1 . It is calculated that some of the world’s 7,000 languages are in danger of getting extinct. “For example, Ainu, a language in Japan, is now seriously threatened, with only 10 native speakers remaining,“ said lead study author Tatsuya Amano at the University of Cambridge in England.
The scientists found that 25 percent of the world’s languages are threatened(威胁)．After identifying where the endangered(濒危的)languages were，they looked for any environmental and social or economic factors those languages might have in common, such as poor areas or rapid population growth. “We find that at the global scale, language speaker declines are strongly linked to economic growth-that is, declines are particularly occurring in economically developed regions,” said Amano.
“One important finding of this new study is that languages in the tropics and Himalayan region are likely to be increasingly threatened in the near future, because these regions still have many local languages with a small number of speakers, and at the same time are experiencing rapid economic growth,” said Amano.
Economic growth may endanger languages for a variety of reasons. For instance, speakers of endangered languages may view another more popular language as offering economic opportunities, and thus abandon their own languages. “There are other important factors that might endanger languages,” said the researchers. For instance, policies regarding how languages are used and taught in schools can be very different among countries and even within each country, and these factors may explain more detailed patterns in language endangerment.
Amano suggested it could be possible to forecast(预见)future threats to the diversity(多样化) of languages. “There exists detailed information on future changes in the environment， economies and climates(气候)，”Amano said. “Using such information，together with the findings of this study and further analysis, we would like to understand what will happen to the world’s languages, where it will happen and which languages will be threatened in particular.”
1. What can we know about Ainu?| A．It has changed little over the years. |
| B．It threatens Japanese language. |
| C．It is a local language in Japan. |
| D．It is put under protection. |
| A．What should be taught in schools. |
| B．What might endanger a language. |
| C．How economic growth is achieved. |
| D．How a language becomes popular. |
| A．We must take action to save the environment. |
| B．More and more languages will get missing. |
| C．It will be easier to learn language changes. |
| D．Factors threatening languages will double. |
| A．Over 7,000 languages have been threatened. |
| B．Local language must be spoken in every school. |
| C．It is possible to use only one language worldwide. |
| D．The number of tropics’ local language speakers may become smaller in the future. |
2 . A music column by New Music Friday is from https: //www.npr.org, sharing the best albums released every Friday. Readers can enjoy and download the album’s title track online. The column is well enjoyed by the music explorers. Here are some recent hits.
The best releases out Sept. 30
By Stephen Thompson, Keanna Faircloth, Bob Boilen, Tarik Moody
It’s been five years since Björk last released an album, but now the Icelandic icon (偶像) is back with a deeply inventive set called Fossora. Every sound on the record feels as if it’s springing into the mix from a different direction, as her energetic voice shares space with everything from bass clarinets (低音单簧管) to the voices of Björk’s own creation. Fossora was inspired, at least in part, by the death of the singer’s mother, but joy also exists.
The best releases out Sept. 16
By Cyrena Touros, Christina Lee, Tarik Moody, Stephen Thompson
The superstar K-pop girl group BLACKPINK is one of the biggest pop juggernauts in the world, with billions of streams and massive world tours to its name. Born Pink, its second full-length album, promises to further promote BLACKPINK’s domination of the U.S. charts.
The best releases out Sept. 9
By Christina Lee, Ann Powers, Stephen Thompson, Cyrena Touros
Ari Lennox experienced a huge breakthrough with 2019’s much-loved Shea Butter Baby, but her new album age/sex/location promises to be even bigger. She’s been trying many her singles for many months now, and even dropped a five-song EP last Friday, but the album is finally here. It somehow sounds modern even if it recreates the most unforgettable R&B sounds of the’90s and early’00s.
