1 . The running buffalo clover(a plant) used to spread across eight states, from Virginia to Arkansas. The more it was walked on by the buffalo the better it grew.
When buffalo disappeared, the plant was gone, too. Researchers believed the plant was extinct, which had not been spotted since 1940s—until a population was found in West Virginia in 1983. Now, after decades of protection, the small plant stands to be removed from the list of species protected under the Endangered Species Act.
Biologist Rodney Bartgis came across a patch of running buffalo clover in 1983. He was recording plants in West Virginia and was wandering around a car road in the New River Gorge when he spotted some “unique-looking” leaves, which he recognized as running buffalo clover. After the finding was confirmed, the clover was considered no longer extinct and placed on the endangered-species list in 1987.
Part of the reason it took a while to start to find the clover in the wild is that, unlike other rare plants, this one won't grow in unspoiled areas. It likes being run over. When the clover was first discovered, US Fish and Wildlife Services(USFWS) forest managers were told to avoid driving in the area populated by the plant. But this made the clover there disappear. In the Fernow Forest in West Virginia, Gundy, a research forester, realized the skidders used to pull trees had helped ensure the clover's growth before anyone knew it was there. So in her work monitoring the population in Fernow, Gundy runs over the clover with a skidder. "You need to remember to agitate it,“ she says.
Since 1987, researchers have found 154 populations. But it's not out of the woods yet. The clover still faces threats from invasive species. The USFWS will have a public comment period, when the clover's case for delisting will be reviewed. Even if it is delisted, biologists from the USFWS will observe populations for years closely to ensure that the species is secure.
1. What do we know about the running buffalo clover from the first two paragraphs?| A．It has died out due to some human action. |
| B．It still needs careful protection from extinction. |
| C．It was considered extinct before its rediscovery. |
| D．It can grow better without buffalo stepping on it. |
| A．He discovered the clover by accident. |
| B．He noticed the clover in an unspoiled area. |
| C．He hardly recognized the clover when first seeing it. |
| D．He had searched for the clover for years before finding it. |
| A．She advised we should keep away from it. | B．She suggested we should disturb it. |
| C．She told us to remember to water it often. | D．She asked us to plant more and more buffalo clover. |
| A．The buffalo ate up the clover in the US. |
| B．The clover is almost free from natural enemies. |
| C．The USFWS is cautious of the protection of the clover. |
| D．The clover won't be removed from the protection list. |
2 . LONDON——Global auction(拍卖）sales of Chinese art and antiques fell in 2019 to $ 5.7 billion, a 10 percent drop year-on-year, and the lowest level for the collecting category since 2010. The Global Chinese Art Auction market report, compiled by Artnet and the Chinese Association of Auctioneers, found this was clue to trade tensions between the United States and China, as well as a slowdown of GDP in China.
The report, now in its eighth edition, noted that the value of total auction sales within the Chinese mainland declined by 10 percent in 2019 to $ 3.7 billion, the lowest total since 2010. Outside China, there was also a 9 percent drop in sales of Chinese art and antiques.
“The combination of such slowdowns resulted in a weakening of collectors' confidence and a more cautious attitude among buyers making decisions on investing in art in 2019," said the report.
However, despite the downturn in total sales value for Chinese art and antiques in 2019, the European market showed some positive trends emerging. Significant peaks in lots offered and lots sold in Europe, combined with a strong sell through rate（卖出率）of 61 percent in 2019.
Europe accounted for 29 percent of all Chinese art and antique lots sold overseas in 2019 , according to the report, closing in on（接近）the North American market's share.
The annual report also found strong performances with 20th century and contemporary Chinese art in both the Chinese mainland and overseas, boosted by a younger generation of Chinese collectors.
The average price for the category increased in the Chinese mainland, up by 23 percent year- on-year, and overseas sales saw a nine-year high in 2019. But fine Chinese paintings and calligraphy, the largest collecting category on the Chinese mainland, did not perform as well.
According to the report this category “continued to spiral(螺旋式的）downwards, reaching its lowest point in sales since 2013”. The number of lots dropped by 10 percent year-on-year, almost half of that of 2013 and it also struggled elsewhere, with the overseas total falling to a seven-year low.
