1 . When micro-plastics end up in farm fields, the pollution can damage plant growth. But two young researchers now report that combining fungi (真菌) with certain farm wastes can partly overcome that problem.
May Shin, 20, and Jiwon Choi, 18, met in a research design class at the Fryeburg Academy, a high school in Maine. May had desired to explore how micro-plastics might affect the ecosystem. Jiwon was crazy about plants and fungi. The young scientists cooperated to test how long-lived plastics might affect farm crops.
Scientists have shown certain fungi can aid root growth and a plant’s nutrient uptake. Those organisms are named arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF). Certain farm wastes, like straw, can provide nutrients to plants and help stabilize their roots. Such wastes are also known as mushroom substrate (基质) and people often grow mushrooms in them.
May and Jiwon planted over 2,000 scallion (大葱) seeds in pots of soil. Half the seeds got soil polluted with micro-plastics. The rest grew in plastic-free soil. The plants then were further divided into four groups. The young scientists added AMF to the soil in one group. Another group had a top layer of mushroom substrate. A third group got both treatments. The last group got none. For three weeks, the pair tracked how many scallions sprouted (发芽) in each group and measured the plants’ height once each week.
About twice as many scallions sprouted in clean soil compared to that containing plastic bits. But among plants surviving in the polluted soil, a combination of AMF and mushroom substrate helped them out. Those getting both treatments grew 5.4 centimeters per week. That was faster than either of the treatments alone or those getting none.
Jiwon and May then looked at the plant roots with a microscope. Where AMF had been added, it grew into those roots. That increased the scallion roots’ surface area, May said, which should promote their uptake of nutrients. So “I see this project as coming up with a sustainable solution for plant growth in polluted soils,” said May.
1. Why did May and Jiwon work together?| A．To see the effects of long-lived plastics on farm crops. |
| B．To find the relationship between plants and fungi. |
| C．To design a research on the growth of plants. |
| D．To explore the way that the ecosystem works. |
| A．To prove the existence of micro-plastics. | B．To compare fungi with farm wastes. |
| C．To tell the advantages of farm wastes. | D．To provide some related information. |
| A．Its purpose. | B．Its design. | C．Its findings. | D．Its reasons. |
| A．By keeping the plants more resistant to pollution. | B．By allowing the plants’ deep area more freedom. |
| C．By making nutrients more available to the plants. | D．By exposing the roots to a larger surface area. |
2 . Asia,the largest continent on Earth,is home to more than half of the world’s population. With so many different cultures and languages, each country is worth a lifetime to travel around. Here are some top countries for you to have an unforgettable travel experience .
China
China owns one of the world’s oldest civilizations(文明). Wherever you go, you can easily recognize many amazing historical and cultural landmarks. For example, the Great Wall of China, the Terracotta Army in Xi’an and the Forbidden City in Beijing attract many visitors all over the world. However,other people come to enjoy China’s beautiful scenery that includes high mountains and the Gobi Desert. As the most populous(人口多的)nation on Earth, China is also home to many modern cities.
India
Home to one of the world’s richest and oldest civilizations, India has many different cultures, religions, peoples and traditions. With the Himalayas lying in the north, jungle and beaches can be found in the rest of the country. From temples to food and history to wildlife, the beautiful country has something for everyone.
Thailand
Thailand is a very popular tourist attraction. Its golden sands and beaches attract lots of people every year. Many also come to party in its beachside towns, visit some beautiful and peaceful islands such as Ko Tao, or enjoy the attractive scenery at Krabi.
Japan
Although it consists of almost 7,000 islands, most of Japan’s main sights and tourist attractions can be found on the four largest of them. Lying to the east of Asia, the island nation is an attractive place as a mixture of traditional palaces and modern buildings Covered in mountains and forests, the country is home to some delightful nature and scenery.
1. Which one is the most populous country on Earth?| A．China | B．Japan | C．India | D．Thailand |
| A．India and China | B．Japan and China |
| C．China and Thailand | D．India and Thailand |
| A．Sports | B．Music | C．Science | D．Travel |
Years ago, the authors conducted human-wildlife conflict surveys in the Tibet Autonomous Region’s counties,
This effort greatly expanded knowledge of the snow leopard’s distribution in this region,
Importantly, in the past few years, a number of major transportation infrastructure (基础设施) projects
4 . The amount of sea ice surrounding Antarctica has reached its lowest level since modern records began, for the second year in a row. Sea ice is frozen seawater that floats on the ocean’s surface around the planet’s polar regions. It forms at much lower sustained temperatures than freshwater ice does, at around-1.8 degrees Celsius. Sea ice builds up during the winter until it reaches its maximum extent, and then melts (融化) away in the spring and summer until it reaches its minimum extent.
In Antarctica, where summer and winter are relative to the Northern Hemisphere, sea ice normally reaches its maximum extent in September when sea ice covers around 7 million square miles. At its minimum extent at the end of February, historically only around I million square miles remains. Last year the minimum sea ice extent was less than 772, 000 square miles, the lowest total since scientists began recording sea ice extent with satellites in 1979. On 21 February this year, that number had reduced to just 691, 000 square miles, which is roughly 40 per cent less than the average between 1981 and 2010.