1. Why is Björk’s mother mentioned?| A．She gave Björk an energetic voice. |
| B．She helped Björk to record the new album. |
| C．Her death gave Björk some inventive ideas. |
| D．Her leaving delayed the release of Fossora. |
| A．It is made up of five songs. |
| B．It is adapted from Shea Butter Baby. |
| C．It is intended for single music-lovers. |
| D．It is trying to make another breakthrough. |
| A．Stephen Thompson. | B．Tarik Moody. |
| C．Christina Lee. | D．Ann Powers. |
3 . In 2002, Huang Hui, a researcher of the South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, went diving near Xisha. In addition to getting an irremovable suntan (晒黑), she was left with memories of a beautiful experience with clear water and abundant colorful corals (珊瑚). However, much of the breathtaking scenery of this reef has disappeared due to climate change and human activities. All of these factors led to the decline of the coral reef in the near shore waters. “We started to cultivate corals near the Xisha Islands in 2010, and restored more than 200,000 square meters of coral reefs,” Huang said.
In 2004, when Huang was attending the 10th International Coral Reef Symposium, she found herself the only representative from the Chinese mainland. She said she felt sad but she made up her mind to strengthen communication with other countries to improve China’s level and status in coral research. She visited top coral research institutes in the US and Australia, establishing long-term cooperation with some of the world’s top coral researchers. By far, Huang has worked on coral research and protection for 22 years. Now, China is in a leading position in terms of technology and coral planting scale.
Huang believes that people’s consciousness of coral protection matters most to the sustainable development of the coral reefs. “I want to call on more people to love nature and look at the ocean in awe,” Huang said.
Partly due to her efforts, Hainan Province released a law in 2017 banning reef exploitation (开发), trading and damaging.
Huang works as a consultant for customs and frontier police on coral protection and promotes coral protection in her local schools. Huang also provides online free training for divers to teach them proper behavior in the sea to protect coral reefs.
“A group of ‘folk scientists’ have also been trained with the hope that more people can gain awareness of the significance of coral reef protection and know how to protect them,” said Huang.
“I am 50, and when I become 60, I hope that not only a coral island will be built but a sustainable development pattern will also be created,” said Huang. “The ideal state is that the coral island should be able to support fishermen and preserve the ecosystem,” she added.
1. What impressed Huang most when going diving near Xisha in 2002?| A．A permanent sunburn on her skin. |
| B．A large quantity of colorful corals. |
| C．A sweet memory of her childhood. |
| D．The sudden disappearance of corals. |
2. What does Paragraph 2 mainly focus on?
| A．China’s advances in coral protection. | B．Huang’s devotion to coral protection. |
| C．Huang’s concern over coral protection. | D．People’s ignorance of coral protection. |
| A．Introduction of advanced technology. |
| B．Tough laws banning reef exploitation. |
| C．Public awareness of coral protection. |
| D．Communication with foreign countries. |
| A．Corals in South China Sea are in danger. |
| B．Scientist plants corals to save ecosystem. |
| C．China is taking the lead in planting corals. |
| D．Measures are to be taken to protect corals. |
4 . You may have recently seen a video from the Beijing Wildlife Zoo becoming a hit. What exactly was so interesting about this video? It shows a dog playing with big cats four to five times its size! Many people might wonder if this dog has a death wish, but it seems that the dog and the big cats are good friends.
The dog was actually raised alongside the lion and tiger cubs, making up an odd but loving family, according to zoo officials. As opposed to the common belief, cross-species friendship has been around for centuries. People have domesticated many animals, most notably cats and dogs, and formed bonds with them as pets. Perhaps you even have a pet yourself.
There are many other instances of cross-species friendships.
At an animal sanctuary in Santiago, Chile, a jaguar named Marina and a deer named Laura formed a friendship after they both came to the park. As neither animal had a mother, sanctuary staff said they instantly bonded when they met. Laura had been rescued from a slaughterhouse while Marina had been rescued from the street.
One possible explanation for these friendships is the environment of the zoo. Animals don’t hunt for their food and don’t need to worry about marking their territory or looking for mates in the way an animal in the wild would. “All those activities take time and energy, and if these needs are removed, the animals get bored,” Gordon Burghardt, a psychologist at the University of Tenessee, US, told The Atlantic magazine. “In this particular situation, the animal’s motivation to engage socially and playfully may be higher in its need hierarchy(等级)than eating.”
Marc Bekoff, former biology professor at the University of Colorado, US, told Slate magazine, “I think the choices animals make in cross-species relationships are the same as they’d make in same-species relationships. Some dogs don’t like every other dog. Animals are very selective about the other individuals who they let into their lives.”
