1 . I’ve been in an 18-year love-hate relationship with a black walnut tree(胡桃树) .
It’s a unique tree. In late September or early October, falling fruits as hard as baseballs threaten the skulls(头骨) of you, your children, your neighbors and those that reside next door to them. Umbrellas in the yard area must while dining in early August, and as for me, I wear my bike helmet while working in the garden.
The black walnut also releases a chemical substance through its roots as a competitive strategy. It’s poisonous to several common plants. There have been many new plant species that I brought home with hopes that maybe the black walnut would accept them, but they failed to flourish.
What does work are native plants that naturally grow in the area. Native plants are important to have around since they provide beneficial pollinators(传粉者) like birds, bees and butter l lies with seeds and contribute to a healthy and biodiverse environment. Native plants for this area are generally easy to grow, so they experience less stress.
Have I thought of getting rid of this giant pain in my tiny backyard? Yes, however, getting rid of this tree standing at 50 feet with an 87-inch trunk is next to impossible. It’s also protected under the law. Rightfully so. Trees are important to the urban forest and for all of those that inhabit it.
Sometimes I think about my life without the black walnut I can’t imagine a spring without the birds who arrive every year and loudly sing their songs before dawn. I’d miss falling asleep on lazy weekend afternoons as I look up into its leaves.
Every spring, I wonder what the season holds: What are the chances of being knocked unconscious while barbecuing? Like any good relationship, I’ll never be pleased. I’m stuck with this tree, so I’ll listen to its needs and give it the space it requires. In return, my walnut offers a habitat for wildlife and a reminder.
1. Why does the author wear a bike helmet while working in the garden?| A．To protect the injured skull. | B．To reduce the chance of a bee sting. |
| C．To prevent herself from sunburn. | D．To avoid being hurt by the nuts. |
| A．It attracts beneficial pollinators. |
| B．It lets out poison to drive away pests. |
| C．It produces a chemical deadly to some plants. |
| D．It competes for nutrition with similar species. |
| A．It offers a shelter but out competes all native plants. |
| B．It takes up much space but helps new plants survive. |
| C．It is home to numerous birds but has hard fruits. |
| D．It gives off an attractive smell but makes barbecue impossible. |
| A．It’s better to give than to take. |
| B．Building a relationship is troublesome. |
| C．Trees and plants have their own ways to flourish. |
| D．Acceptance, instead of resistance, is the better way to be. |
2 . The Amazon rainforest is as pristine (处于原始状态的) a place as most people can imagine, but even there, the effects of a changing climate are playing out. Previous research found that some birds in the Amazon are experiencing drops that may be related to climate change. Now, new research suggests that as the Amazon's dry season has gotten hotter, some species are starting to evolve (进化).
For the new study, researchers studied 77 non-migratory species over a 40-year period. They reported in the journal Science Advances that 36 species have lost weight, as much as 2 percent of their body weight every ten years since 1980. Meanwhile, all the species became smaller in body size, while a third grew longer wings.
The researchers themselves are unsure what advantage the wing length changes give the birds, but smaller birds may have an easier time keeping cool. In general, smaller animals have a larger ratio (比例) of surface area to body size, so they dissipate more heat faster than a bigger animal. Less available food, such as fruit or insects, in dryer weather might lead to smaller body size.
“Think about a fighter plane. It has short wings and is heavy. It has to go really fast to stay high in the air, so it uses up plenty of energy,”says ecologist Vtek Jirinec, “who led the new study, while a glider (滑翔机) almost uses no power to stay high in the air, because it’s got these long wings, and it’s light.”
For those who wonder why a small body change in a small homebody bird should matter, Jirinec points to how our actions have effects we don’t always see － such as changing the size and shape of animals half a world away.
“We think of Amazonia as a pristine place, full of life, untouched by people, away from deforestation,” Jirinec says. “But it looks like no, not necessarily.”
