1 . As plastic waste increases rapidly around the world, an essential question remains unanswered: What harm, if any, does it cause to human health?

A few years ago, as microplastics began turning up in the organs of fish and shellfish, the concern was focused on the safety of seafood. Shellfish were a particular worry, because in their case, unlike fish, we eat the entire animal — stomach, microplastics and all. In 2017, Belgian scientists announced that seafood lovers could consume up to 11,000 plastic particles (粒子) a year by eating mussels (贻贝), a favorite dish in that country.

By then, however, scientists already understood that plastics continuously fragment small pieces in the environment, tearing over time into fibers even smaller than a strand of human hair — particles are so small that they easily fly in the air. A team at the U.K.’s University of Plymouth decided to compare the threat from eating polluted wild mussels in Scotland to that of breathing air in a typical home. Their conclusion: People will take in more plastic by breathing in or taking tiny, invisible plastic fibers floating in the air around them—fibers from their own clothes, carpets, and soft covering on furniture — than they will by eating the mussels.

So, it wasn’t much of a surprise when, in 2022, scientists from the Netherlands and the U.K, announced they had found tiny plastic particles in living humans, in two places where they hadn’t been seen before: deep inside the lungs of surgical patients, and in the blood of unknown donors. Neither of the two studies answered the question of possible harm. But together they signaled a shift in the focus of concern about plastics toward the cloud of dust particles in the air, some of them are so small that they can get into deep inside the body and even inside cells, in ways that larger microplastics can’t.

Dick Vethaak, a professor of ecotoxicology (生态毒理学), doesn’t consider the results alarming, exactly—“but, yes, we should be concerned. Plastics should not be in your blood.” “We live in a multi-particle world,” he adds, referring to the dust, pollen (花粉), and smog that humans also breathe in every day. “The trick is to figure out how much plastics contribute to that particle burden and what does that mean.”

1. What does the word “fragment” in para. 3 probably mean?

A．break into

B．take in

C．pick out

D．make up

2. The study done by a team at the U K.’s University of Plymouth shows that ________.

A．microplastics from things in our daily life ant more poisonous

B．people eating polluted mussels are more likely to get diseases

C．invisible plastic fibers are more harmful to the environment

D．the influence of microplastics in mussels is less than thought

3. It can be inferred from the passage that ________.

A．microplastics in polluted wild mussels can cause serious diseases

B．there’s no need to worry about the plastics found in human blood

C．we can avoid breathing particles by figuring out particle burden

D．more attention should be paid to the dust particles than plastics

4. Which of the following might be the best title for the passage?

A．Are Microplastics Harmful to Us?

B．Should Microplastics be in Our Blood?

C．Can Microplastics Get into Our Bodies?

D．Do We Know Anything about Microplastics?

2 . Most people have seen animals solve problems in one context or another Whether it’s a dog getting food out of a puzzle toy, a squirrel (松鼠) breaking into a “squirrel-proof, bird feeder, or — in what is hopefully a rarer experience — a bear opening a door to get to the food inside!

Do all individuals within a species come up with ________ solutions to problems? Or are some individuals more innovative than others? In ungulates (for example, goats and horses), social outsiders are more likely to innovate than their ________ groupmates: if an individual spends time on the outer areas of their group, they are more likely to succeed at a problem-solving task.

________, in some species of primates (灵长类动物) and birds, it has been shown that individuals with low social standing — that is, those who regularly lose fights, and who don’t have ________ of access to valuable resources — tend to innovate more.

The above examples tie into the theory that the individuals who are least able to gain access to good quality ________, such as food and shelter, are the most likely to innovate. This “bad competitor” theory suggests that individuals innovate because they must do so to ________. Imagine you’re a goat who can’t get access to the feeding container because you’re not in the in-group. You’d probably be more ________ to figure out how to open a container with food inside than your more popular (and well-fed) groupmates.

However, while there is support for this theory in some species, many species show opposing patterns. ________, being a “bad competitor” doesn’t seem to be a general driver of innovation across species. ________ appears to have a more general influence on animal innovativeness. A meta-analysis (综合分析) across 37 studies of animal innovation found that being brave (that is, approaching ________ objects and exploring new environments) was linked to innovative behavior. For example, brave Carib grackles (a species of bird) and ungulates are more likely to innovate than their more easily frightened groupmates. ________ has also been linked to innovation in a variety of species, from zebra finches (斑胸草雀) to Asian elephants.

Both make instinctive sense. The more likely an individual is to ________ with a new problem (that is, the braver they are, and the more time they spend trying to solve a problem (that is, the more persistent they are), the more likely they are to find a(n) ________.

Regardless of the reason individuals innovate, once an individual finds a solution to a problem, ________ a problem involving resource access, their behavior can spread like wildfire. Other individuals pay attention when a groupmate innovates, and ________ the problem-solving behavior.

1.

A．instant

B．comprehensive

C．fair

D．creative

2.

A．friendly

B．popular

C．close

D．faithful

3.

A．Similarly

B．Inevitably

C．Apparently

D．Gradually

4.

A．purpose

B．priority

C．pressure

D．potential

5.

A．services

B．materials

C．goods

D．resources

6.

A．pretend

B．compete

C．survive

D．evolve

7.

A．reluctant

B．excited

C．motivated

D．confused

8.

A．Thus

B．Besides

C．Still

D．Meanwhile

9.

A．Emotion

B．Gender

C．Appearance

D．Personality

10.

