1 . 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。

The year 1970 witnessed the establishment of the World Earth Day. Over 50 years later,     1     started as a grassroots movement has exploded into an international day of attention and campaigns     2     (commit) to preserving the environment. According to the Earth Day Network, one of the largest activist organizations holding Earth Day events, many a     3     (participate) across the globe celebrate Earth Day in a different way.

Rachel Carson’s book Silent Spring published in 1962 was among a series of critical environmental issues     4     (help) give birth to the environmental movement. The book brought     5     to light that the use of a pesticide called DDT was polluting rivers and destroying the eggs of birds like bald eagles. The number of the latter declined     6     (dramatic). Then, in 1969, a large oil leak near the Santa Barbara County coast     7     (drive) the then Senator Gaylord Nelson to put Earth Day on the national stage.

In the past years since the first Earth Day, there     8     (be) a large number of major environment wins. Protection has been put in place on everything     9     clean water to endangered species.

The theme of Earth Day 2023 is “Earth for All”, the concept of     10     emphasizes human beings must respect nature, follow its ways and protect it.

2 . Eating a juicy steak is worse for the environment than frying up some tofu: that should come as no surprise. Going vegan can greatly cut the carbon footprint of your diet. But what about the fewer calories, and lower levels of protein, found in most plant-based foods when compared with meat?

To make the relative carbon impact of foods easier to understand, The Economist proposes a banana index (指数). It compares popular foodstuffs in three aspects—weight, calories and protein—compared to the humble banana, a fruit of middling nutritional value and impact on weather conditions.

Indexing greenhouse-gas emissions to a single food gives a sense of how different foodstuffs rank. Unfortunately for carnivores (食肉动物), beef is bad for the environment no matter how you slice it. Producing one kilogram of mince (馅) causes as many emissions as 109kg of bananas (call it a “banana score” of 109). As for nutritional value, beef’s banana score falls to 54 (one calorie of beef mince causes 54 times as much carbon emissions as one calorie of banana). By protein, it scores seven.

Poultry (家禽) scores 11 bananas by weight and four by calorie. However, as a source of protein, it is more carbon-friendly than bananas: poultry protein emits just three-fifths of the same amount of banana protein. The same applies to salmon. Unsurprisingly, plant-based alternatives to meat do even better: a meat-free burger, for instance, scores just one-fifth of the emissions of bananas per gram of protein.

Our banana index relies on average emissions for a given food. In the real world some producers are more climate-friendly than others, and some foods travel farther to consumers. Our banana index also does not capture other environmental impacts, such as land and water use (though here too, beef tends to perform poorly).

Voting in Europe suggests that most consumers want to be more climate-friendly—and with food production responsible for perhaps a quarter of global emissions, eating with the climate in mind would make a difference. Three-quarters of the respondents said they want labels that would explain the climate impact of their food. In the meantime, our banana index might help.

1. What’s the most likely reason for bananas to be chosen as an object of reference?

A．Bananas have fewer calories and less protein.

B．Bananas are a humble fruit.

C．Bananas have the least impact on the environment.

D．Bananas are of medium climate effect and nutrition.

2. According to the index, which one is more carbon-friendly as a source of protein?

A．Beef

B．A meat-free burger

C．Poultry

D．A banana

3. Which aspect of the index does paragraph 5 focus on?

A．Its drawbacks	B．Its benefits
C．Its practical meanings	D．Its principles

4. What does the passage mainly talk about?

A．An approach to assessing nutritional value of food

B．A way to measure the climate impact of food

C．A great indicator of greenhouse-gas emissions

D．A big helper in deciding what to buy

3 . The doctor made it sound easy. Just walk; walk every day. But I couldn’t even make it to the end of our driveway to pick up the mail. A quarter mile there and back. I tried to stand up, but soon got breathless and just stopped. My mailbox looked as if it were in China. I was all of 39 years old, still in the prime of my life, for crying out loud!

A month ago, I was traveling for work or taking care of our 40-acre horse farm in Texas. And for fun, my wife, Stephanie, and I took our horses on narrow paths. Stephanie and I had been in Colorado Springs with friends when I woke up at the middle of the night with discomfort in my chest. Stephanie and I drove to the ER. My 10-day vacation turned into a 10-day hospital stay. My souvenir was a scar from my chest to my belly.

