2 . A 2020 study in the journal Science concluded that marine heat waves have increased more than 20-fold as a result of climate warming. The authors found that in the first decade after satellites began recording ocean temperatures (i.e., after 1981), there were 27 large marine heat waves, with an average duration of 32 days and an average peak temperature anomaly of 8.5°F; in the 2010s, there were 172, which lasted 48 days on average with an average peak temperature almost 10°F above normal.

Much remains unclear about marine heat waves. For example, explains Nicholas Bond, research scientist at the University of Washington and Washington’s state climatologist, there is the question of why so many persist for weeks or months. “There must be something else going on that helps maintain them,” he says. He notes that one explanation is that as the ocean surface warms, it radiates heat into the atmosphere that prevents cloud cover from forming, exposing the seawater to increased sunlight and further warming.

However, enough is known about marine heat waves for scientists to be gravely concerned about their potential impacts. Of special note is the fact that those impacts can last long after the heat waves have disappeared. After three years of the Blob, the waters of the northeastern Pacific began to cool in 2016; but years later, scientists are still determining the extent to which the region’s ecosystem is likely to return fully to its pre-Blob status. Similarly, notes Scannell, who is a data scientist with Jupiter Intelligence, Inc., following the 2010-11 Western Australia event, “lots of kelp(巨藻) forests died, and it takes literally decades for those ecosystems to bounce back”.

Eric Oliver, a scientist from Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia, Canada, expressed his own opinion about the potential impact of the heat waves in tropical waters. “I think that’s really a tough issue,” he says. Life in the tropics, he notes, is adapted to “quite a narrow range of temperatures. So that’s where things can get really messy. We can have complete shifts in tropical systems.”

1. What can we infer from the figures listed in para. 1?

A．The problem of marine heat waves is becoming worse.

B．The satellites enable scientists to record ocean temperature precisely.

C．Climate change is the main cause of the marine heat waves.

D．Marine heat waves have been found by scientists for about 30 years.

2. What does the 2nd paragraph mainly talk about?

A．Various factors that lead to marine heat waves.

B．The possible impacts of a warm ocean surface.

C．The possible reason why marine heat waves last long.

D．Scientists’ efforts in exploring the causes of heat waves.

3. What do we know about the impact of the marine heat waves?

A．The impact will disappear shortly after the sea water cools.

B．It takes long before the ecosystem makes a complete recovery.

C．Scientists have known enough to restore the impact.

D．The northeastern Pacific and Western Australia are the worst cases.

4. What is Eric Oliver’s attitude towards the heat waves in tropic waters?

A．Concerned.

B．Indifferent.

C．Doubtful.

D．Optimistic.

3 . With a world full of fascinating destinations, choosing the perfect vacation spot can present a challenge. Use these recommendations to make your travel bucket list.

Paris

The magnetic City draws visitors from around the globe to see iconic attractions like the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre. But what travelers really love are the old-fashioned cafes, lively markets and trendy shopping districts. Get lost wandering along the charming streets, or relax on the banks of the Seine for hours. If you’re up for a quick daytrip, head to the Palace of Versailles, which offers guided and self-guided tours of the estate.

South Island

New Zealand’s South Island brims with magnificent landscape at every turn. Here, you can admire the mountains of Fiordland National Park. At night, journey to the Mount John Observatory to gaze at the starry skies. You can also satisfy yourself in Queenstown (a favorite destination among bungee jumpers), sample delicious wine in the Marlborough region or explore New Zealand’s most accessible glaciers on the island’s west coast.

Bora Bora

Here, in this small French Polynesian island, you’ll find picturesque beaches, appealing jungles and luxurious resorts. The island’s extinct volcano, Mount Otemanu, makes a challenging hike, and the friendly Bora Bora locals can help you catch a glimpse of the island’s best sights. Although a trip to Bora Bora is very expensive, most travelers say it’s worth every penny.

Grand Canyon

The Grand Canyon offers plenty of outdoor activities for everyone from day-trippers to adventure junkies. Hike along the national park’s popular Rim and Bright Angel trails for exceptional views, experience a rafting trip down the Colorado River or view the dramatic Arizona landscape from above during a helicopter tour. If you’re feeling especially daring, sign up for skydiving above the canyon.

1. Which of the following destinations is a paradise for shopping lovers?

A．Paris.	B．South Island.
C．Bora Bora.	D．Grand Canyon.

2. What do South Island and Grand Canyon have in common?

A．They both offer travelers a fantastic island view.

B．They both allow travelers to experience adventures.

C．They both allow travelers to stay with local families.

D．They both offer travelers chances to observe the sky.

