1 . 听下面一段较长对话，回答以下小题。
1. How long did Mike work on his school paper?

A．3 hours.

B．2 hours.

C．1 hour.

2. What happened to the baby elephant?

A．It got injured.

B．It became trapped.

C．It was lost.

3. What did the witness do for the baby elephant?

A．He fed it.

B．He saved it by himself.

C．He called for help.

4. What is the woman’s attitude toward breaking the wall?

A．Opposed.

B．Supportive.

C．Indifferent.

2 . 听下面一段较长对话，回答以下小题。
1. What are the speakers mainly talking about?

A．How to help people who suffer from a disaster.

B．How to attend a performance.

C．How to raise money for the poor.

2. What will be on tonight?

A．A donation ceremony.

B．A speech.

C．A concert show.

3. What does the man say about Syria?

A．It is not as rich as Turkey.

B．It wasn’t badly damaged.

C．It had enough support.

3 . Chaudhary weaves (编织) together lengths of rope and grass collected from the nearby riverbank in her village, skillfully shaping the materials into a gift box while instructing a group of women to follow suit.

The ropes being used were once the lifeline for mountain climbers tackling Nepal’s mountains and were then cast away. Diverse measures to remove such discarded materials have rocketed since 2019, when the government launched Clean Mountain Campaign.Around 140,000 tons of waste were collected on Mt. Everest alone, which were handled accordingly, either securely buried or recycled.

Some waste is now finding fresh life, transformed by skilled hands like Chaudhary’s into items to sell, thanks to an initiative led by Acharya, an owner of a waste processing business and an advocate for sustainable waste management. She has been working with the cleaning campaign, aiming at mountains like Mt. Everest.

“Metal waste goes through the recycling process, but we weren’t capable of recycling these ropes and cooking gas cans,” Acharya says. It didn’t occur to her that the waste which couldn’t be recycled could be reused until she met Rai at an art exhibition and a solution emerged.

Rai, a businessman dealing in craftworks, helped connect Acharya with Chaudhary and her team of craftswomen in hopes of unlocking the economic value of the mountain waste. With flexible hours, the project gives the craftswomen an opportunity to earn money even as they maintain their household responsibilities.

“While this seems insignificant compared to waste in the mountains, it’s a start. We can’t supply sufficient raw material with waste sorting and cleaning processes taking plenty of time and money,” Acharya says, desperate to expand the program to involve more women and treat more waste. But progress has been slow. “We need investment to mechanize the cleaning and processing of waste in the initial phase to provide the crafting team with enough materials to meet their demand,” she adds.

1. What were the ropes mentioned in paragraph 2 initially intended as?

A．Tools for tying up weeds.	B．Villagers’ basic necessities of life.
C．Raw materials tor unique artworks.	D．Life-saving devices for mountaineers.

2. What inspired Acharya’s resolution of non-recyclable waste?

A．A journey to the rural area.	B．An encounter with a trader.
C．Information from a product launch.	D．Attendance at an academic conference.

3. What does Acharya expect to do based on the last paragraph?

A．Train more senior technicians.	B．Obtain a better reputation.
C．Drop waste washing procedures.	D．Bring in advanced equipment.

4. What is the best title for the text?

A．Chaudhary: An Eco-Minded Folk Artist

B．Nepali Women Are Turning Garbage into Crafts

C．Clean Mountain Campaign Has Already Taken Effect

D．A Headache: Mt. Everest Is Heavily Littered with Waste

4 . Have you ever observed how a family runs smoothly? It’s the balance that plays a role in a family. But a family where there is too much chaos (混乱), argument, and one-sided communication has no balance. As a result, such a chaotic family suffers consequences like divorced parents, distances between children.

In the same way, nature needs balance, harmony and protection. You are already aware of the phrase — too much of everything is bad. That’s why the sensibility to bring balance in nature is every human’s responsibility.

The community of living species interacts with the environment’s non-living components in a healthy ecosystem. Rainfall, temperature, sunlight, soil, and water chemistry are the main examples of abiotic (无生命的) aspects of ecosystems that need to be in a stable manner.

       To survive, plants need a certain combination of temperature, moisture, and soil chemistry. Protecting plants is also important because it provides food for the animals. 

What you see above are the natural phenomena that have been happening since the beginning of the universe. That’s how nature has been functioning. But indulgent human activities in using natural resources has created poor habitation in the natural environment. In fact, here are the human actions that have broken the balance in nature for so many years now.

      People cut down trees to make space for new companies owing to an increase in population, which has decreased the amount of oxygen in the air. Global warming has resulted in the melting of the ice caps, leading to rising sea levels and other natural disasters like cyclones and tsunamis. As a result of habitat loss, it is getting harder for species to survive.  

To bring the Earth to its original form is impossible. But there is always a potential for bringing awareness. Hence, if the above human activities are lessened or changed with recycling activities, the next generation can still live a healthy life.

1. Why is a chaotic family mentioned in paragraph 1?

A．To bring up a new topic.

B．To come to a conclusion.

C．To complain about family chaos.

D．To admire the balance of a family.

