2022 Wildlife Photographer of the Year Awards

A yearly contest for the Wildlife Photographer of the Year was held in London this year. The contest had 38,575 entries from around the world. Let’s have a scanning of four of this year’s best works.

The great prize this year belonged to Karine Aigner of the US for an incredible shot of a ball of bees. The “ball” was formed with a lot of male bees fighting to win a single female bee. The picture was taken in southern Texas. Ms Aigner says that soon after the picture was taken, a female bee flew off with one of the males.

Dmitry Kokh of Russia won the award for Urban Wildlife. His picture of polar bears in an old house was taken on an island in the Chukchi Sea, between Russia and Alaska. Mr Kokh was on a boat when he noticed polar bears walking through an area where no one had lived for years. To get the picture without disturbing the bears,he used a quiet drone (无人机) to take the picture.

Fernando Constantino Martinez Belmar of Mexico had to wait in the dark in a cave filled with bats and snakes to get the image. Rat snakes in Yucatàn hang from cracks in the ceiling of the cave, hoping to grab one of the many bats that are flying out of the cave for the night. Using a red light that wouldn’t disturb the animals, Mr Martinez Belmar waited until just the right moment to take the picture. He won the Amphibian and Reptile Behavior prize.

Nick Kanakis of the US took the picture of a wood wren (鹧鸪) — a bird that spends most of its time on the ground. The bird has its ear to the ground, listening for insects to catch and eat. After spotting a bird looking for food farther away, he stayed very still to get the shot, which won the prize for Bird Behavior.

1. Why do the bees develop a ball in Ms Aigner’s picture?

A．To protect them from being shot.

B．To struggle to get a female partner.

C．To fight with their common enemy.

D．To express their greetings to humans.

2. Which animals in the pictures are hunting other animals?

A．Bees and polar bears.

B．Polar bears and the snakes.

C．The snakes and the bird.

D．The bird and bees.

3. What does the text mainly tell us about the four works?

A．The influence of the photographs.

B．The background of the photographs.

C．The introduction of their photographers.

D．The technology used in the photographing.

When I was a child, my grandmother often said interpersonal communication mattered. She backed that up with her own behavior, and she invested her time and energy in interacting with people. When she walked down the street, she spoke to everyone, whether an elderly or a child, speaking whether English or Spanish.

However, as she aged, she noticed that most people wouldn’t have time for communication that’s longer than a 160-character text message, much less time to develop genuine friendships that last decades. In fact, people are barely speaking to one another nowadays. As much as I hate to admit it, I have noticed it too.

My grandmother opened my mind to having a pen pal on the other side of the world. It all started in 2013 when I was at University of Southern California. I met with Kerstin Zilm, a German radio personality who wanted to interview me about being a student struggling financially. I didn’t know much about German culture or the German audience who would listen to the show, but I agreed to do so. I had internalized(使内在化)my grandmother’s concept and I felt this was another way of communication and that speaking about my story was better than keeping it to myself. You never knew who could learn from your life experiences.

After the story aired, a woman named Renate reached out to Kerstin, inquiring how she could find me and help me financially with college. I was grateful, but my pride didn’t allow me to accept the money.

However, I didn’t let the opening halt. Encouraged by Kerstin, I emailed Renate back, thanking her for her kindness. This was the beginning of a beautiful intercontinental friend-ship. From then on, Renate and I often emailed each other. And whenever I was in trouble, she was always there. She sent me virtual hugs at the moments when I needed them most. Though I have never met her in person, she is one of the most important people in my life.

4. What do we know about the author’s grandmother?

A．She made lots of foreign friends.

B．She valued family relationships.

C．She liked to wander on the streets.

D．She kept bonding with other people.

5. What does the author think of the people today?

A．They show little respect to the elderly.

B．They look forward to having a pen pal.

C．They have limited communication with others.

D．They like chatting through long text messages.

6. What made the author decide to accept the interview?

A．Her grandmother’s wisdom.

B．Her pen pal’s encouragement.

C．Her poverty-stricken situation.

D．Her curiosity about German culture.

7. What does the underlined word “halt”in the last paragraph mean?

A．Continue.

B．Appear.

C．Extend.

D．Stop.

Software expert James Curran helped rewrite Australia’s new curriculum(全部课程)for information technology subjects. He said the changes to the current curriculum could stop teenagers avoiding computing and maths subjects in high school.“Kids are naturally curious, but we don’t set up the curriculum in a way that awakens their curiosity so that they can learn the things they want to, and the things they have to,”Curran said.“Teaching maths and computing in a new way makes a very big difference.“

As more and more high school students drop out of advanced maths subjects, Dr Curran warned that computing subjects were in an even more difficult position than them. Only 1,748 year-12 students enrolled(登记)in software design and development in New South Wales last year—about half the 3,300 who studied the subject 10 years ago. Enrolments in information technology have declined sharply,from 10,000 in 2001 to just 1,939 students in 2021.

