1 . I was mostly based in Samburu National Reserve, recording details of the population and leading collar (颈圈) operations. We put trackers (跟踪仪) around wild elephants’necks, so we can learn about their activities.
In May 2009, in the middle of the wet season, Rommel appeared again. And it was histurn to be placed a collar. We sent three cars out to search for him. There’s a river running through the park where many elephants gather in the mornings. At 10:30 am, one of my partners clocked Rommel.
A tranquillizer (镇静剂) was carefully shot into his body so we could safely place a collaron him, but for a bull of Rommel’s size it could take longer. After that, he turned away, heading in an unexpected direction and seemed to be near danger by killing himself in thewater. It would be a bad accident. Only by pulling his trunk (象鼻) from the river, could weensure his survival. The problem was that the river was a little bit changeable. Immediately, I decided to act. I jumped in and lifted his heavy, twitching trunk from the water with the help of lifeguards. The team tried to fit him with a collar, but we discovered that we didn’t have one big enough.
We couldn’t risk keeping him there while we created a bigger collar. So I struggled on, holding his trunk high with all my strength. And medicine that took away the efforts of the tranquillizer was delivered.
As soon as his ears started to move, a sign of coming to life, I dropped his trunk and moved to safety. Within a couple of minutes, he was back to life. That was one of my proudest moments
1. What is the purpose of putting trackers around wild elephants’necks?| A．To record their sizes. | B．To know their activities. |
| C．To control and train them. | D．To save them from danger. |
| A．To sent him to a zoo. | B．To treat his wounds. |
| C．To place a collar on him safely. | D．To check his health. |
| A．He gave him certain medicine. | B．He lifted his trunk out of water. |
| C．He performed an operation on him. | D．He called other members for help. |
| A．Pride. | B．Surprise. | C．Anger. | D．Worry. |
2 . Endangered polar bears are breeding (繁殖) with grizzly bears (灰熊), creating “pizzly” bears, which is being driven by climate change, scientists say.
As the world warms and Arctic sea ice thins, starving polar bears are being forced ever further south, where they meet grizzlies, whose ranges are expanding northwards. And with that growing contact between the two come increasing hybrids (杂交种).
With characteristics that could give the hybrids an advantage in warming northern habitats, some scientists guess that they could be here to stay. “Usually, hybrids aren’t better suited to their environments than their parents, but these hybrids are able to search for a broader range of food sources,” Larisa DeSantis, an associate professor of biological sciences at Vanderbilt University, told Live Science.
The rise of “pizzly” bears appears with polar bears’ decline: their numbers are estimated to decrease by more than 30% in the next 30 years. This sudden fall is linked partly to “pizzly” bears taking up polar bears’ ranges, where they outcompete them, but also to polar bears’ highly specialized diets.
“Polar bears mainly consumed soft foods even during the Medieval Warm Period, a previous period of rapid warming,” DeSantis said, referring to fat meals such as seals. “Although all of these starving polar bears are trying to find alternative food sources, like seabird eggs, it could be a tipping point for their survival.” Actually, the calories they gain from these sources do not balance out those they burn from searching for them. This could result in a habitat ready for the hybrids to move in and take over, leading to a loss in biodiversity if polar bears are replaced.
“We’re having massive impacts with climate change on species,” DeSantis said. “The polar bear is telling us how bad things are. In some sense, “pizzly” bears could be a sad but necessary compromise given current warming trends.”
1. Why do polar bears move further south?| A．To create hybrids. | B．To expand territory. |
| C．To relieve hunger. | D．To contact grizzlies. |
| A．Broader habitats. | B．More food options. |
| C．Climate preference. | D．Improved breeding ability. |
| A．A rare chance. | B．A critical stage. |
| C．A positive factor. | D．A constant change. |
| A．Polar bears are changing diets for climate change. |
| B．Polar bears have already adjusted to climate change. |
| C．“Pizzly” bears are on the rise because of global warming. |
| D．“Pizzly”bears have replaced polar bears for global warming. |
3 . Boston Marathon runners in recent years may have seen a smiling furry face around the two-mile mark. It’s Spencer, the therapy (治疗) dog, who became known as an unofficial mascot (吉祥物) for the marathon, He’s shown up on the sidelines every year since 2015—rain or shine.
