1 . Human activities are making the globe saltier, specifically in our soils, fresh water and air, according to a study released this week in the journal Nature Reviews Earth & Environment.

Salt pollution isn’t some flashy threat to our existence — like, say, a meteor hitting Earth — but the issue is gravely overlooked and is a “sleeping giant”, said Sujay Kaushal, lead author of the study. Over the past 50 years, salt have increased in streams and rivers as people have begun using and producing more salts. The team found that across the globe, about 2.5 billion acres of soil — an area about the size of the United States — have become saltier.

Most people think of salt as the white specks we put in our food or the salt in the oceans, chemically known as sodium chloride (NaCl). That sodium salt can also be found in detergents (去污剂), other household products and more, but there are many different salts, including calcium, magnesium and other ions used in additional products — and they’re all increasing in places where they don’t normally occur.

Salt is a natural and necessary component of Earth. The compound is brought to the surface slowly over long geological time scales, through natural processes such as weathering of sedimentary (沉积而成的) rocks. When exposed at the surface, the salt can mix with water, be transported into water or go into the air. Living organisms, from plants to people, take up small portions to help regulate daily functions. Excess salt hitches a ride with water molecules, entering soil and the oceans. But human activities have altered this normal salt cycle in recent decades, the team found. Agriculture, mining, construction, water and road treatment, and other industrial activities are increasing the salt in our ground, freshwater systems and air.

Before this study, scientists didn’t really know how much humans were changing salt concentrations around the globe. But the “magnitude to which we have altered one of Earth’s natural cycles is alarming,” said ecologist Bill Hintz, who was not involved in the research. He agreed with the study’s authors that these changes to the salt cycle are an existential threat to freshwater supplies.

1. The underlined word “flashy” in Paragraph 2 can best be replaced by ________.

A．instant

B．serious

C．damaged

D．unsolved

2. What can we infer from Paragraph 3 about salt?

A．People can only have access to sodium salt in daily life.

B．People intend to have a limited insight into salt.

C．Additional products are supposed to be banned.

D．Salts are increasing in the world scale.

3. What’s the normal salt cycle according to paragraph 4?

A．Forming as a compound — weathering of sedimentary rocks — consumed by living organisms

B．Coming into being in Earth naturally — being brought to the surface — combining with water — entering soil and oceans

C．Coming into being in Earth naturally — being transported to water and air — increased by human activities

D．Forming as a compound — removing excessive salt — entering soil and oceans

4. Which of the following words can best describe the study?

A．Inefficient.

B．Unreliable.

C．Brain-washing.

D．Ground-breaking.

2 . 阅读下面材料，在空白处填入适当的内容（1个单词）或括号内单词的正确形式。

Waters may be flowing on the surface of an enormous planet that lies about 120 light-years from Earth, according to new evidence     1     (uncover) by the James Webb Space Telescope.

The investigation with the space-based observatory, one of the most advanced astronomy instruments in operation,     2     (reveal) that the exoplanet (外星球) K2-18b may have some key features of a planet     3     could support bodies of water — and life. Closely orbiting the cool dwarf star K2-18, the exoplanet lies within the star’s habitable, or Goldilocks, zone and is 8.6 times     4     big as Earth. An     5     (analyse) of Webb’s observations found the planet has huge quantities of methane (甲烷) and carbon dioxide in its atmosphere.

The Webb telescope, which can detect infrared (红外) light invisible to the human eye, searched for exactly     6     elements are featured in the planet’s atmosphere. And     7     latest observations of the planet also hint that a very special substance, called dimethyl sulfide (二甲基亚砜), could be     8     (presence) on K2-18b. On Earth, dimethyl sulfide “is only produced by life,” according to NASA. Researchers are not directly suggesting that K2-18b is crawling with alien life. Further research is needed     9     (confirm) the presence of dimethyl sulfide.

And even if scientists confirm the chemical compound’s presence, that doesn’t guarantee life-forms exist there. But this new evidence does expand scientists’ understanding of exoplanets similar     10     K2-18b.

3 . Have you ever noticed that sometimes you may be ill suited or perfect for the same thing?     1     Here are ways weather can affect your mood that you never noticed.

You’re more helpful on sunny days. Sun makes you happy!     2     Therefore, on sunny days, you’re more likely to help those in need than on days filled with clouds and gloom. Next time you want to volunteer, try to pick a sunny day— you’ll be more helpful to the people.

    3     Summer sales, here we come! Get ready to open your wallet if you go out to a mall during a nice, sunny day. Research shows that you are more likely to spend money when it’s sunny. My theory is that the sun makes us feel happier and less stressed about our life (including our financial life) -therefore we spend more money! Thus, try not to go shopping on shiny days if you want to save money.

