1 . Standing on the shore of a lake, I can’t help but feel surprised at the thousands of small rocks that surround my boots. They were all created from _________ surfaces, their edges softening over time. I wonder, “Can we learn from a pile of rocks?”

Even the tallest mountains have _________; none are as tall as they were 1,000 years ago. And much like a rock, I’ve found my _________ has softened and my desire to better understand others has expanded with each trip around the sun.

_________, I was also a sharp rock covered in pointy edges. Today, after decades of the waters of life coursing over me, my edges are softer and I’m more _________. I’m less likely to judge and more interested in learning how we can _________ together.

But I’m not a _________. I’m a human filled with all the drama built into my DNA.

Two years ago, while traveling in the Pacific Northwest, I watched a restaurant owner ask several young men to _________ for not wearing masks. Not _________ and not rude. On the door read a sign, “Please wear a mask before entering our restaurant. We don’t like it either, but let’s all do what we can to __________ this together.”

The group of young men wanted to __________ about the note. I sat at the restaurant watching, understanding both sides. I’ve been one of them before, using my youthful edges to chip away at (削弱) the world. What I lost, __________, was the ability to grow from __________ by looking through the eyes of others. In learning to be more __________, I’ve also found more happiness and success.

You can fit more rounded rocks in a jar than those with sharp edges. The former look for ways to __________ and make room for others, while the latter never give an __________ to accommodate others.

__________, like the waters rolling against once sharp stones, changes us by washing away our resistance to __________ the world from someone else’s point of view.

I placed a __________ stone into my jacket pocket. Mother Nature is holding a __________ again.

1.

A．fragile

B．shiny

C．smooth

D．hard

2.

A．piled up

B．worn down

C．risen up

D．broken down

3.

A．will

B．voice

C．attitude

D．heart

4.

A．Still

B．Often

C．Here

D．Once

5.

A．understanding

B．confident

C．patient

D．competitive

6.

A．contribute

B．exist

C．work

D．develop

7.

A．fool

B．soul

C．rock

D．judge

8.

A．explain

B．leave

C．apologize

D．pay

9.

A．contradictory

B．confusing

C．forceful

D．discouraging

10.

A．get through

B．stick to

C．deal with

D．fight against

11.

A．think

B．care

C．talk

D．argue

12.

A．even

B．however

C．anyway

D．also

13.

A．hardships

B．struggle

C．experiences

D．failure

14.

A．open

B．cautious

C．ambitious

D．independent

15.

A．ignore

B．accept

C．adjust

D．change

16.

A．excuse

B．agreement

C．entrance

D．inch

17.

A．Nature

B．Tolerance

C．Tide

D．Time

18.

A．reforming

B．seeing

C．exploring

D．travelling

19.

A．sharp

B．rounded

C．valuable

D．rolling

20.

A．class

B．belief

C．meeting

D．discussion

5 . The Silk Road is arguably the most famous long-distance trade route of the ancient world. This passage connected Europe in the West with China in the East, and allowed the exchange of goods, technology, and ideas between the two civilizations. Although merchants could make huge profits travelling the road, it was not without risk.

The main Silk Road started in Chang’an (known today as Xi’an), the early Han capital. Travelers commencing their journey from this city could take a northern route that would take them across China’s northwestern provinces. After this, they would face the Gobi Desert, arguably the greatest danger of the Silk Road.

The Gobi Desert, the largest desert in Asia, consists mainly of rocky, hard earth. This feature made it easier for traders to travel across, compared to sandy deserts like the neighboring Taklamakan Desert. Like other deserts, the Gobi Desert is dry and hot, and therefore the biggest challenge travelers faced was obtaining enough water for themselves as well as for their camels.

So, rest stops were created along the route, allowing travelers to rest, eat and drink. These places also promoted the exchange of goods, and even ideas, amongst the travelers who stopped there. Usually, the rest stops were placed within a day’s journey of each other. In this way, travelers could avoid spending too much time in the desert, which would make them targets for robbers, another danger of the Silk Road.

Once through the Gobi Desert, travelers would continue their journey into Iran, Turkey, and finally Europe. While this part of the journey may have been less dangerous, it is not entirely without its perils (风险).

1. The underlined word “it” in the first paragraph refers to _________.

A．making huge profits	B．traveling the Silk Road
C．exchanging goods and ideas	D．connecting different civilizations

2. Why was the Gobi Desert easier to cross than other deserts?

A．The desert’s surface was easier to walk on.

B．Camels for transportation were easier to find.

C．It was smaller and could be crossed in less time.

D．There were more natural water sources available.

3. What can we guess about the rest stops in the Gobi Desert?

A．Travelers were offered free accommodation.

B．They were located around the edges of the desert.

C．They were shared by travelers from different countries.

D．Exchanging goods and ideas there was entirely without risk.

4. What is the passage mainly about?

A．The origins of the Silk Road.

