1 . 
Panda Ya Ya returns home
Ya Ya the giant panda has just arrived in Shanghai, east China on Thursday after 20 years of stay at the Memphis Zoo in the U.S. The flight was around 15.5 hours. Both Chinese and American vets are with Ya Ya.
Ya Ya was born at Beijing Zoo on August 3, 2000. She arrived at Memphis Zoo in April, 2003. Ya Ya has become a bridge of friendship between Chinese and foreign people. She will spend a month in Shanghai before returning to her birthplace, Beijing Zoo.
We do hope all pandas that are in foreign countries can be healthy and happy.
Did you know…?
Baby pandas are born pink and measure about 15cm-that’s about the size of a pencil
Giant pandas spend up to 12 hours a day eating bamboo.
Pandas live for about 20 years in the wild, but in the zoos they can live for up to 35 years.
1. Ya Ya was born in _______.| A．Beijing | B．Chengdu | C．Shanghai ` | D．Guangzhou |
| A．Black and white. | B．Pink. | C．Yellow. | D．Gray. |
| A．Ya Ya spend up to 10 hours a day eating bamboo. | B．Shanghai Zoo is Ya Ya’s final home. |
| C．Ya Ya had a short flight coming back home. | D．Ya Ya helps foreigners know more about China. |
| A．a piece of news | B．an ad | C．a diary | D．a letter |
2 . The number of fin-less porpoise, a protected species living in the Yangtze River, has seen growth compared with the 1,012 that were seen in 2017. A previous survey carried out on Oct. 25 said more mother-child pairs were seen and some were seen in places that had never reported them earlier.
Fin-less porpoise, also called Smiling Angels, have become a natural indicator of the health of the Yangtze River ecosystem, especially after the Lipotes vexillifer, a species of the freshwater dolphin commonly known as Baiji, became extinct in 2007. Despite efforts to protect the fin-less porpoise for over 40 years, its numbers continued to fall. Finally, there is some good news.
The turnaround would not have been possible without the three earlier scientific surveys and the ongoing one. Add to that a 10-yearfishing ban on the Yangtze River carried out on Jan. 1 last year, followed by the fin-less porpoise being upgraded to a level protected species on the national list on Feb. 5,2021,and the Yangtze River Protection Law coming into effect on March 1,2021.
Because of these measures, the provincial-level regions along the Yangtze River relocated their chemical plants, closed down illegal docklands, mended wetlands and adjusted sailing lanes. All these efforts ultimately improved the river’s ecological environment, helping breathe life into the fin-less porpoise species. The results show that China has chosen the right path in protecting not only the fin-less porpoise, but also the river’s ecosystem.
The story of the revival of the fin-less porpoise is only part of the bigger story of the Yangtze River’s protection as a whole. And protecting the river is part of the larger picture of the country’s ecological civilization. Fixing the Yangtze River’s ecology can benefit hundreds of generations, and a good ecology is a fortune of the Chinese nation as a whole.
1. What do we know about the Lipotes vexillifer?| A．It was extinct about 15 years ago. | B．Its favourite habitat is ocean. |
| C．Its population is falling rapidly. | D．It has been a protected species. |
| A．Ban on fishing industry forever. | B．The earlier and ongoing scientific surveys. |
| C．Relocation of the wetlands. | D．Improvement of the chemical plants. |
| A．Skeptical. | B．Worried. | C．Conservative. | D．Positive. |
| A．Fin-less Porpoise—a Protected Species | B．Making the “Smiling Angels” Smile Again |
| C．The Yangtze River—Origin of Chinese People | D．Fixing the Yangtze River’s Ecology Is Urgent |
3 . Scientists who played hide-and-seek with rats found that their furry (毛茸茸的) subjects seemed to love the game and they were remarkably good at it.
