1 . Students at St. Stanislaus High School in Mississippi are among the volunteers along US coasts raising oysters (牡蛎) to help restore, or repair weakened reefs (礁). Oyster reefs are an important part of coastal environments. Each oyster cleans 95 to 190 liters of water a day. The reefs provide living space for shrimp, crabs and fish. They also protect coastlines. In the states of Maryland, Virginia, Mississippi, and Alabama, now there are more than 1,000 oyster gardens. Most of them are in wire cages hanging from private ports.

Colin Wood, one student looking after the St. Stanislaus garden, said he was excited by the hands-on work. “I didn’t realize oysters had a big influence on the environment. And 50,000 to 55,000 adult oysters grown here each year go to reefs in Mobile Bay,” he said.

In the 1950s, an average of 37,400 tons of oysters were taken yearly from partly salty waters in the US. But US oyster harvests fell sharply in the 1990s. Data showed the cause of the drop could be overharvesting, pollution, pests and other problems. Then oyster gardening started.

Oyster gardening uses many of the same methods as farming. Farmers around the country grow oysters near the surface of water. Oysters develop much faster where the water holds more food they eat and enemies can be more easily removed. But the oysters are not being grown to be eaten. Oyster gardens get pulled from the water every seven to ten days. The time out of the water is used to clear out small animals, keep oysters from growing through the wires, and dry and clean off plant-life growing on the wires.

Bob Stokes, the director of the Galveston Bay Foundation in Texas, says, “Oyster gardening is as much about education as it is restoration.”

1. How does Colin Wood feel about his work?

A．Simple.

B．Tiring.

C．Creative.

D．Meaningful.

2. What does the author mainly intend to show in paragraph 3?

A．The use of oyster gardening.

B．The influence of oyster harvests falling.

C．The reason for starting oyster gardening.

D．The problems oyster gardening is facing.

3. Why should oyster gardens be pulled from the water regularly?

A．To repair the cages.

B．To pick weak oysters out.

C．To examine the water quality.

D．To keep a good environment for oysters.

4. What can be the best title for the text?

A．What oyster gardening is

B．Oyster reefs are becoming endangered

C．Volunteers keep oysters to restore reefs

D．Why oysters are growing popular in the US

2 . Animals, including humans, feel sound as well as hear it, and some of the most meaningful communication happens at frequencies (频率) that people can’t hear. Elephants, for example, use these low-frequency sounds to, among other things, find family or a mate across long distances. Whales do it, too.

But you don’t have to weigh a ton to make a sound. In fact, you don’t have to be bigger than a pea. Consider, for example, the tree-hopper, a curious little animal that lives on the stems (茎) of the leaves. University of Missouri biologist Rex Cocroft has spent much of his time listening closely to tree-hoppers with his team.

The team discovers that all the sounds being heard from tree-hoppers are produced by males. They do it by vibrating (振动) their abdomens (腹部) to make a wide variety of strange sounds. There is almost no airborne sound produced with these vibrational sounds. Cocroft explained, “If a tree-hopper were to stand on your finger and produce a sound, you would feel the vibration but hear no sound.”

They showed that some sounds, not surprisingly, seem to be aimed at attracting females. And some are aimed at other males.

Cocroft explained, “When two males meet each other, or when they are mate-searching on a branch, we’re hearing ‘purring, bdddddrrrr…’ sounds that males give.” Normally, a person couldn’t hear any of this, because the sound travels along the stem, inside it. And that’s how other tree-hoppers detect it.

Cocroft said tree-hoppers have very sensitive legs. And they stand around on stems, which are good at spreading vibrations. So they just use what nature gives them to communicate with each other.

“They have so many different forms of social behavior and grouping,” Cocroft explained. “And once there are animals living in groups, then there will be all sorts of interesting possibilities for communication.”

1. What does Cocroft’s research focus on about tree-hoppers?

A．Their variety.	B．Their communication.
C．Their living areas.	D．Their numbers.

2. What can we know about tree-hoppers?

A．They sense sounds by legs.

B．They knock the stems to make sounds.

C．Their sounds can be easily heard by humans.

D．Females make sounds to meet each other

3. What does Cocroft say about animals’ living in groups?

A．It is key to their survival.

B．It drives an increase in their numbers.

C．It often leads to communication.

