1 . The old 1986 truck was a gift from his grandfather. It worked, but it was large and inconvenient. So it was not an ideal vehicle for Ian Cheney’s ________ inner-city neighborhood in New York. Many New Yorkers would look at the truck and think of a rubbish dump. Ian Cheney looked at his grandfather’s truck and thought of a (n) ________.

As in other large cities, there are not many places to grow food in New York. Yet Cheney wanted a vegetable garden. Many urban farmers in New York have found ________ ways to grow vegetables. There are rooftop gardens high above the city. There are community gardens in old parking lots. There is even a (n) ________ garden in the Hudson River. Cheney, however, didn’t ________ any of these. So the old truck was a (n) ________ solution. The back of the truck provided him with the ________ he needed. “Since I don’t have a rooftop to grow any food,” Cheney explains. “It seemed like the logical thing to do.”

So Cheney ________ to work. First, he drilled holes in the truck bed for drainage—allowing water to pass through the bed. Then he laid down a recycled plastic mat. The soil came next. He made sure that everything was organic. Cheney ________ organic because he wanted to grow vegetables without chemicals. Then he planted lettuce, herbs, spinach, and tomatoes. Finally, he watered and waited.

When the food was ready to pick, Cheney drove the truck from one urban neighborhood to another. He ________some of the vegetables. He sold the rest to friends and neighbors. Everywhere he parked, passersby stopped and talked about the beautiful vegetable garden in the back of the truck.

Cheney is ________ about food. He strongly believes that people are better off eating more local food, because it reduces economic and environmental ________. There is also the question of nutrition. Less nutritional benefits of vegetables ________ over time. So eating food within a few days of harvesting is healthier for you.

Cheney knows that his truck cannot solve the problem of the lack of fresh food in all neighborhoods. Yet, like rooftop gardens, it could be part of the solution. Cheney continues to plant his truck and drive it around New York neighborhoods. He hopes that fresh and healthy food can be ________ in more places, including inner-city areas. As Cheney says, “If we can grow food in the back of a 1986 Dodge pickup, we can ________ find better ways to grow more fresh produce.”

1.

A．crowded

B．plain

C．deserted

D．breathtaking

2.

A．house

B．square

C．farm

D．bank

3.

A．creative

B．uniform

C．regular

D．ugly

4.

A．floating

B．emerging

C．rising

D．remaining

5.

A．have attachment to

B．make commitments to

C．have access to

D．make contributions to

6.

A．difficult

B．practical

C．limited

D．common

7.

A．tool

B．space

C．information

D．material

8.

A．set up

B．set off

C．set aside

D．set out

9.

A．recognized

B．measured

C．commercialized

D．preferred

10.

A．gave away

B．gave up

C．gave back

D．gave in

11.

A．curious

B．anxious

C．optimistic

D．passionate

12.

A．consumption

B．costs

C．advantages

D．significance

13.

A．change

B．decrease

C．remain

D．adapt

14.

A．acceptable

B．reasonable

C．popular

D．available

15.

A．logically

B．vaguely

C．definitely

D．randomly

2 . EARTH WEEK—A diary of the planet

Storms

Several more rounds of fierce storms, tornadoes and floods struck many parts of the American Midwest and Northeast as bad weather continued across the US for a second month.

Monsoon Storms

A south-west monsoon has caused great damage in parts of SriLanka. Government meteorologists said that unexpected monsoonal winds blew directly across the country from the southern part of the earth at about 100km/h, producing several rounds of stormy weather. Nearly 250 houses in the capital Colombo were damaged.

Mt Etna Erupts

Sicily Mount Etna volcano erupted shortly after midnight on July 1, shooting “bombs” of lave (岩浆) on the eastern side of the mountain. The 30-minute eruption could be seen for several miles but did not threaten any nearby villages.

Hurricane

Hurricane Blas lost strength as it moved over cooler waters in the Pacific Ocean to the west of Mexico. Blas formed off southwest Mexico during the last week, but the outer part of the storm swept western Michoacan State, killing four people when their wood and cardboard home fell down.

Monkey Repellent

After years of unsuccessful attempts to keep crop-eating monkeys out of Japanese fields, a Tokyo research team believes that it may have finally found a way to prevent the damage caused by the monkeys. Animal ruin of crops were successfully prevented by shooting chili powder into the air, irritating the eyes and noses of monkeys that passed in front of carefully placed warning. “We’ve tried all kinds of preventive measures, but the monkeys are bright enough to outsmart the tricks,” said Toshiaki Wada, Director of the Tokyo Forestry Experiment Station in western Tokyo.

