1 . Bird flu: What threat to humans?
There are lots of different types of bird flu and most are harmless to people. Some can potentially spread from birds to people if there is prolonged and close contact.
How do people get it?
The biggest risk comes from prolonged and close contact with infected birds.
What are the symptoms?
The symptoms in humans are similar to those of other types of flu: a temperature, cough, headache, chills, aching muscles and a runny or blocked nose and sneezing.
What’s the treatment?
If it’s thought that you might have symptoms of bird flu, you’ll be advised to stay at home, or you’ll be cared for in hospital in isolation from other patients. Doctors can prescribe antiviral medicines to help prevent complications.
You can reduce your risk of infection by washing your hands regularly (particularly after going to the toilet and before handling food) and using a tissue when you need to cough or sneeze (and turning away from others if they are coughing/sneezing).
You can feed wild ducks and birds, but make sure you wash your hands thoroughly afterwards. Do not go near sick or dead birds.
Can I still eat chicken?
| A．How can we avoid it |
| B．How can we prevent the spread of it |
| C．These symptoms can come on suddenly |
| D．You are advised to consult doctors when not feeling yourself |
| E．Painkillers such as paracetamol can also help with the symptoms |
| F．The virus is easily destroyed by cooking so there is no reason to worry |
| G．This means farmers who need to handle poultry are more likely to catch it |
2 . Do you know that all sorts of adventures can happen in educational settings after sundown? Here’s a round-up of sites where the fun continues as night falls.
Ripley’s Aquarium
TORONTO, CANADA
Ever wondered how sweet your dreams would be while sleeping in an aquarium’s shark tunnel that holds around 2.9 million litres of water? You can find out during an Overnight Reef Adventure. Green sawfish, sand tiger sharks, Queensland groupers, and green sea turtles will be your companions for the night.
California Academy of Sciences
SAN FRANCISCO, US
This awe-inspiring museum in Golden Gate Park hosts regular Penguins + Pajamas Sleepovers. As the name suggests, pack your pajamas, grab a sleeping bag, and spend a night under the same roof as a colony of African penguins. You can explore a rainforest full of free-flying birds and foreign reptiles (爬行动物) before lights-out. There’s also a planetarium (天文馆) that’s truly out of this world.
Kennedy Space Center
FLORIDA, US
In the Kennedy Space Center, youth groups and visitors making private bookings can have after-hours opportunity to enjoy hands-on challenges, watch a 3D movie in an IMAX theatre, and go on a Q&A session with a former NASA astronaut who’s travelled into space. What’s more, you get to sleep either underneath a 110 m-long Saturn V moon rocket or beside the space shuttle Atlantis.
1. At Ripley’s Aquarium, what will visitors encounter?| A．Foreign reptiles. | B．African penguins. |
| C．Free-flying birds. | D．Sand tiger sharks. |
| A．Travelers seeking sea adventures. | B．Locals eager for outdoor activities. |
| C．Teenagers attracted by hands-on challenges. | D．Visitors interested in space and animals. |
| A．They are all located in the US. | B．They only open after sundown. |
| C．They all offer overnight experiences. | D．They all feature interactive sections. |
3 . Many people think that being healthy is a difficult task that involves lots of dieting and time at the gym.
Drink more water. Adults should drink 2 — 3 liters of water per day, while children should drink 1 — 2 liters.
Think positively. A simple positive change on a situation can turn an challenge into an opportunity. Not only will you have more interest for life, but your immune (免疫的) system can also fight off colds and heart disease better!
Get a good night's rest. Getting too little sleep or poor-quality sleep not only makes you easier to get sick, but also increases the time you need to recover from illness. When you sleep well, you can wake up ready to go and be more active all day.
| A．Exercise wisely. |
| B．But that’s actually not true! |
| C．To start this difficult step, focus on gratitude. |
| D．That is in addition to other drinks like tea or coffee. |
| E．So sleeping properly is very important for your health! |
| F．Soon, you'll start to see your healthy life taking shape! |
| G．So instead of walking quickly on Wednesday, go to hit the pool. |
4 . There is widespread agreement that climate change threatens our existence. But in our rush to address this challenge, our efforts mustn’t heighten another, more immediate one: the global decline of biodiversity. We are losing species at 1,000 times the natural rate. If we stay on this track, we risk losing up to half of them by the middle of the century.
Sadly, the singular focus on solving climate change has led to people ignoring biodiversity. The alarming result is that many climate efforts unintentionally quicken nature’s destruction. Take the huge need for solar farms for an example. If not located properly, they’ll impact ecosystems and habitats. In Virginia, for example, more than half of solar facilities are being built on forested land rather than areas such as rooftops or parking lots. The state’s push for solar development could lead to the deforestation of nearly 30,000 acres annually.