D．It contributes much to the division of animal types.

4. What is the best title for the text?

A．A Magic Moment in Nature	B．A Journey to the Wildlife
C．Learning From Nature	D．Communication Sounds Among Animals

3 . Every year the start of the Atlantic hurricane season is another reminder for Margarite August that she still doesn’t have a roof.

The 70-year-old retired teacher’s home on the small Caribbean island nation of Dominica was mostly wiped out by hurricane Maria six years ago.

Six years after hurricane Maria, Dominicans like Margarite August still haven’t been able to rehabilitate their homes.

August is not alone. Since Maria, the government of Dominica has built 7,000 new homes—about a quarter of its housing stock-with materials to fight another Category 5 hurricane. They’ve also relocated two communities. But an untold number of the island’s 70,000 or so residents are like August, rebuilding their homes in any way they can afford.

Hurricane Maria is often referred to as a once-in-a-lifetime disaster. Scientists put much of the blame on warming ocean temperatures that could make frequent (频繁的) storms like it.

Maria damaged a terrible 95% of Dominica’s housing stock and 226% of the nation’s GDP. Before the storm, the country’s economy had long struggled since its independence from Great Britain in 1978. Unlike its more famous touristy neighbors along the chain of eastern Caribbean islands it lies on, Dominica is more known for its rugged mountains and jungles (丛林) than white sandy beaches.

The jungle mountains that crash down to the coast are beautiful but disasters visit easily. “I don’t think anybody ever got over Maria,” says Christine John of the Dominica Red Cross. “There are a lot of persons today—if it just starts to rain outside, they get anxious.”

1. What does the underlined word “rehabilitate” in paragraph 3 mean?

A．Rebuild.

B．Leave.

C．Decorate.

D．Buy.

2. What is the main cause of frequent extreme storms according to scientists?

A．Over-farming.	B．Loss of the land.
C．The disappearance of the forests.	D．Climate change.

3. What is Dominica known for according to the text?

A．Its good economy.	B．Its architecture.
C．Its mountains and jungles.	D．Its sandy beaches.

4. Why are Dominicans nervous when it rains?

A．They have to stay bored at home.	B．Their houses are easy to take in water.
C．They don’t know how to make umbrellas.	D．They are afraid of another disaster like Maria.

4 . Marine life (海洋生物) in Florida Keys is negatively influenced by two forces: human activity and climate change. The former involves fishing, tourism and diving while the latter causes a large increase in intense hurricanes. Fortunately, when the researchers of Florida Museum of Natural History started looking for sea urchins (海胆) on the ocean floor off the coast of Florida Keys in the summer of 2020, they uncovered their population had relatively been stable since the 1960s.

The researchers visited 27 sites along a 20-mile stretch of coast near Florida Keys looking for tracks that reflected the presence of burrowing echinoids (穴居海胆类动物). “The findings that burrowing echinoids have been highly resilient (有适应力的) against climate change and environmental pollution over the last 60 years was a huge discovery for us.” said study co-author Tobias Grun.

Grun said, “However, we know little about their current distribution, population size, and health. The reason is not the lack of interest by the scientific community but lies in that fieldwork is very expensive.”

As the climate crisis progresses, it’s important to understand why some marine creatures are more resilient in bearing the impacts of a worsening environment than others. Grun said, “Evolution may be at play. Some marine animals are very opportunistic. They can tolerate a wide range of abiotic factors like pH, temperature, and salinity, to name a few.”

Grun added, “At this point, our data show that burrowing echinoids are more resilient than many other marine species and are doing comparatively well. That does not mean that we can push our luck and keep going the way we are right now. Our study provides some hope that these creatures are resilient, but much more work is needed to translate our findings into a larger scale. The reasons for their resilience are also widely unknown.”

1. Which has an effect on the marine life in Florida Keys?

A．Wildfire.

B．Pollution.

C．Fishing.

D．Flood.

2. What did Grun think of the findings?

A．Indifferent.

B．Important.

C．Subjective.

D．Outdated

3. What was a challenge for the research according to Grun?

A．The goal.

B．The staff

C．The cost

D．The usage

4. What does Grun tell us in the last paragraph?

A．It’s necessary to do further research.

B．It’s right to keep going the present way.

C．The reasons for sea urchins’ resilience are well known.

