1 . Wildlife conservation programs are a great way to get involved in the preservation of endangered species, as well as learn how you can help protect them. If you are a wildlife lover, here are some programs you can choose.

●Animal Rescue Project, South Africa

You will be working with experienced conservationists in Cape Town. A significant challenge is to find new homes for homeless dogs and cats. The project comprises two sections: a fully equipped animal hospital and an adoption center focusing on securing new homes. Due to limited funding, the center can only afford a small number of permanent staff, relying heavily on wildlife lovers to assist with daily tasks and provide hands-on care for these animals.

●Sea Turtle Conservation Project, Sri Lanka

Recent years have witnessed a significant decline in the sea turtle’s numbers due to numerous commercial fishing. As a wildlife lover, your role extends to supporting hatcheries (孵化场) in their conservation efforts. Additionally, your involvement helps these hatcheries with funds, as we provide a placement fee for each wildlife lover, enabling them to generate additional income.

●Wildlife Conservation Program, Australia

You will be engaged in activities such as animal feeding, cleaning, maintenance, and enrichment. This program provides an incredible opportunity to gain firsthand international work experience. For you, this program is an excellent choice. Not only will you contribute to a noble cause, but it also offers a fantastic opportunity to meet people from around the world.

●Marine Conservation Program, Bali

You will be working in Tianyar, where the reef is now in a worsening state. The project was initiated to rest ore and conserve Tianyar’s coral reef, not only to protect its remarkable and delicate ecosystems but also to secure a sustainable future for the residents.

1. What problem does the adoption center meet with?

A．Insufficient equipment.	B．Insecure surroundings.
C．Shortage of shelters.	D．Lack of hands.

2. Which program will offer financial assistance?

A．Animal Rescue Project, South Africa.

B．Sea Turtle Conservation Project, Sri Lanka.

C．Wildlife Conservation Program, Australia.

D．Marine Conservation Program, Bali.

3. What is the main purpose of the text?

A．To promote program cooperation.

B．To advocate restoring ecosystems.

C．To introduce endangered species protection.

D．To encourage engagement in wildlife preservation.

2 . Researchers at MIT created a high-tech pill that starts to vibrate (震动) once it makes contact with liquid in the user’s stomach and make him or her feel full. The pill was reportedly thought up by Shriya Srinivasan, currently an assistant professor of bioengineering at Harvard University.

VIBES, short for Vibrating Ingestible BioEleotronic Stimulator, was only recently made public in a study published in the Science Journal, but it is already being announced by the media as the future of weight loss. Although it has yet to be tested on humans, trials on pigs have achieved very hopeful results. After about 30 minutes of VIBES activity, pigs consumed on average almost 40 percent less food in the next half hour than they did without the smart pill. Apparently, the revolutionary device works by activating stretch receptors in the stomach, modeling the presence of food. This in turn signals the hypothalamus (下丘脑) to increase the levels of hormones that make us feel full. The vibrating stimulator, which is about the size of a vitamin pill, is powered by an encased battery and activated either by the gastric fluid (胃液) breaking down a coat around the pill, or by an incorporated timer. After producing the desired effect, the pill exits the body with other solid waste:

The good news is that it is expected to have a cost in the cents to one dollar range, and researchers say that it may eventually be possible to implant the stimulator and thus remove the need for people to constantly swallow it.

“Our study demonstrates the effectiveness of a low-cost, non-operative intervention to reduce food intake and ca lorie consumption. The device functions effectively in the stomach and leading to fullness,” said Giovanni Traverso, co-author of the study. “The device has the potential to revolutionize options for weight loss treatment. However, future studies will need to explore the physiological effects of the device before it’s available for patients.”

Researchers are now exploring ways to scale up the producing of VIBES capsules which could enable clinical trials in humans.

1. What is the outcome of taking the pill?

A．Liquid production.	B．Food storage.
C．Sensation of fullness.	D．Recovery of users.

