1 . Why do sharks bite humans?

A．They are cruel by nature.

B．They want to protect themselves.

C．They want to check if humans are food.

2 . 角色扮演
角色：你是Mary。
任务：(1) 与Tom谈论关于气候变化相关活动的话题；
(2) 根据谈话内容回答问题。
（一）听对话，补全句子。
1. Our club will have an ________ on ________.
2. It is not a very ________ meeting. We just share our ________ about climate change.
（二）请先根据中文提示将3个问句补充完整，然后听录音的回答，记录重要信息。
3. 你是何时开始关注气候变化的？
________ did you ________ paying attention to climate change?
4. 你最初采取什么措施应对气候变化？
________ ________ you originally do to handle climate change?
5. 青少年如何参与环保活动？
How can ________ get involved in ________ activities?
（三）现在请根据前面所听到信息，完成题目的回答，每空不超过3个词。
6. How long has Tom been taking part in their club activities?
—For ________________.
7. What can new participants do in the club activities?
—They can watch some ________________.
8. Who inspired Tom to pay attention to climate change?
—His ________________.
9. What fact did Tom’s childhood environmental books mainly talk about?   
—There was an increasing threat to ________________.
10. What does Tom think is the best way to participate in climate change activities?
—Devoting yourself to ________________ climate change.

3 . 用所给单词的恰当形式填空。每个单词使用一次，每空填入一个单词。

dominant       maximum       expansion       release       policy resolve       trend       undergo       decline       investment

The fast shift toward clean energy technologies means global greenhouse gas emissions may fall in 2024. Recent analysis from the International Energy Agency (IEA), based on the public     1     of governments, suggests emissions may in fact have peaked last year. The finding is supported by analysis from Climate Analytics, which found a 70% chance of emissions falling from 2024 if the current growing     2     in clean technologies continues.

A growing number of major economies have already passed their period of    3     emissions, including the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom and Japan. Compared with them, China now is the most     4    in emitting greenhouse gases, contributing 31% of the global total last year. But explosive growth in clean energy    5    means China’s emissions are set not only to fall in 2024, but to go into structural    6    . What’s more, China is currently    7     a boom in clean energy production and a historic growth of renewable energy — especially solar. Similarly,     8     is expected for batteries and electric vehicles.

A peak in global emissions is cause for optimism — but it is far from     9     the problem. More greenhouse gases will still be    10     in the atmosphere and drive severe warming, until we bring the emissions as close to zero as possible.

4 . Scientists say there has been a major drop in the population of leatherback sea turtles (乌龟) off the U.S. West Coast.

One recent study found a 5.6 percent yearly decrease in the population. Leatherbacks are massive sea turtles dating back to the time of the dinosaurs. The animals can grow up to 1.5 meters in length and weigh as much as 680 kilograms.

The leatherback sea turtles found along the U.S. Pacific Coast are actually born thousands of kilometers away, on beaches in Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands. The animals migrate (迁徙) 11,000 kilometers across the Pacific Ocean to mainly feed on jellyfish in waters off the U.S. West Coast. Then, they swim back.

Scott Benson is an ecologist with the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries. “There are birds that go farther, but they fly. There’s a whale shark that might swim a little further, but it doesn’t have to come up for air,” he said.

Scientists say that if nothing changes, the leatherbacks could completely disappear from the U.S. West Coast within 30 years. The population drops are mainly blamed on international fishing activities, the destruction (破坏) of nesting grounds and climate change.

The animals can be killed when they get trapped in fishing equipment. Scientists say the population is also harmed because a lot of turtle eggs are removed from beaches.

Researchers say that while all the world’s leatherbacks are under pressure, the group that migrates for months across the Pacific faces the greatest threats.

NOAA launched an aggressive plan to save leatherbacks in 2015 and is set to release a new action plan this month. The plan is meant to persuade governments and international organizations to join efforts to save the turtles.

1. Which word best describes the present situation of the leatherbacks?

A．Promising.

B．Worrying.

C．Complex.

D．Unstable.

2. What do the leatherbacks mainly survive on?

A．Sea weed.

B．Other turtles’ eggs.

C．Little sharks.

D．Jellyfish.

