1 . Scientists say there has been a major drop in the population of leatherback sea turtles (乌龟) off the U.S. West Coast.

One recent study found a 5.6 percent yearly decrease in the population. Leatherbacks are massive sea turtles dating back to the time of the dinosaurs. The animals can grow up to 1.5 meters in length and weigh as much as 680 kilograms.

The leatherback sea turtles found along the U.S. Pacific Coast are actually born thousands of kilometers away, on beaches in Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands. The animals migrate (迁徙) 11,000 kilometers across the Pacific Ocean to mainly feed on jellyfish in waters off the U.S. West Coast. Then, they swim back.

Scott Benson is an ecologist with the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries. “There are birds that go farther, but they fly. There’s a whale shark that might swim a little further, but it doesn’t have to come up for air,” he said.

Scientists say that if nothing changes, the leatherbacks could completely disappear from the U.S. West Coast within 30 years. The population drops are mainly blamed on international fishing activities, the destruction (破坏) of nesting grounds and climate change.

The animals can be killed when they get trapped in fishing equipment. Scientists say the population is also harmed because a lot of turtle eggs are removed from beaches.

Researchers say that while all the world’s leatherbacks are under pressure, the group that migrates for months across the Pacific faces the greatest threats.

NOAA launched an aggressive plan to save leatherbacks in 2015 and is set to release a new action plan this month. The plan is meant to persuade governments and international organizations to join efforts to save the turtles.

1. Which word best describes the present situation of the leatherbacks?

A．Promising.

B．Worrying.

C．Complex.

D．Unstable.

2. What do the leatherbacks mainly survive on?

A．Sea weed.

B．Other turtles’ eggs.

C．Little sharks.

D．Jellyfish.

3. Which period is the most dangerous for leatherbacks?

A．The period of migration.	B．The period of fishing activities.
C．The period of being on a beach.	D．The period of laying eggs.

4. In which section of a newspaper may this text appear?

A．Entertainment.

B．Health.

C．Nature.

D．Education.

2 . The world’s largest ape Gigantopithecus blacki (G. blacki) vanished from Earth between 295, 000 and 215, 000 years ago, more than 100, 000 years earlier than once thought, pushed to extinction as the environment around it shifted, researchers reported recently in Nature.

The fate of G. blacki, twice the size of the largest modern apes and resembling a super-sized version of its close cousin, the orangutan, has long been a mystery. For about 2 million years, G. blacki inhabited a landscape of forests and grasses in what’s now southern China. It left behind only scattered remnants: thousands of teeth and four jawbones, unearthed in cave sediments in the region.

To establish a chronology for the ape’s extinction, paleoanthropologist Yingqi Zhang of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing and his colleagues used different dating techniques to determine the ape’s habits, diet and environment. In the teeth, they looked for data on the ape’s diet, measuring isotopes (同位素) of carbon and oxygen as well as examining the teeth for tiny evidence of wear and tear — which can reveal not only diet, but also give hints of repeated behaviors and stress. The team also analyzed the cave sediments bearing the fossils, hunting for fossil pollen and conducting luminescence dating (光释光测年) on radioactive elements within the sediments.

The team’s reconstruction revealed that — around 700, 000 to 600, 000 years ago, southern China shifted from its forested landscape to a more seasonally-driven environment. Some apes, including the orangutans, were able to adapt to these changes. But G. blacki was unable to change rapidly enough, and its numbers slowly dwindled before going extinct, the team suggested.

The assembled evidence told a convincing story that “the extinction of G. blacki coincided in southern China with a decrease of forest cover and expansion of savanna-like environments,” said Hervé Bocherens, a biogeologist at the University of Tuebingen in Germany. Still, he said, documenting the extinction of this species from the fossil record is tricky — and it’s impossible to rule out the possibility that pockets of G. blacki may have lingered in still-undiscovered caves for longer.

1. What can be known about G. blacki according to paragraph 2?

A． G. blacki shared certain similarities with the orangutan.

B． G. blacki was twice larger than the largest modern apes.

C． G. blacki lived in places full of basins and deserts.

D． G. blacki might have thousands of teeth.

2. What did Zhang and his workmates do to figure out information related to G. blacki ?

A．They checked the situation of G. blacki.

B．They repeated the behaviors done by G. blacki.

C．They applied radioactive elements to the analysis of the cave sediments.

D．They measured isotopes of carbon and hydrogen in G. blacki diet.

3. What is the meaning of the underlined word “dwindled” in paragraph 4?

A．Increased.

B．Reduced.

C．Unchanged.

D．Multiplied.

4. What can we learn from Bocherens’s words?

A．Many hands make light work.

B．One good turn deserves another.

C．Knowledge advances by steps and not by leaps.

D．Experience must be bought.

