1 . Blue whales are the largest creatures to live on Earth after the dinosaurs. These amazing creatures are not only the largest whale species but also the largest mammal (哺乳动物) species to have ever existed on Earth.

The average length of a blue whale is 23—27 meters and its weight is from 100 to 150 tons. In spite of their large size, blue whales can swim at a fast speed of 25 to 30 miles per hour. The blue whales are not really blue in color but are actually gray. Blue whales feed on krill (磷虾). They take in a lot of water. They have a very unique way of communicating with each other by sending low frequency sound waves, which is even higher than the sound produced by a plane.

Before the whale hunting time started, blue whales could be found in all major oceans. Once, there were more than 200,000 blue whales that swam in the oceans. The Seas of Canada, North Atlantic Ocean and the seas to the south of Madagascar are among the most popular regions where blue whales can be found nowadays. Other major parts are the Antarctic Ocean and the Davis Strait.

Early whaling was limited by simple tools and whaling skills. So the damage to whale populations was not great. But with the development of powerful guns and steam-powered boats, whaling advanced. More whales were hunted at a rapid rate. In 1931 alone, 29,649 whales were killed. Humans competed to hunt the big animals. Besides, the number of blue whales is low due to more man’s deep-sea activities.

Fortunately, officials are doing something great about the blue whales. The International Whaling Commission has taken steps to protect these wonderful creatures. Committees of experts have been formed to work against whaling.

1. How do blue whales communicate?

A．By swimming fast.

B．By delivering food.

C．By touching each other.

D．By sending sound signals.

2. What is the third paragraph mainly about?

A．The habits that blue whales develop.	B．The ways that blue whales are hunted.
C．The places where blue whales can be found.	D．The reasons why blue whales are endangered.

3. What caused the number of blue whales to drop quickly according to the text?

A．Ocean water was polluted.	B．Hunting tools were improved.
C．The blue whales suffered from illnesses.	D．The blue whales fought against each other.

4. What is the author’s attitude towards the officials’ work?

A．Positive.

B．Worried.

C．Unclear.

D．Confused.

2 . 水是生命之源，然而目前中国存在严重的缺水问题，带来一些危害。请就此问题，以“Water Shortage in China”为题，写一篇100词左右的英语短文，提出解决办法。内容包括：
1. 缺水的现状；
2. 缺水的原因；
3.解决的办法。
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

3 . Gordon Brown today announced that he will use the law to stop supermarkets giving away free plastic bags within the next 12 months.

Supermarkets that do not voluntarily start charging customers for plastic bags are expected to be punished to pay an extra tax of at least 5p a bag.

Brown made his pledge (保证) as the Guardian revealed that government departments handed out nearly one million special-made plastic bags themselves, mostly in connection with publicity campaigns.

Writing in the Daily Mail, which this week launched a war to cut the use of plastic bags, the prime minister said that "over time we should aim to get rid of the single-use plastic bag altogether".

In a speech last November, Brown urged shopkeepers to cut the use of plastic bags. In his article he praised Ikea, which has cut its bag use by 95% recently, and Marks & Spencer, which this week announced that it would ask for a 5p charge on bags from May.

The prime minister said that he was now willing to use laws to ensure that other stores followed the Marks & Spencer's lead.

"I am convinced we need to act — and the time to act is now. And I want to make it clear that if government law is needed to make the change, we will take the necessary steps. We do not take such steps lightly — but the damage single-use plastic bags inflict (强加于) on the environment is such that strong action must be taken. The important thing is to come up with a scheme that will be of most benefit, most quickly — and ideally at the same time provide funds for organizations that help protect our environment."

Brown said he was reminded of the scale of the problem every week when he saw the number of bags supplied with his family shopping.

"Like many working families with children, Sarah and I often use supermarket deliveries for the weekly shopping. And as millions of others in Britain who do the same, we are left with a bin full of plastic bags in the end, with each bag sometimes just containing a handful of items. This cannot be right."

Brown revealed that the government had been looking at the way other countries were dealing with the problem.

"We are looking at all this international evidence to see what steps we in Britain should take," he said.

1. Where can readers most probably find this passage?

A．Shopping information magazines.	B．Business magazines.
C．Professional plastic industry papers.	D．Common daily newspapers.

2. What or who is the Ikea?

A．Government officials in charge of the plastic industry.

B．Common people voluntarily avoiding using plastic bags.

C．Department stores supporting the action in this country.

D．Producers making plastic bags.

3. Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?

A．Marks & Spencer will charge for the plastic bag from this May.

B．Some stores have been punished for not charging for plastic bags.

C．Supermarkets will only charge 5p for each plastic bag.

D．Other countries have been carrying out the action successfully.

