1 . You’ve heard that plastic is polluting the oceans — between 4.8 and 12.7 million tonnes enter ocean ecosystems every year. But does one plastic straw or cup really make a difference? Artist Benjamin Von Wong wants you to know that it does. He builds massive sculptures out of plastic garbage, forcing viewers to re-examine their relationship to single-use plastic products.
At the beginning of the year, the artist built a piece called “Strawpocalypse,” a pair of 10-foot-tall plastic waves, frozen mid-crash. Made of 168,000 plastic straws collected from several volunteer beach cleanups, the sculpture made its first appearance at the Estella Place shopping center in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
Just 9% of global plastic waste is recycled. Plastic straws are by no means the biggest source (来源) of plastic pollution, but they’ve recently come under fire because most people don’t need them to drink with and, because of their small size and weight, they cannot be recycled. Every straw that’s part of Von Wong’s artwork likely came from a drink that someone used for only a few minutes. Once the drink is gone, the straw will take centuries to disappear.
In a piece from 2018, Von Wong wanted to illustrate (说明) a specific statistic: Every 60 seconds, a truckload’s worth of plastic enters the ocean. For this work, titled “Truckload of Plastic,” Von Wong and a group of volunteers collected more than 10,000 pieces of plastic, which were then tied together to look like they’d been dumped (倾倒) from a truck all at once.
Von Wong hopes that his work will also help pressure big companies to reduce their plastic footprint.
1. What are Von Wong’s artworks intended for?| A．Beautifying the city he lives in. | B．Introducing eco-friendly products. |
| C．Drawing public attention to plastic waste. | D．Reducing garbage on the beach. |
| A．To show the difficulty of their recycling. |
| B．To explain why they are useful. |
| C．To voice his views on modern art. |
| D．To find a substitute for them. |
| A．Calming. | B．Disturbing. |
| C．Refreshing. | D．Challenging. |
| A．Artists’ Opinions on Plastic Safety |
| B．Media Interest in Contemporary Art |
| C．Responsibility Demanded of Big Companies |
| D．Ocean Plastics Transformed into Sculptures |
(1)该地方的基本情况(如名称、地理位置等)；
(2)该地方的特色(如文化、景点等)；
(3)你对该地方的印象和感受。
注意：(1)词数不少于100；
(2)可适当加入细节，使内容充实、行文连贯。
A Beautiful Place in China
March 19, 2021By Li Jin
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3 . Washington, D.C. Bicycle Tours
Cherry Blossom Bike Tour in Washington, D.C.
Duration: 3 hours
This small group bike tour is a fantastic way to see a world-famous cherry trees with beautiful flowers of Washington, D.C. Your guide will provide a history lesson about the trees and the famous monuments where they blossom. Reserve your spot before availability — the cherry blossoms—disappear!
Washington Capital Monuments Bicycle Tour
Duration: 3 hours (4 miles)
Join a guided bike tour and view some of the most popular monuments in Washington, D.C. Explore the monuments and memorials on the National Mall as your guide shares unique facts and history at each stop. Guided tour includes bike, helmet, cookies and bottled water.
Capital City Bike Tour In Washington, D.C.
Duration: 3 hours
Morning or Afternoon, this bike tour is the perfect tour for D. C. newcomers and locals looking to experience Washington, D.C. in a healthy way with minimum effort. Knowledgeable guides will entertain you with the most, interesting stories about Presidents, Congress, memorials, and parks. Comfortable bikes and a smooth tour route(路线) make cycling between the sites fun and relaxing.
Washington Capital Sites at Night Bicycle Tour
Duration: 3 hours (7miles)
Join a small group bike tour for an evening of exploration in the heart of Washington, D.C. Get up close to the monuments and memorials as you bike the sites of Capitol Hill and the National Mall. Frequent stops are made for photo taking as your guide offers unique facts and history. Tour includes bike, helmet, and bottled water. All riders are equipped with reflective vests and safety lights.
