1 . Directions: After reading the passage below, fill in the blanks to make the passage coherent and grammatically correct. For the blanks with a given word, fill in each blank with the proper form of the given word; for the other blanks, use one word that best fits each blank.
The Mystery is No Mystery
The area of ocean between Florida, Puerto Rico, and Bermuda, known as the Bermuda Triangle, is the source of much mystery. Over the centuries, reports of ships and planes disappearing
The Bermuda Triangle covers a vast 700,000 square-kilometer swathe of ocean. Close to the equator(赤道)and near the United States, it is a particularly busy patch of sea with heavy traffic. According to Lloyd’s of London and the U. S. Coast Guard,
These days, new theories are being put forward, with a bit of scientific truth to them. Some have attributed Bermuda Triangle disappearances to explosive releases of methane (甲烷) gas,
The only problem with this theory is that scientists won’t be able to tell with much certainty if this is a factor
2 . To prevent tsunami-caused disasters, several countries worked together to expand the use of a tsunami-detecting system that had been developed in the United States by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The system
By 2004 only six such detectors had been installed, all in the Pacific. There were
There are now 53 detector buoys operating in the world’s oceans, including 6 of a planned 27 in the Indian Ocean. So a (n)
In March, the system, which is run by the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA), did not work perfectly. JMA’s initial
A.approves | B.rids | C.expects | D.consists |
A.broadcasts | B.foresees | C.assigns | D.imposes |
A.some | B.a few | C.none | D.others |
A.qualified | B.alerted | C.substituted | D.fueled |
A.although | B.until | C.as | D.where |
A.difficult | B.thoughtful | C.easy | D.pressing |
A.alternative | B.perspective | C.repetition | D.resume |
A.surprise | B.mistake | C.accident | D.force |
A.reference | B.confirmation | C.suggestion | D.expectation |
A.undertake | B.multiply | C.deposit | D.blanket |
A.location | B.direction | C.territory | D.length |
A.note | B.catalogue | C.volume | D.estimate |
A.worse | B.larger | C.higher | D.wider |
A.schedule | B.scheme | C.monitor | D.response |
A.warning | B.security | C.setting | D.responsibility |
3 . At first, the grains of rice that Ingo Potrykus held in his fingers did not seem at all
For more than a decade Potrykus had
At that point, he tackled an even greater challenge. The golden grains
The debate began the moment genetically engineered crops (GM crops) were first sold in the 1990s, and it has
The hostility is
The benefits did seem small
Many people
A.typical | B.special | C.local | D.white |
A.dreamed of | B.come in handy | C.been reminded of | D.broken up |
A.attempt at | B.effort to | C.resistance to | D.majority of |
A.But | B.And | C.While | D.Since |
A.surprise | B.obstacle | C.norm | D.opposition |
A.achieved | B.stressed | C.overlooked | D.contained |
A.was caught in | B.was alive with | C.be conscious of | D.was honored by |
A.announced | B.maintained | C.escalated | D.applied |
A.brilliant | B.understandable | C.discharged | D.rewarding |
A.introduced | B.reminded | C.respected | D.overlooked |
A.toss and turn | B.give and take | C.produce and sell | D.demand and supply |
A.until | B.after | C.although | D.when |
A.feature | B.mark | C.build | D.benefit |
A.worried about | B.ashamed of | C.filled with | D.admired for |
A.terror | B.misery | C.starvation | D.crisis |
A.efficiency B.employ C.effective D.chemicals E.accelerating F.existing G.projected H.trapped I.power J.simultaneously K.artificially |
This past July was the hottest recorded month in human history. Heat waves smashed temperature records worldwide and even brought summer temperatures to Chile and Argentina during the Southern Hemisphere’s winter. It’s more than just a matter of sweaty discomfort. In the U.S. alone, it kills more people each year than floods, tornadoes and hurricanes combined. As climate change worsens, access to
Yet standard air-conditioning systems have
It’s becoming increasingly clear that humans cannot outrun climate change with the same air-conditioning technology we’ve been using. One well-known problem with current AC systems is their reliance on refrigerant
Standard air-conditioning systems
Even with some of the best technologies available, the gains in
Shark attacks in U.S. waters—and how common they really are
The first American shark panic began in the hot summer of 1916, when a series of attacks of the Jersey Shore killed four in two weeks. This was thought to be the work of a single great white shark—a species native to the Atlantic coast and the same likely involved in recent attacks. In a time when little was known about beasts from the deep, the deaths were big news. One paper warned that, facing a scarcity of fish, the shark had “probably acquired a taste for human flesh.”
