1 . New Caledonian crows are well-known for using different types of tools for preying (捕食) from tree holes and other hiding places. While they firmly hold their tools in the bill, they need to put them down to eat. This is when crows are at risk of losing their tools by accidentally dropping them or having them stolen by other crows.
In an earlier study, researchers in the UK had discovered that crows keep their tools safe when not needed, using one of two “safekeeping” strategies—they either securely hold them trapped underfoot, or temporarily put them into a nearby hole or behind bark. But are crows more careful when handling particularly valuable tools?
“Many of us will fuss (大惊小怪) about a brand-new phone, making sure it does not get scratched, dropped or lost. But we may handle an old phone with a cracked screen quite carelessly,” said lead author Barbara Klump from the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, Germany.
Crows at one of the team’s long-term study sites use two different kinds of stick tools: complex hooked tools and basic non-hooked tools. The former are painstakingly crafted from a relatively scarce plant species, while the latter are simply twigs (细枝) sourced from the forest floor. “Hooked tools are not only more costly to obtain, but they are also much more efficient,” explained Barbara Klump. “Depending on the foraging (觅食) task, crows can get prey with these tools up to ten times faster than with non-hooked tools.”
In their new study, the researchers now discovered that New Caledonian crows are more likely to keep valuable hooked tools safe between uses than the more basic non-hooked tools. “It was exciting to see crows are just a bit more careful with tools that are more efficient and more costly to replace. This suggests that they have some conception of the relative value’ of different tool types,” noted study co-author James St Clair.
This is the first study to investigate how animals handle and store tools of different kinds, providing a new way to measure how much they value these objects.
1. Why are phones mentioned in paragraph 3?| A．To indicate the necessity of phones in our daily life. |
| B．To emphasize people’s attachment to their old devices. |
| C．To stress the similarity between humans and crows. |
| D．To show people’s improper attitude to old things. |
| A．It can be gotten easily. | B．It can be adjusted freely. |
| C．It can make crows’ foraging more productive. | D．It can prevent crows from danger. |
| A．Their secret hiding places. | B．Their unusual eating habits. |
| C．Their creation of complex tools. | D．Their treatment of valuable tools. |
| A．Crows Use Strategies to Gain Valuable Tools |
| B．Crows Learn to Use Special Tools for Preying |
| C．New Discovery of How Crows Make Tools |
| D．New Caledonian Crows Keep Favorite Tools Safer |
2 . Australian scientists have started vaccinating (接种疫苗) wild koalas against the disease Chlamydia (衣原体病) in an ambitious trial in New South Wales (NSW). They want to test a way to protect the animals against the widespread condition that causes blindness, the inability to have babies, and death.
“It’s killing koalas because they become so sick that they can’t climb trees to get food, and females are unable to have babies,” said Dr. Samuel Phillips, a microbiologist at the University of the Sunshine Coast.
Around half of the wild koala population in the Northern Rivers region of NSW—about 50 animals—will be caught and vaccinated. “We want to evaluate what percentage of the koalas we need to vaccinate to meaningfully reduce infection and disease,”said Dr. Phillips.
The first koalas were caught and vaccinated in March and the effort is expected to last about three months. Researchers use telescopes to spot koalas in the trees, then build fences around the tree bases with doors leading into cages. After a few hours or days, the koalas climb down from one tree to seek tasty leaves on another and wander into the harmless traps.
After a cheek-up to make sure the animals are in good condition, researchers give them anaesthesia (麻醉) to make them sleep before they administer the vaccine. They watch the koalas’health for 24 hours after they wake up to make sure there are no side effects. The goal is to vaccinate healthy koalas to prevent them from becoming infected with chlamydia. The researchers mark the koalas’backs with pink dye so the same animals aren’t caught twice.
It is not known what caused koalas to catch chlamydia, but the scientists believe it was probably from exposure to the infected sheep and cattle. It spreads when koalas mate, or it can be passed from a mother to her babies.
