1 . You might have heard about how honey bees are doing poorly these days. It’s different, though, from the situation many of the world’s vulnerable (脆弱的) animals find themselves in. We want them to live their lives and grow stronger, but are we willing to change our lifestyles to make it happen? The decrease in honey bees is a bit different, because if honey bees can’t live well, neither can people and, eventually people won’t eat as a result.
As happened in 2017, U.S. beekeepers lost 40 percent of their bees because of a disease. It’s really about the earnings of beekeepers and the reduced amount of bees. But it doesn’t stop there. Honey bees go around doing pollination (授粉). And do you know what need to be pollinated? That’s our crops. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) estimates bees pollinate about $15 billion worth of apples and peaches each year in the United States alone.
So, we 21st-century humans not only take notice, but also start trying to fix the problem. It’s infeasible that we give every bee the treatment. We can’t imagine how huge the task is and how hard we carry on it! The most promising immediate solution seems to prevent the disease. That’s where the bee vaccine (疫苗) comes.
Scientists have long thought immunizing (使免疫) bees will be unworkable, but a 2015 study discovered that bees transfer immunity to their babies through protein. Vaccinating a bee won’t help that bee, but if you vaccinate the queen of bees, she can pass her immunity on to her later generations through her eggs.
The new vaccine will treat for American foulbrood (AFB), a serious disease that quickly destroys bees. It’s in the testing phases and most likely headed for bee boxes near you. And don’t worry, it doesn’t require a tiny doctor’s chair and needle to deliver the vaccine—the queen bee can drink the medicine in a little sugar water and pass it along to her later generations.
1. What does exactly the author intend to tell us through the 2017 beekeepers’ incident?| A．The beekeepers lead a terrible life. |
| B．The number of bees continues to decrease. |
| C．The decline of bees affects the production of grain. |
| D．The pollination work of bees is huge and complicated. |
| A．Practical | B．Impossible | C．harmful | D．Convenient |
| A．The bee vaccine is hard to develop. |
| B．Bees will learn skills from the queen. |
| C．Bees can transfer immunity to each other. |
| D．The bee vaccine can take effect in the long run. |
| A．It’s applied to all sick bees. |
| B．It will be delivered to bees by skilled doctors. |
| C．It works by allowing the queen of bees to take it. |
| D．It has been put into use and makes many bees survive. |
2 . I woke up with drool (口水) on my pillow this morning. The alarm clock rang, and I reached over to turn it off. As I laid my face back down on the pillow, I felt the wet drool on my pillow case. I opened my eyes and saw a smiling, panting (喘气的), furry face gazing down at me. I tried to get up, but she was too fast. My face was suddenly covered in kisses with one going straight up my nose and another right in my ear. I laughed, reached out and picked up the eight-pound love machine and held her away from my wet face. It was just another morning in a life with dogs.
Why do we welcome them into our homes and our hearts? We know that most likely we are going to outlive them and have our hearts broken when they age quickly and pass away after ten to fifteen years. We know that there will be vet bills, flea baths and enough fur to make a vacuum cleaner cry. We know that our ears will ring from the barking, that we will be picking up the animal waste every single day and that we will never get to finish a full sandwich again.
Yet, when we are feeling down or blue, there will always be a soft head on our lap needing to be pet. When we get home after a long day’s work, there will be a happy face at the door waiting for us. Our lives will be full of balls to throw, bellies to scratch, and love and loyalty that will warm our hearts and uplift our souls.
For thousands of years, dogs have been our best friends. They remain one of the greatest gifts life has ever given us. Even if they can’t love us for the rest of our lives, they will always love us for all of theirs.
1. What’s the meaning of the underlined word “outlive” in Paragraph 2?| A．Hate. | B．Survive. | C．Donate. | D．Kill. |
| A．The dog slept in the writer’s bed last night. |
| B．The dog wakes up the writer every morning. |
| C．The writer will keep the dog company for about 50 years. |
| D．The writer enjoys the dog’s company despite the trouble. |
| A．Neutral. | B．Negative. | C．Favourable. | D．Indifferent. |
3 . Experts are warning about the risks of extremely picky(挑剔的)eating after a teenager living on a diet of chips and crisps developed lasting sight loss. Eye doctors in Bristol cared for the 17-year-old after his sight had gone to the point of blindness. Tests showed he had serious vitamin deficiency(缺乏). Dr. Denize Atan, who treated him at the hospital, said, “His diet was basically a portion of chips from the local fish and chip shop every day. He also used to snack on crisps and sometimes white bread and ham, and not really any fruit and vegetables.”
