2 . Some ants have figured out how to avoid getting lost: build taller anthills, according to a recent study.

Desert ants living in the hot, flat salt pans of Tunisia spend their days looking for food and reach as far as 1.1 kilometers from their nests. To find their way home, desert ants use a navigation system, relying on the sun’s position and counting their steps to track their location relative to their nest.

But this system becomes increasingly unreliable as the distance from the nest increases. “We realized that, whenever the ants in salt pans came closer to their nest, they suddenly pinpointed the nest hill from several meters distance,” says Markus Knaden, a researcher at Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology. “This made us think that the hill serves as a nest-defining landmark.”

So Knaden and colleagues captured ants from nests in the middle of salt pans and from along their shorelines. Only salt-pan nests had distinct hills, up to 40 centimeters tall, whereas the hills on shoreline nests were lower or barely noticeable. Next, the team removed any hills and placed the captured insects some distance away from their nests. Salt-pan ants struggled more than shore ants to find homes. Shore ants relied on the shoreline for guidance and weren’t affected by the hill removal, the researchers concluded.

The team further conducted another study to see if desert ants were deliberately building a taller hill when their surroundings lacked any visible landmarks. So, the researchers removed the hills of 16 salt-pan nests and installed (安装) two 50-centimeter-tall blocks near eight of them. The other eight nests were left without any artificial visual aid. After three days, the researchers found that seven ants from the unaided nests had rebuilt their hills. But only two ants from the nests with man-made blocks nearby had bothered to rebuild.

“It implies that ants regularly assess the complexity of their environment and change their decisions based on their conclusion,” says ecologist Judith Bronstein of the University of Arizona.

1. What aspect of ants is the recent study mainly about?

A．Challenges of survival.	B．Landmarks of habitats.
C．Intelligence of navigation.	D．Comparison of varieties.

2. What does the underlined word “pinpointed” in paragraph 2 mean?

A．Explored.

B．Recognized.

C．Climbed.

D．Crossed.

3. Why did researchers set shoreline ants in the experiment?

A．To observe different ants’ reactions.	B．To prove impacts of various habitats.
C．To disturb desert ants’ navigation system.	D．To test anthills’ functions and significance.

4. What conclusion about desert ants can be drawn from the follow-up study?

A．Evaluate and make changes.	B．Visual aid is a must.
C．Cooperation brings victory.	D．No man-made blocks are used.

3 . 阅读下面短文，在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

In early June of 2023, Wang Pushi, a young man with a background in Kunqu Opera and also the lead singer of a rock band,     1     (amaze) his audience with a performance at “Youth π Plan”, a music competition show. With its energetic rhythm and beat, the     2     (combine) of ancient and modern melodies, and poetic yet bold lyrics, Wang’s song titled “Ming Song”     3     (skillful) mixed the power of rock with the elegance of Kunqu Opera.

    4     (study) traditional Chinese opera for 11 years, Wang joined the Northern Kunqu Opera Theatre in 2014. Apart from Kunqu Opera, he has been interested in rock music from     5     early age. In 2019, Wang formed a rock band called “Xian Ke” with two friends,     6     he serves as the lead singer and guitarist. He said the band’s name came from a line in “The Book of Songs” that means persistence and devotion. So far, the band has created 45 songs, with one single     7       (reach) over a hundred million plays.

Wang expressed his hope     8     through their music, more young people will become familiar     9     and develop a love for Kunqu Opera. He hopes to promote their songs overseas and perform more exceptional Kunqu Opera on international stages, thus challenging the stereotypes (刻板印象)       10       (associate) with Chinese traditional music.

4 . Kelydra Welcker has always loved the Ohio River, which flows by her hometown, Parkersburg. With a father who is a chemist and a mother who is a biologist, it seemed natural for Kelydra to learn how the world worked by doing scientific experiments.

At the age of six, Kelydra joined the Ohio River Cleanup campaign and came to realize how polluted the river was, which led her to set up her own lab later and study the chemicals in the river water. Kelydra was 15 when news broke about a chemical called C8, also known as APFO, in her town’s water supply that might cause cancer. She wondered what she could do to help.

Through repeated experiments, Kelydra created an inexpensive, reliable test for people in her town to measure the amount of APFO in water that they use at home. However, she didn’t just want to measure the problem—she wanted to solve it, so she continued to work on a way to remove APFO from the water.