2. Which aspect of the device is mentioned in paragraph 2?

A．Its working principle.	B．Its intelligence.
C．Its testing history.	D．Its side effect.

3. What is the researchers’ ultimate goal of the device?

A．To produce gastric fluid with it.	B．To destroy the coat around it.
C．To fix it in human body.	D．To remove solid waste from it.

4. What is Giovanni Traverso’s attitude towards the future of the device?

A．Worried.

B．Cautious.

C．Doubtful.

D．Confused.

3 . Discovering Your True Self Is Vital to Happiness!

Have you found focusing on yourself is at the bottom of the to-do list, because you feel everyone else in your life comes first?    1     Now is exactly the perfect time to get to know yourself in order to understand yourself.

This isn’t just about identifying your favorite outfit, haircut or flavor of ice cream.    2     It’s an opportunity for personal growth that can help you make better choices for your wellbeing and lifelong happiness.

There are many tools to help you develop a deeper sense of yourself, including journaling and other forms of creative expression. You can use a guided journal to explore your thoughts and feelings or just free write whatever comes to mind. It’s up to you what you want to do.    3    .

    4     Take note of how you respond to people, what makes you happy, and what makes you unhappy. This can help you identify patterns that are holding you back, such as feeling insecure or being easily angered. Once you’ve identified these patterns, you can work to change them.

An often overlooked yet very important factor in self-discovery is having healthy boundaries in your personal life.    5     Clearly communicating your boundaries is also a way to show others that you are in control of your own behavior and can expect the same from them. This is a sign of maturity and respect, two characteristics that are key to having healthy relationships.

A．It’s one thing to know your personality type.

B．It’s a great way to show that you care about others.

C．Taking time for ourselves has been looked down upon.

D．Another way is to observe your behavior in different situations.

E．It allows you to focus on the needs of yourself without ignoring others.

F．But try not to get caught up in the criticism or judgment of your writing.

G．It’s about understanding your inner world and how you fit into the outer world.

4 . I love learning about customs and practices in other countries. For this post, I asked all of my friends in the Multicultural Kid Blogger group to give me their favorite birthday traditions!

CHINA

The most special of the birthday traditions in China is for babies. New parents give red eggs (an even number) to friends and family for good luck. Common presents include food, silverware, and money wrapped in red paper. On birthdays, it is common to eat longevity noodles (长寿面) without breaking them for good luck to live a long life.

ISRAEL

Sometimes children in Israel wear a crown (王冠) made from leaves or flowers for their birthday. The birthday child sits in a chair, and gets picked up and raised and lowered the chair one time for each year of age, plus one more for good luck. Guests at the birthday party sing and dance around the chair. At birthday parties, kids often play games, such as races with potatoes on spoons.

GHANA

In Ghana, one of the most common birthday traditions is that kids get to eat oto for breakfast: sweet potatoes mixed with onions, made into patties, and fried with hard boiled eggs. Later in the day, Ghanaians sometimes have a party for the child with stew, rice, and kelewele. At the party, girls often like to play a game called ampe.

MEXICO

Mexico families love parties, and celebrate birthdays en grande (盛大地). The 15th birthday, quinceañera is the most important, formal, and well-prepared. Mexicans always sing Las Mañanitas to wake up the child on their birthdays. When the birthday girl or boy blows out their candles, guests call for them to take a bite of the cake (“mordida-mordida!”) and always push their face into the frosting. A Mexican birthday party always has a piñata filled with little toys and candies.

1. What do parents both in China and Ghana do for their kids’ birthdays?

A．Offer them a special food.	B．Give them money in red papers.
C．Play a unique game with them.	D．Make a special clothing for them.

2. What do kids in Mexico get for their birthdays?

A．A blessing song.

B．A beautiful crown.

C．Red eggs.

D．A wonderful breakfast.

3. Where is the text probably taken from?

A．A noticeboard.

B．A travel guidebook.

C．A website.

D．A geography magazine.

