are thousands of species of something as common as trees out there that are still left to be discovered,” he adds, “I find pretty inspirational.”
1. What is the finding of the new research?| A．About nine thousand new tree species have been identified. |
| B．Thousands of tree species remain unknown to science. |
| C．Maintaining tree diversity has become a global challenge. |
| D．Human activities have led to the reduced number of trees. |
| A．The researchers adopted quality method to analyze data. |
| B．The researchers did extensive field study in out-of-the-way spots. |
| C．Inferring from the existing dada is the main research method. |
| D．Doing surveys and interviews is the main research method. |
| A．majority | B．evolution | C．cultivation | D．capability |
| A．genetic analysis technique failed to produce accurate information |
| B．trees of similar sizes in the Amazon basin are grouped together |
| C．too many rare trees were made into dried samples before being documented |
| D．the local peoples or the local cultures are not fully aware of the tree species. |
1. What did the scientists do to the road?
| A．They repaired it. | B．They painted it. | C．They blocked it. |
| A．It’s warm. | B．It’s brown. | C．It’s smooth. |
| A．To keep the birds there for a whole year. |
| B．To help students study the birds well. |
| C．To prevent the birds from being killed. |
10 . In nature, octopuses (章鱼) hunt mainly with their sense of touch, using their eight arms to feel out their environment for hidden creatures. Researchers at the University of Minnesota recently studied a different way octopuses hunt—when they identify prey (猎物) based on sight. The study findings show that the marine creatures are quite consistent and methodical in how they approach prey.
Lead researcher Trevor Wardill and his team placed California two-spot octopuses into water tanks, hiding them in caves where they would have one eye looking out. They then placed either fiddler crabs or white shrimp in the tanks to see how the octopuses would try to catch them, capturing the interactions on video. The crabs and shrimp behave differently when trying to escape from predators (捕猎者), so using both species gave the researchers an opportunity to see whether this led the octopuses to use a different arm for hunting depending on the prey.
Wardill’s team found that the octopuses almost always used the same arm to grab their prey. Specifically, the second arm from the middle of the octopuses’ body, on the same side of their body as the eye, caught the prey. If they needed more arms to grab prey, they would use the ones next to the second arm.
The octopuses also attacked differently depending on the prey. When faced with crabs, an octopus would move suddenly on top of the crab with its whole body. However, when catching shrimp, the octopuses would take one arm and reach out very slowly toward the shrimp, then grab it and latch (缠住) onto it with its other arms to pull it in.
Wardill and his team hope to do more research. They want to study the octopus’s brain as it attacks pre y to develop a better understanding of what role the creature’s nervous system plays in selecting the arms it uses.
1. What is the recent study mainly about?| A．Octopuses’ ability to hide itself. | B．Octopuses’ way to track prey. |
| C．Octopuses’ hunting mode via eyes. | D．Octopuses’ method of perceiving the environment. |
| A．They adopt different strategies to hunt. | B．They stretch arms slowly to catch crabs. |
| C．They move suddenly to prey on shrimps. | D．They use the second arm to catch prey anytime. |
| A．Whether they’re nervous in hunting. | B．How their nerves work during hunting. |
| C．How they choose their arms in hunting. | D．Whether they use their brain during hunting. |
| A．Octopuses: Skillful Hunters | B．Octopuses: One-armed Predators |
| C．Octopuses: A Sharp-eyed Species | D．Octopuses: A Mysterious Creature |
