1 . To grow sugary dates in the sand, Siwa’s farmers must first make the desert suitable for farming. An oasis (绿洲) in Egypt, Siwa has been home to humans for thousands of years. Since ancient times, the oasis has hosted farms producing some of the most valuable dates in Egypt, and sugary dates have appeared on Egyptians, tables.
The desert environment in Siwa is not quite fit for plants to grow. For example, the water there contains much salt. However, with local people’s efforts, the Siwa oasis contains complex agricultural fields, where date trees, crops and other plants grow in harmony. That impressed me a lot during my visit to the oasis. To make a new piece of field, farmers first remove the top soil and replace it with a mixture of sand and waste matter from animals. The first plants are medicinal plants. Then, farmers plant date trees and olive trees. These farming skills are passed down from generation to generation.
To grow date trees is demanding. And it takes 10 years for a new date tree to mature, but once it does, the tree produces generous fruit: around 110 pounds of dates per year. Each farmer picks dates with the skilled hands. They climb the trees using nothing more than a belt. In total, Siwa grows more than 25,000 tons of dates from 280,000 trees per year.
The dates can be eaten fresh, or made dry. Every part of the date tree is significant in Siwa, from leaves made into beds and boxes to wood used to build houses. And then, of course, there’s the fruit itself. The dates can be cooked with goat meat or mixed with eggs for breakfast. They can also be mixed with flour, water, and olive oil, and boiled slowly to make a local dessert.
Local farmers once developed many unique date varieties, which their camels carried to Cairo. But later many of those varieties perished. And today only several major varieties remain and some have become quite rare and been at risk. The 1985 construction of a road in the oasis made the survival of local agricultural tradition even tougher.
1. What can we learn about sugary dates from Paragraph 1?| A．They can adapt to tough environment. |
| B．They have existed for a long time. |
| C．They’re introduced to Egypt from abroad. |
| D．They’re the most valuable fruit in Egypt. |
| A．The great variety of plants grown there, |
| B．The hard but happy life of local people. |
| C．The great complexity of the local agriculture. |
| D．The local farmers’ wisdom and contribution to farming. |
| A．It’s worthwhile to make an effort to grow date trees. |
| B．It’s easy for farmers to pick dates from the trees. |
| C．It costs a lot to grow date trees in the basis. |
| D．It’s necessary to develop agriculture in Siwa. |
| A．People’s preference for dates. |
| B．The introduction to local food, |
| C．The usage of date trees’ different parts. |
| D．The locals’ high expectations of date trees. |
| A．Died out. | B．Spread out. |
| C．Got created. | D．Became known. |
2 . Do you remember that story about the little girl who goes to visit her grandmother and meets a big, bad wolf along the way? Or perhaps you remember the story of the three little pigs who build three houses to protect themselves from a wolf?
The reality behind the fairy tales is that people feared wolves. Hunting and killing originating from hatred almost caused the animals to go extinct. Wolves needed a fairy mother —and that is what Brookfield Zoo in Chicago is for wolves and their puppies.
Being a fairy mother to wolves is not easy. Brookfield Zoo replaced iron-barred cubicles with safe habitats, which are not merely appealing to the zoo visitor, but more importantly, are contributing to the normal behavior and reproduction of the animals. The wolves have a large area to run and play in, places to hide and sleep in, and hills to climb with lots of grass and trees around them.
A fairy mother’s job is to make dreams magically come true and part of the magic is being invisible. The people who take care of the wolves hide themselves and the food and toys in places where the wolves can dig them up and find them on their own, so they feel more like they are living in nature.
Fairy tales are just stories. Wolves don’t dress up as grandmothers, nor have they blown a house down. Wolves aren’t scary at all, and in fact, they are more afraid of humans than we are of them.
The wolves have a great life at Brookfield Zoo. Maybe they will stay at Brookfield Zoo, but it would be nice to see them live back in nature again, too. If we all work together, maybe we can make this fairy tale come true for the wolves.
