1 . European Union scientists said on Wednesday that 2023 would be the warmest year on record. The average world temperature for the first 11 months of the year hit the highest level on record, 1.46 degrees Celsius above the 1850 to 1900 average.
The record comes as governments are in negotiations at the COP28 meeting in Dubai. Governments are deciding whether to gradually stop the use of coal, oil and gas, the main source of warming emissions.
The 2015 Paris climate agreement set a goal of limiting worldwide temperature rise to 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial times. Above that limit, scientists warn of severe effects on weather, health and agriculture.
Diplomats, scientists, activists and others have been meeting in Dubai to find ways to limit warming to those levels. But the planet is not cooperating. They say Earth is on its way to reach 2.7 to 2.9 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial times. C3S records go back to 1940. United States government records go back to 1850. Using information from ice cores, tree rings and corals, scientists have said this is the warmest 10-year period Earth has seen in about 125,000 years. That dates back to the time before human civilization.
Scientists say there are two driving forces behind the six straight months of record hot temperatures. One is human-caused climate change from the burning of coal, oil and gas. And El Nino, the natural warming of surface waters in the Pacific, is making it worse.
Samantha Burgess, deputy director of C3S, said in a statement that “the November temperatures, including two days warmer than 2C above preindustrial, mean that 2023 is the warmest year in recorded history, which is very likely to be a cool year in the future unless we do something about our dependence on fossil fuels.”
1. According to the passage, what is the natural driving force behind the temperature record?| A．El Nino. | B．The burning of coals. |
| C．The dependence on fossil fuels. | D．The use of gas |
| A．Pessimistic. | B．Optimistic | C．Unclear. | D．Concerned. |
| A．Whether to depend on fossil fuels. | B．2023 would be warmest year on record. |
| C．El Nino makes global warming worse. | D．Main source of warming emissions. |
| A．What was the temperature condition in the preindustrial time. | B．How to deal with global warming. |
| C．How to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels. | D．Why is 2023 likely to be a cool year in the future. |
2 . The cotton harvest is about to get underway in the Texas High Plains, the windswept region that grows most of the crop in the nation’s top cotton-producing state. But Barry Evans, a third-generation cotton grower, has already walked away from more than 2,000 acres (英亩) of his bone-dry fields. “It just didn’t come up. We hardly had anything,” said Evans.
Extreme heat and a lack of rainfall have severely damaged much of this year’s cotton harvest in the U.S., which produces about 35% of the world’s crop. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) forecast that more than 40% of what U.S. farmers planted in the spring would be abandoned because of drought. Nowhere is this more apparent than the flat, dry stretch of Texas. The USDA says Texas cotton farmers are likely to abandon nearly 70% of their spring planting. That has been the worst harvest since 2009.
The region normally receives around 18 to 20 inches of rain per year, but saw less than three inches of rain from August through the summer, as nearly all of Texas baked under drought. Much of the cotton grown in the region needs rain. Even those with irrigated (灌溉的) fields are expecting low yields (产量) this year.
The losses in cotton could cost the Texas High Plains $1.2 billion after farmers receive federal (联邦的) crop insurance payments, estimates Darren Hudson, director of the International Center for Agricultural Competitiveness at Texas Tech University. That leaves out others who depend on the crop, such as cotton gins (轧棉机) and storehouses. “Any time you have a bad year in cotton, it has a role to play in the overall economy,” Hudson said.
Fortunately, most cotton farmers in this part of Texas plan to use cotton seed varieties that can resist drought. Varieties are continuously developed and will be adjusted to generate high yields if dry conditions continue. “Even though it’s drought resistant,” Hudson added, “we still have to have a little bit of help from Mother Nature.”
