1 . Have you ever wondered what happens to your mobile phones and laptops after you throw them out to make way for a newer model? According to its latest Global E-Waste Monitor, India is the third top producer of e-waste in the world. E-waste in Indian landfill goes on to pollute soil and groundwater, affecting food supply systems and water sources.

Thankfully, the country has a new group of artists who are changing these thrown mechanical items-from mobile phones to old televisions- into large murals (壁画) and artworks to creatively show their concern for the waste problem.

Over the past quarter of a century, Mumbai’s Haribaabu Naatesan has transformed hundreds of tonnes of e-waste into art, integrating elements from nature and industry. “I get my waste material from friends, relatives and neighbours who know my interest in e-art and send me bags of thrown electronic appliances,” says Naatesan. Over his career, he has created huge murals for several companies. He has also showed his work at the India Art Fair, as well as several other national displays.

Another artist Vishwanath Davangere has also long worked with e-waste. He likes to take apart old laptops and reassemble (重新组装) them into birds, animals and plants. After retirement, he started pursuing this hobby more seriously and started selling his creations across the world. His most outstanding works include a robotic Egyptian statue with glowing red eyes and a Milky Way made from keyboard keys. He hopes to enable others to reconsider their own consumption habits and make more environmentally conscious choices.

“By giving e-waste a second chance, I aim to raise awareness about the environmental impact of electronic waste.” says Davangare, who today has a collection of more than 600 eco-art objects.

1. Why do the artists create artworks from E-waste?

A．To promote their artistic career.	B．To update electronic appliances.
C．To make profits for several companies.	D．To express their environmental concern.

2. What can we learn about Naatesan from paragraph 3?

A．His creations are displayed globally.	B．He gains support from people around.
C．He has been creating e-art for 10 years.	D．His works integrate technology and history.

3. Which of the following best describes Davangere?

A．Reliable.

B．Confident.

C．Devoted.

D．Generous.

4. Which can be a suitable title for the text?

A．E-waste Recycling Sweeping the World	B．Environmental Problems Worrying Indians
C．An Art Movement Turning Trash into Cash	D．Indian Creatives Transforming E-waste into Art

2 . Released on Aug 30, a three-episode web series titled Escape From the British Museum has gone viral online for its touching and innovative narrative (叙事). The series follows the journey home of a Chinese jade teapot that has come to life as a girl. She runs away from the British Museum and comes across a Chinese journalist who helps the artifact return to China. The series, created by two Chinese vloggers, aims to raise broader awareness of Chinese artifacts that were stolen or looted (掠夺) from China and are displayed or stored in the British Museum.

The video series echoes the Chinese people’s call for the British Museum to return these Chinese artifacts. However, some UK media outlets said that the video series promotes nationalism (民族主义). In fact, every country whose artifacts are displayed or stored in the British Museum wants them back. These countries, such as Greece, Nigeria and Sudan, have already issued their demands for the return of artifacts. It’s fair enough to say these demands are shared. They can correct centuries-old wrongs by having the UK return artifacts to their rightful homes.

An opinion in the UK newspaper The Telegraph said that if the British Museum gives back its collection of artifacts, then nationalism will win over humanity’s common heritage. It also said that the artifacts were “lawfully acquired (合法取得)” by the UK. By “lawfully acquired”, does the writer mean the artifacts were acquired with the “help” of machine guns and warships? Or does he mean that the cultural artifacts of African, Asian and American countries should be kept in the hands of looters, rather than in their land of origin?

1. What is the video series Escape from the British Museum mainly about?

A．Cultural artifacts looted by the UK.

B．Hidden dangers in the British Museum.

C．The arguments about the British museum.

D．The journey of a Chinese artifact coming home.

2. What does the video series aim to highlight?

A．Protests against UK’s nationalism.

B．The beauty of Chinese cultural artifacts.

C．The desire of stolen artifacts to be returned.

D．Efforts made by Chinese activists to get artifacts back.

3. What’s the author’s purpose in mentioning countries like Greece, Nigeria and Sudan?

A．To show the UK did something wrong in the past.

B．To stress China’s demands are shared by many countries.

C．To emphasize former colonized countries have grown stronger.

D．To highlight diverse artifacts are housed in the British Museum.

4. What is the author’s attitude toward the opinion in The Telegraph?

A．It’s totally unacceptable.	B．It’s a little bit reasonable.
C．It lacks enough evidence.	D．It shows the writer’s ignorance.