Cold temperatures impact complex physical tasks.     4     It’s like you don’t want to move. Have you ever tried untying (解开) a knot while your hands were cold? Be careful when trying to perform complex physical tasks in the cold weather— too much time in low temperatures can cause hypothermia (体温过低) !

Lack of sunlight makes you eat more. Bears hibernate (冬眠) while humans just start swallowing everything in sight. Well, bears eat much too, before they go to sleep.     5     Your body needs extra fuel to fight off the cold. Unfortunately, often you don’t actually need the extra food because a lack of sun doesn’t necessarily mean you’re cold.

A．Sunlight makes you spend more money.

B．Sunny days make you feel more tired.

C．The secret lies in distinct weather conditions.

D．Being less stressed leads to a poor life.

E．Happy people tend to be more willing to help others.

F．The cold, dark winter months make it much easier to overeat.

G．When you’re cold, your muscles feel slow and dull.

4 . Whether you call them feral pigs, boar, swine, hogs, or even razorbacks, wild pigs are one of the most damaging invasive species on Earth, and they’re infamous for damaging agriculture and native wildlife.

A big reason they’re so harmful is that they uproot soil at vast scales, like tractors ploughing a field. Our new research, published recently, is the first to calculate the global extent of this and its effects on carbon emissions.

Our findings were horrible. We discovered the total area of soil uprooted by wild pigs is likely the same area as Switzerland. This releases 4.9 million tonnes of carbon dioxide each year the same as one million cars. The majority of these emissions occur in Oceania. A huge portion of Earth’s carbon is stored in soil, so releasing even a small part of this into the atmosphere can have a huge impact on climate change.

It’s estimated that wild pigs destroy more than US$74 million worth of crops and grass each year in Australia, and more than US $270 million in just 12 states in the USA. Wild pigs have also been found to directly threaten 672 vertebrates (脊椎动物) and plant species across 54 different countries. This includes Australian ground frogs, tree frogs and multiple orchid species which are imperiled, as pigs destroy their habitats and hunt them for food.

Their geographic range is expected to expand in the coming decades, suggesting their threats to food security and biodiversity will likely worsen. But here, let’s focus on their contribution to global emissions.

One such study was conducted for three years in hardwood forests of Switzerland. The researchers found wild pigs caused soil carbon emissions to increase by around 23% per year. Similarly, a study in the Jigong Mountains National Nature Reserve in China found soil emissions increased by more than 70% per year in places disturbed by wild pigs.

1. Why are wild pigs unpopular according to the text?

A．For their threat to humans.	B．For their damaging effects.
C．For their consuming too much food.	D．For their bad effects on tractors.

2. What danger do wild pigs pose by uprooting soil?

A．Leading to dry and acid soil.

B．Damaging the source of drinking water.

C．Increasing too much soil carbon emissions.

D．Reducing the area of agricultural land greatly.

3. Which can replace the underlined word “imperiled” in paragraph 4?

A．In pain.

B．In alarm.

C．In chaos.

D．In danger.

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

A．The threat of wild pigs

B．Wild pigs on a global scale

C．A new problem faced by farmers

D．The impact of emissions on climate change

5 . If you’ve ever watched a dog nap, you’ve probably wondered if animals dream. It’s a complicated question. We still don’t know exactly why humans dream. Studying animal dreams is even harder; dogs can’t tell us what made them whine (哀鸣) during a nap. However, a recent study suggests spiders may experience REM-like (类快速眼动) sleep and even visual dreams. It sounds unusual, but it may be true.

Rats recall maze memories

After rats run a maze (迷宫) during the day, they can rerun the same course while asleep,research has shown. When awake, a rat’s hippocampus, a part of the brain responsible for making and storing memories, remembers the neuron (神经元) pattern of navigating the maze. Later when asleep, the brain reproduces the identical pattern, suggesting the rat remembers the maze.

This 2001 finding was one of the first to suggest that animals had complex dreams. Those rat brain studies show that when maze memories occur during sleep, the visual imagery that went along with them is also reactivated, meaning the sleeping rats saw what they had seen in the maze while awake. The same has been found for auditory(听觉) and even emotional areas that reactivate when the rat reruns the maze during REM sleep.

Zebra finches remember songs

Despite being known for their lyrical songs, zebra finches aren’t born singers. The birds must learn by listening, practicing, and, perhaps, by dreaming.