Stephanie had to go to work so she encouraged me to try to take some steps. Minutes later, Stephanie came rushing back, carrying a puppy. “Where did you get that?” I asked. “In our mailbox. What a miracle!” Stephanie replied. “Aren’t I enough of a burden? Do we really need a puppy? We’re no strangers to the homeless. And I can’t take care of myself. How could I babysit this puppy?” I said unhappily.

However, the puppy finally became one of our family members. Wherever I went, he would always follow. I tried to open the door to the yard. It was hard for me and I was a little afraid. Then the puppy ran ahead, looked back and repeated the behavior. He seemed to say “Come on”, encouraging me to go ahead. I took a deep breath, and then a few steps, the puppy right at my side. I succeeded at last. Then we walked. This time, toward the mailbox.

We named him Cheyenne. Before long, I was walking with Cheyenne every day. Pretty soon, I was strong enough to work on the farm again. We had both gotten strong. I always wondered who put a puppy in a mailbox. Nobody was so crazy after all. Finally, it turned out that Cheyenne was what the doctor ordered for me.

1. From the first paragraph, we learn that the author _________.

A．kept fetching his mail

B．felt very hopeful of recovering

C．took care of the 40-acre horse farm

D．thought the doctor’s advice impractical

2. How did the author react to the arrival of the puppy?

A．He was encouraged greatly by the dog.

B．He became pessimistic about the future.

C．He thought it troublesome to keep the dog.

D．He asked his wife to treat the homeless nicely.

3. Which of the following can best describe the puppy?

A．Friendly and honest	B．Brave and professional
C．Dutiful and considerate	D．Caring and energetic

4. What the best title for the passage?

A．A Clever Dog	B．A Special Treatment
C．I Met a Kind Doctor	D．Hanging on Will Pay Off

4 . 听下面一段独白，回答以下小题。
1. Why was Yaguas National Park founded?

A．To develop the tourism industry.

B．To do research on plants.

C．To fight climate change.

2. Where does Nigel Pitman work?

A．In the museum.

B．At the university.

C．In the park.

3. How many species of birds are there in Yaguas National Park?

A．Around 160.

B．Over 500.

C．More than 3, 000.

5 . 阅读下面材料, 在空白处填入适当的内容(1个单词)或括号内单词的正确形式。

People in Bangladesh and India are struggling as they face serious flooding caused by early heavy rains. The floods     1     (cover)roads, bridges, and entire villages so far.     2     (million)of people have been left helpless by the floodwaters. The flooding in Bangladesh is the     3     (bad)in nearly 20 years. The United Nations(UN)says that the flooding has affected at least 4 million people in Bangladesh. The floods have hit the districts of Sylhet and Sunamganj     4     (especial)hard. In these areas, about 2 million people were left cut off from areas nearby.

The flooding     5     (cause)by heavy rains. Two rivers     6     run near Bangladesh’s border with India, the Surma and the Kushiara, hit the highest water levels ever recorded. The government has made the     7     (decide)to close almost 600 schools. Some are to be closed because of flooding. Others will be turned     8     emergency shelters. Bangladesh is a low-lying country, and often has floods.     9     same is true for parts of India. But normally, most flooding happens later in the year. Scientists say that because of the climate crisis, extreme weather     10     (include)heat waves, severe storms, heavy rains, and flooding is becoming far more common.

6 . This summer, nearly 65 percent of the United States is experiencing “unusually dry” weather. More than 109 million people are living under drogue conditions.     1     So how to garden when there’s a lack of water?

    2    Newly planted trees and shrubs(灌木)should be put on the top of the watering list. They require regular watering until their roots get deep into the soil. That process can take a full year. Vegetables such as beans, cabbage, and lettuce also have high water needs. None will likely survive with little water.

Most plants require an average of 2 to 4 centimeters of water each week under normal conditions. That need could increase, however, during periods of extreme heat, when the soil dries out more quickly.     3     Divide it over two or three times per week.

Use deeper, less-frequent watering instead of daily sprinkles(洒水)which can be wasteful? Watering deeply also leads to stronger, deeper roots that are better able to support plants when there’s no surface water. So avoid using overhead sprinklers.     4     You can place watering devices on the soil directly over roots.