B．The benefits of the Silk Road.

C．The difficulties faced by Silk Road travelers.

D．The cultural exchanges among Silk Road travelers.

6 . 假设你是晨光中学的李津。我市为外国友人提供生活信息的某英文网站新增了 《最美中华》栏目，请你给该栏目投稿，介绍一个国内你喜欢或去过的地方。内容包括：
(1)该地方的基本情况(如名称、地理位置等)；
(2)该地方的特色(如文化、景点等)；
(3)你对该地方的印象和感受。
注意：(1)词数不少于100；
(2)可适当加入细节，使内容充实、行文连贯。

A Beautiful Place in China

March 19, 2021
By Li Jin
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

7 . 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。

Jingdezhen porcelain(瓷器)is Chinese porcelain produced in or near Jingdezhen in southern China. Jingdezhen has produced porcelain     1     (century)ago. And the town     2    was named Jingdezhen by Emperor Zhenzong of the Northern Song Dynasty became a major kiln(窑)site around 1004.During the period, the     3    (produce)of porcelain in this area first became     4    (know).By the 14th century it had become the largest centre of producing Chinese porcelain, which remained in the following times. In the Ming Dynasty, official kilns in Jingdezhen     5    (control)by the emperor, making quality porcelain in large quantities for the emperor to give abroad as gifts. As a result, the town was     6    (close)linked to the world.

Although being a remote town in a hilly area, Jingdezhen is near the quality porcelain stone and forests which can provide plenty of wood for the kilns. It also has     7    river flowing from north to south,     8    (benefit)the transport of the fragile objects.

Jingdezhen has produced a great variety of     9     (value) porcelain. As a result, the town is famous     10     the “Porcelain Capital”. One type of its well-known high quality porcelain object is the blue and white porcelain from the 1330s.

8 . Directions: After reading the passage below, fill in the blanks to make the passage coherent and grammatically correct. For the blanks with a given word, fill in each blank with the proper form of the given word; for the other blanks, use one word that best fits each blank.

A trail of hot springs dot the northern Kapong District. For tree worshipers, it's a site best described as awesome. Visitors can enjoy the ancient hot springs,     1     (understand) their therapeutic properties from knowledge     2     (pass) down from one generation to another. Rain, drizzle and cloudy skies are typical in Phang Nga, making secluded places even more mesmerizing in scenery.

Visit Phang Nga for a few days and you will immediately realise that once     3     (overlook) things turn out to be hidden gems and one     4     have planned for more time to enjoy them all. The ever-famous Phang Nga bay is in fact best seen not from the middle of the bay, but instead from the     5     (elevate) shores of Samed Nang Chee. You can’t pick the best weather,     6     even on partly cloudy days, the magnificent natural limestone structures of the bay is simply spectacular.

If you've heard about the trading routes of the Thai south and the Malay peninsula, you will notice a remnant of this direct link between Phuket (普吉) and Phang Nga (攀牙).     7     the major trading hub of Phang Nga in the old days, the district of Takua Pa boasts a small but untainted stretch of an old Sino-English community. These original century-old shophouses are “so authentic” here a local told me, it can overwhelm Phuket people with nostalgia.

However, the town centre of Phang Nga is not Takua Pa, though. The story has it     8     back in 1809, the Siam-Burmese wars drove people down to Phang Nga bay，hence the new settlement that has now become the province's municipal seat. It's still small in size, but with newer natural charms. Mountains     9     (surround) Phang Nga with the most magnificent limestone peaks     10     create wonderfully amazing signature views. Driving through the town's small parallel streets and looking up, one can only marvel at Mother Nature. Perpetual rain and misty mornings to virtual greenness --- Phang Nga people will ensure you get all that.

9 . Mapping Antarctica

Antarctica was on the map long before anyone ever laid eyes on it. Nearly 2,400 years ago, ancient Greek philosophers such as Aristotle believed that a great continent must exist at the bottom of the world. They though it was needed to balance out the continents at the top of the world. In the 1500s, mapmakers often included a fanciful continent they referred to as Terra Incognita(Latin for “unknown land”) at the bottom of their maps. But it was not until the 1800s -----after explorers had sighted and set foot on Antarctica----- that mapmakers got down to the business of really mapping the continent, which is one—and—a –half times rhe size of the U.S..

While the coastline could be mapped by ships sailing around the continent, it took airplanes—and later, satellites---to chart Antarctica’s vast interior(内陆). That job continues today. And it is a job that still require a mapmaker, or cartographer, to put on boots and head out into the wild.

Cole Kelleher is familiar with that. He is a cartographer with the Polar Geospatial Center(PGC), which is based at the University of Minnesota and has a staff at McMurdo Station. PGC teamed up with Google to use the company’s Trekker technology to capture images of Antarctica for the Internet giant’s popular feature, Street View. A Trekker camera, which is the size of a basketball, is set about two feet above a backpack. The camera records image in all directions. “It weighs about 50 pounds. I was out for two and a half days, hiking 10 to 12 hours each day,” says Kelleher. It was hard work, but really an incredible experience.” According to Kelleher there are plans to use the technology to create educational apps for museums.