1. What are the statistics in paragraph 2 mainly about?| A．The impact of extreme weather on U.S. farmers. |
| B．The world’s cotton distribution. |
| C．USDA’s measures to address drought. |
| D．The amount of U.S. cotton harvest in 2009. |
| A．Texas is unfriendly to cotton farmers. | B．Cotton is vital to the American economy. |
| C．Farmers depend much on Mother Nature. | D．Cotton gins are unaffected by cotton losses. |
| A．Build effective irrigation systems. | B．Apply for federal crop insurance. |
| C．Switch to growing a different crop. | D．Use further improved cotton seeds. |
| A．Drought pushes cotton prices to a new high. | B．The world’s cotton supply keeps falling. |
| C．Texas cotton takes a hit during drought. | D．Drought impacts the quality of cotton. |
3 . Born into a family of motorcyclists, Bridget McCutchen was able to witness firsthand the
McCutchen, whose longest road trip had been from Wisconsin to Washington, says she
After
However, traveling by motorcycle on
Of course, if she is successful in breaking this particular record, the likelihood is that someone even
| A．mystery | B．pleasure | C．variety | D．intelligence |
| A．belonged to | B．turned to | C．occurred to | D．related to |
| A．country | B．backyard | C．school | D．globe |
| A．dismissed | B．forgot | C．liked | D．remembered |
| A．house | B．face | C．office | D．mind |
| A．spending | B．saving | C．losing | D．investing |
| A．checked in | B．broke down | C．set off | D．ran out |
| A．dreams | B．mistakes | C．conversations | D．travels |
| A．understanding | B．changing | C．seeing | D．ruling |
| A．bicycle | B．plane | C．train | D．motorbike |
| A．unfamiliar | B．quiet | C．main | D．safe |
| A．escaped | B．fallen | C．started | D．died |
| A．slimmer | B．happier | C．younger | D．richer |
| A．worried | B．curious | C．careful | D．hopeful |
| A．barely | B．gladly | C．creatively | D．suddenly |
4 . Sara Dykman is on a 10,000-mile bike trip, following the monarch butterfly from Mexico through the United States and Canada and back again. The purpose of her journey is not just to mark the butterfly’s migrating (迁徙) road, but to warn about the threat it faces — and what we can do to help it.
When I reached Dykman by phone, she was biking through Iowa cornfields. She said she feels more upset than usual, because of what she is seeing — or not seeing — on her travels: Fewer butterflies and milkweed. “In the last two decades, the butterfly population has declined by about 90 percent as a result of the loss of milkweed, a native plant that the butterflies need as part of their life cycle,” she said.
Butterflies go through a four-stage life cycle. In February and March, the adult monarch butterflies come out of winter sleep to look for a mate. Then they migrate north and east to lay their eggs on milkweed plants. It takes about four days for the eggs to hatch. Then the baby caterpillars (毛毛虫) spend much of their time eating milkweed in order to grow. About two weeks later, the fully grown caterpillars will attach themselves to plant branches or leaves to change into butterflies.
But Dykman is not in total despair. A solution, she says, exists within the reach of everyone who owns a home; simply planting some milkweed in the yards to help the butterflies on their journey.
Dykman lives a life as simple and rootless as the butterflies she loves. She doesn’t own a house or car or eat out at restaurants. She carries only what she needs; a sleeping bag and clothing. People help along the way by providing a place to stay and a meal.
“I have failed at everything normal, but I’m pretty good at doing the less normal things,” she admits in her new book Cycling With Butterflies.
“But this trip is about solutions, and it’s about helping people see the consequences of their actions,” she said on the phone.
1. What is the main purpose of Sara Dykman’s bike trip?| A．To live-stream the migrating butterflies. | B．To ask people to grow more native plants. |
| C．To warn about the environmental problems. | D．To encourage people to protect the butterflies. |
| A．Baby caterpillars are very harmful to various crops. |
| B．Milkweed plays a vital role in a butterfly’s life cycle. |
| C．Non-native plants are growing too fast in Iowa cornfields. |
| D．Adult butterflies come out of winter sleep later than they did. |
| A．She is a determined conservationist. | B．She is a good bread-earner. |
| C．She is a competent employee. | D．She is a comfort seeker. |
| A．A diary entry. | B．A book review. | C．An interview. | D．A news report. |
5 . Our earth is in trouble. Our drinking water is becoming dirtier, and the air is not as clean as before.
