1 . When a caterpillar (毛虫)pretends to be a snake to keep off potential predators (捕食者)，it should probably expect to be treated like one. This is exactly what happened in Costa Rica earlier this year, when researchers witnessed a hummingbird defending its nest from what it interpreted to be a snake, but was actually a caterpillar, which was feeding on a leaf above the nest.
These caterpillars resemble flat dried leaves as adults. They can expand the top of their heads to expose a pair of eyespots that discourage potential predators. When disturbed, they raise their head up and move from side to side, increasing the snake-like appearance. In particular they resemble a green parrot snake, known to feed on nesting birds.
Hummingbirds have a few styles of flying: visiting flowers, feeding on some tiny insects, chasing each other， and mating territory (领土)display flights. Mobbing (围攻)behavior directed against a threat to their nest is much less common but easy to recognize if you know their flight behaviors.
The interaction of the caterpillar and the humming birds took place in Costa Rica. The comings and goings of the female hummingbird around its nest may have disturbed the caterpillar, causing it to expose its eyespots, which in turn caused the hummingbird to defend its nest using what is referred to as ‘mobbing behavior’ by birds.
The caterpillar was unable to feed during the 26-minutes of nearly continuous attacks. Most of the bird’s movements were cautious, but included quick attacks to peck or bite the eyespots.
It was difficult for either the bird or caterpillar to withdraw from the standoff (僵局)，with the hummingbird protecting its nest and the caterpillar just trying to finish its leafy meal. Eventually the caterpillar gave up on eating and crawled away while still under attack, and the hummingbird continued normal nesting behavior.
When birds exhibit this mobbing behavior targeting snaked eyes, it often ends with snakes being killed by repeated bites and pecks near the head. As for creatures that imitate snakes to protect themselves from being eaten, can they in turn protect themselves? Because the hummingbird behavior was typical anti-snake behavior, it can be considered replicable (可复制的).
Future studies of this behavior can be conducted using a tiny, caterpillar robot. It should be remote controlled, light enough to attach to a leaf or stem, and wireless. With such a robot, researchers could vary the eye-like nature and contrast of spots on the head of the robot to test various responses of nest-defending birds. A study like this could definitively test the effects of eye-like versus other imitating patterning for exciting the defensive attacks.
And, it turns out that the caterpillar feeds on a leaf on the same plant, as far away from the nest as possible!
1. What do we know about caterpillars and hummingbirds from the passage?| A．They belong to the same species. |
| B．They are natural enemies of each other. |
| C．They are insects and birds respectively. |
| D．They compete against each other for territory. |
| A．are picking flowers | B．are chasing each other |
| C．interrupt their eating leaves | D．set foot on their territories |
| A．Because the hummingbird is trying to finish its leafy meal. |
| B．Because the caterpillar is protecting the hummingbird’s nest. |
| C．Because they behave in this way out of their own interest. |
| D．Because there is a green parrot snake watching them. |
| A．imitate the anti-snake behavior |
| B．test nest-defending birds’ responses |
| C．take control of the snake’s behavior |
| D．guard against the defensive attacks |
1. Where does the conversation take place?
| A．In the market. | B．In an office. | C．At home. |
| A．In a small round bottle. |
| B．In a nice new tank. |
| C．In the holes of some rocks. |
| A．To let the fish swim around. |
| B．To give the fish enough air. |
| C．To keep the water clean. |
1. What did Marco Polo see when he was in China?
| A．The Chinese invented paper. |
| B．The Chinese used paper money. |
| C．The Chinese planted trees for paper. |
| A．In the 7th century. | B．In the 13th century. | C．In the 15th century. |
| A．17. | B．48. | C．71. |
4 . What is the single most effective way to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions? Go vegetarian (素食)？ Replant the Amazon? Cycle to work? None of the above. The answer is: make air-conditioners better. On one calculation， replacing refrigerants (制冷剂) damaging the atmosphere would reduce total greenhouse gases equaling 90bn tonnes of CO2 by 2050. Making the units more energy-efficient could double that. By contrast, if half the world’s population gave up meat, it would save 66bn tonnes. Replanting two-thirds of tropical forests would save 61 bn tonnes. A one-third increase in global bicycle journeys, just 2.3bn tonnes.
Air-conditioning is one of the world's great overlooked industries. Automobiles and air-conditioners were invented at roughly the same time, and both have had a huge impact on where people live and Work. Unlike cars, though， air-conditioners have drawn little criticism for their social impact, emissions or energy efficiency. Most hot countries do not have rules to govern their energy use. There is not even a common English word for “coolth” (the opposite of warmth).
Yet air-conditioning has done more than most things to benefit humankind. Lee Kuan Yew, the first prime minister of Singapore, called it “perhaps one of the signal inventions of history”. It has transformed productivity in the tropics(热带地区)and helped turn southern China into the workshop of the World. In Europe, its spread has pushed down heat-related deaths to 10% since 2003, Men 70,000 people than usual, most of them elderly, died in a heatwave. For children, air-conditioned classrooms are associated with better grades at school.