“Students are not taking computing subjects at the senior level because the subject is a bit out of date,”Curran said.“Computing is a subject that changes all the time and needs to be changed every few years, so I would like to see a continuous process of smaller changes and updates to it.”

As schools struggle to make students stick with the subjects of information technology, engineering and maths,1,000 primary schools across Australia have signed up for a new pro-gram to get young kids interested in high-tech jobs. The program uses online lessons to show children as young as six the process of designing the Olympics logo, and how Netflix collects information to decide which movies to make.

11-year-old student Mia Lucas had fun completing a model on UX design.   It is the“user experience”process that design teams use to create products.“I’ve always been interested in creating a website or an app but didn’t know the first step in doing that,“ she said.“The pro-gram helps me a lot.”

8. What is the new curriculum supposed to be according to Curran?

A．Typical.

B．Controversial.

C．Appealing.

D．Challenging.

9. What can we know about computing subjects in Australian schools?

A．They are less popular with today’s teenagers.

B．They are valued negatively by many schools.

C．They are harder than advanced maths subjects.

D．They are keeping a continuous rate of updating.

10. How does the new program encourage the students to take computing subjects?

A．By offering high-tech jobs to them.

B．By turning lessons into virtual ones.

C．By letting them choose subjects freely.

D．By showing applications of the subjects.

11. What can be the best title for the text?

A．Australian students are deserting the computing subjects

B．A new curriculum fails to work with Australian students

C．How did an Australian student fall in love with computing?

D．Why did Australian schools stick with computing subjects?

Many sensing systems used in water have a problem: They rely on batteries that are often made from unsustainable materials, so such batteries will need replacing at some point.

To look for a cleaner, more long-lasting alternative, Zhonglin Wang at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, and his colleagues have created a self-charging buoy(浮标). It uses nanogenerators(纳米发电机)to gain power from the movement of waves.

The buoy consists of an acrylic(丙烯酸的)ball about 10 centimeters across and four nanogenerators connected to a part that collects the produced charge. As the water moves back and forth through the nanogenerators, they generate around 24.5 milliwatts of power.

It is suggested that the buoy could be used to check and monitor water levels for early flood warning systems. However, there are already many effective and cheap alternatives for this task, says Wouter Buytaert at Imperial College London. Non-contact methods, such as lidar(激光雷达), are probably more suitable for sensing water levels, he explains.

“The new power generation method could prove useful for situations in which non-contact methods aren’t workable, though, such as water quality sensing,”   Buytaert says. “There have been devices similar to the buoys in measuring and checking long-term water quality. But if such application is combined with the function of power collecting shown here, it could be more promising,”Buytaert says.

However, if used in rivers, the buoy would possibly be damaged by rising or violently moving water, especially if they are fixed at the rapids of the flood as an early warning system.“In these environments, there is often a high sand load in the river during a flood, so any sensor actually in the river is likely to get destroyed,” says Liz Stephens at the University of Reading, UK.

12. What advantage does the new buoy have?

A．It is more easily operated.

B．It is much greener.

C．It is more functional.

D．It is lower-cost.

13. What does paragraph 3 mainly focus on?

A．The inspiration of creating the buoy.

B．The practical applications of the buoy.

C．The design and working principle of the buoy.

D．The drawback and probable danger of the buoy.

14. Which word best describes Buytaert’s attitude to the new buoy?

A．Objective.

B．Appreciative.

C．Doubtful.

D．Uncaring.

15. Which of the following is a potential problem of the new buoy?

A．It works unstably.

B．It breaks down easily.

C．It causes a high sand load.

D．It gives unreliable test results.

We live in an age where we expect instant satisfaction from everything. Packages must be delivered within 24 hours and meals at a restaurant need to arrive within 30 minutes.     16    The good news is that patience can be developed with time and practice. Here are some ways to help you become more patient.

    17    Take a slightly longer route on your walk home. Appreciate the smell of your food before having a meal you love. Practice things like word puzzles that will test your patience. By doing these small things, you’ll develop your patience.

Knowing your triggers(诱因)will help you take better charge of a situation the next time you find yourself impatient.    18    For example, maybe you grow impatient when you see a long line at your favorite coffee shop. You can choose another time to go when you know it’ll be less busy.

Slowing things down when appropriate can help you build patience. Take some aspects in your life you can afford to slow down. For example, wait for your coffee to brew (冲泡) on a weekend morning.    19    

Accept things that are out of your control. If you are stuck in a traffic jam,there’s little you can do to get out of it.     20    You can either observe the cars around you or play some music in your car.

