【推荐1】He was amazed at the results. The plants and animals in the eco-machine took the sludge as food and began to eat it! Within weeks, it had all been digested, and all that was left was pure water.

Over the years, John has taken on many big jobs. He developed a greenhouse — like facility that treated sewage (污水) from 1,600 homes in South Burlington. He also designed an eco-machine to clean canal water in Fuzhou, a city in southeast China.

“Ecological design” is the name John gives to what he does. “Life on Earth is kind of a box of spare parts for the inventor,” he says. “You put organisms in new relationships and observe what’s happening. Then you let these new systems develop their own ways to self-repair.”

1. What is the author’s purpose in mentioning Fuzhou?

A．To review John’s research plans.

B．To show an application of John’s idea.

C．To compare John’s different jobs.

D．To erase doubts about John’s invention.

2. What is the basis for John’s work?

A．Nature can repair itself.

B．Organisms need water to survive.

C．Life on Earth is diverse.

D．Most tiny creatures live in groups.

【推荐2】When John Todd was a child, he loved to explore the woods around his house, observing how nature solved problems. A dirty stream, for example, often became clear after flowing through plants and along rocks where tiny creatures lived. When he got older, John started to wonder if this process could be used to clean up the messes people were making.

After studying agriculture, medicine, and fisheries in college, John went back to observing nature and asking questions. Why can certain plants trap harmful bacteria (细菌)? Which kinds of fish can eat cancer-causing chemicals? With the right combination of animals and plants, he figured, maybe he could clean up waste the way nature did. He decided to build what he would later call an eco-machine.

The task John set for himself was to remove harmful substances from some sludge (污泥). First, he constructed a series of clear fiberglass tanks connected to each other. Then he went around to local ponds and streams and brought back some plants and animals. He placed them in the tanks and waited. Little by little, these different kinds of life got used to one another and formed their own ecosystem. After a few weeks, John added the sludge.

He was amazed at the results. The plants and animals in the eco-machine took the sludge as food and began to eat it! Within weeks, it had all been digested, and all that was left was pure water.

Over the years, John has taken on many big jobs. He developed a greenhouse — like facility that treated sewage (污水) from I,600 homes in South Burlington. He also designed an eco-machine to clean canal water in Fuzhou, a city in southeast China.

“Ecological design” is the name John gives to what he does. “Life on Earth is kind of a box of spare parts for the inventor,” he says. “You put organisms in new relationships and observe what’s happening. Then you let these new systems develop their own ways to self-repair.”

What is the basis for John’s work?

A．Nature can repair itself.

B．Organisms need water to survive.

C．Life on Earth is diverse.

D．Most tiny creatures live in groups.

【推荐3】I have worked as a keeper at the National Zoo, Paris for 11 years. Spot and Stripe are the first tiger cubs that have ever been born here. Globally, a third of Sumatran cubs in zoos don’t make it to adulthood, so I decided to give them round-the-clock care at home.

I’ve got two children—the younger one, Kynan, was extremely happy about the tigers arriving - but all of us really looked forward to being part of their lives and watching them grow. I wasn’t worried about bringing them into my home with my wife and kids. These were cubs. They weighed about 2.5 kg and were so small that there was absolutely no risk.

As they grew more mobile, we let them move freely around the house during the day, but when we were asleep we had to contain them in a large room, otherwise they’d get up to mischief. We’d come down in the morning to find they’d turned the room upside down, and left it looking like a zoo.

Things quickly got very intense due to the huge amount of energy required to look after them. There were some tough times and I just felt extremely tired. I was grateful that my family was there to help. We had to have a bit of a production line going, making up “tiger milk”, washing baby bottles, and cleaning the floors.

When Spot and Stripe were four months old, they were learning how to open doors and jump fences, and we knew it really was time for them to go. It was hard for us to finally part with them. For the first few days, Kynan was always a bit disappointed that the cubs weren’t there.

I'm not sad about it. I’m hands-on with them every day at the zoo, and I do look back very fondly on the time that we had them.

What did the author think of raising the tiger cubs at home?

A．Boring.

B．Tiring.

C．Costly.

D．Risky.

【推荐1】......

