1 . Earth is far more alive than we previously thought, according to “deep life” studies that reveal a rich underground ecosystem beneath our feet that is almost twice the size of all the world’s oceans. Despite extreme heat, no light and intense pressure, scientists estimate it has between 15 billion and 23 billion tonnes of microorganisms. “It’s like finding a whole new reservoir (储藏) of life on Earth,” said Karen Lloyd an associate professor at the University of Tennessee.
Results suggest 70 percent of Earth’s bacteria and archaea exist in the subsurface. One organism found 2.5 kilometers below the surface has been buried for millions of years and may not rely at all on energy from the sun. Also, the methanogen (产甲烷菌) has found a way to create methane in this environment, which the methanogen may not use to reproduce or divide, but use to replace or repair broken parts. Lengths of their lives were completely different. Some microorganisms have been alive for thousands of years, barely moving except with shifts in earthquakes or eruptions. They’re just active inside, with less energy than people thought possible to support life.
The team consists of 1,200 scientists from 52 countries in disciplines ranging from geology and microbiology to chemistry and physics. A year before the conclusion of their study, they will present the findings before the American Geophysical Union’s annual meeting opens this week, which they say are made possible by technical advances on drills and microscopes.
The scientists have been wondering about the point beyond which life cannot exist, but the deeper they dig, the more life they find. There is a temperature maximum—currently 122℃—but they believe this record will be broken if they keep exploring and developing more advanced instruments.
Questions remain, including how the microbes interact with chemical processes, and what this might reveal about how life and Earth coevolved.
1. What do the scientists find about the underground organisms?| A．They can’t reproduce and divide. | B．They’re the oldest living things. |
| C．Some of them consume no energy. | D．Some of them almost always keep still. |
| A．It last for around one year. | B．It involves efforts from many fields. |
| C．It promotes technical development. | D．It is conducted in 52 countries. |
| A．To break their previous record. |
| B．To find the depth limit of life. |
| C．To discover more ancient microorganisms. |
| D．To measure the highest subsurface temperature. |
| A．Earth Depths Are Full of Life. |
| B．Organisms Live Better Underground. |
| C．Earth Is Fat Beyond Human Exploration. |
| D．Subsurface Life Differs from That on Land. |
2 . When cultural heritage sites disappear, they’re gone forever. However, they are being endangered at an alarming rate by rising seas (Venice), pollution (the Taj Mahal) and overtourism (Angkor Wat). Just to name a few.
But when we try to protect these heritage sites, we also have to face such thorny questions as “What part of the past is worth preserving and passing on to the next generations? What duty do we owe to the creations of our ancestors? What strength do we draw from their presence — and when, on the contrary, do they become a lead weight, preventing us from projecting ourselves into the future?”
Humankind has answered these difficult questions differently in different places. In Dresden, Germany, the Frauenkirche was an 18th-century church whose bell-shaped top was a landmark. In February, 1945, one of the most destructive bombing attacks of World War II killed more than 25,000 people and reduced the city to ruins. With Dresden slowly rebuilt after the war, the Frauenkirche was left in ruins. But after German reunification, the church was reconstructed using many of its original materials, as a statement of peace and harmony.
Like the Frauenkirche, Notre Dame, a landmark in Paris, which was destroyed by fire in 2019, is being rebuilt as close as possible to how it was before, including using the original and poisonous metal-lead-for the roof. That choice was controversial, as future choices are bound to be in the debate about how to restore and preserve historic buildings.
Perhaps, no one can claim to have the right answers on preservation. There may not even be right answers. What we will do is to continue to take care of important cultural heritage sites, as a matter of significance to humanity’s past, present and future.
