1 . As a geothermal scientist, I know that boiling rivers exist—but they are always near volcanoes. You need a lot of heat to make that much water boil. We were working in the volcanic gap, a 950-mile-long area that covers most of Peru, where there hasn’t been active volcanism for the past two million years.
Yet we’d found the Shanaya, a name originated from “heating thing”. My measurements averaged 190°-195°F. The locals think it’s so hot because of the Yacumama, or “water mother”—a spirit who gives birth to waters—represented by a snake-head-shaped rock at the origin of the heated water.
I had to cut my way through the bush at the side of the river to take temperature readings. All the while, right next to me was this very hot, fast-flowing body of water. A friend at the nearest village had told me, “Use your feet like eyes.” You can’t see heat, but you can feel it when you step near it. I wore sandals(凉鞋）.
I was at a part of the river measuring 210°F, standing on a rock the size of a sheet or paper, when the rain fell. It was like a curtain rising. The temperature differential between the rain and the river caused a whiteout. I couldn’t see, but I whistled to let my partner know I was OK.
At 130°F flesh cooks, and the water around me was nearing twice that. My eyes would have cooked in less than a minute, and I couldn’t have seen how to get out. I saw rats fall in, their eyes turning milky white. I kept whistling.
After 15 minutes the rain stopped and the steam cleared. A hard rain in most situations would have been nothing important. Here, for a matter of minutes, it thinned the line between researching and being boiled alive.
1. What do we know about boiling rivers?| A．They are always found not far from volcanoes. |
| B．They were discovered two million years ago. |
| C．Geothermal scientists doubt their existence. |
| D．Most of them can be found in Peru. |
| A．It was convenient to wear sandals in the river. |
| B．He was advised to do so by his friend. |
| C．He wanted to feel heat with his feet. |
| D．The temperature was high there. |
| A．He signaled to his partner for help. |
| B．He was in danger of losing his life. |
| C．He raised a curtain to protect himself. |
| D．He fell down because of his blindness. |
| A．Water near volcanoes. |
| B．Milky white eyes. |
| C．Boiling point. |
| D．A hard rain. |
2 . Along the hallway (走廊), I saw mixed expressions on the faces of my students: excited, nervous, and worried.No doubt about it: they were this term’s freshmen. My own first day at high school flashed into my mind.
Since our family had just moved to the place, I didn’t know anyone at the school. On arriving, I picked up a map and my schedule (日程表). Oh, my goodness, what a large school it was! Nervously, I looked about for where my first class was to be held.
When I finally found my class, everyone was talking and laughing together, and I felt so lonely. Throughout the day, each period brought some new faces I had not seen before. But when my English class came around, I had a surprise: an old classmate! It was Ben, who had left my middle school right after sixth grade. We talked and joked about middle school and the clubs we were in together. My nerves eased (放松) a little.
Next was the P E. class. This was the first class that I found without difficulty. Sitting through the boring introduction to the class by the teacher, I started talking to a girl sitting near me. I found out that her family had just moved here too, and she didn’t know anyone either. As we talked, we discovered that we had a lot in common, and had a lot of classes together. This girl ended up becoming my best friend. I am so glad that I met her.
By the end of that day, I was full of optimism (乐观). I knew that high school would be an amazing experience.
1. The writer of this passage is a __________.| A．parent | B．college student | C．high school student | D．high school teacher |
| A．the school was very large | B．the map did not show the way |
| C．the teacher would be serious | D．the first class would be difficult |
| A．met her old classmate Ben | B．made friends with a girl |
| C．had P.E. class together with Ben | D．finally found her first class |
| A．Nervous. | B．Bored. | C．Hopeful. | D．Satisfied. |
3 . We' re accustomed to thinking of environmental change, and its effects on our health, as Being measured in years. But researchers are now discovering how quickly and dramatically air quality can improve - and how big an impact those improvements can make.
For instance, when Atlanta hosted the 1996 Olympic Games, parts of the city were closed to cars for 17 days. In the following four weeks, kids' medical visits for lung diseases decreased by more than 40 percent. In 1990, when Hong Kong passed stricter regulations for the content of fuel oil used by power plants and cars, SO2 levels immediately fell by 45 percent on average and as much as 80 percent in the most polluted areas. Within six months, there was a significant decrease in the number of deaths from air related diseases.
