1 . Set 40 kilometers northeast of the city of Ambatondrazaka, the Zahamena National Park's landscape consists of (……组成) valleys surrounded by a flowing mountain range.
It has an overall land coverage of 64, 300 hectares, but only 42, 000 hectares is open to the public due to strict conservation (环境保护) reasons. It receives an average yearly rainfall level of about 6 feet and experiences frequent rain showers even during the dry season between April and October.
One really interesting thing about the Zahamena National Park is that the unique territory of its highland has paved the way for the development of several ecosystems that exist at the same time in this park. This is the reason why the types of wildlife living in one area are different in another, which makes it quite exciting to explore.
This protected area is divided into two parts, with a separate piece of land in the middle where many small villages are situated. These villages are inhabited (居住) by the members of the Sihanaka and Betsimisaraka ethnic groups.
The Zahamena National Park gets its name from the local Zahana Mena tree, an uncommon type of hardwood that grows in the lower regions of this protected area. It is characterized by its resilient (坚韧的) wood that can be rather challenging to cut, join, shape and carve even with modern tools.
Established as a strict natural highland reserve in 1927 (and one of the first of its kind in all of Madagascar), the Zahamena National Park was officially given its national park status (地位) in 1997 and was eventually opened to the public. Due to its remarkable territory and unique biodiversity, this national park was later listed as a key part of the collective UNESCO World Heritage Site called the Rainforests of the Atsinanana in 2007.
1. What can we learn about the Zahamena National Park?| A．It is surrounded by the city of Ambatondrazaka. |
| B．It receives little rainfall during the dry season. |
| C．It is partially open to the public. |
| D．It is divided into three parts. |
| A．The strict conservation rules. | B．The unique weather conditions. |
| C．The special territory of its highland. | D．The influence of several local villages. |
| A．An ethnic group. | B．A type of local tree. |
| C．A traditional tool. | D．A nearby city. |
| A．A brief introduction to the Zahamena National Park. |
| B．A complete guide to visiting the Zahamena National Park. |
| C．Details of Zahamena National Park's great efforts in conservation. |
| D．Reasons for Zahamena National Park becoming a UNESCO World Heritage Site. |
On the north bank of Fuxian Lake in Chengjiang County, Yunnan Province sits a straw-hat-shaped mountain
Scientists have obtained a large number of research results on Chengjiang Fossil Site. The reason why Chengjiang fauna (动物群) is
Up to now, more than 20 phyla and more than 280 species
The UNESCO evaluation says the Chengjiang Fossil Site is one of the
3 . The Great Barrier Reef in Queensland has suffered several mass bleaching events due to the impacts of climate change. The Australian government turned down a proposal for a new open-cut coal mine near the Great Barrier Reef, considering environmental laws and the risk of “irreversible damage”. It was the first time the government had used its powers under environmental laws to reject a mine.
In turning down the project, Tanya Plibersek, the minister for the environment and water, cited significant potential environmental dangers to the reef, which is already heavily threatened by climate change.” The risk of pollution is real and the damage to the reef, once done, will never be repaired. “The project would have had unacceptable impacts on freshwater in the area and potentially on fragile seagrass meadows,” Plibersek said in a video posted on social media. She said that during the public consultation period, her department had received 9,000 public comments about the mine in just 10 business days.
The government has been under pressure from UNESCO to better protect the reef and in 2022, it pledged one billion Australian dollars for efforts to protect the fragile ecosystem, including climate adaptation measures and water quality programs. Last year, the Great Barrier Reef, which stretches for more than 2,300 kilometers, experienced its sixth mass bleaching event, due to warming waters caused by climate change.
The government, elected in 2022, came to power promising stronger action on the climate in a country still heavily depending on fossil fuels. But its climate policies are rated “insufficient” by Climate Action Tracker, which found Australia is not on course to meet targets to limit warming to 1. 5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. The government has rejected calls from the country’s Green Party to turn down all new fossil fuel projects.
1. Which of the following can replace “irreversible” in paragraph 1?| A．Permanent. | B．Gradual. | C．Severe. | D．Significant. |
| A．The reef is in good condition now. |
| B．9,000 people made good comments on the mining project. |
| C．The mining project has drawn the attention of the public. |
| D．The mining project has had bad effects on freshwater in the area. |
| A．Fossil fuels are not in demand in Australia. |
| B．The government has made effective climate policies. |
| C．The government failed to carry out its previous promises. |
| D．The Green Party reached an agreement with the government. |
| A．The Great Barrier Reef is faced with mass bleaching events. |
| B．Australia is on the way to protecting the Great Barrier Reef. |
| C．The Great Barrier Reef calls for help due to climate change. |
| D．Australia says “No” to a mine near the Great Barrier Reef. |
Located in the northwest of Hunan Province, about 300 kilometers away from Changsha, the capital of Hunan, Zhangjiajie,
Since it was discovered in the 1980s, the tourism industry
It must be an exciting, joyful and unforgettable tour of Zhangjiajie.