A．Looking at things from another perspective.

B．Being more patient reduces your stress levels.

C．Enjoy such process occasionally rather than rush to do it.

D．Identify the things, places or people that make you impatient.

E．Many people have grown more and more impatient as a result.

F．Becoming more patient is a long journey and start it with small steps.

G．Instead of getting frustrated, accept your situation and make the best of it.

When I was young, my family had trouble with money. My parents worked at a restaurant, and I often helped them. One day, a newcomer ordered a meal, but had no money on him. He asked if he could pay another time, and asked me what my ______ was. Although I felt a little strange, I agreed and told him to call me “Angela”. After that, the ______ man was nowhere to be seen. I ______ everywhere and even asked everyone at the restaurant if they had seen him. My mom said I had been sitting ______, talking to myself, “Where can I find him?” Sometimes, she couldn’t help shouting, “Are you out of your ______? There was no one around you.”

That night, my mom was ______. She told me that my grandma had passed away and that the rent on our apartment had gone up. Choking up, she said, “I don’t know how to ______ the funeral expenses and the high rent.” I ______ her I would help pick up the odds and ends. Then I went to check our mailbox, but I found nothing.

My mom told me to check the mailbox again. I ______ in it and pulled out two huge envelopes. She opened one, only to find the big ______ for our apartment. She then walked into her room, saying she was afraid to ______ the other.

I looked at it and saw this: Dear Angela, Love, Your Friend. I tore it open and emptied the ______ onto the bed. There were some checks, all ______ to me. Later, I learned my strange ______ from the restaurant sent it. ______ the valuable checks, we got through the difficult time.

21.

A．wish

B．number

C．duty

D．name

22.

A．ugly

B．familiar

C．odd

D．mad

23.

A．searched

B．hesitated

C．begged

D．wandered

24.

A．patiently

B．calmly

C．asleep

D．alone

25.

A．wages

B．senses

C．life

D．way

26.

A．whispering

B．weeping

C．waiting

D．chatting

27.

A．predict

B．present

C．afford

D．announce

28.

A．assured

B．stroke

C．forgave

D．annoyed

29.

A．cut

B．poured

C．broke

D．reached

30.

A．lock

B．bill

C．ownership

D．description

31.

A．make

B．shut

C．believe

D．handle

32.

A．contents

B．coins

C．packs

D．clothes

33.

A．restored

B．known

C．addressed

D．acknowledged

34.

A．staff

B．manager

C．customer

D．relative

35.

A．On account of

B．Apart from

C．Instead of

D．In spite of

47. 阅读下面材料，根据其内容和所给段落开头语续写两段，使之构成一篇完整的短文。

Lucy Marlow had everything an eleven-year-old girl could possibly want except one thing:a pair of pink leather roller skates(旱冰鞋). Unfortunately, the skates cost over $1,700. Even though Lucy’s parents were very indulgent(纵容的), they thought it was too much for a toy. “It’s not a toy!” Lucy cried. “It’s transportation!” Lucy’s parents gave in and promised that she could have them only if she had straight A on her report card.

Soon at the end of the term, Lucy proudly presented her parents with the straight—A report card they’d demanded, and the next weekend, Lucy was whizzing(飞速行驶)around the neighborhood faster than anyone else with her new skates.

Then one day when Lucy went to school, she was surprised to discover there was a new girl in her class. She was sitting at the desk next to Lucy in geography and she looked very friendly.

“Hi! I’m Lucy!” Lucy whispered, “Want to go roller skating after school?”

“Hi! Mi name is Heather. But I’m afraid I can’t!” Heather said.

”Listen, if you don’t have skates, you can use my old ones, “Lucy said.” I have a brand new pair...”

The bell rang, Heather reached to pick up a pair of crutches(拐杖)under the desk and got up. Lucy was shocked to find one of her legs was missing above the knee. She gasped, “Oh, I’m so sorry! What happened?” Heather shrugged, “It was a car accident.”

That night, Lucy couldn’t sleep. She got up and turned on her laptop. There were all kinds of prosthetic limbs(假肢)for kids. Lucy wondered why Heather didn’t have one.

The next day, over lunch, Lucy asked Heather, “So, how come you don’t have a prosthetic limb?” Heather blushed. “I had one three years ago, after the accident,” she explained, “But I outgrew it. My dad lost his job so we don’t have insurance anymore. We’ve contacted a non-profit that helps kids like me, but I’m on a waiting list...” Hearing her words, Lucy fell into a short silence, remembering how she pressured her parents into buying her the pink skates.

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。

Then looking at Heather, Lucy had an idea.

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The next day, Lucy and her parents contacted the school principal.

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