1 . In a world-record effort to help save a valuable sea creature, Australian scientists have released hundreds of baby seahorses into the wild. The tiny seahorses are endangered, and the scientists hope the new seahorses will help their numbers grow.

Seahorses get their name because they look a bit like horses. They aren’t great swimmers, even though they’re fish. They often use their tails to hold onto something in the water. They mostly live in warm, shallow waters around the world. They are often found in coral reefs, in beds of seagrass, and areas where rivers empty into the sea. Seahorses form an important part of the ocean’s food chain. They eat tiny sea creatures and are eaten by bigger sea animals.

Many kinds of seahorses are often threatened by the human actions. Sometimes they’re caught and sold as pets. They are also caught by accident when people are trying to catch other fish.

To begin the project, scientists collected three pregnant seahorses in January. Those seahorses were brought back to the aquarium (水族馆) in Sydney. After the babies were born, the scientists kept them there for five months, feeding the baby seahorses shrimps (小虾) to help them grow strong. Scientist Mitchell Brennan says, “They don’t have a stomach, so they have to eat constantly.”

About a month before the young seahorses were released, the scientists created eight underwater “hotels” for them. The hotels look like cages, providing a safe place for the seahorses to develop. Putting the hotels into the sea early allowed the cages to be covered with small sea life that can help provide food for the seahorses.

This is the fifth time the scientists have released seahorses into the area, and this time was a record. Around 380 seahorses were released. The researchers put tiny tags (标记) under the skin of many of the seahorses to help track them in the future.

1. What can be learned about seahorses from paragraph 2?

A．They look exactly like horses.	B．They have a gift for swimming.
C．They mostly live in the deep sea.	D．They feed on small sea creatures.

2. What does paragraph 3 mainly talk about?

A．The types of the seahorses.	B．Living conditions the seahorses need.
C．Areas the seahorses live in.	D．Dangers the seahorses face.

3. Why are the eight “hotels” put into the sea early?

A．To differ the project from the former ones.

B．To avoid danger the seahorses may face.

C．To offer food to the seahorses.

D．To help track the seahorses in the future.

4. What can be the best title for the text?

A．A New Study on Endangered Seahorses

B．Underwater “Hotels” for Baby Seahorses

C．A Record Number of Baby Seahorses Were Released

D．New Methods of Finding Endangered Seahorses

3 . It’s difficult to hope sometimes but there are still a few instances telling us that something better awaits us whether we choose to hold on to it or not. Annie, a 19-year-oldblack Labrador, was given around a month to live when she was placed for adoption in June 2022. Annie’s former owner had given up hope and sent her to a shelter house in Texas because she wouldn’t eat or drink.

Once Siler, 31, discovered Annie’s photo, she knew she had to help. Instead of a month or two, Annie was adopted by Siler and her roommate, Lisa, for an entire year. Siler knew what it took to care for an elderly dog because she had recently lost her own dog, whom she had since college. Siler shared, “I felt mentally and emotionally prepared to take on a dog that wasn’t going to have long.” Siler described Annie as an easygoing dog. Her favorite pastimes included opening mail and sitting outside, watching people and cars pass by, earning her the nickname “nosy neighbour.”

“People kept telling us she was having so much fun and enjoying life and that kept her going, and I hope that was the case. Annie lived almost exactly a year after being adopted by Siler and Lisa. Annie had the life we pray every senior dog we rescue gets to experience. Annie didn’t just live out this past year, she flowered. Annie had an ill stomach. Surgical operation was her only option and that was never something we would put Annie through. Collectively, we made the hardest decision for us but kindest for Annie.” Siler kept in her diary.

“I can’t help but think that Annie would be so proud. She was one special dog whose story will live on through those who adopt seniors. She left a giant, giant hole in my heart…but times, where everyone who loved her can come together in her honor,will help start mending my broken heart.” Siler wrote in her post.

1. Why was Annie placed for adoption in June 2022?

A．Because she was too old for her owner to care for.

B．Because her owner had given up hope for her refusal to eat or drink.

C．Because Annie’s owner was moving and couldn’t take her along.

D．Because she had a medical condition that required extensive care.

2. What motivated Siler to adopt Annie?

A．Siler wanted a guard dog for her house.

B．Siler’s roommate insisted on adopting a dog.

C．Siler was an advocate for senior dog adoption.

D．Siler sought company after losing her previous dog.

3. What did people say about Annie’s life after adoption?

A．She experienced enormous joy.

B．She was miserable and lonely.

