For those looking to escape the concrete jungle, maybe it’s time to dive into the bamboo forests of southern Sichuan.
A natural forest that people in Sichuan province tend
Known as one of the country’s 10 most beautiful forests, it
Two years later, the bamboo forest received world-wide
The Bamboo Sea covers Changning and Jiang’an, two counties
1. Where are the two speakers?
A.On the street. | B.In a park. | C.At a square. |
A.Golden retriever. | B.Chihuahua. | C.Samoyed. |
A.He’s cute. | B.He’s shy. | C.He’s dangerous. |
A.A large-sized dog. | B.A brave dog. | C.A smart dog. |
3 . I stared out the window,
I made myself dinner, which wasn’t anything
Arthur stayed by my side a majority of the time. My friend called him ‘mama’s boy’ or something silly like that. I didn’t
A.enjoying | B.cursing | C.monitoring | D.envying |
A.depression | B.surprise | C.alarm | D.tiredness |
A.dramatic | B.fancy | C.solid | D.justified |
A.called | B.made | C.put | D.took |
A.handled | B.drilled | C.fixed | D.grabbed |
A.committed | B.outgoing | C.innocent | D.dangerous |
A.glare | B.laugh | C.smile | D.shout |
A.blouse | B.fire | C.friend | D.towel |
A.fighting | B.interfering | C.sticking | D.combining |
A.part | B.number | C.sort | D.bit |
A.engaging | B.stuffing | C.digesting | D.loading |
A.possible | B.accessible | C.appropriate | D.essential |
A.forgive | B.demand | C.mind | D.accept |
A.time | B.opportunity | C.access | D.gift |
A.sincerely | B.elegantly | C.practically | D.distinctly |
1. What does the man ask the woman to do?
A.Bring him a snack. | B.Walk the dog. | C.Stay quiet. |
A.The dog is sleeping on his legs. |
B.He has injured himself. |
C.He is very tired. |
A.5km. | B.10km. | C.15km. |
5 . In late spring and early summer each year, tens of millions of butterflies come out of their chrysalises (蚕蛹) in the butterfly valley in southwest China’s Yunnan province. For butterfly expert Yang Zhenwen, it is the busiest time of the year, but he greets it with great enthusiasm.
Before the break of dawn, Yang has already arrived at the observation point, busily tending to the needs of the awakening butterflies. “Due to warmer temperatures, the ‘butterfly explosion’ this year occurred slightly earlier than usual, and the size of the butterflies is larger than that in previous years,” said 46-year-old Yang, curator (馆长) of the butterfly valley museum. “We expect that there will be about 80 million to 100 million butterflies in the valley during this year’s ‘butterfly explosion’. That seems so crazy,” said Yang. According to Yang, in the valley, more than 320 butterfly species have been identified in specimens or photographs, including the rarest, most primitive, largest and smallest butterflies in China.
Besides Yang, many local villages have also assumed the role of butterfly guardians. However, the journey toward achieving human-butterfly harmony was far from easy. Some two decades ago, the villagers had little awareness of butterfly protection, believing wrongly that butterflies could endanger their food crops. They viewed them as pests that should be removed.
In 1998, Yang began his journey at the agricultural science station in Ma’an’di Township, the very place where the butterfly valley lies. “It was there that I got into a frequent dilemma— the local villagers, seeking to protect their crops, would often turn to pesticides to kill the butterflies,” he said. “However, my sincere love for these creatures forced me to prevent them from harming the delicate insects.”
Now, the development of ecotourism relying on butterfly resources has successfully changed the once extremely poor township. More villagers have started reproducing butterflies. He describes the butterfly valley as a “dream-making machine”, which extends the “butterfly dream” of harmonious coexistence between humans and nature.
1. What made Yang’s aim to reach human-butterfly harmony hard in the beginning?A.Warm temperatures in local villages. | B.The number and size of the butterflies. |
C.Improper location of the butterfly valley. | D.Lack of awareness of butterfly protection. |
A.A choice difficult to make. | B.A fact easy to understand. |
C.A duty hard to carry out. | D.A situation smooth to deal with. |
A.Honest and professional. | B.Humorous and creative. |
C.Hard-working and strong-willed. | D.Generous and easy-going. |
A.Changing the Poor State of a Town | B.Volunteering as a Butterfly Guardian |
C.Helping Butterflies Spread Their Wings | D.Developing a Relationship with the Locals |
6 . Emmanuel Mendoza, a college student, is currently running a study at Texas A&M University, where he’s mixing simulated (模拟的)Martian (火星的) soil and frass(粪便)from fly larvae(幼虫)to find just the right recipe for growing plants on Mars.