5 . Learning anything can be challenging, especially when it comes to figuring out how and what to practice. Repetition is usually essential. But you don’t want something that takes the joy out of you. I’ve been teaching myself to draw for a few years. I had improved a lot but for a long while was going nowhere. I’d tried lots of books and courses, and filled endless pages with boxes, parallel lines and figures. None of these seems to be working.

But something clicked when I started sketchbooking this year. The sketchbooks led to a shift in mindset. Rather than trying to practise, I was engaging in a practice — scribbling (涂鸦). The scribbles weren’t all good but they have become part of a whole. I’ve been absorbed ever since. I scribbled my breakfast, the fruit in the office, and other people on the train.

I spoke to Danny Gregory, a writer who blogs and makes videos about sketchbooking, to try to figure out why I had become so taken by my new practice.

“We think the practice in drawing is like that in piano, where you have to play through a series of musical notes step by step,” Gregory says. “But what if you think about practice in other terms — like a yoga practice or medical practice? With those kinds of practices, you’ve learned some stuff, right? Progress happens naturally. It’s not preparatory. So just follow the process and take pleasure in it. This is what matters.”

I have now filled two sketchbooks just with portraits — more than 100 scribbled over a couple of months. In them I challenged myself to include people on every page. Used to drawing ghost-town versions, the first few pages were a struggle. But I started varying my morning coffee routine to find new places where I could observe life.

My latest sketchbook will tackle the challenge of all my drawings — hands. I’ve always had problems drawing hands. It’s early days, but I’m not fearing it as I would have before because it isn’t just practice any more.

1. What was the challenge the author faced when learning to draw?

A．Lack of interest in traditional practice methods.	B．Little progress despite extensive efforts.
C．Difficulty in obtaining necessary resources.	D．Inability to master specific drawing techniques.

2. What did the author benefit from scribbling?

A．Improving hand control.	B．Enriching creative expression.
C．Grasping ways to paint details.	D．Accepting imperfections in art.

3. According to Gregory, which attitude toward practice should be emphasized?

A．Focus on specifics is essential.	B．Repetition is a fundamental key.
C．The emphasis lies in enjoying the process.	D．The highlight is in well-organized exercises.

4. What message does the story convey?

A．Every beginning is difficult.	B．Tailored methods drive progress.
C．Art is the language of the soul.	D．Integrating life enhances learning.

6 . It’s summer. You’re on your favourite beach towel, a friend beside you. You’re both absorbed in books, occasionally taking sips of water. But what happens when it’s time to head home? Will you carry on reading together later? Generally speaking, reading tends to be seen as a solitary (孤独的) pastime.     1     However, the benefits of sharing the experience are numerous and worth sticking with throughout the year.

    2     For example, you don’t have to brainstorm to organize a conversation, because you both have a book in your hands. You can get lost in your book without worrying about seeming rude by not keeping up a constant stream of chatter. As you both enter the same state, your blood pressure will go down, muscle tension will ease, and your worries will fade away. All these put you at ease.     3     A quiet corner of the playground, a blanket spread out on the grass in the garden, or any calm space where you feel relaxed will do.

Spending time together reading can strengthen friendships. As you turn the pages, you might discover interesting facts to pass a long or funny anecdote to giggle (咯咯笑) over. Sometimes, you’ll come across more serious themes, such as losing a loved one or a cherished pet, or facing any one of life’s many challenges.     4    

Reading fiction has been shown to enhance empathy (同理心), which is the ability to understand and share the feelings of another. As you know, novels allow us to live countless experiences through their characters, which will result in heightened sensitivity.     5     For example, a person’s empathetic response increases as he emerges from being immersed in a story.

A．Reading with others is comforting in many ways.

B．And this sensitivity can lead to an immediate impact.

C．Reading can surely bring the joy of relaxation to people.

D．Besides, you don’t need to find a specific place to get into this zone.

E．So it might seem unusual to pull out a novel in the company of others.

F．Reading in pair may help you and your friend stay more committed to reading.

G．Discussing these themes can help deepen the bond between you and your friend.