1. What does the new study find out about some bird species in the Amazon rainforest?| A．They have changed physically. | B．They are dying out due to hotter weather. |
| C．They have a smaller population than before. | D．They have migrated as a result of less rainfall. |
| A．Feel. | B．Need. | C．Give out. | D．Make use of. |
| A．To study how birds speed up in the air. |
| B．To show the advantage of birds’ longer wings. |
| C．To describe how birds' wings move when flying. |
| D．To introduce the difficulty birds can meet when flying. |
| A．It isn't as attractive as it was. |
| B．It is making a quick recovery. |
| C．It is being influenced by human activities. |
| D．It isn't suitable for some bird species any longer. |
3 . My previous home had a stand of woods behind it and many animals in the backyard. That first year, I
That second year, the rabbits
By year three, the rabbits and the groundhog were back. The groundhog
| A．avoided | B．started | C．stopped | D．suggested |
| A．business | B．fun | C．problem | D．right |
| A．help | B．cheat | C．threat | D．exception |
| A．play | B．miss | C．admire | D．trust |
| A．feared | B．discovered | C．touched | D．remembered |
| A．proved | B．decided | C．noticed | D．understood |
| A．extreme | B．increasing | C．additional | D．inspiring |
| A．squirrel | B．rabbit | C．peanut | D．carrot |
| A．before long | B．long ago | C．over and over | D．all over again |
| A．eating | B．playing | C．sitting | D．sleeping |
| A．Next | B．Once | C．Soon | D．Lately |
| A．carefully | B．suddenly | C．violently | D．patiently |
| A．also | B．thus | C．just | D．still |
| A．thought | B．doubted | C．designed | D．realized |
| A．While | B．Or | C．So | D．For |
| A．fixed | B．placed | C．hung | D．kept |
| A．surprise | B．delay | C．move | D．shake |
| A．Even if | B．Ever since | C．As far as | D．So long as |
| A．welcomed | B．minded | C．hated | D．expected |
| A．trade | B．chance | C．task | D．life |
4 . Known for their huge size, whales are important sea animals. The organizations of the world are calling all nations not to kill or eat whales any more.
After the Japanese government made its decision clear on Nov. 8, 2016 to catch 100 more whales in 2017, many animal experts in the world voiced their angry answers. Japan’s new whaling (捕鲸) plan is a great danger to the living of these large animals. It will also do harm to the sea interests (利益) of other surrounding countries including China, experts said.
According to a Japan News report, Japan caught 174 minke whales and 140 sei whales totally in the northwest Pacific Ocean in 2017. “After years of overfishing (过度捕捞), the population of minke whales in the northwest Pacific Ocean has been reduced to a dangerous level. Therefore, Japan should stop whaling in the area,” said Wang Yaming, a leader of the International Whaling Organization.
According to Wang, most whales living in the northwest Pacific Ocean are migratory (迁徙的) animals, and their traveling way is very close to the land of Russia, South Korea, North Korea, Japan and China. Japan’s whaling will also have a terrible influence on those countries.
Although the world has stopped to catch and kill whales, Japan lies to others that its killing of whales is just for scientific purposes. However, many experts don’t agree with it completely. “Japan should not kill more whales, as doing so would harm the international whale resources (资源). Japan’s whaling in the northwest Pacific Ocean hasn’t drawn much more attention because it hardly influences the interests of western countries.” Wang explained.
It is really high time for Japan to stop its whaling from now on.
1. What is animal experts’ attitude towards the Japan’s whaling plan?| A．Surprised. | B．Interested. | C．Angry. | D．Happy. |
| A．About 314. | B．About 274. | C．About 240. | D．About 414. |
| A．Whales travel far from the land of Japan when they are migrating. |
| B．Western countries strongly oppose to Japan’s whaling in the northwest Pacific Ocean. |
| C．Japan’s whaling has nothing to do with the neighboring countries. |
| D．Overfishing has made certain whales in the northwest Pacific Ocean fewer. |
| A．Food supply. | B．Scientific study. | C．Zoo interests. | D．Sea balance. |
5 . One day, a woman walked into a pet store to buy a bird for her Thanksgiving Day party. The guy said, “We only have one parrot. But I think you do not want it because it can talk…” The woman said happily, “That’s great. I’ve always wanted a talking bird.” So the guy said, “Since you are a nice lady, I’ll give it to you as a gift.”
And the lady went home and put the bird on her bed and walked out of the room. But as soon as she walked into the kitchen, the bird started to speak dirty words as loud as it could. The woman walked back into the room thinking, “I can’t have this at my party!” So she took the bird and put it in the fridge. A few hours later, while the woman was eating, she remembered that her bird was still in the fridge. Quickly, she opened the door and found it was shivering. Then she took out the bird at once. She said to the bird, “I’ll keep you out of there if you don’t use that language again. Do you agree with me?”
The bird nodded and asked, “Can I just ask a quick question?” The lady nodded and said, “Yes, you may.” The bird pointed at the turkey behind him and asked, “What did he do?”
