1 . Earth’s forests are emptying. Half of their inhabitants (栖息动物) have disappeared in the last 40 years, according to a new report from the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).
The 6th mass extinction (大灭绝)
A growing body of evidence suggests that the Earth is in the middle of a mass extinction event－the sixth of its kind in the planet’s history. More than 27% of species on the planet are dying out.
The reasons behind
Worldwide, humans have cleared 30% of all forest cover. According to the research, 60% of the threats ( 威 胁 ) of forest animals result from the disappearance of forests. Hunting, too, is a major reason for the falling number of animal populations. More than half of the species that are in danger due to over-hunting, according to the report, are African primates (灵长目动物), since they’re hunted in the bushmeat trade. Climate change becomes another big danger to forest animals. Many forest species are struggling to adapt to rising temperatures and more extreme weather.
The recovery
“In order to change the decrease of forest biodiversity ( 生物多样性), it’s urgent to handle the multiple pressures on forest species,” the reporter wrote. But with the right strategies, he said, “the recovery of forest species’ populations is possible.”
1. Why is the Earth in the middle of a mass extinction event now?| A．Because 30% of all forest cover has been cleared by human. |
| B．Because half of its populations have disappeared in the last 40 years. |
| C．Because many species on the Earth are in the danger of dying out. |
| D．Because extreme weather is killing more and more of its inhabitants. |
| A．The soil of the earth is in the 6th mass extinction. |
| B．The inhabitants are decreasing both in number and species. |
| C．African primates are at the risk of extinction. |
| D．More forest animals are cruelly hunted in the bushmeat trade. |
| A．Where there is smoke, there is fire. |
| B．Where there is a will, there is a way. |
| C．Where there is life, there is a ray of sunshine. |
| D．Where there is a solution, there is a silver lining. |
2 . The moon hasn’t had an easy time over the years. Since the beginning of the solar system 4.5 billion years ago, its gray and lifeless surface has been repeatedly hit by space rocks, leaving behind a landscape full of broken stones. Beneath this surface, however, hide the moon’s most attracting secrets for human explorers, from a large amount of ice for producing drinking water to rocket fuel. More importantly, mapping the moon’s subsurface can show some hidden periods of solar system history. This is confirmed by fresh results from a Chinese rover (月球车).
The latest results come from the Chang’e-4 mission, run by the China National Space Administration. Launched in December 2018 and reaching the moon in early January 2019, the mission became the first to land on the far side of the natural satellite, targeting a region near the lunar south pole called the South Pole-Aitken Basin. The Chang’e-4 rover is still operational today and has been slowly moving across this region, traveling a few hundred meters since it landed.
Using a radar instrument on Chang’e-4, researchers have found that the rover is likely sitting on different layers of ejecta ( 喷 出 物 ) and a very clear order of layers can be seen. The rover’s radar instrument was able to enter up to 40 meters below the surface of the moon, more than twice the distance achieved by the former, the Chang’e-3 mission, which landed on the moon near side in December 2013. Data from the latest mission show three different layers beneath the rover. It is not currently possible to date the layers under Chang’e-4. But they do provide some information about lunar history dating back about four billion years.
The rover is continuing to move across the surface, making regular stops to take measurements and use its instruments.
1. What is the most important purpose of human’s exploration of the moon?| A．To seek fresh drinking water. |
| B．To find hidden rocket fuel. |
| C．To study different layers of ejecta. |
| D．To uncover the hidden history of solar system. |
| A．It landed on the moon about five years later than Chang’e-3. |
| B．It is the first to travel around the moon during the exploration. |
| C．It took over a year from launch to land the far side of the moon. |
| D．A radar instrument helped it to enter 40 meters below the surface of the moon. |
| A．Historical Story. | B．Science Fiction. |
| C．Scientific Front. | D．Chinese Economy. |
| A．China’s Moon Rover — a Deeper Look At the Far Side |
| B．China’s Moon Rover — a Starting Research On the Moon |
| C．Chang’e-4 — a Closer Observer Into the Heart of the Moon |
| D．Chang’e-4 — A Chinese Space Mission Leading the World |
3 . The Hodgeheg
By now it was quite late. The rush hour was over. The shops were shut. All was quiet. I'll wait, thought Max, and then when a car or truck comes along, I'll cross in front of it.
