A successful move of 21 eastern black rhinos (犀牛) to a new home of a grassy plateau that hasn’t seen them in decades will give them space to live and help increase the population of the critically endangered animals. It was Kenya’s biggest rhino relocation ever.
The rhinos were taken from three parks that are becoming overcrowded to the private Loisaba Conservancy, where rhinos were wiped out by poaching (偷猎) decades ago.
The 18-day exercise involved tracking the rhinos using a helicopter and then shooting them with tranquilizer darts(麻醉飞镖). Then the animals—which weigh about a ton each—have to be loaded into the back of a truck for the move. Disaster nearly struck early in the relocation effort, when a tranquilized rhino fell into a river. Workers held the rhino’s head above water with a rope to stop it from drowning while the tranquilizer drug took effect, and then the rhino was freed.
Some of the rhinos were transferred from Nairobi National Park and made a 300-kilometer trip. Others came from two parks closer to Loisaba.
Rhinos are generally animals enjoying being alone and are at their happiest in large living areas. As numbers in the three parks where the rhinos were moved from have increased, wildlife officials decided to relocate some in the hope that they will be happier and more likely to increase. David Ndere, an expert on rhinos at the Kenya Wildlife Service, said their reproduction rates decrease when there are too many in a territory.
Kenya has had relative success in recovering its black rhino population, which dipped from around 20, 000 in the 1970s to below 300 in the mid-1980s because of hunting, according to conservationists, raising fears that the animals might be wiped out completely in the country. Kenya now has around 1, 000 black rhinos, the third biggest population behind South Africa and Namibia. There are just over 6, 400 wild black rhinos left in the world, all of them in Africa, according to the Save the Rhino organization.
1．What’s the reason why the rhinos were moved to a new home?| A．Locals’ deadly effects. | B．Their limited living space. |
| C．Their too large population. | D．Their preference for a grassy plateau. |
| A．Moving rhinos safely was a very serious challenge. |
| B．The method of transporting rhinos was too backward. |
| C．Many disasters happened during the rhino relocation. |
| D．Most rhinos in the three parks migrated on their own. |
| A．A reintroduction of an endangered animal. | B．A gradual increase of the rhino population. |
| C．A much larger national natural park in Kenya. | D．A more booming tourism with rhino exhibitions. |
| A．Ways to Move Rhinos Safely | B．Black Rhinos’Situation in Kenya |
| C．Kenya’s Biggest Rhino Relocation | D．The Black Rhino Reserves in Kenya |
I was taught at a young age to be afraid rather than to experience life. Don’t ride a bike because you might get hit by a car. Don’t swim because you might drown. That’s why I was initially afraid to approach others. They might say no—how could I live with that rejection?
A book changed me. Near the end of the book, the writer suggested trying out what I had just read but to pretend it was like the training game in a sport—when the games didn’t count. When my teams would lose formal games, I couldn’t bear to watch. But when they lost in the training game, I didn’t care.
I don’t know why the suggestion to pretend my attempts didn’t count could resonate with me. But I knew this new way of thinking worked for me. It gave me power to know the results didn’t matter because this was the exhibition game when I was practicing what I had learned before the real games started.
I discovered there were other ways to use this new tool. It allowed me to have a successful sales career, even though I heard the word “no” hundreds of times. It was part of the business, but I didn’t let it get me down. I turned a negative into a positive by reasoning that every time I heard the word “no”, it meant I was one step closer to “yes”. It’s amazing how powerful you feel when you remove the fear that stops you from going after what you want in life.
I still work my sales job, and we have a lot of high-school and college students working at the company. I will pass on the advice that I learned many years ago and encourage them to use that idea for whatever they want to achieve.