4. When people ask for home deliveries, supermarkets will put their goods in ________.

A．few bags	B．too many bags
C．a bin	D．a wrong bag

4 . I went with my husband to Roatan for our vacation, a tropical island off the north coast of Honduras, where tourists can swim with dolphins at Anthony’s Key Resort.

The Roatan dolphins are kept in a roped-off pen(围栏). The cheapest “swim” with the dolphins costs $ 89. Kissing costs extra. The tourists line up and, one after another, get photographed while being “kissed” by a dolphin. The tourist bends down a bit, the trainer lifts an arm, the dolphin comes up and for a few seconds holds its bottlenose to the tourist’s face. The picture is ready for purchase when the tourists exit through the gift shop.

These tourists must love dolphins, but what kind of love is that? At sea these highly intelligent creatures are always on the move, traveling thousands of miles. They are complex social creatures that need a lot of space to live in.

Yet Teri Bolton, the head trainer at Anthony’s Key Resort, defends the pen as a suitable habitat. “We feel this is the closest to keeping things as natural as possible”, she said. “You’re getting a window into how these animals really are.”

The discussion about this tourist behavior can be found on the Internet. Some people try to justify their desire, saying the fence of the pen is low; the dolphins could jump over it if they wanted to, and therefore they’re staying in captivity(圈养)by free will. One contributor to the discussion said, “Dolphins are social creatures. Jumping over the fence would mean leaving the females and their babies. Besides, by now they are used to captivity with three meals a day. Jumping over the fence would be like asking you to jump out of a spaceship alone onto Mars.”

But visiting any institution that keeps dolphins in captivity means supporting the concept of captivity. It’s like wearing a fur coat and then justifying it by saying it’s OK because the animals are already dead.

Remember that you cannot buy love, and if you try to buy dolphin love, you hurt the ones you love. In fact, a dolphin’s kiss has nothing to do with love, just as a dolphin’s smile has nothing to do with happiness. While many claim that dolphin encounters provide healing(治疗）)qualities and help you to feel better, the opposite is true for the supposed healers.

1. How much does a tourist pay for a dolphin’s kiss?

A．More than $ 89.	B．Less than $ 89.
C．As much as $ 89.	D．It’s free of charge.

2. What do some people on the Internet think of the pen for dolphins?

A．It’s like a prison.	B．It’s like a spaceship.
C．It’s no fun for the dolphins.	D．It’s suitable for the dolphins.

3. What do the underlined “the supposed healers” in the last paragraph refer to?

A．Dolphin lovers.	B．Unhealthy people.
C．Dolphins in the wild.	D．Dolphins in captivity.

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

A．Are Dolphins As Smart As Humans?

B．Swimming with Dolphins: Is It Love or Not?

C．Dolphins—Creatures with Feelings

D．Kissing—A New Way to Communicate with Dolphins

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答案写在答题卡上。

According to a new report by IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), the deadly heat waves, floods     1     droughts are disturbing the     2     (life) of thousands of people from the American West to southern Europe and central China. And they will be likely only to get     3     (bad) as global temperatures continue to rise. “So far, all regions of the world     4     (affect) by some extremes,” says Sonia Seneviratne, an environmental     5     (science). “We can link extreme weather to climate change in     6     same way we can link cancer to smoking,” says Friederike Otto, one of the report’s authors. And, like smoking, the damage is hard     7     (disappear), Otto says. The most important thing, experts say, is to make sure these events don’t grow even more common and intense     8     they are now. “I feel     9     (strong) that the public needs to know that dangerous climate change is here and now,” says Michael Wehner, an extreme weather researcher. To limit global warming to just 2℃, Wehner says, “It’s my feeling that we would have to do something rather extreme.” Something extreme, he adds, means completely     10     (get) rid of consumption of coal, oil, and natural gas.

6 . Balmoral Castle

Balmoral Castle, which started in the late 1300s. is the private residence of the Queen. It has remained a favourite residence for the Queen and her family during August and September.

Some 85,000 people visit Balmoral each year, and the estate maintains and restores footpaths throughout the property for visiting hikers.

Windsor Castle

Windsor Castle is an official residence of The Queen and the largest occupied castle in the world. The castle was the inspiration for the Royal family’s surname.

William the Conqueror built the castle in 1080 and it has remained a royal palace for over 900 years. Windsor is the oldest royal home in Britain and, covering 13 acres, it’s the largest castle in the world that is still lived in.

Each year, the Order of the Garter ceremony is held at Windsor Castle, and the Queen occasionally hosts a “dine and sleeps”, for politicians and public figures.

The Palace of Holyroodhouse

Founded as a monastery (修道院）in 1128, the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh is The Queen’s official residence in Scotland. It was also the home of many Scottish royals.