Wendy Wilson, extra care manager at 60 Penfold Street, one of the first to embark on the project, said: “Residents really welcome the idea of the project and the creative sessions. We are looking forward to the benefits and fun the project can bring to people here.”

Lynn Lewis, director of Notting Hill Pathways, said: “We are happy to be taking part in the project. It will really help connect our residents through a shared interest and creative activities.”

What do the underlined words “embark on” mean in paragraph 7?

A．Improve.

B．Oppose.

C．Begin.

D．Evaluate

【推荐3】The oceans occupy most of the Earth’s surface — about 70% — to the point of giving our planet its unmistakable colour. As such, they can tell the state of the Earth’s health: to observe them is to know where we stand.

In terms of climate, the warming and acidification of the oceans have harmful consequences for marine life and for land: there is of course the rise in water levels which threatens communities settling along the coasts. There is also a risk that is even more worrying since the oceans are no longer able to perform the climate regulation function that they have long fulfilled. As far as biodiversity (生物多样性) is concerned, the diagnosis is even more alarming.

We are well aware of these interacting crises, in particular thanks to the work of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO. We also know where we must act. However, we still have to reflect matters and cooperate widely in order to manage the unavoidable and prevent the uncorrectable.

COVID-19 affords us this opportunity to come together and set up ambitious programmes of action. This is true for climate; it is true for biodiversity; it is also true for the oceans, as the United Nations Special Envoy for the Ocean, Peter Thomson, explained: “If there were ever a tide in human affairs that should be taken, this is it.”

It is indeed our responsibility to seize this moment. We must firstly learn more about the depths, which remain largely unknown to us and still hold many secrets that only we can reveal. Secondly, we must give free rein to imagination and innovation, which we need in order to deal with this worrying situation. This is why we have made innovation the theme of 2020 World Oceans Day. We must also seize this moment to sound the alarm, perhaps more widely than we have done so far, because no technical solution can replace a widespread, personal understanding of the threats to the oceans, their mysteries and their beauty.

1. What has made people worried about the oceans according to Paragraph 2?
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
2. What does the underlined phrase “give free rein to” probably mean?

A．Place a restriction on.	B．Be in possession of.
C．Give complete freedom to.	D．Come up with.

【推荐1】This was the first communication that had come from her aunt in Jessie’s lifetime.

“I think your aunt has forgiven me at last,” her father said as he passed the letter across the table.

Jessie looked first at the autograph(签名). It seemed strange to see her own name there. There was a likeness between her aunt’s autograph and her own, a hint of the same decisiveness and precision. If Jessie had been educated fifty years earlier, she might have written her name in just that manner.

“You’re very like her in some ways,” her father said, as she still stared at the autograph.

“I should think you must almost have forgotten what Aunt Jessie was like, dear,” she said. “How many years is it since you last saw her?”

“More than forty,” her father said. “We disagreed. We invariably disagreed. Jessie always prided herself on being so modern. She read Darwin and things like that. Altogether beyond me, I admit.”

“And so it seems that she wants to see me.” Jessie straightened her shoulders and lifted her head. She was excited at the thought of meeting this mythical aunt whom she had so often heard about. Sometimes she had wondered if the personality of this remarkable relative had not been a figment(虚构) of her father’s imagination.

But this letter of hers that now lay on the breakfast table was admirable in character. There was something of intolerance expressed in its tone. It was just like what her father had told her.

Mr. Deane came out of his past memories with a sigh.

“Yes, yes; she wants to see you, my dear,” he said. “I’ve heard she has set up a school and helped many youngsters. I think you had better accept this invitation to stay with her. If she took a fancy to you, you could get a better education…”

He sighed again, and Jessie knew that for the hundredth time he was regretting his own past weakness...

1. From the passage, we know Jessie was                 .

A．eager to meet her aunt

B．cautious about her aunt’s invitation

C．angry with her aunt for ignoring her family

D．puzzled by her aunt’s sudden interest in her

2. What can we learn from the passage?

A．Jessie’s aunt promised to offer her better education.

B．Jessie’s aunt’s personality seemed to change a lot.

C．Jessie and her aunt were different in personality.

D．Jessie’s father felt sorry for what he had done.

