1 . The Amazon rain forest is on fire. There are more fires burning there than ever before. That's according to Brazil's National Institute for Space Research. Using satellites to track deforestation and wildfires, the agency has counted 74,155 fires in the Amazon this year. That's roughly an 84% increase over last year at this time. The effects of the fires are being felt across Brazil. Parts of the country are covered in smoke. In the state of Sao Paulo, heavy smoke caused the sky to go black and blocked the sun on Monday. Other Brazilian states have declared the situation an emergency. One state has been put on “environmental alert.”

Some people think the policies of Brazil's president, Jair Bolsonaro, have led to the increase in fires. He wants to change laws that protect the Amazon so businesses can clear more land for commercial use. Bolsonaro says the fires are blazing simply because “it is the season of the queimada."(Queimada means "burned" in Portuguese. Portuguese is the official language of Brazil.)

But experts say Bolsonaro is wrong. They don't blame the increase in fires on the season. They point to deforestation and a worldwide increase in temperatures. “Trees, if they're stressed out by heat repeatedly, are more susceptible toother kinds of damage,” such as fires, says Deborah Lawrence. She's an environmental sciences professor at the University of Virginia.

Carlos Nobre is a Brazilian climate scientist. He's also an expert in tropical forests. The situation is “very sad,” according to Nobres. “We usually would see this surge of fire in very, very exceptionally dry years,” he says. “The fact that this record—breaking figure comes out in a relatively un—dry dry season shows that deforestation is increasing.”

1. What is the result of this fire?

A．Many people died in this fire.

B．Most of the states in Brazil feel the effects of the fire.

C．Many trees and animals are destroyed.

D．Brazil declared the situation an emergency.

2. Which of the following statements is not true in this passage?

A．The Amazon rain forest has few fires this year.

B．Some people think the president should take responsibility for the fire.

C．Some experts say the fire is caused because of the season.

D．Carlos Nobre thinks fires should happen in a very exceptionally dry year.

3. What can be inferred from Deborah Lawrence's words?

A．Trees are sensitive to some kinds of damage.

B．Fires are caused because of the season.

C．Deforestation is increasing in the world.

D．Fires happened in exceptionally dry year.

4. What is the main idea of this passage?

A．We should take measures to stop fires.	B．What we can do for the fires.
C．Fire happens in The Amazon rain forest.	D．Fires cause much damage.

2 . It flies through the night air. It is silent as it moves through trees and over grasses. It is a drone—a small plane that is operated remotely. Tonight, this drone is on a high—risk mission in South Africa: hunting poachers.

Poaching has caused an environmental disaster. According to a study led by Colorado State University, nearly 100,000 African elephants were killed from 2011 to 2013. Rhino poaching has increased 9,000 percent since 2007 in South Africa alone, according to the World Wildlife Fund.

Now, conservationists are turning to drone technology to fight back. Air Shepherd is a program that flies drone missions in South Africa, Malawi, and Zimbabwe at night. If potential poachers are spotted, teams of park rangers will go to the scene immediately.

Since the program began, Air Shepherd has seen a significant decrease in poaching in areas where its drones operate. And it is currently raising money to expand its operation, says John Pelersen, who is responsible for the program.

Petersen believes that drone technology can turn the tide in the war against poaching. There are certainly challenges though. For one, if poachers get word that drones are going around a particular area, the poachers may simply go elsewhere. Another challenge is training park rangers to use drones effectively. In addition, drones can be expensive to buy and can fly for only a few hours before running out of power.

Still, in the fight to save elephants and rhinos, drones have the potential to be an effective tool.

“These animals have been around for millions of years. They are a significant aspect of who we are and the environment we live in,” says Petersen. “They could be extinct in the wild in Africa in 10 years ...We can't let that happen.”

1. What does Paragraph 2 indicate?

A．The world's environment is getting worse.	B．Elephants are in danger of extinction.
C．Poaching has caught public attention.	D．Poaching is a very serious problem.

