1 . 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。

An exhibition of zodiac (生肖) sculptures,     1     (call) Peak Life and Water, opened in Chengdu, Southwest China’s Sichuan Province on Saturday.

The 12 zodiac signs are     2     (traditional) used in Chinese culture to mark each year. Each zodiac sign also corresponds to twelve hours in the day. In addition     3     the traditional calendar function, the 12 zodiac signs are also a kind of folk custom and culture,     4     reflects Chinese people’s understanding of the year.

Each sculpture     5     (base) on a single zodiac animal. For example, the tiny golden birds     6     (stand) on the head of an ox remind visitors of birds settling on an ox, chewing the worms they have just captured. In another, a monkey balances     7     golden peach on the head. For the dragon sculpture, a golden and glorious ball floats in front of the intimidating dragon.

The expressions of these zodiac sculptures are vivid but calm. Some of them seem to be resting, content in their mediation. Only the snake has     8     (it) eyes open. If you see a snake’s eyes are closed, that     9     (mean) it is in hibernation (冬眠). The elegant and exquisite modelling has delighted visitors so much that even before the opening ceremony of the exhibition, some collectors expressed a desire     10     (buy) the sculptures.

2 . Working at a hotel, I had the pleasure of welcoming a family of five one Friday. As they entered, the youngest child greeted me with a cheerful “hi”. I always _______ well-behaved children like them, as they bring a special joy to the place. _______ around young ones in my own family, I have a talent for understanding their _______, making interactions with them enjoyable. I always like hearing about their plans for the weekend, and our hotel _______ us to engage with young guests.

During the check-in process with the parents, the youngest child _______ announced, “It’s my birthday tomorrow!” I asked how old she would be. “Nine!” she _______ with a big smile. I was impressed by her excitement.

The mother _______ they were in the area for university applications for their eldest child, but didn’t talk about any plans for the little one. As they went up to their room, I felt it necessary to do something for the birthday girl. Though we couldn’t _______ anything extravagant(奢侈的), I decided to give her a children’s book and a handwritten “Happy Birthday” _______ .

I delivered the ________ to the family’s room and later, when they returned, the mother expressed how ________ the birthday girl was with the presents. She mentioned they would read the book together, which ________ my heart.

After my shift ended, I didn’t work until Monday. Upon my return, I found a(n) ________ thank you letter and drawings from the girl directed to me. The gesture nearly brought tears of ________ to my eyes, knowing that a ________ act of kindness had made a difference in their stay.

1.

A．observe

B．imagine

C．appreciate

D．meet

2.

A．Going along

B．Growing up

C．Dropping in

D．Getting out

3.

A．behaviors

B．struggles

C．ambitions

D．dreams

4.

A．requires

B．permits

C．forces

D．encourages

5.

A．gradually

B．proudly

C．uncertainly

D．confusedly

6.

A．replied

B．appeared

C．left

D．remarked

7.

A．worried

B．insisted

C．argued

D．explained

8.

A．arrange

B．host

C．revise

D．discover

9.

A．song

B．note

C．wish

D．design

10.

A．toys

B．orders

C．gifts

D．machines

11.

A．thrilled

B．puzzled

C．shocked

D．frightened

12.

A．ceased

B．beat

C．broke

D．melted

13.

A．touching

B．interesting

C．bothering

D．convincing

14.

A．relief

B．anger

C．sorrow

D．joy

15.

A．willing

B．diverse

C．simple

D．flexible

3 . 阅读下面材料，根据其内容和所给段落开头语续写两段，使之构成一篇完整的短文。

Brad Howard, a Texas father, had enough of his son’s disruptive (扰乱性的) behavior in physics class. Despite multiple warnings and complaints from the teacher about his son’s excessive (过多的) talking, the situation didn’t improve.

So, Brad decided to take matters into his own hands and gave his son, Bradley, a final warning. Brad made a bold promise to his son, saying, “Hey, if we get another call, I’m going to show up in school and sit beside you in class. ”

The 17-year-old Bradley probably thought his dad was just bluffing (唬人) and continued his chatty (爱闲聊的) ways. But when Brad received another email from the teacher, he knew he had to follow through with his threat.