1. Which tour do you need to book in advance?| A．Cherry Blossom Bike Tour in Washington, D.C. |
| B．Washington Capital Monuments Bicycle Tour. |
| C．Capital City Bike Tour in Washington. |
| D．Washington Capital Sites at Night Bicycle Tour. |
| A．Meet famous people. | B．Go to a national park. |
| C．Visit well-known museums. | D．Enjoy interesting stories. |
| A．City maps. | B．Cameras. |
| C．Meals. | D．Safety lights. |
4 . A flood hit Yellowstone National Park on June 13, 2022. The disaster was caused by a combination of unusually heavy rains and rapid snow melt. The high and fast water flows destroyed bridges and swept away entire roadways, leaving communities and homes isolated. Fortunately, the approximately 10,000 park visitors were safely evacuated.
The town of Gardiner, along the Montana-Wyoming border, was particularly hard hit. The floodwaters left almost 900 people with no power or water for many days. Gardiner’s economy, which depends on the almost three-quarters of a million visitors who pass through the park’s north gate annually, is likely to take a hit. The floodwaters severely damaged the main north entrance road to Yellowstone, and could take years to rebuild.
Park officials have begun work on improving an alternative road to Gardiner. This will ensure that locals can access food, supplies, and other essential emergency services. A limited number of tourists may also be allowed into Gardiner once the road is stable.
Yellowstone’s north gate is closed indefinitely. But the park’s south gate opened to visitors on June 22, 2022. Park officials have started a new entry system to prevent overcrowding. It is based on the last number of the visitor’s vehicle license plate and the calendar date of the month. Cars with odd (奇数的) numbers can visit the park on odd days of the month, while those with even (偶数的) numbers can go on even days.
Established in 1872, Yellowstone is America’s oldest national park. The 3,472-square-mile reserve spans three states and is home to many unique wildlife. It is known for its natural beauty that includes mountains, rivers and lakes. The forces of fire and ice shaped the park over thousands of years.
1. What does the underlined word “isolated” in paragraph 1 probably mean?| A．Tracked. | B．Separated. |
| C．Decorated. | D．Improved. |
| A．Gardiner’s economy would get into trouble. |
| B．Communities and homes were left in ruins. |
| C．Almost 900 people were trapped in the park. |
| D．The park’s south gate was closed for a while. |
| A．Local people can get daily necessities from visitors. |
| B．The park has adopted a new system to recognize faces. |
| C．The license plate number decides when cars enter the park. |
| D．More tourists may flood into the park for geological features. |
| A．Flooding has caused widespread damage in the US. |
| B．Yellowstone National Park is closed due to flooding. |
| C．People can visit Yellowstone National Park any day. |
| D．Natural beauty makes Yellowstone famous. |
5 . Plastic is everywhere. A lot of it ends up in the ocean. Most plastics in the ocean break up into very small particles called “micro-plastics”—less than five millimeters in length or about the size of a sesame (芝麻) seed. It is the most common type of marine debris (垃圾) found in the ocean. Plastic debris can come in all shapes and sizes and be harmful to our ocean and water life.
Micro-plastics come from various sources, including larger plastic debris that degrades into smaller pieces. In addition, micro-beads, a type of smaller micro-plastic, are very tiny pieces of manufactured polyethylene (聚乙烯) plastic added as exfoliants (去角质剂) to health and beauty products,like toothpastes. These tiny particles easily pass through water systems and end up in the ocean, posing a potential threat to water life. What is worse, these micro-beads or plastic particles in the marine environment are eaten by plankton (浮游生物)，which are then eaten by fish. They continue to work their way up the food chain until they reach our dinner plates.
New research has shown that household dust is a more likely source of micro-plastics. According to researchers,114 pieces of micro-plastic settle on a dinner plate during the 20-minute duration of a meal. adding up to anywhere between 13,000 and 68,000pieces per year. And when you breathe in air, you could be breathing in the microscopic plastic particles as well.
