Catia Lattouf de Arída has been using her apartment in Mexico City as a hospital and shelter for injured and abandoned hummingbirds(蜂鸟)for the last 11 years.
Hummingbirds are a very important part of Mexico’s ecosystem, but because of the ever-expanding urban landscape, they face all sorts of serious threats. That’s where 73-year-old Catia comes in. As a self-taught hummingbird caretaker, she devotes most of her free time and resources to nursing the tiny birds back to health. She has been doing it for over a decade and her home in Mexico City has become known as a hummingbird hospital.
Catia’s story as a hummingbird nurse began in 2011, at a very difficult moment in her life. She had lost her husband two years prior and she herself was battling cancer. She was walking on the street one day when she noticed a hummingbird that had suffered a serious eye injury. The kindhearted woman took it home, but she knew nothing about taking care of a bird, let alone such a tiny one. However, a veterinarian(兽医)friend encouraged her to look after the hummingbird, and that led to a life devoted to rescuing hundreds of tiny birds.
“It wrote me a new life,” Catia recently said about Gucci, the first hummingbird she ever cared for. Catia managed to nurse Gucci back to health, but she claims it was the tiny bird that saved her. She had sold her five high-end boutiques(精品店)in the city to focus on her battle with cancer and had fallen into a depression, but the hummingbird managed to pull her out of the sadness and loneliness that had taken over her life. And it was only the beginning.
注意：
1. 续写词数应在150左右；
2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Word of her success spread among Catia’s friends, and before long some of them began bringing her injured and abandoned hummingbirds.
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In order to raise awareness of the difficulty of hummingbirds in Mexico, Catia started posting videos of the patients on social media and many of them spread quickly.
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2 . For most of December, Adele Adkins had the top-selling album in Australia, followed by Ed Sheeran, and then there was a collection of songs that took everyone by surprise.
Songs Of Disappearance is a collection of calls from endangered Australian birds. Last month, it briefly reached No.3 on the country’s top 50 albums chart (排行榜) — ahead of Taylor Swift.
Anthony Albrecht, a PhD student at Charles Darwin University, produced the album with Professor Stephen Garnett. “I knew it was a crazy thing to suggest. But Stephen’s a little bit crazy like me and he let me do it,” Albrecht said.
Songs Of Disappearance was published with a university report which found that 1 in 6 Australian bird species are now threatened. The album records 53 of those species.
“Some sing what you might think of as bird songs, but not all of them,” said SeanDooley, who represents the conservation organization Bird life Australia. “Songs from the golden bowerbird sound like a death cry from some sci-fi series. And the love songs from Christmas Island frigate bird, which has a piece of skin hanging under its mouth that caninflate (膨胀) like a huge red balloon, sound as bizarre as its unusual looks.”
There’s also the Christmas Island pigeon. When people hear that pigeon, they might think that it’s a human making silly noises, Dooley added.
The Charles Darwin University and Bird life Australia report does document successes in protecting endangered birds, the hope being that the album will protect more species.
“The increased awareness can make a difference,” Dooley said. “When we have a community on board, that brings pressure to the government to do the right thing. We know that these conservation actions do work.”
1. Whose album reached No.1 on the chart in December?| A．Taylor Swift’s. |
| B．Adele Adkins’. |
| C．Ed Sheeran’s. |
| D．Anthony Albrecht’s. |
| A．About 53 bird species are threatened in Australia. |
| B．It has not found success in protecting endangered birds. |
| C．One sixth of Australian bird species are now endangered. |
| D．Music is very powerful in encouraging people to protect birds. |
| A．Strange. |
| B．Beautiful. |
| C．Loud. |
| D．Sharp. |
| A．Crazy. |
| B．Amusing. |
| C．Uncreative. |
| D．Helpful. |
3 . Dogs may have the title of our best friends through their interactions with humans, but now researchers say these social skills could be present shortly after birth rather than being learned.
To better understand the role of biology in dogs’ abilities to communicate with humans, the researchers studied 375 eight-week-old service dogs. They looked at how these dogs performed in a series of tasks designed to measure their communication skills. The puppies were still living with their littermates (同窝出生者) and had not been sent to live with a volunteer puppy raiser, making it unlikely that they had learned about his or her behavior.
In the first task, a person hid a treat beneath one of two overturned cups and pointed to it to see if the puppy could follow the gesture. Since dogs are good at using noses to find things, a treat was also taped to the insides of both cups. In the second task, puppies watched as the researchers placed a yellow block next to the correct cup, instead of pointing to indicate where the puppy should look for the food.
