1 . In 2019, Air Company gained public attention when it produced vodka (伏特加) from carbon in the air, in order to reduce the amount of the harmful greenhouse gas in the atmosphere. Today, the company has begun using the same process to make fuel (燃料) for airplanes.
Air Company’s clean aircraft fuel, which was recently tested, could some day help the airline industry achieve its goal of net zero carbon emissions (排放) by 2050. Currently, the airline industry accounts for about 3% of total global carbon emissions each year, and mainly uses traditional, fossil-based fuels.
A number of producers of clean aircraft fuel have come out in recent years, many of whom use something like plant material and cooking oil. But Air Company’s production process starts by pulling harmful carbon emissions out of the air.
The company first harvests carbon, mostly from industrial settings. It then takes water, separates the hydrogen from the oxygen, and puts the carbon together with the hydrogen and other mixtures. After that, it distills (蒸馏) that solution down. The final products are ethyl alcohol (乙醇) to make the company’s vodka and other products such as perfume, as well as paraffin, which forms the basis of its aircraft fuel.
By the time a plane has flown using Air Company’s fuel, it will have given off the same amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) back into the atmosphere as was acquired to make the fuel.
“Already, some of the world’s biggest airlines are supporting Air Company’s dream. They have agreed to buy millions of gallons of its fuel in the coming years.” The company manager says, “However, to get to those large industrial markets like aircraft fuel, traditionally known as the hottest industry to get green, is a long way to go. It’s going to take time, money and effort.”
1. What can we learn from the first two paragraphs?| A．Air Company is famous for producing vodka. |
| B．Air Company no longer uses traditional fuels. |
| C．Air Company’s fuel is likely to be environmentally friendly. |
| D．Air Company accounts for 3% of total global carbon emissions. |
| A．Ethyl alcohol forming the aircraft fuel. |
| B．Hydrogen that is separated from water. |
| C．Oxygen, hydrogen, carbon and ethyl alcohol. |
| D．Mix of carbon, hydrogen and other mixtures. |
| A．Major Airlines have already put Air Company’s fuel into use. |
| B．It takes time for Air Company’s fuel to be used on regular flights. |
| C．The fuel produced by Air Company is sure to be very expensive. |
| D．Air company alone will be able to occupy the aircraft fuel markets. |
| A．Air Company: Make Air Travel Green |
| B．Air Company’s Carbon Production Dream |
| C．Air Company’s Environmental Supporters |
| D．Air Company: Make Traditional Fuels Available |
2 . Tens of thousands of honeybees in Spain’s Canary Islands can now add “survived a volcano (火山)” to their wish list.
A report on Saturday told the story of five hives (蜂箱) of honeybees that were left unattended after the eruption (爆发) of the Cumbre Vieja volcano in La Palma, which happened on September 19, for about 50 days (their beekeeper had been forced to leave the area). When the beekeeper returned, he found the hives covered in volcanic ash (灰) .
Inside the hives, however, the situation was completely different. To the beekeeper’s surprise, he found tens of thousands of live honeybees, who had managed to carry on despite the heat and harmful gases released by the volcano. They may have also gotten lucky because they were covered with light ash with small holes, which allowed air to pass through the hives.
Not all honeybees on La Palma were so lucky, though. Spanish news service EFE reported that a group of hives closest to the Cumbre Vieja had been covered completely by lava, hot volcano matter, which killed them.
Antonio Quesada, a spokesperson for the GranCanaria Beekeepers Association, said that a key part of the bees’ survival was propolis (蜂胶). Produced by bees, propolis is a sticky thing made from resins (树脂) the insects collect from plants. Often called “bee glue,” propolis is often used to smooth surfaces or cover the space in hives.
Quesada said the La Palma bees managed to seal (密封) themselves inside their hives to protect themselves from the volcanic gases, which can be harmful to people, animals, plants, and buildings. The bees also thought about food an date from the honey stores they had inside their hives.
“It’s unbelievable how such a tiny animal that has been around for hundreds of thousands of years can have that ability to survive,” Quesada said.