How about drinking water? The non-profit journalism organization Orb Media tested 259 bottles of water bought from 9 different countries. The tests found that there was an average of 10. 4 plastic particles (0. 1 millimeters or larger) per liter of water. That level of micro-plastics in bottled water was double the level found in tap water. The findings suggest if you drink one liter of bottled water per day, you could be consuming tens of thousands of micro-plastic particles each year.
It is apparent that the problem of micro-plastics is still a huge one.
1. Where is the text probably taken from?| A．A science lecture. | B．A tourism brochure. |
| C．A wildlife website. | D．A water advertisement. |
| A．To state micro-plastics are eatable. | B．To show micro-plastics are common. |
| C．To prove micro-plastics are small. | D．To explain micro-plastics are light. |
| A．Plastic debris→ health products →plankton →micro-beads →fish →humans’ body |
| B．Plastic debris →health products →plankton →fish →micro-beads →humans’ body |
| C．Plastic debris →micro -beads →health products →plankton →fish →humans’ body |
| D．Plastic debris →micro-beads →health products →fish →plankton →humans’ body |
| A．The Harmful Effects of Micro-plastics | B．The Development of Plastics |
| C．The Polluted Drinking Water | D．The Measures to Protect the Oceans |
6 . There has been a very serious decline(下降) in the numbers of shallow-water fish as a result of overfishing. People still want to eat fish, so the fishing industry must look at other sources, especially the deep waters of the Atlantic. This has resulted in a sharp decline in the numbers of many of the species caught.
Protective measures will have to be put into effect if these deep-sea fish are to survive. Research on five such species shows that numbers have reduced by between 87 percent and 98 percent. This puts them on the list of “extremely endangered”. Many species could well disappear completely if the present trend continues. These are species that have been swimming in our oceans for hundreds of millions of years.
The problem is stressed by the fact that the decline in numbers happened in less than twenty years. Deep-sea fish take a long time to reproduce and normally live for many years. Unfortunately, their reproduction rate is very low. The average size of such fish also declined, with one species showing a 57 percent decline in average size. This is of typical concern, as large fish tend to produce more descendants than small ones.
None of these facts has been taken into consideration by the fishing industry. The deep-sea species have been caught as if they were the fast-breeding(快速繁殖) fish like sardine and herring. It is like killing elephants as if they reproduced at the same rate as rabbits.
The damage done by overfishing goes beyond the sea environment. Millions of people make a living in the fishing industry. Billions of people rely on fish for protein. Measures must be taken to not only preserve ecosystems, but also sustain livelihoods and ensure food security.
1. Why did people start fishing for deep-sea fish?| A．Because deep sea fish tastes better. |
| B．Because there are not enough fish to eat in the shallow sea. |
| C．Because technological development makes it easier to catch deep-sea fish. |
| D．Because water pollution in shallow sea areas is serious. |
| A．There are deep-sea fish species that are completely extinct. |
| B．Deep-sea fish have lost their ability to reproduce. |
| C．Deep-sea fish reproduce more slowly. |
| D．The size of deep-sea fish has decreased. |
| A．The fishing industry catches deep-sea fish in a ruinous way. |
| B．Elephants reproduce at the same rate as rabbits. |
| C．Sardine and herring are also endangered like deep-sea fish. |
| D．Elephants are being killed in large numbers. |
| A．Fast-breeding fish do not need protection. |
| B．The decline in deep-sea fish has occurred in the last 20 years. |
| C．The results of overfishing should be taken seriously. |
| D．The destruction of the deep-sea environment does not affect human life. |
7 . In an effort to fight the “throw-away culture” and promote reuse and repair, the city of Berlin has taken the unique step of opening its own secondhand department store.