1. What is the third paragraph mainly about?| A．The result of a weakening of collectors' confidence in buying art. |
| B．The advantage of buyers' making decisions on investing in art. |
| C．The advantage of the decline of the value of total auction sales. |
| D．The result of the decline of the value of total auction sales. |
| A．Their standards were not so high. |
| B．Their prices were not so satisfying. |
| C．They are the largest collecting category. |
| D．The average price for the category rose sharply. |
| A．Took up. | B．Took off. |
| C．Took away. | D．Took on. |
| A．A Slowdown of GDP in China in 2019 |
| B．A Report on the Global Chinese Art Auction Market |
| C．Trade Tensions Between the United States and China |
| D．Global Auction Sales of Chinese Antiques and Art Fall to a 10-year Low |
3 . During my elementary school years, I used to compare（比较） my mom with my best friend Tiffany’s mom.
Tiffany’s mom always gave her lots of money to buy the most fashionable clothes and favorite food. Her mom allowed her to do anything she liked. I really admired Tiffany. My mom didn’t give me much pocket money and she always told me that I should behave myself. I was annoyed with her.
Whenever I didn’t get what I wanted, I would complain to my mom, Tiffany’s mom would give her that! I wish she were my mom. Every time, my mom would calmly say “Poor Tiffany”. I couldn’t understand her. “She shouldn’t be feeling sorry for Tiffany!” I thought. “She should be feeling sorry for me.”
One day, I couldn’t help saying to Mom, “Poor Tiffany? Lucky Tiffany! She gets everything she wants! Why do you feel sorry for her?” I burst out crying.
My mom sat down next to me and said softly. “Yes, I do feel sorry for her. I have been teaching you a lesson that she will never be taught.”
I looked up at her. “What are you talking about?”
Mom said with care, “One day she will really want something. Maybe she’ll find out that she can’t have it. Her mother won’t always be around to give her money, and what’s more, money can’t buy everything.”
She continued, “I have taught you valuable lessons by not giving you everything you want. You’ll know how to look for bargains（便宜货） and save money, but she won’t. You’ll understand that you need to work hard to get the things that you want but she won’t. When Tiffany is a grown woman, she’ll wake up one day and she will be wishing that she had a mom like the one you’ve got. Life lessons are more important than modern clothes and delicious food.”
It took some time, but I eventually understood my mom’s words. Now I am a happy and successful woman.
1. During the author’s elementary school years, she ______.| A．went to school with Tiffany every day |
| B．usually got lots of money from her mom |
| C．wished that her mom were as good as Tiffany’s |
| D．admired Tiffany because Tiffany was better at her lessons |
| A．Tiffany’s family was really poor |
| B．she wanted to comfort the author |
| C．she wanted the author to help Tiffany |
| D．she thought Tiffany would be spoiled（宠坏）by her mother |
| A．She was strict and taught the author to be independent. |
| B．She cared for other people’s children more than her own. |
| C．She thought that life lessons were as important as money. |
| D．She was so poor that she couldn’t give the author much money. |
| A．The author is grateful to her mother now. |
| B．The author was quite satisfied with her mother in the past. |
| C．Tiffany used to wish that she had a mom like the author’s. |
| D．Tiffany’s mother tried to teach her child to get things with hard work. |
4 . Do you want to live another 100 years or more? Some experts say that scientific advances will one day enable humans to last tens of years beyond what is now seen as the natural limit of the human life span.
“I think we are knocking at the door of immortality(永生),” said Michael Zey, a Montclair State University business professor and author of two books on the future. “I think by 2075 we will see it and that’s a conservative estimate(保守的估计).”
At the conference in San Francisco, Donald Louria, a professor at New Jersey Medical School in Newark said advances in using genes as well as nanotechnology(纳米技术) make it likely that humans will live in the future beyond what was possible in the past. “There is a great effort so that people can live from 120 to 180 years,” he said. “Some have suggested that there is no limit and that people could live to 200 or 300 or 500 years.”
However, many scientists who specialize in aging are doubtful about it and say the human body is just not designed to last past about 120 years. Even with healthier lifestyles and less disease, they say failure of the brain and organs will finally lead all humans to death.
Scientists also differ on what kind of life the super aged might live. “It remains to be seen if you pass 120, you know; could you be healthy enough to have good quality of life?” said Leonard Poon, director of the University of Georgia Gerontology Centre. “At present people who could get to that point are not in good health at all.”