D．Fish are more resilient than other marine species.

5 . As we all know, waste is extremely bad for the environment. Let’s talk about why litter is harmful to our streets and towns, our drinking water, and sea animals.

Waste can have a bad influence on our cities. Cleaning up litter costs US taxpayers (纳税人) and businesses $11.5 billion each year.    1     Litter on the streets can cause road accidents with hundreds of deaths because of it. Areas that have more waste have more crime (犯罪). The litter on the streets sends a message that people don’t care about their neighborhood.

    2     The litter we drop on the ground can pollute rivers, lakes, oceans, and other bodies of water. 60%of water pollution is caused by littering. Waste hurts sea animals.     3     You may think that when you litter, “Oh, this is just one piece of litter. It can’t do any harm. But if every person does that, even if it’s only once, there will still be 7.9 billion pieces of litter in our ocean. Over one million sea animals die every year because of waste.    4    

As you can see, waste is harmful in many ways.    5     We need to take action to avoid unnecessary waste, and pick up every piece of waste we see. We should try to make it a habit because if we don’t, the waste problem will become even worse.

A．Everybody wants to breathe fresh air.

B．That money could have been spent on parks.

C．How do you feel when you see people littering around?

D．In the future there might be more waste than fish in the ocean.

E．Litter can go into the soil and water and pollute our drinking water.

F．We need to stop littering for us, for the environment, and for the planet.

G．Did you know every day almost 8 million pieces of litter go into the ocean?

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。

China is emerging as a global leader in aviation (航空) decarbonization (脱碳), according to industry experts. This development is     1     result of the scale of the country’s aviation market and     2     (it) new technologies and policies aimed at reducing carbon emissions (排放), they said.

“As the world’s second-largest economy, China     3     (expect) to be the world’s largest aviation market by 2030. We believe China plays an important part in aviation decarbonization with a deep impact on the decarbonization of aviation     4     (global),” said Martin Thomsen, senior vice-president of Air BP, the specialized aviation division of BP, previously     5     (know) as British Petroleum, a London-based multinational.

“We believe that this will lead to an expansion of SAF production,     6     could supply domestic and global markets     7     play a key role in supporting the decarbonization of supply chains,” he said.

Despite current challenges in raw material supplies, technology and policies, China’s SAF industry faces significant opportunities and     8     (have) certain advantages, said Luo Zuoxian, head of intelligence and research at the Sinopec Economics and Development Research Institute.

It will make important     9     (contribution) in reducing carbon emissions in the aviation industry, helping achieve the carbon neutrality (碳中和) goals and     10     (ensure) energy safety in SAF, he said.

7 . 阅读下面材料，根据其内容和所给段落开头语续写两段，使之构成一篇完整的短文。

When I was admitted to the University of Alabama, I decided to get a puppy. So I adopted an adorable Golden Retriever(金毛猎犬) puppy against my parents’ wishes.

Soon, I realized my parents were right. The dog was so naughty that it caused me a lot of trouble every day. In fact, she soon earned the nickname(绰号) Bella the Devil at school.

However, as time went by, she taught me how to be a better dog mom, and I taught her how to be a better dog. We became best friends and did everything together. Bella was there for me all the time: parties, restaurants, games, even dates! We loved spending time together. By the time I was a senior, Bella and I developed a stronger relationship. She was truly my best friend.

In the third year, I worked at the local college l bar not far from the house. One night, I was running late. Bella and I had been with friends down the street when I realized it was already 9:00 p.m. We had to rush home so I could make it to work by 9:30. I ran through the front door and jumped to the bathroom to have a shower. Bella followed me into the bathroom and lay in her usual place on the bathroom floor. Then I heard my front door open. It was so loud that I thought it was strange. It couldn’t be my roommate for she had flown to New York. I turned off the shower and yelled her name. No answer.

注意:
1.续写词数应为150左右；
2.请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。

Instantly(立刻), I knew something was seriously wrong.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Then I went outside to find Bella with the policemen.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

8 . Livestock(牲畜)cloning is the practice of cloning sheep, cattle and other livestock species as a way to improve efficiency. The basic idea behind livestock cloning is to clone animals that have certain qualities, such as cows that produce more milk or meat.     1    

However, this practice is very controversial, and livestock farmers have been hesitant to adopt it fully because of public opposition and certain inefficiencies.