The researchers taught six adolescent male rats how to play a one-on-one version of hide-and-seek. They equipped a large room with cardboard barriers and small containers to serve as hiding places for humans and rats respectively. The game started when the rat was placed in a small box in the middle of the room. If the rat was the “seeker”, the scientist would hide and then remotely open the box. If the rat was the “hider“, the scientist would crouch by the box when the rat came out. This led the little creature to run quickly for cover. All six rats learned how to be the seeker. Five of them were able to handle hiding as well.
Compared with something like playful wrestling, hide-and-seek is more complex for several reasons. It requires an understanding of the rules, a clear grasp of players’ distinct roles and the ability to assume different roles on different rounds. This untraditional experiment throws light on the sophisticated sense of play in these tiny creatures, and also hints at the evolutionary usefulness of this type of play.
Peggy Mason, a neurobiologist at the University of Chicago, said that she was most impressed by the discovery that the rats didn’t just learn hide and seek — they wanted to play it. “Play probably helps young animals learn how to socially interact,” Mason said. She pointed to the evidence that when the rats are prevented from playing during early development, they don’t grow into normal adults. Instead, they become anxious, they don’t play well with others and they don’t make great parents.
1. What can we learn about the rats playing hide-and-seek?| A．They found much pleasure in hide-and-seek. |
| B．They were better than any other animal in hide-and-seek. |
| C．They enjoyed hide-and-seek much more than other games. |
| D．They had greater difficulty in learning to seek. |
| A．Unimportant | B．Permanent. | C．Complicated. | D．Imaginary. |
| A．To indicate that hide-and-seek is much easier. |
| B．To indicate that hide-and-seek is more fascinating. |
| C．To indicate that hide-and-seek is more adventurous. |
| D．To indicate that hide-and-seek is more challenging. |
| A．Evolution brings the rats the ability to play. |
| B．Rats are born with the ability to play socially. |
| C．Hide-and-seek helps rats improve their social ability. |
| D．Adult rats tend to play more often than young ones. |
4 . Many of the Earth's creatures die because of humans' choices. These choices have nothing to do with food or shelter or anything else that helps humans survive. What kills millions of animals all over the world is that humans want to make money by doing so.
People use parts of animals for everything from hats to handbags, from jewelry to ashtrays and to make powders that supposedly improve a person's life. Deciding that a species is endangered and protecting it by law are not always enough. People who kill wildlife illegally rarely get caught.
During the late 1980s, saving elephants became a popular cause. Wildlife protection groups made sure everyone saw pictures or films of elephants with their faces cut off for their ivory. These groups also proved that certain populations of elephants were decreasing. As a result, most people stopped buying objects made of ivory. Laws against poaching (偷猎) were made stronger. Many countries made importing ivory illegal. Killing elephants for their Ivory became more risky and less profitable (有利可图的).
However, concern for certain species will become weak after a while. In the late 1970s, people protested (抗议) against the killing of seal babies. Everyone was shocked to see young seals being killed in their icy habitat. The cruel activity stopped. But ten years later, the number of seal babies killed was higher than ever.
Other animal protection movements have come and gone, such as saving the whales and protecting dolphins. The whale population appears to have increased for now. And the laws are finally changed in America to protect the dolphins that swim with tuna fish in parts of the Pacific Ocean.
In the years to come, people's attention will probably turn to some other endangered species. Plenty of them urgently need attention. During this time, will the elephants be forgotten?
1. What leads to the disappearance of millions of wild animals?| A．The growing human population. |
| B．Humans’ hope for making a fortune. |
| C．Humans’ too much need for wild food. |
| D．Not having enough laws on wildlife protection.. |
| A．Wildlife protection groups did make great efforts. |
| B．Importing ivory in all countries is illegal. |
| C．Those who killed elephants all got caught. |
| D．Hunting was completely not allowed. |
| A．To show the effort to protect seal babies. |
| B．To show an increasing number of seal babies. |
| C．To show the decrease of worry about certain species. |
| D．To show people’s protest against the killing of seal babies. |
| A．Humans should choose some rare animals to protect. |
| B．Attention must be paid to saving some endangered wildlife. |
| C．Success has been achieved in quite a few cases of wildlife protection. |
| D．Concern and movements for animal protection should be always kept. |
5 . Back in the 1860s, a British scientist named Henry Walter Bates noticed something interesting in the animal world: a kind of butterfly, Common Mormon, can change the pattern on its wings so that it looks like another butterfly species, the Common Rose, which is poisonous for birds to eat.
