1 . Time is one of humanity’s greatest blind spots. We experience it as days, months or years. But nature functions on much grander scales, measured in centuries, and even longer phases often grouped as “deep time.” Humanity’s shortsightedness around time creates major limits on modern conservation. As the climate and biodiversity crises accelerate, we are urgently working to protect and regenerate ecosystems without understanding how they functioned when they were truly doing well. A deep time perspective can help change that.
Take forest management. For decades, our practices called for all-out prevention of even the mildest forest fires, believing that fire was bad for both people and nonhuman nature. Until recently we ignored the forest management strategies indigenous (土著的) communities had successfully used for centuries, in particular the application of small-scale controlled burns. Fire, it turns out, has always been an integral ingredient in healthy forest ecosystems, promoting new growth by thinning the understory. Today, we’re beginning to see widespread application of indigenous knowledge to forest management, tapping into this ancient wisdom.
But how can we know what an ecosystem looked like centuries ago? One pathway is through modern mathematical modeling. We have married it with streams of long-term data and discovered a possible way to preserve the ecosystem of California’s kelp forest. By examining how North Pacific kelp forests existed long before the 19th century, we found that we’ve ignored the presence of a keystone species—the Steller’s sea cow, and its role in maintaining the harmony of this ecosystem.
Our model described the interactions between giant kelp and understory algae competing for light and space on the seafloor. Then we ran the model again, but this time with the Steller’s sea cow added in. These mammals fed on the leaves from the upper kelp layers. This allowed light to reach the sea bottom, which in turn stimulated the growth of not only the kelp but other kinds of organisms. In re-creating that vanished historical system that included the Steller’s sea cow, we could see a more diverse forestwhere the understory competed better with kelp
In short, what we assume we know about an ecosystem based on the recent past may impede our ability to fully understand and protect it. To ensure that our boldest conservation efforts are successful, we must begin looking at time as an essential tool.
1. According to the passage, what gets in the way of human’s conservation efforts?| A．Lack of insights into deep time | B．The worsening of biodiversity crises |
| C．The blindness to management strategies. | D．Resistance to taking a deep time perspective. |
| A．Ignoring the Steller’s sea cow led to ecological imbalance. |
| B．People now prioritize fire prevention over controlled burns. |
| C．Mathematical modeling matters more than indigenous knowledge |
| D．Harvesting upper kelp leaves encourages fresh growth in the understory. |
| A．Bring forth. | B．Boost up. | C．Shut down. | D．Hold back. |
2 . Two-Man Ironman
On Sept.17, 2022, Jeff and his son, Johnny, set out to begin the first of three legs of the Ironman competition,where competitors must complete a 140 miles of swimming, bicycling and running in under 17 hours. Not that long ago, Johnny could barely walk a few steps because he was born with cerebral palsy (脑瘫). But his dream of being a runner never stopped.
From the day Johnny was born, Jeff refused to let his son’s disability hold him back. Determined to show Johnny that he could pursue his dream of being an athlete, Jeff helped him engage in running. They began waking up at 4 a.m. so Jeff could run while pushing his son in a special wheelchair called a racing chair. Every morning, they drove themselves to run increasingly longer distances. Soon, they were entering 5K races, then on to Ironman competition. Jeff would act as Johnny’s arms and legs, carrying the weight of his son throughout the race.
The race began with a 2.4-mile swim. Settling Johnny into a kayak, Jeff eased himself into the water. Swimming while dragging another person was very tough. But worst of all, Jeff had to struggle with jellyfish. “I occupied my mind by counting the number of times I got stung (蛰),” he says.
After the two men completed the tough bike section in roughly nine hours, they set their sights on the final leg of the race — a 26.2-mile marathon. They’d been competing for 10.5 hours, leaving another 6.5 hours to make their time.But at Mile 19, Johnny saw the clock ticking down and worried they wouldn’t make the cutoff. Despite the tiredness, Jeff was convinced they were going all right and then picked up the pace.
With minutes left and 200 feet to the finish line, Jeff stopped to help Johnny out of his racing chair and handed him his rolling walker. After years of painstaking work, Johnny was determined to finish his races on his own. After 16 hours, 55 minutes and 35seconds,the father and son crossed the finish line together.
As the crowd cheered on an overwhelmed Johnny, a weary Jeff kept a low profle. “My father didn’t want his finish line moment,” says Johnny, tears in eyes. “He wanted it to be mine.”
