1 . We’re often told to follow our dreams, and one person in Canada has done just that after building a wonderland for animals. In his own backyard, the eight water features which Robert Perkins dug into the ground are now a shelter for birds, frogs, beavers (河狸) and other animals in the middle of suburban development. But for Perkins, creating habitat for wildlife is not only about doing his part to help the environment. It’s a labor of love for a woman he met when he was 16 years old.
Perkins met Rhonda in 1974 and the two of them hit it off. They both loved animals, and she always wished to have a place where they could live in harmony with the land. Rhonda, whom Perkins stayed with all his life, passed away in 2006. Perkins resolved to build a wonderland where her spirit could stay in peace.
Ignoring planning departments and neighbors alike, Perkins began digging large holes for water to flow. Over the course of nine years his property went from being a neighborly headache to a perfect home for wildlife.
Perkins says he won’t take all the credit for the wetland he built. When Perkins started creating the wildlife habitat in the early 2000s, a family of beavers got wind of it soon and claimed the land. “When we built our subdivisions, we cleared all the trees, dried the hills, drove all the water down to the lakes... In turn, the beavers helped dam (筑坝) and purify the water.”
Wetland habitats not only attract wildlife, but probably offer the most complete package of ecosystem services, including preventing pollution, enriching the soil, and promoting the well-being of wildlife species.
Perkins says he doesn’t need to wonder what Rhonda might think of the place; he feels her presence whenever he walks alone among the trees, the grass, and the ponds, looking at birds or beavers, and listening to the songbirds and frogs. Perkins hopes his project will one day become an educational place that local people can visit to learn about the importance of wetlands.
1. Why did Perkins build the water features?| A．To fulfill his childhood dream. | B．To show his love for his wife. |
| C．To preserve endangered wildlife. | D．To adapt to suburban development. |
| A．Effortless but creative. | B．Discouraging but efficient. |
| C．Painful but influential. | D．Demanding but rewarding. |
| A．Perkins had a strategic plan for it. | B．Human’s role in it was overvalued. |
| C．Nature itself also played a part in it. | D．Beavers were invited to help with it. |
| A．To help spread his story. | B．To be a recreational spot. |
| C．To bring economic value. | D．To serve as an inspiration. |
2 . We Need to Think about Conservation on a Different Timescale
Time, perceived by humans in days, months, and years, contrasts with nature’s grander scales of centuries and millennia, referred to as “deep time.” While paleontologists (古生物学者) are trained to think in deep time, conservationists are realizing the challenges it poses. Shortsightedness about time limits modern conservation, with efforts often overlooking past healthy conditions of ecosystems in the context of climate and biodiversity crises.
The shifting baseline syndrome (综合症), where standards in a place change gradually, makes conservation more complex. It involves evaluating ecosystems primarily on their recent past, often with negative consequences.
Recent shifts in California’s forest management practices, from stopping fires to embracing Indigenous knowledge of controlled burns, exemplify the importance of understanding historical ecosystem dynamics. To enhance conservation, adopting a deep-time approach is crucial.
Modern mathematical modeling, combined with long-term data, offers a pathway for preserving ecosystems. In California’s kelp (海带、海藻) forest, researchers identified an overlooked keystone species — the extinct Seller’s Sea Cow (大海牛). By examining past kelp forests, a deeper story impacting regeneration was revealed. The sea cow, a massive plant-cater, contributed to a diverse, vital undergrowth by trimming kelp and letting light reach the area.
The researchers put forward a novel approach to kelp forest restoration: selectively harvesting kelp, imitating the sea cow’s impact. This strategy, considering historical dynamics, challenges assumptions about recent ecosystems and offers new conservation methods.
Rather than only focusing on removing urchins (海胆) or reintroducing sea otters, the researchers suggest employing teams of humans to selectively harvest kelp, as the Steller’s sea cow once did, to encourage fresh growth. This sustainable harvest could benefit both the ecosystem and human consumption.