Soon he saw something coming. It was a truck. He was halfway across when he suddenly realized that the truck hadn't slowed at all and was almost on top of him, blinding him with its brilliant lights, deafening him with its thunderous roar. It was not going to stop! Trucks stopped only for people-not hedgehogs!
The truck driver had been quite unaware of the tiny pedestrian. With no time to brake, he straddled the little animal. Looking back in his mirror, he saw that it was continuing on its way unhurt, and he grinned and drove on into the night.
The horror of this great monster passing above with its huge wheels on either side of him threw Max into a blind panic, and he made for the end of the crossing as fast as his legs would carry him. He did not see the cyclist and the cyclist, who did not see him until the last moment, caught Max on the bottom and threw him headfirst into the roadside.
The next thing that Max recalled was crawling painfully. Somehow he had managed to come back. He had known nothing of the concern of the cyclist, who had stared at what looked like a small dead hedgehog, sighed, and rode sadly away. He remembered nothing of his journey home, guided only by his sense of smell. All he knew was that he had an awful headache.
The family crowded around him on his return, all talking at once.
“Where have you been all this time?” asked Ma.
“Are you all right, son?” asked Pa.
“Did you cross the road?” they both said, and Peony, Pansy, and Petunia echoed, “Did you? Did you? Did you?”
For a while, Max did not reply. His thoughts were muddled(混乱的), and when he did speak, his words were disordered, too.
“I've got a head on the bump,” he said slowly.
The family looked at one another.
“Something bot me on the hittom,” said Max, “and then I headed my bang. My ache bads headly.”
“But did you cross the road?” cried his sisters.
“Yes,” said Max. “I hound where the humans cross over, but…”
“But the traffic only stops if you're a human?” interrupted Pa.
“Yes,” said Max. “Not if you're a hodgeheg.”
1. What's the correct order of the events that happened?① Max got hit on the bottom and bumped the head.
② Max explained what led him to such a situation.
③ Max was surrounded by the family who were curious and concerned.
④ Max waited for the chance to cross the street.
⑤ Max narrowly escaped being hit by the truck.
⑥ Max managed to return home.
| A．④⑤①⑥②③ | B．④⑤①⑥③② | C．④①⑤⑥②③ | D．④①⑤⑥③② |
| A．Max wanted to find out how to cross the road safely when a vehicle came along. |
| B．Max was seriously injured, so he hurried to the end of the crossing. |
| C．The cyclist sighed sadly because he believed the truck driver had killed Max. |
| D．Peony, Pansy, and Petunia,who echoed “Did you?” were Max's brothers. |
| A．The writer intends to convey some moral ideas to his readers. |
| B．Readers may wonder what is special about the writer's writing techniques. |
| C．It is typical of writers to be creative and try unique ideas. |
| D．Readers' curiosity can be aroused and they will continue reading. |
| A．Serious. | B．Concerned. | C．Casual. | D．Humorous. |
| A．Science fiction. | B．Travel brochure. |
| C．Children's tales. | D．Traffic guidebook. |
4 . Easter(复活节) is still a great day for worship, candy in baskets and running around the yard finding eggs, but every year it gets quite a bit worse for bunnies.
And no, not because the kids like to pull their ears. The culprit is climate change, and some researchers found that rising temperatures are having harmful effects on at least five species of rabbit in the US.
Take the Lower Keys Marsh rabbit, for instance. An endangered species that lives in the Lower Florida Keys, this species of cottontail is a great swimmer — it lives on the islands’ - but it is already severely affected by development and now by rising sea levels. According to the Center for Biological Diversity, an ocean level rise of only 0.6 meters will send these guys jumping to higher ground and a 0.9-meter rise would wipe out theirhabitat(栖息地) completely.
