1 . In San Francisco, a large group of sea lions move themselves out of the bay waters and hang out on PIER 39, which is a popular tourist destination. According to dock (码头) officials, this is the most sea lions seen in the region in 15 years.
“Over 1,000 sea lions have been counted this week,” PIER 39 harbormaster Sheila Chandor told many different media. “The surge in sea lions is usually a good sign of their strong population and healthy living environment,” said Adam Ratner, Director of Conservation Engagement at the Marine Mammal (海洋哺乳动物) Center in Sausalito, California.
“California sea lions are sentinels (哨兵) of the ocean,” Ratner said. Their population to some extent reflects the health of the ocean. Therefore, seeing a large number of California sea lions is clearly a good thing.
For nearly 35 years, the slippery (滑的) residents have been a star attraction for tourists. That autumn in 1989, PIER 39 had just been repaired, but the ships had not yet been moved back. At that moment, the sea lions unexpected arrival not only attracted fans but also created enemies. According to a website, some dock residents and workers were scared away by the strong and very unpleasant smell and noise of their new neighbors, while others saw these animals as a bright spot after the destructive Loma Prieta earthquake.
The officials sought help from the Marine Mammal Center to find a way to deal with sea lions. Ratner said that the final decision is to let the sea lions stay and coexist with humans. “The fact proves that this is really a good thing,” he said. “This is just a proof of how we can truly work together and think about how we can share our coasts with marine mammals and other wildlife in a way that benefits all the parties involved.”
1. How does the author start the text?| A．By describing a situation. |
| B．By answering a question. |
| C．By holding a conversation. |
| D．By comparing different opinions. |
| A．Sharp increase. | B．Tight control. |
| C．Slow development. | D．Sudden movement. |
| A．Doubtful. | B．Uninterested. |
| C．Supportive. | D．Unclear. |
| A．Sea lions are pretty cool animals. |
| B．Animals and humans can live in harmony. |
| C．Watching sea lions might not be a proper action. |
| D．Sea lions should be driven out of PIER 39. |
2 . I fell in love with rhinos when I worked in a zoo in the 80s, and spent much of the next 20 years as the keeper of the largest captive (圈养) group of rare black rhinos.
There’s a popular misconception that rhinos are aggressive and stupid, but I discovered sensitive, affectionate animals. Weighing over a ton, black rhinos are unexpectedly swift and have an unpredictable nature — but, given reassurance, they can be very trusting. In the past few decades, their numbers have dropped dramatically. In recent years, I’ve helped look after rhinos being moved to animal shelters, so they can form new populations in countries that have few left.
Last year, I helped on a project to fly five black rhinos from a private reserve in South Africa to the Serengeti National Park. Once there, the animals had to be kept captive for a few weeks to adapt to the new environment, in which time they lived in bomas — wooden enclosures (围场) with bedrooms, designed to create a calm space.
A couple of weeks before their planned release, the sky filled with smoke. Watching the flames rushing through the bush toward the bomas, I froze. Terrified that it would catch fire, my instinct was to release the rhinos, but they hadn’t yet been fitted with transmitters (信号传送器). If I let them out into a bushfire and they were injured, we’d have great difficulty tracking them down.
So I rushed back to the bomas and called the rhinos to the bedrooms. Sensing the fear in my voices, they moved without hesitation and remained astonishingly calm. It was crucial the rhinos didn’t panic — they can easily hurt each other if they do.
Meanwhile, the keepers managed to beat the closest flames away. At last, after half an hour, the wind changed direction and the fire began to die down.
That we and the rhinos had escaped uninjured was a miracle. The teamwork of everybody there played a large part, and the rhinos were very much a part of that team. The relationships we’d built with them had proved crucial — had they or we panicked, all our work would have been in vain. Instead, two weeks later, they were released into the wild, ready to found part of a new population in the Serengeti.
1. What kind of animals does the author think rhinos are?| A．Mild giants. |
| B．Aggressive killers. |
| C．Unfriendly creatures. |
| D．Reliable companions. |
| A．Black rhinos can easily get along well with human beings. |
| B．Measures have been taken to save black rhinos from extinction. |
| C．Black rhinos cannot survive if they aren’t kept captive in bomas. |
| D．The black rhino population has sharply decreased due to bushfire. |
| A．They would panic and hurt each other. |
| B．It could be difficult to locate and find them. |
| C．They showed signs of anger and aggression. |
| D．They might fail to adapt to new environments. |
| A．Saving the Rhinos. |
| B．Rush to Assumption. |
| C．A Bushfire Rescue. |
| D．A Bond Beyond Words. |
3 . You might know what to do if a human needs first aid, but what if your dog gets a bite or your cat eats something poisonous? Dr. Liam Donaldson, clinical director at Greencross Vet (兽医) Hospital at the University of Melbourne, says it’s important that pet owners understand basic first aid. Here, he shares his tips for dealing with common accidents and injuries.