In short, assumptions based on the recent past may impede the understanding and protection of ecosystems. On the other hand, the application of controlled burns, similar modeling studies, and a deep-time perspective (视角) could significantly transform conservation efforts. Recognizing our role in an ongoing narrative spanning millions of years is essential, urging a comprehensive understanding of ecosystems through time. Embracing this role is crucial for shaping the future and establishing vital connections from the past to the future.
1. What is the “shifting baseline syndrome,” mentioned in the passage?| A．A syndrome that affects human beings’ perception of time. |
| B．A phenomenon where ecological standards shift in a place. |
| C．A psychological disorder common among conservationists. |
| D．A condition where ecosystems change gradually over time. |
| A．It promotes the prevention of wildfires. | B．It aids in mathematical modeling efforts. |
| C．It helps reveal historical ecosystem dynamics. | D．It enhances human consumption of ecosystems. |
| A．Reform. | B．Disrupt. | C．Quicken. | D．Deepen. |
| A．Shifting baseline syndrome has positive ecological changes. |
| B．Mathematical modeling with the latest data can be effective. |
| C．Deep-time perspective and historical dynamics are crucial. |
| D．Recent history is more preferred in ecosystem restoration. |
3 . Carried by the wind, dust particles (微粒) from places such as the Sahara Desert can float halfway around the world before settling to the ground. As the plastics abandoned by humans break down into tiny pieces in the environment, they, too, travel through the atmosphere. Now scientists are a step closer to understanding how these microplastics travel in the globe — both locally and on long-distance flights.
Researchers spent more than a year collecting microplastics from 11 national parks and wilderness areas in the western U.S. They examined the particles that settled on dry days and those that fell along with rain or snow. In addition to making clear how microplastics move around, the results, published on Thursday in Science, reveal the seriousness of the problem: more than 1 million kilograms of microplastics — the weight of 120 million to 300 million plastic water bottles — fall on protected lands in the country’s western region each year.
The new findings add to scientists’ concern over microplastic pollution’s potential impacts on the environment and human health. “We’re not supposed to breathe in this material,” says Steve Allen, a microplastics researcher at the University of Strathclyde in Scotland, who was not involved in the new study. “Plastics in the environment “carry all sorts of pesticides (农药), heavy metals and all the other chemicals that we’ve made over time,” he adds. “They’re going to carry them directly into our lungs.”
Since their discovery in oceans in the 1970s, microplastics — which can be as large as a grain of rice or smaller than a particle of dust — have been found nearly everywhere researchers have looked: in cities, in Arctic snow, on remote mountaintops. Their presence in areas distant from the place where human live has pointed to them being carried by winds.
1. What do the scientists further understand now?| A．Why Sahara Desert is expanding to the south of Africa. |
| B．How plastic particles travel on the wind. |
| C．Why it is hard for plastics to break down. |
| D．How dust particles are spreading through the wind. |
| A．The results showed the amount of microplastics is huge. |
| B．Researchers collected microplastics across the U.S. |
| C．Researchers focused on plastic particles in dry days. |
| D．Numerous plastic water bottles were found each year. |
| A．They should be recycled. | B．They do harm to weather. |
| C．They can be used to make all sorts of pesticides. | D．They carry harmful chemicals to human lungs. |
| A．Dust Particles Is Harmful to Our Lungs | B．The Environment Is Threatened by Plastics |
| C．Microplastics Are Falling from the Sky | D．Microplastics Do Harm to Health |
4 . Where did the idea of “white bikes” come from? In the 1960s, a group of cycling fans came up with an idea. They believed that it would be better for everybody if cars weren’t allowed in the city centre and only bicycles were. They were hopeful that this would help to save energy, reduce pollution and provide free public transport. The group painted hundreds of bicycles white and placed them in many areas around Amsterdam for people to use. Anyone was allowed to take them and use them for short journeys. People would leave the bike in the place where they finished their journey, so that someone else could then take it and use it from there. Soon after, however, problems came up and the “white bikes” all disappeared — thieves stole them all in a matter of weeks!
Why did the group come up with the idea of “white bikes”?
| A．To ensure traffic safety. | B．To reduce transport costs. |
| C．To encourage physical activity. | D．To promote green transport. |
5 . Hurricane season can be wild and unpredictable.