On the morning of the important day, Brad’s wife woke him up and said, “Brad, it’s time for you to go to school. ” It struck him what he had said. He just couldn’t but a bit regret, “Oh, no, what have I done? ”

Despite his unwillingness, Brad was determined to keep his word and headed to his son’s high school.

The sight of Brad sitting next to Bradley in class was a source of amusement for Bradley’s friends, who found the situation ridiculous. Bradley, on the other hand, was less than thrilled.

He couldn’t believe that his dad had actually gone through with his threat, The embarrassment of having his own father sitting beside him in class was enough to make him regret his behavior. As the class started, Bradley could feel all eyes on him and his dad. He could sense the judgment and the whispers from his classmates.

“Hey, Bradley, it looks like your dad is really serious about this, ” one of his friends whispered across the hallway, trying to hold back a laugh.

“Yeah, this is so embarrassing, ” Bradley whispered, his cheeks turning a deep shade of red.

注意：

1. 续写词数应为150左右;

2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。

But as the class progressed, something unexpected happened.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

After school, Bradley hesitantly approached his dad with newfound appreciation.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

4 . Until recently, gravitational waves could have been the stuff of Einstein’s imagination. Before they were detected, these waves in space time existed only in the physicist’s general theory of relativity, as far as scientists knew. Now, researchers are on the hunt for more ways to detect the waves. “The study of gravitational waves is booming,” says astrophysicist Karan Jani of Vanderbilt University in Nashville. “This is just remarkable. No field I can think of in fundamental physics has seen progress this fast.”

Just as light comes in a variety of wavelengths, so do gravitational waves. Different wave lengths point to different types of origins of the universe and require different kinds of detectors. Gravitational waves with wavelengths of a few thousand kilometers—like those detected by the United States, Italy and Japan—come mostly from pairs of black holes 10 or so times the mass of the sun, or from collisions of dense cosmic blocks called neutron stars (中子星). These detectors could also spot waves from certain types of exploding stars and rapidly moving neutron stars.

In contrast, huge waves that span light-years are thought to be created by orbiting pairs of bigger black holes with masses billions of times that of the sun. In June, scientists reported the first strong evidence of these types of waves by turning the entire galaxy (星系) into a detector, watching how the waves make slight changes to the timing of regular blinks from neutron stars throughout the Milky Way.

Physicists now hope to dive into a vast, cosmic ocean of gravitational waves of all sorts of sizes. These waves could reveal new details about the secret lives of exotic objects such as black holes and unknown parts of the universe.

Physicist Jason Hogan of Stanford University thinks there are still a lot of gaps in the coverage of wavelengths. “But it makes sense to cover all the bases. Who knows what else we may find?” he says. The search for capturing the full complement of the universe’s gravitational waves exactly could take observatories out into the moon, to the atomic area and elsewhere.

1. What does Karan Jani think of the current study on gravitational waves?

A．It is rapid and pioneering.

B．It is slow but steadily increasing.

C．It is interrupted due to limited detectors.

D．It is progressing as fast as any other field.

2. What do the detected gravitational waves mostly indicate?

A．The creation of different kinds of detectors.

B．Collisions of planets outside the solar system.

C．The presence of light in different wavelengths.

D．Activities involving black holes and neutron stars.

3. How did scientists manage to find huge waves’ evidence?

A．By analyzing sunlight.

B．By locating the new galaxy.

C．By using the whole galaxy as a tool.

D．By observing the sun’s regular movement.

4. What can be inferred about the future study according to the last paragraph?

A．It’ll exclude the atomic field.

B．It’ll focus exactly on the mapping of the galaxy.

C．It’ll require prioritizing certain wavelengths on the moon.

D．It’ll explore potential places to detect gravitational waves.

5 . Historical accounts often described the now-extinct California grizzly bears as huge beasts ready to attack humans and livestock at any time. But according to a new paper, scientists say the truth might have been less dramatic: The bears ate a mostly vegetarian diet and were smaller than previously described. California grizzly bears once roamed in the Golden State. But European settlers often hunted, poisoned and trapped the creatures. Over time, because of these human activities, the California grizzly population declined. The last reliable sighting of a California grizzly bear occurred 100 years ago in 1924, and the animals disappeared completely sometime after that.