Consider using recycled household water, also called gray water, to water plants. Unsalted water left over from boiling eggs or vegetables provides extra nutrients(营养物). Dish and bath water that is not too soapy will not harm plants. And water captured(捕获)while cleaning fruits and vegetables can be used around the garden.     5    .

A．So learn how to water plants correctly.

B．So make good use of water in your house.

C．You should water newly planted trees regularly.

D．A lot of them have plants or yards to worry about.

E．First you should decide which plants need water the most.

F．Do not offer your plants their weekly water needs all at once.

G．They wet the leaves and other areas instead of directing water to plant roots.

7 . 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。

Quanzhou     1     (add) to UNESCO Heritage List at the 44th Session of the World Heritage Committee,     2     lasted from July 16 to 31 in 2022.

Described by Italian explorer Marco Polo as the     3     (large) seaport in the world, Quanzhou was a starting point of China’s ancient Maritime Silk Road that connected ancient China to Southeast Asia     4     beyond.

With     5     (it) buildings featuring beautiful carvings, Quanzhou is an extremely     6     (value) example of Chinese architecture and art. For example, Luoyang Bridge is the earliest     7     (exist) cross-sea girder bridge in China built during the Song Dynasty. It is 731 meters     8     length and has 44 ship-shaped piers (桥墩). The other landmarks include the Deji Gate Site in the commercial district in the southern part of     9     city and many temples dating from the 13th to the 14th century.

“Quanzhou is an example of China’s seaport culture. It will enable other countries     10     (realize) that China had an open attitude to the world even in ancient times,” said Huang Mingzhen, director of the Quanzhou Museum.

8 . Down the Central Valley in California, the roads are still destroyed by rainwater and farms are still flooded. But the benefits of the state’s destructively wet winter are on full display: a sea of colorful wild flowers spreading across the landscape like a wonderful painting.

“This is definitely one of the benefits to a wet year like we just had,” said Gabe Garcia, the head of the Bureau of Land Management. “Last year, this area looked like a lifeless desert. Now the flowers reach my knees.”

But the new life comes at the expense of thousands of Californians who have suffered in recent months. Estimates for economic damages from a series of storms in early January alone are in the billions of dollars. The state has already declared states of emergencies for 47 counties since the start of February.

“When you’re driving through the Central Valley and see water spread across the landscape, you’ll think of this as a really negative thing. However, I try to look at it as opportunities,” said Carson Jeffres, a researcher at the University of California. “It is an opportunity to show the value of wetlands in flood control during wet years like this. Most important of all, it is an opportunity to see what once it was.”

For centuries, Native Americans have learned to live in harmony with nature. But the landscape has been dramatically changed. Most wetlands have been long cut from the rivers and streams that nourished (滋养) them. Snow water from the southern Sierra Nevada mountains is channeled to a vast network of farms. The big floods are just recreating the wetlands that were here historically.

“This year, the few remaining wetlands are getting their share of water up and down the Central Valley, helping reduce the flood risks to the towns and farms that are slowly displacing them.” he continued.

1. What can we learn about the Central Valley in California?

A．It was extraordinarily dry in history.

B．It seemed like a lifeless desert last year.

C．It is usually very wet in winter and spring.

D．It is known for colorful flowers every year.

2. What does the underlined word “this” in paragraph 4 refer to?

A．The flower.

B．The wetland.

C．The desert.

D．The flood.

3. What does Carson Jeffres mainly talk about in the last paragraph?

A．The wetlands’ great value.	B．The damages caused by floods.
C．The mismanagement of the farms.	D．The sufferings for Native Americans.

4. What does the author most likely want to tell us?

A．It is a good time to visit California now.

B．We should see bad things in a positive light.

C．We should learn to live in harmony with nature.

D．More lands should be returned to Native Americans.

9 . Elephants can no longer maintain themselves with the small amounts of food they find in forest areas and parks. They come into the fields abutting their nature reserves and eat the crops. Dozens of elephants are getting wiped out by farmers every year. One solution that has been proposed is electric fencing but that is extremely expensive and the electricity itself can kill the elephant and every other animal. A much better idea has been put forward.

