| A．A painting. | B．A photo. | C．An exhibition. |
| A．her father is ill. |
| B．her flight has been canceled. |
| C．she suffers from a heart attack. |
| A．Sophie. | B．Peter. | C．James. |
| A．In a store. | B．In a hotel. | C．In a restaurant |
5 . The diversity of Australian animals in NSW national parks is extraordinary. Some common species can be found across a range of parks, while others are endemic (特有的) to a specific area. Our national parks are also important shelters for threatened animals, many found nowhere else in the world. The following are some examples.
Albert’s lyrebird
The Albert’s lyrebird is much rarer than the superb lyrebird. Distinguished by its richer brown feather and less delicate tail feathers, it’s protected as a threatened species in NSW.
Cumberland Plain land snail
The endangered Cumberland Plain land snail is only found on the Cumberland Plain, west of Sydney. During drought it digs deep into the soil to escape severe conditions. Its brown shell is thin and fragile (脆弱的).
Australian fur seal The largest fur seal
Australian fur seals are found in isolated rocky outcrops and islands along the NSW coast. They come ashore to form breeding colonies (繁殖地) and can often be seen at Barunguba Montague Island Nature Reserve.
Australian brush turkey
The Australian brush turkey, also known as bush or scrub turkey, can be found in rainforests along eastern NSW. With a striking red head, blue-black feather and booming call, these distinctive Australian birds are easy to spot while bird watching in several NSW national parks.
1. What do Albert’s lyrebird and Cumberland Plain land snail have in common?| A．They live in the soil. | B．They hate dry conditions. |
| C．They have long feathers. | D．They are species in danger. |
| A．They breed on the sea shore. | B．They are red from head to tail. |
| C．They adapt to rainforest climate. | D．They are only seen on isolated islands. |
| A．In a science report. | B．In a personal diary. |
| C．In a tourist brochure. | D．In an educational magazine. |
6 . I was driving down the highway, enjoying the freedom of the open road when suddenly, I heard a loud noise. My car shook
I carefully
I tried to flag down passing cars, but no one seemed to notice me. They drove past me at high speed, as if I were
As the sun started to set, my
Just when I was about to give up, I heard a car
As expected, the man helped
| A．slightly | B．slowly | C．precisely | D．violently |
| A．set off | B．took up | C．pulled over | D．moved on |
| A．chance | B．spare | C．effort | D．spirit |
| A．delicate | B．invisible | C．flexible | D．energetic |
| A．hopeless | B．peaceful | C．proud | D．secure |
| A．admiration | B．determination | C．frustration | D．occupation |
| A．emotion | B．strength | C．innovation | D．rescue |
| A．happiness | B．enjoyment | C．tears | D．bravery |
| A．disappearing | B．approaching | C．fading | D．floating |
| A．rise | B．beat | C．decrease | D．sink |
| A．anxiety | B．humour | C．relief | D．direction |
| A．obtain | B．change | C．unearth | D．destroy |
| A．drove off | B．set up | C．calmed down | D．figured out |
| A．host | B．creator | C．beggar | D．hero |
| A．kindness | B．coldness | C．genius | D．influence |
7 . Right now someone is speaking or thinking in a language that is on the verge of disappearing. Of the world’s roughly 7,000 spoken languages, one dies every 40 days, according to one estimate — languages like Babanki, spoken in Cameroon.
And some of the places where rare languages are the most concentrated are also most vulnerable (易受影响的) to climate change. Especially, linguists call global warming the final nail in the coffin (致命一击) for more than half of humanity’s language disappearing.
Let’s take Vanuatu, a South Pacific island nation, for example. It’s very small, but it has 110 languages spoken there, which is the highest density (密度) of languages in the world. It is also one of the countries most at risk of sea level rise and climate change. There, you can often see perfect hurricanes.
So if rising seas or storms force people in Vanuatu to move to Australia, what happens to the language they speak? Well, what often happens is that they aren’t necessarily displaced with the same people in their community, and also, even if they are displaced with other people in their community, they and their children will often adopt the language of Australia, the dominant language there because it’s economically advantageous for them to speak the new language, the dominant language. And their language dies.
However, there is so much culturally lost when a language dies. It is because the language carries so much local knowledge and culture.
In fact, in the 1970s, it was something like 2,000 native speakers of Hawaiian remained. But activists launched some schools where children are taught from birth, usually by kind of grandparents, and now more than 18,700 people speak it. And the same thing happened in New Zealand in the 1970s. Only 5% of young Maori people spoke the language, but now something like 25% now speak it.