A．living

B．novel

C．endangered

D．ideal

11.

A．Persistence

B．Intelligence

C．Performance

D．Confidence

12.

A．conflict

B．compare

C．interact

D．identify

13.

A．position

B．object

C．solution

D．chance

14.

A．absolutely

B．fortunately

C．definitely

D．particularly

15.

A．copy

B．change

C．influence

D．evaluate

3 . Directions: After reading the passage below, fill in each blank with a proper word given in the box. Each word can be used only once. Note that there is one more word than you need.

A. appearances B. imitating C. distinguish D. isolate E. advantageous F. diverse G. identical H. criterion I. markings J. poisonous K. threatening

Why different species start looking exactly the same

Is it better to stand out from the crowd or be similar to the background? For birds, the answer is complicated. While peacocks(孔雀) show off their brightly colored feathers to attract mates and ward off predators(捕食者), other birds find it     1     to hide themselves by imitating the looks of other birds.

Groups of birds flying together often come from the same species, making it hard to     2     one from another. However, some groups of birds including two or more species take on similar     3    , which is an uncommon phenomenon. “They all share random features, like feathers on head or yellow bellies(腹部), which makes them almost     4    . You can’t really tell them apart without looking at their     5    .” says Scott Robinson, a famous scholar. His new study suggests     6     another bird’s appearance is not a coincidence(巧合) but rather an evolutionary method to increase their chances of survival. Looking like a bird from a dominant species helps reduce attack from other members and appear more     7     to potential predators.

“In imitation, you often want to look like something because there’s an advantage to being that other thing. You want species to think you’re     8     or low-profitable target.” says Rebecca Kimball, a professor of biology. “In grouping birds, one idea is that this has more to do with a predator’s ability to     9     a target. When there are a group of birds moving around, it may be easier for predators to identify an individual that has a distinct color pattern.”

While it may not seem like it at first, imitating other birds is helping to create more     10     species. Not only do birds imitate more than one species as they grow up, but their appearance varies over time.

4 . In just a few decades the United States could eliminate fossil fuels（矿物燃料）and rely 100 percent on clean, renewable energy. That's the vision of, a Stanford engineering professor who has produced a state-by-state road map of how the country could rid itself of coal oil, natural gas, and nuclear power.

By 2050, Jacobson expects the nation's transportation network - cars, ships, airplanes - to run on batteries or hydrogen produced from electricity. He sees the winds blowing across the Great Plains powering vast stretches of the country's middle while the burning sun helps electrify the Southwest. "There's no state that can't do this," Jacobson says.

Today only 13% of U. S. electricity comes from renewables（再生性能源）. Jacobson's goal would be one of the nation's most ambitious undertakings. This transformation would cost roughly $15 trillion, or $47,000 for each American, for building and installing systems that produce and store renewable energy.

What would it take? Seventy-eight million rooftop solar systems, nearly 49,000 commercial solar plants, 156,000 offshore wind turbines（风力涡轮机）, plus wave-energy systems. Land-based wind farms would need 328,000 turbines, each with blades longer than a football field,. These farms would occupy as much land as North Carolina.

For now, he says, prospects are encouraging. Thanks in part to government funding and large-scale production, costs are falling. The amount of power generated nationwide by wind and solar increased 15-fold each between 2003 and 2013. This summer Barack Obama moved to reduce carbon emissions from coal-fired power plants, and Hawaii committed to having all its electricity provided by renewables by 2045.

Still, many experts aren't convinced. “It has zero chance,”Stephen Brick, an energy fellow with the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, says of Jacobson's plan. Political, regulatory, and social barriers are huge, especially in a nation where the energy systems - and much of its political influence - is rooted in the oil, gas, and coal industries. Some critics are concerned about whether the resulting grid（输电网）would be reliable. And neighborhood battles would likely occur over wind farms and solar plants. Even outspoken scientist James Hansen, who warned the government a quarter century ago about climate change, insists that nuclear power is essential to rid the country of fossil fuels.

Yet Jacobson’s work at least offers a starting point. Scientists and policymakers may keep arguing about solutions, but as Obama points out, the nation must continue its march toward a clean-energy future even if it's not yet clear how that will look in 35 years. “If we don't do it,” he said this summer, “nobody will.”

1. Which of the following does Professor Mark Jacobson engage in?

A．Organizing projects to build and install solar energy systems state by state.

B．Persuading the U. S. President to realize his renewable energy goal.

C．Outlining a plan detailing how energy in the U. S. could be carbon free by 2050.

D．Arguing about opportunities and obstacles of his plan.

2. Which of the following is the major obstacle to the transformation from fossil fuels to renewables?

A．The huge investment in solar and wind projects.

B．The unshakeable foundation of traditional energy systems.

C．The job losses in oil and coal industries.

D．The inevitable land-use battles between states.

3. It can be inferred from the passage that ________.

A．one state of the U. S. will be first to become carbon free before 2050

B．developing clean-energy industry will drive the world's market

C．fossil fuels will soon be eliminated in the U. S.

D．there will be no vacant land for wind farms

4. Many experts suspect Jacobson's plan in that the plan ________.

A．has no scientific grounds	B．unreasonably excludes nuclear power
C．will be eventually lacking in funds	D．is not feasible in some aspects

5. What is the best title for the passage?

A．The Coexistence of Fossil Fuels and Renewables

B．A Blueprint for a Carbon Free America

C．One Man's Dream: Determination and Innovation in Energy Future

D．Professor and his Solar and Wind Technology