2. What do we know about Air Shepherd?

A．It helps discover poachers.	B．It flies drones all day long.
C．It was started by John Petersen.	D．It makes money through drone service.

3. What challenge does drone technology face?

A．Inadequate operators.	B．Inconvenience of charging.
C．Limited areas of coverage.	D．High expense of operator training.

4. What do Petersen's words show in the last paragraph?

A．His worries about Africa.	B．His determination to fight poaching.
C．His belief in drone technology.	D．His pride in what he does.

3 . Bringing a pet into a family with small children around is not a decision to take lightly. Many parents are concerned about the health and safety of the kids with pets around.     1    

Kids with pets like dogs go outside more often for daily walks, exercise and have more playtime with them.     2     Other studies found similar results with disabled children and that pets can help them to deal with the condition.

Kids growing up with pets can be taught responsibility. Experts explained in an article how adopting a pet into a family with kids can teach young humans responsibility.     3     Feeding and caring for a pet encourage children to learn the value of responsibility.

    4     A study showed reduction of stress and anxiety in kids of some families with pets. A follow-up study with a bigger sample (样本) size of kids in regular households confirmed the previous conclusion.

Kids who get pets often read to their pets.     5     They also found that reading to pets helps children make positive associations around reading out loud. Improving reading motivation improves reading performance. This may be especially important for students who struggle to read because poor reading abilities are also associated with low reading motivation.

Parents should practice safety tips for raising kids and pets together. This partnership can result in children growing up much healthier both mentally and physically.

A．Pets require food, water and love.

B．Children just like reading loud to pets.

C．Researchers found their reading improves clearly.

D．Studies showed that kids with pets are more relaxed.

E．However, there are many benefits for kids growing up with them.

F．Parents should learn the flowing ways to raise kids and pets together.

G．A study showed that children with pets around are more likely to move more.

4 . “绿水青山就是金山银山”理念的提出，足见环境对于人们生活的重要性。作为高中生，我们应如何保护环境呢？请你以“Let’s Protect the Environment Together!”为题写一篇演讲稿，内容包括：1.保护环境的重要性；2.保护环境应采取的措施。
注意：1.词数100左右；
2.可适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。

Let’s Protect the Environment Together!

Dear boys and girls,
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

5 . If you could travel back in time, which period of history would you visit? It’s a great question to ask your friends, and time travel is the subject of many science fiction films. Of course, sci-fi is familiar to most of us, but what is cli-fi? The simple answer is climate fiction which focuses on the subject of climate change.

Many of the cli-fi examples we watch tend to be disaster films. It could be solar flares (太阳耀斑), ice ages devastating (摧毁) the planet, extreme flooding swamping the earth with water, or super-storms that threaten life as we know it. While films and novels of this style are often subject to the typical images of a hero or heroine battling to save the day, what sets it apart from most sci-fi films is that the plots will often draw on apparently reasonable outcomes in the near future.

Climate change and the potential threats have long been established. Some believe that the issue of climate change has even led to more fans watching films to learn more about what's happening to the world – seeing it as a form of edutainment. A study conducted by the Yale programme on Climate Change Communication tested the effects that two climate fiction novels can have on its readers and found “significant positive effects” in terms of their attitudes and beliefs towards the climate crisis – for example, understanding global warming will harm them and future generations.

Most climate films are not only extremely popular action films, but also cause our fear of what some see as the approaching end of the world. This sounds bad, but according to a study conducted on 310 adults in the US, watching such scary films can help us feel more prepared and less alone in situations such as the pandemic (疫情). So, it looks like cli-fi is here to stay – and there seem to be some benefits. Whether it’s there to educate, entertain or prepare you for a climate crisis, it might have a role to play.

1. Which of the following may be the subject of cli-fi?

A．Time travel.	B．Global warming.
C．Weather forecast.	D．Economic climate.

2. What can we learn about cli-fi films from paragraph 2?

A．They are often about extreme natural disasters.

B．They want to show that man can conquer nature.