The record-breaking minimum was expected after an extraordinarily hot January which was the seventh-warmest since records began 174 years ago. “By the end of January, we could tell it was only a matter of time until the record was broken,” said Will Hobbs, an Antarctic sea ice expert at the University of Tasmania and the Australian Antarctic Program Partnership. Antarctica’s minimum sea ice extent will likely continue to decrease in the coming decades as global temperatures rise as a result of human-caused climate change and more multiyear ice, which acts as a seed for new ice growth, melts away.
Sea ice is crucial for polar predators(捕食性动物) such as penguins in Antarctica and polar bears in the Arctic, which use the ice as a platform for hunting. But the sea ice also helps stabilise ice on Antarctica. “Lower sea ice extent means that ocean waves will pound the coast of the giant ice sheet，further reducing ice shelves around Antarctic,” said Ted Scambos, a senior research scientist at the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences.
1. What can we know about sea ice?| A．It can be seen on any ocean’s surface. | B．It forms at about -1.8 ℃. |
| C．It melts all the year round. | D．There is more sea ice than freshwater ice. |
| A．There are two seasons in Antarctica. |
| B．Scientists have been recording the change of sea ice. |
| C．Sea ice in Antarctica has been on decline in the past decades. |
| D．The ecology in Antarctica needs to be improved. |
| A．The earth becomes warmer. | B．Multiyear ice disappears completely. |
| C．Ocean waves destroy the giant ice sheet. | D．Human beings occupy Antarctica. |
| A．Human activities have caused global warming |
| B．Measures should be taken to stop sea ice decreasing |
| C．Sea ice is significant for polar animals |
| D．Antarctica’s sea ice reaches its lowest level since records began |
5 . Volunteering to take care of neighborhood pets is a great way for kids to learn responsibility.
Ideas for getting started
Have your kids make flyers(传单) to place around the neighborhood,showcasing their willingness to help out by caring for neighborhood pets.
Helping out
Your children can volunteer for small pet-sitting jobs that are easy for both you and them to manage.
Learning opportunities
Offering activities,like animal caretaking,benefits little animals and your children at the same time.
Emotional benefits of animals
The benefits of interaction between children and animals go beyond the physical aspect,as well.
| A．Pets also meet many psychological needs. |
| B．Young children can benefit from the difficult actions. |
| C．Small tasks can allow parents to gain a sense of understanding. |
| D．Use these opportunities to teach your kids about a new creature. |
| E．Walking gentle dogs is both safe and rewarding for the young caretakers. |
| F．For the youngest child,a flyer may be as simple as a picture to which you add the words. |
| G．Speak words of appreciation and don’t forget to comment on the great job they are doing! |
注意：
1．写作词数应为80左右；
2．请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Dear John,
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Yours,
Li Hua
1.制定有关保护动物的法律；
2.建立动物保护区；
3.提高公众保护动物的意识。
注意：1.词数80左右；
2.开头和结尾已给出，不计入总词数；
3.可适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
Dear Sir/Madam,
I’m writing to express my opinion on how to protect the animals on the island I visited last weekend.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Yours,
Li Hua
1.很多人使用皮毛制品，有些人靠猎杀动物挣钱，有些人甚至吃濒危野生动物；
2.为保护动物提出自己的建议；
3.发出倡议，号召大家一起行动起来保护动物。
注意：1.词数80左右；
2.可适当增加细节，以使行文连贯；
3.开头和结尾已给出，不计入总词数。
Dear human beings,
It is known that at present more and more wildlife is being in danger of dying out. According to my research, there are many reasons which lead to it.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Yours,
Li Hua
Liu Cixin’s novella The Wandering Earth begins at a time in the future when humanity has accepted the finding that our sun is in the final cataclysmic (灾难性的) stages of turning into a red giant. This transformation will include a helium-burst from the sun that will vaporize (使……蒸发) the Earth unless we either leave the planet
The idea of moving an entire planet has always seemed absurd (荒谬的) to me, however the
The Wandering Earth by Liu Cixin is a story
10 . Learning the word for fish in Chinese can be a highly useful skill. Knowing how to say “fish” in Chinese is both practical and helpful in understanding cultural values.
The Chinese Character for Fish
The Chinese character for “fish”, written in the traditional form, is 魚 .
Cultural Importance of Fish in China
The pronunciation of fish in Chinese, “yú” is a homophone (同音字) for “abundance (充裕).”
Fish in Chinese Mythology
One of the most interesting Chinese myths about fish is the idea that a carp (鲤鱼) that climbs the waterfall on the Yellow River (known as the Dragon Gate) changed into a dragon.
| A．The simplified form is 鱼. |
| B．But very few make the climb. |
| C．Surprisingly, a lot of them are not related to fish at all. |
| D．This addition suggests that fish is most useful to humans. |
| E．The dragon is another important symbol in Chinese culture. |
| F．For example, Asian carp are the subject of many Chinese stories. |
| G．This similarity has led to fish becoming a symbol of abundance in Chinese culture. |