3 . 根据课文内容，在空白处填入所缺的单词。

About 75 percent of the city’s factories and buildings, 90 percent of its homes, and all of its hospitals were gone.     1     covered the ground like red autumn     2    .

4 . Keep a Moon Diary

Grab a notebook and your favorite pen or pencil, and you’re ready to begin your very own Moon Diary. You’ll discover all kinds of fascinating things about how the moon travels and notice the various phases of the moon.

Before you start you can collect together some books about the moon to learn about it.     1     And even though you are older you can still try these kinds of books about the moon.

Start your Moon Diary by looking for the moon one night and recording all the things you notice. Note the date, time, and weather. Is the moon full? Half full? Or maybe gone entirely? What color does it seem to be?     2     Take time to look at the moon each night for four weeks. Every night, record what you see. Does the moon appear to be getting bigger? Smaller? Where does the moon appear in the sky? Maybe record what natural sounds you hear when the moon is high in the sky!

    3     Sometimes you will see the moon in the daytime, and other times you may have to wait until nighttime for the moon to rise. You can check when the moon will rise each night by looking for the information online.

It takes about 28 days for the moon to make one complete orbit around the Earth. So after four weeks, you’ll have completed your very own Moon Diary!     4     What do you notice? How does the moon change shape over time? Is the moon rising earlier or later in the sky each day? How does it affect the amount of light in the sky?     5     See where the moon takes you!

A．Look back over what you wrote and drew.

B．You could draw a sad face in the box instead.

C．Write and draw your observations in your notebook.

D．Every day for a month, look in the sky and find the moon.

E．Maybe you’ll decide to keep going with your Moon Diary.

F．Picture books and stories are a great way to introduce a topic.

G．Predict what shape the moon will be each night for the next month.

5 . 假设你是李华，有一位外国笔友Harry想了解你们的首都北京，请你根据提示回复一封电子邮件。要点如下：
1. 北京的位置(中国北部)、面积(16,410多平方公里)、人口(约2200万)及历史(3,000多年)等；
2. 北京的旅游特色(历史古迹如长城、故宫the Forbidden City、颐和园the Summer Palace, 特色小吃等)；
3. 欢迎Harry来北京参观。
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、结尾已给出，不计入总数。
Dear Harry,
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Yours,

Li Hua

6 . Acorn woodpeckers (橡树啄木鸟), which live along the west coast and in the southwest of North America, are highly socialized birds, a study showed recently.

In the acorn woodpecker family, it’s a group effort to raise the young. Each of the acorn woodpecker family consists of as many as seven co-breeding (共育) males and four joint-nesting females, living with nest helpers who are typically their babies from previous years. The helpers don’t breed, but stick around for five to six years to help raise their half-siblings.

Every fall acorn woodpeckers store thousands of acorns in holes drilled into dead trees in preparation for winter. The entire group contributes to a central granary (粮仓), defending it against squirrels and other woodpeckers. But the cooperation may end and great noise and confusion may start when a family loses either all its breeding males or females to old age or enemies like hawks. That leads to a good opportunity for the helpers to grab newly vacant spots with acorns (橡树果) in main habitat.

The news travels fast. The nearby woodpecker groups rush to the site and fight against each other. Over 40 of the “warrior” birds, in coalitions (联盟) of three or four, spend over 10 hours a day over multiple days in battles until one collective wins. “You can see birds with eyes removed out, with blood on their feathers — they fall to the ground holding each other’s legs when they’re fighting,” said Sahas Barve, the lead author of the study. These battles also draw woodpecker audience, who leave their own territories unattended. The researchers recorded some audience travel over two miles and spend an hour a day just observing the fights. “The speed at which such information is communicated among populations has always struck me,” said Reed Bowman.

The scientists said the battles reveal a lot about animals’ social behavior. Sahas Barve said, “We often think of birds as not very intelligent animals, but we are discovering that we aren’t the only super-curious social animal out there. And birds are doing that all the time. Social complexity is something that’s evolved multiple times in the animal kingdom, and we are just one of them.”

1. What does the second paragraph mainly focus on?

A．The loose social networks of acorn woodpeckers.

B．The tough living conditions of acorn woodpeckers.

C．The great contribution of nest helpers to their family.

D．The cooperative breeding system of acorn woodpeckers.

2. Why do the nest helpers start a battle?

A．To survive the tough winter.	B．To fight for their own territory.
C．To select the most powerful leader.	D．To rid their granary of noise and confusion.

3. What can we know about the battles of the acorn woodpeckers?

A．They are long and fierce.	B．Their fighters increase each day.
C．They will be settled by compromise.	D．They will cause many deaths of the audience.

4. What can we infer from the last paragraph?

A．Human beings have great curiosity about the outside world.

B．Social complexity is unique to human beings.

C．Birds are much smarter than we thought.

D．The evolution of animals is quite slow.