One particularly rainy marathon catapulted Spencer’s fame, In 2018, his owner, Richard Powers, decided to put a bright yellow rain coat on the dog, making him stand out even more than he usually does. Photos of Spencer, who holds a “Boston Strong” flag in his mouth, went viral, and he became an inspiration to runners and onlookers alike, During the marathon, some runners stop in their tracks to take selfies with the dog-the line sometimes growing to 20 runners long.
But in 2020, Spencer was diagnosed with a tumor (肿瘤). His owner was worried, but Spencer is a fighter. He got the care he needed and survived. In 2021, he was back on the course and it was really kind of a miracle and that really hit home to a lot of people.
Unfortunately, Spencer caught another tumor—this one cancerous—and Spencer began chemotherapy. Powers didn’t think his beloved dog would make it out to the marathon of 2022. “Miraculously, he’s still here with us and an even bigger miracle, he was strong enough to go to the marathon,” he said.
After recovering, Spencer was back to work—not just at the marathon—but as a therapy dog, alongside his companion, Penny, who is also a golden therapy dog. Powers takes his two therapy dogs around to schools, hospitals and senior living centers.
“He’s a gift to us and we’re very lucky to have him. He’s too good so we want to share him with as many people as we possibly can. He does make a difference,” Powers said.
1. Why is Spencer referred to as a mascot for Boston Marathon?| A．He has a smiling furry face. | B．He appears at the event annually. |
| C．He is not recognized officially. | D．He works as a therapy dog for runners. |
| A．Motivation. | B．Satisfaction. | C．Fantasy. | D．Barrier. |
| A．A failure in the marathon. | B．Caring for his owner. | C．Fighting against a disease. | D．Going viral. |
| A．Confident, | B．Supportive. | C．Objective. | D．Negative. |
4 . Moments ago, a seal was resting on a piece of floating ice deep in an Antarctic channel. Then three hungry killer whales appeared. When the seal noticed them, it was already surrounded.
On this sheet of sea ice, the nearly thousand-pound sea l would be unreachable for most of his enemies in nature. But these killer whales had mastered a hunting technique called wave washing: working together to turn water into a weapon.
Having identified their target, the killer whales formed a battle line and started rushing toward the ice. Just before reaching it, they rolled to their sides in a single, synchronized (同步的) motion. The wave they created was so powerful that it flooded the ice sheet and washed the frightened seal close to the edge of the ice sheet. Slowly and methodically, they repeated the attack. At the third time, the wave sent the helpless seal flying into the sea. It struggled to climb onto a piece of ice, but then disappeared from view...
“The level of intelligence that went into making each wave was staggering. They solved the problem with very complex teamwork. They used water as a tool,” said wildlife filmmaker Bertie Gregory, who had spent a decade tracking those killer whales, known as Bls. “I rarely saw failed hunts. This behavior was not what they were born with. It was learned and mastered over decades. Every time they made waves, it almost felt like more of a teaching experience than hunting. It was terrifying to watch.”
But as Antarctica warms and sea ice disappears, seals are increasingly staying on land, out of killer whales’ reach.
“I’ve found Bls are losing about 5 percent of their population every year. Whether this subgroup will go extinct or just adapt their behavior, I don’t know,” said Gregory. “But with fewer opportunities for the killer whales to wave wash, I’m seeing an extinction of a culture.”
1. How did the killer whales get the seal on the ice sheet?| A．By making huge waves. | B．By jumping onto the ice sheet. |
| C．By destroying the ice sheet. | D．By waiting underwater patiently. |
| A．Puzzling. | B．Shocking. | C．Satisfying. | D．Annoying. |
| A．The seals and killer whales. | B．The rising sea level. |
| C．The loss of a hunting skill. | D．The disappeared ice sheet. |
| A．It is a natural behavior with whales. | B．Usually, the smartest whales can learn it. |
| C．It can be carried out by one whale alone. | D．Perhaps, it is only mastered by certain groups. |
5 . In the thick forest, a New Caledonian crow carefully removes a branch, pulls off unwanted leaves and makes a tool from the wood. The crow is a perfectionist. When it’s satisfied, the bird advances the finished tool into a hole in the tree and fishes out a wriggling grub (蠕动的幼虫).