1. Why was the ambitious trial started?| A．To establish a wildlife reserve. | B．To attract the tourists of all ages. |
| C．To test a newly developed vaccine. | D．To reduce infection among koalas. |
| A．Uncaring. | B．Doubtful. | C．Concerned. | D．Cautious. |
| A．Dangerous. | B．Demanding. | C．Simple. | D．Useless. |
| A．Why koalas suffer from the disease. | B．How researchers recognize koalas. |
| C．What a koala family largely feeds on. | D．When a female koala can have a baby. |
3 . Lee hyun-seok grew up in South Korea addicted to Japanese manga (漫画) series such as “Dragon Ball” and “Slam Dunk”. As soon as he could, he migrated to Tokyo to build a successful career as a manga artist and editor. Then in the early 2000s came “webtoons”, a South Korean cartoon innovation optimized for smartphones. Mr. Lee was at first unimpressed. Compared with manga’s inventive graphic styles and profound plots, he found webtoons just the opposite.
Yet Japanese manga is being eclipsed by Korean webtoons. Last year the manga print market shrank by 2.3% to ¥265bn ($1.9bn). The size of the global webtoons market was meanwhile valued at $3.7bn. Manga is going digital slowly, in part because it is still designed for print, so awkward to read on smartphones. Seeing which way the wind was blowing, Mr. Lee abandoned manga for the webtoon industry in 2014.
Though webtoons such as “Itaewon Class” and “Solo Levelling” have become popular among Japanese consumers, most Japanese publishers have stuck stubbornly to manga. “The Japanese industry is very conservative,” sighs Mr. Lee. The manga industry’s business model, in which stories are first published in weekly magazines and then in books, has hardly changed since the 1960s. Webtoons have grown so fast, in part because they can be read more easily. Other recent South Korean exports, such as the Netflix sensation “Squid Game” and BTS, a boy band, have taken the world by storm thanks to the same combination of innovation and smart marketing behind webtoons.
Some are concerned about the future. Japan’s manga fans are, like all its population, ageing. The average reader of the Weekly Shonen Magazine, a manga for children launched in 1989, is now over 30. “Manga could end up as old people’s culture,” warns Mr Lee. “Children these days are viewing through webtoons on their smartphones. Why not make something that suits their taste?”
1. What did Mr Lee think of “webtoons” in the early 2000s?| A．He considered it as inventive. | B．He considered it as attractive. |
| C．He considered it as original. | D．He considered it as shallow. |
| A．Ruined. | B．Outweighed. | C．Replaced. | D．Copied. |
| A．Japanese manga can be read more easily. |
| B．Since the 1960s, the manga has grown so fast. |
| C．The manga industry is unwilling to transform. |
| D．“Squid Game” was adopted from Japanese manga. |
| A．Worried. | B．Aggressive. | C．Confident. | D．Annoyed. |
4 . What’s On
Master’s teens
Forceful Cuts, now running at the Art Museum of China Profiles, through to Sept 17, shows the late artist Huang Yongyu’s efforts in woodcut art. His woodcuts show a good assessment of human nature, with wisdom and humor. Huang once said he lived every day in the same serious way as he worked on wood, “paying great attention to every cut”.
9 am-5 pm, closed on Mondays.
66 Shapowei, Daxue Road, Siming district, Xiamen, Fujian province.
Art into soul
Two artists Xu Li and Andrey Kovalchuk are presenting an exhibition at Shanghai’s New Art Museum, through to July 30. Xu is showing dozens of his oil paintings. Kovalchuk, who chairs the Russian artists association, brings 24 sculptures. The show compares the cultural traditions and individual concerns of the two cultures.
9 am-5 pm, closed on Mondays.
1528 Gumei Road, Shanghai.
Eternal glare
The use of raw lacquer (生漆) to better preserve objects, such as bowls, and meanwhile decorate life can date back to the Neolithic culture in China. Throughout centuries, lacquer art has been viewed as an important part of Hubei’s cultural heritage (遗产). Dozens of fine examples of this art from the collection of the Hubei Museum of Art are now on show at World of Lacquer, an exhibition running through to July 30, at the Anhui Art Museum.
9 am-5 pm, closed on Mondays.
1 Chengdu Road, Binhu New District, Hefei, Anhui province.
Academy work
Over 240 paintings, prints, sculptures and seal engravings (篆刻) are on show at the gallery of the China National Academy of Painting until July 8, offering a look of the works of academy artists all over the country. The exhibition shows works done in the traditional style and new explorations.
9 am-4:30 pm, closed on Mondays.