1．Which word can describe the author when he was young?| A．Stubborn. | B．Out-going. | C．Confident. | D．Dissociable. |
| A．The training games are also important. | B．Whatever the game is, it doesn’t count. |
| C．Just have a try and downplay the results. | D．Don’t worry about life’s gains and losses. |
| A．Cope. | B．Deal. | C．Fight. | D．Agree. |
| A．Positive results. | B．Steps to success. |
| C．Excuses to escape. | D．Unbeatable strikes. |
Weekend Visitor Engagement Volunteers—Museum of Zoology
Our wonderful team of Visitor Engagement Volunteers help us make the Museum a friendly, accessible and safe place to visit. We need extra help at weekends when we are at our busiest. This role will suit anyone who is keen to take on a public facing role. Knowledge of the Museum or the collections is not a necessity, but much enthusiasm and willingness to learn is all that is needed. We are looking for a minimum commitment of two shifts per month, which is approximately 7 hours in total.
Visitor Engagement Volunteers provide a friendly welcome and interact with visitors. They supply information about the exhibitions and displays, and answer questions from visitors or direct them to members of staff. You will be acting as the face of the Museum so we’d like you to welcome visitors and be aware of their needs.
Visitor Engagement Volunteers play a valuable role in maintaining museum security during opening hours by supervising visitors in the galleries, and supporting the front of house staff.
Shift times
Tuesdays to Saturdays—10 a. m. to 1:15 p. m. or 1:15 p. m. to 4:30 p. m.
Sundays—12 p. m. to 2 p. m. or 2 p. m. to 4:30 p. m.
How to Get Involved?
Step 1: Log in or create a Volunteer Makers account and accept the challenge.
Step 2: Await a response from the team who will be in touch with further information.
1．What qualities should a volunteer have?| A．Willingness to serve. | B．Enthusiasm to learn. |
| C．Knowledge of the Museum. | D．Knowledge of the collections. |
| A．Meeting all the requests which are made by visitors. |
| B．Helping visitors take full advantage of the museum. |
| C．Replacing all of the staff to serve the visitors better. |
| D．Working all through a month to serve all the visitors. |
| A．On Mondays. | B．On Thursdays. | C．On Saturdays. | D．On Sundays. |
I love to watch my father paint and I love to hear him talk while he paints. The words always come out soft. As a mason (泥瓦匠) , he doesn’t have a studio, and I’ve always felt a little sorry for him, having to paint in our backyard, which is not exactly picturesque. Dad doesn’t seem to see the backyard when he’s painting, though. It’s not just the canvas he sees either. It’s something much bigger. He gets this look in his eye like he’s gone beyond the yard, the neighborhood, the world.
“A painting is more than the sum of its parts,” he would tell me, and then go on to explain how the cow by itself is just a cow, and the meadow by itself is just grass and flowers, and the sun is just a beam of light, but put them all together and you’ve got magic.
I understood what he was saying, but I never felt what he was saying until one day when I was up in the sycamore tree (梧桐树) . I’d never seen a view like that! I got the feeling that I was flying above the earth. The view from the sycamore was more than rooftops and clouds and wind and colors combined. It was magic. It wasn’t long before I found the spot that became my spot. I could sit there for hours, just looking out at the world. Sunsets were amazing. Some days they’d be purple and pink, some days they’d be a blazing orange, setting fire to clouds across the horizon.
Then came the day. When I was sitting in the branches of my tree, I found two trucks parked right beneath me. Four men came out of the trucks, and started unloading tools, gloves, ropes and saws (锯子) .
Pretty soon they spotted me. One of the men called, “Hey! You’d better come down from there. We gotta take this thing down.”
I managed to choke out, “The tree?”
“Yeah, now come on down.”