1. What do we know about Vanuatu?| A．Its most languages have died out. |
| B．It is sensitive to climate change. |
| C．It witnesses various disasters every year. |
| D．It is the highest density of population in the world. |
| A．They lose their advantages in economy. |
| B．They have few chances to speak their own language. |
| C．They fail to contact people in their previous community. |
| D．They willingly teach their kids the language of Australia. |
| A．Favourable. | B．Concerned. | C．Doubtful. | D．Unclear. |
| A．More languages are faced with dying out. |
| B．It’s a must for kids to learn their mother tongue. |
| C．Grandparents play a vital role in passing down languages. |
| D．More efforts have been made to save endangered languages. |
8 . The Mona Lisa is the famous Leonardo da Vinci painting of a woman with a mysterious smile. This week, the painting gave up a secret.
Scientists used X-rays to examine the chemical organization of an extremely small part of the more than 500-year-old painting. The researchers discovered a technique Leonardo used in the work. A team in France and Britain discovered an oil paint used for the Mona Lisa was a special, new chemical mixture. It suggests that the Italian artist may have been in an experimental mood when he set to work on the painting early in the 16th century.
“He was someone who loved to experiment, and each of his paintings is completely different technically,” said Victor Gonzalez. He is the study’s lead writer. “In this case, it’s interesting to see that indeed there is a specific technique for the ground layer of the Mona Lisa,” he said in an interview with The Associated Press. Specifically, the researchers found a rare compound, plumbonacrite (水蛭石), in Leonardo’s first layer of paint. The discovery, Gonzalez said, proved that da Vinci most likely used lead oxide to thicken and help dry his paint.
The scientists looked into its atomic structure using X-rays in a synchrotron (同步加速器). The machine moves particles at close to the speed of light, permitting researchers to look deeper into the paint structure. “Plumbonacrite is really a fingerprint of his recipe,” Gonzalez said. “It’s the first time we can actually chemically prove it.”
Dutch artist Rembrandt may have used a similar mixture when he was painting in the 17th century. Gonzalez and other researchers have found plumbonacrite in his work, too. “It also tells us that those recipes were passed on for centuries,” Gonzalez said. “It was a very good recipe.”
But the Mona Lisa and additional works by Leonardo still have other secrets to tell. “There are plenty, plenty more things to discover,” Gonzalez said. “What we are saying is just a little brick more in the knowledge.”
1. What is the secret of the painting of the Mona Lisa?| A．The use of plumbonacrite. | B．Leonardo’s love for experiment. |
| C．The way to dry the painting. | D．The oil in the first layer. |
| A．Unclear. | B．Positive. | C．Doubtful. | D．Disappointed. |
| A．By making comparisons. | B．By listing related examples. |
| C．By describing the study process. | D．By quoting experts’ opinions. |
| A．A Creative Painter | B．A Smiling Mona Lisa |
| C．A New Discovery in the Mona Lisa | D．A Pioneering Painting |
9 . When it comes to travel, sometimes wandering is one of the most exciting things you can do. In a time when travellers are both more adventurous and eco-conscious than ever, it’s no surprise that there’s a wealth of new vocabulary to describe how we travel, when we travel and how the experience makes us feel. Here are eight of our favourite travel words that you may not have heard before.
We’ve kicked off a blog with the staycation, “a holiday in one’s own country”. The term first became popular in the mid-2000s, when the global financial crisis meant people had less income to spend on flash holidays and instead searched for cheaper local choices. Since 2020, the staycation is experiencing a revival (复兴). Benefits of staycations include cheaper travel costs, no spending hours in the airport and, of course, no need to worry about whether your passport expired (过期) last year.
Once upon a time, if you wanted to meet new people on your travels, you could stay at a hostel or with a host on Airbnb. Now, you can couch surf. And not just in “the staying at various friends’ houses until you find a new place to rent” sense: couch surfing is quickly becoming a hot new travel trend. Travellers can now choose to couch surf all across the world via a website which treats travel as a cultural exchange, allowing people to connect with willing hosts and crash on their sofas.
Given that single-use and climate strike were selected as the Collins 2018 and 2019 Words of the Year respectively, it’s clear that the climate crisis is very much on everybody’s mind. This desire to make more sustainable choices is also affecting the way we spend our vacation days. Ecotourism is another popular travel trend, defined as tourism that is designed to contribute to the protection of the environment. Examples of ecotourism include ditching short-haul flights, staying at eco-friendly resorts, or booking a staycation.
1. When did the staycation become popular firstly?| A．About in 2018. | B．About in 2019. | C．About in 2005. | D．About in 2010. |
| A．Two. | B．Three. | C．Four. | D．Six. |
| A．The eco-friendly travel ways. | B．The cheap ways to get around. |
| C．The changing words of travel. | D．The spread of history and culture. |
| A．The other new travel words. | B．Ways to protect environment. |
| C．Other examples of ecotourism. | D．Experiences of reaching culture. |
1. What’s the weather like in the morning of May and June in Costa Rica?
| A．Cloudy and warm. | B．Rainy and cold. | C．Dry and hot. |
| A．There are more interesting things. |
| B．The weather is better. |
| C．The prices are lower. |
| A．In January. | B．In May. | C．In December. |
| A．From February to April. | B．From May to June. | C．From July to August. |