1. Which heritage site is overcrowded?| A．Venice. | B．Dresden. | C．The Taj Mahal. | D．Angkor Wat. |
| A．Tough. | B．Smart. | C．Interesting. | D．Important. |
| A．The high rebuilding costs. | B．The timing of reconstruction. |
| C．The choice of certain material. | D．The significance of preservation |
| A．We should protect as many heritage sites as possible. |
| B．It is better to leave the damaged historic buildings alone. |
| C．Historic buildings should be rebuilt with the same materials. |
| D．Heritage sites serve as an important link among human beings. |
3 . It was the first night of a tiring seven-day 250km race across the Gobi Desert a year ago. Mr. Leonard
“Cute, but I’m not giving you any,” Leonard thought. Like all
The next day, at the starting line, the dog
The pair went on to finish the seven-day race, with Gobi
As Leonard was preparing to get Gobi home, she was
| A．recognized | B．adopted | C．spotted | D．treated |
| A．accommodate | B．feed | C．water | D．entertain |
| A．competitors | B．climbers | C．explorers | D．hikers |
| A．plan | B．camp | C．day | D．course |
| A．chance | B．desire | C．right | D．tendency |
| A．bothered | B．stopped | C．welcomed | D．approached |
| A．confused | B．worried | C．ashamed | D．astonished |
| A．Therefore | B．Meanwhile | C．However | D．Otherwise |
| A．wound up | B．got down | C．kicked off | D．came along |
| A．expected | B．afforded | C．managed | D．begged |
| A．give | B．name | C．award | D．show |
| A．covering | B．setting | C．keeping | D．extending |
| A．difference | B．choice | C．comment | D．decision |
| A．advocated | B．changed | C．challenged | D．acknowledged |
| A．rather than | B．but for | C．regardless of | D．ahead of |
| A．impressive | B．meaningful | C．enjoyable | D．extraordinary |
| A．dead | B．sick | C．injured | D．missing |
| A．rescue | B．assistance | C．mind | D．defense |
| A．sight | B．way | C．hand | D．reach |
| A．gradually | B．eventually | C．routinely | D．occasionally |
4 . Why Are Tigers Orange?
The colors of an animal serve lots of different purposes — for instance, to help them hide into surroundings and escape from being noticed by preys (猎物). For tigers, their ability to be invisible will just decide whether they catch dinner or go hungry.
As for humans, orange is a color used for items that need to stand out, like traffic lights and safety vests. That’s because we have what’s called trichromatic color vision, which differentiate three types of color: blue, green and red.
Mammals like deer are the tiger’s main prey, and their dichromatic vision means they don’t see tigers as orange — they see them as green. That makes the tiger much harder to spot as it’s prowling behind a bush or crouching in the grass. Although green tigers would probably be even harder to spot, evolution (进化) just doesn’t work with the ingredients necessary to make green fur.
| A．We share this style of vision with some mammals like apes and certain monkeys. |
| B．Then, why don’t deer evolve the ability to see orange? |
| C．So of all the colors they could be, why are tigers orange? |
| D．Orange fur makes tigers relatively easy to spot. |
| E．The same is likely true for dichromatic animals. |
| F．Colors of humans’ eyes are quite similar to many other mammals’. |
| G．Actually, there are no green furry animals. |
5 . Have you ever wondered what happens to all of the old objects launched into space, such as rockets and satellites? It’s called space junk, and much of it is still out there now. According to NASA, the definition of space junk is “any man-made object in orbit (轨道) around Earth that no longer serves a useful function”.
One large piece of space junk, a disused rocket, hit the dark side of the moon on March 4. The rocket’s origin is not clear, but scientists know that it was massive – weighing about 3 tons. It must have left a large crater (坑), estimated 10 to 20 meters wide, on the moon’s surface. It won’t be visible right away, but scientists are trying to locate it. “We will find the crater, eventually,” Mark Robinson, lead investigator for NASA Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera, told USA TODAY. “Depending on its location, it could take as long as 28 days.”
What’s significant about this space junk crash is that it draws attention to some of the potential dangers of space junk. First, the accumulation of space junk in Earth’s orbit means that satellites and the International Space Station (ISS) are at risk. In 2016, tiny space debris (残骸), smaller than a millimeter, caused a tiny chip in the ISS’ window. Imagine the damage that a larger piece of debris could cause. The European Space Agency website states that objects “up to 1 cm in size could disable an instrument or a critical flight system on a satellite” while objects over 10 cm “could shatter a satellite or spacecraft into pieces”. If this sounds terrifying, that’s because it is. Any collision with larger pieces of debris could be especially dangerous for manned spacecraft.
In addition to potential damage to spacecraft and satellites, space junk also poses a threat to the Earth itself. Crashes can send debris into the atmosphere where it can remain for many decades. Some powerful collisions can even send large debris hurtling (猛冲) toward Earth’s surface where it can affect the local environment. Leftover rocket debris can contain toxic materials that are harmful to plant and animal life. Some people in Siberia have even reported serious health problems after rocket debris landed in their regions in 2012, a local doctor told the BBC.
1. Which of the following can be regarded as space junk?| A．An abandoned space station. |
| B．A spacecraft orbiting the moon. |
| C．A crater on the moon’s surface. |
| D．A satellite working in low Earth orbit. |
| A．Tracking the rocket. | B．Locating the crater. |
| C．Cleaning up the space junk. | D．Finding out the rocket’s origin. |
| A．To compare the effects of debris of different sizes. |
| B．To prove the space debris problem is getting worse. |
| C．To illustrate the potential dangers of space junk. |
| D．To explain the necessity of removing space junk. |
| A．It’s likely to cause a global environmental crisis. |
| B．It can pose a lasting threat if it remains in the atmosphere. |
| C．It’s impossible to stop it from entering the atmosphere. |
| D．The toxic materials contained in space junk are the biggest threat it poses. |
增加：在缺词处加一个漏字符号（˄），并在其下面写出该加的词。
删除：把多余的词用（/）划掉。
修改：在错的词下画一横线，并在该词下面写出修改后的词。
注意：1. 每处错误及其修改均仅限一词；
2. 只允许修改10处，多者（从第11处起）不计分。
To enrich students school life and help us learn more about space exploration, our school organized a visit to the City Museum on the other day.
