1 . Bees are extremely important to our health and survival. As pollinators (授粉者), they are responsible for about a third of the food we eat. However, the bee population worldwide are on the decrease.     1    .

Some bee species defend their hives (蜂巢) with large balls of heat

The body temperature of bees is typically similar to their surrounding environment. But within the hive, bees maintain a steady temperature of around 92—93 degrees Fahrenheit year-round. Using their wings, bees can fan hot air out of the hive to cool an area.     2    . When an enemy invades, together they will create a large ball around it to cook the invader alive.

Bees help farmers grow better food and keep food prices down

Bees are highly efficient pollinators. When bees are employed to pollinate, the quantity and quality of the crops improve surprisingly. As the climate continues to change, many animals will move to more favorable habitats.     3    . With the reducing numbers of bees, the cost of over 130 fruit and vegetable plants that we rely on for food in is going up in price.

Policemen find murderers by studying bees

    4    . Similarly, criminals avoid committing crimes close to where they live, Police can make reasonable guesses about where a suspect might live or visit regularly.

    5    

Bees are able to pick out individual characteristics on human faces and recognize them. This ability not only helps these highly social creatures recognize each other, but it also helps them recognize and return to flowers they like best.

A．Bees can recognize human faces

B．Here are a few surprising facts about the amazing insects

C．Fortunately, you can take action to protect bees where you live

D．Honeybees live cooperatively and have a strict division of labor

E．Bees generally leave flowers closest to their nest entrance untouched

F．But bees aren’t adapting to changing temperatures like some other species

G．They can move their flight muscles quickly and constantly to heat it as well

2 . The far side of the moon is a strange and wild region, quite different from the familiar and mostly smooth face we see nightly from our planet. Soon this rough space will have even stranger features: it will be crowded with radio telescopes.

Astronomers are planning to make the moon's distant side our newest and best window on the cosmic(宇宙的) dark ages, a mysterious era hiding early marks of stars and galaxies. Our universe was not always filled with stars. About 380,000 years after the big bang, the universe cooled, and the first atoms of hydrogen formed. Gigantic hydrogen clouds soon filled the universe. But for a few hundred million years, everything remained dark, without stars. Then came the cosmic dawn: the first stars flickered, galaxies came into existence and slowly the universe's large­scale structure took shape.

The seeds of this structure must have been present in the dark­age hydrogen clouds, but the era has been impossible to probe using optical(光学的) telescopes—there was no light. And although this hydrogen produced long­wavelength(or low­frequency) radio emissions,radio telescopes on Earth have found it nearly impossible to detect them. Our atmosphere either blocks or disturbs these faint signals; those that get through are drowned out by humanity's radio noise.

Scientists have dreamed for decades of studying the cosmic dark ages from the moon's far side. Now multiple space agencies plan lunar missions carrying radio­wave­detecting instruments—some within the next three years—and astronomers' dreams are set to become reality.

“If I were to design an ideal place to do low­frequency radio astronomy, I would have to build the moon,” says astrophysicist Jack Burns of the University of Colorado Boulder. “We are just now finally getting to the place where we're actually going to be putting these telescopes down on the moon in the next few years.”

1. What's the purpose of building radio telescopes on the moon?

A．To research the big bang.	B．To discover unknown stars.
C．To study the cosmic dark ages.	D．To observe the far side of the moon.

2. What does the underlined word “probe” in Paragraph 3 possibly mean?

A．Explore.	B．Evaluate.
C．Produce.	D．Predict.

3. Hydrogen radio emissions can't be detected on Earth because ________．

A．there was no light in the dark ages

B．they cannot possibly get through our atmosphere

C．gigantic hydrogen clouds no longer fill the universe

D．radio signals on Earth cause too much interference

4. What can we infer from the underlined sentence in the last paragraph?

A．Scientists have to rebuild the moon.

B．We will finally get to the moon's distant side.

C．The moon is a perfect place to set up radio telescopes.

D．A favorable research environment will be found on the moon.

3 . Most people think of zoos as safe places for animals, where struggles such as difficulty finding food and avoiding predators don’t exist. Without such problems, animals in zoos should live to a ripe old age.

But that may not be true for the largest land animals on Earth. Scientists have known that elephants in zoos often suffer from poor health. They develop diseases, joint problems and behavior changes. Sometimes, they even become unable to have babies.

To learn more about how captivity (监禁) affects elephants, a team of international scientists compared the life spans of female elephants born in zoos with female elephants living outdoors in their native lands. Zoos keep detailed records of all the animals in their care, documenting factors such as birth dates, illnesses, weight and death. These records made it possible for the researchers to analyze 40 years of data on 800 African and Asian elephants in zoos across Europe. The scientists compared the life spans of the zoo-born elephants with the life spans of thousands of female wild elephants in Africa and Asian elephants that work in logging camps (伐木场), over approximately the same time period.