3 . I was shocked when my socially awkward sister, who had suffered from Asperger Syndrome (阿斯伯格综合症), decided to sing in front of the school. I knew she would ________ me in some way, so I protested. However, my parents insisted that she ________ and I would have to be part of the audience. I silently hoped that something would happen to ________ me from watching her losing face.

As I waited in the hall, sweat ________ my forehead. I comforted myself that no one knew she was my sister and tried to persuade myself that it would be ________. The lights darkened and the ________ opened to reveal (使露面) my sister standing alone on stage. She seemed ________, taking a minute to stammer (结结巴巴地说) her name and class. ________ began to be heard in the audience.

I shifted nervously in my seat, afraid what was about to happen. But as my sister started to sing, I was ________. Her voice flowed effortlessly and melodiously, filling the hall with its ________. I watched in wonder, realizing I had never known she could sing so ________. I listened carefully to the lyric (歌词) she had written herself, feeling ashamed for doubting her ________. My heart gave way as I heard the heartfelt words.

     In that moment, guilt and shame flooded my heart. ________ my unwillingness to support her, she had never taken anything that I had done to her to heart. It was then that I determined to love her ________. It was as if a veil (面纱) had been ________ from my eyes, and my heart was full.1.

A．embarrass

B．impress

C．surprise

D．support

2.

A．hide

B．quit

C．escape

D．perform

3.

A．protect

B．save

C．recover

D．rescue

4.

A．picked up

B．climbed upon

C．took off

D．went up

5.

A．impressive

B．exciting

C．fine

D．challenging

6.

A．characters

B．lectures

C．curtains

D．signals

7.

A．confident

B．nervous

C．prepared

D．relaxed

8.

A．Cries

B．Crashes

C．Whispers

D．Screams

9.

A．entertained

B．disappointed

C．relieved

D．shocked

10.

A．power

B．weakness

C．silence

D．darkness

11.

A．softly

B．loudly

C．quietly

D．beautifully

12.

A．abilities

B．failures

C．talents

D．weaknesses

13.

A．Without

B．Despite

C．Beyond

D．Within

14.

A．extremely

B．equally

C．unconditionally

D．finally

15.

A．lifted

B．dropped

C．covered

D．hidden

4 . Why do we talk the way we do? It might date back to when our ancestors left the jungle for the open plain. Between 5.3 million and 16 million years ago, Africa’s landscapes changed from thick, leafy forests to wide-open grasslands. This environmental change pushed our ancestors out of the trees and onto the ground. Along with all of the physical and behavioral changes this may have caused, researchers also believe it may have changed the way we speak.

“Open landscapes provide us with fewer objects to affect signal communication, meaning our voices can travel further compared with that in thick forests,” Charlotte Gannon, a researcher who studies language development, told Newsweek. “The move to these open spaces may have increased the effectiveness of our communication.”

By comparing the vocal calls of the orangutan (大猩猩) , Gannon and her team were able to establish how different calls could travel across different landscapes. In their study, the team played 487 calls from orangutans and measured their audibility (可听度) at set length over an overall distance of over 1,300 feet in the South African plain.

“Our results were surprising,” Gannon said, “The rule of sound spread suggests that lower-frequency (低频率) sounds (the grumphs) would have traveled further than higher-frequency sounds (the kiss squeaks). Our results actually found the opposite to this.” In these environmental settings, consonant (辅音)-like calls traveled a lot further than vowel (元音) -like calls. Actually, around 80 percent of consonant-based calls were audible at 1,300 feet, compared to only 20 percent of vowel-based calls.

Gannon said these results highlight the importance of studying living orangutan to learn about our species’ history. “We can view them as time machines that allow us to recreate key moments of our history so we can learn more about the development of our language,” Gannon said. “Despite their popularity in modern languages, consonants have often been forgotten when discussing speech development. Our research highlights not only their presence in ancient times but their importance to the development of language.”

1. What led to the speech development?

A．Behavioral change.	B．Time development.
C．Physical development.	D．Environmental change.

2. What makes communication happening 10 million years ago more effective?

A．Less block.

B．Better tools.

C．Louder voice.

D．Larger vocabulary.

3. What is paragraph 3 mainly about?

A．The results of the study.

B．The process of the research.

C．The purpose of the program.

D．The participants of the project.

4. What can be inferred from the last two paragraphs?

A．The living orangutan can recreate our language.

B．Consonants are significant in language development.

C．The sound of grumphs travels further than that of kiss squeaks.

D．Consonant-like calls travel four times further than vowel-like calls.