5 . The black cloud rising every day at sunset in the Chihuahuan Desert went largely ignored for thousands of years. Native Americans noticed it, but did not track its source. Cowboys thought the cloud was smoke pouring from the earth, and avoided it.
In June of 1901, however, a teenage cowboy named Jim White happened to see the large, black cloud. He was curious and went to investigate. Instead of finding a volcano, as he had imagined, he discovered something equally amazing. It was a big mass of bats. Two days later, he returned with a lantern to explore further. It took him so long that his lantern went out. He managed to refill it with just enough oil to find his way back to the entrance.
The next time Jim White went to the cave, he brought a friend and supplies. They explored for three days and returned with descriptions that were so fantastic that few people believed them. The cowboys on nearby farms and the people in the tiny town of Carlsbad treated Jim’s stories as tall tales and nothing more.
After years of exploring the caves and finding no one to believe his stories, Jim White decided to create his own tourist attraction. He established trails (路线) along the paths he had found. One day in 1915, two men asked Jim for a tour. After seeing the caves, the men returned with a professional photographer named Ray V. Davis. Local doubts were finally put to rest by the photographs of the hidden beauty that Jim had discovered. All 13 locals of Carlsbad finally took a tour of the caves, which came to be known as Carlsbad Caverns.
In 1923, the government sent an official named Robert Holly to tour the caves. Later that year, the caves were stated a national monument (古迹), and in 1930 they became a national park. Jim White lived to see the Carlsbad Caverns become world-famous. Today, tourists can hike to and tour some of the 100 known caves in this huge natural wonder, thanks to the cowboy from New Mexico.
1. What do we know about the black cloud?| A．It was discovered in 1901. | B．It was noticed by accident. |
| C．It was actually a mass of bats. | D．It was smoke from the earth. |
| A．Jim’s friend. | B．A photographer. |
| C．Robert Holly. | D．13 locals of Carlsbad. |
| A．It made Jim White rich. | B．It was an easy process. |
| C．It happened before 1915. | D．It came true thanks to the photos. |
| A．A Brave Cowboy | B．A Hidden Wonder |
| C．A Worthwhile Invention | D．A Nationwide Contribution |
6 . The following properties which the World Heritage Committee has decided to include on the List of World Heritage are in danger according to Article 11 (4) of the Convention (公约).
Virunga National Park (Democratic Republic of the Congo)
Virunga National Park, covering an area of 790,000 ha., includes an outstanding diversity of habitats, ranging from swamps and steppes (沼泽和平原) to the snowfields. Mountain gorillas are also found in the park.
Cultural Landscape and Archaeological Remains of the Bamiyan Valley (Afghanistan)
The cultural landscape and archaeological remains of the Bamiyan Valley stand for the artistic and religious developments which from the 1st to the 13th centuries characterized ancient Bakhtria. The area contains a number of Buddhist monastic ensembles (佛教寺院), as well as strong buildings from the Islamic period.
Okapi Wildlife Reserve (Democratic Republic of the Congo)
The Okapi Wildlife Reserve occupies about one-fifth of the Ituri forest in the northeast of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The reserve contains threatened species of primates and birds surviving in the wild. It also has some amazing scenery, including waterfalls on the Ituri and Epulu rivers. The reserve is inhabited by traditional nomadic pygmy Mbuti and Efe hunters.
Historic Center of Vienna (Austria)
Vienna developed from early Celtic and Roman settlements into a Medieval and Baroque city, the capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. It played an important role as a leading European music center, from the great age of Viennese Classicism through the early part of the 20th century.
1. Which of the following world heritage sites is located in Afghanistan?| A．Virunga National Park. | B．Historic Centre of Vienna. |
| C．Okapi Wildlife Reserve. | D．Cultural Landscape and Archaeological Remains of the Bamiyan Valley. |
| A．It’s closely related to Buddhism. | B．It has some fascinating natural scenery. |
| C．It has an outstanding variety of habitats. | D．It plays an important role as a leading music center. |
| A．They are all in danger. | B．They are open to the public. |
| C．They are inhabited by local people. | D．They are to be removed from the World Heritage List. |
7 . Humans are responsible for 25% to 40% more of the total share of methane emissions(甲烷排放)than previously estimated, according to a new study in Nature.
