1 . Have you noticed how evenings cool off more in rural areas than they do in cities? Urban areas also tend to get hotter during the day than any nearby areas with lots of greenery.
It’s mainly caused by the difference in materials that cover the ground in urban areas and the countryside. In the country, evaporation(蒸发)of water from soil and the leaves of plants helps to cool the air.
Dark colours are another problem. Dark objects absorb all wavelengths of light, making the temperature increase more noticeably. In contrast, white objects reflect all wavelengths of light energy.
But cities don’t have to be so hot. Some cities have lightened their streets. This is done by covering black asphalt streets, parking lots, and dark roofs with a more reflective gray coating.
Having more green spaces also helps. Plants serve as a natural air conditioner. They catch heat, release vapour(蒸汽)into the air, and take away heat, contributing to cooler, fresher cities.
| A．Cities also produce more heat than suburban areas. |
| B．The higher the temperature, the shorter the wavelength. |
| C．This phenomenon is known as the urban heat-island effect. |
| D．So it will not be transformed into heat which makes the air hot. |
| E．Changes in building materials have a minimal effect on city temperatures. |
| F．Much of the soil in cities, by contrast, has been covered with roads and buildings. |
| G．These changes can decrease air temperatures dramatically, especially in summer. |
2 . The term “seal” is often used to refer to both seals and sea lions, but there are several characteristics that set seals and sea lions apart.
Seals and sea lions are both in the order Carnivora and suborder Pinnipedia, thus they are called “pinnipeds.” Pinnipeds are mammals that are well-adapted for swimming. They usually have a streamlined barrel shape (桶形) and four flippers at the end of each limb (四肢). They also give birth to live young and nurse their young. Pinnipeds are protected by a thick layer of fat under their skin and fur to keep them warm in water. There are three families of pinnipeds: the Phocidae, the earless or true seals; the Otariidae, the eared seals, and the Odobenidae, the walruses.
Characteristics of Phocidae (Earless or True Seals)
Earless seals have no visible ear flaps, although they still have ears, which may be visible as a dark spot or small hole on the side of their head.
“True” seals:
Have no external ear flaps.
Swim with their hind flippers. Their hind flippers always face backward and are furred.
Have front flippers that are short, furry and thick in appearance.
Can be found in both marine and freshwater environments.
Characteristics of Otariidae (Eared Seals, Including Fur Seals and Sea Lions)
One of the most noticeable features of eared seals is their ears, but they also move around differently than true seals.
Eared seals:
Have external ear flaps.
Are only found in marine environments.
Swim with their front flippers. Unlike earless seals, their hind flippers can turn forward, and they are able to walk, and even run, on their flippers. The “seals” you may see performing at marine parks are often sea lions.
May gather in larger groups than true seals. Sea lions are much more vocal than true seals, and make a variety of loud, barking noises.
Characteristics of Walruses
Wondering about walruses, and how they differ from seals and sea lions? Walruses are pinnipeds, but they are in the family, Odobenidae. One obvious difference between walruses, seals and sea lions is that walruses are the only pinnipeds with tusks—a pair of long pointed teeth. These tusks are present in both males and females.
Other than tusks, walruses have some similarities to both seals and sea lions. Like true seals, walruses don’t have visible ear flaps. But, like eared seals, walruses can walk on their flippers by rotating their hind flippers under their body.
1. According to the passage, which of the following statements about pinnipeds is true?| A．Pinnipeds are good swimmers. |
| B．Pinnipeds are afraid of cold weather. |
| C．Pinnipeds are of the Phocidae family. |
| D．Seals and sea lions are pinnipeds, while walruses are not. |
| A．the sea lion cannot play ball | B．the true seal cannot hear well |
| C．the sea lion doesn’t have ear flaps | D．the true seal can’t walk with hind flippers |
A． | B． |
C． | D． |
3 . On a cold winter night, Andrew, a 22-year-old Canadian, suffered a heart attack and collapsed to the floor, unconscious.
Koda
The officer quickly realized that something was
Andrew said that he had
The story of Koda’s
| A．Besides | B．However | C．Therefore | D．Otherwise |
| A．panic | B．bite | C．care | D．escape |
| A．stored | B．remembered | C．dialed | D．chose |
| A．silence | B．sighs | C．screams | D．barks |
| A．negotiation | B．investigation | C．experiment | D．survey |
| A．pretending | B．refusing | C．trying | D．deciding |
| A．missing | B．different | C．wrong | D．strange |
| A．lying | B．sitting | C．resting | D．struggling |
| A．advice | B．information | C．support | D．treatment |
| A．trained | B．persuaded | C．allowed | D．warned |
| A．gradually | B．actually | C．occasionally | D．immediately |
| A．adventurous | B．selfless | C．considerate | D．heroic |
| A．honesty | B．creativity | C．patience | D．intelligence |
| A．reminder | B．explanation | C．test | D．prediction |
| A．spared | B．changed | C．saved | D．created |
As an ancient story goes, there was a family in China’s Shanxi Province that could hear someone crying in their courtyard every night. They followed the sound,
Ginseng has a
Ginseng likes a cool and moist environment and prefers loose sandy soil. In China, it grows mainly in
“Judy, hurry up! Let’s go to the beach!” That was a familiar morning call from my older brother, Sirin. Hearing that, I would spring up quickly and we would set off on our journey. Raised by our grandparents in Savanna, we experienced our happiest moments there. Nestled between the mountains and the sea, with its lush green trees, crystal-like ocean, and clear blue sky, Savanna was like a small village from a fairy tale.
