| A．Black. | B．Red. | C．White. |
2 . Blowing Up Balloons with CO₂
Chemical reactions (化学反应) make for some great experiments. You can make use of the CO₂(carbon dioxide) given off by a baking soda (小苏打) and lemon juice reaction to blow up your balloon!
What you’ll need:
●Balloon ●About 40ml of water ●Soft drink bottle
●Juice from a lemon ●I teaspoon of baking soda
Instructions:
●Before you begin, make sure that you pull the balloon long to make it as easy as possible to blow up.
●Put the 40ml of water into the soft drink bottle.
●Add the baking soda and mix it with water.
●Put the lemon juice in and quickly put the balloon over the mouth of the bottle.
What’s happening?
If all goes well, then your balloon should inflate! Adding the lemon juice to the baking soda creates a chemical reaction and produces CO₂. The gas rises up and escapes (逸出) through the soft drink bottle. It doesn’t, however, escape the balloon, pushing it outwards and blowing it up.
1. Which of the following do you need for the experiment?| A．Two cups. | B．Apple juice. |
| C．250 ml water. | D．A teaspoon of baking soda. |
| A．Heat the water. | B．Drink some juice. |
| C．Blow up the balloon. | D．Pull the balloon long. |
| A．To describe an experiment. | B．To introduce a game. |
| C．To produce soft drinks. | D．To save some chemicals. |
3 . A heatwave has hit many countries in Europe, pushing temperatures over 40℃. A heatwave is a long period of unusually hot weather. The heat is expected to continue until the end of July.
The Italian Island of Sardinia reached 46℃ on 18 July. The Italy government has asked people to dress in linen(a thin, light material) and to stay indoors between 10 am and 6 pm. The government has asked people to drink plenty of water but avoid alcohol, fizzy drinks and coffee, which can make you feel thirstier. In Rome, the country’s capital, people aged over 70can go to swimming pools for free to help them keep cool.
Wildfires have broken out in many places. In Greece, which recorded 41℃ on 18 July, fires near the capital, Athens, have destroyed huge areas of forest and thousands of people have been moved to safety. Heatwaves can make fires worse because hot weather dries plants, which fuel the fires.
In the US, temperatures in Death Valley, California, hit 53℃ on 18 July, close to the hottest ever recorded on Earth. On 16 July, the US National Weather Service issued warnings in parts of the country, affecting more than 80 million people.
Despite the high temperatures in many European countries, the UK is not experiencing a heatwave. This is because a different weather pattern has brought rain and lower temperatures to the UK.
The heatwave in Europe is being caused by a weather pattern that has stopped the air from moving very much. That means the hot, dry weather has got stuck and temperatures have kept rising. Earth is also experiencing a natural climate pattern called El Nino(厄尔尼诺), which causes the water in the eastern Pacific Ocean to warm up more than usual. This can lead to hot weather around the world. Temperatures in some parts of Europe were expected to fall on 20 July.
1. What suggestion did the Italian government give to avoid high temperatures?| A．Provide free swimming pools to keep young people cool. |
| B．Wear thick clothes to prevent the invasion of heat. |
| C．Drink enough amounts of coffee to keep the mind clear. |
| D．Don’t go outdoors during high temperature periods. |
| A．The fires were mainly caused by people. |
| B．The heatwaves fueled the spread of wildfires. |
| C．The fires had already killed a thousand people. |
| D．The entire forest has been destroyed into ruins. |
| A．Different weather patterns. | B．Different geographic locations. |
| C．Global El Nino phenomenon. | D．The effect of the Pacific Ocean. |
| A．The hottest city on record in the world has finally emerged. |
| B．The hot weather caused by heatwaves is coming to an end. |
| C．Heatwaves swept across Europe and America except the UK. |
| D．The El Nino phenomenon led to the global high temperatures. |
| A．It’s hot. | B．It’s warm. | C．It’s cold. |
5 . Colors can affect (影响) our feelings. Blue is a calm (冷静的) color. If you are feeling nervous (紧张), you can wear blue clothes or stay in a blue room. Blue is also the color of sadness. When someone says he’s feeling blue, he means he is sad.
