1 . Great Barrier Reef Choking on Pollutants
Attempts to protect the Great Barrier Reef are failing. A report released Monday by the government in Australia says water quality in the Great Barrier Reef is far below what it should be. It showed that pollution have decreased, but not enough to reach environmental targets.
Sediment (沉淀物) and chemicals can weaken coral, hurting its ability to feed and grow. Coral are live animals that take root in the ocean floor, but they are not plants. Reefs are the hard skeletons (骨架) left at the bottom of the sea by small marine creatures called polyps (珊瑚虫). The polyps then form the larger structure of a reef. Corals also are some of the most diverse ecosystems on the entire planet. They can make a home for invertebrates, crustaceans, fish, and sea snakes.
Steve Miles is Queensland’s environment minister. He says the research shows the Reef needs more protection. “Over that five-year period, we did see some progress towards our targets. Sediment is down 12 percent and pesticides (杀虫剂) loads are down 30 percent. But what is most disturbing is that these results are far from our targets. Progress towards these targets flat-lined in the period 2013-2014. If one of my kids came home with a report card like this, I would be a bit disappointed. There is more bad news here than good news. ” said Steve Miles.
The report also found that fewer than one-third of Queensland’s sugar plantations used techniques to reduce the use of pesticides. Only 28 percent of land managers managed their land properly. They had reduced harmful water run off to protect the health of the Reef. The official target is a 90 percent reduction in pesticide use within three years.
Scientists at the University of Queensland and the Australian Institute of Marine Sciences published their findings Wednesday, July 18 in the journal Science Advances. It found between 1992 and 2010, the recovery rate dropped by an average of 84 percent. But there is hope. The study also found some corals can recover quickly if “acute and chronic stressors” are lessened.
Meanwhile, the Australian government released its updated reef protection plan Friday. It clearly states global temperatures must be stopped from rising in order to save the world’s largest living structure.
1. What does the underlined word “They” in Paragraph 2 refer to?| A．Diverse ecosystems. | B．Sediment and chemicals. |
| C．Reefs and corals. | D．Small sea creatures. |
| A．He is satisfied with the protection of the Reef. |
| B．He thinks that the Reef needs more protection. |
| C．He feels angry with what his children did. |
| D．He is very happy about the Reef progress protection. |
| A．Not increase significantly. | B．Disappear. |
| C．Speed up. | D．Miss the chance. |
| A．were tough to deal with | B．failed to manage their land properly |
| C．reduced the amount of harmful water | D．were eager to quit pesticide soon |
| A．A news report. | B．A science fiction. |
| C．A book review. | D．A guide book. |
2 . Despite the lack of new releases due to the outbreak of COVID-19, there was no shortage of good films in 2020. We've rounded out the top 4 films. Check them out!
Soul
In the first Pixar cartoon to have an African-American lead character. Jamie Foxx provides the voice of a music teacher who dreams of making it as a jazz pianist. But just after a successful interview, he falls down a manhole and finds himself in a soul world where human spirits are assigned their personalities. And things get even stranger from there.
Nomadland
When Fern loses her husband and can't afford to live in a house, she packs her few belongings into a camper and drives off into the Nevada desert. She encounters a large community of senior citizens who have also been forced to live on the road, supporting themselves with short-term- jobs along the way. What makes Nomadland unique is that while Fern is played by an Oscar-winning actress, nearly all she meets are real people who relate their own experiences. Written and directed by Chloe Zhao, the film is a combination of documentary and fiction.
The Croods: A New Age
The prehistoric family from 2013's hugely enjoyable cartoon, The Croods, directed by Joel Crawford, makes a welcome return, so we can expect more crazy adventures and unusual animals. In the much-delayed- sequel, they meet another family, the Bettermans, whose advanced lifestyle and technology make the Croods look even more primitive than they did already. There's conflict but they learn to appreciate each other's differences.