C．She was constantly sick and in pain.

D．She didn’t interact with people or other dogs.

4. What did Siler hope for in terms of Annie’s story?

A．Annie’s story would be forgotten easily.

B．Annie’s story would encourage seniors to hunt.

C．Annie’s story would inspire senior dogs adoption.

D．Annie’s story would only be remembered for its sadness.

4 . 听下面一段独白，回答以下小题。
1. When will the clouds clear up today?

A．By breakfast time.

B．By lunchtime.

C．By supportime.

2. What’s the weather like by the weekend?

A．Windy and cold.

B．Cloudy skies and rain.

C．Dry and sunny.

3. What will the temperatures be for the weekend?

A．Around 21 degrees. 1 000

B．Around 29 degrees.

C．Around 32 degrees.

5 . 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。

Three cows swept away by Hurricane Dorian have been found miles from home in a national park, a spokesman said. Dorian brought strong winds, damaging tornadoes (龙卷风) and heavy rain     1     North Carolina in September when it       2     (make) landfall on the Outer Banks in North Carolina.

During     3     storm, wild horses and cows     4     (carry) away by floodwaters from Cedar Island. Many horses died in the flood. The cows were missing until they were discovered around four miles away at Cape Lookout National Seashore park, according to B. G Horvat, the park’s spokesman.

The cows were not wild. Horvat said they had caretakers in Cedar Island     5     looked after them, and the park is trying to get in touch with     6     (they) owner. “They likely got swept away from the same body of water as those wild horses,” Horvat said “These cows were just really     7     (luck) because they went through the same thing and they could have       8     (easy) drowned (淹死). ”

One cow was found shortly after Dorian hit, while the other two were found about two weeks later by       9     (visitor). Horvat said the cows were eating in the wild on the Core Banks and they were able     10     (survive) from the sea grass or other vegetation. Head they might be drinking on the south side of the island, which has fresh water.

7 . Time is running out for coral reefs as the climate gets hotter. So scientists are searching the globe for corals that are better at enduring heat, Now, new research shows how those “super corals” can survive: less roommate drama.

Reefs depend on a crucial partnership between the corals and the algae (海藻) that live in the corals’ tissue, The algae make food for the corals using sunlight and in exchange, get a nice spot to live. But when oceans heat up, that relationship goes bad, and the corals kick the algae out, Without their roommates, corals can die, turning a ghostly white, bleached (白化) color.

Still, some corals seem to resist bleaching better than others, A new study shows that those corals depend on algae that are better at tolerating heat. Researchers hope that pinpointing these abilities will help develop new conservation tools to preserve the world’s reefs as temperatures rise. About 1/4 of all marine life rely on coral reefs in some way, along with half 1 billion people around the world also depend on reefs for their food and livelihoods.

“Heat stress can kill a lot of corals really fast,” says Kate Quigley, a research scientist at James Cook University and the Minderoo Foundation in Australia. “I hope that nature does have some mechanisms to get us through the next few years while we get our act together.”

While the hope is that those algae could also aid in reef conservation in the future, researcher Patrick Buerger says it’s likely that it wouldn’t help all coral species. And even the toughest corals can only endure so much. Currently, the world is on track for just under 3degrees Celsius of warming by 2100, a level that would wipe out nearly all coral reefs.

“The action has to be on climate change,” he says. “This is a short-term solution that might buy some time for corals to adapt. But the main focus has to be on climate. There’s not a silver bullet to the problem.”

1. What is the feature of super corals?

A．Sun-loving.

B．Long-living.

C．Good-looking.

D．Heat-bearing.

2. What can algae get from the corals?

A．Habitat.

B．Food.

C．Sunlight.

D．Friendship.

3. What do the figures in paragraph 3 indicate?

A．The population of marine life.	B．The importance of coral reefs.
C．The seriousness of global warming.	D．The living conditions of coral reefs.

4. What does Patrick think of using heat-resistant algae in reef conservation?

A．It is useless

B．It is the last hope.

C．It is temporary.

D．It is the silver bullet.

8 . The combined quantity of water on Earth has varied over the course of our planet’s geological history, and it still does.

Today, Earth includes some 1,386 million cubic kilometres of water, a volume that includes water in oceans, lakes and rivers, plus ground water, vapour in the atmosphere, and the frozen water of glaciers and ice caps. On the young Earth — some four billion years ago — vast quantities of water were added to the planet by ice-containing comets (a mass of ice and dust that moves around the sun and looks like a bright star with a tail) that struck us, eventually making our world a “blue planet”. But such events became increasingly rare in Earth’s more recent history, and today we are in an age during which Earth is losing water.