1. What are the two stories used to show?| A．Wolves are dangerous to humans. | B．People’s false impression of wolves. |
| C．The important role of Brook field Zoo. | D．Wolves are a popular subject of literature. |
| A．Visitor-interactive. | B．Mountainous. | C．Remote. | D．Natural-looking. |
| A．They are wolf researchers. | B．They are welcomed by the wolves. |
| C．They play hide-and-seek with the wolves. | D．They keep themselves out of the wolves’ sight. |
| A．Living in the wild. | B．Being taken good care of. |
| C．Staying at Brookfield Zoo. | D．Being afraid of humans no more. |
| A．What fairy tales tell us. | B．Where wolves can be safe. |
| C．How we can protect ourselves. | D．Whether we should be friends with wolves. |
3 . Scientists have not found any signs of life on Mars yet,but they say a robotic vehicle called “Curiosity” is helping them learn a lot about the planet’s history and climate.
Curiosity landed on Mars in August 2012 after travelling through space for more than eight months.It was sent to Mars by scientists from NASA in the United States.
Curiosity is about the size of a car and has six wheels.It also has a robotic arm,cameras,and instruments that allow it to examine things it finds on the surface.Then it sends the information back to the earth.
Curiosity’s main task is to find out if anything could live on Mars,either now or in the past.On Nov.2,NASA scientists held a press conference (新闻发布会) to discuss what Curiosity had found in its first two months on Mars.
Curiosity has found soil that is similar to the sand formed by volcanoes (火山) on the earth.Scientists say that studying the minerals in Martian soil will help them understand what conditions were like on the planet in the past.Curiosity also found smooth stones like the ones found on river beds and seashores on the earth,where their rough edges have been worn down by water.Mars is very cold and dry now,but scientists say the smooth stones tell them that a river used to run through the place where they were found.
Curiosity has been testing the atmosphere around Mars for a type of gas called methane (甲烷),but so far it has not found any.On the earth,most methane is produced by plants or animals.Methane on Mars might indicate that some type of tiny plants or animals lived there.
Curiosity is the fourth robotic vehicle to be sent to Mars.It will continue to explore the planet for about two years.
1. Which of the following descriptions about Curiosity is TRUE?| A．It landed on Mars in January 2012. |
| B．It is small in size and has four arms. |
| C．It took over eight months to arrive in Mars. |
| D．It was sent to Mars by scientists from Russia. |
| A．there’s no air on Mars | B．Mars is warm and wet now |
| C．the soil on Mars is rich | D．there used to be water on Mars |
| A．smooth stones | B．rivers |
| C．robotic vehicles | D．volcanoes |
| A．some tiny animals once lived on Mars |
| B．there are no plants or animals on Mars now |
| C．the atmosphere around Mars is full of methane |
| D．Curiosity is designed to test the atmosphere around the earth |
| A．Humans benefit a lot by going to Mars. |
| B．Scientists will stop the research on Mars soon. |
| C．It is possible to build an earth-like environment on Mars. |
| D．A robotic vehicle helps scientists get useful information from Mars. |
4 . Not all vegetables need lots of sunshine. Mark Hoffman and his wife own a bed-and -breakfast guesthouse in rural Kempton, Illinois. They often serve their guests fresh products from the garden.
The Hoffmans have been growing food and flowers for twenty-five years. For almost ten of those years, Mr. Hoffman has been experimenting and working with shade (阴凉) plantings. He says, “The bottom line here is that most plants will produce more in full sun. But if you do not have full sun, there are other choices.”
For example, he grows tomatoes near oak trees. Oak trees can produce a lot of shade. But Mr. Hoffman says his tomato plants grow as long as they get five hours a day of direct sunshine, especially morning sun. Not only does this go against the traditional advice that tomatoes need six，eight，even twelve hours a day of full sun, it also shows how plants and trees roots can share nutrients and water．Mr. Hoffman also planted asparagus（芦笋）around a tree at its drip line，the area below the outer limit of the branches. So when it rains，all the rain drips down right on the asparagus．Mr. Hoffman says plants with wider leaves seem to do better in shady environments. He also found that his potatoes did better partly in shade than in full sun.
Moving them out of the sun helped control an insect problem. Mr. Hoffman does not use pesticide (农药). Instead, he planted the potatoes in the shade, especially on the east side of the tree. The potatoes get morning sun, but they are shaded during the hottest part of the day. Some insects dislike shade, and the hottest part day is when they do the worst of their damage.
