1 . 阅读下面短文，根据短文内容填空。在未给提示词的空白处仅填写1个恰当的单词，在给出提示词的空白处用括号内所给词的正确形式填空。

Dean Schneider leaves his life in Switzerland behind and goes to Africa     1     (pursue) his passion and make the world a better place. He was always fascinated by the animal world since he was a child. That is     2     he decided to form a club to help lions born in captivity (圈养). The name of the club is “Hakuna Mipaka”—a Swahili expression meaning “no limits”. It develops from five core values that Dean tries hard to follow:     3     (free), loyalty, appreciation, brotherhood, and boldness.

3 . This week I watched an international news program and saw what looked like most of the planet—the Americas, Africa, Europe, Asia—painted in bright oranges and reds. Fahrenheit (华氏温度的) temperatures in three-digit numbers seemed to burn all over on the world map.

Heat records have burst around the globe. This very weekend, crops are burning, roads are bending and seas are rising, while lakes recede, or even disappear. Ice sheets melt in rising heat, and wildfires attack forests. People are dying in this heat. Lives of all kinds are threatened, in cities, fields, seas, deserts and forests. Wildlife, farm animals, insects and human beings are in pain.

The UN’s World Meteorological Organization (WMO) says there is more deadly heat in our future because of climate change caused by our species on this planet. Even with advances in wind, solar and other alternative energy sources, and international promises and agreements, the world still derives about 80% of its energy from fossil fuels, like oil, gas and coal, which release the carbon dioxide that’s warmed the climate to the current temperatures of this hot summer. The WMO’s chief, Petteri Taalas, said this week, “In the future these kinds of heatwaves are going to be normal.”

The most alarming word in his forecast might be: “normal.” I’m of a generation that thought of summer as a sunny time for children. I think of long days spent outdoors without worry, playing games or just wandering. John Updike wrote in his poem, “June”:

The sun is rich

And gladly pays

In golden hours,

Silver days,

And long green weeks

That never end.

School’s out. The time

Is ours to spend.

There’s Little League,

Hopscotch, the creek,

And, after supper,

Hide-and-seek.

The live-long light

Is like a dream...

But now that bright, “live-long light,” of which Updike wrote, might look threatening in a summer like this.

The extremely hot weeks that we see this year cause one to wonder if our failures to care for the planet given to us will make our children look forward to summer, or fear another season of heat.

1. What does the underlined word “derive” in Paragraph 3 probably mean?

A．Get.

B．Reduce.

C．Waste.

D．Save.

2. According to WMO, ______.

A．alternative energy is the solution to climate change

B．the heatwaves are caused by the advanced technology

C．agreements need to be signed to deal with climate change

D．use of traditional energy is responsible for the heatwaves

3. Why does the author mention John Updike’s poem?

A．To describe the beauty of summer.

B．To indicate the end of happy summers.

C．To compare different feelings about summer.

D．To suggest ways for children to spend summer.

4. Which might be the best title for the passage?

A．What leads to a hot summer	B．Children are afraid of summer
C．Burning summers are the future	D．How we can survive a hot summer

4 . South Africa’s viniculture industry employs around 270,000 people, producing some of the world’s most sought-after wines. But not all jobs are best left to humans. In some cases, it’s better to get your ducks in a row, and then put them to work.

Outside Cape Town on the banks of the Eerste river, Vergenoegd Löw, the Wine Estate, has repurposed a centuries-old practice by gathering a group of ducks to keep its vineyards free of pests. “I call our ducks the soldiers of our vineyards,” says managing director Corius Visser. “They will eat aphids, they will eat snails, they will eat small worms—they keep (it) completely pest-free.”

The species, the Indian runner duck, is flightless, with a peculiarly upright stance and highly developed sense of smell. The duck troops are employed on a 14-day circuit through the vineyards, eating and fertilizing the ground as they go.

The ducks’ “annual leave” takes place during the harvest (they’d eat the grapes). During this time they search for food on open farm pasture, swim in a nearby lake and undergo selective breeding, says Visser.

Duck eggs are consumed in the vineyard restaurant, but never the ducks themselves—“that would be like eating a colleague,” Gavin Moyes, the estate’s tasting room manager, said in a 2020 interview.

Inspired by ducks used to remove pests from rice paddies in Asia, the winery calls on the services of some 1,600 ducks as part of its effort to make wine production more sustainable. “The world is moving away from more conventional farming to (being) a bit more organic,” Visser explains. “For Vergenoegd, it’s a big goal … to have less influence on the Earth, the soil and the environment.”