7 . Common water plant could provide a green energy source. Scientists have figured out how to get large amounts of oil from duckweed, one of nature’s fastest-growing water plants. Transferring such plant oil into biodiesel (生物柴油) for transportation and heating could be a big part of a more sustainable future.

For a new study, researchers genetically engineered duckweed plants to produce seven times more oil per acre than soybeans. John Shanklin, a biochemist says further research could double the engineered duckweed’s oil output in the next few years.

Unlike fossil fuels, which form underground, biofuels can be refreshed faster than they are used. Fuels made from new and used vegetable oils, animal fat and seaweed can have a lower carbon footprint than fossil fuels do, but there has been a recent negative view against them. This is partly because so many crops now go into energy production rather than food; biofuels take up more than 100 million acres of the world’s agricultural land.

Duckweed, common on every continent but Antarctica, is among the world’s most productive plants, and the researchers suggest it could be a game-changing renewable energy source for three key reasons. First, it grows readily in water, so it wouldn’t compete with food crops for agricultural land. Second, duckweed can grow fast in agricultural pollution released into the water. Third, Shanklin and his team found a way to avoid a major biotechnological barrier: For the new study, Shanklin says, the researchers added an oil-producing gene, “turning it on like a light switch”by introducing a particular molecule (分子) only when the plant had finished growing. Shanklin says, “If it replicates (复制) in other species-and there’s no reason to think that it would not — this can solve one of our biggest issues, which is how we can make more oil in more plants without negatively affecting growth.”

To expand production to industrial levels, scientists will need to design and produce large-scale bases for growing engineered plants and obtaining oil — a challenge, Shanklin says, because duckweed is a non-mainstream crop without much existing infrastructure (基础设施).

1. What can people get from duckweed firsthand?

A．Plant oil.	B．Stable biodiesel.
C．Sustainable water.	D．Natural heat.

2. What does paragraph 4 mainly convey?

A．Options for renewable energy.

B．Reasons for engineering genes.

C．The potential of revolutionary energy source.

D．The approach to avoiding agricultural pollution.

3. What is the decisive factor to mass-produce the plant?

A．Industrial levels.	B．Unique design.
C．Academic research.	D．Basic facilities.

4. What would be the best title for the text?

A．Duckweed Power	B．Duckweed Production
C．Genetic Engineering	D．Genetic Testing

8 . Aesthetic (审美) education aims to enhance aesthetic perception, experience aesthetic qualities, stimulate aesthetic creativity, and promote aesthetic judgement.

In order for kids to be able to appreciate natural wonders, shapes and pictures, they must be able to first notice them. This is why the development of the ability to notice the beautiful is the primary task of aesthetic education.     1     Kids are incapable of noticing particular shapes if their ability to notice object s and forms is undeveloped. The aesthetic relationship begins with the noticing of aesthetic qualities.

    2     This means that they generate emotional responses like excitement and joy, enriching individuals’ emotional lives and inspiring artistic expression. The ability to experience aesthetically must also be developed. The cognitive (认知的) elements of the processes that we experience during noticing must also include emotional tones with which we form impressions.     3     The aim of this task is, with the aid of aesthetic qualities, to enrich the emotional life of children and young people and the development of a sense for aesthetic values.

It is essential to allow children to participate in activities that will develop their creative abilities.     4     Instead, it is about creativity in the creation of aesthetic values in everyday life. We are not simply born with creative abilities which have to be developed.

Judging or evaluating aesthetic qualities demands formed evaluation criteria. In order for beauty to reveal its true value, we must be familiar with its particularities. Throughout the process of aesthetic education, various types of knowledge, abilities and evaluation criteria must be applied.     5    

A．Aesthetic qualities have to be felt.

B．Beauty can be found all around us.

C．The beautiful will be likely to be created.

D．And it is these that the aesthetic experience is built upon.

E．In some way, this is the ability to perceive aesthetic qualities.

F．This way, the child will develop the foundations for assessing the beautiful.

G．This is not so much about creating aesthetic abilities in the sense of training artists.