1. The woman went into the pet store because ________.| A．there were lots of nice birds in it |
| B．she wanted to buy a bird to make a big meal |
| C．she wanted to buy a bird for Thanksgiving Day party |
| D．she wanted to buy a bird for his son’s birthday |
| A．发抖 | B．睡觉 | C．生气 | D．跳动 |
| A．how the turkey was put into the fridge. | B．why itself was in the fridge. |
| C．who could be in the fridge. | D．why the turkey was in the fridge. |
| A．she wanted to cook it on Thanksgiving Day | B．the bird spoke dirty words |
| C．the bird liked living in the cold place | D．she thought it’s the best place for it to live in |
6 . China has a lot to offer. Do you want to take a China tour? Here are some of our best sellers.
Tour 1 Wonders of China ( Price: $2,699 )
Beijing—Xi’an—Guilin—Yangshuo—Yangtze River—Shanghai
Suitable for those who love splendid Chinese culture, unique natural scenery and more leisure holiday. Visit Forbidden City, walk up to Great Wall, see amazing Terracotta Warriors, take cruise along Yangtze River and ride bikes along Yangshuo country.
Tour 2 Water Town and Yellow Mountains Tour ( Price: $1,409 )
Shanghai—Suzhou—Huangshan—Hangzhou—Shanghai
Suitable for those who like interesting water town traditions and amazing scenery. See gorgeous Yellow Mountains scenery and the prosperous Shanghai, visit a famous water town - Tongli, explore the classical beauty of Hangzhou and Suzhou.
Tour 3 Authentic Yunnan Discovery ( Price: $1,629 )
Kunming—Dali—Lijiang—Shangri-La
Suitable for those who are interested in minority (少数民族) culture and snow mountain. The Stone Forest, Jade Dragon Snow Mountain and Tiger Leaping Gorge show you the creativity of the nature and the Lijiang Ancient Townand Shangri-La show you the colorful culture of the minorities there.
Tour 4 Golden Silk Road ( Price: $1,749 )
Xi’an—Dunhuang—Turpan—Urumqi
Suitable for those who are eager to uncover the secret of the Silk Road. Listen to the stories about the ancient Silk Road and see the relics on the channel which connected the eastern and western world.
Tour 5 In Pursuit of Kungfu Tour ( Price:$1,509 )
Shanghai—Xi’an—Luoyang—Dengfeng—Beijing
Suitable for Kungfu fans who want to learn Kungfu in Shaolin Temple. Lighten your trip by learning the most authentic Chinese Kungfu at Shaolin Temple, and the Longmen Grottoesc石窟) in Luoyang help you understand the spirit of Kungfu.
1. If the tourists want to explore the beauty of the snow mountain, they would probably choose ________.| A．In Pursuit of Kungfu Tour | B．Golden Silk Road |
| C．Authentic Yunnan Discovery | D．Wonders of China |
| A．Tongli is famous for the interesting water town traditions. |
| B．Beijing and Shanghai are the two common cities in Tour 1 and Tour 2. |
| C．Tourists can experience the culture of the minorities on the Silk Road. |
| D．Kungfu fans can learn Kungfu in the Longmen Grottoes. |
| A．show visitors the importance of some cities |
| B．supply visitors with the information of some China tours |
| C．offer visitors some trip tips |
| D．tell visitors the splendid Chinese culture |
7 . When I re-entered the full-time workforce a few years ago after a decade of lonely self-employment, there was one thing I was looking forward to the most: the opportunity to have work friends once again. It wasn't until I entered the corporate world that I realized, for me at least, being friends with colleagues didn't emerge as a（n）
Perhaps my expectations of lunches, water-cooler gossip and caring, deep-and-meaningful conversations were a
In an academic analysis just published in the profoundly-respected Journal of Management, researchers have looked at the concept of “indifferent relationships", a simple term that summarizes the fact that relationships at work can
Indifferent relationships are neither positive nor negative. The limited research conducted thus far indicates they're especially
As noted above, indifferent relationships may not always be the most
The other is
Ego aside, a third advantage is that the emotional
| A．burden | B．priority | C．obligation | D．coincidence |
| A．long-standing | B．contractual | C．steady | D．interpersonal |
| A．affecting | B．enhancing | C．measuring | D．restoring |
| A．cause | B．reflection | C．consequence | D．reminder |
| A．pretending | B．needing | C．promising | D．hesitating |
| A．peculiarly | B．interestingly | C．reasonably | D．decisively |
| A．dominant | B．rare | C．significant | D．intense |
| A．preferred | B．compulsory | C．additional | D．likely |
| A．engaging | B．casual | C．demanding | D．effortless |
| A．traditional | B．cautious | C．flexible | D．helpful |
| A．image | B．efficiency | C．profit | D．expansion |
| A．self-respect | B．self-improvement | C．self-evaluation | D．self-control |
| A．resistant | B．unique | C．open | D．essential |
| A．feature | B．neutrality | C．reaction | D．conflict |
| A．exhausting | B．meaningful | C．fun | D．popular |
8 . It’s not easy to feel like you’re always under the spotlight being judged for each little mistake you make. Your mind is in an endless circle playing what you said and did over and over again. And you wish you had a time capsule (胶囊) to go back and make things change if you find mistakes. You fear what others will think about you and that they will dislike you. You want to be socially perfect.