There is a real risk that badly planned renewable infrastructure (基础设施) will have a greater impact on biodiversity than existing fossil fuel infrastructure. Thus, we need to chart a path that doesn’t address one environmental challenge by creating others.
Indeed, with practical choices, we can do the opposite, using nature to address climate change. Consider carbon removal. Research shows between 2001 and 2019, forests around the world seized more than twice the amount of carbon dioxide that they emitted (排放) — absorbing more than the combined annual emissions of the US and UK. Nature is also critical in setting the adaptation necessary to prepare for increasingly severe weather shocks, such as the role of mangroves (a kind of tree) in absorbing floods.
Governments must think differently, employing better infrastructure planning at all levels. A report from The Nature Conservancy shows careful siting can reduce the effects of the clean energy infrastructure by 70%compared with siting as usual practices. For instance, solar farms can be put on already degraded land.
It would be a tragic irony if, in our efforts to tackle climate change, we end upbringing a big and immediate crisis in the natural world.
1. What is the effect of building solar farms on forested land in Virginia?| A．It damages the forest. | B．It boosts local economy. |
| C．It reduces human’s living space. | D．It protects the environment. |
| A．Increasing funds for clean energy. | B．Using technology to remove carbon. |
| C．Locating clean energy projects carefully. | D．Prioritizing renewable energy totally. |
| A．climate change will contribute to more severe issues |
| B．focus on climate change makes people ignore land use |
| C．efforts to solve climate change speed up biodiversity loss |
| D．the development of clean energy quickens climate change |
| A．Pessimistic and critical. | B．Factual and concerned. |
| C．Subjective and dismissive. | D．Humorous and optimistic. |
5 . I once had a strange relationship with money. I always made more money than most people of my age did. But it still stressed me out, and I felt like I never had enough. After coming across The School of Betty, a platform that enables women to create relationships with their money, I found myself inspired to do a no-spend month challenge. The result? I saved more than $1,000. It was like finding money in my winter coat pocket after a long summer.
The most eye-opening thing a no-spend challenge can do for you is shedding light on the emotions and the behaviors you have around your money that have become a habit. Most individuals don’t realize they are spending out of habit and based on their emotions. Figuring out the causes and knowing I was able to save a good sum of money in only 30 days, I set out to do a longer challenge — three months.
As for the first challenge, I was only allowed to buy essentials, which meant my normal bills — lighting, phone, car insurance, gas, oil and groceries. But in my 90-day challenge, I further removed all of the extras — no new clothes, no new shoes, and no lunches at restaurants. I allowed myself one night out with friends per month — to avoid going crazy — but I stuck to a budget. This also allowed me to see what type of experience was worth my money and what type was wasting my money.
90 days later, my jaw hit the floor when I totaled my savings: I was almost $4,000 richer. The rewards were more than financial: I was able to distinguish between my needs and my wants. The process enabled me to spot purchases driven by emotions. Even better, I shifted the way I valued money: The money I spent socializing with friends felt far more valuable than the pleasure of purchasing, say, two new sweaters.
1. How did the author feel after the first no-spend challenge?| A．Stressed and regretful. | B．Surprised and wonderful. |
| C．Tired but content. | D．Awful but encouraged. |
| A．Because of their unintentional habits. | B．Because of their social communication. |
| C．Because of their heavy pressure of work. | D．Because of their basic needs. |
| A．She hung around with friends weekly. | B．She saw essentials as a waste of money. |
| C．She enjoyed her friends’ company. | D．She bought nothing in ninety days. |
| A．To share personal experiences. | B．To advertise a platform. |
| C．To support an argument. | D．To advocate healthy lifestyles. |
6 . Perhaps a friend you’ve known for years has moved away. It’s normal to feel sad and frustrated at not getting to see him in the way you’d like to.
WRITE LOTS OF LETTERS
Seeing a note or card from someone they care about in the letterbox is a sure way to make your friend smile. While it’s good to keep in touch via technology, putting your thoughts down on paper shows how much you care and that you’ve set aside some time to think about them. It doesn’t have to be an essay.