The Queen holds receptions, state functions, and investitures(授职仪式）within its walls, and each year during Holyrood Week Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip invite 8» 000 Scottish guests to the Garden Party.

St. James Palace

St. James’s Palace was built between 1531 and 1536 and was home of kings and queens of England for over 300 years. The palace was built by Henry VU on the site of the Hospital of St. James, Westminster. After the destruction by fire of the Palace of Whitehall in 1698, all monarchs until William W lived at St. James's for part of the time.

1. Where do the Queen and her family like to stay during the summer holiday period?

A．Windsor Castle.

B．Balmoral Castle.

C．The Palace of Holyroodhouse.

D．St. James Palace.

2. Compared with the others, Windsor Castle

A．is visited by the largest number of tourists

B．is intended for officials

C．has the longest history

D．is the most beautiful

3. From the last part we know that St. James Palace

A．was rebuilt by Henry Ⅶ

B．was built on the site where a hospital used to be

C．was pulled down by King IV

D．was destroyed by fire

7 . In south Africa’s Limpopo province, a baobab tree (猴面包树) once grew so large and stood so strong that its human neighbors decided to build a pub inside the living tree’s thousand-year-old hollow trunk(树干). For 20 years, “The Big Baobab Pub” attracted tourists all over the world. But in August 2016, one of “the walls” broke. Eight months later, another huge piece broke, too. Now, five of the giant stems have collapsed and died, leaving only half of the tree standing.

Though it could sound like a result of human visitation, it's part of an alarming trend: many of the oldest, largest baobab trees in Africa have died within the last 12 years.

Stephan Woodbourne, an African scientist, said: “Of the oldest trees that we’ve looked at in Southern Africa, the three trees that are older than 2,000 years have all died in the past 10 years. Of the 11 trees that are 1,000 to 2,000 years old, six of them have died.”

A report published in the journal Nature Plants claims scores of the ancient baobab trees, some of which are up to 3,000 years old, are now dying because of rising global temperatures.

Researchers believe it is impossible that such a high number of old baobab trees die in such a short time due to natural causes. They think it may be associated with huge change of climate conditions that affect southern Africa in particular.

1. What has happened to The Big Baobab Pub?

A．The pub has largely been destroyed.

B．More tourists from the world visit it.

C．The pub has a long history of 2,000 years.

D．The Baobab Tree grows larger and stronger.

2. The paragraphs from 2 to 4 mainly tell us that ________.

A．all the oldest baobab trees have been dead

B．the oldest baobab trees will die out soon

C．ancient baobab trees are in the face of danger

D．Human’s visits lead to ancient baobab trees’ deaths

3. What is probably the main reason for the trees’ death?

A．Many pubs’ foundation.	B．Global climate changes.
C．Human visitation.	D．Natural causes.

4. What’s the best title of the passage?

A．Research on Baobab Tree.	B．Facts about Baobab Tree.
C．Baobab Tree in Africa.	D．Tree of Life is Dying.

8 . Cheng Gang is a home renovation (整修) worker in Zhongzhai Town, southwest China’s Guizhou Province. Living in a three-story building with his family, he has a steady income. It is hard to imagine that he used to worry about where his next meal will come from a few years ago.

At that time, he lived in Daping Village and grew corn for a low income. The village sits in the steep mountains at an elevation of 1,800 meters, where wild monkeys are commonly seen. To the villagers, the naughty monkeys are both their old neighbors and a big trouble. Chen’s cornfields were damaged by them from time to time.

To protect the ecological environment while solving the problem of poverty, the government carried out a relocation policy by moving residents to Zhongzhai in early 2017. The policy has bought changes to Chen and other villagers. The goal of the policy was not just to relocate villagers but make their lives better and solve practical problems after the move.

The mountain roads were steep in Daping. Children had to walk five kilometers for over one hour to school. And during rainy days, falls were frequent occurrences. Now the children from the relocated households can go to a school that’s only about 100 meters away, with more qualified teachers and better facilities.

The happiest thing for Chen and his fellow villagers is that they have finally shaken off poverty after years of hoping. The town government provides free training courses on various working skills. Having learned how to renovate a house, Chen’s monthly income is about 3,000 yuan. His wife also found a job in a nearby tea mountain.

Meanwhile, their relocation has given wild monkeys a better environment in the nature reserve. There are about 2,000 wild monkeys in the world, of which around 730 inhabit the Mayang River National Reserve. As being neighbors with monkeys has become a thing of the past, people from Daping Village are embracing the new life they have hoped for.

1. What do you know about Chen Gang according to the text?

A．Wild monkeys are his special friends.

B．He has lived in a three-story building since seven years ago.

C．He is paid a regular paycheck as a house renovation worker.

D．He lives in a house at an elevation of 1,800 meters in southwest China.