That’s not all they did, though. Although they sealed themselves in their hives, they made sure to leave a very small pathway to the outside so they could get out one day.
1. What might the underlined word “unattended” in paragraph 2 mean?| A．Dead. | B．Lucky. | C．Alone. | D．Homeless. |
| A．His beehives were covered with volcanic ash. |
| B．His bees remained alive under the volcanic ash. |
| C．His bees warned him of the eruption of the volcano. |
| D．His beehives remained unchanged in the volcanic lava. |
| A．They’re fearful. | B．They’re unlucky. | C．They’re honest. | D．They’re admirable. |
| A．Bees were rescued timely. | B．Bees survived a volcano. |
| C．Bees benefited from propolis. | D．A huge volcano happened. |
One day in 1964, my mother came home from work and announced that she had found a pet for the family. My sister asked what it was. My mother said it was a poodle dog named Pepe.
I couldn’t believe my sister wanted a poodle dog — especially one with such a strange name. But she had made up her mind.
Pepe arrived the next night, his short tail bobbing (摆动) happily. I remained distant, thinking poodles should have stayed in France. My sister played with him until bedtime, and he begged for more attention. I ignored him.
He was a skilled digger, so our backyard fence wouldn’t hold him. We tied him; he pulled out of his collar (颈圈). We drove stakes (木桩) into the ground; he dug them up. We put a harness on him, staked the ground and tied him to the laundry pole; he was still waiting for me at the front door at the end of the day, smiling happily.
Every day, he asked me with his eyes to play with him or take him somewhere. At night, he would wait until I fell asleep, leave his bed by the wall heater and jump onto the end of my bed.
One night, I was in a half dream state. Suddenly, my throat and my eyes hurt, and some animal was whining (哀鸣) in my ear. I opened my eyes and saw fog in my room. I wondered who left the window open. Pepe whined and nibbled (咬) on my blouse. Then I woke up and realized that it wasn’t fog in my room — it was smoke.
I couldn’t breathe standing up, so I got down on the floor and crawled (爬行) beneath the smoke. Pepe followed my every move, his curly-haired stomach struggling on the ground. If I hadn’t been so scared, I would have laughed.
注意：
1. 续写词数应为150个左右;
2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
We finally arrived in the kitchen, where the smoke was very thick.
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I turned off the burner (炉子) and crawled to open the back door.
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4 . When Kyle D’Costa and his wife met Rio, a nine-month-old shih tzu (西施犬), in 2021, “it was love at first sight. “The new couple soon added a Lhasa Apso (拉萨犬) and rented a bigger flat to give the animals ”more space“.
The D’Costas and millions of other middle-class Indians, no longer pleased with new cars and other Western fancy decorations, they are rapidly acquiring pets. According to Statista, a research company, India had 19.4 million pet dogs in 2018 and may now have 31m. In 2021, Market Decipher, another research organization, valued India’s pet industry at 890’hillion dollars and said that it would continue to grow by 3 times over the next 10 years.
Actually, the pet industry is growing at a fast rate throughout the world. With rising incomes comes increased pet-ownership, especially among young professionals who tend 10 put off marriage and parenthood and to be extremely willing to enjoy the company of a dog. It is only a matter of time before marriage websites include a ”pet-friendly“ option.
As keeping pets becomes increasingly popular, so do those working in the industry. “Being in this trade was despised just five years ago,” says Chinmay, a 30-ycar-old dog trainer in Thane, Mumbai. “How will you find a girlfriend?” he recalls his relatives asking him. But dog trainers in Mumbai can these days cam 2, 400 rupees (S30) an hour —more than twice as much as piano teachers. Chinmay is now happily married to one of his customers.
Current pet-industry players are prepared and new ones stepping in. Nestle, the world’s biggest food company, Inst year bought into Purina Petcare, an Indian pet-food business. Emami, an Indian company, targeting daily goods, offers medicines for pets. Euromonitor International, a market-research company, thinks India’s pet-food industry is worth 480 million dollars and will grow to $1. 2 billion by 2025.