Wolfwalkers
The year's finest cartoon film comes from Cartoon Saloon, an Irish studio specialising in stylised hand-drawn 2D art. Its latest production is set in the mid-17th Century, when English soldiers are trying to occupy the wild woods. One hunter's daughter meets with a girl wolfwalker and they make joint efforts to rescue the forest. It's a heartwarming story of friendship and an inspiring adventure about two girls finding themselves Wolfwalkers stands proud as new classic.
1. What is the film Soul about?| A．pianist's dream coming true. | B．A musician's romantic journeys. |
| C．A music teacher's unusual experiences. | D．An African-American actor's success story. |
| A．Soul. | B．Nomnadland. | C．The Croods: A New Age. | D．Wolfwalkers. |
| A．Science. | B．History. | C．Entertainment. | D．Medicine. |
3 . If you’d like to go sightseeing, the following World Heritage Sites may be your best choices.
Jiuzhaigou Valley Scenic and Historic Interest Area
Jiuzhaigou Valley, which lies in the northern part of Sichuan Province, China, reaches a height of more than 4,800 m, with a series of different forest ecosystems (生态系统). It’s particularly famous for its excellent waterfalls. About 140 kinds of birds live in the valley, as well as a number of endangered plants and animals, including the giant panda. Jiuzhaigou Valley was recognised as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1992.
Khami Ruins National Monument
The city of Khami, which developed after the capital of Great Zimbabwe had been given up in the mid-16th century, is of great archaeological (考古的) interest. The discovery of objects from Europe and China shows that Khami was a major centre for trade over a long period of time. It joined the World Heritage List in 1986.
Henderson Island
Henderson Island, which lies in the eastern South Pacific, is one of the few atolls (环礁) in the world whose ecology has been untouched by humans. It’s particularly famous for the 10 plants and 4 birds that can only be seen on the island. It was recorded in the World Heritage List in 1988.
The Taj Mahal
The Taj Mahal is considered to be one of the most beautiful buildings in the world and the finest example of the late style of Indian architecture. It was built by the emperor Shah Jehan, who ruled India in the 17th century. It was in memory of his favourite wife who died in 1631. The architecture was given a World Heritage Status in 1983.
1. Which of the following can be found in Jiuzhaigou Valley?| A．Wonderful waterfalls. | B．Ancient objects. |
| C．Beautiful buildings. | D．Untouched ecology. |
| A．It doesn’t exist now. |
| B．It was built by an emperor’s wife. |
| C．It has become a place of interest. |
| D．It looks more beautiful than other buildings. |
| A．Industry. | B．Travel. |
| C．Science. | D．Business. |
4 . Thomas Bach, the president of the International Olympic Committee, this week expressed optimism for a glorious Summer Games this year in Tokyo, where the world, in his view, will reunite after defeating the coronavirus pandemic.
Yet nine months after the IOC and organizers in Tokyo agreed to postpone (推迟) the 2020 Summer Games for one year, the level of uncertainty surrounding the event has hardly waned, despite the fact that hopes for a successful Olympics have never been higher.
Will Japan open its borders (边境), which have been largely closed since April, and allow the friends and families of Olympians, or any fans for that matter, to attend the Games? Will the Olympic Village, where most of the athletes and support staff usually live during the Games, function as a kind of bubble, with access to the city cut off? Will athletes have to quarantine (隔离) either in their home countries ahead of the Games or in Japan once they arrive?
Japan has spent more than $12 billion preparing for the Olympics, although some estimates have put the actual figure at roughly $26 billion, including infrastructure projects (基础建设工程). Postponing the Games for a year has cost organizers more than $1 billion. The IOC doubled its contribution to Tokyo organizers to $1.6 billion, to help cover the costs.
The overall budget includes $800 million from sales of some 7.8 million in tickets. For a typical Summer Games, overseas customers can account for about 30% of ticket sales. It’s hard to predict just how much financial loss Japan will suffer with a lack of overseas travelers to the Olympics.