2. How do we keep the balance of nature?

A．Limit human activities to the fullest.

B．Control a certain amount of everything.

C．Don’t cut down trees for new companies.

D．Don’t use energy for economic development.

3. Which does the underlined word “indulgent” in paragraph 5 probably mean?

A．Responsible.

B．Controlled.

C．Romantic.

D．Unlimited.

4. What’s the author’s attitude towards the future of the Earth?

A．Worried.

B．Doubtful.

C．Confident.

D．Uncertain.

5 . Your carbon footprint is the amount of greenhouse gases that you produce as you live your life. In order to hold the global temperature rise to 2˚C or less, everyone needs to average an annual carbon footprint of 1.87 tons by 2050.     1    

Eat low on the food chain. This means eating mostly fruits, vegetables, grains, and beans. Meat and dairy is responsible for 14.5 percent of man-made global greenhouse gas emissions.     2     If you have no meat or dairy every day, you can reduce your carbon footprint by 8 pounds.

    3     Fashionable, cheap items go out of style quickly and get dumped in landfills where they produce methane (甲烷) as they decompose. Currently, the average American gets rid of about 80 pounds of clothing annually. In addition, most fast fashion comes from Asia, so shipping it to the U.S. requires the use of fossil fuels.

Use low energy appliances. Replace traditional light bulbs with LED ones. Though LEDs cost more, they use a quarter of the energy and last up to 25 times longer. Make energy efficiency a primary consideration when choosing a new microwave, air conditioning unit, dishwasher, or refrigerator.     4    

Choose green travel. An average car produces about five tons of carbon each year.     5    Take public buses, carpool, or bike to your destination when possible. This not only reduces CO₂ emissions, it also lessens traffic jams.

A．Don’t buy fast fashion.

B．Never choose quality clothing.

C．But people ignore this serious problem.

D．Making changes in transport matters much.

E．Here are ways to reduce your carbon footprint.

F．They are mainly from food production and processing.

G．Products with the ENERGY STAR sign have better efficiency.

6 . In early October, Travis Gienger transported an enormous pumpkin (南瓜) from his home in Minnesota to the World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off in California. His pumpkin set the record for the biggest one ever grown in North America. How do competitive growers get their pumpkins to grow to massive sizes?     1    

Gienger, who teaches horticulture (园艺学) at Anoka Technical College, begins growing his pumpkins in mid-April, starting with seeds that he grows indoors for the first few weeks, when Minnesota’s soil is too frosty.     2     They can absorb sunlight, nutrients from the soil, and water there. “At their peak, you’re watering them with at least 600 liters a day, ” he says.

Depending on the variety, pumpkin plants can grow up to a dozen fruits on a single vine (藤曼) . But to maximize size, growers remove all but one or two of these pumpkins in order to decrease each individual fruit’s competition for resources.     3    

But what exactly happens inside a pumpkin as it grows? Two factors drive natural growth: cell division and cell expansion. Cell division accounts for most of the growth at the beginning of a fruit’s life. This period lasts for about 20 days in pumpkin plants.     4     Pumpkin cells will expand until around 50 or 60 days after pollination (授粉).

    5     Some varieties of pumpkins have been bred specifically to maximize their size. Still, there is genetic variation even among pumpkins of the same variety. This has led to competition for the best seeds. Following each harvest, many growers auction off (拍卖掉) the seeds from their biggest pumpkins, which will then be used for the following year’s plantings.

A．Biology has the answers.

B．Genetics also influences pumpkin growth.

C．The following tips will give you a head start.

D．Once it warms up, the plants are transferred outside.

E．When it stops, cell expansion will then come into play.

F．Growers extend the growth period for as long as possible.

G．Growers also remove the weeds in the area for the same reason.

7 . 听下面一段独白，回答以下小题。
1. What kind of area do Bill and Sally live in?

A．A hot area.

B．A high area.

C．A dry area.

2. What do Bill and Sally do?

A．They are gardeners.

B．They are designers.

C．They are builders.

3. What is used to protect the delicate plants now?

A．Trees.

B．Glass houses.

C．Fences.

4. How does the speaker describe Bill and Sally’s work?

A．Successful.

B．Unsatisfactory.

C．Impossible.

8 . Sustainability was a hot topic at the Paris Air Show, the world’s largest event for the aviation industry, which faces increasing pressure to reduce the climate-changing greenhouse gases that aircraft emit. Even the massive orders at the show got an emission-reduction perspective: Airlines and producers said the new planes would be more fuel-efficient than the ones they replaced. However, most of those planes will burn conventional kerosene-based jet fuel.

Some companies are working on electric-powered aircraft, which are seen as a way to reduce the environmental effects of the aviation industry, providing zero emissions and quieter flights. However, they are still some way off from widespread commercial use. That means sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) has become the industry’s best hope of achieving its promise of net zero emissions by 2050. SAF, however, accounts for just 0.1% of all jet fuel. Made from sources like used cooking oil and plant waste, SAF can be mixed with conventional jet fuel but costs much more.