1. Why are the figures listed in Paragraph 2?| A．To present the benefits of raising pets. |
| B．To show the popularity of keeping pets. |
| C．To stress the significance of pet industry. |
| D．To express dissatisfaction with the situation. |
| A．Get married early. | B．Earn higher income. |
| C．Choose friendly pets. | D．Draw comfort from pets |
| A．Looked down on. | B．Done justice to. |
| C．Shown respect for. | D．Taken advantage of |
| A．India’s pet-food industry is worth $1.2 billion. |
| B．Pet-industry is changing people’s career options. |
| C．Nestlé has earned a lot in Indian pet-food business. |
| D．More companies will have a hand in the pet industry. |
We moved to our new place, and everything was new and unfamiliar. I didn’t have new friends, so most of the time when I was free at home, I stayed with Socky, my cat and friend. One morning in winter, it was very cold outside and people mainly stayed indoors to keep warm. Before going off to my high school in Ouyen, Victoria, I called our pregnant(怀孕的) cat to be fed, but she didn’t come. I thought she’d probably found somewhere to have her kittens and would turn up later. But she didn’t.
When Socky still didn’t come at dinnertime, I anxiously asked my mum, “Where is Socky?” But she didn’t know either. The next day, Socky still didn’t appear and I really started to worry. Socky had kept me company for years, and she was just like my family member.
Socky had given birth to some lovely kittens before. She had a habit of having her kittens in strange places, so first I checked all her hidey-holes where she used to stay but she wasn’t in any of them. I became extremely anxious. What could have happened? “Where are you, dear Socky?” Having waited for hours again, I couldn’t sit still. The next day was Saturday and I had the whole day to search for her. Thinking over all the possible places where she could shelter herself, I rechecked under the house, then in the garage under and behind old books, every place I could think of, but still no Socky.
After lunch I took some food scraps(剩饭) with me in case I found her, then began searching the back shed, which was huge and filled with cardboard boxes full of junk and empty tea-chests(茶叶箱). After about an hour of moving cardboard boxes from one place to another and back again, I was tired out. I sat down on an upturned tea-chest to have a rest when I heard faint mewing(喵). I put my head up against each of the tea-chests, pressing my ear against the plywood(夹板) so I could catch the faint sounds. I had to move each one carefully before I could look inside.
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。
Finally, I found Socky and her three tiny kittens.
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Socky was very pleased to see me and purred(发出呼噜声) as loudly as she could.
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6 . A hollow (空洞) halfway up a tree might seem like a strange place to look for a water-loving animal, but the results of a new survey have showed that common toads (蟾蜍) in the U. K. are skillful tree climbers. The surprising discovery was made by researchers from the University of Cambridge, working with Froglife, a charity devoted to amphibians(animals such as frogs and toads that divide their time between being on land and in water).
The team looked at reports from volunteers who were studying special nest boxes as part of the National Dormouse (睡鼠) Monitoring Program and the Bat Tree habitat Key project. “We couldn’t believe what we found,” said Nida Alfulaij, a scientist who supported the work. “We’re used to discovering woodland birds and other small mammals in nest boxes, but we hadn’t considered finding amphibians in them.” More than 50 common toads were found in very unexpected places: in parts of trees that are usually used by bats, in nest boxes designed for dormice, and even in old birds’ nests. That’s such a surprisingly high number that the researchers think tree-climbing must be a common toad habit—it’s just never been noticed before.
The researchers say this shows how sharing data between surveys with different aims can lead to new discoveries—even about species that experts believe they know well. Through the discoveries the researchers also have a clear understanding of how important tree hollows, cracks and holes are to all sorts of animals. It’s still unclear how easy the toads find it to climb—they were spotted up to 3 meters high in trees but this was as far up as the volunteers were looking, so they could be going even higher.
Why do the kind of toads climb the trees? The researchers have some guesses, such as looking for food, hiding from hunters or avoiding pests such as the toad fly. It is still a puzzle.