5 . Macquarie Island is a tiny island that’s part of Australia. It’s about halfway between New Zealand and Antarctica. The island’s been made a world heritage area because it’s so untouched, but this unique environment is under threat from some unwanted visitors.

It all started when seal hunters came to the island in the early 1800s. They brought rabbits with them as a source of food for the journey, and also on board the ships were rats and mice, which made their way onto the island too. They’re being blamed for destroying the homes of marine birds, causing soil loss and ripping up plant cover, as these before-and-after photos show.

So what’s being done about the problem? It starts with a team of helicopters that fly across the island carrying these giant containers. Inside them are poisoned pellets (有毒饲料) which are dropped and spread across the island. For any rabbits that survived the baiting (诱饵) , there’s a plan B. This special team of dogs is being put through a final training. It’ll be their job to track down any remaining rabbits. They have to also learn to behave around the island’s native wildlife. The dogs could be here for years or until the task is complete. The dogs don’t actually kill the rabbits. They find them, then the hunters decide to either catch the rabbits or shoot them.

But the program has received a bit of criticism. Some people argue 25 million dollars is a lot of money to be spending on wiping out rabbits and rodents (啮齿目动物), and in the process, some native birds will be killed because of the baiting.

The reality is the problem isn’t going to be solved overnight. The people running the program say that even if one pair of rabbits is left alive, the whole task will be seen as a failure, which means these guys could be here for a long time, trying to ensure that this precious island remains protected from pests.

1. Who are these unwanted visitors?

A．Seal hunters.

B．Marine wildlife.

C．Native birds.

D．Foreign species.

2. What do the underlined words “ripping up” mean in paragraph 2?

A．Advancing.

B．Destroying.

C．Dividing

D．Balancing

3. What is being done to solve the problem of unwanted visitors on Macquarie Island?

A．Poisoned pellets are being dropped on the island from helicopters.

B．A team of hunters is being trained to catch or shoot rabbits.

C．Native birds are being protected from the unwanted visitors.

D．A special team of dogs is being sent to kill the rabbits.

4. What is the goal of the program?

A．To spend as little money as possible.

B．To protect native birds from the unwanted visitors.

C．To ensure that no pair of rabbits survive on the island.

D．To train dogs to track down the rabbits on the island.

6 . Njobati, a young woman from Cameroon, faced a challenging journey when she moved from her English-speaking area to a French-speaking area of the country to attend university. The sharp differences between these areas, once part of the British and French empires, made it difficult for her to fit in, which led her to examine her own identity—who she truly was.

Seeking guidance, she turned to her grandfather who also felt disconnected from his own culture. He expressed sadness about what the Nso had lost both culturally and materially, including Ngonnso statue. Ngonnso was the founder of Nso dating back to the 14th Century, whose statue was an important cultural symbol for the Nso. However, it was taken by the Germans in 1902 and has been housed in Berlin’s Ethnological Museum ever since.

Inspired by her grandfather’s desire and saddened by the loss of culture, Njobati made a promise to bring back the statue. She believed it would not only achieve her grandfather’s wish but connect her with her Nso heritage again.

Njobati did many researches about the statue and former unsuccessful attempts. She realized that restitution (归还) was actually about facing the colonial ( 殖民主义的) past. Njobati decided to try differently. To gather support online and offline, Njobati began a grassroots campaign. She organized meetings in community halls and churches, met people one-on-one, and used the power of social media.Through Twitter, she established contact with the Ethnological Museum.

Njobati’s tireless efforts paid off. She was told that a decision about Ngonnso statue was coming, which was an important moment for her.

“Finally, this is happening. Not just for me, but for the Nso people, and for Cameroon,” She cried. “This also lends a hand to other communities that are seeking justice for stolen culture relics.”

1. What made Njobati decide to bring back the Ngonnso statue?

A．Her interest in colonial history.

B．Her grandfather’s identity problem.

C．Her desire to reconnect with Nso culture.

D．Her experience in attending university.

2. What did Njobati do to gain support for her campaign?

A．She did wide and complete researches.

B．She turned to her grandfather for guidance.

C．She contacted the Ethnological Museum directly.

D．She organized meetings and using social media.

3. What does “this” refer to in the last paragraph?

A．The fight for the statue.	B．The promise she made.
C．The grassroots campaign.	D．The return of the statue.

4. What can be a suitable title for the passage?

A．A fight against colonialism.	B．A cultural fighter.
C．A promise for grandpa.	D．A stolen cultural symbol.

7 . About Byron

Whether you’re in Byron for fun or work, there are plenty of things to do to fill your spare time.

