1 . Utah’s governor, Spencer Cox, recently signed two bills into law that strictly limit children’s use of social media platforms. Under the law, which takes effect next year, social media companies have to check the ages of all users in the state, and children under age 18 have to get agreement from their parents to have accounts. Parents will also be able to use their kids’ accounts, apps won’t be allowed to show children ads, and accounts for kids won’t be able to be used between 10:30 pm and 6:30 am without parental agreement.

While some people argue age limitation allows tech companies to collect even more data about users, let’s be real: These companies already have much private information about us. To solve this problem, we need a separate data privacy law. But until that happens, this concern shouldn’t stop us from protecting kids.

One of the key parts of the law is allowing parents to use their kids’ accounts. By doing this, the law begins to help address one of the biggest dangers kids face online: harmful content.

One huge challenge the law helps parents get over is the amount of time kids are spending on social media. A 2022 survey found that, on average, children aged 8 to 12 spend 5 hours and 33 minutes per day on social media while those aged 13 to 18 spend 8 hours and 39 minutes daily. It’s warned that lack of sleep is connected with serious harm to children — everything from injuries to depression (抑郁), fatness and diabetes. So, parents need to have a way to ensure their kids aren’t up on social media platforms all night.

Considering the experiences many kids are having on social media, this law will help Utah’s parents protect their kids. Parents in other states need the same support. Now, it’s time for the government to step up and ensure children throughout the country have the same protection as Utah’s kids.

1. Which is allowed according to the new bill?

A．Ads can be put on to children.

B．Children can use social media freely.

C．Parents can check their kids’ accounts.

D．Related companies protect users’ accounts.

2. Why are some people concerned about the new bill?

A．Because children’s right to surf the Internet is limited.

B．Because more personal information may be given away.

C．Because it prevents the data privacy law from taking effect.

D．Because children may become too dependent on the Internet.

3. What benefit will limiting children’s Internet time bring?

A．Higher learning efficiency.

B．Better personal eating habits.

C．Easier access to healthy media.

D．Improved physical and mental health.

4. What is the author’s attitude towards the new law?

A．Supportive.

B．Doubtful.

C．Flexible.

D．Negative.

3 . Beijing No 4 Intermediate People’s Court said on Thursday that it concluded 77 cases of smuggling (走私) precious animal products from the beginning of 2015 to June this year, with about 40 percent of defendants (被告) given prison terms of three or more years. The products were found to be frequently made of body parts of some endangered wild animals such as elephants, turtles, bears and wolves, Wang Jing, vice-president of the court, told a news conference.

”Most of the defendants were migrant workers, students and tourists coming back to China,“ Wang said. ”Some aimed to sell the products for profits or send to friends and family members as gifts, while they wanted to use them to help with diseases.“

Wang explained that some of the defendants received heavier penalties (刑罚), such as a long-term imprisonment and a high fine, because the animal parts they smuggled were from animals listed on the national key protection of wildlife or related to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora(CITES). For example, a defendant surnamed Yan was sentenced to 10 years in prison, along with 200,000 yuan($27,968)in fines, for smuggling 393 fish bladder products, the court said. Yan was caught while arriving at the Beijing Capital International Airport from Mexico on March 21, 2018, and the suspected products were discovered by the customs staff members in Yan’s luggage, it said. The products were later identified as being made of drum fish in Gulf of California, and the fish is listed on the CITES, it said, adding that the products were worth of about 2.51 million yuan($351,000).

To effectively fight the crime, the court has issued a guideline on the smuggling of precious animal products to help judges accurately apply laws and unify (统一) the standards of relevant case hearings.

On Thursday, the court also disclosed four other smuggling cases, showing its determination and effort to protect precious animals by rule of law.

1. What did Wang Jing tell the news conference in paragraph 1?

A．Who the products would be sold to.	B．Where the wild animals came from.
C．What the products were made of.	D．How the wild animals were caught.

2. How many years was the defendant surnamed Yan sentenced to in prison?

A．Five years.

