There’s nothing better than a walk in the countryside for lifting our spirits. Connecting with nature can help our mental health. For many people, it feels great to take a walk through a forest, but as we admire the trees around us, it’s worth knowing these trees are doing more than just being nice things to look at.
We have already noticed that trees play an important role in taking care of our world—they produce oxygen and clean the air we breathe by taking in about a quarter of all human-caused carbon dioxide emissions（二氧化碳排放）.
But there’s more to these trees than we might think. Researchers have discovered that they are actually very smart.
It’s thought that trees use a fungal network（真菌网络）to talk and share resources right under our feet. Under the ground are tree roots, bacteria（细菌）and super fine threads of fungi（菌丝）. And research has shown that they are all mixed together. They can help each other by sharing “food”, and they can even tell them some coming dangers. Scientists say it’s like the trees are talking to one another.
Ecologist（生态学家）Suzanne Simard has called this network the Wood Wide Web. She discovered that parent trees use this network to help their children. She also found that trees are smart enough to change their behaviour to live in a changing environment.
So it seems trees really are the stars of our natural world, and with around three trillion of them on our planet, it’s time to show them some respect if we want them to grow better.
1. The trees can take in about ________ carbon dioxide emissions caused by human.| A．10% | B．25% | C．50% | D．75% |
| A．human-caused emissions | B．underground tree roots |
| C．some coming dangers | D．a fungal network |
| A．An ecologist usually gives speeches for children. | B．An ecologist does something to cheer us up. |
| C．An ecologist helps people with mental problems. | D．An ecologist does some research about plants. |
| A．Animal World | B．Amazing Plants | C．Business Information | D．Sports Stars |
| A．Trees are actually very smart to live on the earth. |
| B．Trees provide resources for people in the world. |
| C．Connecting with nature can help our mental health. |
| D．Trees are in danger because of a changing environment. |
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【推荐1】Today there are more than 6 million people on the earth. By the year 2050 there may be 12.5 billion. This means we need more food.
One way to produce more food is by growing stronger plants. For thousands of years, farmers have made plants better. Every season, they pick the best plants for the next season. It works very lowly. Since 1983, scientists have been able to change plants more quickly by changing their genetic material (遗传物质). Foods from plants grown in this way are called genetically modified foods (转基因食品), or GM foods.
By changing the genetic material of a plant, it is possible to make new plants. They make plants which are strong against plant diseases. They can also help in our diseases: a kind of rice is being prepared, for example, which stops people from becoming blind.
Rich countries produce GM foods because they are easy to grow and bring in more money. Poor countries are interested in them because they help produce more food. GM plants are not natural. No one knows how good or bad they are. Making GM foods is only one way of feeding people in 2050. There are strong feelings against them, because they are unnatural. They may feed people, then hurt them or their children later. But, both rich and poor countries are very interested in their use, and they are not going to go away. In 2050 we may think differently about them.
1. What does the underlined word “GM foods” in paragraph 2 mean?| A．Genetic material of a plant | B．Genetic material |
| C．Diseases | D．Genetically modified foods |
| A．6 billion. | B．Perhaps 12.5 billion. |
| C．Less than 6 billion. | D．We have no idea. |
| A．No, no one knows. | B．Yes, no one does. |
| C．No, someone does. | D．Yes, someone knows. |
| A．Because they work very slowly. |
| B．Because poor countries are not interested in this kind of foods. |
| C．Because GM foods are easy to grow and bring in more money. |
| D．Because GM plants are not natural. |
| A．Dolphin’s life and food | B．Amy’s job at a marine park |
| C．Education in park | D．GM foods |
As time goes by, are you still the same person you were? Many of you would think you are.
In 1950, a group of teachers gave over 1200 14-year-old students personality tests.
In 2012, researchers successfully found 174 of those 1200 students and gave them a test similar to the one they had received before.
