1. Where does the conversation take place?
A.At home. | B.In a bookstore. | C.At school. |
A.Her pet got lost. | B.Her work is difficult. | C.Her parents have problems. |
A.Get a cat. | B.Read a book. | C.Focus on her lessons. |
2 . Thai wildlife officials have laid out a plan to bring peace to a central Thai city after at least a decade of human-monkey conflict (冲突).
The monkeys that hang around Lopburi are a major tourist draw. But after years of conflicts with residents and visitors, and several failed attempts to bring peace with population controls, local people and businesses have had enough.
The monkeys often try to take food from humans, sometimes leaving people with injuries. In March a woman got her knee hurt after a monkey pulled her off her feel, and another man was knocked off a motorcycle by a hungry monkey.
The authorities hope to catch some 2,500 monkeys and place them in massive wildlife preserves, said Athapol Charoenshunsa, the director-general of the Department of National parks, Wildlife and plant Conservation. They’ll work with wildlife experts to find a way for a limited number of monkeys to stay freely in the city, he added.
“I don’t want humans to have to hurt monkeys, and I don’t want monkeys to have to hurt humans,” he told reporters during a news conference in Bangkok. “I expect the first period of the operation to start within weeks, and I believe the wildlife preserve will be able to contain (容纳) thousands of them and will solve the problem very quickly.”
Athapol said they are also working in other areas of Thailand that are facing problems with monkeys. He said 52 of the country’s 77 provinces often report monkey problems.
The monkeys are said to be a symbol of the province, about 140 kilometers north of Bangkok, where the ancient Three Pagodas temple celebrates a yearly “Monkey Buffet” festival. However, some have complained about the city’s monkey troubles on tourists and residents feeding the animals, which they say drew monkeys into the city, helped with their numbers, and got them used to getting food from humans.
1. What does the underlined phrase “have had enough” mean in Paragraph 2?A.They are fond of those moneys. | B.They hope to feed more monkeys. |
C.They are troubled by those monkeys. | D.They want to protect those monkeys. |
A.Cut off the monkey’s food supply. | B.Catch them for use as research subjects. |
C.Enclose them in a zoo to entertain tourists. | D.Cut down the numbers of them in the town. |
A.The significance of those monkeys. |
B.People’s different opinions on those monkeys. |
C.The environmental problems caused by those monkeys. |
D.Reasons why monkeys become a symbol of the province. |
A.Thailand Residents Suffered from Too Many Tourists |
B.Thailand Decides to Limit Monkeys in Tourist Town |
C.Monkeys Serve Special Meaning in the Thailand Town |
D.People in Thailand Try to Improve the Life of Monkeys |
3 . Are you a fan of birds? If so, you may have admired their beautiful colors and sweet songs. But do you know these feathered friends can actually do more than that?
A new study published in the journal Scientific Reports finds that exposure to birds, either in the home or outdoors, can boost people’s moods.
Researchers at King’s College London used a smartphone app built by the school’s Urban Mind project to collect the real-time feelings of study participants upon seeing or hearing a bird. A total of 1,292 people living in the United Kingdom, Europe, and the United States participated in the study which was conducted between April 2018 and October 2021.
The app asked participants three times a day whether they could see or hear a bird followed by a series of questions on their mental well-being. Participants were also asked questions about whether they could see trees, plants or hear any water to see if people were experiencing better mental well-being due to being in or seeing nature, and not just because of exposure to birds.
According to the study, the mental well-being of study participants with and without depression was significantly improved after seeing a bird or hearing birdsong compared to not seeing or hearing a bird.
There is a growing number of studies that link spending time outdoors (either in green leafy places or next to bodies of water) to improved mental health. But there are few studies that look at how different aspects of nature can play into humans’ mental well-being.
And while the study adds to the small pile of research on birds and mental health, the report marks the first time researchers have studied the responses to birds and mental well-being in real-time, according to Ryan Hammoud, lead author of the study.
“They kind of examine nature as a single object when nature includes many different characteristics and features like trees, plants, water, birds,” said Hammoud, “We choose to focus on bird life to try and understand which specific characteristics of nature benefit mental well-being.”
1. What is the purpose of paragraph 1?A.To introduce a phenomenon. | B.To bring in the topic. |
C.To ask an interesting question. | D.To provide background information. |
A.By analyzing previous studies. | B.By observing the behavior of birds. |
C.By gathering feelings of participants. | D.By studying people’s effect on birds. |
A.Pioneering. | B.Interesting. | C.Conventional. | D.Practical. |
A.Bird watching has become a popular hobby. |
B.Exposure to birds can improve mental well-being. |
C.Nature is the best medicine for mental health issues. |
D.Spending time outdoors can impact mental health positively. |
4 . Eric knew he was in trouble. His
In 2010, a
Eric was
Peety needed to be
It wasn’t just the walks with Peety that
A.height | B.weight | C.length | D.depth |
A.spending | B.donating | C.contributing | D.cheating |
A.master | B.volunteer | C.soldier | D.doctor |
A.holding | B.gaining | C.losing | D.taking |
A.concerned | B.amazed | C.frightened | D.annoyed |
A.heading | B.parading | C.exploring | D.advancing |
A.simply | B.illegally | C.officially | D.extremely |
A.loved | B.discovered | C.met | D.taught |
A.walked | B.fed | C.cared | D.trained |
A.counting | B.working | C.standing | D.performing |
A.variety | B.pack | C.source | D.diet |
A.got off | B.gave off | C.worked out | D.made out |
A.ruined | B.transformed | C.impressed | D.exchanged |
A.unpleasant | B.unexpected | C.unusual | D.unhealthy |
A.island | B.street | C.planet | D.campus |
5 . Polar bears are icons of the Arctic. Detailed monitoring of their populations is crucial for their conservation—but because polar bears are so difficult to find, we are missing critical data about population size. Scientists have now developed a new tool to help: DNA analysis using skin cells left in the bears’ footprints in the snow.