Time of day, sun intensity (强度), shadows from trees, walls and buildings all influence how much sunlight falls on plants. And people interested in shade planting should also remember something else. The term “shade” can describe different amounts of darkness. It can even mean different things in different parts of the world.
1. What’s the author’s purpose of writing the passage?| A．To present a kind of eco-friendly lifestyle. |
| B．To recommend an approach to manage a website |
| C．To show vegetables can be planted in the shade. |
| D．To introduce Mark Hoffman and his family. |
| A．five hours a day | B．Six hours a day |
| C．Eight hours a day | D．Twelve hours a day |
| A．Food and flowers produce more in the shade. |
| B．Food growing in the shade contains more nutrients. |
| C．Sun can affect the production of some plants. |
| D．Food growing in the shade is the best choice for most plants. |
| A．asparagus prefer to grow in the shade. |
| B．how plants and tree roots share water. |
| C．vegetables grow better in partial shade. |
| D．how leaves gain sunshine under the tree. |
| A．environment | B．traveling |
| C．lifestyle | D．agriculture |
1. 垃圾分类的意义；
2. 在学校如何进行垃圾分类（例如：可回收垃圾收集等）
3. 希望大家积极参与
注意：词数不少于100；可适当加入细节，使内容充实，行文连贯。
参考词汇：垃圾分类 rubbish classification
My fellow students,
I’m Li Jin, chairman of the Students' Union.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
6 . Although it has been revealed in recent years that plants are capable of seeing, hearing and smelling, they are still usually thought of as silent.But now, for the first time, Itzhak Khait and his colleagues at Tel Aviv University in Israel found that tomato and tobacco plants made sounds at frequencies humans cannot hear when stressed by a lack of water or when their stem is cut.Microphones placed 10 centimetres from the plants picked up sounds in the ultrasonic(超声波的) range of 20 to 100 kilohertz, which the team says insects and some mammals would be capable of hearing and responding to from as far as 5 metres away.A moth(蛾) may decide against laying eggs on a plant that sounds water-stressed, the researchers suggest.Plants could even hear that other plants are short of water and react accordingly, they guess.
Plants exposed to drought stress have been shown to experience cavitation—a process where air bubbles(气泡) form, expand and explode inside tissue that transports water.These explosions produce sound, but they have only ever been recorded using devices directly connected to the plant.
On average, drought-stressed tomato plants made 35 sounds an hour, while tobacco plants made 11.When plant stems were cut, tomato plants made an average of 25 sounds in the following hour, and tobacco plants 15.Unstressed plants produced fewer than one sound per hour, on average.
The researchers trained a machine-learning model to distinguish differences between the plants’ sounds and the wind, rain and other noises of the greenhouse, correctly identifying in most cases whether the stress was caused by dryness or a cut, based on the sound’s intensity(强度)and frequency.Water-hungry tobacco appears to make louder sounds than cut tobacco, for example.
Enabling farmers to listen for water-stressed plants could “open a new direction in the field of precision agriculture”, the researchers suggest.They add that such an ability will be increasingly important as climate change exposes more areas to drought.Anne Visscher, working at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, in the UK, warns that the results can’t yet be broadened out to other stresses, such as salt or temperature, because these may not lead to sounds.In addition, there have been no experiments to show whether moths(飞蛾） or any other animal can hear and respond to the sounds the plants make, so that idea remains speculative for now, she says.
1. What does the new study find about plants?| A．Stressed plants tend to lack water. |
| B．The stressed plants can make sounds. |
| C．Some plants can take in humans’ sounds. |
| D．Some plants can have a bad effect on animals. |
| A．It may contribute to the plants’ sounds. |
| B．It may lead to plants experiencing drought. |
| C．It is determined by the number of air bubbles. |
| D．It was identified and recorded for the first time. |
| A．35 | B．11 | C．25 | D．15 |
| A．why some tobacco makes louder sounds. |
| B．why the surroundings are vital to plants. |
| C．how important the sound’s intensity and frequency are. |
| D．how to distinguish between the sounds to know what the stress is. |
| A．reasonable | B．tentative | C．inspiring | D．ridiculous |
7 . Brownie and Spotty were neighbor dogs who met every day to play together. Like pairs of dogs you can find in most any neighborhood, these two loved each other and played together so often that they had worn a path through the grass of the field between their respective houses.