The teenager saw his doctor at the age of 14 because he had been feeling tired and unwell. At that time he suffered from vitamin B12 deficiency, but he did not stick with the treatment or improve his poor diet. Three years later, he was taken to the Bristol Eye Hospital because of progressive sight loss.
He was not overweight or underweight, but he had lost minerals from his bones, which was really quite shocking for a boy of his age. In terms of his sight loss, he met the standards of being blind. “He had blind spots right in the middle of his sight,” said Dr Denize Atan, “That means he can’t drive and would find it really arduous to read, watch TV or recognize faces.”
Dr Denize Atan said that parents should learn about the harm that can be caused by picky eating, and turn to experts for help. For those who are concerned , she advised, “It’s best not to be anxious about picky eating , and instead calmly introduce one or two new foods with every meal.” She said multivitamin tablets can supplement(补充) a diet, but cannot take the place of eating healthily. “It’s much better to take in vitamins through a varied and balanced diet,” she said, adding that too many certain vitamins , including vitamin A, can be harmful ,“so you don’t want to overdo it.”
1. What does Dr Denize Atan imply in paragraph 1?| A．The diet of the boy is not balanced. |
| B．Fruit and vegetables are rich in vitamins. |
| C．Picky eating is common among teenagers. |
| D．The cause of the boy’s disease is unknown. |
| A．To improve his poor diet. |
| B．To get some help to lose weight. |
| C．To be treated for his discomfort. |
| D．To slow down his progressive sight loss. |
| A．Important. | B．Easy. | C．Necessary. | D．Difficult. |
| A．Reasons why the boy is seriously ill. |
| B．Suggestions for the boy’s family to care for him. |
| C．Advice for parents worried about picky eating. |
| D．Ways of taking in enough vitamins and minerals. |
4 . Avi Loeb, a scientist, believes that we are not alone in the universe. The belief fits with Loeb’s alien (外星的) spaceship theory that at least one alien spaceship might be flying over the orbit (轨道) of Jupiter, which won the international attention last year.
Astronomers in Hawaii found the first known interstellar (星际的) object in late 2017. It was a bit of light moving so fast past the sun that it could only have come from another star. Almost every astronomer on the planet was trying to figure out how the object, called “Oumuamua” got to our far-away, part of the Milky way galaxy. “One possibility is that ‘Oumuamua’ is debris (碎片) from an advanced technological equipment,” Loeb said. “Technology comes from another solar system just showed up at our door.”
“‘Oumuamua’ is not an alien spaceship,” Paul Sutter, another scientist wrote. He suggested Loeb was seeking publicity. Most scientists think “Oumuamua” is some sort of rock. They think it could be an icy wandering comet.
Loeb says that “Oumuamua’s” behavior, means it can’t be a block of rock shaped like a long photo. He thinks it's more likely an object that’s very long and thin, perhaps like a long pancake or a ship’s sail. Loeb says that if someone shows him evidence that contradicts his beliefs, he will immediately give in.
Loeb believes himself a truth-teller and risk- taker in an age of very safe, too-quiet scientists. “The worst thing that can happen to me is that I would be relieved of my management duties, and that would give me even more time to focus on science,” Loeb says. He said he wouldn’t mind giving up all the titles he had and returning to the Israeli farming village where he grew up.