In the past, personality was widely believed to be unchangeable. This new study may bring some fresh ideas to the world.
| A．They tested six basic personality traits. |
| B．Then they compared the then-and-now test results. |
| C．They wanted to know if people’s personality was unchangeable. |
| D．But according to a new study, your personality can change greatly. |
| E．The younger and older self seemed to be totally different for each person. |
| F．The research found almost everyone’s personality changed when they grew old. |
| G．You thought you had changed a lot. |
As Earth is getting hotter, the world’s glaciers are melting (融化). In the end, they could be gone. As it affects the land, mountains are “taller” than before.
Scientists looked into Earth’s ice ages for answers. The last ice age happened 16,000 years ago, but the land once under the ice is still changing. The change is called the glacial isostatic adjustment (水川均衡调整). Imagine that you lie down on a soft mattress (垫子) and then get up.
根据短文内容，从选项中选出能填入文中空白处的最佳选项，选项中有一项为多余选项。
| A．How does this happen? |
| B．You can see a pit on the mattress. |
| C．It’s the same idea with Earth’s land. |
| D．As the land is lifted, some of the rivers can’t join the sea. |
| E．It could take tens or even hundreds of years to regrow melted glaciers. |
| F．The melting and lifting are happening very slowly, but the influence is great. |
Located in the west of Hunan, the county is close to the border with Guizhou province,
and is a well-known transportation hub（中心；中枢）. It also acted as important military base（军事基地） in the fight against the Japanese.
Zhijiang was the home of the American Volunteer Group, or “Flying Tigers”: the
legendary squadron（空军中队） of pilots from the United States that helped the Chinese forces fight the occupiers（侵略者）, and made an impressive contribution to the ultimate（最终的） victory. It was also the first place where representatives（有代表性的） of the Japanese Imperial Army signed a document of unconditional surrender（无条件投降） to China.
The surrender was signed on Aug 21,1945, about three weeks before Yasuji Okamura, the commander-in-chief of Japan’s China Expeditionary Army, signed the Japanese Instrument of Surrender in Nanjing on Sep.9.
“Japan’s surrender in Zhijiang marked the first time in the modern era that Japan was
presented as the loser in a war with China.” said Wu Jianhong, curator（馆长） of the
county’s Memorial Hall of the Victory over Japan.
1. Where is Zhijiang Dong autonomous county?
| A．In the west of China. |
| B．In the west of Hunan province. |
| C．In the west of Guizhou province. |
| A．Its delicious food. |
| B．Its friendly people. |
| C．Its important role in history. |
| A．It was an American Volunteer Group that helped the Chinese forces. |
| B．It was an American Volunteer Group that helped the Japanese forces. |
| C．There were many pilots from the United States in the “Flying Tigers”. |
| A．The surrender signed in Zhijiang county. |
| B．The surrender signed in Nanjing. |
| C．The surrender signed aboard the battleship USS Missouri. |
| A．37 years ago. |
| B．70 years ago. |
| C．45 years ago. |
【推荐2】Some people think that chicken soup is good for a cold. Others believe that it is unhealthy not to eat meat. The question is, are they right?
Here are some facts.
For centuries, people have believed that chicken soup helps to fight a cold. Now, doctors say it may be true. They think that chicken soup has something that stops a cold from getting worse. Heat from the soup can also make a person feel better.
Many people think that it is unhealthy not to have meat. 1t is true that meat, especially red meat, has protein(蛋白质)that the body needs. A person who doesn’t eat meat can get enough protein and be healthy by eating tofu, eggs, and some vegetables.
A study showed that tea is better than coffee. Tea has something that can protect your heart, fight cancer, and make you less fat. Coffee does not do this.
Many people believe that bread and potatoes can easily make people fat. In fact, bread and potatoes do not have fat in them. But eating too much and not exercising can make people fat.
Also, adding things like butter to them can raise the chance of becoming fat.
根据短文内容，判断下列句子的正误。正确的填“T” 错误的填“F”，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。(共5小题；
1. It is helpful to eat some chicken soup to fight a cold.
2. To get enough protein and be healthy, people must eat meat.
3. Protein can be found in tofu, eggs and some vegetables.
4. Tea is better than coffee in fighting cancer.
5. People who like bread and potatoes become fat easily.
【推荐3】Nowadays heavy traffic can happen anywhere. People can get very anxious if they are in heavy traffic. For many years people have tried to invent a car that can fly. If a person is driving a flying car, the heavy traffic would be far below him.