The third task was designed to observe puppies’ tendency to look at human faces. The researchers spoke to the puppy in a voice people sometimes use when talking to a baby. They then measured how long the puppy fixed a stare on the human. In the last task, researchers sealed a treat inside a closed container and presented it to the puppy. They then measured how often the puppy looked to the human for help in opening the container.
The study found that while many of the puppies were responsive to humans’ physical and verbal cues, very few looked to humans for help with the unsolvable task. Researchers said, “This suggests that while puppies may be born knowing how to respond to human-initiated communication, the ability to initiate (发起) communication on their own may come later.” The next step will be to see if specific genes that may contribute to dogs’ abilities to communicate with humans can be identified.
1. Why were eight-week-old service dogs chosen for the study?| A．They were cute and safe to deal with. |
| B．They were the best age to learn. |
| C．They had had little contact with humans before. |
| D．They were unlikely influenced by their mates. |
| A．To provide clues for the puppies’ final decisions. |
| B．To make comparisons between different conditions. |
| C．To check the puppies’ preference for a particular color. |
| D．To prevent the puppies from making use of their smell. |
| A．Puppies can understand our body language. |
| B．Puppies are good at asking humans for help. |
| C．Puppies are born to initiate communication with humans. |
| D．Puppies need specific genes to communicate with humans. |
| A．Dogs are born to be able to learn. | B．Dogs are born to understand humans. |
| C．Dogs are talented performers. | D．Dogs are humans’ best friends. |
4 . A lot of people find it difficult to do exercise regularly, even though they know it’s good for their physical and mental (身心上的) health. Yet keeping on a workout routine doesn’t necessarily go to the gym or run around your neighborhood. Gardening is a great example of a popular hobby that can be used as a workout.
Nashville resident Tom Adkinson, 72, is on board with the idea of gardening to stay fit. He has three gardens, which he uses primarily to grow tomatoes, sweet banana peppers and okra. Like traditional exercise, Adkinson does a lot of preparation before gardening, and then he spends hours watering and weeding (除草) all three gardens, involving bending and stretching, which he compares to performing garden yoga.
“It is wise of Adkinson to do so. Even though gardening may not appear difficult, using the body in new ways can make you hurt if you don’t warm up beforehand,” said Zeller, who teaches at the Rutgers Cooperative Extension of Cape May County in New Jersey.
Working in your garden just two hours a week could improve your mood. And the communal gardening, which is done by a number of people as a group in communities and schools, provides social benefits that can reduce stress and help fight against loneliness and even dementia according to studies.
“With all these benefits, gardening for fitness will be a trend (趋势) in the coming year,” announced Mandal, CEO of the fitness coaching app Future, “Our users at Future have already been asking their coaches to add gardening and landscaping activities into their routines because it’s easy to get and fit into their lifestyle.”
1. What do the underlined words “on board with” mean in paragraph 2?| A．In support of. | B．At the risk of. |
| C．Under the control of. | D．In opposition to. |
| A．Having a good rest. |
| B．Getting enough water ready. |
| C．Doing warm-up exercise. |
| D．Preparing tools for weeding. |
| A．Tips for gardening. |
| B．The benefits of gardening. |
| C．The process of garden management. |
| D．The difference between personal and group gardening. |
| A．Running. | B．Yoga. | C．Gardening. | D．Walking. |
I can count a dozen friends, all in the 1950s, who adopted a puppy. Actually, I did, too. Last year, I was suddenly consumed by the urgent desire to acquire a seven-week-old Australian shepherd. For one thing, this breed is one of the most energetic on the planet, whereas I am bookish, lazy, and middle-aged.
My trouble with dogs is that I never have the remotest clue what they want, and they never seem to have the slightest idea of what I’m saying to them. He was highly alert, yet unable to grasp a single thing. Kevin’s entire communicative gestures — whether he wanted food, exercise, permission to jump on the sofa, a toy, or, who knows, a conversation about the electric bill — consisted of walking up to me and staring. He did this about 50 times a day, just staring brightly without moving a muscle, and after years of living together, I still didn’t know what he wanted. We coexisted in a state of profound mutual (相互的) incomprehension.
“Sometimes I think,” I wrote in my journal, “it doesn’t matter that I don’t know what he wants, because we have nothing in common. Whatever he wants will be something I don’t want. He probably wants me to go outside and chase squirrels. I don’t want to.”