Cuts & woundsYou don’t need to worry about disinfecting the injury site, but you do need to stop the bleeding, says Dr. Donaldson. “If there’s uncontrollable bleeding, apply pressure — even if it’s just using a T-shirt. Once you have applied pressure to reduce bleeding, take your pet immediately to a vet for assessment.” he advises.
Snake bitesSnakes have very small teeth, so their bite marks can be difficult to spot — and you might not see the bite happen. But if your pet shows signs of snake bite poisoning — sudden weakness and collapse, dilated pupils, vomiting, paralysis and shaking or twitching of muscles — get them to a vet without delay.
Tick bitesIt’s a good idea to have a pair of tick-removal tweezers (镊子) on hand in case you need to remove a tick from your pet. “There’s often a lot of concern about whether you have to get all of the tick or not, but as long as you get the body of the tick off, generally the head will just remove itself over time,” says Dr. Donaldson. He recommends keeping the tick so that if your pet becomes ill, your vet can identify whether they were bitten by a paralysis tick (the type that can be deadly).
PoisoningCats eating ivy and dogs eating sago palm or macadamia nuts are some of the most common poisonings Dr. Donaldson sees. “If it’s a macadamia nut, I would just keep a very close eye on them. If they start to show any gastrointestinal signs — if they go off their food, if they become sore in any of their legs — get them checked over by a vet,” he says. “If it was lilies or sago palm, I would recommend getting them to a vet, even if they’re not showing signs of illness, just because that can typically be life-threatening.”
1. If your pet dog gets seriously injured, what is the best solution?| A．To seek medical assistance. | B．To disinfect the injury site. |
| C．To apply pressure to reduce bleeding. | D．To use a T-shirt to stop bleeding. |
| A．Ivy. | B．Sago palm. |
| C．A macadamia nut. | D．A common poisoning. |
| A．A medical journal. | B．A biology textbook. |
| C．A hospital advertisement. | D．An animal care guide. |
4 . It is generally assumed that humans are the only species that deal with the social memories and the ability to remember friends and loved ones even if one has not seen them for a long period of time. But humans may not be alone. New research from Johns Hopkins University has shown that chimpanzees (黑猩猩) also recognize their friends even when they have not seen them in years.
Lead researcher, Dr. Christopher Krupenye was inspired to create this research study due to his sense over the many years that he worked with apes (猿) that individual chimpanzees recognized him even if he hadn’t seen him in a while.
“You have the impression that they’re responding like they recognize you and that to them you’re really different from the average zoo guest,” Dr. Christopher told CTV News. “They’re excited to see you again. So our goal with this study was to ask if that’s the case: Do they really have a lasting memory for familiar social partners?”
In order to test whether chimpanzees remember their friends, the researchers printed photos of chimpanzees who had died or left zoos in Edinburgh, Scotland, Belgium, and Japan. Then they showed those photos of the animal’s former group mates alongside photos of stranger apes to the participating animals at the zoos. Using eye tracking technology, the researchers were able to discover that the apes spent more time looking at their friends than they did at the apes they were not familiar with.
The research team believes that apes’ long term social memory can stretch back at least twenty six years. Additionally, they believe that this may indicate that like humans, chimpanzees can miss their friends and families.
Whatever the case, it is clear that this study shows that chimpanzees are similar to humans. So the next time you visit the zoo take some time to befriend your local chimpanzees. They may just remember you for many years to come.