Sandbags are very useful. While sandbags won’t be able to help in the extreme storm, many people will be able to prevent flooding and extensive damage to their belongings by placing sandbags.
It important to prepare the inside of your home for strong winds and rain. But you should also keep an eye on the outside of your house, too. Trim(修剪) trees, especially dead branches, to prevent anything else that could fly through a window and cause damage during a hurricane.
You should also take pictures of expensive items like electronics and keep notes of their serial numbers.
| A．You should have a camera at home. |
| B．It can be strong enough to resist the forceful winds. |
| C．Making sure nothing is loose in your yard is important. |
| D．These dangerous storms can bring damage to your home and belongings. |
| E．They will be able to effectively keep storm water out in many cases. |
| F．It will aid with your insurance company if anything needs to be replaced. |
| G．You may see people attaching windows with sticky tape before a hurricane comes. |
6 . Every week, Angela looked at her recycling bin, filled with shampoo bottles and plastic containers, with mixed feelings. Sure, it was a lot of plastic, but it was going to be recycled. Or so she thought. Then, her husband sent her some articles revealing that less than 6% of the country’s plastic gets recycled. She was shocked.
Determined to cut back on her plastic consumption, Angela got a starter kit from a company selling refillable household cleaners (家用清洁器). In it were tablets, containing concentrated hand soap as well as glass and bathroom cleaners, and four empty containers. She filled each one with tap water, then dropped in a tablet and watched it dissolve. If she was happy with the cleaners, she would order more tablets but reuse the containers. No new plastic required.
Given plastic’s harmful effects on the environment, nearly three quarters of Americans say they are trying to reduce their reliance on single-use plastic, according to Pew Research Center. Since plastic is everywhere and avoiding it altogether is extraordinarily difficult, some, like Angela, have revived a once-customary practice: refilling containers. Household cleaners seem particularly prepared for a refill revolution, for many can be easily concentrated and reconstituted (with water. If just 10% to 20% of plastic packaging are reused, a report from the World Economic Forum estimates, the amount of plastic waste entering the ocean will be cut in half.
Not everyone is as enthusiastic, though. Jan Dell, a chemical engineer, noted that many cleaning products are packaged in PET or HDPE, two types of plastic with relatively high recycling rates. So she is less concerned about them but far more concerned about the packaging of other products. “What companies should be focusing on is everything else that isn’t recyclable, that is single use and that often becomes plastic pollution,” she said, pointing to plastic bags and cups. “This is just a classic example of big corporations doing something to attract people’s attention over here on something that’s not the main issue to distract from all the single-use plastic they’re pushing out.”
1. Why is Angela mentioned?| A．To promote a tablet. | B．To lead in the topic. |
| C．To clarify a concept. | D．To recommend a kit. |
| A．Float over water. | B．Turn over in water. |
| C．Change color in water. | D．Mix with water. |
| A．Critical. | B．Favourable. |
| C．Conservative. | D．Unconcerned. |
| A．A chemistry paper. | B．An academic report. |
| C．A lifestyle magazine. | D．A cleaner advertisement. |
7 . Only a “cloud” away is how residents at the Dzilam reserve in Mexico think of the distance between Latin America and China, despite their geographical remoteness.
The “cloud” isn’t the one hanging up in the sky. What the residents refer to is in fact cloud technology, which has been applied to wildlife conservation in this Mexican reserve.
In recent years, with cloud technology, technicians and ecologists from China and its trans-Pacific partners have been able to work hand in hand under the Belt and Road Initiative to protect endangered species and their habitats in Mexico.
Home to many endangered species in Mexico, the Dzilam reserve, known for its biodiversity-rich habitats, has started to witness ecosystem degradation (衰退) over the years due to human activities and climate change. In 2002, the jaguar, the only big cat left in the reserve, was listed as “Near Threatened” on the IUCN Red List.
Local communities and environmentalists have tried to track the habitat of jaguars, but have found it rather difficult: These animals are often hidden in vast forests, rarely leaving obvious traces, making it hard to observe them under natural conditions.