注意：1. 续写词数应为150左右；China will become the guest country of honor for the 37th International Kite Festival in Berck-sur-Mer from April 20 to 28. It is the first time that the festival
During the nine-day event, the China Cultural Center in Paris will join hands
The International Kite Festival in Berck-sur-Mer is the largest and most
During my teens, I was the champion of the sports day every single year, and my mother won the moms’ trophy (奖杯) every single year. Why? Because she was always chasing me to
We had a very Tom and Jerry relationship. She was the strict disciplinarian; I was the
When I was little, she always caught me, but as I got older and faster, and when speed
Reflecting on those exciting days two decades later, I’ve come to understand that amid the
| A．discipline | B．defend | C．abuse | D．battle |
| A．occasionally | B．slowly | C．constantly | D．awkwardly |
| A．smartest | B．cutest | C．naughtiest | D．youngest |
| A．games | B．groceries | C．belts | D．books |
| A．change | B．protein | C．bonus | D．benefit |
| A．fade | B．slip | C．turn | D．back |
| A．magical | B．annual | C．unusual | D．typical |
| A．dominated | B．disturbed | C．failed | D．seized |
| A．out of place | B．out of breath | C．out of sight | D．out of balance |
| A．ultimate | B．casual | C．military | D．offensive |
| A．motivated | B．stuck | C．buried | D．involved |
| A．holds on | B．stands by | C．turns back | D．steps in |
| A．purchase | B．pursuit | C．crime | D．commitment |
| A．chaos | B．ruins | C．emergencies | D．comedies |
| A．touched | B．bound | C．hurt | D．enhanced |
If you are trying to assess a person’s character, make sure you do not rely too heavily on factors that can be misleading. Instead, observe the individual’s ability to tell the truth and to commit.
You can tell a lot about a person’s character by observing how he treats other people.
Whether or not a person is honest says a lot about his character. The attitude a person has about honesty can also indicate what type of person he is.
A person’s character is affected by his attitude.
When you are trying to assess someone’s character, remember that it consists of qualities and habits that form his identity.
| A．More importantly, it’s necessary to continue his inner struggle. |
| B．The level of commitment indicates the type of character he has. |
| C．There are many other things in life that may require commitment. |
| D．This includes both people he knows and people he does not know. |
| E．Also, pay attention to his attitude and try to distinguish how it impacts his life. |
| F．Observe the person’s conversations and try to determine how often he tells lies. |
| G．Some people generally have a negative outlook while others may try to be positive even in difficult situations. |
In recent years, much of my life, as a consumer has shifted to what I like to call background spending. As I’ve subscribed to more apps and streaming platforms, significant sums of my money tend to slip away each month without my ever thinking about it.
Think of it as automated trade. Spending without the trouble of spending. Acquisition without action or thought.
But while this flood of subscriptions was sold to me on the condition that it would make my life more trouble free, there was a certain shock I felt upon discovering how much I was spending without realizing each month ($179.45).
You see, the thing about background spending is that it tends to happen, well, in the background without your full attention. And there lies the point.
“Hand over your credit card details and let us take care of the rest,” these companies promise us. But by agreeing to this trade, we’ve become lazy passive consumers. And this laziness breeds more laziness because most of us can’t be bothered with conducting regular reviews of our subscription spending. We’re too lazy to even notice or cancel!
I know it’s not just me who is suddenly living life as a smooth-brained subscriber. The average consumer spends $273 per month on subscriptions, according to a 2021 study of 2,500 by digital services firm West Monroe. Not a single person surveyed knew what his actual monthly spending was.
It’s understandable why this model is so attractive to businesses. As companies questioned traditional advertising models, subscriptions offered the promise of “selling once and earning forever.” And while subscription services have been around for decades (think Wine of the Month Club), more customers have been willing to sign up thanks to the widespread availability of smartphones and the increasing ease of home delivery.
While these subscriptions promise ease and happiness, not all of us are satisfied. Last year, the Kearney Consumer Institute found 40 percent of consumers believe they have too many subscriptions. Almost half of us also think we pay too much for streaming video-on-demand subscriptions.
1．What can we know about background spending in paragraph 2?| A．Its purpose. | B．Its feature. | C．Its procedure. | D．Its requirement. |
| A．Its attractive price. | B．Some people’s poor habit. |
| C．Its secure service. | D．Some people’s addiction to it. |
| A．It offers good home delivery services. |
| B．It is like traditional advertising models. |
| C．It is popular among smartphone producers. |
| D．It brings repeated profits through a single sale. |
| A．Supportive. | B．Optimistic. | C．Critical. | D．Unclear. |
Handwritten notes in class might seem outdated as digital technology involves nearly every aspect of learning. But a steady stream of research suggests that compared with typing, taking notes with pen and paper is still a better way to learn. And scientists are zeroing in on why.