1. Why did Jeff lead Johnny to running?| A．To get closer to Johnny. | B．To fulfill Johnny’s dream. |
| C．To discover Johnny’s interest. | D．To speed up Johnny’s recovery. |
| A．Lack of energy. | B．Pain from injuries. |
| C．Mental tiredness. | D．Body weight change. |
| A．Strong-willed and grateful. | B．Warm-hearted and sensitive. |
| C．Patient and generous. | D．Tough and humorous. |
| A．Actions speak louder than words. | B．Fathers are not born; they are made. |
| C．The value of a loving father has no price. | D．Success comes from failures along the journey. |
The dinner party is
Being able to understand local jokes is often seen as a great icebreaker for a foreign language learner
Chinese restaurants have played an important role in different
| reputation, significance, antique, severe, appetite, consistent, awkward, immune, academic, enhance, finance, autonomous, |
1. With
2. Laughing can help to make relationship stronger and
3. Making a joke about yourself will save you from a(n)
4. He suffered from headaches and loss of
5. Mr Bean has a(n)
6. Different from Mr Bean, Rowan had a very successful
7. Education has great social and personal
8. When teaching, teachers’ method of instruction should be
9. We need to learn math to understand
10. It is the students’ responsibility to become
In a fast-paced world, where stress and mental tiredness seem commonplace, we’re constantly looking for new ways to unwind. People may carry out a variety of activities to help them relax. But what about the birdsongs or other nature sounds? Could they also help people to let go of the tensions of modern life?
According to a study by King’s College London in 2022, seeing or hearing birds could help to boost the mental wellbeing of people. Taking a trip to places rich in birdlife like parks, forests and canals and encountering birds singing to each other in the trees could even help to treat some mental health conditions. And it’s not just birds that could have a curative effect on our moods. Another study conducted by the National Trust compared the effects of woodland sounds with voiced meditation (冥想) apps. The study found listening to birdsong as well as other woodland sounds like leaves crunching underfoot or the gentle flow of a stream boosted feelings of relaxation 30% more than the apps do. Other sounds which may help to cool people down are waves lapping on the shore, gentle wind, and light rainfall.
However, not all of us live in rural surroundings, and depending on where we live, a trip to the countryside to see birds may not be an option. But could the nature sounds that originate there still help you? According to research by California Polytechnic State University, even a recording of the sounds of birds had a profound effect on people’s mood, while other studies saw people listening to soundscapes of the coast and forests with similar outcomes to their wellbeing.
So, wherever you live, you can access the wonderful sounds of birds and nature during a stroll through a wood or via some headphones. And maybe listening to the chirps, trills, warbles and whistles of some birds could help you to relax after a long, hard day.
1. What did the study by King’s College London in 2022 find?2. How did the National Trust conduct the study?
3. Please decide which part is false in the following statement, then underline it and explain why.
According to the passage, birds singing, voiced meditation apps and the recording of the sounds of nature have the same effect on people’s mood.
4. Besides what is mentioned in the passage, what do you usually do to help you relax in your daily life? (In about 40 words)
8 . Most of us are actually terrible at giving gifts. About $70 billion worth of presents are returned every year in the U. S.
Stop trying to make your gifts so delightful.
How can we create a gift-giving plan that is as emotional as we desire? Humans love to feel connected. And one way we do that is by sharing interests with others. So if you want to learn how to give better gifts, put yourself in the recipient’s shoes and try to think of something you both share. Maybe it’s the love for a sport, drinking wine, or some other hobby.
| A．So how do we get less terrible? |
| B．Surprise is overrated — we’re happier to get what we ask for. |
| C．So what's the most practical gift you can give that people might actually be grateful for? |
| D．The long-term pleasure of the receiver may not be observed and therefore is discounted. |
| E．Once you’ve found a shared interest, go and find a useful gift related to this interest. |
| F．What recipients care about is how much value they’re going to get from the gift over a longer time period. |
| G．Research has shown that givers are consumed by the moment of unwrapping a gift even more than the gift itself. |
9 . While some allergies (过敏症) disappear over time or with treatment, others last a lifetime. For decades, scientists have been searching for the source of these lifetime allergies.
Recently, researchers found that memory B cells may be involved. These cells produce a different class of antibodies known as IgG, which ward off viral infections. But no one had identified exactly which of those cells were recalling allergens or how they switched to making the IgE antibodies responsible for allergies. To uncover the mysterious cells, two research teams took a deep dive into the immune (免疫的) cells of people with allergies and some without.
Immunologist Joshua Koenig and colleagues examined more than 90, 000 memory B cells from six people with birch allergies, four people allergic to dust mites and five people with no allergies. Using a technique called RNA sequencing, the team identified specific memory B cells, which they named MBC2s that make antibodies and proteins associated with the immune response that causes allergies.
In another experiment, Koenig and colleagues used a peanut protein to go fishing for memory B cells from people with peanut allergies. The team pulled out the same type of cells found in people with birch and dust mite allergies. In people with peanut allergies, those cells increased in number and produced IgE antibodies as the people started treatment to desensitize them to peanut allergens.