B．Seven years.

C．Ten years.

D．Twelve years.

3. Which can replace the underlined word ”disclose“ in the last paragraph?

A．Have some doubt about.	B．Feel a little upset about.
C．Try to discover facts about.	D．Give people information about.

4. What can be a suitable title for the news report?

A．Beijing court handles 77 cases of smuggling animal products

B．Beijing court makes an effort to recognize wild animals products

C．Beijing court helps judges apply laws about smuggling animal products

D．Beijing court issues guideline on smuggling of precious animal products

5 . 课本原文填空。

Besides such ethical concerns, the legal situations the autonomous vehicle industry is likely to be confronted with have     1     heated debates. In this emerging industry, manufacturing and programming standards are not yet     2    . Moreover, the quality and safety of the technology used in self-driving cars is still being challenged. This could lead to extraordinary cases like who should be held     3     when self-driving cars are involved in accidents — should it be the driver, the software programmer or the manufacturer? Manufacturing and programming standards first have to be agreed upon to make it possible for law courts to decide who is at fault when things go wrong. As     4     in autonomous vehicle design and technology are in progress, the final agreement on laws and regulations     5     this industry remains to be seen.

6 . China will accelerate law-making on making up for ecological damage, as the mechanism (机制) continues to prove its role in helping restore damaged environments across the country, according to the Ministry of Ecology and Environment. From 2018 to 2021, authorities across the country handled about 11, 300 such cases, with compensation (补偿) amounting to almost 11.7 billion yuan.

The department showed statistics demonstrating the mechanism as effective in dealing with ecological and environmental damage.

It said that thanks to the compensation, over 36 million cubic meters of contaminated soil and 300 million cubic meters of polluted surface water have been treated. The mechanism has also helped restore over 61 million square meters of forest.

In a case exposed in late 2019, for instance, a paper company named Meili was found to have illegally dumped a large amount of thick, black waste from papermaking in the Tengger Desert. According to the ministry’s investigation, most of the pollutants were dumped from 2003 to 2007, polluted soil and groundwater, and damaging plants. In March 2021, after a third-party agency was brought in to assess the damage, a court in Zhongwei required the polluter to pay more than 198 million yuan in compensation in two stages.

In the first stage, Meili will pay about 44.2 million yuan to cover the cost to investigate andclean up the pollutants. The rest of the compensation will be used in the second stage to carry out compensatory restoration, groundwater monitoring and risk control in the area. In its statement, the department of law, regulation and standards also noted the remarkable progress the country has made in enhancing the institutions for the mechanism.

Bie Tao, director of the department, vowed further efforts to promote law-making for the mechanism. “Aside from striving to include ecological and environmental damage compensationinto the Environmental Protection Law and other relevant laws, we will also make efforts to promote research into a specific law for the mechanism,” he said.

1. What does the underlined word “contaminated” in Paragraph 3 probably mean?

A．Dirty.

B．Pure.

C．Tidy.

D．Rich.

2. What does the case of the paper company Meili show?

A．How to make the law.	B．How the mechanism worked.
C．How to monitor groundwater.	D．How the environment was polluted.

3. What will be the focus in the coming years according to Bie Tao?

A．Detailed news about global warming.

B．Clearly defined law for the mechanism.

C．Further research into the paper company.

D．Regular process of environmental protection.

4. What might be the best title for the text?

A．Make polluters pay	B．Keep the earth healthy
C．Stop environmental damage	D．Work harmoniously with each other

7 . Since the Endangered Species Act (ESA) was passed in 1973, it has helped hundreds of species avoid extinction in the United States. The strong conservation policy has been used as a model in other countries. But it’s not as successful as it could be, a new study finds.

Researchers have discovered that most species are not being protected until their numbers became so small that their chance of recovery is slim.

In 1993, a study found that few species received protection under the ESA until their populations dwindled to very tiny numbers: on average, just 1,075 individuals for vertebrates (脊椎动物), 999 for invertebrates, and 120 for individuals for plant species.

