1 . 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。

I have been in Taiyuan, the provincial capital of Shanxi, for two years since I     1    (admit) to a PhD program in Shanxi University as an international student.

Over the two years, I found     2    (I) falling in love with Shanxi and China as I got more familiar     3     the city, the province and the country. You have to adapt to everything—food, language and culture. But for me, the     4    (adapt) didn’t take a long period of time. I have got used to eating noodles for breakfast and using online payment via my smartphone very     5    (quick).

My favorite sport is cycling and I find China is very cyclist-friendly because it is convenient     6    (hire) bicycles in every city in the country. I like to cycle on     7     streets in Taiyuan and visit places I meet randomly. The cycling tours helped to deepen my understanding of the city.

Taiyuan     8    (have) a history of more than 2,500 years, among the     9    (old) cities in China. An abundance of well-preserved ancient structures, like the temples in Jinci, are the material evidence to help you get a quick look at     10     ancient China looked like.

2 . After years of intense public pushback, the Ringling Bros, and Barnum & Bailey Circus finally announced the retirement of their Asian elephant performers in 2016. While the decision was a victory for animal lovers and activists, it raised a new issue. The elephants were raised in a small closed area and lacked the skills to survive in the wild. Now, thanks to Florida-based White Oak Conservation, the animals have a new home-one where they can wander freely.

Located about 30 miles north of Jacksonville, Florida, the 17, 000-acre(英亩) facility is home to between 350 and 400 animals including 35 endangered species. The conservation center welcomed the first group of retired circus elephants in May 2021. The 12 female elephants range from 8 to 38 years old. To make the move easier, they were socialized together for several months before they came to the center. The animals will be joined by the remaining 20 as soon as the additional areas to house them are completed.

The elephants’ new home is modeled after the elephant’s natural habitat in the wild. The diverse environments include forests, grassland and wetlands, all connected for easy passage by foot. The elephants can wander in the woods, relax in the mud, or swim in one of the eleven specially-built water holes. The elephants can also spend their days relaxing inside the specially-built barns(畜棚)close to their human caregivers.

"We are excited to give these elephants a place to wander and explore," said the conservation center’s owner Kimbra Walter. "We are working to protect wild animals in their native habitat. But for these elephants that can’t be released, we are pleased to give them a place where they can live comfortably for the rest of their lives."

1. What problem do the retired elephants face?

A．They are still locked.	B．They lack natural habitat.
C．They are unable to live in the wild.	D．They are in danger of being caught.

2. What can we learn about the White Oak Conservation from Paragraph 2?

A．It is transformed from a circus.

B．It houses over 300 elephants.

C．The retired elephants are its first residents.

D．Some part of it is still under construction.

3. What’s the third paragraph mainly about?

A．The reserve’s efforts to protect the animals.

B．The elephants’ new life in the natural habitat.

C．The environment of the elephants’ new home.

D．The daily activities of the animals in the reserve.

4. What does Kimbra Walter think of their effort to protect the animals?

A．It’s unique.	B．It’s suitable.
C．It’s helpless.	D．It’s temporary.

3 . 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。

I wake up to the sound of the wind buffeting the cloth of my tent. However, it’s     1    (possible) for me to tell whether it is morning or night, because the sun is     2     (bright) shining for 24 hours. Now, I’m above the Arctic Circle,     3     the sun never sets in summer.

Around 9, 000 years ago, the vast sheets of ice melted in Sarek,     4     (leave) behind about 100 glaciers. Soon after, reindeer began to arrive, and then followed the Sami people, who made Sarek their home. Today, all new development     5     (ban) within park boundaries, so only the Sami are allowed to continue their     6     (tradition) way of life in the park.

For hundreds of years,     7     (look) after reindeer was a way of life for the Sami. Since reindeer were always     8     the move, the Sami would accompany them. However, most Sami live     9     modern life in their own houses.

Hiking with all my food and supplies is really tiring, but it is a     10     (bless) to travel in such a beautiful and wild place.

4 . Insects are everywhere. Insects pollinate (给……投粉) crops, remove waste from the environment and eat _________ insects like mosquitoes. But insects can also destroy crops, _________ buildings and spread disease. With that in mind, it's easy to see just how _________ the work done by entomologists (昆虫学家) is.

Dr Christine Miller is an entomologist； whose _________ as an insect researcher at the University of Florida takes her around the world _________ insects both common and rare. She loves her job and wants to know why insects do what they do and how they make the _________ healthy by becoming food for other animals or breaking down waste.