At the beginning, some pictures and videos about space exploration were shown to them. By watching them, we learned a lot about many great achievement that had been made in our country. The astronauts’ devotion to the space exploration of our country leaves a deep impression on us. Afterwards, we experienced a life and work of astronauts, like how they do in our space station. All the teachers and students were very excited, try and touching everything.
Such a great success the activity that it was highly spoken of. Hopeful, there will be even more activities like this.
7 . Why is there a shortage of HGV drivers?
The UK needs 100,000 more HGV drivers if it is to meet demand, according to the Road Haulage Association (BHA).
Hod McKenzie, from the organisation, told Sky News it was a “critical situation” and a “cocktail of chaos” had led to the crisis.
Retiring drivers
It says around 2,000 drivers are leaving the industry every week, often due to retirement, with only 1,000 new recruits joining over the same period. Mr McKenzie told Sky News, “
Cost of training and pay
“We want younger people to want to be truckers, and it’s expensive—at least £4,000, possibly £7,000—to train to be a trucker and that’s beyond the pockets of most young people,” he told Sky News. “So we’ve got to make it easier to take that financial burden away from them and make it easier for them to gel in and stay in.
Working conditions
A change to rules on how people pay tax has been blamed for some HGV drivers leaving the industry. The reform of the IR 35 rules were designed to prevent workers from setting up limited companies through which they pay less tax and National Insurance while working, in effect, as an employee.
| A．Tax changes |
| B．HGV driving tests |
| C．So what are the causes |
| D．What will be done to fix the problem |
| E．We’ve got an ageing population of lorry drivers |
| F．One of the problems we've had has been low pay and that’s now being addressed |
| G．Conditions at roadside services in the UK are “far worse” than in mainland Europe |
8 . A NASA spacecraft that will deliberately crash into an asteroid (小行星) is preparing to launch this week. The DART mission, or the Double Asteroid Redirection Test, will lift off at 10:20 p. m. PT on November 23, 2021 aboard a Space X Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. Live coverage of the event will air on NASA TV and the agency’s site. But the true test for this asteroid deflection (偏转) technology will come in September 2022, when the spacecraft reaches its destination, to see how it affects the motion of a near-Earth asteroid in space.
The mission target is Dimorphos, a small moon orbiting the near-Earth asteroid Didymos. This will be the agency’s first full-scale demonstration of this type of technology on behalf of planetary defense. It also will be the first time that humans have changed the motion of a solar system body in a measurable way, according to the European Space Agency.
It’s the perfect time for the DART mission to occur. Didymos and Dimorphos will be relatively close to Earth—within 11 million kilometers—in September 2022. The spacecraft will come speeding in at about 24,140 kilometers per hour, targeting Dimorphos, said Nancy Chabot, DART coordination leader at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland.
The mission’s aim is to deliberately crash into Dimorphos to change the asteroid’s motion in space, according to NASA. This collision will be recorded by CubeSat, a companion cube satellite provided by the Italian Space Agency. It’s the Italian Space Agency’s first deep space mission.
The briefcase-size CubeSat will travel on DART and then be moved from it before impact (撞击) so it can record what happens. Three minutes after the impact, the CubeSat will fly by Dimorphos to capture images and video. The video of the impact will be streamed back to Earth, which should be “pretty exciting,” said Elena Adams, DART mission systems engineer at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory.
1. Which of the following is true according to the text?| A．The Italian Space Agency has launched deep space missions before. |
| B．The spacecraft will reach its destination in September 2022. |
| C．Humans changed the motion of a solar system body in the past. |
| D．Didymos and Dimorphos are 11 million kilometers away from Earth now. |
| A．To destroy Dimorphos completely. | B．To be recorded by CubeSat. |
| C．To change the asteroid’s motion in space. | D．To show the technology. |
| A．Positive. | B．Skeptical. | C．Cautious. | D．Unclear. |
| A．NASA’s DART mission is set to launch. |
| B．A spacecraft will deliberately crash into the Moon. |
| C．NASA will show off its technology of defending the Earth. |
| D．A Space X Falcon 9 rocket will be launched this week. |
9 . Many of us check labels to ensure the food we buy is healthy. But how many of us check what we eat, is produced in a way that benefits the environment? Some fanning methods actually help reduce carbon emissions, for instance by removing carbon from the atmosphere and improving the quality of the soil. Many smaller-scale farmers use these “regenerative farming” practices, but big food companies are also getting on board.