Environmentalists who call air-conditioning“a luxury we cannot afford” have half a point, however. In the next ten years, as many air-conditioners will be installed(安装)around the world as were put in between 1902(invention time)and 2005.Unless energy can be produced without carbon emissions, these extra machines will warm the world. At the moment, therefore, air-conditioners create a vicious cycle. The more the Earth warms, the more people need them. But the more there are, the warmer the world will be.
Cutting the impact of cooling requires three things. First, air-conditioners must become much more efficient. The most energy-efficient models on the market today consume only about one-third as much electricity as average ones, Minimum energy-performance standards need to be raised raised, orintroduced in countries that lack them altogether, to push the average unit's performance closer to the standard of the best.
Next, manufacturers should stop using damaging refrigerants. One type called hydrofluoro-carbons, is over 1,000 times worse than carbon dioxide when it comes to trapping heat in the atmosphere. An international agreement to knock out these pollutants will come into force in 2019.
Last, more could. be done to design offices, malls and even cities so they do not need as many air-conditioners in the first place. More buildings should be built with overhanging roofs orbalconies for shade, or with natural ventilation (自然通风).Simply painting roofs white can help keep temperatures down. Providing indoor air-conditioned comfort need not come at the expense of an overheating world.
1. What’s the most effective way to reduce carbon gases?| A．Planting more trees. | B．Leading green lifestyles. |
| C．Improving cooling systems. | D．Buying new air-conditioners. |
| A．Air-conditioning enables factories to produce more in hot areas. |
| B．The heat-related deaths have dropped by 10% since 2003 in Europe. |
| C．There are many factories producing air-conditioners in southern China. |
| D．Air-conditioners have received little criticism for they have no negative impact. |
| A．Because the price of air-conditioning is too high. |
| B．Because you can’t afford the time for installation. |
| C．Because the cost of energy consumption is too high. |
| D．Because the earth will suffer from its carbon emissions. |
a.design natural cooling buildings
b.raise standards for energy-performance
c.make laws for international cooperation
d.stop applying harmful refrigerants to production
| A．abc | B．abd | C．acd | D．bed |
Water is the driving force of all nature, Leonardo da Vinci claimed. Unfortunately for our planet, water supplies are now running dry at an alarming rate. The world’s population continues to increase but that rise in number has not been matched by adequate supplies of fresh water. Reports show that more than a billion individuals — one in seven people on the planet — now lack access to safe drinking water.
In Sao Paulo, a Brazilian city, drought got so bad that residents began drilling through basement floors and car parks to try to reach groundwater. Officials in this city warned that rationing（配给制）of water supplies was likely soon. Citizens in Sao Paulo might have access to water for only two days a week. In California, US, officials have shown that the state has entered its fourth year of drought. At the same time, its per capita（人均）water use has continued to rise.
【写作内容】
1.用约30词概括上述信息的主要内容；
2.结合上述信息及日常生活，简要分析导致全球淡水资源短缺的主要原因（不少于两点）；
3.谈谈在日常生活中我们应如何保护淡水资源（不少于两点）。
【写作要求】
1.写作过程中不能直接引用原文语句；
2.作文中不能出现真实姓名和学校名称；
3.不必写标题。
【评分标准】
内容完整。语言规范，语篇连贯，词数适当。
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6 . An extremely enthusiastic truth seeker who runs the YouTube channel Bright Insight claims（声称）to have found the mysterious city of Atlantis and insists that its true location has been hiding in plain sight for thousands of years.
In a video, YouTube blogger Jimmy Bright argues that the Richat Structure, a geologic dome（穹状物）in northwest Sahara also referred to as the Eye of the Sahara, is the most likely location of Atlantis.
He mentioned measurements from the famous Dialogues of Plato, which gave birth to the mystery. The Greek philosopher（哲学家）claimed that Atlantis was a long-gone kingdom, which stretched into Europe as far as Italy and into Africa as far as Egypt thousands of years ago. The giant island was said to be wiped off the face of the planet by a natural disaster“in a single day and night of misfortune”.
At first sight, this has nothing to do with the land-based Richat Structure, but Jimmy claims that the so-called Younger Dryas theory could be a possible explanation. According to it, a massive change in global temperatures caused unexpected climate change and sea level to rise.
In what can be viewed as another proof to the Sahara theory, the diameter（直径）of the Richat Structure’s outer circle is 23.5 km according to Google Map’s measurements, which matches those mentioned by Plato — 127 stadia, which is roughly 23.5 km in today’s terms.
Another thing that helps solve the mystery is a theory that the Eye of the Sahara closely matches the description from Plato’s dialogues. The ancient philosopher wrote that the main city of Atlantis consisted of circles of water and land, which, Jimmy said, looks very similar to the circular form of the Richat Structure.
Although the majority of researchers believe that Plato’s story was nothing but a moral story used to describe a failed idea of seeking power and searching for fortune, it has raised quite a few theories, Since the Middle Ages, explorers have been pointing fingers at different places around the world, including the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea, with the most amazing theories linking the location of Atlantis to the Antarctic and the North Sea.