Bates argued that animals develop this ability to protect themselves from being eaten. This theory had been widely accepted by scientists. But one question remains: how do these animals manage to do that?
After more than 150 years, scientists are finally able to answer that question-it is all down to a gene called “doublesex”, according to a study published on March 6 in the journal Nature.
In fact, scientists have long known that genes are responsible for this useful ability. But until the new study, scientists hadn’t been able to find out which genes in particular were responsible.
Scientists at the University of Chicago compared the genetic structures of the Common Mormons that changed their wing patterns with those of ones that did not. And all the results pointed to a single gene, “doublesex”.
This was much to the scientists’ surprise. They used to expect that something as complex as this would be controlled by many different genes. For example, one gene would control the color of the upper part of the wing, one would do so for the lower part.
However, the “doublesex” gene doesn’t quite do everything by itself. Instead, it acts like a switch-it “tells” other genes to change the wing patterns. Isn’t that clever?
Scientists believe that this special ability of the “doublesex” gene on Common Mormon was developed throughout the long history of evolution. “The harmless species gains an advantage by resembling something predators avoid,” Sean Carroll, a scientist told Nature. “it was obvious evidence for natural selection.”
1. How do scientists find the truth of butterfly changing wing patterns?| A．By doing experiment on butterflies | B．By comparing genetic structures |
| C．By observing the butterflies | D．By analyzing the result |
| A．The ”doublesex” gene does do everything by itself |
| B．The “doublesex” gene is poisonous |
| C．The “doublesex” gene “tells” other genes to change the wing patterns |
| D．The “doublesex” gene could only control the color of the upper part of the wing |
| A．How Common Mormons stay safe | B．How Butterflies Changed Wings’ Pattern |
| C．What American Scientists Discovered | D．What Genetic Structures of Butterflies Have |
6 . Far from the land of Antarctica, a huge shelf of ice meets the ocean. At the underside of the shelf there lives a small fish, the Antarctic cod.
For forty years scientists have been curious about that fish. How does it live where most fish would freeze to death? It must have some secret. The Antarctic is not a comfortable place to work and research has been slow. Now it seems we have an answer.
Research was begun by cutting holes in the ice and catching the fish. Scientists studied the fish’s blood and measured its freezing point.
The fish were taken from seawater that had a temperature of -1.88℃ and many tiny pieces of ice floating in it. The blood of the fish did not begin to freeze until its temperature was lowered to -2.05℃. That small difference is enough for the fish to live at the freezing temperature of the ice-salt mixture.
The scientists’ next research job was clear: Find out what in the fish’s blood kept it from freezing. Their search led to some really strange thing made up of a protein never before seen in the blood of a fish. When it was removed, the blood froze at seawater temperature. When it was put back, the blood again had its antifreeze quality and a lowered freezing point.
Study showed that it is an unusual kind of protein. It has many small sugar molecules held in special positions within each big protein molecule. Because of its sugar content, it is called a glycoprotein. So it has come to be called the antifreeze fish glycoprotein. Or AFGP.
1. What is the text mainly about?| A．The terrible conditions in the Antarctic. |
| B．A special fish living in freezing waters. |
| C．The ice shelf around Antarctica. |
| D．Protection of the Antarctic cod. |
| A．The seawater has a temperature of -1.88℃. |
| B．It loves to live in the ice-salt mixture. |
| C．A special protein keeps it from freezing. |
| D．Its blood has a temperature lower than -2.05℃. |
| A．A type of ice-salt mixture. | B．A newly found protein. |
| C．Fish blood. | D．Sugar molecule. |
| A．sugar | B．ice |
| C．blood | D．molecule |