For the new study, researchers repeated the methods in the earlier research to see if protections have become better since the problem was first noted. They also looked at trends in “wait times” — the amount of time between when a species is identified as potentially needing protection and when it actually receives protection under the ESA.

The researchers found that the population sizes of species when they first became protected under the ESA are not statistically different from those in the 1993 study. The findings showed that the population of vertebrates when listed is 999 individuals, invertebrates is 536, and plants is 192.

They also discovered that there are long wait times between when a species is identified as likely needing protection and when they actually receive them.

There have been several thousand species listed on the ESA over the past nearly five decades, and 99% of the listed species have avoided going extinct. But researchers point out that only 54 species — like the bald eagle and American alligator — have recovered so well that they no longer need protection.

Researchers say that the findings are timely due to the upcoming December meeting of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity. The members will finalize a plan for conservation efforts globally through 2030.

Polls (民意调查) over the years have demonstrated that most Americans support a strong ESA to protect endangered (濒危的) wildlife. And the ESA has the strong policy, if used correctly, to do that.

1. What does the underlined word “dwindled” in paragraph 3 probably mean?

A．Adapted.

B．Reduced.

C．Limited.

D．Returned.

2. What does the new study focus on?

A．The problems that were noticed recently.

B．The method used in the earlier research.

C．The improvement of protective measures.

D．The duration animals that were under protection.

3. What is the finding of the research?

A．The population of protected species grows larger.

B．Many more species are listed as endangered animals.

C．The number of vertebrates grows faster than invertebrates.

D．Endangered species tend to wait long before getting protected.

4. What is the significance of the study?

A．It contributes to a plan.

B．It put forward more effective measures.

C．It discovered more endangered species.

D．It reflected the public’s wishes and dreams.

8 . A bill to conserve endangered species was passed by the U.S. House in a 231-to-190 vote on Tuesday.

The Recovering America’s Wildlife Act would create an annual fund of more than $1.3 billion, given to states, and territories for wildlife conservation on the ground. While threatened species have been recognized and protected under the Endangered Species Act since 1973, that law does not provide constant funding to actively maintain their numbers.

The effort comes as scientists and international organizations sound the alarm about accelerating species decline.

“Too many people don’t realize that about one-third of our wildlife is at increased risk of extinction,” said lead House sponsor Debbie Ding-ell, echoing (呼应) a recent study about climate change.

In the United States, there are more than 1,600 endangered or threatened species, but state agencies have identified more than 7 times that number in need of conservation assistance in their wildlife action plans.

“The bottom line is, when we save wildlife we save for ourselves,” said Collin O’ Mara, CEO of the National Wildlife Federation, which supports the bill. He said species loss threatens everything from the insects that pollinate (授粉) plants in the food chain, to sea life that helps to reduce damages to coastlines from storm.

The bill would improve a 1937 law, the Pittman-Robertson Act, which was passed in response to decreasing game and waterfowl species. That law allows states to tax hunting supplies to pay for wildlife and habitat restoration, but that money is not enough to do the same for non-game species.

The act would also invest more in conservation than the existing program for threatened non-game species, called the State Wildlife Grant Program, which awarded states a total of $56 million this year.

1. What do we know about the Endangered Species Act?

A．It does not involve continuous funding.

B．It was passed by the House this Tuesday.

C．It has proved to be a failed Act.

D．It ensured the population of all the species.

2. What did Debbie Dingell show us in paragraph 4?

A．Human behavior causes species to decline.

B．People’s efforts matter a lot in conservation.

C．People lack awareness of animal protection.

D．The decline of species is beyond imagination.

3. Why are “insects” and “sea life” mentioned in paragraph 6?

A．To indicate they are at risk of dying out.

B．To illustrate how to protect them properly.

C．To show they’re more important than others.

D．To tell man and nature are an organic whole.

4. In which section of the website would this text appear?

A．Entertainment.

B．News.

C．Technology.

D．Health.