Many companies around the world are developing flying cars. They hope that in the future, flying cars will be useful for short trips like taxis in or out of cities. These cars could save time in emergencies (突发事件) and help reach places that can’t be reached by road. They also hope to save the space on the ground. Flying cars won’t use runways, because they are able to take off and land by going straight up and straight down.
Last September, SkyDrive, a Japanese company, showed off its new flying car SD-03. With a pilot on board, the car was flown around for four minutes.
Flying cars need strong power to fly in the sky freely like the airplanes. SkyDrive designed the SD-03 powered by batteries (电池). There are eight motors (发动机) lifting it straight off the ground. The design also produces less pollution.
Although the SD-03’s test flight was successful, we may not see flying cars in our daily life anytime soon. ____▲____ Safety is a big problem. What happens when a motor fails? If a flying car is crossing a city, an accident could hurt not just the people in the car but also people on the ground. That’s why the SD-03 has eight motors — some are backups (备用物). Flying cars are also very expensive. The SD-03, for example, is expected to sell for up to $500,000.
Yet people who believe in flying cars point out that cars and airplanes faced lots of challenges at first, too. Over time, many of their biggest problems were solved. Tomohiro Fukuzawa, who leads SkyDrive, hopes that by 2050, people will have been able to fly anywhere inside of Tokyo in ten minutes or less.
1. The underlined word “it” in Paragraph 4 refers to ________.| A．the airplane | B．SkyDrive | C．a battery | D．the SD-03 |
| A．The price of the flying cars is not low at all. | B．There are still many challenges in the way. |
| C．Because it can make our life much easier. | D．Because the motors may fail to work. |
| A．no accidents may happen on the streets | B．the sky might become busier and busier |
| C．people could fly anywhere in ten minutes | D．there may be no cars driving on the streets |
A． | B． |
C． | D． |
【推荐1】Can plants talk? Modern research has found something amazing: they do communicate with each other through certain “language”.
It has been known for some time that plants use chemicals (化学物质) to communicate with each other. This happens when a plant gets attacked (攻击) by insects. The plant gives out chemicals from the leaves that are being eaten. This is like a warning, or a call for help: “I’m being attacked!” When another plant gets the chemicals, it starts to give out its own, different chemicals. Some of these chemicals drive insects away. Others attract (吸引) the wasps (黄蜂)! The wasps kill the insects that are eating the plants. Scientists hope to learn more about this plant warning system (系统), so that we can use it to grow more crops.
More surprisingly, plants also use sound to communicate. People can’t hear these sounds; but plants are making them. Some plants make noises with their roots.
Most surprisingly of all, plants have an amazing system of communication that can connect nearly every plant in a forest. Scientists call this system the “wood wide web”. The wood wide web is connected underground by fungi (霉菌). It connects the roots of different plants to each other. It is in some ways similar to the Internet we use. Using the wood wide web, plants can share information and even food with each other. However, it may cause bad effects. Plants may use it to steal food from each other, or spread chemicals to attack other plants. Perhaps one day scientists will learn how to create a “firewall” to help stop these attacks within the wood wide web.