C．They usually have similar plots with sci-fi films.

D．They can show the true near future of the world.

3. Why is the study conducted by the Yale programme mentioned in paragraph 3?

A．To prove that climate change has potential threats.

B．To show that people like climate fiction novels.

C．To tell that cli-fi novels have positive effects on readers.

D．To explain how the climate crisis affect the human being.

4. What does the writer mainly want to tell us in the last paragraph?

A．Cli-fi films are very popular as action films.

B．A study was conducted on 310 adults in the US.

C．The pandemic make people scared and alone.

D．Cli-fi films are useful and will be here to stay.

6 . 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。

Leafcutter ants     1     (consider) an advanced species of ant. While most ant species are made up     2     three types of ants —the queen, workers and males. Leafcutter ants have     3     many as five, since worker ants are     4     (far) divided into different groups according to their sizes. There     5     (be)medium-sized leaf-collecting and leaf-cutting ants, tiny gardening ants and massive soldier ants. Different ants show different features that make     6     (they) do specific jobs. Soldier ants, for example,     7     role is to protect the nest(蚁穴), are about 300 times the size of their gardening sisters. Their jaws are strong enough     8     (cut) leather. A single nest may be home to millions of ants and contain a thousand     9    (room). Not all ants are environmentally     10    (friend) farmers like leafcutter ants.

7 . 阅读下面材料，在空白处填入适当的内容（不多于1个单词）或括号内单词的正确形式。

The worst thing about plastic straws (吸管) is that most of the time, they’re not a     1     (choose). Like much of the single-use plastic that     2     (come) our way, they just appear, placed in take-out bags or     3     (provide) with iced tea. And if you pick up plastic on beaches, you know that one of the most common pieces of plastic waste you’ll find is plastic straws. They’re everywhere. And once they make     4     (they) way to the sea, they’re eaten by fish or birds that mistake them for food. Straws are used once and then they are immediately thrown away and become waste, staying in the environment     5     years.

    6     (fortune) , we can do something to help. If you like to use a straw at home     7     you want to provide them at your business, there are two options. The first one is trying a reusable straw, which can     8     (wash) along with dishes. They come in stainless steel or glass. And they come in all kinds of sizes and some have fun decorations.

Another option is paper straws,     9     also come in all kinds of pretty decorative colors and patterns. You can even find them     10     (make) from recycled paper!

With so many options available, there’s no reason to add to the plastic straw waste problem.

8 . When you walk on a sandy beach, it takes more energy than striding down a sidewalk — because the weight of your body pushes into the sand. Turns out, the same thing is true for vehicles driving on roads. The weight of the vehicles creates a very shallow indentation (凹陷) in the pavement (路面) — and it makes it such that it’s continuously driving up a very shallow hill.

Jeremy Gregory, a sustainability scientist at M.I.T. and his team modeled how much energy could be saved — and green-house gases avoided — by simply stiffening (硬化) the nation’s roads and highways. And they found that stiffening 10 percent of the nation’s roads every year could prevent 440 megatons of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions over the next five decades — enough to offset half a percent of projected transportation sector emissions over that time period. To put those emissions savings into context — that amount is equivalent to how much CO2 you’d spare the planet by keeping a billion barrels of oil in the ground — or by growing seven billion trees — for a decade.

The results are in the Transportation Research Record.

As for how to stiffen roads? Gregory says you could mix small amounts of synthetic fibers or carbon nanotubes into paving materials. Or you could pave with cement-based concrete, which is stiffer than asphalt (沥青).

This system could also be a way to shave carbon emissions without some of the usual hurdles. Usually, when it comes to reducing emissions in the transportation sector, you’re talking about changing policies related to vehicles and also driver behavior, which involves millions and millions of people — as opposed to changing the way we design and maintain our pavements. That’s just on the order of thousands of people who are working in transportation agencies. And when it comes to retrofitting (翻新) our streets and highways — those agencies are where the rubber meets the road.