People and factories are polluting (污染) the air, rivers, lakes and seas. You may think there is nothing you can do to help. That’s not true.
Cars burn oil (石油).
A lot of water is needed for a shower. So take shorter showers.
Every small action can make a big difference to our earth. Let’s take action to protect it.
| A．Air pollution is very serious. |
| B．It’s important to protect the earth. |
| C．This can cut down the use of water. |
| D．This will make a lot of CO2 into the air. |
| E．So try to walk, ride a bike or take a bus. |
| F．In fact there are many things you can do to save the earth. |
| G．The biggest energy use at home is to use the air conditioner for keeping warm or cool. |
6 . New Scientist magazine’s chief reporter Adam recently published “Net-zero living: how your day will look in a carbon-neutral (碳中和) world”. Here, he imagines what a typical day would be like in the future — through the eyes of Isla, a child in 2050.
Isla lives in the south of the United Kingdom and her life looks pretty much like life does today: she has a house, a car, a job, and a cup of tea in the morning. There are great forests, and giant machines sucking carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. It all sounds like a green and pleasant land, but it didn’t sound like the future to me.
It’s an interesting exercise, imagining what it will be like in about 30 years. I thought I would give it a try: here is some speculative fiction about Edie, living in Toronto, Canada in 2050.
Edie lives in the garage in an old house that is her apartment and workshop. She considers herself to be very lucky to have this garage in what was her grandparents’ house. The only people who live in houses these days either get the houses from their parents or are multi-millionaires from all over the world, desperate to move to Canada with its cooler climate and plentiful water and are able to afford the million-dollar immigrant visa fee.
Edie is lucky to be working. There are no office or industrial jobs anymore: Artificial Intelligence and robots took care of that. The few jobs left are in service, culture, craft, health care, or real estate (房地产). In fact, selling real estate has become the nation’s biggest industry.
There may be lots of electricity from wind and solar farms, but even running tiny heat pumps for cooling is really expensive at peak times. The streets are unpleasantly hot, so many people sleep through the midday.
Now Edie is checking the balance in her Personal Carbon Allowance (PCA) account to see if she has enough to buy another imported battery for her e-bike. If she doesn’t have enough then, she will have to buy carbon credits, and they are expensive. She sets her alarm for 6:00 p.m. when the streets of Toronto will come alive again on this hot November day.
1. What does the author think of Isla’s life?| A．Desirable. | B．Unappealing. |
| C．Unachievable. | D．Exciting. |
| A．Many people will immigrate abroad. | B．Its climate will get colder and colder. |
| C．Electricity will be very cheap to use. | D．The house prices will be extremely high. |
| A．The house problem. | B．Being out of work. |
| C．The balance of her bank account. | D．The energy consumption. |
| A．To point out Adam’s unreasonable thinking. |
| B．To compare the present life and the future life. |
| C．To imagine the life after reducing carbon emissions. |
| D．To raise people’s awareness of environmental protection. |
7 . The Monarch butterfly (帝王蝶) population has dropped to its second-lowest number on record in Mexican forests this winter. The forests are the insects’ winter home. The population decrease is worrying as the butterfly group is already considered at risk of disappearance.
Mexico’s government and the non-profit World Wildlife Fund (WWF) recently issued findings of their yearly joint study on the butterflies. The research shows that the Monarch butterfly presence has decreased to less than a hectare (公顷) of forest area. In the mid-1990s, Monarch butterflies could be found on around 18 hectares of the forests. The findings represent an almost 60 percent decrease in the Monarch butterfly population compared to last year’s study. It is also the second-lowest population finding since the first study took place more than thirty years ago.