The team found that female African elephants born in zoos lived an average of 16.9 years. Their wild counterparts who died of natural causes lived an average of 56 years — more than three times as long. Female Asian elephants followed a similar pattern. In zoos, they lived 18.9 years, while those in the logging camps lived 41.7 years.

Scientists don’t yet know why wild elephants seem to live so much better than their zoo-raised counterparts. Georgia Mason, a biologist at the University of Guelph in Canada who led the study, think stress and obesity (肥胖) may be to blame. Zoo elephants don’t get the same kind of exercise they would in the wild, and most are very fat. Elephant social lives are also much more different in zoos than in the wild, where they live in large herds and family groups.

Another finding from the study showed that Asian elephants born in zoos were more likely to die early than Asian elephants captured in the wild and brought to zoos. Mason suggests stress in the mothers in zoos might cause them to have babies that are less likely to survive.

The study raises some questions about acquiring more elephants to keep in zoos. While some threatened and endangered species living in zoos reproduce successfully and maintain healthy populations, that doesn’t appear to be the case with elephants.

1. According to the first two paragraphs unlike other zoo animals, zoo elephants ________.

A．have difficulty eating food.	B．live to a ripe old age.
C．are not afraid of predators.	D．develop health problems.

2. Which of the following about the international scientists’ research on the life spans of elephants is NOT true?

A．They compared zoo elephants with wild elephants.

B．Zoos kept detailed records of all the elephants in the wild.

C．They analyzed the records of the elephants kept in zoos.

D．The zoo-born elephants they studied are kept in European zoos.

3. What do the scientists find in their research?

A．Female elephants live longer than male elephants.

B．Female zoo elephants live longer than their wild counterparts.

C．Female zoo elephants die much earlier than their wild counterparts.

D．Elephants in zoos and those in the wild enjoy the same long life spans.

4. Which of the following does the author suggest in the last paragraph?

A．It may not be a wise policy to keep elephants in the zoo.

B．Elephants are no longer an endangered species.

C．Zoo-born elephants should be looked after more carefully.

D．Zoos should keep more animals except elephants.

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

The jaguar (美洲豹) is the largest cat in the Americas. A hundred years ago, jaguars     1     (find) everywhere from the south-western United States to Argentina, in South America. Today, jaguars are an endangered species throughout their     2     (nature) habitat and have been lost from 50 per cent of their territory (领土). Today they live     3     (most) in the Amazon rainforest. And jaguars aren't the only animals losing their homes—according     4     the International Union for Conservation of Nature, habitat loss     5     (be) the main threat to about 85 percent of all endangered plant and animal species.

Tropical (热带的) rainforests cover only about 7 per cent of Earth's land, but they're home to about half of all known plant and animal species. Most     6     (scientist) agree that about 80,000 acres (an acre is equal to 4,047 square metres) disappear every day when trees are cut down and land is cleared for farms. Trees also play     7     important role in climate change. Fewer forests mean that more greenhouse gases remain     8     (trap) in the atmosphere, the mixture of gases that surrounds the Earth.

Grasslands, underwater habitats, and wetlands are also at risk. For example, the World Wildlife Fund reports that about half of the world's wetlands     9     (disappear) about a hundred years ago as a result of being drained (排干) for either farmland    10     other industries. That means less space for animals to feed and raise their young.

5 . Guanmei, a 65-year-old woman of the Dong ethnic group, is the inheritor of the Grand Song of Dong (侗族大歌), a national intangible cultural heritage in China. Her hometown Zaidai Village in Guizhou, southwestern China, is home to the Grand Song of the Dong ethnic group.

The Grand Song of Dong dates from more than 2,500 years ago. The way Dong singers use their vocal cords (声带) is different from how formally trained singers do. It is a folk chorus with multi-parts, no conductor, and no accompaniment. Organically growing from their natural surroundings, it is recognized internationally as “the sound of Nature.”

Before the Dong people had a writing system in 1958, the Dong culture, their history and stories were all recorded by means of songs. As a Dong saying goes, “Rice feeds the body and songs enrich the soul”. The Dong people sing right from their childhood. While not singing, they all work in their rice field.

Guanmei has been singing the Grand Song of Dong all her life, making her a famous singing teacher in her hometown and nearby areas. “The songs are our means of passing on wisdom, knowledge and life experiences to others. I will not exist in this world 100 years later, but Grand songs will. I’m honored to do this job, ” Guanmei said.