1. Which of the following statements will Thomas Bach agree with?| A．The Summer Olympic Games is unlikely to be held. |
| B．The Summer Olympic Games will be held this year. |
| C．The Summer Olympic Games is supposed to be put off for one more year. |
| D．The Summer Olympic Games shouldn’t be held because of the coronavirus pandemic. |
| A．Reduced. | B．Strengthened. | C．Widened. | D．Enriched. |
| A．All the borders of Japan have been closed since April. |
| B．Overseas customers account for most of ticket sales. |
| C．Japan has suffered a lot from postponing the Games for a year. |
| D．The Olympic Village is usually used to quarantine athletes and staff. |
| A．Newspaper. | B．A travel brochure. |
| C．A historic book. | D．A geography magazine. |
5 . Man’s best friend is also his oldest. The partnership between dogs and people may go back as much as 40,000 years long predating any other domestication （驯化）. And it is based not, as is the case with many succeeding domestications, on a human desire to eat the animal concerned, or to consume some associated product such as milk or eggs, but rather on sincere companionship, though with a little work — and hunting-related using on the side.
How this partnership got going, though, is debated. In particular, unlike other domestications, which involved groups of people who had taken up farming, the domestication of the wolves that became dogs happened while all human beings were still hunter-gatherers. The two species were, in other words, competitors. Yet they managed to become soul mates.
One popular theory is that the wolves which became dogs acted as rubbish cleaners for groups of people, by eating their waste, possibly including their faeces （粪 便）.That, though, would be a service more useful to settled farmers than mobile hunter-gatherers. As she writes in Scientific Reports, however, Maria Lahtinen of the Finnish Museum of Natural History thinks she might have the answer as to how wolves and people squared the competitive circle while both species were still hunters. It was, she and her colleagues suggest, simply a matter of remaining calories.
The archaeological （考古的）evidence suggests that wolves were domesticated in wood lands at the edge of the ice sheets of the last ice age, since that is where almost all Palaeolithic dog remains have been found. Dr Lahtinen calculates that, given the large size of hunted animals in this environment, and humans' need to eat a balanced diet with plenty of plant matter in it as well as flesh, there would have been a lot of remaining meat around from kills. What better way to use some of it than to feed a few wolf cubs （幼崽）to provide entertainment and companionship? And thus, she suggests, were dogs born.
1. Why did our ancestors domesticate dogs?| A．To balance their diet. | B．To help them to farm. |
| C．To get rid of rubbish. | D．To develop a partnership. |
| A．Dogs were born as early as wolves. |
| B．People ever hunted wolves for food. |
| C．Wolf cubs were raised for remaining meat. |
| D．Cruel enemies could become good friends. |
| A．A new idea. | B．Some evidence. |
| C．A practical way. | D．A scientific report. |
| A．Home & Life. | B．Finance & Economy. |
| C．History & Future. | D．Science & Technology. |
6 . While flat bread has a history that dates back to ancient Egypt, real pizza—pizza with tomato sauce—was invented in Naples, Italy. Legend holds that pizza margherita—filled with tomato, cheese, and basil, in the red white and green of Italy’s flag—was first created by Naples’ Pizzeria Brandi to honor Queen Margherita of Italy during an 1886 visit.
Today, of course, there are all kinds of pizza shapes, sizes and flavors around the world, but the original Neapolitan pizza is round, with a soft, thin center and thinker, crunchier sides. You should be able to fold it in four and eat it like a crepe. And that's the delicious treat that's now up for protection as an irreplaceable piece of global human heritage: This year, Italy is putting "the art of the Neopolitan pizza maker" on the list of candidates to become treasures of world heritage recognized by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
Universally recognizable, "pizza" happens to to the Italian language's best-known word, but that doesn't mean it's a shoo-in. "UNESCO has never listed a cultural tradition linked to food production," Peirluigi Petrillo, who prepared the documents to be discussed at UNESCO, told The Local.
The European Union included pizza in its official list of “guaranteed traditional specialities” in 2016. The list specifies that any pizza called “Neapolitan” must be no more than 35 cm wide, with crust of up to 2 cm high, topped with canned tomatoes, cheese from Naples, Campania region, oil and basil. The pizza must be cooked in a wooden oven, and be elastic and soft.
Italy also says that it has more UNESCO-recognized cultural treasures than any other country. The final decision on whether pizza-making makes one more will be announced in 2022, after discussion with all 193 UN member-states.