Kelydra finally succeeded by using a device called an electrolytic cell (电解池), consisting of a dry cell battery and two electrodes (电极). Where did Kelydra get the high-quality electrodes for her experiment? They were her dad’s car wipers—minus the rubber attachments! Electrically charged, one of the electrodes became a stick that attracted the APFO in the polluted water. Then, Kelydra removed the stick and washed it off.

Using her invention, Kelydra developed a system people could use to treat their household drinking water. The system is being used by people in her community, and she hopes that it will be used more widely.

Kelydra went to college to study chemistry. “I hope to expand my horizons. I’m now looking at another chemical that may cause health problems.” She adds, “Technology helped create our problems and technology can help solve them. I want to be part of that effort.”

1. What can we learn about Kelydra from the first two paragraphs?

A．She had a scientific mind.	B．She enjoyed exploring nature.
C．She followed her parents’ path.	D．She wanted to practice medicine.

2. Which of the following best describes Kelydra after creating a water test?

A．Content.

B．Determined.

C．Grateful.

D．Relieved.

3. What is the author’s purpose in mentioning car wipers?

A．To show the practical challenge.	B．To question Kelydra’s invention.
C．To illustrate Kelydra’s creativity.	D．To explain the chemical principles.

4. What does Kelydra expect to do in the future?

A．Teach chemistry in school.	B．Create new water treatments.
C．Promote the application of chemicals.	D．Address health issues through technology.

5 . Go For Goal With Your Poem

Football, the world’s most universally loved sport, unites people from all walks of life. Since its establishment in 1992, the English Premier League (EPL) has welcomed players from 115 different nations. This multicultural group reaffirms (重申) that regardless of our diverse backgrounds, we all share a common love for the beautiful game. In celebration of this unity, the league has launched an exciting poetry competition this year.

The Competition

The competition invites young poets to express how football celebrates our differences while also serving as a joining-together force. This theme can be explored through any form of poetic writing, from traditional words to songs. The distinguished judges include poet Joseph Coelho, football star Rio Ferdinand, and beloved pop star Olly Murs.

The Prizes

The winning poems will be honoured with publication in a special poetry collection. There’s more: the winning class stands a chance to win an enriching poetry session, and even a visit from a Premier League champion to your school! The competition will recognize three first-place winners and ten second-place winners from Stage 1(five to seven years old)and Stage 2(seven to eleven years old)respectively.

How to Enter

The competition is heating up and the closing date is Friday 21 December. Teachers are encouraged to register their classes on PLPrimaryStars. com as soon as possible this week. The first 1,000 schools to enter will even receive a special gift bag filled with a selection of wonderful poetry books. So, don’t wait, and kick off your poetic journey today!

1. What is the goal of the poetry competition?

A．To interest global football players in poetry.

B．To celebrate the universal love for football.

C．To promote different forms of poetic writing.

D．To encourage young poets to address diversity.

2. How many winners will be recognized in total?

A．3.

B．6.

C．13.

D．26.

3. What are teachers advised to do in the last paragraph?

A．Sign up for the competition soon.	B．Ask for advice from the website.
C．Help students prepare their bags.	D．Urge schools to buy poetry books.

8 . 阅读下面短文，在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

Born in 1852, Antoni Gaudí devoted his life to architecture. He was one of the leaders and the most famous representatives of Catalan Modernism.

Gaudí was famous for his unique way of     1     (design) buildings. He would never use plans or technical drawings for his projects. Instead, he would make scale models. That approach is     2     (understand) when we know he was mainly influenced by nature for his buildings. If the pillar (柱子)     3     (look) like a tree, it’s easier to model it than     4     (make) an architectural drawing of it. Gaudí focused on every detail in his work and designed everything from furniture to decoration. He invented     5     unique technique, in which he used waste ceramic (陶瓷) pieces and made decorations with them. During his career, Antoni Gaudí,     6     inspiration was from nature, mainly worked in the Catalan Modernism style.

Gaudí died on June 10th 1926. Since 2013, that date has been celebrated     7     World Art Nouveau Day. After his death, Gaudí’s work was first criticized.     8    , around the mid-20th century, his legacy (遗产) got praised by artists such as Salvador Dali. In 1957, Gaudí’s first international     9     (exhibit) was organized at MOMA in New York. So far today, seven of his works     10     (declare) World Heritage Sites by UNESCO.

9 . Stephanie distinctly remembered watching a basketball movie called “Like Mike” when she was a kid. The movie’s message ________ her, so she showed it to her students while discussing ________ and inclusion (包容).

