While elephants born without tusks (长牙)are not unheard of，they normally form just 2 to 6 percent of the population. However, that is not the case at Mozambique’s Gorongosa National Park, where an astonishing 33 percent of female elephants born after the country’s civil war ended in 1992 are tuskless. While that may appear to be just a coincidence, Joyce Poole, an elephant behavior expert, has another theory. The researcher thinks we may be witnessing unnatural evolution of the species due to the constant hunting of elephants for valuable ivory.
Poole says before the country’s 15-year-long civil war, the 100,000-acre park was home to over 4,000 elephants. However, by the time the conflict ended in 1992, about 90 percent of them had been killed for ivory to help finance weapons (武器)and meat to feed the soldiers. Of the less than 200 survivors, over 50 percent of adult females had no tusks. Therefore, it is not surprising that the park’s tuskless elephant population has grown greatly.
This is not the first time researchers have observed a great change in the population of elephants. At Zambia’s South Luangwa National Park and Lupande Game Management Area， areas which were heavily hunted in the 1970s and 1980s, 35% of elephants 25 years or older and 13% of those younger than 25 are now without tusks. A 2008 study published found that the number of tuskless females at the Ruaha National Park in Tanzania went from 10.5 percent in 1969 to almost 40 percent in 1989, largely due to illegal hunting for ivory.
The recent ban on ivory in both the US and China should help get rid of, or at least reduce, elephant hunting. However, scientists are not sure how long it will take for elephants with a higher rate of tuskless females, to change the trend.
1.What is the probable cause of the phenomenon mentioned in Paragraph 1 ?
A. Illegal hunting. B. Constant farming.
C. A pure coincidence. D. Natural evolution.
2.Why did people kill so many elephants during the civil war in Mozambique?
A. To get funds by selling ivory.
B. To develop new weapons.
C. To provide food for local people.
D. To make ivory products.
3.Which of the following had the earliest record on tuskless elephants?
A. Gorongonsa National Park.
B. South Luangwa National Park.
C. The Ruaha National Park.
D. Lupande Game Management Area.
4.What does the underlined phrase “the trend” in the last paragraph refer to?
A. Elephants facing greater danger.
B. Elephants growing more slowly.
C. Fewer female elephants staying alive.
D. More female elephants being tuskless.
The hemlock(铁杉) trees along the Wappinger Creek, New York, look healthy. However, scientist Gary Lovett says the white balls which provide protection for the bugs are created by a tiny insect. It’s hard to believe the tiny bug could kill a tree. However, trees can end up with millions and millions of the pests. When there are that many, it ends up killing the tree.
The bug from East Asia is slowly killing trees across the USA. The trouble-making bug is just one of many invasive(入侵的) pests that have slipped into the United States. They can hurt other living things in their new home.
Many invasive pests arrive on wooden pallets(运货板) piled inside shipping containers. They support and separate goods, and keep them from sliding around. Invasive pests often tunnel into the pallets. How can we stop pests from riding on pallets? Lovett says new rules are needed. The companies that make pallets don’t want more rules. Congress has added an amendment(修正案) in the 2018 Farm Bill to try and prevent this problem. However, Lovett is not hopeful it will make much of a difference. Pallets are checked by inspectors. Many are sprayed with bug-killing pesticide. “I believe in the system，” said Brent McClendon, president of The National Wooden Pallet and Container Association. He also said shipping containers are checked very carefully.
Still, each year 13 million containers are shipped to the U. S. Each is full of wooden pallets. Lovett says: “Inspectors can’t possibly check everything. All it takes are a few bad pallets; we should get rid of wooden pallets.” He believes pallets should be made of plastic or eco-composite wood. Eco-composite wood is a mix of wood fiber and plastic. Insects cannot hide into it. One problem is that these choices cost more. They may be worth the extra money, though. Invasive pests cost the U.S. $5 billion a year. Trees don’t just die in forests. They also die in cities and our yards. Then, they need to be replaced. That costs money, too.
1.All the statements are TRUE except that ________.
A. pesticide has been applied to bug-killing
B. invasive pests are native to Wappinger Creek
C. invasive pests hide in pallets used in shipping
D. the companies making pallets don’t want more rules
2.What can we infer from the passage?
A. Bugs can be easily spotted by eyes.
B. Bugs ruin the shipping goods slowly.
C. Even tiny bugs could be a threat to a tree.
D. Bugs cover trees with white soft balls to protect tress.
3.Why does Gary Lovett want to get rid of wooden pallets?
A. Because insects mostly die in them.
B. Because plastic pallets are eco-friendly.
C. Because they are not worth extra money.
D. Because they are the major pest carriers.
4.What does the passage mainly talk about?
A. Invasive pests are harming plants in the USA.
B. Effective measures have stopped the pest invasion.
C. Congress contributes a lot to dealing with invasive pests.
D. Ecosystem in the USA is poorly damaged by invasive woods.
FOR ALL the technological wonders of modern medicine, from gene-editing to fetal(胎儿的) surgery, health care—with its fax machines and clipboards(资料夹)—is often stubbornly old-fashioned. This outdated era is slowly drawing to a close as, slowly, the industry catches up with the artificial-intelligence (AI) revolution. And it should have happened earlier, argues Eric Topol, a heart doctor keen on digital medicine.
