1 . 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.

2. How will the authorities deal with 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.

3. What is the last paragraph mainly about?

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.

4. Which is the most suitable title for the text?

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

2 . 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.

2. How did the researchers conduct the study?

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.

3. What does Hammoud think of the new study?

A．Pioneering.

B．Interesting.

C．Conventional.

D．Practical.

4. What is the main idea of the text?

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.

3 . Eric knew he was in trouble. His _________ had ballooned to 320 pounds, and he was _________ more than $1,000 a month on medications (药物) for high blood pressure, Type 2 diabetes and high cholesterol.

In 2010, a _________ told him to buy a funeral plot, because he would need it in five years. He was 51 years old. So he went to talk with a naturopathic (自然疗法的) doctor about _________ weight. She said, “Get a shelter dog.”

Eric was _________, but he took that advice, _________ to the Humane Society Silicon Valley near his home in San Jose, Calif. He told the shelter, “I want a(n) _________ fat middle-aged dog, like me.” That’s how he _________ Peety.

Peety needed to be _________, so Eric and Peety walked, for at least a half hour a day. Eric, who was __________ as an area sales manager for GE appliances, shifted to a plant-based __________. Over the course of a year, he lost 140 pounds. Peety lost 25. Eric __________ the medications.

It wasn’t just the walks with Peety that __________ Eric’s life. The dog helped keep him from backsliding (倒退) into his old, __________ lifestyle. “He looked at me like I was the best person on the __________, and I wanted to become the person he thought I was.”

1.

A．height

B．weight

C．length

D．depth

2.

A．spending

B．donating

C．contributing

D．cheating

3.

A．master

B．volunteer

C．soldier

D．doctor

4.

A．holding

B．gaining

C．losing

D．taking

5.

A．concerned

B．amazed

C．frightened

D．annoyed

6.

A．heading

B．parading

C．exploring

D．advancing

7.

A．simply

B．illegally

C．officially

D．extremely

8.

A．loved

B．discovered

C．met

D．taught

9.

A．walked

B．fed

C．cared

D．trained

10.

A．counting

B．working

C．standing

D．performing

11.

A．variety

B．pack

C．source

D．diet

12.

A．got off

B．gave off

C．worked out

D．made out

13.

A．ruined

B．transformed

C．impressed

D．exchanged

14.

A．unpleasant

B．unexpected

C．unusual

D．unhealthy

15.

A．island

B．street

C．planet

D．campus

4 . 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.

2. What does the underlined word “intact” mean in paragraph 2?

A．Unknown.

B．Undamaged.

C．Unusual.

D．Unstable.

3. What did the scientists do in the study?

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?

4. What is Lancaster’s attitude toward the method?

A．Disapproving.

B．Favorable.

C．Uncertain.

D．Suspicious.

5 . 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.

2. What can we infer from paragraph 3?

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.

3. What might be the documentary mainly about?

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.

4. What is the author’s purpose in writing the text?

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.

6 . David lost his beloved dog Baya before Christmas two years ago. Baya was active and cute. David’s family spent many days _________ for their furry (毛茸茸的) family member. The kids said they wouldn’t want any _________ from Santa Claus. They just wanted to get their dog back. All attempts to find her turned out to be _________. Baya was nowhere to be found. It seemed that the family wouldn’t have any more _________.

Two years later, a homeless dog _________ alone on a busy road. Someone _________ it to the Animal Protection Association (协会). Thanks to the microchip (芯片) planted in the dog, the association was able to _________ the owner. They _________ David. When David got a phone call that they were going to get Baya back, the family were pretty _________.

Obviously, Baya is __________ to living in this home. She is quite __________ of where her feeding bowl is. Even though Baya isn’t the dog she used to be, David is confident she’ll become her old __________ again. He said, “She was a very healthy and __________ dog. She’s not like that anymore, but we’re going to get her back. Our whole family are taking __________ of her. Kids play with her happily. She’s __________ her joyful nature. We will love her even more.”

1.

A．preparing

B．searching

C．paying

D．begging

2.

A．calls

B．honor

C．gifts

D．rescue

3.

A．fruitless

B．generous

C．worthwhile

D．different

4.

A．advantage

B．challenge

C．decision

D．hope

5.

A．continued

B．appeared

C．hid

D．returned

6.

A．sent

B．forced

C．followed

D．invited

7.

A．refer to

B．rely on

C．track down

D．cheer for

8.

A．appreciated

B．impressed

C．recognized

D．contacted

9.

A．frightened

B．excited

C．confident

D．curious

10.

A．addicted

B．related

C．adapted

D．reduced

11.

A．aware

B．uncertain

C．afraid

D．proud

12.

A．native

B．self

C．partner

D．owner

13.

A．calm

B．average

C．pretty

D．active

14.

A．care

B．notice

C．control

D．advantage

15.

A．removing

B．identifying

C．recovering

D．reserving

7 . 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.