One evening, Brownie's family noticed that Brownie hadn't returned home. They went looking for him with no success. Brownie didn't show up the next day, and despite their efforts to find him, by the next week he was still missing. Curiously, Spotty showed up at Brownie's house alone. Barking, whining and generally pestering Brownie's human family. Busy with their own lives, they just ignored the nervous neighbor dog.
Finally, one morning Spotty refused to take "no" for an answer. Ted, Brownie's owner, was steadily harassed by the furious, adamant little dog. Spotty followed Ted about; barking insistently, then darting toward nearby empty lot and back, as if to say, "Follow me! It's urgent!"
Finally, Ted followed the frantic Spotty across the empty lot as Spotty paused to race back and bark encouragingly. The little dog led the man under a tree, past clumps of trees, to a desolate spot a half mile from the house. There Ted found his beloved Brownie alive, one of his hind legs crushed in a steel leg hold trap. Horrified, Ted now wished he'd taken Spotty's earlier appeals seriously. Then Ted noticed something quite remarkable.
Spotty had done more than simply led Brownie's human owner to his trapped friend. In a circle around the injured dog, Ted found an array of dog food and table scraps which were later identified as the remains of every meal Spotty had been fed that week!
Spotty had been visiting Brownie regularly, in a single minded quest to keep his friend alive by sacrificing his own comfort. Spotty had evidently stayed with Brownie to protect him from predators, snuggling with him at night to keep him warm and nuzzling him to keep his spirits up.
Browni’s leg was treated by a veterinarian and he recovered. For many years thereafter, the two families watched the faithful friends playing and chasing each other down that well-worn path between their houses.
1. What's the correct order of the following?① They couldn’t find him everywhere.
② Spotty went to Brownie’s master's house to ask for help.
③ One evening, Brownie was missing.
④ Spotty found Brownie and helped him by giving him food.
⑤ They play together happily again.
| A．③①②④⑤ | B．⑤③①④② | C．③①④②⑤ | D．③①④⑤② |
| A．Spotty took Brownie's food to him every day. | B．There was a natural path between the two houses. |
| C．The legs of Brownie were hurt by the steel trap. | D．Brownie disappeared for more than a week. |
| A．Ted noticed Spotty’s earlier actions. | B．Brownie’s family were thankful to Spotty. |
| C．They asked the police to find Brownie for them. | D．Spotty led Brownie’s owner to feed him. |
Kevin Randall, a biology teacher at Grandville High School, runs the environmental club at the high school, which has around 2,000 students. The club is known as the GHS Green Team, and it aims to raise awareness among students. It also works on projects to reduce the environmental footprint of the building itself.
One of the club's recent projects focused on reducing waste in the school cafeteria. Randall said their cafeteria supervisor told them that the school went through 54,000 plastic forks every year. The club applied for a financial help, built recycling centers for the cafeteria, and purchased metal silverware.
And now every student uses a durable metal for kora spoon instead of disposables(一次性用品) , “and that's just one way we're trying to capture the low-hanging fruit, if you will,” Randall said.
The efforts of Randall and his students have earned Grandville High School the Michigan Green School certification from the state. In addition to their work reducing waste in the cafeteria, the GHS Green Team has also built a garden with flowers and vegetables on campus, and leads cleanups on site and out in the community. Over the years, Randall and his students have also been working on raising money to install solar panels(太阳能板) on the roof of the high school.
Randall said he was motivated to take the lead on environmental issues for his school because he wanted his students to have someone to turn to in the building who understands what's at stake(利害攸关) when it comes to climate change.
“And I also felt like I needed to do more in my life for my own two children at home,” Randall added, “They need to know that their dad is working as hard a she can to reduce the effects of climate change, and to spread the word, and to make sure that other students out there are leaning about this just the way they are at home.”
1. What is the purpose of the GHS Green Team club?(No more than 10 words)2. How did the club help the school cafeteria reduce waste?(No more than 15 words)
3. How do you understand the underlined part the low-hanging fruit in Para 3?(No more than 5 words)
4. What’s the fourth paragraph mainly about?(No more than 10 words)
5. Suppose you are in charge of a similar Green Club, what activity will you organize? And why?(no more than 20 words)
9 . Trees often grow to appear strong, which might make it hard to believe that they're easily harmed on the Inside. But that is the case, according to a worldwide survey of more than 200 types of trees. Researchers studied the inner part of the trees and found that most don't have a built-in safety net that would allow them to survive a serious drought.