Methane is one of the most powerful and effective greenhouse gases: about 28 times more effective than carbon dioxide at trapping heat in the atmosphere. It's responsible for about a quarter of global warming. It's produced naturally by animals, volcanoes, and wetlands, but it's also a byproduct of oil and gas production. It's this last form of methane that the study focused on.
Researchers used ice core measurements from Greenland from 1750 to 2013, plus previous data from Antarctica. They melted the ice to let the small quantities of ancient air trapped inside come out. These act a bit like time capsules,allowing us to learn about the methane in the atmosphere at the time. They used carbon-14, which comes from living things, as a substitute(替代物)to determine whether the methane they found came from biological sources. Until 1870, around the time when we started using fossil(化石)fuels, almost all methane came from these sources. After that, there was a rise in methane that didn't have any carbon-14, from ancient fossil sources in which carbon-14 had disappeared. That allowed the researchers to compare natural methane with methane caused by human activity.
If more methane is created by humans, there's an even bigger opportunity to control how much we release. Methane stays in the atmosphere for only a decade(compared with 200 years for carbon dioxide). So efforts to cut methane, which mostly comes from the production and transportation of gas and oil, could bring great benefit right away.
1. Which methane source does the study focus on?| A．Animals. | B．Wetlands. | C．Volcanoes. | D．Fossil fuels. |
| A．Methane comes mainly from animals and wetlands. |
| B．There is more methane than carbon dioxide in the air. |
| C．Fossil fuels have been used about a century and a half. |
| D．Methane will remain permanently in the atmosphere. |
| A．Optimistic. | B．Skeptical. | C．Disappointed. | D．Unconcermed |
| A．Fossil Fuels Cause Global Pollution |
| B．Humans Produce More Methane than We Thought |
| C．Methane Is the Biggest Cause for Global Warming |
| D．Carbon Dioxide Has Less Impact on Climate than Methane |
Every day we use energy. We use it for cooking, for heating and for lighting our cities. The energy comes from many different
These fuels come from the remains of plants and animals. It takes millions of years
We need to have a strong sense of
What about turning off anything
Cars consume a lot of fuel, but there
Gulangyu Island, off the coast of Xiamen, Fujian, was certificated a world heritage site by UNESCO. Every year,
The recognition of this beautiful and
Gulangyu Island and every world heritage item are worthy of care and protection. Since they came into existence, they
10 . Ho Khanh is a middle-aged farmer, living in a village on the edge of Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park in Vietnam. What is special about him is that he has discovered Son Doong, the largest cave in the world.
"I first found the cave about thirty years ago, in 1991," he says. "I was out collecting firewood near the national park. My family were very poor, so I decided to go deeper into the forest to find some aloe, which is very valuable. Not many people went that far into the forest because they were afraid of the wild animals."
Soon Khanh lost his way. "I sat down with my back to a huge round rock," he says. "Then I heard the sound of a strong wind and running water coming from behind me." He found the entrance to a huge cave, with a wide river coming out of it. Khanh thought he was walking into a great cave. With no ropes or lights, he did not go further into it.
Khanh's story spread like wildfire, but not everyone believed him. "I wanted to prove that I was telling the truth, but I couldn't remember the way to the cave." Then one morning early in the winter of 2006, a group of cavers from Britain came to ask Khanh for help, as they had heard about his discovery fifteen years before.
Khanh agreed to help the team to find the cave, but after three days in the jungle, they lost their way. "I just couldn't remember where it was," he says. The team came back twice, but each time they were beaten by the thick jungle. Finally the cavers left.
In 2009, Khanh headed to the jungle one cold winter's morning. "I stopped by a big round rock," he says. "There was the same strong wind, the sound of water running—I knew I'd found the cave at long last. "Soon the British cavers returned and followed Khanh on a six-hour trip deep into the jungle. On April 14 they found Son Doong.
1. What is the text mainly about?| A．How Son Doong was discovered. | B．How Son Doong got its name. |
| C．A young farmer in Vietnam. | D．A national park in Vietnam. |
| A．looking for aloe | B．collecting firewood |
| C．catching some animals | D．cutting down trees in the forest |
| A．They doubted it. | B．They believed it. |
| C．They were uncertain of it. | D．They had little interest in it. |
| A．One year. | B．Three years. | C．Fifteen years. | D．Eighteen years. |