1. What do we know about the new study?| A．It relied on the early studies of the team. |
| B．It came as no surprise to the researchers. |
| C．It resulted from the data of other surveys. |
| D．It proves what experts have known before. |
| A．Trees are believed to be toads’ best place to live in. |
| B．They climb trees to keep bats and dormice company. |
| C．The proper number of toads living together is 50 or so. |
| D．The toads may have formed the habit of climbing before. |
| A．Other living habits. |
| B．The reasons for climbing. |
| C．The ways to avoid pests. |
| D．More examples of the finding. |
| A．A science journal about biology. |
| B．A paper about the habitats of birds. |
| C．A fiction about amphibians animals. |
| D．A course about the significance of trees. |
7 . My grandma passed away last week. My mum began the painful yet necessary task of sorting through her belongings.
“Is there anything you want from grandma’s flat?” Mum texted me.
“Her aloe (芦荟), please.” I required zero thinking time.
Sometime around 1975, Grandma, always believing good things would happen in the future, received this plant as a gift, which she appreciated and placed in her doorway. It came from the local butcher. Five years later, my mum married the butcher’s son and had me. Grandma revealed to me this particular plant was a living relationship between the two families. And so was I.
Recently, whenever we visited Grandma’s flat, I attempted to fix this concept in my children’s minds. “That was a gift your great-grandma bought your other great-grandma! It’s older than me!” Then my kids would nod and ask Grandma for a sweet.
Numerous times, Grandma gave me cuttings or clippings of the plant, hoping I might raise my own and continue the legend. Yet, every time, my new branch died with my awful gardening skills. But that didn’t used to matter, because I could turn to Grandma, who would wait and accept my disturbance without becoming upset. Then I got another clipping and tried again. But now I can’t. So, I decided that the plant will go and live with Ann, my mother-in-law, who is a genius with a greenhouse.
The plan is for Ann to keep hold of the original plant. In time, she can teach me how to deal with its cuttings properly, and then maybe one day I can settle the plant in my place.
In the meantime, Ann will allocate (分配) clippings among my relatives, as Grandma used to do. My wife’s two sisters, for example, are both better at tending plants than I am, so it is quite imaginable they, too, will offer cuttings of the plant to their partners, spreading this loving plant across my entire extended family.
1. Why did the author want his grandma’s aloe?| A．He wanted to pass it down to others. | B．He showed a preference for gardening. |
| C．He had a pleasant memory of the plant. | D．He received it as a gift from his grandma. |
| A．Optimistic and patient. | B．Generous and helpful. | C．Honest and fashionable. | D．Humorous and skillful. |
| A．display his skills in gardening | B．have the plant better cared for |
| C．announce his grandma’s death | D．protect the plant from dying out |
| A．Aloe: my family bond | B．Aloe: a mysterious plant |
| C．Grandma: my life coach | D．Grandma: a lovely gardener |
8 . In the forest of New Mexico, scientists are carrying two ten-day-old Mexican wolf pups (幼崽) riding in a backpack, searching for a Mexican wolf pair that has just given birth to six pups.
Mexican wolves were extinct in the USA by the 1970s, but there was a plan to bring them back. The first step was to trap five wild Mexican wolves and breed them with two caged ones. In 1998, the first caged-born adult Mexican wolves were released into forests.
The idea is that the caged pups will grow up and breed with wild wolves.
| A．The scientists were content with it. |
| B．So the experts came up with a new plan. |
| C．The wolf parents only care for their own pups. |
| D．In this way their healthy genes will be passed down. |
| E．The population slowly grew, but scientists were still worried. |
| F．After that, the wolf parents won’t mind taking care of the new pups. |
| G．The wolf mum and dad don’t know it, but they’re about to adopt two more! |
9 . Sometimes called “Earth’s twin,” Venus is similar to our world in size and composition. The two rocky planets are also roughly the same distance from the sun, and both have an atmosphere. While Venus’s cold and unpleasant landscape does make it seem far less like Earth, scientists recently detected another striking similarity between the two, the presence of active volcanoes.
When NASA’s Magellan mission mapped much of the planet with radar in the 1990sit revealed an unexpectedly youthful surface-there were surprisingly a few craters (火山口)which suggested active geologic (地质的) processes. Although few missions have visited Venus since then, researchers have continued to mine the collection of data from.