The New Caledonian crow is one of the only birds known to make tools, a skill once thought to be unique to humans. The remarkable originality that Christian Rutz, a behavioral ecologist at the University of St Andrews in Scotland, observed changed his understanding of what birds can do. He started wondering if there might be other ignored animal abilities. Experiments have shown that different crow groups in the forest have distinct vocalizations (发声). Rutz wanted to know whether these vocalizations could help explain cultural differences in tool-making among the groups.
New technology powered by artificial intelligence (AI) is ready to provide exactly these kinds of insights. Whether animals communicate with one another in terms we might be able to understand is a question of enduring question. “With recent breakthroughs in AI, people realize that we are on the edge of fairly major advances in regard to understanding animals’ communicative behavior,” Rutz says.
Beyond creating chat-bots that attract people and producing art that wins fine-arts competitions, machine learning may soon make it possible to crack (破解) things like crow calls, says Aza Raskin, one of the founders of the nonprofit Earth Species Project. Cracking animal vocalizations could aid conservation and welfare efforts. It could also have a shocking impact on us. Raskin compares the coming revolution to the invention of the telescope. “We looked out at the universe and discovered that Earth was not the center,” he says. The power of AI to reshape our understanding of animals, he thinks, will have a similar effect. “These tools are going to change the way that we see ourselves in relation to everything.”
1. What does the author intend to do in paragraph 1?| A．Show the New Caledonian crow can make tools. |
| B．Explain why the New Caledonian crow is a perfectionist. |
| C．Tell the New Caledonian crow often makes mistakes. |
| D．Describe how the New Caledonian crow lives in the forest. |
| A．It is humans and crows that can make tools |
| B．Humans may fail to notice some animals’ abilities. |
| C．The New Caledonian crow is the smartest bird. |
| D．The New Caledonian crow has various sounds. |
| A．Chatting with AI. | B．Looking out into space. |
| C．Using AI to crack animal calls. | D．Connecting with the outside world. |
| A．Earth Is Not the Center | B．Start Your Mind and Study Deeply |
| C．Protect Animals to Make the World Better | D．AI Could Help Us Understand Animals |
6 . Tall, long-necked giraffes are famous for their spots which are believed to help the animals hide from their enemies. Just like no two humans have the same fingerprints, each giraffe has its own special pattern of spots. However, a Tennessee zoo made headlines recently after it welcomed one of the world’s most uncommon giraffes.
On July 31, a baby giraffe was born at Brights Zoo with light brown fur which is a reticulated (网状的) giraffe, one of the four different kinds of giraffes. Unlike most giraffes, she was born without spots, a unique feature of the reticulated giraffe. At six feet tall, this baby giraffe is growing well under her mother’s care. She shows typical baby giraffe behavior, such as eating rocks.
Experts said the young giraffe was the only single-colored reticulated giraffe living anywhere on the planet. The last time this happened was 1972 in Japan. A giraffe’s pattern of spots is created when the animal is still growing inside its mother. That means that this giraffe will never have spots.
“The new giraffe might not have survived if she had been born in the wild. Being single-colored, she may not be able to hide quite as well,” said Mr. David Bright, who runs the zoo, “It will easily be a key target for poachers (偷猎者) because she’s so unusual.”
Brights Zoo stressed that reticulated giraffes had already become imperiled. In 2018, they were officially listed as “threatened”. Thirty-five years ago, there were 36,000 reticulated giraffes. Now, the number has been cut by more than 50%. Only about 16,000 reticulated giraffes remain.
This brown giraffe’s birth is not only a rare and fascinating event, but also an opportunity to raise awareness about the challenges faced by giraffes in the wild. By supporting efforts like this, we can contribute to the conservation of these large creatures and ensure their survival for generations to come.
1. What do we know about the spots of giraffes?| A．They help protect giraffes. | B．They are the same pattern. |
| C．They look like giraffes’ footprints. | D．They appear on giraffes occasionally. |
| A．Its extremely large size. | B．Its light brown fur. |
| C．Its unusual eating habit. | D．Its absence of spots. |
| A．Recognized. | B．Endangered. | C．Doubled. | D．Balanced. |
| A．Awkward. | B．Worrying. | C．Meaningful. | D．Foreseeable. |
7 . Animals being extinct from the Earth is a serious issue. When this happens in order to use their fur or skin for fashion, it is even worse, since it’s not even for a matter of human survival. That’s why a London zoo decided to make a powerful statement at the Siamese crocodile enclosure (鳄鱼围栏).
