1 . If you walk into a native plant nursery, you must feel defeated because all the little plants look similar. Now we have the shopping guide for you: a set of easy-to-carry flashcards that explain in brilliant color what those little plants will look like when they all grow up.
Native plants just aren't that easy to understand for traditional gardeners. “That's why staff at the Theodore Payne Foundation for Wild Flowers & Native Plants began creating some good information into the world of native plants," said Kitty Connolly. "Everybody needs to learn about natives if we're going to have them, in our future, but it's difficult to get information to everyone at once. We wanted something that would be useful to everyone. "
The group decided to create flashcards only about the size and shape of an iPhone 6. “You can take them apart and put them on a table to see how plants go with other plants. They don't replace a website or great books on the shelf; they're just easier to carry and use for planning, said Mike Evans. While the cards are very small, they include a lot of information. You can find how tall and wide a particular plant will grow, when it blooms, how quickly it grows, what birds and animals it attracts and how much water and sunlight it needs.
The cards don't include all native plants. They don't include milkweed, for example. But they are helpful for people to learn native plants.
The price of the cards is $ 17. They are only sold online. If people have the cards , they can more easily request the plants they want. The director said, “We create the cards with the hope that people can learn more about native plants and grow them."
1. Why do people feel defeated in a native plant nursery?| A．They can't recognize little plants there. | B．The little plants are difficult to carry. |
| C．The little plants have bright colors. | D．They're forced to buy many plants. |
| A．They are too big. | B．They are easy to carry. |
| C．They are too expensive. | D．They are difficult to buy. |
| A．They can be bought in a local food store. |
| B．They have a bigger size than an iPhone 6. |
| C．They are helpless for people to learn plants. |
| D．They show information of some kinds of native plants. |
| A．Little Plants Look the Same | B．Native Plants Are Sold Online |
| C．Plant Nurseries Won't Grow Native Plants | D．Flashcards Will Help You Learn Native Plants |
2 . There are more than 7 billion people on Earth. Imagine what will happen if each of us decides to do one thing—no matter how small—to protect wildlife every day.
Raise an animal
From wild animals to wild places, there’s a choice for everyone. Get together with classmates to raise an animal from a wildlife organization such as the World Wild Fund for Nature.
Do some volunteer work
Speak up and join
Share your concern for wildlife protection with your family.
Find new ways to use things you already own. If you can’t reuse them, recycle. The Minnesota Zoo encourages customers to recycle mobile phones to cut down a need for the mineral coltan (钶钽铁矿), which is mined from lowland gorillas’ living places.
| A．Develop a habit of recycling |
| B．Try to recycle anything in your life |
| C．Tell your friends how they can help |
| D．If you don’t have money to give, offer your time |
| E．It is a small and easy action but of great importance |
| F．Even little actions can have a major influence when we all do something |
| G．If you are busy with your work or studying, encourage others to do it for you |
3 . With bushfires continuing to swallow different parts of Australia, local zoo in New South Wales, the state which is the easiest to catch fire, has hit the headlines with a heartwarming story.
Right in the line of a bushfire, the keepers of Mogo Wildlife Park managed to protect all 200 animals from harm after they received evacuation orders, according to the reports.
Netizens were quick to react on social media and praised the bravery of the zoo keeper and staffs, as they stayed and managed to protect animals from uncontrolled fires and even sheltered some at their own house.
The 40-year-old zoo keeper, Chad Staples, described the situation as the worst catastrophe, which felt like Armageddon (大决战) here. Luckily, his team had made a precise plan ahead of time by moving everything flammable from the area and the larger animals to safe places.
What’s remarkable is that as the smaller ones needed extra shelter, Staples decided to take them to his own house.
“Right now in my house there are animals of all descriptions in all the different rooms. They are safe and protected, not single animal lost.” he said.
BBC news also mentioned that “there’s a tiger to the back of the house.”
Some media outlets highlighted the “heroic job” in their headlines. Online users also reacted with thumbs-up and were glad to see all the staff and animals coming through the terrible fire.
Located in the southern coast of New South Wales. Mogo Wildlife Park houses Australia’s largest collection of primates (灵长目动物), also including different and unique animals such as zebras, giraffes, rhinos and red pandas.