1. What is the common opinion about the friendship between animals?| A．It’s easier for dogs and cats to become friends. |
| B．Animals tend to play with peers of the same species. |
| C．The friendship between animals is not solid and reliable. |
| D．It’s common that animals of different species can become friends. |
| A．To present a truth. | B．To explain a phenomenon. |
| C．To introduce the topic. | D．To provide a proof. |
| A．The existing tradition. | B．The influence by mates. |
| C．The animals’ inner social drive. | D．The animals’ raisers’ instruction. |
| A．To appeal to people to treasure animals. |
| B．To inform readers of a special friendship. |
| C．To demonstrate the history of bringing up pets. |
| D．To compare friendship between cross-species and same-species. |
5 . Shlander is a man from space. He thinks the people and things on the earth are very strange. He is now writing a letter to his friend at home. Here is part of his letter. Read it and answer the questions.
Now I am in a strange world. It is very nice. There are many new things here. There are many earth monsters here, too. The earth monsters look very funny. They have just one head, two arms and two legs. They have thin black strings on their heads Some earth monsters have brown or yellow strings. The earth monsters have a hole in their face. Every day, they put nice things and balls from the trees into the hole. They put water into the hole, too. The earth monsters do not walk very fast. They move from place to place in tin bores.
At night, the earth monsters like to look at a square window box. This box has very small earth monsters in it.
1. Shlander thinks man on the earth is ________.| A．a monkey | B．an earth monster | C．a tin box | D．a strange world |
| A．a head, arms and legs | B．brown or yellow strings on its head |
| C．a hole on its face | D．a swing on its body |
| A．nice things | B．balls | C．fire | D．water |
| A．a car or a bus | B．a very small earth monster |
| C．a TV set | D．a radio |
6 . Steve Forest is a scientist. He’s standing on an island off the coast of the Antarctic Peninsula. Below him are several hundred penguins and their children. Forrest’s job is to count every one of them. It's snowing. There is a big wind, too. And their children won’t stay still. Penguins are great climbers. So Forrest and the team members must be too. And penguins aren't always clean.
Forrest has been coming to Antarctica every January for six years. He's helping count the area’s penguins. This will help researchers better understand the Antarctic environment. There used to be lots of penguins in Antarctica, “It's all because of climate change,” Heather J. Lynch says seriously. She is leading the research team. The team member Noah Strycker adds, “We know climate change is hitting the Antarctic Peninsula harder than anywhere else in the world. We are following the situation closely.”
Scientists think that warming waters do harm to krill, the tiny animals that penguins eat. This is bad for the sea life. But krill are hard to study, so researchers pay attention to penguins. They’re easier to follow. They return to the same place each year to lay eggs. If penguins aren't doing well , krill probably aren't either. “Penguins give us an idea about what is going on in the sea around us,” Forrest says.
This year, Lynch’s research team uses a drone to help them. They fly it over an area to take pictures to count penguins.
Counting penguins is quite necessary. The more we learn, the more we know about krill and the ocean animals that depend on them. When we understand them, we can start fixing them. We should consider carefully what Lynch says: “What’s happening in the Antarctic is happening everywhere.”
1. What is required of scientists like Forrest according to Paragraph 1?| A．Being clean. | B．Being good at math. |
| C．Being cool-headed. | D．Being skilled in climbing. |
| A．To protect this animal species from extinction. |
| B．To help find out how many krill might be living |
| C．To have a better knowledge of the Antarctic environment |
| D．To collect first-hand data for analyzing global warming. |
| A．Scientists. | B．Krill. | C．Penguins. | D．Ocean animals. |
| A．Penguins lay eggs in the same place on the island every year. |
| B．The penguin population is increasing due to climate change. |
| C．The penguin population determines the krill population. |
| D．Climate change is most obvious in the Antarctic Peninsula. |
7 . Wholesale prices for gas and electricity are increasing suddenly across Europe,raising the possibility of increases in already-high utility (公共事业）bills and further pain for people who have taken a financial hit fromCOVID-19.