But 1916 did not start a new time of human-hunting sharks. The rate of attacks in the U.S. stayed relatively stable, at two or three per year, for decades. From the 1950s on, that number rose with human population growth, and its attendant increase of people in the water.
Globally, both numbers have been climbing faster since the late 1980s and into the 21st century, but such encounters with sharks are still remarkably uncommon given that the human population is some 7.5 billion. In 2017, 53 of the world’s 88 confirmed attacks took place on U.S. coastlines, with 31 in Florida - but even there, you’re far less likely to be killed by a shark than by lightning. Thanks to beach safety and hospital access, only five of last year’s global attacks were fatal.
“If sharks were actively hunting people, we’d see far more attacks,” says Gavin Naylor, director at the Florida Museum’s Program for Shark Research.
Statistically, sharks have far more to fear from us than we do from them—fisheries wipe out an estimated 100 million each year, and climate change and other human activity have threatened shark habitats, sending their global population into decline. But that doesn’t make it any less sad when the beasts bite back.
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6 . What do you know about fashion? The fashion industry, which has become one of the most
A friend of mine
The items are the products of an industry that, in the past 30 years, has become one of the most successful and also most
“The fashion industry represents a key environmental
One wonders: What can we do about it? Don’t you have any clothes on? It’s not that
A.convincing | B.interesting | C.confusing | D.damaging |
A.carry out | B.come out | C.set out | D.break out |
A.builds | B.runs | C.supports | D.controls |
A.expensive | B.useless | C.worthless | D.attractive |
A.businessmen | B.children | C.locals | D.masses |
A.little | B.few | C.much | D.many |
A.on behalf of | B.in the form of | C.for the sake of | D.in terms of |
A.effective | B.destructive | C.preventive | D.alternative |
A.quarrel | B.argument | C.fight | D.conflict |
A.tell the truth | B.hit the brakes | C.pave the way | D.break the ice |
A.threat | B.effect | C.problem | D.protection |
A.results from | B.consists of | C.brings about | D.relies on |
A.ambition | B.action | C.satisfaction | D.attraction |
A.far | B.extreme | C.bad | D.complex |
A.enjoy | B.imagine | C.miss | D.avoid |
7 . When it comes to black holes, we are caught between a rock and a hard place. In the 1970s, Stephen Hawking showed that all black holes give off thermal radiation(热辐射)and eventually evaporate(蒸发). In doing so, they seemed to be destroying information contained in the matter that fell into them, therefore going against a rule of quantum mechanics(量子力学): information cannot be created or destroyed.
Some argued that the outgoing “Hawking radiation” preserved the information. However, if this were the case, then given certain assumptions, the event horizon(视界)—— the black hole’s boundary of no return—— would become intensely energetic, forming a firewall. But such firewalls go against the theory of general relativity, which says that space-time near the event horizon should be smooth. The black hole firewall paradox was thus born.
Now, Sean Carroll at the California Institute of Technology and his colleagues have shown that the paradox disappears when the evolution of black holes is understood in the context of the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics.
The quantum state of the universe is described by something called the global wave function(全局波函数). According to traditional quantum mechanics, whenever there are many possible outcomes for physical process, this wave function ”collapses“ to represent one outcome. But in the many-worlds Interpretation, the wave function doesn’t collapse-rather, it branches, with one branch for each outcome. The branches evolve independently of each other, as separate worlds.
In this way of thinking, the formation of a black hole and its evaporation due to Hawking radiation lead to multiple branches of the wave function. An observer monitoring a black hole also splits into multiple observers, one in each branch.
The new work shows that from the perspective of an observer in a given branch, space-time behaves as described by general relativity and the black hole has no firewall.