9 . Despite what most people might think, you really don’t need much time to work out. In fact, even ten to twenty minutes of challenging exercise a few times a week is enough to burn fat, build muscle, boost strength, and contribute to a healthy, active lifestyle.     1    

But sometimes, the resistance isn’t really about the actual time the workout takes. It’s about the energy it takes to get ready for it. Maybe your stress levels are over the top, or your energy levels have been so low that you keep talking yourself out of a workout. Or maybe you just don’t want to get all sweaty and have to take a shower afterward.     2     In such fast-paced life, we’re all struggling. But when it comes to exercise, being healthy and fit isn’t as black and white as the fitness world tries to make it seem.     3     Doing something is always better than nothing when it comes to movement. Micro workouts, like getting out for a fifteen-minute walk instead of doing the strength training workout, are significantly better than doing nothing at all.

    4     They are time-saving, since they can be done in seconds or in as little time as 15-20 minutes. They require minimum space and equipment. Many can be done at home, in the park, or even while waiting in the checkout line. They are also money-saving as these can be done without a gym membership, coach, trainer, or class instructor.

So in order to maintain a healthy lifestyle, make time to move.     5     If all the movements like push-ups and pull-ups add up, you will still get many of the same benefits of a longer, harder workout.

A．These are understandable excuses.

B．Fitness can be simple, easy and convenient.

C．The advantages of micro workouts are apparent.

D．Try to add in micro workouts throughout the day.

E．No matter how busy you are, you have time to exercise.

F．Micro workouts are being backed up by trainers and science.

G．Being healthy is really more important than you can imagine.

10 . Earlier this year Rodney Smith Jr. made headlines when he drove eight hours from his home in Huntsville. Alabama, to cut the lawn for an elderly soldier in North Carolina who couldn’t find anyone to help him with his yard work.

That wasn’t the first time the twenty-nine-year-old Bermuda native had gained such attention. To do his good deeds, Rodney often finds leads for those in need through social media.

Back to one August afternoon in 2015, Rodney Smith Jr. was driving home. That’s when Rodney saw an elderly man struggling to mow his lawn. He would take a couple of shaky steps, using the handle to stabilize himself, pause, then slowly push the mower again. Rodney decided to help. Mr. Brown thanked him greatly, and Rodney went home feeling satisfied.

Sitting at his computer to do his homework, Rodney couldn’t get Mr. Brown out of his mind. There must be many Mr. Browns out there. He went online and posted that he would mow lawns for free for senior citizens. Messages flooded in.

One day a cancer-battling woman said she wasn’t having a good day. Rodney decided to do more than mowing lawns. After he finished mowing, he knocked on her door. “You're going to win this fight, Madam”, he said. Then he asked folks to pray for her on social media.

Word of Rodney’s mission spread. A grandmother in Ohio said he’d encouraged her 12-year-old grandson to mow lawns. He got a letter from a seven-year-old boy in Kansas. “Mr. Rodney, I would like to be a part of your program, and I’ll make you proud,” he wrote.

That gave Rodney an idea. In 2017, he decided to establish a programme Raising Men Lawn Care Service to make a national movement for young people. The kids learn the joy of giving back.

Yard work seems like a small, simple thing, but taking care of the lawn means a lot to the people they do it for. “When we mow their yards for free, they can use the money for healthcare and food etc. It means more than you would think,” Rodney said.

1. Rodney drew attention for his _____.

A．mowing skills

B．ambition

C．driving distance

D．generosity

2. Why did Rodney knock on a lady’s door?

A．To comfort her.	B．To pray for her.
C．To share gardening tips.	D．To ask about her health.

3. Where do Rodney’s decisions of mowing lawns for free come from?

A．National media.	B．Personal success.
C．Daily inspiration.	D．People’s courage.

4. What is the best title of the passage?

A．Giving Free, Gaining Fortune

B．Mowing a Lawn, Making a Life

C．Serving the Senior, Satisfying the Self

D．Changing a little, Challenging the Limits