1 . Rainforests provide much of the world’s oxygen. People have been trying to protect them for years. But another type of forest, the cloud forest, is just as important to humans.
These forests are at the tops of mountains, generally near the equator (赤道). These wet, wooded mountaintops are mainly in African and Central and South American countries. They are called “cloud forests” because their height allows for the formation of clouds among the trees. The trees in these forests pull water out of the clouds. The water gathers on the leaves and falls into small rivers below, which flow into towns at the bottom of the mountain. The yearly rainfall in these areas is about 180 centimetres. Cloud forests can pull in up to 60 percent of that. The water is important to the plants and the people in the area. It helps them survive.
Cloud forests are also home to countless species of plants that can’t be found anywhere else. One small cloud forest has as many types of plants as there are in all of Europe. In fact, there are so many that scientists haven’t made a complete list of them yet.
These forests are being destroyed at an increasing speed. Trees are being cut down, and roads are being built in their place. Some people have a goal to get government money to protect the forests. But they have had little success so far. Another way is to take the place of the destroyed plants with new ones. That, too, has been difficult because the plants are so special. There’s plenty of work to be done, but saving the cloud forests is still possible with creative solutions.
1. Where can you probably find cloud forests?| A．In North America. | B．Far from the equator. |
| C．In some African countries. | D．At the foot of mountains. |
| A．About 60 cm. | B．About 108 cm. | C．About 180 cm. | D．About 300 cm. |
| A．Europe is short of plant types. | B．Scientists are working on a list. |
| C．Cloud forests are getting smaller. | D．Cloud forests house many plants. |
| A．In a storybook. | B．In a travel guide. |
| C．In a chemistry textbook. | D．In a geography magazine. |
It was a snowy morning in Tokyo. Takahiro Takauji, a 44-year-old website designer, also known as “Mr. Panda” for his love of the animal,
As the zoo opened, he headed towards the panda house, where the panda family Ri Ri, Shin Shin
Takauji’s connection with the giant pandas dates back to 2011,
To get more
1. 自我介绍；
2. 祝贺苏琳生日；
3. 感谢工作人员；
4. 索取苏琳三岁生日照。
注意：1. 词数100左右；
2. 可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯；
3. 开头语已为你写好。
Dear Sir/Madam,
Greetings from China!
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Yours truly,
Li Hua
4 . When a tiny glass frog sleeps, its body becomes so transparent that it almost cannot be seen. The frog’s glass-clear skin makes no shadows. Even the red blood disappears. It’s an unusual trick—most see-through animals live in water all the time, which don’t produce red blood cells.
But when the frogs are active, blood begins to flow again, forming a pattern of bright red that can be seen. So, scientists set out to discover what happens to all that blood.
In a new study, researchers found out how, while sleeping, a glass frog sends most of the red blood cells to its liver(肝脏). In the process, the liver grows in size by about 40% to accommodate the extra cells. Like its heart and some other organs, the frog’s liver is covered in a mirrored part, which reflects lights, that helps the frog hide itself from enemies.
“If these frogs are awake, stressed or under anesthesia(麻醉), their blood systems are full of red blood cells, and they are not transparent,” explains an expert. “The only way to study transparency is when these animals are happily asleep, which is difficult to achieve in a research lab.”
Luckily, there is an imaging technology which can check red blood cells without breaking the skin of frogs. The team used this technique on frogs while they were sleeping. They found the animals moved a shocking 89% of their red blood cells to their livers while sleeping.
How exactly these frogs can pack their red blood cells together without getting blood clots (血栓) remains a mystery. Most other animals’ blood becomes very thick if the cells bump into each other, which can help cure a wound or—in a worse situation—stop blood from flowing to important areas. Understanding more about how the frogs stay healthy while jam-packing their livers with red blood cells could help advance blood clot research in humans.