1. What do people usually agree with according to paragraph 1?| A．Only humans have the long-term social memories. |
| B．Humans and chimpanzees have the same ancestors. |
| C．Chimpanzees have longer social memory than humans. |
| D．Chimpanzees are the only species to recognize humans. |
| A．Their flexible body language. | B．Their identification ability. |
| C．Their understanding of friendship. | D．Their control of their behaviors. |
| A．He may remain still. | B．He may get stressed. |
| C．He may lose temper. | D．He may become excited. |
| A．They are guided by social emotions. | B．They can be trained to remember humans. |
| C．They pay much attention to the value of friendship. | D．They show their feelings openly as humans do. |
5 . Begus is a linguist at the University of California, Berkeley. He got the chance, last summer, to observe sperm whales in their wild Caribbean habitat. With him were marine biologists and roboticists. There were also cryptographers and experts in other fields. All have been working together to listen to sperm whales and figure out what they might be saying. They call this Project CETI. Project CETI’s team is not the only group turning to AI for help deciphering animal talk. Researchers have trained AI models to sort through the sounds of prairie dogs, dolphins, naked mole rats and many other creatures.
Long before AI came into the picture, scientists and others have worked toward understanding animal communication. Some learned that vervet monkeys have different calls when warning of leopards, eagles or pythons. Others discovered that elephants communicate in rumbles too low for human ears to hear. Bats chatter in squeaks too high for our hearing. Still other groups have explored how bees communicate through dance.
“It took us a long time to measure all these things,” says researcher Karen Bakker. AI, she notes, has the potential to greatly speed up this type of research. Perhaps one day we’ll be able to use AI to build a futuristic CHAT box that translates animal sounds into human language, or vice versa.
“AI could eventually get us to the point where we understand animals,” says Bakker. What’s interesting to her is what we can learn from how bats and other creatures talk among each other. We should listen to animals in order to better protect them, she argues. For example, a system set up to record whales or elephants can also track their locations. This can help us avoid whales with our boats or protect elephants from illegal hunters.
1. What is Project CETI aimed at?| A．Applying AI to animal research. |
| B．Improving the living conditions of sperm whales. |
| C．Preventing animals from being hunted. |
| D．Decoding animal talk. |
| A．By listing figures. | B．By citing examples. |
| C．By making comparisons. | D．By analyzing causes. |
| A．Positive. | B．Uncaring. |
| C．Ambiguous. | D．Disapproving. |
| A．AI: A Potential Threat to Human Future |
| B．AI: The Cutting Edge Modern Science |
| C．AI: A Tool to Understand and Conserve Animals |
| D．AI: A Field of Fierce Major-country Competition |
6 . Like other penguins, African penguins have white feathers covering their chests and black feathers covering their backs. They have lifelong mates, and they live in huge numbers —so, scientists wondered how the birds were able to identify their partners among a sea of black-and-white birds. To find it out, they studied 12 African penguins at a marine park called Zoomarine Italia.
In one test, they hung two life-size photographs of the African penguins. One is selected randomly(随机选择地), while the other is the test subject’s mate. The scientists recorded their interactions with the photos: How long did they spend looking at each photo, as well as how much time did they spend standing near each one? The penguins spent more time looking at the photo of their partners—about 23 seconds longer, on average —than looking at the other photo. They also stood next to the mate’s photo for twice as long. Then, the researchers covered up the heads of the birds in the photographs, and the penguins still stayed near their partners’ photos.
In another experiment, the researchers hung up two photos of a bird’s mate —but, in one, they had digitally removed its spots(点). In this case, the penguin again spent more time looking at the photo with the spots. In the third experiment, the researchers hung two penguin photos with digitally removed spots—one of the test subject’s mate and the other: a random penguin. In this case, the penguins did not appear to recognize their partners—they spent almost the same time looking at or standing near both photos.
Together, the research results suggest African penguins are zeroing in on their partners’ spots and using them like name tags. Scientists say: “Our results prove birds recognize their mates by specific visual patterns and all sensory modalities(模态)should be considered in the study of animal communication.”
1. What can we learn from Paragraph 1?| A．African penguins live independently. |
| B．African penguins have special ability to recognize partners. |
| C．African penguins have when feathers covering their backs. |
| D．Scientists studied 12 African penguins from the wild. |
| A．Their partners’ voice. | B．Their partners’ heads. |
| C．Their partners’ back feathers. | D．Their partners’ spotted bodies. |
| A．Losing sight of. | B．Taking delight in. |
| C．Paying attention to. | D．Speaking highly of. |
| A．In a science report. | B．In a travel brochure. |
| C．In a biology textbook. | D．In a fashion magazine. |
7 . You may think of me as delicious and nutritious, the sight of me packed into cans of school lunches. But here’s what adults hide from the kids: There’s very little that’s gentle about me. One of the ocean’s fastest fish, I can grow to be 1,500 pounds, and I fetch millions at Japanese fish markets. Forget the “chicken of the sea”. I am the Schwarzenegger of the sea, the strongest and most powerful.