Governments are struggling to find ways to limit costs to consumers as scant natural gas reserves present yet another potential problem, exposing the continent to even more price increases and possible shortages if it’s a cold winter.
In the U.K., many people will see their gas and electricity bills rise next month after the nation’s energy regulator approved a 12% price increase for those without contracts that lock in rates. Officials in Italy have warned that prices will increase by 40% for the quarter that will be billed in October.
There are multiple causes for the price increases, energy analysts say, including tight supplies of natural gas used to generate electricity, higher costs for permits to release carbon dioxide as part of Europe’s fight against climate change, and less supply from wind in some cases.
Analysts at S&P Global Platts say electricity prices have risen due to strong demand from places like data centers and electric cars, but above all because of the rise in the price of natural gas used in generating plants. Utility companies’ exposure to natural gas prices has increased as high-emission coal plants have been retired, while utilities face higher costs for carbon allowances required by the European Union’s emissions trading system, which is aimed at reducing emissions of greenhouse gases.
The tight gas market could bite even more sharply if there’s an unusually cold winter. That’s because European distributors did not refill reserves reduced during last winter as they typically had done in summer months. In March 2008, when the freeze named “the beast from the east” hit Europe, industrial users in the U.K got a notice that there was a risk of interruption, although it didn’t come to that.
Could Europe run out of gas? “The short answer is Yes, this is a real risk,” said James Huckstepp, an analyst at S&P Global Platts. “Storage stocks are at record lows and there isn’t currently any spare supply capacity that is exportable anywhere in the world.The longer answer is that it’s hard to predict how it will play out given that Europe has never run out of gas in two decades under the current distribution system.”
1. What does the underlined word “scant” in Paragraph 2 probably mean?| A．Total. | B．Additional. | C．Limited. | D．Regular. |
| A．The closure of some coal plants. |
| B．The great demand for electric cars. |
| C．The competition between utility companies. |
| D．The change in the emissions trading system. |
| A．More natural gas will be needed for industrial use. |
| B．European distributors don’t make good preparations. |
| C．It is not easy to fill reserves during the cold weather. |
| D．Utility companies work can be easily interrupted. |
| A．Europe is expected to seek help from other countries. |
| B．It is hard to control the gas price in Europe at present. |
| C．Europe might face a serious shortage of gas in the future. |
| D．There’s something wrong with Europe’s distribution system. |
8 . Physical education, or PE, isn’t required for all high school students. In some schools, it isn’t offered for some different reasons. But should high school students have physical education? The answer is certainly “yes”.
Today many people don’t do sports. But as is known to all. doing sports is very important for an adult. Teaching teens the importance of a healthy lifestyle and making fitness plans now can help teens put exercise in the first place as an adult.
High school isn’t that easy. Many students are under a lot of stress. Stress can be harmful to a student’s studies and life. Doing sports can help them deal with stress better, helping them live a happier life at school.
The American Heart Association says that 10 million kids and teens suffer from obesity (肥胖). Teens should get 60 minutes of physical activity per day to control their weight and to help their bones get stronger. The increase in activities that don’t get teens to move around, such as computer games, means many teens don’t get their required exercise. PE classes act as a public health measure (措施) to encourage physical activities and help teens have healthy weights.
Not doing sports increases teens’ hazard of developing many diseases. An active lifestyle offers a good way of protection from these health problems. As much as 75 percent of health-care spending goes toward treating medical conditions that can be prevented by lifestyle changes, according to the American College of Sports Medicine.
According to the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition (PCFSN), students who performed five hours of physical activities each week improved their academic (学业的) performance. Students from programs with no physical activity, who used the extra time for classroom study, did not perform better on tests than those who gave up some study time in support of physical education.
1. According to Paragraph 2, what does physical education in high school mean?| A．Making teens attach importance to ęxercise later. |
| B．Removing the stress faced by teens at school. |
| C．Getting teens to encourage adults to exercise. |
| D．Helping teens learn to make good plans |
| A．Happiness. | B．Risk. | C．Safety. | D．Sadness. |
| A．means making students choose between sports and studies |
| B．helps students make good use of all their time |
| C．means students adjust to their studies better |
| D．helps students do better in their studies |
| A．Why high school students should receive physical education. |
| B．Why some schools consider physical education important. |
| C．How schools can help students love doing sports. |
| D．How high school students can live a better life. |
9 . As you read, remember: gifts from the heart are the best ones you’ll ever receive.