The seed of this idea was planted when Mendoza was in middle school, watching Ridley Scott’s 2015 film The Martian, in which Mark Watney becomes stuck on the planet and grows potatoes to survive. “That got me really interested in what nutrients or what soil structure Martian soil has that we could potentially take advantage of, ”Mendoza said.
Now, he’s running an experiment growing English peas in simulated Martian soil. “I definitely considered potatoes like Mark Watney, ”he said. “But the fact was that I couldn’t necessarily get the data I wanted out of them. ”
He wanted to be able to measure plant growth as it occurred throughout his experiment. Since potatoes grow underground, he’d only be able to collect data once they were done growing. In the end, Mendoza chose to grow English peas because they’re self-pollinating(自花传粉), grow fairly quickly and he can see the shoots climb.
Martian soil, though it does contain other essential nutrients, isn’t exactly ideal for plants from Earth. It tends to be rocky and lacks the right organic (有机 的)matter. Here’s where the larvae come in. Mendoza turned to the larvae of black soldier flies, which produce a waste known as frass. “They can break down almost any biomatter and turn it into really useful matter, “Mendoza said. “And then you can use the frass as a nutrient alternative to soil.”
For this experiment, Mendoza mixed different percentages of simulated Martian soil and frass to see what best supported growing English pea plants. Now, he said he’s seeing growth across all his plants—even the ones growing in 100%simulated Martian soil.
1. Why does the author mention the film The Martian?A.To show Mendoza’s enthusiasm for films. |
B.To illustrate Mark Watney’s intelligence. |
C.To prove Mark Watney’s interest in gardening. |
D.To introduce the origin of Mendoza’s experiment. |
A.He was unwilling to repeat others’ study. |
B.English peas grew far faster than potatoes . |
C.Potatoes needed stricter living conditions. |
D.It was more convenient to collect the data. |
A.It serves as certain essential nutrients. |
B.It loosens the soil for plants to grow. |
C.It makes the soil become quite rocky. |
D.It helps black soldier flies grow stronger. |
A.Doubtful. | B.Pleased. | C.Intolerant. | D.Disappointed. |
7 . My parents have a boxer dog called Boris which is as badly behaved as his name might suggest. He is known to
Even my mother might
The sofas and chairs in their sitting room are covered in books-not because my parents love to read, but in an attempt to
The story between my parents and Boris is repeated across our community. Usually, our gang of dogs gathered almost daily,
I have met so many people whose daily
A.get up | B.come up | C.put up | D.sit up |
A.love | B.food | C.service | D.massage |
A.plates | B.meals | C.meats | D.vegetables |
A.complain | B.worry | C.explain | D.conclude |
A.greedy | B.naughty | C.lovely | D.proud |
A.observe | B.prevent | C.notice | D.keep |
A.Fortunately | B.Naturally | C.Incredibly | D.Consequently |
A.deliver | B.rearrange | C.carry | D.equip |
A.as | B.or | C.nor | D.also |
A.provided | B.supported | C.united | D.surrounded |
A.barrier | B.bond | C.border | D.belief |
A.gone | B.grown | C.slept | D.cloned |
A.run | B.housework | C.dialogues | D.walks |
A.difficulties | B.loneliness | C.relationships | D.troubles |
A.body | B.diseases | C.soul | D.sufferings |
8 . There are a lot of chemicals that can cause indoor air pollution. A recent project conducted has found over 900 different substances in our home are related to it. Many researchers have already examined the causes of indoor air pollution.
It has been proved that different kinds of chemicals can be released by building materials and new furniture. Everything from painting and decorating products, bathroom cleaners and beauty products can contain these chemicals.
As a research from Denmark has highlighted, cooking, particularly roasting can damage our body. Roast dinners contain many potentially harmful pollutants.
As far as cooking emissions are concerned, no one is suggesting switching to takeaways.
A.In the long run, these changes lead to cancer. |
B.They might also arise from cooking at home. |
C.A wide range of sources are under investigation. |
D.Therefore, what results from indoor air pollution? |
E.However, most of us have ignored their bad effects. |
F.So, what are the main contributors to poor air quality? |
G.But we can change how we cook to deal with the emissions. |
9 . The song of the Florida grasshopper sparrow is unusual and surprisingly insect-like. But it almost fell silent forever. In 2012, Joel Sartore, the founder of National Geographic Explorer and Photo Ark received a call from the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service: The songbird, an important ecological link in Florida’s dry grassland, was on the edge of extinction. With only a few dozen males showing up in counts, it was among North America’s most endangered bird species.