3. Which period is the most dangerous for leatherbacks?

A．The period of migration.	B．The period of fishing activities.
C．The period of being on a beach.	D．The period of laying eggs.

4. In which section of a newspaper may this text appear?

A．Entertainment.

B．Health.

C．Nature.

D．Education.

5 . An Inuit-developed app, named SIKU after the Inuktitut for “sea ice”, allows local communities from Alaska to Greenland to connect traditional knowledge with scientific data to track changes in the environment, and make decisions about how to manage wildlife.

A group of Inuit elders and hunters from Sanikiluaq, Nunavut, thought up the idea for SIKU more than ten years ago to document and understand the changing sea ice they were seeing in southeastern Hudson Bay. The group turned to the local non-profit Arctic Eider Society (AES) to develop a web-based platform (平台).

Over the years, SIKU has developed, and recently, the elders saw that the platform could help address a familiar challenge: sharing knowledge with younger people who often have their noses in their phones. In 2019, SIKU was reintroduced as a full-fledged (全面发展的) social network — a platform where members can post photos and notes about wildlife sightings, hunts, sea ice conditions and more. The posts tell stories of hunting and traveling; the impacts of climate change and industrial activity; and the traditions, diets and illnesses of local animals.

Inuit communities are already using the app to inform important decisions. In 2021, for example, elders in Sanikiluaq were worried that the local reindeer (驯鹿) population had reduced, so the Hunters and Trappers Association used SIKU to survey hunters and look at recent reported harvest rates. The information led the association to close the hunt for a short time to reduce pressure on the population and to reintroduce hunting slowly when the number of reindeer increased.

Traditionally, Inuit communities shared this information orally (口头上地). “We have lived in the environment for centuries and know about the wildlife. Now armed with SIKU, information is documented in a way that other people will understand. The advantage of SIKU is that it’s part science and part Inuit knowledge and it supports community-driven research,” says Lucassie Arragutainaq, a co-founder of AES.

1. What was the purpose of developing SIKU in the beginning?

A．To raise money for AES.	B．To pass on Inuit tradition.
C．To attract more visitors to Inuit communities.	D．To record and learn about the changing sea ice.

2. Why is reindeer mentioned in paragraph 4?

A．To further prove the role of SIKU.

B．To advise people to pay more attention to SIKU.

C．To call on visitors and locals to protect reindeer.

D．To tell the benefits of the Hunters and Trappers Association.

3. What is the attitude of Lucassie Arragutainaq toward SIKU?

A．Doubtful.

B．Worried.

C．Puzzled.

D．Supportive.

4. What can be a suitable title for the text?

A．SIKU: Overcoming Environmental Challenges

B．SIKU: Informing Decision Of Local Communities

C．SIKU: Joining Traditional Wisdom To Modern Technology

D．SIKU: Advantages Over Other Local Social Media Platforms

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。

An international team of astronomers used a database combining observations from the best telescopes in the world     1    (detect) the signal from the active supermassive black holes of dying galaxies (星系) in the early universe. The     2    (appear) of these active supermassive black holes is related to changes in the host galaxy. This means a black hole could have far reaching effects     3     the evolution of its host galaxy.

The Milky Way Galaxy     4     we live includes stars of various ages, including stars still forming. But in some other galaxies,     5    (know) as elliptical (椭圆的) galaxies, all of the stars are old and about the same age. This indicates that early in     6    (they) histories elliptical galaxies had a period of rich star formation that suddenly ended. Why this star formation stopped in some galaxies     7     not others is not well understood. One possibility is that a supermassive black hole disrupts(瓦解) the gas in some galaxies,     8    (create) an environment unsuitable for star formation.

To test this theory, astronomers look at distant galaxies. Due to the limited speed of light, it takes time for light to travel across the void of space. The light we saw last night from an object 10 billion light years away     9    (travel) for 10 billion years to reach Earth. Thus the light we see today shows us what the galaxy looked like when the light left that galaxy 10 billion years ago. So looking at distant galaxies is like looking back in time. But the longer distance also means that distant galaxies look     10    (small), making study more difficult.