1. The monsoon in Sri Lanka ________.

A．was of average strength	B．destroyed more property than previous monsoons
C．was rare for that time of the year	D．affected only the outer areas of the nation

2. Toshiaki Wada, director of the Tokyo Forestry Experiment Station, would describe the monkeys as ________.

A．happy

B．clever

C．harmless

D．lovable

3. The information in the “EARTH WEEK” diary ________.

A．tells people future weather patterns	B．gives advice on dealing with monsoons
C．shows that weather can change unexpectedly	D．shows the effects that storms have on animals

3 . Directions: After reading the passage below, fill in the blanks to make the passage coherent and grammatically correct. For the blanks with a given word, fill in each blank with the proper form of the given word; for the other blanks, use one word that best fits each blank.

For ages word has been going around that the dog is man’s best friend. I agree. A dog can be handy as a night watchman around the house, as a pointer on a hunting trip, as a guardian and playmate for the children. But I think that having a dog for a pet is so expensive and annoying that I can do     1     such a friend.

Providing for the dog’s needs is so expensive that the animal should be an income tax deduction. There’s the medical bill for shots to keep the animal healthy. Unless it’s kept in the house 24 hours a day, a female must be given “preventive maintenance,” a ten-to twenty-dollar investment. Otherwise,     2     you know it, you’ll have more “income tax deductions” in your family. And dogs have to eat. Don’t think you can buy a case of Ken-L-Ration and be done with it. A dog can be as particular about food as a French expert. To feed even a Chihuahua, a very small Mexican dog, you’ll spend three to five dollars     3     week. If you own a big dog, you need a large dog-house. They’re expensive. A carpenter will build a luxurious model for about seventy-five dollars. For about thirty dollars’ worth of materials, a weekend’s work, and a smashed thumb, you can build a simple one     4     . And these are only the major costs.

A dog is so annoying that no one in his right mind would want to own one.     5     (consider) the dog owner blessed with a dog that fetches slippers, rubber toys, newspapers. Have you eased your bare feet into slippers bitten by dogs, seen a living room destroyed by a toy boxer, tried to read a newspaper chewed to wet pieces by an obedient Boston bull? And dogs make noise. Some huge dogs bark all night. But you aren’t the only one     6     (endure) sleepless nights; your neighbors let you know they didn’t sleep either. Policemen are frequent visitors to dog owners’ homes. They inquire about holes     7     (report) dug in neighbors’ flower beds, prize cats injured and bleeding, and pet chickens and ducks sent to their reward. Suspect: your dog! You deny everything, of course. Rex, you assure the officers, was asleep by the door. But you secretly suspect him, because you don’t really know where Rex was all week. And you remember     8     (wonder) why feathers were floating in his water bowl yesterday. Dogs are annoying. Neither a fire-breathing mother-in-law nor a talkative wife will prove more annoying to a man than a dog.

Dog lovers will, of course, claim my argument one-sided, even exaggerated. They might consider me as cruel as the Russians,     9     possibly attempting to solve their own canine crisis — shot Fido into orbit. But the fact remains: if our     10     (good) friends caused us the expense and annoyance our dog does, we’d soon encourage them to become astronauts.

5 . In recent years, massive wildfires have destroyed landscapes and endangered people and animals in the US, Australia and Greece. These disasters have led to scores of deaths, and there is a growing scientific agreement that destructive wildfires will become more frequent as the planet continues to warm.

The statistics show that casualties, as well as the area of land burned, around the world are increasing year by year. That prompted Kamilaris and his colleagues to build a mobile app that provides personalised evacuation (撤离) routes to anyone caught in the path of a wildfire.

The app connects over mobile networks to a web server running a fire simulation (模拟) program, which uses publicly available data on geography, weather and vegetation type to predict the spread of fires at 15-minute intervals.

A fire management tool similar to those already in use lets local fire departments quickly tag when and where a fire starts, which is then used to generate real-time simulations. The app then takes the GPS location of each user to work out potential routes, selecting the best by weighing up how quickly each route gets them to safety against how close it takes them to the fire’s path.

The best option is then displayed either as turn-by-turn directions or as a route overlaid on a map of the area similar to those used by popular maps apps.

In a small pilot program at the Athalassa National Forest Park in Cyprus, all 17 people who took part successfully escaped a simulated fire. In questionnaires they answered after the trial, the participants said the app was easy to use and that they would use it in a real wildfire.

But Ed Galea, a fire safety expert, worries that the route-planning algorithm (运算法则 ) in the study is too simple to deal with the complexities of a real-world evacuation, such as varying travel speeds or potential congestion on escape routes.

And while fire and evacuation models can help experts plan or respond to emergencies, he thinks even state-of-the-art systems have limitations that currently make them unsafe in the hands of untrained people.

“That is not to say that the goal of having a personalised wildfire evacuation guidance system is not achievable” he says. “Just not today.”

Kamilaris admits the app still needs work and says the researchers plan to add features, like the ability to tailor travel speed and monitor users to prevent congestion, before testing again in more challenging situations.

1. What is the purpose of the first paragraph?

A．To present the central topic of global warming.

B．To introduce the background for inventing the app.