1. What does Loeb say about “Oumuamua”?| A．It is an icy comet. |
| B．It looks like a long photo. |
| C．It is actually some sort of rock. |
| D．It may come from another alien civilization. |
| A．Searches for. | B．Depends on. |
| C．Turns to. | D．Goes against. |
| A．He is foolish. |
| B．He is unsatisfied with his titles. |
| C．He is a firm believer in scientific truth. |
| D．He is uncertain about his career future. |
| A．Have Aliens Paid a Visit in Spaceships? |
| B．Do We Really Know about Space Theory? |
| C．Scientists Are Working on High Technology |
| D．Astronomers Are Encouraging Space Travel |
5 . Think of Japan in the spring and the image that comes to mind is likely the country’s famous cherry blossoms, also known as “Sakura” — white and pink flowers, blooming across cities and mountains.
The flowers, which experience a “peak bloom” that only lasts a few days, have been loved in Japan for more than a thousand years. Crowds celebrate with viewing parties, flocking to the most popular locations to take photos and have picnics underneath the branches.
But this year, cherry blossom season has come and gone in the blink of an eye, in one of the earliest blooms on record. Scientists warn it’s a symptom of the larger climate crisis threatening ecosystems everywhere.
Yasuyuki Aono, a researcher at Osaka Prefecture University, has gathered records from Kyoto back to 812 AD from historical documents and diaries. In the central city of Kyoto, cherry blossoms peaked on March 26, the earliest in more than 1,200 years, Aono said. And in the capital Tokyo, cherry blossoms reached full bloom on March 22, the second-earliest date on record.
The peak bloom dates shift every year, depending on numerous factors including weather and rainfall, but have shown a general trend of moving earlier and earlier. In Kyoto, the peak date stayed around mid-April for centuries, but began moving into early April during the 1800s. The date has only dipped into late March a handful of times in recorded history.
“Sakura blooms are very temperature sensitive,” said Aono. “Flowering and full bloom could be earlier or later depending on the temperature alone,” he said. “The temperature was low in the 1820s, but it has risen by about 3.5 degrees Celsius to this day.”
This year’s seasons in particular influenced the blossom dates, he added. The winter was very cold, but the spring came fast and unusually warm.
1. What is the best title of the passage?| A．Cherry blossom celebrations. |
| B．Warning of a climate crisis. |
| C．A strong love for cherry blossom. |
| D．Cherry blossom season coming earlier. |
| A．Blocking. | B．Flooding. | C．Running. | D．Following. |
| A．The peak blossom dates fall on a fixed date. |
| B．The cherry blossom rarely peaks in March. |
| C．The peak bloom dates mainly depend on weather and rainfall. |
| D．Cherry blossom peaks around mid-April in Tokyo. |
| A．To inform people the date of cherry blossom. |
| B．To show a study on cherry blossom dates. |
| C．To present a Japanese tradition of cherry blossom celebration. |
| D．To make people aware of the influence of climate change on cherry blossom. |
6 . My work started in 2003 at my local animal shelter’s Adoption Department. It seems like such a long time ago. In the 13 years that have passed, more than 50,000 animals have passed the doors of the shelter. Most of them, I do not remember. But occasionally there are animals who stand out. Tabby was one such animal.
Tabby was one of the many homeless dogs. What’s more, she was blind and deaf. Tabby’s chances at adoption seemed remote at best. But one day a woman named Loretta came to the shelter. Her son, Gary, who suffered from epilepsy (癫痫) had seen Tabby’s picture on the shelter’s website. They were interested in meeting her! Most boys would want a puppy, a dog who could grow with him and run through grassy fields on summer days. Tabby would never be able to do that. But as they say, "love is blind". After meeting her, they decided to adopt Tabby!
If Tabby’s story had simply ended with her successful adoption, it would still have been something very special indeed but it was what happened after her adoption that some might label as "magical" or perhaps even miraculous. As Gary and Tabby did everything together, they became so "in tune" with one another that Tabby began to telegraph Gary’s seizures (疾病发作) before they occurred, giving his family a warning that one was about to strike. What’s more, Gary seemed to be having fewer and fewer seizures since Tabby’s arrival.
How could it be? There are some things that happen in this world that challenge all logic and understanding. Sometimes, the best that we can do is to accept a miraculous thing, which we didn’t attempt to explain. Because when you try to explain it, you lose the beauty and wonder of it all.