7 . Daniel Hove spent years serving his community in Wisconsin as the Assistant Fire Chief for the Burnsville Fire Department. In 2012, he _________ from the job he loved after doctors diagnosed him with pancreatic (胰腺的) cancer.

Daniel spent years fighting the _________ disease. And he had tons of _________ from friends and family. But his beloved 11-year-old Labrador (拉布拉多猎犬), Gunner, _________ by his side every step of the way.

As Daniel’s _________ grew more difficult, Gunner became ill, too. And he _________ highs and lows right along with his favorite human.

“When my dad would get restless, the dog would be _________,” Daniel’s daughter Heather explained. “So once we   _______ how the dog was doing—he wasn’t moving much anymore and not doing well—we knew, it was coming.”

As Gunner’s suffering hit its peak, Heather _________ knew the dog’s time on Earth was done. Gunner was __________ an animal hospital where the veterinarian put him to __________ forever. And soon after Gunner passed away, Daniel found his __________ was close. About an hour and a half later, Daniel was gone too. __________ in life, the dog and his beloved owner also remained that way in death.

Special friends are placed in our lives. And the story of this dog and his owner is a beautiful __________ that sometimes those furry friends offer lifelong __________ without words.

1.

A．came

B．retired

C．returned

D．suffered

2.

A．common

B．impressive

C．terrible

D．addictive

3.

A．support

B．praise

C．criticism

D．popularity

4.

A．moved

B．swung

C．stopped

D．remained

5.

A．devotion

B．decision

C．battle

D．work

6.

A．experienced

B．enhanced

C．conveyed

D．explored

7.

A．unsatisfied

B．uneasy

C．selfless

D．careless

8.

A．proved

B．inferred

C．guessed

D．saw

9.

A．exactly

B．frequently

C．instantly

D．originally

10.

A．rushed to

B．sent for

C．thrown into

D．dropped by

11.

A．play

B．sleep

C．live

D．wake

12.

A．place

B．healing

C．time

D．liking

13.

A．Inseparable

B．Suitable

C．Countable

D．Unbelievable

14.

A．fashion

B．reminder

C．form

D．encounter

15.

A．process

B．education

C．learning

D．company

8 . With a brain the size of a pinhead, insects perform fantastic navigational (导航的) abilities. They avoid obstacles and move through small openings. How do they do this, with their limited brain power? Understanding the inner workings of an insect’s brain can help us in our search towards energy-efficient computing, physicist Elisabetta Chicca of the University of Groningen demonstrates with her most recent result: A robot that acts like an insect.

In search of the neural (神经的) mechanism that drives insect behaviour, PhD student Thorben Schoepe developed a model of its neuronal activity and a small robot that uses this model to navigate. Schoepe’s model is based on one main principle: always steer towards the area with the least apparent motion.

He had his robot drive through a long “corridor”— consisting of two walls with a random print on it—and the robot centred in the middle of the corridor, as insects tend to do. In other virtual environments, such as a space with obstacles or small openings, Schoepe’s model also showed similar behaviour to insects.

“The model is so good,” Chicca concludes, “that once you set it up, it will perform in all kinds of environments. That’s the beauty of this result.”

The fact that a robot can navigate in a realistic environment is not new. Rather, the model gives insight into how insects do the job, and how they manage to do things so efficiently.

Chicca explains, “Much of robotics is not concerned with efficiency. We humans tend to learn new tasks as we grow up and within robotics. This is reflected in the current trend of machine learning. But insects are able to fly immediately from birth. An efficient way of doing that is hardwired in their brains. In a similar way, you could make computers more efficient.”

1. Why does Chicca want to study how the insect brain works?

A．To make computers more efficient.	B．To make use of insects’ brain power.
C．To understand the habit of insects.	D．To reveal the inner part of insects’ brain.

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

A．Stretch.

B．Stare.

C．Drive.

D．Work.

3. How did Chicca feel at the performance of her robot?

A．Regretful.

B．Shocked.

C．Confused.

D．Satisfied.

4. What are the last two paragraphs mainly about?

A．How to make a robot that acts like an insect.

B．Why insects navigate more efficiently than robots.

C．Why a robot can navigate in a realistic environment.

D．How humans tend to learn new tasks as they grow up.