The scientists were inspired by the techniques that can be applied to tiny, degraded DNA samples. With these techniques, it isn’t necessary to physically capture bears, which can be stressful and dangerous for both bears and humans. Instead, the researchers can turn to the snow tracks of polar bears and look at sources of DNA left in passing—environmental DNA. "The tracks usually contain fresh cells, and the DNA is intact because of the cold’ storage’ temperature, "said Dr. Melanie Lancaster of the World Wide Fund, lead author.
The scientists collected snow from individual tracks made by Alaskan polar bears in the wild. Additional materials like hair and saliva(唾液)were sampled, confirming that the tracks provided accurate genotype(基因型) 24 wild polar bear tracks were sampled. The researchers melted and filtered the snow to collect environmental DNA, then carried out micro-satellite analysis. Although the concentrations (浓度)of DNA taken from trucks sampled in the wild were very low, 13 of the wild polar bear samples could be genotype, identifying 12 different individuals.
This technique has huge potential to inform conservation of these animals, to better understand their populations and behavior. Although the sampling has a lower success rate, ease of collection means that it can significantly expand sample sizes.
"We hope this method will be taken up by the polar bear research community, with the involvement of hunters, volunteers, and local communities, as a new way to collect information on polar bears, "said Lancaster. "We also hope the method will be expanded to other animals living in snowy environments. "
1. Why do scientists develop the new method?A.To improve the environment in the Arctic. |
B.To protect humans from the polar bears attack. |
C.To find solutions to global climate change. |
D.To gather essential data for monitoring polar bears. |
A.Unknown. |
B.Undamaged. |
C.Unusual. |
D.Unstable. |
A.They tracked and caught polar bears in the wild. |
B.They recorded the bears’ behaviors with cameras. |
C.They analyzed DNA from polar bears’ snowy footprints. |
D.They compared the polar bears’ genotype with other animals? |
A.Disapproving. |
B.Favorable. |
C.Uncertain. |
D.Suspicious. |
6 . 100-year-old Alfred Larson has been through a lot in his lifetime, but one thing that keeps him going is bluebirds.
When Alfred retired in 1978, he wanted to find a hobby or something to do that would keep him busy and provide him with a sense of purpose. When he read a National Geographic article about crafting wooden nest boxes for bluebirds to help improve their populations, he decided to give it a try. Alfred explained that he started building nest boxes on his ranch (大牧场) using left-over pieces of wood.
More than four decades later, Alfred is still going strong and promoting bluebird conservation efforts. Alfred is now monitoring nearly 350 nest boxes on six different trails (小路) in Southwest Idaho. He said, “I settled on a simple design that was easy to build and easy to monitor. I kept adding more boxes on these trails, and these birds responded.” Alfred’s boxes give bluebirds a lot of help in survival. “Without his work, we can’t see so many bluebirds now,” said Pearman, the author of Mountain Bluebird Trail Monitoring Guide.
To celebrate his achievements, filmmaker Matthew Podolsky worked with Alfred for weeks to create a 30-minute documentary—Bluebird Man. The film explores how everything led him to the work he does today and his efforts in bluebird protection. “I remember the first trip I took to the bluebird trail with Alfred, and I was very surprised by the speed with which he moved from box to box,” said Podolsky. “He was hiking across difficult and uneven terrain (地形). I often struggled to keep up with him. Sometimes we’d check more than 100 boxes and be driving home in the dark.”
The impact he’s had on the populations of bluebirds in North America will continue.