Kind-hearted, Guanmei has been volunteering to teach the Grand Song of Dong to the Dong children for over 30 years. Now she has more than 300 students. Guanmei is pleased to see the village children come to her house willingly when they have free time.

“Nowadays, more and more young people leave the village and settle in cities. Decades later, the Dong children out of the village might know nothing about Grand songs. We should do something just now. It’s our mission. What is once lost might be lost forever,” added Guanmei.

1. What makes the Grand Song of Dong known as “the sound of Nature”?

A．The outstanding conductor.

B．The special musical instrument.

C．The attractive natural environment.

D．The inspiration from nature.

2. What can we know about the Dong ethnic culture?

A．The Dong singers are professionals.

B．The Dong culture before 1958 has been largely lost.

C．Singing is of vital importance to the Dong people.

D．They have a written language with a history of over 2,500 years.

3. How does Guanmei feel about the future of Grand songs?

A．Concerned.	B．Sympathetic.
C．Optimistic.	D．Satisfied.

4. What’s the author’s main purpose in writing the passage?

A．To call on young people to return to the Dong village.

B．To guide the Dong children to learn the Grand Song of Dong.

C．To show a woman’s efforts to keep the Dong culture alive.

D．To instruct people to appreciate the Grand Song of Dong.

6 . The idea of billions of people going through a few masks a week during this pandemic definitely rings alarm bells, but a team of researchers in Melbourne may have the solution.

They’ve discovered that adding millions of discarded face masks to road-paving (铺路) mixtures would actually lower the cost of the road, while preventing billions of them from landfills. Just one kilometer of road would need three million masks, and the polypropylene (聚丙烯) plastic used to make single-use surgical face masks also increased the flexibility and durability of the road.

The new material is a mixture of about 2% torn masks, with recycled concrete aggregate (RCA)—a material obtained from waste concrete and other minerals from destroyed buildings. This recycled material was found in the study to be ideal for two of the four layers generally required to create roadways. Paving a kilometer of two-way road with the RCA and three million face masks would result in a change of 93 tons of waste from landfills.

The final product then is more resistant to wear than asphalt (沥青), as well as being cheaper too, provided there was a method for collecting masks. The research team did a cost-analysis and found that, at $26 per ton, the RCA was about half the cost of mining raw materials, and as much as a third of the cost of shipping the used masks to a landfill.

The widespread application would be ideal for large infrastructure (基础设施) projects. For example, Washington has the 11th worst roads in terms of unaddressed repairs in the U.S. If the damaged roads in Washington state were repaired with the RCA/mask mixture, it would reuse nearly 10 billion masks, sparing American landfills hundreds of millions of tons of trash.

It’s said that the team is looking for private industry partners or governments willing to give their plastic mask road an opportunity for a large-scale test.

1. What does the underlined word “discarded” mean in paragraph 2?

A．Recycled.	B．Produced.
C．Mixed.	D．Abandoned.

2. What is the new material used to pave ways made of?

A．2% torn masks, concrete and tons of trash.

B．Polypropylene plastic and building materials.

C．Single-use surgical masks and recycled concrete aggregate.

D．Waste concrete and other minerals from destroyed buildings.

3. Why are numbers mentioned in paragraph 5?

A．To tell us what the team has found.

B．To prove this material is cost-effective in paving roads.

C．To explain repairing roads costs a lot of materials.

D．To praise the hard work the team has done.

4. What can we learn from the text?

A．The material used to pave roads is made of masks.

B．Generally speaking, it requires two layers to create roadways.

C．It remains to be tested whether the solution is practical.

D．The damaged roads in Washington were repaired with the RCA.

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。

Beijing residents woke up to yellow sky on Sunday morning as northern China       1     (hit) by the largest sandstorm of the decade.

Air pollution readings rose to the upper limit of 500 at 8 a.m., according to data from the city's environmental monitory center, as visibility was reduced to     2     (little) than 1,000 meters in parts of the city.

The city's weather bureau advised residents to stay indoors as much as possible, while experts are working to find out     3     the sandstorm came into being.

8 . With a quick movement, the little creature vanishes in the air like it never existed and somehow appears dramatically-this is a part of the film Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. But in reality, “disappeared” fantastic creatures can also reappear.

The Global Wildlife Conservation(GWC) announced on Oct 30 they have rediscovered the Voeltzkow's chameleon(变色龙)in Madagascar. The last time that the animal was seen was in 1913.

This discovery excited the researeh team, but the finding was not easy. The GWC organized an expedition as part of its Seareh for Lost Species program, an attempt to rediscover species that have not been observed by scientists for at least a decade. They headed into the forests of northwestern Madagascar in April 2018. But they didn't have much luck for a long time. Just days before the trip was to end. the tour guides spotted one of the chameleons. Ultimately, the team discovered three males and 13 females.