With such a limited supply of SAF, critics say airlines are making overly ambitious promises and exaggerating how quickly they can ramp up the use of SAF. The industry even has skeptics: Nearly one-third of aviation sustainability officers in a GE Aerospace survey doubt whether the industry will hit its net zero goal by 2050.

Across the Atlantic, a consumer group called BEUC filed a complaint against the European Union’s executive arm, accusing 17 airlines of greenwashing. The group says airlines are misleading consumers and breaking rules on commercial practices by encouraging customers to pay extra to help finance the development of SAF and offset future carbon emissions created by flying. In one case, the group’s researchers found Air France charging up to 138 euros for the green option.

“SAF is indeed the biggest technological potential to decarbonize the aviation sector, but the main problem is that it isn’t available. We know that before the end of the next decade — at least — it won’t be available in massive quantities,” said Dimitri Vergnc, a senior policy officer at BEUC.

1. What did airlines and producers emphasize at the Paris Air Show?

A．Ways of reducing fuel consumption.

B．Improvement in planes’ safety performance.

C．Environmental friendliness of their new planes.

D．Efficiency of conventional kerosene-based jet fuel.

2. Why does the author mention electric-powered aircraft?

A．To stress the necessity of developing SAF.

B．To highlight the future of the aviation industry.

C．To show efforts made to achieve net zero emissions.

D．To explain their advantages over traditional aircraft.

3. What does the underlined part “ramp up” in paragraph 3 probably mean?

A．Stop.

B．Limit.

C．Balance.

D．Increase.

4. Where does the text most probably come from?

A．An airline ad.

B．A study result.

C．A news report.

D．A science paper.

9 . As the weather warms up, turtles (乌龟) are on the move, especially females, who may be looking for a place to nest.     1    . In some areas, turtle habitats are entirely surrounded by roads, meaning that these creatures are at an even higher risk of vehicle collision (碰撞). The creatures need all the help they can get when crossing a road. Volunteers at People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) recommend the following.

Pick up small turtles

    2    . You can gently hold their shell with both hands between their front and back legs and carry them across the road. Please don’t pick up them by their tails.

Take extra care with large turtles

Large turtles should be touched as little as possible. They can be gently encouraged into a cat or dog carrier.     3    .

Don’t assume a turtle is dead

Never assume that a turtle who has been hit by a car is dead. As PETA explains, turtles can suffer for weeks before dying.     4    . Test for a reaction by pinching (捏) a back to e or gently touching the corner of an eyelid. Injured turtles should be transported to a vet clinic right away.

    5    

So you’ve got an injured animal? Head to the website Animal Help Now and type in your location and type of wildlife emergency, and they will direct you to the nearest wildlife rehabilitator (康复员).

A．Find the nearest wildlife help

B．Pull over safely to a safe location

C．But turtles may not survive humankind

D．Smaller turtles can be picked up with both hands

E．Even if the shell is broken, the turtle may still need your help

F．Unfortunately, that place may very well be on the other side of a road

G．They can also be encouraged onto a flat surface that can be moved a short distance

10 . Clean water might not grow on trees, but the trees might do the next best thing—provide a cheap and easy way of filtering (过滤) it.

Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have been able to use wood from tree branches to filter water both in the laboratory and in the field. Compared to other water filters, the new way of filtering water gets an edge. This could provide an inexpensive and low-tech alternative to costly methods of getting clean water in places that need it the most.

In a new study, researchers show that the natural structure of wood from non-flowering plants like pine provides enough filtration to remove bacteria from water. This method was already proven to work in a lab in 2014, but now the researchers have found, through interviews with potential users and tests of local water sources, that the tree-based purification system works just as well in the field in India and that the locals are willing to use it.

The branches of non-flowering plants are built of thin, straw-like tubes called x ylem in the layer of wood under the skin. The unique structure of the xylem tissue in the branches allows it to work as a water filter because these channels are connected to each other through porous membranes (多孔薄膜). These membranes can catch water pollutants, similar to a water filter membrane.

The researchers were even able to extend the shelf life of dry wood filters to around two years by dipping (浸泡) them in a protective mix of hot water and ethanol (乙醇). To make this potentially life-saving technology be reachable to those who need it, the construction of the filter is open to the public and instructions can be found on their website detailing how anyone can try to construct their own wood water filter.

1. What does the underlined “gets an edge” in Paragraph 2 probably mean?

A．Has a limitation.	B．Has an advantage.
C．Faces a challenge.	D．Produces an effect.

2. Why does the author mention the example in India?

A．To call on people to protect local water sources.

B．To show the consequences of lacking pure water.

C．To explain why water filters are in great demand.

D．To prove the water filter is effective and welcomed.

3. What makes the branches of non-flowering plants act as a water filter?

A．They are thinner than other plants' branches.

B．They have wide straw-like tubes in the xylem tissue.

C．The tiny holes of membranes can trap water pollutants.

D．The layer of wood under their skin carries plenty of water.

4. What does the passage mainly talk about?

A．A unique way of obtaining water from plants.

B．The working principle of tree-based water filters.

C．MIT creates a high-tech water purification system.

D．MIT's wooden water filter comes into practical use.