1. How did Alfred help save bluebirds?A.By feeding them personally. | B.By preventing illegal hunting. |
C.By making wooden nests for them. | D.By writing articles about them. |
A.The number of bluebirds in Southwest Idaho decreases. |
B.Alfred makes a big difference to bluebird conservation. |
C.Climate change is threatening the survival of bluebirds now. |
D.Alfred’s efforts have greatly inspired others to protect bluebirds. |
A.How the natural habitat of bluebirds disappeared. |
B.How bluebirds have survived in the past four decades. |
C.What influence humans have on bluebirds. |
D.What Alfred does every day to protect bluebirds. |
A.To praise Alfred’s contribution. | B.To help people learn more about birds. |
C.To advise people to protect the environment. | D.To show the living conditions of bluebirds. |
7 . David lost his beloved dog Baya before Christmas two years ago. Baya was active and cute. David’s family spent many days
Two years later, a homeless dog
Obviously, Baya is
A.preparing | B.searching | C.paying | D.begging |
A.calls | B.honor | C.gifts | D.rescue |
A.fruitless | B.generous | C.worthwhile | D.different |
A.advantage | B.challenge | C.decision | D.hope |
A.continued | B.appeared | C.hid | D.returned |
A.sent | B.forced | C.followed | D.invited |
A.refer to | B.rely on | C.track down | D.cheer for |
A.appreciated | B.impressed | C.recognized | D.contacted |
A.frightened | B.excited | C.confident | D.curious |
A.addicted | B.related | C.adapted | D.reduced |
A.aware | B.uncertain | C.afraid | D.proud |
A.native | B.self | C.partner | D.owner |
A.calm | B.average | C.pretty | D.active |
A.care | B.notice | C.control | D.advantage |
A.removing | B.identifying | C.recovering | D.reserving |
8 . Time is running out for coral reefs as the climate gets hotter. So scientists are searching the globe for corals that are better at enduring heat, Now, new research shows how those “super corals” can survive: less roommate drama.
Reefs depend on a crucial partnership between the corals and the algae (海藻) that live in the corals’ tissue, The algae make food for the corals using sunlight and in exchange, get a nice spot to live. But when oceans heat up, that relationship goes bad, and the corals kick the algae out, Without their roommates, corals can die, turning a ghostly white, bleached (白化) color.
Still, some corals seem to resist bleaching better than others, A new study shows that those corals depend on algae that are better at tolerating heat. Researchers hope that pinpointing these abilities will help develop new conservation tools to preserve the world’s reefs as temperatures rise. About 1/4 of all marine life rely on coral reefs in some way, along with half 1 billion people around the world also depend on reefs for their food and livelihoods.
“Heat stress can kill a lot of corals really fast,” says Kate Quigley, a research scientist at James Cook University and the Minderoo Foundation in Australia. “I hope that nature does have some mechanisms to get us through the next few years while we get our act together.”
While the hope is that those algae could also aid in reef conservation in the future, researcher Patrick Buerger says it’s likely that it wouldn’t help all coral species. And even the toughest corals can only endure so much. Currently, the world is on track for just under 3degrees Celsius of warming by 2100, a level that would wipe out nearly all coral reefs.
“The action has to be on climate change,” he says. “This is a short-term solution that might buy some time for corals to adapt. But the main focus has to be on climate. There’s not a silver bullet to the problem.”
1. What is the feature of super corals?A.Sun-loving. | B.Long-living. | C.Good-looking. | D.Heat-bearing. |
A.Habitat. | B.Food. | C.Sunlight. | D.Friendship. |
A.The population of marine life. | B.The importance of coral reefs. |
C.The seriousness of global warming. | D.The living conditions of coral reefs. |
A.It is useless | B.It is the last hope. | C.It is temporary. | D.It is the silver bullet. |
1. How old was the speaker when his cat died?
A.Six. | B.Seven. | C.Eight. |
A.It slept on his legs. | B.It watched TV with him. | C.It gave him hugs. |
A.In his car. | B.In his bag. | C.Inside his jacket. |
A.A black cat. | B.A white cat. | C.A brown cat. |
10 . One afternoon in 2022, something on the Internet caught my eye:a tiny hedgehog (刺猬) held by a big hand. The post read: “HELP! My hedgehog abandoned (抛弃) her two babies, and I cannot raise both of them because I have to go to school fulltime. Good home with experience needed as soon as possible!”
I had no experience with baby hedgehogs. I was an animal person through and through and had raised cats, dogs, birds, and guinea pigs. But this tiny animal was new to me, and it touched me that he was abandoned, that maybe I could love him and be the best mom for him.
I wrote the most heartfelt email I could. That was how I found my Louie. True to my word, he was my baby. Louie didn’t know he was a hedgehog. He never curled (蜷缩) into a ball, and he liked my two cats, no fear. The cats, however, were afraid of him, as he often moved into the room, running after the cats and blocking my way.
By the time he reached old age, Louie had only three feet. However, he still managed to climb the stairs to visit other animals. He helped me realize my dream of hedgehog photography, a hobby that began during childhood with cats and dollhouses. I love showing off his modeling.
Life has meaning because of the purpose we have. Louie needed a good home and mom, and in return, I got to be a good mother and be needed. Hedgehogs require great amounts of patience, trust, and knowledge—but the payoff (回报) is pretty great.
1. The author got Louie from .A.a pet shop | B.a family friend |
C.a hedgehog owner | D.a hedgehog rescue center |
A.Frightened. | B.Relaxed. | C.Lonely. | D.Tired. |
A.He disliked climbing stairs. | B.He enjoyed being left alone. |
C.He always refused to be in photos. | D.He was active despite his difficulty in moving. |
A.It was easier than expected. | B.It gave her a sense of safety. |
C.It made her lose her patience. | D.It was satisfying and meaningful. |