SEND A CARE PACKAGE
SHARE A SHOW
Is there a TV series that you both love? While you may not be able to share a packet of popcorn and view it side by side, you could arrange to watch it at the same time and then talk on the phone about it afterwards, sharing your reactions and opinions.
| A．It’s the thought that counts. |
| B．But staying connected is possible. |
| C．It can also be an e-mail with photos. |
| D．Postcards are a lovely way to stay in touch. |
| E．This works well as a way of regularly staying in touch. |
| F．Once in a while, make a parcel filled with items that are meaningful to your friend. |
| G．Even when you live far apart from someone, they can still be a big part of your life. |
7 . Polar bears normally feed on ringed seals that they catch on ice floes (浮冰) offshore. But as the ice disappears in a warming world, many bears are spending greater amounts of time on shore, eating birds’ eggs, berries and grass. However the animals rapidly lose weight on land, increasing the risk of death. The polar bear has become the victims for global climate change, but the reality of the impact on this species is complicated.
Increasing global temperatures are now seen as their biggest threat. That’s because the frozen Arctic seas are key to their survival. The animals use the sea ice as a platform to hunt ringed seals, mostly in late spring and early summer. But during the warmer months many parts of the Arctic are now increasingly ice-free.
To understand how the animals survive as the ice disappears, researchers carried out a study, where they followed the activities of 20 polar bears during the summer months over a three-year period. As well as taking blood samples, and weighing the bears, the animals were fitted with GPS-equipped video camera collars. This allowed the scientists to record the animals’ movements, their activities and what they ate.
In the ice-free summer months, the bears adopted different strategies to survive, with some essentially resting and conserving their energy. The majority tried to search for vegetation or berries or swam to see if they could find food. Both approaches failed, with 19 of the 20 bears in the study losing body mass, by up to 11% in some cases. On average they lost one kilogramme per day. “Regardless of which strategy they were trying to use, there was no real benefit to either approach as far as being able to prolong the period that they could survive on land,” according to lead author Dr Anthony Pagano, from the US Geological Survey in Alaska.
“It is likely that polar bears will disappear from areas where sea ice will be lost in future, but difficult to say just when and where,” said Jon Aars from the Norwegian Polar Institute who was not involved in the study.
1. Why is global warming seen as the biggest threat to polar bears?| A．Polar bears can not survive in warm environment. |
| B．Polar bears can not find bird’s eggs, berries, and grass. |
| C．There are fewer ringed seals in warm environment. |
| D．There are fewer ice floes for polar bears to hunt for food. |
| A．To record the polar bears’ health condition. |
| B．To figure out how the bears survive without sea ice. |
| C．To observe the daily activities of these polar bears. |
| D．To fit the bears with GPS-equipped video camera collars. |
| A．The bears haven’t found ways to live on land. |
| B．It’s efficient for the bears to rest and conserve energy. |
| C．All the bears in the study lose weight greatly. |
| D．The bears can not survive without ice floes. |
| A．A science fiction. | B．A book review. |
| C．An entertainment magazine. | D．An environmental journal. |
8 . On some late November dawn, I find myself draw n to the leisurely pursuit of baking a loaf of bread. Not by hand, but by following the bread machine’s step-by-step instructions.
But on this morning, three hours later, all I’ve got is a problem. I’d forgotten to insert the mixing blade into the bottom of the bread barrel. The result: a pile of unmixed dough that neither looks nor tastes like bread. Complaining, I dump the dough and prepare to start a new one.
I reach for the flour, only this time — I fall far short of the necessary four cups. I’ve got one cup at most, along with a freshly emptied flour bag. No matter, I think. I’ll simply drive to my parents’ house to borrow a bit of theirs. Upon my arrival, I decide not to wake them. Instead, I cat burgle my way through their front door, silently search through their cabinets, and discover their own bit of flour supply. I steal all of it and return home so that I might begin again the leisurely pursuit of baking bread.
I follow the instructions, and then, I consider the whole experience before breakfast. How I managed to turn a one-second oversight into an hour-long adventure that cost me more time and money than any loaf of bread could ever be worth. Somewhere, an apron reads, “Baking is my therapy.” I want the one that reads, “Baking sends me to therapy.”
As my bread machine bread begins to rise, I’m struck by an inconvenient truth: had I done nothing that morning, I’d have managed a more favorable outcome.
Meanwhile, I notice something new: the mixing blade works intermittently rather than continually, meaning that for the bread to rise to its full potential, it requires both motion and rest. Work has its place, but so must leisure. The recipe calls for both.
1. Why did the writer fail the first time in the baking?| A．He left out a key step. | B．The flour has run out. |
| C．The bread machine broke down. | D．The dough doesn’t taste like bread. |
| A．He went out to buy some. |
| B．He borrowed some from a friend. |
| C．He got some from his parents by himself. |
| D．He found another bag of flour in his own house. |
| A．How to bake bread |
| B．An unforgettable experience |
| C．Work has its place, but so must leisure |
| D．Breaking bread: A morning adventure in baking |
| A．Practice makes perfect. | B．Well begun is half done. |
| C．Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst. | D．All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. |
9 . I tried not to look down. My palms (手掌) were sweating. All I could concentrate on was the man below who was keeping the ladder steady. The tiny people waved up at me, but I couldn’t see them clearly.