Sirin and I often enjoyed the gentle sea breeze as we explored the breathtaking coast, with the endless, open water beside us and the vast, clear sky overhead. We felt a sense of freedom to wander the sandy beach or experience the excitement of sailing out to sea, delighting in the awe-inspiring beauty of nature’s wonders. When we grew tired, leisurely walking on the soft, warm sands to collect unique, fascinating seashells brought us a different kind of peaceful joy. The friendly, warmhearted villagers treated us like family, often sharing their freshly-caught seafood with us.
Three years later, we were taken away from the village to receive a better education by our parents. Occupied with our study, we rarely visited our beloved grandparents, only calling them occasionally. We gradually adapted to the fast-paced city life and found it more efficient and convenient. Whenever we had an appetite for seafood, our dad would simply order it through his phone, and it would be delivered to our doorstep within minutes. In addition to seafood, we could order anything our hearts desired, no matter how late it was. What we loved most was the convenience of not needing to wash the dishes after eating, as they were all disposable, designed for single use.
However, deep within us, we sometimes longed for the simple pleasures of village life. We were told by our grandparents that more and more tourists flooded into the village, which strengthened our desire to return. So, when the eagerly-awaited summer vacation arrived this year, we finally made our dream trip back to our childhood paradise. After greeting our grandparents with hugs and smiles, we eagerly headed towards the sun-kissed seaside to relive our cherished memories.
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。
Paragraph 1: However, what we saw shocked us.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Paragraph 2: Hearing Grandfather’s words, we couldn’t wait to do something to tackle the pollution.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Sam was a junior high school student. He lived in a community in Charlotte and usually had little exposure to country life. So much of what he knew about plants came from text-books. Sam was a kind-hearted person. He longed for a chance to explore nature and he wanted to do his part to beautify the world.
Finally, the opportunity came. On Arbor Day (植树节), his class organized a trip to a local village to plant trees. Sam was excited about it and couldn’t wait to tell his mom the good news. So the next day, Sam and his mom went to buy some tools for planting trees, including a shovel(铲), a bucket, gloves and so on.
On the day of the event, Sam and his classmates arrived early at the starting point. It was a beautiful day and everyone looked particularly happy. With the tools in hand, Sam got into the bus with everyone else and headed off to their destination.
As soon as they reached the village, all the students were divided into three teams by their teacher. One team was responsible for planting the trees, one team for shovelling the soil and one team for watering the trees. At the teacher’s command, everyone started to do their job.
However, it was the first time that many of the students had taken part in planting trees, so they had no idea about how to start. Of course, Sam was one of them. Fortunately, their teacher was a middle-aged man from the countryside who had some knowledge of planting trees. In order to set an example to the students, the teacher started to plant trees himself. After watching the teacher plant the trees, everyone also became busy. Before long, they planted hundreds of trees. Sam watched very carefully, not wanting to miss any of the details. Finally, Sam learned how to plant trees by himself and felt happy.
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。
A few days later, a storm damaged some young trees in the community.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________The neighbours praised Sam for what he had done.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________7 . There has been a very serious decline 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.
Conservation measures will have to be put in place if these deep-sea fish are to survive. Research on five such species shows that numbers have declined by between 87 percent and 98 percent.
The problem is emphasized 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.
The damage done by overfishing goes beyond the sea environment. Millions of people make a living in the fishing industry.
| A．Billions of people rely on fish for protein. |
| B．Many people now choose not to eat deep-sea fish. |
| C．Unfortunately, their reproduction rate is very low. |
| D．This puts them in the category of “critically endangered”. |
| E．None of these facts has been taken into account by the fishing industry. |
| F．Overfishing is a major cause of decline in populations of ocean wildlife. |
| G．This has resulted in a sharp decline in the numbers of many of the species caught. |
8 . For years, David James, who studies insects at Washington State University, had wanted to examine the migration (迁徙)patterns of West Coast monarch butterflies (黑脉金斑蝶). The route the butterflies travel has been hardly known because the populations are too small to follow. For every 200 monarchs tagged (打标签)by a researcher, only one is usually recovered at the end of its trip, James says, and finding even 200 in the wild to tag is unlikely. Knowing the route is vital to conservation efforts, but James had no way to figure it out- until he got a phone call from Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla.