Miller's interest in insects started when she was young, collecting insects and surprised at their unique _________. Miller attended Wesleyan University, where she at first joined a research laboratory studying plants. She soon realized insects were “more interesting and powerful”.

“Insects are an important part of our world,” Miller says. “If we want to _________ our growing population, we need to _________ to deal with insect pests. For example, right now armyworms are spreading through Africa ____________ corn. There is real ____________ that if we don't figure out how to stop them, that important crop will be ruined and people will starve.”

Because much of their work is done outside, entomologists face certain ____________. There is always the risk of being attacked by insects or ____________ an insect-borne illness. Moreover; entomologists are not always ____________ around insects. Miller admits to being scared of maggots (蛆).

“That's something I haven't been able to ____________,” she says with a laugh. “They make me as sick to my stomach as anyone else.”

1.

A．rare

B．huge

C．beautiful

D．harmful

2.

A．design

B．damage

C．clean

D．admire

3.

A．important

B．impossible

C．simple

D．adequate

4.

A．tip

B．figure

C．job

D．vacation

5.

A．in search of

B．in need of

C．in favor of

D．in charge of

6.

A．competition

B．environment

C．relationship

D．die

7.

A．connections

B．backgrounds

C．languages

D．characteristics

8.

A．reduce

B．control

C．feed

D．study

9.

A．learn

B．reply

C．agree

D．regret

10.

A．watching

B．protecting

C．introducing

D．eating

11.

A．cope

B．concern

C．doubt

D．relief

12.

A．dangers

B．truths

C．chances

D．changes

13.

A．helping with

B．looking into

C．referring to

D．suffering from

14.

A．suitable

B．comfortable

C．familiar

D．separate

15.

A．put off

B．show off

C．get over

D．take over

5 . 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。

Researchers in China     1     (show) an ancient skull to the world recently. The skull belongs to a     2     (complete) new species of humans that lived in China over 146, 000 years ago. The species could be our closest     3     (relative). The researchers nicknamed the person the skull came from “Dragon Man”. It was originally found in the city of Harbin in 1933 but was kept     4     (hide). The Japanese army occupied the city at the time.     5     Chinese worker who found the skull decided to keep it safe. He hid it at the bottom of his family's well,     6     it stayed for nearly 90 years. The man recently told his family about the skull     7     he died. His family located it and gave it to scientists.

Dragon Man could change our understanding of human     8     (evolve). He was “a large- brained male in his 50s with deep-set eyes”. He looked more like today's humans than other extinct members of the human family tree. Scientists say Dragon Man is     9     (close) to modern-day humans than Neanderthals were. Researcher Chris Stringer described Dragon Man's group. He said: “This population would have been hunter-gatherers,     10     (live) off the land. From the winter temperatures in Harbin today, it looks like they were coping with even harsher cold than the Neanderthals.”

6 . 听下面一段较长对话，回答以下小题。
1. How old is Jaysa now?

A．8.

B．12.

C．14.

2. Why did Jaysa give the speech?

A．To raise money for her health problems.

B．To urge the coal plant to shut down.

C．To encourage people to do research.

7 . 某英文报拟开设Cities in the world栏目，你对此很感兴趣。请你根据以下要点提示，写一篇介绍北京的短文投稿，内容包括:
1.城市概况:位于中国北部;人口超过2000万;中国的首都及政治中心;
2.城市景点:故宫（the Forbidden City）、天安门广场(Tian’anmen Square)、长城等。
注意:
1.词数100左右;
2.短文题目和首句已为你写好。
BeiJing: an ancient city

There are many famous cities in the world.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

8 . For years, planet-hunters have been searching for a planet other than Earth that can support life. They may have found one.

The planet is the sixth found orbiting a star called Gliese 581. Steven Vogt, one of the scientists involved, expects the new planet to have water. On Earth, when we find water, we find life.     1    

A planet that can support life has to be just the right size for its system and just the right distance from its star. Some planets orbit so close to their stars that they’re much too hot for liquid water—or for life as we know it.     2    

But a right-sized planet that's neither too close nor too far might be just right for water. Gliese 581 is probably just right. It is about three times as huge as Earth.     3     Because it’s so close, one side of it always faces its star, and the other side is always dark.

The new planet is 20 light years away, which is as far as 250 million trips to the Moon and back.     4     Only light can go that fast. So even at the fastest speed we could manage, it would take a spaceship from Earth more than 200 years to go that far.     5     But that doesn’t mean we can’t study it. Thanks to powerful new telescopes and new techniques for searching the skies, scientists can learn a lot about distant planets without even leaving Earth.

