1 . Nature can be unforgiving, especially when it comes to the animal world. As such, squirrels need every advantage they can get in order to protect themselves from a variety of predators that may want to make them their next meal. Squirrels pay incredibly close attention to their surroundings, and they pick up alarm calls from other nearby animals in reference to nearby predators. Now, a new study reveals that squirrels also listen to nearby birds’ conversations to make sure there is no threat close by.
Researchers from Oberlin University say that if the talk from birds is relaxing and normal, the squirrel knows it is not in immediate danger. The authors said that squirrels were listening to bird conversations and sounds to assess their safety, so in order to test their theory they observed the behavior of 54 wild Eastern gray squirrels scattered across various parks and areas in Ohio.
First, a threat was shown by playing a record of a red-tailed hawk(鹰), an animal known to hunt and eat both squirrels and other smaller birds. Then, researchers played one of two different recordings; one recording was of many songbirds chattering among one another happily, and the other was with no bird noises. After playing these recordings, each squirrel’s behavior was monitored for three minutes.
As expected, after hearing the initial record, all the squirrels displayed defensive attitudes, such as running away, looking around, or freezing their movements. Interestingly, the squirrels that heard the happy sounds of songbirds returned back to a normal, relaxed state much faster than the other group that heard the quiet sounds.
The study’s authors say that this indicates squirrels use the sounds of nearby animals to ensure their own safety. This allows the squirrel to either get back to what they were doing in a faster manner, or prepare for potential threats more efficiently.
“Perhaps in some circumstances, cues of safety could be as important as cues of danger,” the study reads. The study is published in the scientific journal PLOS ONE.
1. What does the underlined word “predators” mean in the first paragraph?| A．Animals that hunt squirrels as food. |
| B．Animals that make friends with squirrels. |
| C．Animals that hunt squirrels and birds at night. |
| D．Animals that steal the food from the squirrels’ nests. |
| A．They will stay and freeze. |
| B．They will behave normally. |
| C．They will keep on their guard. |
| D．They will look around and run away. |
| A．By studying the different data. |
| B．By listing the different figures. |
| C．By comparing the different responses. |
| D．By playing different games with the squirrels. |
| A．Three interesting experiments. |
| B．Squirrels listen to birds to stay safe. |
| C．Judging danger from nearby sounds. |
| D．Squirrels can record the dangerous sound. |
2 . Ecofriendly replacement products for single-use plastics are appearing everywhere. But have you heard of edible (可食性的) straws? Now EQUO, a new eco-friendly company in Vietnam has come up with a natural edible solution to plastic or paper straws.
The edible straws are completely plastic free, nontoxic, chemical free, and 100 percent biodegradable according to a company press release.
“It’s well known that plastic straws are harmful to the environment. Most of the 500 million used every day in America end up in oceans where they pollute water and harm marine life. Currently over eight billion straws pollute the world’s beaches,” said Marina Tran-Vu in the press release. “Although there are some plastic and paper straw alternatives on the market, most are environmentally harmful, and we were also unsatisfied with the quality and lasting of paper straws.”
All of the materials are locally from regions that support sustainable farming according to the company’s website and they struggle to have zero-net influence by” using the power of mother nature”. The name of the company was created by combining “ECO” — meaning environmentally friendly — with “STATUS QUO” — meaning the existent state. EQU stands for creating products that have minimal influence on the environment. The company was first shown on Kickstarter on May 18 and hit their funding goal in only 30 days.
Many countries are banning single-use plastics. The EU banned 10 single-use plastic products including straws that will take effect in 2021. Other items that will no longer be made of plastic include cutlery (餐具), and balloon sticks. These 10 items make up a large percentage of ocean waste that harms marine life.
So do your part, use biodegradable cutlery — you can carry your own , edible straws, and reusable water or coffee cups. These small items can contribute to reducing plastic waste.
1. What is the third paragraph mainly about?| A．The popularity of plastic straws. |
| B．The harm of plastic straws. |
| C．The pollution of beaches. |
| D．The necessity of change. |
| A．It means the original aim. |
| B．It means the existent state. |
| C．It means how to create products. |
| D．It means being good for the environment. |
| A．Plastic straws will be forbidden. |
| B．Edible straws will be sold cheaply. |
| C．Ocean waste can be rid completely. |
| D．Single-use plastic products will disappear. |
| A．Skeptical. | B．Objective. | C．Tolerant. | D．Approving. |
Science Sunday is for everyone interested in the world around them, whose lectures are designed to make science interesting and “user-friendly” for everyone. Lectures are one hour long. Doors open to the lecture hall at 1:00 pm. Lecture passes are available at the admissions counter at 12:30 pm. Seating is limited and first-come, first-served. No late seating. Lectures include time for a few questions at the end.