Byron, Georgia makes travel sweeter with its slower pace and breathtaking attractions. It’s full of historic sites, museums, shopping malls, and more. In this city at the center of Georgia’s peach industry, you can take a vacation that leaves you rested, not annoyed.

Events

Georgia Peach Festival-June

Fall Market Days-September

Georgia National Fair-October

Byron Christmas Parade-December

Local attractions

Byron Welcome Center

Located in the Peach Shops, the Byron Welcome Center is your first stop in our area. The Byron Welcome Center is ready to help you make the most of your stay in Byron, Georgia.

North Peach Park

North Peach Park is the place for traditional festivals, movies in the park, and many other events. The park has picnic shelters, playgrounds, football fields and soccer fields all year round. North Peach Park also has an indoor, climate-controlled multi-purpose room.

The Big Peach Shopping Mall

One of Georgia’s major shopping malls, and Central Georgia’s biggest and best variety of goods, the Big Peach has something for everyone! Open seven days a week and located directly off I-75, the Big Peach is Central Georgia’s favorite shopping destination.

Party Playground Indoor Fun Center

Let the kids work out some energy with an hour or two at the Party Playground Indoor Fun Center. This room full of safe and soft play equipment will let your little ones run, jump and play, rain or shine. It’s also a great place to have a birthday party.

Contact us

For more information, contact us at (478) 956-2409

Email: byronwelcomecenter@gmail.com

1. When is the best time to enjoy delicious peach in Byron?

A．June.

B．September.

C．October.

D．December.

2. Which attraction best suits people with children?

A．North Peach Park.

B．Byron Welcome Center.

C．The Big Peach Shopping Mall.

D．Party Playground Indoor Fun Center.

3. Where is the text probably taken from?

A．A course plan.

B．A travel brochure.

C．A journal.

D．An encyclopedia.

8 . Where can you find the first successful airplane, one of the world’s biggest bugs (虫子) and Kermit the Frog? They’re all at the Smithsonian Institution, Americans’ storehouse of the coolest things ever, in Washington，D.C.More than 138 million objects have been collected by their 19 museums, with more coming in every day.

The Smithsonian was founded in 1846 and named after James Smithson, an English businessman. Smithson never visited America, but he left his entire fortune to the United States to build an institution “for the increase of knowledge”.

Here are just a few of the amazing things in the Smithsonian collection.

Big bugs

The Smithsonian has 35 million bugs. The largest insect in the collection is a beetle (甲虫) from South America called the titan beetle. Titan beetles can grow to more than 6 inches long.

Flying machines

The first powered plane to fly, the 1903 Wright Flyer, is displayed in the National Air and Space Museum. The Smithsonian has the first supersonic (超声速的) airliner, the Concorde, which could cross the Atlantic Ocean in fewer than four hours.

The longest beard

The Smithsonian is home to the longest beard ever recorded. Norwegian immigrant Hans Langseth had grown his facial hair to 18 feet 6 inches by the time he died in 1927. The Smithsonian has 17 feet 6 inches of it because, even though Langseth’s final wish was to have his entire beard preserved, his family decided it wouldn’t be right to bury him clean­shaven.

Time and admission：

Smithsonian museums are open every day of the year except December 25 unless otherwise noted. Most museums are open daily from 10 a. m. to 5：30 p. m. The American Art Museum and Portrait Gallery are open 11：30 a. m. to 7 p. m.

Admission is free for all Smithsonian museums and the zoo in Washington，D.C., and the American Indian Museum’s George Gustav Heye Center in New York. A fee is required at the Cooper­Hewitt, National Design Museum in New York (Members and children under 12 are admitted free).

1. According to the text, the Smithsonian Institution        .

A．was founded in honor of an American

B．has all its museums in Washington, D. C.

C．is most famous for its fine collection of art

D．was funded by money from James Smithson

2. The Smithsonian failed to get the entire beard of Hans Langseth’s due to         .

A．the words in his last will

B．the rejection of his family

C．the tradition of Norwegians

D．the bad condition of the beard

3. What do the objects mentioned have in common?

A．They were from South Africa.

B．They are in the same museum.

C．They are record­breaking items.

D．They were from the 19th century.

9 . Each year, the discovery of new shark species underlines how little we know about ocean biodiversity. In a recent report conducted by Sibert and Rubin, they reported an unexpected finding: a large-scale extinction of sharks in the pelagic ocean, the largest ecosystem on Earth, about 19 million years ago. Their discovery suggests that some extinctions in the open sea of the past may have been mysterious.