Gliese 581 is an exciting discovery—and astronomers are likely to find more soon, thanks to new, powerful telescopes specifically designed to look for planets.

A．We can’t travel at the speed of light.

B．It’s pretty hard to imagine that water wouldn't be there.

C．Human beings won’t be visiting this planet any time soon.

D．So scientists looking for life on other planets look for water first.

E．It orbits its star so closely that it goes all the way around in only 37 days.

F．Astronomers will probably find more potential life-supporting planets soon.

G．Other planets keep their distance from the stars—where they’re too cold to have water or life.

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。

Yang Liwei was 38 years old when he went to space on the Shenzhou V,     1     (make) China the third country to master manned space capabilities.

In his article, Yang recalled several breathtaking     2    (moment). He said, “When the rocket lifted to a height of about 30-40 kilometers, I felt it began to vibrate(振动)     3    (violent), and it was extremely painful.” Vibrations in the spacecraft below 10 Hz can damage internal organs, and even threaten a person’s life. The near-deadly moment lasted for 26 seconds. When it was finally over, Yang felt like he had been reborn.

Yang also described mysterious knocking sounds from outside the craft. He still doesn’t know where they came from. He also described     4     his city looked like from space. “I flew over Beijing and saw the mountains in the daytime and sparkling(闪烁的) lights     5     night. And there live my friends and my     6    (love) ones.”

After his return, Yang reported the     7    (normal) vibrations to scientists, who solved the issue before the Shenzhou VI’s launch. So far, a number of new technologies     8    (apply) to the core cabin(核心舱), Eighteen years after his first trip to space, Yang said with a smile he even “envied”     9    (he) fellow spacemen who now have such comfortable space accommodations,     10     show how China’s space program has grown.

10 . Scientists from the University of Texas at Austin have finally solved the mystery of a huge fossil(化石）that has been unlabeled and unidentified sitting at a Chilean museum for almost a decade. The relic which looks like a flat football, is the largest known soft-shelled egg from a marine reptile（海生爬行动物）that lived on the earth over 66 million years ago. Measuring more than 11 by 7 inches» it is also the second-largest egg belonging to any known animal, only behind the now-extinct elephant bird.

The rare fossil named " The Thing" was discovered inside a rock formation in Seymour Island off the coast of Antarctica in 2011 by a team of researchers including David Rubilar-Rogers. Over the years, the paleontologist（古生物学者）at Chile's National Museum of Natural History has showed the strange fossil to every geologist that came to the museum. However, no one was able to identify “The Thing's" origin until Julia Clarke» a professor at UT-Austin's Jackson School of Geosciences, visited in 2018.

“I showed it to her, and, after a few minutes, Julia told me it could be an egg!" Rubilar-Rogers said.

To confirm Clarke's suspect, Lucas Legendre, a student at UT-Austin who led the study, examined the fossil under a microscope. Sure enough, he found several layers of membrane（薄膜），confirming that the fossil was indeed a soft-shelled egg, similar to the obvious, quick-hatching eggs laid by some modern-day snakes. “The shell is very thin,” said Clarke.

The fossil's identification led to an even bigger mystery—what animal could have laid an egg this size? After considering several potential parents, the researchers concluded that the egg was laid by an ancient marine reptile like a masseur（沧龙）. The fact that the rock formation where the egg had been found had fossil evidence of baby masseurs and the offspring of other marine animals further strengthened their theory.

1. What can we know from the first paragraph?

A．“The Thing” is the largest egg laid by animals.

B．“The Thing" has been discovered for a century.

C．“The Thing” looks like a football not having enough gas.

D．“The Thing” belongs to an elephant bird.

2. What is Clarke's guess about “The Thing”？

A．It may be laid by a snake.

B．It could be an egg.

C．It has a very thick shell.

D．It has existed for 66 thousand years.

3. How did Legendre test Clarke's guess?

A．By comparing the fossil with the eggs of various animals.

B．By analyzing a lot of data collected by researchers.

C．By doing many experiments with his colleagues.

D．By using a microscope to examine "The thing"・

4. What does "their theory" in the last paragraph refer to?

A．The egg's potential parents are snakes・

B．An ancient marine reptile laid the egg.

C．The size of the eggs lies in the weight of the animals.

D．The way of rock formation affects the egg.