1. By saying“we are knocking at the door of immortality”,Michael Zey means_________.| A．they have got some ideas about living forever |
| B．they believe that there is no limit of living |
| C．they are able to make people live past the present life span |
| D．they are sure to find the truth about long living |
| A．the human body is designed to last past about 120 years |
| B．it is possible for humans to live longer in the future |
| C．it is still doubtful how long humans can live |
| D．people can live from 120 to 180 |
| A．a great effort |
| B．the conservative estimate |
| C．the idea of living from 200 to 300 years |
| D．the idea of living beyond the present life span |
| A．No Limit for Human Life |
| B．Living Longer or not |
| C．Science,Technology and Long Living |
| D．Healthy Lifestyle and Long Living |
5 . Teenagers have their own TV channels， websites and magazines. So what about books？
Last year one publisher， Martins， started publishing a series called Waves. We spoke to the director Julia Smith. She explained， "Teenage fiction has been published since the 1970s but publishers have never been very successful in getting teenagers to buy and read books. Now they're realizing that teenagers are just older children， but are not adults either. They are often not interested in adult fiction. For this series we are looking for new writers who write especially for teenagers.
Athene Gorr's novel was published in the series last year and is selling well. Its title is The Purple Ring. She says， "The important thing is to encourage teenagers to pick up your book. I'm a new writer. Although I've got an unusual name which people might remember， nobody knows it yet! But my book has a fantastic cover which makes people want to look inside. Then they realize what an excellent story it is!"
And what do teenagers themselves think about the series？ We talked to Sophie Clarke， aged 15. She said？ "I've read a few books in the Waves series. They say they are for 14-19 year olds and I agree with that. We're not interested in the same things as people in their twenties and thirties. I like them and I think they look really good too. The only thing is that because bookshops put them in the children section， lots of teenagers won't find them so they may not do very well. And it's a shame there's no such series as I think lots of teenagers， especially boys， might buy."
1. What can we infer from Paragraph 2？ ______| A．The Waves series are suitable for adults. |
| B．It is necessary to publish books aimed at teenagers. |
| C．Teenagers are more interested in reading nowadays. |
| D．Teenagers should be encouraged to read. |
| A．Its writer. |
| B．Its cover. |
| C．Its price. |
| D．Its title. |
| A．They have attractive covers. |
| B．They are about real facts. |
| C．They are popular with teenage boys. |
| D．They are wrongly placed in the children section. |
| A．To compare different series of teenage fiction. |
| B．To give information about a new series of books. |
| C．To encourage more writers to create fictions for teenagers. |
| D．To explain why teenage fiction is easier to write than adult fiction. |
6 . Living life to its fullest
On the night of August 24, 2001, everything changed when my friend's car hit a wall with me inside. I lost most of my right leg, and I was left bleeding with several broken bones. At the hospital, although my body was weak, my mind was still very clear. I just kept telling myself to hold on. A week later, I made a deal with the doctors that once I could roll onto my side, I could leave. Two weeks later, I was allowed to go home.
Although I left the hospital, the fight was far from over. My left knee was badly injured, which resulted in different operations over the next few years.
And soon, more of my right leg had to be removed. This made it harder to wear my false leg, so I donated it to a nurse who couldn't afford one for herself. The joy of being able to provide this gift for someone else was greater than the happiness I felt on any day I was able to wear it myself.
People often tell me they're proud of me for staying strong. But in my mind, staying strong has always been my only choice. So, on the day I left the hospital, I made a promise to myself to always live life to the fullest. Now, I may not be able to do things the way everybody else does them, but still, I always find a way to do them. I soon settled into everyday life again, until one day I realized I wasn't living my life as fully as I wanted to.
After 13 years of thinking that I was confident, I had an unfamiliar feeling sweep over me. For the first time in my life, I was not only confident but I wanted to help those around me.
In 2014, I even started modeling. My dream is that one day a little girl will see me in a magazine and say, “Wow, she's beautiful, and she only has one leg. I could do that too someday, even though I have a disability.” My dream is simple: to inspire every man, woman, and child into knowing and believing that they are beautiful just the way they are.