【推荐2】When I was 9, we packed up our home in Los Angeles and arrived at Heathrow, London on a gray January morning. Everyone in the family settled quickly into the city except me. Without my beloved beaches and endless blue—sky days, I felt at a loss and out of place. Until I made a discovery.

Southbank, at an eastern bend in the Thames, is the center of British skateboarding, where the continuous crashing of skateboards left your head ringing .I loved it. I soon made friends with the local skaters. We spoke our own language. And my favorite: Safe. Safe meant cool. It meant hello. It meant don’t worry about it. Once, when trying a certain trick on the beam(横杆), I fell onto the stones, damaging a nerve in my hand, and Toby came over, helping me up: Safe, man. Safe. A few minutes later, when I landed the trick, my friends beat their boards loud, shouting: “ Safe! Safe! Safe!” And that’s what mattered—landing tricks, being a good skater.

When I was 15, my family moved to Washington. I tried skateboarding there, but the locals were far less welcoming. Within a couple of years, I’d given it up.

When I returned to London in 2004, I found myself wandering down to Southbank, spending hours there. I’ve traveled back several times since, most recently this past spring. The day was cold but clear: tourists and Londoners stopped to watch the skaters. Weaving(穿梭)among the kids who rushed by on their boards, I found my way to the beam. Then a rail—thin teenager, in a baggy white T—shirt, skidded(滑)up to the beam. He sat next to me. He seemed not to notice the man next to him. But soon I caught a few of his glances. “I was a local here 20 years ago,” I told him. Then, slowly, he began to nod his head. “Safe, man. Safe.”

“Yeah,” I said. “Safe.”

What do the underlined words “Safe! Safe! Safe!” probably mean?

A．Be careful!

B．Well done!

C．No way!

D．Don’t worry!

【推荐3】Peter, a 5-year-old boy, showed such great interest in seashells that he would rush to pick them up with his 3-year-old sister, Shirley. They screamed out their joy as Peter collected his treasure into his pockets. For Peter, sea shells lay shining on the peaceful beach, waiting for him, just like stars twinkling (闪烁) in the sky. As waves touched them, they seemed to be flowers blooming (绽放) in gentle wind.

One day, Peter was wandering through a market with Shirley with some shells in his pocket. Suddenly Peter found his younger sister was lagging (落后) behind. He stopped and looked back, finding Shirley standing in front of a toy shop and staring at something with great interest. The boy went back to her and asked, “What do you want?” Shirley pointed at the doll, wearing a smile on her innocent face. Peter held his younger sister’s tiny hand, walking into the shop. He tiptoed (踮起脚尖) to reach for the doll, and like fulfilling an elder brother’s duty, gave the precious doll to Shirley. Holding tightly the doll, the sister was very happy.

The shopkeeper was watching everything and enjoyed seeing the mature (成熟的) behavior of the boy. Now the boy came to the counter and asked the shopkeeper, “How much does this doll cost, Sir?” The shopkeeper was a cool man, who had suffered from something in his life. So he asked the boy with love, “Well, what can you pay?” Peter reached into his clothes for money that was intended for these two little kids’ breakfast. Having counted the money, Peter put it with care on the counter, asking again, “Sir, is it enough for my little sister’s doll?” The amusing scene just in front of the shopkeeper eventually brought a smile to his face. Shaking his head slightly, he replied, “My boy, I am afraid it seems not to be enough.”

1. 选择恰当的词并用其正确形式填入文本图示中，每词(词组)限用一次。

amuse                  take up                  attract                  desire                  innocence                  responsibility make                  witness                  refuse                  loving                  care                  passion
Peter and his 3-year-old sister ________the habit of collecting seashells, because the charming features of seashells were so ________.
Wandering on the beach, Peter found his sister lagging behind at a toy store. The little girl drooled on (痴迷) a doll and_________ to purchase it. The shopkeeper________the whole scene.	The little girl showed her longing for the toy with her big,________smile. The boy immediately felt________ to help. The shopkeeper found the two kids’ behavior________.
The boy asked for the price of the doll and decided to sacrifice his and his sister’s breakfast fund to get it, while the shopkeeper________to seal the deal saying that the money would not be enough.	The little boy took out his money________and the shopkeeper looked at him________.

2. What words can be used to describe the little boy?
3. How did the little boy intend to pay?
4. What might happen next?