In March 2020, when businesses shut down because of the coronavirus pandemic, NO2 levels were about 30 percent lower on average in the northeaster United States than they were in the same month for the years 2015 to 2019. Also, during the month that China was under quarantine(隔离) from February to April because of the pandemic, one study estimated that improved air quality helped to impede more than 12,000 pollution-related deaths. With a recent study showing that the higher PM2.5 is, the more people will die from the COVID-19, measures to improve air quality may be more important than ever before.
1. The examples in Paragraph 2 are given in order to prove that_________,| A．kids often see doctors |
| B．people love the Olympics |
| C．air quality can improve |
| D．cars should be prohibited |
| A．Increase. | B．Recover. | C．Witness. | D．Prevent. |
| A．The surprisingly fast-acting benefits of cleaner air |
| B．The influence of COVID- 19 on the environment |
| C．The cause and effect of the widespread disease |
| D．The significance of fighting against COVID-19 |
| A．The causes of COVID-19. |
| B．The solutions to air problems. |
| C．The examples of air pollution. |
| D．The results of the air research. |
4 . Our wedding was about to begin. My throat was tight and my cheeks got red, but I didn't care. I was ready to marry David Sanchez. We’re a "nontraditional" couple: getting married not at a church but in a bookstore that supports a charity to fight H.I.V. and homelessness.
“Kim! I could walk you down the aisle（走廊）if you like!” David's father offered gently.
"I'm OK. But I appreciate that,” I said with a smile. And I was reminded, again, of my dad's absence.
My father died of cancer six weeks ago. For the last two months, we tried to make him feel comfortable and loved as he departed from this world. He always told us that he didn't like a funeral （葬礼）and insisted our wedding go forward as planned. But how could we honor him since the wedding would be the first time the family would gather after his death and some even didn't know he was sick?
During the ceremony, my dear friend Eva delivered a reading entitled "When Things Go Missing” by Kathryn Schulz. She paused and got everyone on the same page: “When we are experiencing it, loss often feels like confusion in the usual order of things. In fact, the entire plan of the universe consists of losing, and life amounts to a reverse（逆向的）savings account in which we are eventually robbed of everything.
I felt the energy full of the room. Everyone was listening. By choosing to accept the pain, we knew what a wedding does to join two families and mark the next chapter for a couple. Loss became a compass that pointed us away from a fantasy and toward celebrating the difficult realities of life.
After rings were exchanged, fried chicken was served, our friends offered so many funny and touching toasts, and finally David sang "Married” on my father’s guitar. I felt joy filling all the holes in my soul. Celebrating my father’s life at our wedding made me grateful for all the time I had spent with him, because it all goes by so fast.
1. Why did David's father offer to walk the author down the aisle?| A．To relieve her tension. |
| B．To welcome her to his family. |
| C．To play the author's late father's role. |
| D．To contribute something to the charity. |
| A．She got a compass as a wedding gift. |
| B．She enjoyed David's promise for their marriage. |
| C．She received more sympathy from families and friends. |
| D．She recalled the days spent with her father and understood life better. |
| A．Because she could keep from the pain. |
| B．Because she knew everyone was listening. |
| C．Because she got more courage for marriage and life. |
| D．Because she could read a piece of Kathryn Schulz's works. |
| A．It was held at a church. |
| B．It was a touching and happy one. |
| C．Kim and David turned it into a funeral. |
| D．There was no other activity except reading. |
5 . Milwaukee, Wisconsin, is road testing a new way to keep winter roads ice-free – by spreading on them cheese brine, the salty liquid used to make soft cheese, like mozzarella.
Wisconsin, also called "America's Dairyland," is famous for its cheese. The state produced 2.8 billion pounds of cheese last year! As a result, there was a lot of leftover cheese brine. Disposing of(处置)the brine can be expensive. So what should cheese makers do with the waste?
Normally, towns use rock salt to de-ice streets. The salt lowers waters' freezing point, causing ice to melt(融化). But using cheese brine could help both cheese producers and cities save money, while keeping roads safe. Cheese brine has salt in it, which, like the rock salt, helps lower water's freezing point.
In addition to saving money, cheese brine could also be a more environment-friendly option. Many people suspect that all the rock salt used every winter is harming the environment.
Rock salt is made of sodium chloride, the sane con-pound (化合物)in ordinary table salt. Sounds harmless, right? But while you probably add only a small amount of salt to your food, road crews spread about 20 million tons of salt on U.S. Roads every year!
The chemical washes off roads and goes into the ground. There it can pollute drinking water, harm plants. and eat away soil. By spreading cheese brine on streets before adding a layer of rock salt, Milwaukee may be able to cut its rock salt use by 30 percent.