Over the course of a term, Stephanie did a weeks-long lesson about how our differences make us ________, and how we shouldn’t judge people until we’ve “walked a mile in their shoes”. The movie helped ________ this message to her students’ real lives.

Stephanie had her students measure their feet in class, design their own ________ on paper, and write journals about making ________ about others based on appearances. Since Stephanie collects athletic shoes as a sort of hobby, she began working behind the scenes to make the final lesson in her plan, something her students would never ________.

Without telling them, Stephanie ________ a pair of white sneakers (运动鞋) for every student in her class. She paid for it all out of her own pocket, but as costs ________, she eventually asked her community for donations.

On the day of the big ________, Stephanie opened the boxes of sneakers. The kids went ________ ! Some of them even cried. Each student decorated their ________ shoes with their own sense of style. They had fun making their shoes on their own, and the deeper ________ was not lost on them.

As Stephanie put it, “Differences make everybody special!” This is such a(n) ________ way to teach kids the value of not judging others and creativity. We hope more teachers ________ her path and create significant lessons like this one!

1.

A．struck

B．puzzled

C．disappointed

D．benefited

2.

A．patience

B．diversity

C．friendship

D．creativity

3.

A．necessary

B．ordinary

C．strange

D．unique

4.

A．understand

B．relate

C．devote

D．contribute

5.

A．shoes

B．clothing

C．projects

D．movies

6.

A．arrangements

B．instructions

C．complaints

D．judgments

7.

A．promise

B．ignore

C．finish

D．forget

8.

A．designed

B．bought

C．collected

D．washed

9.

A．used up

B．went out

C．added up

D．gave out

10.

A．disclosure

B．challenge

C．donation

D．choice

11.

A．blind

B．quiet

C．wild

D．wrong

12.

A．different

B．familiar

C．new

D．colorful

13.

A．change

B．cause

C．lesson

D．regret

14.

A．fantastic

B．official

C．ridiculous

D．tough

15.

A．cross

B．block

C．choose

D．follow

10 . Giving silkworm silk a metallic bath may make the strands (丝线) both strong and solid, scientists reported on October 6 in Matter. The work is the latest in a decades-long pursuit of creating fibers as strong, lightweight and biodegradable as spider silk. If scientists can mass-produce such material, the potential uses will range from the biomedical to the athletic. Sewing (缝) up wounds, even sporting equipment could get a significant improvement.

“Hunting for enough silky material to make these super strong products has been a big barrier. Silk from silkworms is simple to harvest, but not all that strong. And spider silk, the gold-standard for hand-spun strength and toughness, is not exactly easy to collect. Unlike silkworms, spiders cannot be farmed due to their nature,” wrote study coauthor Zhi Lin, a structural biologist at Tianjin University.

“Scientists around the world have tried to spin (编织) strong strands in the lab using silkworm cocoons. The first step is to take off the silk’s sticky outer coating. Scientists can do this by boiling the fibers in a chemical bath, but that can be like taking a knife to silk proteins. If the proteins get too damaged, it’s hard for scientists to respin them into high-quality strands,” said Chris Holland, a materials scientist at the University of Sheffield.

Lin’s team tried gentler approaches, one of which used lower temperatures and a papaya enzyme (木瓜酵素), to help dissolve (溶解) the silk’s coating. That seemed to work. They don’t have little pieces of silk protein. That’s huge because the bigger the proteins that remain, the stronger the fibers are going to be. After some processing steps, the researchers bathed the pressed silk in a solution containing zinc and iron ions (锌铁离子).That was why some of the strands were so strong — Lin’s team detected zinc ions in the finished fibers.

But Holland wasn’t so sure. “The team’s real innovation may be that they’ve managed to untwist silk in a less damaging way. The silk protein remains in a good state,” he said, “In my mind, that’s a major step forward.”

1. Why is creating super strong silk worth the long-time pursuit?

A．It can be mass-produced.	B．It promotes athletic training.
C．It might have wide applications.	D．It is potentially environmentally friendly.

2. What makes it hard to collect desirable natural silk according to Lin?

A．The poor harvest of silkworm silk.	B．The low quality of spider silk.
C．The absence of silkworm data.	D．The insufficient supply of spider silk.

3. How did Lin’s team make the silk fiber strong?

A．By enhancing its protein.	B．By bathing it in metallic liquid.
C．By removing its coating.	D．By squeezing it firmly in a tube.

4. In what aspect did Lin’s team make a breakthrough according to Holland?

A．Processing silk in a safer method.	B．Mass-producing silk.
C．Creating silk of superior quality.	D．Analyzing silk scientifically.