The study of Sibert and Rubin takes advantage of a system by using tiny, hard bits of shark skin and bony fish teeth that naturally fall from their bodies to the seafloor. These extremely small fossils provide a rich record of ancient oceanic sharks and their abundance for thousands of years. By studying fossils from many regions, the diversity patterns can give major insights into evolution (进化) of the open sea that would be otherwise unknown.

Sibert and Rubin quantified(量化)a past extinction of sharks, reporting a 90% decline in number and >70% drop in diversity. They found that nearer-shore sharks appear to survive, but migratory ones go extinct. The finding of this study is that sharks had undergone a widespread extinction that reorganized their communities from 16 million to 20 million years ago.

Sibert and Rubin narrowed the disappearance of sharks to a window of time under 100,000 years around 19 million years ago, but the causes of this event remain unclear. Because this time period does not stand out as a period of major climatic change, the authors do not attribute(归因于) environmental factors as an extinction driver. As for other causes, the loss of shark diversity is directly linked to overfishing.

The loss of sharks from the oceans has profound, complex, and unavoidable ecological consequences because their presence reflects the stability of marine ecosystems. Yet, one-quarter of the global diversity of sharks is currently threatened with extinction. Despite recent improvements in conservation actions, shark communities never recovered from a mysterious extinction event 19 million years ago; the ecological fate of what remains is now in our hands.

1. What did Sibert and Rubin find?

A．The negative impact of the extinction of sharks.

B．The mysterious reasons behind the disappearance of sharks.

C．The most recent advances in the study of the largest ecosystem.

D．The large-scale decline in the number of sharks about 19 million years ago.

2. How did Sibert and Rubin conduct their study?

A．By collecting and analyzing shark fossils worldwide.

B．By quantifying the movement of near-shore sharks.

C．By using a system to study the naturally fallen bits from sharks.

D．By keeping track of ancient oceanic sharks and their activities.

3. According to the passage, which of the following statement is true?

A．Overfishing is partly to blame for the loss of shark diversity.

B．The number of sharks has recovered to its previous level.

C．Scientist have figured out the exact causes of sharks’ extinction.

D．Sharks had undergone a widespread extinction due to the climate change.

4. Which of the following is the best title for the text?

A．Sharks: The Stories behind Them	B．Sharks: The Marine Masters
C．Sharks: Killers or Misunderstood?	D．Sharks: The Mysterious Extinction

10 . Working for a big company in London on a salary (薪水)of over £100,000, you might expect Grayden Reece-Smith to have a luxurious (奢侈)lifestyle, going on expensive holidays or driving a sports car around south London, where he lives. In fact, the 28-year-old lives a very different existence from his colleagues. He gives away everything he earns over £42,000–a figure that he thought he could comfortably live on.

Over the past five years, Reece-Smith has handed over more than £250,000 to organizations such as International Care Ministries, which helps poor families in the Philippines, and the Against Malaria Foundation. He is part of a growing number of young professionals described as “effective altruists”. Effective altruists typically donate regularly to a charity which they think will have a great impact (影响). Some change careers to make more money, which can then be given away.

Reece-Smith considered working in the charity sector after graduating from university, but thought that he could make a bigger difference by donating a large part of his salary. He had volunteered as a teacher at a school in Tanzania, but then realized that earning and giving would be more effective. “The cost of my flights there could have paid the salaries of two teachers for an entire year,” he says. Instead, he could “stay at home, living a nice life and still make a huge difference in the world”.

He is not mean with money-last year he went to Cuba on holiday, and spent several thousand pounds on a new sofa. But his lifestyle isn’t as luxurious as some of the people he works with. “I usually don’t buy supermarket-branded food products, but I don’t own a car. Other people on my salary might have a bigger house. Some of my colleagues have four-bedroom houses, but we only bought what we needed-a two-bedroom flat.£42,000 is more than enough to live on and still save,” he says.

1. How much money does Grayden spend on donation every year?

A．Less than £42,000.	B．Over £100.000.
C．£50,000.	D．Any income over £42,000.

2. What may an “effective altruist” do according to the text?

A．Donate to impactful charities.	B．Make more money to enjoy lives.
C．Create a good public image.	D．Enter a teaching profession.

3. Why did Grayden decide to donate money but not work in the charity sector?

A．To access his inner life.	B．To create a stronger effect.
C．To give away all of his salary.	D．To be a teacher at a school.

4. What can be inferred about Grayden from the text?

A．He leads an expensive lifestyle.	B．He buys food produced by supermarkets.
C．He lives in a four-bedroom house.	D．He balances his life and donation.