The PGC staff at McMurdo Station provides highly specialized mapmaking services for the U.S. Antarctic Program. For one project, Kelleher used satellite images to map huge cracks in the ice. That helped a team of researchers know whether they could safely approach their field camp on snowmobiles. Another recent project was to help recover a giant, high—tech helium(氦气) balloon used to carry scientific instruments high into the atmosphere. These balloons are launched in Antarctica because there is no danger that they will hurt anyone when they fall back down to Earth. Using satellite images, Kelleher and colleagues created maps of where the balloon could be found.

Antarctica may no longer be Terra Incognita, but it still holds countless mysteries. Cartographers and the maps they make will continue to be essential in helping scientists unlock those secrets.

1. From the passage, we can infer that Antarctica was on the map in the 1500s when________.

A．mapmakers knew it was much larger than the U.S.

B．Aristotle named the continent Terra Incognita

C．no one had ever seen or been to the continent

D．it was such an interesting continent as was often referred to

2. Which of the following statements is NOT true according to the passage?

A．It needs much work for the mapmakers to head out into the wild.

B．The interior can only be mapped by planes and satellites.

C．It is relatively easy to map Antarctica’s coastline by ship.

D．Antarctic is a vast but still mysterious continent.

3. The Polar Geospatial Center (PGC) works with Google initially_________.

A．to capture images of Antarctica for Street View

B．to test the company’s Trekker technology

C．to create educational apps for museums

D．to hike for an incredible experience

4. The fourth paragraph mainly talks about _______.

A．satellite images which are used to map huge cracks in the ice

B．a high-tech helium balloon for carrying scientific instruments

C．how to safely approach the researcher’s field camp and the balloon

D．the specialized mapmaking services provided by the PGC staff

10 . By the end of the century, if not sooner, the world’s oceans will be bluer and greener thanks to a warming climate, according to a new study.

At the heart of the phenomenon lie tiny marine microorganisms(海洋微生物) called phytoplankton. Because of the way light reflects off the organisms, these phytoplankton create colourful patterns at the ocean surface. Ocean colour varies from green to blue, depending on the type and concentration of phytoplankton. Climate change will fuel the growth of phytoplankton in some areas, while reducing it in other spots, leading to changes in the ocean’s appearance.

Phytoplankton live at the ocean surface, where they pull carbon dioxide(二氧化碳) into the ocean while giving off oxygen. When these organisms die, they bury carbon in the deep ocean, an important process that helps to regulate the global climate. But phytoplankton are vulnerable to the ocean’s warming trend. Warming changes key characteristics of the ocean and can affect phytoplankton growth, since they need not only sunlight and carbon dioxide to grow, but also nutrients.

Stephanie Dutkiewicz, a scientist in MIT’s Center for Global Change Science, built a climate model that projects changes to the oceans throughout the century. In a world that warms up by 3℃, it found that multiple changes to the colour of the oceans would occur. The model projects that currently blue areas with little phytoplankton could become even bluer. But in some waters, such as those of the Arctic, a warming will make conditions riper for phytoplankton, and these areas will turn greener. “Not only are the quantities of phytoplankton in the ocean changing. ” she said, “but the type of phytoplankton is changing.”

And why does that matter? Phytoplankton are the base of the food web. If certain kinds begin to disappear from the ocean, Dutkiewicz said, “it will change the type of fish that will be able to survive.” Those kinds of changes could affect the food chain.

Whatever colour changes the ocean experiences in the coming decades will probably be too gradual and unnoticeable, but they could mean significant changes. “It’ll be a while before we can statistically show that the changes are happening because of climate change,” Dutkiewicz said, “but the change in the colour of the ocean will be one of the early warning signals that we really have changed our planet.”

1. What are the first two paragraphs mainly about?

A．The various patterns at the ocean surface.

B．The cause of the changes in ocean colour.

C．The way light reflects off marine organisms.

D．The efforts to fuel the growth of phytoplankton.

2. What does the underlined word “vulnerable” in Paragraph 3 probably mean?

A．Sensitive.

B．Beneficial.

C．Significant.

D．Unnoticeable.

3. What can we learn from the passage?

A．Phytoplankton play a declining role in the marine ecosystem.

B．Dutkiewicz’s model aims to project phytoplankton changes.

C．Phytoplankton have been used to control global climate.

D．Oceans with more phytoplankton may appear greener.

4. What is the main purpose of the passage?

A．To assess the consequences of ocean colour changes.

B．To analyse the composition of the ocean food chain.

C．To explain the effects of climate change on oceans.

D．To introduce a new method to study phytoplankton.