Dr Topol’s vision of medicine’s future is optimistic. He thinks AI will be particularly useful for repetitive tasks where errors arise easily, such as selecting images, examining heart traces for abnormal symptoms or recording doctors’ words into patient records. In short, AI is set to save time, lives and money.
Much of this is imaginary—but AI is already defeating people in a variety of narrow jobs for which it has been trained. Eventually it may be able to diagnose and treat a wider range of diseases. Even then, Dr Topol thinks, humans would watch over the rules, rather than being replaced by them.
The author’s fear is that AI will be used to deepen the assembly-line(流水线) culture of modern medicine. If it awards a “gift of time” on doctors, he argues that this additional benefit should be used to extend the time of consultations, rather than simply speeding through them more efficiently.
The Hippocratic Oath holds that there is an art to medicine as well as a science, and that “warmth, sympathy and understanding may be more important than the surgeon’s knife or the chemist’s drug”. That is not just a cliché: the patients of sympathetic physicians have been shown to do better. As Dr Topol says, it is hard to imagine that a robot could really replace a human doctor. Yet as demand for health care goes beyond the supply of human carers, the future may involve consultations on smartphones and measurements monitored by chat robots. The considerately warmed stethoscope(听诊器), placed gently on a patient’s back, may become history.
1.According to the author, health care has been generally considered ____________.
A. to bring out many technological wonders
B. to boost the sales of fax machines and clipboards
C. to be out of date and fail to keep up with modern times
D. to constantly catch up with new technological progress
2.AI is set to save time, lives and money because it can ___________.
A. repeat doctors’ words and instructions
B. correct doctors’ errors and mistakes
C. select doctors according to patients’ demands
D. replace doctors’ tasks in certain fields
3.The underlined word “cliché” is closest in meaning to __________.
A. an idea so often used that becomes uninteresting
B. an idea so interesting that is often used
C. an effective rule that applies to medicine and doctors
D. a benefit to both doctors and patients
4.It can be inferred from the passage that _____________.
A. AI will completely replace the jobs of doctors
B. doctors’ sympathy and understanding should not be ignored
C. the application of AI will discourage the assembly-line culture
D. AI will bring warmth, sympathy and understanding to patients
Janet Guthrie and Danica Patrick, first female Indy competitor and winner
No complaints about woman drivers. Janet Guthrie, an space engineer who was training to be an astronaut, turned to car racing when she was cut from the space program for not having completed her doctors degree. In 1977, Guthrie became the first female Indy 500 competitor. She didn’t take the lead, but Danica Patrick did. In 2005 and in 2008, Patrick became the first woman ever to win an Indy Car Series.
Raymonde de Laroche, first female licensed pilot
A former actress who'd been born Elise Raymonde Deroche in Paris in 1882, Raymonde de Laroche was inspired to take up flying after seeing the Wright Brothers flight demonstrations in 1907 in France. Though she wasn’t the first female pilot, de Laroche was the first woman to earn a pilot’s license in 1910.
Gertrude Ederle, first woman to swim across the English Channel
On August 6. 1926. Gertrude Caroline Ederle became the first woman to swim across the English Channel. Ederle, who lived to be 98 and died in 2003, was also an Olympic swim champion and five-time world record-holder in five swimming events
Kathrine Switzer, Nina Kuscik and Joan Benoit, first major female marathoners.
In 1967, 20-year-old Kathrine Switzer became the first woman to run in the Boston Marathon, even though race officials had tried to stop her. Nina Kuscik became the first woman to officially win the Boston Marathon, 1972. In 1984, American Joan Benoit became the first winner of the Women’s Olympic Marathon, finishing 400 meters ahead of Norway's Grete Waitz
1.Why was Janet Guthrie forbidden to take up space program?
A. She used to be a woman driver.
B. She showed interested in car racing.
C. She was employed as an engineer.
D. She didn't gain doctors degree.
2.What made Raymonde de Laroche decide to become a pilot?
A. Her experience as an actress.
B. Her settlement in Paris.
C. Wright Brothers influence.
D. Wright Brothers dialogues.
3.What's the similarity between Gertrude Ederle and Kathrine Switzer?
A. They were athletic B. They lived a long life.
C. They had a higher fame. D. They were looked down upon.
听下面一段独白，回答以下小题。
1.How long has the speaker lived in a big city?
A. One year. B. Ten years. C. Eighteen years.
2.What is the speaker’s opinion on public transport?
A. It’s comfortable. B. It’s time-saving. C. It’s cheap.
3.What is good about living in a small town?
A. It’s safer. B. It’s healthier. C. It’s more convenient.
4.What kind of life does the speaker seem to like most?
A. Busy. B. Colorful. C. Quiet.
听下面一段较长对话，回答以下小题。
1.Where does this conversation probably take place?
A. In a restaurant. B. In an office. C. In a classroom.
2.Where does John do now?
A. He’s a trainer. B. He’s a tour guide. C. He’s a college student.
3.How much can a new person earn for the first year?
A. $10,500. B. $12,000. C. $15,000.
4.How many people will the woman hire?
A. Four. B. Three. C. Two.