To better protect wild animals and biodiversity, the Tech4Nature Mexico project was launched in the Dzilam reserve. The project collects video data from cameras recording 24 hours a day in the Dzilam reserve to monitor the biodiversity of the area and uses acoustic (声学的) technology to understand the existence of species and the health of ecosystems. The research team would use Huawei’s Al model to identify the areas where the big cat appeared by identifying sounds, studying their living habits and developing management plans to protect the species. In addition, when a threat is detected, the system immediately sends a real-time alarm with the location to local forest guards through an app for rapid intervention.
From September 2022 to May 2023, local experts, with the help of Huawei Cloud, have identified 119 species in the Dzilam reserve, including 88 species of birds, 22 species of mammals, five species of reptiles and four species of amphibians, of which 34 species are on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. They have also spotted at least five jaguars in the reserve.
Omelia Trejo, a resident of the Dzilam community, said their dream is “protecting jaguars for a lifetime,” but they worried that in the future, children might only see jaguars in photos. “Thanks to this project, our dream has come true.”
1. What does the underlined word “cloud” in paragraph 1 refer to?| A．A typical weather phenomenon. | B．A networked computing technology. |
| C．The cloud above the Dzilam reserve. | D．The distance from Mexico to China. |
| A．Lack of local community’s support. | B．Disapproval from environmentalists. |
| C．A few clearly recognizable tracks. | D．Challenges in natural observation. |
| A．The urgent need for conservation. | B．The challenges of species protection. |
| C．The success of Tech4Nature Mexico project. | D．The diversity of species in the Dzilam reserve. |
| A．Positive | B．Doubtful | C．Unconcemed | D．Neutral |
8 . Pigeons in London have a bad reputation. Some people call them flying rats. And many blame them for causing pollution with their droppings. But now the birds are being used to fight another kind of pollution in this city of 8.5 million.
“The problem for air pollution is that it’s been largely ignored as an issue for a long time,” says Andrea Lee, who works for the London-based environmental organization Client Earth. “People don’t realize how bad it is, and how it actually affects their health.” London’s poor air quality is linked to nearly 10,000 early deaths a year. Lee says, if people were better informed about the pollution they’re breathing, they could pressure the government to do something about it.
Nearby, on a windy hill in London’s Regent’s Park, an experiment is underway that could help — the first week of flights by the Pigeon Air Patrol. It all began when Pierre Duquesnoy, the director for DigitasLBi, a marketing firm, won a London Design Festival contest last year to show how a world problem could be solved using Twitter. Duquesnoy, from France, chose the problem of air pollution.
“Basically, I realized how important the problem was,” he says. “But also I realized that most of the people around me didn’t know anything about it. “Duquesnoy says he wants to better measure pollution, while at the same time making the results accessible to the public through Twitter.
“So,” he wondered, “how could we go across the city quickly collecting as much data as possible?” Drones were his first thought. But it’s illegal to fly them over London. “But pigeons can fly above London, right?” he says. “They live here — actually, they are Londoners as well. So, yeah, I thought about using pigeons equipped with mobile apps. And we can use not just street pigeons, but racing pigeons, because they fly pretty quickly and pretty low.”
So it might be time for Londoners to have more respect for their pigeons. The birds may just be helping to improve the quality of the city’s air.
1. What can we infer about London’s air quality from Paragraph 2?| A．Londoners are very satisfied with it. |
| B．The government is trying to improve it. |
| C．Londoners should pay more attention to it. |
| D．The government has done a lot to improve it. |
| A．Because they fly too high. |
| B．Because they are expensive. |
| C．Because they fly too quickly. |
| D．Because they are not allowed. |
| A．Clean air in London. |
| B．London’s dirty secret. |
| C．London’s new pollution fighter. |
| D．Causes of air pollution in London. |
Japan said
The decision ends years of debate over how to deal with the water,
Greenpeace criticized Japan’s plan and said there are other solutions that should
| A. causes B. enemy C. factories D. kill E. trees F. friend G. spreads |
Pollution is our great