1. Pizza margherita got such a name because________.| A．Queen Margherita gave it the name | B．it was specially created for Queen Margherita |
| C．it was created in Queen Margherita’s time | D．Queen Margherita liked eating it very much |
| A．Neapolitan pizza known in the world | B．Neapolitan pizza sold all over the world |
| C．the pizza-making art become a world heritage | D．Neapolitan pizza be thought highly of |
| A．Neapolitan pizza is only well-known in Italy |
| B．Neapolitan pizza will be recognized in the world. |
| C．The dream of Italy is sure to come true in 2022. |
| D．Neapolitan pizza might be refused by UNESCO. |
| A．has specific requirements | B．will become popular next year |
| C．must be admitted by UNESCO | D．must be created by Naples’ Pizzeria Brandi |
| A．Travel and Sightseeing | B．Food and Culture |
| C．Economy and Finance | D．Recreation and Relaxation |
7 . Answering the Community Needs of Our City
The Siver City Council recognizes that citizens have certain needs. To better meet your needs, we have made several changes to community facilities in 2020. The followings shows how we have tried to make your life better.
Transport
☆Three stations for the suburbs have been added to the western train service.
☆20 new buses for the southern line were purchased in January.
☆50 per cent of city bus-stops have been upgraded.
Communication
☆Broadband cableis now available to ll parts of the city.
☆All of the new Government buildings are smart-wired for better computer service!
Medical Facilities
☆The new state-of-the-art Nightingale Hospital was opened in June.
☆To overcome a shortage of trained medical staff at Dover Hospital, 10 doctors have been employed from overseas.
☆Some facilities at Station Street Hospital have been upgraded.
Education
☆Textbooks will be free to all primary students in 2020!
☆Rental for private schools has been reduced.
Protection and Security
☆Extra police now patrol(巡逻)the tourist areas.
☆50 new police officers graduated in July and have taken up duties in the city area.
Entertainment/Recreation
☆The new Central Community Building opened in May.
☆5,000 new fiction books were bought for the Silver City Library.
1. What’s the notice mainly about?| A．The work carried out by the people of Silver City. |
| B．The facilities available in Silver City. |
| C．Some improvements in Silver City. |
| D．Information for interested tourists. |
| A．Travel books are provided in the new library. |
| B．More bus lines and stops are bought in Silver City. |
| C．Free medical treatment is available at Station Street Hospital. |
| D．There are more police officers on duty now. |
| A．the community | B．the local government |
| C．the Silver City Library | D．a travel agency |
8 . A glimpse at Spring Festival Chinese film releases
The clock is ticking down to 2021! We’ve handpicked some films to help you get in the spirit of the season.
Hi, Mom
The film is widely regarded as the top dark horse thanks to its tear-jerking narration of mother-daughter affection, which is directed by Jia Ling.
Time： Feb. 12—14 9：30 a. m.〜11 ：30 a.m.
Place： Room 1
Treats： Popcorn, Ice cream
Price： ¥80
Detective Chinatown 3
Directed by Chen Sicheng, this movie topped the list of the most-anticipated holiday films sent by movie ticketing platform Maoyan.
Time： Feb. 14-16 1：00p. m.〜3：00P.m.
Place ： Room 2
Treats： Popcorn, Ice cream （for free）
Price： ¥75
A Writer\ Odyssey
Director Lu Yang showed a boldly imaginative visualization of a horrible fantasy world, taking the third seat with 410 million yuan.
Time： Feb. 13—17 9 ：30 a. m. 11 ：30 a. m.
Place： Room 3
Price： ¥65
Endgame
The film illustrates a comical up and down fate between an unsuccessful theater actor and a famous professional assassin（刺客）who loses his memory accidentally.
Time： Feb. 15 — 18 3：30 p. m.〜5：30 p. m.
Place： Room 4
Price： ¥60
Welcome to book through the WeChat account!
