1 . To create “Washed Up: Transforming a Trashed Landscape”. Alejandro Duran gathers plastic trash that is washed up on the beaches of Sian Karan, Mexico’s largest federally-protected reserve. The site is also a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Yet every day, plastic pollution from around the world is washed up onto its shores. These materials inspired Duran to create a series of environmental art pieces, which he re-cords with photos and videos.

Duran was born in Mexico City and is now based in Brooklyn. He said that he had been collecting materials and creating photographs for the past five years, and the work was ongoing. “The project will tell me when to stop.”

Each piece can convey a vastly different mood, from the calm greens of soda bottles to the playful rainbows of toothbrushes. “I’m making art,” said Duran. “It comes from the context and my moods. You can’t say only something dark.” The work reflects and plays with natural forms, exploring how humans influence the environment. The colorful and playful images can be much attention-grabbing. “Beauty is a hook (钩子) to attract people’s attention,” said Duran.

In addition to promoting awareness of the plastic pollution problem, Duran is also involved in educational programs and helps to organize beach clean-ups. He has also made a study of the types of products that are washed ashore in Sian Ka’an, and has identified objects from 50 different countries. Although there’s no way to know where or how these objects were dropped into the sea, their labels show the global nature of the problem.

1. What does Alejandro Duran do with the trash?

A．He moves it away.	B．He collects and burns it.
C．He turns it into a form of art.	D．He puts it together for people to see.

2. What does Alejandro Duran mean by saying “The project will tell me when to stop.”?

A．He will stop the project soon.	B．It’s hard to carry on the project.
C．He will go on with the project.	D．The project is important to him.

3. Aleandro Duran runs the project mainly to __________.

A．recycle the trash	B．change his career
C．clean up the beach	D．raise public awareness of pollution

4. What is the text mainly about?

A．Plastic pollution in the ocean.

B．An artist creating environmental art.

C．The global nature of the pollution problem.

D．Mexico’s largest federally-protected reserve.

2 . Alyssa has a dog called Coby. Coby loves to sit out on her balcony (阳台) and ______ the world go by. He ______ every passer-by, but there’s one person he likes best, Alyssa’s neighbor Sherwin.

Sherwin lives in an apartment across the street from Alyssa. His kitchen window looks ______ across the street to her balcony, so Coby can often be ______ sitting on the balcony and staring at Sherwin’s home.

One morning, Sherwin was eating breakfast with friends when he ______ and saw Coby staring right at him. Sherwin was ______ about it and was happy to interact with Coby every day. Sherwin decided to do something ______ to let Coby know the “bromance (兄弟情)” was mutual.

Sherwin talked to Alyssa and they decided to create a ______ between their apartments so that Sherwin could pass ______ and toys to his new friend. They spent some time creating a clothesline pully system, and the next thing Sherwin did was ______ rotisserie chicken (烤鸡) across the street, much to Coby’s ______.

After weeks of interactions, Alyssa and Sherwin ______ an in-person meeting. Sherwin brought Coby a new toy, and the two instantly ______.

“Seeing him enjoying his toy was awesome,” Sherwin said. “It was like we had ______ each other for years. I’d say Coby and I are best friends. He’s the ______ dog.” It was Coby who decided to be friends, and Sherwin was totally game.

1.

A．help

B．watch

C．hear

D．let

2.

A．greets

B．disturbs

C．ignores

D．calms

3.

A．particularly

B．frequently

C．directly

D．largely

4.

A．caught

B．left

C．prevented

D．found

5.

A．stayed away

B．got away

C．gave up

D．looked up

6.

A．frightened

B．confused

C．excited

D．satisfied

7.

A．strange

B．annoying

C．dangerous

D．special

8.

A．link

B．relationship

C．trust

D．street

9.

A．words

B．treats

C．tools

D．costumes

10.

A．sending

B．buying

C．making

D．eating

11.

A．credit

B．pride

C．relief

D．delight

12.

A．delayed

B．arranged

C．covered

D．dismissed

13.

A．bonded

B．stopped

C．returned

D．relaxed

14.

A．comforted

B．respected

C．known

D．observed

15.

A．poorest

B．strongest

C．sweetest

D．bravest

3 . 听下面一段独白，回答以下小题。
1. What will be replaced by thicker ones?

A．Some plastic cups.

B．Some plastic bags.

C．Some ice cream sticks.

2. Which is covered by the ban?

A．Plastic cups.

B．Water bottles.

C．Bags of snacks.

3. What is the appeal of plastic producers?

A．Putting off the ban.

B．Providing alternatives.

C．Creating job opportunities.

4. What is the concern of many people regarding the ban?

A．Waste of wood.

B．Profits of their businesses.

C．Lack of government support.

5 . Music is known to have a great deal of mental and physical benefits on humans. From helping to treat physical medical problems to relieving stress, music can be extremely beneficial in helping to improve health.     1    

Animals may have a great deal of stress.     2     Dogs and cats may be stressed when around men because they were badly treated by a man, and they may never forget that. A dog who was attacked by another dog while on a walk may be always afraid to go on walks, or even be afraid to leave the house.