Life on the Ranch
Celebrate the warmth of the holiday season with crafts, games, music, and enjoyment from the early 20th century. We’ll busy your hands with holiday wreath-making (花冠), invite you to join in an old-fashioned sing-along around the player piano, and provide you with materials to make Victorian and Mexican holiday crafts. Come play games, take a draft-horse carriage ride, decorate the tree, and create decorations to bring home to your own tree.
Open Studios Tour
Explore the hidden world of art! Visit artists in their studios, learn about their processes, purchase original works of art. Free mobile app and printed guide have artist information and maps. Open Studios is a free self-guided tour, produced by Arts Council Santa Cruz County, which invites the public into more than 300 artist studios across Santa Cruz County.
Roaring Camp
Step into the incredible world of steam power at the Steam & Harvest Festival. Welcome Fall with traditional children’s activities like candle making, and gold panning. See a variety of steam and belt-powered equipment on display. Admission is free for the whole family.
1. What can visitors do if they attend Science Sunday lectures?| A．Show up at 2:30 pm. | B．Explore the hidden world of art. |
| C．Be able to ask questions. | D．Change attitudes to oceans. |
| A．Promote wreath-making. | B．Sing to the piano. |
| C．Make crafts alone. | D．Get close to Victoria. |
| A．Roaring Camp | B．Open Studios Tour |
| C．Life on the Ranch | D．Seymour Marine Discovery Center |
4 . Just like our bodies, our minds also become weak over time.
It improves cognitive (认知的) performance.
A study published in the journal Neurology Clinical Practice examined nearly 100 individual studies on exercise and brain function and discovered that exercising an average of 52 hours over six months is associated with improved cognitive performance in older adults. The type of exercises are beneficial.
It can make you happier.
The human body is meant to move. But listening to that urge to move has many benefits - including making you happier and even keep depression and other mental health issues at bay.
Researchers from Japan’s University of Tsukuba wanted to explore this idea further by looking at the effect of exercise on the weakening of the brain. They found that the fitter a participant was, the less brain activity he used to complete the tasks when compared with his out-of-shape peers.
It can expand your capacity for joy.
| A．It allows you to use less brain power for the same task. |
| B．It makes you feel the progress of your brain power. |
| C．But remember not to choose some energetic exercises. |
| D．And these exercises include strength-training and mind-body exercises. |
| E．We lose the ability to process new information or to switch quickly between mental tasks. |
| F．A research has begun to expose long-overlooked links between physical activity and mental health. |
| G．Kelly McGonigal is a health expert who explains how exercise makes the brain more sensitive to joy. |
5 . In battling the timber poachers who enter the thick Sierra Madre forests near his home, Larry Garaes has found a new support: solar panels.
With solar chargers, the radios he and other forest rangers (护林人) rely on no longer run out of power on multi-day operations in the mountains.
“Communication between rangers is a lot better. Now, we can catch the poachers while they are in the act because we can coordinate (使协调) our moves quietly without turning to shout at the next ranger — unlike before,” Garaes said.
Access to clean energy is bringing a range of unexpected benefits around the world. On the longest mountain range in the Philippines, those benefits include better forest protection — and power for tribal people who once lacked it.
More than 2 million households — or about 10 percent of all households — in the Philippines lack electricity, according to a 2017 report by the country’s Department of Energy.About three quarters are in remote rural locations, in a country spread over thousands of islands, according to the Small Power Utilities Group (SPUG), which is trying to get them connected.Because bringing the national grid (网格) power to many of those people is not cost effective, the state National Power Corporation has charged SPUG with setting up and running small power plants in these areas. So far 327 such plants have been established. Government plans to call for 100 percent electrification of the country by 2022.
“Government has to do its work to connect all those areas that are not yet connected to the grid,” said Edmundo Veloso Jr. “But all but one of the new generation plants use diesel fuel, he said — even though transport of fuel can be a big problem in remote areas. Diesel is the fastest and the only technology available at the moment for off-grid areas. Diesel is still the cheapest in terms of capital outlay (开支).”
1. What do Garaes’ words suggest?| A．Fewer poachers come there. |
| B．They used to move loudly. |
| C．Their conditions improved. |
| D．They were tired of shouting. |
| A．People are unwilling to use clean energy. |
| B．Using clean energy benefits people there. |
| C．Forest protection turns out to be serious. |
| D．People in the area require more attention. |
| A．The serious shortage of electricity. |
| B．The poor conditions in rural areas. |
| C．The improvement of power supply. |
| D．The popularity of power plants. |
| A．Lacking funds. | B．Shipping fuel. |
| C．Technology. | D．Shortage of attention. |
Xiamen, lying in Fujian Province, is a famous coastal city. As far as I’m concerned, Xiamen is very clean and pretty. In that city, we can enjoy the clear sky, the beautiful sea,
However, in recent years, Xiamen has become a lot
Next year if I have enough time and money, I plan
7 . On a sunny afternoon in Dania Beach, a dozen scientist’s unloaded containers full of corals from a dive boat. They gently removed each piece from large tanks on the deck and placed them inside smaller containers, which were slowly taken onshore.