Sartore flew to Florida to photograph the bird and work with conservationists to raise awareness of the species’ difficult situation. The story appeared in outlets, such as newspapers, magazines and even the Internet, helping boost government funding for a breeding program. Thanks to these steps, there are now as many as 180 adults in the wild and researchers are working hard to bring the species back from the brink of extinction.
Like other examples of species survival, the push to save the sparrow is “a remarkable story of belief and cooperation,” says Sartore. It also shows what it takes to protect an endangered species: research, narratives, partnerships, resources and time. This journey shows the society’s mission to illustrate and protect the wonder of the world. Over the past 136 years, we’ve developed a unique Explorer-led model, combining science, exploration, education, and storytelling to drive impact. We support Explorer in more than 140 countries, including Sartore and others whose work appears in this issue: biologist André Green II, photographer Lynsey Addario and education advocate Ara Kusuma.
Sartore has been creating an “ark” of animal photos for 17 years. Portraits of more than 15, 000 species invite audiences to connect and care. With the society’s support, the images have appeared on landmarks and U. S. postage stamps, prompting on—the—ground conservation efforts such as an initiative of National Geographic Explorer and Photo Ark.
As Sartore says, “The sounds of birds are the sounds of a healthy planet. When we save a bird or another species, we’re actually saving ourselves.”
1. How does the author introduce the topic?A.By clarifying a concept. | B.By offering an example. |
C.By giving an explanation. | D.By quoting a remark. |
A.Stores. | B.Media. | C.Exits. | D.Books |
A.A funding program from the government. |
B.An ark of animal photos in the magazine. |
C.A unique initiative for species protection. |
D.A joint effort from different professionals. |
A.The urgency of species’ protection. |
B.The promotion of cooperative methods. |
C.The importance of coexistence. |
D.The situation of human survival. |
10 . Relatives of starfish, brittle stars (海蛇尾) spend most of their time hiding under rocks in the ocean or digging in the sand. These shy marine creatures have no brain to speak of—just nerve cords running down each of their five wiggly arms, which join to form a nerve ring near their mouth.
“There’s no processing center. Each of the nerve cords can act independently. Instead of a boss, it’s like a committee. That seems to be enough to learn by association,” said lead author Julia Notar. This type of leaning involves associating different stimuli via a process called classical conditioning (条件反射).
Classical conditioning has been demonstrated in a handful of previous studies in starfish. But brittle stars and similarly brainless starfish have not been tested.
To find out if brittle stars have the ability of learning, the researchers put 16 black brittle stars in individual water tanks and used a video camera to record their behavior. Half the brittle stars were trained by dimming the lights for 30 minutes whenever the animals were fed. Every time the lights went out, the researchers would put a bit of shrimp in the tanks, placed just out of reach. The other half got just as much shrimp and also experienced a 30-minute dark period, but never at the same time—the animals were fed under lit conditions.
Whether it was light or dark, the animals spent most of their time hiding behind the filters in their tanks, only coming out at mealtime. But only the trained brittle stars learned to associate darkness with food. They didn’t need to smell or taste the shrimp to react.
Notar said the results are exciting because classical conditioning hasn’t really been shown definitively in this group of animals before. “Knowing that brittle stars can learn means they’re not just robotic scavengers (清道夫) cleaning up the ocean floor,” Notar said. “They’re potentially able to expect and avoid predators (捕食者) or expect food because they’re learning about their environment.”
1. What is paragraph 1 about?A.The living habits of brittle stars. | B.The features of a brainless creature. |
C.The characteristics of the starfish. | D.The definition of classical conditioning. |
A.The hiding time in tanks. | B.The change of feeding location. |
C.The amount of the shrimp. | D.Light conditions at mealtime. |
A.Brittle stars can be trained to make a connection. |
B.Brittle stars can clean up the ocean floor. |
C.Brittle stars’ nerve cords can act independently. |
D.Brittle stars have a sharp sense of smell. |
A.Brainless brittle stars can act like robots. |
B.Brittle stars might keep away from catchers. |
C.Brittle stars are the only ocean floor cleaners. |
D.Brittle stars are adaptable to new environment. |