1. Why are the glass frogs unusual?| A．They are very tiny. |
| B．They can be nearly invisible. |
| C．They live in the water all the time. |
| D．They don’t produce red blood cells. |
| A．It takes in lights. | B．It expands in size. |
| C．It gets blood clots. | D．It functions like a heart. |
| A．To stop blood from flowing. |
| B．To check the red blood cells. |
| C．To measure the frogs’ movement. |
| D．To put the frogs to a proper state for study. |
| A．Blood clots cause many deaths for humans. |
| B．Scientists have learned the secret of glass frogs. |
| C．Further study will probably be made on glass frogs. |
| D．Packing red blood cells together is harmful to animals. |
Most people who keep animals choose to have dogs, cats, fishes or small birds. But Recep Mirzan keeps
Mirzan rescued the swan from a
He named the swan Garip. It
According to the group Swan Sanctuary, in Britain, swans live in the wild for only about 12 years. But in protected environments, they can live up
6 . Brownie and Spotty were neighbor dogs who met every day to play together. Like pairs of dogs you can find in any neighborhood, these two loved each other and played together so often that they had worn a path through the grass of the field between their houses.
One evening, Brownie’s family noticed that Brownie hadn’t returned home. They went looking for him with no success. Brownie didn’t show up the next day, and, although they made their efforts to find him, by the next week he was still missing, Curiously, Spotty showed up at Brownie’s house alone, barking and jumping. Busy with their own lives, they paid no attention to the nervous little neighbor dog.
Finally, one morning Spotty refused to take “no” for an answer. Ted, Brownie’s owner, was continuously disturbed by the angry, determined little dog. Spotty followed Ted about, barking all the time, then darting toward a nearby empty lot and back, as if to say, “Follow me! It’s urgent!”
Eventually, Ted followed Spotty across the empty lot as Spotty stopped to race back and barked encouragingly. The little dog led the man to a deserted spot a half mile from the house. There Ted found his beloved Brownie alive, one of his legs crushed in a steel trap (圈套). Frightened, Ted now wished he had taken Spotty’s earlier appeals seriously.
Then Ted noticed something. Spotty had done something else besides leading Brownie’s human owner to his trapped friend. In a circle around the injured dog, Ted found some food remains of every meal. Brownie had been fed that week! Spotty had been visiting Brownie regularly, in the hope of keeping his friend alive. Spotty had actually stayed with Brownie to protect him from hunger and other dangers, and keep his spirits up.
Brownie’s leg was carefully treated and he soon got well again. For many years thereafter the two families watched the faithful friends chasing each other down that well-worn path between their houses.
1. At the very beginning, Ted paid little attention to Spotty because __________.| A．he was not free at the moment | B．he was sure Brownie would be OK |
| C．he didn’t like Spotty at all | D．his missing dog made him sad |
| A．rushing | B．shouting | C．walking | D．looking |
| A．managed to free his dog at once | B．was very thankful to Spotty |
| C．regretted not following Spotty earlier | D．was angry with the trap-maker |
| A．humans and animals depend on each other for comfort |
| B．it’s not right to hunt for animals in any neighborhood |
| C．Ted has to take better care of his beloved dog later on |
| D．Brownie would have died without Spotty’s timely help |
7 . Popping food into the microwave for a couple of minutes may seem utterly harmless, and Europe’s stock of these quick-cooking ovens emit as much carbon as nearly 7 million cars, a new study has found, and the problem is growing. With costs falling and kitchen appliances becoming “ status ” users, owners are throwing many microwaves after an average of eight years. This is pushing sales of new microwave which are expected to reach 135 million annually in the EU by the end of the decade.
A study by the University of Manchester worked out the emissions of carbon dioxide — the main greenhouse gas responsible for climate change — at every stage of microwaves, from manufacture to waste disposal. “ It is electricity consumption by microwaves that has the biggest impact on the environment, ” say the authors, who also calculate that the emissions from using 19 microwaves over a year are the same as those from using a car. According to the same study, efforts to reduce consumption should focus on improving consumer awareness and behaviour. For example, consumers should use appliances in a more efficient way by adjusting the time of cooking to the type of food.