Male Voeltzkow's chameleons are up to 164 millimeters long and are light green with dark stripes, which get darker when they are angry or stressed. Females are smaller than males, growing to about 150 millimeters long. They can change their skin to a pattern of red dots and a stripe of purple against a background of black and white.

“The Voeltzkow's chameleon adds color and beauty to the planet, and reminds us that even when all seems lost, a great adventure can reawaken hope." said Don Church, president of the GWC. "Now we have so much to learn about this extraordinary reptile(爬行动物)・including how we can best save it from extinction.”

This isn't the only time a species thought to be extinct has been rediscovered. In fact, this year scientists discovered a frog that has been missing for more than 50 years in a Brazilian jungle. Another example is the Albany adder snake, which was rediscovered in 2016. The species had disappeared for over a decade and was generally believed to be extinct.

So how are these "lost" species able to make a comeback? If the environment changes in favor of certain species that have been considered extinct, the population size of those species may recover again. As they reach greater numbers, the chance of humans discovering them increases.

1. Why is the part of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them mentioned?

A．To lead to a discussion about animal extinction.

B．To warn of the difference between reality and fiction.

C．To demonstrate that magic can be found in real life.

D．To further discuss the reappearance of creatures.

2. What does Paragraph 3 mainly talk about?

A．How luck determined the fate of a lost species.

B．How the GWC rediscovered the Voeltzkow's chameleon.

C．An introduction to the Seareh for Lost Species program.

D．The solutions to make “lost" species come back.

3. What can we know about the Voeltzkow's chameleon?

A．They can change their colors to green and yellow.

B．Female chameleons are much longer than male ones.

C．The color of the males' skin can reflect their mood.

D．Male chameleons outnumber female ones by a lot.

4. What can be concluded from the last two paragraphs?

A．The rediscoveries may be due to environmental changes.

B．The habitats of frogs and snakes are quite similar.

C．Human beings are to blame for species extinction.

D．Extinct reptiles would be the first group to be rediscovered.

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。

Mount Vesuvius is an active volcano located just east of Naples, Italy. It is the only volcano on the continent of Europe that     1     (erupt) in the last one hundred years, though other volcanoes have erupted on islands in the Mediterranean Sea. Vesuvius's earliest     2     (record) eruption is now its most famous. In the year A. D. 79,     3     little or no warning, Vesuvius erupted and completely buried the ancient city of Pompeii. For two days the mountain shot     4     (volcano) material into the air, spreading     5     blanket of ash over the landscape. Pompeii, located seven kilometers from the volcano,     6     (bury) under five meters of ash. The destruction was so complete that it was not until sixteen hundred years later     7     the city was discovered. Evidence of the religion, culture, and everyday life of the Pompeiians, all     8     (leave) behind in the sudden panic of the volcano's catastrophe, are     9     (remarkable) well preserved. And everywhere there are     10     (remind) of its sudden eruption and the shadow of Vesuvius. Even the forms of the citizens remain. Their bodies lie much as they did on the day of their death almost twenty centuries ago.

10 . Open an app at your smart phone and scan the code bar on the garbage can. When you throw garbage into the garbage can, it will show the weight of the garbage and the points you can get from doing so.     1     It will become more popular in the future. Yes, we are talking about the smart garbage can.

    2     The environmental problems have become constant headaches in the development of those cities. Encouraging garbage classification has become an effective way.

In some cities, a variety of multifunctional smart garbage cans are being put into use. In Beijing, for example, a smart garbage can is equipped with an LED screen, which not only shows national policies on garbage classification but also shows the correct steps for garbage sorting. It can also calculate the weight of the garbage and the accumulated points one can get. They can be traded for some articles of daily use.     3     Its body is actually a screen. It is equipped with some Internal sensors. When people throw garbage into it, the internal sensors can automatically tell the types of the garbage. Meanwhile, people can see how to deal with them.     4    

Garbage disposal is a small issue that involves everybody each day. However, it is also a big issue.    5     With smart garbage cans in our daily life, the idea of garbage sorting will become more established. Our dream of building a greener and more beautiful China will come true so long as we start to make small changes right now.

A．Garbage sorting has been a new fashion.

B．Another kind of garbage can is even smarter.

C．It is no wonder that residents cheered for their presence.

D．Such a way of handling garbage has appeared in some cities.

E．It will affect China’s transformation towards green development.

F．Over 200 million tons of garbage is produced each year in some cities.

G．The good habit of garbage classification can improve the living environment.