The prison was looking for new activities to improve the mental health of those serving long-term sentences. So James began working with prisoners to raise monarchs through the whole process of their transformation. The adult insects were then tagged and released from the prison. Over five years, nearly 10, 000 monarchs flew from the facility. Elsewhere in Washington, Oregon and Idaho, researchers released another few thousand.
The tags included email addresses, and soon after the first butterflies took off, James started receiving messages from people who had spotted them. The butterflies, the reports confirmed, wintered in coastal California. Twelve of them landed at Lighthouse Field State Beach in Santa Cruz. Several more headed to Bolinas and Morro Bay.
The work helps researchers identify ideal places to plant milkweed and other vegetation that are important to the life cycle of West Coast monarch butterflies. It also brought out the gentler side of some of the prisoners. “They were very worried that they were going to harm the butterflies, ”James says. Watching the monarch change their form also touched the men. “This butterfly changed, ” James recalls prisoners telling him, “and maybe we can too. ”
1. What was hard for David to do in his study?| A．Gain financial support. | B．Hire qualified workers. |
| C．Build a new laboratory. | D．Find enough monarchs. |
| A．To guarantee their safety. |
| B．To enable them to fly longer distances. |
| C．To track their travel routes. |
| D．To distinguish them from other species. |
| A．The patience the butterflies showed. |
| B．The hardship the butterflies underwent. |
| C．The transformation of the butterflies. |
| D．The devotion of James to the butterflies. |
| A．The impact of the research. |
| B．The findings of James’ study. |
| C．The release of the prisoners. |
| D．The life cycle of the butterflies. |
I must admit, I haven’t always liked animals. In fact, I distrusted them greatly while growing up, and I still fear the ones I don’t know personally. What set my beliefs in stone was being attacked—not once but many times, including the summer after second grade when I was bitten by a rabbit. Then, when I was nine and riding my dirt bike down the road, a large dog charged me and tried to bite my ankle. After all those negative experiences, there was one thing I knew for sure: All creatures, great and small, were no friends of mine.
After college in California, I returned to live the single life in Las Vega. Then I met Lisa. In no time at all, we fell in love, married and moved into a new house. Despite my avoidance of animals, Lisa had a dog called Bailey. Bailey didn’t like me, but he tolerated my existence once he realized I wasn’t going anywhere.
Things changed as spring came. We welcomed a new member of our family: our son Evan. One evening Evan grabbed hold of the dog’s tail. The irritated dog paused and turned to look at his stuck tail but waited patiently until being released. Still the stories I’d heard of animals attacking babies worries me.
Then my worst fear occurred. I sat on the couch (沙发) reading after a long day while my wife worked at the dining-room table paying the bills. I saw Evan crawl across the family-room carpet as he made his way behind the couch. One minute, all was quiet and then Bailey entered the room and headed to where Evan had crawled. I nearly jumped out of my skin when I heard the dog start a fearful barking behind me.
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。
Throwing the book away, I rushed around the couch with great fear.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Having witnessed our dog killing a scorpion (蝎子) and saving my son, I was speechless.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Pam Bales left her car and stepped onto the snow-covered Jewell Trail. She planned a six-hour hike through New Hampshire’s Mount Washington State Park. The hike up the lower part of Jewell was pleasant. At 8:30 am, still below the tree line, she took the first in a series of on-the-trail selfies.
Less than an hour later, she took another photo, after she’d climbed into colder air and deeper snows. She made her way across the snow-covered ridge toward Mount Washington. Then she noticed something: a single set of footprints in the snow ahead of her. She’d been following faint tracks all day and hadn’t given them much thought, because so many people climb Jewell Trail. But these, she realized, had been made by a pair of trainers, not suitable for hiking on snow.
By 11 am, Bales was getting cold and decided to abandon her plan. The only thing keeping Bales on Gulfside Trail was the trainer tracks in the sonw. As she fought the wind and heavy sleet (雨夹雪), the tracks made a hard left-hand turn off the trail.
Now she alarmed. She was sure the hiker could get through in the ow visibility and was heading straight toward the challenging trails of the Great Gulf Wilderness. Bales stood there, stunned. The temperature and clouds were in a race to find their lowest point, and darkness was mere hours away. She turned to the left and called out, “Hello!” into the frozen fog.
Nothing. She called out again: “Is anybody out there? Do you need help?”
The strong westerly winds carried her voice away. She blew into her rescue whistle. For a fleeting moment she thought she heard someone reply, but it was just the wind playing games with her mind. She stood listening, then turned and walked cautiously in the direction of the single set of tracks. Bales followed the tracks cautiously for 20 to 30 meters. She rounded a slight corner and saw a man sitting motionless.
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。
When she approached him and said hello, he did not react.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
After waking the man up, Bales recognized that they had to get out of there soon.
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