In 2000 researchers learned that neurons in the birds’forebrains fire with a distinct pattern while they sing a song. While the birds sleep, their brains reproduce this same pattern, replicating the song they heard and sang that day, suggesting the birds remember and practice songs in their sleep.

Do dreaming birds relive their waking experiences? Or are singing dreams more like algorithms(算法) running without conscious awareness? Scientists may be getting closer to finding out.

Researcher Mourrain says, “I would not be surprised if actual dreams were found in animals, and I think eventually we’ll be able to show that scientifically. You did something in the daytime,and your brain will replay it, integrate it, and mix it with other experiences. We’re not the only species capable of remembering and learning.”

1. Why is it more difficult to study animal dreams?

A．Animals rarely dream.	B．Animals do not speak.
C．Animals seldom snooze.	D．Animals do not experience REM.

2. What can we say about hippocampus?

A．It makes and stores memories.	B．It remembers the pattern of the maze.
C．It enables rats to have complex dreams.	D．It helps sleeping rats to see the maze clearly.

3. Which of the following would Mourrain most probably agree with?

A．What we found in animals now are not actual dreams.

B．The science today is unable to prove that animals do dream.

C．The fact that animals dream will sooner or later be confirmed.

D．All animals in the world have the ability to remember and learn.

4. What might be the reason that scientists conduct this kind of research?

A．They want to find out the relationship between sleep and memory.

B．They hope to prove that humans are the only species that dream.

C．They try to understand animals’“dreams”and their influence on memory.

D．They attempt to improve the learning ability of these animals.

6 . 假如你是学校环保社(Environment Protection Club)社长李华，近期，你想在学校开展一次“减塑(Less Plastic)”社团活动，倡议大家保护环境，请写一篇发言稿。内容包括：
1. 大量使用塑料的危害；
2. 倡议减塑环保。
注意：
1. 词数100左右;
2. 可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯；
3. 开头语已写好，不计入总词数。
Dear fellow students,
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

7 . 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。

Thirteen Chinese scientists successfully reached the peak of Mount Qomolangma on May 23rd in Southwest China’s Tibet Autonomous Region, with the world’s highest automatic meteorological station successfully     1     (improve). The scientists reached the peak at around 12:30 p.m. on May 23rd,     2     was the second time a Chinese expedition to Mount Qomolangma reached an altitude above 8,000 meters since 2022.

Recently, several leading technologies     3     (apply) in China’s Peak Mission expedition by a total of 170 scientists who     4     (be) conducting research on water, ecology and other activities during the 2023 expedition to Mount Qomolangma as part of the second comprehensive     5     (science) expedition to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

At 3 a.m on May 23rd, a group of 13 scientists     6     (form) the expedition team set off from the 8,300-meter high camp at Mount Qomolangma, known as Mount Everest in the West. After     7     8-hour climb, they reached the world’s highest automatic weather observation station at 8,830 meters above sea level around 11 a.m. The team secured fixed steel ropes, replaced batteries, installed a wind speed     8     direction sensor at the station. After     9     (approximate) one hour of work, the scientists successfully completed the maintenance and upgrade of the automatic weather station.

Currently, automated weather     10     (station) at 7,790 meters and 8,300 meters on Mount Qomolangma have completed their technical upgrades.

8 . According to a study conducted by UK scientists, there is something known as “plant blindness”. This leads to the common misconception that plants seem to be “less alive” as compared to animals.

Plant blindness was not proven to be what people were born with; rather, the severely reduced contact with nature in urbanized societies appeared to be the problem’s root. According to the research, a decline in relevant prior (先前的) experience with plants causes the cycle of inattention.

Urban civilizations display well-documented plant blindness. Kids are found to frequently think of plants as less superior to animals, especially when they’re young, and struggle to recognize a wide variety of species. Both teachers and students reported having different levels of plant knowledge, especially primary teachers without a science degree. Older people are more knowledgeable about plants because they are more likely to appreciate outdoor activities.

35 studies concluded that urbanization or modernization had a detrimental effect on plant knowledge. The usefulness of plant gathering was decreased by a greater dependency on urban services and a cash economy. The amount of time available to spend outdoors was reduced by work and school. These factors also decreased family time, which had a negative effect on verbally passing down plant knowledge to younger and older relatives.

Stagg said that instead of a cognitive (认知的) barrier to the visual perception of plants, people who live in highly industrialized countries have a lack of plant attention caused by a decline in relevant exposure to plants.

Stagg pointed out to break the cycle of plant awareness, people must be exposed to biodiverse environments and the key is to show that there are some direct advantages of plants to people as opposed to indirect advantages stemming from their use in industry or advantages to distant, traditional societies. Experiences with edible and practical plants in local environments can help with this. Younger generations’ level of botanical knowledge is directly correlated with how useful they think this knowledge is to them.