White can also make you feel calm. So you can wear white too if you are nervous. And white often means a new beginning.
Green is the color of nature. It can give us more energy when we are feeling tired.
Some colors can make you feel warm. In cold areas, people usually use warm colors in their homes, like orange and yellow. Yellow is also the color of wisdom. Some people prefer this color when they study for exams. For example, they may use yellow school things.
Red is one of the strong colors. It often makes us feel active. But this color can also mean danger. So it is often used in stop signs (停车标志) and lights.
1. Which may be NOT good for you if you are nervous?| A．Wear white clothes. | B．Wear blue clothes. |
| C．Stay in a red room. | D．Stay in a blue room. |
| A．I like blue. | B．I’m feeling white. |
| C．I like white. | D．I’m feeling blue. |
| A．Yellow and blue. | B．Yellow and orange. |
| C．White and green. | D．Blue and white. |
| A．智慧 | B．消极 | C．愉快 | D．正义 |
| A．White can make us feel tired. | B．Red is often used in stop signs. |
| C．Orange can mean danger sometimes. | D．Green symbolizes a new beginning. |
6 . Longing for the most amazing places on the planet? You can do no wrong with these lakes across the globe.
Five Flower Lake
Set in the striking karst landscape of the Jiuzhaigou Valley in Sichuan province, China, Five Flower Lake is extraordinarily clear, with visibility to a depth of 40 metres. Five Flower is one of a series of blue-, green-and sky-colored lakes blocked by rock falls, but it differs from the others as its waters change color, looking sometimes yellow, sometimes green, but usually diamond blue. In winter, Five Flower never freezes; in summer, it never dries up. Local wildlife living in the surrounding mountain forests include the rare giant panda and the golden snub-nose monkey.
Crater Lake
The deep-blue waters of Crater Lake in Oregon, US, fill the outlet of an ancient volcano that collapsed 7,700 years ago. Its strangest occupant is the “Old Man of the Lake”, a nine-metre-tall tree stump(树桩), which has stood upright in the water for more than a century. No rivers or streams enter the lake. Water loss in summer is compensated by winter snow and rain, the entire body of water being replaced every 250 years.
Lake Ohrid
Ancient Lake Ohrid has been around for about five million years and crosses the mountainous border between Macedonia and Albania. It has unique plants and wildlife, including the Ohrid “plashica”, a fish native to the lake, whose scales(鳞片) are used to make Ohrid pearls.
Lake Maggiore
Surrounded on three sides by the Lipontine Alps and touching the plain of Lombardy to the south, Lake Maggiore is Italy’s longest lake. Considered part of the country’s lake district, it is shared with Switzerland. Characterized by a Mediterranean-style climate, temperatures here are mild all year. This has given rise to some of northern Italy’s most wonderful gardens, which appear to float like flower-decked boats on the water.
1. What makes Five Flower Lake different from other lakes?| A．Its agreeable climate. | B．The rare local wildlife. |
| C．Its color-changing waters. | D．The visibility of waters. |
| A．By artificial rain. | B．By snow and rain. |
| C．From nearby streams. | D．From an ancient tree. |
| A．Five Flower Lake. | B．Crater Lake. |
| C．Lake Ohrid. | D．Lake Maggiore. |
7 . What if someone told you about a kind of grass as tall as the tallest trees? A grass as strong as steel? Would you believe that person? You should, for that grass is bamboo (竹子), which has more than 1,000 uses. It is not just a material for making useful products. Young bamboo is eaten, often mixed with other vegetables.
Bamboo grows in many parts of the world. In the USA it grows in many states like Virginia and Florida. Most bamboo, however, is found in wet and warm climates, especially in Asia and on the islands of the South Pacific Ocean.
In most Asian countries, bamboo is nearly as important as rice. This unusual material is used to not only build large buildings but also make water pipes, musical instruments and paper. There are over 1,000 kinds of bamboo. No wonder the lives of nearly half the people on earth would change greatly if there were no longer any bamboo.