The snowshoe hare, on the other hand, has a color issue. Most of these rabbits change their for color from white in the wintertime to brown in the summer, each designed to give them better cover from predators(捕食者). As the number of days with snow decreases all across the country, however, more and more bunnies are being left in white fur during brown dirt days of both fall and spring, making them an easier mark for predators. Researchers know that the color change is controlled by the number of hours of sunlight, but whether the rabbit will be able to adapt quick enough to survive is a big question. The National Wildlife Federation has reported that hunters have noticed their numbers are already markedly down.
American pikas or rock rabbits, a relative of rabbits and hares, might be the first of these species to go extinct due to climate change. About 7-8 inches long, pikas live high in the cool, damp mountains west of the Rocky Mountains. As global temperatures rise, they would naturally(迁徙) to higher ground — but they already occupy the mountaintops. They can’t go any higher. The National Wildlife Federation reports that they might not be able to stand the new temperatures as their habitat heats up.
The volcano rabbit has the same problem. These rabbits live on the slopes of volcanoes in Mexico, and recent studies have shown that the lower range of their habitat has already shifted upward about 700 meters, but there are not suitable plants for them to move higher, so they are stuck in the middle. Scientists are concerned about their populations.
All of this gives new meaning to dressing up in a giant bunny costume this Easter.
1. The writer mentions Easter at the beginning of the passage in order to ________.| A．show the importance of Easter Day |
| B．introduce the issue about bunnies |
| C．remind people of Easter traditions |
| D．discuss the relationship between Easter and bunnies. |
| A．criminal | B．judge |
| C．victim | D．producer |
| A．are exposed to more skillful hunters |
| B．have moved to habitats with fewer plants |
| C．haven’t adapted themselves to climate change |
| D．can’t change their fur color into white in the fall and the spring. |
| A．Approving. | B．Concerned. |
| C．Enthusiastic. | D．Doubtful. |
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 girl
Even though some of the gorillas were quite dangerous, this didn't not discourage her. She showed great
注意:每个空格只填1个单词。请将答案写在答题卡上相应题号的横线上。
Time for Americans to act on climate change
The climate crisis is worsening at a rate that is becoming harder and harder to ignore. For more than two decades, scientific reports have made it clear that global warming is real, that humans cause it and that the consequences will be disastrous.
The scientific community has become increasingly panicked over the past year. The latest assessment from the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change painted a far more terrible picture than its previous analyses, and the long-awaited National Climate Assessment made clear that climate change represents a severe threat to human health as well as our economic security. Out of this panic came the treaty(条约)reached this past weekend by world leaders to keep the Paris climate agreement alive.
Yet many Americans still don’t regard the threat as a key priority for our government, and support President Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Paris treaty. Campaign contributions from fossil fuel companies have convinced elected officials to look the other way. A certain amount of despair has resulted in widespread apathy(漠然).
But there is another reason that has been discussed far less openly. While a growing number of people understand that climate change will have significant worldwide consequences, many Americans have an intuitive(直觉的)belief that their nation is more capable than others of adapting to a changed environment. Why? Because they have before.
This historical success, however, resulted from the federal government taking science seriously, and making investments to urge revolution and innovation.
But these innovations did not happen by themselves, or simply because of the United States’ rich resources. They depended on consistent support from the leaders about the need to take action when faced with crises. This has been especially true in the environmental crisis.
President Bill Clinton had a shockingly modest record of advancing climate security, particularly given that his vice president, Al Gore, had been one of the most outspoken environmentalists in Congress. By far Clinton’s biggest accomplishment was assigning Gore to participate іn thе Куоtо Рrоtoсоl negotiations. Сlіntоn сhоѕе, hоwеvеr, tо аvоіd whаt ѕurеlу wоuld have been a terrible fight in the Senate to gain approval of the treaty. While this effort probably would have failed, it would have signaled to the American people how seriously the Democratic Party took climate change.