When visitors come in expecting to see a crocodile, they’re greeted with the handbag instead, making a very effective and powerful point about illegal wildlife trade and the harm it takes on the species involved.
A sign by the enclosure reads, “This bag used to be found swimming in slow-moving rivers and streams across Southeast Asia and Indonesia. Over the last 75 years, more than 80% of Siamese crocodiles have disappeared. Many, like this one, were hunted for their skins as part of the illegal wildlife trade.”.
Native to parts of Southeast Asia, Siamese crocodiles are critically endangered and have become virtually extinct in the wild. Due to hunting as well as habitat loss, they are now absent from nearly 99% of their original range. A huge part of the decline of population is due to humans using their wetland habitat for rice farming, and things only took a turn for the worse when large-scale hunting for their skin for commercial purposes began in the 1950s.
The particular handbag that is on display at the zoo was confiscated at a UK airport, according to Benjamin Tapley, leader of reptiles and amphibians at ZSL London Zoo.
Tapley told The Huffington Post, “We made this exhibit, within ZSL London Zoo’s Reptile House, to draw visitors’ attention to the destructive impact the Illegal Wildlife Trade (IWT) is having on species around the world. At ZSL, we are working globally with governments and local communities to protect wildlife, support law enforcement (执法) that targets illegal trade networks, empower local communities affected by IWT and reduce demand for threatened wildlife.”
1. Why does the sign say this handbag used to swim?| A．It is made of a crocodile’s skin. |
| B．It is made into a crocodile shape. |
| C．It is light enough to float on water. |
| D．It was kept in flowing river at first. |
| A．Wildly hunting of Siamese crocodiles. |
| B．Destruction of Siamese crocodiles’ habitats. |
| C．Commercial value of Siamese crocodiles. |
| D．Causes to make Siamese crocodiles endangered. |
| A．Seized. | B．Sold. | C．Found. | D．Stolen. |
| A．The importance of wildlife protection. |
| B．The crisis endangered animals are facing. |
| C．The purpose to show the handbag. |
| D．The harm IWT caused. |
8 . Spearmint the seal has an addiction. Being too overly friendly to humans around Plymouth, England, she’s been sent to kick her human habits.
Spearmint was first seen in Caws and Bay, Cornwall, almost seven months ago, and was found hanging out with tourists and swimmers, as well as paddlers. She was even known to have visited a local outdoor pub.
The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) put the North Atlantic gray seal into a treatment program, where rescuers were “working around the clock to get her fit and healthy” enough to be released.
After rehab, the organization hopes to release her into a remote area of Scotland where she won’t be so tempted by people. The Rame Wildlife Rescue Network has also provided assistance, raising more than $6,500 for the seal’s relocation.
Jessica Collins, a medical worker at British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR), initiated the rescue. She says Spearmint is an endangered seal that has become used to human contact. “Despite receiving treatment at a young age, to change her human-related behavior is far from easy. Spearmint’s interest in humans grew once released as she was fed regularly by tourists,” Collin s explained. “After multiple relocations we found Cawsand Bay, where we were able to control the situation better and keep people away.”
The RSPCA plans to either reintroduce Spearmint to the wild or place her in permanent care in a shelter intended for seals. “Give wild animals space and avoid feeding them. We hope the message carries through beyond Spearmint’s story,” the RSPCA said in a statement.
1. What is Spearmint’s addiction according to the passage?| A．Visiting local pubs. | B．Swimming in Cawsand Bay. |
| C．Hanging out with swimmers. | D．Enjoying being with humans. |
| A．Relocating the seal. | B．Changing the seal’s personality. |
| C．Treating the seal’s human habits. | D．Helping the seal grow stronger. |
| A．Tourists’ constant feeding. |
| B．The seal’s need for medical attention. |
| C．Absence of early treatment for the seal. |
| D．Spearmint’s constant moving when released. |
| A．Build shelters for seals. | B．Leave wild animals on their own. |
| C．Keep seals in permanent care. | D．Avoid taking wild animals’ land. |
9 . Great white sharks are typically loners, swimming through the world’s vast oceans largely on their own. That’s why scientists were so confused and impressed when they noticed an odd pattern in tracking data from two sharks. Simon and Jekyll.