    3     Cats, dogs and horses will not all have the exact same stressors (压力源), so you just have to pay close attention to your animal and what makes them unique, such as changes in eating habits, too much sleep and too little sleep, just to name a few.

Music can be extremely beneficial for animals in high stress situations.     4     In the atmosphere, they feel calm, safe and well protected. Music can be specifically helpful when played at veterinary (兽医的) clinics for animals who are afraid of the vet. This helps calm the owners of the animals and the staff at the office besides the animals.     5     That’s why it is being taken up at a variety of veterinary clinics around the world.

A．It can create a space for them.

B．The same goes for our furry friends, too.

C．They could be stressed for a variety of reasons.

D．It would be a beneficial practice for all parties.

E．Another place where music can be helpful is in car rides.

F．There are ways that you can identify stress in your animals.

G．It’s no wonder loud noises can cause dogs and cats so much stress.

6 . 阅读下面材料，根据其内容和所给段落开头语续写两段，使之构成一篇完整的短文。

Our Garfield became a mostly indoor cat. He used to wander outside but we discovered he had a terrible sense of direction, so now he has to stay inside. He does not enjoy being on the inside looking out, but it’s safer for him so that’s how it has to be.

When Garfield isn’t sleeping, he’s either sitting on a windowsill (窗台) or sitting with his wet nose pressed against our glass door overlooking the deck (木质平台), like a prisoner behind bars. As he ages, he earns back his outside rights an hour per day because he shows us that he will stay close to the back deck.

When we let him out last week, a thunderstorm arose out of nowhere. By the time we heard the crack of lightning and remembered Garfield was outside, we opened the door to see nothing but strong wind and heavy rain. My daughter Janette put on her rubber boots and raincoat to check around the house, but Garfield was nowhere to be found. The thunderstorm obviously had scared him into a run in the wrong direction. Who knew where he would end up?

It took me forever to fall asleep that night. I prayed (祈祷) someone would protect him and help him find his way home. As I continued praying, I realized that in my daily prayers for my family, I rarely included Garfield. Now that he was gone, maybe forever, I realized what an important part of our family he was. I prayed for his safe return.

My husband Peter was the first one up at 6: 00 a. m. He checked the doorstep, but no Garfield was in sight. I saw my neighbor Heidi taking her dog out for a walk, and I asked her to please keep her eyes open for our cat. Janette and her three brothers all walked around the house that day looking like they had lost their best friend. Peter decided to look for Garfield around the neighborhood.

注意：1. 续写词数应为150左右;
2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。

Peter and I drove around to search the neighborhood.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

I was saying to myself “Never say never” when I heard something scratching the door at 10: 00 p.m.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

7 . Asteroids (小行星) are believed to have formed early in our solar system’s history — about 4.5 billion years ago — when a cloud of gas and dust called the solar nebula (太阳星云) collapsed and formed our sun and the planets. By visiting these near Earth objects to study the material that came from the solar nebula, we can look for answers to some of humankind’s most arresting questions, such as:   How did the solar system form and where did the Earth’s water and other organic materials such as carbon come from? In addition to unlocking clues about our solar system, asteroids may provide clues about our Earth. By understanding more about asteroids, we may learn more about past Earth impacts and possibly find ways to reduce the threat of future impacts.

If we don’t want to go the way of the dinosaurs someday, we need to protect ourselves against the threat of being hit by a big asteroid. According to NASA, typically about once every 10,000 years, a rock y or iron asteroid the size of a football field could crash into our planet and possibly cause tidal waves big enough to flood coastal areas.

But what we really have to fear is asteroids about 328 feet across or bigger. Such an impact would cause a firestorm and fill the atmosphere with sun-blocking dust, which would wipe out forests and farm fields and starve the human and animal life that it didn’t immediately kill.

That’s why it’s vital to develop a way to neutralize such a threat to Earth. NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test, launched in late November 2021, was the first mission to demonstrate a technology called asteroid redirection by manmade impactor. A robotic spacecraft will be crashed into an asteroid named Didymos, in an effort to show that it’s possible to slightly change the path of an asteroid. That would enable NASA to redirect potential threats to miss Earth.

1. What is the first paragraph mainly about?

A．How solar system came into being.

B．How long asteroids have existed.

C．Why asteroids are to be explored.

D．When asteroids will impact Earth.

2. Why does the author mention dinosaurs in paragraph 2?

A．To make the text more interesting.

B．To introduce the topic of the text.

C．To grab readers’ attention to asteroids.

D．To show the disaster from an asteroid impact.

3. Which can best replace “neutralize” underlined in paragraph 4?

A．strengthen

B．avoid

C．beautify

D．realize

4. What can we know about asteroids?

A．Dinosaurs may live on some of them.

B．They were formed earlier than Earth.

C．Exploring them helps us know Earth.

D．NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test failed.