Using this decades-old data, planetary scientist Robert Herrick discovered that a Magellan. volcano called Maat Mons is alive with volcanic activity. In this case, lava(岩浆)flows that moved for eight months during an imaging cycle from 1990 to 1992, according to a study published in Science in 2023. The findings are the first real evidence that volcanoes have erupted on Venus during modern times.
What’s more, volcanic activity on Venus could be even more common and dramatic than on Earth. A study published in JGR Planets in 2023 mapped out enormous potential volcanic features on Venus’ surface, and there’s a good chance that some of them could be active today. On top of that, another 2023 study, also in JGR Planets, found that the very high surface temperature on Venus, over 900 degrees Fahrenheit, allows lava flows to slowly leak out.
A list of new missions are headed to Venus over the next decade, including NASA’s Veritas mission, which aims to map the planet’s surface to better understand its geologic history. These projects should settle the question of how the paths of Venus and Earth divided so sharply, with one becoming a hell and the other able to harbor life, and confirm whether volcanoes are still erupting on the planet today.
1. Why does the writer mention Venus is Earth’s twin in Paragraph 1?| A．To prove a theory. | B．To introduce the topic. |
| C．To clarify a concept. | D．To make predictions. |
| A．Robert Herrick’s discovery was based on previous data. |
| B．The findings are the first evidence of volcanoes on Venus. |
| C．There are more huge volcanoes on Venus than on Earth. |
| D．Volcanic activities on Venus are as common as on Earth. |
| A．Mapping the surface of Venus with accuracy. |
| B．Analyzing how volcanoes came into existence. |
| C．Understanding how the two planets evolved differently. |
| D．Confirming whether Venus is suitable for humans to live. |
| A．Venus Is Earth’s Twin. | B．Venus Is an Awful Hell. |
| C．Venus Is a Youthful Planet. | D．Venus Is Volcanically Active. |
10 . Spending your nights sleeping for just four seconds at a time might sound painful, but not for chinstrap penguins (帽带企鹅), which fall asleep thousands of times a day, new research finds.
Scientists studying the chinstrap penguins on King George Island in Antarctica found they nod off more than10,000 times a day, allowing them to keep an eye on their nests all the time, protecting eggs and chicks from predators (捕食性动物).
“Nesting penguins took over 600 ‘microsleeps’ an hour, each lasting only four seconds,” researchers wrote in the paper, published in the journal Science. The findings suggest “microsleeps can perform at least some of the functions of sleep”.
Sleep seems to be common among animals, but it makes them vulnerable because they lose the ability to respond quickly to the outside environment.
The researchers studied chinstrap penguins in the wild using electronicephalogram (EEG) monitoring. Microsleeps were shown by sleep-related brain activity and eye-closure. They noticed a slight increase in the depth of sleep at around noon, when risk of predation could be at its lowest.
Studies have shown some species routinely sleep very little, seemingly without negative costs to their performance while awake. African bush elephants sleep on average for two hours a day, and mostly while standing up, one study found. Sometimes they went 48 hours without sleeping.
Giant frigate birds can spend months on the wing during ocean migrations (迁徙). During this period they can sleep for less than an hour a day, while still flying and hunting. When they get back to the nest they sleep for nearly 13 hours a day.
“Sleep seems to be flexible among species,” a researcher said. “I believe that there are still many things unknown about animal sleep.”
1. Why do Chinstrap Penguins nod off more than 10,000 times a day?| A．To find family meals. | B．To guard their newborns. |
| C．To enjoy good sleep. | D．To get more rest. |
| A．Easily hurt. | B．Fully prepared. | C．Totally satisfied. | D．Widely known. |
| A．Potential attacks from predators. | B．Movements of eyes. |
| C．The number of nests. | D．Changes of temperature. |
| A．Larger animals are likely to have less sleep. |
| B．Some animals sleep more during migration. |
| C．Birds can sleep when they are standing up. |
| D．Sleeping little may not affect waking performance. |