1. According to the text, bamboo is actually a kind of .| A．grass | B．steel | C．tree | D．vegetable |
| A．Only in Asia. | B．Only in the USA. |
| C．In wet and warm climates. | D．All over the world. |
| A．Build large buildings. | B．Make water pipes. |
| C．Make musical instruments and paper. | D．All of the above. |
| A．Over 1,000. | B．Over 800. | C．Over 600. | D．Over 400. |
8 . Priest (牧师) had a cat that climbed up a tree in his backyard and then was afraid to come down. The priest persuaded (劝说) and offered warm milk, etc. The kitty would not come down. The tree was not strong enough to climb, so the priest decided that if he tied a rope to his car and drove away so that the tree would bend down, he could then reach up and get the kitty. He did so, checking his progress in the car again and again, then worked out if he went just a little bit further, the tree would be bent enough for him to reach the kitty, But as he moved a little further forward, the rope broke.
The tree went “boing!” and the kitty at once sailed through the air out of sight. The priest felt terrible. He walked all over the neighborhood asking people if they’d seen his kitty. Nobody had seen a lost kitty.
So, he prayed, “God, I just give this kitty to your keeping.” And then he went on about his business.
Several days later he was at the grocery store, meeting one of his church members. He happened to look into her shopping cart and was amazed to see cat food. Before this woman was a cat hater and everyone knew it, so he asked her, “Why are you buying cat food when you hate cats so much?”
She replied ,“You won’t believe this.” and told him how her little girl had been begging her for a cat, but she kept refusing. Then a few days before, the child begged again, so the mom finally told her little girl. “Well, God gives you a cat, you can keep it.” She told the priest, “I watched my child go out in the yard, get on her knees, and ask God for a cat. You won’t believe this, but saw it with my own eyes. A cat suddenly came flying out of the blue sky, with its paws spread out. and landed right in front of her.”
1. The priest drove his car to bend the tree in order to ________.| A．get his kitty down from the tree | B．play with his kitty happily |
| C．offer the kitty some warm milk | D．see if the rope was strong enough |
| A．Because he knew clearly that she didn’t like a cat. |
| B．Because the woman was his church member. |
| C．Because he thought she would live on cat food. |
| D．Because he couldn’t imagine she had her own cat. |
| A．God. | B．Her neighbor. | C．The priest. | D．Her church member. |
| A．A Flying Cat | B．A Lucky Girl | C．God Sent a Cat to a Girl | D．An Unlucky Priest |
| A．Cool. | B．Warm. | C．Cold. |
10 . The number of weather-related disasters has increased by five times over the past 50 years, the latest report by the World Meteorological (气象) Organization (WMO) said on September. However, thanks to improved early warning systems and disaster management, the number of death from these hazards (危险) has been almost three times less.
According to the WMO, from 1970 to 2019, weather, climate and water hazards accounted for 50 percent of all disasters. Among the top 10 hazards that led to the largest loss of human life during this period were droughts, storms, floods and extreme temperatures. However, deaths fell from over 50, 000 in the 1970s to less than 20, 000 in the 2010s.
“Weather, climate and water extremes are increasing and will become more frequent and severe in many parts of the world as a result of climate change,” says WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas.
“That means more heat waves, drought and forest fires such as those we have observed recently in Europe and North America. We have more water vapor in the atmosphere, which is worsening extreme rainfall and deadly flooding. The warming of the oceans has affected the frequency and area of existence of the most intense tropical storms.”
“Economic losses are increasing as exposure increases. But behind the statistics lies a message of hope. Improved multi-hazard early warning systems have led to a significant reduction in deaths. Quite simply, we are better than ever before at saving lives,” Taalas said.
1. What do we know from the first paragraph?| A．Disasters connected with weather have gone up. |
| B．The number of weather-related disasters has decreased. |
| C．The number of deaths from hazards has been increasing. |
| D．Early warning systems have made disasters decline much. |
| A．There will be more extreme weather. |
| B．Extreme rainfall will no longer exist. |
| C．Water vapor in the atmosphere will go down. |
| D．Humans will defeat extreme weather in the end. |
| A．Improved warning systems will save economic losses. |
| B．Economic losses are going down as exposure increases. |
| C．More lives will be saved thanks to early warning systems. |
| D．Improved early warning systems will control extreme weather |
| A．A novel. | B．A brochure. | C．A magazine. | D．A guideline. |