1. Which sentence can be used to describe Tabby?| A．She was so lovely that she could be easily adopted. |
| B．She suffered a lot from the disease-epilepsy. |
| C．She was so strong that she could run very fast. |
| D．She was homeless and couldn’t see or hear. |
| A．Amazing. | B．Typical. | C．Interesting. | D．Special. |
| A．Gary learnt about Tabby from a magazine. |
| B．Gary was cured in the company of Tabby. |
| C．Tabby could indicate a seizure before it struck. |
| D．Most boys would have the same decision as Gary. |
| A．Love is Blind: a Miraculous Dog | B．Give Me Food: My Dear Master |
| C．Love is Everywhere: a Poor Dog | D．Take Me Home: My Dear Boy |
7 . There are many interesting science experiments out there for young kids. You can surprise your friends and teachers with them. All you have to do is to put a little effort into it and you should have no problem coming up with an interesting science experiment. One such experiment is to show your friends and teachers that you can make mothballs (樟脑丸) dance!
If you want to do it, first, be sure that you have got all the necessary science kits for your science experiment.
What you need for this experiment is a glass filled half full with water. Add a little bit of vinegar (醋) to your glass of water, about 1/3 or 1/4 of a cup (60 ml), and one teaspoon (10 ml) of baking soda, and then carefully stir the mixture. Drop a few mothballs into the glass and have your audience watch. As long as the surfaces of the mothballs become fairly rough, they should begin to bounce up and down in the glass.
You can also do a similar experiment with raisins (葡萄干) and pop, such as Coca Cola. In this experiment, all you have to do is to fill a glass with Coca Cola and drop a few raisins into it. The raisins should begin to bounce up and down in the glass of Coca Cola. You can also replace the raisins with mothballs and you should get the same effect in the Coca Cola. This project works because the irregular surfaces of the mothballs and the raisins hold some CO₂ bubbles (气泡) , causing them to bounce up and down in a dancing motion.
1. The writer writes this passage to________ .| A．teach kids how to do an easy and interesting science experiment |
| B．encourage people to spend more time on science |
| C．tell us how good he is at doing science experiments |
| D．explain why some science experiments are easy |
| A．Producing mothballs. | B．Swimming mothballs. |
| C．Changing mothballs. | D．Dancing mothballs. |
| A．drink with bubbles | B．kind of vinegar |
| C．mothball | D．special kind of raisin |
| A．why Coca Cola has some CO₂ bubbles |
| B．why the mothballs bounce up and down |
| C．what scientists usually do with raisins |
| D．what people usually use Coca Cola for |
8 . As a boy, I wanted to go to the South Pole. As a teenager, I decided I'd like to go to the North Pole too. And yet, I haven't done either. It had taken me 31 years to just make it to the Arctic.
I was traveling with a film crew from Northern Ireland, following the footsteps of Lord Dufferin who, in the 1850s, sailed from Scotland to the Arctic. As an early adventure tourist, he was driven by the desire to see what lay at the ends of the world.
As we sailed north, icebergs of the size of buses floated past our small boat. Finally, we reached our destination—English Bay, where Dufferin landed- and stepped off onto the horseshoe-shaped beach.
This was what I'd dreamt of: standing somewhere so pure and primitive. However, for many early polar explorers, the results were far less pleasant. The south, in particular, was source of extreme danger.
My childhood interest in the South Pole was fueled by the unsuccessful yet heroic adventures of Emest Shackleton. He died in 1922 while preparing for his fourth adventure. The stories of Robert Falcon Scott are also well-known: he and four companions died on their way back from the South Pole.
So why do explorers put themselves at such risk?
Much of it seems to lie in the purity of the challenge. Scott talked of the appeal of a place that had been “unreached and unseen by humans.” “With a view over shining lands covered by ice-sheets of inconceivable extent, you have the feeling of living over the control of death,” said Fridtjof Nansen, a Norwegian explorer.
On the homeward journey the weather turned and we were left for a few days at the mercy of a storm. We experienced a small taste of helplessness when faced with the raw power of nature. We should be grateful for the great explorers’ spirit and stories. I know I am.