This isn’t your grandma’s thrift shop (旧货商店). It resells perfectly good items that would otherwise be thrown away. A pun on the German words for “department store” and “conserving house”, B-Wa(h)renhaus sells a wide variety of products. Far from simply selling old items, the electronic goods have been fixed by expert technicians and come with a year’s guarantee. And, to reach more secondhand shoppers, the store was set up right in the middle of the famous Karstadt department store.
With the success of its initial six-month trial run, the city plans to open four more similar operations in other parts of Berlin. By 2030, it hopes to have at least one location in each of Berlin’s 12 districts. Since 2008, city policies and educational campaigns have reduced average annual household waste by about 25 pounds per resident. It also recycles about 49% of its mineral construction waste. Currently, the city estimates that 8% of abandoned electronic goods and 6% of huge items thrown away can actually be reused. The goal is to expand the market for these items beyond the usual bargain hunters and eco-conscious consumers.
“Three years ago, we started collecting all kinds of used goods,” city spokesperson Dorothee Winden said. “There are lots of things that are well-preserved and functioning but aren’t being used anymore. The goal is to give these things a new life with somebody who can use them.” The store also includes an education center to encourage more sustainable lifestyles — and also gave an award to a project that recycles school uniforms, so that parents don’t have to buy new ones every year.
1. Why has Berlin opened its own secondhand department store?| A．To attract more shoppers. | B．To promote recycling. |
| C．To foster traditional culture. | D．To expand secondhand market. |
| A．The variety of the goods. | B．The location of the store. |
| C．The quality of the products. | D．The operation of the store. |
| A．Berlin currently has 4 second-hand stores in construction. |
| B．Berlin has been successful in cutting its waste since 2008. |
| C．It is not easy to make the goal to expand the market a reality. |
| D．It is estimated that Berlin will be a zero-waste city by 2030. |
| A．To introduce Berlin’s new reuse shop operation. |
| B．To raise people’s awareness of reasonable shopping. |
| C．To persuade people to become eco-friendly shoppers. |
| D．To encourage more people to donate to secondhand shops. |
8 . During this holiday, my family took a trip to Tanzania. Getting there was really an adventure! We took fifteen different planes. The ride was difficult, but the scenery was amazing. When we arrived, the time difference was difficult to deal with, but after a few nights I got used to it. We stayed in a safari resort (游猎度假村). There were all kinds of noises. But they weren’t ones I was used to hearing; the noises came from animals and insects.
On our first day, we saw a herd of giraffes and two rhinos (犀牛). Our guide Mishi told us that the two black rhinos had been caught and brought here because they were in danger of dying out due to poachers (偷猎者), who wanted them for their horns (角). The two rhinos are not in a zoo but in guarded pens (牲畜栏) of about 100 acres.
The next day, Mishi took us to a river. In it, there are big crocodiles (鳄鱼) and even bigger hippos. After we took pictures, Mishi brought us to a suspension (悬挂) bridge. My family was very nervous about crossing it after seeing what was in the river and there was a sign saying “No more than one person on the bridge each time”. Mishi finally promised us that it was not dangerous, and she was right! We all made it to the other side in one piece.
After we explored a little in the area, we found a long line of ants. I noticed that a few were bigger than the others and these bigger ants were walking next to the line, as if keeping the others in order. Mishi told us that they were called Army Ants and were used by old Tanzanian tribes (部落) for medical treatment. They could live with nature harmoniously.
After many days of fun and great adventure, our trip was over. I am looking forward to going back someday.