When I got to the top, some sort of supernatural force brought my feet to the edge of the platform. I was going to slip off the board. The line holding me was going to break, and I was once again going to be thrown to death. Down was the only direction my eyes would go.
I begged to go back down the ladder, but the stupid man tried to convince me. The tiny dots below shouted encouragingly, saying they would run with me as I flew. I was going to slide off that platform. I couldn’t think; the tears stopped my brain. Why wouldn’t he let me go back? The message replayed in my mind, “You’re going to die…”
Like a blown-up balloon, I was let go just before it could be knotted at the bottom. I went in every direction, tension escaping from my body as I fell. The breeze hit my face and cooled my sweaty body. I could see clearly now, and I was flying.
Today, I am still terrified of heights. It would be nice to say that I conquered my fear and found something I loved. I owe my zip line (飞索) experience to the Englishman who pushed me off the platform. I am grateful for the experience because I love adventure. Trying new things has always appealed to me. Some of the most rewarding experiences I have had, like flying, have come out of conquering what at first appears to be frightening and impossible. While my days of aerial escapades are over, I look forward to the future and the question of fear of flying and will continue to create questions wherever I go.
1. How did the author feel when he was on the ladders?| A．Exhausted. | B．Frightened. | C．Annoyed. | D．Excited. |
| A．To teach him to fly. | B．To push him to death. |
| C．To develop his courage. | D．To test his ability to climb. |
| A．everyone can enjoy flying well |
| B．trying difficult things is his favorite |
| C．looking back on the old days is awful for him |
| D．something that seems impossible can be conquered |
| A．The author’s zip line experience. | B．The author’s difficulty in life. |
| C．The author’s failure in adventure. | D．The author’s dreams about his future. |
10 . My obsession with literature exploded in my early teens. Back then, my reading consisted mostly of whatever classics I could find, novels by Jules Verne, poetry by Mario Benedetti, and a lot of horror novels by Stephen King, Richard Laymon, and Bentley Little — all of which I was too young to read. When I heard John O’Connor’s The Secret History of Bigfoot: Field Notes on a North American Monster was coming, I knew I had to read it.
Fascinated by Bigfoot, he spent a year tracking Bigfoot in the untamed region of the Pacific Northwest. The Secret History of Bigfoot is a wonderfully immersive journey not only into the history of Bigfoot in North America and the culture around but also a deep look at the people who obsess about it. The result is one of the most attractive nonfiction books you’ll read this year.
There are two elements that make this is fantastic read. The first is O’Connor’s voice. Knowledgeable and funny, O’Connor quickly turns into the perfect narrator for this adventure. His pursuit for understanding is powerful, and he presents every person in this book with the same gravitas (庄严).
The second element is the scope of this book. This is about Bigfoot, about its history and the people trying to find him, but O’Connor somehow manages to take the discussion into unexpected places but still leave the creature at the core of the narrative. You’ll learn things reading this book, but you’ll never feel like he’s trying to teach you something or preaching about his own beliefs.
The Secret History of Bigfoot is a wonderful book about one of the most ubiquitous myths in the U.S. and around the world: a wild man, a hair y beast stalking the woods, a magic al creature that remains untouched by the mess we’ve made. It fully embraces the fact that we sometimes need to believe in something bigger and freer than us. Bigfoot is all of that and more. Bigfoot might be out there, but its presence is all over this book. I assure you it’s an amazing adventure you can start without leaving your house.
1. Why does the author mention the names of some writers in the first paragraph?| A．To show his passion for literature. | B．To introduce the main topic: Bigfoot. |
| C．To encourage readers to read more books. | D．To introduce some famous writers he knows. |
| A．He presents the core of the narrative in a funny voice. |
| B．O’Connor’s book is in fact a wonderfully immersive journey. |
| C．He describes every person in the book with the same gravitas. |
| D．You can find out he tries to teach you something about his own beliefs. |
| A．Ambiguous. | B．Indifferent. | C．Universal. | D．Impressive. |
| A．Bigfoot just exists in writer O’Connor’s books. |
| B．The habitat of Bigfoot is influenced by humans. |
| C．Believing in something stronger is sometimes essential. |
| D．We all should have an adventure to seek the Bigfoot. |