Elephants are frightened of bees. Bees enter and attack their sensitive trunks inside, causing a pain that elephants never forget. Generations of elephants have learned to associate bees with pain and they even run away when they hear the sound of the bees. Beehive fences were invented in 2002 when scientists from the Save the Elephants discovered that elephants avoided trees with beehives. University of Oxford zoologist Lucy King designed the fence and it was tried out in 2008 in Kenya.

Supported by Save the Elephants, University of Oxford, and Disney’s Animal Kingdom, scientific studies concerning the theme by Lucy King have led to the establishment of a project called The Elephants and Bees Project, which teaches farmers how to build beehive fencing near fields to prevent elephants entering. More than ten African countries have now followed suit.

The bees pollinate (授粉) farmers’ crops and the nearby plants, providing an ecological and economic boost to the surrounding area. Elephants perform essential services like digging waterholes in dry river beds, spreading hundreds of fruit tree species with their dung which also feeds dozens of insects and small animal species, and making forest paths that act as firebreaks.

And even more exciting, the raw honey is sold by the farmers to markets all over the world. Beehive fences are the first fences that have been invented to make the farmers more money than what it costs to maintain the fence.

Elephants could bring in a lot of eco-tourism money. Every year, Africa has calculated that each elephant brings in nearly $ 23,000 in tourism.

All this helps the ecology of the region and the additional income of beehives gives farmers even more motive to keep the elephants alive.

1. What does the underlined word “abutting” in paragraph 1 mean?

A．Different from.	B．Next to.
C．Similar to.	D．Far from.

2. How did scientists come up with the idea for beehive fences?

A．By observation.	B．From experts.
C．From books.	D．By experiments.

3. What is the author’s attitude towards beehive fences?

A．Doubtful.

B．Intolerant.

C．Unclear.

D．Favorable.

4. What is the best title of the text?

A．The bees and the function of the elephants

B．Measures to save elephants from extinction

C．An advantageous solution to save elephants

D．The history of an organization to save elephants

10 . Even chess experts perform worse when air quality is lower, suggesting a negative effect on cognition(认知). Here’s something else chess players need to keep in check: air pollution.

That’s the bottom line of a newly published study co-authored by a researcher, showing that chess players perform objectively worse and make more suboptimal(次优的) moves, as measured by a computerized analysis of their games, when there is more fine particulate matter(颗粒物) in the air, notated as PM 2.5.

More specifically, given a modest increase in fine particulate matter, the probability that chess players will make an error increases by 2.1 percentage points, and the spectrum of those errors increases by 10.8 percent. In this setting, at least, cleaner air leads to clearer heads and sharper thinking.

“We find that when individuals are exposed to higher levels of air pollution, they make more mistakes, and they make larger mistakes,” says Juan Palacios, an economist in Sustainable Urbanization Lab.

“It’s pure random exposure to air pollution that is driving these people’s performance,” Palacios says. “Against comparable opponents in the same tournament round, being exposed to different levels of air quality makes a difference for move quality and decision quality.”

The researchers also found that when air pollution was worse, the chess players performed even more poorly when under time limitation. “We find it interesting that those mistakes especially occur in the phase of the game where players are facing time pressure,” Palacios says.

“There are more and more papers showing that there is a cost with air pollution, and there is a cost for more and more people,” Palacios says. “And this is just one example showing that even for these very excellent chess players, who think they can beat everything, it seems that with air pollution, they have an enemy who harms them.”

1. What effect does air pollution have on chess players?

A．They make fewer good choices.	B．They perform subjectively worse.
C．They suffer body discomfort.	D．They lose all games with computers.

2. What does the underlined word “spectrum” in paragraph 3 probably mean?

A．Magic.

B．Process.

C．Range.

D．Balance.

3. What does Palacios express in the last paragraph?

A．His appeal for attention to chess players.

B．His concern about air pollution.

C．An example of chess players’ performance.

D．Approaches to dealing with air pollution.

4. What’s the main idea of the text?

A．Air pollution is a tough enemy chess players face.

B．Chess players make more and more mistakes.

C．There is a cost with air pollution for more people.

D．Chess players perform poorly under time limitation.