2. Of the following things, what do the villagers hope for most?

A．A steady income.	B．A three-story building
C．Moving out of the village.	D．Getting rid of the wild monkeys.

3. What do we know about the relocation policy?

A．It is a policy the villagers have hoped for.

B．The policy has benefited the children a lot.

C．All the villagers moved into three-story building.

D．Most villagers were given a job in a tea mountain.

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

A．Protect Your Friends: Wild Monkeys.

B．A Relocation Policy to Help Shake Off Poverty.

C．Be a Renovation Worker for a Steady Income.

D．Relocate to Given the Children a Better Education.

9 . Grizzly bears have all but disappeared from the continental United States. But there's one place where the bears are making a comeback in and around Yellowstone National Park. By 1975, the grizzly population had dropped below 140. Forty-one years later, that number has increased to about 700.

U.S. officials suggest it's time to remove them from the endangered species list.“The bears are occupying all suitable habitat,” Michael Thabault, of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said.“This tells us the population is fixed.”

Scientists argue that the bears still face many challenges in the wild. The loss of important food sources is one. Trout and elk, both favorite grizzly foods, are dwindling. According to Thabault, the bears are adaptable and will eat whatever foods are available in order to survive.

The biggest worry for scientists is that grizzlies will be hunted once protections are removed. The bears will remain protected within Yellowstone National Park, but nearby states—Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho—plan to allow hunting.

“States want to manage their own wildlife and not have the federal government tell them how to do it,”says Andrea Santarsiere. She' s a lawyer for the Center for Biological Diversity, a group that protects animals. She says the government should recover historic bear habitat before even thinking about delisting.

The decision on delisting grizzlies in the Yellowstone area could be announced by mid-November. States are creating a protection plan in case that they gain control over the bears' management.

Biologist Kerry Gunther, of the National Park Service, believes grizzlies are ready for delisting. But he admits that the bears' lives depend on the strength of each state's plan. “The recovery of this symbol of the wilderness is a success story,” he says. Whether or not that story has a happy ending will depend on what happens next.

1. The numbers mentioned in Paragraph 1 show that________.

A．grizzly bears have returned	B．there will be more national parks
C．governments should save more bears	D．grizzlies have become endangered animals

2. What is the biggest threat to grizzlies according to the scientists?

A．Food shortage.	B．The pollution.
C．Human beings.	D．Their natural enemies.

3. What does Santarsiere say about delisting grizzlies?

A．It is useless.	B．It is unacceptable.
C．It has a bright future.	D．It should be done immediately.

4. What does Gunther agree with?

A．Delisting has a happy ending.

B．States should make plans for parks.

C．Grizzlies need more time to survive in the wild.

D．Sates play an important role in protecting grizzlies.

10 . Slat's life began to change after a holiday trip to Greece with his family when he was 16. What he actually saw in the ocean was an awful lot or plastic waste. From that moment on, Slat dived into a project to find a solution to this alarming problem. Struck by the idea of a floating barrier that could collect plastic, he founded his company, The Ocean Cleanup, at the age of 18. Although the idea was named one of the best inventions of 2015 by TIME magazine, he received negative feedback from the specialists in environmental issues.

Slat was not discouraged and saw his mission as a race against time. It is estimated that up to 14 million tons of plastic enter the oceans from land every year. Plastic gradually breaks down into very small pieces called microplastics, which can eventually enter the food chain.

After five and a half years' hard work, the Dutch inventor launched the world's first ocean plastic cleanup system: System 001. The U-shaped pipe, about 609 meters in length, snakes its way out under the Golden Gate Bridge into the Pacific. These floating barriers will capture plastic waste as the ocean currents flow past. Ships will collect the waste and bring it to land for recycling every few months. According to Slat, if all goes to plan, an array of 60 systems could reduce the amount of plastic there by as much as 50 percent by 2025.

However, there remains a problem: What will happen to the plastic brought back to shore from Slat's systems? It's likely that lots of the waste will eventually be recycled into more single-use plastics that end up back in the oceans. That doesn't mean Slat will give up.

1. What contributes to Slat's idea of solving plastic waste in the ocean?

A．A vacation abroad.	B．Negative feedback from the experts.
C．Diving deep into the ocean.	D．A floating barrier to collect plastic.

2. How does plastic waste harm the world at last?

A．It will pollute the ocean.	B．It will make the ocean too dirty to swim in.
C．It will make it difficult ocean currents to flow.	D．It will be contained in the foods for humans.

3. What can we know about System 001 from the passage?

A．It's the world's best ocean plastic cleanup system.

B．It winds its way into the Pacific.

C．Ships will capture the plastic waste.

D．The amount of plastic will be decreased by a quarter.

4. What is the author's purpose in writing the passage?

A．To praise.

B．To warn.

C．To inform.

D．To entertain.