I’m honored in cave paintings dating back to 3000 BC. Coins from 2000 BC feature me on one side. Five years ago, modern Navy scientists confirmed just how perfectly evolved I am for efficient speed: They modeled their new underwater spy drone (无人机), The GhostSwimmer, on me.
How is it that the price of my raw meat ranges from a dollar to a hundred? In fact, the fish you generally call tuna is actually seven species of fish, Bluefin, as the largest, is at the top of the food chain. Along with Bigeye and Yellowfin, it is one of the three most favored tunas by customers. Skipjack, commercially my most important variety, is easier to catch, thus accounting for $18 billion of the $42 billion worth of me that gets sold each year. I can be delicious canned, provided you don’t be mean with the mayo (蛋黄酱) or, for a more heart healthy tuna salad, the olive oil. Considering mercury (汞) levels in canned “light” Skipjack, it’s also recommended that women of childbearing age dine on me in that form no more than once a week.
If you want to do right by the ocean, however, choose troll-caught or pole-and-line-caught tuna. These “one fish, one hook” methods hunt me without nearly as much unwanted fish. Longlines or huge nets, often wipe out entire schools. Don’t forget that getting rid of a top-level fish like me has severe consequences all the way down the food chain.
1. What does the underlined word “fetch” in Paragraph 1 mean?| A．Be eaten up. | B．Go and get. | C．Be sold for. | D．Run out of. |
| A．Tuna’s important role in humans’ life. | B．Tuna’s applications in modern science. |
| C．How tuna evolve over the course of time. | D．Why tuna are the ocean’s fastest fish. |
| A．Skipjack takes up about 42% of the tuna market per year. |
| B．The bigger a tuna fish is, the higher its quality and price. |
| C．Women should have canned tuna less than once a week. |
| D．The big price gap results from different ways to hunt tuna. |
| A．Give me more mayo, I will be healthier. | B．Ouch! The hook hurts me. Net me, please. |
| C．Don’t tell kids I’m not what they think of me. | D．Never wipe me out, or you are inviting trouble. |
8 . Sharks and their relatives are some of the most threatened vertebrates (脊椎动物) on Earth. Coral reefs (珊瑚礁) provide homes for countless fish species that are vital for fisheries and are therefore an especially important ecosystem for humans — and one where the decline of shark populations seems to be especially sharp.
The study by Simpfendorfer with his team is the result of an act of worldwide cooperation called the Global FinPrint Project. The data analyzed include more than 20,000 hours of standardized underwater video taken at nearly 400 reefs in 67 countries around the world. It reveals declines of 60 to 73% of once-abundant coral reef shark species at reefs around the world. The global conservation status of sharks and rays (鳐鱼) is worse than a decade ago and is even more concerning for some groups of sharks.
However, the findings of Simpfendorfer with his team include signs of hope and a clear path forward. Their result s show that although shark populations in many reefs had declined, some health y reef shark populations remained. The reefs with healthier shark population s had some important similarities: they tended to be in the waters of high-income countries with stronger natural resource management laws and rules. Unfortunately, such countries were relatively rare, and lower-income countries tended to have fewer resources for eco-friendly management.
The most unexpected result of the study is that a decline or complete loss of shark species in one reef was not always associated with similar changes in nearby reefs. They found that one reef could be overfished so badly that a once-common reef shark species was totally gone, but another reef a short distance away could have healthy populations of that same species.
The problem is clear -animals that provide ecosystem services that are vital for human food security and livelihoods are disappearing at an alarming rate. The loss of sharks and the ecosystem services they provide represents an ecological disaster that can cause substantial harm to humans.
1. What can we learn about the study from the second paragraph?| A．It was directed by the Global FinPrint Project. |
| B．It was to find out the reasons for ocean pollution. |
| C．It analyzed data about shark species in coral reefs. |
| D．Certain sharks were found endangered in the study. |
| A．Citizens there had a strong environmental awareness. |
| B．Science and economics were improving fast in such areas. |
| C．The waters in these areas were suitable for sharks to live in. |
| D．They were well-developed areas with strict environmental laws. |
| A．Humans and animals coexist in ecosystem. |
| B．Overfishing is a contributing factor to the decline of sharks. |
| C．It’s uncertain whether humans cause the decrease of sharks. |
| D．Distances between reefs affect the number of shark species. |
| A．A sharp decline of reef sharks. | B．Possible recovery of reef sharks. |
| C．Global cooperation of ocean protection. | D．Amazing discovery of coral reefs. |
9 . African grey parrots help their peers complete tasks despite no immediate benefit to themselves, researchers have found in the first study to show that birds display such apparently “selfless” behaviour.