1. Why did the author begin his adventure tour?| A．To assist a film crew | B．To realize a childhood dream |
| C．To memorize Lord Dufferin | D．To challenge a world record |
| A．Hard to control | B．Too far to reach |
| C．Hard to imagine | D．Too bright to view |
| A．They were trapped in icebergs | B．They were kept off the destination |
| C．They were attacked by a storm | D．They were rescued by explorers |
| A．The Appeal of the Ends of the World | B．The Dream of Traveling to the Arctic |
| C．The Victory over the Control of Death | D．The Gratitude to Great Explorers Spirit |
9 . Chinese audiences on average spent more time watching entertainment content online in this uncommon year when the battle against COVID-19 is still being fought.
An average consumer has spent 133.9 minutes each day watching TV dramas, a 10 percent increase compared to last year, according to the report. Interestingly, TV romantic dramas make up 36 percent of all 131 new television series this year, ranking the first.
In the overseas market, Chinese dramas are seeing a rise in popularity, such as hit costume dramas Three Lives Three Worlds, The Pillow Book, and The Romance of Tiger and Rose. The report shows that subscribers (订阅者) of WeTV, the overseas version of Tencent Video in more than 110 countries and regions, have risen 175 percent over last year, with time spent watching these programs up 300 percent year-on-year.
Shows with strong female roles are more popular, like the hit series Nothing but Thirty, I Will Find You a Better Home and A Murderous Affair in Horizon Tower, the report said. It also found that a quality trailer (预告片) played an important role in drawing an audience, as about 90 percent of consumers pick their choices from trailers.
As a result of the six-month shutting down of Chinese cinemas, a number of people have chosen watching films online.
Through Nov. 30, a total of 15 online films have earned more than 10 million yuan, propelling the annual box office income on Tencent Video to nearly 500 million yuan this year. While TV series are almost "dominated" by female audiences, men are favored online movies more. Nearly 70 percent of online film viewers are men, whose favorite themes center on fantasy, comedy and adventure.
1. The shows with strong female roles are mentioned except .| A．Nothing but Thirty |
| B．I Will Find Your a Better Home |
| C．The Romance of Tiger and Rose |
| D．A Murderous Affair in Horizon Tower |
| A．protecting | B．pushing | C．stopping | D．beating |
| A．Chinese audiences spent more time online due to the COVID-19. |
| B．Chinese dramas have made success in the overseas market. |
| C．A quality trailer plays an important role in consumers’ choices. |
| D．Compared with males, females have a more preference for online film. |
10 . It's a typical morning: you wake up, take a shower, brush your teeth, and then prick(刺)your arm with a tiny needle. Wait, what? Unless you have a serious disease such as diabetes,you probably haven't ever tested your own blood. But in the future, that might change.
The company Cor already sells a system for home blood testing. You stick your arm using a supposedly painless cartridge. Then you stick the cartridge into a device that looks like the base for an electric toothbrush. A few minutes later, an app on your phone offers you updated information, including your current health status and tips on what to eat and how to exercise.It's true that blood provides abundant information about a person's health. Specific tests can reveal if a person is infected with a disease or at risk for a variety of problems. But most people don't test their own blood often. Healthy young adults get blood tests approximately every five years. Cor and similar companies are trying to change the situation. They think people deserve access to more information about their health.
But not everyone is convinced."The best-case scenario(情景)here is that you lose much money and then you're reminded to get more sleep and to eat more fruits, vegetables and fish,"Pieter Cohen of Harvard Medical School told The New York Times. Plus, the results of a home blood test might be wrong. It's hard to get accurate results from a tiny amount of blood. One company, Theranos, said it could perform medical blood tests on a fingerprick's worth of blood.But the company was soon stuck in a controversy((争议)and accused of cheating because its technology didn't work as promised. Thus, there's still a long way to go before the technology becomes advanced.
1. What's the function of Paragraph 1?| A．To express feelings. | B．To raise a question. |
| C．To make a prediction. | D．To introduce the topic. |
| A．Container. | B．Operation. | C．Medicine. | D．Scan. |
| A．To collect people's health information. | B．To offer people proper suggestions. |
| C．To help people track their health. | D．To cure people of blood diseases. |
| A．Ambiguous. | B．Objective. | C．Supportive. | D．Uncaring. |