Biologists blame the drop on higher-than-usual temperatures and dry conditions in the northwestern U. S. where the butterflies lay eggs. The weather conditions affect the growth of milkweed, the plant where the butterflies lay their eggs. When the young arrive, milkweed is their food for a time. In one of the planet’s famous wildlife migrations (迁徙), the butterflies travel south as many as 4,500 kilometers from places as far north as Canada. They spend the winter in warmer Mexico, where millions of the insects stay in trees that protect them from the rain and cold.
Monarch butterfly populations change year to year. As recently as 2021, the same study showed a 35 percent increase to cover around 2.8 hectares. Officials and activists called for more action to help the species. Such calls include the need to reduce threats of destroying milkweed and the need to protect forests. “We can’t lower our guard,” Jorge Rickards, head of WWF’s Mexico office, told reporters after releasing the latest data.
1. What can be learned from the second paragraph?| A．The reasons for the Monarch butterfly population decrease. |
| B．The findings of the research on the Monarch butterfly population. |
| C．The efforts Mexico’s government and World Wildlife Fund have made. |
| D．The effects of the Monarch butterfly population decrease on the environment. |
| A．Habitat loss. | B．Human hunting. |
| C．Weather conditions. | D．Their natural enemies. |
| A．Plant milkweed. | B．Keep the species in a reserve. |
| C．Promote public education. | D．Watch over the forests. |
| A．The Monarch Butterflies Are a Threat to Other Insects |
| B．The Monarch Butterfly Population Decrease Is a Concern |
| C．Mexican Forests Are the Winter Home of the Monarch Butterflies |
| D．The Monarch Butterflies Often Suffer When Travelling to Spend Winter |
One of the most endangered animals in the world is the Siberian tiger,
Long ago, Siberian tigers were all over Northeast Asia and Russian Far East.
There is also a fairly large population of Siberian tigers in zoos, some of
9 . 听下面一段较长对话，回答以下小题。
1. Where was the woman before the typhoon’s coming?| A．At home. | B．In her company. | C．At school. |
| A．After her kids got into the house. |
| B．When she was on the phone. |
| C．As she hung up the phone. |
| A．It was dark inside the house. |
| B．It was safer there. |
| C．It was easier to be found. |
| A．Learn something about the climate. |
| B．Acquire some knowledge about first aid. |
| C．Prepare the necessities for emergency. |
10 . 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。
I was aimlessly pressing buttons on the remote, trying to find something on TV that would occupy my mind for a while. A thunderstorm rolled in just before dusk. The heavy rain and blowing wind intensified my loneliness.
Three years after my child Marie went to college, you’d think I would have adjusted to being alone. Though I coped fairly well during the day, I had a tough time getting through the nights. My friends and family urged me to get out more, but I didn’t seem to socialize well as a lonely mother.
Boredom had taken me to the edge of sleep when the soft rap came at my door. For a moment I thought it was the TV, but when I glanced at the screen, there were cowboys riding across the desert. I turned and looked at the door. Then the rapping came again, soft, hesitant.
I jumped up and hurried to the door to let whoever was on the other side come in out of the rain. When I pulled the door open, I was surprised to see a small, attractive woman. In her arms she carried an equally wet small black puppy. She opened her mouth to speak, but before she could utter a word, I pulled the door open wider. “Come in out of the rain.”
Giving me a grateful nod, she stepped inside, apologizing at the same time for dripping water on my carpet. I was about to comment on her puppy, when she handed him to me. “I almost hit your puppy before I braked hard. He ran into your yard, so I thought he must be yours.”
I took the puppy from her and told her that it wasn’t mine. Anyway, I invited her for some hot coffee. Strangely, while she was drinking the coffee, the puppy was curled up in my lap fast asleep. “He sure likes you,” she said, grinning at the warm sight and left it with me. I named it Rick, and kept it at my side.
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。
The first few days saw me buying the necessities for Rick.
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Apart from our routine walk in the open, I began to socialize as well.
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