1. Why does New South Whales hit the headlines?| A．Because of its famous zoo. |
| B．Because of its endangered animals. |
| C．Because of the heartwarming event. |
| D．Because of its being easy to catch fire. |
| A．It belongs to Chad Staples. |
| B．None of the animals is missing. |
| C．It merely holds rare animal species. |
| D．Extra shelters were built for emergencies. |
| A．Method. | B．Landscape. | C．Disaster. | D．Household. |
| A．The Heroic Job | B．The Brave Zoo Keeper |
| C．The Extinct Animals | D．The Terrible Fire |
4 . Jellyfish are unusual creatures. They’re neither fish nor jelly. Some are among the most colourful creatures in the world, but it’s best to look but not touch these invertebrates（无脊椎动物）. Not only are they very fragile creatures, but many give a painful sting, and some are even deadly. Whether you admire them in an aquarium or try to avoid them in the wild, you won’t be able to get these fascinating jellyfish facts out of your head.
Here’s a jellyfish fact that might come in handy: There are several names for a group of jellyfish. They include smack, bloom, and swarm. Choose the word you prefer depending on whether you think the jellyfish pack looks like a garden of blooming flowers or more like a frightening pack of stingers, and whether you’re admiring them at an aquarium or if you and your fellow snorkelers are surrounded.
Jellyfish have two main forms in their life cycle that look quite different from each other. Scientific American explains that an adult jellyfish, called a medusa, has a bell-shaped body with tentacles（触须）flowing down below it. Young jellyfish, called polyps, look more like sea anemones, with shorter tentacles that flow up above the main body. Medusas reproduce by releasing eggs.
Melanie Roberts, Senior Aquarist at SeaWorld Orlando, says that the largest jellyfish in the world is a lion’s mane jellyfish. The body of this beautiful orange jelly can grow up to three feet in diameter. With its 12,000 tentacles that can grow 120 feet long, Oceana.org adds that the lion’s mane jelly compares in size to the planet’s largest animal: the blue whale.
Regardless of their size, jellyfish are mostly made of water. In fact, they’re about 95 per cent water.These creatures don’t have brains, blood, or bones. And most jellyfish don’t have eyes. Jellyfish also use their mouths both for eating and for waste removal.
1. Why can’t we touch jellyfish?| A．Because they may be stung. |
| B．Because they may die easily. |
| C．Because they may feel painful. |
| D．Because they may hurt people. |
| A．Its size. | B．Its color. |
| C．Its appearance. | D．Its lifestyle. |
| A．Mouth is an important organ for jellyfish. |
| B．Polyps can clone themselves by laying eggs. |
| C．The largest jellyfish in the world is 120 feet long. |
| D．Medusas have tentacles flowing up above the body. |
| A．Several facts about jellyfish. |
| B．The two main forms of jellyfish. |
| C．Jellyfish are neither fish nor jelly. |
| D．Jellyfish have many different names. |
5 . The early life of the green sea turtle (海龟) is full of danger. Only one in 1,000 baby sea turtles survive to adulthood (成年). From its home in the sand, it breaks its egg with an egg tooth. Its mother is not there to help it. Instead, it is greeted by crabs, coyotes, and dogs waiting to eat it for dinner. To survive, the baby turtle must hide in the sand until night. Then, it moves slowly to the sea.
The small turtle must swim hard to reach the ocean waters. In the sea, it tries hard to find food. It must also keep itself from being food for fish.
As dangerous as the sea turtle’s life is in the natural world, its most dangerous enemies are humans. The rubbish left by humans in the ocean causes problems for the small green sea turtle. A little turtle might eat a piece of plastic (塑料) in the sea. It might also eat oil on the ocean’s surface. Young turtles also get caught in fishing nets. There are laws against hunting sea turtles. Still, many are hunted, both for their meat and for their shells (壳). All of these dangers must be prevented.
Sea turtles that do survive to grow into adulthood go through many changes. For example, adult green sea turtles weigh about 500 pounds. They stop eating jellyfish and other meat and eat only plants. And they may plan a trip to go back home again. A mother sea turtle goes back to the beach where she was born. This is the only place where she will lay eggs. Even if it has been forty years since she was a baby, she always knows her way back home.