As a pioneering winemaker with industry influence—vines have been grown on the estate since the late 17th century—Vergenoegd Löw is hoping to convince others to adopt its approach. Visser says the vineyard plans to sell 750 ducks to other vineyards and replenish numbers by breeding the birds.

“I think the industry itself has the potential to engage more in experimental ways,” he adds. That requires money, and increasing the price point of South African wines could help fund Vergenoegd Löw and other vineyards’ green initiatives.

“If we can achieve that, we can then put back some of that (income) into our people, into our land, and become more sustainable,” Visser says.

1. What’s the function of the ducks in the vineyards?

A．To keep the vineyards free of pests.	B．To guard the vineyards from thieves.
C．To make the vineyards more attractive.	D．To provide eggs and meat for the vineyard restaurant.

2. According to the passage, the ducks in the vineyards ______.

A．help harvest the grapes	B．have a sharp sense of taste
C．fly around the vineyard freely	D．leave the vineyard at a certain time

3. Based on what Visser said, which of the following might happen?

A．More vineyards will have duck “soldiers”.

B．The price point of South African wines will fall.

C．The vineyards will depend more on conventional farming.

D．The winery will come up with more ways to experiment on ducks.

4. Which of the following words can best describe the vineyard’s approach of using ducks?

A．Efficient.

B．Advanced.

C．Challenging.

D．Green.

6 . 阅读下面短文，根据所给内容填空。在未给提示词的空白处仅填写一个恰当的单词，在给出提示词的空白处用括号内所给词的正确形式填空。

Kate Shelley lived in the house     1     the Des Moines River could be seen from the window. On a wild July night, the storm was getting worse and worse. Kate was     2     (anxious) looking out of the window, wondering whether it would wash away the bridge    3     the river, when suddenly came the loud crash of breaking wood. She realized the bridge was broken.

7 . Ecoducts: The Safe Way to Cross the Road

How does an animal cross a road safely? The short answer is: it often doesn’t! Every year around the word, thousands of animals are killed or injured by cars, trucks, and trains on our busy roads and railway systems.

France was the first country to build wildlife crossings to help animals get across roads safely. The French designed these structures to protect animals from the busy traffic. Since then, many other countries have also built wildlife crossings.    1    

Ecoducts, also called “ green bridges”, are structures that engineers build over big roads and highways.    2    Cars, vans, and trucks go under the ecoducts, through a tunnel, and the animals walk over the ecoduct, above the road or highway.

At Banff National Park, in Alberta, Canada, park employees have labored hard to make more than 40 ecoducts. Some of the ecoducts in Banff are bridges that cross over the highway.    3    Others are called underpasses. These are tunnels that go under a road. Most ecoducts have soil and plants on them which provide a good environment for wildlife and encourage animals to use the structures. Some ecoducts, including many in Canada and in Florida, are made extremely big so that black bears, deer, and the Florida panther will use them.

    4    Perhaps you’re distrustful about this idea. You shouldn’t be, because animals do use them! At first animals can be a little unsettled of the crossings. Experts say that some bears can take as long as five years to start using them. When animals realize that the ecoducts are safe, they use them a lot! So far, since Banff National Park began to make notes about the ecoducts in 1997, eleven different species of mammals have used the overpasses and underpasses more than 200, 000 times !

Ecoducts are a great way to protect wildlife from traffic.    5    But for now even snakes can get itself across a road safely thanks to ecoducts!

A．Were endangered animals saved from dying out?

B．But do animals really use these man-made bridges?

C．These are called overpasses because they go over a road.

D．They allow many different types of animals to cross safely to the other side.

E．In the Netherlands there are over 600 special bridges and tunnels, called ecoducts.

F．Countries will be building many more of these structures around the world in the future.

G．France used to be known for its dangerous car crashes with animals until the roads were upgraded.

8 . 阅读下列短文，根据短文内容填空。在未给提示词的空白处仅填写1个适当的单词，在给出提示词的空白处用括号所给词的正确形式填空。

A recent study found that extreme environmental change could cause an “extinction domino effect.”    1    it may seem unimportant if we lose one rat species, it matters because all species    2    (connect ) through their interactions in a web of life. A balanced ecosystem is one in which each species plays an important role and relies on the services provided by other species    3    (survive). Healthy ecosystems are more productive and resistant to disruptions.