But does that imply loss of information? No, says team member Aidan Chatwin-Davies, also of Caltech. That is because the principle of preservation of information applies to the global wave function and not to its individual branches, he says. Information is preserved across all branches of the global wave function, but not necessarily in any one branch. Given this case, a black hole that doesn’t lose information and yet has a smooth, uneventful event horizon without a fire wall isn’t a contradiction.
Yasunori Nomura at the University of California at Berkeleyy has independently arrived at some similar conclusions in his work. He agrees that the many-worlds approach resolves the paradox around information loss from black holes. “Many worlds should be taken seriously,” he says.
1. Which word in the article is similar in meaning to the underlined word in Paragraph 2?A.Assumption (Paragraph 2) | B.Interpretation (Paragraph 4) |
C.Evaporation (Paragraph 5) | D.Contradiction (Paragraph 7) |
A.There is a firewall. | B.No observer will split. |
C.No information is lost. | D.The wave function collapses. |
A.introduce an independent scientist |
B.support the many-worlds interpretation |
C.question whether many worlds really exist |
D.argue against the information loss from black holes |
A.Rules of quantum mechanics. |
B.A new understanding of the black hole. |
C.Hawking’s interpretation of the black hole. |
D.The development of the global wave function. |
8 . The news that Derby has approved what promises to be Britain’s largest urban rewilding project so far is very welcome. The 320-hectare Allestree Park will, subject to detailed consultation, be given over to a range of habitats and perhaps even see the reintroduction of species such as dormice and red kites.
Urban rewilding - which is not the same as urban green space, however extensive - can take many forms. They
But in fact, some of the most successful projects have been
Urban rewilding,
The pressure for development means that there will always be tension with
In these mid-pandemic, post-Brexit, austerity-bitten (财政紧缩的) times, the financial arguments can be hardest to
A.differ | B.originate | C.range | D.develop |
A.transporting | B.attaching | C.leading | D.transforming |
A.mature | B.established | C.reputational | D.accidental |
A.specifically | B.fundamentally | C.previously | D.primarily |
A.bring about | B.serve as | C.contribute to | D.rely on |
A.breeding | B.launching | C.introducing | D.favoring |
A.by contrast | B.for instance | C.in itself | D.in the meanwhile |
A.appreciations | B.perceptions | C.insights | D.recovery |
A.encounter | B.sustain | C.create | D.promote |
A.recreational | B.political | C.industrial | D.commercial |
A.qualified | B.maintained | C.reserved | D.cultivated |
A.linked to | B.inseparable from | C.dismissed as | D.equivalent to |
A.value | B.profit | C.benefit | D.worth |
A.approve | B.counter | C.settle | D.consider |
A.fundamental | B.essential | C.overwhelming | D.obvious |
9 . Wild animals are equipped with a variety of techniques to avoid becoming lunch for a bigger animal, also known as a predator (捕食者) in nature. The most well-known methods include the classic fight and flight as well as freeze.
A team of researchers wondered whether closeness to people might impact those survival strategies. “We often see that animals are more tolerant around us in urban areas, but we don’t really know why.” says evolutionary biologist Dan Blumstein. “Is it individual plasticity, meaning individuals change their fear of us and that leads to tolerance? Or can there be an evolutionary factor involved?”
To find out, Blumstein and his colleagues combined information from 173 studies of over 100 species, including mammals, birds, fish and even mollusks. It turns out that regardless of evolutionary ancestry, the animals react in a similar way to life among humans: they lose their anti-predator characteristics. That pattern is especially pronounced for plant-eating animals and for social species. This behavioral change is perhaps unsurprising when it’s intentional, the result of domestication or controlled breeding. But it turns out that urbanization alone results in a similar change, though around three times more slowly.
The main point is: we’re essentially domesticating animals by urbanization. We’re selecting for the same sorts of characteristics that we would if we were actually trying to domesticate them. If the urbanization process helps animals better co-exist with people, it could be to their benefit. But if it makes them more defenseless to their nonhuman predators, it could be a real problem. Either way, these results mean that city living has enough of an influence on wild animals that evolutionary processes kick in. Those reductions in anti-predator characteristics become encoded in their genes. We’re changing the population genetics one way or another.