1. What does Jimmy Bright claim to have discovered?| A．The most likely location of Atlantis. |
| B．The formation of the Richat Structure. |
| C．The measurements in the Dialogues of Plato. |
| D．The reasons behind the Younger Dryas theory. |
| A．By studying the history of ancient Egypt. |
| B．By analyzing the research into Plato’s life story. |
| C．By explaining the Younger Dryas theory in a scientific way. |
| D．By comparing the Richat Structure with the famous Dialogues of Plato. |
| A．To stress the importance of the Richat Structure. |
| B．To present the influence it had on Atlantis. |
| C．To prove that Jimmy Bright might be correct. |
| D．To show Jimmy Bright’s opinion is unique. |
| A．The Eye of the Sahara is a mystery mentioned in the Dialogues of Plato. |
| B．The Richat Structure is where the mysterious city of Atlantis used to lie. |
| C．The Younger Dryas may have caused the disappearance of Atlantis overnight. |
| D．The Plato’s Story is meant to inspire explorers to locate the exact position of Atlantis. |
| A．Rainy. | B．Cloudy. | C．Sunny, |
Henderson Island is a tiny, unpopulated（无人居住的）island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean,3,000 miles from major city centers. Though it is half the size of Manhattan, more than 19 tons of plastic waste litter its white, sandy beaches.
Researchers estimate(估计) that it has the highest concentration of waste of any place in the world with a total of over 37 million pieces of trash in all on the small island. For every square meter you walk, on average you’ll find 672 pieces of trash.
Mismanaged waste from land goes into waterways, which feed into larger rivers, which in turn empty into ocean. In this way, plastic from far inland can travel many miles to the coastline, bringing an estimated 9 million tons of plastic every year.
Meanwhile, ocean plastic is estimated to kill millions of animals every year. Nearly 700 species have been reported to be affected by it. Species of all sizes, from zooplankton（浮游动物）to whales, now eat microplastics, the bits smaller than one-fifth of an inch across.
[写作内容]
1. 用约30个单词写出上文概要；
2. 用约120个单词发表你的观点，内容包括：
(1) 造成“塑料垃圾污染海洋”的原因；
(2) 你对如何解决这一问题的建议（
[写作要求]
1. 不能直接引用原文语句；
2. 作文中不能出现真实姓名和学校名称；
3. 不必写标题。
[评分标准]
内容完整，语言规范，语篇连贯，词数适当。
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9 . Beyoncé Knowles can do something that many humans struggle with: sing and dance at the same time. But, it turns out this great ability is not unique to humans. The superb lyrebird, already known to be a gifted singer, can perform coordinated(协调的)songanddance routines(一套舞蹈动作)that put most humans to shame.
The superb lyrebird is one of only two lyrebird species living in Australia, the other named Albert’s lyrebird. Male lyrebirds have tails in the shape of an ancient musical instrument when spread out. Like most animals with beautiful body parts, the males use their tails to attract females. Each one sets up a small mound(小丘)on the forest floor, where he walks around proudly and sings. He also shows his tail by holding it over his head.
Lyrebirds are gifted mimics(模仿者), so their songs combine their own calls, the songs of other species, and sounds they have heard in the forest. That would be enough showing off for other animals, but male superb lyrebirds also dance.
Anastasia Dalziell of the Australian National University in Canberra filmed 12 lyrebirds in the wild. She found that males only danced during four song types, and that each song type was accompanied by a specific move. “Lyrebirds match different dance styles to different types of songs, ”she says. For example, when the male sang a series of rapid notes he also stepped to the side and held his tail wide. Another song type was accompanied by jumping and moving up and down, with the tail held narrow.
“Our results suggest that the coordination between song and dance—like movements we see in humans can occur in other animals,” says Dalziell. Female lyrebirds might prefer males that are better at coordinating song and dance, although there is no evidence of that yet.
1. Beyoncé Knowles is mentioned in Paragraph 1 to ___________.| A．put most humans to shame |
| B．introduce the topic of lyrebirds |
| C．show the author’s admiration for her |
| D．share the experience of the famous singer |
| A．performing on a mound and showing their tails |
| B．walking in the forest with the heads held up |
| C．having tails shaped like a musical instrument |
| D．singing and dancing with other male lyrebirds |
| A．Both human beings and animals are born singers and dancers. |
| B．Female Albert’s lyrebirds are fond of copying and showing off. |
| C．Male superb lyrebirds are gifted at coordinating song and dance. |
| D．Male lyrebirds can sing four songs, each accompanied by a move. |
10 . Every new person added to the planet needs food, water, clothes, and so on.
Food shortages(不足)are even more common. Worldwide, one out of every seven people does not get enough to eat.
| A．Forests are cleared away |
| B．Some people use a lot more than others |
| C．Water shortages have hit many parts of the world |
| D．Water pollution is a serious problem in some areas |
| E．More trees should be planted to handle air pollution |
| F．Huge needs for food force farmers to overuse their land |
| G．More people mean more cars, roads, schools, hospitals, and stores |