But one afternoon, there was only Kevin and I at home. My husband was on business abroad for several days and my son was also abroad attending college. I enjoyed my favorite book leisurely while Kevin had a rest or stared at me as usual. It suddenly began to thunder aloud and soon rained cats and dogs. I dashed out of the front-door to fetch the vegetables in my parking lot. The wind was so strong that the front-door just slammed loudly, closed, after I made my way out. Worse still, when I came back with the rescued vegetables, I found the keys were not with me. There was also no backup (备份) of the keys outside my house.
注意：
1．续写词数应为150个左右；
2．请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
At last, I realized the only one who could help out was Kevin.
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Eventually Kevin began to act.
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6 . We find the owl at the very edge of our woods the morning after the storm. Wings flight-frozen and round eyes glassy. I touch its feathers lightly with my fingertip and I’m surprised because they still feel real even though the owl has slipped away somewhere else and Dad is already digging a hole for it in the rain-soaked earth.
I lift its body and it’s huge in my hands but the hollow bones do most of the work for me and I almost think the owl might shake the stiffness from its feathers and fly away. I really don’t think this one should go into a hole in the ground. I say that to Dad and he says that it’s the circle of life and that now the owl will become part of nature again. Feeding the soil with its flesh and growing the roots of plants from its feathers.
Dad shifts the last of the dirt with his spade and sits down at the base of a tree with a huff of air that smokes around him. I put the bird in the hole and mark it with a smooth pebble so I’ll always know.
After we’ve buried the owl, we walk all around the woods and clear the worst of the damage from the winds and the rain. The damage isn’t as bad as it’s been before and it feels like the storm has cleaned everything back to being new and fresh. I use my hawk eyes and search the ground in flicks and sweeps and I find treasures in the rain-raked earth just like always. Pieces of pottery and something that could be a Roman coin. I slip them into my pocket and they bump against each other to tell their stories to me, but I’ll listen later.
I help Dad load the best of the fallen branches on to the trailer so we can cut them for fire wood or maybe a bonfire, and then we drive over the muddy paths and back to our house.
1. What do we know about the owl when the author finds it?| A．It is already dead. | B．It is hidden in a hole. |
| C．It is too stiff to fly away. | D．It is trying to flee the woods. |
| A．To facilitate future visits. | B．To show sympathy for the owl. |
| C．To keep the site clear of plants. | D．To draw the attention of passers-by. |
| A．Storms make trees take deeper roots. | B．In nature’s embrace, time stands still. |
| C．The darkest hour has only sixty minutes. | D．With every leaf’s fall, a new life emerges. |
| A．Money-driven. | B．Wonder-seeking. | C．Artistically talented. | D．Emotionally mature. |
7 . 82-year-old Willie Ortiz, an old solider, has a special love for cats. It started in 1995, when he
He started feeding the cat, which led him to a shocking
However, the
“I have never met a more
Willie Ortiz
| A．sent away | B．came across | C．brought up | D．looked into |
| A．agreed | B．promised | C．acknowledged | D．recalled |
| A．discovery | B．possibility | C．thought | D．assumption |
| A．checks | B．skills | C．training | D．care |
| A．doubt | B．explanation | C．exception | D．requirement |
| A．decision | B．adventure | C．profession | D．potential |
| A．income | B．cost | C．market | D．risk |
| A．discussion | B．investigation | C．exhibition | D．mission |
| A．double | B．joyful | C．familiar | D．boring |
| A．assess | B．simplify | C．honor | D．inspect |
| A．talented | B．humorous | C．outgoing | D．committed |
| A．inspires | B．comforts | C．supports | D．matches |
| A．awkward | B．proud | C．curious | D．nervous |
| A．ignores | B．expects | C．admits | D．regrets |
| A．orderly | B．meaningful | C．complicated | D．stable |
8 . It is believed that it’s dangerous to have plants in the bedroom. Plants take in carbon dioxide (CO₂) and produce oxygen (氧气) in the day.
Firstly, how much CO₂ do plants produce at night compared with what they take in during the day?
Thankfully, in 2015, researchers at Turkey’s Kastamonu University found that large houseplants take in between six and eight times as much CO2 in the day as they produce at night.
Finally, we don’t live in the sealed (密封的) boxes in which these studies are carried out.
