1 . Artificial Intelligence (AI) has greatly sped up how long it takes to sort, label and analyze(分析) animal sounds—as well as to figure out which aspects of those sounds might carry meaning. One day we’ll be able to use AI to build a chat box that translates complex(复杂的) animal sounds into human language. Project CETI is just one organization working toward this goal.
“AI could eventually get us to the point where we understand animals, but that’s hard to deal with and long-term,” says Karen Bakker, a researcher at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. “Some species have been on the planet longer than humans. Some species could go extinct before we figure out their language,” Bakker adds. “Besides, the idea of walking around with an animal translator may seem cool, but many animals might not be interested in chatting.”
“Why would a bat want to speak to you?” she asks. What interests her is what we can learn from how bats and other creatures talk amongst each other.“We should listen to nature and ask the animals’ requirements in order to better protect them,” she argues. For example, a system set up to record whales or elephants can also track their locations. This can help our boats avoid whales or protect elephants from poachers (偷猎者).
Protection is one goal driving Project CETI. “If we understand sperm whales better, we will be better at understanding what’s troubling them,” says Gašper Beguš, a linguist at the University of California, Berkeley. Learning that a species has something very similar to language or culture could also inspire people to work harder to protect it.
When we protect an animal that has some version of language or culture, we’re not simply protecting nature and we’re also saving a way of life. Marine biologist Denise Herzing says that animals are supposed to have a healthy environment so that their cultures can develop well.
1. What can we infer from Paragraph 1?| A．We can tell the complex animal behavior. |
| B．We will find ways to talk with animals. |
| C．We can share our language with animals. |
| D．We need conduct more research on animals. |
| A．difficult. | B．costly. | C．harmful. | D．worthless. |
| A．By learning about their needs. | B．By setting up shelters for them. |
| C．By mapping out their locations. | D．By living peacefully with them. |
| A．Animals’ culture should be given up. |
| B．Saving nature means saving ourselves. |
| C．Short-term and long-term goals need to be set. |
| D．Animals should be in a healthy natural world. |
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 |
One day my mom and I read a story on a magazine called Humane Society News. A wild dog named Solo died for lack of medical care after he was ill. I knew how sad the story was because my own dog, Kela, had recently died. My world had ended when I lost Kela. She had been my best friend since I could remember. The article continued to tell about wildlife rehabilitators. They nursed the sick animals back to health, but as more and more animals were rescued, the medical expense became a big burden for them. I immediately determined to do something for them. I may be a kid, but why can’t I do a fund-raiser to help save more dogs?
My mom thought it was hard for an eleven-year-old girl to raise, but she told me to go ahead and try it anyway. I realized that I needed a name for the fund-raiser and thought since I was trying to protect dogs’ life, I would call my program Help Dogs. I decided that pet stores would be really good places to go with donation boxes and Help Dogs flyers (传单). I used little green Chinese take-out boxes, decorated with a picture of Tiko, one of the dogs I chose to help, and me. I wrote on each box “Help protect the life of dogs by donating a dollar”. I thought my actions might not raise much money for the dogs, but they can at least increase people’s awareness of wild animals protection.
One afternoon, after all the boxes had been distributed throughout our community, I got a call from a local newspaper reporter who had seen one of my flyers. The reporter decided to do an article about Help Dogs. After the article came out, I waited for a few days before checking to see if there were any donations.
注意：(1) 续写词数应为150左右；
(2) 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
I was really nervous when I finally went to collect the money.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________I realized many people feel the same way as I did but didn’t know how to help.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________4 . 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. |
5 . When I arrive at Falconwood Bee Farm, Kant Kaye in already deep into checking hive (蜂箱) boxes, unaware of my presence. I overhear her chatting with the bees, their soft hum (嗡嗡声) filling the air between words of encouragement and negotiation.
Kaye was born with extreme deafness. While Kaye is able to hear with the assistance of hearing aids she usually removes them when she’s working. “Sounds aren’t natural to me,” she explains, “I just love the peace and quiet. When I’m with the bees, I don’t need to hear, I can focus better when I’m not constantly disturbed.”
Equipped with only her hood (头巾), hive tool, and smoker, Kaye moves at a steady and calculated pace. I’m overdressed, having borrowed a full protective suit for the occasion. She instructs me to remove the gloves I brought and tells me where to stand so as to avoid stressing out the bees. Kaye’s gentle, careful style makes me feel at ease around her insects. The more time we spend together, the more I come to appreciate Kaye’s passion for bees, as well as the ways that being hard of hearing has influenced her unique approach to the craft.
In her practice, she emphasizes natural beekeeping techniques that employ minimal chemical interventions. And she’s able to get all the information she needs to tend to the hives by relying on her other senses. Perhaps above all else, what makes Kaye an exceptional beekeeper is almost philosophical. Excelling at her job has everything to do with adaptation, managing the countless variables that arise on any given day. Is there too much rain? Too little? When will the flowers bloom? Will they produce enough honey? She responds accordingly, making sure not to disturb the bees’ rhythm and balance.
“There is a spiritual side to beekeeping,” she said. “You can’t fully control them, like with anything in nature, really. Some years you get a great honey season. Some years are horrible and you lose 50 percent of your hive. There’s a lot of heartbreak but a lot of joy, too, in just working outside with these creatures—a living super organism.”