1. What did the author have to adapt to at the beginning of his trip?| A．The difficult ride. | B．The time difference. |
| C．The surrounding noises. | D．The remote (遥远的) resort. |
| A．To attract tourists. | B．To get their horns. |
| C．To protect them from poachers. | D．To prevent them attacking the local people. |
| A．It is safe to cross. | B．It has a long history. |
| C．It can bear great weight. | D．It crosses a lifeless river. |
| A．The Lovely Wild Animals | B．An Unforgettable Experience |
| C．Living with Nature Harmoniously | D．An Adventurous but Amazing Trip |
9 . KUNMING, Nov. 3 (Xinhua) — Over 100 migratory black-necked cranes (鹤), a species under first-class state protection in China, were recently spotted in Dashanbao National Nature Reserve for Black-necked Cranes in Zhaotong City, Yunnan Province in the southwest of China, marking the arrival of their wintering period.
As of 7 p.m. Tuesday, more than 100 black-necked cranes, along with over ten other migratory bird species, had arrived at the Yunnan Dashanbao National Nature Reserve for Black-necked Cranes, said the reserve’s administration bureau.
Compared with the number recorded last year, this year has seen an earlier arrival of the rare cranes and an increase in the number of the first batch of wintering black-necked cranes, according to the bureau.
The reserve, located in Zhaoyang District of Zhaotong City, is the most significant wintering habitat and transfer station for migratory black-necked cranes on the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau.
Over recent years, the reserve has made a determined effort to take conservation measures, such as wetland protection and restoration and construction of food source bases, in order to steadily improve its ecological environment for migratory birds.
During the past three years, an average of over 1,500 black-necked cranes were spotted arriving at the reserve for wintering, while the numbers of other migratory birds were also on the rise thanks to these local conservation efforts.
1. What can we know from the text?| A．The black-necked cranes stay in Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau over years. |
| B．Over 1,500 black-necked cranes earlier arrived at Dashanbao this winter. |
| C．The Reserve is a good place for black-necked Cranes and other migratory bird species. |
| D．The reserve warmly welcomes bird species to improve its ecological environment. |
| A．The winter. | B．The beauty of nature. |
| C．The local conservation efforts. | D．Other migratory bird species. |
| A．A newspaper. | B．A tourist brochure. |
| C．A magazine. | D．A textbook. |
| A．Dashanbao National Nature Reserve for black-necked Cranes. |
| B．Welcome lack-necked cranes to Yuannan for Winter. |
| C．The local measures to protect migratory bird species. |
| D．Over 100 black-necked cranes wintering in southwest China. |
It was one of the hottest days of the dry season. We had not seen rain in almost a month. The crops were dying. Cows had stopped giving milk. The streams were long gone back into the earth. If we didn’t see any rain soon we would lose everything. It was on that day that I learned the true lesson of sharing and witnessed the only miracle I have seen in my life.
I was in the kitchen making lunch for my husband and his brothers when I saw my six-year old son, Billy, walking toward the woods. I could only see his back. He wasn’t walking in his usual way. He was obviously walking with a great effort, trying to be as still as possible. Minutes after he disappeared into the woods, he came running out again, toward the house. I went back to making sandwiches, thinking that whatever he had been doing was completed. Moments later, however, he was once again walking in that unusual way toward the woods. This activity went on for over an hour: walking cautiously to the woods, then running back to the house. Finally, my curiosity got the best of me. I crept out of the house and followed him on his journey.
He was cupping both hands in front of him as he walked; being very careful not to spill the water he carried. I followed him secretly as he went into the woods. Branches and thorns(刺) slapped his little face but he did not try to avoid them. He might have a much greater purpose, I thought. As I leaned in to spy on him, I saw the most amazing sight. Several large deer appeared threatening in front of him. But Billy walked right up to them, at the sight of which I almost screamed for him to get away. A huge buck(雄鹿) was dangerously close. But the buck didn’t threaten him nor even move as Billy knelt down. And then I saw a baby deer lying on the ground, obviously suffering from thirst and heat, lift its head with great effort to lap (舔)up the water cupped in my beautiful boy’s hands.
注意：1.续写词数应为150左右；
2.请按如下格式在相应的位置作答。
When the water was gone, Billy jumped up to run back to the house.
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Instead of scolding him like his father, I decided to help him.
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