However, David Reay, professor of carbon management argues that, although microwaves use a great deal of energy, their emissions are minor compared to those from cars. In the UK alone, there are around 30 million cars. These cars emit more than all the microwaves in the EU. Backing this up, recent data show that passenger cars in the UK emitted 69 million tons of CO2 in 2015. This is 10 times the amount this new microwave oven study estimates for annual emissions for all the microwave ovens in the whole of the EU. Further, the energy used by microwaves is lower than any other form of coking. Among common kitchen appliances used for cooking, microwaves are the most energy efficient, followed by a stove and finally a standard oven. Thus, rising microwave sales could be seen as a positive thing.
1. What is the finding of the new study?| A．Quick-cooking microwave ovens have become more popular. |
| B．CO2 emissions are considered to be a major threat to the environment. |
| C．The frequent use of microwaves may do harm to our health. |
| D．The use of microwaves emits more CO2 than people think. |
| A．They are getting much easier to operate. | B．They have a shorter life cycle than other appliances. |
| C．They are becoming more affordable. | D．They take less time to cook than other appliances. |
| A．Eating less to cut energy consumption. | B．Using microwave ovens less frequently. |
| C．Improving microwave users’ habits. | D．Cooking food of different varieties. |
| A．It rarely plays a negative role in the environmental protection. |
| B．It makes everyday cooking much more convenient. |
| C．It will become less popular in the coming decades. |
| D．It consumes more power than conventional cooking. |
8 . When we found him, he was a sorry sight. His clothes were torn, his hands bleeding. Before we reached him, we saw him fall. He lay a moment. Then he pulled himself to his feet, walked unsteadily (摇摆地) a few yards through the woods and fell again. After we got him out, we went back to find the gun that he had thrown down. His tracks showed that for two days he had circled in the forest, within 200 yards of the road. His senses were so dulled by fear and tiredness that he did not hear the cars going by or see the lights at night. We found him just in time.
This man, like others before him, had simply been frightened when he knew he was lost. What had been a near disaster might have turned out as only a pleasant walk, if he had made a few preparations before he stepped from the highway or off a known path (小径).
Whatever sense of direction that a man may have, it’s still largely a question of observation. A skilled woodsman always keeps an eye on his surroundings. He notes the shape of a mountain, the direction water flows through a swamp (沼泽), and the way a tree leans across a path. With these in mind, he is still likely to turn around many times, but he is seldom lost.
There are exceptions, of course, and once in a while a man does come across some strange problem that puts him into the “lost” situation. A rainstorm may catch him without a compass in his pocket. Darkness may find him in a rough area, where travel is dangerous without a light.
When this happens, the normal first reaction is the fear of being laughed at as a result of his poor knowledge in the woods. He may also be concerned about the inconvenience that he will cause his friends when he doesn’t show up. This false pride may lead him to keep on the move in a false effort to find his way against all difficulties.
The person who thinks ahead is seldom in great danger. He’ll be safe if he observes carefully, thinks ahead, and remains calm.
1. The writer suggested that if the man had not been found, ________.| A．he would have been shot by a gun | B．he would have become confused |
| C．he would have been attacked by wild animals | D．he would have been in great danger |
| A．he will worry about being laughed at |
| B．he will push himself to find his way out |
| C．he will feel sorry that he didn’t prepare well enough |
| D．he will feel it is convenient to ask for help from his friends |
| A．go into the woods by themselves | B．keep their head when they are in trouble |
| C．are frightened when they think they are lost | D．don’t know how to signal for help properly |
| A．A Man Lost in the Woods | B．Timely Rescue in the Woods |
| C．Don’t Panic When Lost in the Woods | D．A Pathfinder in the Woods |
9 . Notpla, a London-based firm, makes a seaweed-based substitute (代替物) for single use plastic packaging. Although some of Notpla’s products are suitable to be eaten, they are designed to be dissolved (溶解) after usage. Made of seaweed instead of a conventional plastic coating, the company’s packaging is fully biodegradable and ideal for use as packaging for kitchen and bathroom supplies like coffee and toilet paper.