Writing in the journal Current Biology, Brucks and colleagues report how they tested African grey parrots in a task that involved the birds passing a token, in the form of a metal ring, through a hole in their section to a neighbouring bird of the same species. This token could then be passed by the second bird to a human, via another hole, who would exchange it for a piece of nut.
The team found African grey parrots helped their neighbours by passing tokens to their neighbour when a human held out their hand, allowing the second bird to drop it through-the hole and receive a tasty treat.
The same behaviour was seen when the roles of the birds were reversed (颠倒). The more tokens a bird had previously given, the more they received in return.
However, the team stress previously the birds did not know that their favour would be rewarded, suggesting it is something of a “selfless” act.
The team say it may be due to African grey parrots gathering in huge flocks at night but splitting into smaller groups during the day to forage (觅食). Brucks said such behaviour is thought to require strong social cognitive abilities, adding that being helpful might help the birds gain a good reputation with their peers, making it more likely that they would team up for foraging and other tasks.
Dr Manon Schweinfurth, an expert in animal behaviour, said evidence of reciprocal (互惠的) behaviour in African grey parrots is quite interesting. “It has been thought that it is so cognitively demanding that only humans can show it. But we now get more and more evidence from other animals that they are able to show reciprocity,” she said.
1. What is paragraph 2 mainly about?| A．The methods of observation. | B．The comparison of the species. |
| C．One feeding behaviour of parrots. | D．One example of Brucks’ experiments. |
| A．A strong survival instinct. | B．A desire for food. |
| C．The need for social cognitive abilities. | D．Curiosity towards other species. |
| A．Only African grey parrots are capable of exhibiting reciprocal behavior. |
| B．Reciprocal behavior is the only demonstration of cognitive abilities. |
| C．Other animals may possess similar social cognitive abilities to African grey parrots. |
| D．The reciprocal behavior of African grey parrots is learned through experience. |
| A．Unclear. | B．Admiring. | C．Indifferent. | D．Surprised. |
10 . On Nov 11, an Australian jockey (骑师) got hurt after his horse “broke down” during a horse race in Hong Kong. Though the jockey is safe now, his horse was not so lucky. Since the horse’s leg injury would have led to its death, vets euthanized (实施安乐死) it in front of the audience on the spot. Falling off a horse at high speed has a big risk of injury. You can say it’s the jockey’s choice to take part in the sport. But what about the horses?
This is not the first time that animals have been harmed because of animal entertainment-related sports. For example, about 180,000 bulls (公牛) are killed in bullfights around the world, with many more injured in bullfight events every year, according to Human Society International, an organization promoting the human-animal relationship globally. Hunters shoot more than 800 lions in South Africa, reported World Animal Protection.
To help these animals, animal lovers have started many campaigns , which seem to be taking effect. In June, Churchill Downs, the site of the famous Kentucky Derby in the US, stopped all horse racing, originally set to run until July 3. Circuses using animals have been banned by many countries around the world in recent years due to animal welfare worries, according to the website Four Paws.
Animals play an important part in our lives and are more than tools for sports and entertainment. The human-animal bond can be seen in all kinds of places. Service animals can help people in their jobs and animals are also used to help and care for people with illnesses and who have experienced abuse or mental illness. “We can have our sports, drinks, lively parties, and beautiful hats ‑ but we can leave animals out of it,” reported Vox.
1. Why did the author mention a horse’s death in Hong Kong?| A．To introduce the topic. | B．To describe the game’s details. |
| C．To show his sympathy to the jokey. | D．To illustrate his attitude to the issue. |
| A．By stating an argument. | B．By giving an example. |
| C．By making a comparison. | D．By following time order. |
| A．We should keep away from animals. | B．We can entertain but do not hurt animals. |
| C．We should offer some drinks to animals. | D．We should do some activities with animals. |
| A．A Horse Was Euthanized in A Game | B．Animal Entertainment Should Be Banned |
| C．Death of Horses Raise Concern about Animals | D．Some Campaigns Were Held to Protect Animals |