1. What causes “plant blindness”?

A．The plants have little attraction.	B．People lack contact with plants.
C．The plants have inactive characters.	D．People live an unhealthy lifestyle.

2. Who are most likely to have “plant blindness”?

A．Teenagers interested in animals.	B．Experts devoted to agriculture.
C．Students majoring in biology.	D．Farmers working in the field.

3. What does the underlined word “detrimental” in paragraph 4 probably mean?

A．Encouraging.

B．Harmful.

C．Joyful.

D．Temporary.

4. Which statement might Stagg agree with?

A．“Plant blindness” can be treated or reduced.

B．“Plant blindness” is bad for social development.

C．“Plant blindness” is something people are born with.

D．“Plant blindness” happens most in less developed countries.

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

One sunny Saturday morning, I got ready for a hike with my classmates. I was so excited about it since it was my first time to go hiking. I ate a light breakfast just a few slices of bread and an egg. After that I grabbed my backpack and hurriedly ran out of my house and then met my classmates at the school gate. At that time I didn’t think that there would be a terrible disaster ahead.

The jungle (丛林) that we are going to was far from our area. Its name was Salymbia Jungle. The drive was 3 hours long but it was not a dull ride as we were all eager about the hike and we bad each other’s company. We appointed a guide and his name was Thomas. He said that he had hiked in the Salymbia Jungle lots of times, and he was familiar with the pathways. When we arrived, Thomas allowed us to begin. There were a wide variety of plants which I had never seen before. The smell of the jungle was so earthy. All of us were amazed by the beauty of the scenery and the sound of the creatures.

After a while we were walking and then I looked at my wrist (手腕) to check the time but then I realized my watch had fallen off. Then I walked back without telling anyone. I did not worry about getting lost since there were other persons behind and I thought I would have been able to catch up with my classmates. I went back searching the pathway and I lost track of time and lost sight of my classmates. I immediately realized that I was alone.

After I realized I was lost, the first thing I did was to check my phone to see how far away I was from my companions. However, I was having no luck because there was no network in my phone, which made my phone practically useless.

Paragraph 1: The sky started to become darker.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Paragraph 2: As I was falling asleep, I heard a human voice.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

10 . In 2016, Yu Yongguang, a teacher at the Jiangsu University, saw a Yangtze finless porpoise (江豚) for the first time in a newspaper. He found himself _________ by the “smile” of the porpoise. Two months later, Yu set up an on-campus association (协会) to protect the species in _________. At first, there were only seven members.

In recent years, his efforts have _________, and the association now has about 750 members. _________, thanks to close partnership with universities, government and non-profit organizations, the association has succeeded in _________ about 8,000 volunteers to contribute to the cute species’ _________.

With the development of the association, its work has gone far beyond _________ simple publicity activities. Under Yu’s leadership, his team members _________ the country’s first popular science book about the finless porpoise. They have also drew up various designs for a science popularization curriculum (科普课程) _________ different groups of people.

In addition, he has also __________ his team to the major habitats of the porpoise to conduct scientific study and environmental recording. Based on this work, the team has written a series of reports that include __________ suggestions on improving the habitat protection work. At present, the number of Yangtze finless porpoises is growing __________ and stands at around 1,000.

Yu said he never imagined that the small association he __________ would unite so many forces to protect the animals. He believes that the __________ of different parts of society together will see the number of finless porpoises continue to __________, and will also help the environment along the Yangtze River to improve continually.

1.

A．attacked

B．frightened

C．attracted

D．cheated

2.

A．safety

B．use

C．silence

D．danger

3.

A．taken on

B．paid off

C．broken down

D．showed up

4.

A．Also

B．Therefore

C．Otherwise

D．However

5.

A．ordering

B．promising

C．encouraging

D．warning

6.

A．performance

B．protection

C．action

D．popularity

7.

A．organizing

B．announcing

C．shortening

D．canceling

8.

A．lost

B．published

C．bought

D．read

9.

A．observing

B．fooling

C．shaping

D．targeting

10.

A．forced

B．limited

C．led

D．compared

11.

A．research-based

B．narrow-minded

C．plant-related

D．imagination-focused

12.

A．strangely

B．terribly

C．smoothly

D．dangerously

13.

A．joined

B．trusted

C．missed

D．established

14.

A．efforts

B．dreams

C．opinions

D．demands

15.

A．pass

B．rise

C．drop

D．stay