2. What can algae get from the corals?

A．Habitat.

B．Food.

C．Sunlight.

D．Friendship.

3. What do the figures in paragraph 3 indicate?

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.

4. What does Patrick think of using heat-resistant algae in reef conservation?

A．It is useless

B．It is the last hope.

C．It is temporary.

D．It is the silver bullet.

8 . 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

2. How did Louie seem to feel at the author’s home?

A．Frightened.

B．Relaxed.

C．Lonely.

D．Tired.

3. What can we learn about Louie from paragraph 4?

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.

4. What does the author say about raising Louie?

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.

9 . Since the rise in car ownership in the 1950s, the US has started building roads in cities and across the country to provide enough room for automobiles. Houston, like many cities, is turning back the clock to make room for passers-by, cyclists and parks.

Memorial Park in Houston, Texas was halved by the Memorial Drive Highway in the1950s. It has now been reunited. The highway is still there, but the road goes underneath the 1,500-acre park.

The restoration (修复) of Memorial Park is part of a larger plan that was made after the city suffered from a serious drought. It was thought that 80 percent of the forested canopy (树冠) was dead. One of the ways to fight that was to reintroduce native plants and animals.

The city hired the landscape architectural company, Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects, to work with the Houston parks and the Memorial Parks Conservancy. The architects, led by Woltz, were inspired by wildlife crossings in the Northwest US and explored the possibility of using this idea in Memorial Park. Over the years, the park was cut into 20 pieces that were divided by highways, roads and parking lots. The only crossing was a 12-foot bridge.

After 10 years of planning and constructing, the Kinder Land Bridge officially opened in early February, 2023. The bridge consists of 100 acres of greenery, and while designed for people, has reconnected wildlife corridors (廊道). The reconstruction added 45 acres of native Gulf Coast prairie (草原) that’ll increase biodiversity in the park. “This project is not just about creating a passage or a bridge. This project is about ecology, it’s about biodiversity and water management. This project is a bridge into Houston’s future.” said Shellye Arnold, president of the Memorial Park Conservancy.

1. What led to the restoration of the Memorial Park?

A．A company’s suggestion.	B．A terrible natural disaster.
C．The demand from the public.	D．The recovery of native plants.

2. How did wildlife crossings in the Northwest US affect the architects?

A．They knew how to restore the Memorial Park.

B．They got the inspiration for rescuing animals.

C．They gained a sense of achievement for working.

D．They developed a new way to protect the landscape.

3. What do we know about the Kinder Land Bridge from the text?

A．It is about 12 feet in length.	B．Its aim is to save water.
C．It benefits the wild animals.	D．Its birth is a short process.

4. What is a suitable title for the text?

A．A Highway Connects a Park in Houston

B．The Importance of Building Land Bridges

C．Efforts to Restore Parks in American Cities

D．Houston Creates a Creative Way to Restore Nature

10 . A new study shows the singing noises made by humpback whales(座头鲸) might be a sign of being lonely. Scientists who recorded humpback whale behavior in Australia discovered that fewer whales made the singing noises as their population grew.

“Humpback whale song is loud and travels far in the ocean,” said marine biologist Dunlop of the University of Queensland in Brisbane. She has long studied humpback whales and helped lead the new study. Her work has centered on humpbacks that reproduce near Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. She made an unexpected discovery as the number of whales sharply rose following the end of commercial whaling. “It was getting more difficult to actually find singers,” she said. “When there were fewer of them, there was a lot of singing. Now that there are lots of them there is no need to sing so much.”

Scientists first began to hear and study the songs of the humpback whales in the 1970s. They used underwater microphones to do so. Only male whales sing. Scientists think the whales sing to display their power.

Eastern Australia’s humpback whales came close to disappearing in the 1960s, when their number dropped to around 200. But over time the population began to regrow, climbing to about 27, 000 whales by 2015. That number is near pre-whaling levels. As the number of whales increase, their singing behaviors changed. Dunlop said while 2 in 10 males made wailing noises in 2004, 10 years later the number had dropped to 1 in 10.

It is said that humpback whales must have been singers long before whale fishing diminished their numbers. But the new study proves how necessary their beautiful songs were to their survival and recovery. Clearly singing became extremely valuable when their numbers were very low.

1. What is the probable reason why humpback whales sing according to the new study?

A．Danger.

B．Hunting.

C．Hopelessness.

D．Loneliness.

2. What is Dunlop’s surprising discovery in her research?

A．Humpback whales always keep silent.

B．The more humpback whales, the less singing.

C．The number of humpback whales increases sharply.

D．The farther humpback whales’ songs go, the better.

3. What is the purpose of male humpback whales’ singing based on the first discovery?

A．To show off their strength.	B．To sound a warning.
C．To leave for their home.	D．To shout for help.

4. What does the underlined word “diminished” in the last paragraph mean?

A．Counted.

B．Doubted.

C．Protected.

D．Reduced.