1. Why does Kaye work without hearing aids?| A．To feel at ease. | B．To better concentrate. |
| C．To reduce dependence on them. | D．To avoid the humming noise of the bees. |
| A．Kaye knows the bees very well. |
| B．A protective suit is necessary for Kaye. |
| C．Losing hearing brings trouble to Kaye’s work. |
| D．The author is too frightened to follow Kaye’s instructions. |
| A．Her remarkable honey production. |
| B．Her natural beekeeping techniques. |
| C．Her knowledge on weather conditions. |
| D．Her capability of handling daily uncertainties. |
| A．Creative and brave. | B．Passionate and skilled |
| C．Deaf but ambitious | D．Heartbroken but determined. |
On a sunny day with no clouds, Sally sat on a chair in the garden, hemming (缝边) a handkerchief. All of a sudden, there came a little ant. It was in such a hurry. Finally it ran across the small stone table and stopped by her side. The sewing was not done, for Sally easily got a little bit distracted by this little ant. Suddenly, she dropped her thimble (顶针) over the little ant by accident while she was looking at it.“Can it mind? But it is only such a little tiny thing,”said Sally in doubt.
Then Sally ran away, for her mother called her to have lunch, and she forgot all about the ant under the thimble and the handkerchief outside. There the little ant was, running round and round in the dark place, with little horns on its head quivering, little perfect legs bending as beautifully as those of a racehorse, and it was very scared.
If Sally had remembered the ant, she would have heard this little ant say, “I can’t get out! I can’t get out! Is there anyone out there? Can someone help me out?” But unfortunately, till the bedtime, Sally failed to hear the little ant's silent calling and just went to sleep. In the midnight, there was thunder, lightning and heavy rain. The next day, when Sally woke up, she came to the garden, only to find the handkerchief was soaked (湿透的) as if somebody had been crying very much. When she was about to fetch it as soon as the sun shone, it suddenly came to her who was under the thimble. “Oh, how could I forget that little ant? I hope the little ant is doing fine,”said Sally, running with her worried face.
But when she lifted up the thimble, what came to her sight was the little tiny an t lay stiff and still. It seemed like this little poor thing was away from this world. “Oh, did it die of being under the thimble?”Sally said aloud with her trembling voice. “Why did you do that, Sally?”said her father, who was close by and looked unsatisfied.
注意：1.续写词数应为150左右；
2.请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
“Dad, I didn’t mean to,” said Sally.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
“Where is the ant in such a hurry to go, Sally?” said her father.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
1. Why was it difficult to rescue the cat?
| A．It was too scared to move. |
| B．It was hurt by the branches. |
| C．It was in the top of a tree. |
| A．He got a neighbor to help him. |
| B．He borrowed a ladder. |
| C．He climbed the tree. |
8 . About four weeks ago, our dear little Persian cat Ashleigh Faith died at the age of 16, for which we felt sad. We
Recently, our neighbor called and
| A．adored | B．adopted | C．comforted | D．recognized |
| A．eat | B．play | C．bark | D．sleep |
| A．shy | B．smart | C．tiny | D．cute |
| A．flying | B．pacing | C．rolling | D．travelling |
| A．turning around | B．cheering up | C．settling in | D．dropping on |
| A．eyes | B．hearts | C．clothes | D．walls |
| A．tough | B．cold | C．embarrassing | D．relaxing |
| A．secretly | B．anxiously | C．calmly | D．enthusiastically |
| A．care for | B．rely on | C．come across | D．stare at |
| A．shelter | B．mail | C．hide | D．carry |
| A．amazingly | B．strangely | C．eventually | D．instantly |
| A．disappointing | B．depressing | C．appealing | D．promising |
| A．reliable | B．active | C．discouraged | D．disconnected |
| A．watches | B．helps | C．fancies | D．approaches |
| A．protect | B．drive | C．disturb | D．greet |
1. What color is Pauly’s head?
| A．A little blue. |
| B．Totally green. |
| C．Mostly red. |
| A．He won’t survive on his own. |
| B．He refuses to eat anything. |
| C．He has a broken tail. |
| A．Record Pauly’s loud call. |
| B．Tell him right away. |
| C．Give Pauly something to eat. |
10 . Mica came into my life in 2012. When I heard that a
After all, I may have adopted Iske, but actually she’s the one that rescued me—through a heartbreaking
A few e-mails and a transport miracle later, Mica arrived. Unlike Iske, Mica had a tough time adjusting—She refused to be
After a few weeks of training and bonding, I decided to take her for a short hike. She had
As soon as I took off the leash (狗绳) in the forest, she
After that, we committed ourselves to completing the highest 35 mountains in the Catskill region. It would have been amazing for any dog to hike at this level of
| A．lucky | B．senior | C．young | D．special |
| A．reserved | B．preserved | C．abandoned | D．accompanied |
| A．revealed | B．linked | C．made | D．meant |
| A．breakup | B．cleanup | C．checkup | D．backup |
| A．Agreement | B．Rescue | C．Adoption | D．Respect |
| A．look head | B．give back | C．step down | D．hold on |
| A．pulled | B．commanded | C．petted | D．ignored |
| A．awful | B．awesome | C．familiar | D．similar |
| A．swell | B．hurt | C．sink | D．heal |
| A．loved | B．learned | C．forgotten | D．heard |
| A．observed | B．raced | C．hesitated | D．wandered |
| A．monitored | B．occupied | C．tracked | D．surveyed |
| A．secure | B．loose | C．close | D．tense |
| A．intensity | B．complexity | C．accuracy | D．severity |
| A．chapter | B．day | C．street | D．chain |