"I think this is a really big deal." ecologist David Breshears said. He says it and other studies "keep pointing to: ‘Whoa, our forests are really fragile."'
Studies like this one are particularly worrying about climate change. The average temperature of the planet is rising. Scientists predict that warming will cause changes in rainfall patterns. That could lead to longer, more severe droughts in many regions around the world. As a result, the trees that now grow there could face a serious threat.
When drought strikes, trees begin to fail in the xylem(木质部), special tissue made of many tiny, strawlike tubes. This tissue makes it possible for a tree to draw water from the ground and deliver it to the leaves. During times of drought, tiny air bubbles can develop in the tubes. Too many bubbles block the flow of water——and lead to certain death for the tree.
Brendan Choat, a plant physiologist, worked on the new study along with 23 other researchers. All together the scientists studied 226 tree species in 81 different sites around the world. Choat said that this study is the first to look at all forest types and find so many species living on the edge. Of the 226 different types of trees Choat and his colleagues studied, 70 percent lived close to the point where a serious drought would stop water transport. Trees that flower, such as maples and oaks, were more vulnerable than conifers (针叶树), which, including pines and firs have evergreen, needlelike leaves.
Plant ecologist Bettina Engelbrecht said that in the interest of conservation, scientists can't just concentrate on a few species. "We have to worry about them all."
1. The first paragraph implies that trees .| A．can live through a drought. |
| B．have the ability to protect themselves |
| C．are worth a great deal of money |
| D．are weak as a matter of fact |
| A．The drought. | B．The tube. | C．The water | D．The xylem. |
| A．One-sided. | B．Fruitless. | C．Time-consuming. | D．Meaningful. |
| A．Care about the trees that flower. |
| B．Pay attention to all species of trees. |
| C．Find out why pines and firs are strong. |
| D．Study the trees living on the edge of death. |
| A．Serious drought is a threat to most trees |
| B．Trees face death due to lack of protection |
| C．Global warming reduces the number of trees |
| D．Trees reflect the change of the global climate |
10 . When I was in school, the class I dreaded most was my eighth grade art class. The teacher put down my every attempt at completing an assignment. I simply couldn’t produce art the way she wanted it. Luckily, I’d already proven myself in other creative areas. Yet, that art teacher was successful in convincing me that I had no talent for painting, drawing, or anything related to them. Imagine my surprise when I published my nature photography and became a volunteer art teacher!
Unfortunately, my story is all too familiar to many people who come through my workshops and practice. Even more unfortunately, the vast majority of people were so discouraged in childhood that they cut off the creative impulse (冲动) in most areas of their lives. Their teachers, parents, or classmates convinced them they had no talent, so they gave up. The pain of failure was simply too great.
Why have we forgotten creativity is an experience, not a result? Let’s consider why we express creativity in first place. To be creative is to be human. Everything we’ve at our disposal (处理) is the result of someone’s creative expression and willingness to take a risk. Even so, for creativity to flower and feel free of encumbrance (累赘), it needs to be about the joyful moments spent creating, not just about what we’ve to show for those moments. Whatever pattern you need to break, try to make it about the pleasure and not about the outcome.
Therefore, I’d urge you to curb your perfectionism not enthusiasm! Perfectionism is the leading killer of artistic expression. Relax a little and bring back your childlike nature when you create. Children instinctively (本能地) know how to give over to the joy --- until someone teaches them otherwise! Let your creation be whatever it wants to be. See if it can lead you rather than the other way around. Let your unconsciousness come through, and let the expression of yourself be beautiful regardless of how it compares to anything else. After all, it’s yours, and no one but you could create it!
1. What made the author give up his dream of art? (no more than 15 words)2. What does the third paragraph mainly tell us? (no more than 10 words)
3. Please explain the underlined word “curb” in English. (no more than 5 words)
4. According to the passage, what is necessary for a creative person? (no more than 10 words)
5. Do you think you are more creative as a student? Please give an example. (no more than 25 words)