In technical terms, livestock are cloned by taking cells from one animal and using them to fertilize(使受精)eggs. Scientists take the fertilized eggs and put them in female animals.     2       Many animals are born with abnormal shapes. Scientists are looking for ways to improve the process and make it less expensive to adopt on a wider scale.

    3     For example, if farmers were able to take only their very best animals and recreate them many times, they could potentially be more productive.

There are also some potential problems with cloned livestock.     4     For example, when a disease hits, there are usually individuals that cannot be harmed by the disease or are more resistant, and they will generally survive. If all the animals were genetically(在基因方面)similar, this sort of disease could totally destroy an entire generation of livestock.

In addition to concerns about genetic diversity, there are other concerns about cloning.     5     There are also some people who worry that livestock cloning research may be a gateway to introducing human cloning, which is widely disapproved of.

A．Are the surviving clones really clones?

B．Therefore, the new species are expected to be better.

C．The biggest one arises from a reduction in genetic diversity.

D．Cloned livestock have the potential to provide some major benefits.

E．Cloning animals shows us what might happen if we try to clone humans.

F．These concerns sometimes come from worries over unforeseen consequences.

G．This process doesn’t always work perfectly, and it can be relatively expensive.

9 . 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。

Every day we use energy. We use it for cooking, for heating and for lighting our cities. The energy comes from many different     1     (source). It can come from the sun, wind and water, but the energy we depend on the most comes from deep inside the Earth. These include coal, oil, and natural gas.

These fuels come from the remains of plants and animals. It takes millions of years     2     (make) them. However, with the world’s population     3    (grow), more and more of these fuels are dug up from the ground. Yet these fuels are non-renewable. When they     4    (use) up, they will be gone forever.

We need to have a strong sense of     5    (responsible) and it’s high time for us to think about     6     we can help save energy and preserve these fuels.

What about turning off anything     7     (electricity) we are not using? That’s a start! We can also recycle things such as newspapers, cans, bottles, and plastic—including plastic bags. Plastic bags start out as either oil     8     coal, and one big city can use millions of plastic bags in a year. When we use recycled things, it takes less energy     9     making something new.

Cars consume a lot of fuel, but there     10     (be) a variety of measures that car owners can take to preserve fuel. Try asking your family whether we can take a bus or walk instead of using the car.

10 . I have worked as a keeper at the National Zoo, Paris for 11 years. Spot and Stripe are the first tiger cubs that have ever been born here. Globally, a third of Sumatran cubs in zoos don't make it to adulthood, so I decided to give them round-the-clock care at home.

I've got two children—the younger one, Kynan, was extremely happy about the tigers arriving - but all of us really looked forward to being part of their lives and watching them grow. I wasn't worried about bringing them into my home with my wife and kids. These were cubs. They weighed about 2.5 kg and were so small that there was absolutely no risk.

As they grew more mobile, we let them move freely around the house during the day, but when we were asleep we had to contain them in a large room, otherwise they'd get up to mischief. We'd come down in the morning to find they'd turned the room upside down, and left it looking like a zoo.

Things quickly got very intense due to the huge amount of energy required to look after them. There were some tough times and I just felt extremely tired. I was grateful that my family was there to help. We had to have a bit of a production line going, making up “tiger milk”, washing baby bottles, and cleaning the floors.

When Spot and Stripe were four months old, they were learning how to open doors and jump fences, and we knew it really was time for them to go. It was hard for us to finally part with them. For the first few days, Kynan was always a bit disappointed that the cubs weren't there.

I'm not sad about it. I'm hands-on with them every day at the zoo, and I do look back very fondly on the time that we had them.

1. Why did the author bring the tiger cubs home?

A．To ensure their survival.	B．To observe their differences.
C．To teach them life skills.	D．To let them play with his kids.

2. What do the underlined words “get up to mischief” mean in paragraph 3?

A．Behave badly.

B．Lose their way.

C．Sleep soundly.

D．Miss their mom.

3. What did the author think of raising the tiger cubs at home?

A．Boring.

B．Tiring.

C．Costly.

D．Risky.

4. Why did the author decide to send Spot and Stripe back to the zoo?

A．They frightened the children.	B．They became difficult to contain.
C．They annoyed the neighbours.	D．They started fighting each other.