Researchers wanted to get a better understanding of the factors that accelerated the bears’ extinction. They also hoped to gain more insight into the creatures’ behavior, size and diet. To do so, they turned to documents and California grizzly specimens in natural history collections. They measured the animals’ skulls and teeth and analyzed their bones and pelts. The researchers found that California grizzly bears were much smaller than the 2,000 pounds often reported at the time. Historical accounts might not necessarily have been wrong, but they might have only included the largest bears. In addition, analyses of the animals’ bones and skins suggest the bears were primarily eating plants, which stands in contrast to their fear some hyper carnivorous (超级食肉的) reputation. “The bears likely increased meat consumption due to landscape changes coupled with the arrival of livestock,” says study co-author Alexis Mychajliw. However, researchers found the animals still ate a majority vegetarian diet and killed far less livestock than historical accounts suggested.

By digging beyond the bears’ reputation, the researchers gained a more accurate understanding of the California grizzly’s biology and natural history. And since scientists and land managers often rely on historical accounts when reintroducing animals to their former habitats, the study serves as a reminder that those old newspapers and journals do not tell the whole story.

1. What does the underlined word “roamed” in paragraph 1 mean?

A．Disappeared.

B．Declined.

C．Fought.

D．Wandered.

2. What did the researchers discover about California grizzly bears?

A．They mainly fed on livestock.

B．Their diet consisted mostly of plants.

C．They ate a balanced diet of plants and meat.

D．The absence of livestock changed their dietary habit.

3. What can we learn about historical accounts of animals from the last paragraph?

A．They are unique.	B．They are one-sided.
C．They are accurate.	D．They are comprehensive.

4. What is the text mainly about?

A．The natural habitats of California grizzly bears.

B．The extinction process of California grizzly bears.

C．The reveal of the truth of California grizzly bears.

D．The significance of the arrival of California grizzly bears.

7 . The oceans play a crucial role in lightening global warming by absorbing carbon dioxide emissions. However, in a study conducted by the University of Texas, researchers found that the oceans’ capacity to absorb carbon dioxide (CO₂) would reach its maximum by 2100 and decrease to half of its current efficiency by 2300, based on a climate simulation (模拟) that was set for a worst-case emissions scenario (设想).

The decline happens because of a surface layer of low-alkalinity (碱度) water that can hinder the ability of the oceans to absorb CO₂. Alkalinity affects how much CO₂ can dissolve in seawater. Although the emissions scenario used in the study is unlikely because of global efforts to limit greenhouse gas emissions, the findings reveal a previously unknown tipping point that if activated would release an important brake on global warming.

“We need to think about these worst-case scenarios to understand how our CO₂ emissions might affect the oceans not just this century, but next century and the following centuries. Climate simulations had previously shown that the oceans slow their absorption of CO₂ over time, but none had considered alkalinity as an explanation. We recalculated pieces of a 450-year simulation until we hit on alkalinity as a key cause of the slowing.” said Megumi Chikamoto, who led the research at the University of Texas Institute.

The effect begins with extreme climate change, which slows ocean currents. This leaves the surface of the oceans covered in a warm layer of fresh water that won’t mix easily with the cooler, more al kaline waters below it. That means more of it is left behind in the atmosphere. This in turn produces faster warming, which sustains and strengthens the low-alkalinity surface layer. Co-author, Pedro DiNezio, said that the discovery was a powerful reminder that the world needs to reduce its CO₂ emissions to avoid crossing this and other tipping points.

1. What may happen after the year 2300?

A．More CO₂ will be absorbed by the oceans.

B．The oceans will lose all their current efficiency.

C．The world will face even more severe warming.

D．The oceans will be less crucial to global warming.

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

A．Improve.

B．Weaken.

C．Protect.

D．Control.

3. What does Megumi Chikamoto say about the oceans?

A．Finding why they slow CO₂ intake is hard.

B．Their ability to absorb CO₂ is at their maximum.

C．They will decide on the future of human beings.

D．They will slow down CO₂ absorption very quickly.

4. Where is this text probably taken from?

A．A biology textbook.	B．A government report.
C．Science fiction.	D．An environmental journal.