54 Xisanhuan Beilu, Haidian district, Beijing.
1. What can you enjoy at the Art Museum of China Profiles?| A．Lacquer art. | B．Oil paintings. | C．Woodcuts. | D．Seal engravings. |
| A．The Anhui Art Museum. | B．Shanghai’s New Art Museum. |
| C．The Art Museum of China Profiles. | D．The China National Academy of Painting. |
| A．It is not open to the public on Mondays. | B．It compares two different cultural traditions. |
| C．It tells the story of a late artist. | D．It shows works of academy artists across the country. |
5 . The Rise of “China-chic”
Over past years, guochao, or “China-chic” has been gaining popularity among Chinese consumers. Guochao conveys the cultural heritage and values of China.
The idea of guochao was first borrowed from some international brands, and began to win over Chinese consumers in 2015.
In its third stage, guochao became more common in everyday life. Over the past decade, guochao has expanded from consumer goods to experiential products. As consumers are showing greater interest in cultural identity and creativity, productions like the TV program National Treasure, and the dance show Night Banquet in Tang Dynasty Palace integrate cultural and historical elements with the latest audio-visual technologies.
Nowadays, guochao is moving to the next stage. No matter how the trend evolves, Chinese people’s positive attitude toward the country’s development and their recognition of and growing confidence in national culture won’t change.
| A．The trend grew in the following years |
| B．They give the viewers a totally new experience |
| C．The next stage saw the rise of China’s native fashion trends |
| D．It also expresses national pride and confidence in a new era |
| E．The second period of guochao mainly features hi-tech sectors |
| F．Its success will rely first and foremost on gaining cultural confidence |
| G．The concept of “Made in China” was recognized as the representation of Chinese culture |
6 . How to Read a Poem
You’ve selected the poem you want to read — congratulations! Now it’s time for the business of reading it.
Examine the title and the shape
Read the poem as you normally read anything
Reading poetry doesn’t require a clever approach; you can read as you’d read anything else. On the first pass through, absorb whatever it is that arises upon first impression.
Next, try reading the poem out loud or search for readings of the poem online. This is where the music of a poem emerges, and you can feel the shape of each word and line as you move through it.
Add context to paint a full picture
Finally, return to the poem context.
| A．Re-read for sound |
| B．Re-read for meaning |
| C．Dig into the author’s history |
| D．Notice where in the poem you react |
| E．Look for where the poem offers a moment of surprise |
| F．Before you start a poem, you should first read the title |
| G．Long messy forms might mean it’s coming from a place of confusion or anger |
7 . Narrative (叙事) poems — which simply mean “story poems”— are among the oldest forms of literature. Before there were printed books, people would tell stories through narrative poems, using rhythm, repetition and vivid language to make their tales easy to remember and share.
Choose a topic. Pick a story that you really want to tell.
Skip the buildup. Narrative poems don’t waste words introducing characters or explaining the scene — most dive right in. Try starting your narrative poem in the middle of the action scene.
Sweat the small stuff (小事). The best narrative poems use exact, descriptive words that bring out a story’s details and paint a rich picture.
| A．Repeat yourself. |
| B．Think of the five senses. |
| C．Try to divide your poem into several parts. |
| D．So readers can be brought immediately into the heart of your story. |
| E．Many older narrative poems have a set rhythm and rhyme structure. |
| F．A lot of older narrative poems tell beautiful love stories in everyday language. |
| G．It could be something that happened to you or something that’s completely fictional. |
8 . How to Write a Poem
Writing a poem is about observing the world within or around you. A poem can be about anything, from love to loss to the old gate at the old farm.
Do writing exercises. A poem might start as a snippet (片段) of a poem, a line or two that seems to come out of nowhere. You can find inspiration for your poem by doing writing exercises and using the world around you.
Get inspired by your environment and those close to you.
Pick a specific theme. Picking a specific theme to focus on in the poem can give your poem a clear goal or objective.
| A．Design a poetic form |
| B．Choose a poetic form |
| C．Once you have your own inspiration |
| D．Inspiration for a great poem is all around you |
| E．This can make it easier for you to narrow down the themes |
| F．Anyone who show their interest in poem gets inspiration from anywhere |
| G．However, you should pay more attention to some details before writing a poem |