8 . Lynda Doughty, a marine biologist, developed a passion for marine wildlife during her childhood. Growing up along the coast of Maine, she witnessed the impact of human activity on marine mammals and she made it her life’s work to protect them. “I feel this intense responsibility to help these animals,” Lynda said. “And, really, this is what I was put on this Earth to do.”

Harbor seals are among the most common mammals found along the East Coast, and they face various threats to their well-being, including fishing net s and illegal feeding, chemical pollutants, as well as boat and propeller (螺旋桨) injuries.

Earlier in her career, she worked for a marine mammal emergency response organization that eventually closed due to lack of funding. To fill the gap left by the group, Lynda started her own non-profit organization — Marine Mammals of Maine in 2011. It has since provided response and medical care for more than 3,000 marine mammals.

Lynda’s team operates a 24-hour hotline that responds to calls regarding marine mammals in danger. Their permit allows them to respond to mammals stranded (搁浅) within 2,500 miles of the coastline, and her team only offers help if the mammal is in critical condition. Critically ill mammals are transported to Lynda’s center and nursed back to health. Seals typically require three or more months of professional care treatment before they are released back into the ocean.

In addition to mammal rescues, Marine Mammals of Maine conducts important research to learn about marine mammal habitats and human impacts. Marine mammals can give us clues about the ocean’s health, which ultimately affects human well-being as well. The organization also helps promote marine conservation among youth and the local community. In addition, they instruct the public on what to do, and what not to do, when encountering wild species like harbor seals.

1. What do Lynda’s words mean?

A．She was born along the coast of Maine.

B．She ignored the impact of human activity.

C．She did her work with a sense of mission.

D．She protected marine wildlife at a young age.

2. Why did Lynda set up Marine Mammals of Maine in 2011?

A．To earn more money.

B．To replace the group.

C．To make the group a non-profit organization.

D．To restart marine mammal emergency response.

3. What can we learn about Lynda’s team from paragraph 4?

A．It only treats critically ill seals.

B．It rescues marine mammals in danger.

C．It protects all endangered marine mammals.

D．It stops people from fishing marine mammals.

4. What’s the purpose of paragraph 5?

A．To state younger generations need to be instructed.

B．To stress the severe situations that marine life faces.

C．To mention other social contributions of Lynda’s team.

D．To show humans have a great impact on marine mammals.

9 . 4 Best Places to Travel in 2023

2023 is the year when travel returns in a big way. To get you started, we’ve rounded up some of the best places to travel in 2023. All you need to do is pick the place that appeals to you.

Copenhagen

With its fantastic houses, clean streets and colorful architecture, Copenhagen is regarded as the most livable city on the earth. Named the World Capital of Architecture for 2023, Copenhagen will offer a series of major artistic events and programs sure to delight architects and design lovers.

Bhutan

For travelers with a sense of adventure and a love of discovery, Bhutan has always been a must-go destination. In 2023, travelers can once again explore the Trans Bhutan Trail, which runs 250 miles from east to west, offering visits to the century-old communities along the journey. The trail spans (横跨)18 major bridges and national parks and connects more than 400 historic and cultural sites.

Bordeaux

The coming years will be sporty in the historical wine region of Bordeaux in France. In 2023, the city will host the Rugby World Cup, an intense and stressful game. Beyond sports, Bordeaux is one of the favorite historical cities, with more than 350 structures that are either nationally or regionally listed as historical monuments.

Namibia

Wildlife and adventure lovers looking for a unique path in African Safari trips should head straight to Namibia in 2023 — this country in southern Africa is the perfect place to travel to reconnect with nature and escape the modern stresses of life. On the wildlife front, you may see lions along with giraffes and elephants.

1. What is Copenhagen well-known for?

A．The natural landscape.	B．The adventure travel.
C．Eye-catching architecture.	D．Famous art designers.

2. What can you visit on the Trans Bhutan Trail?

A．Modern communities.	B．Cultural relics.
C．Historical wine regions.	D．National monuments.

3. Which place attracts those who want to be free from stressful city life?

A．Copenhagen.

B．Bhutan.

C．Bordeaux.

D．Namibia.

10 . 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。

Paris, known as the City of Love, shines bright all day long. The lights of the city attract     1     (tourist) and keep the atmosphere warm and glowing.

However, these lights are not environmentally friendly because they are always on. One group of Parkour athletes,     2     get from one point to another by running, climbing, and jumping, decided to take matters into their own hands.

More than ten years ago, Paris City Hall passed a law,     3     (encourage) stores to turn lights off between 1:00 a.m. and 6:00 a.m..     4     (unfortunate), in the hope of attracting more people, many stores ignored this policy. That is, until the Parkour athletes.

    5     (tire) of this waste of electricity, athletes go out at night, determined to reduce the overuse of light. They seek out emergency light switches that     6     (locate) outside the stores. Using their parkour skills, they switch     7     as many lights as they can. Groups like “On The Spot” record themselves throughout the night and post it on social media, spreading awareness and encouraging others to find     8     (create) ways to help the planet.

On top of this, recently the government     9     (pass) a law that clearly states the rules for advertisement signs and enforces (执行)     10     fine of $1,480 if lights are not turned off during the night.