9 . Shop Sustainably

If you have to name one thing that contributes most to your ecological footprints, you may say the energy you use at home, or your car’s emissions.     1     Knowing this can make your grocery shops more planet-friendly. Here is what you can do to help shop sustainably.

●    2     Using those is a great first step. If you get some, do remember to fill them with your purchases. When you adapt yourself to reusing them, then you’ll cut your consumption of single-use plastic bags even further.

●Avoid unnecessary packing. Buy loose fruit and vegetables instead of pre-packaged produce, and avoid products that contain multiple single packages or double packaging, like grain in a box and a bag. Consider switching from tea bags and coffee pods to tea leaves and ground coffee.     3    

●Go organic when you can. In addition to the benefit organic farming has to insect biodiversity, it’s also considered more sustainable and better for the environment.     4    Choosing free-range or Marine Stewardship Council-certified products also encourages environment- and animal-friendly food production.

●Buy seasonal and native products.     5     So you can avoid buying goods that have travelled long distances to reach your plate. As well as opting for local goods, depending on where you live, in the supermarket, you can also buy directly from the source at farmers’ markets.

A．Take reusable grocery bags.

B．Select single-use plastic bags.

C．It supports local farmers and food producers.

D．You can also refill your own containers with loose-packed food.

E．When buying organic products, look for those officially certified.

F．But it’s what we eat that accounts for up to 60% of our personal demand.

G．You’ll find it convenient whenever you buy tea or coffee in the supermarket.

10 . As a mushroom scientist, you are vastly outnumbered, with estimates suggesting that there are between 2.2 million and 3.8 million species of fungi (真菌), the majority of which are yet to be identified. However, professionals in the field are not alone in their efforts to uncover new species. An enthusiastic community of amateurs has emerged, bridging the gap between professionals and non-professionals. These amateurs have even made significant discoveries. One such amateur is Taylor Lockwood, a 74-year-old mushroom enthusiast and professional photographer.

In 1984, while living on the Mendocino coast of California, Taylor Lockwood developed a fascination with mushrooms. “Outside my cottage were these amazing mushrooms,” he says. “And it was as if these mushrooms looked at me and said, ‘Taylor, go out and tell the world how pretty we are.’” Lockwood answered their call and purchased camera equipment to capture their true nature. His passion for photographing mushrooms was so intense that he would even dig holes next to the mushrooms to get the perfect angle for his shots.

In the Monongahela National Forest, Taylor Lockwood discovered an unusual mushroom that looked like tiny fingers wearing off-white gloves. Upon deeper investigation, fungi researcher Amy Rossman confirmed that it was a “hazel glove” mushroom, which is a rare find. “Mushrooms are not like plants,” Rossman says. “They don’t come up at the same time every year, and so sometimes it can be decades between when a fungus fruits.” Rossman says that’s why it’s so valuable to have people like Taylor Lockwood searching through the forest with a trained eye.

A few years ago, Taylor Lockwood realized that still photos weren’t sufficient, so he chose to create time-lapse (延时拍摄的) videos of mushrooms. “When I do time-lapse, I see so much life happening around the mushrooms—insects, worms and other small creatures interacting with them,” he says. Lockwood’s love for art is evident in his approach to filming mushrooms over time. Although he appreciates the scientific aspect of his work, he identifies himself as an artist at heart.

1. What can we learn about mushroom amateurs from paragraph 1?

A．They keep close track of the growth of fungi.

B．They help identify new species of mushroom.

C．They replace professional scientists in the field.

D．They classify the majority of mushroom species.

2. What inspired Lockwood to photograph mushrooms?

A．His desire for knowledge.

B．His curiosity about nature.

C．The beauty of nearby mushrooms.

D．The appeal of outdoor photography.

3. Which of the following best describes Lockwood according to paragraph 3?

A．Skilled and observant.

B．Focused and flexible.

C．Talented and optimistic.

D．Organized and responsible.

4. Why did Lockwood decide to make time-lapse videos of mushrooms?

A．To improve his photography techniques.

B．To capture dynamic life in an artistic way.

C．To collect biological data for deeper research.

D．To use a new approach to scientific studies.