Another group led by Maria Curotto de Lafaille, an immunologist at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City, also found that similar cells were more plentiful in 58 children allergic to peanuts than in 13 kids without allergies. The team found that the cells are ready to switch from making protective IgG antibodies to allergy-causing IgE antibodies. Even before the switch, the cells were making RNA for IgE but didn’t produce the protein. Making that RNA enables the cells to switch the type of antibodies they make when they encounter allergens. The signal to switch partially depends on a protein called JAK, the group discovered. “Stopping JAK from sending the signal could help prevent the memory cells from switching to IgE production,” Lafaille says. She also predicts that allergists may be able to examine aspects of these memory cells to forecast whether a patient's allergy is likely to last or disappear with time or treatment.
“Knowing which population of cells store allergies in long-term memory may eventually help scientists identify other ways to kill the allergy cells,” says Cecilia Berin, an immunologist at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. “You could potentially get rid of not only your peanut allergy but also all of your allergies.”
1. Why did scientists investigate the immune cells of individuals with and without allergies?| A．To explore the distinctions between IgG and IgE. |
| B．To uncover new antibodies known as IgG and IgE. |
| C．To identify cells responsible for defending against allergies. |
| D．To reveal cells associated with the development of allergies. |
| A．Make. . . less destructive. | B．Make. . . less responsive. |
| C．Make. . . less protective. | D．Make. . . less effective. |
| A．MBC2s make antibodies and proteins that prevent allergies. |
| B．Memory B cells generate both RNA for IgE and the corresponding protein. |
| C．JAK plays a role in controlling antibody production when exposed to allergens. |
| D．Allergists are capable of predicting whether an allergy will last or disappear. |
| A．RNA Sequencing Is Applied in Immunology Research |
| B．Specific Cells Related to Peanut Allergies Are Identified |
| C．Unmasking Cells’ Identities Helps Diagnose and Treat Allergies |
| D．Newfound Immune Cells Are Responsible for Long-lasting Allergies |
10 . As this year draws to a close, I still remember the fear I felt on a bright Saturday morning in late September, at a five-kilometer race in Clarkston, Georgia, as I waited for my 11-year-old son at the finish line.
I knew he could run a 5k in about 30 minutes. When I didn't see him at the 35-minute mark, I began to wonder what had gone wrong. Had he gotten lost? Was he hit by a car? About an hour earlier, when we drove into town, my son noticed an insect on my car. It was bright green, no longer than a fingernail. And it was friendly. This little green thing hopped onto my son's finger, where it stayed for a long, long time. It stayed so long that we eventually gave it a name: Little Friend.
A few minutes before the race, Little Friend jumped off my son’s hand and landed on the sidewalk. But pedestrian traffic was heavy and unpredictable. Little Friend was in danger. So my son knelt and reached out his hand. Little Friend came back.
The race was about to start, and the tiny green insect was in for a wild ride. My son would run fast, and the race would be long, and his arms would swing, and Little Friend would eventually be shaken off.
“You will lose Little Friend,” I told him.
My son nodded, treating the moment with appropriate seriousness.
The race began, and I lost sight of him.
The excitement at the finish line gave way to anxiety when my son did not show up.
I kept asking people if they'd seen him. No one had. And beyond the 40-minute mark, I was in a panic.
But there he was, thank goodness, just ahead of the 45-minute mark.
And there was Little Friend, riding on the upper crook of his right thumb like a very small captain on a very tall ship.
My predictions had been wrong. My son had not run fast, and he had not lost Little Friend. And these two facts seemed somehow related. He blamed a cold he was getting over. I suspected it was more than that, but I didn’t question him too much about it.
We walked back to the car, smiling, and found some bushes in the parking lot that seemed like a good place for my son to drop off Little Friend.
“Be free,” my son said, and gently put it in the bushes.
My son knew the truth. Sometimes life gives you something beautiful, a fragile, short-lived treasure in your hand. There is no need to rush ahead. Treat it gently. Enjoy each moment. Hold on while you can.
One day my son will leave too, running off on his own adventure.
1. How did the writer probably feel when he finally saw his son appear in sight?| A．Relieved. | B．Depressed. | C．Satisfied. | D．Disappointed. |
| A．he was lost | B．he was recovering from a cold |
| C．he was afraid to lose the tiny insect | D．he was slowed down by the heavy traffic |
| A．indifferent | B．anxious | C．appreciative | D．doubtful |
| A．Treasure every moment he has with his son. |
| B．Encourage his son to take more adventures. |
| C．Tell his son to take races seriously. |
| D．Get more insects for his son. |