3. This text is mainly intended for ________.

A．tourist guides	B．magazine editors
C．fashion designers	D．vacation planners

4 . To fully appreciate Australian cuisine, you have to consider the unique nature of its wildlife and geography. For one thing, there are the wide plains in the interior of the country, which are home to millions of grazing animals. For another, there is Australia’s long coastline, which is next to all the riches of the sea. It is no wonder then that much of Australian cuisine centres around red meat and seafood.

One of the most popular red meats in Australia is also unique to the continent: kangaroo. This may seem strange as the kangaroo is a national symbol of Australia. However, in recent years, kangaroos have increased in number to around 45 million. These kangaroos wander onto the roads and into cities, making trouble. Their increased numbers have also harmed plants and other wildlife. As a consequence, the government is encouraging people to use these animals as food, and kangaroo has become one of the most popular items on the Australian dinner table.

As for seafood, many of the first Europeans who came to Australia loved the sea. Perhaps this is one reason why so many Australians live near the coast. Since the coastline is so long, each region has its own dishes that are related to the seafood found in its waters. The list of seafood available at the local fish market is like a tour of the coast: salmon, prawns, oysters, tuna, shark, crab, and many more. However, if you want to really take in the full experience, you should go to the fish market in Sydney early in the morning and see the fish being prepared for sale. Better yet, you can sign up to go deep-sea fishing.

But then, how is all this food cooked? Perhaps the favourite way of cooking food in Australia is the barbecue, or “barbie”. Given the fine weather, Australians love to eat outside. Casual friendliness is the key to such meals. It is a time for friends and relatives to get together and have fun. Even strangers passing through will be offered a seat, a cold drink, and something off the grill. Often these barbecues feature a “mixed grill”, which means cooking all kinds of meat, seafood, and vegetables. So, at an Australian barbecue, you don’t have to eat kangaroo—or even eat meat at all—if you don’t want to.

Beyond this, what is Australian cooking? As Australia is a diverse country with people from many nations, Australian cooking now has flavors and cuisines from around the globe. No matter who you are and no matter what cuisine interests you, you are always sure to find a warm welcome and a full plate waiting for you in Australia.

1. Why does Australian cuisine centre around red meat and seafood?

A．Most of the Australians like red meat and seafood.

B．Red meat and seafood do good to people’s health.

C．Australia is home to grazing animals and has a long coastline.

D．Australians have no other cuisine choices except meat and sea food.

2. Why is the Australian government encouraging people to eat kangaroos?

A．The kangaroo is a national symbol of Australia.

B．The meat of kangaroos is delicious and full of nutrition.

C．The kangaroo has the largest number in the Australian animals.

D．Kangaroos have caused too much trouble to other plants and wildlife.

3. If you want to truly learn about the seafood in Australia, the best choice is ________.

A．to sign up for deep-sea fishing	B．to go to a barbecue get-together
C．to travel along the coastline in a car	D．to pay a visit to a fish market in Sydney

4. Which is the suitable topic of this passage?

A．What’s cooking in Australia?

B．Are kangaroos important to Australians?

C．Is nature of Australian wildlife and geography unique?

D．Why is barbecue the favourite way of cooking food in Australia?

6 . When you swim on the beach and sea, have you ever accidentally drunk the seawater? How did it feel? It must have tasted salty. So, why is the seawater salty?

Seawater is water that comes from the ocean. Seawater can be salty because it contains an average salt content of 3.5%. This is also a place for the salt farmers to produce cooking salt and other salt.

Some theories explain that seawater comes from rainwater that falls and flows through rivers and estuaries (河口) where the seawater will be fully filled and again formed clouds because the steam uses the help of the sun. When we talk about this, we talk about the rainwater cycle. But when the rainwater cycle occurs, the water that passes through the river carries mineral salts. These mineral salts are obtained from various places of the land starting from rocks and soils that the rainwater flows through, these remaining mineral salts make seawater salty, so the salinity of seawater is different in each part of the world. But it is certain that seawater is salty or has high salinity.

The saltiest sea in the world is the Red Sea. There the temperature is extremely hot so that evaporation (蒸发) is greatly carried out. High evaporation, coupled with little rainfall and little input of water from the river, causes its highest level of salinity. There is also the Dead Sea, which is nine times saltier. Due to the high salinity, when you swim there, you can float. However, the Dead Sea is not a sea at all which is a lake geographically.

1. What’s the purpose of paragraph 1?

A．To draw a conclusion.

B．To make the article interesting.

C．To introduce a famous beach.

D．To bring in the topic.

2. Where is the salt in seawater originated from?

A．Land.