In a recently published study, scientists found that those writing by hand had higher levels of electrical activity across many interconnected brain regions. They added 256 sensors into a hairnet, which helped monitor 36 students’ brains as they wrote or typed words displayed on a screen. When students wrote by hand, the sensors picked up widespread brain connectivity including visual regions, regions that receive and process sensory information, and the motor cortex (运动皮层) . Typing, however, resulted in minimal activity in these brain regions.
Across many contexts, studies have shown that students appear to learn better when they’re asked to produce letters or other visual items using their fingers and hands. The educational neuroscientist Sophia Vinci-Booher says the recent study highlights the clear tie between motor action and conceptual recognition: “As you’re drawing a letter or writing a word, you’re taking this perceptual (感知的) understanding of something and using your motor system to create it. That creation is then fed back into the visual system, where it’s processed again — strengthening the connection between an action and the images or words associated with it.”
The new findings don’t mean technology is always a disadvantage in the classroom. Laptops, smartphones, and other such devices can be more efficient for writing essays and can offer fairer access to educational resources. But people now increasingly tend to “offload” mental tasks to digital devices, such as by taking a photograph instead of committing information to memory, says Yadurshana Sivashankar at the University of Waterloo in Ontario. “If we’re not actively using these areas, then they are going to worsen over time, whether it’s memory or motor skills.”
1．What is the function of the sensors in the recent study according to Paragraph 2?| A．To record brain activity. | B．To activate brain waves. |
| C．To connect visual regions. | D．To process sensory information. |
| A．One’s motor system boosts his creativity. | B．One’s writing action enhances his perception. |
| C．Learning performance relies on visual memory. | D．Concrete images contributes to comprehension. |
| A．Owe. | B．Link. | C．Shift. | D．Bring. |
| A．Note-taking: the key to a good grade | B．Digital learning: beneficial or harmful |
| C．Typing vs handwriting: efficiency counts | D．Handwritten notes: conventional but effective |
Every Thursday afternoon, the food pantry (食品储藏室) at the local high school opens up to provide fresh food bags for families who can hardly make both ends meet to get their meals to last through the weekend. Nearly a hundred families rely on the extra food. Some are between jobs, some got hit hard with medical bills for a few months, and some are new to the neighborhood, placed there by refugee services.
On one breezy afternoon, two young mothers walked in together, each accompanied by a young child. There was nothing different about their dress, but their manner revealed a shyness that they struggled to overcome. When they spoke, it was clear why: Their accents were thick, even though they were trying hard to make their English sound American. They were uncertain of being understood. But the pantry is run by grandmothers who are never pressed for time when it comes to conversations. So they sat for a moment and told their story while the little ones were held in arms so very familiar with children.
The two lived in apartments in the basement of the Methodist Church. They had been in the United States for one month. Their husbands were well-educated but working labor jobs to pay for food and save for more typical apartments.
Both had fled the war in Eastern Europe, one family from Ukraine and one from Russia. They ended up in the same church basement and discovered that they needed each other. They became fast friends. Their children played together. They shared meals and navigated their new world together.
There were no bombs or soldiers or rations in their new neighborhood, only a chance to start over. Friendships are sometimes hard to come by, yet matter so much to each of us. A good friend gives us strength, love, laughter and the courage to keep trying.
These two families — worn down by uncertainty and war, thrown together in a new country, a new community with a new language — found so much in common. And isn’t that what we all need? A friend who faces the same life challenges, even if the forces above them have different political views. We are, after all, just mothers and fathers, friends and neighbors.
1．In the article, who primarily benefits from the services provided by the food pantry?| A．High school students. | B．People with disabilities. |
| C．Families with tight budgets. | D．Underpaid individuals. |
| A．Their clothing. | B．Their language. |
| C．Their children. | D．Their ID documents. |
| A．They both live in the basement of the same church. |
| B．They met at the same restaurant. |
| C．They are from the same country. |
| D．They both have similar professions. |
| A．Challenges of Life and New Friendship | B．The Story of the Food Pantry |
| C．New Life in America | D．From War to Peace |
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