What the researchers now wonder is whether the mere presence of tourists in less urbanized areas can cause similar changes in wild animals. If so, serious questions exist for the idea of ethical, welfare-oriented eco-tourism. If we wish to help animals keep their anti-predator defenses, the researchers say, we might have to intentionally expose animals to predators. It’s just yet one other way that we’re changing the world around us.
1. The research led by Blumstein is aimed at ________.A.determining how animals’ survival is impacted by individual plasticity |
B.studying how living among humans affects animals’ survival strategies |
C.comparing the effectiveness of different survival techniques |
D.finding out which evolutionary factor impacts animals’ survival methods |
A.Controlled breeding of animals. | B.Banning the operation of eco-tourism. |
C.Planned selection of favorable genes. | D.Eliminating domestication. |
A.Urbanization has made wild animals more alert. |
B.Urbanization has brought concrete benefits to animals. |
C.City living has led to animals’ genetic variations. |
D.City living has helped to preserve animal species. |
A.expose the fox to the urban environment repeatedly |
B.train the fox to co-exist with the less aggressive predators |
C.intentionally get the fox accustomed to the presence of humans |
D.purposefully adapt the fox to predator related environment |
10 . On a dark night, 11-year-old Joe was playing hide-and-seek with his friends in the backyard when he thought he saw Magellan—a huge housecat. However, when the cat suddenly jumped on his head, Joe found it turned out a young cougar. He backed away from the animal, then turned and ran inside the house.
Cougar encounters like this one are becoming increasingly common in the U.S. Most people assume that’s because cougar populations are growing, or because the big cats are coming into closer contact with the expanding web of human suburbs. But Professor Robert Wielgus at Washington State University argues that poorly designed hunting policies might be causing an increase in cougar-human conflicts.
Wielgus’s research teams have been fitting the big cats with radio collars and monitoring their movements. They find that the cougar population is actually declining rapidly and almost no male cougars are over four years of age. And a study shows that the heavily hunted area has five times as many cougar complaints as the lightly hunted area—even though the density of cougars is about the same in both areas.
Wielgus suspects that hunting policies, which allow older males to be killed to keep cougar populations in check, were the culprit and teenage cougars in the heavily hunted area may be responsible for most of the trouble. To test his theory, he adds two more groups of cougars to the tracking program—one in a heavily hunted area and another in a comparable but lightly hunted area. He concludes that heavy hunting indeed almost wipes out older males and the population structure in the heavily hunted area shifts toward younger animals.
With these findings, Wielgus believes without adults to keep them under control, the disorderly teens are more likely to come into conflict with humans, farm animals and pets.
Wielgus’s ideas don’t sit well with everyone. “Hunting definitely does cause lots of teenage males to flow in, but I don’t yet see solid proof that they are more likely to cause trouble than older cats,” says the University of Montana’s Robinson. “In many cases, the new arrivals have been squeezed out of remote wilderness habitat and forced into areas where they are more likely to encounter humans. I think humans are primarily responsible for all the interaction you see. We’re moving into these areas where cougars and deer are,” according to Alldredge, a researcher at the Colorado Division of Wildlife.
We may not understand what makes 18-year-old males more likely than 48-year-old men to do dangerous things, Wielgus says, but we know that the world would be a different place, if teenagers were in charge.
1. The passage begins with a story to ________.A.lead into the topic | B.describe an incident |
C.show the author’s attitude | D.warn of the dangers of cougars |
A.effect | B.evidence | C.cause | D.target |
A.Alldredge agrees hunting results in the arrival of lots of teens. |
B.Robinson doubts whether age is a key factor in human-cougar conflicts. |
C.Alldredge believes killing older males may cause a bigger threat. |
D.Robinson holds humans are to blame for the fall of older males. |
A.Driving teenage cougars back into their natural habitat. |
B.Getting people to move out of the areas where cougars are. |
C.Forbidding children to play in the backyard by themselves. |
D.Changing hunting policies to ensure a healthy cougar population. |