B．Ocean.

C．Rain.

D．Cloud.

3. What can we infer about the Red Sea?

A．Its salinity is higher than that of the Dead Sea.

B．The climate there causes the highest salt level.

C．People are in danger when they swim there.

D．The land around it contains the most salt.

4. Which is the most suitable title for the text?

A．The reason why the seawater tastes salty

B．The reason why the Dead Sea is not a sea

C．The reason why the rainwater cycle occurs

D．The reason why the sea looks blue and green

7 . Arriving in Yunhe, a small county in Lishi city, Zhejiang province, you can’t help but wonder if you’ve just stepped into a dream-like painting, with the Oujiang River winding through its misty mountains, hills and valleys.

But there is more than natural beauty in Yunhe. It is also a treasure trove of wooden toys. Wooden toy-themed cultural and amusement parks line the main roads, shops and stores selling wooden toys are everywhere, children play with locally made toys and board games in kindergarten as part of preschool education, hotels and home stays are often featured with wooden toys, and even street lamps, bus stops and the country’s highway tollgates are built in the shape of wooden toys and castles.

“My grandfather, who was then 44 years old, went to Shanghai in 1972 in search of a market for wooden toys, and when he returned, he brought back several samples,” said He Bin, head of Zhejiang Hexin Toys and who is also 44 years old, stating the time his grandfather He Shouzhen earned Yunhe’s first export order. After a year and a half of repeated trials in his simple workshop, He Shouzhen successfully produced a batch of spinning tops, castanets and yo-yos, which were then sold through a trading company in Shanghai to Japan for a total of 4, 000 yuan ($570).

Last year, Yunhe’s wooden toys created the income of 9. 19 billion yuan, and over 31, 000 people—roughly a quarter of its population—were employed in the country’s manufacturing companies.

Known as the “Hometown of China’s Wooden Toys”, Yunhe boasts 1, 093 manufacturers, producing thousands of wooden playthings every year. In fact, 56 percent of China’s wooden toys and 40 percent of the world’s are made in Yunhe. These toys are exported to 76 countries and regions including the United States and Europe.

1. What are the characteristics of Yunhe?

A．Education and wooden toys.	B．Colorful and attractive kindergartens.
C．Wooden gun-themed amusement parks.	D．Natural beauty as well as wooden toys.

2. Why did He Bin mention his grandfather in Paragraph 3?

A．Because his grandfather was a well-known businessman.

B．Because his grandfather had been to Shanghai for business and made it.

C．Because his grandfather simply produced some wooden castanets and yo-yos.

D．Because his grandfather was a success on account of making wooden toys.

3. Which of the following words best describes the future of Yunhe’s wooden toys?

A．Ambiguous.

B．Optimistic.

C．Critical.

D．Negative.

4. What can be the best title of the passage?

A．Small wooden toys realizing dreams of prosperity.

B．A small county importing plenty of wooden toys.

C．A successful craftsman making small wooden toys.

D．Amusement parks concentrating on wooden street lamps.

8 . With no special equipment, no fences and no watering, two abandoned agricultural fields in the UK have been rewilded (重新野化), in large part due to the efforts of jays, which actually “engineered” these new woodlands. Researchers now hope that rewilding projects can take a more natural and hands-off approach and that jays can shed some of their bad reputations.

The two fields, which researchers have called the New Wilderness and the Old Wilderness, had been abandoned in 1996 and 1961 respectively. The former was a bare field, while the latter was grassland—both lay next to ancient woodlands. Researchers had suspected that the fields would gradually return to wilderness, but it was impressive to see just how quickly this happened, and how much of it was owed to birds.

Using aerial data, the researchers monitored the two sites. After just 24 years, the New Wilderness had grown into a young, healthy wood with 132 live trees per hectare, over half of which (57%) were oaks. Meanwhile, the Old Wilderness resembled a mature woodland after 39 years, with 390 trees per hectare.

“This native woodland restoration was approaching the structure (but not the species composition) of long-established woodlands within six decades,” the researchers explained in the study.

Part of this reforestation was done by the wind, and researchers suspect that previous ground disturbance may have aided the woodland establishment—which is good news, as it would suggest that agricultural areas may be reforested faster than anticipated. However, animals—Eurasian jays, thrushes, wood mice, and squirrels—also played an important role in helping the forests take shape. This handful of species provided much of the natural regeneration needed for the forest to develop. Jays, in particular, seem to have done a lot of heavy lifting.

1. What does the underlined word “shed” in Paragraph 1 refer to?

A．Be opposed to.

B．Be ashamed of.

C．Get used to.

D．Get rid of.