The operation is part of what scientists describe as a “Noah’s Ark(诺亚方舟)” mission to save corals from extinction as a mysterious disease damages mile after mile of the Florida Reef Tract. Since first being spotted in 2014, the disease has killed colonies already weakened by impacts from climate change, including frequent rounds of bleaching(漂泊).
During one trip, researchers spent six days diving in the Lower Keys to collect corals that haven’t yet been touched by a certain disease. Their mission, as the “Ark” reference suggests, is to preserve healthy examples of species that can be raised in labs, then later transplanted back to the barrier reef that parallels much of the Southeast Florida coastline.
“It’s a tough effort, but we need to do everything we can to help corals survive,” said Richard Dodge from Nova South eastern University’s [(NSU)] Halmos College, as he watched university staff and volunteers place the 341 corals in holding tanks on the university dock across from Port Everglades.
NSU is one of seven research facilities that will act as temporary hosts for samples collected for what is formally known as the Coral Rescue Collection Plan, part of an ambitious program led by the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration. NSU researchers will collect data on the species, then send them to other universities and zoos across the country, where they will be used to grow new colonies—seed stock for potential restoration efforts in the future.
1. What’s the best title for the passage?| A．Noah’s Ark mission | B．Corals are endangering |
| C．Corals are put in containers | D．Fight to preserve the corals |
| A．To emphasize it was very serious to corals. |
| B．To show few cared about its existence. |
| C．To appeal for international cooperation. |
| D．To state it was involved with climate change. |
| A．They conducted research on the spot. |
| B．They found it tough to collect corals. |
| C．They collected healthy corals. |
| D．They desired to get close to corals. |
| A．Culture. | B．Economy. | C．Entertainment. | D．Environment. |
8 . Kenya’s EliudKipchoge made history by running the 26.2 miles in less than two hours, faster than any other person in history. His time of 1:59:40 required him to maintain an average pace of about 4:35 per mile!
Upon crossing the finish line, Kipchoge, who spent four months training, said, “That was the best moment of my life. The pressure was very big on my shoulders. I got a phone call from the President of Kenya.”
The Prater Park course in Vienna, Austria, was carefully selected, taking into account factors like temperature and wind speed to ensure the perfect racing. His speed was maintained by 41 medium and long-distance runners. An electric car projected a green laser ahead of the runners to guide them along the best route. To save time, Kipchoge was fed pre-prepared drinks and energy on the course at 3.1-mile intervals.
The historic run was Kipchoge’s second attempt at breaking the two-hour marathon barrier. The Kenyan runner first tried to accomplish the feat on May 6, 2017, at Nike’s Breaking2 event, which took place on a Formula One racetrack in Monza, Italy. However, while Kipchoge’s 2:00:25 time was the fastest ever attained by a human, it was not under the desired two hours. However, the lack of acknowledgement does not bother Kipchoge.
Kipchoge was not the only Kenyan runner to make headlines that weekend. On Sunday, October 13, 2019, Brigid Kosgei made history of her own at the Chicago Marathon. Her time of 2:14:04, outpaced British runner Paula Radcliffe ‘s 16-year-old record by an impressive 81 seconds, earning Kosgei the title of the world’s fastest female marathoner!
1. Why did Kipchoge have bigger pressure?| A．He intended to make history. |
| B．The president of Kenya rang him. |
| C．The coming marathon was fierce. |
| D．His training was harder than ever. |
| A．Tell us Kipchoge’s determination. |
| B．Summarize Kipchoge’s contributions. |
| C．Praise Kipchoge for his thoughtfulness. |
| D．Show Kipchoge planned the marathon carefully. |
| A．Concerned. | B．Astonished. | C．Upset. | D．Calm. |
| A．Beat. | B．Equaled. | C．Stuck. | D．Set. |
1. What does the woman do for a living?
| A．She’s a teacher. |
| B．She’s a travel writer. |
| C．She’s still a student. |
| A．Three months long. | B．Two months long. | C．One month long. |
| A．Post them on Facebook. |
| B．Put them up on her wall. |
| C．Put them in a box. |
| A．She is going to Europe. |
| B．She will go to many places. |
| C．She will travel by plane. |
1. What is the man doing in the conversation?
| A．He is ordering a drink. |
| B．He is serving customers. |
| C．He is buying things at a store. |
| A．One should pay others for the work they do. |
| B．One should do his job well. |
| C．Being nice has rewards. |
| A．She’s sweet. |
| B．She’s friendly. |
| C．She’s not very nice. |