7 . 阅读下面短文，有5处划线，从每题所给四个选项中选出与划线意义的最匹配选项。

Once he was back in his pasture, we’d chat over the fence (栅栏), covering such topics as hard days at work and exciting happenings _________ at home. He did most of the listening, giving knowing glances and huffs when appropriate. When it was time to end the conversation, he’d turn and walk away. He had impeccable _________ timing.

I posted Buster photos and stories on Facebook-he had quite a following. One admirer’s dying wish was to muster_________ the strength to meet him. The fan arrived bearing apples. Buster rarely ate apples except from one tree in his pasture, but he gobbled them up _________ that day. In return, Buster stopped eating long enough to pose for photos with the ailing _________ man who thought the world of him.

1.

A．events

B．photos

C．topics

D．decorations

2.

A．impossible

B．perfect

C．limited

D．improper

3.

A．reduce

B．organize

C．gather

D．move

4.

A．threw away

B．ate quickly

C．held up

D．gave away

5.

A．happy

B．mean

C．old

D．weak

8 . We’re often told to follow our dreams, and one person in Canada has done just that after building a wonderland for animals. In his own backyard, the eight water features which Robert Perkins dug into the ground are now a shelter for birds, frogs, beavers (河狸) and other animals in the middle of suburban development. But for Perkins, creating habitat for wildlife is not only about doing his part to help the environment. It’s a labor of love for a woman he met when he was 16 years old.

Perkins met Rhonda in 1974 and the two of them hit it off. They both loved animals, and she always wished to have a place where they could live in harmony with the land. Rhonda, whom Perkins stayed with all his life, passed away in 2006. Perkins resolved to build a wonderland where her spirit could stay in peace.

Ignoring planning departments and neighbors alike, Perkins began digging large holes for water to flow. Over the course of nine years his property went from being a neighborly headache to a perfect home for wildlife.

Perkins says he won’t take all the credit for the wetland he built. When Perkins started creating the wildlife habitat in the early 2000s, a family of beavers got wind of it soon and claimed the land. “When we built our subdivisions, we cleared all the trees, dried the hills, drove all the water down to the lakes... In turn, the beavers helped dam (筑坝) and purify the water.”

Wetland habitats not only attract wildlife, but probably offer the most complete package of ecosystem services, including preventing pollution, enriching the soil, and promoting the well-being of wildlife species.

Perkins says he doesn’t need to wonder what Rhonda might think of the place; he feels her presence whenever he walks alone among the trees, the grass, and the ponds, looking at birds or beavers, and listening to the songbirds and frogs. Perkins hopes his project will one day become an educational place that local people can visit to learn about the importance of wetlands.

1. Why did Perkins build the water features?

A．To fulfill his childhood dream.	B．To show his love for his wife.
C．To preserve endangered wildlife.	D．To adapt to suburban development.

2. Which best describes Perkins’ wetland building process?

A．Effortless but creative.	B．Discouraging but efficient.
C．Painful but influential.	D．Demanding but rewarding.

3. What can we infer about building the wetland from Perkins’ words?

A．Perkins had a strategic plan for it.	B．Human’s role in it was overvalued.
C．Nature itself also played a part in it.	D．Beavers were invited to help with it.

4. What is Perkins’s expectation of the wetland?

A．To help spread his story.	B．To be a recreational spot.
C．To bring economic value.	D．To serve as an inspiration.

9 . 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。

If you’re looking to take part in voluntourism in the area, consider the Lizard Island. It’s a private national park that works     1     (close) with local scientists     2     (protect) coral reefs (珊瑚礁). Guests can tour its huge research centre.

The Great Barrier Reef’s Ocean Park Rangers (巡游者), government workers responsible     3     the day-to-day management of ocean parks,     4     (train) as guides who can educate curious travellers on the wildlife and ecosystems. In June of 2022, citizens of the Great Barrier Reef Programme started The Reef Cooperative,     5     will allow travellers,     6     (begin) in 2024, to go to vulnerable areas to see the conservation (保护) work and efforts take place.

Hope that this     7     (nature) wonder can be saved is growing. Over the past few years, a lot of conservationists, government agencies, NGOs, and tourism operators     8     (focus) on the reef’s health.

One hope of the programme is to inspire     9     (tourist) to help protect the Great Barrier Reef, especially within the younger generation. Imagine the good you can do when you learn so early in life that you hold the power to make the planet     10     better place.

10 . 听下面一段较长对话，回答以下小题。
1. What were the yellow boxes for?

A．For recycling newspaper.

B．For collecting the waste metal.

C．For decorating the neighborhood.

2. Which boxes should the woman put glass and plastic bottles in?

A．Blue boxes.

B．Green boxes.

C．Yellow boxes.

3. Why can’t the magazine go in any of the boxes?

A．It costs too much.

B．It is such a waste.

C．It can’t be recycled.