1. How did the author feel after the car accident?| A．She complained that life was unfair to her. |
| B．She was unable to accept the loss of her leg. |
| C．She kept a positive attitude toward life. |
| D．She felt lucky that she was still alive. |
| A．She was able to offer help to others. |
| B．She could wear her false leg again. |
| C．She had lived her life to the fullest. |
| D．She could do everyday things the same as everybody else. |
| A．She wanted to be a famous magazine star. |
| B．She wanted to encourage others to be confident about themselves. |
| C．She wanted to challenge herself to be a speaker. |
| D．She wanted to prove that disabled people could also succeed. |
| A．To stress the importance of having a dream. |
| B．To show how difficult the life is for disabled people. |
| C．To inspire others by sharing her past experiences. |
| D．To give advice to disabled people on how to make a living. |
7 . Snow leopards (豹) are so hard to photograph that scientists aren’t even sure how many of these endangered animals still live in the wild.
The Snow Leopard Conservancy(SLC) set up 20 cameras in Russia in 2010 to learn more about the big cats. After a full six months, they had exactly zero picture! That’s when the organization understood they needed help. And the only people who could help them in finding the leopards were the very people from whom they wanted to protect the animals—local hunters (猎人).
Hunting snow leopards is against the law in Russia, but in the terrible climate of Siberia, the few people living there had to turn to poaching (盗猎) to feed their families.
In 2013, Russian naturalist Sergei Spitsyn approached Mergen Markov, a local hunter, and told him his project. Markov agreed to set up the camera where he knew he would find leopards, and it worked.
Markov, once a poacher, works full time for the conservationists now and has 10 cameras monitoring leopards. “I visit each camera once a month. I have known this whole region since I was a child,” he said proudly.
The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) began working with other local villagers in 2015. The village would be paid 40,000 rubles at the end of the year if the image of a snow leopard is caught. WWF also rents horses from the villagers so that they do not need to make money by poaching anymore. “Today there are far fewer leopard poachers but leopards still get caught in traps set for other animals, so I have to stay watchful,” said Markov.
Changing guns for cameras has made a big difference in the lives of these former poachers, the village, and the Russian snow leopards. The number of snow leopards has been rising and their population is expected to recover to normal levels within 10 years.
1. Why was no picture of snow leopards taken in six months?| A．SLC’s 20 cameras failed to work properly. |
| B．The number of snow leopards in the wild was too small. |
| C．The local poachers destroyed these cameras on purpose. |
| D．The researchers knew little about the animal’s living habits. |
| A．Find the poachers. | B．Repair cameras in the forest. |
| C．Catch more leopards. | D．Work for SLC. |
| A．To get some pictures of snow leopards. |
| B．To help villagers make a living. |
| C．To prevent villagers from hunting animals. |
| D．To rent their horses at a low price. |
| A．Practice makes perfect. | B．Curiosity kills the cat. |
| C．Kill two birds with one stone. | D．Old habits die hard. |
8 . According to researchers, money can buy happiness, but only if you spend it on someone else.
Spending as little as $ 5 a day on someone else could significantly bring you happiness, the team at the University of British Columbia and Harvard Business School found.
Their experiments on more than 630 Americans showed they were measurably (适度地) happier when they spent money on others—even if they thought spending the money on themselves would make them happier.
“We wanted to test our theory that how people spend their money is at least as important as how much money they earn,” said Elizabeth Dunn, a psychologist at the University of British Columbia.
They asked their 600 volunteers first to rate their general happiness, report their annual income and detail their monthly spending including bills, gifts for themselves, gifts for others and donations to charity.
“Regardless of how much income each person made, those who spent money on others reported greater happiness, while those who spent more on themselves did not,” Dunn said in a statement.
Dunn’s team also surveyed 16 employees at a company in Boston before and after they received an annual profit-sharing bonus of between $3,000 and $8,000.
“Employees who devoted more of their bonus to pro-social (有益社会的) spending experienced greater happiness after receiving the bonus, and the manner in which they spent that bonus was a more important predictor of their happiness than the size of the bonus itself,” they wrote in their report, published in the journal Science.
They gave their volunteers $5 or $20 and half got clear instructions on how to spend it. Those who spent the money on someone or something else reported feeling happier about it.