C．To raise a serious problem that will be solved later.

D．To arouse the readers’ interest in the newly-invented app.

2. Which of the following is true about the new app?

A．It has the feature of monitoring the user’s movement.

B．It is not user-friendly, especially for those untrained.

C．It provides updates about the fire every 15 minutes.

D．It has access to the fire department’s database.

3. One limitation of the new app is that________.

A．the route-planning algorithm used is not accurate

B．the escape route is too complex to follow

C．it may fall into the hands of bad people

D．it can’t predict the real-time congestion

4. With regard to a personalized wildfire evacuation guidance system, both Ed Galea and Kamilaris will agree probably that________.

A．its necessity is not to be questioned

B．its biggest obstacle is privacy protection

C．it will be commercialized soon

D．its achievement is almost impossible

6 . Directions: After reading the passage below, fill in the blanks to make the passage coherent and grammatically correct. For the blanks with a given word. fill in each blank with the proper form of the given word; for the other blanks, use one word that best fits each blank.

Using renewables seems to cut carbon more than nuclear. Nations that embraced renewable forms of energy have significantly cut their carbon emissions, but     1     pursuing nuclear power have failed to do so, researchers have found.

Nuclear and renewables are seen as two key ways for governments to decarbonize(去碳), but the question of   whether one is more effective for dealing with climate change     2     (not address) fully. With several countries on the brink of deciding whether    3     (back) new nuclear power plants to meet their carbon targets, the answer to this question matters

To find out, Benjamin Sovacool at the University of Sussex and his colleagues looked at carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and GDP over 25 years. They found that in 117 countries that had been using renewables, CO2 emissions per capita(人均地)dropped from 0.69 tonnes(公吨)on average between 1990 and 2004 to 0.61 tonnes between 2000 and 2014 and     4     these latter figures included a further six countries.

During the same periods, however, the 30 countries that had been using nuclear power largely stayed flat, shifting from an average 0.52 tonnes of Co2 emissions per capita to 0.51. The two groups of countries overlap because some fall into both. Renewables included wind, solar, hydroelectric, and biomass energy. “If you’re focusing on    5     we can do to reduce emissions in the next 15 years,     6     (pursue) renewables instead of nuclear,” says Sovacool.

The reason    7     the results is not clear — the analysis found a connection, not a causation—but Sovacool has ideas. Nuclear power is restricted due to agreements     8     (limit) the spread of nuclear weapons     9     material from reactors (核反应堆) can be used to make bombs. Renewables are not, enabling more countries to learn from one another, such as Germany benefiting from Chinese economies of scale on solar. Other reasons for this    10     be that renewables are cheaper and quicker to build and more socially acceptable, says Sovacool.

7 .

A．Bring flowers.	B．Take a pot plant.
C．Buy postcards.	D．Send fruits.

8 . All About Qatar

Location: Qatar is part of Asia and is in the Middle East.

It is in the northern hemisphere.

It is a peninsula (a strip of land sticking out into the ocean) surrounded by the Gulf. It has a land border in the south to Saudi Arabia.

Capital City: Doha

Official Language: Arabic. English is also widely spoken.

Currency: Qatari Riyal

Government: Qatar is an absolute monarchy. which means there is only one leader who is called an Emir. The Emir has the final say in all matters to do with governing the country.

Religion: Most Qataris are Muslim.

Flag: The flag of Qatar is maroon and white with a jagged line in between the two colours.

Climate: Qatar is warm all year round and gets very hot in summer. Temperatures can reach 50 degrees centigrade! Hardly any rain falls at all.

Sandstorms are common in Qatar.

Physical Features: Qatar is approximately 100 miles long from north to south and 50 miles from east to west. The land of Qatar is mostly barren, low plains which are covered in sandy desert.

Wildlife: There is hardly any vegetation in Qatar apart from desert shrubs and grasses. In the north there are some farming areas which produce crops including dates, tomatoes and melons. Animals like goats and camels are raised too.

·The most popular sport in Qatar is football and the country has many beautiful football stadiums.

·Qatar is the host for the 2022 FIFA football World Cup.

·Qatari cuisine uses lots of fresh fish, rice and spices.

·Coffee is a very popular drink in Qatar.

·Qatar is a wealthy country due to the large deposits of oil underneath the land and natural gas (which is mostly mined off-shore).

1. The underlined word “barren” probably means “______”.

A．sandy

B．poor

C．fertile

D．rich

2. Which of the following is true according to the passage?

A．Powerful as the Emir is, there is still something he can’t decided.

B．There is hardly any animal due to the lack of vegetation.

C．It is an island with border to Asia.

D．In Qatar, people communicate in Arabic and English.

3. Where does the passage most probably come from?

A．A travel review.	B．A tour instruction.
C．A newspaper.	D．An official introduction

9 .

A．The lecture.

B．The heat.

C．The workload.

D．The air quality.