2. Which aspect of the changes in the two fields impressed the researchers?

A．The scale of the woodlands.

B．The diversity of the fields.

C．The rate of the changes.

D．The frequency of the wilderness.

3. What does the author want to tell us by providing some data in Paragragh 3?

A．The woodland restoration was approaching the structure of long-established ones.

B．Much of the wilderness of the fields was owed to birds.

C．Previous ground disturbance aided the woodland establishment.

D．How quickly the fields returned to wilderness over time.

4. What does the last paragraph mainly talk about?

A．The essential role of humans in the reforestation.

B．The factors that contribute to the reforestation.

C．The importance of woodland establishment.

D．The threats faced by a handful of wild animals.

9 . It was so dark. It was like being locked in a closet. It was almost cold enough to damage important plane parts. The flight on a small, overloaded bush plane to the South Pole was nine hours each way. So to the outside world, the Antarctic rescue flight of two sick Americans from a remote South Pole station sounded dangerous.

In an Associated Press interview on Tuesday, chief pilot Wallace Dobchuk and first officer Sebastien Trudel said they weren’t comfortable being called heroes and were just doing their jobs.

“This wasn’t as risky as it may seem because of proper training, planning and experience, as well as some good luck,” said Kelly Falkner, head of a polar program office. “The weather in Antarctica is fickle, but for the mission it had to be just perfect. And it was ideal at just the right time, changing to bad hours after the rescue,” Falkner said.

The U.S. National Science Foundation runs a station at the South Pole. But one person, and then a second, got sick. After much discussion, Twin bush planes were hired for the rescue.

The two planes arrived at a British base 1,500 miles away, rested and one flew to the South Pole and flew back with the two patients. The other took their two patients on to Chile, where they were treated before being sent home.

With 11 hours’ worth of fuel put in the plane, it’s no bigger than a delivery truck, along with survival and medical equipment. It got crowded and heavy. Dobchuk said that made it harder to take off and land. But they managed.

1. The Antarctic rescue flight was dangerous because          .
①the lack of survival tools                           ②the extreme low temperature
③the long distance of the journey               ④the small and overloaded plane

A．②③④

B．①③④

C．①②③

D．①②④

2. What does the word “fickle” mean in Paragraph3?

A．Ideal

B．Predictable

C．Comfortable

D．Changeable

3. Why were Twin bush planes sent for the rescue?

A．One plane provided fuel to the other.	B．Each completed part of the journey.
C．The first plane failed to save the patients.	D．Both carried a large number of survival tools.

4. What’s the best title for the text?

A．Two heroic Pilots.	B．An Impossible Mission.
C．A South Pole Rescue.	D．An Adventure in Antarctic

10 . Romania is the twelfth largest country in Europe and has a growing economy. It borders the Black Sea to the southeast and shares a sea border with Turkey, which places the country as an important player in international maritime (海上的) trade. Let’s look at some of the major ports of Romania.

Port of Constanta

Constanta is Romania's most important port and is located on the western coast of the Black Sea. The port's capacity is 90 million tons each year, with a 19-metre natural depth and modern equipment. Constanta deals with many types of cargo (货物) both dry and liquid, project and general cargo, as well as passengers.

Port of Medgidia

The Medgidia port is one of the largest riverine ports in Romania. Situated on the Danube-Black Sea Canal, it is quite a busy port, and is well connected through roads and railways. It deals with passenger ships, tankers, cranes, and general as well as bulk cargo. It records 1.2 million tons of annual commercial traffic and 10.3 million tons of annual industrial traffic. It also offers medical, water, fuel, and banking services.

Port of Midia

The port of Midia is on the Black Sea coastline and around 25 kilometers from Constanta. It functions as a satellite port of Constanta and was constructed to meet the requirements of industries located nearby. It deals with the transport of chemicals, oil products and fisheries. At this port, ship repairs are also provided.

Port of Moldova Veche

The port of Moldova Veche is a riverine port near the town of Moldova Nouǎ. It also has two terminals, one for cargo and the other for passengers. This port handles the trade of wood products, sand, bricks, and fertilizers. The port is accessible only by road. The offices of port authorities like the port administration are located nearby.

1. What plays an important role in Romania's international maritime trade according to the text?

A．Its government.

B．Its tourism.

C．Its market.

D．Its location.

2. In which port can a crew member get medical treatment according to the text?

A．Constanta.

B．Midia.

C．Medgidia.

D．Moldova Veche.

3. What is the difference between the port of Midia and the other three ports?

A．It provides ship repairs.	B．It deals with passenger ships.
C．It can only be entered by road.	D．It is located on the Black Sea coastline.