“These findings suggest that very minor alterations in spending allocations (分配) -as little as $5—may be enough to produce real gains in happiness on a given day,” Dunn said.
1. According to the passage, .| A．the more money you spend on others, the happier you are |
| B．spending money on others can bring you happiness |
| C．Elizabeth Dunn is a psychologist from Harvest Business School |
| D．six hundred people took part in the experiment |
| A．those who spent money on others felt happier no matter how much they earned |
| B．those who spent more money on themselves felt happier |
| C．people thought spending money could make themselves happier |
| D．the money spent was as important as the money earned |
| A．were given clear instructions on how to spend the bonus |
| B．had more happiness than the size of the bonus itself |
| C．experienced greater happiness after receiving their bonus |
| D．felt happier after they contributed much of the bonus to charities |
| A．Experiment on Money Spending |
| B．Devoting Your Money to Charities |
| C．Spending Money on Others Makes One Happier |
| D．Bonus and Pro-social Spending |
9 . No one knows who made the first ice cream. Some people think that water ices and milk ices may have been made by the Chinese between three thousand and a thousand years ago. In that time, the dish reached India. The Indians, in turn, many have passed on the secret to the Arabs and Persians.
Marco Polo, an Italian who travelled widely in the thirteenth century, noted that he found the Chinese had long been making ices out of fruit juices and milk. From the fourteenth century on, ices became popular first in Venice and then throughout Italy.
In 1535, when Catherine de Medeicis left Italy to marry the future King Herry II of France, she took her cooks with her. They made desserts the French had never tasted before, which was ice cream.
At first ice cream was a luxury in France. Only rich people had the money to buy it. Then, in 1660, a young man from Sicily, Francisco Procopio, arrived in Paris. He opened a shop that sold ice cream at prices people could afford. Then his ice cream became more popular that other shops were opened.
About 1640, King Charles introduced ice cream to England and soon ice cream quickly became popular in England too.
1. Ice cream was unknown in France until .| A．1535 | B．1660 | C．1640 | D．1774 |
| A．Catherine de Medeicis | B．King Charles |
| C．Francisco Procopio | D．Marco Polo |
| A．Marco Polo’s travel in the world | B．Development of ice cream in France |
| C．Development of ice cream in England | D．Development of ice cream in other countries |
| A．Marco Polo’s travel | B．the history of ice cream |
| C．Catherine’s marriage | D．one of Chinese inventions |
10 . I had the meanest mother in the world. While other kids ate candy for breakfast, I had to have cereal (麦片粥), eggs and toast. Others had cokes and candy for lunch, while we had to eat a sandwich. As you can guess, my supper was different from the other kids’. But at least I was not alone in my suffering. My sister and two brothers had the same mean mother as I did.
My mother insisted on knowing where we were at all times. She had to know who our friends were and what we were doing. We had to wear clean clothes every day. Other kids always wore their clothes for days. We reached the height of disgrace (丢脸) because she made our clothes herself, just to save money.
The worst is yet to come. We had to be in bed by 9:00 each night and up at 7:45 the next morning. So while my friends slept, my mother actually had the courage to break Child Labor Law. She made us work. I believed she lay awake all night thinking up mean things to do to us. Through the years, our friends’ report cards had beautiful colors on them, black for passing, red for failing. My mother, however, would merely be content with black marks. None of us was allowed the pleasure of being a dropout (辍学者).
She forced us to grow up into educated and honest adults. Using this as a background, I’m now trying to bring up my three children. I’m filled with pride when my children think I am mean because now I thank God every day for giving me the meanest mother in the world.
1. From the passage we can learn that the writer’s mother was .| A．not generous at all | B．very strict with her children |
| C．very mean with money matters | D．very cruel to her children |
| A．Eating differently from other kids. |
| B．Wearing clean clothes which were made by mother. |
| C．Going to bed early and getting up early. |
| D．Letting mother know where they were. |
| A．the writer worked hard and usually got good grades in studies |
| B．mother was punished for breaking the Labor Law |
| C．all the other kids studied better than the writer |
| D．the writer’s family lived a painful life |
| A．Mother practised economy in running her home. |
| B．The writer is very thankful to her mother. |
| C．The writer is strict with her children when bringing them up. |
| D．The writer doesn’t love her mother for the past painful life. |