According to legend (传说), a young man while moving about the desert came across a spring of delicious clear water. The water was so sweet that he filled his leather canteen so he could bring some back to an elder who had been his teacher. After a four-day journey he gave the water to the old man who took a deep drink, smiled warmly and thanked his student for the sweet water. The young man returned to his village with a happy heart.
Later, the teacher let another student taste the water. He spat it out, saying it was very smelly. It had become no longer fresh because of the old leather container. The student asked his teacher, “Master, the water was smelly. Why did you pretend to like it?”
The teacher replied, “You only tasted the water. I tasted the gift. The water was simply the container for an act of loving-kindness and nothing could be sweeter.”
I think we understand this lesson best when we receive gifts of love from young children. Whether it’s a piece of paper or a ruler, the natural and proper response (反应) is appreciation and we express thankfulness because we love the idea within the gift.
Gratitude (感激) doesn’t always come naturally. Unfortunately, most children and many adults value only the thing given rather than the feeling in it. We should tell ourselves and teach our children about the beauty and purity of feelings and expressions of gratitude. After all, gifts from the heart are really gifts of the heart.
1. Based on the story, what did the water for the old man actually stand for?| A．The young man’s loving-kindness. | B．The beauty of the desert. |
| C．The source of the legend. | D．The importance of giving. |
| A．He frowned (皱眉) at the water. | B．He showed his appreciation. |
| C．He didn’t say anything. | D．He was moved to tears. |
| A．The Importance of Gratitude. | B．Gifts from Children |
| C．Gifts from the Heart | D．A leather Container |
10 . Empathy (同理心) is one of those strange qualities — something almost everyone wants, but few know how to truly give or receive it. In a world where self-satisfaction is emphasized, it is in short supply but high demand. This is all the more reason to teach the next generation what it means to have empathy for those around them.
What Is Empathy? — Many people confuse sympathy and empathy, but they are two distinct values. Empathy is not just the ability to understand someone's feelings; criminals often take advantage of people by appearing to understand their feelings and subsequently gaining their trust. Empathy is more than that. Not only is it the ability to recognize how someone feels, but it also values and respects the feelings of another person. It means treating others with kindness, dignity, and understanding.
Kids Need To See Adults Show Empathy — While some children are gifted with naturally kind hearts, in most cases kids need to see empathy modeled by the adults around them. It begins with the way parents relate to their children. Parents who show an interest in the things that matter to their kids and respond to emotions in a positive and caring way are teaching the skill of empathy.
Meet Emotional Needs — When children have their emotional needs met, two things happen. They learn how to meet the emotional needs of others and they are anchored in what they are receiving, meaning that they are secure enough to give to others when the need arises but first they need to receive. An empty jug cannot fill a cup.
It's a good idea to talk to kids about emotions and how other people experience them. Give their emotions names (for example, jealousy, anger, and love) and teach them that these are normal. Talk to them about how to handle emotions in a positive way and point out situations where other people are experiencing emotions. Teach them about respecting the emotions of others and show them how to act in a situation where a response is required.
1. Why is it that the next generation are taught to have empathy?| A．Because people tend to center themselves. | B．Because everyone lacks empathy. |
| C．Because empathy is a strange quality. | D．Because it's better to give than to receive. |
| A．When a mathematician is calculating the area of a farmland. |
| B．When a teacher is comforting a student about his failure in exams. |
| C．When a criminal is cheating a victim. |
| D．When a dancer is dancing to music. |
| A．An empty jug is too small to hold a cup. |
| B．It's a must to talk to kids about emotions. |
| C．Adults should set an example to kids. |
| D．Kids give empathy with their emotional needs met first. |
| A．How to train kids to have empathy. |
| B．How to distinguish sympathy and empathy. |
| C．How to help kids finish empathy-related tasks. |
| D．Whether kids can be trained to be more empathetic. |