So what is “regenerative farming” and how can you tell if the food is produced in this way? Asking questions about the fanning methods used to produce food may not provide the precise answers you want (unless you talk to the farmers). But interest in and knowledge about regenerative farming are growing, and shops may he able to investigate and come back to you.
How has produce been grown?
Farmers using a regenerative approach typically avoid or minimize tilling (犁地) to protect the structure of the soil and its microorganisms. These microorganisms are vital for soil fertility and protect crops from pests and disease. Good soil structure also helps to prevent flooding and pollution. Regenerative farmers also typically plant a groundcover of herbs, wildflowers and grasses. These add nitrogen (氮) to the soil, encourage wildlife and pollinators, help prevent erosion and flooding, and control weeds.
Have pesticides (杀虫剂) and artificial fertilizers (肥料) been used?
Regenerative farmers may maximize crop diversity and rotate crops to reduce the need for chemical inputs and support wildlife, because artificial fertilizers are responsible for about one percent of all global, carbon dioxide.
How has the product been transported?
How it is transported is important, and food air miles can have 100 times the carbon footprint of miles of transportation by sea. If fruit and vegetables aren’t in season when you buy them, try to find the miles if they have been flown in or grown in a hothouse heated by fossil fuels. “If you can’t buy direct from a local producer, and obviously many people can’t, you need to do some research,” a farmer says, “Try to make your supply chain as short as possible.”
What have the animals been fed?
There are environmental benefits to being grass-fed, and feeding animals imported grains may be bad for the environment.
1. Which of the following is a regenerative farming method?| A．Minimizing the microorganisms. | B．Limiting crop diversity. |
| C．Growing herbs, wildflowers and grasses. | D．Slopping using fertilizers. |
| A．picking up food from the nearby markets | B．feeding animals with imported grains |
| C．buying local products directly from farmers | D．transporting goods by air rather than by sea |
| A．Big food companies are starting to use regenerative farming. |
| B．Fruit grown in the hothouse isn't available everywhere. |
| C．It is no use asking farmers about the farming methods. |
| D．People are clear about how food is produced. |
| A．To instruct farmers how to farm regeneratively. |
| B．To encourage less use of pesticides and artificial fertilizers. |
| C．To promote local products to customers. |
| D．To teach customers how to tell regenerative farming. |
10 . Doctors told us that our son, Matti, had a rare disease affecting his kidneys. We were in complete shock.
One of us would need to provide a kidney for him. This situation could have completely thrown us, but we decided to take it as it comes. We were in the hospital for a month and have to come back quite often.
Between the ages of 18 months, Matti was stable with the help of medication. Without warning, the function of Matti’s kidneys went downhill very quickly, before failing completely — what the doctors warned us of at birth.
Initially, we hoped dialysis would only be a couple of months until the kidney transplant happened, but the outbreak of COVID-19 mean I that it was put on hold.
As is known, it was tough trying to keep track of how much water he could take in. He was limited to 600 ml a day as required, but the restriction felt especially hard over the summer. In general, Matti was pretty accepting this — but there were moments when, understandably, he hated it. There were moments when we all got frustrated, I can’t deny.
Stefan and I had decided that he’d be the one to give Matti a kidney. Stefan was rejected, leaving me to be considered. I was nervous that the doctors would discover something that wouldn’t work with me too. But, thankfully, I was a match. I could barely explain the relief I fell when I woke up, to hear that the kidney had made it over to Matti safely.
Of course, there follow a lot of medications, and a specialist comes to bring a bit of fun to what can be a boring day. He is invaluable and occupies my son so that I can grab a coffee and a break. What I have learned is that nothing is more important that health.
1. What was the problem with the author’s son?| A．He had a rare disease at the age of 18 months. |
| B．He had a kidney transplant as soon as he was born. |
| C．His kidneys were damaged by an illness at birth. |
| D．He had to depend on dialysis to live all his life. |
| A．performed | B．cancelled | C．continued | D．delayed |
| A．The author’s son was always ready to do what he was required. |
| B．Stefan failed to give his kidney because of his poor health. |
| C．The operation couldn’t have been successful without the specialist. |
| D．The couple had already been informed of his son’s condition before. |
| A．Helpful and considerate. | B．Clumsy and careless. |
| C．Modest and devoted. | D．Easy-going and cheerful. |