Cheese brine has a downside too – a shell similar to that of bad milk. "I don't really mind it," Emil Norby told Modern Farmer magazine. He works for one of Wisconsin's county highway commissions and came up with the idea of using cheese brine. "Our roads smell like Wisconsin!" he said.
1. Why can cheese brine help keep winter roads ice-free?| A．It is soft. | B．It contains salt. | C．It is warm. | D．It has milk in it. |
| A．Improving air quality. | B．Increasing sales of rock salt. |
| C．Reducing water pollution. | D．Saving the cheese industry. |
| A．barking up the wrong tree | B．putting the cart before the horse |
| C．robbing Peter to pay Paul | D．killing two birds with one stone |
6 . I work as the reception manager at my hotel.
A booking came in a few weeks ago with a note attached that a guest would be travelling with her deaf father. This note helped us in preparing for their arrival. As they would be here for a number of days, his daughter wanted to make his trip to Ireland as smooth as possible.
Upon seeing this note and knowing I would be the one to check them in, I decided to learn some very basic sign language. I greeted the guest in my usual fashion, asking for the surname on the booking. Once I heard the name，I immediately realized who was standing in front of me.
I had been learning for two weeks how to say: “Welcome to Ireland. My sign language is terrible, but please, if you need anything during your stay, just let me know and we will help you.”
I smiled at the father and daughter in front of me. Turning to the father, I greeted him in ASL (American Sign Language) and began the bit I had learned for him. His daughter broke down crying and told me I was sweet. But the father just smiled and was so happy. Honestly, seeing his reaction was enough for me. It was absolutely worth the last few weeks of learning basic ASL.
Sadly, I wasn’t working the day they checked out, but they left a gift for me, a small box with some chocolates and a book on ASL. Inside was a note saying: “Thank you very much for what you did. My father has been in amazing spirits from the time you checked us in and insisted we get you a gift before we left. You have no idea how much this meant to my father and me, and we can’t thank you enough. You've made his trip very special with one simple gesture.”
I cried for a solid five minutes when I came into work the next day and found this gift in my locker.
1. The daughter left a note when booking the hotel in order to __________.| A．ask for special service for herself |
| B．give some useful advice to the hotel |
| C．express gratitude to the hotel manager |
| D．make her father’s trip more comfortable |
| A．the author’s sign language was really terrible |
| B．her father was unwilling to live in that hotel |
| C．she appreciated what the author had done for her father |
| D．the author wouldn’t be working when they checked out |
| A．thankful | B．satisfied |
| C．disappointed | D．regretful |
| A．the author made the daughter’s check-out smooth |
| B．the author was deeply moved by an unexpected gift |
| C．the daughter cried for five minutes before they left |
| D．the daughter asked the author to learn sign language |
7 . If you are a fruit grower — or would like to become one — take advantage of Apple Day to see what’s around. It’s called Apple Day but in practice it’s more like Apple Month. The day itself is on October 21, but since it has caught on, events now spread out over most of October around Britain.
Visiting an apple event is a good chance to see, and often taste, a wide variety of apples. To people who are used to the limited choice of apples such as Golden Delicious and Royal Gala in supermarkets, it can be quite an eye opener to see the range of classical apples still in existence, such as Decio which was grown by the Romans. Although it doesn’t taste of anything special, it’s still worth a try, as is the knobbly(多疙瘩的) Cat’s Head which is more of a curiosity than anything else.
There are also varieties developed to suit specific local conditions. One of the very best varieties for eating quality is Orleans Reinette, but you’ll need a warm, sheltered place with perfect soil to grow it, so it’s a pipe dream for most apple lovers who fall for it.
At the events, you can meet expert growers and discuss which ones will best suit your conditions, and because these are family affairs, children are well catered for with apple-themed fun and games.
Apple Days are being held at all sorts of places with an interest in fruit, including stately gardens and commercial orchards(果园). If you want to have a real orchard experience, try visiting the National Fruit Collection at Brogdale, near Faversham in Kent.
1. What can people do at the apple events?| A．Attend experts’ lectures. |
| B．Visit fruit-loving families. |
| C．Plant fruit trees in an orchard. |
| D．Taste many kinds of apples. |
| A．It is a new variety. |
| B．It has a strange look. |
| C．It is rarely seen now. |
| D．It has a special taste. |
| A．A practical idea. |
| B．A vain hope. |
| C．A brilliant plan. |
| D．A selfish desire. |
| A．To show how to grow apples. |
| B．To introduce an apple festival. |
| C．To help people select apples. |
| D．To promote apple research. |