Academically, you work long endless hours just to make those excellent marks. Although most would say “it’s good to have high standards (标准)”, they have no idea about the internal bell you put yourself through to achieve perfection. If you come up to less than your desired goal, you will feel as though you have failed, but you’re far from failing; you just don’t see it that way. So instead you are telling yourself that you’re stupid, and not smart. The pressure you place on yourself weighs you down and you wear the “not good enough” label each and every day.
You not only have high standards for yourself but you also have them for others. If people don’t perform up to your expectations then you will think them not good enough. This causes a lot of frustration because you can’t trust anyone to get things right. So instead of being a team player you fly solo and try to do two or three jobs at once. Your unrealistic expectations cause you to criticize and judge others and that leads to problems in other aspects of your life.
The attempt to be perfect is called perfectionism and it’s damaging our emotional and mental health. We fight for perfection of our body, our performance, and our relationships. In a society that overstates mistakes, is it any wonder that so many young people attempt the impossible task of being perfect?
We all have fears and make mistakes, and that’s perfectly OK. It’s our imperfections that makes life interesting and they help us grow into a stronger and more adaptable person. We don’t have to achieve the impossible. We are designed to be perfectly imperfect.
1. Where is the text most likely from?| A．A diary. | B．A novel. | C．A magazine. | D．A guidebook. |
| A．Nobody is perfect. | B．Be generous with praise. |
| C．There is no best, only better. | D．A contented mind is an everlasting feast. |
| A．The society plays a role in perfectionism. |
| B．More and more people are making mistakes. |
| C．Many young people find it impossible to be perfect. |
| D．It’s unusual for a society to seek perfectionism nowadays. |
| A．It’s unbearable. | B．It`s part of our life. |
| C．It has to be overcome. | D．It does harm to our mental health. |
9 . I don’t usually watch TV at night. Last Thursday night, I finished my homework early and
The program was about food waste (食品浪费). It asked cooks (厨师) to make meals from food that people threw away (扔掉). The cooks went to
From the program, I learned how much food people throw away every week. It is
People don’t want carrots when they are very big or very small,
The program showed people that food waste is a big problem. We must
| A．waited | B．helped | C．decided |
| A．activity | B．program | C．competition |
| A．libraries | B．museums | C．supermarkets |
| A．still | B．only | C．ever |
| A．meat | B．fruit | C．cake |
| A．terrible | B．difficult | C．expensive |
| A．buy | B．pay | C．use |
| A．price | B．color | C．size |
| A．but | B．so | C．if |
| A．save | B．share | C．fight |
10 . New technology rules the whole world now. But I still remember when I was a child, I did not have a cell phone or a computer because it was not necessary at all in those days. The internet was not popular, and the touch screen technology was unknown.
At this time here in the US smartphone are really a need, especially for young and business people. There are many applications really useful like maps, dictionaries, e-mails and games.
For me, I use my smartphone to check the weather and to look for something on the internet and of course to keep communicating through calls and texts. Besides, I like music applications, GPS and Facebook.
Many tests have discovered that cell phones cause damages to us because they send out radioactive(具有放射性的) waves to our bodies and this could cause cancer.
Psychologists say that these devices can affect behavior and I believe everyone knows it is harmful to the eyes if we are sitting for a long time in front of computer. However, it seems to be difficult for us to give up, even if we know how bad it is for our health. The use of technology becomes more and more important in our lives.
I think the use of technology has brought us unimaginable things. If we use technology correctly, I am sure it would be possible to decrease the damage to our bodies.
Keep in mind that it is important not to focus only on technology, but to spend time with our families and people close to us.
1. What can we know from the passage?| A．The author is a businessman working for a cell phone company. |
| B．The author has suffered a lot from the use of electrical devices. |
| C．The author knows little about the functions of modern cellphones. |
| D．The author is quite pleased with the various functions of cell phones. |
| A．It’s not necessary to add more applications to the cell phone. |
| B．Cell phones have made our world a boring place to live in. |
| C．New technology has done people more harm than good. |
| D．New technology makes people separated from each other. |
| A．keep | B．cause | C．reduce | D．add |