1. Why do baby turtles move to the sea at night?| A．They dislike sunshine. |
| B．They prefer lower temperatures. |
| C．They can find food easily then. |
| D．They need to avoid enemies. |
| A．Pitiful. | B．Careless. |
| C．Interesting. | D．Courageous. |
| A．They mainly feed on fish and meat. |
| B．They always produce eggs at their birthplaces. |
| C．They can live for around forty years. |
| D．They visit their beach homes several times a year. |
| A．The homes of green sea turtles. |
| B．How sea turtles find their food. |
| C．The dangers faced by sea turtles. |
| D．How young turtles become adults. |
Diets have changed in China — and so too has its top crop. Since 2011, the country
A taste for meat is
According to the World Bank, China accounts for about 30 percent of total
7 . Owning a dog is associated with a significantly lower risk of heart disease and death, according to a comprehensive new study published by a team of Swedish researchers on Friday in the journal Scientific Reports.
The scientists followed 3.4 million people over the course of 12 years and found that adults who lived alone and owned a dog were 33 percent less likely to die during the study than adults who lived alone without dogs. In addition, the single adults with dogs were 36 percent less likely to die from heart disease.
“Dog ownership was especially prominent as a protective factor in persons living alone, which is a group reported previously to be at higher risk of heart disease and death than those living in a multi-person household,” Mwenya Mubanga, a Ph.D. student at Uppsala University in Uppsala, Sweden, and the lead junior author of the study, said in a statement announcing its findings. The link between dog ownership and lower mortality(死亡率)was less pronounced in adults who lived either with family members or partners, but still present, according to the study. “Perhaps a dog may stand in as an important family member in the single households,” Mubanga added. “Another interesting finding was that owners of dogs which were intended originally for hunting were most protected.”
The study, which is the largest to date on the health relations of owning a dog, suggested that some of the reasons dog owners may have a lower risk of mortality and heart disease were because dog owners walk more. “These kind of epidemiological (流行病学的)studies look for associations in large populations but do not provide answers on whether and how dogs could protect their owners from heart disease,” Tove Fall, a senior author of the study and a professor at Uppsala University, said in a statement
“We know that dog owners in general have a higher level of physical activity, which could be one explanation to the observed results,” Fall added. “Other explanations include an increased well-being and social contacts or effects of the dog on the bacterial microbiome(微生物菌群) in the owner.” Fall added that because all participants of dog owners in Sweden or other “European populations with similar culture regarding dog ownership.”
1. Why did the researchers do the study related to 3.4 million people’s health and the dogs?| A．To help Europeans, |
| B．To find their association. |
| C．To protect unhealthy adults. |
| D．To reduce risk of heart disease. |
| A．Universal. | B．Confusing. |
| C．Appealing. | D．Important |
| A．Adults living with dogs are less likely to die. |
| B．Swedish people are very fond of animal pets. |
| C．Keeping a dog is a popular and healthy hobby. |
| D．Owning dogs reduces the risk of heart disease. |
| A．Positive. | B．Negative. |
| C．Objective. | D．Contradictory. |
But instincts and training aren’t the only keys to animals’ behavior. Scientists say animals’ thoughts and feelings also influence their actions. Animals often make choices, plans, and sensible changes. They can help others and solve problems. Some even make and use tools!
If animals could talk, what would they say about their thoughts and feelings? A gorilla (大猩猩) born in captivity (关在笼子里) has helped answer that question. Koko, a gorilla, was taught to use sign language. She has learned hundreds of words!
Koko once had a pet cat she named All Ball. “Koko love Ball,” she signed. “Soft good cat.” One time, she blamed the cat for biting her by signing “You bad dirty toilet!” When her pet died, Koko cried. “Sad for sleeping cat,” she signed.
Koko calls herself “fine animal gorilla”. She uses sign language to argue, joke, and ask and answer questions.
“Most animals can’t use words to tell us their thoughts,” says Dr. Jonathan Balcombe. “But Koko shows us that animals have their own ideas and feelings.” Dr. Balcombe is a scientist at the Humane Society of the United States. He says there’s even more to discover about animals through field studies. In field studies, people watch animals in their natural environment.
“Scientists who study animals’ natural behaviors learn how animals live and think,” Balcombe says. “That knowledge can help others respect every animal who shares the planet with us.”
1. The underlined word “instincts” in Paragraph 1 probably refers to the ability that ________.
| A．animals copy their parents | B．animals learn by practicing |
| C．animals are born with | D．animals learn through training |
| A．an animal likes to have its own pet | B．an animal can learn to speak through training |
| C．an animal has the natural ability to speak | D．an animal can speak its mind |
| A．help people care for animals | B．teach animals to use words |
| C．train animals to use tools | D．train animals to be cleverer |
| A．Raising animals as pets | B．Understanding animals |
| C．Training animals to speak | D．Protecting animals from danger |