The two males were first tagged off the coast of Georgia. When they reached Long Island, reseatchers noticed their tracks were remarkably similar. Then they arrived in Novia Scotia within practically the same day - they have traveled more than 4,000 miles together!
“Most animals don’t form any emotional bonds with each other and there are no previous records of two sharks traveling together for such a long period,” Bob Hueter, chief scientist for Ocearch, the group tracking the sharks says, “But we have found that some whites may remain close while hunting to benefit from food pieces after a kill. So we are wondering if this one-time event is similar to that. If so, it will open the door to the secret of sharks’ migration law.”
Now, scientists are trying to puzzle out what’s going on. Researchers suppose that there may be some reasons, such as seawater temperatures and the amount of light each day. And they further put forward other possibilities. Are the two sharks friends or relatives? And do they have more companions that aren’t tagged swimming with them? To uncover the secret, the researchers are running genetic tests For the further research direction.
But no matter what their relationship, the pair’s unique behavior is of great significance in the foreseeable future. At the very least, the discovery that sharks may hang out together could impact conservation efforts. The reseurch lteam, for example, is working to help people view sharks less as blood-thirsty monsters and more as vital players in a healthy ocean ecosystem worthy of protection. They are “humanizing”, which adds to the limited understanding human have of sharks. “They have a mother, a father and siblings,” the team shares, “They’re just trying to make a living in the ocean, and we need them for the balance of life in the sea.”
1. What drew scientists’ attention about Simon and Jekyll?| A．The destination they reached. |
| B．The distance they covered. |
| C．The way they traveled together. |
| D．The species they belong to. |
| A．Traveling in pairs. |
| B．Migrating regularly. |
| C．Hunting food together. |
| D．Traveling for a long time. |
| A．The procedure of the test. | B．The results of the research. |
| C．The assumption of the causes. | D．The significance of the pair’s travel |
| A．They are friendlier and closer to humans than hefore. |
| B．Their relationship has been figured out by the rescarch |
| C．Human’s limited understanding leads to their extinction. |
| D．Their jourcy offers new insight into ocean conservation. |
10 . From Black Beauty to The Chronicles of Narnia, films and books have often shown the friendships that can develop between humans and horses. Lots of real-life stories have shown that horses seem to have a special understanding of humans. However, until a recent study, nobody knew if horses really recognized different human emotions.
A team of researchers set out to see what horses can understand. They used a test that is often used to see how much babies understand about the world around them.The team brought 28horses into a room, one by one. Each was shown a picture of a happy human and a picture of a sad human. At the same time,a recording of a happy or sad voice was played.The test showed that horses can recognize different emotions by looking at facial expressions and hearing the tone of people’s voices and matching the two up.When the voice didn’t match up with the picture, the horses seemed to be puzzled: they looked at the picture for longer, as if they knew that something wasn’t right. However, the researchers still don’t know if the horses actually understand what it is to be sad or happy.
Scientist Océane Liehrmann, from the University of Turku in Finland, worked on the study. She said,“You could imagine that they have a particular box in their mind labelled (贴标签)’human sadness’ containing the characteristics of both a sad face and a sad voice.”
It’s also thought that horses prefer to spend time around happy people because they spent longer looking at the pictures of happy people.The researchers now want to see if horses can recognize other negative human emotions.
1. Why did the author mention two films at the beginning?| A．To lead the readers to the topic. | B．To introduce the films to the readers. |
| C．To compare the films with the real life. | D．To advise the readers to relax themselves. |
| A．hear different sounds | B．communicate with humans |
| C．recognize different pictures | D．understand human emotions |
| A．Sad | B．Happy. | C．Puzzled. | D．Satisfied. |
| A．Because horses like to hear loud laughter. |
| B．Because horses can recognize people’s sad emotions. |
| C．Because horses spent more time on the pictures of happy people. |
| D．Because horses understand what it is to be sad or happy for people. |