1. Why does the author mention “walk on a sandy beach” in paragraph 1?

A．To present a fact.	B．To make a contrast.
C．To explain a rule.	D．To share an experience.

2. What suggestion does the author give to reduce CO2 emissions?

A．Hardening the road.	B．Keeping oil in the ground.
C．Growing trees for decades.	D．Improving the transportation.

3. What is the advantage of this suggestion?

A．Gaining more support.	B．Consuming less money.
C．Involving more people.	D．Facing fewer usual obstacles.

4. What does the underlined part mean in the last paragraph?

A．Those agencies are likely to make more rules.

B．Those agencies will change some related policies.

C．Those agencies might put more rubber tires on the roads.

D．Those agencies will play a key role in making this happen.

9 . 阅读下面短文，在空白处填入适当的内容（1个单词）或括号内单词的正确形式。

Global warming refers to the fact that the earth's atmosphere is warming near     1     (it) surface — in other words, it's getting hotter. Some scientists say it is human activity     2     has caused global warming. However, there are other theories as well.

One popular theory relates to the “greenhouse effect”. Gases that make up the atmosphere are similar to     3     greenhouse because they allow sunlight     4     (pass) through, and then trap much of the heat from     5     (escape). This naturally occurring phenomenon,     6     is called greenhouse warming, keeps the earth's surface     7     (warm) than it would be.

While scientists agree that human-produced compounds (化合物) like carbon dioxide and others are being released into the atmosphere, some argue it's not clear how this results     8     the changes in temperature.

Global warming can     9     (great) affect human life on many levels. Scientists have made great     10     (contribute) to finding out how long the earth has been warming, at what rate it is warming, and what factors are causing it. These answers may better prepare people to handle its effects.

10 . When the explorers first set foot upon the continent of North America, the skies and lands were alive with an astonishing variety of wildlife. Native Americans had taken care of these precious natural resources wisely. Unfortunately, it took the explorers and the settlers who followed only a few decades to decimate a large part of these resources. Millions of waterfowl (水禽) were killed at the hands of market hunters and a handful of overly ambitious sportsmen. Millions of acres of wetlands were dried to feed and house the ever-increasing populations, greatly reducing waterfowl habitat.

In 1934, with the passage of the Migratory Bird Hunting Stamp Act (Act), an increasingly concerned nation took firm action to stop the destruction of migratory (迁徙的) waterfowl and the wetlands so vital to their survival. Under this Act, all waterfowl hunters 16 years of age and over must annually purchase and carry a Federal Duck Stamp. The very first Federal Duck Stamp was designed by J.N. “Ding” Darling, a political cartoonist from Des Moines, lowa, who at that time was appointed by President Franklin Roosevelt as Director of the Bureau of Biological Survey. Hunters willingly pay the stamp price to ensure the survival of our natural resources.

About 98 cents of every duck stamp dollar goes directly into the Migratory Bird Conservation Fund to purchase wetlands and wildlife habitat for inclusion into the National Wildlife Refuge System — a fact that ensures this land will be protected and available for all generations to come. Since 1934, better than half a billion dollars has gone into that Fund to purchase more than 5 million acres of habitat. Little wonder the Federal Duck Stamp Program has been called one of the most successful conservation programs ever initiated.

1. What was a cause of the waterfowl population decline in North America?

A．Loss of wetlands.	B．Popularity of water sports.
C．Pollution of rivers.	D．Arrival of other wild animals.

2. What does the underlined word “decimate” mean in the first paragraph?

A．Acquire.	B．Export.
C．Destroy.	D．Distribute.

3. What is a direct result of the Act passed in 1934?

A．The stamp price has gone down.	B．The migratory birds have flown away.
C．The hunters have stopped hunting.	D．The government has collected money.

4. Which of the following is a suitable title for the text?

A．The Federal Duck Stamp Story	B．The National Wildlife Refuge System
C．The Benefits of Saving Waterfowl	D．The History of Migratory Bird Hunting