According to the United Nations, 331 million kilograms of plastic garbage is produced annually around the world. About 60% of the estimated 9.15 billion tons of plastic produced since the early 1950s has been taken to landfills.
Plastics harm the water, the air, and our bodies. Many experts agree that single-use plastics are unnecessary and dangerous. Some governments and towns in the United States have taken action. New York has banned most plastic shopping bags, while plastic straws have been banned in Miami Beach. Overseas, India stated in August that it plans to place a wide ban on single-use plastics this upcoming summer, with the European Union already implementing this ban.
Seaweed comes in a variety of species and can be harvested or farmed. Notpla uses plants that have been farmed. Rodrigo Garcia Gonzalez and Pierre Paslie, the inventors of Notpla, initially considered seaweed as a solution to the world’s plastic problem for several reasons. Seaweed is plentiful and grows quickly. Additionally it doesn’t compete with land crops and is highly favored for its ability to remove some waste products like carbon from the atmosphere.
In cooperation with the online food ordering service Just Eat, the startup recently tested its product. Last year, the two companies handed out 30, 000 takeaway boxes at various UK restaurants. Plans are in the works to offer the boxes across Europe in 2022. Notpla’s team intends to replace single use plastic in the supply chain more generally as they scale. The company recognizes the difficulty of such a job, considering the volume of plastics consumed around the world.
1. How does the author mainly develop paragraph 2?| A．By presenting figures. | B．By comparing facts. |
| C．By raising questions. | D．By quoting a saying. |
| A．Lifting. | B．Performing. | C．Protesting. | D．Removing. |
| A．The advantages of choosing seaweed. | B．The next goal of the new study. |
| C．The wide use of seaweed. | D．The shortcomings of the plastic bags. |
| A．It will be totally unpractical. | B．It will be richly rewarded. |
| C．It will be a little tough. | D．It will be rather successful. |
10 . Two years ago, enormous fires swept through some 46 million acres of forest in Russia, the country’s worst fire season on record. Now, researchers have a clearer sense of just how significant the 2021 boreal(北方的)forest fires were in terms of emissions. The fires produced more planet-heating carbon dioxide than any other extreme fire event that has occurred since the turn of the 21st century, according to a study.
Boreal forests grow where it is very cold. The trees that live in this type of forest grow slowly and seal (封存) carbon in their trunks and roots for hundreds of years, comprising a collection of trapped emissions that researchers call a carbon sink. But rising temperatures and related drought in these historically cool regions have led to an increase in extreme wildfire activity and threaten to release the carbon stored in the trees that grow there, transforming a carbon sink into a carbon source.
In all, fires in boreal forests released the carbon sink and produced nearly half a billion metric tons of carbon in 2021.That’s more carbon than the entire continent of Australia produced the same year, though some of the emissions produced by the fires will be sucked back up as forests regrow.
The researchers obtained the data for their study by tracking concentrations of emissions in the atmosphere using satellites, and then they put that information into a computer model to determine where, geographically, those emissions came from. They found that boreal forests, which typically produce about 10 percent of the globe’s annual wildfire emissions, accounted for 23 percent of the world’s wildfire emissions in 2021—more than twice as much as normal.
Canadell, who led the study, is most concerned about the study’s main takeaway; Boreal forests have served an important and underappreciated role in sequestering carbon emissions, but climate change threatens to release that carbon. “We need to be very careful with these systems in terms of their future development,” he said.
1. What is the function of paragraph 2?| A．To explain the source of carbon. |
| B．To illustrate two scientific concepts. |
| C．To indicate the seriousness of the fire. |
| D．To show the importance of boreal forests. |
| A．By employing technology. |
| B．By searching on the website. |
| C．By analyzing previous data. |
| D．By turning to the firefighters. |
| A．Assessing. | B．Increasing. | C．Monitoring. | D．Preventing. |
| A．The reasons for the forest fires in the north. |
| B．The impact of the 2021 boreal forest fires. |
| C．The link between fires and carbon dioxide. |
| D．The increasingly growing carbon emissions. |