Let’s enjoy houseplants whenever we like, because if sleeping near plants were bad for our health, camping in a forest would be deadly.
| A．This is hard to answer. |
| B．So, they are quite necessary. |
| C．The question has more than one answer. |
| D．Besides, we often share a room with someone else. |
| E．Indoor air is being exchanged through doors and windows. |
| F．At night they compete with us for the air we breathe while asleep. |
| G．Secondly, compare the influence of a plant with that of a person sharing a room. |
9 . Two years ago Lucy was saved from a rural area in New South Wales, Australia. Today, she is one of the lucky animals living in rows of trees that have been created to protect koalas and other animals by saving their smaller and smaller habitat (栖息地) , or natural environment.
The trees, planted by the local protection group Bangalow Koalas, are made up of large systems of plants. They are a lifeline for koalas and other animals. All of them are in danger of dying out, or at risk of extinction. The trees provide a safe way across the koala’s increasingly broken habitat. This protects koalas from human threats (威胁). “Our trees are actually trying to get them away from humans, cars and dogs. ”said Linda Sparrow. President of Bangalow Koalas.
The koala is expected to die out in the wild in New South Wales by 2050. Some of the biggest threats include wildfires and habitat loss through land clearing for development.
Bangalow Koalas has planted over 336, 000 trees on 119 areas, helping koala protection and improving the local ecosystem (生态系统). The group, which depends on community volunteers, aims to plant 500, 000 trees by 2025. “The neighbor would want to join and then another neighbor would want to join. ”Sparrow said. Volunteer Lindy Stacker, who has been planting trees for over five years.
A recent report by the Australian Koala Foundation said the animal was worth about S3. 2 billion per year to the tourism industry. However. the World Wildlife Fund-Australia reported a drop in koala populations in Australian states. “I can’t imagine a world where there’s no koalas in the wild. ” Sparrow said. “We’re going to do our best to make sure that doesn’t happen. ”
1. Why is Lucy mentioned in Paragraph 1?| A．To show it is important to plant trees. |
| B．To suggest a way to protect nature. |
| C．To introduce a special kind of living thing. |
| D．To compare koalas with other animals. |
| A．Growing. | B．Disappearing. | C．Reducing. | D．Failing. |
| A．Doubtful. | B．Unclear. | C．Positive. | D．Disappointed. |
| A．A Protection Group | B．The Polluted Environment |
| C．Human Threats | D．More Trees, More Hope |
10 . Ecologists Dr. Matt Holden, Dr. Andrew Rogers and Dr. Russell Yong observed their share house and its backyard in 2020, and discovered 1,150 unique species of animals and plants over a 12-month period.
“We asked a large number of ecologists and conservation scientists how many species they’d expect to find in this setting and they said it could be only 200,”Dr. Holden said. “But after 60 days of surveying, we’d already discovered 777 species. It shows suburban (郊区的) houses and apartments could have far more biodiversity (生物多样性) than ever imagined, especially when it comes to insects.”
The idea of the species count was born when Dr. Rogers went to clean spider’s webs (蜘蛛网) in his room and wondered how many spiders were in the house. “The three of us soon worked out a plan to check the house and backyard in search of other insects that lived alongside us,” Dr. Holden said.
The survey showed richly biodiverse creatures, including 436 moth and butterfly species, 56 different spiders, and 56 birds. The researchers were also surprised to discover three species not previously recorded in Australia’s leading biodiversity database. “The house was a rich ecosystem of species interacting—we discovered unexpectedly a kind of moth, which spends its whole time feeding inside the waste of other animals before turning into an adult,” Dr. Holden said.
Homes across all suburban areas could play host to similar biodiversity. “It depends on how people tend to their homes and gardens—keeping low maintenance trees and flowers and preventing chemicals used for killing insects will lead to the rising number of living creatures,” Dr. Holden said. “You don’t have to go travelling to connect with Australia’s different species of creatures. Just look in your own backyard.”
1. How many species did the three housemates discover in 12 months?| A．200. | B．436. | C．700. | D．1, 150. |
| A．Cleaning his room. | B．Observing the spiders. |
| C．A talk with his friend. | D．A mass of dead insects. |
| A．Australia has seen a jump in living creatures. | B．Suburban backyards are home to diverse species. |
| C．Wildlife tourism threatens animals and plants. | D．People should keep their gardens free of insects. |
| A．A children’s story. | B．A museum guide. |
| C．A science magazine. | D．A health report. |