The water loss is due to the fact that particles (微粒) sometimes escape Earth’s gravity to travel into space. This is particularly true of the light hydrogen atoms that form part of water molecules (分子) together with oxygen. Every time the atmosphere loses hydrogen, we lose one of the building blocks of water. Scientists estimate that Earth loses about 3kg of hydrogen per second. At this pace, Earth would run out of water in three billion years — but that assumes that we don’t get any new water supplies.

New water need not come from space — it might come from the inside of the Earth. At depths below 50km, minerals contain water that is not reckoned within the water cycle. Some of it dates back to Earth’s formation; the rest is part of slow geological exchange between the planet’s layers. When Earth’s plates sink and melt, deep minerals can release these bound water molecules so that they can subsequently rise to the surface via volcanic eruptions, adding to the planet’s overall water resources.

1. How did Earth become a “blue planet” in geological time?

A．By getting water from comets	B．By making use of glaciers.
C．By releasing its inside water.	D．By storing water in the ocean.

2. What is the scientists’ attitude towards the water loss on Earth?

A．Serious.

B．Regretful.

C．Uncertain.

D．Unworried.

3. The underlined word “reckoned” in Paragraph 4 is closest in meaning to “________”.

A．locked

B．displayed

C．counted

D．marked

4. What can be the best title for the text?

A．Where Can Water Be Stored?	B．Could Earth Run Out of Water?
C．How Can New Water Be Found?	D．Will There Be More Water on Earth?

9 . 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。

For many years, my only companion was our dog, Sno. A small but mighty Bichon Frise, our dog may have looked ordinary, but he was smart, creative, and always ready for ice cream and rolling at my request. While I worked, he slept, waking to chase the red cat from next door, greet a delivery person, or sit in the sunshine.

We didn’t agree on everything, especially when to get up and when to go to bed. He sighed with boredom when a project was due and I didn’t have time to play. He didn’t understand weekends, deadlines, and visitors who left him. However, we both agreed on walking.

At least once a week, we took a long walk to the beach. For him, there were tall grasses and exciting smells. For me, there were other dog walkers and neighbors to catch up with. We returned tired, thirsty, and very happy.

Being a dog with huge ambition and short legs, Sno needed several breaks along the way. The one at the entrance to the beach was his favorite, possibly because he knew we were circling back home. There, on a windy summer day, he looked up at me just as I was looking down at him. We both grinned (咧嘴笑). This was the best walk ever.

When he was old and dying, our walks were shorter and closer to home. I’d take him for a walk and then go out for my own walk, wandering around the beach like we used to do. I always grinned when I got to the entrance to the beach, remembering that summer day when he was young and energetic.

In his final days, Sno still insisted on walking. It took twice as long to take even the shortest walk, but we enjoyed every step. Then came that Sunday when he leaned hard toward the beach walk. How could I refuse his last-walk wish?

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。

We took the walk.

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After he died, I went for the long walk.

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10 . 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。

Wetlands are the link between the land and the water. They are transition zones where the flow of water, the cycling of nutrients and the energy of the sun meet to produce     1     unique and special ecosystem     2     (characterize) by hydrology, soils and vegetation—making these areas very important features of a watershed. The water is often groundwater,     3     (spill) up from an aquifer or spring. A wetland’s water can also come from a nearby river or lake. Seawater can also create wetlands, especially in coastal areas that experience strong tides. Here is one in China.

The National Nature Reserve of Guangdong Nanpeng Islands in Guangdong Province was established in 2003. It     4     (cover) a total area of 35,679 hectares. It became the fifth national-level marine nature reserve in Guangdong, as well as the first one in the eastern region of Guangdong, in 2012. In 2015, it     5     (recognize) and included in the International Important Wetlands Directory.

The main focus of the reserve is to protect the unique underwater natural landscapes, the ecosystems of the nearby     6     (coast) waters, the rare and endangered marine animals, the various fish species and their habitats, as well as the marine biodiversity.

Researchers have discovered 1,308 marine species in the area, including 772     7     (economic) significant fish, shrimp, crab, mollusk, and algae species. The reserve is home     8     more than 21 identified rare and endangered wildlife species in water, among     9     nine species such as the Chinese white dolphin and the nautilus are classified as first-class protected animals at the national level, while     10     (variety) of other 27 species, such as the common bottlenose dolphin is classified as second-class protected animals.