1. Which room will show a film about family love?| A．Room 1. | B．Room 2. | C．Room 3. | D．Room 4. |
| A．Feb. 16 3：00 a. m. | B．Feb. 15 2：00 p. m. |
| C．Feb. 18 2：00 p. m. | D．Feb. 14 11 ：00 a. m. |
| A．A report. | B．A poster. | C．A journal. | D．A guidebook. |
9 . ANKARA—The wushu team of Ankara, the Turkish capital, practices hard to win new medals and titles in Turkey.
Wushu has grown in popularity throughout the country. In a sports center, young athletes are training strenuously. “We are committed to martial arts and there is a real interest in wushu, which includes different techniques. Our athletes are ambitious,” Serkan Bakir, a well-known martial arts instructor says. Bakir explains that during the global health crisis, wushu, which emphasizes quickness, power and relaxed movement, provides an excellent opportunity for people who wish to strengthen their bodies.
“There are varieties of Chinese martial arts. Taichi, for example, can be performed from a kid to someone who is 85 years old. It can help people stay in good shape. Everyone can benefit from it especially when we have to stay fit to avoid the coronavirus,” he notes.
Beyzanur Karakaya, a 22-year-old woman, is currently seeking a master’s degree in sports education at university in Ankara. Her goal is to improve in her field and eventually travel to China to master the art of wushu, which she has practiced for about 10 years. “I have never been to China or competed against a Chinese athlete, but if I have the opportunity, I would love to go there and train with masters. That would be wonderful,” she says.
Wearing her traditional Chinese martial arts uniform, 13-year-old Fatma Ulukok says wushu brought some changes to her shy personality. “Since I started practicing this, I became more confident. So it has helped me both physically and mentally, and I plan to improve my abilities in the coming years,” the young girl says. Ulukok adds that she admires the Chinese culture and would like to go to China to see it for herself in the future.
1. What dose the underlined word “strenuously” in Paragraph 2 refer to?| A．energetically | B．patiently | C．inactively | D．passively |
| A．All people in Turkey practice wushu. |
| B．Wushu can cure heart diseases. |
| C．With the help of wushu, Karakaya became more self-confident. |
| D．Neither Karakaya nor Ulukok has been to China. |
| A．She got a master’s degree. | B．She stayed in good shape. |
| C．She was more ambitious. | D．She became more positive. |
| A．Health. | B．Medicine. | C．Art. | D．Travel. |
10 . A small piece of fish each day may keep the heart doctor away. That's the finding of a study of Dutchmen in which deaths from heart disease were more than 50 percent lower among those who consumed at least an ounce of salt water fish per day compared to those who never ate fish.
The Dutch research is one of three human studies that give strong scientific support to the long-held belief that eating fish can provide health benefits, particularly to the heart.
Heart disease is the number-one killer in the United States, with more than 550,000 deaths occurring from heart attacks each year. But previous research has shown that the level of heart disease is lower in cultures that consume more fish than Americans do. There are fewer heart disease deaths, for example, among the Eskimos of Greenland, who consume about 14 ounces of fish a day, and among the Japanese, whose daily fish consumption（消耗）averages more than 3 ounces.
For 20 years, the Dutch study followed 852 middle-aged men, 20 percent of whom ate no fish. At the start of the study, average fish consumption was about two-thirds of an ounce each day, with more men eating lean fish than fatty fish.
During the next two decades, 78 of the men died from heart disease. The fewest deaths were among the group who regularly ate fish, even at levels far lower than those of the Japanese or Eskimos. This relationship was true regardless of other factors such as age, high blood pressure, or blood cholesterol（胆固醇）levels.
1. The passage is mainly about___________.| A．the effect of fish-eating on people's health |
| B．the high incidence of heart disease in some countries |
| C．the changes in people's diet |
| D．the daily fish consumption of people in different cultures |
| A．Advertisements | B．Movies |
| C．Briefs | D．Health and Diet |
| A．in countries of the yellow-skin race |
| B．in the countries with high consumption of fish |
| C．in highly-developed countries |
| D．in the countries with good production of fish |
| A．the kind of fish eaten | B．the amount of fish eater |
| C．regular fish-eating | D．people of different areas |