1. What will plants do when they are attacked by insects?| A．They will ask people for help. |
| B．They will kill the insects by themselves. |
| C．They will control the wasps to kill the insects. |
| D．They will produce chemicals as a warning or a call for help. |
| A．Sound. | B．Wasps. | C．Food. | D．Forest. |
| A．By making noises with their roots. |
| B．By spreading chemicals to each other. |
| C．By sharing food and information with each other. |
| D．By connecting the roots of different plants to each other. |
| A．corners | B．courses | C．results | D．forms. |
| A．The Plants that Give Warnings. | B．The Secret “Language” of Plants. |
| C．Why Scientists Do Research about Plants. | D．The Study about the Plant Warning System. |
| a In the heart of a seed Buried deep, so deep, A dear little plant Lay fast asleep. “Wake!” said the sunshine, “And creep to the light.” “Wake!” said the voice. Of the raindrops bright. The little plant heard And it rose to see What the wonderful Outside world might be. | b Tea is the leaf of an evergreen shrub which grows in many parts of the world, such as China, Japan and India. The tea plant has green leaves and white flowers. At certain seasons the young leaves are gathered. They are then dried, rolled, and packed in boxes. Two kinds of tea, black and green, are most popular. The difference in color between these two teas is due to different ways of drying the leaf. |
| c Once or twice a little leaf was heard to cry, as leaves often do, when a gentle wind is blowing. And the twig said, “What is the matter, little leaf?” “The wind,” said the leaf, “just told me that one day it would pull me off, and throw me on the ground to die.” The twig told it to the branch, and the branch told it to the tree. When the tree heard it, it rustled all over, and sent word back to the trembling leaf. “Do not be afraid,” it said. “Hold on tight, and you shall not go off till you are ready.” | d Nearly all flowers turn towards the sunlight, as if they love it. This can be seen by watching plants that are standing near a window. The flowers will all bend towards the sunlight, if the pots are allowed always to stand in the same position. But by turning them round a little every day, while the flowers are opening, the plants can be made to show flowers on all sides. |
| A．Plant Science. |
| B．Science Study. |
| C．Magic Plant World. |
| A．From Passage b, we know that tea can’t grow in England. |
| B．From Passage c, we know the tree shows love for the little leaf. |
| C．From Passage d, we know that all flowers love the sunlight. |
| A．Who made the voice to wake the little plant? |
| B．How many parts does a tree have? |
| C．What are differences between making black tea and green tea? |
①The habits of flowers
②The worry of the plant
③The functions of the plant
④The growth of the plant
| A．Passage a—①；Passage b—④；Passage c—③；Passage d—② |
| B．Passage a—④；Passage b—③；Passage c—②；Passage d—① |
| C．Passage a—④；Passage b—③；Passage c—①；Passage d—② |
| A．The magic natural law showed in plants. |
| B．A community of life for man and nature. |
| C．Plants have their own language. |
Plants are boring. They just sit there photosynthesizing while animals have all the fun. Right? Not so much. A new study has found that there is a long history of interactions between ants and plants. Ants and plants work and develop together, starting with ants that feed on plants and plants that evolve ant-friendly features.
Plants make a number of different structures that are only for ant use. Some plants have evolved features that lead ants to protect them from attack from other insects. Plants provide hollow thorns that ants will live inside, or extra nectar on leaves or stems for the ants to eat. Some ants will just cheat and take the nectar and run, but some ants will stay and attack anything that tries to hurt the plant. Other plants get ants to help them move their seeds around, by providing them with rich food packets with the seeds. The ant will pick up the seed and carry it away, eat the food packet, and leave the seed often in a nutritious area where it’ll grow better, and since it is farther away from its parent, it won’t have to fight for resources.
But scientists weren’t sure how the evolutionary relationship between ants and plants got started. If evolution is a race between species developing ways to take advantage of their neighbors, then scientists wanted to know whether plants or ants fired the first shot. It was a chicken-and-egg question, whether things started with ants that develop behaviors to make use of plants, or plants that evolve structures to make use of ants.
The history of ants and plants evolving together goes back to the time of the dinosaurs, and it’s not easy to tell who fired the first shot from fossils. However, this question is meaningless. Scientists say their study is important because it provides a look at how these widespread interactions evolved.
1. Ants often leave the seed in a nutritious area in order to ______________.| A．live close to its parent | B．help the seed grow better |
| C．carry the seed away easily | D．share resources with other ants |
①Lead ants to protect them. ②Provide living places for ants.
③Offer ants food with seeds. ④Help ants run away with the nectar.
| A．①②③ | B．①②④ | C．①③④ | D．②③④ |
| A．Ants started a race against plants for better evolution. |
| B．Plants made full use of their neighbors for evolution first. |
| C．The chicken-and-egg question is of great value for scientists. |
| D．The evolution order between plants and ants was uncertain. |
| A．call on people to protect plants and ants more effectively |
| B．encourage people to do further research about plants and ants |
| C．show people how the interactions between plants and ants evolve |
| D．introduce the importance of the question of who evolves first |