Thus, the time has clearly arrived for progressive candidates to start campaigning on a platform built around the need for a sustainability revolution. Such a plan should include a carbon tax, well-funded clean energy research, evolved agricultural policies and smarter public transport. Given that Generation X and millennials(千禧一代)never bought into the fiction that the United States is immune to the dangers of global warming, the time is ripe to make climate security a crucial government responsibility. Only by doing so can we begin the long-overdue(拖延好久的)campaign to save the planet.
Time for Americans to act on climate change
| Introduction | More and more people have become It is human beings that are to | |
| Worldwide efforts | Given that human health as well as our economic security is | |
| Current American’s responses | A negative attitude | Unable to grasp the seriousness of the threat, many Americans are in |
| Elected officials turn a deaf ear to the threat on account of their A certain amount of despair has resulted in widespread apathy. Many Americans are wildly | ||
| Earlier American’s responses | A(n) | Wisely assigning his vice president to participate in the Kyoto Protocol negotiations, President Bill Clinton took climate change seriously. |
| Inspiration form responses | The Democratic Party used to take adequate notice of the potential crisis of the climate change. | |
| It is high time for Americans to begin the long-overdue campaign to save the planet. | ||
The Mystery
Nearly a thousand giant stone figures stand side by side on Easter Island, now a part of Chile. Called moai (MOH-eye) by the locals, the statues can weigh more than 80 tons—about as much as ten whales—and some stand as tall as a three-story building.
Scientists think islanders began creating the moai some 800 years ago to honor their ancestors. In land, scientists found a volcanic crater and dug out ancient tools there used to carve figures from the volcanic rock. But the crater(火山口) is far from where most of the statues now stand. And scientists know the people didn't have wheels or animals to move the rock giants.
So how did the stone figures travel as far as 11 miles from the crater to the island's coasts? Some ideas are pretty wild—people have suggested that the moai walked by themselves, or even that space aliens beamed down to lend a hand. Scientists struggled to Easter Island to find out the truth.
The Detectives
"Heave-ho!" cry a group of scientists as they pull on ropes tied to a huge statue. The investigators are seeking clues about the moai in one of Easter Island's green valleys. Wondering if the islanders could have transported the statues upright with just rope and muscle power, they wrapped three strong ropes around the forehead of a ten-foot-tall moai copy. With several people pulling each rope, they're able to rock the 10,000-pound figure side to side, moving it forward with every tug(拖拽). "The statue's shape makes this movement fairly easy," team leader Carl Lipo says.
In the past, researchers have tried other moving methods. One group tied rope to the top and base of an actual moai and attempted to drag it forward with twisting motions. Another team laid a real 13-foot moai onto a giant log and pulled the log forward. All the experiments shared one result: The investigators got serious pain!
The Evidence
Although various scientific sleuths (侦查) found ways to move the moai, researchers still don't agree on what really happened. Some of these techniques might have only worked over short distances and on flat land. Others would have damaged the moai.
Many people think the statues were laid horizontally on wooden sleds which were dragged with rope across log tracks. "This would have been the safest way to move the moai," archaeologist Jo Anne Van Tilburg says. "It explains why hardly any are damaged."
But the truth may never be revealed.(Experts are pretty sure, though, that aliens weren't involved.)After all, the islanders stopped making the statues at least 300 years ago, later hundreds of islanders left the island or caught deadly diseases brought by explorers. Many of the moai's secrets disappeared with them. Today the only remaining witnesses to the events are the moai themselves. And the lips of these stone-faced giants are sealed.
1. How many possible ways of moving the rock giants are mentioned in the passage?
| A．Three. | B．Four. | C．Five. | D．Six. |
| A．The moai was created by the islanders 800 years ago to wish for good luck. |
| B．Some of the rock giants were damaged while being moved to where they are now. |
| C．All the witnesses to the secrets of the moai were infected with deadly diseases and died. |
| D．The statues were made of volcanic rocks with some handmade tools by the locals. |
| A．temporarily on the ground |
| B．parallel to the ground |
| C．steadily on the ground |
| D．vertical to the ground |
| A．Investigation Under Way. |
| B．Mystery of the Stone Giants. |
| C．Ways of Moving the Stone Giants. |
| D．The Unrevealed Truth. |
